Works of Martin Luther Part 31

through them Satan has already made much headway under thy predecessors. In short, believe none who exalt thee, believe those who humble thee. For this is the judgment of G.o.d; "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble." [Luke 1:52] See, how unlike His successors is Christ, although they all would be His vicars. And I fear that most of them have indeed been too literally His vicars. For a vicar is a vicar only when his lord is absent. And if the pope rules while Christ is absent and does not dwell in his heart, what else is he but a vicar of Christ? But what is such a Church except a ma.s.s of people without Christ? And what is such a vicar else than antichrist and an idol? How much more correctly did the Apostles call themselves servants of the present Christ, and not vicars of an absent Christ!

[Sidenote: Luther Follows St. Bernard's Example]

Perhaps I am impudent, in that I seem to instruct so great, so exalted a personage, from whom we ought all to learn, and from whom, as those plagues of thine boast, the thrones of judges receive their decisions.

But I am following the example of St. Bernard in his book _de consideratione ad Eugenium_, a book every pope should have by heart.

For what I am doing I do not from an eagerness to teach, but as an evidence of that pure and faithful solicitude which constrains us to have regard for the things of our neighbors even when they are safe, and does not permit us to consider their dignity or lack of dignity, since it is intent only upon the danger they run for the advantage they may gain. For when I know that thy Blessedness is driven and tossed about at Rome, that is, that far out at sea thou art threatened on all sides with endless dangers, and art laboring hard in that miserable plight, so that thou dost need even the slightest help of the least of thy brethren, I do not think it is absurd of me, if for the time I forget thy high office and do what brotherly love demands.

I have no desire to flatter in so serious and dangerous a matter, but if men do not understand that I am thy friend and thy most humble subject, there is One that understandeth and judgeth. [John 8:50]

[Sidenote: Luther's Gift]

Finally, that I may not approach thee empty-handed, blessed Father, I bring with me this little treatise published under thy name as an omen of peace and of good hope. From this book thou mayest judge with what studies I would prefer to be more profitably engaged, as I could be if your G.o.dless flatterers would permit me, and had hitherto permitted me. It is a small thing if thou regard its bulk, but, unless I am deceived, it is the whole of Christian living in brief form, if thou wilt grasp its meaning. I am a poor man, and have no other gift to offer, and thou hast no need to be made rich by any other than a spiritual gift. With this I commend myself to thy Fatherhood and Blessedness. May the Lord Jesus preserve thee forever. Amen.

Wittenberg, September 6, 1520.[11]

A TREATISE ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

[Sidenote: Faith]

Many have thought Christian faith to be an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place among the virtues. This they do because they have had no experience of it, and have never tasted what great virtue there is in faith. For it is impossible that any one should write well of it or well understand what is correctly written of it, unless he has at some time tasted the courage faith gives a man when trials oppress him. But he who has had even a faint taste of it can never write, speak, meditate or hear enough concerning it. For it is a living fountain springing up into life everlasting, as Christ calls it in John iv [John 4:14]. For my part, although I have no wealth of faith to boast of and know how scant my store is, yet I hope that, driven about by great and various temptations, I have attained to a little faith, and that I can speak of it, if not more elegantly, certainly more to the point, than those literalists and all too subtile disputants have hitherto done, who have not even understood what they have written.

[Sidenote: Liberty and Bondage]

That I may make the way easier or the unlearned--for only such do I serve--I set down first these two propositions concerning the liberty and the bondage of the spirit:

_A Christian man is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none._

_A Christian man is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all._

Although these two theses seem to contradict each other, yet, if they should be found to fit together they would serve our purpose beautifully. For they are both Paul's own, who says, in I Cor. ix, "Whereas I was free, I made myself the servant of all," [1 Cor. 9:19]

and, Rom. xiii, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." [Rom.

13:8] Now love by its very nature is ready to serve and to be subject to him who is loved. So Christ, although Lord of all, was made of a woman, made under the law [Gal. 4:4], and hence was at the same time free and a servant, at the same time in the form of G.o.d and in the form of a servant [Phil. 2:6 f.].

[Sidenote: Man's Nature]

Let us start, however, with something more remote from our subject, but more obvious. Man[12] has a twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily. According to the spiritual nature, which men call the soul, he is called a spiritual, or inner, or new man; according to the bodily nature, which men call the flesh, he is called a carnal, or outward, or old man, of whom the Apostle writes, in II Cor. iv, "Though our outward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."

[2 Cor. 4:16] Because of this diversity of nature the Scriptures a.s.sert contradictory things of the same man, since these two men in the same man contradict each other, since the flesh l.u.s.teth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh (Gal. v) [Gal. 5:17].

[Sidenote: The Inward Man]

_First_, let us contemplate the inward man, to see how a righteous, free and truly Christian man, that is, a new, spiritual, inward man, comes into being. It is evident that no external thing, whatsoever it be, has any influence whatever in producing Christian righteousness or liberty, nor in producing unrighteousness or bondage. A simple argument will furnish the proof. What can it profit the soul if the body are well, be free and active, eat, drink and do as it pleases?

For in these things even the most G.o.dless slaves of all the vices are well. On the other hand, how will ill health or imprisonment or hunger or thirst or any other external misfortune hurt the soul? With these things even the most G.o.dly men are afflicted, and those who because of a clear conscience are most free. None of these things touch either the liberty or the bondage of the soul. The soul receives no benefit if the body is adorned with the sacred robes of the priesthood, or dwells in sacred places, or is occupied with sacred duties, or prays, fasts, abstains from certain kinds of food or does any work whatsoever that can be done by the body and in the body. The righteousness and the freedom of the soul demand something far different, since the things which have been mentioned could be done by any wicked man, and such works produce nothing but hypocrites. On the other hand, it will not hurt the soul if the body is clothed in secular dress, dwells in unconsecrated places, eats and drinks as others do, does not pray aloud, and neglects to do all the things mentioned above, which hypocrites can do.

[Sidenote: The Word of G.o.d]

Further, to put aside all manner of works, even contemplation, meditation, and all that the soul can do, avail nothing. One thing and one only is necessary for Christian life, righteousness and liberty.

That one thing is the most holy Word of G.o.d, the Gospel of Christ, as he says, John xi, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, shall not die forever" [John 11:25]; and John viii, "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed" [John 8:26]; and Matthew iv, "Not in bread alone doth man live; but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of G.o.d." [Matt. 4:4] Let us then consider it certain and conclusively established that the soul can do without all things except the Word of G.o.d, and that where this is not there is no help for the soul in anything else whatever. But if it has the Word it is rich and lacks nothing, since this Word is the Word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of righteousness, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of power, of grace, of glory and of every blessing beyond our power to estimate. This is why the prophet in the entire cxix Psalm, and in many other places of Scripture, with so many sighs yearns after the Word of G.o.d and applies so many names to it [Psalm 119]. On the other hand, there is no more terrible plague with which the wrath of G.o.d can smite men than a famine of the hearing of His Word, as He says in Amos, just as there is no greater mercy than when He sends forth His Word [Amos 8:11 f.], as we read in Psalm cvii, "He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." [Psalm 107:20] Nor was Christ sent into the world for any other ministry but that of the Word, and the whole spiritual estate, apostles, bishops and all the priests, has been called and inst.i.tuted only or the ministry of the Word.

[Sidenote: The Gospel]

You ask, "What then is this Word of G.o.d, and how shall it be used, since there are so many words of G.o.d?" I answer. The Apostle explains that in Romans i. The Word is the Gospel of G.o.d concerning His Son, Who was made flesh, suffered, rose from the dead, and was glorified through the Spirit Who sanctifies. For to preach Christ means to feed the soul, to make it righteous, to set it free and to save it, if it believe the preaching. For faith alone is the saving and efficacious use of the Word of G.o.d, Romans x, "If thou confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe with thy heart that G.o.d hath raised Him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved" [Rom. 10:9]; and again, "The end of the law is Christ, unto righteousness to every one that believeth"

[Rom. 10:4]; and, Romans i, "The just shall live by his faith." [Rom.

1:17] The Word of G.o.d cannot be received and cherished by any works whatever, but only by faith [Hab. 2:4]. Hence it is clear that, as the soul needs only the Word for its life and righteousness, so it is justified by faith alone and not by any works; for if it could be justified by anything else, it would not need the Word, and therefore it would not need faith. But this faith cannot at all exist in connection with works, that is to say, if you at the same time claim to be justified by works, whatever their character; for that would be to halt between two sides, to worship Baal and to kiss the hand [1 Kings 18:21], which, as Job says, is a very great iniquity [Job 31:27 f.]. Therefore the moment you begin to believe, you learn that all things in you are altogether blameworthy, sinful and d.a.m.nable, as Romans iii says, "For all have sinned and lack the glory of G.o.d" [Rom.

3:23]; and again, "There is none just, there is none that doeth good, all have turned out of the way: they are become unprofitable together." [Rom. 3:10 ff.] When you have learned this, you will know that you need Christ, Who suffered and rose again or you, that, believing in Him, you may through this faith become a new man, in that all your sins are forgiven, and you are justified by the merits of another, namely, of Christ alone.

[Sidenote: Justification by Faith]

Since, therefore, this faith can rule only in the inward man, as Romans x says, "With the heart we believe unto righteousness"; and since faith alone justifies, it is clear that the inward man cannot be justified, made free and be saved by any outward work or dealing whatsoever, and that works, whatever their character, have nothing to do with this inward man. On the other hand, only unG.o.dliness and unbelief of heart, and no outward work, make him guilty and a d.a.m.nable servant of sin. Wherefore it ought to be the first concern of every Christian to lay aside all trust in works, and more and more to strengthen faith alone, and through faith to grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ Jesus, Who suffered and rose for him, as Peter teaches, in the last chapter of his first Epistle [1 Pet. 5:10]; since no other work makes a Christian. Thus when the Jews asked Christ, John vi [John 6:28 f.], what they should do that they might work the works of G.o.d, He brushed aside the mult.i.tude of works in which He saw that they abounded [John 6:27], and enjoined upon them a single work, saying, "This is the work of G.o.d, that you believe in Him Whom He hath sent. For Him hath G.o.d the Father sealed." [John 6:29]

Hence true faith in Christ is a treasure beyond comparison, which brings with it all salvation and saves from every evil, as Christ says in the last chapter of Mark, "He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be condemned." [Mark 16:16]

This treasure Isaiah beheld and foretold in chapter x, "The Lord shall make an abridged and consuming word upon the land, and the consumption abridged shall overflow with righteousness" [Isa. 10:22]; as if he said, "Faith, which is a brief and perfect fulfilment of the law, shall fill believers with so great righteousness that they shall need nothing more for their righteousness." So also Paul says, Romans x, "With the heart we believe unto righteousness." [Rom. 10:10]

[Sidenote: Faith and Works]

[Sidenote: Commands reveal Weakness]

Should you ask, how it comes that faith alone justifies without works offers us such a treasury of great benefits, when so many works, ceremonies and laws are prescribed in the Scriptures, I answer: First of all, remember what has been said: faith alone, without works, justifies, makes free and saves, as we shall later make still more clear. Here we must point out that all the Scriptures of G.o.d are divided into two parts--commands and promises. The commands indeed teach things that are good, but the things taught reveal are not done as soon as taught; for the commands show us what we ought to do, but do not give us the power to do it; they are intended to teach a man to know himself, that through them he may recognize his inability to do good and may despair of his powers. That is why they are called and are the Old Testament. For example: "Thou shalt not covet" [Ex. 20:17]

is a command which convicts us all of being sinners, since no one is able to avoid coveting, however much he may struggle against it.

Therefore, in order not to covet, and to fulfil the command, a man is compelled to despair of himself, and to seek elsewhere and from some one else the help which he does not ind in himself, as is said in Hosea, "Destruction is thy own, O Israel: thy help is only in Me."

[Hos. 13:9] And as we are with this one command, so we are with all; or it is equally impossible or us to keep any one of them.

[Sidenote: Promises give Strength]

But when a man through the commands has learned to know his weakness, and has become troubled as to how he may satisfy the law, since the law must be fulfilled so that not a jot or t.i.ttle shall perish, otherwise man will be condemned without hope; then, being truly humbled and reduced to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself no means of justification and salvation. Here the second part of the Scriptures stands ready--the promises of G.o.d, which declare the glory of G.o.d and say, "If you wish to fulfil the law, and not to covet, as the law demands, come, believe in Christ, in Whom grace, righteousness, peace, liberty and all things are promised you; if you believe you shall have all, if you believe not you shall lack all."

For what is impossible for you in all the works of the law, many as they are, but all useless, you will accomplish in a short and easy way through faith. For G.o.d our Father has made all things depend on faith, so that whoever has faith, shall have all, and whoever has it not, shall have nothing. "For He has concluded all under unbelief, that He might have mercy on all," Romans xi [Rom. 11:32]. Thus the promises of G.o.d give what the commands of G.o.d ask, and fulfil what the law prescribes, that all things may be of G.o.d alone, both the commands and the fulfilling of the commands. He alone commands. He also alone fulfils. Therefore the promises of G.o.d belong to the New Testament, nay, they are the New Testament.

And since these promises of G.o.d are holy, true, righteous, free and peaceful words, full of all goodness, it comes to pa.s.s that the soul which clings to them with a firm faith, is so united with them, nay, altogether taken up into them, that it not only shares in all their power, but is saturated and made drunken with it. For if a touch of Christ healed, how much more will this most tender touch in the spirit, rather this absorbing of the Word, communicate to the soul all things that are the Word's. This, then, is how through faith alone without works the soul is justified by the Word of G.o.d, sanctified, made true and peaceful and free, filled with every blessing and made truly a child of G.o.d, as John i says, "To them gave He power to become the sons of G.o.d, even to them that believe on His Name." [John 1:12]

[Sidenote: Faith Justifies]

From what has been said it is easily seen whence faith has such great power, and why no good work nor all good works together can equal it: no work can cling to the Word of G.o.d nor be in the soul; in the soul faith alone and the Word have sway. As the Word is, so it makes the soul, as heated iron glows like fire because of the union of fire with it. It is clear then that a Christian man has in his faith all that he needs, and needs no works to justify him. And if he has no need of works, neither does he need the law; and if he has no need of the law, surely he is free from the law, and it is true, "the law is not made for a righteous man." [1 Tim. 1:9] And this is that Christian liberty, even our faith, which does not indeed cause us to live in idleness or in wickedness, but makes the law and works unnecessary for any man's righteousness and salvation.

[Sidenote: Faith Fulfils the Commands]

This is the first power of faith. Let us now examine the second also.

For it is a further function of faith, that whom it trusts it also honors with the most reverent and high regard, since it considers him truthful and trustworthy. For there is no other honor equal to the estimate of truthfulness and righteousness with which we honor him whom we trust. Or could we ascribe to a man anything greater than truthfulness, and righteousness, and perfect goodness? On the other hand, there is no way in which we can show greater contempt for a man than to regard him as false and wicked and to suspect him, as we do when we do not trust him. So when the soul firmly trusts G.o.d's promises, it regards Him as truthful and righteous, than which nothing more excellent can be ascribed to G.o.d. This is the very highest worship of G.o.d, that we ascribe to Him truthfulness, righteousness and whatever else ought to be ascribed to one who is trusted. Then the soul consents to all His will, then it hallows His name and suffers itself to be dealt with according to G.o.d's good pleasure, because, clinging to G.o.d's promises, it does not doubt that He, Who is true, just and wise, will do, dispose and provide all things well. And is not such a soul, by this faith, in all things most obedient to G.o.d?

What commandment is there that such obedience has not abundantly fulfilled? What more complete fulfilment is there than obedience in all things? But this obedience is not rendered by works, but by faith alone. On the other hand, what greater rebellion against G.o.d, what greater wickedness, what greater contempt of G.o.d is there than not believing His promises? For what is this but to make G.o.d a liar or to doubt that He is truthful?--that is, to ascribe truthfulness to one's self, but to G.o.d lying and vanity? Does not a man who does this deny G.o.d, and in his heart set up himself as his own idol? Then of what avail are works done in such wickedness, even if they were the works of angels and apostles? [Rom. 11:32] Rightly, therefore, has G.o.d concluded all--not in anger or l.u.s.t, but in unbelief; so that they who imagine that they are fulfilling the law by doing the works of chast.i.ty and mercy required by the law (the civil and human virtues), might not be confident that they will be saved; they are included under the sin of unbelief, and must either seek mercy or be justly condemned.

But when G.o.d sees that we count Him to be true, and by the faith of our heart pay Him the great honor which is due Him, He in turn does us the great honor of counting us true and righteous for our faith's sake. For faith works truth and righteousness by giving to G.o.d what belongs to Him; therefore, G.o.d in turn gives glory to our righteousness. It is true and just that G.o.d is truthful and just, and to count Him and confess Him, so is to be truthful and just. So in I Sam. ii, He says, "Them that honor Me, I will honor, and they that despise Me, shall be lightly esteemed." [1 Sam. 2:30] So Paul says in Rom. iv, that Abraham's faith was counted unto him or righteousness, because by it he most perfectly gave glory to G.o.d, and that or the same reason our faith shall be counted unto us or righteousness if we believe. [Rom. 4:3]

[Sidenote: Faith Unites with Christ]

The third incomparable benefit of faith is this, that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. And by this mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh [Eph. 5:31 f.]. And if they are one flesh and there is between them a true marriage, nay, by far the most perfect of all marriages, since human marriages are but frail types of this one true marriage, it follows that all they have they have in common, the good as well as the evil, so that the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as if it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as His own. Let us compare these and we shall see things that cannot be estimated. Christ is full of grace, life and salvation; the soul is full of sins, death and condemnation. Now let faith come between them, and it shall come to pa.s.s that sins, death and h.e.l.l are Christ's, and grace, life and salvation are the soul's. For it behooves Him, if He is a bridegroom, to take upon Himself the things which are His bride's, and to bestow upon her the things that are His.

For if He gives her His body and His very self, how shall He not give her all that is His? And if He takes the body of the bride, how shall He not take all that is hers?

Lo! here we have a pleasant vision not only of communion, but of a blessed strife and victory and salvation and redemption. For Christ is G.o.d and man in one person, Who has neither sinned nor died, and is not condemned, and Who cannot sin, die or be condemned; His righteousness, life and salvation are unconquerable, eternal, omnipotent; and He by the wedding-ring of faith shares in the sins, death and pains of h.e.l.l which are His bride's, nay, makes them His own, and acts as if they were His own, and as if He Himself had sinned; He suffered, died and descended into h.e.l.l that He might overcome them all. Now since it was such a one who did all this, and death and h.e.l.l could not swallow Him up, they were of necessity swallowed up of Him in a mighty duel. For His righteousness is greater than the sins of all men, His life stronger than death. His salvation more invincible than h.e.l.l. Thus the believing soul by the pledge of its faith is free in Christ, its Bridegroom, from all sins, secure against death and against h.e.l.l, and is endowed with the eternal righteousness, life and salvation of Christ, its Bridegroom. So He presents to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle [Eph. 5:27], cleansing her with the washing in the Word of life, that is, by faith in the Word of life, of righteousness, and of salvation. Thus He marries her to Himself in faith, in loving kindness, and in mercies, in righteousness and in judgment, as Hosea ii says. [Hos. 2:19 f.]

Who, then, can fully appreciate what this royal marriage means? Who can understand the riches of the glory of this grace? Here this rich and G.o.dly Bridegroom Christ marries this poor, wicked harlot, redeems her from all her evil and adorns her with all His good. It is now impossible that her sins should destroy her, since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and she has that righteousness in Christ her husband of which she may boast as of her own, and which she can confidently set against all her sins in the face of death and h.e.l.l, and say, "If I have sinned, yet my Christ, in Whom I believe, has not sinned, and all His is mine, and all mine is His"--as the bride in the Song of Solomon says, "My beloved is mine, and I am his."