Anno 1553.
In these last days it is very useful and good, indeed highly necessary, that we diligently read, preach and practice the dear prophets. For since the same two ordinary regiments, spiritual and temporal, the kings and the high priests, together with
the mighty and rich wards of the people, were raised up and sent by God to punish them, because they had departed from God's word and the right worship, and had set up and established their own chosen worship,
*This preface by Amsdorf is not found in the other complete editions of Luther's writings; only Walch has included it after the first single German edition, which was published by Christian Rödinger in Jena in 1553.
Moreover, because of their insatiable avarice and selfishness, they oppressed, scraped and suppressed the poor, so that they had hardly enough to eat, and now such great, gross and cruel sins have become so common in the world that they are no longer counted as sins, nor are they respected, and even defended and excused, so the prophets are just as useful and necessary for us to read now as they were for the Jews at that time.
For we see before our eyes that we despise God's word and His servants, the poor preachers, as the Jews despise their prophets, give nothing to them, do not ask for their punishment, but live all according to our heart's desire, and do everything that pleases us, God be angry or laugh.
We see before our eyes that the three sins, avarice and selfishness, gluttony and fornication, anger and vengefulness, have become so rampant that no improvement can be hoped for. Everyone lives without all fear and timidity, yes, always continues his pleasure in all kinds of sins, and will neither tolerate nor suffer any punishment, so that we are now and at this time as stiff-necked as the Jews were ever warm.
But because among the great multitude there are always some devout hearts that love and fear God and His word, God sends His prophets and preachers for their sake, to punish, admonish and teach, so that His elect may be kept by His word and right faith.
That is why God has now, in this terrible and last time of ours, sent this prophet Joel, together with the others, through his chosen armor, Doctor Martinum, of holy memory, so that he may graciously save and preserve his flock, which he still has in this world, from the future punishment that is at the door.
For as Joel threatens the Jews and announces to them God's wrath and punishment, namely the future Babylonian prison, and thereby exhorts and reminds them to repentance and prayer, so that the godly may be preserved and saved in the future punishment:
So we should also let ourselves be moved by him to repentance and prayer, so that in the future punishment, which will come upon Germany out of God's wrath, we will remain with God's word and be preserved in the right faith, so that we will not perish and perish eternally with the world.
But how such things are obtained is clearly and plainly shown by the prophet Joel, when he says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," or blessed. This saying
Each one may read for himself in the Prophet and in the interpretation of Doctoris Martini, Holy Memory, in which he will find that all, and only those who call on the name of the Lord in right faith, will be saved, and in the future punishment, as children of God, will be preserved and saved.
For whoever calls upon God in earnest and asks for forgiveness of sin trusts and believes in God; But he who trusts and believes in God repents, repents and forsakes sins, becomes a child of God and a servant of righteousness, free and rid of sins, of the curse and eternal death, which is the right and true freedom of the children of God, to do what pleases and pleases God, and to forsake those things which offend Him and He has forbidden.
For to do according to the lust of the flesh as we please and as seems good to us is sin against God and his word, an eternal prison, and not freedom. For he who sins is the servant of sins, the devil's own and a prisoner, as Christ and Paul clearly say in their Gospel. And again, whoever serves God and is obedient to His word and His servants, as a faithful, pious servant, is truly free, for the Son of God has made him free through His Spirit; but whoever lives according to his will, as the world does now, is imprisoned by the devil, so that he must die and remain in sins forever.
Whoever now wants to be done away with such a prison and be free, let him think, as the prophet Joel teaches here, that he should repent, that is, improve himself and renounce sins, call upon God, and ask for mercy or forgiveness of sins; for this is the right repentance: so the future punishment, which will pass over Germany, and is now already at the door, will not harm him, and also perhaps be saved here for a time.
Therefore I ask and admonish all believers in Christ, who boast and accept God's word, through the mercy of God, that they read this prophet with its interpretation diligently, form and grasp it in their hearts, and learn from it to trust and believe in God, to love and fear Him above all things, so that the terrible punishment, sorrow and misery that exists may be alleviated.
And it is especially necessary to beware of all human traditions and new teachings that are now rising up and coming forth, namely, the adiaphorists, who by their new mass and Leipzig order have certainly denied Christ and His Word. For it is nothing different, if one
long looks, because a comparison with the antichristian measuring monkeys.
On the other hand, there now comes forth a blasphemer, named Stenkenfeld, 1) who writes and shouts that God's Word is our idol; which is the greatest blasphemy that ever came upon the earth; for the Word is God, and God is the Word, so how can it be an idol? If one trusts and believes him, then one trusts and believes the right one God, not the voice of man, but the word, as the core, which is stuffed into the voice of man, as into a shell; which the coarse ass does not understand at all, yet pretends, his word, and what he teaches, shall be spirit and life; but Christ's word shall be the dead letter; just as Storch, and his prophet Marcus, also taught and preached, without danger, thirty years ago. Is this not cruel and frightening to hear?
But what the Osiandrists pretend is a pure will of courage, and their own poem, for they have not one saying in the whole Scripture, so that they could prove the new invented article of their faith, that the essential righteousness of God should be our righteousness.
For the two proverbs Jeremiah 23:5, 6, [and] 33:15, 16, which they lead, speak of the seed of David, that the same, because it is Jehovah, is our righteousness; and they shall never be able to prove or prove any thing more or otherwise out of it: this I know for a fact.
But we have for us clear, bright sayings from the apostle Paul, that we are justified by the blood of Christ; from this we cannot and will not depart for the sake of new glosses of human wisdom.
To this now also comes D. George Major, and brings forth again the old papist saying, "good works are necessary for salvation," which twenty-five years ago was overthrown and condemned against Doctor Mensing, preacher monk, and Carmelite monk, called Rothbart, with the certain saying of Paul Eph. 2, 8. f.: "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that the same is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
1) This is: swivel field.
not of works, lest any man should boast."
Against this clear saying, George Major stands up, teaches, preaches and defends the old Pelagian, monastic and papal heresy: Good works are necessary for salvation; which saying, although it can be glossed over, because it, according to the nature of the words, is read and understood by merit, D. Martinus, of holy memory, did not want to tolerate or suffer it in any way, because Paul, whom he had read, had kept his opinion. Martinus, of holy memory, did not want to tolerate or suffer it in any way, because Paul, whom he had read diligently, and who had well taken, kept and defended his opinion, says in such clear, plain words [Eph. 2:8]: "By grace you have been saved through faith" 2c. and Rom. 3:28: "We hold that a man is justified without works of the law, through faith alone" 2c.
To prevent all this, there is no better means, advice or way, than to stick to God's word, revealed to us through the prophets and apostles, and to hold fast to it. For we are certain that they are sent by God and have proclaimed and preached His command to the people.
But what the Osiandrists and Stenckfeldists spout, wash and write is against the Scriptures, God's word and command. Therefore, we are certain that they are sent by the devil and not by God.
Therefore we should stick to the word and teaching of the prophets and apostles alone, hold fast to it, and not deviate from it in any way; be on our guard against all others who teach their own dreams or something new, even if they perform miracles and signs. For against the confirmed teaching of Christ, our dear Lord, the prophets and apostles, neither signs nor wonders are valid, much less the useless, ungodly babble and spittle of the loose fishermen, who speak and write without Scripture and God's Word, according to their own discretion, by which they only lead and guide people away from God and His Word to their lies and fictitious dreams.
But how the prophet Joel fends off, hinders and reproves such things, each one may read for himself in his following interpretation.