The Christian: “Christians do not fight for themselves with sword and gun but with the cross and suffering, just as our Leader, Christ, does nt wield the sword but hangs on the cross.” [W 18, 315]
Christianity: “I
do not ask how these teachings harmonize; rather I must know this alone,
whether it is the Word of God or not.
This I ask: Has God said so? If so, I cling to it.” [W 33, 118]
John 6:41-42
Church: “The body, however, uses its members according to its needs. The eye did not become an eye because it could see and therefore deserved to be put into the body and to become an eye; but first it derived its existence and peculiar functions from the body, by which it is enabled to see. This is why it cannot boast to the slightest degree that by its ability to see, as a function peculiar to itself, it deserved to be placed into the body and to become an eye. On the contrary, it derives this honor and privilege wholly and entirely from its birth, apart from its own effort…
Just so the fruit
does not make the tree, but the tree produces the fruit; and seeing does not
make the eye, but the eye produces vision.”
[W 17 II, 33f.]
Church: [in the context of the church being overwhelmed by the cross] “‘There is no beauty that we should desire Him,’ says Isaiah (53:2-3); ‘we hid as it were our faces from Him.’ And yet He is the Son of God, the King of Glory, and the Savior of all men.” [W 43, 139]
Church: “When
the lowliest member of Christendom suffers, the entire body at once feels it
and is astir so that all come together, complain, and cry. Then our Head, Christ Jesus, hears and feels
it; and though He may delay a little, He will indeed not jest when He begins to
look displeased and to change His expression.
For this is what He says through the prophet Zechariah: Whoever touches you,
touches the apple of My eye (2:8).” [W 28, 149f.] John
17:11
Church: “For we are, after all, not the sort of people who could sustain the church. Nor were our forefathers; nor will our descendants be such. But the Lord has done it, is doing it now, and will do it.” [W 50, 476]
Church: “People
are ‘good evangelicals’ as long as they hope to fatten themselves and become
rich by the preaching of the Gospel.
This is what the people are looking for in the Gospel. But when they hear that this preaching is to
save them from sin, death, and the power of the devil, then
they go their way, pay no attention to it at all, and despise the Gospel.” [W 33, 12]
John 6:26-27
Church and State: “Men are to rule the church with the Word, or the sword of the mouth, and are to use the rod of the mouth. Temporal government, however, has a different sword, the sword of the fist and a rod of wood, with which it beats the body…
The devil does all of this. He takes no holiday until he has mixed the two swords. That the devil brews everything into one mess is nothing new.” [W 46, 734f.]
Church Buildings: “A place is to be called a house of God because many come together there in order to pray, to serve God, and to hear His Word… so that a place is called a house of God because of the people (who are truly the house of God), and the people are not so called because of the place.” [W 5, 142f.]
Church Services: “A Christian congregation should never assemble unless God’s Word is preached and prayer is offered, no matter for how short a time this may be.” [W 12, 35]
Church Services: “Preachers
should not quarrel before the people about what Scripture does not contain;
rather they should constantly inculcate Scripture. For love and peace greatly exceed all
ceremonies in importance.” [W31 I,
210] Psalm 82:4
Churchmen: [Don’t be too impressed with certain churchmen of supposedly high reputation!] “Thomas Aquinas, the fountainhead and the dregs of all heresy, error, and extirpation of the Gospel (as his books prove him to be) was exalted.” [elsewhere Luther actually calls him a ‘donkey’] [W 15, 184]
Circumcision: [instead of selecting a finger, hand, foot, ear, eye, etc.] “[God] selects that member which serves no other work and practice in human life and was created by God only for the procreation and increase of mankind (der Natur)…
But now, since He takes that member which performs no other work than the procreation of human nature and personal being, He makes it clear that the fault lies in the entire essence of human nature, that is birth and entire origin is corrupt and sinful.” [W 10 I, 1, 507f.]
Comfort: “For
whatever else exists by which a man wants to comfort himself, no matter how
great it is—it is all uncertain. Then
the heart is forever thinking: Ah, who
knows whether it is right? Ah, if only I
were sure of it! etc. But when a heart clings to the Word of God,
it can, without wavering, say: There is
God’s Word, it cannot deceive or fail me.”
[W 12, 419] Luke 2:41-52
Confessing Sin: “Confession teaches us that we are rascals and sinners of the same stripe… If someone has fallen into sin, such is the nature of his flesh and blood; and no one has fallen so deeply but than another, who is now standing, may fall more deeply still.” [W 15, 483]
Confessing Sin: “What Christ keeps secret I, too, must keep secret and simply deny that I have heard anything. If Christ has heard anything, He may Himself say so. But during the absolution I should privately say to the woman: You harlot, never do that again.” [W-T 4, No. 5178]
Conscience: “To
act contrary to conscience is equivalent to acting contrary to faith and
sinning grievously.” [W 10 I, 2,
64]
Conscience: “The soul is not under Caesar’s power. He can neither teach nor guide it, neither kill it nor make it alive, neither bind it nor loose it, neither judge it nor condemn it, neither hold it nor release it… But over life, goods, and honor he indeed has the right; for such things are under his authority.” [W 11, 266]
Contentment: “To
be satisfied with what we have at present is positively a gift of the Holy
Spirit. For the flesh, contentment is
impossible.” [W 20, 52] Eccles. 2:16
Conversion: “The
Holy Spirit is bestowed through the divine will and grace by means of the
externally preached Word and the water.
These are the father and the mother of this new birth, through which man
becomes new, pure, and holy before God, an heir of the kingdom of heaven.” [W 21, 535]
John 3:3
Courage: “Ought not [the Christian] rejoice and exult? Indeed, he should break through mountains of iron and all sorts of adversities with a fearless and invincible heart, and be convinced that everything is flowing with honey, milk, and wine. And he should, moreover, praise God with the highest joy and gratitude, because he is no longer mortal but alive forever…
But the fact that
we still tremble, fear, and take fright is due to the weakness that remains in
us and not to faith. It is a remnant of
the Old Adam, who feels sin and fears the wrath of God.” [W 44, 766f.] Gen. 49:11-12
Cross-Bearing: “Suffering
is called a cross when Christians come by it as Simon here does. The Christian does not carry his own cross,
but the Lord Christ’s. He must suffer
for the Lord Christ’s sake (cf. 1 Peter 5:15f.)… Their suffering is not a punishment
for their sins but a genuine holy cross.
For the evil Foe and the world are not hostile to them
because they are sinners and stumble and fall here and there. No, indeed!
Both the devil and the world are willing to tolerate such lapses… This
Christian attitude neither the devil nor the world can endure.” [W 52, 294]
Luke 23:26-31
Cross-Bearing: “We
should learn to make a distinction between Simon and the Lord Christ… Simon
merely walks under the cross, that is, the cross we bear serves to weight down
the old Adam and to curb sin. But the
fact that sins are forgiven we owe solely to the labor and merit of our Lord
Christ… If the cross is to achieve forgiveness of sins, it must not bear Simon;
but Christ must hang on it and die on it.
And this is the reason why Simon goes free, for through Christ’s death
we are freed from death and come to eternal life.” [W 52, 796]
Luke 23:26-31
Death: “We may
truly say with the heathen that at birth man has nothing certain before him
except death.” [W 52, 517] John 4:47-54
Death: “Christians could easily bear death if they did not know it as evidence of the wrath of God. This knowledge makes death so bitter for us. But the heathen die in security. They do not see the wrath of God but imagine death to be the end of a man and say: It is merely a matter of one evil little hour.” [W-T 3, NO. 3140a]
Death: “There is no better dying than that of St. Stephen, who said: ‘Into Thy hand I commend my spirit’ (Acts 7:58).” [W-T 1, No. 117]
Death: “Consider,
then, whether we are not poor, miserable people to be so deeply grieved when
someone of us loses his spouse, his child, brother, sister, or some other good,
intimate friend? At best he could have
lived ten or twenty years longer with you…
The dead are exempt from this sort of thing. They lie in their graves as on soft beds and
in a gentle sleep, waiting for our Lord Christ to come, tap on their beds and
call them forth to live throughout eternity with all the godly, with God and
His dear angels. Who wants to mourn for
such when we should rejoice for them?” [E 3, 543f.] Luke
7:11-16