Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  This, then, is the highest image of all, in which we are lifted up, not only above our evils, but above our blessings as well, and are set down amid strange blessings, brought together by another’s labor; whereas we formerly lay among evils, heaped up by another’s sin,76 and added to by our own. We are set down, I say, in Christ’s righteousness, with which He Himself is righteous; because we cling to that righteousness by which He is well pleasing to God, intercedes for us as our Mediator, and gives Himself wholly to be our own, as our High-Priest and Protector. Therefore, as it is impossible that Christ, with His righteousness, should not please God, so it is impossible that we should not please Him. Hence it comes that a Christian is almighty, lord of all,77 having all things, and doing all things, wholly without sin. And even if he have sins, they can in no wise harm him, but are forgiven for the sake of the inexhaustible righteousness of Christ that swalloweth up all sins, on which our faith relies, firmly trusting that He is such a Christ unto us as we have described. But if any one does not believe this, he hears the tale with deaf ears,78 and does not know Christ, and understands neither what blessings He hath nor how they may be enjoyed.

  Therefore, if we considered it aright and with attentive hearts, this image alone would suffice to fill us with so great comfort that we should not only not grieve over our evils, [Rom. 5:3] but even glory in our tribulations, nay, scarcely feel them, for the joy that we have in Christ. In which glorying may Christ Himself instruct us, our Lord and God, blessed for evermore. Amen. [Rom. 9:5]

  EPILOGUE

  WITH THESE PRATTLINGS of mine, Most Illustrious Prince, in token of my willingness to serve your Lordship to the best of my poor ability, I commend myself to your Illustrious Lordship, being ready to bring a worthier offering, if ever my mental powers shall equal my desires. For I shall always remain a debtor to every neighbor of mine, but most of all to your Lordship, whom may our Lord Jesus Christ, in His merciful kindness, long preserve to us, and at last by a blessed death take home to Himself. Amen.

  Your Most Illustrious Lordship’s

  Intercessor,

  Brother Martin Luther,

  Augustinian at Wittenberg.

  ENDNOTES.

  1 Written by Luther for the last edition of 1535.

  2 Compare to the Preface to the Complete Works (1545), page 11 of this volume.

  3 Antilogistae; the hunters of contradictions and inconsistencies in Luther’s writings, such as John Faber, who published, in 1530, his Antilogiarum Mart. Lutheri Babylonia. Compare also reference in preceding note.

  4 As over against Christ and the saints in His train, the devil and his followers are represented here, as frequently in Luther, under the figure of a dragon with a scaly tail.

  5 Omitted, through on oversight, from the Latin editio princeps. See Introduction, p. 105.

  6 On the political influence of Frederick, as a factor in the

  German Reformation, see Hermelink, Reformation und

  Gegenreformation (Krüger’s Handbuch der Kirchengeschicte, 3.

  Teil), p. 67.

  7 Tessaradecas.

  8 See Introduction, pp. 106 f.

  9 In the body of the work Luther places (6) between (3) and (4).

  10 A reminiscence of Luther’s childhood?

  11 Luther has particular reference to the Elector’s high rank.

  12 Luther follows the Vulgate numbering of the Psalms, which differs from the Hebrew (and the English and German). As far as Ps. 8 both agree; but the Vulgate (following the Greek version) counts Ps. 9 and 10 as one, thus dropping behind one in the numbering. But it divides Ps. 147 into two; vv. 1-11 being counted as Ps. 146, and vv. 12-20 as Ps. 147; and so both versions agree again from Ps. 148 to 150.

  13 Job calls it a “warfare” (militia).

  14 Luther harks back to his discussion of this point in the Preface, p. 113.

  15 Particular reference to the Elector.

  16 See pp. 147 ff.

  17 Cypr. de mortal. c. V.

  18 Vulgate reading.

  19 See pp. 149 f.

  20 From the Vulgate.

  21 Luther is probably thinking of his own experience, when, near Erfurt, he came near bleeding to death from an injury to his ankle. See Köstlin-Kawerau, Martin Luther, I, 44.

  22 Luther no longer held this view of “satisfaction” in 1535. See also pp. 150 and 161.

  23 Luther is thinking here specifically of the Elector.

  24 He means the communion of saints. See next chapter.

  25 According to the Vulgate (Douay Version).

  26 August 29th. See Introduction, p. 105.

  27 Cf. A Discussion of Confession, above, p. 82.

  28 Luther might have considerably revised this whole paragraph.

  29 This seems to refer to the writers of the Holy Scriptures.

  30 A reference to the threefold baptism, commonly accepted, viz., (1) fluminia, (2) flaminis, (3) sanguinis; that is, (1) the Sacrament of baptism, (2) the baptism of the Spirit, or repentance, (3) the baptism of blood, or martyrdom. Cf. PRE3, XIX, 414.

  31 Frederick the Wise was a pious collector of relics, having 5005 of them in the Castle Church at Wittenberg. They had something to do with Luther’s choice of October 31st as the date of the posting of the XCV Theses. See Introduction to the Theses, p. 16 of this volume, note 1.

  32 Cf. Letter to George Leiffer, 15 April, 1516. See M. A. Cueriz, The Letters of M. Luther, p. 7.

  33 i. e., The sign of the cross.

  34 As much as, “We are in for a bad hour,” and, “A good hour is worth a bad hour.”

  35 See p. 134.

  36 In this passage “Wisdom” is the subject.

  37 In the Sanctus.

  38 See p. 118.

  39 Luther quotes a verse from Ps. 106, which sums up the contents of Ps. 78.

  40 Luther uses sensualitas the first time, and sensus the second.

  41 See p.115.

  42 The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book IX, chapter 1.

  43 Luther is probably thinking of the sin of suicide.

  44 From the Vulgate (Douay Version).

  45 Namely, the hope of the passing evil and the coming of good things. See above.

  46 The last two passages read thus in the Vulgate.

  47 See p. 122.

  48 Cf. p. 127, note.

  49 Thus the Vulgate.

  50 Ovid, Ars amat., I, 656.

  51 Cf. Treatise on Baptism, above, p. 66.

  52 See pp. 123 ff.

  53 The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book I, chap. vi.

  54 Thus the Vulgate.

  55 Comm. in Ps. xxxix, No. 27.

  56 Book VIII, chap. xi.

  57 See p. 152.

  58 See pp. 126 ff.

  59 See pp. 126 ff.

  60 Gregor. dialogorum libri iv, containing number of examples of the terrible end of the wicked.

  61 One of the passages Luther did not care to correct. Compare p. 127, note.

  62 Luther here unites the mythological figures of chimaera and alren.

  63 An Italian saint whose festival is observed on February 5th, whose worship flourishes especially in South Italy and Sicily, and whose historical existence is doubtful.

  64 See pp. 133 ff.

  65 Luther has mistaken the chapter.

  66 For the various interpretations of the “communion of the saints” among mediæval theologians, See Reinh. Seeberg, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte, 1st ed., vol. ii, p.127, note. Luther in the Sermon von dem hochwürdigen Sacrament des heiligen wahren Leichnams Christi (1519), still accepts the phrase as meaning the participation in the Sacrament, and through it the participation in “the spiritual possessions of Christ and His saints.” In our treatise, it is taken as the definition of “the holy Catholic Church,” in the sense of a communion with the saints. In The Papacy at Rome (later in the same year), it becomes the communion or community (consisting of saints, or believers; as a Gemeinde oder Sammlung. Compare the classical passage in the Large Catechism (1529):
“nicht Gemenschaft, sondern Gemeine.”

  67 See A Discussion of Confession, above, p. 88.

  68 Changed to “Christian” in the Catechisms (1529), although the Latin translations retain catholocism.

  69 The Apostle does not say, “one cup.”

  70 The translation here follows the reading of the Jena Ed. (huc feratur intuitus), as against that of the Weimar and Erl. Edd. (huc foratur intutus).

  71 Thus the Vulgate.

  72 See pp. 137 ff.

  73 Vulgate.

  74 Namely, after His resurrection.

  75 Compare the different form of this verse on p. 112.

  76 He means the sin of Adam.

  77 The germ of The Liberty of a Christian Man (1520).

  78 Cf. Terence’s surdo narrare fabulam. Heauton., 222.

  Treatise on Good Works (1520)

  Translated by A. T. W. Steinhaeuser

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  ENDNOTES.

  A TREATISE ON GOOD WORKS

  DEDICATION

  THE TREATISE

  ENDNOTES.

  INTRODUCTION

  1. THE OCCASION of the Work. — Luther did not impose himself as a reformer upon the Church. In the course of a conscientious performance of the duties of his office, to which he had been regularly and divinely called, and without any urging on his part, he attained to this position by inward necessity. In 1515 he received his appointment as the standing substitute for the sickly city pastor, Simon Heinse, from the city council of Wittenberg. Before this time he was obliged to preach only occasionally in the convent, apart from his activity as teacher in the University and convent. Through this appointment he was in duty bound, by divine and human right, to lead and direct the congregation at Wittenberg on the true way to life, and it would have been a denial of the knowledge of salvation which God had led him to acquire, by way of ardent inner struggles, if he had led the congregation on any other way than the one God had revealed to him in His Word. He could not deny before the congregation which had been intrusted to his care, what up to this time he had taught with ever increasing clearness in his lectures at the University — for in the lectures on the Psalms, which he began to deliver in 1513, he declares his conviction that faith alone justifies, as can be seen from the complete manuscript, published since 1885, and with still greater clearness from his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (1515-1516), which is accessible since 1908; nor what he had urged as spiritual adviser of his convent brethren when in deep distress — compare the charming letter to Georg Spenlein, dated April 8, 1516,1

  Luther’s first literary works to Appear in print were also occasioned by the work of his calling and of his office in the Wittenberg congregation. He had no other object in view than to edify his congregation and to lead it to Christ when, in 1517, he published his first independent work, the Explanation of the Seven Penitential Psalms. On Oct 31 of the same year he published his 95 Theses against Indulgences. These were indeed intended as controversial theses for theologians, but at the same time it is well known that Luther was moved by his duty toward his congregation to declare his position in this matter and to put in issue the whole question as to the right and wrong of indulgences by means of his theses. His sermon Of Indulgences and Grace, occasioned by Tetzel’s attack and delivered in the latter part of March, 1515, as well as his sermon Of Penitence, delivered about the same time, were also intended for his congregation. Before his congregation (Sept., 1516-Feb., 1517) he delivered the Sermons on the Ten Commandments, which were published in 1518, and the Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, which were also published in 1518 by Agricola. Though Luther in the same year published a series of controversial writings, which were occasioned by attacks from outside sources, viz., the Resolutiones disputationis de virtute indulgentiarum, the Asterisci adversus obeliscos Joh. Eccii, and the Ad dialogum Silv. Prieriatis responsio, still he never was diverted by this necessary rebuttal from his paramount duty, the edification of the congregation. The autumn of the year 1518, when he was confronted with Cajetan, as well as the whole year of 1519, when he held his disputations with Eck, etc, were replete with disquietude and pressing labors; still Luther served his congregation with a whole series of writings during this time, and only regretted that he was not entirely at its disposal. Of such writings we mention: Explanation of the Lord’s Prayer for the simple Laity (an elaboration of the sermons of 1517); Brief Explanation of the Ten Commandments; Instruction concerning certain Articles, which might be ascribed and imputed to him by his adversaries; Brief Instruction how to Confess; Of Meditation on the Sacred Passion of Christ; Of Twofold Righteousness; Of the Matrimonial Estate; Brief Form to understand and to pray the Lord’s Prayer; Explanation of the Lord’s Prayer “vor sich und hinter sich”; Of Prayer and Processions in Rogation Week; Of Usury; Of the Sacrament of Penitence; Of Preparation for Death; Of the Sacrament of Baptism; Of the Sacrament of the Sacred Body; Of Excommunication. With but few exceptions these writings all speared in print in the year 1519, and again it was the congregation which Luther sought primarily to serve. If the bounds of his congregation spread ever wider beyond Wittenberg, so that his writings found a surprisingly ready sale, even afar, that was not Luther’s fault. Even the Tessaradecas consolatoria,2 written in 1519 and printed in 1530, a book of consolation, which was originally intended for the sick Elector of Saxony, was written by him only upon solicitation from outside sources.

  To this circle of writings the treatise Of Good Works also belongs. Though the incentive for its composition came from George Spalatin, court-preacher to the Elector, who reminded Luther of a promise he had given, still Luther was willing to undertake it only when he recalled that in a previous sermon to his congregation he occasionally had made a similar promise to deliver a sermon on good works;3 and when Luther actually commenced the composition he had nothing else in view but the preparation of a sermon for his congregation on this important topic.

  But while the work was in progress the material so accumulated that it far outgrew the bounds of a sermon for his congregation. On March 25. he wrote to Spatatin that it would become a whole booklet instead of a sermon; on May 5. he again emphasizes the growth of the material; on May 13. he speaks of its completion at an early date, and on June 8. he could send Melanchthon a printed copy. It was entitled: Von den gutenwerckenn: D. M. L. Vuittenherg. On the last page it bore the printer’s mark: Getruck zu Wittenberg bey dem iungen Melchior Lotther. Im Tausent funfhundert vnud zweynitzsgen Jar. It filled not less than 58 leaves, quarto. In spite of its volume, however, the intention of the book for the congregation remained, now however, not only for the narrow circle of the Wittenberg congregation, but for the Christian layman in general. In the dedicatory preface Luther lays the greatest stress upon this, for he writes: “Though I know of a great many, and must hear it daily, who think lightly of my poverty and say that I write only small Sexternlein (tracts of small volume) and German sermons for the untaught laity, I will not permit that to move me. Would to God that during my life I had served but one layman for his betterment with all my powers; it would be sufficient for me, I would thank God and suffer all my books to perish thereafter…Most willingly I will leave the honor of greater things to others, and not at all will I be ashamed of preaching and writing German to the untaught laity.”

  Since Luther had dedicated the afore-mentioned Tessaradecas conolatoria to the reigning Prince,4 he now, probably on Spalatin’s recommendation, dedicated the Treatise on Good Works to his brother John, who afterward, in 1525, succeeded Frederick in the Electorate. There was probably good reason for dedicating the book to a member of the reigning house. Princes have reason to take a special interest in the fact that preaching on good works should occur within their realm, for the safety and sane development of their kingdom depend hugely upon the cultivation of morality on the part of their subjects. Time and again the papal church had commended herself to princes and statesmen by her emphatic teaching of good works. Luther,
on the other hand, had been accused — like the Apostle Paul before him (Rom. 3:31) — that the zealous performance of good works had abated, that the bonds of discipline had slackened and that, as a necessary consequence, lawlessness and shameless immorality were being promoted by his doctrine of justification by faith alone. Before 1517 the rumor had already spread that Luther intended to do away with good works. Duke George of Saxony had received no good impression from a sermon Luther had delivered at Dresden, because he feared the consequences which Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone might have upon the morals of the masses. Under these circumstances it would not have been surprising if a member of the Electoral house should harbor like scruples, especially since the full comprehension of Luther’s preaching on good works depended on an evangelical understanding of faith, as deep as was Luther’s own. The Middle Ages had differentiated between fides informis, a formless faith, and fides formata or informata, a formed or ornate faith. The former was held to be a knowledge without any life or effect, the latter to be identical with love, for, as they said, love which proves itself and is effective in good works must be added to the formless faith, as its complement and its content, well pleasing to God. In Luther’s time every one who was seriously interested in religious questions was reared under the influence of these ideas.5