1 Cor. 12:1-11.
But of the spiritual gifts I will not restrain you, brethren. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, and went unto dumb idols, as ye were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one curses Jesus who speaks by the Spirit of God, and no one can call Jesus a Lord without the Holy Spirit. There are many gifts, but there is one Spirit. And there are diversities of offices; but there is One Lord. And there are divers powers; but there is One God, who worketh all things in all. In each one the gifts of the Spirit are manifested for the common good. To one is given by the Spirit to speak wisdom; to another to speak knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; to another the gift of healing, in the same Spirit; to another to do miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning spirits; to another various languages; to another interpreting languages. But all these things the same one Spirit worketh, and divideth to every one his own according to his will.
(1) This epistle speaks of spiritual things, which most concern the ministry of preaching and those who preside over the church. St. Paul exhorts them how each one in his office should use the gifts he has for the benefit of others and thus serve the unity and edification of the church; for this is the sorrowful trouble, which has the most evil face in Christendom, that it does not remain without division and ruthlessness; at which then especially the wisest and best in the world are offended, and cry out: Yes, if the doctrine were right, they themselves would remain one. But now they envy, bite and devour each other. For although the world carries its own great beam in its eye, it cannot leave our splinter undirected to adorn itself with it, as if it were pure and beautiful.
2 Well, we can't help it. "There must be breeds among you," says St. Paul 1 Cor. 11:19, "so that those who are righteous may be revealed." Where God's Word
The devil must always build his tabernacles and whorehouses next to God's temple and church with his hordes; as he did in Paradise the first time, and in Adam's house, where he had only built a church by himself; so he has done ever since and will probably remain so from now on. Whoever now will take offense at this, or whoever will soon judge, when he sees such a thing, that there is no church there, will in the end lack both the church and Christ. For you will find no church so pure that all teach or believe and live in harmony, without any discord.
3 This also happened to St. Paul in the beautiful and famous church in the land of Achaia, in Corintho, which he himself had planted and taught there two years; but soon after, when he was gone, they began to disagree about their preachers, and to attach themselves to the persons, this one to Paulum, the other to Petrum or Apollo etc. who had taught well and in harmony, and yet, because of some
If one had more or different gifts, could speak better, or was of greater reputation in person,' he found some who wanted to follow him alone; and among those who were preachers of the church, where one had a special gift or office, he wanted to be more and better than the others; from this had to follow disunity and discord, hatred, quarreling and envy, so that the church would suffer great damage and disruption.
4 Therefore, one must resist as much as one can against such misfortune, even if it cannot be destroyed or eradicated. For where one would not resist at all, the devil would take the upper hand and cause vain discord; but where one resists him, God nevertheless gives grace and blessing, so that some fruit and improvement follow. And even if nothing could be done, faithful preachers should not remain silent, if they do not want to be lazy hirelings who flee from the wolf, John 10:12.
5 So St. Paul also does in this text, beginning to preach about spiritual gifts and exhorting them how they should conduct themselves in them; for such gifts, the greater and more beautiful they are, the more flesh and blood is inclined to redness and its own glory. If a man understands the Scriptures well and is able to interpret them, or is able to perform miracles, he soon lets himself be thought good, and thinks that everyone should celebrate him, and wants to hang on to himself alone and let no one stand beside him, and so wants to separate the teaching or make it unequal, as if he brought something better than the others have taught, so that they must be nothing or ever small in comparison with him.
(6) Just as it happened at that time and still happens with our gospel, after it was brought to light again by God's grace, the people were properly instructed and united. Then the devil could not celebrate, he had to awaken his mob and stubborn heads, who also wanted to be praised that they were excellent people, had a great spirit, could also preach, write and interpret the Scriptures better than others (because they had learned a little from us), and pretended that it would be something that our gospel had begun and the doctrine had been purified a little, but it would still have been something that we could not have done.
not enough, one would have to reach far into it and come much higher etc. If with their teaching they cannot set another foundation, as St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 3:11, nor teach another Christ, neither does the gospel; but precisely because they pretend to teach something higher and better, they hinder the right teaching and turn it back again, so that it cannot be called continued, but rather the foundation is removed and destroyed, and the people are again led into error and blindness. That is why St. Paul begins this exhortation this way:
You know that you were Gentiles and went to the dumb idols as you were led.
(7) Hereby he reproaches them for what they were before they became Christians, so that they may think back and remember that they do not receive such gifts and what they now have of themselves nor for their worthiness and merit, lest they become proud, nor quarrel and separate because of it, or pretend to teach and do something different or better in the church; thus also giving a defeat to others who would resent that Christians should disagree among themselves.
(8) Think back, all of you, he wants to say, what were you before you came to Christ? Vain blind pagans, who had no knowledge of God, but let yourselves be led by the nose, where you were told of only one God, and all your being was nothing else but vain divided worship; since each one, wherever he turned, had to have an idol of his own, even the child in the cradle, when it sucked its mother's milk; as St. Augustine tells us, that the city of Rome alone had more than a hundred gods, in addition to one god. St. Augustine tells us that the city of Rome alone had more than four hundred gods, and built a church that still stands, called the Pantheon of old, of all the gods in the world. There you went with crowds, as you were only led, there you prayed, sacrificed, and hung your heart on vain dumb idols, which could neither teach you, advise you, comfort you, give you nor help you, and had nothing of it, neither that you were a blind, miserable, miserable, divided people, and could not resist any error, let yourselves be led by the gods.
tear everyone apart, like a poor bunch of scattered sheep from the wolves.
9. But now you have been brought out of such manifold idolatry to one right worship, enlightened by God's word, and given in Christ such glorious great gifts, understanding of the Scriptures, various languages and miraculous deeds, which the world neither has nor can bring about; that it must be seen and grasped that you have the right true God, who does not, like the dumb idols, let you go astray without a word according to your own thoughts, but speaks to you as a living God, so that you know what you should provide for him, and also works with you publicly and visibly. Therefore you should not again make divisions among yourselves in the pagan way, as you see in the great Babylon, confusion and division of the world, where no one keeps company with the other, one running to this idol and the other to that one, and everyone wants to be the best: But because ye know that ye all have one true God, and the word of God, ye ought also therefore to keep yourselves together in one faith and mind, and not to make divisions among yourselves, as though ye had divers Gods, faiths, baptisms, spirits, and salvations.
10. He speaks especially close to both the smart alecks and nose-wise splinter judges of the Christians and also to the other red heads (so he says: "You went after the dumb idols, as you were led"), who quickly judge and reprove the doctrine and life of the church, because they still see in it some infirmities, or also division and inequality; yet they also see publicly that they have the pure Word of God, knowledge of Christ, a great light and understanding of God's will and grace, right consolation of consciences in all distresses, plus manifest works of the Holy Spirit; of which such untimely, self-grown smarties would not even know to say anything, if they had not seen and heard it among the little group of Christians who have God's Word and the Holy Spirit's gifts.
(11) For such also (and probably chiefly) have been such men as have let themselves be led by the nose, as they were led by the nose.
and considered delicious what they were taught and preached about how to serve God, and have been nothing but vain dumb idolaters, who have had no word of God nor testimony of their faith or deeds; but as every man devised it out of his own head, or as men thought it good, so he believed and lived, and none of them could teach anything certain or lasting, so that a heart could have been satisfied and founded and stand on it, but always fell from one to the other, where someone gave something new for worship and good doctrine etc.
12. So the world from the beginning has always had vain dumb idols, in so many innumerable worships devised and raised up by men, since so many gods were worshipped and images made for them and divine honors done, which also never lived; until they also worshipped only the mere names of all kinds of misfortune, accident and pestilence, and finally also vermin, yes, even garlic and onions; And yet, when they all practiced such idolatry (as they thought great holiness) and sacrificed every one to his idol, no one could ever know nor say whether he heard him and wanted to help; for there was neither word nor testimony of divine will or work, but vain dreams and delusions of human conceit, who had devised and made such idols for himself.
(13) What have we done so far under the papacy (so that we may pull ourselves by the nose); how have we also allowed ourselves to be led, as we have been shown only by God's and the saints' names. I myself have been a pious monk and priest, I have said mass every day, and in it I have worshipped St. Barbaram, Annam, Christoffel, and other saints, more than listed in the calendar, of whom no one knew who they were; for I knew nothing of Christ, what I should comfort myself with and provide for him, I was afraid of him as of the devil himself, as he did not want to be my savior, but only a serious judge. And how much was the shameful running and walling to right dead, wooden and
stone idols, Mary and the images of the saints; item, to the tombs and bones of the dead, which they called sanctuary; which was vain public deception, invented by impudent knaves, and yet pope and bishops confirmed it and gave indulgences for it.
Item, how much do the monks invent daily new saints, brotherhoods, Marian rosaries, Marian psalteries, crowns? etc. Summa, everything that every monk dreamed of had to be a special service, and no one asked whether there was also one Word of God. And when we had done everything, we did not know if it pleased God or not. What was different, because for the living God vain dumb idols are worshipped, which cannot talk to us, give neither certain understanding nor comfort, leave people in eternal doubt and ruin.
15 We do not have such a dead, dumb God, praise God, says St. Paul, nor do we want to have one; but we have a God who speaks and lives, gives us his certain word, and knows how he is disposed toward us and what we should provide for him, namely, that through faith in Christ we have forgiveness of sins and are his dear children, and that we have as a sign his baptism and sacrament, ministry and gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which he works in our hearts. Item, we know that our works and life in the same faith of Christ are pleasing to him, and that he will hear and help us when we complain to him of our need and weakness and call upon him.
16) Where there is such understanding and faith in the hearts, there will remain unity, and certainly no one will allow himself to be led on to other various doctrines of dumb idols; but where there is disunity, sects and division, this is a sure sign that either those who cause such division do not respect or do not rightly understand certain right doctrine, and are already also skilled to let themselves be driven by all kinds of wind of doctrine, as St. Paul Eph. 4:14 says. Paul says in Eph. 4:14; as it certainly happens to these clever ones, so for the sake of some who make division in the church, the church and her
Doctrine condemn. For in this way they indicate that they themselves do not have the right, consistent, certain doctrine, and cannot show any other; they do not want to see that elsewhere, where this doctrine does not exist, there is vain blindness, and things are divided, torn apart, in so many different errors and sects, none of which is one with the other, and each wants to be better than the other; as there have been so many monastic sects, of the pope and his god, of the devil, of saints, none of which is one with the other, but each has its own way and ways and wants to be holier than the others; and yet the pope confirms all of them and gives great indulgence to such brotherhood of sects. I will remain silent as to what other disagreements there have been in the abbacy, foundations, parishes and these with the monasteries everywhere, since they have bickered, bitten and scratched with each other without interruption; as it cannot be otherwise, where one places holiness and worship in such outwardly self-conceived works and ways, and each is to be the right one and each is to like his own; since one can never be one as to which is the right and the best etc.
(17) From such divers separations and idolatries ye are now delivered, saith St. Paul. Paul, and know that you have the right word of God and faith, worship one God and Lord, have one grace and spirit and salvation, since you must not seek or practice other ways and means than those necessary for salvation: wearing white or gray caps, not eating or touching this or that; and no disparity of various outward works, persons, offices and statuses prevents unity in Christ. Therefore you should also now think that you remain in this unity, and hold firmly to it; for you should now be shrewd with your harm, so that you are wise from now on, and take care that you do not let yourselves again be led into the former blindness by such a unified mind and faith; which would certainly happen to you, if you forget such grace, and seek your own honor and glory above the doctrine and gifts you have through the Holy Spirit, and despise one another, as if you did not have one God, Christ and Spirit, but different ones. etc., who nevertheless
cannot be other than one with all that he gives, and no one can give any other nor better gospel, baptism etc. than another. Summa: All things shall be in one Christ, or there shall be no Christ, God, Holy Spirit, grace, or salvation; as follows:
Therefore I declare to you that no one curses Jesus who speaks by the Spirit of God, and no one can call Jesus a Lord without the Spirit of God.
18. Why then do you make separation and inequality in the doctrine and faith of the church, which stands on the one Christ, since you must all be one (if you are otherwise true Christians), and all at the same time, each with his gift, must praise the same; And indeed, no one can have the Holy Spirit who does not consider Him to be a Lord, much less if he condemns Him; for where you abolish the foundation, all is abolished, and there is no longer any God or Spirit, and all that you preach, teach, or do is nothing. You must know this, and may judge yourselves according to it; the second must be one: either you have accepted Christ and believed, praised and glorified him as the one and only Lord, or you have cursed him; there is no remedy here. Therefore it is easy to judge of every one who has an office to speak in Christianity, that one must not be afraid of it, or gape in doubt here or there, at this or that person or gifts, of which one is more to be held; but at this sermon, as the main part, one must see and hear what and how he says and teaches about Christ; For if he speaks from the Holy Spirit, he must certainly not curse Christ, but praise and glorify him, and if he does so, he will certainly not make a riot nor teach separation, nor give cause for it; but if not, you may certainly conclude that he is not righteous, nor speaks from the Spirit of God.
(19) So herewith he pushes the boasting and defiance of the mobs on their ministry or gifts, as if they were full of the Spirit, pretending that they want to teach the people rightly, that it is nothing with St. Paul and others, that one must listen to the other, higher apostles and turn to the same baptism.
It is not enough that one deals with nothing more than faith, sacraments and outward preaching etc. Well, he says, you may boast of a great spirit as you wish, but this is certain, that whoever speaks from the spirit will not curse Jesus etc. That is, the boasting of the Spirit will not do, but what you hold and teach about this Christ must be considered; for such must either be called cursing JEsum and being cursed, or praised and confessed for your Lord. If it is found that your teaching and preaching does not point to Christ, but pretends to something else, and yet you hope to praise the Spirit, then you already have the verdict that your spirit is not the true Holy Spirit, but a false lying spirit, which should not be heard, but cursed in the abyss of hell; as St. Paul judges Gal. 1:8: "If anyone (even an angel from heaven) preaches another gospel to you, let him be accursed."
20 For that which he here calls "cursing Jesus" is not only that one publicly blasphemes and curses Christ's name or person, as the godless Jews or pagans did, for St. Paul has nothing to do with such, and such the Corinthians did not want to be. But since among Christians they praise the Holy Spirit, and yet do not rightly preach Christ as the ground of our salvation, but leave it standing, and point to something else, which they pretend is of the Holy Spirit, and much more necessary or better than the common teaching of the Gospel. These all do nothing else in principle and in fact (though they also bear and boast the name of Christ), but condemn, reproach and curse Christ; for if one despises his word and preaching, and casts out other things in its place, by which one can obtain the Holy Spirit and eternal life, or which is no less helpful and necessary for this purpose, what is that but to revile and destroy Christ, even, as the epistle to the Hebrews Cap. 6, 6. and Cap. 10, 29., crucified again and the blood of the Son of God trampled underfoot?
21 Christ Himself interprets the ministry and preaching of the Holy Spirit, what He should teach and speak in the church, Joh. 15, 26: "This one," He says, "will testify of Me"; item Joh. 16, 14: "This one will transfigure Me, for of Mine He will take. Let him have such a simple tongue and mouth, so that he knows nothing else to preach but the one Christ. If he is to testify of Christ and transfigure him, he must not bring up other things to obscure him and take away his glory. And whoever does this certainly does not speak from the Holy Spirit, although he has great gifts, and is called a teacher, bishop, pope, concilium, or even an apostle and angel from heaven; as, among the Corinthians, who stood to preach Christ alone, and for this pointed to the apostle's person and drew out their person, one Cepham, the other Apollo, the third Paulum etc. Just like our monasticism, which praised, honored and celebrated the name of Jesus with words, and pulled out all their lies and idolatry, when they called Mariam the mother, Annam the grandmother of Jesus and praised him for his sake; and yet, by doing so, they have torn hearts away from Christ, have turned the honor due to him alone to Mary and the saints, and teach to call them mediators and intercessors, who should protect and guard us from the devil at the hour of death etc. That is, to put a dumb idol in Christ's place (for no saints have ever spoken such things, much less commanded them in God's word), and thus to revile and curse Christ.
22. Such cursing of Christ is practiced by the pope in his whole regiment, of which he boasts that it is the Christian church, therefore they certainly also have the Holy Spirit, and what they set and order must be kept; no one can bring them away from it; they vainly boast of the Spirit, and yet underneath it is vain cursing, not only of the person of Christ, but of his word and sacraments: Because they publicly condemn the doctrine of the Gospel, that we have forgiveness of sins in Christ alone, without our merit, item, the use of the Sacrament according to Christ's command and order, and call it heresy, and murder people for it. And summa, the pope
has nothing to curse in our doctrine, except JEsum Christ, who is the foundation and head of it in his Word and Sacrament. Other mobs, such as Anabaptists and their kind, what do they do but profane and blaspheme the baptism and sacrament of Christ? precisely in that they pretend that external word and sacrament are of no use to the soul, that the spirit alone must do it etc. Against this you have once again the certain judgment for the strength of your faith, that such a mob of the pope and others is not the church of Christ, as it boasts, but the devil's damned mob; for the true church, as the pious bride of Christ, will certainly not be able to curse Christ nor persecute his word. And let no one be moved to boast much and greatly of Christ, as the false apostles also did, that they were disciples of the true apostles of Christ, and that some had seen Christ himself. For Christ himself warned us of such when he said Matth. 24, 5. 24: "Many will come and do miracles in my name" etc., item Matth. 7, 21: "Not all who say to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven" etc.
(23) This is also the meaning of the other part, as St. Paul says: "No one can call Jesus a Lord without the Holy Spirit. "To call JEsum a Lord" is to profess to be his servant, and to seek his honor alone, as one sent by him, or having his word and command. For he speaks here chiefly of the office which preaches of Christ and brings his command; where such an office goes and points to Christ (as to the Lord), that is certainly preaching of the Holy Spirit, though he who conducts such an office does not have the Holy Spirit for his person; for the office is without means of the Holy Spirit. And this is not hypocrisy and deceit, but honesty and sincerity, if you want to be sure that you are Christ's preacher or apostle and preach His word; you will not do this except through the Holy Spirit.
(24) Likewise, that every Christian in his work or position may call Christ his Lord with earnestness, that is, may certainly conclude that he serves Him thereby; this also may be done.
cannot be done without the Holy Spirit. Try, whoever will, just one day, from morning to evening, whether he can always say that what he is doing is God's and Christ's servant. Ask your own heart, where you preach or hear a sermon, baptize a child or stand at the baptism, or do your work at home in your profession and occupation, whether it has such faith that it can boast of it without doubt (not out of hypocrisy or habit) and, if it were necessary, die on it, that you serve Christ with it and please him with it? for all this is called calling Christ a Lord. For you will certainly often feel your heart doubting and wriggling about this.
(25) In the papacy we are even prevented from this, even deterred by their damned doctrine of doubt, so that no one can or should say: I know that I am a servant of Christ and that what I do is pleasing to him. Without this we are too weak in flesh and blood to receive such glory, therefore the Holy Spirit belongs to it; for reason and our own heart cries out against it: Oh! I am far too wicked and unworthy, how should I be so proud and presumptuous to boast of this Lord Jesus Christ servant? Yes, if I were as holy as St. Peter, Paul etc.
(26) I have often wondered myself about St. Ambrose, that he was so bold and used to write himself a servant of Jesus Christ in his letters; for I thought we should all be so frightened that no one (except the apostles themselves) would boast of such. Now we must all say to Christ, Thou art my Lord, and I thy servant: for I believe in thee, and mean thee with all faithfulness in thy word and sacrament; or he will not acknowledge us to be his Christians. It is also written in the first commandment: "You shall worship God, your Lord, and serve him only", Matth. 4, 10. There he demands from us, at the loss of eternal life, that we praise him for our Lord, and direct our lives so that we know that we serve him in it. Therefore St. Peter also teaches 1 Ep 4:11 that whatever is spoken or done in Christianity should not be spoken or done as our word or work, but that it should flow from him and be called
"God's word", and such work or deeds that go "out of the ability that God provides", so that in them all He may be praised. This must always be done without doubt by the Holy Spirit.
(27) Therefore the true and the false Christians, hypocrites and the red spirits, are divided on this matter, boasting excellently of the Spirit and of the divine office (2c). But the fact that there is nothing behind them proves that they do not stick to the preaching that praises Christ, but instead lead and seduce to other things, even condemn and persecute the true doctrine and faith of Christ; in addition, they have no testimony, nor can they make people certain that they themselves, or those who follow them, serve Christ. Of such you hear here St. Paul's paltry saying and judgment that they have no Holy Spirit, and are hereby already separated from the true church and Christians. Therefore he exhorts to beware of such, and wants to bring the Christians all together into one faith, under one Lord and Spirit. And now he teaches how to use the various gifts properly, in such unity, for the common service of the church.
There are many gifts, but it is One Spirit etc.
028 Before, when ye were heathen, ye had divers idolatries, and offices, and spirits; but they were all of one thing divided, and of one error and blindness. Now, on the other hand, you have all kinds of beautiful divine gifts and offices, but they are attached to one another, and they all flow, not from human pride and ability, but from the one, true God, whose power and work they are. Therefore, although such gifts, offices and powers are unequal, in one otherwise, in another so, much or little, large or small, weak or strong: But for this reason one should not separate the Spirit, God, and faith, nor make divisions, and raise up this or that one alone for the sake of his gifts, and despise the others; for they are all at the same time from One God, Lord, and Spirit, and are all given for one cause, namely, to bring people to the knowledge of the one God and to build up the church in such unity of faith.
you should also all serve God and the Church in unity in it. This is recently the summa of the whole following text.
St. Paul puts different three pieces: "various gifts, but One Spirit"; "various offices, and One Lord"; "various powers, and One God". He undoubtedly thereby touches the article of the Trinity or three persons of the divine being, and shows that both Christ and the Holy Spirit are truly God, and yet are distinguished according to the persons from the Father and from one another; as he also says in 1 Cor. 8:5, 6: "There are many gods, and many lords; but we have One God, of whom are all things, and One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things" (2c).
30. So here also he distinguishes the three: One God, Lord, and Spirit, and gives each its own work, by which it shows itself: that another person is God (the Father), from whom, as the origin and first person, all powers proceed; another, the Lord, that is, Christ, the Son of God, from whom, as the head of the church, all offices proceed; another, of the Spirit, who works and distributes all gifts in the Church; and yet these three are all of one divine, omnipotent, eternal Being, so that they are all called after the same three and are truly one, as God must be an inseparable Being. For it is said of each one in particular what is due to the one divine majesty alone. For as He is the true God, from whom are all powers, not only what is done in the church, but in all creatures: so also the Lord, from whom are all offices, likewise also the Spirit, who gives all gifts, must be true God. For no creature has the right to give spiritual offices and spiritual gifts, nor is anyone able to do so, except God alone. And yet the three, God, the Lord and the Spirit, are not different gods, but one divine being: the Lord is no other God than God the Father; the Spirit is no other either, but both God and Lord. But more is said about this elsewhere.
31) What the gifts are and are called, he tells here himself, as, speaking of wisdom, of knowledge, prophecy, distinguishing the spirits.
The teaching of wisdom, languages and interpretation, special gifts of faith; item, to perform miracles etc. "Speaking of wisdom" is the name of the teaching that teaches to know God, and shows what His will, counsel and opinion is, comprehending all the articles, what to believe, how to become righteous before God etc. Of which the world knows nothing at all, and is the noblest and highest gift of the spirit. "To speak of knowledge" is called the doctrine that tells of the outward life and nature of Christians, how one should conduct oneself in it toward everyone, that one should use the doctrine correctly, as is necessary or useful according to each time and person, and in it act wisely both toward the weak and the strong, the stupid and the obstinate etc. "Divination" is to interpret and interpret the Scriptures rightly, and from them to prove mightily the doctrine of faith, and to overthrow false doctrine; item, by the same to admonish, admonish, or strengthen and comfort the people, with indication of future wrath, punishment and vengeance upon the unbelieving and disobedient, and again of divine help and reward against the faithful and pious; as the prophets have done from God's word, both of the law and the promises.
32 St. Paul speaks here of such gifts, which are not given to everyone in general, but to some, and to one differently than to another; as he says: "To one another faith, to another miracles, to another prophecy" etc. Therefore faith here is not called the common faith in Christ, by which one is justified before God and obtains forgiveness of sins; for the same must be in all Christians, even though they do not have the but gifts, as he here tells; but he thus calls a special virtue or power of the Spirit, which he works in the church, so that some can do great, excellent things out of great undoubted courage; as of this St. Paul afterwards says in 1 Corinthians etc. Paul also speaks of this in 1 Cor. 13, v. 2: "If I had all faith, I could also move mountains" etc. For to do this, of course, requires a great, strong, certain faith, which without all wavering and doubting, freshly and with great courage does something special for the name and power of Christ, although it may well be that such a one for his own person does not have the right repentance nor the right courage to do it.
who has right faith, forgiveness of sins and grace in Christ, but is a hypocrite and a false saint; as Christ says Matth. 7:22: "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out devils in thy name? Have we not done many deeds in your name?" etc. For this is true, that such gifts and deeds are certainly done in the name of Christ, and are given to none but the church of Christ, and yet the persons having them are not all righteous, but may well be false Christians; for such is not of the persons, but of the ministry or effect of the Spirit given to the church, that in the ministry, and on account of the church, they do many and great things, which profit not themselves, but others.
(33) Of all these he says, "There are many gifts, but one Spirit," warning that no sect be made concerning them, for the same Spirit works both through him who has few and few gifts and through him who has the greatest and most. Now as it is with the gifts, so it is also with the powers and offices.
34 "Powers" are the works that God performs through some in particular, so that they do and accomplish something great that is not done by others; as that he gives St. Paul, that he goes much further with his preaching ministry, converts many more people, performs more miracles and produces more fruit than other apostles etc. As he says of himself that by God's grace he has worked more than all the others. 1 Cor. 15, 10.
(35) What "offices" are is easy to understand; for an office is called an ordered thing, which must be in every government, that it may have divers appointed and commanded works, by reason of him that hath the rule, or of a whole congregation, to minister to others. So also in the church there are various offices, as that one is an apostle, another an evangelist, another a teacher, as St. Paul tells Eph. 4, 11; item, as he says Cap. 14, 26 in this epistle, that one has the office to read the Scriptures in various languages, the other to interpret and interpret; as it was then ordered in
of the church; so now and are ordered and distinguished offices: pastors, preachers, ministers or priests who hear confessions, pass sacrament etc.
(36) Such offices cannot and should not be held and exercised by all Christians in common, but only by those who are commanded to do so; for this reason they are distinguished from the other two things, which he calls "powers" and "gifts"; for there have always been many in Christendom who have had the Holy Spirit, but who have not held such offices, as also virgins and women, Agnes, Anastasia etc., and many martyrs, many of whom also performed miracles and had other gifts. Although it is true that both gifts and powers are given primarily for the sake of the offices in Christendom. For in order that they (especially the ministry of preaching, which is the highest and most noble) may be led and carried out, there must also be people who are skilled before others, who understand and interpret the Scriptures, who know the languages and can speak etc. So also the powers or deeds that God works must be included, so that they create and accomplish something; and so all three pieces come together about one divine government in the church, that Christ is the Lord of whom the offices are, and orders and maintains them, and to this God gives His powers and the Holy Spirit His gifts.
(37) But because these offices are also diverse and unequal (like gifts), one greater, the other less, as: an apostle is more than a teacher or interpreter; baptizing is less than preaching: yet let it be known and seen, saith St. Paul, that they are all of one Lord, and he that hath one greater or higher office shall not be thought better, nor despise another; but know that they all serve one Lord. Paul, that they are all of one Lord, and that he who has a greater or higher office does not for that reason think himself better or despise others; but know that they all serve one Lord, the least as well as the greatest, and that he who is in a lesser office is not for that reason less with his Lord, and again that he who has a higher office is not for that reason more before him; For he is and always will be One Lord of all at once, and one as well as the other is his order and command; therefore he will not have any division or sect made over such, but
Rather, by such various gifts, offices etc. have promoted unity.
(38) If I preach, and thou hear, there is not one gift or ministry: but yet thou serveest Christ by hearing, as well as I by preaching; for it is one Christ that preacheth by thee or by another, transfiguring the Scriptures, baptizing, comforting, etc., and all proceeding from the order and commandment of him, who commanded me both to hear his word, and to preach unto thee, and in one faith and spirit; and here all praise one Lord at the same time. Thou sayest, The word which I hear is the true word of God: so I, as a preacher, also say and prove the same. Thus, when I baptize, administer and absolve sacraments, and you receive or accept them, we are both in the service of one Lord and carry out his command, and we act in unity and harmony, although I and you are two different things according to the office and gifts.
39. Now this is the art of Christians and the most important thing that separates them from the Gentiles, that they know and recognize that such gifts, offices and powers are of God and of the Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit; For the world does not recognize and see these things, although it also has God's gifts, and has no need of all His creatures, except as a sow that runs to her trough and falls in with all fours, thinks no more than how she eats and burrows in it, cannot even lift up her eyes or thoughts where she got it from and to whom she should give thanks for it. That such a person, if he is not a Christian, will be very cattle-like and filthy in the sight of God, and the world will be no different than a great pigsty, so that he will not ask for God's kingdom, nor think to thank Him for His rich goods and gifts in body and soul; but will only seek their trough and trumpery, on which they will lie as sows for slaughter; as Jeremiah Cap. 12, 3. says of the wicked, who pursue the pious with great fortune: "Thou lettest them go free as sheep to be slain, and spavest them to be seasoned."
40 So he gives to some great kingdoms, riches, land, house, cellar and ground full, and makes them great and fat; but when the sow is well fattened and fat enough
If a sow is a pig, then they scramble for bacon and sausages, and a bacon cutter and sausage maker comes and slaughters such a sow in its pen, devastating the land and the people and turning everything upside down. For they wanted to be sows and nothing else, therefore they must also be executed like sows. Even though the world hears and sees such punishment, it still continues because it can, until the slaughterer also comes upon it; for the sow remains a sow, and has the gift that even though another is slaughtered before its eyes, it still remains safely above its trough and asks nothing about it.
(41) But the Christians, though they must live among such sows, and be trampled under their feet and thrust with their trunks for a time, yet have they another excellent glory, that they may lift up their eyes and rightly behold both their Lord and his gifts. Therefore they do not belong to the slaughterhouse, but know that they are children of God, and are adorned by him with graces and gifts, not only temporally, but because he has given them body and life, which they did not have of themselves, he will also continue to give them what they need, and also provide for them forever.
These can regard God's gifts, even if they are considered the least, as quite precious and valuable, not only for the sake of him who gave them, but also according to what they are in themselves; for there is no one who recognizes even the bodily gifts of God, who solves the good of the whole world with one eye, nor a lesser part of his body: but how much higher and more precious are the spiritual gifts, of which St. Paul speaks here, which are given to us for eternal life! It does not seem so when a child is baptized, or a sorrowful man is absolved from sins; but if one could rightly look at it, and strike out both the office and the treasure that is given, then the office, power, and all the goods that the world has, of all kings and emperors, are nothing compared to it.
43) If you look at the person of the Baptist (who may be a poor woman) and the one who is baptized, it is very small; for the person of man does not create or make anything glorious here; but he who
is called one God, one Lord and one Spirit, because of which the office and power of the same is so great, above all emperors, kings and lords, however small the person. For by it souls are wrested from the devil, snatched out of hell, and made eternal saints and blessed. Person and office may be called small, but it is nevertheless God's office, who is not a small man, but more than a hundred thousand world, and works such a thing, which the world cannot comprehend and all angels are not able to give. For though all creatures put together, they could not baptize; and if all the world together should baptize one little child, it would not help it, unless this Lord and God had commanded it. Let the Turk be a thousand times stronger and more powerful than he is now; yet with all his goods, land and people, he cannot absolve himself or any man of the slightest sin, nor can he absolve anyone: God has forgiven your sin; for he does not have the gift, office or work (nor does he know anything about it), which are God's alone, and yet are performed by man's mouth and hands.
44 For this reason St. Paul praises and glorifies that God works and gives such great things in Christianity, so that they may recognize them and thank Him for them, and that in them they may humbly serve one another in the same faith and love, and that each one may learn to praise gloriously when he sees such ministries, gifts and works in the church, and hold them as high as he holds God Himself to be. For if he had not ordered and given them himself, no one would have any.
How have we "raised and lifted up our own deeds, pilgrimage and lurking to the dead in the wilderness, monasteries, ropes and caps etc. But what good did it do and what did we get out of it when we had been walking for so long that our heels were bleeding, watching, fasting and torturing ourselves to death? It may well be called a holy estate, divine life; but it is not called God's gift, work or ministry: therefore there is no God, Lord or Spirit in it. For he has neither named it nor confirmed it anywhere, but we have devised it of ourselves: therefore may
We reward and help ourselves for this; from him we can neither boast nor comfort ourselves in this. But here you can comfortably boast and say: That I am baptized, absolved etc., this has not been conceived nor ordained by me nor by any other man, but by my Lord Christ; for there is his command, that he ordained such ministry: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," Matt. 28:19. Upon this ministry, work, and gifts, I can boast and defy the devil and his gates of hell in faith, for I should not be able to stand against him for a moment; for he is not afraid of me nor of my works, though I may boast: I have lived seventy years in holy orders, serving God all days and hours, praying, fasting etc.
Here he drags both person and works into the abyss of hell, as he finds them. For if he asks where God commanded or instituted such things, you can no longer answer. But if he hears you boast of God's word and command out of certain faith: I have received baptism and absolution from Christ my Lord, of that I am certain; item, which I do, I do by his command and power: then he must soon let go of you, and flees not your person or deed, but Christ's ministry and gift, which he finds in you.
47 St. Paul reproaches us with this. St. Paul reproaches us for learning to recognize what we Christians have from God in these three things before all men on earth, so that we may also become grateful for them, and so use them in Christian love, that whoever has such gifts may serve others with them, and that each one may give glory to God in the gifts he sees given to another, and hold them dear and valuable, as they are called, not our deeds, work or skill, but God's offices, powers and gifts. This is not a small evil thing, as it seems to the world (because it does not bring great splendor and glory); for he does not give mere pennies, or numb nuts and empty husks; but what he does and gives to his church must work such an unspeakable thing, by which souls are brought and set from the devil's jaws to eternal life and glory.