Temptation: “It
is impossible to keep the devil from shooting evil thoughts and lusts into your
heart. But see to it that you do not let
such arrows (Eph. 6:16) stick there and take root, but tear them out and throw
them away. Do what one of the ancient
fathers counseled long ago: ‘I cannot,’
he said, ‘keep a bird from flying over my head.
But I can certainly keep it from nesting in my hair or from biting my
nose off.’” [SL 7,
445f.] Matt. 5:27-30
Temptation: “God can show His power only in our weakness. He does not quench the smoking flax (Is. 42:3). The devil, on the other hand, wants utter extinction.
God loves and
hates temptations. He loves them when
they provoke us to pray when we despair because of them… There is a time for
war, for peace; for foolishness, for wisdom; for sadness, for joy; for
affliction and temptation (Eccl. 3:1ff.).
Our life is like April weather.”
[W-T 1, No. 956]
2 Cor. 12:9
Thankfulness: “We
cannot perform any greater or better work for God, nor can we render Him a
nobler service than thanking Him.” [SL
5, 1184] Psalm 118
Theologian: “Let
him who wants to study theology and become proficient in it be a fool. Then he will be a theologian. The most important art of a future theologian
is to distinguish very carefully between the wisdom of reason and that of the
Word or the knowledge of God. The folk
who confuse these are mixing heaven with earth.” [SL 22, 1840, No. 218] 1 Cor.
4:10
Theology: “This [simple truth is always to be kept in mind:] ‘Nothing is to be taught which differs from Scripture.’” SL 16, 2212
Theology: “Holy Scripture was given in order to bring the flesh into contempt, and we big fools want to seek our glory in it! … The shameful pride of theology is a spring of evils and a consuming fire. Let us pray God to protect us against it.” [W-T 3, No. 3729]
Theology of Luther:
“I do not like it that folk call our doctrine and people ‘Lutheran’
and that I must suffer them to disgrace God’s Word with my name in this
shameful manner. Nevertheless, they
shall let this Luther, the ‘Lutheran’ doctrine and people, remain and come to
honor.” [SL 5, 1283] Psalm 120
Theology of Luther:
“God has eyes neither for the magnitude nor for the multitude nor
even for the value of a work but simply for the faith of the person who
performs it; and that, on the other hand, He despises the work, not because it
is small or mean or worthless but only because of the unbelief of the person
who performs it.” [SL
1, 314ff.] Gen. 4:4-5
Trials: “It is
incredible how efficacious a remedy this praise of God is in times of danger;
for as soon as you begin to praise God, the evil lessens, confidence grows, and
calling upon God in faith follows.” [SL
4, 1045] Psalm 18:3
Trinity: “How this intertrinitarian relation [the relation among the persons of the Triune God] is carried on is something we must believe; for even to the angels, who unceasingly behold it with delight, it is unfathomable. And all who have wanted to comprehend it have broken their neck in the effort.” [SL 10, 1009]
Trust: “This
is our task supreme: to become able to
call upon God as a benign and forgiving Father, such as He ever is, even when
we feel that God is against us and angry with us and that we are sinners who
have deserved wrath and damnation. And
so indeed God must be judged, not according to what we see but according to His
promises.” [SL 14, 927] Jonah 2:3
Truth: “Everyone
must take care to be certain and sure of the true doctrine himself and must not
found his certainty on what other people have determined and concluded. If you do not do this, the Holy Spirit is
bound soon to let you suffer a humiliating defeat… Our adversaries have no stronger recourse
than to say: Indeed! Do you think God would let the world, with so
many learned, pious, holy people, remain in error for so long a time? Therefore they imagine one should follow the
lead of the majority. On this they
insist, crying out: On our side are so
many and such great people. Besides,
there is such length of time and custom.
Therefore we cannot be in error.”
[SL 8, 1003] Acts 15
Truth: “For
this purpose
Unbelief: “Al
of us experience that unbelief is so deeply rooted in our hearts that, because
of our sins, we can never be really satisfied.”
[SL 13a, 340f.]
Unity: “It is true, of course, that one should have patience if all
doctrines cannot suddenly be set aright in
Unthankfulness: “To learn to be thankful is not enough; we must also get used to exercising the virtue of bearing up under ingratitude. This virtue belongs to God alone and to real Christians…
Learn this lesson, then. Let him who would be a Christian be prepared to earn ingratitude with all his benefactions, faithfulness, and service; and let him beware lest he be moved thereby no longer to serve and help others… Will you be unthankful? I know One in heaven above us who will thank me in your stead. His thanks will be more pleasing to me than yours. This is maintaining a Christian attitude and, as Solomon terms it, heaping coals of fire on the head (Prov. 25:22).
But you will not
be able to learn this art from the world.
It does the very opposite.” [SL
13a, 866] Luke 17:11-19
Vicarious Satisfaction: “He is the greatest of sinners. There is no greater sinner in the entire human race than the Son of God. This is so true that He is called sin itself (2 Cor. 5:21)… [Sin] was made His own because of the love wherewith He loved us.” [SL 6, 727f.]
War: “And so
you will find that the losers were almost always those who started the
war. Even the good king Josiah had to be
slain because he began to fight against the king of
War: “A prince must punish the wicked in such a way that he does not step on the dish while picking up the spoon and for the sake of one man’s head plunge country and people into want and fill the land with widows and orphans… He is a poor Christian indeed who would risk his country for the sake of one castle.
In brief, in this matter one must hold to the proverb: He cannot rule who cannot wink at faults. Let this, therefore, be a man’s rule: Where he cannot punish wrong without occasioning greater wrong, there let him waive his rights, no matter how just they may be.” [SL 10, 412]
Wealth: “The
world still lets itself be deceived by this delusion. Because it observes that it has good fortune,
wealth, and health, it holds that it has a gracious God and cries: Behold, God is dwelling here. So the Jews said: ‘Blessed be the
Lord; for I am rich’ (Zech. 11:5)… God does not bestow riches on you that you
may draw the conclusion that He is gracious.
He has given you a different, a greater blessing from which you may
correctly draw that conclusion. He wants
to test you to see whether you will remain in His fear, will humble yourself
before Him, and will render Him due obedience.
For very few people do this; they get insolent when good fortune comes
to them. Therefore the Germans say: Gut macht Mut, ‘Wealth creates confidence.’ Men are wanton when things usually go well
with them. Es muessen
starke Beine sein, die gute Tage ertragen sollen
(The legs that will stand up under the pressure of good days must be
strong)… Fortune turns those whom it favors into fools. This is why the psalm gives the
admonition: ‘If riches increase, set not
your heart upon them’ (Ps. 61:11).” [SL 1, 1217f.] Gen.
19:2-3
Wicked:
“The world delights to stay in darkness and suffer great unrest. The devil has greater martyrs than Christ
has. They work harder to earn hell than
Christians do to earn heaven. The
godless do greater and tougher work than the godly do.” [SL 8, 144]
John 8:12-15
Will of God: “Stop
your reasoning, tread on your wisdom, and do not allow it to grope, feel, or
think in matters pertaining to your salvation; but simply and only hear what
the Son of God says, what His Word is.
Resolve to stop there.” [SL 8, 33f.] John
7:17
Will of Man: “Now
you notice that in this petition God bids us pray against ourselves, thereby
teaching us that we have no greater enemy than ourselves. Our will is the greatest power within
us. But we pray against it: O Father, let me not so fall as to do things
according to my own will. Break my will…
Let it be so also on earth. Putting this
prayer into practice is very painful to human nature.” [SL 7, 786]
Will of Man: “A
sword contributes nothing whatever toward its motion but is entirely passive;
however, in inflicting the wound it has through its motion co-operated with him
who wielded it. Therefore just as a
sword does not co-operate toward setting itself in motion, so the will does not
co-operate toward its willing. This
willing is a motion which the divine Word produces. It is merely something that is done to the will.” [SL 4, 479]
Psalm 5:11
Wisdom: “No
one is without the vanity that glories in its own virtue, wisdom, and goodness;
nor can anyone be found who does not detract something from the glory of
God.” [SL 4, 519] Psalm 5 and Romans 16:27
Woman: “Granted
that woman is a weak vessel, yet she has the very great glory of motherhood;
for all human beings are conceived, born, and nursed by her. Thence comes our most delightful
posterity. This glory of motherhood
should rightly cover and take up all the weaknesses of woman, and a pious
husband should say: ‘Shall we receive
good… and shall we not receive evil?’”
[W-T 4, No. 4138] Job 2:10
Woman: “My
hostess at
Word: “But
there you hear St. Paul adducing Scripture as his strongest witness and
pointing out that there is nothing stable to support our doctrine and faith
except the material or written Word, put down in letters and preached verbally
by him and others; for it is clearly stated here: ‘Scripture, Scripture.’” [SL 8, 1110] 1 Cor.
15:3-7
Word: “But
shame on you! It is teaching chickens to
lay eggs and cows to calve if you want to teach our Lord God how to
preach.” [SL 13a,
759f.] Luke 5:4
Word: “It does not help people to say that with the exception of ‘this point’ they have high and great regard for God’s Word and the entire Gospel throughout the Scripture. Why, God’s Word is God’s Word; it does not require a great deal of criticism. Whoever charges God with a lie and criticizes Him in one word or says it is a trifling matter to do these things, blasphemes the entire God and thinks little of all blasphemies against God.” [SL 20, 775]
Word: “I am
glad to have warned you against satiety and surfeit… When we begin to snore and
to be secure and surfeited, Satan is sure of victory.” [SL 4, 1751]
-satiety is the state of feeling that one has enough (any more would
fill the person with disgust); surfeit is discomfort, disgust, and nausea that
results from having too much of something.