Quotes from Martin Luther

Oh, if a man were so to regard himself and his position, and attended to its duties alone, how rich in good works would he be in a short time, so quietly and secretly that no one would notice it except God alone!

What man, if he were God, would humble himself to lie in the feedbox of a donkey or to hang upon a cross?

In accusing me of being a damnable sinner, you are cutting your own throat, Satan. You are reminding me of God's fatherly goodness toward me, that He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In calling me a sinner, Satan, you really comfort me above measure.

Before you pray, check to see whether you believe or doubt that you will be heard. If you are doubting or uncertain, or if you are merely trying a prayer to see what happens, your prayer won't be worth anything.

I am persuaded that without knowledge of literature pure theology cannot at all endure. . . . When letters have declined and lain prostrate, theology, too, has wretchedly fallen and lain prostrate. . . . It is my desire that there shall be as many poets and rhetoricians as possible, because I see that by these studies as by no other means, people are wonderfully fitted for the grasping of sacred truth and for handling it skillfully and happily.

Dominus et magister n? Jesus Chrs? dicendo, Penitentiam agite etc, omn? vitam fidelium penitentiam esse voluit. (Our Lord and teacher, Jesus Christ, in saying, "repent," wanted the entire life life of a believer to be repentance.)

It seems we must choose between Christ and the Pope. Let the Pope perish.

If you want to be saved and be a Christian, then stay open to correction. Preachers have to rebuke, or they should leave their position. The Christian who won't accept correction is only pretending to be a Christian.

They say: 'You were baptized when you were still a child and did not believe. Therefore, your Baptism was nothing.' etc. This is really the same as saying: 'If you do not believe, God's Word and Sacrament are nothing. But if you believe, they are something. Therefore, only those who have faith receive true Baptism, whereas those who do not believe receive nothing but water and are not truly baptized.

For this life is one of first fruits, not of tithes.

Consequently, the kingdom of Christ is of such a kind that it has both those who are weak and those who are courageous, either constantly or for a time. Nevertheless, those who are always strong are rare. But those who are weaker than these should not be dealt with too harshly; for this is a kingdom of comfort, of the poor, and of the afflicted.

If He gave Himself into death for our sins, then undoubtedly He is not a tormentor. He is not One who will cast down the troubled, but One who will raise up the fallen and bring propitiation and consolation to the terrified.

If we fail to hold that the Person who was crucified was both God and man, we are eternally damned and lost. We must have a Savior who is more than a saint or an angel. If He were not superior to these, we would get no help from Him. But if He is God, then the treasure is so heavy that it not only outweighs and cancels sin and death but also gives eternal life. No mere human could acquire eternal life for us or overcome the devil and death.

There is nothing so good and nothing so evil but that it shall work together for good to me, if only I believe. Yes, since faith alone suffices for salvation, I need nothing except faith exercising the power and dominion of its own liberty.

But there is no other mediator than the Lord Christ, who is the Son of God.

So, we, at this day, when we thought we should have found favor among our own countrymen, for that we preached unto them the gospel of peace, life, and eternal salvation; instead of favor, we have found bitter and cruel hatred.

Examples of this kind teach us that one should not believe any human being, no matter how saintly he may be, but must pay attention to Him who calls and to His Word.

Indeed, to spur your Baal to action, I will taunt and challenge you ... to create as much as a single frog in the name and by the power of free choice, though the heathen and ungodly magicians in Egypt were able to create many.... I will not set you the heavy task of creating lice, which they could not produce either

In the third section, you proceed to turn us into modest and peace-loving Epicureans.

here where we are concerned not with the dogma of Scripture and the Corycian cavern only, but in very truth with the awful secrets of the Divine Majesty (namely, why he works in the way we have said), here you smash bolts and bars and rush in all but blaspheming, as indignant as possible with God because you are not allowed to see the meaning and purpose of such a judgment of his.

Without Christ there is no access to the Father, but futile rambling; no truth, but hypocrisy; no life, but eternal death.

Peter erred in life and in doctrine. Paul might have dismissed Peter's error as a matter of no consequence. But Paul saw that Peter's error would lead to the damage of the whole Church unless it were corrected. Therefore he withstood Peter to his face. The Church, Peter, the apostles, angels from heaven, are not to be heard unless they teach the genuine Word of God.

You see then, that Diatribe truly possesses a free choice in her handling of Scriptures, so that words of one and the same type are for her obliged to prove endeavor in one place and freedom in another, exactly as she pleases.

Here again Diatribe confidently brings in a gloss to suit herself, just as if Scripture were under her complete control. As for considering the prophet's meaning and intention, what need was there for a man of such authority to do that? All we need is: Erasmus says so, therefore it is so.