See St. Louis edition, vol. XIV, 392.
No. 2868.
Postscript to a Concern of Melanchthon s.
Melanchthon posed a concern for the Elector John Frederick on the question, "Whether the Anabaptists should be punished with the sword?" It is found from a copy in Cod. Galli II, p. 263 and in Cod. Palat,
1) This will have been done by the previous letter.
Letters from the year 1541. no. 2868. 2869.
no. 435, p. 33, in Corp. Ref., vol. I V, 737; the postscript alone in De Wette-Seidemann, vol. VI, p. 291. Luther wrote underneath:
Placet mihi Martino Luthero...
Although it is crudele to punish them with the sword, it is crudelius that they want to destroy ministsrium verbi [the office of the word], and do not practice a certain doctrine, and suppress right doctrine, and in addition destroy regna mundi [the worldly dominions]. M. L.
No. 2869.
To Franz Groß, pastor at Mittweida.
Luther instructs him on the question of whether Christ could be said to have died according to the divine nature, in the spirit of the doctrine de communicatlone idiornatum.
Ans der Willischen Sammlung zu Freiberg bei Schütze, vol. III, p. 243 und bei De Wette-Seidemann, vol. VI, p. 291.
To M. Franz Groß, 1) pastor at Mittweida.
It is asked whether it is right and true to say that Christ also died according to the Godhead. The Godhead is not subject to death and no suffering affects it, since Peter says: Christ was delivered to death according to the flesh, but made alive according to the Spirit. I answer: All godly and true Christians, or the whole true general church of Christ, believes without a doubt the "holy Christian faith" (Symbolum), namely that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, of the same essence and divine nature with the Father, was in truth conceived, born, suffered, was crucified, died and was buried. Therefore, it believes that not only the human nature, but also the divine nature, or the true God, suffered and died for us. And although dying is something foreign to the divine nature, it happens because the divine nature has attracted the human nature in such a way that these two natures are inseparably united, so that Christ is One Person, God and man, that everything that happens, happens to God and to man,
1) According to the album Acad. Viteb. p. 132, Franz Groß from Oschatz was immatriculated on Nov. 2, 1528. He was a tutor for Luther.
that these two natures in Christ share their characteristics (idiomata) with each other, that is, what is proper to one nature is also shared with the other because of their inseparable connection; as, being born, suffering, dying 2c. are characteristics or peculiarities (proprietates) of human nature, which the divine nature also shares because of the inseparable connection that can only be grasped by faith. Therefore, not only man, but also God is conceived, born of the Virgin Mary, suffers, dies, as Paul testifies Rom. 1,3.: "The Son of God is born of the seed of David, according to the flesh." "According to the flesh," he says, because Christ took on human nature from the seed of David. Therefore, "to be born" is actually said of human nature, but because this nature is so completely united in One Person with the divine nature that it communicates its characteristic, namely, to be born of human nature and to become man, in truth to the nature of GOD, as John [Cap. 1, 14.] says: "The Word became flesh", God is born man, so that not only man is born, but also the Son of God (as Paul says), or in fact God is born, and the Virgin Mary is not only the mother of man, but also the true mother of God, which Gabriel Luc. 1, 31. f. testifies: "Thou shalt bear," he says, "a son, who shall be called the Son of GOD," and he adds [v. 32.]: "GOD the LORD shall give him the stnhl of David." Behold, one and the same is truly the Son of GOD and the Son of David. Mary, therefore, in truth gave birth to the true Son of GOD, and the same is also the true Son of David.
Furthermore, what is said and proven about the bestowal of one quality, namely that being born belongs to the divine nature by bestowal, the same must be understood about the bestowal of the other qualities: as, dying belongs to the human nature, and yet the divine nature also endures this death according to the words Rom. 8, 29: "We must become like the image of the Son of God.
2) Instead of ideo we have assumed Idem.
Letters from the year 1541. No. 2869.
The same in the [First] Epistle to the Corinthians [Cap. 2, 8]: "If they had known the [secret, hidden wisdom of God], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory"; likewise in the Epistle to the Philippians [Cap. 2, 6. 8.]: "Although Jesus Christ was in divine form, for he was like God, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross"; likewise the church sings: Vita in ligno moritur [Life dies on wood]. 1)
Therefore, one must believe for certain that everything that actually belongs to and happens to human nature in Christ is also imparted to divine nature, so that it is rightly and truthfully said that God is born, suckled, lies in the manger, freezes, walks, watches, eats, drinks, suffers, dies 2c. There is an outstanding passage in the letter to the Hebrews, which belongs especially here; I will only mention it in this piece. Thus it says Cap. 2, 7: "Thou hast made him a little less 2) than the angels", and soon after [v. 9]: "But him that was a little while less than the angels, we see that it is Jesus, through the suffering of death" 2c. And he says, "a little while," that is, as long as he tasted death. What can be said more clearly? "He is," it says, "made less than the angels." Why? "For the suffering of death," because he tasted death. Therefore he is a little inferior to the angels, whose nature is not subject to death. But He, although He is the Lord and Creator of the angels, although He is God by nature, because He is the Son of God, has nevertheless given Himself under death by humbling Himself. On the other hand, one must also believe that the qualities of the divine nature in Christ are in truth imparted to the human nature, because it is united with the divine one without any separation. Therefore Christ says
1) This is the hymn No. 89 in our hymnal: O world, see here your life.
Hovering on the trunk of the cross, Your salvation sinks to death.
2) inferiorem fecisti; in the Vulgate: minuisti.
Joh. 3,13: "No one leads to heaven except the Son of Man", and yet he is still present on earth and talks with Nicodemus. You see, therefore, that to man or human nature is ascribed also that which actually belongs to divine nature. For in Matthew [Cap. 18, 20.] he says, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name," 2c., likewise Matt. 28, 20.: "I will be with you unto the end of the world." See, in these passages Christ certainly speaks of his personal presence, and since the person who is Christ is everywhere, it is also necessary that at the same time man and God, or both natures united with each other, be everywhere and truly present, hear, work all things in all, according to the words [Heb. 2, 8.]: "All things thou hast put under his feet." But since no human mind can attain or understand this with its understanding or wisdom, it must certainly assent to it in faith. If a man does this, he will only then realize (as godly people who know these things testify) that this article brings comfort in all the tribulations of sin and death. Likewise, he will also become aware of how much light it adds to the understanding of Scripture. And everything in the history of the Passion will seem idle and cold if this is not held fast. But now, I think, Peter can easily be understood from this, who says that Christ was given according to the flesh, and that the divine nature is not excluded from the sharing of suffering and death. For he says that he was given up to death according to the flesh; yet he says that Christ himself died, who is true God and true man. Therefore, God and man died. Furthermore, George says, 3) that when he has recognized this, no one can err who worships the dead Christ in the grave, for since he worships the dead, he also believes in the dead and buried, because the dead and buried was not only a man, but also God.
3) Instead of: Greogrius might want to read Gregorius.
Letters from the year 1542. No. 2870.
No. 2870.
End of 1541 or beginning of 1542. 1)