Of the fruit of the passion of Christ.*)
Preface to the Sermon on the Passion.
(1) Since it is the season of the year, when the suffering of our dear Lord Jesus Christ is sung and preached in the church, let us leave it at that. For it is not an evil order that this useful and comforting history should have its certain, definite time in the year, when it is read from beginning to end, from word to word, in the church to the common people, and spoken of what it is useful to us, and how we should use it; because the great power of the devil is before our eyes, who, even though it is preached daily, nevertheless resists the word so much that hearts grow cold, do not pay much attention to the sermon, and remain as they were before the year, when they would not otherwise grow worse.
2 Such need should drive us to continue with the Word always, and especially to present the history of Christ's suffering to the simple from piece to piece, as much as we can have time. For it is not possible to joke here. If one should not preach anything about it for one, two or three years, it would go out purely, and vain Jews and Turks would grow up. Those who are in the preaching ministry and always handle God's word, experience what harm it does, where one does not stop daily with reading and prayer; what
*) Held in the church, 1534.
Should it be so with those who do not hear a sermon in a year or two? Raw people must be turned out like cattle.
For this reason it is necessary that this sermon is always practiced, blown up and set on fire. For the devil does not let it go, he always pours cold water on it and extinguishes it; otherwise it would not be lacking, more people would have to improve on the word, since it is so clearly presented all the time.
4 The papists now have their real week of torture; there is a lot of singing, reading and preaching about the suffering of Christ. But what do they improve? They have the passion of Christ on their tongue, but in their heart they persecute it and consider it nothing. Otherwise they would not think so highly of their own suffering and would not praise their works so highly. So in our country, where people preach diligently, there is the defect that most of them, as we can see from their works and lives, throw the word to the wind.
This sermon is at the same time a high and bad sermon, a secret and public sermon, a strong and weak sermon. Cause: You learn it, where one says fables or fairy tales of Dietrich of Bern and the like, that one can keep, even if one hears it only once. On the other hand, you will find a thousand and a thousand people who hear this sermon every day, and yet do not take it with such seriousness that they notice it and become more pious about it. To
It goes in one ear and out the other, and will not enter the heart.
(6) After this there are others who are very glad to hear it said, Christ has done enough for us, we can do nothing for our salvation, Christ has done it all. But as soon as one starts and says: If you want to be comforted by this suffering of Christ, you do not have to be so stingy, so fussy, fornicate, indulge, be proud etc., then the Rhine burns, they do not want to suffer that they should be punished for their sins, or therefore be considered unbelievers etc.
(7) But how shall we do it? This is the way of preaching, and especially of disciples; for the devil hinders it wherever he can, so that it does not enter all hearts. Therefore, for the sake of God's glory and our salvation, we must always persevere with the word, even though most of the people do not want to hear it, lest the others also come away from it, and thus the sacrifice that the Son of God sacrificed for us always remain in our memory.
This sermon first began in Paradise, when Adam and Eve were promised the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head. It has remained in the church until now, and will remain until the end of the world. And this is actually the highest service we can do, that we remember this sacrifice in the church, in the pulpit, in the house, and everywhere, and instruct everyone to do so.
The people of Israel were very burdened with their worship and had to sacrifice cows and calves etc. Under the papacy, a lot of money was spent on the service. If such burdens and expenses were imposed on us today, I would worry that we would keep few disciples. But our dear Lord God does not impose more on us than this small service, that we should not forget His unspeakable good deed, that His Son sacrificed Himself for our sin, but should preach about it, so that the young may learn from the old. Where there is such a service, one may give thanks to God. For it will bring its certain fruit with it, and will not be in vain nor in vain with all men.
10. in turkey he is gone, there is the
We have forgotten the suffering of our Lord Christ, and in his place we have accepted the preaching of Mahomet. Among the Jews it is also gone. In Germany, too, people are almost tired of such worship and do not pay much attention to it. But if this service is taken away from us, the punishment will not remain outside for long. For if you do not want to serve God with that which costs you no more than listening to an hour of preaching, and the preacher tells you something comforting about Christ and his suffering, do you think you are wronged if another service is imposed on you for it, which is in vain, and yet much more difficult? This is one reason why we should especially love to hear and preach about the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we do not forget such benefits, since Satan is hostile to the word and would so gladly dampen or hinder it.
The other reason is that our great need requires this. For we are here in the world and live in the flesh; this clings to us like a millstone that pulls us forever under itself and to the world. On the right hand there is temporal good, honor, food, drink, pleasure, house, court, etc.; on the left hand all kinds of misfortune, sickness and unpleasantness; these things take our thoughts away, so that it seems to us that we do not have time to remember Christ and his suffering. Therefore, it is necessary that we also give our Lord God a time, so that we do not forget him. In addition to such thoughts of ours, the devil's thoughts also beat upon us; they are first of all the real ice, hail and snow that make the heart cold. If we do not keep on being urged by the Word, by speaking, singing, and listening to the sermon, so that we do not forget the Lord Christ altogether, and so that he does not go out of our hearts altogether, it is impossible that our hearts, weighed down with physical hardship and our own wickedness, and finally with the devil's thoughts, should not sink and fall away from Christ. Therefore we need it very much that such preaching is always practiced, and that we hear and keep the word; for otherwise the Lord Christ is soon forgotten.
12. besides that, the young people also grow here, who cannot learn from themselves; so
Servants and maids cannot all read, and yet they are also baptized Christians. It takes great diligence to teach such people properly, so that they also know something about such high and necessary things.
(13) Therefore it must grieve our Lord God very much if we can have such treasure and yet go and keep our mouths open and learn nothing of it.
And it serves you right, because you do not want to hear God's word and truth, and do not want to learn and realize for your own good that you have to listen to the devil's lies for your eternal ruin, as can be seen in the Papists, Anabaptists, Turks and Jews. Therefore, let us not grow weary of such worship and gladly hear and often practice the Passion sermons.
Of the benefits of the suffering of Christ.
Rom. 5:8-11.
Therefore, praise God for His love toward us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So much more shall we be kept from wrath through Him, having been justified by His blood. For if we have been reconciled to God through the death of his Son while we were still enemies, much more shall we be saved through his life, if we have now been reconciled. Not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received reconciliation.
1) Because one wants to preach about the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, one must not only read the history to the people word for word, but also admonish and teach them to remember why Christ suffered in this way and how they should enjoy such suffering. For the way that was held in the papacy is no good at all, since the preachers, and especially the monks, were only concerned with how they could make it miserable and move the people to pity and weeping. Those who could do this well were considered the best preachers of the Passion. Therefore, one hears nothing else in such sermons but a Jewish cry and how the Virgin Mary wept, blessed her son and other such things. But this, like all other divine services in the papacy, is nothing but a glaring hypocrisy without spirit, since no real fruit nor improvement can follow from it.
But if we look at the sermons of the apostles and prophets. If we look at the sermons of the apostles and prophets, we will find a far different way of preaching about the passion of our Lord Christ. For there we see that they do not say much about the history, and speak of it very simply, badly and briefly. But how to preach such
Looking at suffering, enjoying it, and needing it, they can't talk enough about it.
(3) If you will count it by words, it is a very short sermon which John preaches concerning Christ, saying, "Behold, this is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. But if you take them apart, you will see that they contain a great deal, especially as far as the benefit and use that we have of them if we believe them.
4 He calls the Lord Christ a lamb, because he was to be slain. For the sacrifices in the Old Testament, when cows, oxen, and calves were sacrificed, were all a model of the one, right, and eternal sacrifice of our Lord Christ, who was to offer up his body and life for the sin of the world, and by his blood to cleanse us completely. John is satisfied with such a word that he shows the history of how Christ had to suffer. That he calls him not only a lamb, but God's lamb, he wants to indicate that he is such a sacrifice that God Himself has ordered and that God is pleased with. By this addition "God's lamb" he wants to awaken our faith that we should accept such a sacrifice,
as which God, out of causeless goodness and love, has intended to help us. So that, because God Himself has decreed such a sacrifice, we have no doubt that it is through it that the forgiveness of sins and eternal life are fully and completely accomplished. For thus St. John's sermon reads: He bears the sin of the world.
What then is the sin of the world? Nothing else, but all ungodliness and unrighteousness in which the world is drowned, in which God is displeased and is justly moved to anger. God took all these things out of the world by grace, says John, and put them on His Son, who paid for them so that we might be freed from guilt and punishment.
(6) Whosoever then shall preach or commemorate the passion of our Lord Jesus according to this saying, let him not preach only how Christ was delivered up to the Gentiles, scourged, and scourged, and how he was crucified. This is the mere history, which must be preached and known in all ways, but it is not enough. You should also know and believe, as John preaches here, that Christ suffered these things for your sins, that God charged them to him, and that he bore them in all obedience and paid for them; so that when you realize that you are celebrating as a sinner and that you have angered God, you may not despair, but may take comfort in this suffering and satisfaction of our Lord Christ. Then you can have a taste of such suffering in your heart, so that not only, as in a papal sermon, your eyes will pass over, but your heart will remain dry and arid; but your heart will pass over: first, with sorrow, so that you must confess that sin is an awful burden, because only through such a great sacrifice can it be put away; then also with joy, because the sacrifice has been given for you, so that you may be sure that God will not reject or condemn you because of your sin.
(7) This is not how the Passion was preached in the papacy. They may have said that Christ is the little lamb of God who bears and takes away the sin of the world, but besides this, all God's sins are taken away.
In the first part of the service, it was as if every Christian carried his sin himself, and Christ did not carry it, nor had he paid for it, and each one had to do enough for it himself. Why else did people fast so strictly? Why did they toil so hard in confession? Why did they spend day and night in church, singing and praying, if they did not hope and seek forgiveness for their sins? But this is just as much as if the sacrifice of Christ could not be sufficient or fruitful, if you helped it with your own works, and also suffered for your sin, as Christ suffered.
How does this rhyme with the sermon that Christ preaches to John on the 12th about his passion, where he says, v. 23, 24: "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." With these words he wants to say that his suffering should bear much fruit. Now this fruit is not only that, as a branch, when it remains on the vine, brings forth grapes, so a Christian through the Spirit of God in faith brings forth good works; but the highest, noblest and best fruit is that of which the Lord soon after says, v. 32: "If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw them all to myself," that is, through me, through my sacrifice, through my being lifted up on the cross, or dying, people shall come to me and into eternal life.
(9) Now they that will go to heaven by their own works draw Christ down unto themselves; if it be the other way about. For Christ must draw us up to himself, or we are lost. For it is he alone who destroyed the devil's kingdom, paid for our sin, and drew us out of the world, out of death, unto life: not by our suffering or works, but by his suffering.
10 In this way Christ also preaches of His suffering, John 3 v. 14. 15: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That is clear enough:
338 8.2,io-i2. Of the benefits of Christ's suffering. W. xm, 754-75". 339
Whoever wants to have eternal life must believe. For here Christ does not declare any work, does not say, whoever does this or that, fasts, gives alms, will not be condemned etc. For God's word and command had already gone out beforehand through Moses in the Ten Commandments, that one should keep them and not go against them. Whoever then goes against them must therefore await his punishment. But he who does not go against them, but keeps them as much as he can, does not go to heaven because of them. For it is concluded that just as the Jews in the wilderness could not be healed by any medicine, but by seeing the serpents of brass, so this is the only way to salvation: to look to the Lord Christ, that is, to take comfort in his sacrifice, and to believe that God, for the sake of his death, will forgive and grant us our sins and make us blessed. This fruit grows from the death of Christ alone, and not from our works, as the papists wrongly teach.
11 There are many such sermons in the prophets. Isaiah in the 53rd says, v. 4 ff: "Truly he bore our sickness and took upon himself our pain. But we took him for one who was afflicted and weakened by God. But he is wounded for our iniquity, and bruised for our sin. Punishment is upon him that we may have peace, and by his wounds we are healed."
(12) Let this be a beautiful and truly consoling passion sermon, which is well done in the New Testament, and is so clearly set forth and spoken that an apostle could not speak better. For Christ is afflicted, weakened, wounded, and crushed, because, he says, he gave himself up for us, and took upon himself our sicknesses and our pains, that he might give us peace, and that we might be healed. The dear prophet makes the Lord Christ a physician and teaches us, if we want to have peace and be healed, that we should seek this nowhere else but in the Lord Christ, who has a medicine that is not called doing good works, giving alms, fasting, praying; but suffering for us, being wounded for us, being crushed for us, bearing the punishment for us.
Therefore, when you hear in history how miserably Jews and Gentiles have gone along with your dear Lord Christ, write on each piece, "This was done for my sake, that I might have a remedy by which I might be delivered and healed, not from bodily disease, but from sin and eternal death. Then you will need the histories and sufferings of Christ quite blessedly.
14 Now the suffering of Christ is a delicious, healing remedy in two ways. First, by such suffering one can learn better than by any other punishment how terrible it is for sin. For since no man, angel or other creature could pay for sin, God's Son alone must do so, we must confess that sin is an unmistakable burden. For this reason we should be all the more diligent in the fear of God and learn to guard against such misery. For it is easy to fall into sin, but it is very difficult to come out of it. Therefore, the contemplation of Christ's suffering serves first of all as a delicious remedy against sin, so that we learn to be godly and to guard against sin, since it is such a terrible, unmistakable burden that no creature could have borne; God's Son Himself had to bear it and pay for it with such a hard death.
15 Secondly, it is also a remedy against death. For whoever believes that the Son of God died for his sin and paid for it with death, can take a peaceful heart in God's goodness, and comfort himself against sin and eternal death. As the prophet finely emphasizes such comfort here, and Christ himself, as we have heard, points to it.
16 Thus preaches the prophet Zechariah, Cap. 9, 11. f.: "You let your prisoners out of the pit by the blood of your covenant, because there is no water in it; so now return to the fortress, where you lie imprisoned in hope" etc. The pit where men lie captive is sin and the punishment of sin, namely, the devil's tyranny and eternal death. From such pit, says Zechariah, we have not been able to come, it made
For God has made a covenant with us, not by the blood of cows or oxen, but by the blood of the righteous and saving King. Therefore, whoever does not have this blood covenant must remain in the pit of sin and eternal death; but whoever has it shall come out of such a pit of God's wrath into grace and eternal life.
17 Thus Daniel preaches, Cap. 9, 24: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city; and the transgression shall be prevented, and sin sealed up, and iniquity atoned for, and everlasting righteousness brought in. But how this will happen, he then indicates, namely, that Christ will be killed.
18 This is a clear and bright saying, that one cannot come to forgiveness of sins and righteousness in any other way than through the death of Christ Jesus, who is the one who brings this treasure to us. Outside of it we can never come to it. So that all the sermons of John, of the Lord Christ himself and of the holy prophets sufficiently testify how one should rightly preach about the suffering of Christ, namely, that hearts should learn from it to take comfort in God's goodness and grace. For such suffering has taken place so that through it we might pay for our sin, be reconciled to God, and finally be saved in such faith in our Lord and Savior Christ.
19 In this way the holy apostles also preached about the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, as can be found in their writings and histories. And since there are many such sayings everywhere, let us now conclude with only this one, which your beloved heard at the beginning of the 5th chapter to the Romans. This is in itself a clear saying that everyone understands well. But nevertheless we want to wrap it up a little, so that it may be brighter and lighter, and also more comforting for us.
(20) We all experience how deep unbelief is in our hearts, that we can never be truly satisfied because of our sin, we always think: If you were more pious, things would be better for you, and you would certainly be able to hope for mercy from God. Where hearts are so doubtful,
There must be fear and discontent. Again, if we could believe firmly and trust in God's goodness, our hearts would hold on to such comfort even in all kinds of adversity, and be cheerful and in good spirits. But it does not want to go anywhere. For this reason, the pope has arranged all kinds of services, so that people may have confidence in God and the less they may despair of God's help. Hence came the invocation of the saints, pilgrimages, buying indulgences, mass and vigils, monastic life and all kinds of other idolatry. Whoever could bring it there thought he wanted to enjoy it in heaven and thereby become blessed.
21 And it is not less. A true preacher should pay no more attention and take greater care than to bring people to the right trust in God and to tear such unbelief out of their hearts. How to do this properly and masterfully can be seen here from St. Paul's words, who has a sure testimony from our Lord Christ that he is a right preacher and a chosen, precious tool for planting the kingdom of God. Therefore, we should take good heed of his words.
22 First, he says: "God praises his love for us. This is a very strange and unbelievable, but, as we will hear, a precious, true and valuable word. It is true that God is hostile to sins and wants to punish them, as the law testifies and daily experience proves. But now we must confess that we are all sinners. Therefore, unbelief grows, so that we cannot believe that God loves us. But where we hear, as here, that God loves people, we soon think of John the Baptist, Peter, Paul and others who were more pious than we are. But we cannot consider ourselves as such people whom God loves, but fear His wrath. Now this word of St. Paul goes against this, that he does not only say: God loves us; but: God magnifies His love, that is, He makes it great, and so certain and evident that it is not possible for a man to doubt it. For is not this, saith he, proving love, that he sendeth his Son Christ for us?
die while we were still sinners? Hear the word, mark it, and keep it well. All your sorrow and anguish is that you are a sinner; otherwise you would be better able to console yourself with God's grace and kindness. But, dear man, come to your senses, and listen to Paul here, who says that Christ died for our sin.
Who then is Christ? He is the Son of God. What does he do? He becomes man and dies. For what does he die? For the sake of sinners. It must follow that God does not mean sinners ill, that he does not want them to perish for their sins, but that he loves them and loves them so much that he wants to help them out of sin and death. For their sake he sent his only begotten Son to die. How could he show his love to us more surely? That Paul ever has good reason to say, "God magnifies his love toward us," that we must consider it a great, high, excellent love, and that no man can doubt that God will be gracious to us and cannot be angry with us. For who would want to be angry, since God does not spare His only begotten Son for our sake, and gives Him up to such a shameful death for the sake of ungodly sinners?
(24) Such words of St. Paul agree very well with Christ's sermon, John 3, where he says, v. 16: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now whoever knows this and believes that God loves him, how can he be afraid of God? For who does not know what is the nature and work of love? Where there is love, there is no struggling or beating, there is no fear, but there is a firm and certain trust that if need arises, it will find a shell and help, and it is impossible that it will not find it.
(25) Therefore, everything depends on our forming such love firmly within ourselves and not letting it be taken away from us or talked out of us. For this is the main thing that the evil enemy is most concerned about, whether he could take this love that God has for us out of our hearts, and make us
We did not provide anything good for God, but considered him our enemy. Where he does that, he has won. For what will protect or save us if we have lost God? We must defend ourselves against this; and if our conscience and sin want to take away such a hope of God's love for us, we should keep this in mind, and take this excellent pledge of love into our hearts, that God sent His Son to die for us while we were still sinners. It must then follow that God does not mean evil to sinners, but loves them and intends to help them in the best way possible.
(26) Now this is a comfort that we, as Paul teaches here, have in the death of Christ and His suffering, and we should take comfort in it. If our sins make us sad, and our heart wants to doubt whether God is also merciful to us and loves us, then we should conclude and know that God is not hostile to us, and therefore we must not be afraid of him, but he loves us. For he gave his only begotten Son to die for us; therefore we may be assured of his mercy and help.
(27) Yes, you say, it is true that God gave His Son to die for me; but how often have I made myself unworthy of such grace through my sin! Therefore, though God loved me before for the death of His Son, yet now He has become hostile to me because of my sin. Nay, saith Paul, let not such thoughts deceive thee; but hold fast this comfort: Christ died for thee, while thou wast yet a sinner; mark this well.
028 And what hath his death wrought? That you were justified by his blood. If then God loved you when you were a sinner, and dared so much for you that He gave His Son to die for you, how much sooner and more will He keep you from wrath, after you have been cleansed by the blood of Christ Jesus! With these words St. Paul finely indicates how our highest challenge is that we fear that God is angry with us. In order to comfort us, he says: "If God was not angry with you when you were a sinner, much more
He will be less angry now, because you have been washed from sins by the death of his Son. This is a good sermon against the unbelief that is found in our hearts because of sins. But this is not enough; Paul spins a still greater and higher comfort from the death of Christ, and says:
If then we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son while we were still sinners, much more shall we be saved through His life, if we have now been reconciled.
(29) O God, if only we could take this comfort into our hearts. It is a great thing that Christ dies for sinners; for by such death we are ever made free from sins. If then we so highly enjoy the death of our Lord Christ Jesus, should we not also enjoy his life? If he died for our sake, and his death was for our good; then in truth our dear Lord Christ will also turn his life, in which he is now, to our good, so that we may be preserved in grace, protected against the devil and the world, and increase in faith from day to day. As we see then that the dear apostles everywhere point us to the joyful resurrection of our Lord Christ, that we should take comfort in it, and hope that he will not leave us; but that he has ascended for this reason, that he might give us gifts, and that he might rule and manage his Christians in all graces against all temptation.
(30) Paul also points to this comfort here, and wants us not to let anything make us fainthearted, since he praised his love for us while we were still sinners, and sent his Son to die for us. Now if he dared to do this, his highest good, to us while we were still sinners, how much more will he dare to do it to us who have now come to grace and are justified from sins by the death of Christ. Secondly, the life of our Lord Christ is for our full salvation.
31 Therefore take a good heart toward God, who loved you so well when you were still a sinner, and trust in him; he will give you the best.
For the sake of Christ his Son, I will keep you in all your temptations and will not let you fall, but will give you eternal life. Such faith is the highest service of God; for which reason we should ask diligently, and hold fast and earnestly to it. Now Paul concludes such a sermon of comfort, saying:
We boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the atonement.
He says that we have received reconciliation through the Lord Jesus. For on account of our sins we were not able to provide ourselves with anything good to God. But because the sins are gone through the death of Christ, we know that God is no longer angry with us; he is our friend, yes, our dear Father. What is to follow from such reconciliation? Nothing else, except that we should rejoice in this gracious, friendly God, who is love Himself, and praise Him, placing our trust and heart in Him in all hardships and temptations. Now that we have God as our friend, what can harm us? What can grieve us or frighten us? Sin is reconciled, God is pleased with us, Christ at the right hand of His Father, who holds on to us. And even though death comes and chokes us for a time, we know that through Christ we shall be raised again to eternal life. Therefore, as bad as it may be for Christians here on earth, they must be joyful in spirit, and cannot do otherwise than praise their Father in heaven, trust in His love and grace, and entrust themselves to His protection. This we have only through the atonement made by the death of Christ.
What a terrible pity it is that the pope and his crowd leave such reconciliation behind, and refer people to their own works and human merit, as if one should thereby come to grace and get a gracious God!
34 For this reason we may thank God from the bottom of our hearts that we have been delivered from such error, and see through so many glorious testimonies of the Old and New Testaments how we are to consider the suffering of Christ and take comfort in it; so that where sin
we hold ourselves here, and say: If I were not a sinner, Christ should not have suffered; but because he suffered, I should take comfort in his suffering. In this way we honor God and give thanks to the Lord Christ, for otherwise we can do nothing but accept with thanksgiving such gifts as he has purchased for us through his death. Then this also must follow, that we guard against sins, refrain from them, and practice faith, love, hope and patience in all kinds of temptation, and from day to day
increase. Such is also a fruit that flows from Christ's suffering; for we are to regard him not as a gift, but also as an example and model to follow, with love for our neighbor and obedience to God. But more of that for another time. Now let us call upon God to kindle and maintain faith in us through His Holy Spirit, and to make us eternally blessed. May our dear Lord God grant us this through Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, amen.