John 3:16-21.
Thus God loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe has already been judged, for he does not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their works were evil. He that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be punished. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest; for they are done in God.
(1) This is also one of the true gospels, as John used to write them; for he describes them in such a way that he alone might be called an evangelist. Now this, as you have often heard, is the gospel, that only Christ may be known, and the Holy Spirit teaches nothing more. Therefore just look at the words, which are powerful, delicious and exceedingly comforting. And first he speaks:
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
2 Now you see that Christ does nothing but make the Father sweet to us and bring us to the Father through Him. And to this end is all that Christ does, that we may have a fine sweet confidence in the Father.
gain. For if we only fear the Father, it is nothing; but that we bear a fine kindly love to him, that makes us blessed. Now he says here that the Father loved the world so much that he gave even his dearest child for it, and provided a means for us to come to him, which is Christ. For I have often said before that faith alone is not enough to God, but there must also be faith. The Turk and the Jew also believe in God, but without means and without grace.
3 What then is the food? This is indicated by the gospel; for the Holy Spirit teaches everywhere that we do not have the Father without means, and will not suffer us to go to the Father without means. Now the schools teach us to go to the Father without a means, by our works. That is, to cast Christ out of the means, as Jeremiah proclaimed of him, when the wicked thus think, saying, Let us send him wood for his meat, and let us root him up in the land of the living, and let his name be no more.
be thought. This is not right. Therefore let us by no means go thus, for thus we despise the high food which the Father has prepared for us: but let us give thanks to the Father, that he has so arranged it, and has placed between us one who is God and is like God, and man and man alike; for we are men and he is God. Where the two persons run against each other, man must come to ruin, for he cannot stand. Therefore God has tempered it so that he has placed one in the means, who is true God and man: through him we are to come to the Father; with our food we can raise nothing.
4th Now they teach that one shall be saved by fasting, praying, and such like works, saying, Whosoever shall become a monk or a nun, or pray the little prayer of St. Bridget every day, shall be saved, and shall never be lost; and all books are full of this. This is just what is said: I will do so much, until I escape from hell, stop my sin and exclude heaven. These want to find the food with them and want to push the food of the Father out of the means. For this reason they must perish, since they think they can come to the Father without the means, as through Christ, who was modeled for us by the Father out of His gracious good pleasure. For Christ teaches here that we are not lost, but have eternal life, that is, that God loved us, so that he paid for his one dearest child, whom he put into our misery, hell and death, and let him drink it out; that is the way to salvation.
Now, if there were any other way to heaven, he would have set it. Now there is no other way; therefore let us cling to the words here, and let us set our hearts firmly on them, and let us close our eyes, and say, Though I have the merit of all the saints, the holiness and purity of all the virgins, and the piety of St. Peter, yet I give nothing for my thing; but I must have another ground on which to build myself, namely, on these words, God hath given his Son, that whosoever believeth in him, whom the Father for love of him hath given, he may believe in him.
has sent, he shall be blessed. And thou shalt brave it, that thou mayest be preserved; and thou shalt boldly establish thyself upon his words, which no devil, hell, or death, shall be able to restrain: but the Father teareth the word through hell, and hell, and death, and all that cleaveth unto it. Therefore, let it be as it may, so say: There stands God's word; this is my rock and anchor, on which I build myself, and this remains; and where this remains, there I also remain; for God cannot lie, and would rather have heaven and earth fall to ruins, before the smallest letter or tittle of his word should remain.
6 Now notice that one must have a mediator, and that is Christ; and must therefore come up to the Father, and say, Though I cannot stand before thy majesty, nor any angel, though all things must tremble and shake, yet here I have one Christ, whom thou canst not be hostile to; under him I hold myself, and upon thy word that thou wilt accept me through him; thou wilt not reject me; thou must reject him first. Thus one must come to the Father through Christ, that one may gain a fine sweet confidence in him.
7) This raises a stupid, despondent conscience and makes it calm, otherwise nothing helps, neither caps nor plates, neither piety nor monasticism: no work, however holy it may be called, can appease God's judgment and pacify us in our hearts, but only God's word. God has given us His Son out of love, through whom we shall be saved; therefore, let no other path be made for you than this one, and beware of addition, which would even spoil it. For he that maketh addition leadeth thee astray from the right way. Therefore let your conscience be set on no work, on no saint's merit, but only on the word of God: he will not lie to you, but will do his promise enough. There you take hold of God with His own words, on which you can build, establish and place your heart and comfort. Now the Gospel continues:
God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
(8) But with words you can take hold of God, as he is to be taken hold of. So you cannot run after him, but he runs after you, and makes his son appear to you that he is a savior and not a judge; by this you now have confidence in the Father.
(9) Now they have presented the pious Savior as a judge, and it is the merit of the saints to turn away from Christ and take refuge in the saints. For we think that the saints are more gracious and more favorable to us than God Himself. Hence it comes that one says: St. Peter is my apostle; the other: St. Paul is my patron; and so on, St. Barbara, St. Erasmus and the like. Now God cannot suffer this, the honor must belong to God; for my conscience must stand on a foundation that is the eternal knowing truth; otherwise it is lacking. But now God alone is the truth, on which consciences must stand and on nothing else.
(10) If then Christ is imagined to be a judge alone, I fear him; so it soon follows that I become a stranger to him, and I also become fearful of God, and hate him also; so the heart is full of poison and blasphemy. But when I recognize him as the gospel portrays him, so that I consider him to be the greatest friend my heart could choose, then it is well and love soon follows; for no friend can do as much for us as he has done for us. Then I forget my father and mother and love him; then a strong confidence in him arises in me. Otherwise, when one fears him, one falls down to work and puts Christ out of the way, and so wants to run to God; then one breaks his neck. This is exactly what Psalm 53:6 says about fools and the wicked: "They fear when there is nothing to fear. And Prov. 28:1, Solomon says, "The wicked fleeth, and no man chaseth him": for they have a stubborn heart, and fear Christ, who is most friendly to them, and run, though no man pursue them, for their stubborn delusion alone.
(11) Therefore, learn here that only Christ may be rightly recognized, and keep the Father's
and let it be the food to attain heaven and salvation, and nothing else. Oh, if the saying came to a man's mind when he was dying, when he was about to die, and if he remembered this saying, how that the Lord came not to condemn the world, but to save it, he could not perish, nor perish, but be saved. Forasmuch then as it is of no avail but Christ alone, who also came to be our Saviour, believe in him. Therefore he entices all here and also threatens to, and thus concludes:
For he that believeth on him is not judged: but he that believeth not is judged already, because he believeth not the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(12) The high schools, when they want to make people religious, hold judgment against them, and make it as hot as they can, so that they lead the people into terror and leave them in it, and do not tell them how to get out of it. But here he also holds the judgment before them and threatens; yet he tells them how they are to come out, in this way: There will be a judgment from which no one will escape, for only he who believes without any addition; if you add any addition, you have gone the wrong way and are corrupt, for he who does not believe is already lost. I am the only gate that leads to heaven: the way is narrow, you must become narrow, if you want to get through and grind through the rock. Those who are hung with works, as a brother of Jacob with shells, cannot pass through: therefore you must become narrow and strait; but this happens when you despair of yourself. But if thou comest with great sacks of hops full of works, thou must lay aside, or else thou canst not pass through.
(13) It follows that where faith is, there is no harm in sin, for it makes us Christ's own. But where faith is not, there is either fear and hatred of God, or a nefarious, wild life. We have also now heard that the Holy Spirit has
will punish them for sin, because they did not believe in me, says Christ. That alone is sin, unbelief. Faith eradicates all sin; unbelief makes one not know God; therefore, one is afraid of Him. When one is afraid, he hates him and blasphemes him, and does all sin in one heap and does not follow any commandment. Now hear how he adds a cause to this judgment and says:
Now this is the judgment, that light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their works were evil.
The light is the Lord Christ and his knowledge, so that he may be recognized as he is depicted here in this gospel. In it you see a brightness, as you look into the sun, and learn there what God is. The light has come into the world through the mouth of the apostles and has shone through the whole world, and people are hostile to it only because of the evil works in which the whole world is. For why do not the pope, bishop, priests and monks suffer their things to be punished, and tell them who they are? Because their works are evil. Now the light makes it evident that all our things are nothing and must have Christ alone. Now when the light is brought, they say, "Shall I then have fasted and prayed long in vain? Shall all good works be done in vain? Out, you heretic! For if this were to happen, no one would give any more to vigils and meetings; their kitchens would become narrow and their cellars empty; they would not like that, so they would have to give up the light.
15 Now God has blinded them to build their hearts on stone and wood, leaving the foundation of truth and not building on Christ. But the gospel wants to build the hearts on the eternal, thorough truth. Now, if one wants to take this away from them and overthrow them, then one must bring the light and expose their works, so that they become a disgrace. They do not want to suffer this, but to keep and protect their things, so that they become enemies of this light. This is what the Lord says:
He who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his deeds will not be punished.
(16) They hate the light, saith Christ, because they do evil: for they lead a shameful life, which they think is the best. And the devil also desires to be beautiful, and also to sit in a clean place, not lying at the door, but inwardly in the heart, and not coming to the light; he desires to have the cover, that the wrong may not be seen. Now it must come to daylight; for the sun does not leave its exit because I am lazy and would like to sleep an hour or two more. No, it comes forth and does not hide its light and shines, even though it is against me. So the sun of righteousness wants to rise; therefore you see that they do not want to come into the light, but cover and protect their sin and evil works; thus they deserve judgment, because they have not only done evil works, but they also want to defend them, which is twofold sin.
17 But the pious gladly come to the light, that their works may be judged by all who wish, and let the devil examine them; for they have worked for good reason, because they have faith, and they go in faith and help the poor. God works in them, and they cannot be evil; therefore he can suffer all the world to judge his works. Therefore it is a fine thing about a believing man; if one rejects his work, he himself says: Yes, there is nothing good in me, as much as there is in me; but the works that my Lord Christ does in me, those alone are good. He then does not want to have any honor, writes it home to God, wants to have in God alone what he should have, and can well go to the light and exist. This is what Christ says here at the end:
But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest: for they are done in God.
(18) Now we have heard what is our consolation and ultimate certainty, since we are in
that no man who desires to be a Christian may undertake any work by which he may be saved, but by Christ alone, whom it has all cost; through this we must attain to salvation, and through nothing else. If one builds on a work, it is immediately against God's grace.
Nineteen Now again we must not be without work; as the insolent say, I will do no more good work, that I may be saved. Yes, you may no longer do anything that serves salvation, the forgiveness of sin, the salvation of the conscience, you have enough in your faith: but your neighbor does not have enough, you must also help him. That is why God lets you live, otherwise your head would soon have to be torn off; but that is why you live, because you serve your neighbor with your life, not yourself.
20 So also here, Christ the Lord also had enough, it was his what the world has, he would have let us; but that is not a right life. Yea, let that life be reprobated and accursed into hell, which liveth alone; for that is heathenish, and not Christian: but they that now have enough of Christ, must follow the image of Christ, and from their heart do good to their neighbor, as he hath done to us, freely, without any purpose to gain thereby, seeing only that it so pleaseth God.
021 And we Christians are like unto a child born in his father's house, which bringeth the inheritance with him in the flesh, and to whom the inheritance is by birth, and bringeth it with the birth into the house. But a servant brings his earnings not into the house, but out of the house. Still, when the child grows up, he must help to increase and improve the inheritance, so that it becomes greater and better; not that he must first gain the inheritance by works, but it is already obtained at birth. So also, if we believe in God, we are already heirs and must not gain it by any works; yet we must help the Father to increase it. So Paul also says to the Philippians Cap. 2, 5. ff.: "Let every man be of the same mind as Jesus Christ was. Who, though He was in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be like God, but manifested Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, being made like another man, and found in deeds like a man; humbling Himself, and becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross." This means: Do you also lead such an outward walk, that you become like the example of Christ and help your neighbor with body and goods, and do not think to win the birth with works; do not protect the childship with your own presumption, but with faith, and help to spread the kingdom.