Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  To know and judge concerning doctrine belongs to all men, even to individual Christians; and in such a way belongs that, Let him be anathema who shall injure this right, even in the least particular. For Christ Himself instituted this right by various invincible sayings, such as (Matt. VII): Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing. This saying speaks to the people against their teachers, and commands them to avoid their false teachings. But how can they avoid them unless they know? And how know unless they have the right of judging? And here Christ has established not only the right, but the commandment to judge, so that this sole authority can be sufficient against the opinions of all the Fathers, of all the Councils, and of all the Schools, which reserve the right of judging and discerning as only to be exercised by bishops and ministers, and have thus impiously and sacrilegiously taken it away from the people, that is from the rightful queen of the Church. For Christ stands saying: Beware of false prophets.

  With this agree almost all the voices of the prophets. For what do the prophets do except warn the people not to believe in false prophets? And what is this warning but a declaration and confirmation of the people having the right to judge and discern, a putting them in mind of their own work, and a stirring them up against the doctrines of all their priests and teachers?

  Wherefore we here conclude that as many times as Moses, Joshua, David and all the prophets in the Old Testament call and admonish the people, so many times they shout, command, affirm and stir up the right of the people to discern and judge all the dogmas of all its teachers. And this they do in an infinite number of places. Has this our Henry, or any other impure Thomist, anything to bark against these arguments? Have we not stopped the mouths of those that speak wickedness?

  Let us come to the New Testament. Christ says (John X): My sheep hear My voice, and do not hear the voice of strangers, but flee from them. Does He not here make the sheep judges, and give to those that hear the right of discernment? And Paul, when (I Cor., XIV) he says, Let one speak, let the others judge; but if anything be revealed to one that is sitting, let the former speaker hold his peace, — does he not here desire that the judgment should rest with the hearer? If Christ (Matt. XXIV and everywhere) says in His teaching anything of false teachers, and Peter and Paul of false apostles, who are teachers, and John of proving the spirits, it follows that the authority in judging, proving and condemning lies with the people, arid lies with them most rightfully. For every man, at his own peril, believes either rightly or wrongly; and therefore each must take care, on his own behalf, that he believe rightly. So that even common sense, and the need of salvation, argue the necessity of the hearer having the judgment. Otherwise it would be useless to say, Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. And again: The spiritual man judgeth all things, and is judged by no man. And whoever is a Christian is spiritual from having the spirit of Christ. All things are yours, Paul saith, whether Apollos, or Paul, or Cephas, that is to say, Ye have the right of judging the sayings and doings of all men.

  You now see of what spirit were those sacrilegious and abominable Councils, which against so many clear fulminations of Scripture, and such uncontrovertible opinions, have dared to arrogate to themselves as Bishops the right of judging and discerning, and, above all, of commanding and constructing. Without doubt from Satan came those thoughts, whereby he has inundated the world with the workings of error, and has set up an abomination in the sacred place; and this he has done with unchallenged tyranny after having taken from the people their authority as judges, which false teachers were obliged to fear. For thus the way was laid open, through the stolid and superstitious obedience of the people, for all errors and abominations to rush in.

  And here let me not forget my Henry, and the Sophists, who depend for their faith on length of time and numbers of men. In the first place he cannot deny that this tyranny of taking away this right has lasted more than a thousand years. For in the Council of Nicaea itself, the best of all the Councils, even then they were beginning to make laws and claim that right for themselves. And from that time till the present, it has been in force, so that nothing is more worthy to be received, nor can anything be more firmly proved on the theory of numbers and duration than this usurpation. So much so that there is no one today who does not think it to be wholesome, right, and divine. Nevertheless you see how this thing is sacrilege and impiety against the clear and invincible Scriptures of God.

  Wherefore if such error, and such sacrilege, for such length of time has reigned among such great numbers of men who were either consenting, or seduced, or approving, and has reigned against the truth of God, I wish here, once for all, that, as regards the Sophists and Papists, their chief argument from duration and numbers should be trampled in the dust, and their mouths stopped, that they may see why God wills that we should believe in no creature whatever, however continuous, or numerous, or stupendous it may be, but only in His infallible word.

  We have it established then beyond all controversy that the right of discerning and judging doctrines, or of approving teachers, is within our power, and not in the power of Councils, or Bishops, or Fathers, or Doctors. But it does not follow from this that at the same time we have the right to make laws; for this belongs to God alone. Our duty is to recognize His law (and His word), to approve it, judge and separate it from all other laws; but in no wise to make laws or make commands. Nor does it follow from the saying of Christ Beware of false prophets that therefore we all should prophesy. Nay as Peter says: No prophecy ever came by the will of man, and no scripture is of private origin, but holy men of God spake by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so it does not follow: My sheep hear My voice, therefore, My sheep construct and make My voice; nay, on the contrary it follows: I make My voice; My sheep recognize it as Mine, approve it, and follow it.

  Wherefore we see by this that all Bishops, all Councils, all Schools, who teach anything else in the Church besides the word of the only God, are wolves, ministers of Satan, and false prophets. At the same time we perceive the remarkable ignorance of our Henry, and all the Thomists, who open their impudent mouths against heaven, and dare to say in this sacrilegious book: Although the sacrament of holy orders was not instituted in the Scriptures, nevertheless the Church has the right to institute it.

  And how foolishly has he applied the saying of Augustine, which he said concerning the Gospel being known and approved by the Church throughout the world, to the right of impious men to establish traditions of their own free-will. This is his way of understanding the sayings of the Fathers and of Scripture. These are they who write defences of the sacraments, whose belief is that numbers and duration have the power to make articles of faith, and who are so dull and stupid that they see no difference between discerning and commanding.

  But here they will say: If the right of judging and proving belongs to single individuals, what will be the limit if the judges dissent, and each one judges after his own decision? Wherefore it is necessary that there be one, with whose judgment the rest may remain contented, so that the unity of the Church may be preserved.

  I reply: This cavil suits none so well as the Thomists. And I also ask: What is the limit today, when all are relying on the judgment of one Pope? Where now is the unity preserved? And is this to preserve the unity, to be united externally under the Pope’s name? Where is the unity of hearts? Who is certain in his conscience that the Pope decides rightly?

  For unless there is certainty, there is no unity. Therefore under the Pope, there is indeed an external show of unity; but within there is nothing hut a Babylon of confusion, no stone upon another stone, no heart agreeing with another heart. Thus you see how successfully human rashness with its statutes provides a remedy in spiritual matters! Therefore must the unity of the Church be sought by another way.

  This is the way which Christ has laid down (John VI): They shall be all taught of God. Every man who hath heard from My Father, cometh unto Me. The Spirit within alone makes men dwell togethe
r in peace in a house; He teaches them to think the same thing, to judge in the same way, to know the same thing, to approve the same thing, to teach alike, to make the same confession, and to follow after the same. Where this Spirit is not, it is impossible that there should be any unity. And even if any unity should exist, it would be but external and feigned unity.

  Wherefore God takes no care whether wicked men are one, or not one, seeing that they are without the unity of the Spirit. To His children it is sufficient for outward unity that there be one Baptism, and one Bread, as being common marks and symbols whereby they profess and exercise their unity of faith and spirit. The Church of the Papists places its unity in the unity of its outward idol the Pope, while inwardly it is broken up by a vast confusion of errors in order to fulfill all the will of Satan.

  Let us return to the institution. We have then taken away the Mass, and we say in triumph against the Defender of the sacraments, that it is not a work nor a sacrifice, but a word and a sign of divine grace, which Christ uses for establishing and strengthening in us faith in Himself. And we see how foolish Satan is, since the longer and fiercer he rages and writes against us, the more senseless and infatuated is his delirium. For this book of the King, as it is about the best in Latinity of all the books that have been written against me, so is it above all others the most blockish and stupid, so that I could almost attribute it to our writers in Leipsic, who are wont thus to babble when their babblement is at its best.

  Having triumphed over the Mass, I think we have triumphed over the whole papacy. For upon the Mass as upon a rock is built the whole papacy with its monasteries, its bishoprics, its colleges, its altars, its ministers, its doctrines, and leans on it with its whole weight. And all these things must fall with the sacrilegious and abominable Mass. So Christ through me has begun to unmask the abomination standing in the holy place, and to destroy him, whose coming was through the operation of Satan in all wonders and lying miracles.

  O that miserable Defender of the Papist Church! O miserable Church which in vain has poured forth its Indulgences for so great a book, except that a worthy reward it gave both to the Defender and to his book! For as are the Indulgences, so is the Church, so is the Defender, and so is the book also.

  These things that I have said are enough for the defence of the chief sacrament, in handling which the Lord Henry greatly laboured with his assertions, as one who was not ignorant that therein lay the main thing for the preservation of the papal reign. The things remaining unsaid I am obliged to defer, being overwhelmed with many occupations, especially with translating the books of the Bible, most necessary works, lest I myself should promote the ends of Satan by my too great zeal in refuting him; for Satan by these senseless books thinks to hinder me, but he will not succeed.

  Nor would it be of any great value to confute the stolid Thomists in their other six sacraments, since they bring forth nothing worth a reply in all that they write of the six sacraments except that one thing which is brought forward concerning the sacrament of holy orders, when Paul forsooth orders Titus that he ordain elders in all the Churches, proving by this passage that he wishes the sacrament of orders to be instituted. But the Thomist trifler sees neither what I may say, nor what he can reply to me.

  I have denied that the giving of orders is a sacrament, that is, a promise with a sign of grace added, such as is baptism and the Bread. I have not denied, nay, I have asserted that there is a calling and an institution to the ministry and to preaching; whether this is done by the authority of a single apostle, or by the Bishop’s authority alone, or by authority of the people’s election and consent, it matters nothing. Although it would appear to be done more rightly by the election and consent of the people, in the manner in which the apostles (Acts VI) instituted seven deacons. For when Paul orders Titus to ordain elders, it does not therefore follow that Titus did that alone by his own authority; but it may be that after the example of the apostles he instituted them by the votes of the people. Otherwise the words of Paul would be in conflict with the example of the Apostles.

  But as to what he alleges concerning the laying on of hands at ordination, even boys see that this has nothing to do with the sacrament of orders. After the manner of the papists he does with Scripture whatever seemeth him good. The laying on of hands, according to what he says, was the visible giving of the Holy Spirit.

  And what shall I say? He has not even wished to understand the meaning of the word sacrament, which he plainly shows when he handles the passage of Paul (Eph. V) concerning matrimony, in which Paul refers to Christ and the Church, saying, This is a great sacrament, but I speak of Christ and the Church. For the Scripture does not permit that matrimony be called a sacrament, since the word sacrament by its general use in Scripture means a secret and hidden thing, which can be apprehended by faith alone. But matrimony is not such a hidden thing, nor is it perceived by faith alone, seeing that unless it be done openly and before men’s eyes, it cannot be matrimony. For matrimony is the outward joining together of a man and a woman, confirmed by a public profession, and by an interchange of vows.

  But it is not to be wondered that the Thomist asses are so ridiculous; for God has willed that they should show no sign of sanity, or even of right thinking. Although I have yielded to the common custom that calls those things sacraments which are rather visible signs, I have at the same time denied that they are called sacraments in the Scriptures.

  The sum of the matter is this: The whole of Henry’s book is based on the words of men, and on the use of the centuries, and on no words of God, nor on any use of the Spirit, as he himself is compelled to confess.

  On the contrary, the sum of my argument is that whereas the words of men, and the use of the centuries, can be tolerated and endorsed, provided they do not conflict with the sacred Scriptures, nevertheless they do not make articles of faith, nor any necessary observances. If therefore King Henry, I in conjunction with all the might and learning of Thomists, papists, devils and men, can show that the observance of human words is necessary, then is Luther overthrown, and this by his own verdict and confession. For then, after all I have said, I must take as articles of faith whatever even the Thomists choose o order. But if Henry cannot show this, then Luther is victorious. For what do they want? Not if they were to write a thousand books against me, will they ever be able with me to make any other issue.

  For I do not ask what Ambrose, Augustine, or the Councils, and use of the centuries say; nor was there any need for King Henry to teach me these things; for I knew them so well that I once before even attacked them, whence the folly of Satan is to be wondered at, which attacks me with the very things which once before attacked; and constantly begs the question. I lo not, I confess, dispute what has been said by some man, or lot said; what has been written, or not written; but I argue whether this saying, or writing, is necessary to be observed, whether it is an article of faith, whether it is on an equality with the word of God, whether it binds the conscience. I put he question: Is it to be liberty, or captivity? For liberty I fight; the King fights for captivity. I have shown the reasonableness of liberty. The King omits his reasons for captivity; and merely babbling on that which is captivity, brings us into bondage without assigning our fault. And so, Farewell to the foolish and unhappy Defender of the Babylonish Captivity, and of his papal Church.

  In conclusion, If my rough speech towards the King offends my man, let him have this for his reply: I am dealing in this book with heartless monsters who have despised all my good and modest writings, and from my humility have become more hardened. In spite of that, I have kept from the virulence and lying with which the King’s book is crammed. Nor is it much if I despise and bite this earthly King, since he has not feared with his words to blaspheme the King of heaven, and to take away by his virulent lies from His holiness. The Lord judges the nations in righteousness. Amen.

  Luther Bible (Original German Text, 1545)

  Martin Luther’s incredible endeavour of translating
the Bible absorbed the latter years of his life. Due to the recently invented printing press, his German language Bible translation was widely disseminated and contributed significantly to the development of the modern High German language. The New Testament was first published in 1522 and the complete Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha was issued in 1534. It was the first full translation of the Bible into German that was based mainly on the original Hebrew and Greek texts and not the Latin Vulgate translation officially used by the Roman Catholic Church.

  While sequestered in Wartburg Castle in 1521, Luther began work on his translation of the New Testament from Greek into German, with the objective of making the text accessible to all the people of the “Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.” He translated from Erasmus’ second edition (1519) of the Greek New Testament, known as the Textus Receptus. It was published in a small octavo format, affordable for many. According to surviving accounts, to aid his translating into contemporary German, Luther made forays into nearby towns and markets to listen to ordinary people speaking. He wanted to ensure their comprehension by translating as closely as possible to their language usage. His translation was published in September 1522, six months after he had returned to Wittenberg.

  The translation of the entire Bible into German was published in a six-part edition in 1534, a collaborative effort of Luther and many others such as Johannes Bugenhagen, Justus Jonas, Caspar Creuziger, Philipp Melanchthon, Matthäus Aurogallus and Georg Rörer. Luther worked on refining the translation up until his death in 1546. He opted to place the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments. These books and addenda to Biblical canon of the Old Testament are found in the ancient Greek Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew Masoretic text. Luther left the translating of them largely to Philipp Melanchthon and Justus Jonas.