Quotes from Martin Luther

God wants our conscience to be certain and sure that it is pleasing to Him. This cannot be done if the conscience is led by its own feeling, but only if it relies on the Word of God.

PRAYER O God, our merciful Father in heaven, fill our hearts with patience under the cross, strengthen our faith, and so govern us that we give offense to none, neither in word nor deed. Grant us also this day all that we need for body and soul. Amen.

Therefore, when some say good works are forbidden when we preach faith alone, it is as if I said to a sick man: "If you had health, you would have the use of your limbs; but without health the works of your limbs are nothing"' and he wanted to infer that I had forbidden the works of all his limbs.

faith alone makes all other works good, acceptable and worthy

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Romans 3:28

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.

The white devil of spiritual sin is far more dangerous than the black devil of carnal sin because the wiser, the better men are without Christ, the more they are likely to ignore and oppose the Gospel.

Papal decretals are the Devil's excretals.

Hope is a soldier. It fights against tribulations, the Cross, despondency, despair, and waits for better things to come in the midst of evil. Without hope faith cannot endure. On the other hand, hope without faith is blind rashness and arrogance because it lacks knowledge. Before anything else a Christian must have the insight of faith, so that the intellect may know its directions in the day of trouble and the heart may hope for better things. By faith we begin, by hope we continue.

We pray because we are unworthy to pray. Our prayers are heard precisely because we believe that we are unworthy. We become worthy to pray when we risk everything on God's faithfulness alone.

But to fulfill the law means to do its work eagerly, lovingly and freely, without the constraint of the law; it means to live well and in a manner pleasing to God, as though there were no law or punishment.

the history of Protestantism is very great. It presents like no other of Luther's writings the central thought of Christianity, the justification of the sinner for the sake of Christ's merits alone.

So, too, faith comes only through the word of God, the Gospel, that preaches Christ: how he is both Son of God and man, how he died and rose for our sake. Paul says all this in chapters

Well, there is nothing we can do about it. We have to put up with these snakes, dogs, and swine surrounding us and corrupting the Gospel both in doctrine and in life. Wherever there are faithful preachers they always have to take this. Such is the fortune of the Gospel in the world.

If every man had faith, we would need no more laws, but every one would of himself at all times do good works, as his confidence in God teaches him.

The Christian should always think: 'If peace and tranquility reign today, it will be different tomorrow. The devil can shoot a dart into my heart, or some other affliction can befall me. Therefore I must see to it that when sorrows appear, I am prepared to weather the storm and draw comfort from God's Word.

In all of Holy Writ we find not a single instance of adoration of the patriarchs, the prophets, and apostles - much less of St. George and St. Barbara, who probably never existed, and of the other saints who created by the pope, like St. Francis and St. Dominic, about whom no one knows anything with certainty. But even if we were to concede that they were full of grace, they would still be unable to impart any of it to me.

My temptations have been my masters in divinity.

It is faith—without good works and prior to good works—that takes us to heaven. We come to God through faith alone.

So blind are we: with our bodily sickness and need we run to God; with the soul's sickness we run from Him, and are unwilling to come back before we are well, exactly as if there could be one God who could help the body, and another God who could help the soul; or as if we would help ourselves in spiritual need, although it really is greater than the bodily need. Such plan and counsel is of the devil.

so unbelief alone commits sin..Hence Christ calls unbelief the only sin.

To mix Law and Gospel not only clouds the knowledge of grace, it cuts out Christ altogether.

For the Spirit is required to understand the whole of the Scripture and every part of it.

Works are the fruits and signs of faith. God judges people according to these fruits. These fruits spring from faith in a way that publicly indicates whether or not we have faith in our hearts. God will not judge us by asking whether we are called Christians or whether we have been baptized. He will ask each one of us, "If you are a Christian, then tell me, where are the fruits that demonstrate your faith?