The first sermon.*)
From the feast of the Holy Trinity.
(1) There is much to preach about today's feast. For first of all, the gospel is very rich in itself and teaches us of great things; so necessity also requires that we say something of the feast and act on the highest article of our faith, that we Christians, and no other people on
*) The beginning of a publicly held sermon from 1535.
Earth, believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
(2) This article is the highest in the church, which was not devised by man, nor did it ever come into the heart of man in his lifetime, but was revealed to us only through the Word of God. Therefore, just as the other feasts of the year clothe and wrap our Lord God in His works, which He has done, so that one's heart and will may be known.
On the day of Easter, Christ the Lord, true God and man, raised himself from the dead by divine power; on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit visibly descended and began his work in the apostles and other believers, and so on; that all other feasts clothe and reveal God with some work; so today's feast is instituted for the purpose of learning, as much as possible, from God's Word what God is in Himself, apart from all clothing or works, only in His divine essence. Then one must rise above all creatures, above all angels and heavens, and leave everything here that we are accustomed to, and listen only to what God says about Himself and about His inner nature. There then is found the foolishness of our Lord God and the wisdom of the world. For when the world hears that the one, eternal God is three different persons, it wants to become foolish about it; therefore it considers all those insane who preach or believe such things.
For this reason, this article in the New Testament, since it is the most clearly stated, has always been the most vehemently contested, so that, as the histories testify, the holy evangelist John had to write his Gospel to confirm this article. For soon the heretics Cerinthus, Ebion and others were found, who had learned from Moses that there was only One God; therefore they concluded that Christ could not be God, just as God could not be man. So they talked out of reason, and thought: how they could grasp such a deal with themselves, so it had to happen above.
4 But fie on you, you shameful reason, we cannot know ourselves rightly, what we are. For there has never been a man on earth who could have known how it is that a man should see with his eyes and speak or laugh with his mouth: and yet we want to be so sacrilegious and presumptuous that we want to speak and argue about God and his divine nature out of our own heads, without any help. Is not such a foolishness about
all foolishness? I cannot say what seeing or laughing is, and yet I dare to know and speak of it, since I know nothing at all about it, and since God alone must speak of it? The world still considers such a thing a great art. And both Turks and Jews consider us Christians to be great fools for believing that Christ is God. But I, if such should be wisdom, could well say it and think: There is only One God, Christ is not God. But when the Scripture and the Word of God comes, it does not hold the sting.
(5) But we should and must speak of such things. Therefore, even though we cannot speak of them sufficiently, let us stammer away like young children, as the Scriptures tell us, namely, that Christ is truly God, that the Holy Spirit is truly God, and that nevertheless there are not three gods nor three divine beings, as there are three men, three angels, three suns, three windows. No, therefore, God is not distinct in His essence, but is only one divine being. Therefore, even if there are three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they cannot be divided or distinguished according to their essence, for there is only one God in a single, undivided, divine essence.
For thus says St. Paul of Christ, Col. 1:15-17: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn before all creatures; for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, both thrones and dominions and principalities and authorities. All things were created by him and in him, and he is before all things, and all things consist in him."
(7) Here you hear that Paul puts all creatures below Christ. If then Christ is above all creatures, it must follow that there is only God. For apart from the creature there is nothing but God. Therefore he also calls him an image of the invisible God. But now he cannot be the image of God, unless he is equally omnipotent, equally eternal, equally wise, just, benevolent etc., otherwise Christ would not be such an image, which corresponds to the
Father, but would have to be an unequal image, where he lacked one of these things. Therefore, both of these things force themselves out with power: first, if the Son of God is the image of the Father, then he must certainly be in one divine essence with the Father; secondly, this difference of persons must nevertheless remain, that the Son is not the Father, nor the Father the Son, but that there are distinct persons; for that which is born cannot be that which is born. And yet is one divine being: otherwise the Son could not be the image of the Father. We must leave it at that; for it cannot be said more clearly, we can only stammer about it, the things are too high and cannot be spoken louder here in this life.
(8) For the Turks and the Jews to mock us, as if we had set three brothers in heaven to rule with one another, we might well do so, if we would depart from the Scriptures. But they do us wrong. We do not make three men, nor three angels; but one divine being, et simplicissimam unitatem (and the simplest unity), against all that may be called one here on earth. For even body and soul are not so much one thing as God is in Himself. But whoever then asks: What is the name of this one God? Then we answer according to the Scriptures, and say: He is called God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. For thus the Scripture teaches us that God begat a Son in eternity before all creation, before the world and before the foundation of the earth was laid, who is like Him in every way, eternal, almighty, righteous etc. Therefore Paul calls him an image of the Father.
(9) Paul also saith, 1 Cor. 10:9, But let us not tempt Christ, as some of them tempted him, and were killed of serpents. Mark such a saying diligently, and hold it to the history as Moses writes it; then you will see wonders how finely and sweetly Paul and Moses kiss each other and offer their mouths to each other. Moses speaks 4 Mos. 14, .22. that the Lord said: This people has tempted me a tenth time. There is the word
Tetragrammaton *), which is attributed to God alone, that the right, one, true God has thus said. Now Paul comes and says freely who the God was, namely Christ; whom, he says, let us not tempt, as some of those tempted him.
(10) Make a hole through it, whoever can; I cannot. For Paul says that Christ is the God whom they tempted; but Moses says that it was the true, one God. Now at that time Christ was not yet born, neither was Mary, nor was David yet born; and yet, regardless of all this, Paul says: "The Jews, who were then in the wilderness and not yet in the land of Canaan, tempted Christ. And warns us to beware lest we do likewise, lest we also come to evil. These words certainly prove that Christ must be the man Moses writes about, that he is the one, eternal, almighty God. Thus Moses and Paul confess at the same time with one mouth, but with different words, that Christ is the true, eternal God.
(11) There are many such testimonies in the New Testament, which cannot be denied, but one must immediately conclude that Christ is God and, because he is born of the Father, is a distinct person from the Father. You may call this what you will, but we call it a distinct person. Although it is not spoken enough, but more stammered. But we cannot do anything about it, we have no better word. That therefore Father and Son are not one person; and yet are one, inseparable being and nature; that all that is said of God the Father may also be said of the Son, apart from the one thing, that the Father begets the Son from eternity, and not the Son the Father.
12 Thus Paul speaks in Acts 20. 20, blessing the Ephesians at Mileto, v. 28: "Take heed to yourselves, and to all the host, among whom the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, to feed the congregation of God, which he hath purchased by his blood."
*) Jehovah
(13) This is also a clear statement that Christ, who purchased the church through his blood, is God. For it is certain that the church has one Lord, who is called God, and whom alone it recognizes as its Lord. If Christ acquired it through his own blood and it is his own, then he must be God. But now that he has acquired it through his own blood, it must follow that Christ is true God, born of God the Father in eternity, and also born of the Virgin Mary in time or bodily into the world. For so Paul says here to the elders, that is, the pastors: "Behold, you are commanded to shepherd the church or community that God has purchased through His blood. You understand the little word "God". But how does it rhyme that God sheds his blood? Is it not true that it entails that he became man and died on the cross?
14 There are many such sayings, especially in the Gospel of John, where it cannot be said that Christ is the true, natural, eternal God, and yet the Father and the Son are two different persons. In the Old Testament such testimonies are also much, but somewhat darker than in the New. As John in his Gospel looks particularly finely at Moses, since he calls the Lord Christ the "Word" because of his eternal birth. For there Moses enters that God had a Word with Himself before all creation, which was almighty like Him, and that God created everything through the same Word. There must be a divine essence between God and the Word, for both God and His Word are eternal and omnipotent, and yet He who speaks the Word and the Word who is spoken are two different persons.
15) After that the patriarch Jacob distinguishes the persons, Gen. 48, 15. 16: "The God who has nourished me all my life until this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless these boys, that they may grow and become many" etc.
16 Here he gives the name of the Lord Christ and calls him an angel, not that he is an angel by nature or essence.
for that would be public idolatry, that he should call upon an angel and ask for his blessing. So he confesses with the invocation that this angel is real, natural God. For this reason, however, he calls him an angel, so that he should not lead his being everywhere, like the invisible God; but he should be sent on earth, clothed in our flesh and sacrificed for our sin. As Christ also used to say in the New Testament: "The Father who sent me"; item: "As the Father sent me"; and in the prophet Isaiah 61, 1.: "The Lord sent me to heal the brokenhearted"; item Is. 63, 9.: Angelus faciei ejus salvavit eos: "The angel who is before him helped them." Thus Malachi calls Christ an angel of the testament, Mal. 3, 1. So that the two names, God and angel', give two different persons; and yet the essence is quite one and without all difference. For the angel is also eternal, natural God, otherwise Jacob would not call upon him; but he is called an angel because of his office and command, which he has as the Son from the Father.
(17) Here belong all the sayings in which the promised seed of the woman is promised by the prophets to bring blessing to us, to establish an eternal kingdom, to make atonement for sin and to create eternal life for us. For these are vain works, which no creature can do, but only God Himself can do and accomplish. Since such works are attributed to Christ in the prophets, it must follow that Christ is eternal, almighty God; as he says to Philippians, John 14:11: "If you do not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, believe because of the works that I do.
(18) Thus saith Isaias, Cap. 9:6, A child is born unto us, and a son is given unto us. Then everyone can know what it is: a child is born and a son is given, that it is spoken of a man who has a natural life and body. But the prophet says further of such a man: "The peace which he shall make," he says, "shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, from henceforth even unto
for ever and ever." And signifies peace, that he will be: judgment and righteousness, that this man will forgive sin, and in all affliction, against all calamity, protect and save his people. Now I ask you: Is it not true that just as that indicates a true, natural man, that he is called a son and is born a child; so that follows: how he has an eternal kingdom, which he establishes and strengthens with righteousness and judgment, and there is no end to his peace, gives a sure sign that this man is also true, almighty, eternal God? Where else would he get an eternal kingdom, eternal justice and other things?
19) Now the excellent sayings in the prophets serve this purpose, as they publicly give the great name of God to the Lord Christ, Ps. 68, Jer. 23, item 31, Hos. 3, where it is written in v. 5: "After this the children of Israel will turn and seek their Lord God and their king David, and will honor the Lord and his grace. There he sets with expressed words the two distinct persons, God and King David, that is, Christ, who was promised to David to sit on his throne forever. And yet he makes David and God one thing as soon as he says: The house of Israel will seek them. For that David should be sought as God, that is, honored, trusted in, and served: such must either be a public idolatry, or God and David (that is, Christ, the Son of David according to the flesh) must be one God, as the prophet afterwards finely intertwines, saying, "They shall honor the Lord and his grace."
20 Thus Christ Himself introduces the 110th Psalm, Matt. 22:44, and thereby wants to maintain against the Pharisees that it must be concluded from such a Psalm that Christ is not only the Son of David, but that He is also the Son of God, that is, the true and eternal God, since David himself calls Him Lord, and the reign is proven by the fact that God calls Him to sit at His right hand. These and such other testimonies we should diligently and carefully remember, so that we may be able to withstand the devil and the heresies.
21. equal now as we now the testimonies
of the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Christ; so let us also consider several testimonies of the Holy Spirit, that he is eternal God, and yet a separate person, that is, neither the Father nor the Son, although he is by nature and essence absolutely equal to the Father and the Son. So that our faith may remain fine and certain everywhere, that we worship only one, eternal, almighty God, and not three gods (as the Jews and Turks lie against us), and yet not lose the distinction of the persons, nor deny that the one God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
(22) Again, we Christians should thank God from the bottom of our hearts that we have such glorious, clear, beautiful, undeniable testimonies of such high articles in the Holy Scriptures, since we can base our hearts on them and defy the devil and all the world. For we must not believe men here; Christ, our blessedness Himself, testifies and preaches to us in the very finest way that the Holy Spirit is eternal, almighty God, otherwise He would not put His command of holy baptism in such a way that one should baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But because he puts the command with expressed words in this way, it must follow that the Holy Spirit is true, eternal God, in equal power and authority with the Father and Son, from eternity. Otherwise, Christ would not place him next to himself and his Father in such a work, where forgiveness of sin and eternal life stand.
23 Thus saith Christ also Joh. 14:16, 17: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him.
Mark well this saying, for thou shalt see the difference of all three persons in the most subtle manner. "I," he says, "will ask the Father." Here you have two persons. Christ, the Son, who asks; and the Father, who is asked to give another Comforter. But if the Father is to give such a Comforter, such a Comforter cannot be the Father Himself. Chri-
stus, who asks for such a comforter, cannot be the same comforter, as he says: "He will give you another comforter." That therefore the three persons are here in the most proper way pictured, that one cannot pass by. Just as the Father and the Son are two different persons, so the third person of the Holy Spirit is a different person from the Father and the Son, and yet is only one, eternal God.
(25) Now what this third person is, the Lord teaches in John chapter 15, where he says v. 26: "But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me. Here Christ speaks not only of the office and work of the Holy Spirit, but also of His nature, saying that He proceeds from the Father. This is ever so much as to say that his going forth is without beginning and eternal. For the Father, from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds, is without beginning and eternal. Therefore the holy prophets give him the name and call him the Spirit of the Lord; as your love heard on the holy day of Pentecost, you Peter lead the saying of Joel, who thus speaks: "It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" etc. (Joel 3:1.) The word behold diligently, which God saith, "I will pour out of my Spirit." For if this Spirit is God's Spirit and proceeds from God, and there is nothing in God that is not eternal, omnipotent, holy, wise, good and incorruptible as He is: it must follow that the Spirit of God is eternal God, and yet a distinct person from the Father and the Son.
(26) Other such sayings of the Holy Spirit are many more, with which the holy fathers have preserved this article against the devil and the world, and have brought it down to us, that we believe in only one God, and yet confess that the same one God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Not as the heretics have fooled us, as if such three names should only mean one person, who has revealed himself differently in time.
For the Father can never be the Son, nor the Son the Holy Spirit, and yet there is only one God. These things, even if we do not understand them, we should still believe them. For if it were true here, I would be able to do it very well, and I am neither a Turk nor a Jew. But I thank my God, who has given me grace, that I do not dispute about such an article, whether it is true and rhymes; but because I see that it is so actually conceived and founded in Scripture, I believe God more than my own thoughts and reason, and do not care at all how it can be true that there is only one Being and yet three different Persons in such a unified Being, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For it is not a matter of disputing whether it is true, but whether it is founded in the Word of God. If it is God's word, do not doubt it, he will not lie.
Since God's word, as we have now heard, stands clear and loud, and such an article has been so gallantly fought for by the holy fathers, then stick to it and only do not dispute much how Father, Son and Holy Spirit can be One God. Can you, poor man, even if you use all the arts of the world, not know how it is that your eyes can see a high mountain for ten miles; item, if you are asleep, how it is that you are dead in body, and yet you live? If we cannot know the smallest thing about ourselves, is it not great foolishness and presumption that we climb up with distant thoughts (the devil's name), and with our reason want to grasp God in his majesty and to speculate what he is. But why do we not first do this to ourselves? and ask, where our ears, eyes and other limbs remain with their effect, when we are asleep? One could argue and speculate without driving.
(29) But here it is not at all fitting for us to try to find out with our reason how it is that three are one, but we are to remain most simply with the Word, which says of Christ that he is the image of the Father and his firstborn before all creatures, that is, that he is the firstborn before all creatures.
He is not a creature, but an eternal God. As there are many such sayings in John: "All things have the Father delivered unto me"; "He that beholdeth me beholdeth the Father"; "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?" Such sayings do not suffer a piercer. God Himself has said that there is no difference between the Father and the Son, except that the Son is born of the Father. But how this happens, we cannot know; that alone we know, as the holy scripture says, that he is the firstborn before all creation and the image of God in the invisible being. So the Scriptures also teach of the third person, the Holy Spirit, that he is God's Spirit and proceeds from the Father, that is, he has the essence of the Father; that therefore there is nothing of divinity, wisdom, power and might in the Father that is not also in the Holy Spirit. But how these things come to pass, I cannot tell thee; for it is incomprehensible above the understanding of all angels and creatures. Therefore it is impossible to think and have more of it than the Scripture tells us; we must keep to it if we want to be saved in any other way. But to understand the essence does not belong to the life here, but to eternal life; there we must save it, and in the meantime not dispute, but simply believe what the Scripture tells us about such an article.
(30) This article is particularly fine in the symbol, that is, in the faith of children; so all the world must bear witness that we have not invented such faith. Neither did the fathers invent it, but it is drawn together from the holy prophets and apostles' writings in the finest and shortest way, just as a bee draws honey from many little flowers.
31 First of all, we say: I believe in God the Father. There you have the first person in the Godhead, namely, the Father, who in eternity begat a Son, through whom he made and still maintains heaven and earth and all that is in them. By such a work you know the Father.
32. after this we say: I believe in Jesus Christ etc. who is eternal God with the Father. For one should believe in no one but God alone. What is called
now the same person? His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Thus all Christians have prayed and believed for more than fifteen hundred years, even from the time when God said to Adam and Eve, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head"; although this article has been taught and explained more clearly at one time than at another, and the promise of Christ has always been more closely drawn in and made clearer. For from Adam to Abraham the Son of God was called the seed of the woman; after that he was called the son of Abraha, Jacob, David, and so on, but the only man is Jesus Christ. Now the angels are also called children of God, item, all Christians are also children of God; but there is neither angel nor saint, who is called the only begotten. Therefore our Lord Christ alone is born of God the Father, as a Son, the like of which he has not, neither among the angels nor other creatures. It must therefore follow that he is the same God. This we and our children and all Christians believe and confess.
33) Following this confession, we also remember his works and ministry, which the Son of God did in particular: that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, was buried, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, his heavenly Father. Here he comes again into the Godhead, so that he may be recognized and believed by everyone as being the image of God his Father and equal to God in all things. These words, I say again, we did not make ourselves, but they came upon us and took them from the early church.
34. For the third time we say: I believe in the Holy Spirit. Here we place the Holy Spirit in equal honor with the Father and the Son, as we confess: I believe in the Holy Spirit. Thus this article is so brief and simple in faith that it could not be more subtle. And for this reason such a symbolism has the name that it is called Apostolicum. For it is not well possible that outside the apostles
someone could have put together such articles so finely simple-minded and clear.
(35) Now the works of the Holy Spirit are also finely indicated, namely, to gather together holy Christians from all tongues, and to make them like-minded in one faith, and to sanctify them through the forgiveness of sins, and to kindle in them the hope of another and eternal life; as we say: I believe forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the flesh, and life everlasting.
Thus the three persons are actually and finely composed in the symbol, in a single divine being, and each person is differently adorned with his own work. To the Father is given the creation, to the Son the redemption, and to the Holy Spirit the power of sanctification, that is, to distribute forgiveness of sins, to make joyful, to strengthen, and to bring from death to that life. These are like different garments, so that the persons are not mixed together, and so that one may be known before the other: that the Father is Creator, Christ becomes man, and the Holy Spirit comes like a flame, so that it is to be seen as if everything is full of fire, and makes people happy. These are all works of the one God. But with the difference of the works one should also understand the difference of the persons: for God the Father did not become man, but the Son; so the Son did not let himself be seen in fiery tongues, but the Holy Spirit.
So this article came down to us, we did not invent or make it ourselves. Thus, we see in the histories that God held sway over it and punished the heretics who challenged such an article. Therefore we are to hold fast to it and abide by the word alone, and not be prudent nor argue much about it. For so we read that John had to write his gospel mostly because of the heretic Cerinthi, who blasphemed Christ and did not want to let Christ be God. Now it happened at a time that John came with his disciples to a bathhouse, and when he saw Cerinthus and his crowd, he and his disciples soon departed, saying, "Let us go.
We do not stay long around this shameful blasphemer. As John leaves the bath with his people, and perhaps Cerinthus and his crowd mock him and begin to blaspheme, the bath collapses and kills them all. This was his deserved reward.
The same happened to the heretic Ario. He made a terrible noise in the church, so that it took longer than four hundred years, and still the sparks do not want to leave the heart of the godless people. He admitted that Christ was begotten by God before all creatures, but nevertheless he was also a creature, although far more glorious and beautiful than all others. When the pious bishops everywhere, as if by necessity, opposed such blasphemy, and much disruption and unwillingness arose from it, Emperor Constantine had to intercede, and gathered a great multitude of learned and pious bishops, who condemned such error of Arii. But when he soon died and his son Constantius, who had been very favorable to Arius, came into the regency, the Arians made an effort to bring Arius out of the ban by force and to give him justice in his matters. When the day was called and Arius and his group set out early in the morning for church, he was struck by a stomach ache on the way, so that he asked for a secret chamber, and died.
(39) Thus this article of the Holy Trinity has been preserved, first with Scripture, then with the struggle of the apostles and holy fathers, and lastly also with miraculous works against the devil and the world, and shall be preserved still, if God wills; that we believe in One God, who is called God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
The Father is our Creator, the Son is our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier. By such special works we can make a distinction between the persons, and yet the nature or the divine essence is not separated or divided. This is what is preached today at this feast, and Christians alone believe such an article, which seems foolish in the sight of reason; as Paul says that God is so
that he was pleased to save those who believe in it by a foolish sermon. For reason will never be able to agree that three are one and one is three, that God becomes man, that when we are put into baptism we are washed from sins by the blood of Christ, that we eat the body of Christ in the bread and drink his blood in the wine, and thus receive forgiveness of sins.
received by faith. Such articles are all considered to be foolishness by the worldly wise. Therefore Paul calls them so and says: "It is a foolish, foolish sermon, but whoever believes it shall be saved. May God the Father grant us this through His Holy Spirit for the sake of His dear Son, our Savior Christ Jesus, amen.