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Martin Luther Quotes
THE LAW
I recently wrote about the life of Martin Luther, the German Reformer. Today I have Martin Luther Quotes to share with you.
"The law is a light that illumines and shows, not the grace of God or righteousness and life, but the wrath of God, sin, death, our damnation in the sight of God, and hell. Such an awareness of divine judgment, which brought knowledge of oneself through the revelation of the law of God, is the basis of authentic repentance. Authentic repentance stands in contrast to the fictitious penance of the scholastics, as is taught to this hour."
The law is a divinely appointed instrument for exhibiting the wrath of God and the sin of man. "Once the repentant sinner has been awakened by the proclamation of the law to recognize his true condition before God, the law has performed its task and must yield to the promise of the Gospel, which the sinner accepts by faith alone, without any merit or reliance on the works of the law." "All men are under sin and worthy of eternal wrath and death. Thus we preach repentance."
THE PAPACY
Martin Luther came to deny that the papacy had any authority and to denounce it as Antichrist. He also denounced the sacramental system: "Baptism and the Eucharist are the only true sacraments of the New Testament Church. The church did not have the authority to institute new sacraments for which there was no explicit command and promise in Scripture."
"The pope is the Antichrist, seated in the temple of God. The Church in which he is seated is still the temple of God. Despite the corruption of both faith and practice, the reality of the body of Christ is still with the Roman Catholics. For the Church is the assembly of all believers. The Church is the daughter of the Word, not the mother of the Word. If I were the only one in the entire world to adhere to the Word, I alone would be the Church."
"A Minister is appointed by God and entrusted to preach the Word for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, rather than for his own glory."
THE WORD OF GOD
Luther designated the Word of God in the Gospel as an oral Word.
"When I refer to the Word of God in the Gospel I am not referring to the written Word, but about the vocal one.
Christ himself did not write but he preached.
And he commanded his disciples not to write but to preach.
The Gospel should be brought out of the living voice and mouth.
All Scripture is inspired of God."
THE CHURCH
Luther valued continuity with ancient doctrine, the church fathers, and above all the creeds of the ancient church. "I stand with the true Christian Church, which has maintained these confessions until now, and not with the false, vainglorious church, which is the worst enemy of the true church and has introduced all sorts of idolatry alongside these beautiful confessions. The ancient creeds and councils did not spawn new dogmas but merely summarized Scripture."
"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." Luther saw the nature of the Church as functional rather than institutional.
GOOD WORKS
"We do everything by necessity and nothing by our free will, since the power of the free will is nothing and neither does the good nor is capable of it in the absence of grace. Free will is confined to natural matters, such as eating, drinking, procreating, governing, and the like." Man possesses the capacity to respond to divine grace, for if men were not able to assent to the Word of God, they could not be held accountable for refusing to assent. But any notion of merit as the basis of man's relation to God is excluded. "No good work is performed before grace, but only wrath, sin, terror, and death." Obedience to the divine will was truly pleasing to God, but salvation is not by good works. "Human traditions instituted to propitiate God, merit grace, and make satisfaction for sins, are opposed to the Gospel and the doctrine of faith. The proliferation of these human requirements about works that were thought to earn the favor of God had obscured the grace of Christ and the doctrine of faith."
"Faith must be the foreman behind works. Faith is not opposed to good works; on the contrary, it is only by the righteousness of faith that one could be set free from the anxiety of seeking to appease the wrath God by works and can go on for the first time to perform good works. The good works of faith are works for the benefit of the neighbor. It is not necessary to perform them for one's own benefit or to gain the favor of God."
FORGIVENESS OF SINS
At the center of Luther's doctrine is the forgiveness of sins. "The forgiveness of sins is the very voice of the Gospel. We do not depend on our own strength, conscience, experience, person, or works, but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is, on the promise and truth of God. God averts His eyes from our sins, yes, even from our righteousness and virtues, and reckons us as righteous because of faith, which lays hold of His Son. Faith is our righteousness before God. Christ is our righteousness; as God and man he has by His perfect obedience redeemed us from our sins, justified and saved us. Salvation and forgiveness come solely by the grace of Christ and all toil and effort to seek other ways leading to heaven are futile and vain. This is vitiated when grace is interpreted as a disposition within man rather than as the unmerited favor and forgiving mercy of God. Faith is above all a firm trust for which Christ is the object of faith; believing that the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are historically true—but that above all that they are true for me." The doctrine of justification by faith implies that the justified sinner is, throughout his life, righteous and a sinner at the same time. Righteous not because of a righteousness of his own, but the righteousness of Christ. Our confidence must be and remain in the cross.
THE TRUTH
The truths of the Christian faith are not to be treated as objects of intellectual curiosity. To Martin Luther, these truths are: "I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, delivered me and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with silver and gold but with his holy and precious blood and with his innocent sufferings and death, in order that I may be his, live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns for all eternity." Christ was what he was in order to do what he did. "Christ is the one who has made satisfaction, he is the one who is righteous, he is my defense, he is the one who died for me."
"God wants to remain hidden and do everything behind his masks; all of creation is such a mask of God. It is necessary to distinguish between God and his masks. God is a supernatural, inscrutable being who exists at the same time in every seed, whole and entire, and yet also in all and above all and outside all created things. Nothing is so small but God is still smaller, nothing so large but God is still larger. God strictly forbids the speculative investigation of his divinity, which will remain hidden except in Christ, through whom the unrevealed God became the revealed God."
The Gospel is the knowledge of the grace and mercy of God through Christ; the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of eternal life through Christ. The Gospel is a promise.
These quotes are from the book by Jaroslav Pelikan Reformation of Church and Dogma
Comments
WOW!!! Very nice Hub and brimming with information.
thanks for sharing!!
Nice hub James. Your work is always a learning experience. Martin Luther was quite a contributor to Christianity. God Bless You , and Happy Easter.
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singlmomat52— Thank you so much for being my first visitor! You are welcome. I'm glad you came.
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stars439— Thank you, my brother. Happy Easter to you & your lovely wife and precious daughter.
Cool pictures. I especially like the one of the Throne Room of God. I think I have seen that one before somewhere.
Interesting hub as always, James....
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advisor4qb— Thank you, my dear. I have used that Throne Room picture several times before. It is a personal favorite. I appreciate the visit. Happy Easter!
A great hub, James. Martin Luther's quote remined me of one of the OT prophets who wrote, Jer 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."
EDIT: Found the verse and edited my comment.
Great Hub during this season for reflection!
James Amen and Happy Easter!
James,
First, "Wrath" of God.
Why is God so angry, and into punishment?
Second, I am not really impressed by the words of Martin Luther. You can't question divinity, then there would only be one religion for one God. It is not reasonable to believe that all religions are speaking to the same God.
Happy Easter
Can I ever say anything other than "Awesome" ? [smiles]
May I ask where you got that picture of the throne of God?
Oh..an answer to one of my questions..was here..so Thank you, again, James.
I love, love, love quotes and love the role Luther played in the reformation. Thank God for that! And thank you for another great hub, James! Bravo!
Martin Luther made more sense and I agree with him about the pope and it hadn't changed. I think the whole set-up is disgusting. All these centuries they done everything what God forbidden and yet they are rightous. Right from the ordenary person to the top. Thank you, James, for a great hub ---- again.
The law gives us the picture of how dirty we are before God and shows us how the blood and mercy of Christ is the only thing that can redeem us. If it wasn't for the law we would not be able to see the great love of Christ. Good hub!
James,
Happy Easter brother!!!!! What a beatiful morning!!!!!!
Alleluia Christ arose!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Easter. I enjoy your well researched and well written explanations. Thank you.
James- This was the perfect way to start the day.............. Martin Luther knew what he was talking about!
Have a wonderful Easter............
Kaie
Interesting ML quotes. I wonder what he would have to say about the Catholic church today.
Thank you James and have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!
Forever His,
Christianity is suffering because of those who are anti-Christ,the Catholic church,in particular is suffering- very much so .
Much healing is needed,primarily within each of our hearts
Happy Easter Sunday and God Bless.
'He is Risen'
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SirDent— Thank you for coming by to read my article. I appreciate your compliment and the Scripture.
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Partisan Patriot— Thank you! Happy Easter to you!
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greatAmerican— Thanks for coming by. Happy Easter!
Great hub James! Happy Easter!
I would also like to say in response to OpinionDuck - There is only one God. Ephesians 4:4-6 tells us: There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
James,
Great theology... I found a wonderful article that expounds on what you have said. Again, C.S. Lewis has been quoted-an all time favorite. Happy Easter !
Written by ray@keepbelieving.com
"Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15)
It all comes down to this eventually.
In the Greek text the word you has an enormous stress. In fact, the word you really goes at the first of the sentence. It is as if Jesus is saying, "But you who have followed me and have known me from the beginning, who do you say that I am?" It is the greatest question in the entire universe and it is one which every person must eventually answer.
Whenever there was a question, Peter would always be the first one to answer. And when Peter answers here, he is not speaking simply for himself, but for all the disciples. His answer is very, very specific. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matthew 16:16). In the Greek, the word "the" is repeated four times. You could translate it this way: "You are the Christ, the Son of the God, the Living One." Peter was saying, "I know who you are. You are the Messiah sent to save us and you are the Son of God from heaven." It is short and simple. Everything necessary for salvation is included in that statement.
I think some people would read that statement and say, "Well, that's no big deal. I would say that, too." Sure, Christians everywhere would stand up and say, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." But Peter was the first person in human history ever to say it out loud. And he said it when few were with Jesus and many were against him. He deserves all the credit, for without his confession there would be no Christian church.
Does it matter what we believe? These are the words of C. S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to (pp. 52-53).
To be almost right about Jesus is to be totally wrong. Why? Because we are not saved by good opinions about Jesus. We not saved because we have a good feeling about Jesus. We are not saved because we like his moral teaching. That is not enough. We are saved because we have entrusted ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Messiah and the Son of the Living God. By his death and resurrection he has saved us from our sins.
Does it matter what we believe about Jesus? Yes, it does. The truth about Jesus is the difference between heaven and hell.
Jesus has a question for you today, it's the same one he asked 2000 years ago.
"Who do you say that I am?"
Our God and Father, we gladly take our place with the confessing church around the world. We do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. May we never be ashamed of him and never be ashamed to make that confession. Amen.
You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com.
Martin Luther was indeed a great and brave man for his time. Thank you for , the quotes, many of which I'd not heard.
You do a great job, James. God bless
Thanks for wonderful words from a godly man. I love to read the great quotes from people like Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards and Oswald Chambers. It is almost impossible to find the same caliber of writings and quotes today.
A great follow on from you hub on Martin Luther - Happy Easter James.
Great info and writing (as always) - and I love the pictures. Hopefully God does avert his eyes from our sins - profoundly put!
James, Happy Easter Brother, I've not stopped by in a while and wanted to just leave a little blessing on you and yours. Martin Luther is one of my fav's when it comes to pearls of wisdom .. He's got it goin' on! Blessings!
King James:
Sometimes I don't even have a comment. I'm just glad you're still here, and I Love You.
Happy Easter.
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OpinionDuck— Why is God angry? Well, just look around at the behavior of people. We are not robots. We are given the gift of life, given clear rules to live by, and we are very disappointing. Are we thankful for the gift of life? Has mankind behaved well?
Martin Luther did believe there is only one God. So do I.
I hope you had a fine Easter.
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msorensson— Pat Marvenko Smith painted "The Throne Room of God" in 1982. She is a great artist in my book.
http://www.revelationillustrated.com/artist.asp
I'm glad one of your questions was answered. Thank you for the compliment and you're welcome.
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Ann Nonymous— You are most welcome. Thank you for reading my Hub and I appreciate the applause. :D
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Hello, hello,— You are surely welcome. I sincerely appreciate your ongoing encouragement of my writing. I always enjoy hearing from you.
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djbraman— Yes! I think you nailed it. Thank you for reading and for your comments.
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Tom Whitworth— He is risen!!! It was a beautiful morning and today it is again. My Redeemer lives!!
I hope you had a great Easter, Brother. God Bless You.
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sheila b.— You're welcome. Thank you for your kind compliments. Happy Easter to you!
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Kaie Arwen— Martin Luther was a sharp cookie. Thank you for taking the time to read my piece. I appreciate your warm words. I did have a wonderful Easter and I hope you did too, Kaie. :D
James
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RevLady— You are welcome, my dear. I hope you had a blessed Resurrection Sunday! I did.
James
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itakins— Happy Easter to you. He is risen!! Amen. God is great, God is good. I appreciate your comments.
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Kristeen— Thank you very much! Happy Easter to you. I appreciate you for taking the time to read my Hub. I agree with your comments. :-)
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newoman53— Thank you so much for what you wrote. This is outstanding. There is nothing I can add to that.
Happy Easter! :D
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Dim Flaxenwick— You're welcome. Thank you for coming by and for your kind compliments. I am grateful to read them.
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menomania— You are welcome. You are so right. Oswald Chambers is so deep. Edwards is great. Thank you for adding these remarks.
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billyaustindillon— Thank you very much. Happy Easter to you!
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akirchner— Yes, this is our blessed hope. I am glad that you enjoyed the pics and the words. Thank you for saying so.
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Mekenzie— Happy Easter! Thank you for coming by to visit and for the blessings. I appreciate it.
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ArchDynamics— I love you, too, Scott. You are a great friend, as well as a gentleman and a scholar.
Happy Easter!
James,
Great Easter, hope you had a good one also.
In California we had an earthquake that was centered at Mexicali Mexico, but it was feld in Southern California for about 40 seconds.
I thought that the timing of the earthquake on Easter Sunday was interesting.
It was also not very destructive, which added to the interesting concept.
BTW As for the anger because of what the people do, people haven't changed for the better. Not before Ad and not since AD.
The only thing that continues to happen as life continues to cycle is that there will be billions of more sinners and disappointments to God. That in itself is just cruel.
God should have been merciful and destroyed the world after humans graduated from theft to murder.
my opinion...
This is an amazing hub. Martin Luther was one of the best things to have happened in Christianity.
James, I guess I'll rain on the "love fest" that is going on here for Martin Luther. While I agree that he was correct in his efforts to address the substantial problems in Christianity present in the Roman Catholic church at the time, he was not correct in all of his theology and he certainly did not have the mind of Christ when it came to his views of the Jewish people and Judaism. Just take a read of his treatise written in 1543 called "On the Jews and their Lies". His sympathetic stance towards the Jews early in his ministry completely flipped when they did not convert to his reformed Christianity and then he had nothing but terrible things to say about them and how they should be treated. His response certainly fueled the fires of anti-Semitism that raged into the twentieth century. In fact, I read today that the Nazis quoted his material in support of their extermination of the Jews!
So, I have more study to do on his theological positions, but I am certainly prevented from blindly embracing all of Martin Luther's teachings without further investigation and consideration. However, that said, he is certainly a significant figure in the history of Christianity and one I think we would all do well to study much more thoroughly.
Hope you are well. I miss you. Say hi to Nancy from Tara and I.
I think he was a tyrant ...he lost the plot,and damaged rather than healed.
James: nicely done hub.. an interesting read!
Very nicely written, and beautifully articulate. I feel quite inspired now (:
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OpinionDuck— Yes, the timing is interesting. The world isn't cruel if the playing out of it serves ends that justify the means; If it all means something. For those who view life as accidental and without purpose, it is cruel as cruel gets. If God ended the world sooner, you and I wouldn't have had this marvelous chat, not to mention this glorious day. I am glad that I have lived.
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Hummingbird5356— Thank you! Thank you very much.
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John Thorman— Hey, Broham! It's nice to hear from you. I knew about Luther's anti-semitism. I didn't mention it for three reasons. 1. I was certain that someone would do it for me 2. It is difficult for us moderns to put ourselves into the shoes of people who lived 500 years ago (though wrong is always wrong and he was wrong) 3. The book where I got these quotes was only about Christian doctrine and didn't have any quotes by Luther about Jews.
Yes, Luther had feet of clay—like all of us. His theology was groundbreaking for its time. I surely do not agree with all of it. He made a path that others paved. And repaved.
Thank you for your excellent comments. You are right on target.
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mmcooney— I suppose he did plenty of both, like most of us in our legacies. His was just writ large. Thank you for reading and commenting. Welcome to the Hub Pages Community.
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carolina muscle— Thank you! I am well pleased that you found it interesting, my friend.
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henny809— Thank you for coming and for your kind compliments. Welcome to HubPages!
James...
I am always open to your hubs on society, art and religion! You have your very solid position about every one of them, and that I respect! Of all the things said about The Great Architect, I cannot, for the life of me, commune with wrath coming from a Loving God! I believe He made his laws and gave us free will, so it isn`t the "Wrath" of God that punishes us, it is ourselves who self-inflict punishment by breaking his laws!
Nice to read you, as always, nurturing!
Thumbs up!
Warmest regards and infinite eternal blessings,
Al
You summed it up perfectly James. The Gospel is a promise. Luther dared to see beyond men once the Scriptures were made available to him. He willingly challenged things he perceived to be hypocrisy and error. The Catholic Church, like the Pharisees before them, forgot all about the art of humility and service. Wonderful hub. Peace.
Does anyone know the exactness of this 'quote?'
'If at a certain time God wants you to do thusly, and you are off doing something else--even if it's good, you're being disobedient...You have to be serving at your proper station at the proper time doing the proper thing.' That's the meaning, but Luther's exact words I'm forgetting.
Hi James, very interesting quotes from a great man. Much to ponder upon. :)
James A Watkins, Great insightful quotes! Martin Luther no doubt was a brilliant God fearing man! He is point on here; "I stand with the true Christian Church, which has maintained these confessions until now, and not with the false, vainglorious church, which is the worst enemy of the true church and has introduced all sorts of idolatry alongside these beautiful confessions." I so agree!!!
"A Minister is appointed by God and entrusted to preach the Word for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, rather than for his own glory." Amen!
Thank you Professor for sharing as always it has been a pleasure! May the Lord continue to keep you in His care! In His love, Peace & Blessings!
I know the bible says you forgive your brother as many times as he asks you to but if your brother does harm to someone you love or several someones, maybe even causing death, never even admitting much less asking forgiveness, do you think God wants us to forgive them, and is there not scripture that a man was killed or possibly just allowed to die so his soul may be saved? As if you see a Christian sinning and not being chastised then you know he is a bastard, and not a child of God? Is that not also scripture. lol...just take your pick, answer any of those questions you understand.
Wow! James I am left speechless! Incredible hub!
Rated ya' up!
I especially like the quote about the verbal wor dof God. Isn't that what we are to be about? Verbalizing God's truth for others to hear? Thanks for this hub.
Sorry I didn't say good hub, of course it is, I can already see we see pretty much the same, just kind of got ahead of myself, looking for answers I'm not sure of. I would be a very aggravating pupil. If I am in the wrong room just point me to the right one.
Those quotes really give insight into the mind of Martin Luther. Thanks.
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Mystique1957— It's always great to hear from you, Al. I appreciate you stopping by with your gentle voice of reason. I especially liked what you said here:
"I believe He made his laws and gave us free will, so it isn`t the "Wrath" of God that punishes us, it is ourselves who self-inflict punishment by breaking his laws!"
Well done, my friend. Thank you for that and your ongoing encouragement.
This hub is timely and important. The study of the past is a study in the future.
Reality check... where are we today?
Pollyannalana, I hear you. Those are good questions. My answer is to let God be God... wrong doers will have to answer for their deeds. Holding on to resentments, or hatred against them will not punish the perpetrator...you only harm yourself more. Forgiveness does not always mean you forget the transgression against you, (as a matter of fact, I have seen some religious writ that encourages you to write down and document the wrongs, so that at the day of judgment, crimes against you will be addressed, and you will get justice), then avoid similar situations in the future. But, let it go for now and trust that God will do what He says He will do.
As I see it, if you don't, you punish yourself more, and the perpetrator still goes unashamed and laughing at your agony. Why give them more pleasure?
Repentance in your case doesn't mean to 'quit doing wrong,' or 'feel sorrow for wrongs committed'... repentance means "turn to God and trust Him. ...feel His love for you."
From my experience, this truly brings peace, and assurance that the wicked will have their day in court, and justice will be served.
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A M Werner— Thank you very much for your gracious compliments. Your a bit of a tough crowd and that makes your affirmation all the more gratifying to me. :D
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paul— I don't know the exact words or the origin of that particular quote but it does sound like Luther and it makes sense if one looks at it more than superficially. Thank you for reading my article and leaving that gem for us.
As always a nice controversial hub.
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ripplemaker— Well, I'll be. It has been a long time since I heard your angelic voice. Thank you for coming by and for your fine words. Great to see you!
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DeBorrah K. Ogans— The quotes you selected to comment on are two of his best. A lot of preachers even today would be wise to remember the latter one.
Thank you so much, my dear, for coming by with your affirmation. It always brings me joy to see your face and read your words in this space and in your outstanding Hubs. God Bless You Sister!
This hub is an absolute treasure trove of inspired material that should provide a rich reference for any scholar.
I would slghtly demur, however, on the analysis of Luther's assertion that, "Faith is our righteousness before God. Christ is our righteousness; as God and man he has by His perfect obedience redeemed us from our sins, justified and saved us. Salvation and forgiveness come solely by the grace of Christ and all toil and effort to seek other ways leading to heaven are futile and vain. This is vitiated when grace is interpreted as a disposition within man rather than as the unmerited favor and forgiving mercy of God. Faith is above all a firm trust for which Christ is the object of faith; believing that the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are historically true—but that above all that they are true for me."
Whilst I agree with Luther, I think it incorrect to infer therefore that, 'The doctrine of justification by faith implies that the justified sinner is, throughout his life, righteous and a sinner at the same time.'
The doctrine of justification implies no such thing. The whole thrust of the Gospel is that God punished ALL of our sins at the Cross. When we accept this as truth by grace through faith then God no longer sees the believer as a 'sinner' otherwise Christ's work was left unfinished.
The mistake is to read the Greek 'sin' as a noun when Paul wrote ir as a verb. As believers, we still DO sinful things, but that no more makes us 'sinners' than doing 'good works' could ever have made us righteous.
The same legal force applied by God to impute our sins on his own sinless Son is that by which he imputes his Son's righteousness to us.
We were never sinners because we sinned, we were sinners because Adam's sin was imputed to us. Salvation is appropriated when by faith we substitute Christ for Adam as a our Father.
What at first seems an unfair principle, that of patriarchal representation of an entire race, is in fact God's most ingenious mechanism by which he was able to affect Salvation...
Or, as Paul puts it in Romans 5:12-15 -
'Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned: for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is the type of him who was to come; but the free gift shall not be also like the offence. For if by the offence of the one many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift in grace; which is of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.'
God is not stupid but infinitely wise, and made a complete fool of Satan, outmanoeuvring him every step of the way.
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Pollyannalana— You pose some very interesting questions. I am not familiar with the Scripture you allude to. I do think we should forgive all offenses against us, regardless of whether the offending party has apologized or not. I also don't recall, off the top of my little pointed head, any Word about an unchastised Brother being called a bastard. There is no way to know if our fellow brother or sister is in the "Elect" or not. But we are called upon to gently rebuke the sin we see in our brethren. Thank you for the intriguing probes.
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Michael Shane— Well, I sure appreciate the hearty applause, my friend. Makes a man feel good! :D
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Cedar Cove Farm— You are surely welcome. I do think the Word of God primarily refers to the Spoken Word. God after all spoke the universe into existence, not wrote it into existence. I read my Bible aloud all the time. Thanks for your fine comments. Welcome to the Hub Pages Community.
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Pollyannalana— I hope you are in the right room. :-) Thank you very much for coming and leaving your thoughtful queries.
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Carol The Writer— You're welcome. I am pleased that you found it insightful.
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HealthyHanna— Thank you for coming by to visit and for taking the time to read my article. I greatly appreciate your wise words. We are in agreeance.
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Gypsy Willow— Thank you, dear, for coming to visit and letting me know you were here. :)
Great Hub. I learned a lot with this. Thanks
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Allan McGregor— Wow! Your commentary blew me away, Brother. Thank you ever much for coming to visit and sharing your wisdom with me and my readers. :D
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borge_009— You're welcome. Thank you for the compliments. I appreciate the visit, too.
Hard to just let go when it is my mother endangered and done wrong and with Alzheimer's only has me, but you are right, my hands are tied no matter how I turn, Thx
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Pollyannalana— You are welcome. I appreciate your difficult circumstances. We are right to defend our loved ones.
Yes..I agree with the quotes of Martin and Newoman's writing...Luther knew who God was...he understood God, thus loved God, thus admired God...the best?...he found God truly for himself all on his own...no one gave him real teaching on who God actually was...he found God in the Living Scriptures, trials and tribulations and then God and his love for God was firmly rooted deep in his heart...again, he was a great man and an excellent choice by Father God, to use this man to bring us all the bible in our own language today...God is Great!!
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Marliza Gunter— I am pleased we are in agreeance. I like your comments, especially that Martin Luther found God on his own, no one gave him real teaching about who God was. He found Him in the Living Scriptures. Amen! Luther was a great choice made by God. God is Great! Thank you! :D
Marthin Luther searched and then in his own will fight for what he think is right, great hub! Maita
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prettydarkhorse— Maita, I am always well pleased to receive you. Thanks for coming!
Thanks James. I do appreciate Martin Luther King's work. He was a very courageous man, to stand up to the persicution of the Papacy in those days. Even nailing the proclaimation of God to the Church's door. He did not fear death, and did a great work for generations of future Christians. The only beef I have with the dude, is he was a bit of an anti-Semite. But, oh well, his perspective was a bit limited because of the age in which he lived, in that area respectively, and I forgive him. I'm sure the Lord has also (what blaming the Jews for Christ's death and all, when it was the sin of all that Christ died for); he did a great work otherwise. I have often wondered where we would be (true Christians, that) without MLK.
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Joshua Kell— You're welcome. I surely agree with everything you wrote about Martin Luther. And I also admire MLK. Both men have a secure place in history for ages to come. Thank you for your excellent insights.
"We are to fear and love God so that we..."
I was raised Lutheran and that is why I am focused on grace this year, I suppose. It was the topic of my seventh grade Confirmation class and I have never forgotten it. I loved my three year intensive, study during Confirmation. Lutheranism gives its members a firm foundation through education. Thanks for reminding me of this.
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Storytellersrus— I'm glad you liked this one. Thank you for letting me know. I enjoyed reading your comments. You are most welcome.
I grew up in a family that had both Catholic and Lutheran members in it. Very interesting hub as always, James.
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Peggy W— Thank you for your kind compliment. I appreciate you swinging by.
Happy to oblige. Each and every one of your hubs are well researched and informative. One cannot help but come away from reading them a little better informed.
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Peggy W— Your gracious words have warmed my heart. Thanks again.
hello James and everyone, I don't want to rain on everyone's parade, but I thought I would share something on Martin Luther that few Christians or people in general are are of, I myself was not aware of it until quite recently. Martin Luther was an anti-semite, whose writings inspired none other than Adolph Hitler. I know this sounds incredible, but don't take my word for it, check it out or yourself.
http://www.nobeliefs.com/luther.htm
That is but one link, I invite anyone reading this to Google it, research it for yourself.
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Thank you for visiting my Hub. I appreciate your insightful comments. I think it common knowledge that Luther came to despise Jews for refusing to convert to Christianity. I didn't address it here because 1.) this is about his theology and its enormous influence 2.) it would take a lot of words to explain it fully ("He hated Jews" is a gross simplification).
One of the worst habits of modern people is to castigate figures from history as if they were living today. To understand people in the 16th century, you have to put yourself in that century, and approach them with empathy.
All human beings are flawed. This does not mean we cannot recognize good they have done. Thomas Edison ended his career as a big flop, when he lambasted alternating current as unworkable. That doesn't mean we should throw away the light bulb and the record player.
After the Jews allied themselves with the Ottoman Empire against Christian Europe they were hated all over Europe. It is a deep subject that I cannot do justice to here. As for Hitler, you can't blame Luther for what a man did 400 years later, in my opinion.
I have to agree with you James. That was a totally different time. Luther didn't know that a mad man hundreds of years later would kill millions of Jews. In Luther's time you had to know the politics of that period to understand his book. What happened in New York City on 9/11, will be forever be etched in history. That caused a lot of hatred to be poured out on the Muslim religion in this time. History will tell the story, if time last, hundreds of years from now, what the world feels about Muslims in that period.
So, if someone wrote a hate book about the Muslim religion, in this day and time, who is to say that years from now a twisted dictator won't try and kill all the Muslim people because of that book that someone wrote hundreds of years before.
What most people don't think about, is that the unbelieving Jews are the spirit of anti-christ. One of the writers said, probably Paul, that the spirit of the anti-christ was already there. Certainly it was, because any one that doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Christ, is anti-christ.
If you believe in God, but not in Christ, you are an anti-christ. The Jewish people for the most part, were anti-christ. They were anti-christ that delivered Jesus to be nailed to the cross. Although, God uses everyone both believers and non believers to accomplish his will and purpose. It was ordained that they hang Christ on a cross.
Christians hid from the Jewish rulers and Romans. It was at that time that the Jews were considered an enemy of the Church of God. I’m sure some of this was in the thinking of Luther as he wrote his book. Years later Hitler, read the book and used it as a tool for hatred. To cause his demon possessed mind to do what he did.
Still, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, because of their unbelief, in this their day of peace. For this reason, there will never be peace in Jerusalem, until the fullness of the Gentiles come in and provoke the Jews to anger. That they all, both Jews and Gentiles, might be saved.
The Jews in the time of Christ, weren't of the seed of Abraham, because of their unbelief. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. The seed of Abraham was by faith, Abraham believed God. So, God said in thy seed, Isaac, all the nations shall be blessed. The seed was through faith, and that seed was Christ. So those who did not believe in Christ were not of the seed of Abraham. Although, those gentiles, who had not kept the law of God, they were grafted in by faith. The Jews were blinded, so that the Gentiles could come in
The faith of Abraham was before the law was given. It was righteousness by faith, not of works. The law of works came by Moses. Jesus said, if you believed Moses, you would have known me, because he wrote of me.
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Gary Ward— I usually respond to comments by breaking them down point by point but your comments are so extraordinarily profound that there is not much I can say other than: AMEN!
Every idea you expressed is spot on. I especially loved your section about the Seed of Abraham. Truly outstanding!
I cannot thank you enough for posting this prophetic message here on my Page. Well done!
James
ah, the irony - you say Luther has no blame for his hatred of Jews, yet Hitler credits Luther for his own hatred of Jews. Yet elsewhere, you condemn and blame Darwin for Hitler's behaviour.
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Baileybear— Well, there is surely a difference between these two comparisons. Luther lived 400 years before Hitler. Luther was a devout Christian; Hitler hated Christians and wanted a pagan German state religion that was based on the ideas of Charles Darwin and the expansion on those ideas by Friedrich Nietzsche. That said I ultimately cannot blame anybody for Hitler's behavior other than Hitler himself. We are all free moral agents—though Darwin and Neitzsche would not agree.
It is good to hear from you again! :-)
Heckuva good job. I sure apprceiate it.
Never would have thunk I would find this so inipsdensable.
Inotmrafion is power and now I'm a !@#$ing dictator.
Great article James.
Behold a wealth which we have been given by Martin Luther. He sought personal peace with God, and God granted to him the treasure from his infinite wisdom much much more - Usin Martin Lutherhe He has confirmed the Way Christ show us how to live in this world that our faith remaines. God has more than he has distributed during Luther's era; He wants that each of us seeks doing the maximum of our potentional in His kingdom here and now.
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