Glory be to God the Lord of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.
1 Here the good man speaks of things as if it had already happened, when he says: "He has visited and redeemed his people. For he is so sure; so also the child John was present, who was to begin the redemption, as the angel had promised him in his legend, that he would run before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to convert the hearts of the fathers to the children, and
the unbelievers to the prudence of the righteous, to prepare for the Lord an armed people. He knew this promise would not lie to him.
2 But what this redemption stands for and what it entails, you now know almost well from God's grace, namely that he visits us and redeems us, which redemption and visiting is not done with the sword or any force, but only through the word. For John alone has given the world
served in the word, pointing to this Lamb who takes away the sin of the world; this is our redemption and our visitation, which Christ had to purchase with his blood. That therefore there is more in the word than in the blood and death on the cross; for for his word's sake he gave his body on the cross and shed his blood. Now it comes to us again at the door, God wanted us to accept it and thank Him for it.
3 John is the first messenger who preached the gospel. Therefore, we who have not heard the gospel before, are the same as if John himself preached it to us now; for he offers us salvation, a kind promise, comfort, salvation from sins, death, the devil and all accidents.
4 "To visit" is nothing else than to come to us, to present and present the salvific word to us, through which we will be saved. It is a fine thing that Zacharias recognized this work, which tasted so good in his heart that he could not abstain, he had to break it out; not only for the sake of the new child (although this also gave him great joy), but that he sees from this birth and from this child much in a higher joy, namely, that this child is the messenger through whom God has looked upon the world, which he visited with his word. Therefore he rejoices that he shall hear this word, and now henceforth the old man shall become a disciple of the child in the cradle, and confess him a prophet, who would know more than he, yes, what the father would know, that he would know for the sake of the child. And it is to be wondered at that God here gives the old man a child in the womb to be a teacher.
(5) Here is a natural joy, because this child shall be born by a miracle; and a spiritual joy, that he shall teach the word of God. I also believe that there was no father who had such great joy as this Zacharias over the child who is born so miraculously by the hand of God; and just at the time of his old age, when he is now to die, he only gets such a great saint,
who was to be the master of the world, that his eyes also watered with great joy and gladness over his child; so overwhelmed was he with great joy. It is a joy and a pleasure for us if we have a healthy child, or one who is beautiful and straight; I will remain silent if he should be an apostle in the world.
(6) Therefore, what he had suffered before for shame, that he was barren (as also Elizabeth, his housewife), has been amply repaid to him: so much blessing does God give him for it, that it is beyond measure. Who alone could wait! For when God comes, He comes abundantly, and gives more than we ever hoped or wished for. This is that he has visited and redeemed his people. Follow on:
And hath set up a horn of blessedness in the house of his servant David.
007 Neither is this said of Johanne: for he is not the horn that is set up in the house of David. Neither is he of the house of David: for he is born of the tribe of Levi. But Christ our Lord is of the house of David, of the royal tribe and blood of David. Now here he says that his Son was born of the priesthood; and he does not say that the horn was raised up in the house of Levi, but in the house of David. So he goes to the one who was to be born of the house of David; and here Christ is not yet born, yet he sings as if it had already happened. The horn of blessedness is also not yet there, and yet he knew it: but the Holy Spirit gave it to him.
8 "Horn" in the Hebrew language means power, defiance, dominion, and on which one may rely, as you also read in Daniel Cap. 8, 3. 5. where the prophet sees the kingdoms before and sees some beasts one-horned, some two-horned etc. And he himself interprets it for a kingdom or for kings. This is the way and manner of speaking in this language. So also our kingdom and our king is a horn. And Christ is especially called a horn, because he blows with it; as you see in the unreasonable animals, which have horns in front of their heads; little is theirs, that they
on the nose. But it means that Christ is our head, yes, our God, and his kingdom is his horn; and in sum it is the gospel which preaches of Christ, and Christ in the gospel and the gospel in Christ, that one thing is and may not be separated from each other; for in the whole world it must bump now and then, and is our defiance, on which we stare and rely.
9 But he adds, "a horn of salvation or blessedness." Other kingdoms have their names and goods, from which they are called. Some kingdoms are vast, have great wealth, many people, great honor, have only temporal goods; but this kingdom is called a blessed kingdom, a kingdom of grace, a kingdom of life, a kingdom of righteousness, a kingdom of truth, and all that pertains to salvation. Thus it is set apart from the other kingdoms. For however great, and however rich, and however powerful they are, they are called kingdoms of death; for they must die, perish, and decay, and leave the good behind them. For no one has ever said that there is a kingdom of life that has life, peace and blessedness, but this kingdom alone has this title, that God has established a principality and kingdom in which there is only salvation and blessedness.
(10) Here I do not take anything that is said of life or works. For this kingdom is not in our life, nor in our deeds, but in the horn, in Christ, and in his gospel. This is our kingdom, of which you have heard that it is a kingdom of grace, a kingdom of life, a kingdom of righteousness, salvation, and mercy; that whoever is in it, though he be weak and infirm, though he be not so holy as John, though he be not so perfect as Christ, yet he is in the kingdom, where there is nothing but all-salvation and beatification. For it is called by that name, and God is not lying when He calls it a kingdom of salvation, which He established in the house of David. By what and with what? By the Holy Spirit and by His word.
11. He says, "in the house of David." There should be a kingdom on earth and a kingdom of salvation; bring the two together. The house of David is the tribe and the family
David, who was a man, and the subjects of his kingdom are men. Lest you say that he is speaking here of a kingdom in heaven among the angels; no, but of a kingdom that is among men, who have flesh and blood; for those in heaven above have had enough before, and are well defended. David is a man, and his kingdom is men, who must die; for as the Scripture says, "That which is born of a woman liveth a little while, and there is a goal set for it, which no man can pass over," Job 14:1.
012 But how is there both honor and dishonor in salvation, if it is to be a house of blessedness, and men that are mortal shall not die; they that are worthy of death shall have life; they that are wretched shall be blessed; they that are of the devil shall be the children of God? These things must be joined together, that in this house of David there should be mortal men, and yet a kingdom, and men that die not. You are told enough of this, and as much, I hope, as I; but yet, as the text gives it, we must say it again and again.
(13) Thus we have said that a Christian who enters this kingdom will never die. Neither can he die; for Christ died to conquer death, that we should not die. For this reason he took our sin upon himself, that we should not bear it, and threw the devil under himself, that we should not be subject to him. Therefore it is ascribed to a Christian that he can never die, never come under sin or the devil; for this must be true or false, since he says: He has raised up a horn of blessedness and salvation. But where this is, there can be neither death, sin, nor the devil; and this in the house of David. Therefore a Christian is alive, without sin, not under the devil. How does it work? This is how it is done:
14. your love has often heard that the form and feeling of death, sin and devil makes God remain in us, so that sin bites me, attacks me in conscience, wants to force me to despair; item, the judgment of God frightens me. So
Death also attacks me, wants to devour me; the devil steps on my neck, wants to suppress me. He leaves the outward appearance, does not take it away, this shell must remain, so that we do not feel otherwise than that we are sinners, lying under death and the devil; and yet under this shell remains life, innocence and dominion over death, sin and the devil, as he himself says in Matthew Cap. 16, 18. saith, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"; saith not: shall not touch it, or fence against it; for the two abide, from death and sin.
(15) Because the touching remains, so also the feeling remains when the devil attacks me; item, so also I will have to feel when sin bites me, the wrath of God frightens me, the terror of death and death itself. But all this is only an outward appearance before me and before the world, which recognizes nothing else, and I also cannot judge anything else, except that sin, death and the devil are there. But underneath this is the Word and the Spirit in touching and attacking, which gives me courage and makes me sure and certain that God is not angry, that my sin is forgiven, that I will not die, nor be forsaken by Him; the heart remains basically in hope, and with such confidence man does not remain under sin, nor does he sink in death, but becomes a master of sins and death. And this is what it means not to overcome, so that the devil does not overcome, even if he challenges. This is what we call the house of David, a mortal house, a sinful house, subject to the devil; as all flesh and blood is. And yet the horn of salvation is put into the house, that they which are in the kingdom may have salvation and blessedness.
16 From this you see that this house or kingdom is a kingdom of faith, which cannot be grasped or felt, which no one can show or look at to another, but every man must have in himself, so that when the traits come that he feels sin and death comes under his eyes, he may then have the kingdom by faith.
feel, and remember: You have forgiveness of sin; so Christ died, that you might be in the kingdom of salvation: therefore sin cannot harm you, death is gone, Christ is with you, who would harm you, who would harm you? Here death and life, hell and innocence, Christ and the devil, bite each other, and therefore life and innocence must remain with Christ. It is a short word, is soon spoken, but is not felt, yes, one feels the contradiction everywhere. Therefore, if you want to interpret it according to the world, you are far, far wrong.
The world is called a good kingdom and a kingdom of peace, when it is quiet, blissful and prosperous, when there is outward salvation, peace and innocence. Here, however, there is a kingdom of salvation and grace, even though the contradiction seems to be everywhere. Therefore these things are all spiritual, and are to be understood in faith, and not judged by outward appearances. It is therefore consistent that God is able to do this art, that in the midst of sin, in the midst of the devil, in the midst of death, he has an eternal, powerful, angelic kingdom; of which this Zacharias sings here from the bottom of his heart, and also understands how it works, because he has faith and the Holy Spirit, who teaches him all these things.
018 But thinkest thou not that it should bring us joy, if we could see such a one? I have not yet seen one myself; there is one everywhere: take before thee whom thou wilt, and there is sin. Paul, the most holy apostle, boasts of himself in Romans 7:18, 19 that he feels sin in his members. "I will," he says, "but I cannot do what is good; for the good that I will I do not do, but the evil that I will not do I do." This one would gladly not be in sins, and must be in them; I and others more are also inclined that we should gladly be without sins: but it will not be. We are well dampened by it, we have fallen into sin, we get up again, torture ourselves with it and blow ourselves to pieces; but while we are stuck in this flesh, carrying this stinking sack on our necks, it will not be over, it will not be over.
2278 L iü, "r-4". On the paw of John the Baptist. W. ri. Branch-E. M7K
not even deaf. We may well work at it, so that we deafen it; but the old Adam also wants to have his life, until he once comes into the pit.
In sum, the kingdom of Christ is a sinful kingdom, no saint will not have to say here: O Almighty God, I confess myself a poor sinner, do not count the old guilt; all will have to sing the little song: Our Father, who art in heaven, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. The other pious saints, who know no end to their holiness, understand nothing of this; therefore it is not preached to them, because they think that the kingdom of Christ is thus done, that there is no sin at all; everything must be pure and clean, as if the deaf were keeping it; they want such a Christian, who is without sin and holy, even as Christ himself is. Not by a long shot! But this is a Christian who is a sinner and recognizes his sin, displeases him and is heartily disgusted that he still feels sin. He is not a Christian who has no sin at all, nor feels it. But if you find such a one, he is an antichrist, not a true Christian.
20 So Christ's kingdom lies in sins, since it was laid down "in the house of David". Yes, take David himself before you, of whom he may boast that he is a servant according to his Lord's good pleasure, 1 Sam. 13, 14. No one may be ashamed to pray here: Lord, forgive us our sin. Is it true? Yes, it is true; for if they would lie, they would be the children of the devil. But devout Christians who hate this life would gladly go to the other life, but they cannot get there by saying: I am without all sin. But when they get there, it is the infernal devil. No saint denies that he is in sin, but all confess it and are heartily sorry that they have to bear this wretched flesh, and cry out with St. Paul, "O wretched man, who will deliver me from the body of this death? Rom. 7, 24. They all roar and cry out because they feel sin and desire to be delivered from it. In this feeling and realization of sin
The kingdom of Christ lies, so that in sins there is no sin, that is, even though I feel and recognize sin, yet salvation and the kingdom are so strong in the conscience that it grieves, and God says: I will give it to you, because you are in faith and trust in Christ, my only beloved Son, who was given for you; therefore all this shall not harm you.
22) Now this is joy, and it is good for the conscience to have a kingdom, and to sing, "Glory be to God the Lord, who visits us and redeems us, that he may establish a kingdom in the house of David," that is, come to us by his word, and make us innocent of sins, and keep us masters in the midst of the power of the devil and of death. So you have both the kingdom in the house of David and that a Christian is dead and alive, that he is innocent in the midst of sins, that he is under the devil and yet a lord of the devil. Both are true in that sin, death and the devil touch the flesh, but this kingdom and salvation retain the victory.
23 Therefore he is called a "horn", that is, a belligerent, restless kingdom, which does not rest or celebrate, because it is attacked by many enemies, so it also fights back boldly. So also a Christian, who takes this horn and pushes death, sin and the devil to the ground with it. Yes, but it is not in our power, or that we have made it; but God, he has made it, and established it through the preaching ministry, by which we are saved. And so he sings that it does not depend on the Son, but on Christ. Yes, he praises this kingdom only for the Jews, but sings nothing about us Gentiles, how we come to it; as others sing, as Simeon sang in the nunc dimittis, how we Gentiles came into the kingdom; but here: how a kingdom was set up for them, a kingdom of salvation, of salvation, and that in the name of David, his servant. Therefore he speaks further:
When he spoke in the days of old by the mouth of his holy prophets.
24 Therefore it came to pass, saith he, that he might confirm his promise, as he had said he would establish a kingdom. Now is the time, and it is come to pass, that he will keep it. So he draws the horn of salvation, the kingdom of Christ, behind it into the Old Testament, that he may give witness of such a strong and mighty kingdom, which cannot be overcome nor overpowered. For the prophets, after the days of David, all urged, and interpreted the tribe of David, that there should be a kingdom on this earth, but a spiritual kingdom. And before them all Isaiah and Jeremiah, who have especially exalted that such a kingdom should be in the future, namely, which should exist and be ruled by the Spirit and by the Word; which two he means here especially; the others, as Hosea, Micah etc., also exalt it, but not so highly.
That he might deliver us from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.
(25) Hitherto the evangelist has only summed up what the kingdom of Christ is, which was spoken of before in the prophets.
He goes on to say, piece by piece, what his kingdom is and what it consists of. First, "that he should deliver us from our enemies, and from the hand of all that oppress us. Then you see that this verse testifies and confesses that we, who are His people and His kingdom, are among the enemies, and have nothing to wait for here but to be attacked, therefore that the nature of this kingdom is that it saves us from the hand of all who hate us; as the prophet David says Ps. 110, 2. "The Lord will send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, reign among thine enemies"; and in another Psalm (Ps. 45, 6.), "Sharp are thy arrows, the nations shall submit unto thee, in the midst of the enemies of the king." Our Lord God is pleased that his kingdom alone should lie in the midst of strife, in the midst of the enemies who hate him.
(26) This is written for our comfort, that we may know how to send ourselves into it, that whosoever will be a Christian, and in this kingdom, let him take no other purpose than that which is set forth for us here, seeking not how the world may be favorable to him here, or how he may serve the world, to have every man for friends; for thus goeth the scripture of the prophets, that it is "to deliver from the enemies. If then it is to save and to snatch from those who attack us, then it is not a kingdom of peace, but such a kingdom that hates everyone and to whom all men are enemies. As you see then, now that one, praise God, has gone out a little light, how they oppose and persecute it. There is no man on earth so hated as a Christian: now it is the pope; now the mad bishops with their apostles; now the nonsensical mad princes, the saints, the scholars, the wise men, all of them down and most bitterly hated. It is not enough for them that they should be strangled and killed, but even exterminated and thus killed, so that they, as they think, should never be remembered.
(27) This is the way of Christians, and the way of hope; so it shall be, when the devil seeketh us by his own, that he thinketh he will cut them off. For so the verse sounds, that he is our king, who saves us and delivers us from those who are hostile to us.
This he also does gloriously, proving his power in the midst of the world, in the midst of the flesh, in the midst of the devil; for a Christian has no protection nor peace at all, but only in his Lord Christ. It is a short verse, which soon goes on, and is soon said: "that he might deliver us out of the hand of all them that hate us", if we notice that he thereby indicates that there are many of them, not only one, who attack the Christians; but there is no need, we have one who is stronger than the world and the prince of this world, as John says Cap. 14, 30. 1 Joh. 4, 4. And because he promises us, he also knows where he will take. We will feel the touching, but he will not leave us stuck, who alone could expect it. Follow on:
And mercy showed unto our fathers, and remembered his holy covenant, that is, the oath which he sware unto Abraham our father to give us.
(28) Not only will he save from all evil, both bodily and spiritual, but also from our enemies, the devil and man. And as all evil must fall upon a Christian, so must it all fall away from him. And this grace, this blessing, and this good, he shows them, that it was promised to the fathers. Thus the apostles always go back to the Old Testament, just as I said above that God spoke and promised through the mouth of the prophets; so also here.
29 If anyone should say, "But if they are dead, how will he show them mercy? What need is there to say that he showed mercy to the fathers and that it was proclaimed in the prophets? This is done to show the truth of God and to show us that we should know that we have not earned it. In the first book of Moses, Cap. 12, 3: 22, 18, you have heard how God promised Abraham that through his seed all the nations of the earth would be redeemed, that is, through Christ there would arise a message that would bring grace, peace and blessing to all people. This promise has been delayed for many years, so that a semblance of it has been lost.
had, it would now be lost. As is his way: When he wants to do a thing, he is so foolish about it, he starts it so strangely, as if it would all go back; but still, it has been fulfilled, and Abraha has kept everything he promised him, not only that he saved him from his enemies, but also that he showed all good things, and gave himself to him with all that he had and was able; And all because it is written here, that such mercy and kindness was spoken before, and sworn to them that died before, when we were not yet. For this reason he is gracious and merciful, not because we deserve it, but because of grace, favor and mercy.
(30) These are mighty thunderbolts against our merits and works, lest we should boast that we have saved ourselves from sins, and that therefore his goodness should be shown us, and the gospel preached. No, no, there is no boasting here at all; but, Lord, says the text here, that you promised to do it some thousand years before I was. For who asked him at that time to give it me, when he had determined that he would do it? Out of this the prophets speak, and there the goodness is rightly met, that every man's mouth may be stopped up, and he that will boast, let him boast of the Lord, Jer. 9:24, 1 Cor. 1:31. For that thou, saith he, art in my kingdom, and hast my grace, thou shalt not impute it unto thyself; I have promised, and have thought to do it, that thou shouldest know nothing of it, but I only. And here we must all become mutes.
(31) Just as we now, praise God, have the gospel again, no one can boast that we obtained it by our diligence, by our toil and labor, by our study, or at least by our good nature; for that which was considered the best of good works, the best of study, is all rejected, as there is reading the mass, entering this or that order, and other things like that; the books in the high schools. There, there have
we sought it. Now then, the light here tells you the contradiction, and teaches much else than we have now heard; who can boast here that we have acquired it? Yes, the gospel condemns and rejects all this: how then can I come to the gospel through that which it condemns?
32 Therefore it remains that all that we have, we have by grace and goodness, and must leave him the honor and the prize, that we have earned the contradiction, the hell and the infernal fire; but if he gives us something above that, it is the fault of his grace and goodness. This is what he says was proclaimed beforehand by the prophets, and promised and sworn to the fathers that he would give us the covenant of Abraha. So he says to Abraham: "Through your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed", Gen. 22, 18. The prophets have thus conceived these words, thus driven them and insisted on them, that he here makes an oath and swears, so that he ever made us sure that he would let his blessing pass over us. Now the time is at hand and the hour has come for him to swear that salvation will come to us. This is the oath he swore to give us, and to give it freely to the world; for thus the words are, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned," Marc. 16:15, 16.
(33) Men did not deserve it, not even Abraham, because he did not receive it himself and died long before the promise was fulfilled. He had spiritual faith, but that he should have experienced it, that the gospel should be heard as far as the world, that did not happen. Therefore the blessing was promised to him, but it did not come to him; that is, he did not experience the gospel resounding in the whole world, even though he received it for himself in faith. Therefore it cannot be said that he deserved it; otherwise he would also have experienced the time and it would have been given to him: but now it has appeared after his death, so that it must be said that he did not deserve it. And again, so you can also not
say that the Gentiles who receive this blessing deserve it, who then were not. To those it is promised and does not come to them; to these it is given, to whom it was not promised, all of whom were not yet at that time.
So he always wants to keep his honor and be a god, even though he cannot do so in the face of the wicked world. He smites, he curses, he scolds, he entices, he provokes, he does everything he is supposed to do; but they do not give it to him, they take away his honor, that is, they do not want to recognize what they have, that they have it by grace. If then we boast, we are God and he is servant; if we want to buy it all from him, we are nobles, he must be servant. *) So he must be put to shame, we are honored. But even so, though we make a cretin of him, yet he hath promised in the scripture that he will keep the glory only, that he will do it out of pure goodness, Isa. 42:8. Whosoever therefore believeth these things hath them; whosoever believeth them not, the same shall have his reward at the last. Zechariah continues:
That we, delivered from the hand of our enemies, may serve him without fear all our lives, in holiness and righteousness that is pleasing to him.
35 He has now described the essence of this kingdom, which is the covenant he swore to our father Abraham: "In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," Gen. 22:18. These words of blessing, he says, I will interpret to you, "that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, may serve him without fear all our days, in holiness and righteousness that is pleasing in his sight. This sounds and works nothing to the world and our flesh. To this the world says, "Yes, I meant that he would give us something delicious, a purse full of florins, a rich wife, beautiful children, large houses, and what more the world desires; so I hear well, it is to be done that we serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness that is pleasing to him? Well, spiritual eyes and spiritual ears belong to this, so that we can see and grasp the words rightly.
*) he must live by our grace (b c). D. Red.
(36) When he says that he will deliver us from all our enemies, it is again understood that this kingdom is in conflict and among the enemies; but they shall not win, but lose: and that this saving and redeeming shall serve that we may serve him forever without fear. This is a Christian nature and a goodly kingdom, that a Christian man should be without all fear; for it is highly spoken that a sinner should live without all care and fear. For this reason he has given and bestowed these things on us, so that we may serve no one but him alone; for here some will not serve the world and the authorities. The word "without fear" implies that we are assured of the goods of this and that life. For a Christian is sure and certain that his sins are forgiven him, even though he still feels them, as said above; he is also sure that death cannot harm him, the devil cannot overpower him, the world cannot harm him. Such a heart is safe from all danger and harm. You must not understand that it does not feel sin, but it feels pain when it is oppressed by sins, when death comes under our eyes, when we are disgraced and reviled by the world, and that we must stand completely naked and have no one on this earth but the one God alone. It feels good; but it does not create anything, it does not overcome, the heart nevertheless remains secure in God.
37 So it is also when there is poverty, when hunger oppresses you, when you do not have enough to feed your belly, to feed your wife and child, you do not have a certain place where you live. But there is no need, he must have enough and live without fear, as it sounds here. But it is only because we are not Christians, and because we judge by the way the world oppresses, disgraces and blasphemes us, that we think we are finished.
Item, if there is no grain on the ground, no money in the bag, we think we are completely abandoned. Here a Christian closes his eyes and ears, speaks with St. Paul: World, death, sin, you died to me, and I died to you again, and lives nothing on earth, but I and God: "The world is crossed to me.
I am dead to it," Gal. 6:14, which means that the world does not respect me at all, and that I preach or live is a mockery to it: but as you measure me, with such a measure I measure you again; if you despise me, I despise you again; you do not think much of me, I do not think much of you either; what do I care if I am hated by the world, if I please the one above alone, if it already lasts forever. So let sin rage, let the world wash and chat until it gets tired, I'm going there, it's just as if I didn't hear it.
39. This is to die to the world and to be without fear: to care for nothing but what God wills, to speak nothing but what pleases Him, that I may know that His words are; thus to live and do those works which I know to be His works, that in all my life, which I live inwardly and outwardly, I may be sure that it is His; thus I am cut off from the world, and yet I am in the world. No one is less in the world than a Christian, and no one is more worldly than a Christian, that is, the world looks more to him and the devil fights more against him than against the Gentiles; the Christ and Paul must be held up, one must tear oneself apart and bite oneself, the whole world wants to have something to do with him. Again, he is not in the world. However dreadfully it rages and rages against him, he says: "Lord, I am yours, you will do well with me, you will also find it well, let it be as you will, if you alone are satisfied. And [this shall continue, *] saith [Zacharias, **] "all the days of our life," in all our life, that is, forever, which never ceaseth. "In holiness and righteousness that is pleasing in his sight," which is before him.
40 Here St. Lucas or Zacharias distinguishes two kinds of righteousness or two kinds of holiness. One is invented, which serves before him; the other does not. And it is clearly expressed that God's righteousness, God's holiness is not esteemed before the world; as the world does not esteem God highly and he, in turn, thinks nothing of it. For what is right in the sight of God, that is what they call wrong; and
*) (c d) **) (c d)
What she calls right, he calls wrong; there are two masters who fight against each other: what God calls holy must be devilish and wrong. Therefore he comforts us here that there must be two kinds of righteousness and holiness: one to which we should adhere, the other to which we should not adhere.
41. Up to now, the greatest holiness that could be conceived was that one ran into the monastery, put on a cap, had a plate sheared, tied a rope around oneself, fasted a lot, prayed a lot, wore a hard shirt, lay in woolen clothes, led a hard, strict life, and in sum, took on a monastic holiness, that we walked along in a glow of glittering works; So that we ourselves did not know anything else, but that we had been completely holy from the top of our head to the bottom of our heel, looking only at the works and the body, not at the heart, since we were full of hatred, full of fear, full of unbelief, of an evil conscience, and knew nothing at all about God. Then the world said: This is a holy man, this is a holy woman, let herself be walled up, lay on her knees day and night, prayed so many rosaries etc. O this is holiness, here dwells God, here is the Holy Spirit bodily! The world praises this and thinks much of it. But that they see that they do not pray with a sincere heart, that they do not teach or instruct anyone, that they do not give to anyone, but only gather to themselves the blood and sweat of the poor, and slacken righteous works, the world does not care much. Now this righteousness and holiness the world wants to have, which nevertheless stinks and is a filth before God, and God does not want us to know it; but it does not want to have any other.
42) Now there is another thing that is valid in the sight of God, which we should consider, and that is that our holiness is not in a gray skirt or a black or white cap, but in a clear conscience, knowing that Christ is my salvation, and that my works do nothing to it, but that I do what is right in the sight of God.
applies. Then all things are unholy to me and I alone am holy, and it is soon decided that I will no longer say: A gray skirt is holy, a red skirt is unholy; because I know that it is not a matter of a gray skirt, but Christ who is the one. For no one can get a gray skirt to wash his heart or a monastery to make his heart clean; but God through faith and the Holy Spirit must cleanse the heart, as Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles, Cap. 15, 9. If then the heart is pure, the house is like the field, and the field like the house, and the market like the monastery; if there is no longer any work, place, or garment that I call unholy [or holy *], one is to me as the other; since holiness is drawn completely into the heart. That he saith unto me, Thou art godly, I will be thy father, thou shalt be my child: in this we shall stand, that we are holy without fear, and his servants. This means that he praises and interprets the blessing of Abraha, that God wants to give the world and put it out of malediction into benediction. Here a Christian has his title, and this color he also carries, that he is holy without care and fear and a servant of God.
(43) But what sinner is so bold as to take the title? If I am God, he gives me that I am his servant, that I am holy and pious before him, and must have enough; who then is so bold? No one may presume to say: I know that I am pious, that I am righteous, holy and a servant of God, and that I have enough in body and soul. Hoi, let someone boast! He who does not boast of this is not a Christian, and yet this is true. But who can prevent anyone from presuming to have this title? The stupid conscience, that we still feel the sin and the life is always weak. I see nothing but a chaste and honorable life. Although he also wants to have the same, he does not want to let it be enough, but there must be something higher to the good, so that I may say: O Lord God, a creator of heaven and earth, before you I am sure that I am holy.
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I am your servant, not through me, who still feel sin in me, but through Christ, who gave me my sin and did enough for me. This I should boast of, if I am otherwise a Christian. Now then, herein lies the controversy: sin does not permit it, the stupid conscience refuses: Yes, how am I his servant, if I feel in myself that I serve the devil, and feel sin in myself, and am not holy? I am not speaking here of common Christians, as I and mine are, but of the righteous, who have a good conscience and the Holy Spirit, yet have a stupid conscience and feel their sin, and yet must say, Sin or no sin, I know not of any sin, of any death, of any hell, and therefore dispute, that they may keep the field, though they die for it, and thus defiantly say, Though they dispute more against me, yet am I holy and a servant of Christ. But how shall I do to him? I find it much otherwise, if I take my life before me.
44 Here you must separate life and word far apart. If thou wilt look upon life, I will give thee also St. Peter's life, St. Paul's life, or St. John's life, and yet thou shalt be put to shame with them. If you want to be holy before God, do not base it on your life, otherwise you are lost; but it is a gift, mercy and grace, and not life or works in you: but if it is in you, it is done for you. Therefore our heart must be so, that I think, O Lord, if we should reckon with one another, as I live or do, I should not stand, though I were John the Baptist; for all is not yet gift, present, and mercy, but [my own work and *] life. But by this I boast myself pious and thy servant, that thou givest me without ceasing, and as thou promisedst to Abraha, that thou wouldest be merciful to me through thy Christ. If I am not godly for myself, he is godly; if I am not holy, he is holy; if I am not God's servant, he is God's servant; if I am not God's servant, he is God's servant.
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without care and fear, but he is free from all care and without fear: that I may therefore go forth from myself into himself, and boast that I am godly in Christ and through Christ. So he wants us to boast in godliness and holiness, but not through us, for through us we will have to boast as desperate boys.
That it is true, look at our lives, our good conduct and character; look at how people everywhere are now so foolish about the gospel that I almost do not know whether I should preach more or not. I would have stopped long ago, if I did not know that it had happened to Christ in the same way. For as soon as it is preached that it is not in our life or works, but in God's gifts, no one wants to do anything good, no one wants to live chastely or be obedient, saying that good works are forbidden. Well, this must be left alone, the gospel remains a sermon in the congregation, whoever grasps it grasps it. God wants us to lead a fine outwardly chaste life, and whoever does not lead it will certainly find his punishment. If it then happens that one lives outwardly pious and respectable, then the devil also wants to get hold of it.
(46) Even today I know not how to be discreet, not for myself, but for life. For when one preaches of a chaste and conscientious life, the world soon wants to fall on it and build a ladder to heaven. God does not want to suffer this. A shameful life is not fit; neither is a good life: how then shall we do to him? Those who look only to the honorable seeming life, it would be better for them that they were harlots and knaves, and lay in the mire: and yet God does not want us to lead a shameful evil life; for he is not sorry, and thou art damned. But if thou leadest a good life, thou wilt hang on to it: neither will he suffer it. Therefore you must take care to stay on the middle path, not wavering to the left or to the right, living a quiet, fine, clean life in the sight of the world, thinking nothing of it, nothing better than whether I am asleep or awake. And just as I say, by this I will not earn heaven; so also
Let all honorable and chaste living be freely done, so that no one may say, I will be saved by this or that work.
But what happens? If one preaches in this way, no one wants to do it; if one does not preach, then a wild, raw nature and raw, coarse people come out of it, which is neither valid before God nor before the world. This is how God governs His saints. The doctrine is clear and bright, but he leads them so wonderfully that we do not know which one is a Christian or not. And Summa Summarum, his judgments are secret and hidden, wants to make fools out of us, so that we have to bring the things home to him in the end. I would like to have such disciples, who understand well what a Christian life is: but they are nowhere to be found; for the other crowd either wants to be crude or wants to be too holy. Well, let him who can grasp it grasp it: we can do no more than bring it into the ears; God must carry it away into the heart.
(48) So a Christian stands without fear, holy, God's servant, not by his good works, by his holy life, but by the grace of Christ. But he who calls himself holy by his works blasphemes God, takes away God's glory and denies Christ, and it would be better for him to be a death-slayer or an adulterer ten times over than to call himself a Christian, pious and holy; for he blasphemes Christ, and is said to be nothing like Christ. For therefore he is called Christ, that he may be my grace, my mercy, my salvation, and my holiness; shall I not appropriate to him the mercy of God, that he may make me blessed? What else would it be but that I say that he himself is not holy and blessed? Therefore, if I am a Christian, I must say that I am holy and a Christian, because he is holy, and so die in that name; and even if my conscience reproves me that I am a sinner, I must still remain on this side, that his holiness is greater than my sin. So I must outwardly lead an honorable life, and inwardly in my heart cleave to him alone. Now follow how Zacharias turns his speech to the child and says:
And thou child shalt be called a prophet of the Most High, thou shalt go before the Lord to prepare his way.
49. this will be your ministry, you will be the first and you will start it, you will become a prophet of the Most High. How shall the prophecy come to pass? how shall it be done? So shall it be, thou shalt go before the Lord, and shalt prepare his ways; so shall it be, so near art thou before all other prophets, that thou shalt go before the Lord. What is this, "to go before the Lord"? It means that the Lord is coming, because if the servant goes before, it is certain that the Lord will follow him. This is the glory of St. John the Baptist, that he is the forerunner of the Lord. As if Zacharias wanted to say: The Lord is present, he himself will come, you alone are a harbinger. Just as when a prince comes, one or two precede him, making way, saying: Stand aside, stand back! So do you also, going before, saying to the people, Move aside, make room, make room; the Lord is coming. Such a servant is John, whom the Lord follows on his heels. No prophet has ever spoken like this, but this is what they said: A prophet will come one day, and he will establish a kingdom that will stand forever etc. But they are all dead, and none of them lived to see the time: but this man lived just at that time, when the Lord himself cometh, and followeth in the footsteps of him. For when John came, baptism and the gospel began; and soon after, when John departed, Christ began, both in almost one year.
50 Now what shall be his office [or why shall he go before *]? This is to be his office, to prepare the way for the Lord. This "preparing" is nothing else than leading the people up to the Lord. Christ is the grace, the gift, the king, the horn of our salvation. No one receives this Lord and King unless he has first been so humbled that he thinks nothing of himself. For the two do not otherwise agree with each other, do not stand with each other in a stable, give God's grace or gift, and, earn. Therefore, because the world is in
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is under the delusion that it wants to make a bargain with God, earn and gain, then John must say no and speak: Let go of your merits, this is not God's service, righteousness or work, but another holiness, and God's service does not come from it. So with this piece he teaches people nothing but that they are sinners and nothing at all. Whoever then recognizes himself and feels that he is a sinner before God and nothing at all, has felt the voice of John: "Prepare the way for the Lord", give him room, there is another here who follows me, who is greater than I am, him you should hear, him you should obey.
The other ministry of John, which follows, is that he brings us to this knowledge and points with his finger to the same little paschal lamb, which takes our sin upon itself, John 1:29, and strikes it to the cross and destroys it. He now continues to speak of this:
And give knowledge of the blessedness of his people, which is in the forgiveness of their sins.
52] That is, you will begin the sermon in which one learns how to be saved eternally; which salvation or blessedness is in it: not how we can obtain great riches, honor or power here on earth, as the Jews have understood it up to now, but that we obtain forgiveness of sins and become partakers of God's grace. But where there is forgiveness of sin, there is no merit, nor payment, nor satisfaction; otherwise it would not be called forgiveness of sins. So this knowledge must be how God forgives sin and makes us blessed without works and merit, out of pure grace and mercy, as follows:
Through the heartfelt mercy of our God, through which the rising from on high has visited us.
(53) Those who teach and keep the law, works and merit are fighting against God's mercy and against the knowledge of salvation. For he does not say that forgiveness was granted through the pleas or works of the fathers or any saints, but through God's causeless mercy, which Lucas calls "heartfelt mercy.
54 This merciful forgiveness was not given without merit, but there was a mediator who earned it for us and in our place. This is Christ, our Lord. For God still wanted to have done enough for sin, and to have paid His glory and justice. We could not do this, but Christ did, who out of the Father's causeless mercy was sent and came to us to do this. That is why he says, "through which" causeless mercy "the exit on high has visited us." No doubt this was ever undeserved and vain causeless mercy, that Christ should come and visit us, and earn and purchase for us such forgiveness unto eternal blessedness. And he calls him the "Exit on high", so that he shows his divinity; thus he wants to say: On high, that is, above all creatures, where there is nothing higher, but only vain height, there is Christ in his divinity, like a dawn or exit; for he goes out from the Father like the radiance from the sun, of which it is further said in the postilion in the Chrism Mass. Therefore he is also called the radiance of the divine being, Hebr. 1, 3, or the morning radiance of divine nature; as also the second and twentieth Psalm calls him in the title "the arrow of the morning radiance".
That he may appear to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and direct our feet into the way of peace.
55 Some have understood this much from the fathers in the outer castle of hell; but Lucas follows here and agrees with the saying of Isaiah Cap. 9, 2: "The people that walk in darkness behold a great light; upon them that dwell in the land of darkness it shineth brightly" etc. To say, then, that Christ came to be the light of the world, and to enlighten the hearts by the gospel, and to bring to Himself those who were captives of the devil in blindness and darkness of unbelief; that He might guide our feet in the way of peace, that is, that He might rule our consciences safely and cheerfully in His kingdom of grace, that we should fear neither the devil, nor sin, nor death, nor the world, nor any calamity, which we had before feared for many years.
2296 ". is. 422-4A. On the day of St. Peter and Paul-the Holy Apostles. W. n. 3oss-sosi. 2297
in gross sins, some in good works, yet both could have no rest nor peace at all, but had to despair under the devil and fear of death, and did not know how to find the way to such peace.
56. So you see that Zechariah was with the
The most masterful way of painting the gospel and kingdom of Christ with all its fruits, colors and attributes, so that it is a word and kingdom of grace, forgiveness, peace, joy, security, blessedness and all good things. May God grant that we may know and feel it, amen.
On the day of St. Peter and Paul, the holy apostles.*)
Matth. 16, 13-19.
Then came JEsuS into the region of the city Caesarea Philippi, and asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is? They said: Some say that thou art John the Baptist; others, that thou art Elias; others, that thou art Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them: Who do you say that I am? Then Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And JESUS answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon the son of Jonas: for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he forbade his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christian.
You know this gospel well, and understand it better than I hope, for it has been written so long that it should be well known to almost everyone, and it is almost the best part of the gospel that Matthew describes. And they have been dragging themselves with the saying from the beginning; nor has greater harm sprung from any saying than from that which is here in the gospel, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." As it comes to pass, when the reckless spirits fall into the Scriptures, they draw them hither and thither; as it hath been hitherto. And the more holy the saying is, the sooner one can miss and the greater harm comes from it.
(2) Therefore consider this to be a common rule: If any man walk thus in the Scriptures, and weave, and hover, and cannot take a certain understanding from them, thereupon he shall be his
Heart would like to found, let it lie completely. For when the devil hath caught thee with his fork, that thou art not founded on a certain understanding, as it ought to be; he will turn thee to and fro, that thou knowest not whither to go. Therefore thou must be sure and persevere in a sound mind of a saying, that thou mayest strengthen thy faith and fight against the enemy. Now, let us see what this gospel holds out to us.
(3) The purpose of this gospel is that we may know what Christ is. Now Christ is known in two ways: first, by life, as the disciples said to the Lord, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist; others, that thou art Elias; some, that thou art Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. This is not yet a certain and righteous knowledge of Christ; it clings only to the outward appearance and character that Christ then led. In this way, many youths have known him.
recognized him. So, where there is reason and flesh, this cannot take Christ further, but only for a holy pious man, who gives a fine example of himself, which one should follow. Furthermore, reason cannot recognize him, even if he were to walk here on earth today. Whoever therefore takes him for a holy man, for an example of a good life, heaven is still decided for him, and has not yet rightly grasped and recognized Christ; but takes him only for a holy man, as Elijah was, Elisaeus, Jeremiah or other pious saints. Therefore notice the rule: Where there is only reason, there is also only understanding, so that one considers Christ to be a teacher and holy man; this continues, because the heavenly Father does not teach in the heart.
The other understanding of Christ is that which St. Peter had here, when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"; as if to say, "Thou art a peculiar man, not Elias, not John, not Jeremiah, not one who precedes other men; it is much higher with thee, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. This cannot be ascribed to any saint, neither to John, nor to Elijah, nor to Jeremiah. For if Christ alone is thought to be a pious man; reason always remains for and for weaving and hovering, falling from one to another, from Elijah to Jeremiah. But here he is stripped and held somewhat special in the sight of all the saints, and for that he is certain. For if I have Christ uncertain, my conscience is never quiet, nor does it ever have rest.
(5) Therefore a distinction is made here between faith and works. There Christ declares himself to us, how he is not to be caught by works. One does not come to him by works, for works come afterward. I must enter into his goods first, that he may be mine, and I his. This is what the words mean when Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Well, blessed is he who has such knowledge of Christ; but reason is not so far off. Christ himself confessed this when he answered St. Peter, saying, "Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah; flesh and blood are one.
Blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." And says further, "Thou art Peter," that is, a rock, "and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Now here is the power to know what the church or congregation is, what the rock is, and what the building is. One must leave here a rock on which the church is to stand; as he says, "It is a rock, on which my church stands. But this is Christ and his word; for Christ is not known but by the word alone; for otherwise his flesh is of no use to me, if he were to come at once today. But the words, when one says: This is Christ, the Son of the living God, the words, I say, make him known to me and describe him to me; on them I build, they are so certain to me, so true, so firm, that no rock can be so certain and strongly founded and firm. Therefore, rock here means nothing else than the Christian evangelical truth, which makes Christ known to me, so that I base my conscience on Christ; and against the rock no force shall be able, not even the gates of hell. Without the rock and foundation, no other can be laid; as St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 3:11: "No one can lay any other foundation except the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
7 This is also said by the prophet Isaiah Cap. 28, 16, which Christ repeats here, where God says: "I will lay a foundation stone in Zion, an established stone, a noble stone, well founded, so that whoever believes in it will not be put to shame. The apostles use this saying very strongly, and it is especially used in the epistle to the Romans Cap. 9, 33 and in St. Peter's first epistle Cap. 2, 6. 2, 6. There you have it clear that God wants to lay a foundation stone, a main stone, a proven cornerstone, and no one else. This is Christ and his gospel; whoever is founded on it shall not be put to shame, and shall stand so firm that the gates of hell shall not prevail against him. Therefore Christ alone is the rock; and where another rock is laid, make that the rock.
Cross before you, for it is surely the devil. For the saying can be understood by no one else but Christ alone, as St. Paul says. This is the true understanding, which no one can deny. The high schools do not deny this either, they admit that Christ is the rock, but they still want to lay a side stone and make a wooden road next to the right road. We should not suffer this, nor do we want to. For the nobler the saying is, the stronger we should hold above it. For it is clear from Isaiah and Paul, as we have heard, that the stone alone is Christ.
8 Now to these words they have given understanding, saying, "Thou art Peter, upon the rock I will build my church." Peter is the rock, and all his descendants, the popes. So there should be two rocks. But this cannot and may not be. For St. Peter here excepts Christ and does not want him to remain neither John, nor Eliam, nor Jeremiah; he does not want one of them to be the rock on which to build, even though they are holy and pious people. So the pope is sometimes a bad boy and nowhere as good as John or Elijah. If I cannot build on the holy people, on Eliam or John, how can I build on a sinner whom the devil has possessed? To this end Christ here with this saying forcibly snatches out of sight all the saints, even his own holy mother; he himself wants to be the rock on which his church is to be built. Therefore, stay on the simple mind, and you will not be lacking. Christ wants to have one rock and the others want to have two. Now they or Christ must lie. But Christ does not lie, so it certainly follows that they must lie.
9 From this we conclude that the whole papal regime is built on vain lies and blasphemous words of God; and the pope is the blasphemer of God in that he draws to himself the noble saying which alone is spoken by Christ. He wants to be the rock and the church shall stand on him; as Christ has said about himself before in Matthäo Cap. 24, 5: "Many will come under my name, saying, 'I am Christ,' and will deceive many." This certainly does the
Pabst, he certainly claims to be Christ, even though he does not want to have the name. For he does not say, I am Christ; that would be too coarse, one would notice it. But he wants to ascribe to himself the essence, the office, which is Christ's alone. Therefore we must see to it that we keep to the simple understanding, namely, that Christ is the foundation stone on which the church is to stand, against which no authority is to be able to do anything; just as a house or castle built on a rock relies solely on the good foundation on which it is built, as if it were to speak: I have a good foundation, I rely on it. So does the heart that stands on Christ, saying, "I have Christ, the living Son of God, on whom I stand, and I rely on him as on a solid rock; nothing can harm me because I stand on this rock.
(10) Therefore, "to build" here means nothing else than to believe in Christ and comfortably rely on him, that he is my Savior and is mine with all his goods; for I stand on all that he has and is able to do. If then I stand on him, knowing that he is the Son of God, that his life is greater than all death, that his glory is greater than all shame, that his blessedness is greater than all sorrow, that his righteousness is greater than all sin, nothing can stand against me, even if all the gates of hell were heaped together. But again, if I stand on any other thing than the foundation stone, but on one work, yea, even on all the saints' work, even St. Peter's, without faith: then am I escaped from that foundation stone. For against light all things are black, against wisdom all things are foolishness, against righteousness all things are sin. Now if I stand and run with him through the judgment, I would surely be cast out into eternal damnation; for nothing can stand before him, Ps. 130:3. But if I catch him and build upon him, I seize his righteousness, his goodness, and all that is his; which exalts me before him, that I be not put to shame. Why can I not be put to shame? For I am built on God's righteousness, which is the righteousness of God.
God Himself is; He cannot reject the same, otherwise He would have to reject Himself. This is the simple mind; do not be led by it, otherwise you will be pushed off the rock and be condemned.
(11) They may say therefore, saith Christ here: "Thou art Peter, and upon the rock I will build my church." Yes, you must understand that here Peter is called a rock and Christ also a rock. For Christ is the whole rock, Peter a piece of the rock; just as he is called Christ, and we of him are called Christians for the sake of fellowship, in that we also have a Christian nature about us. He is righteous, so are we; he is just, so are we; and all that he has and is able to do, we may also boast of. But this is the difference, that Christ has all his goods by duty and right, we have them by grace and mercy. So he also calls Peter a rock here, because he stands on the rock and through it he will also be a rock. So we should all rightly be called Peter, that is, Rock.
(12) If they want to go further and say, "Well, be it as it may with your interpretation, I will follow the text, which says, "You are Peter, and on Peter I will build my church"; since the text says that Peter is the rock, hold out to them what follows, that is, "And against the rock the gates of hell shall not be able. Now St. Peter is not passed. For immediately in the following text, v. 22, 23, it says that he was called "Satan", a devil, by the Lord. When the Lord said how he would go to Jerusalem, Peter said, "Lord, spare thyself, lest this befall thee. But the Lord turned and said to Peter, "Get thee, Satan, out of my sight; for thou meanest not what is divine, but what is human." Then this rock would have fallen, and the gates of hell would have overwhelmed him, if the church had stood and been built on Peter.
(13) Behold, beloved, behold, the Lord calls Peter a Satan, a devil, whom he had previously canonized and beatified. Why? All this was done because he had not recognized the unholy
shut the mouths of idle talkers, who would have built the church on Peter and not on Christ; and that he might make us sure in our minds, that we might know that the church was not founded on a puddle or dunghill, but on Christ, who is a foundation and cornerstone, well established and, as Isaiah says, well fixed.
Item, when Peter cried out to the maid, he denied Christ, Matth. 26, 69. 70. Now if he falls and I stand on him, where will I remain? If the devil took away the pope and I stood on him, where would I remain? For this reason Christ also caused Peter to fall, so that we would not take him for the rock and build on him; for we must be founded on him who stands against all devils, that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore hold fast this understanding: for it saith, Against the rock all hellish gates shall not prevail. But how does this work?
Faith is an omnipotent thing, as is the eternal God Himself; therefore God also wants to prove and test it. Therefore, all that the mischievous devil can and is able to do must be resisted and rejected. For he does not say here, in vain and in vain, that the gates of hell will not overpower him. The "gates" in the Scriptures are called a city and its regiment or authority; for at the gates they had their judgments, as they were commanded in the law; as, Moses says in the fifth book Cap. 16, 18: "Judge and officers shalt thou set thee in all thy gates." So here the "gates" are called all the power of the devil with their followers, as there are kings and princes with the wise men of this world, who must all lie down against the rock and faith. This rock stands in the midst of the sea, and the waves go against it, storming, bursting, thundering and raging as if they wanted to overturn the rock, but it stands firm, for it is well founded. Therefore it is necessary to be careful that the devil and all his power will run against it, but he will not be able to do anything: just as the waves on the sea fall over the rock and crush it.
It is the reason for this. As you now see that our most ungracious princes are angry, so are the scholars angry with the glittering saints. But do not regard them, nor turn away from them; for they are the gates of hell, and the bulges of the waters, which storm against this rock, but are not able to prevail. Now follow the other part of this gospel, where the Lord speaks to Petro in this way:
And will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(16) As ye abode in the prone mind aforetime, so abide ye now. The keys are given to him who stands on this rock by faith, to whom the Father has given it. Now no person can be considered to stand on the rock, for one falls today and another falls tomorrow, just as St. Peter fell. Therefore no one is destined to whom the keys belong but to the church, that is, to those who stand on the rock. The Christian church alone has the keys, no one else; although the bishop and pope can use them, as those who are commanded by the congregation. A priest takes care of the office of the keys, baptizes, preaches, administers the sacrament, and does other offices, so that he serves the congregation not for his own sake, but for the sake of the congregation; for he is a servant of the whole congregation, to whom the key has been given, even though he be a knave. For if he does it instead of the church, the church does it. If the church does it, God does it, for one must have a servant. For if the whole church should fall down and
If they wanted to baptize the child, they would have drowned it, because a thousand hands went after it. That was no good at all. Therefore, one must have a servant to take care of this instead of the congregation.
17 Now, to bind and loose the keys is the power to teach and not only to absolve. For the keys are applied to all things, that I may help my neighbor, to the consolation which one may give to another, to public and secret confession, to absolution, and whatsoever is more; but chiefly to preaching. For where it is preached, He that believeth shall be saved, that is, he that openeth; he that believeth not shall be damned, that is, he that shutteth up. The binding is then on this, when I preach, Thou art of the devil, as thou walkest and as thou standest; so is heaven decreed for him. Then when he falls down and recognizes his sin, I say, "Believe in Christ, and your sins will be forgiven you. Thus Peter used the key in the stories of the apostles, when he converted three thousand people in one day with his preaching, Acts 2:41. So we Christians all have the power to bind and loose.
(18) The papists have drawn and stretched all this to confirm the pope's rule and to confirm his law, and thus they say: To bind is to make laws; but thus the blind leaders go. If you stick to the simple mind, as you have now heard, and do not let anything turn you away from it, you will otherwise stand before the challenge of sin, death and the devil. Let us leave it at that and call upon God for His grace.