The third chapter of John.

[The twenty-second sermon on the Gospel of John.]

[Saturday, March 30, 1538.] 1)

V. 1. 2. Now there was a man among the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you have come as a teacher from God, for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. 2)

So far we have dealt with two chapters of John, and now follows the third chapter. We could, however, leave the beginning of this chapter because such a gospel is preached on the Sunday of Trinity, just as the following text and almost the entire third chapter of the year is preached at a special time. However, one may sing a good song now and then, and because one should read kings' and princes' letters now and then or three times, yes, often, and one must listen to them diligently, much more one should act on God's word day and night, as the first Psalm says. For there is such divine wisdom in it that cannot be reasoned with, nor even understood; it is an infinite and unfathomable wisdom, in which we all have enough to study.

In particular, however, this chapter teaches above all

1) The time determination is missing in the manuscript. But if the 21st sermon was preached on March 23 (cf. 2. Eisleb. Theil, col. 492 d) and the 23rd sermon on April 6, the date for the 22nd sermon can be no other than March 30. (Hock.)

2) The text of the 2nd verse is missing in the Erlanger.

the other is the high part, namely, faith in Christ, so that by it alone we may be justified before God. For you have often heard me say that the Christian life consists of these two things, namely, in faith and then in good works, that one should be pious according to faith and lead an outwardly good life. But the first is more important than faith, and the other is nowhere equal to the first, although the world thinks more highly of it than of faith, preferring good works to faith.

The pope fell from the faith and fell only on good works, of which he thought up many by his own choice. The Jews and the Turks did the same and were drowned in works, so that the other part, namely good works, has always been held higher and more valuable in the world. Now it is true that one should do good works, and good works are to be held in high esteem. But see to it that this is done in such a way that faith and Christ are not put down. For if works are exalted too high, they become the greatest idolatry, even the devil himself, as happened in the papacy and in Turkey. For they exalt good works too highly and forget faith in Christ altogether, and boast or preach not of God's works but of their good works. But faith is to be put first and then taught about good works, and faith must bring us to heaven without and before good works, for it is through faith that we come to God.

The Gospel of John teaches us this with the example of Nicodemus. He has the other part for himself, that he is praised for his good works; he lived holy and honest in the world, and kept the part with the good works. But look how he runs out. He comes to Christ at night, shunning 1) the other Jews, as the elders and chief priests. For he was not one of the chief priests or other priests, but was a pious layman and a great lord, a ruler of the world or most distinguished among the people, as our counts and knights are now, as John says, "One of the best, of the secular regiment. For the mayors have been princes. That is why they are called princes of the people in the Gospel; and Joseph of Arimathea and others were also such great princes. The others will have kept it with the priests, with Anna and Caipha, who did not consider Christ worthy to be addressed. But Nicodemus brings with him a blameless life, discipline, honor and obedience according to the law of Moses, a fine, chaste and honest councilor, as honest people should be in the secular government. When he heard of the preaching and miraculous signs of the Lord Christ, he was moved and came to Christ and wanted to talk to him. He must not tell anyone in the council, otherwise he would have been taken by the head or chased out of the council or out of the city or robbed of all his goods. For the elders of the people were all attached to the chief priests. Therefore he wants to speak to him secretly about the great serious matter, and does this at night, because he is afraid of Caipha and the other chief priests and rulers of the people; therefore he comes to Christ, thinking that he is blameless and a pious man, and will hear this judgment and sentence from Christ, so that Christ will say to him, "You are pious; go and do more like this. But it will be a strange thing to him, preached much differently and more than he had thought, because of which he will be able to prove the deception.

1) Handwriting: shoo.

in [the] head and does not know where to turn.

He recognizes that Christ is a true prophet and teacher and comes from God, because he proves this with his teaching and with the miracles, as he attributes such to him and says: "It is impossible that someone does such signs, unless he is from God; which is a great testimony. He speaks it as it is in his heart, that Jesus is a true prophet and teacher, for he proves it not only with words, 2) but also with great miraculous deeds, which no one else could do, because he is God. So he greets Christ, saying: "Rabbi, we know that you have come from God, a master, and teach the way of God rightly.

How then does the Lord receive him? Truly this is how he strikes him down, because his hope and good opinion must come to nothing and perish. Why is this? He lets him off the hook by confessing that he is a teacher of the truth, that he comes from God, and that he praises his miracles. But he answers: I will tell you, my Nicodeme, the truth. Since you consider me a prophet of the truth, I will also perform my office and tell you the truth. But this is the truth: Do not think that I will preach the Law or Moses to you, as is done in your schools and churches, where the Ten Commandments are diligently practiced, and Moses and the prophets are much spoken of, but nothing is understood. I have come to bring you a much different and higher teaching than has been preached in the schools and synagogues up to now; just as, in the 23rd chapter of Matthew, the Lord also says: "The Pharisees and scribes sit on the chair of Moses. Do what they tell you, but do not do according to their works." So is the opinion of the Lord also here, when he speaks:

V. 3. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

2) Erlanger: "Works". That "words" must be read, proves the beginning of this paragraph: "that he proves with his teaching and with the miracles".

These words make very little the good works or the other piece of the. Doctrine, namely, preaching about good works. Not that he rejects them at all, for works are also good, but they are to remain in their circle, in their place and place, for they are so very small before the piece of doctrine which I lead (namely, of faith and regeneration) that they do not bring to heaven, nor promote men to 1) see the kingdom of heaven or come into eternal life, but one must be born again. Otherwise no one belongs among the heaps of the church unless he is born again. Now these words are bright and clear, and Nicodemus is also pious enough and does not lack good works, he humbles himself and comes to the Lord Christ; this would not have been done by Annas and Caiphas; he confesses that he is a teacher of the truth. Nevertheless, the Lord says to him, "This humility and holiness is worth nothing, and he will not go to heaven unless he is born again.

Whoever believed this and considered it to be true could easily answer the Turk's and the Papist's, yes, all men's righteousness and holy thoughts, when one binds himself with ropes, another puts on a cap, the third goes on pilgrimages, saying: If you pray and fast as long as you do or build small houses, you will not go to heaven because of it. Putting on a cap does not do anything either, but it is said: You must be born elsewhere. This is as much as to say: Now you are dead with all your works, being and life, and in this holy and Pharisaic righteousness you are condemned and of no value; as if one said now to the pope and the cardinals: In the being in which you are, you are dead, condemned and lost; but they do not believe it.

Take an example. It is certain that a child that is to be born after two years is nothing now. The maid who is to carry and bear the child is still in the wreath. The child that is yet to be born of her is nothing, it can do nothing, because what does not have life before, that can not do anything.

1) Erlanger: fodern.

They have no effect, everyone must confess that. So also here all works, however excellent and good they may be, are nothing at all if they are done before the new birth; these works are only sin and death. Therefore the Lord Christ also casts a shadow so that Nicodemus and all the Pharisees, yes, the whole Jewish people, who do not accept Christ and believe in him, are nothing at all, because they have not yet been born again.

But what will become of those here who do much lesser works than Nicodemus, than the monks and nuns, and all the papists' works, which works are nothing compared to Nicodemus? Because they are not born again, they cannot do good works. Even if they put many works on the people as great and delicious works, it is still all nothing.

Hereby we do not condemn good works, but we want people to be first prepared and born again, who could then do good works. We would like to have such people who would do righteous good works; one must preach about people who can do good works.

Then our adversaries say, "Well, I want to go into a monastery, put on a cap and a hard shirt, read the Mass, and become a Carthusian. All this is nothing, because you are not yet born again. You must first become a man who can do good works. Now the papists and our adversaries, the monks, do not understand this, so they cry out that we forbid good works, but they are lying. For we preach good works in the best possible way, saying that good works cannot be done except by those who are born again, who are born and made for good works, and forbid that some should do good works when they are not yet born. For good works ought to be done, but they are not done except by those who are born new men, and by those who ought or are able to do good works. If a carpenter is to build a house, his person must be there first. For what should he build if he is not yet born? So judge also here of all good men.

Works. For what is it that thou puttest on a cap, and hast a scalp clipped, and doest many other such works? I ask you if this cap makes you a newborn man, which it does not. But this is true: A cap covers many a rogue, but it does not make one pious. I can adorn myself with the cap, but first ask if you are born again, then ask about the works you should do. But they do not do this, but become straight monks and nuns, and think that they want to be saved by such works. But first see if you are born again; if not, your good works are worthless.

Therefore this is our doctrine, that all men's works are nothing, and are done in vain, unless one is first born again; and therefore we call it also the chief part, whereof men ought to be instructed, how they must first be born again; that therefore it should be said first, that they are all dead, and whatsoever else there may be of life, ordinances, fasting, and other things, that it is of no avail to obtain remission of sins, until they be born again, and become new men.

But what such a birth must be, we will hear. But it is written that Christ swears twice, saying, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again etc.; as if he should say, Remember not, Nicodeme, because thou art an honest and devout man, therefore be thou blessed. For it is true that one should live honestly and chastely and blessedly in this world. For if you do not, Master Hans, the executioner, is here with a sword and a rope, telling you not to do it anymore, saying, "If you will not, you must. But if you want to interpret it in such a way that you want to see the kingdom of heaven through it, then it is nothing with the same good works. For these same works, this same piety, give only temporal life, or preserve thee, that thou be not strangled, or else put out of house and home, wife and children, or hanged on the gallows. So, if you are a citizen of Jerusalem, you have life, honor and glory through this honor. But as for the kingdom of heaven, the church and the kingdom of Christ, remember this,

That thou mayest become a new man, and hold thyself no otherwise than as a child, which not only cannot yet do one work, but hath not yet his nature or life. These are the sermons of Christians.

Christian doctrine teaches us that we must first become different people, that is, be born again. But how does this happen? Through the Holy Spirit and through water. When I am born again, having become devout and godly, I go, and what I do in the new birth is good.

As, Adam, if he had remained in the innocence and in the state in which he was created, he would have gone and done what he would have wanted, as any fishing, catching red herrings or planting trees: these would have been vain good, holy works and no sin; and Eve had suckled the children, wiped them 1): these would have been vain delicious, good works. For the person was created good, righteous, pure and holy; therefore all his works were also good, he eat or drink, it was all right. But after a person has fallen into sin, he does nothing good after the fall, but sins in all his works, even if he prays, because he does it like a sinner; everything he does is not right, even if he fasts, prays, leads a strict life as a Carthusian, wears a monk's robe, goes barefoot. For all these things are sinful, because the person is evil and not born again, and all that he does is of no avail.

Therefore Christ says to Nicodemo: I am come to preach another doctrine, how that ye must be born again, that ye may be made good. This teaching has been understood and described in the Scriptures, but you do not read it, and even if you do read it, you do not understand it, namely, that before one does good works, he must be born again, because from sinners other sinners are begotten, and the person is corrupt. The Lord Christ says in the 7th chapter of Matthew: Where the tree is evil, there

1) Erlanger: gewuschet. Handwriting "gewusschet", which Höck had erroneously dissolved with "gewaschen".

it does not bear good fruit, thistles do not bear figs, nor thorns 1) grapes.

But here they say, "The papists do many good deeds, for they pray, fast, and perform masses. Then you answer, "They count for nothing; they are evil works, like thistles and thorns. Why? The tree is evil, that is, the person is not good. Therefore whatever they do, whether they read or pray, it is all evil, for they are an old birth and maligned, and because they are evil, they can do no good. Who then could persuade the Papists and the Turks that they are all thistles and thorns! For they are not born again, but are all still of the old birth.

Thus, saith Christ, I begin to teach men, that I will make them from the foundation of godliness, not with outward vices, or with sour looks, or that they may otherwise walk uprightly in the world. I will not lead them to this, but I will show them how to be born otherwise. I will build from the bottom up and purify the heart, for by good works we are not born again. Therefore saith he, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot possess the kingdom of God; as if he should say, Do what thou wilt, keep of works what thou wilt, give, 2) as much as pleaseth thee, clothe thyself also as thou wilt; yet is it all nothing, except thou be born again. There the text says, it does not say: If someone is so and so adorned with all kinds of virtues, or is clothed with worldly clothes or with monk's caps, and so and so dresses, but it must do the new birth. But what is the new birth? Namely, when man becomes that which he was not before. For birth brings a thing into a being 3) that was not before. Now this happens by no order, caps or plates, but I am and remain the one, so I am born of my parents. So Nicodemus is just the one who was born of his mother, as a pious, wise man, and still the old Nicodemus among the beautiful works. The-

1) Erlanger: Dörner.

2) Erlanger: gives. .

3) "Being" - the being, the existence.

The same, when one goes into a monastery, one is not born anew under the cap, he brings the old man, the flesh and blood into the cap, the cap is the devil's carnival larva. But one must take off the old skin and birth, and put on the new; which Nicodemus does not yet understand, and thinks that Christ speaks of birth, since one is born bodily 4) and speaks:

V. 4. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he again go into his mother's womb and be born?

There he rests 5) that he wants to say: I see what is to be born, but I understand it from the mother in the flesh, as when a child is born from its mother; as if to say, "You are a strange teacher, preaching strange things; you are a teacher from God, but you attack us harshly, as if we were nothing and unborn. Have you no eyes? Do you not see me, or the whole city of Jerusalem? Or do you mean that the old man, this body, should be crushed, crushed and destroyed, and come again into his mother's womb? But if Christ's words were to be understood in this way, then one birth would be like the other, and the first like the last, for Nicodemus thinks that man cannot be born again unless it happens in this bodily way, and no other way.

The Lord answered him and explained himself more clearly, saying: "You are to be born again, but not of the mother, for what would this birth be other than the first birth, if we are first born of the mother? but you must be born of the spirit and water, and whoever does not do this cannot be saved. There he has explained himself clearly and brightly enough; as if he should say: I mean a spiritual birth, because it is a twofold birth, first of all, a bodily one, since we are born of women, therefore we all come from Adam and Eve. Now this alone is a fleshly birth, of which he does not speak here, but of the spiritual birth, which comes from water.

4) Erlanger: bodily.

5) Erlanger: rüget.

and the spirit. If Nicodemus did not understand this above, much less will he understand it now. It is a ridiculous doctrine, even to our papists, that one should be born again, and that nothing should be added to it but the Spirit and water. They do not understand it, nor do they believe it, and all who still do not respect the doctrine of faith, to them it is a ridiculous and mocking sermon. Therefore they cry out, "Good works must be done!" and then they press home the main point, namely, that all is lost unless one is born otherwise than of water and the Spirit. But do not think that you will enter the kingdom of God, for you will only be born again of water and the Spirit. These are hard and mighty words, that we must be born again, that is, we must come from the birth of sin to the birth of righteousness, otherwise we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. This birth of righteousness must be followed by good works.

The Lord Christ speaks of these things much to Nicodemo, but he cannot understand them. Nor can it be understood, unless one has experienced such things and has been in spiritual birth. But let these words stand and do not exaggerate them, for they seem to be very foolish and strange to reason, and understand them plainly as they are, not as some have interpreted such words, that water should be understood here for tribulation and anguish, as Münzer thus interpreted them. One should not be bold in the word of God. It is better that you remember: I do not understand the words; before I want to change them, or take something from God's words or add to them, I will rather leave it and command God. For one should treat the holy Scriptures with reverence and great fear. But this is not done by the riffraff and insolent spirits, for they are bold, as it says in the 2nd Epistle of S. Peter in the 2nd chapter, for they do not take God's word for anything but the word of men. But remain unconfused with God's word. If thou understandest it not, then do him the honor, and say, I will wait till I understand it; and do not act as a coiner, who out of the water doth

In this place it means tribulation or temptation, although it is true that in the Scriptures and in the Psalms water quite often means temptation. But in this place it does not have to be understood in this way, because Christ speaks here of baptism, of the right natural water, which otherwise a cow drinks, of which baptism you shall hear in the sermons on baptism; and so water here is not only called tribulation, but right natural water, which has God's word with it, since through the Holy Spirit or through the whole Trinity a right spiritual bath is made out.

So he puts here also the Holy Spirit and taught us to look at the baptism, that it is hastily spiritual, yes, a spiritual water, in which the Holy Spirit is and works, yes, the whole Holy Trinity is present; and then the man who is baptized is called born again, as S. Paul to Tito in the third chapter calls the baptism a bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit; and Marci in the last chapter says that whoever is baptized and believes shall be blessed. Paul to Tito in the third chapter baptism is called a bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit; and Marci in the last chapter it is said that whoever is baptized and believes shall be saved; and here in this place Christ says: Unless one is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, God's words cannot be changed. We know that baptism is natural water, but when the Holy Spirit is added, it becomes something more than water, namely, a true bath of discipleship, a living bath that washes and cleanses people of sins and death, and washes away all sin.

Then Christ will say, Ye are not yet born again; but I am come to bring you a new way of being born again, as by water and the Holy Ghost, and to preach unto you that ye must be born again, and to bring you such a bath as shall make you new, that the person may be new. With this he gives Nicodemo and the whole Jewish people a hard blow and slap, who thought thus: We are circumcised, we are Abraham's and Isaac's seed, we have the Law or the Ten Commandments, the Temple, all of which is ordered and commanded by God. For this reason they boasted greatly,

1) Erlanger: lernet.

that they alone would be saved. No, says the Lord Christ, I bring you another being. Moses, the law, the temple and all Levitical worship now cease. The words of all are now finished. For what is written of these things is all preached unto me, that ye should wait upon me, and hear my doctrine. My teaching even takes away Mosi's teaching, and I] do not speak now of circumcision and temple, but of a new bath. And all the Jewish people knew well that the Messiah would bring a new teaching, as the Samaritan woman, John in chapter 4 [v. 25], also testifies when she says: "We know that when the Messiah comes, he will teach us everything.

This then was the faith of the godly Jews before the future of Christ, not that they would be saved by the law or by circumcision, but that through circumcision they were directed to the Messiah who would bring a new bath and doctrine; 'and were all born and died, yea, were also saved, unto the Christ that was to come, and believed on him, though he was not yet born into the world, building nothing at all upon their own righteousness, but what he would teach, that also they believed before his coming.

For thus Moses, in the fifth book, in the 18th chapter, points them to Christ, saying:-God will raise up another prophet for you from among your brethren, besides me, whom you shall hear. So Moses came and brought a new teaching into the world, saying, "Just as I have now come with a new teaching, so God will also raise up a new prophet over you, who will be your Messiah, who will bring a teaching (as I bring you a new law and teaching), 1) which is not written in nature, but is unknown to the world, and as you have accepted my teaching and followed me, so you shall then hear him as me; my teaching will then cease, and you will not hear me, but him.

From this and similar sayings there has always been a certain faith among the Jewish people in the Messiah, that Christ will come.

1) These brackets are set by us.

for whom they also waited, who would preach to them as Moses said here, who would teach them all things; And they also which died on this faith were saved as well as we, who now believe that Christ ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of his Father, and will raise us up again at the last day, and make us fairer and brighter than the sun is now, and will judge the dead and the living, and save all them that believe, and raise up the body also from the earth. Even though we must all die before we experience this, we believe it to be true, and we believe that it will happen, and we die confidently, and we are saved because of this belief, even though we do not see how it will happen. But even if we do not see it, grasp it or foresee it, nevertheless, whoever believes it will be saved.

So, even though they did not know or understand in the Old Testament what the Messiah would preach, namely, about baptism and the Lord's Supper and about the power of the keys or absolution, they still believed in the future Christ, and their delusion was that the Messiah would come and teach them all this. Therefore they took hold of him by faith, since they did not yet see him. So we also still take hold of eternal life by faith, and yet we do not understand what eternal life is, but we still believe that we shall have it.

Therefore Christ says here to Nicodemo: "The time has come for your circumcision, the Law and Moses to cease. For ye have hitherto waited for me, of whom the prophets and Moses prophesied that ye should hear me. Because I am now come, hear me, and hide yourselves with your good works, with the ceremonies, sacrifices, and other services of the temple, and come unto me, and be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, which baptism shall bring you forth anew, and make you new men, bringing a new birth or renewal of nature. For the Holy Spirit works faith in us, through such faith we then receive God's image again,

so we had lost in paradise. If we are baptized and believe that Christ died for us, we grow in faith from day to day, even in the fruits and good works of the Holy Spirit. Whoever then desires to be saved, let him receive my teaching, for I shall preach and Moses shall now be silent.

Neither the pope nor the Turk believes that Christ died for me; no one else believes it or knows it, except the Holy Spirit, who gives it to him through the preaching of the gospel. For the Holy Spirit must give it to be preached; the Holy Spirit also is the scribe that presseth it into our hearts, that I may believe, and say, I believe on Jesus Christ.

This is what the Holy Spirit preaches in the word new birth, which he teaches and writes. Whoever believes in Christ, that he was born for us, died and was buried, and rose again from the dead, the same is born again or born anew. Then one is a new man, because you have such thoughts, which otherwise no Papist or Turk has, namely, that Christ died for you and rose from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God. If you now remain in this faith, the Holy Spirit is there and baptizes you, strengthens and increases your faith, and gives you new understanding in your heart; he also awakens in you holy and new thoughts and affections, so that you may begin to love God and renounce all ungodly deeds, and do from the heart what God wants you to do, love your neighbor, avoid anger, hatred and envy. Such works are done by those who are born again beforehand, namely, through baptism, in which the Holy Spirit is and makes the person new.

When the person is born again, the new man begins to use all kinds of messengers, food and drink, and a Christian says: If you do not want to wear a cap, put on a skirt; if you do not have a gray skirt, take a red one. It does not matter how you dress, just as it does not matter whether you are a woman or a man. For this does not make you newborn, but that I believe in Christ who died for me. I know this from the

divine Word through the Holy Spirit, even from baptism. What do I need the cap for? A Christian does not need these ceremonies anywhere, but only to be baptized by the Holy Spirit and receive faith through Him, that he may be born again; and after that I serve God in the three commandments of the first table of the Law of Moses; after that in the other table I attend to my office and profession according to my ability, love my neighbor, and have a fine quiet life with my wife. If the cross then comes, I also suffer it with joy, then go to the sermon and hear Christ, my bishop, but may not then run to Rome or to St. James.

This will be the new preaching, how we become new men, and after that, as the newborn, also do good works; and this is the main part of our Christian teaching, that men should be taught how to be born again by water and the Holy Spirit, not that they should put on a cap and wear plates. For the cap only covers the old peelings, and does not make new men. But Nicodemus does not understand any of this.

The 23rd sermon [on the Gospel of John].

lSunday] April 6, 1538. 1)

V. 6. that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

1) In the original in the margin; however, there is erroneously written ,, 16. [priiis". On the other hand, before a short repetition of the previous sermon, but which is crossed out in the manuscript, is the date we have set. About the omission of the crossed-out section, Buchwald, "Ungedruckte Predigten," Vol. Ill, p. 261, notes: "Our manuscript shows that these words belong to the sermon." All that the redaction offers in Buchwald in place of what is omitted here is this: "Baptism is the new for] Rebirth, by which we obtain forgiveness of sins. In the first birth we are born in sin and to sin. But here we are born to righteousness, to the forgiveness of sins. From this it is clear that our justification does not begin from our doing, but from our becoming. Mas is born of the flesh*" and so on. To us the omission seems justified. Incidentally, it follows from the index given in Buchwald 1. e., p. 205: riUw 3uäieu" that the date we have set is correct.

These two pieces are so separated from each other that one must not wait for a remedy. There is nothing between the flesh and the spirit, for man is either flesh or spirit. So S. John says: What is born of the flesh is flesh or remains flesh. He does not speak of the flesh that is slaughtered and roped in the flesh banks, but he speaks of such a fleshly birth, since a man who is born must be a living flesh and have a bodily life. Then Christ says that the bodily birth remains and is a bodily life and nothing more, and that man is flesh as much as there is in him.

He understands all this in one word and calls it flesh, saying, "Everything that is born of the flesh is flesh, that is, people who are born in the flesh alone are nothing but flesh. By this is condemned that which is high and exquisite in the world, call it what you will, noble or ignoble, mighty, wise, understanding, rich, wise, sensible, even all learned men. For what is born in the flesh is a thing in the flesh, and if it is not born otherwise, it becomes nothing but a thing in the flesh, and remains a thing in the flesh, which perishes. With this, we are truly deprived of much, indeed, we are even condemned in this.

Notice also here that what we call fleshly, the Hebrews call flesh or carnal.

So this saying is a mighty judgment on the whole world, which is also filled by S. Paulo to the Romans in the eleventh chapter, that God has closed all under sin, so that he may have mercy on all; item, Rom. 3.They are all sinners and lack the glory they should have in God" etc.; and to the Ephesians in the second chapter: "By grace you have been saved through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not from works, lest anyone should boast." Now if we believed this to be true, we would be humbled enough. For what would it be if you were born a lord, and were a king or the Turkish emperor, and had the highest wisdom and reason on earth, dear, what would it be? It is flesh. In the sight of the world it is great and is highly praised, but

In the sight of God it is nothing, therefore Christ says: "That which is born of flesh is flesh", that is bodily birth, is also a bodily thing. It also gives nothing more than bodily things, as can be seen in the great merchants, whose power, honor, riches, glory, money and goods finally pass away.

So herewith a sharp lesson is read to Nicodemo and he is treated badly. For it will not help him that he has Moses and the whole law for himself, he will remain carnal if he is not born again. What is it, Nicodeme, he wants to say, that you will follow Mosi for a long time? You will probably remain carnal. So what does it help the pope and the Turks that the gospel is preached? They hear it and see it all; it is painted, written, sung and said to them: yet they are not converted, for as they are born flesh, so they remain flesh. It is the same with Nicodemo. He and his Pharisees have the law of Moses, the temple and the worship: still they remain flesh-born. It is not much different with us today. We may hear the gospel preached, sung, read, but we do not become more devout or better from it. For we are flesh and remain flesh. But what is born of the spirit is spirit.

There is no middle ground, as said above, between the two: what is bodily remains flesh; what is born of the Spirit is also spiritual. But what is the spiritual birth? When I am born again through baptism and the Holy Spirit into a new being and believe in Christ, from whom I then do not expect riches, power, glory (as many seek such things in this world alone), for God has given me these things before: But if the bodily birth should end and I should die, whether by fire or by water, or be buried in the earth, I hope and expect eternal life, eternal joy and blessedness, that I may then be eternally blessed, even though I do not have this life, money and goods, riches or power, after which one otherwise runs and runs in the world.

So we are born again to the new being, which is not equal to this world being.

For the mother in the flesh does not serve this purpose with her womb, with her teats and milk when a child sucks; item, since the child must also have porridge and cradle, clothes and shoes, house and yard, it must also be brought up in discipline and respectability. But all these things are a result of the bodily birth, since the parents feed me. But when all this must cease, as when you lie in the grave and your good friend, father and mother, authorities and princes do not follow you, but leave you and cannot help you, all that is mighty and powerful leaves you and falls away, favor, honor, money and goods, and what else you had on earth, nothing follows you into the grave: You must have a new birth and look to another being, to which I am called through the gospel and baptism, namely, when the Holy Spirit gives birth to eternal life again and begets, nourishes and clothes me anew etc. This then is another breast, another teat, another room and another garment, by which I am nourished and brought up, that is, to eternal life, that I may be sent to the kingdom of heaven.

So the spiritual birth happens through the word of God, through baptism and faith, and we are all ready in this birth, while we still live here on earth, if we believe; and [I] have said above that the new birth or spiritual life is not felt with the five senses. There is no sword, power, gold, silver, crown, scepter or kingdom to help us to this life, but it is given through this rebirth; and it is such a life, which will be and last only after this bodily life is all over, and this fleshly birth is destroyed and flown away, and nothing is seen or felt anymore, that then the same spiritual life will be, and we will be alive again and raised from the dead.

This birth is not seen nor grasped, but only believed that what is born of the spiritual being is spiritual, and its treasure, with which it primarily deals, is forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Nevertheless, Christians still need the external being. The

Because they live here, they let themselves be fed by their father and mother, they let themselves be governed, they govern themselves, they eat and drink, they wear clothes and shoes, they have house and farm, money and goods; but they need it as guests who travel overland until they come to the city where they are going. Then they ask nothing more of the inns in which they have lain on the way, and have always thought in the same inns: Today a guest here, tomorrow 1) again on the journey etc. So a Christian also remembers: Today all here a guest on earth, here eaten and drunk, lived honorably and chastely according to the flesh and blood; but tomorrow wandered to eternal life, where we are citizens and have our citizenship in the kingdom of heaven; And so Christians pass away through father and mother, through eating and drinking, through clothing and shoes, and when they come to their end, they leave everything that is bodily, and come into a spiritual life, which will never cease, and since they no longer use the bodily life and being.

So now the Lord Christ says: You must be one of the two, either a physical man or a spiritual man. Now choose which one you want, for there is no middle ground between the two; it must be either physical or spiritual. If a man wants to be corporeal, he may think how he can create good, gentle days for himself here, eat and drink, and live according to all pleasures, for he will get nothing more after that; he will take neither money nor goods, neither power nor wealth, neither gold nor pearls with him; everything remains here with each other. You may be a Turkish emperor, but you will not be saved. But he who would rather have eternal life must think how he will have blessedness after this life, and that God is his patron, and that for the sake of the dear Lord, in whom he has been baptized and born again, he can let go of everything that is bodily if it is necessary, and need it only according to need, because he lives, and through it come into eternal life after this life, which he does not see, does not understand, does not grasp, but only believes. Who otherwise

1) Erlanger: morning.

remains in the bodily birth, he goes into the abyss of hell. For that which is born in the flesh gives things in the flesh, such as swaddling clothes, porridge, father and mother, and needs only this present life. But if you want to be saved, you must have other parents who will take you to heaven. This is done by Christ, who places you in your Christianity through baptism and the word of God in the bosom of the Christian church, as our dear mother. He obtained this through his suffering and death, so that we might live forever through his death and blood.

V. 7. Do not be surprised that I told you: You must be born again.

Now this is a hidden and unusual doctrine for reason, it cannot fit itself into it. Therefore, the good, pious man, Nicodemus, will have sat and remained silent, shaking his head in melancholy and posing strangely, as he cannot get himself into it; he has indeed thought about the matter, but he does not understand it. Since he now turns up his nose at it, as if he did not like it, and remains silent, Christ continues and says: "Why do you wonder about it for so long, dear Nicodeme? Because you have been worrying for a long time about how it should be, you will still leave it unconceived. Give yourself up and remember that you learn it from me. There is more to it than this, and yet you do not understand it, and you have to give yourself up with your beautiful dark reason and have to believe it alone. So do the same here and believe that a man must be a new creature and born again if he is to be saved, even though you do not know how it happens. So I will give you a gross and tangible example from nature.

V. 8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.

As if the Lord should say: It is a strange speech to you that I said: You must be born again. But listen, I want to tell you something great, and which everyone is well aware of. You live every moment in your

Wind, and if you did not have it, you could not live. You hear it and feel its whispering in your hand, nose and all over your body, especially when it often blows your skirt and coat over your head. Yes, everything in the world feels the wind, leaves and grass, wood and stone, the high towers and houses, yes, all animals on earth feel the wind. Yet you cannot tell me from which hole it comes if it starts a span behind you, nor can you tell me how far it goes and where it ends if it stays right in front of your nose. The eye or sight is the sharpest part of the human body, nor does it see the wind, although the wind is very harmful to the eyes. Only with the two senses, as with the ear and hand, or with feeling it is comprehended. You have nothing more from it than that you feel it with your hand and only hear its whirring with your ears, although the ear does not hear its blowing and weaving, but only its whirring when it hits the ear, and a deaf person does not hear the whirring, he only feels it in his body.

Therefore the Lord will say: Since the wind is a bodily thing by which you live and without which you cannot live, and you feel it with your whole body and hear it also with your ears, dear one, tell me where it comes from and where it blows? tell me the mother from whom the wind is born and the grave in which it is buried. Thou canst not tell me; neither canst thou believe that there is a wind, and yet knowest not how the wind is. It starts before the ear and stops at the ear, and even if it blows so hard that it knocks down houses, I do not see it, but I only hear its whirring; and because I do not feel it in my body or skin, it is not there at all, I do not know whether it is far away from me, or whether it is in front of me or behind me, or where it stays and is; And even if it tears trees out of the earth, I see neither the beginning nor the end of the wind, only that I hear its whirring, and feel it in my body with its blowing; but where it begins and ends is unconscious. You can do this,

Dear Nicodeme, do not deny, you experience this in your own body, you hear the whispering of the wind, but do not know where it comes from. Nor has anyone ever been found, even if all the people on earth were arguing about it, who could have said or taught what the wind is, where it comes from, and where it has such strength and power that it can break the strong trees in forests, overthrow the great hens, and smash and drown the mighty ships. For Aristotle disputes a lot about the origin of the wind, that it comes ex cavernis montium vel terrae, that the wind is locked in the hollow gaps of the mountains, and when it gets a little air, it 1) blows out: thus it hits it just as when the children of the pot are playing in the alley, 2) when they think that they hit at noon, they hit at midnight. It is vain jugglery, and eill Philosophus should be ashamed to have such thoughts.

But the holy scripture teaches us differently about the wind. It says Psalmo 135, 7 [Vulg.]: "God lets his winds go out of his secret treasures", which, of course, neither Aristotle nor any man has never seen where it comes from. One cannot recognize a step of it, so secretly it goes on, as they, the philosophers, would have to confess themselves, where it would not be too close to their wisdom not to know something, and it is a great folly that they pretend that the wind comes from the hollow mountains; a wise man should not speak so.

But the Lord Christ says here that the wind, in which we live without ceasing, cannot be said where it blows or from where it comes. So it does not blow as we wish or from where we desire it, so it roars and storms without your knowledge, strength, will, power and force, wherever it wants, in all places of the earth, now from morning to evening or sunset from noon to midnight. Only we feel the whirring and blowing, and must believe it badly and give ourselves captive.

1) Erlanger: wuscht.

2) i.e. blindly.

This is certainly a bodily thing, which all men feel and hear, and is subject to our five senses, and yet do not know what it is, and whence or whither it comes. Why then will we not give glory to our dear God and believe His words when He says that we are born again through baptism, and through the grave we shall enter into eternal life and be saved, since we are still sinners, when we cannot grasp or understand it with our reason, and feel nothing but the water and the sound of the Holy Spirit, that is, hear His word? For this reason the Lord also says to Nicodemo afterwards: "If you cannot understand earthly things, such as where the wind comes from and where it goes, how will you understand when I tell you about heavenly things? You must do God the honor of knowing something more than you can understand, as if the Lord were to say, "Know that I will speak many things to you, which you will not understand, nor shall you understand. Especially thou shalt not understand how they that are born again of water and of the Holy Ghost shall come into everlasting life: for such thou only must believe. You do not need to know where the wind comes from, and you are satisfied with just hearing and feeling its whirring, if you do not know what the wind is, and where it blows from or where it goes to; and it is to be greatly wondered at that such a wise and prudent man, indeed, all of us men today, should not know the origin, beginning or end of the wind, nor know it, who nevertheless draw the wind to ourselves, and must get breath from the wind and live. It is a hard speech, yes, a great shame. But, he wants to say, if you, Nicodeme, do not know this, but must let him start where he wants; why do you not also say here: I will gladly humble myself and let him teach me, yet I do not and cannot know how it is with the wind. So I will also do here: even if I cannot understand the new birth with my reason, I will believe it; and let it be the truth that we must be born again of water and the Holy Spirit.

Whether you do not understand zero, so listen here.

Thou hast here also a wind or a sound, that thou mayest hear the word of God: I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; item, thou hast also the water, which is also the wind; item, the Holy Ghost also hath his blowing. Thou shalt not understand how of the water and the Holy Ghost a man is made new, nor how he that is dead may live again: but believe it, receive it, and be satisfied in that thou hearest the sound of the water, and feelest also the sound of the water and the sound of the Holy Ghost. There is nothing in it, though thou canst not understand how thou mayest be renewed, but say, I will believe it; for I know not whence the wind cometh, and yet I know that the wind is there, because I hear it, and feel it. So I also want to believe God that through baptism a new birth begins, even though I do not understand how I can become new through it, and how I can remain and be preserved for eternal life through it; I only want to hear the word and accept the water of baptism and believe; I must believe little if I cannot understand it. It is just as true that I am born again as it is that I hear the wind. I must know that I hear and feel the wind, and yet I do not know where it comes from: so I will also believe that I am born again through water and the Holy Spirit, and the old man must die if I want to enter eternal life in any other way.

It is such a new rebirth, since one does not see the mother or midwife; no female image or male image comes to this birth: nor does it start, and so we are born anew. So I also die, and depart from this life, and am laid in coffin. But where I come and where I stay, I do not know, it is all invisible and far out of the reason and human understanding set. But the whirring and weaving of the wind is there, for I see that I die and yet shall live; but I do not see how the same life begins and ceases, and I feel, yes, experience it, that I shall thus live. So I also see that I am poured over with water in baptism, but how I was born again I do not see.

So the Lord taught him with a physical and rough example, that if he does not understand it, he should believe it, because he does not understand how it happens that one hears with the ears. No philosopher nor wise man has ever been able to say how the ear hears over two miles away when a rifle is fired, and [the sound] travels as swiftly and quickly as any bolt from a crossbow would travel.

Yes, there is still a lesser thing than the wind, which we cannot understand, which no wise man has ever understood. No man on earth has ever been able to say how the angel can see so far into the world, that if one stands on a high tower, he can overlook a ten mile stretch of land, and in an instant see the sun, which is much larger and farther than much of the world may be, and yet one does not understand how it happens. One has probably written a lot about it, but they have not understood it. No man on earth has ever been able to say how it is done, that the tongue in the mouth overthrows and babbles, and takes the voice to help, and breaks the voice, so that many people can hear and understand the speech. No one has ever been able to say what laughter is, or what weeping is, or what sleep is, or how the bread I eat today and the drink I drink tomorrow become my flesh and blood and dung, or how food is changed in the body, since it is not as hot as it is in the pot; and even if it remains in the pot for many years and boils by the fire, it does not become flesh and blood, but remains flesh: Nor in twenty-four hours shall eating and drinking in the body become delicious flesh and blood.

No one has ever been born who could have said how leaves come out of a tree, which is dead in winter, with power in spring, and through a thin stalk a large fruit comes out, beautifully colored, with a hard core inside.

Who will also tell me how it happens that from a rotten grain a stalk comes, and that on the stalk grains grow?

the? Such things are almost all that can be seen, which we do not know, and we are not at all careful here and leave ourselves unconcerned, are very well satisfied that we do not know. But what God works in particular, we want to deal with and be very clever, and deal with the shameful, so that our first parents in paradise were deceived by the devil, which still today leads us into all heresy and misfortune. Therefore we should learn from ourselves and from all creatures that we believe God and His word and accept it, even if we do not understand it. For since we do not know such bodily things, why are we so foolish and foolish, and want to dispute about baptism, what it means, or about the resurrection of the dead, or how a virgin can be a mother and bear a child, or how the Trinity is in the Godhead, and want to work it out? Is it not sin and shame? We cannot understand what is in front of our eyes and ears, but that I approach you and you hear me speak; what is it then that we search for the secret of God, if God does something higher than that which we otherwise have in our body? than how I am born again in baptism, or how there are three persons in the one Godhead, or how Christ fei in the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, for this belongs to faith alone. Truly, we should be crowned with asses, that we so foolishly siild and so soon follow when the devil brings his old quare.

Well, we cannot understand the doings in which we live. A mother cannot tell how she conceives a child, how it nourishes itself from her heart and grows from her drops of blood, nor how she gets milk in her breasts; yet she carries the child and gives birth to it. So there are many things that we understand with the five senses and yet do not understand. Should I not then do God the honor and say: O God, should I not believe you? for I myself do not know how I was created. But I will believe that you can do more than I can see or understand, yet I do not understand everything that I see, therefore I will

Do not argue much with Christ and God, nor elaborate on the mysteries that God the Father wants believed.

The Lord Christ has given us only one example here, but if we look at the whole creature, it is full of such examples. You cannot explain how a grain grows into a stalk, or how an apple, pear, or cherry grows from a tree, or how a tree is dry in winter and grows green again in summer: nor are we foolish and foolish with the quare, wanting to argue about the things that are to be believed alone. In other things than how I fall asleep or awake, how I am born or die again, it does not matter to me if I do not know or understand how it happens; why then do we ponder and investigate this in the articles of faith? Therefore, the pope, the Turk, and all the wicked devil's disciples, who want to know everything about God and believe nothing, do not want to get caught up in the things that must be believed and not seen, and yet they must do it in other bodily things, since they otherwise grasp and feel.

Therefore he says: Dear Nicodeme, don't be surprised, be content with these things, and believe it alone, how you will be born again, if you don't understand it. You have before you a rough, understandable similitude of the wind, in which you see that we understand nothing in small things, and should we burst over it. Now I am speaking here of much higher things than the whispering of the wind: therefore believe that you must be born again. Even if you do not understand, do not be surprised, believe it.

It is very annoying and burdensome that the wiser and wiser people are, the more they want to know, understand and investigate everything in God's matters, and there is no end of questions with them, and in worldly and lesser matters, they ask little or nothing at all; and where they should believe, they want to know why; and where they should be diligent, they are even careless.

Are 24. sermon [on the Gospel of John].

[Saturday, May 4, 1538. 1)

So too is anyone born of the Spirit.

This text gives two meanings in our language. The word spirit is very widely used in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, that it means the Holy Spirit, the reborn nature in the believers, item, that which has neither flesh nor blood, item, the soul, the life, the wind. But we Germans go right through with the word wind, so that we make a big difference between the words wind and spirit. For when we speak wind, we mean a strong, restless, weaving air, by which the trees, water and everything is moved. This is clearly spoken and no one understands anything else. But when we speak of the word spirit, we mean something that can neither be felt nor comprehended with the five senses, which is not a bodily thing, as there is God, or an angel, or the soul of man, so that one says: He gave up his spirit, that is, he died. In other languages it is not so. For the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages do not have two different words, but call it all spirit, both spirit and wind, just as with us Germans the word Lord is a very broad word. We call everything Lord, from God the Creator down to the king, sovereign, item, landlord or father in the crowd. Now one must be careful where the word Lord is called God, or where it is called a man; and yet in the Hebrew language there is much another word when one calls God a Lord, and when one calls a man a Lord. And as with us Germans the word Lord has a broad meaning, it means God and also the creature: so with them is the word Spirit; and because it means all kinds of things, it may be noticed if the word Spirit means the wind or the breath that is blown when one speaks, or if it means the Holy Spirit.

1) In the original margin: "den 4. Tag Maji 1538."

Spirit means. Yours: some go to and German these two little words: Spiritus spirat, thus: The spirit blows, so that spiritus allhie means to them the Holy Spirit. But we have given it thus: The wind blows. We do not want to quarrel about the words, only that we do not deviate from the right opinion and understanding of these words. For grammatica is to be a servant, not a judge, in the holy Scriptures.

But since we have here translated the word spirit as wind, this is the reason that the Lord says: "You hear its sound", item, that the Lord says: "So is every one that is begotten of the spirit". For here he uses the similitude of the wind, that he might tell Nicodemus by a gross example how it is with the other and spiritual birth, that as it is with the wind, so it is with the spirit; even as this is, so is this. Therefore it is fitting that the first part should be understood in terms of the wind. In this we remain, although it is neither error nor heresy, if one also follows the other understanding, that some interpret the word Spiritus for the Holy Spirit, and compare in these words not the wind and spiritual birth with each other, but the Holy Spirit Himself with those who are born of Him, that as He is, so are those who are born of Him. No one sees him, no one grasps him, I don't know where he comes from, I don't know where he goes: so I don't see a Christian either, I can't say myself: This hour or in this place I will become a Christian. In sum, it does not see itself, it does not time itself, it does not place itself, it does not grasp itself, it does not feel itself, it does not clothe itself, it does not stand in this or that, what one sees and feels, it is nothing.

Yes, then what is it to me if it is nothing? Yes, it is nothing, if you ask your five senses about it, and consult your reason and your wisdom. But you have to put your senses and your reason aside and think that it is something else that makes a Christian, of which you hear nothing more than the whispering and hissing. If you hear the voice, follow it and believe it, and you will be born again. As in the baptism, there I hear nothing more than the sow-

sen: I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. What is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Yes, if you ask your reason, it is nothing; it sees nothing but water, and even thinks it is bad water. But if I am to be saved, it must not be something that reason can reckon and measure, which comprehends and understands nothing but bodily things; it must be something that is not bodily but spiritual. For my soul is spirit, which cannot be helped by anything physical. So also in the sacrament of the altar I see nothing but bread and wine; there I see neither flesh nor blood: nevertheless flesh and blood are there, but I have nothing more of them/ than the mere sound, a voice of the Holy Spirit, which speaks that it is flesh and blood. If I now keep to the sansen, good for me; if not, then the damage is mine.

Although the other opinion is also true, that that of the natural wind, which we hear and see, is also that it rushes around a pillar, item, when it blows into the trees or comes under and into the water, then one hears it whizzing. But no one has yet been found who could tell where the wind began to blow or where it stopped, nor say anything about the two sides of the wind, how wide, how thin, how long or short it blows, that is unknown to the whole world. It can be heard, but if someone gropes for it, it cannot be found. So, says Christas, it is with the wind. You do not have to think that it blows from the beginning of the sun to the end, from the beginning to the end of the world. It does not blow according to the wind; it blows for the city and then stops, or for half the city, or for one house, and is not heard in other parts of the streets.

The philosophers were very concerned about the wind and pretended that it came from the hollow holes in the earth when they opened up, so that then the wind blew. But there is nothing to it; we are not to know how short or long it blows, only that we feel its whirring; it can only be heard and not measured, how low or high. This understanding is good and right.

But if one wanted to use the other understanding, then we say that the Holy Spirit is called figuratively here wind. For the Holy Spirit is here pictured like the wind, for one hears him blowing, but one does not know where he comes from or where he goes. For we have heard above that we must be born of the Holy Spirit.

But how? We only hear the preaching, namely that whoever believes and is baptized is blessed, item, the Holy Spirit punishes us for sin, but also comforts us. When I receive zero absolution and get comfort from my brother, that is what I hear, that is the Holy Spirit's voice, his whistling and whistling. But how a man comes to this, how it begins or happens, is not known; nor can it be understood that he who is baptized shall be saved, and he who is absolved from sins shall attain eternal life. For this is not in the power of reason and our nature, nor is it found in it, that a man should believe in Christ; it has never entered into any man's heart. So when we die, we do not know where we are, for it is the work of the Holy Spirit and not of man. Since we cannot tell how the wind of the flesh blows, where it begins and where it ends, since we feel the wind in our bodies, how can we understand where the Holy Spirit's nest and dwelling place are?

What then do all other doctrines than those of the Turk, the Jew, the pope and the monks, who have created very foolish and unrighteous doctrines with their orders and brotherhoods, as if it were in their arbitrariness, devotion and pleasure to obtain forgiveness of sins and to be born again? For these all teach us such a way to blessedness, 1) which I know and understand where it comes from and how it is done. I can well say: I want to put on a cap, because I see where the cap comes from, namely, from human arbitrariness and thoughts, item, that the cap comes from the tailor, the cloth is made by the weaver and the wool is taken from the sheep. I understand that very well. So I understand all their

1) Erlanger: learn.

Glory, which is nothing but vain things of the flesh, which are in food and drink, in raiment, and the like.

But I do not understand that I should believe in Christ, item, that I am baptized, then I will be saved, die also on such faith in Christ, and Peter and Paul suffer all kinds of tribulation and adversity for the sake of the Christian name. Where this comes from, no one knows, there is a spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is given to us, and His gifts are given to us in such a way that we do not know how to receive them; no one can determine the time, place or person how and when one will be converted to God. The Holy Spirit with his gifts is not given by human will, and if this came from reason, the pagan master Aristotle, our papists and monks could also have invented it and judged it. For we have diligently sought it in the papacy, prayed much and chastened ourselves with fasting, and still have not found it, and one has run into a church, who has become a priest, another a monk and nun, until God comes and gives it without our caps or good works, or without such our seeking.

Whoever is converted to the faith, then, cannot say otherwise than that the Holy Spirit comes when he wants, and to what place he wants, and to what person he wants, also at what time it pleases him. He comes when and where he wants, and also gives one gifts as much as he wants. In the papacy, one does not yet hear anything about the gospel, and even if they hear it, they do not understand it. But now we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, but the human faculty has not given it.

So then every man that is converted is like unto the Holy Ghost. To whomsoever this grammatica pleaseth, let him keep it; and to whomsoever it pleaseth not, let him keep the other understanding: The wind bloweth where it will; so also is every one that is born of the Spirit. But this is the opinion that the Christian life does not stand in the things that are understood by reason, for a Christian is and lives from beginning to end from the Holy Spirit alone, not from the

Reason, nor from good works, but only from what God and the Holy Spirit will. Reason does not teach that I should be baptized and that I should believe, but the Holy Spirit does. Therefore, my life must be in the Holy Spirit, who blows where he wills.

Therefore, it should not be said here, "I will do and begin this and that. My works, which I do, as putting on a cap and girding a rope around myself, are well within my lifting, will and reason. I can do what I want, how much I want and how big I want, because all works that are conceived by my own efforts are such that one knows when such works begin or end.

The 26th sermon [on the Gospel of John].

Saturday after Jubilate [the 18th of May, 1538. 1)

The Lord Christ told the good man Nicodemo that no one would see the kingdom of heaven if he remained in the old birth, for heaven is closed to all who are born of men. But if they are to enter, they must be born again of the Holy! Spirit through water, and not through the flesh. Otherwise there is no path, road or way to the kingdom of heaven except through water and the Holy Spirit, by which we must be born again. . And hath presented unto him a likeness of the wind, which bloweth whithersoever it listeth, and the sound thereof is heard etc., but it is not known whence it cometh, or whither it bloweth. So also be a man born again; he cannot be known otherwise than as the wind by the sound thereof, though it whisper, that is, speaketh and acteth of the divine word, of baptism, of the supper of the body and blood of Christ, item, of the power of the keys or absolution, which are visible things and signs. These things alone we hear, the sound is heard, but we do not know where it comes from. To this Nicodemus replies:

V. 9. 10. How can this happen? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?

1) In the original in the margin. But there it is erroneously "24th sermon".

Nicodemus does not understand how man is to be born again through water and the Holy Spirit, for he is always stuck with his thoughts in the bodily birth, even though he has many examples of the new birth in the holy Scriptures, 1) so that he should have understood it. Therefore also the Lord answers him, when he asks, "How can this be?" and says, "Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not this?" You do not understand, how can you believe it? If you are a doctor in Israel, since Israel should learn from you, what do you teach other people if you do not know it yourself? It behooves a doctor to know and teach these things, especially if he wants to be a teacher in Israel. Therefore the Lord continues, saying:

V. 11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and testify that which we have seen; and ye receive not our testimony.

As if he should say: Do not think, Nicodeme, that you can understand this thing; you must remain alone with the whirring and with the wind, that is, with the word. One does not know the whispering of the wind, where it begins or where it stops.

And the Lord tells us what the sound is, namely, the bodily word that is heard, the testimony or the speeches that the preachers give, that is, the preaching of the divine word. For in all Christianity we have nothing higher or greater than the Word. The whispering of the wind is heard, and the holy scripture holds the word before us everywhere, but in baptism the word is the main part, because one hears the word and feels the water, and without the word baptism is nothing. For what can water do without the Word of God? So also in the Lord's Supper, the bread and the wine are nothing without the Word. For there bread would remain bread for and for, also wine would remain wine. But when the word is grasped by the sacrament of baptism and the Lord's Supper, it is felt as one feels the blowing of the wind. For when the word is heard, we feel the sound of the word before our ears.

1) Erlanger: hab.

That is how far God reveals Himself, and we should not believe otherwise. We alone must believe and know that it is true as we teach; we cannot know and see it, just as we cannot know where the wind comes from. I cannot see nor feel how I would be delivered from death and sins, for even the saints of God have much sin in them, and as other people feel temptation bodily and spiritually against both tables of Moses, but especially in the first table, as there is impatience against God, item, that they have much dispute about His works and judgments: this the Christians feel just as well as other people. But it is forbidden, I shall not see it, feel it, know it, nor recognize it, but only hear it, and hang on to it with faith, and stand on the mere word of God.

And deal with us in the same way as with one who has a dizziness in his head: if he is to climb a high tower or cross a bridge under which deep water flows, he must be blinded badly, led by the eye and have a cloak hung around his head, lead him and carry him; otherwise he will fall from the tower and break his neck, or fall into the water and drown. Therefore, if we want to be saved, we must also follow our leader; then we will be safe. We must also close our eyes badly here and follow the guide, the divine word, and say: I will be wrapped in swaddling clothes and have a cloak put around my head, and I will be led to that which I believe and do not see, and I will live and die on it. We will not feel otherwise if we are torn about it right away.

Many people were concerned about this and wanted to know where our home or inn was, where we would go when we died, and many great people were unsure that they did not know, and therefore they made the proverb:

I live and don't know how long, I die and don't know when, I go and don't know where, It's a wonder I'm happy.

And it is true that an unchristian cannot know it at all; but a Christian must know it differently.

He has a faithful guide. He has a faithful guide, he also follows his leader and guide, Christ, who says what one should do, says: "Listen to what we say, because we know what we say, our speeches are the truth, trust me, hand yourself over and put yourself in my cloak, which I have wrapped around your head, I will carry you over. If thou do these things, thou shalt not be deceived by him. But thou sayest, I know not whither I go, I feel nothing, I grope not, neither do I take hold of anything. This is true, but you must rely on God's word and trust God, who will preserve you; if not, you will fall from the tower, break your neck, or shoot out of the ship and drown. But there seems to be nothing there; you do not know where the ladder or the step is, or the rope on which the ladder hangs; you cannot see a way that goes to heaven. But in Christ alone the way to heaven is presented to us, which is held out to us by the divine word; otherwise you will rise into the air and fall.

Therefore Christ says: My dear Nicodeme, you alone must believe and follow where the word will lead you, you must let the whispering of the wind be commanded to you, and hear what we speak and testify, for we speak the truth, and what we have seen we testify. So now we are born again and made blessed, and not otherwise.

Now this is the difference between Christians and pagans, that an ungodly and pagan goes like a cow, sees, judges and judges everything according to the old birth, as he feels and grasps. But a Christian does not follow what he sees, but follows what he does not see or feel, and remains with the testimony of Christ, hears what Christ says, and follows it into darkness. So we are in sackcloth and wrapped in his mantle, and then he leads us to where he himself is, and in Christ we ascend to heaven, who makes us blessed.

We teach this doctrine daily, that the life of the Christian is a life of faith. But the devil hinders it in all places, so that the world asks nothing at all about it, and many people have their laughter from it, as,

The pope, cardinals, bishops and their other vermin, like the peasants and the nobility, become Epicureans. Others the devil wants to exalt too high, so that when they begin to believe, they are led to jump from the faith and fall on things that are not written in God's word, disputing with God why he does not draw the whole world to believe and be saved, and speculating about God's miracles, how he rules the world, and about God's judgments. But let a man be wise in all these things, and cast out the devil, and say, I will abide in the wind, as it is said here, that is, in faith. If I stay with the wind, then I am at ease, I am sure and certain of my things; what is not revealed by God in His word, that I do not want to know, but I will command it to the angels.

What I see and hear, that [seeing and hearing] even a cow can do to me and does not help me, it is the old birth.... But the other, as how God's judgment, sentence and rule is, that is not revealed to me. Here on earth I have too little, there too much. Nicodemus is also concerned about the things of the world that belong to this life, and about other things that are strictly contrary to God's ten commandments, such as the seductive nature of Anna and Caiphas. Others want to be too clever and know too much. But we are to walk in righteousness, not straying too much to the right or to the left, not seeking the wisdom of angels, but keeping to the highway of the word. If I then stay with that which is revealed to me through the sound (for I should not throw away everything on the left hand), then I cannot err. Otherwise, what I am not commanded to know, that I command to God, Christ will not deceive me; it is not for me to climb, and to step out of the way, lest I break my neck.

So those want to come higher than faith. But stay on the right path, on the paved road, from which one must turn neither to the left nor to the right, that is, do nothing of one's own free will, choice, or

1) Erlanger: schlechts and rechts.

Devotion. I do not want to speculate too sharply into the sun, for it seems too bright and sharp to me; but I want to hang a cloth in front of it and only hear the whirring. If you do this, you will know everything, have everything, even what you need physically, and will also have life without any worries here and there. Then I will see why he gives me faith and enlightens me and others do not; item, that God will also transfigure this body of mine, and when I have only once walked this road to heaven, then I can ask nothing of the scoffers who want to be too high.

Paul 2 Corinthians 12 says that he was raptured in the third heaven, and there he saw that a man, even he himself, could not speak out. But here with us it is not said in this way, but it has been decided in heaven that no other way is prescribed for us men, by which we may pass from death to life, except the testimony of God, that is, the divine word, the blowing of the wind. We should follow the word, testimony, or this sermon, and even command it, because in the sermon of the divine word he lets himself be heard. Consider this with all your heart, as 1 Peter 1 says. So when you are wrapped up in him, let yourself be dragged along and command him; now let him take you to heaven or lead you to hell, there is no harm in it, for God is with you, it can do you no harm.

But the devil hinders and prevents all this, so that we should not understand it; and when we come to know these things, he leaves us unwillingly in them, and sends us spiritual and bodily temptations, bodily ones, as avarice, fornication, and pleasure, etc., spiritual ones, so that everything seems small to us, and we immediately consider the words of God as nothing, which are spoken to us in baptism, in the Lord's Supper, and in absolution. But is it not a miserable bargain when one hears: I baptize you, item: He who believes and is baptized, item: I absolve you, and that Christ gives us his body and blood in the Lord's Supper, that it should all be a small thing? For this reason, the clever and the riffraff take offense at it and despise it, just as the preaching of the gospel is always rejected for its own sake.

that the persons who preach the gospel are few. The same clever ones think, "Yes, God ought to present us with something greater," and they also despise baptism as a bad thing, but they praise and speak much of the Spirit.

But we are to know that God is doing his work and accomplishing great things through this small form of the word and the sacraments, for he is true. He who testifies here cannot deceive, for he is not a man who can lie. Neither does a man baptize and preach, but God. If then he says, "I will save you through the word," you should believe it, for God graciously deals with us in this way, holding out his word and sacrament to us. And God could pull a great whale out of the sea with one hair, which we could not accomplish with many thousands of ropes. Therefore, we should consider who and how great is the person who acts with us in the Sacrament or speaks with us through the ministry of preaching. He created heaven and earth in six days; what hands did he have to do it? certainly not my fingers.

For this reason we are to keep his voice, testimony and words glorious. For this very reason, God deals with us in this way, and presents it to us in such a simple way, so that we can cling to it, tolerate it and suffer it. For if he came in his person and majesty to deal with us, we would be lost, if he gave such a strong word that reached from heaven to earth, and was as powerful as on Mount Sinai, when he spoke with trumpets and thunderclaps, and the whole mountain burned and smoked, and was a great clap of thunder, as Exodus 19 and 20 are written. and 20. is written, no one would believe it, no one would be able to hear the speech, as it happened at that time, because it was too great and too terrifying: therefore they would not come to God, but asked Moses to speak to them 1) so that they would not all die. Then Moses also said to them: You have said right; and said further that God would give an external prophet.

1) "them" in the original, which is correct according to Ex. 20, 19. The Erlanger has changed this to "him".

to whom they should cling, that is, to Christ, let him put his words in his mouth, let him speak kindly to us. But what happens at Mount Sinai? There we could not bear God's language and complained that we would die if we heard God speak to us. Therefore, Christ was to make what he spoke and testified so small and so gentle that we might well cling to it and believe.

That was too terrifying when God came in His majesty, but now that He has come in a small form, we do not want it either; therefore, we do not want to suffer that, as the preaching of the law, for the sake of its splendor and glory, and this we despise as a small thing, since there is not much in it.

Therefore, we may look on and hold it in high esteem, also thanking God that we now have His knowledge so abundantly. But the Lord says to Nicodemo: Though many things be said unto you, yet ask ye nothing of them, but have them as ye understand them, and as seemeth you good; and believe me not. A barefoot monk or a Carthusian asks nothing about the whispering of the wind, but paints and imagines God as if he were sitting in heaven and looking only at his stinking cap. He cannot stand the high divine majesty to deal with us humans through his word. Again, God cannot tolerate that he should approve and accept everyone's dreams, and thus be their fool. We would also not like to have such a God who would accept the ways of every fool of a stick.

Therefore he says: I will be your God. I spoke to you in a terrible way on Mount Sinai, but you could not bear it. Now I will send you a prophet, that is, my Son, who will be a man and speak to you through human speech and words. You shall hear his testimony and his words, Nicodeme; if not, go. Do you not know this, and are you a master and doctor in Israel? Have you never read what Moses did in Egypt, Exodi chapter 4, 2? When he read the

1) Erlanger: red.

2) Erlanger: "3."; in the marginal gloss correctly: "Exod. 4."

Moses said, "O Lord, send whom you will, but do not send me, for I cannot do it. Who am I to go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt? I could not lead a sheep out, nor take a step. O God said, I will be with you. Moses had to listen to this word and believe in it, he had to follow the word and carry out the children of Israel; and God was a little angry and said: "Let Aaron, your brother, speak to the king for you, so that he will let the people go. Moses might have said, "The king is too powerful, shall I go into his court and hall? The land is his and all is fenced; and I see no way nor path how I may bring the people out of the land. Moses had such thoughts and became a fool. But he followed the blowing of the wind, the testimony and word of God, which said: "Go, I will find the way, and find a way where not a mosquito could get out. How did God help him? When many signs would not help, God put to death all the firstborn of men and cattle in Egypt. Then he himself made a way for Pharaoh to drive out the people of Israel himself, so that the whole land was open on all sides, and he asked them to go out, and he opened the doors and the windows, and they were glad to be rid of them.

Item, when they Exodi came in the 14th chapter in the departure from Egypt to the red sea, and on the sides were high mountains, where not well a bird could have flown over, and the Egyptians were behind them with their war power, and they were thus surrounded in the narrowness, because on the sides were the high mountains, rocks and stone cliffs, but in front the sea: there they could not escape. Therefore women and children cried out as they stood before the sea: O, were there not graves in Egypt, that we should die there? and they despaired. Behold now, Moses, thou hast brought us forth, and brought us into the sweat-bath. But why did they speak thus? O, they were still in the first birth. Moses cried out to the Lord, and did not his heart beat and tremble a little?

God was angry with him and said, "Why are you crying out? Yes, he seeks the way where he may deliver the people out of the hands of the enemy, for they were in the midst of death. It was said here: Where now? We cannot go over the mountains, we cannot go into the hands of the enemy. But what happens? Moses was pleased with the sound of the wind, and God said, "Take your staff and strike the sea. And there was a wide way, as it might have been from Wittenberg to Kemberg, or a little farther, through the midst of the Red Sea, that the children of Israel passed through at leisure, with six times an hundred thousand armed men, without any other thing: and the waters were as mountains on either side.

The whole of Scripture is full of such examples, as they are cited in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the saints of God have done great deeds and overcome kingdoms through faith. So we must also still cling to the word of God by faith. Moses has only one word here, which God spoke: "Strike the sea with the rod; there must be a dry way through the sea quickly. Otherwise, a hundred thousand ships would not have plowed the sea, so he can do it with just one word.

This is what you, dear Nicodeme, as a teacher of the holy Scriptures, should ever know. For the whole Psalter and all the prophets say that God is wonderful and that God's ways are unknowable, which cannot be easily searched out; and in Psalm [77:20] it is said: His way is in deep waters, and yet His footsteps are not known. Therefore you should not say, "How can this happen? How is it possible? but cling straight to the word of God, and do not argue according to reason or old birth, whether it is possible or not; but say thus: Lord, you have said it, yes, I believe in your testimonies, 2) I will follow your word; whether into the sea or through the sea, into heaven or into hell, so I will cross over, if I follow the sow.

1) Erlanger: him.

2) Erlanger: Zeugnuss.

or blowing of the wind, that is, the divine word.

Moses might well have thought: "That God should strike me with a stick into the sea will be far too small. For what is a stick compared to the whole wide, deep and broad sea? But Moses must not understand how it is possible, but his eyes shall be blinded. Therefore God says: Strike ius water. Moses might have said, "O Lord, it is a rod, not a spoon or a ship; how shall the sea be dry, that we may have a ford through it? Nor shall the sea be divided from the rod on either side, and stand as a wall. Then Moses thought, "I would not have provided a way through, but as he thinks, so it will happen to him. There was a way through it, not a footpath, but a great, wide way, that the water, stretched out as walls, went back on both sides and stood farther apart than between Wittenberg and Kemberg. The staff and Mosi's work truly did not do it, but the word of God made his heart and mind different when it was said to him: Strike into the water. Immediately the work followed. He also believed the testimony and was born again; he only believed the word, which he neither knew nor understood how it would work.

Thus says the Lord: "Because you are a master in Israel, you should know this; read in the Psalms and in the prophet Isaiah, and you will find many examples that everything is done through the word, and when God gives the word and it is accepted, everything is preserved through it. For believers must think and do differently than our old birth knows and understands; it is a different thing and work, it is not a thing of reason, but of faith. Therefore we must also know that the Christian's life or new birth is not in outward things, as we may understand, but in faith and in the word of God, in speaking and witnessing. Because you do not yet believe, you are not saved again.

3) Erlanger: Fort.

born. But if you believe the word, ask not whether your head should be cut off, or whether you should be burned, or whether you should die of pestilence, or whether you should be driven into misery and made a beggar. But believe your word, and ask not, How is it possible that I should live? but believe the word and testimony of God, and it shall be done. But if you grope, nothing will come of it.

We see in the holy scriptures how the prophets and patriarchs always had to do this, and follow the word, and believe and do that which seemed impossible to reason. Otherwise they remained behind after the old birth, but they had to follow the new birth. There are many examples of this in the Holy Scriptures, which you, Nicodeme, should know. The devil and sin are strong and powerful, what should you do? Listen to the Spirit who is rushing, and be baptized and believe, and then let me command you. For I will open a new sea, wherein all men shall be cleansed, and washed, and bathed, and born again. Then say not, Water and word is a bad thing or worth nothing, but say, I will accept the word, the sound, and dare to come into death or into life. Then you will see how you are brought out of Egypt, and how Pharaoh and his whole army are drowned in the sea. Then everything will be easier, you will be happy and in good spirits, and you will pass through the Red Sea. Though the children of Israel passed through with great fear, yet all was well afterward, as it is in the bodily birth. Then ask the mother of the womb what pain, anguish and agony there was. But the suffering is soon turned into great joy when the child is born. It is the same with the old Adam. When he dies, and he is to be muffled and killed, and go along in faith; when he is to suffer fire, pestilence, war and other hardships: this then pains the old Adam, it hurts. But hold on there and do only one pressure, then you are recovered and come into the kingdom of God. Mau must suffer something and endure well in the cross.

This is what we preach daily, so that God's word is held in high esteem, which is said to have been greatly despised in the papacy. For this was neither taught nor understood in the papacy; there was great contempt for the divine word, and the devil would still like to tear away the word of God today. If that is also gone, then the devil can suffer that you only do everything you want, and makes you wear caps and plates. But if the word and faith stand, then the sea and Jordan must begin to move; and if there had been mountains in the sea on either side, they would have become as soft as feathers of fluff, and would have receded, as Christ says [Matt. 17:20], If ye have faith, ye may say unto the mountain, Take thee up, and cast thee into the sea, and it shall be done.

So also follow the divine word, as the children of Israel did when they came out of Egypt. For Christ still says to us, "The sea shall become a paradise for you," Isaiah 64; and he breaks the way for us, so that we may come to it, saying, "Arise, come to me, and I will wrap you in my mantle and carry you over, and bring you through the red sea from the shore fresh and healthy, and help you out of this life into eternal life. We do not see it, but he knows it, and then we see that the rushing has not been in vain, but God the Almighty's voice and word, in which if we let ourselves be taken, we will never be lost.

The 26th sermon [on the Gospel of John].

[Sunday] May 19, 1538. 1)

So we have heard how the Lord Jesus in the words to Nicodemum wants to bind us badly to the testimony or word of God, so that we should not learn, know, see, hear or accept anything in matters of salvation, except what God has spoken. We are to abide by His word, and neither

1) In the manuscript: "Marin", which cannot be correct after the time determination of the preceding and the following sermon. - It should be called "Maji".

make better, nor follow something else 1). For whoever wants to be blessed without the word, or whoever wants to make it better, will be lacking. One does not have to give way, neither to the right nor to the left side.

For the devil deceives people in two ways. On the one hand, he draws them to the left side, so that they believe nothing; on the other hand, he draws them to the right side, which he plagues with holiness and human wisdom, so that they ever believe something, but always want to do better and go higher than God has done, as the heretics have always done.

So the devil also deceived our first parents, Adam and Eve, in paradise. For the serpent wanted to make them wiser, since they were wise enough 2) if they had remained in the same wisdom. But since they wanted to go higher and know what was due to God alone, as the serpent said, "You will be like God," the devil led them with the shameful quare (as if they should eat from all the trees in the garden and not also from the forbidden tree) into sin, death and all the misery in which we are all still stuck, and fell from divine wisdom and followed the devil, who brought us into hell and eternal damnation.

So the heretic Arius also disputed, saying: "It is impossible that God should become man, and how should it happen that what is born of Mary should be the Son of God, that a man should also be God? That would be too close to the divine majesty's honor, that the divinity and humanity should be in the person of Christ. Item, one disputes also, how it is possible that one God is, but nevertheless in the Godhead three different persons. There is a similar dispute about baptism, how a drop of water can wash away sin, and in the Lord's Supper a piece of bread can be the body of Christ. There is also the dispute about eternal providence and how God governs the world, how he lets the Turk and the Pope rage and rage against his vineyard,

1) Erlanger: Anders.

2) full -enough.

the Christian church: all this is done by the little word Quare. This is all great cleverness, which the devil puts before us, to deceive us with it and to lead us away from what God has commanded us to know, to something else, which God alone has reserved for him.

But we cannot go any further here in this text, but let it suffice us that we know from this saying that we should not despise God's word with the great multitude who deviate to the left, nor be too wise with those who go too far to the right; but only ask and search for what God has revealed to us in His word, in baptism and in the Lord's Supper, and has commanded us to know. This pleases Him more than that you should be baptized and believe in Christ, receive the Lord's Supper, be subject to the worldly authorities, be obedient to your father and mother, and whatever else God has commanded and appointed you to do. In this he has revealed to us more than we can do and accomplish. But how else it is that the Trinity is one God, you are not to know, but believe it; item, how God rules the world, that also command him, and follow his word in this. If you needed to know something more, he would have revealed it to us.

This is what the Lord Christ says here [v. 11]: "We speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. That is, our testimony and teaching is certainly true, but what does it help? For either you do not accept it and thus go out to the left side, or you want to go too high and master it and overclock it. But nothing else 3) comes of it, where one does not keep to the voice and preaching, or to the whispering, then all is lost, as Isaiah is also told in the 7th chapter: "If you will not be quiet and believe, then you will perish." What is it then that we torture ourselves to death, and want to investigate God's nature, and want to know what we are not supposed to know? We do not do much differently than the sick, who

3) Erlanger: not different.

want to get well and yet do not want to follow the doctor, nor use his medicine, but despise the doctor and the pharmacies and say: Well, if I am to get well, it will do me no harm, though I eat and drink all that my parents give me, even if the physician has forbidden it. 1)

But we have not time to speak further of this matter; and the Lord continues, saying, Ye will not believe our testimony, saying:

V. 12. If ye believe not, when I tell you of earthly things, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

Although these words may be interpreted more widely, and have many a meaning, let us interpret them more briefly and make them simple.

We have said above about the wind that no one can know or recognize where it begins and comes from, or where it goes. So no one knows how a man is conceived and born in the womb, how he grows and becomes great, also how the food, as, eating and drinking, is transformed into flesh and blood in one day and night and is also made into dung again. The philosophers have discussed a lot about how it should be with the food of man, but they could not manage it. For they have seen that bread and wine are not flesh and blood; item, that flesh is not blood, and wine and bread would never become flesh and blood if it remained outside of man. But when it is eaten and boiled in the stomach, it becomes flesh and blood in four and twenty hours. Thus much has been written about how a child is born, nourished, and often has only water to drink and dry bread to eat, and yet becomes fleshy, pretty and beautiful.

These are all earthly things, which we see, as how the women get pregnant with the children; but how it is done, we cannot know. Since you do not understand such earthly things, why do you bother to find out how three persons are connected?

1) Erlanger: hab.

A God are, item, as a virgin can be a mother, and you want to grasp this with your reason? Just as the sacramentans also want to know how bread can be the body of Christ: if you do not know how you fall asleep and wake up, we live in these things and deal with them daily, and still want to know what is far above and beyond our understanding, and is too high for us; but let the works of our Lord God go and remain as they are, and keep to the sound.

Therefore we should follow what the Lord has said, that we must be born again, as we see and experience that some people are so changed and become different people that they are almost no longer known to have been the same people, as can be seen in Abraham, Isaac, David, Samson and Gideon. These became different people through faith and the word of God; as Gideon, who slew a hundred thousand men and did not draw a sword, only had his own carry a burning torch and a jar in their hands and crush them and blow the trumpets. He did not do this from his first birth, but because he was born again. So Abraham also became another man, chasing four mighty kings with three hundred servants. This was not the son of Tara, but another man; for Abraham was the son of God, and had the word of God, and believed it.

Know thou therefore, that if thou believest not that the old birth doeth nothing; as thou canst not understand the things which are done in the world, and of which we have so many examples in the holy scriptures: how then shall we understand when they preach of heavenly things, that is, of the holy trinity? Item, how Christ would rise from the dead on the third day, and how he should sit at the right hand of God? or of other higher articles of the Christian faith? as he will then begin to preach. For if you, Nicodeme, do not believe this, the Lord will tell you what is written in your books, and that you have examples, such as Samsonis, Gideonis, Abrahaeus and other great people who became other people through faith (for whoever does not believe in the faith of God).

is now so strong as to tear a man's mouth open, but Samson and David, who were born of the Spirit, could do it), then Christ will say, If thou canst not understand how thou must become another man, what should 1) thou understand when I tell thee that I am the Son of God? as he then says to Nicodemo, No man goeth up to heaven, but he that descendeth from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven. This is almost the text that is written in the 6th chapter of John: "If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. There the Lord speaks of spiritual eating and drinking, not as the mouth of man eats, but as the soul eats. Then the body is the food of the soul, and the blood of Christ, shed for us, is the drink of the soul. How this comes about, I do not know. But faith accepts it, and eats of it, and grows fat and fat, and grows strong unto eternal life.

They also murmur in the same place, and go astray, and dispute much, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? And when they were thus offended, Jesus answered, "Does this offend you so much? How then, when the Son of Man shall raise you from the dead at the last day? He speaks of a different and higher article than eating and drinking, as if to say, "You do not understand that I speak of the food of faith and of the heart, for my body and blood remain whole. Therefore it seems to you to be a hard speech, since you know what eating and drinking is. But this eating and drinking is something different than the earthly, which can be partly felt and seen. If you cannot grasp this, what would you do if it were said to you that he who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and descended to hell would again ascend to heaven and sit at the right hand of his heavenly Father, just as he was before? This would seem much higher and heavier to you.

So the Lord also tells them here about heavenly things, how he is truly God and man, and about other greater things.

1) Erlanger: shall.

ticle. But Nicodemus could not understand how he should become a different man; he only understands that he should be born again from his mother, cannot understand that he should give leave to his reason and accept faith. If one does not want to understand this, how should one understand that God's Son has become man and is going to heaven again? That would be much more licentious 2) speaking: You will not go to heaven, but hear the word of God and believe in the Son of God, who came from heaven, was crucified, died and was buried, and is going up to heaven again. But at first reason becomes mad and foolish about the fact that Christ came from heaven and ascended again. What shall it be then, if you hear that I have suffered, died, been crucified, risen from the dead, that I have come from heaven, and yet have always remained in heaven, and am still a Lord in heaven and on earth? If you do not believe this at the beginning, and are not baptized to become new men, how can you believe that three persons are One God, and that the middle person became man?

I remain with the simple sentence that he says so much here, we must remain with the word that is, in the whispering of the wind. What else does this same wind blow but that we must be born again through the Word and baptism? But on the day of Pentecost there is a mighty sound, and it blows and blows something else, although it is also the former wind, namely, that Christ is Lord over all creatures, Creator of heaven and earth, sitting at the right hand of His Father, and is Lord over the angels and over the heavenly and earthly creatures, even over those who are in hell, and is over all authority on earth; And this is not only a testimony, but a higher and more heavenly article than this, which we have of baptism. There is something higher above it, which goes beyond the word. 3) But we want to speak of higher

2) dissolute - light.

3) That goes beyond the word - that cannot be expressed in words.

Do not talk about things, but remain in the bad simple things. S. Paul ascended higher and was raptured into the third heaven, whereof we ought not to teach others. For we have only two heavens, one which we see with our eyes hovering over us, and then the other, of which the eighth Psalm says, "I will see the heavens, the work of your fingers," etc., namely, the kingdom of heaven, as Christ in the New Testament calls his word and kingdom the kingdom of heaven, where the word of God and the gospel are preached and taught; and in this kingdom we hear that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved and enter the kingdom. After that we will also enter the third heaven, when we will rise from the dead, of which S. Paul says that he has seen wonderful things. Paul says that he has seen wonderful things, which do not belong to preach.

Elijah and Moses also appeared to Christ on Mount Thabor, when the sky became bright and clear. But I am told only of the other heaven, where Christ sits at the right hand of his Father, and where it is preached, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But if we also rise from the dead on the last day, then we will also see these words, which no one else has seen except S. Paul, Moses and Elijah.

And Christ wants to capture reason with it, so that one follows the whispering of the wind alone. For one is not saved by reason; one must become a spiritual man and believe. And I think that the Jews could be persuaded to believe that one must be born again and become a different person. But if one said that Christ is God, and in the Godhead there are three persons, and the Virgin Mary did not get milk naturally, but milk from heaven: they cannot stand that, they are repulsed by it, because it is too high for them. But who does not want to believe the lesser, how should he believe the greater?

So let us leave it at this interpretation. The Jews were like this because they did not want to believe Christ while he was still on earth; much less will they believe him now that he is in heaven.

governs. Therefore, it only makes the Nicodemum more foolish.

Now the Lord goes on and interprets what it is to speak of heavenly things, and says:

V. 13. No one goes up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

After this, Christ will explain and interpret Himself more fully, saying: "As Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness" etc. This will become another article, he will say, which will be higher than that, that you cannot be saved by flesh and blood or by your reason. The old birth does not do it, so it does not help that Abraham is your father; and says: No one goes to heaven (says: No one), but only the one man who has come down.

With this he makes poor Nicodemum more and more incomprehensible and foolish. For he would like to say here: What does it help that I am born again of water and the Spirit, if no one goes to heaven but he who descends? Truly, I will not go up even if I am born again, because I have never been to heaven.

That's where it comes to a head. We have never come from heaven. He who has not been to heaven does not enter it. But how do these things agree with each other? Christ came from heaven, and is up in heaven, and yet goes back to heaven? These are strange and heavenly words; it is a sharper sermon than he preached before. How does it rhyme? Ask reason: What is in heaven and remains in heaven, should nevertheless come down and go up again? and no one should do this but Christ alone? Then reason soon concludes, "Oh, then no one will be saved but he alone who descends from heaven. What then do you preach: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved? Why then are we baptized unto salvation?

But everything still goes to the new birth, that Christ will kill the reason and the presumption of the Jews, who wanted God to accept them as holy and pious because of their sacrifices, good works, religion and worship.

for the sake of it. Then he says, "The righteousness of the law and of our reason is dead. He that is born of a woman only, and hath nothing else but the natural birth, ascendeth not up to heaven; and all things are here abolished, and taken away, human wisdom, good works, and all that the first birth bringeth with it, that all these things are nothing. For our powers and reason did not come from heaven, therefore they will not go up again.

If one had understood the saying in the papacy, then one could have easily warded off all error. Truly, one would not have put on the deceased monk's caps, because the cap S. Francisci did not come from heaven. But this sermon shocks them when they hear that their order is nothing. They could still hear that and tolerate that we say: You must be born again. But to say: Nobody goes to heaven, that is too much. For the particle no one, it takes away everything and leaves nothing, excludes everything, without Christ.

Therefore, by these words he cuts off all the glory of the world in one fell swoop. Words at one blow all the glory of the world, so that it all withers like grass, as Isaiah says in the 40th chapter [vv. 6-8]: "All flesh is hay, and all its goodness is like a flower of the field. The hay withers, the flower fades, for the Spirit of the Lord blows in it. Yes, the people are the hay. The hay withers and the flower fades." So God blows into the holiness of all people, that it withers as the hay.

Therefore all our salvation and happiness is placed in the one man Christ alone, and here the work of our redemption is described in the three words, as that Christ came from heaven, and is up in heaven, and is going back to heaven. For first it is stated who the person is, secondly, what he has done, and thirdly, why he has done it.

First of all, the person is so formed that he is up in heaven, that is, he has been with the Father eternal true God from eternity and still is, as he also says to the Jews, John in the 8th chapter, "Before Abraham was, there am I." That is, His essence is a heavenly essence, He is

He is not from the earth, or from his mother, the Virgin Mary, but has his divine nature before birth, in birth, and after birth; he came from heaven and remained in heaven, and ascends again, as he did. For St. John also says in the sixth chapter: "You will see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before"; in which words the person of Christ is also described as being truly God from eternity. But reason cannot comprehend how he can descend and yet remain where he was before. And so the person of Christ is depicted as being true God in heaven, in the eternal Godhead, and then descends to us, and is born of a virgin, and then ascends to heaven again, so that he may be true God and man. For he is here on earth, and is also in heaven above, and having died and risen from the dead, he ascends again to heaven, and is called the Son of man, who has his being here and above.

This is our faith, that Christ is truly God and man, and his ascension and descent show what he has done; thus we have a heavenly article, that he is the Son of God and man in heaven, and has always remained there. What the work of the ascension and descent will mean, we will spare, because now it is too much to talk about it. Let us now be content with learning how Christ is true God and man.

The 27th sermon [on the Gospel of John].

May 26, 1538, on the Sunday Vocem Jucunditatis.

We have heard how our Lord Christ instructed us to believe the testimony of the sermon, that no one can be saved and become blessed unless he abides by his word, which he himself and the apostles preached. This is our

1) In the original wrong: "1548" and "Saturday". In 1538, the Sunday Vocem Jucunditatis fell on May 26.

Comfort and blessedness, which is not in our thoughts, grows also in our garden, but stands only on his knowledge and witness, which we must believe, and ask no further how it is. For whoever steps out of the word, 1) either to the right or to the left, will have his neck broken. But we do not want to speak here of the enthusiasts who despise the word of God, and boast only of 2) their illuminations, revelations and angelic visions. He speaks:

V. 13. No one goes up to heaven except the one who came down.

Now the Lord expresses what is to be believed, that is, the testimony and the strange sermon, which is only due to Christ; and how can reason also get involved in this strange speech, so that it could hear how it rhymes together: to descend and yet to be up there, and to go up again, and yet always to have been up there. This cannot come into anyone's heart or mind. It is impossible, says reason, that "descending from heaven" and "nevertheless remaining above" could both be true at the same time. That is why we Christians are so foolish that we believe such an impossible thing, which strives straight against reason.

But whoever does not want to believe it, let it be. It does no harm that we cannot understand it at first; if we are considered fools in this, then foolishness shall bring us no harm. For we Christians are not at all foolish; we know well what we believe, also where we should seek and find counsel and help in all kinds of things, and when we are delivered from them, live forever. If others do not want to believe it, let them leave it alone. They want to work it out, and each one of them takes it into his own head, now this, soon that, so that he thinks he will find God. But it will not do. One must adhere only to the witness that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, brought down from heaven, and believe it, which is what Christians do. Otherwise, they could boast of God's revelation and visions, but they do not.

1) Erlanger: screams.

2) Erlanger: "on" and "angelic visions".

Only hear what the man testifies, believe him, and give him the honor against all sense and reason that it is certainly true, and so dare to do it in the name of God.

According to reason it is not spoken, it does not work, nor does it sound, that Christ descended, but according to faith it does rhyme; and we also believe that Christ our Savior is the true Son of Mary and the only begotten Son of God, and yet not two, but one only Son of God the Father and of the Virgin Mary; [that he is eternal God and natural man, and that he has two natures in him, the Godhead and humanity, but is nevertheless an only son, both of God and of the Virgin Mary, and not two sons. The humanity he took (when the time was fulfilled) from the Virgin Mary, but the divinity he got from eternity from the Father, that the same Son of God, who is from eternity, is also the Son of the Virgin Mary. There are two distinct natures, but only one Son, Christ Jesus. This is our belief that God has no other Son than the one born of the Virgin Mary, and that the Son, whom the Father has begotten from the beginning of the world, is in the womb of the Mother Mary.

This we must believe against the heretics. For here the Turk says that Mary is not a mother of the Son of God, and the Nestorians have said that Mary is not a mother of God, but only of the man Jesus, who is only naturally her son. These made from One Son two sons. But there is only one Son, and yet two natures, so that Marie can say: This Son Jesus, whom I have born and nursed at my breast, is God's Son, born of the Father in eternity, and also my Son. Likewise, God also says: Mary's son is my only son. Therefore, if Mary is God's Mother, and Christ is truly God from eternity with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and was born of man in time, then God the Father does not have another Son than Mary, nor Mary another Son than God the Father. This is the reason for our faith, that Jesus Christ has two natures, whether He is

is already one, inseparable person. It is not two sons, nor two persons, but One Son and One Person.

But if Christ is separated, that there are two sons, then there are also two persons, then my salvation is nothing, nor is there forgiveness of sin; but it must be so, that the two natures are the one Christ. Otherwise not enough could be done for our sin, and then nothing would come of our blessedness. For if Christ alone were man, his suffering would be of no use, for no human suffering was able to overcome my sin and yours, item, death, the devil's power, God's wrath and eternal damnation. Therefore he had to be God, and yet also a true man, so that he could suffer. If there were two persons, he could not sit at the right hand of God after mankind alone.

If now the reason wants to philosophize and puzzle: How can God Almighty be born of a virgin and become a man? How can God become a man? You answer: I do not understand it, but I should believe that both, Mary and God, had one Son, who was born from eternity, from the Father and temporally from the Mother Mary, two natures and only One Person; which natures cannot be separated from each other in eternity. For Christ, God and man, does not want to be separated, otherwise we are lost. Therefore, it is the highest comfort in all troubles that God and man are one and not two. For Mary shall have no other son than God the heavenly Father has, nor God the heavenly Father another son than the mother has, except that he takes the human nature from the virgin Mary and the divine nature from God the heavenly Father.

Otherwise, the spirits of the rotten have always had this plague, that they have wanted to separate the people. But our faith does not suffer this. The natures are well divided, but there remains only one Son, both of God and of the Virgin Mary.

Now we come to our text, which is easy to understand for this reason: It is

no one goes to heaven except the one who came down. For Christ actually shows his two natures in him, which nevertheless remain in one person, and that the Father is God, and the Mother is man, and they both have one Son, our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as our faith thus teaches. Inasmuch then as he is God, he is with the Father from eternity, and is above in heaven; but that he is born of the Virgin Mary, he descended, and yet remained above; item, he ascended, and yet was above before.

That means coming down, that is, that he is sent from the Father into the world, who never came from the Father's side, and the Son, who remained above, who became man, becomes the Son of Mary. This is how all the Fathers interpreted it, including S. Augustine. The descent is that the Son of God gave Himself into our poor flesh, became man and was born of the Virgin Mary, and not only came into the flesh, but also descended into death, into the grave, yes, even into hell, as we then confess in faith: Descended into hell; and yet, as a mighty God, he has not only been and remained here on earth, but also in heaven (for no place or place can contain the Godhead, as it is written in the prophet [Is. 66:1]: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; and he ascended again into heaven, and yet he sat without ceasing at the right hand of God his heavenly Father, yea, after the Godhead he abode eternally, and yet here on earth he was manifested, and appeared personally and bodily as a man, having assumed body and soul as ours, was crucified, drenched with vinegar, buried and died, descended into hell, and yet in the Godhead nothing departed from him. There is no other person called God, and has been from eternity, than the one who took on humanity; and is therefore a son, the son of God and Mary, and being born of the virgin, he takes on human sonship from the mother.

Such things cannot be understood by reason. But one must believe it, and the holy

Scripture also testifies that Christ is true God and also became a natural man. Therefore it is both true that he remains eternally above and yet descends without change and change of the Godhead, and takes on the sonship from the mother.

How this happens I do not understand, just as we cannot understand many other natural things than how it happens that we hear, see and speak, or that our food and drink become flesh and blood. Since we do not know these things, we are to keep silent and listen to God's word, which says: "We speak that we know. If we do not understand it, it is preached to us, so that we may believe it, and not ponder how it can happen, but believe it badly. But if thou wilt not believe, but take hold, and understand with thy reason, thou art lost. Therefore be satisfied with this, and say, I believe in the Son of God, born of Mary the Virgin, One Son of God the Father and of the Virgin Mary, who has two natures, but is One Son, not two Christs, nor two sons. How it happened, that cannot be grasped by reason. But you have enough that you know that two natures are united in one person.

So this text exists here, that he ascended from heaven, and when he has accomplished his office, he again visibly goes to heaven, and sits at the right hand of his Father, reigns there mightily, not only according to his divine nature, as from eternity, but also according to his humanity. For the Son of Mary, who is truly man, is also subject to all things, namely, the angels, principalities, and all creatures, for Godhead and humanity have now become one thing and one person in Christ; as John also said of Christ to his disciples in the 6th chapter [v. 61 f.]: "Does this offend you? How, then, when ye shall see the Son of man ascending to the place where he was before?" So it is also said here in this chapter: He is above and below, for he ascends, since he is the Son of God, and descends, since he becomes man. According to the human nature he was here, died and was buried; but according to the divinity he descends.

He went up again, and because the divine nature is in him, he remained up in heaven; and so Christ is the highest, the middle, and the lowest, in sum, he is; as S. Paul also says to the Ephesians in chapter 4 [vv. 8-10]: "He ascended on high, and led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. But that he ascended, what is it but that he first descended into the lowest parts of the earth? He that descended is he that ascended above all heavens, that he might fill all things." So Christ is the lowest and the highest, and no other like him can be found.

Therefore, the Son of the Father is also the Son of Mary, and the Son of Mary has remained true God. He has unchangeably retained his divinity, and has descended according to human nature, has become man, and has gone down to the lowest places, namely hell, and up to heaven again. Since there is only one Son, there cannot be two of them, but the only Son descended and ascended and remained above, and therefore it can rightly be said that the Son of God descended and ascended, although the one descent alone was according to human nature; but since the two natures are in the undivided person of Christ, what is otherwise proper and due to human nature is also ascribed to the divine nature. Therefore it is not wrong to say: The Son of God and Mary descended to hell, suffered, and died; item: The Son of God and Mary ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of his heavenly Father.

Because there is so much at stake, I would like to illustrate this article by means of parables if I could. But we must take them as we can. You see, a man has body and soul with each other. Now body is a much different nature than soul, and soul a much different nature than body. Nor is the body without the soul called a man, nor the soul without the body a man, but body and soul together are called one man, not two men.

Two are thus united, that whoever touches a little hair on a man must mean that he has touched the whole man; item, whoever strikes an arm or leg, that he has struck the whole man with body and soul. 1) Thus it is seen in the man who sleeps, that the body sleeps, but nevertheless the soul does not sleep, but has its thoughts and movement, its breath or life; thus the man sleeps and does not sleep, lives and does not live, smells and does not smell, and nevertheless the two natures are One Thing and One Body, although they are two different natures. But body and soul cannot be separated from each other, if one is to be a living man.

So also, if a woman has given birth to a child, and the child is alive and perfect, it has body and soul, nor does the mother say that she has given birth to two sons, or two children, or two persons, but only one child. But the child has two natures, and yet is one person, since one nature is not like the other. The child's soul is not taken from the mother's soul, nor from her blossom; but the body comes from the mother's drop of blood, and this is what God works and creates strangely, that a fruit grows in the mother's womb, and the soul does not. For God infuses the soul into man and makes him alive.

From this similitude (as that body and soul are two pieces, two natures, and yet one and undivided man, for no one says: This mother has given birth to two men, but one man, although the same has two natures, 1)) one can nevertheless somewhat follow the article, how the one Christ has two natures, and is in one person both God and man at the same time. Although the simile does not rhyme through and through, it may nevertheless be as good as it can be for the simple, so that one may understand from it how two natures in one person may be one being.

So also one says: A highwayman has beaten a man, if he has cut him any wound, or cut off an arm; and when one speaks of a slain man, one does not speak:

1) Erlanger: hab.

He stabbed his soul, but only his body; and yet we say: The whole man was wounded, because the body and the soul are united in one person.

The same is said here, that Christ, true God and man born, descended after his humanity, and is the Son of God, died, and descended into hell, and ascended again into heaven, and yet God remained above, because the Godhead does not descend anywhere, not there or thereabouts, but is everywhere, and after humanity he ascended above all. Therefore, since in One Person and in One Being there are two natures, it should be said that the Son of God descended into the womb of the Virgin Mary and went to hell. Although this is the condition of human nature alone, it is also granted to the other nature for the sake of personal unity in Christ. Nam quae uni naturae conveniunt, toti personae conveniunt in concreto. We separate the natures as body and soul are separated from each other, but one person remains. So Christ suffered for us not only as body and soul, but also as the Son of God; as we confess in the articles of our Christian faith: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, and born of the Virgin Mary; and this Son, born of Mary, is also the Son of God, who afterwards suffered, was crucified, and ascended again into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of his Father. This is not two sons, but One Son. Above he was born eternally of the Father, below he was born of Mary.

This is our faith, and so we should believe, and whoever understands it, let him thank God for it and pray that he may remain in it, and take the words well to heart: "No one goes up to heaven except the Son of Man who descends, who is in heaven"; and the word "Son of Man who is in heaven" is added with special diligence. Otherwise he could have said: "No one leads to heaven but the Son of God. But he said shortly before that the Son of God had descended. Again he says: "No one is going to heaven but the Son of God.

mel, for (who then?) the Son of Man." Well, aren't you up there? Here he answers that the Son of Man, that is, the Son of the Virgin Mary, went up and came down and stayed up in heaven.

O dear Lord, if you walk here on earth, hang on the cross, suffer and die, how do I rhyme these pieces together: descend and go up again, and remain above, or always have been above before? Can you be the Son of Man on earth and the Son of God in heaven?

To this you answer: Our Christian faith rhymes, and this text here, that Christ himself says: "I am here on earth as the Son of Man, and carry out my ministry on earth, suffer and die, and even though I am born a man, yet at the same time I am in heaven the Son of God, and do not lose my divine nature, and am in heaven: This is the reason for our faith, that Jesus Christ, our Savior, has two natures, although he is one, inseparable person, as true God from eternity with the Father and Holy Spirit, and also became man in time from Mary. These two natures are united in the one person of Christ.

Now they ask, "Since no one goes up to heaven except the one who descended and the one who remained above, where are we who have not descended from heaven or been above in heaven? For we came from paradise, and were born in sins; therefore we shall not be able to go up. Where then shall we go? To the abyss of hell. And it is certainly true that no one can go to heaven except the Son of God and Mary. For he also knows the road alone. But he does not keep it for himself alone, otherwise he would have remained there; but he also shows us the same road through his dear gospel, namely, that we also come to heaven, where we are born again through water and the Holy Spirit, and keep his testimony, and believe in him. Then we go to heaven, not as for our own person, but wrapped and nestled in Him who alone goes to heaven.

And hereafter the Lord will interpret for Himself what the descent and ascent are, and speaks these things here as a summa, so that He may kill human reason and strike down our presumption of our own righteousness and spiritual hope. For the world is full of fluttering spirits, which storm against this text, and want to ascend by force into heaven for our Lord God, and do not offer our Lord God and Christ a good morning because of it. A Jew truly thinks he will go to heaven if he is circumcised and keeps the Law of Moses. The Turk wants to go to heaven if he keeps the Alkoran. So the pope also has his ladders and footpaths to heaven, and every order among the monks has its own ways and ascents to heaven. The Frauciscans want to be blessed by their rule, the Augustinian monks also want to go to heaven by another rule.

Against all of these, the Lord Christ says: "No one leads to heaven, except the one who descended" etc.; as if he wanted to say: "Let no one think that he will go to heaven, although they all hope to go to heaven. For there is only One who has ascended, Jesus Christ etc. So he also said above that he would enlighten all men who come into the world etc.; item, that not of the will of man, nor of the blood, nor of the will of the flesh, shall one be saved, but of those who are born of God. For no birth helps, even if one may be born of great and holy people; neither does law, work nor devotion help. They mean well that they want to go to heaven through their holy life. But there is no other way, ladder or bridge to ascend, except this, namely Christ, the Son of Man, who alone ascends. But if someone takes another way, they are all fictitious and dreamed-up ladders and bridges, yes, vain lost ways, as S. Franciscus and others have had.

Therefore, this text should be well remembered, because it is a thunderclap against all works saints, and speaks here exclusive et negative, non affirmative, and rejects all other ways, lest someone here

a hole, crack, crevice, or escape; says, "No one goes to heaven." There we lie, we are called monks or whatever else we want. But if there is a way to heaven, no one has shown it or found it or made it, except Christ alone, as he also says in the 14th chapter of John: "No one comes to the Father except through me"; item: "Without me you can do nothing"; item: "I am the way, the truth and the life"; as if he should say: Dear Nicodeme, you do not understand the Scriptures and the prophets who have spoken of me, and yet you are proud and want to be holy. But this will not happen through your work, but through this new preaching, which also the prophets have led of the one way to go to heaven, which is me.

This is the little word "no one" that we are. We have not gone up to heaven, but he who came down and went up and stayed up there, that is he? What shall we do then? Shall we despair? No, for he shows us the way to go up, and explains why he came into the world, just as he has prepared for us a firm, certain, and good bridge, so that we may go to heaven without danger, which is he himself; and he explains his going up and coming down and remaining up, saying, "Just as Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man also be lifted up, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Truly, this means: no longer to remain in the wilderness, nor to be lost, but to go up, which is done through faith in him. For he hath prepared the way for us, and hath drawn us up to himself after him.

But we want to talk more about this golden text in the next sermon.

The twenty-eighth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

June 1, the Saturday after the Ascension of Christ, 1538. 1)

We have heard next of the saying, in whom all power is laid up for us, because of Christ,

1) This timing is in the original margin.

The Lord says of Himself: "No one is going to heaven except the one who has come from heaven, that is, the one who is in heaven"; which article we must learn and keep, for it is very important to us that we recognize the Savior correctly and remain with Him in firm faith. For he who lacks the article lacks God; but he who meets it meets God. For in the person of Christ all is lost, and apart from the Son all is lost; and therefore it is not a small thing to preach this about the Son of God, for it has been decided that without the Son we shall seek nothing, nor find anything either in heaven or on earth, for there all is lost.

Therefore, while we live, we must exhort godly, pious hearts to learn this article well and to practice it diligently. For from the beginning of the world it has had great opposition, and the heretics and devils have stormed against it. But it has remained, and will still be preserved, even against the gates of hell; and these are few words: I believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the heavenly Father, and after that born of the holy Virgin Mary, suffered, died etc. Such words the children pray in faith, and also the simple people die blessedly in such faith. But we old people, when we grow up, are seduced by the devil in many ways, so that flesh and blood also have a thousand obstacles to the article, and so that the devil takes it from us and we become wise to the child's faith. But whoever learns the article correctly can rhyme the three words together: to descend, and to ascend again, and to remain above; which words are and say nothing else than what we confess in our faith: I believe in Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary, is God and man, abode in heaven, and as the Son of God comes down to earth and becomes man, dies; for to descend means that he became man and humbled himself to the death of the cross, after which he ascended again, and yet always abode, for he is God.

Now he lays out what is there, from heaven

or the descent, and explains why he was born, namely, that he ascended from heaven for our sake and also ascended again. For for our sake he is not the Son of God, for he was the Son of God before heaven and earth were created; therefore for our sake he did not remain above; from which we are to learn that this descending and ascending is not for him alone, but rather for us, as this seems clear from the following text.

V. 14. As Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up etc.

Let us remember and keep this text, for truly the Lord Christ was the best preacher of all before the other apostles. Therefore we should also listen diligently to what he says, and these words are well known to us and are also often used in sermons. Thus he has been painted on the wall and stamped on the coin in almost every place. But if God wanted it to be imprinted and written in our hearts in the same way, then it would be right for it to be sealed in the heart; as the bride in the Song of Solomon [Cap. 8, 6] says: "Press me on your arm, and seal me in the heart."

Now these are high words, and the greatest article of our Christian doctrine, and the whole world hears such words; but few accept them, that they press the same words into the heart, but become hostile to the article, and will not suffer it. The Turk also thinks much of Christ, says that he was a great prophet, and that he was born of Mary the Virgin, and that the mother was not conceived in original sin; but nevertheless he will not let him be his God and Lord, but sets his Mahomet over him, or even like Christ, and is meanwhile very pious, as they say of him, and leads a hard life, and keeps his own way to heaven.

So you also know that 1) the pope did not think much of this text, and the article was almost lost in the papacy.

1) "that" put by us instead of "what" in the Erlanger.

He may have kept the mere words of the text in the Gospel, but he denied the power of these words altogether. Thus, only baptism has remained pure in the papacy, and the pope basically does not think much more of Christ than the Turk does. For so the pope and the cardinals write that Christ alone has done enough for original sin, but for real and daily sins we must atone; which all goes to the end that Christ, who is our bridegroom by faith, should be taken away from us, for the devil rushes in a thousand ways to the article to destroy it. But he must still keep the bride and the bridegroom together, which cannot be done otherwise than by faith. For faith is the wedding ring, so that we are betrothed to Christ. By faith we take hold of Christ and say to him, "You alone have ascended on high," just as he said above, "No one goes up to heaven unless he has descended.

This article, that Christ is our Lord, makes Christians alone. It is the precious stone, the jewel and gold chain that hangs on the bride's neck, so that she believes Christ to be the true God from the beginning, and to have descended, and to have been made man by Mary the Virgin, and to have ascended again, and no one else but He ascended to heaven; so that He is declared to be the Son of God and to sit at the right hand of His heavenly Father. And although it seems much different, it is nevertheless true. For if he had not sat at the right hand of his Father, this article would never have come to us. Nor could he have remained against so many kings, and great tyrants in the world have for ever opposed it.

But he interprets his ascension in such a way that we should also go up in him, for it is true that no one goes up to heaven except Jesus Christ, who descended. For otherwise someone would say, "Where are we then? To this he answers, "As Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so" etc. Then we will also go up in him. This you can reproach all Jews, Turks, Papists, who themselves with their orders, rules and good works want to be the ascent to heaven (as they then have many ways to heaven).

Heaven), saying, "No one goes up to heaven except the one who has come down. He, the Lord Christ, has taken up his body and his bride, which he purchased and prepared for him on earth. Apart from him, no one else has ever gone to heaven.

With the word "no one" he calls out all those who adhere to Christ. He, the bridegroom, ascended and did not descend to remain alone on earth, but took a bride from him and led the bride up with him. But the Turks say: He who holds the Alkoran goes to heaven. The Jews pretend: He that keepeth the law of Moses hath the way and ascension into heaven. The pope says: He who is obedient to me goes to heaven; and there is no end nor measure to the ascension. But it will be a journey where one's neck will fall; they are evil journeys and wrong ways, because Christns speaks all here: "No one goes to heaven" etc.

It is said of [the] Turks that they live seemingly and beautifully, with praying, fasting, almsgiving, make many foundations and build churches, are willing to help others, and with this appearance of holiness they deceived many people; as the pope also did with us. Then we did not know otherwise than that the orders and monasteries were the right way and footpaths to reach heaven. For he who is not well armed with this article, and has it pressed into his heart, is soon seduced by the glorious outward appearance of holiness, and also by the glorious names and titles of the prophets and teachers 1). Forasmuch then as they have made many ascensions, let us say, We abide in One Ascension, and in Him that descended, and abode above, who also alone is our resurrection, as John is told in the 11th chapter, "I am the resurrection, the truth, and the life. "etc. Therefore he alone is the exit to heaven, for he alone ascended, he alone is the way that leads to heaven, and he who keeps the article abides.

1) Erlanger: "Teachers". That "teacher" is to be read, shows on the one hand the parallelism with "prophets", on the other hand the beginning of the following paragraph.

With Christ. For even if he were led captive into Turkey and had to look at the religion of the Turks there, that the Turks prayed and fasted a lot, he could say, "None of this concerns me. For even if the pope and the Turk also raised the dead, and stroked themselves with rods so that the blood flowed from them, and fasted for several weeks on water and bread, I still know that you are not the resurrection, nor the life, nor the ascension and the way to heaven, but you deceive and mislead me with all these things. For Christ alone is the way, and no one else.

So a Christian can easily defend himself against all false teachers and deceivers, also against all our own thoughts, if we keep this article pure and right. Yes, they also remain in life and are preserved in death through the one faith in Christ, namely, that they believe that he alone has gone to heaven; therefore they will not be lost.

It is said that a Turk can fast for three days and remain uneaten, and St. Bernard abstained from eating and drinking so much that his lungs began to rot and the breath from his throat stank so much that he was no longer allowed to go to choir, nor otherwise be around his brothers. I can still say here: Fasting is not evil, but a good work; but it 2) is not therefore the resurrection or life. They are indeed good works, and I should do them; but fasting is not therefore in heaven, nor has it gone from heaven, much less brings and leads to heaven. So, wearing a hard shirt is also not the ascent to heaven. One does not go to heaven with it. For these works, though they are good, yet they have not ascended from heaven, nor have they been up in heaven; they are far from being like the man of whom it is said here that he alone descended, and remained up there, and ascended again. St. Bernard truly did not come from heaven, but from the earth, for he was born of a woman and wept like another child.

2) Erlanger: er.

come up from below and not from above; neither is he the one who has remained above.

So now I conclude and judge from all works, as good as they may always be, also from the lives of the saints, that they are not the Son of God, nor the ascent and way to heaven. Otherwise, I shall live morally, piously and righteously in the world, but not want to ascend to heaven by doing so. For no one ascends to heaven except he who also descends, and who has remained in heaven, which is Christ Jesus alone. To Him alone must glory be given; the rest are all but men, and born of men. If then they believe in Christ, they have received it from Him and from the fullness of His ascension and descent, and nowhere else.

Therefore, there are two kinds of human persons, first, a man by himself, and then a man of God. Man alone, who may be pious in the world and do wrong to no one, is still a human person and cannot go to heaven, but we must have the person who is God and man, which is not like other men, for he has gone back to heaven from where he came down. For the high majesty of his person, his sleep and fasting of a moment or hour is better than all the works and fasting of all the saints on earth. Saints on earth. For there is no man like unto him. The person is God and man, greater than other men, for he is the Son of God, but we are all men and born of women. Now if a Christian presses the article into his heart, so that it is sealed that Christ has ascended and descended again, he remains well on the way to salvation, and must not be afraid of any noise 1) or appearance. But when he is lost, and the article is gone, and the seal is broken, then is no error so foolish, he goeth up, for he is out of the ship, or out of the way, and goeth as one that cometh out of the highway and out of the right way. Now let him go as he will, but he goes astray, for he is not in the right course or road.

1) Blaring - dazzling.

Therefore, we wedge and drive diligently at this article, because it alone has overthrown the pope. God grant that he may also overthrow the Turk before Judgment Day. The pope and the Turk have had many good, excellent and learned people, just as the Turk still has many monks; but here they have all erred, for they have not known this article, which alone is to govern all good works and the life of men, and also alone makes blessed, and whatever one does is pleasing to God for the sake of the article. And you young people, who do not yet know what the devil can do against this article (for you have not yet been in the battle and strife), should stand firm over the article. We old teachers have not yet gotten rid of the mobs that have all stormed against the article. For even if one overcomes them once, they do not let up, they grow and rise again and again, just as those who once fall away full of Christ do, that they go astray the longer the more, until they even come to ruin. But take hold of the precious stone, and keep the saying, "No one falleth into heaven" etc.

But let us look at the likeness. The Lord preached a beautiful sermon to Nicodemo, who was a Jew and thought that the way to heaven would be if he kept his law given by Moses, and that on his fasting, praying, and austere living would be the ascension, so that he would go to heaven. Then Christ lays out Moses to him aright, and winds him up; answering him, It shall not do: thy ascension is not the way, but thou must be born again. Therefore hear what I say to you. You are a Jew, I will take your Moses before me and tell you something from it that you have not yet understood. And who also would have interpreted it there? saith Numbers, in the twenty-first chapter, where thou readest, when the children of Israel murmured against the Lord, that he would not do according to their pleasure: therefore our Lord God caused fiery serpents to come among them, as there are in that same land, where the heat is so great, such serpents also, called latine aspides; which serpents, when they sting a man, swell the man, and turn him red, and the whole body is filled with such a hot fever as this.

so that there is no help nor salvation, so that the limb that was injured is soon cut off. For if this serpent stings a man's finger or foot, the limb must be cut off quickly, lest the fire or heat enter the body and destroy the other limbs, so that the man must die; and Moses in his hymn in the fifth chapter of chapter 32 says: Venenum aspidum insanabile. That is why they call them fiery serpents, because they set fire to a man's body, so that when a man was bitten, he was dead, and soon the same limb was cut off; and these same serpents were not fiery, but when they bit a man, the people were so inflamed that the flesh became flaming red, and the heat so great that they died of thirst. The Greeks called it from thirst. For the heat makes one thirsty, and it is written that when this serpent lets out its breath in anger, it gives off such heat that the air becomes hot from it and is ignited as if by a fire. Therefore they have been called fiery serpents. We Germans have no name, because the snakes are unknown to us in our countries, although I hear that one has seen them also here in our bacon 1) outside.

With these serpents God punished the people of Israel in the desert because of their grumbling and disobedience, so that the people were quickly choked away. When the people were in torment and sought help everywhere, Moses asked God on behalf of the people to relieve the punishment. Then God said, "Set up a seraphim (for He uses the word here), that is, a house that stands in light, just as the seraphim are fiery angels. So, he says, set up a fiery serpent, so that whoever looks at it will not die. Then Moses came and cast a serpent of brass, like the serpents of fire, and hung it on a pole; and the serpent had the word of God and the promise upon it, that if any man were stung by serpents, he should look upon the serpent of brass, and it would not hurt him. This is a great miracle that

1) "Speck" a grove near Wittenberg.

The great damage has been healed in such a small way. They were not allowed to do anything to it, but only believe the word of Moses, which the Lord is called here. It was a strange remedy, and the Jews would have found it strange and strangely satisfying. But necessity breaks iron, they say, and necessity will have forced them to believe this, since they saw that it helped in part; and it is to be wondered at that the human heart could believe that what Moses' words promised was true. For the people have learned that the poison of the fiery serpents was an insurmountable venom. Then they thought, "This is a ridiculous remedy for the sting and bite of snakes. Moses, are you mad and foolish? What good would the appearance of the serpent of brass do us, who looks like those who have bitten us, whom we cannot look at because of great terror? If you would give us any other drink, a cooling plaster, a cooling drink, so that the poison and heat would be extinguished. What should words and sight alone do? Item, what should the dead thing help us that has no life in it?

But not only necessity will have done it, but also faith; and consider it that many have despised it, and died in unbelief, and will not be persuaded of it, saying, What good will the appearance do? and no one will have looked at the bronze serpent, but only the faithful. The others will have turned away their eyes and said: Why do you mock me with your appearance? What good would that do? But it was not the appearance that did it, but the word, that they believed the word. Then the believers will have said: Moses is God's servant, God has commanded Mosiah, it will also be powerful. For the reputation did not do it, but the faith in the word helped. They accepted the word of God as a certain promise that they would be delivered from the poison and be healed.

This is now the history, since many will have been offended by the low splendor of it. But the believers have understood Mosi's word, and no one else, and through faith in the word they have also recovered. But who

would have been allowed to point this Historia to Christ? So I would not have been bold to interpret it like this, as he himself interprets it hard enough and points to himself, saying: This is the serpent of brass, but I am the Son of man; those had to look at the serpent bodily, but you have to look at me spiritually and in faith; those are full of a bodily poison, but through me you are delivered from an eternal poison; item, to look at the serpent is: faith in me; item, they have recovered bodily, but I give eternal life to those who believe in me. These are very strange phrases and speeches.

But the Lord gives us the right handle to interpret Moses and all the prophets, and makes it clear that Moses, with all the stories and images, points to him, and belongs to Christ, and means him, namely, that Christ is the point in the circle, since the whole circle is drawn out, and looks to him, 1) and whoever follows him also belongs to it. For he is the central point in the circle, and all the histories in the holy scriptures, if they are rightly regarded, go to Christ.

The Lord Christ presented many such texts and histories to his disciples, when he was with them from the forty days after his resurrection until the day of his ascension, item, when he was with Moses and Elijah on Mount Thabor; as here he also points this figure to himself, and opens 2) Moses as a beautiful little box, and shows them the hidden nut, knowing what Moses wants with all his figures and stories, namely, that he alone points to Christ. Moses carries the glorious treasure in his skin between flesh and skin, that he has looked to Christ. He is also our serpent, as he 3) is signified by the bronze serpent, through which we have been helped. For we were also bitten by the poisoning serpents in Paradise, since Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and murmured against Him, since God wanted the tree untouched. But they wanted to know why God had forbidden them the tree.

1) Erlanger: sehet.

2) Erlanger: schleuscht.

3) Erlanger: ers.

4) poison - toxic.

Yes, says the devil: God has commanded it? curses our Lord God and taught Adam also to curse, and [this] follows the poisonous worm. Then he also gave him a sting, so that when Adam got the sting, there was no salvation, but he had to die; just as we all still have to die and are all subject to death by nature. There is no help nor counsel for this; no man can escape sin and death, for we have drunk the serpent's deadly and unconquerable poison, and have all received the same from Adam, so that we must all die, as this testifies to our experience.

Many philosophers have come who wanted to help nature, and to create counsel against this snake venom and death; and among the Jews the prophets and Moses should have done the same, who have applied plasters and cool water, but it has not helped; item, the magicians in Egypt should also have given Arzu nei 6) against it, but it has all been in vain, because it is an insurmountable poison; until it has come that one preaches: The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head: then shall the serpent's venom be taken away, that he can do no more hurt.

This is what Christ says: "No one leads to heaven" etc., item: "As Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness", that here it has been meant, that God sets up a bronze serpent, which was like the other serpents, so that whoever looks at it should recover, that is, let his Son depart from heaven and be crucified, where he also hangs as a serpent and worm in great contempt, as he himself complains about it in the 22nd Psalm. But he that believeth on Christ crucified shall not perish, neither perish, but have everlasting life: as they that looked on the serpent of brass in the wilderness died not.

Now the Jews who were bitten by the serpents should have been terrified that they would have fled from the medicine 7). For it is natural that one should fear and be afraid of the snake.

5) Erlanger: lernet.

6) Erlanger: Aerztei.

7) Erlanger: flown for the Arztei.

Schell has done us harm. Even if you look at it alone, it still makes us sad and disgusted. But Moses said, "Do not be afraid," and he gave them the plaster of coolness and set up the serpent, which was shaped like the serpent that had bitten them, from which they fled and were afraid. What must the Jews have thought? Moses, are you mad and foolish? Do you want to frighten us even more with your medicine and even scare us with fear? What good would the serpent do us? But Moses goes on and casts a bronze serpent, in the shape and form that the other living fiery serpents were, and hangs a serpent before their eyes again. For if one is bitten by a mad dog, one must tie on the hair of the dog again, and the bite will be healed.

Thus, those who were bitten by fiery serpents, that is, brought into sin, death and eternal damnation by the devil, should again look at this serpent of brass, that is, believe in Christ, so that they would be brought to righteousness, life and salvation. Faith in Christ, if he is the Son of God and a natural man, would do it.

But what does it mean that Moses does not 1) take the serpent that did the harm, and does not hang a dead [natural] serpent on the wood, as one would like to look at it, but makes a bronze serpent, which they had to believe in? But it indicates that Jesus Christ, Son of God, born of a virgin, became like us damned men, and hung on the cross as a poisonous, evil and harmful worm. Yes, he seems to be like the serpent that made us sweat in paradise, that is, the devil. For he was so esteemed, condemned and despised before the world, that he was not executed otherwise than with an ignominious death, and is hanged in the midst of the murderers as an arch-villain,

1) This "not" is missing in the Erlangen edition, so that exactly the opposite of what should be said is stated. In the Erlanger this sentence reads: "But what does this mean, that Moses takes the snake, which has done the damage, and does not hang a dead snake on the wood, as one would like to look at, but" etc.

As Isaiah prophesied in the 53rd chapter: "He was counted among the evildoers"; as if Isaiah should say: he who is rightly among the murderers, as one who should be defiled, blasphemed, and counted among all evildoers. Therefore the title is also written over his head, that he was a rebel who acted against temporal and spiritual authorities. No one took him for a pious man, but for a poisoned worm, who was not worthy of the sun to shine upon him, but who would do harm to the whole world.

the most damned, poisonous people who are the world's curse or purgatory, and in which one would only be doing God a great service by getting rid of them from the world.

That is how it has been with Christians since the beginning of the world, and that is why we are still slaughtered daily as sheep. Therefore, today the Turk makes so many martyrs that the Turk would rather see a snake or the devil himself than a Christian or preacher of the divine word. The pope also prefers to see a wolf and all worms than us, and thinks that if he had us away, he would soon beat the Turk. So it shall be with us, who heal the world and help men, that we are held as damned people who only infect, seduce and corrupt others, just as Christ must also be held as a poisonous worm before which one runs.

But this is the divine wisdom, which does not do otherwise to him. So he helps the world by putting the world's wisdom to shame. For the wisdom of the world must become foolishness before him, and it pleases him again to make the faithful blessed through foolish preaching.

be a brazen, solid serpent, that is, become the most contemptible man, and the same serpent must do us no harm with its venom. For it is a wholesome serpent and has no poison. It has only the form of a serpent, and under the form of the brazen serpent is such a power and being, so greater and better than all plasters. For it heals people and helps us from sins, death and condemnation, just as that serpent in the desert helped people from physical illness.

So the world looks at Christ only in outward appearance, not otherwise than as a devil; and to those who fall into despair, to the stiff-necked and godless, he also wants to be a serpent, devil and judge, yes, their tyrant and persecutor, as they themselves make a serpent out of him and run before him. He must have this form, but if he has an ugly appearance, so that he is considered a devil and an evil worm, then I should learn to despise this form and appearance of Christ and say: "They may consider him whatever they want in the world, but what is it to me? He may be a murderer to others and bear the shameful title on the cross of a rebel in the world, it is none of my business. I will seek the power and not let this outward appearance bother me; I look at him as my Savior; and whoever looks at the serpent in this way, who has been so miserably condemned and blasphemed, will be blessed.

Therefore say thou also thus: All this shall not hinder me. I will tear through this figure and ask nothing of it, make or paint the serpent as poisonous as one wishes, and the world will cry heresy, poison and murder over Christ; as one cannot make it any worse. But let them be angry at the figure. But know that the serpent of brass is not a true serpent, but has only the appearance and form of a serpent; item, he is a serpent of brass, which has no poison with him.

And when I look at God's word, I find in Christ not only a mere appearance of a snake, which has no poison at all, but I also feel in him a power that helps me from the poison. Therefore I let go of the scoffers who pretend: Ah, what should

Will he help us who is dead and laid in the grave, and as the Jews paint him, a murderer, a rebel, a blasphemer, having the devil, and being a Samaritan? And I say, Christ may be looked upon and cried out in the world, but I ask nothing of him; I will look upon the evil worm as the Saviour of the world, and as my Saviour and Lord, and not as a worm, serpent, or dragon, as a rebel, devil, or judge, but as one who gives me help and strength.

So God had a painting presented to the people of Israel at that time, that His Son would be the Savior of the world in the form of a cursed and damned man, even a serpent. For the world would otherwise seek salvation through good works; but God was pleased to help people in this way, so that His Son would be held by the world as a poisoned worm, and yet He would save all who believe in Him.

And although in the desolation many did not believe, nevertheless some believed, who said: If thou wilt not have this serpent, let me get strength there. So shall we do also now, saying, I will cleave unto Christ; he deceiveth me not, but maketh me whole and alive. If then the pope will not accept him, and through Christ alone, that serpent, without good works and our merit, have salvation, mocking faith, says, O, it is a bad thing about faith, then you answer, O dear Lord, always go away, I will nevertheless hold to Christ and regard him as the brazen serpent, even though he is not a real serpent. For he is the Lamb of God, which taketh away my sin, and the sin of the whole world, and saveth me from death. But for our sake he became a serpent.

If then the enemies and adversaries of the Lord Christ also reproach us and consider us reprobates, they say: You have the devil, it is heresy with your teaching, as Paul also says that they call us καζάρματα, that there could not be more poisonous people on earth: so suffer this with the Lord Christ, continue, teach and preach, it harms me the

Blasphemy not. Has my Lord Christ also had to bear such reproaches, that they have regarded him as a poisonous worm: nor has he helped all believers with his preaching: why then would not a Christian preacher and a devout Christian also suffer this?

So now Christ will raise up Moses and show what the children of Israel did when they were bitten by the fiery serpents, namely, that Moses raised up the bronze serpent, so that He, Christ, will also be hanged as a serpent and will have to bear this rebellious title: Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews, that is, who acted against the Roman emperor and the chief priests, and betrayed the Jewish people to the Roman emperor and wanted to sacrifice them on the meat-bank, so that they would all be killed. There he hangs, and must be a serpent, and have done such harm as is not to be atoned for; therefore only away with him.

Just as it is said of us today: "If only the Lutherans were gone, we would soon prevail over the Turk. But enough has been preached to them, written, printed, read, sung, said and painted before their eyes, that they should ever know that he is not a serpent or a poisonous worm and dragon, nor that he should be scolded for being of the devil, but that he should make blessed all who believe in him. But they willfully will not know it, therefore they also may perish. But we know that he gives us salvation, and is given to us by God as King and Lord or Savior, and has made Jews and Gentiles of such wisdom that no reason can understand. Item, he is our resurrection, as he then says: I rise again, and all who accept me and believe in me shall also rise and go to heaven.

But it will be hard, and it is only God's power, to believe that Christ was hung on the cross for us, was killed and condemned; as S. Paul also says to the Corinthians [1 Ep. 1, 23]: "We preach Christ crucified, an offense to the Jews and a foolishness to the Gentiles. It still passes, for such a sermon is a

Power of God, which makes all blessed who believe in it. Otherwise, if I were to ask reason for advice, it would say: "Does the wretched devil believe in such a wretched man who was crucified? Nor have the holy martyrs allowed themselves to be burned and strangled on such faith, whether it is even too horribly painted that such a damned man should be the savior of the world.

So Moses had to preach to Nicodemus and transfigure Christ, that a serpent should come, which would not have bodily poison, but devilish poison, that is, sin and eternal death, for which there is no counsel; for only the Lord Christ, who in the form of a damned evil worm would deliver men from death, sin and the devil's power, and make them eternally blessed.

This is what I wanted to say recently about this text, because who can speak enough about it? John and Moses here wanted to indicate the divinity of the Lord Christ, because this serpent, Christ, heals all men with his appearance and saves them from death, so that this serpent must be the true God. But it would take too long to talk about it now.

The twenty-ninth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

[June 1538] 1)

Next we heard in John that the Lord Christ himself said that he was signified by the serpent of brass in the wilderness. Now he shows that the Son of Man was therefore exalted:

V.15. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, and have said that John in this word describes the deity and humanity of the Lord Christ, that he is God and man; and the humanity is seen in these words, that the serpent was crucified and died; but the deity is reported in that the serpent gives eternal life to all who believe in him.

And John does this almost at all

1) This sermon lacks a more detailed time determination.

Oertern in his gospel describes Christ as God and man. But especially here he says of mankind that the Son of Man must be lifted up, that is, hanged on the wood or cross, which is the right of human nature to die and suffer. Again, it belongs to no man that he who is hanged should have eternal life, and he who looks upon Christ crucified should have eternal life. Now no one has been lifted up and hung on a tree except the Son of Mary, who is the one who saves all believers, so that the Son of Man is also the Son of God; as it was said above, "No one descends to heaven except the Son of Man who is in heaven," which is due only to the divine Majesty.

So in the evangelist John the saying goes for and for, that he preaches nothing else but: "The Word became flesh," that is, Christ, the eternal true Son of God, is also a natural true man born of the Virgin Mary; and wonderfully unites the two natures in the one person of Christ; saying that the Son of Man is exalted, so that all who believe in him may have eternal life, thus making them blessed, redeeming them from death, and giving them eternal life is not the work of the Son of Man, nor does it belong to man alone, but to God alone. Nevertheless, he does not distinguish between them by saying, "He who believes in the Son of God has eternal life," but rather, "He who believes in the Son of Man has eternal life: He that believeth on the Son of man etc. Therefore the two natures are united in the one person of Christ, and the person is God and man. Yes, the two natures, Godhead and humanity, are found in the person, and are attributed to this person of both natures, so that whoever believes in the Son of man believes not only in a man, but also in God. For otherwise the man Christ could not make anyone blessed. For there are otherwise many higher persons, the holy patriarchs, prophets, as Isaiah, Elijah, David, also angels, as Gabriel and others: nor can they save anyone from sin nor death, and is not said of them that, so

It is written here: He that believeth on me shall have eternal life. For it is impossible that a man should have this honor, that he who believes in him should have eternal life; but of this person alone it is said that he makes blessed. For the two natures are united in the one Person, in One Being, so that whoever believes in the Son of Man also believes in the Son of God; whoever touches the Man Christ also touches the Son of God, yes, the whole Trinity is in the man.

Here one might ask: If it is true that the believers in the Son of God have eternal life, will the serpent also be God? For whoever looked at the serpent of brass was healed and did not die in the wilderness, but at the same time gave life to the children of Israel. And so the false prophets and miserly priests and priests, the evil-doers, along with other false teachers, interpreted and colored and decorated their idolatry, when they erected the serpent of brass at Jerusalem, and burned incense to it and sacrificed to it, and made their own pilgrimage to it, and honored the serpent of brass as God Himself: just as we have in our time the holy images, as St. Christopher, St. Mary, St. Peter, St. John, St. John the Baptist, and St. John the Baptist. Christophori, S. Maria and others, on the altars, and worshipped them, and gave great money and goods to them, that they built great cathedrals, churches and monasteries; although the bronze serpent had a greater reputation, because whoever was bitten by the fiery serpents, and only looked at them, he recovered. Therefore the people said: In this brazen serpent, there is a divine power inside, and then they sacrificed sheep and oxen to this serpent; and I have often wondered about the fact that the serpent remained so long in the people of Israel that Samuel, David, 1) or Elijah did not take it away. But I believe that in David's time they were somewhere in a corner or secret place of the land.

1) Here we have erased "Solomon, Daniel". The name "Daniel" is wrong here, because the prophet Daniel lived about hundred years later than Hezekiah, who destroyed the brazen serpent. It seems to us that "Solomon, Daniel" is an inverted transcription (digraph) of the preceding "Samuel, David", because Solomon also fell into idolatry. 1 Kings 11:5 ff.

and there was no crowd or pilgrimage to worship it, but it was only kept as a sign and testimony of the glorious redemption from Egypt. But after that, in the time of the prophet Isaiah, it was made an idolatry, and the people of Israel ran there, sacrificed and worshipped the bronze serpent, then it was broken by the pious king Ezekiam, and the pilgrimage was destroyed [2 Kings 18:4].

At that time, we Germans also did the same as the Jews, called upon the saints, and always invented one new saint and helper in need after another, as Saut Anna and Joachim were not more than thirty years old when they appeared. In their greatest distress, especially when Sanherib lay before Jerusalem, they raised up the bronze serpent, and the people ran into the wilderness and worshipped it. For when they had fallen away from the true faith and knowledge of God, they sought help wherever they knew or could.

Now one asks whether God was with the serpent and helped there. For the Jews have pretended: If the serpent helped then, it is God, just as the Lord Christ helps now. To this belongs this answer: The serpent of brass by itself helped no one, so no one believed in the serpent, nor did anyone worship it. Nor was it sacrificed in the wilderness at that time, for Moses would not have suffered it to be worshipped; but the word helped the people of Israel, which God had said, "Whoever looks at this serpent of brass, no fiery serpent's bite or sting shall harm him. This word (namely, "He who looks at the serpent") does it, because God speaks and promises help, and the serpent does not speak here. He who believes the God who speaks and promises and looks at the serpent is obedient to God. But in the days of Jeshua the word of God was gone from the serpent of brass, and the word was lost. For the work was prepared in the wilderness for which the serpent of brass was to serve, that those who were bitten by the fiery serpents might, through the appearance of the serpent, believe in God.

would be restored to health. Therefore the help was no longer there in the days of Jeshua, just as the word is gone (which God says to the children of Israel: "Go through the Red Sea"), since the passage had happened. So Gideon also had a skin, which was now wet, and soon dry, but now it is nothing. Therefore the serpent of brass did not help in the days of Jeshua, nor was it ever worshipped or believed in, except when Ahaz 1) died. But before, in the wilderness, God promised the people of Israel, saying that whoever looked at the serpent would not die. Now those who believed the same word that God spoke and obeyed and followed the word were preserved.

Therefore, the reputation of the serpent and the reputation of the Lord Christ are two different things and not equal. For it is written here, that Christ the Son of God is not only to be regarded, but also to be believed in. For when the Jews crucified Christ, they all looked upon Christ also, but they were not saved on that account. Seeing and feeling are two different things, but one must also believe. The commandment of faith has not the brazen serpent, that one should believe in brass or metal, as here the command is, that one should believe in Christ.

Now Christ says here that he is the right serpent, which was signified by the serpent in the wilderness, and this serpent must be seen through the spiritual image, namely, through faith. But there one had to believe in the word that spoke from heaven; there the faith did not go to the serpent, but to him, 2) who spoke. But here it is not only the word that is spoken, but it is said, He that believeth on him shall have eternal life. Therefore the serpent of brass was an image of Christ, and here we are given a goal and a measure, that we should not only hear Christ, but also what and how of the Word of God.

1) "Ahaz" put by us instead of "Ezechias" in the Erlanger, because this one (Hezekiah) "destroyed the brazen serpent", 2 Kings 18, 4., so also, "since Ezechias had died", the idolatry of the brazen serpent will not have started first.

2) Erlanger: those.

of the serpent, Christ, we are to believe, namely, that all who believe in Christ shall have eternal life.

Now this is a great and marvelous work, which the world and our reason will not hear nor suffer, but ridicules and despises, and that is ridiculous, that from the appearance of the brazen serpent one should be healed. Then would reason have thought, Thou shalt not see the serpents gone, but take a pair of pincers, or other instruments, and see if by force thou wilt drive the serpents away. What is this big thing? If even a cow would look at a snake, what good would that do her? Therefore it is a small thing to look at something or to look at it. And it is true, it is an easy work; yet they that have obeyed the word, and believed that it should be done, have recovered. Looking has been a bad art; but to be able to believe that the small, easy work of opening one's eyes and looking at the stake and the bronze serpent should help against the serpent's poison and make one well, that is difficult. Otherwise nothing is done more easily than to give a look, and no doubt there were many among the Jews who would have mocked Moses and said: Alas, if with knife and awl, with water and sword, the serpents cannot be driven out, alas, what good will the poor sight of the serpent do? Just as our sects and sectarians still do, who despise and destroy baptism and the Lord's Supper, saying, "What should water, wine, or bread do? But this is the nature of our Lord God, that he accomplishes great things by small, unsightly and foolish works. It also seems to be a small thing to our papists, faith. What, they say, faith, faith, what is faith? It is not enough to have faith, you must also do good works, put on a cap, fast, pray, give alms. Such things then have a delicious appearance, that they think: Oh, faith is a bad thing, you must also do good works. But try it, for you will see how easy faith is. For soon the devil will be found who will blow such things into your head: Well, shall one be saved by such an easy thing? So also the Jews have said

says: You must take a pair of tongs and snatch the serpent away, or run into water and cool yourself; what should the sight of the serpent help you? But our Lord God is so mighty that he leads by a straw and rules the whole world, and with a drop of water can make blessed and help from sin, death, the devil and hell. It is a small thing when it is said: All who believe in him shall have eternal life; but God acts thus mightily and strangely. But see thou to the word, and hear not the cry of the papists, that we must also do good works for our salvation.

Notice these and similar sayings, which not only indicate that Christ is God and man, as this text does here, but also tell how one should enjoy and use the Lord Christ, namely, that all who believe in him and hear him shall not perish, but have salvation.

Who can say what this is: "not to be lost"? There has been a hard and frightening preaching about purgatory, hell and eternal damnation, and it is also a great pity, since one cannot sufficiently speak of what it is to be eternally damned and burn in hell; yet Christ here makes it a very easy work to be delivered from sins, death, the devil and hell, namely, to believe in the Son of God; then one should not only not be lost, but have eternal life. Such eternal life is a much greater thing than that a man could sufficiently understand that God should not only forgive the sin of a sinner and condemned man, but also promise eternal life through faith in Christ.

And when these things in the Gospel seemed strange to the disciples themselves, who asked Christ, "Who then can be saved? [Luc. 12, 32.] "Fear not, little multitude, for it hath pleased your heavenly Father to give you the kingdom"; as if to say, Remember not, where the greatest multitude is, there we will also abide; but

1) Erlanger: them.

Since it pleases the Father to give you eternal life by grace, accept it. Otherwise, by nature and by our reason, these words cannot easily be believed, that we shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Thus it is to be preached of Christ that this serpent is the Son of God and of Mary, and that whoever looks upon him in faith is assured of eternal life. Then he goes on and eliminates this, and sets forth causes why faith can do such great things, and says:

V. 16. Thus God loved the world.

Just before this he said: "The Son of Man must be exalted, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. But here he says: "God so loved the world, that he gave his Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Therefore, what he said above about the Son of Man, that he must be exalted, he says here about the Son of God, that God gave His Son to the world out of great love. There he said that Mary had given her Son; here he says: God the Father gave His Son to be crucified; and the Son of God and the Son of Mary are nevertheless only one person, and both natures are suitable for salvation and redemption from eternal death, and John the Evangelist always joins the two natures together as the Godhead and humanity.

But how is it possible for someone to say that the Son of Man should be saved and give eternal life? Item, how can it happen that the Son of God should be given and crucified? That the Son of Man should be hanged on the cross is all right, but to give eternal life does not rhyme. So it does not rhyme that the Son of God should die and be given life for the world, just as it does not rhyme that the Son of Man should be hanged and give eternal life. Here you must understand that when we speak of Christ, the two natures are to be one person, and that which belongs to both natures is to be understood in the same way.

The truth that is written is actually understood in One Person, that I can rightly say of the Son of Man that He created heaven and earth, as I say of the Son of God that He is the Creator of heaven and earth. For we should not follow the heretics, as the Nestoriani (from where the Turks come) claim that not the Son of God, but only the Son of Mary suffered and died for us. For here it is clearly said and written: God gave His Son for the world, which Son is truly not only Mary's Son and born of Mary, but also God's Son; and when Christ is to be crucified, and is delivered into Pilate's hand to lead him out of the judgment house, he has not only the Son of man, but also God's Son at hand, whom he allows to be crucified; therefore S. Paul [1 Cor. 12:8] says: "If they had known, they would not have crucified the King of honor," whom all creatures otherwise worship. Thus the Son of God was conceived by Mary, suffered and died, was buried, descended to hell, and rose again from [the] dead.

So it must be understood when the apostles, bishops and ancient teachers write: O Son of David, or: Son of Mary, have mercy on me! O dear JEsu, born of the Virgin Mary, have mercy on me! Since thou hast worshipped God, and is as much as if thou saidst, O JEsu, thou Son of God, have mercy on me! For then you also worshipped the Son of Mary, for the two natures are in one Christ.

The words of this text indicate that God gave His Son for us, and that the Son of Man gave His life for us. For there are not two Jesus, one coming from the Father alone, the other born of Mary alone, but there is only One Jesus. Therefore, the ancient Fathers said that the attributes of both natures are added and imputed to the whole person of Christ in concreto, and made communicationem idiomatum, and that it is a communion, since the attribute of one nature is imparted to the other nature. For every nature has its own kind; as, of human nature, the quality is that Christ should be born of the Virgin Mary.

but the divine nature has other characteristics. But because one does not have to separate the person, a community is made, that one says: The child Christ, who lies in the cradle and sucks milk from Mary the Virgin's breasts, has created heaven and earth. Item: God's Son, who is God with the Father from eternity, hangs on the mother's breast, is crucified and dies. Nam communicatio naturarum adducit etiam communicationem idiomatum. Of it the old fathers have diligently taught and written.

We should also do the use and custom here, and learn why the person, who is God and man, was given into the world. This is also what the Lord Christ says, that whoever believes in Him should be free from eternal death and have assurance of eternal life. Angels, nor any other principalities and powers, have not given themselves into our flesh and died for us, for the human and angelic nature would have been too weak to do so, but the divine nature takes humanity upon itself and gives itself to Christ in our flesh and blood, so that we might be saved through Him.

So you see how the evangelist John can speak gloriously of Christ and of the high article of our Christian faith, that Christ is God and man, and always does this in his gospel, and does not preach about good works, necessary for salvation, as the unholy Pope did.

The thirtieth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

The 4th day after Trinity [Wednesday, June 19] 1538.

Next we heard how the Lord Nicodemus preached a beautiful sermon that no one would enter heaven or possess the kingdom of God unless he were born again and believed in the serpent hanging on the cross, that is, in the Son of Man who was raised up, so that all who believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. This then is the new spiritual birth, by which man is brought to eternal life, if one believes in the Son of Man.

He believes in the Son who was crucified. Now he crosses this out and preaches a beautiful sermon to the one man Nicodemo, and it is a wonder that he preaches to him so gloriously. But he justifies this by saying that he loves Christ not only while he is alive, but also after his death etc. For this is also the end of the sermon which Christ preached to Nicodemus, that he converted him. And these words, "God so loved the world," etc. do not need much elaboration or interpretation, for they are preached annually; therefore we will speak of them recently.

But he says: "'As Moses lifted up a serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up'" etc. Now this is followed by:

V. 16. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life;

repeat what he said above, and would like to make a great miracle to Nicodemus, as if he were to say: "Dear Nicodemus, is it not a wonderful thing that the Son of Man is hanged on the cross and raised, and that the Son of Man, born of Mary the Virgin, is a true man, body and soul, and also the Son of God? Is this not a great wonder, that the Son of Man and the Son of God are One Son? For he speaks both things (that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life) as the Son of man and the Son of God, and attributes them both to him. Therefore I preach great things to you, which may well cause you to wonder, such as how a man is to be born again. But this is still more wonderful, that one should know how the rebirth takes place. For one cannot come again into the womb of the mother, but it happens 1) in this way that God gave His only begotten Son for us in death: by this we are born again. Item, should this not seem strange to you, namely, that for the sake of this rebirth God does such a wonderful thing, that he does not give any angel or patriarch, but his only begotten Son, for he has otherwise

1) Erlanger: go.

no other, and made him man; and being born, and having given him unto us, he giveth him not evil, 1) but unto death, and causeth him to be lifted up, even as Moses lifted up the serpent? Is this not a great thing? Is not the medicine strong enough? Who could ever have desired it, that by it death might be healed and sin swallowed up? Such a strong help and mighty medicine shall do it for thee.

Because you do not understand all this, and you think about what it is that a man should be born again and be redeemed from sins, since we are sinners and are in the jaws of death, it is true that it seems strange and strange to you that we should remain before death, God's severe judgment and wrath, and before sin. Yes, of course it is strange. But see, what does God do about it? You would not have thought of it. He gives against sin, death and your old nature and birth, out of his divine wisdom, counsel and mercy, his only begotten Son, who is also the Son of man, and is thus given to us to die and be buried. There is another miracle and a greater miracle. If you are surprised and think it is unbelievable that a man should be born again, then this is still a greater miracle, that God so loves a poor sinner that he gives him, not an angel or prophet, but his only Son, and so gives him to become man and to be crucified. Learn this, and when you have learned it, and see these strange things, your heart will be troubled: These are strange things, how is it possible? But if you can grasp it and believe it, you will conclude: "If the Son of God is the remedy and the medicine against death and sin, what wonder is it? because the Son of God is greater and stronger than sin, the devil and my death. But believe it, and you will know that he is greater. For this is actually true, that I, out of my strength, whether I have

1) In the Erlanger this sentence reads: "and lets them become man; and if he is born and has given us to them, then he does not give them bad dohm" etc.

2) Erlanger: holds.

If a person puts on a monk's cap and accepts all the orders and rules, and goes on pilgrimages, and has all their good works, on which they rely, they still do not drive out death, but must die. For it is not the right prescription or medicine. But if I can believe here and accept this remedy, that God gives us His Son, and not one of the common sons, such as Abraham, Isaac and David, of whom He has many other sons, but His only begotten Son, then it is certain that because such a Son is given to us, He will bring about a new rebirth, that He will be a victor and conqueror of the devil. For this is the reason that God's Son is far, far greater than death, and stronger than sin, the devil; and is kinder to us, and we have more grace of God than wrath through him, or what may be more. If you wonder how a man can be brought from the devil into God's kingdom, it is worth even more wonder that God has given us His Son. Now that you believe this, the other wonderings will cease. For if we have the Son of God, who stands for us against death and opposes the devil, let the devil be as evil as he wills; if the Son of God has died for me, death devours me and devours me; he shall restore me, and I shall be at ease before him. Christ died, and death swallowed up the Son of God; but death made a snare of him, that he should give him again, because it was impossible that he should abide in death. For the person is God, and since God and man are one person, unseparated, in the belly of death and the devil, death has eaten a morsel of him that tears his belly.

This has also been God the Father's counsel from eternity, that He would thus devour death and destroy the devil's kingdom, and give the devil a little pill to eat with delight, but with it make such a mess in his belly and in the world. Now the Lord will say: Dear

3) dere - such.

Nicodeme, you see it is a miracle that God has given such a great, precious treasure to our rebirth. For is it not a miracle that I am the Son of Man and the Son of God, in One Person, and that I have been given into death, so that I may enter into the jaws of the devil and death? But I will not stay inside, and not only go out again, but also tear his belly, because the poison is too strong that death must die from it.

And lest he separate himself from the Father, he soon turns our heart away to the Father, saying that the Father also loves us, just as Christ loves us, and dies for us out of great love; that is, he who sees God's love sees mine also, for we have one love. I love you that I may redeem you from sin and death. It is also a miracle that God the Father loved you in this way and gave you the Son.

Furthermore, he says, how it happens that he tears death, and I also do not perish in death. He wants to be the poison of death. But death and the law will condemn him, so that he must die and be destroyed, but he will rise again from the dead. Where I will then be, there the devil must depart. But how do I get to this Savior and Redeemer? Is it through caps, orders and rules of the monks etc.? No. Only cling to the Son by faith, who overcame death and tore the devil's belly, who will rule and reign again, even though he was crucified under Hannah and Caipha. Therefore abide in him, 1) and thou shalt tear through death and the devil: for thus saith the text, All they that believe on him shall have everlasting life." Hold it for the truth the miracle that God loved the world, and say: I believe in the Son of God and Mary, who was crucified and lifted up. Then you will know that you have been born again, for death and sin will no longer accuse you, nor cause you any harm, suffering or pain, for whoever believes in the Son will have eternal life. Cling to his neck or to his garment, that is,

1) Erlanger: ihne.

Believe that he became man and suffered for you, and put the cross before you, saying, "I am a Christian," and tear through it, and death will be overcome. For just as death could not keep Christ, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter 2, that S. Peter says, "It was impossible for death to keep him, because the Godhead and humanity were united in one person.

So also Christ John prays in the 17th chapter, saying: "As I and the Father are one, so let them also be one in me. If then I believe in him and am in Christ, it is impossible for me to be accused and condemned by sin and death, for he has torn it asunder; and it is not of our own strength, but by faith that we believe in him, and so remain on the back of Christ, the faithful Shepherd, as a godly little sheep.

Therefore, he who is a Christian and takes hold of Christ by faith is not very afraid of the devil, nor frightened by death and sins; and though he feels sin and is frightened and saddened by it, yet he pulls through and is not oppressed, for he soon says, "I believe in the Son of God and Mary, who is the devil's poison and death, and is my salvation, medicine and life.

Thus one reads a fine example of a nun (of whom 2) our Lord God has had some in all classes who have been preserved and saved). She had 3) high temptation of death and sins, as all who have not been belly servants have felt God's wrath and judgment; therefore, one has sought refuge in the saints. Because the nun was also afraid of God's wrath and would have liked to be saved, when the devil plagued her with his temptations, she had become accustomed to saying to the devil: "Leave me alone, I am a

2) In the manuscript "der", which Höck and the Erlanger have changed into "denn".

3) Erlanger: has.

Christian; then the devil had to leave her satisfied. This seems to be an easy thing, and soon learned. But see to it that one also speaks it out of faith, as this little nun has done. For these words: I am a Christian, the devil did not greatly fear, but her faith, that she firmly relied on it and said: I have been baptized into Christ, and in him alone do I trust, for he is my life, salvation, and wisdom; and when a speech thus proceeds from faith, it is a vain fiery air to the devil, which breaks him, and grieves him that he cannot stay. But when it is cold, as the common man is wont to speak of the things of God and of salvation, the devil laughs. But if the speech boils in the heart, then you chase him, so that he does not remain. For there is Christ, the eater of death and the ripper of death, 1) as Hosea is told in the thirteenth chapter [v. 14], who also saith here, He that believeth on me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If then he is to have eternal life, he must live and be free from death and sin. Now when the devil hears the name, he flees, for he cannot bear it. But if he does not feel the one who tore him apart, then he avenges one into hell.

I say this for the sake of those who think it is enough, who can only speak and tell the words and not also believe with the heart, as many of them hear these words and think they want to do it afterwards, as I will tell you an example or history of it. There was a doctor of Arzu ei in Italy, a godless man, who was asked to be godfather for a time. Now, above the baptism, he heard the glorious words of the institution and endowment of baptism, how the child would become an heir of the kingdom of heaven through Christ, and how the church had asked God for the child that Christ would also accept this child. When he came home after the baptism, and contemplated these words in his heart, and was quite upset and saddened by them, and when he had just invited guests to his home for supper, and the guests asked him why he had thus

1) Erlanger: "Todenfresser und Todenreißer".

sighed deeply and had such great thoughts in his heart: then he 2) came out and said: I became a godfather today, and heard great and also strange words, and if I knew that I had also been baptized in the same way, oh, I would never be afraid of the devil; and because an old man had just been sitting at the table, who had lifted the doctor out of the baptism, he said: My dear doctor, my dear doctor, you should not doubt it, for I stood at your baptism and was your godfather, and I can testify that you were baptized in the same way. When he was very happy about this, and soon after got up from the guests and went into his room, he saw that in one room there were two large, long horns sticking out of the wall, where there had been none before, because the devil was tormenting him and disguised himself in the horns. When the doctor saw this, he thought to himself: "You have been baptized and are a Christian, why would you fear the devil? 3) With such strong faith, he went to the wall, broke off one of the horns, and ran into the chamber to the guests with joy, and told them what had happened in the chamber. When the guests all got up and ran into the chamber to see if the one horn was still there, and found two horns on the wall again, another came and wanted to do the same, and put in a great honor, saying, "I am also a Christian," and went to the wall and wanted to tear off one horn. Then the devil broke his neck and strangled him. For this one wanted to scold with the things and to seek only a temporal honor with it. Then his head was torn off, because otherwise the other, who needed in the challenge of faith, was not harmed nor hurt.

This history is easy to believe, and I am telling it so that one not only learns to speak the words of the Holy Scriptures, but also believes in them from the heart, even in all kinds of danger and in death. For many say with their mouth: I am a Christian; but in the heart

2) Erlanger: lead.

3) Erlanger: wollst.

they do not believe it. But if they are serious, then you will know when the need arises. But take hold of the word of God by faith, pray and say with all seriousness: I am a Christian, then you will know if you believe. Otherwise, if there is no need, you will not feel it. The rough people, who are in no need or temptation, do not know anything about it. For it is not learned behind the tiled stove either, of which Christ says here that we must be born again. If you are a Christian and believe, say with the nun: I am a Christian. What is the point? You will feel relief, so that your heart will be satisfied, and you will be able to thank God, and the devil will have to leave, because he cannot stand these fiery words.

So now it is all because of the great, wonderful miracle that I believe that God has given His Son for us. If I do not doubt this, then I can say in my affliction: It is true, devil, I must confess that I am a sinner, that I wear the old Adam on my neck, and that I am under the wrath of God. But what do you say to me that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life? These words I believe. And such words you speak out of a hearty faith. For Christ passed through death and sin, and death could not swallow him up. If then thou believest in me, saith he, he shall not devour thee: though he keep thee three days, as he kept me Christ three days in the earth, and Jonah three days in the belly of the whale, yet shall he spue thee out again. You should be amazed, not only that you should be born again, but that God so loved the world that he gave us such a strong plaster, medicine and syrnp against sin, death, the devil and hell, that whoever puts this on his heart shall be undestroyed.

On the other hand, see what an abomination and error this is to those who have pointed us to other works than that people run to the deserts and monasteries and make pilgrimages.

1) Erlanger: sollest.

We should go to the monastery and do all this so that we would not be lost but have eternal life. I also entered the monastery for this reason, so that I would not be lost but have eternal life; I wanted to advise and help myself with the cap. It is truly a troublesome and burdensome business: even today, this is taught in Turkey and in the papacy. The Jews also teach this way. But it is spoken from the devil's mouth.

But one would like to say: Eh, should such a big bunch of people also be able to err? Know then that the Son of God is greater than all the gates of hell, greater also than all the monks and their caps. Nicodemus also wanted to hear how he should be born again and saved from death, and asked how this should be done. The Lord answered: "This is how it is: the Son of Man must be raised, and the Son of God must be given in death, so that people may believe in him. For what if the world were full of monks' caps and rules, or of the statutes of the pope, or of Alcoran the Turk, or of the laws of the Jews? nevertheless Christ is greater than all these things. For he is still the Creator of heaven and earth, and Lord over all creatures, and has not given for me S. Franciscum, nor any of the monks of the same, nor the mother of Christ, S. Petrum, nor any vain angel, nor caps or plates, but much greater treasure. For it takes more not to be lost and to overcome death than that a man or an angel could accomplish it, but the only begotten Son of God. The Son devours death.

Our adversaries also read this text, but they do not understand it, just as we also had these words in the papacy, but understood nothing of them, but our thoughts were directed only to our works; although some have grasped the words by faith, and have been preserved when that nun said: I am a Christian; and I saw a monk catching a cross of Christ in his hand 2) and sawing (when the other monks praised all their works):

2) Erlanger: erwuschete.

I know of no 1) merits of mine, but only of the merit of him who died for me on the cross, and died on it. For otherwise, in the papacy, one used to reproach the dying in the monastery, they wanted to be mindful of their and other 2) merits, or good works, and die on them. But as the pious monk died blessedly, solely on the merit of Jesus Christ, so many an avenger on the gallows has been redeemed from sins and saved by faith.

S. St. Bernard also did this, who was an excellent monk and kept his order hard, and fasted himself so much that his breath stank so much that no one could stay with him. When he was about to die, he said: "Oh, I have spent my life badly! But heavenly Father, you have given me your Son, who has the kingdom of heaven by two rights, firstly, from eternity that he is your Son, and secondly, he has also acquired it [heaven] as the Son of man, with his suffering, death and resurrection, and in this way he has also given it to me and shared it with me. Then he falls from the monks, orders, caps and rules, on Christ, that he did not tear death for himself, but for the sake of us [the] people, so that all who believe in the Son would not be lost, but have eternal life; and so St. Bernard became blessed.

Now these are golden words that should be kept in our Christianity, for they alone make Christians. Otherwise you will see how shamefully wrong those are who want to escape eternal damnation through monasticism, caps and plates and their merits, and have also sold and shared their superfluous good works with others. Thus, unfortunately, we have lived in piety. But, young people, be grateful to God for this, and learn these words well. For it is the devil and death with the pope and the Turk Alkoran, since people only cling to their evil works, so that they will not be lost. But there is something more to it than our good works, because even the angelic sanctity is not lost.

1) Erlanger: none.

2) Erlanger: other merit.

nothing helps, but the Son of God must be given to rend death; and he shall not have heaven and victory over death alone, but that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, Again, whosoever believeth not, there is no help, neither is there salvation for ever; as he further saith, "He that believeth not is already judged."

The thirty-first sermon [on the Gospel of John].

[Saturday, the 29th day of June, on the day of Peter and Paul, Anno 1538.

We have heard that the Christ said to Nicodemo: "Thus God loved the world" etc.; item, that God did not send His Son to judge the world, and learned from the same words that the Son of God and the Son of Man are One Person, and that the Son of Man is hanged and lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. For this also belongs to human nature alone, for God could not suffer nor be crucified. Nor does he say here that the Son of God was given to death and hung on the cross, so that we may learn from this communicationem idiomatum that the attributes of both natures are drawn to this one person, and thus attributes of both natures belong to the one person; and although it is true that they are two different things, the Creator and the creature, and are as far apart as nothing and something or everything, or as heaven and earth: nevertheless they are united here.

I do not diligently do this in vain, for there have been many heretics, and there will be many more, who will dispute this article, and who have taken offense at the fact that God should suffer, for the Godhead is an eternal majesty, but humanity is a temporal creature; and because there are two natures in Christ, they have played and pretended with this article, partly that Mary is not the mother of God's Son, and that Christ, Mary's Son, is not God's Son, and have

The two men were offended by the fact that two natures are found in Christ, and therefore they also wanted to make two persons. But according to the Holy Scripture we say that there are two natures in Christ, but only one and not two persons, so that this person, God and man, suffered, item, Son of God and Son of Mary was crucified. Although an enthusiastic spirit would like to say, "God cannot be crucified," you say that this person, who is God and man, was crucified. For since God thus rhymes, we should also do so and say that Mary is not only the mother of Christ according to humanity, but also the mother of God's Son, and that her Son is both God and man. For this is also what S. Paul says to the Hebrews in chapter 6, where he speaks of the false Christians, and says that they themselves crucify the Son of God and hold him up to ridicule. Item, in the first to Corinthians at the 2nd chapter: "If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Since S. Paul and the Scriptures speak in this way that the Son of God and the King of honor was crucified, we should also speak and believe in this way without hesitation, and whoever believes this book of the Scriptures will not object. For we can also say: This child, born of Mary, who hangs on her breasts or lies in her womb, created heaven and earth; and if someone wants to say: "Well, what should the child create? then I answer: The holy scripture says it. So also the dear angels sing it in Christmas, Luke in the 2nd chapter, and say: "Christ the Lord is born to you in the city of David. This is what the angels sing about the child when the mother was still suckling him at her breasts, and they call the child a Lord.

The old fathers fought very hard about this, and preserved it against the heretics, that in Christ there are two natures, but not two persons, but only one Son. Thus speaketh the Scriptures, and we also ought to speak thus. According to mankind, there is crucified, and according to the Godhead alone heaven and earth were created. But because this person is God and man, it is rightly said: God's Son is the creator of heaven and earth, and will be the creator of heaven and earth.

also crucified. It is not necessary to separate the person, so that only humanity remains, but he was also God, as S. Hilarius says: Christus passus est requiescente verbo; and if we do not receive that this person is God and man, who died on the cross, we would be eternally damned and lost. For we must have a Savior who is more than a saint or an angel, for if he were not more, greater and better, we would not be helped. But if he is God, the treasure is so heavy that it not only weighs away and cancels sin and death, but also gives eternal life. Otherwise, no man could give or do this, or overcome the devil and death.

This is our Christian faith, and therefore we rightly confess: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of Mary, suffered and died. Hold fast to this faith, and let the heathen and the heretics always be wise, and thou shalt be saved. Therefore it follows: He that believeth on the Son of man, which was born of Mary, and suffered, and is buried, shall not perish; he is the Son of God, and hath everlasting life: and the devil, and sin, and death, can do nothing against him; for he hath everlasting life.

For this reason the text adds: God gave His only Son so that the world would not perish but have eternal life. For God has many other sons, as we boast that He is our God and Father, as we also pray in the Lord's Prayer; and S. Paul says that we are chosen for sonship, because God the Father wants us to be His children. But the evangelist distinguishes the sons, saying: They are sons who believe in the Son. Since we are sons of God who believe in Him, it must follow that the same Son who is believed in is much more different and greater than all those who believe in Him. Otherwise, others are sons of God, but not such sons as he is, in whom one must believe, but those [such as] 1) we must believe in the only begotten Son.

1) "like" added by us.

Believe in God. He does not become a son of God because he believed in us, but we become sons of God because we all believe in him and become sons through him. Therefore, he is much more another son than we are.

The heretics have disgracefully torn up the Holy Scriptures and pretended that Christ is metaphorically called the Son of God, just as we humans are called sons of God. But in Job the angels are also called sons of God, for so it is said [Job 38, 4. 7.]: "Where were you when all the children of God in heaven worshipped me?" that is, all the angels; so Christ would also be the Son of God. But no, look at this text here. He is the Son to be believed in, and we holy men, and the angels are not sons of God as he is Son, for we are all made sons through him alone when we believe in him. The angels are made children of God through him, for they are created through the Son, as is written to Colossians [Cap. 1, 16.]. In the same way, we human beings were created through him, and we condemned and lost sinners are made sons of God by believing in him. Therefore he is God and the Son of God, for it is another thing for all to believe and then all to be believed; and to whom it is due the honor that men should believe in him, and through him become the children of God and be born again, he must be true God. If the angels were created through him, he must be the Lord of all creatures, for the angels are the highest creatures. If we are created through him, he must not be the Son of God, as we or John the Baptist is the Son of God.

This is the real difference between God's children and this Son of God, as God Himself is. But we are made sons through Him, and He gives us eternal life, overcoming death through Himself. These are. differentiae essentiales. So you must look at the holy scriptures, not only for yourself, but that you may also meet the red spirits who lead the holy scriptures after their own head, and know that this son is holy and safe from the devil and

Death, is not lost as we men; so he also does not attain blessedness to him, because he is the blessedness and the life itself before. For he is truly God, not only in all his person, but also in his office and works, which bear full witness that he is God, as he says in John [Cap. 10, 38]: "If you will not believe me, believe me for the works' sake" etc. Therefore it is quite essentialis definitio that it is said of him here: He that believeth on him hath eternal life, that the Son should give eternal life, and choke death by himself, and make all believers blessed, for this belongs to God alone.

So you can justify your faith that Christ is true God not only because of his being but also because of his work. He is personally God, and also does divine works, for he who believes in him makes him blessed. This is not written of any angel called Gabriel or Michael, nor of John the Baptist, nor of the Virgin Mary, that whoever believes in them becomes the Son of God, but only of the Son is it said that he helps from death and gives eternal life. Thus, God has set the Son high not only according to the person and majesty, but also according to the work. Therefore we should write this text with large, even golden letters on all walls, and also in our hearts, for they are words of life and blessedness, because we can know from them how to escape from death, and also defend ourselves with them against all heretics, also against the pope and the Turk, who all also read this text, but with sleepy eyes and deaf ears. For if they heard, understood and believed it, they would not have fallen into such foolishness, but would have said: I alone am saved through Christ, the Son of God, who was given and crucified for me. For if this is true, I soon say: What am I doing in the monastery? Why did I run to Rome or to St. James? (because I did all this in order to be saved by it) and then judge all religion and faith to be false and unjust, be it the Turk's, Mahomet's, Pabst's or the Jews' faith, which these religions and faiths are.

Read and sing the words, but sleepily, as if the nuns read the psaltery and do not know what they are singing or reading; speak these words, but not like a parrot. But consider these words carefully, and search them out in your heart; and when you have understood them aright, then you can judge and search by faith, and confidently defend yourself against the spirits of the wicked.

Christ further says: "Look at it, dear Nicodeme, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that we might be saved through him; as if he should say: The work that is saving from sins and death I do; and then the work that he himself does he gives to the Father, so that the work of the Father and the work of the Son are one and the same, as the evangelist John is wont to do for and for, that he distinguishes the persons and draws the work together. For the Father is not the Son of the Virgin Mary, nor crucified, but the Son alone, and yet the Father and Son are and remain true God, and the Son draws us to the Father through Himself.

But we have heard that he said: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit"; item: "No one goes up to heaven except he who has come down. This is a harsh and terrifying speech, condemning the whole world to have no God at all, and to be damned and lost, and there is only the wrath of God. Yes, God is a pure tyrant; and so you have heard the wrath and judgment of God, that we men are all conceived and born in sins. But hear now also of the love of God, that he favors thee, and loves thee. For if you want to have a gracious God and Father, and know that He loves you, this is the way to do it: So you come to God, because you believe in the Son, whom he gave for you, and who let himself be hanged on the cross. Because you have no faith, it is impossible that you should not feel the unspeakable love of God. God's unspeakable love that he will not let you be condemned, but rather gave his Son for you so that you might live. Take this well, because you want to be saved. For if thou

If you believe this, you will ascend to heaven through me and find not an angry judge, but a loving Father who is so disposed toward me that he does not want me to perish, but has given his Son for me; otherwise I would perish in death. Then I can say, If God so loved me that He also gave His Son for me, that I might be saved, why should I fear His wrath?

In the papacy, much has been preached about sin, death and hell, also about the wrath of God. But how do you get rid of all that? They wanted us to do enough for our sin with our good works and atone with monastic life, pilgrimages and masses. But here it is said: Whoever does not believe in the Son, the wrath of God remains upon him; since the Pope wants me to put on a cap and have a plate made for me, and do other foolish things, so that I may be rid of the wrath of God. So the Turk, the Pope and the Jews are painting our Lord God to be an angry God, but to be satisfied and made merciful to me, because I humble myself, fast, sacrifice, and do good works, and atone for my sin with an austere life. This is the wicked devil, that one should point people to their good works, and not to Christ, the Son of God, when God does not want you to stand on your own, nor to insist on your works (however good they may be), but you should go and take hold of the Son, hang on his neck alone, and believe in him and say: I believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who was born of Mary, and suffered and died for me. etc.

This is what the papists sang every day in their churches, and pushed the faith in their children. But no one understood it, they did not say: I want to escape from hell with my monasticism and order. For this reason, the Lord wants us to renounce all thoughts of God and eternal blessedness, to attain it through our good works, and to flee to the Lord Christ alone, for no one seeks God except the Lord Christ, otherwise he will remain eternally damned and lost. There would be much to preach about this, if the time were right.

wanted to suffer. However, there have always been many red spirits who have let Christ go and have wanted to climb up to heaven and seek God with their sharp thoughts and good works, and therefore all heresies have arisen among the Jews, so that the hermits or Levites in their gardens, beautiful meadows, pleasant pastures, or where there was a beautiful lime tree or mountain, there they built altars, sacrificed and wanted to perform worship there, and tempted the people to run to the same altars, and the devil did miracles there from time to time, and the poor people were miserably deceived. Against this the prophets cried out earnestly, and condemned that one should serve God out of one's own devotion. For when the priests said: This must be done in this place, this is pleasing to God, then the devil struck, so that the people ran to it with crowds, and only made their own devotion to God. But if God were also like them. He had let Moses tell them where they should worship him; not where there was a beautiful place, a tree, a pleasant valley, meadow or mountain, but where the tabernacle of the congregation was, where they should worship him, and therefore God wanted to be found alone in the temple at Jerusalem. But the spirits of the Jews said, "Is not God also on this mountain, or in the place where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob also worshipped God? God can hear us here as well as in Jerusalem. That meant climbing to God with our own devotion. So we did. We were not satisfied with God's saying, "No one leads to heaven except the one who descends"; item: "He who does not want to be condemned and lost, but to have eternal life, let him believe in the Son who was crucified; but it was also said, "You must truly do good works, and not only the good works commanded in the Ten Commandments, but you must also do the works commanded by the pope, with fasting and feasting," 2c, and then mock us that preach of faith, saying, What faith? what faith? but he that preacheth this 1) or that

1) Erlanger: this.

He who accepts the order will be blessed. That is the plague, and that is to seek our Lord God and to climb up to heaven with our thoughts by our own way. Learn this against the devil, who is called enthusiasm, because people do not think anything of the verbal word, but say: The spirit must do it, lead vain spirit in the mouth. Now Nicodemus in this form could well have received the Holy Spirit, but here he hears from Christ the word of truth that Christ preaches to him: "No one leads to heaven" etc. Therefore, the word must still be preached and read orally, and it must be said: "I believe in the only begotten Son of God, who died for me," etc., and thus conclude our faith badly, and say: "I know of no other God, but of Him who is written here: He that believeth on the Son of man hath everlasting life. This I cannot attain by any other thoughts or works, but the only and right way to God is to believe in the Son. For this reason, God has so diligently commanded us to preach, and for this reason has given us the oral ministry, and instituted the sacraments, and commanded us absolution, so that this preaching may remain known among Christians, and that faith may be led with a stout heart, as we confess: I believe in the Son who was given to die for me; which words the papists also hear, for they have the Bible as well as we do, but they slumber and snore, blind with seeing eyes and deaf with hearing ears, thinking, O if I had only done what S. Augustine or Franciscus commanded! The laity then invoke the Virgin Mary to ask her Son for them, and since I was in the monastery for twenty years, I thought of nowhere else to go but to keep my rules. So we were drowned and absorbed in the sleep of our good works that we did not see nor understand these words. But if you want to meet God, write these words in your heart, do not sleep, wake up, learn and consider them well, that Christ says: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.

but have eternal life." Here let him who is able to write write; item, read and act, write poetry, and seek it in the morning and evening, whether he sleeps or wakes. For the devil brings you into this severe temptation, that you think Christ is not the Son of God, and your faith does not please Him, and afflicts you with eternal misfortune, with the wrath and judgment of God. Then you say: I do not want to know God, nor do I want to know or hear God, except that He loves me; I do not want to know about some angry God, about His judgment and wrath, hell, death and damnation. But if I see his wrath, I know that he drives me to the Son, that I have refuge in him, and if I come to him, I have a gracious Father. For, as S. John says in his epistle, the Father loved me rather than we loved or knew him, and forgave me sin and gave me blessedness.

If you hear these words and believe them, they make you a true Christian; but if you lose these words, all is lost, God grant you be a Carthusian or whatever you want.

These are big words that I cannot talk out. "Not to be lost" means not to be in sin, not to have an evil conscience, nor to be under the law. For the law otherwise punishes sin, but if anyone here feels sin and the wrath of God, he shall not have an evil conscience because of sin, for it is forgiven him. The law shall not accuse him, sin shall not bite nor afflict him, death shall not devour him, for because he believes, he is safe and secure.

This is what we preach and believe, but if anyone does not believe it, let him ask God to give him such faith. But see to it that you do not contradict this faith, or disgrace and blaspheme, as the pope does, who says: "Well, I also believe that Christ makes blessed, but not me. Well, the devil also knows that God has saved S. Peter. Therefore, faith is not a small thing, as the pope despises it, but is a heartfelt trust in God through Christ, so that Christ's suffering and death will make you 1)

1) Erlanger: you.

and should be your own. Otherwise, the devil and the pope also have faith, but it is only fides historica; but true faith does not doubt, it surrenders with its heart that the Son of God was given for it in death, and took away sin, strangled death, and not only took away evil, but restored eternal life, righteousness, blessedness and glory, yes, what God Himself is, and made us His children through the Son.

These are living words that Christ speaks to us, to you and to me, namely, whoever accepts the Son shall be blessed, death, the devil and hell shall be gone. These words comfort in anguish and affliction, and when one is to contend against the spirits of the wicked, and quench the fiery darts of the devil, item, that we may retain the glory, that God's Son is our gift and present: this otherwise no monastic order or rule can give you, it is called S. Augustini, or whatever it may be, but you must say: I believe in Christ, in whom S. Augustine also believed. But if I wanted to say: O dear Virgin Mary, you are holier than I am, and you, S. Francisce, have many merits, tell me your merits, nothing will come of it, and you would be answered as one said to the mad virgins in the 25th chapter of Matthew (who wanted to have oil from the wise virgins who had their lamps full): Go, buy you also oil in the market from the merchants, that is, from your preachers and teachers, who have taught you thus.

And so in this text are rich, excellent and blessed words to be diligently remembered.

The thirty-second sermon [on the Gospel of John].

Sabbatho post Aegidii, 7. Septembris. Anno 1538.

Mau used to preach this gospel to the common man every year on the Monday of Pentecost, and because it is rich in words, it can never be preached enough. But we have often interpreted the first part abundantly, namely that God sent His Son into the world, so that whoever

who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Enough has been said about this. But we also want to deal with the other part, that the world does not want to accept the judgment, nor to hear the word of God.

Now it is a great wonder that the world should be so mad and foolish, 1) that it cannot stand when it is preached to it that through Christ, the Son of God, it should be saved, have eternal life, be redeemed from sin and death, and fear nothing at the last judgment. This is truly the most beautiful and best sermon. Even when it is carried to the people's house and court, it shall be thrust away. How is it that we always regard our blessedness so lightly? See how it is with the papists and the spirits of the rot. They can all hear and suffer this sermon so far away that they say: God sent His Son into the world and gave Him for me. But when it comes to the point that our good works are punished by this, and they are to count for nothing, that one says: You monks must believe in this Christ, and through Christ alone, and not through your masses, pilgrimages or other ceremonies, become blessed: then the quarrel arises that it should all be condemned, and be called pure heresy. If this were said of Turks, I would not believe it. But because I myself hear and see that many become evangelicals because they are gently preached to, but when they hear or see a little something that they do not like, and that their good works are rejected, they recoil, and want to become mad and foolish, and the anger, strife and hatred of all comes from this, that we are saved by the Son whom God has sent us, and not by the caps, plates or some of our good works.

And this is also contained in the text in glorious words, namely, that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Is this not German enough? It does not help yet, because when people hear that their thing shall be nothing, then it is over. Your

1) "his" added by us.

The thing must be right and remain right, God grant that heaven and earth fall upon it. It is to be wondered at that such wickedness should be to men, that they cannot throw away their good works without great wrath and unwillingness, since it should be dear and pleasant to them to become blessed by an alien help and benefit. But they do not want to let their bad deeds be condemned in the first table. And what do I say of the sins in the first table, but idolatry, blasphemy, swearing, swearing, which the world will not allow to be punished in it? Nor can it suffer them to be punished in the other table. For tell a peasant 2) that he must believe in Christ, for through Christ he is offered salvation, but also beware that he is not a fornicator or an adulterer. If this is said to them, they soon get angry and throw away the word of God and the teaching. Thus, when the nobles hear a punitive sermon, they want to become mad and foolish. Item, the princes also want to be unpunished. If one says to them: If you do this, you are not a Christian, they have now learned to call the punitive sermon a disgraceful and blasphemous sermon, and to complain to the preachers that they are speaking to people's honor. One should only preach that "God so loved the world that He gave His Son to it. Item: "He who believes in the Son shall have eternal life." O, this is a delicious sermon! But the other part, namely, that the world hates the light and does not accept it, I am to leave quietly, and not to punish anyone for loving darkness, and this is what the kings, princes, lords and nobles would like to have. But let the devil do this, that it should not be said to them, for Christ himself says it here, that the world hates the light.

What do you think will happen if the nobility and others are not punished? You might well send them home to the devil, covered with may. Still they boast 3) nevertheless good evangelical. What shall we do here?

2) Erlanger: "a baurn".

3) "themselves" inserted by us.

Shall we stop preaching and let them always go into the devil's jaws? And it would be no wonder if I threw the keys at the feet of our Lord God and said: "Lord, preach yourself, you could do it differently, because we have preached to them and they do not want to hear us. But God wants us to stand firm in our profession and ministry, and to carry it out, and to punish it. For He wants to govern His church through the preachers, through the outward Word and Sacrament, just as He otherwise governs the world through mayors, kings, princes and lords, and punishes the wicked with the sword. Otherwise, he would not be allowed to use the executioner and the authorities anywhere, as is written in the 13th chapter of Romans, because otherwise he could punish the wicked much better himself. So he also wants to use us for the penal office in the church, just as he needs the princes in the secular government; and if this were not God's order and appointment, I would not want to preach for the rest of my life. But if God says: You shall do it, and remain in your office, be it over you, as it may, - if you are now in the preaching office, and see that you have husbands and boys, fornicators, adulterers and robbers for parishioners, then say: Because I am to do it, I will denounce the sin of the peasants, citizens and nobles, and punish them for such vices, and ask nothing of them, so that they may say, "My honor is being questioned. For by this means I shall bring your sin upon myself. But how can I go to hell for you? Well, they say, I do not desire it, I do not force you to it. Yes, but you do not want me to punish you, and you do not want to hear that your vices are punished by me, but you should keep quiet about it, since I have such an office that I should punish the vices, as the prophet Ezekiel says in the 3rd [v. 17 f.] and 33rd chapters [v. 7 f.]: "Son of man, I have set you as a watchman over the house of Israel. If therefore I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou sayest not unto him, that the wicked may beware of his nature; then shall the wicked die for his wickedness' sake, but his blood will I take from thee.

Hand demand." Behold, to lay such a burden upon the neck of a ruler, thinkest thou that it is a small thing? And now the poor preachers are burdened with it, item, all those who are otherwise in offices, as, mayors, princes and authorities. They must not be silent about their sins, nor sin themselves, for if I see adultery or other vices in others and do not punish them, God will punish me. For we in the spiritual and temporal government are commanded to punish, but no one does it. Where will you great kings and teachers of the church remain, who hear and see much vice and sin, and yet remain silent about it and do not punish? And many of them go to hell because of other and foreign sins.

Therefore, it is very difficult to be in a regiment, be it spiritual or secular, in secular regiment or in the church. But still there must be regents and authorities, and you should not be hostile to the authorities. For they carry a heavy burden on their necks, and they will find it expensive enough, who keep bad house in the regiment; and even if they carry a golden chain on their necks, so let them have it, because they have enough danger with it, if they do not govern rightly and do not punish sin. But the common man does not think of that. He does not know that if I, as a preacher, keep quiet and do not punish, then all the sin of this city will be on my neck. Now you see how everything in the world is scourging, scratching, stinging and proliferating, and when you tell them, they get angry and want to fly off the handle. Is that good evangelical preaching, if I should let you do as you wish, and should keep quiet about it? But why do you want to burden me with your sins? I will not let them lie on me, you bear them alone. Yes, why don't you keep quiet? Do you hear that I cannot and should not be silent for the sake of my office, for what do you give me that I should be condemned for your sake and be made a party to your sins? Therefore it comes to pass that the good gospel has this virtue and thanksgiving in the sight of the world, that the world loves darkness rather than light; so the gospel of Christ is a delicious, sweet sermon, but shameful to him is the gospel of Christ.

It is also a sweet sermon when one says: Christ will give his body and soul for you; but if one attacks one rightly, and punishes the sins in him, then it is the devil, and one does not want to suffer it. But one must teach that one can be saved through Christ alone, and then also reproach the ungodly with the judgment, namely, that men cannot suffer the light which shows how men are to be saved, but they want to remain in their usury and other sins. But let us deal with these finely one after another. He says: "Thus God loved the world" etc. This is an unspeakable sermon, that God, the heavenly Father, has had mercy on us, and out of grace and mercy has given us His Son. In addition, write that we did not deserve it, that it did not happen for the sake of our piety or merit, but out of pure grace. But to whom does this grace happen? To the world, that is, to those who were damned and lost. So we like to hear that God loved the world, but that the world should be lost, that sermon is not acceptable. What then does he give? Oh, it is an unspeakable love that he loves us in this way, that he does not give us a kingdom or a thousand angels, which would be a great and expressive gift, but he gives himself, gives his Son, who is truly God, and the most beloved thing that he has and is.

To whom does he give it? To the world, that is, to the lost multitude, which did not deserve it, but had to wait for the antitype, that they should be damned and lost. But the Son is given to them for this reason, so that, since they were lost, they might now be saved through him.

What should you do for this love of God again? Nothing? You should not go on pilgrimage to Rome, become a monk or a nun, do this or that work, but only believe in Christ, that one may come out of the lost being and cling to him, but that it is also such a faith, which is not without good works.

So, if this gift and offering, namely, the Son of the Father, is not grasped with any hand, finger or foot, not even in a monastery

When this gift comes into your heart, so that you believe in Christ from the heart, you do not remain an old man, as a thief, adulterer or murderer, but become a new man, because you have the light in your heart. Therefore, our Lord God first wants to have the heart thoroughly, which alone must believe. Our Lord God takes the very best, as the innermost man, not the mouth or the hand, but the heart, so that you may be devout from within. Then it is true that when you believe in Christ, the heart becomes pure, as S. Peter says in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, v. 9: "Through faith the heart is cleansed; and this same faith does not make you hopeful or proud, for when the heart is cleansed, the hands, eyes, feet, and all the other members are also clean and do other works than before. Faith does not make you a sinner, fornicator or adulterer, but as the heart is, so the whole life follows.

Now he transfigured himself further, and expressed it more gloriously; he said that the world was indeed condemned, but that the Son was sent to save the condemned and lost world, and because he was given and bestowed upon us out of great love, that we accept him with our hearts and believe in him, whoever is able to do so. Then it is to be said that we will be brought out of condemnation and into eternal life, so that death, hell and the power of the devil will be gone.

And as he talked affirmative until now, so now he says negative:

For God did not send His Son to judge the world etc.

As if he should say: The whole world, if it is pious and best, fears God and shrinks from him, for it knows that God is angry, that there is also a hell, judgment of God, and eternal damnation; and that this is so, it also shows the diseases, pestilences, fevers, wars, troubles, and other afflictions and miseries that are in the world, and are punishments or plagues of God, as

God shows His wrath and judgment against the wicked; and what little pious hearts there are, they know that God is angry and a reproachful one, and fear His judgment as they fear the devil. The outer crude and godless people fear nothing from war and pestilence; indeed, they become even more angry and impatient with wars, pestilence and the French.

Now it is in the hearts of all men that God is angry and an angry judge of sin, as we see His wrath in the world, punishing one here and another there. Thus man cannot be happy, but must always fear that God is behind him with a club and wants to strike. Here the Lord Christ says: "Let us put these thoughts aside, for God does not want us to think about them any more. For let him stand as he wills, even though he lets his four plagues go forth in the world, as diseases, wars, theurge, and wild beasts, yet the judgment shall be abolished, it shall not be wrath; as he also often stands against the saints wrathfully and scoldingly 1) as when he attacks Job, Jeremiah, David, and others, all of which then shall not be a judgment, since God would even destroy them, but a probation, as 2 Cor. 1, 7. 2) and in the 30th Psalm etc. Therefore he also says here: The judgment is over, the Father and I judge no one. God is not angry, for I am the pledge and the certain sign, yes, the gift and present, by which you shall know that God is not angry. For I am not sent to judge the world, and you should flee from me, and I should drive you from me as an angry judge, and the negative, the no, is all.

time stronger than the affirmative, or yes; as if to say, It is not that I would judge you, nor that the Father would judge you also, for if he would condemn and judge you, why then did he send me into the world? but wrath is gone, and love only in him, and he also sent me for this purpose, that I should not judge the world, but should make it blessed.

1) impish - impatient, angry.

2) Erlanger: 1 Cor. 2.

These are glorious and comforting words that devout Christians should take to their hearts, knowing that God does not judge. With these words we should comfort ourselves (if we were not desperate boys) that God does not want to strike us dead, nor throw us into hell. The wicked shall fear, flee, and not come to him with gladness. But you who believe in me shall not be judged, nor flee from me as a fierce judge. For through the means of believing in me, judgment is abolished, and I have been sent to bring judgment to an end. Therefore, the thoughts of your heart are wrong, for he who accepts me in faith lets go of the shameful words of the wrath of God, hell and eternal damnation.

These are his bright and clear words "shall not be judged", which we did not devise, but he spoke them. Why? Because he is not sent to judge the world, but to make it blessed, and to make it escape judgment. For it has me then, who am its God, and whoever has the Son of God and believes in him cannot be judged, for through him the Father has abolished judgment. Otherwise, the dear Son Christ would also have to be condemned, but it is impossible that he should be condemned. Therefore, where he is, there we also should be, so that we also would not be condemned, because if I believe in him, I cannot be judged. So then, we should not flee from Christ and God, the heavenly Father, but he wants us to take refuge in him; as little chicks gather under the wings of a hen, and as children take refuge in their parents, so we should also take refuge in Christ and the heavenly Father.

But the world is already judged by original sin, inheritance and the law of Moses, because it is deceived by the devil. Such judgment is already indicated by the law of Moses, our conscience and heart, as Romans 1 says that our own conscience accuses and condemns us, and therefore no longer needs a judge. For the world before is full of judgment, full of death, and not worthy of love. Therefore there was no need of a judge.

The Son is sent so that we may know that our thoughts must be put to death.

Now this is a comforting teaching. Nevertheless, the devil under the papacy beat it down, and even today this doctrine is despised. I fled from Christ under the papacy and trembled before his name. For my heart had 1) these thoughts full of Christ, that he would be a judge, to whom I would have to give an account of all words and works on the last day, since I knew these words well, and read them daily, but without understanding, because I thought Christ was a judge; [we] thus strayed horribly. St. Bernard, who was otherwise a pious man, also says: "See in the whole Gospel how often Christ scolds, punishes and condemns the Pharisees, and goes swiftly with them, whereas the Virgin Mary is always kind and gentle, and has never spoken a harsh word, and therefore has the thought: Christ scolds and punishes, but with Mary there is only sweetness and love. Therefore they were afraid of Christ, and from him we all ran to the saints, and called upon Mary and others for helpers in need; and if they were all holier than Christ, Christ alone was the executioner, but the saints were our mediators. And no one has been able to see this glorious text, nor to imagine in our hearts the words which he says here: I did not come into the world to judge the world, that he should not be a judge, but a mediator, a helper, a comforter, a throne of grace, a bishop, a shepherd, a brother, an advocate, 2) our gift and helper in need, and not a judge, for he was given to us and bestowed upon us, that we should not flee from him. And these wounds are not yet healed in our hearts, for nature is inclined that we do not give much credit to God, 3) and when evil teachers, as sects and cults, come to this, it is soon done. But I must learn from these words, 4) like a young child,

1) Erlanger: has.

2) Erlanger: Intercession.

3) Erlanger: to believe.

4) Erlanger: teach.

that Christ did not come to judge the world.

But the fact that he rumbles, rumbles and punishes in the Gospel now and then, all this is because he wanted to make the world blessed and not to condemn and judge it, because they are judged and condemned beforehand, as he says here in the text. But he wants us to accept him, not to hate the light, and to become new people, to let our hearts be attached to him, to trust him, and to say: You did not come to condemn me, but I would be saved through you. But one wants to believe in him so that one nevertheless remains in the old nature. But this does not do, for those who lie in vices cannot love Christ or follow him, for Christ and Belial cannot remain together. Faith must change the heart, and when faith is present, you will no longer rely on your money and goods, nor be proud or secure. But if the confidence of money and goods remains, then there is no faith. For faith alone holds Christ for its comfort. But before the world forsakes good, it forsakes Christ; that is, it does evil works and loves darkness.

But those who are truly terrified by God's wrath should write these words in their hearts and believe them to be true, that God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world would be saved through Him. Then you will learn in the struggles and anxieties of conscience that Christ is not lying, that he does not want to judge the world, but that the world would be saved through him, only that faith is right. So then it stands against death, for these words sustain you in all temptations. This is what true faith does, if it is not false or a changeling. After this, one will also live outwardly in such a way that one will use all kinds of food and drink and goods for the body's necessities, saying, "What should I be proud of? Today I am alive, but tomorrow 5) I am dead, and so let my heart cleave unto Christ alone.

But am I jealous, a whoremonger or

8) Erlanger: morning.

Adulterer, robber, and knave, go therefore, and then say: O, God did not send His Son to judge the world, then you will see it well, you do not belong to it, you are not in the love of the Father, but under the Father's wrath, and love darkness, and are apart from Christ and the love of the Father. For if you were in Christ, and remained under the Father's love, you would not do such sin and vice, and then it would be said: God did not send His Son to condemn the world. But you do not, and yet you do not want to be punished.

The world is under judgment beforehand through the law of nature, which Moses also puffed up, so that our judgment and condemnation would be revealed to us through the law. But if thou art in peril and temptation, run hither, and receive Christ, and thou shalt be preserved, and not judged; but if thou wilt not, thou shalt be lost; and let Christ punish thee. For when he punishes [someone] with his word, he does it so that he will not condemn him. When he says, Woe to you, it is so that he may make him blessed, and with harsh words he may make him respect the love of the Father. For if one remains proud and persists in wickedness, he is lost.

A father and mother do not scold, push and punish a child because they would strangle it, execute it and beat it to death, but chastise it so that it does not come into the hands of the executioner, so that he would have to pull it or execute it. In the same way, God does not want to let us go wild, and judges or chastises us, so that He will control and defend us, so that we will not be condemned, but will remain under God's protection and be heirs to the kingdom of heaven.

So God does with the elect and gives them much trial. Now when these thoughts occur to you: O, God is angry with you, then say: I believe in you and in your words, they will not lie to me; and even if you send me many plagues, it is not because of that that I should be condemned, you will not cast me out from you because of that, as also the Psalm [143, 2] says: "Do not go into judgment with your servant" etc. For you are not sent for this reason,

that you should judge the world. Even though God sends pestilence and other plagues, His heart is not set on destroying everything; and since in 1 Corinthians 11 many had acted unreasonably and unwise with the Lord's Supper, so that God caused many of them to fall into sickness and die, S. Paul says: "If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged by the Lord; but if we are judged by Him, we will be chastened, so that we may be judged by the Lord. Paul says: "If we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged by the Lord; but if we are judged by Him, we shall be chastened, that we, together with the ungodly world, may not be condemned."

So God's ruths are to be understood, that it is such a judgment, where we shall be saved and not remain condemned. He wants to withdraw us from the condemnation and judgment of the world with the same judgment, so that we would not also be judged. For Christ did not come to judge; he is not to be regarded as an executioner, or as one who would be evil and condemn us, but as one who wants to help the world. But the devil has his game, and can paint Christ in such a way and make him so evil to us that he is like death in our eyes. But if you remain under the wings of this hen, the Lord Christ, you can say: "God did not send His Son to judge the world", you do not have to make Christ a devil for me. For he was not sent to be my judge, tyrant, poison, death, wrath and pestilence, but is called a helper. This is his office, for this he was sent, as he himself says [Matth. 11, 28.]: "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" etc. For the Father sent him to us out of heartfelt, great love, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Therefore he concludes and says: He who believes in him will not be judged, adds the affirmative again and says: The believer is already out of the judgment that already exists through Christ. For all men are judged and in prison, to be eternally condemned; but the Son of God is given to deliver us from judgment. No matter how wicked the devil and your conscience may be, this teaching and consolation is still certain, if only

your faith is righteous; and then you must not fear that Christ will say to you on the last day, "Go to eternal damnation," but say [Matth. 25, 34.], "Come here, you sons of my Father. If we could grasp this in our heart, what joy we would cause within, so that the last judgment would not be feared! For the word, "Go, ye reprobates," is dead, and the word is upon me, "Come, ye reprobates," etc. Therefore, if judgment is gone, so is sin gone, item, death, the devil, hell, and all evil.

Therefore, learn these words, whoever can. But we wretched people are even more attached to money, property, honor and violence, to avarice and sins, we don't want to let it go and practice injustice, and we don't mean these words. If you hear them only once, you think that you have learned it all. For if we consider the words: He who believes in me must not fear the last judgment. For the judgment is abolished; it concerns him as little as it concerns the angels. He has no need of a mediator on that day, for the judgment is past. He does not need the saints to intercede, nor is he afraid of purgatory. Unless Christ be a false preacher, it is certain that as little as He fears your judgment, or that He may be judged, so little shall we also be judged, if we believe; and that is still more, we shall then judge with Christ the world and all the ungodly, as S. Paul says [1 Cor. 6:3], "Know ye not that we shall also judge the angels?" This is a great comfort to us, so that we will not be afraid, for because of faith in Christ, the judgment is over.

These words are true. But they do not want to go into our hearts, nor can they be unlearned soon. For even pious hearts still have the old thoughts and poison, and cannot be taken away from them. This text is a delicious remedy against the devil's poisonous thoughts, even though many are sure of it and have learned it too soon. But whether we believe it or not, it is still the truth that all who believe in the Son are free.

and are safe from judgment, whether they be children or old men. For we also have the same Christ and the same baptism that S. Peter and S. Paul had; and even if you were as deep in sins 1) as S. Paul, who strangled many Christians and shed innocent blood, or as S. Peter, who denied Christ, you are still baptized, and if you believe in Christ, you are saved from judgment just as much as they.

This teaching cannot be lacking. Therefore learn it in time, whoever can, that he may know it at the hour of death, or else be lost forever; and see that every man have a righteous faith, and pray continually. But if thou art weak in faith, why prayest thou not? Item, if your life, led in unbelief, avarice and other vices, provokes you against faith, then you have the prayer, call upon God, that His name may be sanctified, and His kingdom come to us, and that we may become strong in faith, and not be so hopeful and angry etc. For the Lord Christ knows well that we are weak and still have sin in us. But we are to say, O Lord, help us to be kind and gentle, not fornicators, covetous, robbers, etc., and that I may be saved through the Son whom God has sent to the world.

Now here I, and whoever else from the wide world would like to be, will be made blessed if he believes. For thus it is said here, "God so loved the world, that everyone who believes in Him should be saved through Him," not only S. Paul or S. Peter, but all, and all pass from this life without judgment into the kingdom of heaven, and become the judge of others also; and these are bright words, which we did not devise, but are words of eternal life, which God has preached to us through His Son.

Now hereafter shall follow of them that love their evil works rather than the light, that is, who despise the word of God, saying Christ, "He that believeth not is already judged."

1) Erlanger: liegest.

The thirty-third sermon [on the Gospel of John].

[Saturday] the 14th day of Septembris Anno 1538.

Next you heard how the Lord preached to Nicodemus and the whole world that God sent His Son into the world, not that the world should be condemned, but that it should be saved, and that this should be done through faith, for whoever believes in Him will not come into judgment. Now this is such a sermon, which should justly 1) put an end to all discord, and make us united, that we thank God for it day and night, and the whole world go in rejoicing and leaping. But this is the happiness of this sermon, that the world cannot stand it. For since a man cannot bear to have good things and joy preached to him, how should he suffer if he were told of sadness that he was damned and lost?

Now follows a joyful sermon that the judgment is over, that is, the wrath of God, hell and damnation are gone. For the Son of God came for this reason, that we might be saved and saved from death and hell. What then is lacking? That people do not want to believe it. For God gives His Son to save the world, and the world speaks against it: No, it is not true that it lies in sin and is condemned. This is the complaint. Therefore it follows:

V. 19. This is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men have darkness etc.

As if to say: He who believes will not go to hell, but he who does not believe has hell on his hands. Why? Because he does not believe in Christ; and this is the judgment, that an unspeakable comforting doctrine of God's grace, which has come to the world through Christ, is preached, and the world prefers to believe the devil rather than God and His beloved Son, when God says to us, "Through the Son, sin, hell, judgment and the wrath of God have been abolished. We poor people might well have lamented over the sin in which

1) Erlanger: solle.

we have fallen through Adam, and have fallen into death and all miseries, and must also bear the judgment of God; from which it often appears that God is angry with us, and acts as an unjust judge, and is too harsh and severe. But here God will say: "Well, I will annul the complaint through my Son, so that you will not have to complain about it. You have indeed sinned, and thereby deserved the judgment of God; but sin shall be forgiven you, death also shall be abolished, and I will remember no more the sin of man, wherein he was born, and wherein he hath lived. However, all shall be right and wrong. He will remember no more sin; only believe in my Son.

What is lacking? Where does the judgment come from, if all sin is taken away through the Son? This is the judgment that they do not accept Christ, the Son of God. This is their sin, not only that they have sin from Adam, and which they themselves have committed, all of which would be worthy of death, but this is the judgment, that they will not hear, suffer, or accept the Savior, who has taken away sin and carried it on his shoulders, and has closed up hell.

For if a doctor were with a sick person, who could help him, and he certainly promised help, so that it would not be necessary, he would give him advice against the weakness or poison, which the sick person had eaten, and the sick person would also know that the doctor could help him, and the sick person would still say: Troll away, I will not need your advice, you are not a doctor, but a highwayman, I am not sick, I have not eaten poison, it will not hurt me, and if this sick man wanted to strangle the doctor, would it not be said that he was not only sick, but furious, mad and foolish, who pursued his doctor and killed him? Or if a prisoner wanted to blaspheme a king, prince or lord, spit at him and shout evil words at him, and wanted to harm or kill him, when the prince wanted to release him from prison and do him all good? But this spiritual nonsense, since God's Son has given us

and we do not want to accept the help, is ten times worse. Should not our Lord God be angry and rain down hellish fire, brimstone and pitch on such ingrates? For because we are sinners, we are also so hopeless that we turn away help and chase away and kill those who drive us to it, so that the saying is rightly said here: He who delivers one from the gallows gladly hangs or hangs him again. 1)

This is what is said here: Christ is come, and hath taken away the sin of the world, that it should be vile, and clean, and even forgotten. But not to receive and hear the man who takes away sin, but to kill him, and to continue in sin, is evil and wicked, if we will not hear the Savior. It is frightening to hear that this preaching brings salvation from sins and death, and yet it is called heresy; and that such a helper is still persecuted. Now we preach this sermon daily: nor do we see that it is so. We have not plucked it out of our fingers, what I speak, so you hear that Christ himself speaks it: nor shall it be called heresy. Should not our Lord God be angry? Shouldn't he send pestilence, the holy time, the pope, the Turks, the Tatters, the Sacramentans, the Anabaptists, and all kinds of mobs to plague us? Because we do not want to accept the Son, we well deserve these punishments. It is a terrible sermon that one should not love and accept such a helper and savior who forgives sin; and he who is beaten over the bar, and thus becomes ungrateful [to] God, may then justly accept that God punishes him with Turks, deceivers, Anabaptists, and that it rains and snows 2) on him from mobs, sects and false brothers.

Now this is not a harmful sermon, but the one that helps and saves. Nevertheless, it is despised by almost everyone, especially by the pope,

1) This saying is found in Luther, Walch, old edition, Vol. XVI, 1126, §11, in this form: "He who helps another from the gallows, the same would gladly bring him up."

2) Erlanger: cutting.

who even tramples this doctrine underfoot. Thus the nobles, burghers and peasants do not know how they can show themselves to be courageous enough against it. The preachers also quarrel with each other, since they should do nothing else but praise God and give thanks, and rejoice in Christ and say: "Praise be to God forever, that the judgment is gone; I will rejoice forever. But it does not happen. The judgment is gone, and hell and the wrath of God are abolished, item, security and peace are made between God and us through the Son, who did not come to condemn the world, for it was condemned before, but to make it blessed. Now the only thing that is lacking is that one accepts only the Son. But it happens, as it is said in the book of Proverbs: God greets many who cannot thank Him. Now the greeting would have deserved thanks if the greeting had read: "Here I come, your Savior, and the judgment shall be taken away. To this then the world says: Have hellish fire on your head with this sermon! So the Savior also comes to Jerusalem, visits the city and greets it, but after the greeting they crucify and strangle him. This is well due to this friendly greeting and hearty kiss; and if Christ were still preaching today, he would still be contradicted by the very things the world is doing to us now. Therefore Christ says: They are already judged, for they do not want to be sinners, nor to be delivered from the wrath and judgment of God.

This is why Christ says here: "This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world"; as if he should say: "There is a great blessed light that shines into our hearts and says: "Do not be afraid of the wrath of God, for God is merciful to you. For though your sin and conscience afflict and oppress you, and you are afraid of God's judgment, know that it is now reversed, and the judgment is gone. You must not fear the last judgment, but desire it and have a longing for it - for it is not a judgment but a salvation for you. For there we shall be saved

3) Erlanger: beautiful.

Our body shall rise again from the earth, and then the devil, death and worms must cease, and God's displeasure must be gone, and that same judgment will pull you out of the grave and deliver you from all evil. Therefore, the Last Judgment will be a day of joy for you, and you will be more happy about it than any bride would be about her wedding day, because this frightening day has been turned into a joyful and desirous day 1). So it goes; if you believe, it is all bad. But the contrary happens, that men love the darkness more than the light; therefore they also may fear the last day; but to the faithful it is a comforting one, because the condemnation and the terrible judgment shall be gone.

We are astonished that the Turk is now becoming so powerful and tyrannizing so horribly, item, that the pope and the false teachers are tearing down everywhere. But S. Paul answers this in the 2nd epistle to the Thessalonians in the 2nd chapter, and says that it is because they did not accept the love of the truth that they would be saved. Therefore God will send them strong errors, so that they will believe the lie, so that they will be judged. For they do not want the truth and grace of God, so he also gives them what they want, namely, strong errors and punishments, also teachers, who will prick their ears, and teach lies, which they like to hear, and for which 2) they have a desire; and then goes on, as Moses in the 5th book in the 29th 3) chapter, to the truth and grace of God, so that they will be judged. Book 29. 3) Chapter [V. 19.] says, that the drunk leads the thirsty, that one is thirsty after strange teachings, and when one becomes full of them, that one then spits them out. Therefore, he who does not want to hear the truth and Christ may hear lies. Therefore, the pope came and told us to call on the saints, such as St. George, St. Barbara, item, St. Christopher, who was never born into the world; he also taught us to go on pilgrimage and to fight against the poltergeists.

1) Erlanger: "in a happy and eager day". 2) Erlanger: den.

3) Original: "32".

ghosts read measurement. These lies had to be heard and accepted, because they did not want to hear the truth. For when they said, "Believe in the Son of God," it was all nothing. If they said, "Believe in the apostles' doctrine," they must be liars, preaching only harmful things; and when the doctrine of the gospel falls after us, spirits will come who will preach such foolish things, of which we would now be ashamed, and would not listen. Nevertheless, it will be worshipped and accepted as holy, just as the great emperors, kings, doctors of the holy scriptures, and the wise people of old have been fooled into believing that monks' caps and plates, which they put on when they were in mortal danger and had themselves buried inside, should lead them from the mouth up to heaven and make them blessed, as is still believed in Hispania and France. But is this not frightening, that a Christian man, who is baptized in the blood of the Son of God, the innocent lamb, and is redeemed from the last judgment and eternal death, should nevertheless forget all this so soon, and put on a cap instead, and trust that he will be saved by it? And yet this happens where the gospel is not preached, and it is in the day that this was done in the priesthood of old.

Dear, what would we do today if someone died who did not ask about Christ's blood, baptism, suffering and death, but put on a monk's cap and died like that? Truly, I would help him carry hellish fire to his grave. For we have another light that should now shine and shine for us. That is why God is so angry with the ungrateful world, because it did not love the light, as 2 Thessalonians 2 says St. Paul, and Christ also says here that they did not love the light and truth, but darkness. It is such an abominable blindness that I do not believe that a dog or a sow could suffer that one should put a monk's cap on it: nor have there been such powerful errors in the papacy that one has not left the dying alone.

4) Erlanger: great.

5) Here we have deleted "itself" because it is too much.

But if I had not seen it myself, and a cry had been heard that in Turkey it was customary that whoever put on a monk's cap should be considered a blessed man, I would not have believed it. Especially when it was said that these Christians had the light, that is, the doctrine of Christ, the Son of God, that he died for them and became their Savior and mediator; yet when they are to die, they forget all this, and put on monk's caps, become misfits who have their own orders, and live not according to Christ's rule, but according to the statutes of men: I would ever have to say that they are the most foolish and nonsensical people, and not worthy to be called men, indeed, they should not be called sows. We are still stuck in this error; just as I, even at the age of fifteen, have been miserably troubled with masses, and have heard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ called daily, and have also had his suffering preached to me, and have read and sung these words in the text, and still thought that if I did not do a piece in the mass correctly, or did something of it, I would have to be lost. It is a wonderful and frightening thing that men have been so mad, and so possessed and seduced by the devil; although many have been found, when they should have died, that they have forgotten everything about the caps and the foolishness, and have not wanted to hear anything about it. So St. Bernard also did, and hung the cap on the wall, and prayed the prayer that God's Son would have the kingdom of heaven in two ways, first as God's Son, since he was born a son into the kingdom, and secondly, he also acquired the kingdom, which he did not need, but gave it to me, so that I should believe it. O Saint Bernard! That was time to turn back. In the same way, many others have died who converted to Christ, and God has preserved them as His elect.

Once a monk should die. Now that the other monks have 1) deprived him of his good

1) Erlanger: ihme.

When he remembered his works and merits and said, "Remember that you led the order of St. Francis and were a pious priest, praying his psalter diligently and saying many masses," he took a crucifix and held it in his hand, saying, "Why should I rely on orders? He did it. I know of no work or merit, but only of the man's merit. He came right into the text, that is, he undressed himself purely and molted the caps, as a crab molts, and put on his vest shirt, Christ; and thus the monk became blessed.

Otherwise, I have also seen them die in great fear and distress, and lamented: Alas, I have not kept my order. But those who have taken off their monk's cap and turned back to Christ, and have taken up their vestments, have been saved. For if Christ should have done it, my cap did not, as St. Bernard confessed.

But when the monks and nuns hear that their caps are nothing, then the fire burns, and the Rhine is even inflamed; and if you also tell the pope today that the caps and holy life or being are nothing, then he says, "Nothing will come of it. For they can suffer Christ to be the Saviour of the world: but they will not let their thing be condemned, and begin to be furious and mad, and remain in darkness, crying then: Fathers, conciliarities, holy orders, rules etc. But if monks are to be blessed, they have to crawl back to the cross of Christ. So did S. Bernard, whom I consider the most pious monk and prefer to all other monks, including S. Dominic, and he alone is worthy to be called Pater Bernhardus and to be looked at with diligence. For he is in the cap, but how does he do when it comes to the meeting? He does not hold his cap against God's judgment, but seizes Christ.

In the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 13, it is said that one should look at the faith of the saints and not only at their works. Do this with St. Bernard, who does not believe that through his chastity he should be saved.

but by faith in the Son of God. But the pope forces us to look at the outward life of the saints, and what they ate and drank, also how they dressed, and such a being is called a holy order by the coarse ass, and has let their faith go. We old people know well what blind and seductive things were preached (the young people know nothing about it now), because the world was filled with them.

But what happens? Now that the light is coming again and is being preached, they love the darkness more than the light, and still persecute us over it, and beat us to death, and do not want to suffer it to be said that the cap does not help to salvation, because all monasteries perished with it. But it is great darkness that one hopes to attain salvation from a cap, which no 1) reasonable person should be persuaded to do: nor have we let Christ go, and have run to Mary and S. Barbara. This was because we fled Christ as the devil himself, because it was taught that everyone would be brought before the 2) judgment seat of Christ with his works and orders.

And we old people are so corrupted in the Pabst that even if I preach about Christ today, that he alone is our Savior, I still cannot believe it and accept the light as I would like to. For the Pabst's teaching repels me, and even makes me believe the opposite, namely, that I should keep my good works against the judgment of God. Therefore, even the infernal fire must destroy the pope and such false teachers ten times more than the Turks and pagans, for this gospel says: He comes not as a judge, but as a savior. But the monks have taught the contradiction, that he should be a judge: therefore, you should put on a monk's cap. But you young people, who are not poisoned with these harmful teachings and thoughts, write such things in your hearts, and do not forget them, and thank God for them. For if you despise the light, God will punish you, so that you may still

1) Erlanger: none.

2) Erlanger: dem.

much more horrible eclipses will come upon you.

And our nobles, burghers and peasants are struggling to let the darkness overtake them, because they do not want to suffer the punishment and dictate to us what and how we should punish sin. For they love darkness, that is, damnation, more than light. Now the lords of the Red Sea do not want to suffer that one preaches how they drink, rob, steal, feast and demean. What else do they want to indicate, but that they prefer darkness to light? But believe me, Christ did not come for you to remain in your sins and condemnation. For you will not be saved unless you stop sinning, for sins are forgiven, but you must stop being a covetous man, an adulterer or a fornicator. For since all our lives are condemned and under the judgment of God, Christ came to save us from it. But you will not leave sin, but still defend it. Now hear this text: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and the judgment is passed away. Wherever there is a right faith, one does not love sin, nor remain in sins, but shuns sin, saying, "If sins are forgiven, I do not need to remain in them; just as a sick person who gets well and is healed does not need to take pleasure in the sickness or do what would be harmful to his health: so also he who persists in false doctrine and an evil life is in judgment and truly condemned.

See then that you avoid not only the subtle darknesses, that is, the heretics' error and folly, but also the gross darknesses, that is, the public vices and sins. For Christ says here: They love darkness more than light, and therefore in the world there is such great ingratitude and contempt for God's word, fornication, stealing, avarice, and robbery, that the world is even flooded with it, and yet one should not tell them; and I also have been so deep in darkness that I was even hostile to Christ, and loved Mariam and S. George. So the world is corrupting, and you will be

see, when we are dead, that you will still have much more horrible darkness, and so many cults and sects and fluttering spirits will come, which will make you so mad that you will not know 1) where you should turn in or out. For God may well do this, and send much more terrible darkness, and then hell will become hotter for us, if one loves the darkness more than the light, and we will not fare differently, but as the Lord Christ says of the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum: Woe to you, Capernaum! Woe to you, Chorazin! and let us see to it that Wittenberg does not become Bethsaida, and that it is not said of her: You were raised up to heaven, but you are cast down to hell. So it happened to Jerusalem, and to Sodom and Gomorrah, and there is no doubt that the judgment can come very soon, that the despisers of light will be cast down to hell. For thus saith Christ, This is the judgment that shall come upon the world, and upon this city, because they love false doctrine and sinful living. Therefore they shall perish more shamefully than Sodom and Gomorrah. And they say, "The Turk is coming to Germany, and now she is ripe, and she is full of the blood of the poor Christians whom she has strangled; and our ungrateful citizens are almost devouring their pastors, so that they should be careful, although I do not like to be a prophet, that a great punishment will come upon Germany, and so great that no human heart can understand it.

The previous judgment is small. But this is a terrible judgment, that the blind world prefers death to life, and hell to heaven. Therefore accept the light, Christ the Savior, who has taken away our sin. For he who despises the light and loves darkness comes into judgment, as the world surely continues in its lusts, eating and drinking, splendor, avarice, hatred, envy and other sins; and they do not stop there, but hate and persecute even the preachers of the word of God, yes, God Himself, and want to be the preachers of the word of God.

1) Erlanger: wisset.

The preachers are still unpunished, and the antinomians 2) are fine with them, so that people should not be scolded or punished.

The thirty-fourth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

[Saturday] the 21st day of September done Anno 1538.

We have just heard, first, how the Lord Christ preached the kind sermon that he was sent into the world, not to judge the world, but to save it; second, how men are so wicked that they will not believe it, or hate the light, that is, Christ or his word, and love darkness more than light; third, how men still defend their wicked works.

John often puts these three pieces together, because they cannot be separated from each other, even in truth. First, he makes Christ into God, and he does so in all words, that he is truly God, born of the Father in eternity, not made, and for the sake of this article he has written this Gospel. Then he makes this person, who is the Son of God, also a true man, born of the Virgin Mary. Furthermore, that no one may be saved by his good works, but only through the Son of God, who was sent into the world and became man, and was made the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. Otherwise, no one will be saved from sin and death except through him, for he and no one else was sent to be saved through him; and if someone else could have done it, why would God have sent his Son? Third, let faith be righteous, and not lying, false, or hypocritical, but really know that it is so, and then dare all things.

This, however, should be especially well noted, that Christ is the true God, as we have learned from the Gospel,

2) The day before, September 13, 1538, the fifth disputation Against the Antinomians took place. Compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XX, 1642.

that he is more exalted than the serpent in the wilderness; item, all who believe in him shall have eternal life; item, whoever does not believe in him, that upon him the wrath of God abides; item, "God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved"; and Christ shows this honor to himself everywhere, that he is the true God. For "believing" belongs to no one but the true God alone. For the person in whom one is to believe must be able to give one eternal life, and this no one can give, nor save from eternal death, but only the true God, who serves us against the heretics, as the Arium and Cerinthum.

Secondly, whoever wants to be saved and redeemed from the wrath and judgment of God must believe in the only begotten Son; otherwise there is neither help nor counsel. The Jews, Turks and Tatars also think much of Christ and of his mother Mary, but they do not believe that he is the Son of God. They do not give Christ this honor, that he is the only begotten Son of God, in whom one should believe, and through him everyone must be saved. Therefore, it does not help him 1) [Arius], even though he boasts in his letters that he believes in the God who created heaven and earth. For the Jews also say so. But it is decided, as it is written in John 5, that he who honors the Son also honors the Father. Therefore the faith of the Jews and the Turks is a blindness, because they exclude the Son altogether and want to keep only the Father.

And this is the noblest article of our Christian faith, that the Son is eternal true God, and also true man, and sent into the world to save it; which article nullifies the Jews, Turks, and all other faiths, who forsake the Son, and worship another God, and seek help elsewhere, and the Turk cannot pray the Lord's Prayer, nor the articles of faith; and believing is the highest worship due to God alone. For one should not believe in angels, prophets, or apostles, but the divine

1) Erlanger: them.

The glory belongs to the Son alone, for he is truly God with the Father. This article is very important to John.

Secondly, he indicates that there is no other way to be saved from sins except through the Son of Christ; and here the pope, all the monks, the Turk and the Jews, indeed the whole world, are mistaken. They admit the first, that Christ is God. But if someone wants to be free of sins and death, and escape from judgment, so that he must believe in the Son alone, they do not want to give in, but strive hand and foot against it. For they want to be saved by their works and their monastic and foundation life. But in short, it is said, as it is said here: Whoever believes in the only begotten Son of God will not be judged. The same faith does it, and not the works. It is not said here that one should be saved through pilgrimage vows, masses, purgatory, and other vows; and even if one should remove these things from the books of the pope and the monks, one would otherwise find little in them; and even if the holy father, the pope, has instituted and confirmed all these things with bulls, and has made Christ with all his saints only wrathful judges: if one were to remove these things from the books of the pope, he would retain neither skin nor hair. But this gospel says that he is not a judge, but has come into the world, not to judge it, but to save the world. For he has made satisfaction for sin, death and hell with his blood, and whoever believes in him has satisfaction and payment for sin, not through pilgrimage or works, but through Christ alone.

These are the two things that must stand together and cannot be separated from each other: first, that Christ is true God: which is kept against the Turk, the Jew and the heretic; then that he is also true man, and that for our sake, for he was given for us, that we might be saved through him, for otherwise his humanity would have been of no use to us anywhere; and just as God and man cannot be separated from one another in Christ, but is One Person: so also our salvation and this article of justification before God can be obtained by

Christ, or the satisfaction for sin, cannot be separated from the person of Christ, who is God. For he alone, and no other, has eternally made satisfaction for sin.

Thirdly, S. John also always introduces that faith must be righteous and not false. For there are many of them who confess the two things, that Christ is true God and our Savior. But it remains only a foam on the tongue, and in the heart there is no earnestness, nor truth, but only a delusion. For this reason, S. John insists that faith be righteous and active through good works, and that it be seen through works. For although faith is enough for salvation, and through faith I attain the kingdom of heaven, yet good works must follow after, or faith is not righteous. For faith is such a serious thing that it cannot remain without good works.

Therefore, S. John also urges in his epistle that we should first love God and then love men, and whoever does not do this remains in darkness and does not believe. For if I sincerely believe that Christ is the true God and has become our Savior, I will not deny it, but will publicly preach against the Turk, the world, the pope, the Jews, and all the rotten people, and confess that it is the truth; and before I would deny it, before I would let my neck go over it, and spare no danger of goods and honors. For where faith is righteous, it does not hold its tongue, but rather suffers death over it, also confesses God's word before tyrants, and bears all kinds of temptation in its heart from the devil, as the martyrs have well experienced.

For this reason, S. John does not want to have a false, hypocritical faith, but a righteous faith, which, when it has learned the two things, namely, that Christ is the Son of God and the Son of Mary, has also become our Savior, that one then confesses the same publicly before the world; and when the Christian confession stands, other good works follow afterwards. For if thou hast been a fornicator, an adulterer, or a drunkard before, thou doest it no more, since thou art redeemed from sins.

then desist from sins. For reckon thou, as it would compute, to abide in sins, covetousness, wrath, hatred, and fornication, etc. and also to be a Christian. For there can be no faith, but thou must abstain from adultery, and take a wife, not steal, nor bear false witness against thy neighbor. But if thou sin, as when thou liest in adultery, fornication, whoredom, eating, drinking, gambling, thou art not yet delivered from sins. For where there is still sin, there is no forgiveness of sins, no faith in Christ.

But we still feel sin in us, and it is even certain that sin still remains in the saints of God, but it does not reign in them. Faith prevents sins from breaking into the work and dampens them. For the two pieces do not rhyme together that I would say: I believe that Jesus Christ is the true God, and that I will be saved through him; and then I also want to pretend that the pope is also right when he preaches about caps and plates. Such a temptation may well come or a thought may occur in the heart, out of weakness of faith: I have done much, preached, given alms, so that someone may comfort himself. Then the heart should overcome such temptation and cry out against it, that it must have the one pure word of Christ, and the tongue should speak and preach of it, that not my fasting, nor one work for sin has done enough, but the Son of God was given in death for me. Then it would not suffer at all to confess that Christ is a pardoner for my sin, and yet also to say: Purgatory, Mass of the soul is also right; as the pope has done, that he has taught that Christ is the Son of God and Mary, and born for us, and then also said at the same time that the monks' vows, pilgrimage, caps and plates are also pardon for sin.

So also in other works. If I believe, I do not court another's wife. An evil desire may tempt me after another's wife, that I may see [she] 1) is more beautiful, item, better housed, than

1) "they" added by us.

I will be content with mine, and my heart says, No, I shall not commit adultery. So then I will not be usurious and stingy, for although another has more money and goods than I, I am content with what is mine, and if avarice wants to stir, the heart resists, so that avarice does not go out and drive avarice.

For this reason, S. John summarizes the three parts (for they cannot be separated from each other) as that Jesus Christ is true God and natural man, item, faith in Christ, our Savior and Beatificator, third, good works, which testify to faith toward God and love toward one's neighbor. For righteous faith can be seen in good works, so that a Christian does not remain a fornicator, an adulterer, or any other kind of wicked person. These three things are together, Christ God and man, item, faith in Christ, and good works. But all three of them have much challenge from the world. First, that Christ is truly God, the Turk and Arius rush in to the article and do not want to suffer it. The other, about the satisfaction that Christ alone is our Savior, is challenged by the pope and all the works saints. The third article is challenged by the whole world, by all false Christians, because no one wants to do good works, but everyone lives in sin and shame.

But how do I get so far into this piece? Christ says: "He who believes in me is not judged, but he who does not believe has already been judged. Item, the only begotten Son of God is given to us for this reason, that he does not condemn the world, but saves and makes it blessed. Now follows:

For their works were evil.

That we lie in darkness and in sins would not be such a great pity to man, for we are born in sins: but this is the sorrow of the heart, that Christ saith, Men have air and love of it, and delight in darkness, and have pleasure in sins. The light has come, but people have a lust and love for sin.

to darkness, pursue the light and love the darkness, and like to be in the darkness but dislike being in the light.

This is done first by those who use false worship and want to serve God. They cannot suffer nor hear that through the Son of God they shall be redeemed and have forgiveness of sins, and that their worship shall be nothing. They cannot suffer their evil works to be punished. So does the pope. He is so fond of his rules, orders, monasteries, and all lies, and holds so firmly to them that he hates and persecutes Christ, the Son of God, over them; which, although he does not confess it with his mouth, but says that he loves the Son of God and believes in him, they prove it differently with their works.

But it is no wonder that man is so evil that he not only sins and lies in darkness, but also loves sin and defends it. For to sin and to err may well happen out of human weakness, especially if one is still weak in faith; but to want to excuse and defend the fall, that it should not be called a fall but a state, that is diabolical. When Adam sinned in paradise, he did not want to confess it until after a long discussion, but he threw it from him onto Evam; Eve put it on the serpent, and it would not come out that he had said: I have sinned. It is the devil that one sins and does not yet want to confess it, but still defends it. Yes, even today people do not want to suffer that they are publicly punished, or that they are told, "You are an adulterer, a usurer, a drunkard; they do not want to suffer the punishment, and therefore they resent the preachers, and yet they know that they are sinning. These are not human sins, namely, sinning and still justifying sin, then the devil strikes, and a human sin becomes a devilish sin. For even if the devil could say: Oh, my God, I have sinned, then he would become an angel of light and blessed again at that very moment and from that moment on. But he cannot do it, because our Lord God must be wrong and he must be right.

Take it off at your place, in your household.

If you are a householder, and there is harm in the house, and you are angry about it, no one has done it. No one will confess the damage, nor is the damage done, and it grieves the master. A servant is often seized in the act: nor does he deny the harm. If he confessed, the Lord would forgive him. But the devil and death lead men into the world, so that they are now so bad and evil and sin, and then lay the blame on others. If one confessed sin, one could soon find mercy and have a merciful God. For what would God not like to do to us, if we only crown ourselves on the cross? But we do not do it, and so we often make seven other sins out of one sin, yes, there is no end nor measure to sinning, because all the prophets cried and lamented about it. Moses calls the children of Israel a stubborn, stiff-necked, disobedient people that neither hears nor follows the Lord. So does the 78th Psalm [v. 8 ff.], item, Jeremiah at the 5th chapter [v. 3 ff.], and Ezekiel at the 2nd chapter [v. 4 ff.]; and Stephen in the histories of the apostles [cap. 7, 51.] also rears up the Jews, and says: "Ye have always resisted the Holy Ghost." But the devil does not do otherwise to him, he denies everything, and makes seven other sins out of one sin. But if a child could say: O Father, I have done it, forgive me; it would be done. But he says no to this, and does not want to have done it, and in addition to the sin and harm, he also makes a lie, and thus from one sin more sins are made. Otherwise, if he confessed the sin and said, "I have done it," he would remain in the light and become an angel of light.

But no one brings the nobody out of the household, out of the secular government or out of the church, much less will he be brought out of hell. Adam did the same, saying, "The woman you gave me gave me the apple," Genesis chapter 3, "and so no one spoils it with each other. So Saul also had a commandment from God that he should cut off the Amalekites altogether, for God would that not one hoof of an ox should remain in the land. But he kept the

Commandment not. He slew the people, but he kept the cattle, and was hasty in his covetousness, that he slew not all the cattle. When Samuel the prophet rebuked him and asked him where the cattle had come from, Saul the king replied, "The people have kept them alive to sacrifice to our Lord God. Then the fire and the wrath came on, so that Samuel the prophet brought the terrible judgment on Saul, saying, "Why does God ask about your sacrifice? He wants his voice to be heard, for he has not commanded you to slaughter the cattle; and when Saul afterwards apologized even more and defended his deed, he had to hear that he had disobeyed God, and that disobeying God was as great a sin as practicing idolatry or dealing in sorcery. For if God gives me one thing, and I do another, and still want to be right, that is actually sorcery. But we all do the same. If only Saul had said: I have forgotten, I have done wrong, this sin would have been forgiven him.

But David was much wiser. He said: I have purposed in my heart, I will not love my darkness, but will confess my transgression unto the Lord. What then follows in the 32nd Psalm [v. 5]? "Thou forgavest me the iniquity of my sin: for when I made thee right, then it was better. For when he committed adultery, and slew Uriam the man, and Nathan the prophet said, What hast thou done? then answered he, I have sinned against the Lord. Then said Nathan, So hath the Lord also taken away thy sin.

Therefore it is the devil, and not enough that the Son of God is given to us, and the man is there who wants to forgive the sin, and I feel the sin and still do not want to confess it, but should still approach, and want to defend myself with my nobody. It is not human to do evil, and to deny it, and to want to do right, but it is devilish, and a real dragon's tail. If the poison were not in us, there would be no need. How much have we had to measure-

We have made pilgrimages, called on the saints, and now that the time of the Gospel has come, we cannot open our mouths and say, "Oh, we have sinned," since we would soon have forgiveness of our sins through the Word.

But because the light says to you, You are evil and a sinner, confess it, and say, It is true; so you have forgiveness of sins. But we cannot do it. This comfort and way should be sought for two thousand miles, even to the end of the world, namely, that if one confesses sin, it will also be forgiven immediately. But because we have the consolation now at the door, we despise it, and [we] follow the devil, who does not want to be wrong, God must be unjust. He can do the art, therefore the devil must also become our God and God must be unjust; and we also follow him when we are punished for sin and we still defend it. See in your housekeeping if you can keep your wrath in check when damage is done in the house and no one wants it done. Truly the father does not suffer it from the son, daughter or servant. But it commonly happens that the master must be wrong, and the servant wants to be master in the house, and the maid wife. So also the devil wants to be God in heaven, because he cannot recognize his sin, but God shall be wrong above and go to hell.

So it is with us that we can sin out of human weakness, for we are born in sins, in ignorance of God, in anger and hatred against God. That is enough misfortune. But see to it that you do not add this part to it, namely, hatred and enmity against Christ and His Word, and that one denies sin.

Therefore Christ says rightly: "This is the judgment, that the human race is so blind that their sin should not be sin, when Christ came into the world to take away sin. But this is the knot-that Christ is now to be a devil, and men want to be righteous and Christ Himself. For Christ is not accepted by them. It is not enough that Christ should have taken sin upon Himself, but Chri

stus must be wrong and condemned. That is, made three times worse, and sinned seven times.

So everyone should gladly let himself be punished for having sinned under the papacy, and for having performed false services; and we should also confess to ourselves that we have stumbled, and not deny the truth. For if we do, there is grace and forgiveness of sin, as David says in the 32nd Psalm: "When I confessed my sin to the Lord, you forgave me the transgression of my iniquity"; and in the 51st Psalm it is also indicated. But Saul does not do this, he makes God a liar and leaves his word, that is, he makes the devil God. So we should get used to speaking the truth gladly. The scribes praise the Turks that they speak the truth straightforwardly and immediately and do not embellish themselves with the nobody. If one understands about a deed, he says: Yes, I did it. That is a fine worldly virtue; everyone loves such a man who says, "I did it," and who is ashamed and yet confesses the wrongdoing. Now it is truly a great shame that the Turk, as the arch-enemy of the Lord Christ, has the honor and glory before us Christians, that they speak the truth, and also raise their children and people to the truth. This is a fine worldly discipline, that one teaches the children not to lie and deny when they have done something. Otherwise the Turk has still other beautiful virtue more, how then nobody is so bad, it has nevertheless something good still at it. But we Christians should follow this example and get used to the truth.

So this is the judgment, that the world denies its sin, even defends it, and makes seven sins out of one, because we should confess our sin, be sorry for our disobedience, and accept Christ. For if they accepted the light, they would think as I do: "Dear, you have been a monk and idolatrous man for fifteen years, it is not right, I will do it no more, then the sin would be forgiven; and so we do. But otherwise there are stiff-necked heads that say, "Well, should they?

They remain in darkness, and hate the light, persecute it, and defend their darkness. So there are many of our people who not only sin, but when they have done evil, they also deny it and justify it, wanting to go unpunished, and even to be celebrated and praised in their wickedness. This is what the devil does, he would like to extinguish the light.

But where there is a preacher in a city who sees the public vices, [he] should truly punish, and not keep quiet, nor preach anything to please the people. I should not keep silent when I see all kinds of sin, such as fornication, covetousness, usury, lying and deceit, because otherwise it would mean taking away the light. If then one says, "The bakers bake the bread too small," it must mean, "Shoemakers, tailors, butchers, and all crafts are profaned;" and it is not enough that one sins, but one still wants to defend sin, and does not recognize, and so one loves darkness. But turn thou to God, and do so no more. If thou hast sinned, humble thyself, and say, I will do it no more; if I have hitherto made the bread too small, I will now make it larger; and do not resist the light. But if thou wilt not be punished, stand thou here, and preach. I shall be a preacher of light, and shall shew thee sin, and thou shalt depart from sins, and shun the works of darkness; and our complaint is also, that almost in every corner of this city there shall be a pit of shame. But you watch. If you want to be children of light, live according to the light, and turn from your evil ways, do not murmur and grumble; if you do not want to hear us, go out to the church.

But if you want to be a preacher of darkness, do it on your own adventure; I will preach from the light. The word I preach is not mine, but God's, who warns you through his servants that you should not transgress your neighbor or do injustice to anyone in your position. But each one gives his goods as he pleases, and asks nothing whether God has forbidden it or not, and makes an idol out of their sins, and out of the light nothing but an idol.

Darkness. But listen, journeyman, do not murmur much, otherwise we would not only preach the law more sharply to you from the catechismo, but also get you taken by the nose and put into the hole. 1) Therefore let your pouting stand against the word of God, for it is too strong for you.

So this is the judgment of the world, that they want to keep their false worship against Christ, item, that they sin, and do not recognize their sins, but protect them. Well, for my sake you may not do it, for I give you nothing, so you give me nothing. But on the last day God will say to me, "Did you preach this?" and I will say, "Yes," and God will say to you, "Did you hear this? Did you also hear this? and you will answer: Yes; and he will say, Why did you not believe it? and you will say, Oh, I thought it was a man's word, spoken by a poor chaplain or a village priest; then the same word that is in your heart will accuse you, and will be your accuser and judge at the last day. For it is God's word, you have heard God yourself, as Christ says: "He who hears you hears me"; and I have then done enough for my office before the judgment and face of God, when I have revealed to you your sin and vice and punished you for it, and am then clean from your blood. You may then see how you stand.

Preachers and listeners are soon separated, but the word of God and your conscience or hearing cannot be separated. This will then make your heart too wide the same day, and also the world, and you must remain damned, because the word will condemn you. So then (as I have often said) one should separate God's word from persons, and not be attached to persons, but only to the word that you hear.

The thirty-fifth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

In vigilia Michaelis sabbato post Mauritii [Sept. 28] Anno 1538.

V. 20. He who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light etc.

1) Erlanger: stuck.

We can use these words instead of a proverb. But we said something about it the other day, and we still have to talk about it, and we have heard that the highest article of our Christian doctrine is that God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world, so that He might redeem us from sins, and save us from death, hell, and also from all misfortune. But this is the eternal dispute, that God must be a liar to us, and we consider ourselves righteous; item, he is unrighteous, but we are righteous; likewise, he is a tyrant, but we are merciful. This is what all the prophets and apostles had to do, that they could not reconcile these two things, God and man. For God must fall down at our feet and say, "Mercy - Junker"; but we are the light of the world, which cannot be denied. There is no other way, that is the way to go with God. He is merciful, gracious, and true to all, and does good to us; but though he be just, yet he cannot maintain his title among men, he must be unjust. For all say and confess that God is just, almighty, faithful and pious; who would doubt it? Our adversaries and the public enemies of God also pretend this, but nevertheless they deny it in fact, and do not believe it, and cannot stand it either, that one says: If you believe, God will be gracious and merciful to you, and has therefore given you His Son. But no, no, that may not be, they know much better.

But David also sings thus in Psalm [51:6], "Unto thee only, and unto thee have I sinned, that thou mightest be right in thy words, and pure in thy judgment." That one has been able to give glory to God. It is a high art to say, "Unto thee only have I sinned." All the prophets have struggled to make God righteous in His words and pure in His judgment. It is a miracle that one confesses it with the mouth, and yet does not believe it, and even persecutes it horribly. For this reason it cannot be preserved in the world. She says with her mouth: "Should God not be just? Who would say otherwise? Nor, when you say that you are a sinner, do they say, that they may remain righteous in their speeches: Eh, what should

God have to do with your sins? This is just as much as Christ says here: "Whoever does evil, the light shines on him, and whoever does evil, he cannot say that God is righteous. He also does not want to be punished, he does not say to God: You are just and pure in your judgment. Take an example of this, that you may understand it well. A thief who steals and is a bad boy cannot bear to be accused or called a thief, even if his own conscience tells him so. Item, if he breaks in at night, or steals openly in the marketplace during the day, and deceives his neighbor and translates: nor can he bear to be called a thief, even if his own conscience convinces him and preaches that one should not steal, and you nevertheless steal in the office or trade. If someone else told him, he would not suffer it. Therefore he cannot say with the psalm, "That thou mayest keep thy words," for he cannot suffer the seventh commandment, which yet he feels in his heart. Nor can he give honor to the seventh commandment, that he may say: I am a thief, and have stolen, that thy commandment may be just, and that thy judgment may be pure. No one confesses this, unless he is forced to do so by misfortune and necessity, or Master Hans, the thief-keeper, comes. Otherwise, no one wants to be accused of something, even if he is guilty of it. For he has done it secretly and hopes that it will also remain secret. No one says, "The light is right," but, "The darkness is right: The darkness is right. If one were to reproach a thief, he would say, "You lie as a villain; I am not a thief. Item, against the fifth commandment, a murderer or a highwayman secretly beats someone to death, or otherwise stabs someone, or rubs him with poison; this sin he can masterfully conceal, as Job [Cap. 31, 33.] says: "Have I also concealed my sin 1) from you, as men do?" Nor does his conscience tell him. If someone else told him, he would say, "You are lying.

But I ask you: Is it right for you to commit sin, for your conscience must bear witness and accuse you of it, and you

1) Erlanger: concealed.

know that you are such a one, - that you should still speak about it: No, you lie, Lord God, as a wicked man? So does an adulterer who sneaks into another's wife. If it remains secret, and someone tells him, he wants to uproot trees and throws out useless words. But God truly speaks thus in your conscience: Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I beseech thee, consider thine own heart, which condemneth thee: would it not be better to say and confess sin, that God might be just in his words, and that thou mightest receive forgiveness of sins, than that thou shouldest deny God before the world, seeing thine own heart confesseth sin? Otherwise, David might have hanged Nathan the prophet on the gallows for accusing him of being an adulterer as the king of Israel, 2 Sam. 12. But it is better for David that he confessed his sin immediately.

All people are of such a mind that they do not want them and their deeds to be revealed and known. They can all suffer it to be said that God is kind, and who in the world would deny that God is just and right when He is judged? Yet one cannot suffer to be punished. No one wants to be a murderer, a thief or a miser in the eyes of the world, nor to be stained with other gross vices. Who then hates the light? All of us, because there is no one among you who would like to have his legend written on his forehead, but we all still like to hear praise and honor from us. No one remembers: Oh, God have mercy on me! For if my sins were revealed to the world, which I am otherwise aware of in my heart, I would be worthy to be hanged on the gallows. The world honors me, but if it knew who I was, it should spit at me, for I would be worthy to be beheaded. But if such a thing were known, it would serve to humble oneself before God and to have fear, and not to despise others, but to forget hope. Otherwise, it is thought that God does not have to know, because men do not know, and is it not a vain saying to say: More souls go to heaven from the gallows than from the churchyard. For those who are hanged on the gallows must have their

Confessing sins, and saying, Lord, I am a knave, thou art righteous. On the other hand, another dies on his bed, but he hides his sin; for theft, murder, and adultery are gross sins, and no one wants to be guilty of them. Every man is so disposed that he wills that which he sins, that it be not sin, but righteousness in the sight of the world and in the sight of God; though it is also true that no man should betray himself, and stand in the stocks before the world, but cover his sins, and pray God to pardon him, and be reconciled to those whom he hath offended, and always set thy sin and shame before the eyes, that the comb 1) may be cast down.

But in these pieces it is still all child's play, that he who does evil, that the light shines. When one comes to the high plays, to the high commandments in the first tablet, as when one preaches unrighteously, and sets up false services; then those who err do not want to suffer anything less than to be shouted at and punished. They do not want to be regarded as having erred, so that they should step back and say, "I have erred. They cannot bring themselves to do that. David did it so that God would be right; just as S. Paul says that God is true, otherwise all men are liars. But no one can suffer the light to be shone under his eyes and say to him: This is God's word, this is error. All together, from the highest to the lowest, do not want to be punished, nor do they want to hear God's judgment of their lives, teachings and statutes, and yet they say that God is just, true and merciful. If they are punished, they say: In these speeches and words that you speak, it is not God who speaks, but the devil; it is not God's word, but the devil's word. For God has never said that I, a fool, should have erred, and that our parents should have been idolatrous people with their hearing of masses and their pilgrimages etc. Therefore, God's word must be condemned, and so our Lord God must war and fight, so that he may be right and remain true, but against it

1) Erlanger: Kamp.

Men are wrong and liars, and the war will remain, that he who does evil will shun the light. But the strife would soon be put down, and all would be evil, if we alone could say: I have sinned, but you are merciful; I am unjust, but you are just; I am a liar, but you are truthful; I am wicked, but you are pious. This is not to be raised. Neither the Turk, nor the pope, nor the princes, nor the subjects, nor the thief, nor the adulterer, nor the man who kills, nor the monk, nor the nun will confess in this way, nor will they sing a pleasing song to God, saying: You are true, I am a liar; you are pious, I am evil. But if they are punished for their idolatry and sins, and this is said to them under their eyes, they become mad and foolish about it, and begin to war with God, and the pope and the Turk hear and cut up the people, the princes and lords persecute the divine word, because they do not want to let God be just. But is it not a pitiful thing that our salvation and happiness is so near to us that it could not be nearer to us? For God wants us to say in our hearts only with David: You are righteous, but I am unrighteous, and if we recognize our sins and complain about them, He will forgive us, for it does not help to say, "Let me keep my measurements, put on a monk's cap," but only say, "I have sinned. We are still so stubborn that we would rather perish than confess the truth that we are sinners and make God righteous. But David proved Nathan the prophet right, when he said to him, "You are an adulterer and a murderer, item, a blasphemer. When he heard that he had been punished, he said, "The word is right," and soon confessed his sin. Then he also received forgiveness of sins, and Nathan did not say to him, and write in the letter of indulgence, Run to S. Jacob, or be measured, lie in the hair shirt; but: The Lord has taken away your sin.

This must always be preached, that we cannot obtain this grace of God, but we confess our sin, for then he will soon forgive us. For where this does not happen, as Saul pretended, "I have not sinned," and nowadays the Jews, Pabst, Turks, fornicators and miserly people cry out,

that they are not sinners, they are all righteous; indeed, God must be unrighteous to them: then is hell opened, and heaven shut up. Now it is certain that the devil is not merciful, nor just, nor almighty, for he does not preserve all things, nor does he make light or the sun; but if there is anyone who does such things, it must be God, who creates and preserves all things, and also protects the three estates in the world, the church, the temporal government, and the household. He also lets his sun rise over good and evil, as all creatures confess, that God is merciful and gracious, only that men deny it and do not give God the glory that all creatures otherwise give him. This is the conflict, that he who does evil does not suffer the light, but if he does, it is good for him, for he will be helped.

It is a wonderful thing about light, and nothing is better than light, and everyone loves the sun, and all creatures rejoice when it rises so beautifully early in the morning. Who then hates the light? The thief who wants to steal is hostile to the light of the sun and all light. For if a lantern comes and illuminates him, or if the sun rises, he wants to tear himself to pieces in anger. He would like there to be no sun, although the beautiful light illuminates heaven and earth, and everyone likes to see such light, but not the thief. Why? He wants to steal. So also a fornicator and an adulterer, a murderer and a highwayman complain about the light; they say: Is it already light, when otherwise the light is sweet to all men; but the adulterers and thieves cannot stand it. Whom therefore shall one accuse and charge? The thief or the sun? The sun and the light are not the cause of theft, murder, adultery, but the thief who hates the light. If the thief were pious, he should thank God for the light of the sun when it goes out, and should say: What a shameful wicked man am I, that I steal, and the sun seizes me in theft, ei, I will steal no more.

So it also happens spiritually when darkness is in the world, that one teaches falsely in the first table and causes heresy. When the light comes and shines in, then

you become angry, murmur, and do not want to be punished, crying: strike dead! Well, it is God's word, and you yourself confess that God is just in His word. Yet they condemn it, and will not suffer it, saying, It is not the word of God, but the word of the devil. For "he that doeth evil hateth the light." The thief himself must confess and say: The sun is a fine light, yet he is an enemy of the sun. So the pope also says: The gospel is divine truth, yet he calls it a doctrine of the devil. For they would gladly hide all their lies and idolatry from God, just as a thief hides his theft from the light.

It is a beautiful saying: "He who does evil hates the light. One should thank God that the light comes, yes, he should long for the light, and cease from evil, and say: Dear Lord, I am astray, but give me your light, help that day may come and I may see. But they pray against it: O, let the light never go out, so that I may only steal, and so one has the evil rather than the good.

What is this, that a thing is good, and that one should hasten that same good and lovely thing? But the text tells the reason and says: so that his works are not punished. The thief would accept the light, and could suffer it, if he had stolen a hundred florins, and one gave him the theft and said: Well, the hundred florins are not stolen, but it is your own property. But the light that says, Thou shalt not steal, punishes him; he cannot stand such things. Thus an adulterer would be well pleased with the light, if nothing were said to him of his fornication and adultery. But if he is punished by the sixth commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery, he will fly off the handle. So the gospel is also a glorious, good sermon, and could be suffered, because it brings forgiveness of sin, God's grace and mercy. But if it condemns the masses and says: Purgatory is nothing, own human righteousness is nothing, it must be the devil, because one cannot suffer that the papist abominations should be the work of the devil. About this the beautiful

The light of the gospel is hated and persecuted by the world, because it punishes darkness. And further follows:

V. 21. But he who does the truth comes to the light etc.

That is, he who does right and does not steal, acts freely and is not afraid to confess his deed publicly, saying, "If I have defrauded anyone, I will pay him back fourfold," as Zacchaeus the tax collector says. He went to the light with his theft. So we preachers can well suffer our doctrine and preaching to be heard by every man, for we know that our doctrine and life is done in God. So a husband or landlord can also defy the devil and the world that he has acted rightly. If he is accused of murder, adultery and other vices, he asks nothing of the accusations. So also we preach publicly, and will gladly appear before everyone, giving account and answer of our doctrine; let him then who is able reprove. Then the pope cries out that we shun the light, are rebels and disobedient, and do not want to stand before them. To this I answer: You are not allowed to care for us. You want a Christian to stand before the Belial and carry out his things there. There he is already lost, because our adversaries are judge and part. They come here and answer to us; we know well that they want to condemn us, yes, they have condemned us long ago. But Christ and the devil are two parts, there is no judge between them. But if there were a mediator or judge, Christ would come to light, but the devil would remain outside.

That's how it is with us, too. We do not shy away from the light, nor do we want to flee it, only that they give an impartial judge. But they want to be judges themselves, and then cry out that we are stiff-necked and do not want to appear. But we do no wrong in this. Why don't you also come to us and argue your case before us? Pray for mediators who judge between us, we want to appear. But you do not want to deal with us in any other way than as highwaymen, who capture a wanderer by force, beat him full of skin, plunder him and put him into the

They wanted to lead him to other murderers and highwaymen and force him to sue them there and to proceed with his complaint against those who plundered him, because the poor man would not be able to do much, since they are judges and parties. So do our adversaries. The bishop of Mainz is now plaintiff and judge, and always hangs freely at his pleasure whom he pleases. 1) The emperor has avoided for eight whole years that a concilium might be established: still he has not been able to accomplish it with all kings and princes. For they flee the light and want to be part, as we are, and then also to be judges at the same time. But the devil thanks them for that. They do not want to come; yes, they say, they must nevertheless let us be and remain judges. But not so, journeyman, but we must be part, and the papists also part, and then honest, unsuspicious and impartial people must be chosen, who would be judges, so that we would be granted a free action against the pope. Then it should be seen whether we do not want to appear. But the word "a free Christian concilium" is the pope's poison and death. They cannot suffer that they should be part as we are, but they want to have such a council, since they are judges and lords; the pope is not to be a part, and the Lutherans also a part, and they cannot suffer that one should ask or dispute whether the pope is also wrong with his own, but their doctrine and actions must all be right, but they condemn us as heretics. But this is not missing: "He who does evil hates the light. That is why they also flee from the Concilium, just as the devil flees from holy water and consecrated salt. Therefore say, We flee not the light, but the darkness, lest we fall into their darkness; and we accuse them of having deceived the whole world; they are the accused part, and we are part, and accusers, and desire judges to hear us accusers. Now they will not allow a concilium to be assembled, because they want to be unaccused.

1) This refers to the judicial murder committed against Hans von Schönitz. Compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XIX, Introduction, p. 27 ff.

For they are holy and pure, and we shall be damned beforehand. Mau shall not allow us to be questioned, nor shall they accept or hear any complaint, and then they shall hold a concilium. But we shall love the light, and confess the truth, and not suffer distress, nor die in the confession of the truth, nor shed our blood.

And we are on the other part, which says, "He that doeth the truth cometh to the light," etc.; item, that our works are good, "for they are done in God," and say: I will not forsake Christ, but confess him before the world and the devils. For he who does not do this has lost, just as we preach about Christ, cry out and desire that our cause be heard and judged; just as Emperor Carl worked for many years with all the princes to have a concilium held, but he received nothing. Therefore we who are with the light, yes, who walk in the light, may be happy. But they are in darkness, where they die and perish, which is a sure sign. For their works are evil, and if they desired our blood, they would gladly see us all slain. On the other hand, because we desire and seek the light, we are also of the light.

The thirty-sixth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

The Saturday after Lucae [19 October] Anno 1538.

V. 21: But he who does the truth comes to the light.

Next, we have almost finished the beautiful, glorious sermon that Christ preached to Nicodemo, and we have heard how he divided this sermon into pieces, and I think that these words: "He who does evil keeps the light" etc., were the conclusion and last part of the sermon, and the Lord thereby wanted to establish the reason why the world cannot stand the light, that is, the preaching of the gospel, the pure truth, even Christ Himself; that it comes from this that the world is evil and a mischief, and yet wants to be right, also cannot and will not suffer its evil works to be brought to light,

be revealed or punished. For the whole world is under the delusion and foolishness that it thinks it should not be punished. Those who practice false doctrine, which glitters before the world, but by which the people are deceived and misled, as the pope did with his own and other heretics, even though they deceive many with their false doctrine, as with the pilgrimages and masses, still do not want to be punished nor brought to light. For if they are reproached for their wrongdoing, they will not suffer it, and that is the judgment etc. Then the others, as the coarse fellows, who do not deal with doctrine, but live as the unreasonable and wild beasts, eating, drinking, whoring, stealing, and lying in other public vices, of which the world is overflowing, they also do not want to be punished; Just as princes and lords, noblemen, burghers and peasants today want to go unpunished when they do wrong; indeed, they do not want to suffer that they are secretly admonished for it. One should not say: He is a tyrant, a fornicator, an adulterer, a miser or a usurer. Preach to them Christ alone, how he died for poor sinners. Such grace alone should be preached, that one cannot be saved by good works, but one must believe in Christ alone, and then it is not necessary to punish sins and vices, such as fornication, avarice, eating and drinking, splendor, theft, fornication, but say, one should preach only about the grace of God, saying: Let me be stingy, adulterous, stealing, robbing, translating and giving false goods, and you keep quiet about it. Why? Well, you want to punish and condemn me: I cannot stand that, for what is it to you whether I live godly or godless; let each one see for himself how he lives and what he does. Just preach the gospel to me. Why is that? Because, they say, you want to bring me to the light and to the day; and so the world will not be punished for the sake of doctrine and faith, nor for the sake of life. The light is only to go out, because the world with its evil works does not want to come to light.

Behold, this is what the Lord Himself says, that men want neither doctrine nor life.

be reprimanded. Well, if you don't want to be reprimanded or punished, what are we doing? Why are we there? Why do you need preachers and teaching? If thou wilt do what thou wilt, thou needest no gospel, or preacher, or authority, or ruler, or Master Hansen; for the office of all these is nothing else, 1) but to punish with words and blows. A thief and murderer could also complain about the executioner and say, "I wish that the authorities and the executioner were gone to the devil, because they betray me and bring me out of the light and disgrace me before the people and hang me on the gallows. Otherwise I would have been a pious man, and could have translated and cheated even more, fornicated and cheated, if not for the authorities and Master Hans, the executioner.

So the world wants to go unpunished, it wants to remain in darkness, and it should not be shown that it preaches and teaches unjustly. But if this be so, then leave the churches and go instead to Kretzmar 2) or to the whorehouse. But if thou wilt be saved, and thinkest that there is another life after this life, thou must be punished. But if you do not want to be saved, why do I ask so much? If you do not believe that there is hell, death, the devil, eternal damnation and the wrath of God, just ask your neighbor, and he will tell you that we all have to die. But in sum, if the church and the secular government are to be, evil works must be brought to light, and the authorities and the executioner must bring to light and punish the gross darkness and public vices, as well as the evil life of men. Christ and we preachers in the church bring to light the subtle darkness of false teachings and religions, punish both the teachers and the works saints. But the princes, nobles, citizens and peasants will work it out so that there will be no more preachers who open their mouths and punish their evil works, as the world is already beginning to do, and when it comes to that, then woe to the world; and you must therefore repent with yourself: "I will punish you for your evil works.

1) Erlanger: not.

2) Wirthshaus.

Neither must one punish, or God will drop all rule over one's house. If one wants to become blessed and be a Christian, then let the punitive sermon go, and let the preacher punish, or let his preaching stand, and let the Christian who does not want to accept the punishment no longer be a Christian. Christ (who says here: "The light is coming into the world, so that its evil deeds will be revealed") wants to let the punishment go; you will not refuse him. The pope has indeed defended himself through his bishops and godless princes, but he cannot defend himself. But whoever of peasants, nobles and citizens wants to be unpunished, let them go; they will find their punishment well, and see whom they have despised. On the other hand, the text says:

V. 21. But he who does the truth comes to light, that his works may be made manifest, for they are done of God.

This saying is much too broad, and I am also too weak, 1) that I cannot interpret it according to necessity. But it would be well worth it, for it is a mighty saying, and recently it wants this: First, it does not only speak of truthful preachers, that he who preaches the truth does not shy away from coming into the light, just as we, praise and thanks to God, do not shy away from the light. We have not been ashamed to publicly confess our doctrine before the emperor, pope, yes, at all imperial diets and before all our enemies; our doctrine has not been hidden from us. But they are not so bold as to come to us with their doctrine, or since we have to rule, as we come to them with our doctrine. Item, they can also not stand that we judge and condemn them, but would like to bring it so that they would be judge and part. That is called shunning the light. We did not do this in Augsburg in 1530, for he who teaches rightly does not shun the light. So also, those who live righteously and know themselves innocent of a deed, confess their deeds, what they have done, and let it be seen by everyone, [such a person] can judge God Himself, yes, the dear angels of God and the whole world.

1) The words: "I am also too weak", Luther speaks of his bodily weakness, as can be seen from the following paragraph. See also the last words of this sermon.

And when Christians have done so, and have fallen into sin, that they have committed murder, theft, fornication, robbery, or other vices and disgraces, a Christian may still go forth and confess it, even before the angels of God; and this is also a true confession, for he knows and believes that God and the dear angels see and know all that he does. Therefore, even if he has done it badly, he confesses it freely and is praised by God and men for it. For he does not shy away from the light, he says: I have sinned. This confession does him no harm, but is a work of truth, and he does a righteous work of truth who thus confesses everything and is not ashamed to confess everything he has done. So it is a mighty thing about the truth that one should believe in the Son of God and then confess sin in the world, for this means coming to light. But the world does not like that. The wicked want to go unpunished, and not be wrong in faith or doctrine, nor in life. On the other hand, the pious Christians confess, even if they have done something evil.

This was the glorious sermon of Christ, which he preached to a great disciple, and would be well worth doing more abundantly. But we will continue in the text, although I am very weak, and fear I will have to stretch out dermaleins; and follows:

V. 22. After this, Jesus came into the Jewish land.

This is a short preface to the sermon that follows. For the evangelist John wants to describe that Christ, our dear Lord, has darkened John the Baptist's light with his light, as it was said by the evangelist above that he was the forerunner of the Lord Christ, who prepared the way for him. Because the Lord is now present, the servant must be silent. For John the Baptist was not sent to remain in his dignities forever, to teach the people, and the people to cling to him, and he to lead them in redemption.

The people were not to stay with him, but he was only a forerunner who was to lead the people to the Lord and to attach the people to the Lord. But John did not come to this, the people were not supposed to stay with him, but he was only a forerunner, who was supposed to lead the people to the Lord and attach the people to the 1) Lord.

And I believe that after Christ preached this glorious sermon to Nicodemo in Jerusalem, and he went again into Galilee, that a good while after this sermon this will have happened, which John describes here, and may have happened at that time, when Christ called his apostles or disciples, as it can be seen in the 4th chapter of Matthew, and we also heard about it in the 2nd chapter above, when he called Philip and Nathanael. Therefore at that time his preaching ministry was done with violence, and the evangelist says that it happened while John was still alive, and was not yet imprisoned by Herod, who did not preach much more than two years; if it was much, it was three years. But Christ preached four and a half years, and considers that this great work, which these two great men did and led, as John the Baptist and Christ, did not last more than seven years. So John went before Christ, while he was still baptizing, and was not yet caught when Christ began to preach. For he preached almost with John for half a year or a year. John preached for about two years before the Lord, and Christ preached for about a year with John, after which Christ alone preached for three and a half years. In this short and brief time this glorious work of our salvation and the precious preaching of the New Testament was accomplished and directed, which we still have to preach and teach today.

Now Christ comes to Galilee and has his being there. But his nature was nothing else than preaching, praying, baptizing, teaching, eating, sleeping and then preaching again. For he did not walk idle one hour, and because he was a man

1) Erlanger: am.

If he wanted to be, he also had to wait like another man. But preaching and praying were his most important works, and here he especially describes baptism as one of his works, and baptism also belongs to him. 2) For he wants to take the baptism from John, because John was only a servant. For he wants to take baptism from John, since John was only a servant for it. Therefore John also gladly lets the baptism follow Christ as his Lord, because John is not to be the regent, but only to go before the Lord and to yield to the Lord.

V. 23. John also baptized in Enon, near Salim, where there was much water.

John is pleased to make his allegories by saying that there was much water in the place, as in the 6th chapter of John, when Christ fed five thousand men, he says that there was much grass in the same place. Otherwise he says: "The feast of Easter was near. So here he says: "There was much water there." But John has his own way of speaking, of which we will say another time. For it serves nothing for history; nor does he say, "There was much water there."

The Jordan has otherwise the way that a very gloating 3) water is, bleeds crooked and unfriendly, and one can come to it in few places, has been a proud, deep water, has made many snake bends, does not like to be used, has sometimes had a mountain in the way.

John the Evangelist says that John the Baptist could not baptize in all places. For the Jordan was a malicious water, which was disinfectant, so that it could not be used, as if it did not want to be with the people. But in the place where one could come to it, as at the city of Enon, where the Jordan made a bosom, there he baptized.

The same history he now describes, and what it means.

2) Erlanger: him.

3) Handwriting: "heimisch". Höck has put "hönisch" in the text, the Erlanger: "heimisch". . But already Höck remarks: "Perhaps heimisch is to be read hämisch (?)." Likewise in the following paragraph.

But everything belongs to the mysterium, and has a beautiful allegory, namely, that the holy scripture is also as crooked and deep water, and not everyone can understand it, cannot be used nor grasped by anyone, but at times escapes the reader, and soon passes by like a rain, so that it can hardly be grasped. Today God's word and the holy scriptures are in this place, soon in another place. But I can no longer speak of this (for the sake of which John the Evangelist remembers the Jordan), for I am now somewhat weak. But I will do it later.

The thirty-seventh sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday before the birth of Christ [21 Dec. 1538).

This is a small history, so let us not preach about it for a long time, because I cannot speak much about it either. However, because the Holy Spirit has described it, we do not have to go over this text, but we have to deal with it a little bit. John the Evangelist says, because all the evangelists write that John the Baptist baptized at the Jordan, which is the same as if he had been in Galilee, which is also the case; But that it might be known that he preached and baptized not only in Galilee by the Jordan, therefore he also describes how he preached and baptized in the Jewish country, when, near Jerusalem and Betharaba, the Jews of Jerusalem sent an embassy of priests and Levites to John the Baptist. These places were not in Herod's country. So here he reports Salim and Enon, which are both cities in the land of Judah not far from the Jordan.

So John the Evangelist wants to indicate that John the Baptist spent several parts of his preaching in the desert (as the Evangelist Lucas also testifies in chapter 3.1), as around Jericho and by the dead sea. There he began to preach and to baptize, until he was

1) In the handwriting: "10."

came also into Galilee, and there was beheaded by Herod.

And Salim, which is in the mountains, is not on the Jordan, but a little away from it; and it is seen here that John did not remain in one place, but traveled again and again, until he also came to this place, and began his preaching in the tribe of Judah, and came with it into Galilee, until he was strangled. But Christ did the opposite, for he began in Galilee, and afterward journeyed into the land of Judah, and to Jerusalem, and there was crucified.

What Enon and Salim mean, I could also interpret, but I am too weak for that now. But the evangelist wants to say: Since Christ spoke with Nicodemo in the Jewish country, John the Baptist still leads his preaching ministry. Now the Lord stayed a long time in Judea, and after that he went to Capernaum and to Nazareth, and lived there until he died, when he came again to Jerusalem. But John is 2) -- - (Fragment of an admonition of Luther that the citizens should not flee from the plague). 3)

If a man wants to leave his wife, the secular authorities shall defend him. Item, no one wanted to bring in meat, fish, grain and other necessities. Is this: Love your neighbor as yourself? No one wants to help others anymore.

2) "One page, col. 145, with the continuation of the sermon is missing here in the manuscript. Luther seems, however, as with the 36th sermon, so also here because of weakness of body to have continued his speech not far. The 38th sermon already begins on fol. 148 of the very extensively written manuscript and does not show any gap in the explanation. Folios 146 and 147 contain a fragment of an admonition about the plague. (Erlanger.)

3) From this admonition results a correction of the time determination in the Table Talks, Cap. 48, § 5, Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XXII, 1301. Instead of "October 21," it should read "December 21." On November 29 and December 6, 1538, the same plague is mentioned in the table speeches (Cap. 9,? 15 and Cap. 47, Z13, I. 6. Col. 365 and 1294). The "copy of an excerpt from a sermon (Luther's) that the citizens should not flee from the plague," Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, 2028 et seq, is undoubtedly identical with this "admonition" and a welcome addition to it (vol. X, Col. 2029, line 5 from below read: "your house"; Col. 2030, line 5 from above read: "beherzter" instead of: "aufgeweckter"), should therefore also be provided with the time determination "den 21. December 1538".

go into the houses, so that those who are sick die of hunger. If we want to be so minded, it is no wonder that the pestilence comes, for all the devils should come and punish us for it. For if we cannot stand the children's rut, what would happen if God came with war? yes, if he came with thunder and lightning and hellish fire? For we are thus minded, as if we had forgotten God altogether, and as if God had no more power over us.

If the pestilence should come again, then I admonish you, you should not behave so horribly, or see to it that the poor people, who would get the pestilence, would be taken care of, and would be fed by the church or the common caste, or they [who do not want to serve your neighbor] 1) are expelled from the city. Appoint some physician and balbier, or two, or God will punish you, 2) and take away the wood on the meadow, the grain, and whatever else you have in cellars. If you can wait for them, why will you not wait for the people? Does this mean to love your neighbor, and to receive the Lord when he is weak, that you may visit him, or when he is a wanderer, that you may shelter him? How do Rome, Milan, and Venice, where there is pestilence for and against? and whether they often have the cities swept, yet they cannot avoid the pestilence. Many more of them are born every day than die. How many hundreds of them are born every day? One owes a death to the other.

If you have to stay and are in an office, then you shall stay. Take medicine and burn incense, and stay with those to whom God has appointed you. The prince may have commanded me to leave here for the sake of dying, but I did not want to. For even if everything here is

1) The brackets are added by us.

2s In the other Relation, Vol. X, 2030, of our edition, Luther continues: "Then I say to all of you who flee and leave your own behind, that I will not abandon the poor in times of need, but will have your wood brought in and burned on the meadow, and will also distribute and offer your supply of grain, beer, and everything else that can be enjoyed to the poor; be warned of this.

Even though I am in the throes of pestilence, I shall not be driven from the preaching seat. For it is my profession, and I will wait for it and endure it. If I die over it, then I die in the state of love, and then it is much better than if I lived a hundred years longer. But if you go away and leave your parents, wife or children, you are such a cursed man that you should rather die a hundred times.

The pestilence is a fine, sweet punishment, since one lets oneself be told, 3) and dies in God's knowledge, with faith and invocation of God. But the citizen, the peasant and the nobleman struggle after a war and a great time: but God still preserves it, and inflicts the punishments, even though He truly forbids it. When the same punishment comes as pestilence, do not fear the devil so much, for God is trying your faith, repentance and love. If the devil spews out poison, will I flee from the land? If he has strangled us and eaten us, he must spit us out again.

After that, I don't know if I should ask for the pestilence. The peasants and noblemen now value and increase everything that comes on the market as they wish, and go there, wipe 4) the mouth. So the authorities are also so wicked, lazy and lazy. If God did not interfere, our one should not desire to live. For if sins were not punished, and everyone wanted to do what he wanted, and the authorities let everything go to hell, 5) we should wish that our Lord God would see us. For there is nothing else, but to toil 6) and to scrape, as if they were God Himself. A pestilence must come, so that the chaff may be purified from the grain, for if the citizens, peasants and nobles should continue in this way, it would be better that we die.

Therefore, do not make the pestilence as evil or as bad as it is in itself, as the peasants would rather have their time and war than the pestilence. But do not paint the devil over the door, otherwise he will come to you. For this reason, do not act so horribly, but-

3) i.e. communicate.

4) Erlanger: washed.

5) Erlanger: pants. - be evil evil.

6) Erlanger: umbrella.

You who are with us in this church, and you who hear the word of the Lord Christ. Remember, pestilence is the devil's arrow. If he shoots me with it, what of it? Nevertheless Christ lives, and I will live also. For he saith, He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live: as they that die in the pestilence pass away as smoothly as if they were asleep. So it does not happen in time of trouble, nor in war. But here you can still have and hear a preacher who will preach God's word to you. Therefore, do not fear too much, lest we anger God too much and he send us something troublesome; and let us stay here, who are mature persons, and arrange doctors, balbiers, hospitals, so that we do not miss our neighbor and do not sin against him. For we owe it to him to stand by him with life and limb. If a man is infected, it is only a drop of rain, the weather has not yet arrived.

End of the sermon.

The thirty-eighth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday after Viti [June 21, 1539j.

V. 22. After this came Jesus.

All the evangelists write that John the Baptist preached and baptized around the Jordan River. For the promised land was a very dry land, and had no more flow of water than the Jordan, and it goes almost through the middle of the land, after which it finally falls into the shameful pool, where Sodom and Gomorrah stood in ancient times. There the Jordan is not only lost, but the water drowns itself there, and chokes the Jordan the same shameful pool.

Since S. John was sent to be the forerunner of the Lord Christ and to proclaim that the Messiah was present, and to lead the sign that he baptized, as others have had other signs, such as, Isaiah once went even naked, as a sign that Palestine was to be robbed and plundered; Jeremiah wore an

wooden chain on the neck. Thus the prophets commonly brought signs with them besides the word; just as God from the beginning of the world also gave signs besides his word, so that one might also see with bodily eyes that he loved his people and church and wanted to do them good. When Adam received from God the promise of the woman's seed, He [God] clothed them [Adam and his wife] in fur. When He wanted to make Abraham a special people, He gave him circumcision. In addition to the outward ministry, he always gave an outward, visible sign, so that we would not complain that we could not find him.

Thus, in our time, in the New Testament, He gave us baptism, the sacrament of the altar, and absolution, so that we might have Christ closest to us, not only in our hearts, but also in our tongues, so that we might feel Him, grasp Him, and grope Him; and God did all this for the sake of the wicked spirits who seek God with their reason, thoughts, and dreams to please themselves. For this reason, he makes himself sensitive and clear during the day, so that he can be seized. But we do not accept it and do not ask anything about the divine word, since the Lord Christ says [John 14:10]: "The word that I preach is not mine, but my Father's"; item: "Whoever hears you hears me"; item: "Go into the world and teach all nations"; whoever believes the word of God and is baptized will be saved etc. Such words of the Gospel, even the absolution, we throw to the wind.

Thus he gives it to us not only in the heart, but also in the eyes and in the hands, for it is tangible and sensitive. God has always governed His people in such a way that He has also made Himself known to them visibly, so that it should not be said that if one could find God, one would run after Him to the end of the earth. But it is no trouble for you to run far after him, if you could hear him alone. For he will come to thee, and thrust thee in the eyes, and smite thee in the fists, and will say, Hear me only, and take hold of me; let thine ears and eyes be opened, and thou shalt have baptism, and the sacrament of the altar, and riches.

your mouth here, and let me put my hand on your head, the water that is poured over you, I give.

Thus, in the life of the prophets, God revealed Himself not only in word, but also in outward, visible and tangible form. Thus John the Baptist also spoke the verbal word and pointed with his finger to Christ, saying: "Behold, this is God's Lamb, who bears the sin of the world. After that, the Jordan had to serve him and be an outward sign or image, so that he could make the common man grasp and grope for God, and so that they would not be allowed to say, "Oh, if we knew where God was, I would gladly 1) run after him; as we have also done in the papacy, that he, the pope, put the sacraments under the pew, and only read the bare text of the Gospel in the pulpit, but God's word had to be nothing at all, but given: Run in the cuirass 2) to S. Jacob, call to S. Georgium, Erasmum, and others. There I see nothing, I feel nothing, but in broad daylight I am blind, and when God has revealed Himself, not only in His word, but also in visible signs, it has been ignored; and I fear it will come to that again. You see the baptism, and he who is baptized feels it. We may thank God that he has placed his dear Son in the womb of his mother Mary. Those who have seen him have grasped and felt the Son of God, and those who have heard him have also crucified the Son of God; and since the Lord Christ can no longer be felt personally and bodily, he has left behind him his word and the sacraments, which we can grasp with our five senses. Nor should we throw all this to the winds and think up something special, as the monks have done, and since nothing can be seen or grasped that God has commanded. What devil made you do it? For what can be better or more deliciously conceived than what God Himself has given? We should resist our thoughts and dreams, and not run away from them.

1) Erlanger: him.

2) Pumpkin - harness.

that which God has held out to us. For preachers, parents, masters and wives also tell us God's will and word.

Enon, Salim. It is written in Greek, I do not know what it is. But it reads as if John had the manner before other evangelists that he likes to interpret the names, and indicates that one should take an opinion from it, as he also said above that John baptized at Betharaba [Joh. 1, 28.], item (Joh. 11, 16.], Thomas, who is called Gemini. For John describes all the names before the others, as a reminder to consider what they are and what they are called. And he adds that there was much water there, as if there were much and great power; item, that many people ran there and wanted to be baptized, because John had not yet been thrown into prison.

Now it was John's office to baptize. Now there were no more waters in all the land than the Jordan alone; otherwise there were only some swamps now and then, and the waters of the Jordan curved very much, and turned to and fro, and had deep banks, and could not be drawn: but in some places it could be drawn. For it went very deep, and had high grass 3) about it. Wherever there was a place where one could come to the water and draw it, it was said, "There was much water there. That is why John chose that place, so that he could baptize much there. Otherwise one could not always come to the water. For the scribes indicate that the river had meandered far around and made many bends, so that it was difficult to draw water from it. Now, S. John has a desire to write this, and says: "There was a place where much water was drawn from the Jordan than could otherwise have been drawn at ten oers. But why does he describe it in this way?

Jordan was an image and figure of the whole land, people and law of Moses. For the descriptors of the landscape measure all the lands according to the waters, and not according to the

3) "high grass" will be difficult to be correct. One should expect: high banks.

Cities and castles: but, the Rhine floweth thus, and afterward the waters are set by it, and the forests. Therefore also the forty-second Psalm [v. 7.] saith, "I remember thee in the land of Jordan and Hermonim, in the little mountain." The game land is therefore called the land of Jordan, for he is lord of the land. So also with the Rhine. Because the water flows through the same land, the land must be called after it: the Rhine river.

Therefore the Jordan is a figure of the law, which was given in that place of land, and is judged from Christ, who was to be born in that land. Therefore John came and dived at the end of the Jordan, and there gladly baptized, as also at Betharaba, that is, at Wüsthausen, 1) Feldhausen; was a wild place, where no good fruit grew, but was a wide field. There the city is not far from it, since the Jordan falls in pool. There John baptized. John was also the last preacher of the law, yes, the end of the law, as the Lord Christ says in the eleventh chapter. And now the Jordan goes through the Jewish country until it comes to Betharaba, where John baptized. There it drowns with its water, and after that it receives a name, that it is called the dead sea, and loses its name, since the five cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Adama and Zeboim etc. stood. Then the Jordan drowned near the city of Betharaba, where John was baptizing.

This is what John wants to indicate, as by a secret spiritual interpretation, that John is the last and Jordanian preacher, that is, that the law should now cease, and man should be baptized, not that he should be justified by himself, but should come away from Jordan, and be baptized with fire from heaven.

Jordan means descent or decline, that this river falls down and drowns in the dead sea, just as the Elbe flows under itself and runs into the sea and loses itself in it.

1) This passage shows that Luther must have said "Betharaba", although he put Joh. 1, 28. "Bethabara".

But he has his origin in tribu Dan, and comes from a beautiful Borne, shows himself crookedly down. Hereby John could not have painted better Moses and the law, which preach the ten commandments. This teaching bends, and is deep, teaching us sin, until it leads us into death, that is, the law kills, and leads them into the abyss of hell. To the Jordan, that is, to the doctrine no one could come and drink of it, and that is the power of the law, that it kills the flesh, everything is dead there, falls into the dead sea; and this is especially true of the Jews, who defied the law of Moses, and we also fall into a more harmful pool than the Jordan is, if we do not keep the law of Moses.

Now John is at the end of the law, saying, I am not the true Master, but the Bridegroom shall come, and he shall do it. I am yet a piece of Jordan; but he that shall come else shall not come but Jordan.

Let this be said briefly of the words of Salim and Enon, and that many people had come there to be baptized. Follows:

V. 25: "Then a question arose among the disciples of John and the Jews about the cleansing.

This is the eternal strife that rises up here against Christ's and John's disciples. And he especially wanted to use the word "purification" here, and not baptism, because soon after follows in the text: Of whom thou begettest, he baptizeth, and every man cometh unto him. The other three evangelists write that John baptized Christ: but the evangelist here avoids the same words, that he baptized Christ, but says that he begat of him. What this is, I will save until another time.

"To whom thou hast given witness, he goeth and baptizeth" [v. 26]. What ingratitude does he do to you? You are a prophet, and he is so ungrateful, and goes to and takes away your baptism. Before you baptized as a prophet, now he baptizes. Now which baptism is pure? He will not call it a baptism, but a cleansing, that we may be pure and holy in baptism. Now they ask: Is your baptism pure, then why does he baptize? With

In that way he will be a rebel and do harm to your baptism. We are baptized by thee, that we through thy preaching and baptism might be sanctified and blessed; so he beginneth a new thing. By this way we do not know whether we are pure or not. For if we are clean through thy baptism, why doth he baptize?

And the evangelist says that a question has arisen about purification, that is, about baptism, which he calls purification, so that he may show the error that existed at that time, when it was thought whether one would also become pure through baptism; and this is a question that has been from the beginning of the world, and will remain until the end, that one cannot send oneself to be purified, how and where one is to become pure. Reason seeks the way to blessedness; but the rough, wild and foolish people ask nothing about it. But the sorrowful hearts that think where they will remain after this life, even how they may obtain forgiveness of sins, and escape from death, and be assured of eternal life, they ask after purification.

Over this question there is a dispute between the disciples of John and the Jews. For those who are not crude and the Jews, who are also pious and believe in God and love salvation, go astray. For one seeks this, the other that; as has also happened under the papacy, where one has become an Augustinian monk, another a Dominican, another a Franciscan. For reason prevents it and thinks: How can I become blessed and pure, also free from sins and death, and that I may receive a gracious God? The error runs into the fists of these, that both baptize, John and Christ. Which baptism is right? The ten commandments are there; whoever does them is clean; item, "if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments of God". This was preached at the Jordan by John the Baptist. But Christ says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." How do these two rhyme together, that he who keeps the law and he who believes etc.? Which then is the true cleansing? This is the strife, and continues to this day. And

The quarreling and fighting is not with Moses, but with the disciples of John; and those who preach good works are now ashamed that they praised the monks' caps and plates so much, now they want to become disciples of John the Baptist, and teach that one should be pious and do good works, and say: One must do good works; whoever does them will be saved. Now then, Christ does not speak one letter of this, but says, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the law"; item: Nothing unclean enters the kingdom of heaven. This is John's cleansing, therefore one must be saved by good works. Yes, do it, go on, says Christ, and keep the commandments, as he also said to the scribe [Luc. 10, 28.]: "You shall love God with all your soul" etc. "Do this, and thou shalt live." It is a fine purification; but since we cannot do it and have it, John adds, "Behold, this is God's Lamb, which beareth the sin of the world." For where Christ's baptism and cleansing do not come, the abominable pool swallows up the Jordan, and we go with Sodom and Gomorrah into the abyss of hell.

But you should do it. Yes, always do it. John baptizes, is not yet in prison, that is, the Jordan is not yet drowned. We also truly say, as Christ did, "Do this. Do you preach the faith? Yes, we would like people to do good works, but first believe, and then do good works.

Therefore the dispute remains that John's disciples want to be saved by their good works and John's baptism. But he says, I am not the bridegroom; Jordan must fall and be drowned in the dead sea. Therefore there is another cleansing, for Christ begins to baptize, and my baptism must cease, and Jordan be drowned. This cleansing will do it, so that "whoever believes and is baptized" will be saved. He will also find the other cleansing, when he is first cleansed by Christ; and then the other cleansing will soon follow.

This is the quarrel, that from the beginning of the world one asks whether by works or by grace

God come to salvation. Then the main cleansing must take place, because grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ, item, out of His fullness we have taken everything; and then we do not forbid good works, but we preach that good works cannot make nor give this cleansing, but Christ must make us clean through His blood. Then follows by grace the other cleansing. So we come from the Jordan and the Red Sea.

End of this sermon.

The thirty-ninth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On Saturday after S. Johannis day the 28. 1) Junei [1539].

Next we have heard of the question that arose among the disciples of John about purification, which is the greatest struggle and strife from the beginning of the world, and will remain forever, until the end of the world, that people question and quarrel about purification; and so did the pagan philosophers, who investigated how one should serve God and become blessed. He does not speak of the purification of the world, but before God, that God may look upon the same bath, and cleanse the one who is bathed. Moses has given much cleansing, holy water and other things, as the Pope and the Turks also have much cleansing. So the pagans also had their purification and way, especially the Romans and Greeks, how they would become pure before God.

Therefore John saw a new cleansing, which had not been with the Jews before, and then also had the sermon that they should cease from their evil works and natures, and wait for the future Messiah. By this he testifies that he is not the one who can make clean, and that even his baptism is not the cleansing, but says, "I cleanse with water, not that you should be cleansed by it, but by him who is coming after me, who will cleanse with the Holy Spirit. Still the same

1) In the handwriting: "29."

2) Erlanger: those.

But those who died are still blessed, because they accepted the baptism of John and were purified in the faith of the future Christ, to whom John pointed out that he would be the true purifier. Thus all the patriarchs and prophets were purified, and circumcision and all purifying were hanged on the Messiah to come, and circumcision helped them to be hanged on the Messiah to come. Upon the faith of the Messiah to come they were circumcised, and were saved; otherwise they would not have been saved. For Christ was heri et hodie, that is, from the beginning. Abel, the pious child, sacrificed a fine fat little lamb, and was saved, not because of the sacrifice, but because of the promise that he believed in Christ. The promise was that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. Abel believed this, and because of his faith in the future seed, he was accepted by God with grace. Cain also came with his sacrifice, which was good, which the field had borne, and which he had from God's gift and bounty. But what did he lack? That he did not hope for the future seed of the woman, but was an unbelieving man, and thought that because he was the firstborn son and the only prince among the human race, he should be pleasing to God for his own sake. Therefore he did not hope and wait for the seed of the woman to crush the serpent's head. Abel, on the other hand, heard of the promised seed: this he believed, and to testify to the faith and to give day, he came with his sacrifice. But Cain thinks: "Oh, if you only sacrificed three grains of wheat, and my brother put a hundred lambs on the altar, still I am everything, and Abel is nothing. But our Lord God does it differently, that he who is nothing must be everything. For he believes in the future seed, Christ. Cain again, who was everything, is nothing, because he does not believe in the future seed of the woman. So Cain is not cleansed, but Abel is.

Over it the quarrel rises, and so gruesomely,

that he, who wants to be everything, kills Abel. This is what has happened in the world; read all the histories, how all the patriarchs and ancient fathers sacrificed, and the fire consumed their sacrifice. Then [the] godless Jews said: God does not see the gift and the sacrifice, since Cain had nothing but chaff. But God does not ask about the oxen, sheep and sacrifices, as is seen in the fiftieth Psalm and the first chapter of Isaiah. Who has commanded you of the sacrifices? says God.

This is the conflict, as can be seen in all the prophetic books, that the wicked think they will be purified because of their great sacrifices. God will not do this, and because of this all the prophets were martyred and killed, and all the great kings were overthrown. But he who has sacrificed, and has remembered at your sacrifice the true lamb, Christ, who was to be slain for the sin of the world, has been saved through and in faith in the Christ who is to come. But he who has not done this has not been saved; and even if one had a thousand oxen to sacrifice, it is as much to God as a fly. But in the case of the blessed, it is the future seed on which they have placed their salvation. For this reason there is the same blessedness from Adam and Abel onward, and the same blessedness that we have now. For the promise of Christ and the Christian faith began soon after that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and has continued until he himself came, and is now called not faith in the Christ who is to come, but who is now present and has come; and what was otherwise kept in the law is now no longer valid, whether it be law or circumcision. For Christ himself is now here, for everything is bound to Christ.

Therefore the Jews are condemned, who want to punish God with lies, and say that Christ has not come, and that the one who has come, they do not want to suffer, but wait for another, whom they dream and paint for themselves.

1) Erlanger: those.

David had come, and Moses had ceased, and David had granted, until Jesus came, then David's teaching ceased. The teaching of Jesus lasted until the people became evil. Then God commanded Mahomet to rule over the people with the sword, and so they completely abolished Christ, and Mahomet was to remain until God sent another prophet. For they think that just as God always sent prophets in the Old Testament, so He will do in the last days of the world. But know that soon after the fall of Ade Christ is set before us as our Savior. He granted in the days of Abraham, Moses and David, until he himself came into the world, and he shall remain until the end of the world. End, and to the last day, and for ever.

It is true that there have always been other people who have led in other ways, but the doctrine has been the same from the beginning of the world and will remain the same until the end of the world, except that from the beginning of the world until John the Baptist it was said: Faith in the seed to come. Now it is said that the Messiah has come. So Christ has always been the same, who is in praeterito, praesenti et futuro tempore. So also Apocalypsis calls him, that he is, who was, is, and should come.

I say this so that we may understand the doctrine of cleansing and baptism. He hangs it all on Christ, saying, "I was sent before him;" and if anyone should say here, "Surely those who died before Christ have been saved. Yes, they believed that John cleansed with his baptism. For he attaches you to Christ with his baptism; then one becomes blessed, as he did to Nicodemus; and when He Christ Himself now comes and is present, then S. John's baptism must cease, as also circumcision. For it must no longer be said: He will come, but: You must wait for no one else, and I do not believe in all those who are coming, 2) but in those who have been and are still. For we have no one to-

3) Erlanger: is.

The seed of a woman, except that which was in the days of John the Baptist, which was before the ages, and was present in the days of John the Baptist, and so is come, and abideth for ever. He that believeth not these things, and looketh for other things, as the Jews and the Turks do, shall be eternally damned. For each one wants to devise his own, and sees Cain angry, and wants to force God to look at his works. When we were still in the tabernacle, we were thus persuaded that we were holy and pure, just as if we had first come out of baptism, compared our filth and stink to the sacrifice of the Lord Christ, and then the holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water, holy water. After that, the holy water, soul-measures, vigils, all purification, so that John's baptism, the most holy man, does not help, nor could have helped, but had to hang on and believe in Christ beforehand, who was to come, and since he has come, they have had to stop; and we are not yet as good as the Jews and Turks, who say that John's and Christ's baptism has stopped, and whoever keeps Mahomet would be blessed. So the papists have also written against us that whoever sins and falls after baptism must begin his own purification. But the saints have had various purifications from the beginning of the world, all of which are attached to the Lord Christ. But when nuns and Turks fall into sin, Christ is gone, and all His purification, and one must then begin one's own purification. Therefore the pope is nothing else than the Turk, he is not worse otherwise.

There may be various baptisms, purifications and sacrifices, but the one sacrifice, Christ, remains. Abel sacrificed a little lamb in the same way and added faith in the Christ to come. If Cain had done the same, there would have been no difference between the sacrifice of Abel and Cain. Abraham's sacrifice was different, and he sacrificed his son; it was a different sacrifice than Abel's: nor did Abraham's sacrifice go to the one seed of the woman. Moses built a tabernacle, or the tabernacle of the congregation, and established a people that had a kingdom of their own, item, he led them through the red

Sea. But in these various and new ways was the one piece, namely, the seed of the woman. Therefore, there was only a few purifications from the beginning of the world, when all believed in One God, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and then each one in his own tribe, whether a husband or a scholar, 1) did good works. So a nun should also have done, and said: I will wear a veil and crown, like other women. But this has not been done. A nun thought: 2) I will put my crown in the purification of Christ. But who would have understood this at that time? The wrath of God brought the Mahomet and the Pope into the world, so that we would be led away from the one purification of Christ into so many purifications, and that we would finally become such great fools that we would also buy the good works of the monks for money.

Therefore open your eyes and see how the devil wants to tear away the purification of Christ, and does this in many different ways. For some reject the law or the ten commandments altogether, others want to bring the Pope's canons back into the church. 3) But say you thus, as John does here, that in short there is no purification except Christ alone, the seed of the woman. But if the doctrine of men comes into the church, cast it out, that not one letter of it remain, and know that all the doctrine of men is idolatry, as surely God lives. For John, who says:

V. 27: Man cannot take anything unless it is given to him from above.

Although John's baptism by itself does not purify, but wraps itself in faith, nor is it to come from man, but from God and from heaven; as faith also comes from no one but God alone; so also purification.

1) Maybe: Single?

2) Instead of "has thought", perhaps read: "should have thought".

3) This goes to the jurists. Compare Luther's admonition Wider die Juristen in 1539, Tischreden, Cap. 66, §23. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XXII, 1495 ff. - The immediately preceding is said with reference to the antinomians.

Thus circumcision also depends on the purpose of Christ, so it was also commanded by God; but it was wrapped and wrapped in faith. In the same way, all the sacrifices of the prophets are not commanded by men but by God, or they are to be trampled underfoot. Then shall one also say to a Turk: Where has God commanded what Mahomet preaches? For there is no faith at all. So the pope has also brought his canons back on the scene, and the church rules with chasubles, caps and plates etc. If I am to keep the commandment, I do not want to have a thread on the altar. But he says: One must be obedient to the church. You lie. God has not given this outward way 1) from heaven, if you touch it; therefore you have no faith.

For this reason, the papacy is vain idolatry, even if it seems so glorious, and I would not give a fly to Saint John's baptism, Abraham's circumcision and Moses' tablets, if it did not say: God from heaven. Nor shall it help me, if one does not add the other, that one may have it in faith. Therefore let the pope go out of the church, and feed his canons, for they are not from heaven, but from men. But one is wont to say: They were wise men, nevertheless. Answer then: Yes, wise men do no small foolishness, and say, It is not commanded of God; and though they were a hundred times holier than John the Baptist, yet I know that they are without God and his word, and turn away from the faith, are not wrapped and clothed in the Savior Christ, but lead away from the Lord Christ. If you do this and believe in Christ, you are blessed, and beware of that which is not commanded by God. For then it is contrary to God; therefore it shall be cast out of the church as the devil's filth. For they seek purification in another way, which God has not commanded. Therefore let it be purely dead, for it is not commanded by God. And he teaches 2) another

1) The inclusion of the "not" seems to us to be dictated by the context, - "This external way" put by us instead of: "dieß äußerlicher Weise" in the Erlanger.

2) Erlanger: lernet.

Purification, so that we may come to new life. No man can sufficiently consider what a terrible abomination is human teaching. The lawyers may teach the world. If the world is pious, and there are no more murderers, fornicators, adulterers or usurers to be found in it, then let us dispute with them. Let the physicians also wait for their profession; so also let each one do what he is commanded. For in the church one should not suffer any of these things, but God's word alone should rule there. God also commands: You shall not have other gods. Therefore, the Canons are strictly against God. Now God says: "In the church I alone will be God; which cannot happen unless I also speak alone in the church. Otherwise, the Sabbath, the name of God, the faith and majesty of God will soon perish.

The Gentiles and other wise men, even the Jews, who had the commandment of circumcision and sacrifices, are reproached and punished as idolaters. For they separated their circumcision, sacrifices and works from the faith in the Messiah to come, saying, "He who sacrifices makes himself righteous by such works. Therefore they sacrificed much, and did many things in eating, drinking, and clothing, which was not a man's work, as the pope and the Turk do, and yet it became idolatry. Why? Because the Jew 3) did not use the sacrifice as he should have. For he should have used it outwardly, as a sign, and wrapped himself around the future Messiah. But they exclude him altogether. Cain says: God has commanded the sacrifice to me through my father. But his sacrifice is mere, and not wrapped in faith, which alone makes a gracious God. For if I believe, the sacrifice is pleasing and acceptable to God; but if you reject the seed of the woman, the sacrifice is not pleasing to God. Therefore, the pope and the Turk use ways that God has not commanded, and then they exclude Christ altogether. For this reason, they are seven times worse than the Jews, who are purifying and doing other things.

3) Erlanger: Jews.

Works that were commanded by God: yet it is nothing. But they say, "It is a good thing; they were wise men. Is John the Baptist also of no use, who was sent by the Holy Spirit, if it is said that you do not believe. Much less will the canons be of any use if you add to them the appendix that you want to be saved by them. For this reason, the canons should be driven out of the church. They would like to shit in again, but we want to burn them once more, and burn them on the shingle. But the pope condemns us because we do not want to put his abomination and purification, as holy water and other things, next to the right purification, and that is why he hates us. But the Lord Christ proclaimed it before in John, it must be so. If they have called me Beelzebub, who am the Lord and Messiah, much more will they call my disciples so. But we have the true doctrine and know that we do not err, and before God we do not want to be called schismatici because of the doctrine, for the Word is irreproachable. Even if they call us heretics, God and our hearts know that we are being wronged. They themselves also know that our teaching is the holy Scriptures. But they also want to have the secondary purification. But the little children speak in the Ten Commandments: One shall not have other gods. He alone wants to reign in the church and not suffer a secondary god. They could suffer that we have the holy scripture and baptism: but they cannot suffer that we challenge and punish their idolatry. But if God is merciful to us, let the devil be angry with all his scales.

So the disciples say to John, "Your cleansing is nothing; you have borne witness to Christ that you took baptism from him, and also cleansing. Now he prepares another one, and so stately that everyone runs to him: "Here resist, dear John. But he says: "A man can take nothing 1) unless it be given him from above"; as if he should say: Oh, dear disciples, you do not understand my cleansing rightly; he does not make a new cleansing, it is not a human thing,

1) Erlanger: Nix.

what he makes. Therefore let him do it, it is from heaven. Otherwise Christ's cleansing and John's cleansing are one and the same, except that John uses a different method. For Christ himself is the cleansing, as John taught. They all hung on him with their sacrifices, and he also said, "I baptize only with water. Therefore it is not of men, but of God; and if John speaks especially of the government of God, of the church, there shall nothing be done, except it be given from heaven. But if it is not from heaven, it is called man and nothing, even if the wisest men on earth had spoken it. Otherwise it must come down from above, and not be called: Man took it or thought it up. For this reason he throws down everything that is sought for cleansing, and John says, "My cleansing would be nothing if it did not depend on him, who himself is the cleanser, and who enlightens all, and from whose fullness may all be taken; and the way also came from heaven. Otherwise my baptism would be as good as a monk's cap, if my baptism had not come from heaven: but because God has commanded it to me, and concerning the way that I baptize, I should also point to Him who Himself cleanses.

Therefore he says: Man cannot take it 2) from him. They want to take it 3) from them, but it must first be received from heaven, or it is no good at all, not only the faith, but also the way 4) must be revealed and given by God from heaven, 4) as with baptism. Still 5) - -

[The fortieth sermon on the Gospel of John],

[Saturday, July 5, 1539.]

Heaven, but take it, and put the eye on the forehead, or on a leg and knee,

2) "can's" put by us instead of: kany.

3) "them" put by us instead of: "ihme" in the Erlanger.

4) Added by us.

5) "Here two leaves are missing from the manuscript, col. 162 and 163. The 39th sermon must have closed there, and the 40th sermon must have begun, because the next superscription indicates the 41st sermon." (Erlanger.)

and see how it should stand. For if it is not [right] 1) it is the devil. So a cobbler is a craftsman. But if he would make a hat of a shoe, and say unto me, Hold still, and put the hat upon the feet. Now the hat or hood is his, and the feet also are his: but the hat is not in its place; and though a thing be delicious, and is not even, but lacks time and place, it is nothing; as I have said then of the eye: God made it, it is a beautiful and valuable part of the body; but if it were on the kneecap, everyone would be afraid of it. 2) The eye is a beautiful and valuable part of the body. Item, is a woman still so beautiful, and is a whore, she is beautiful, but not fit for marriage. And if the sleeve is to become a skirt, the cloth is fine, but it is not suitable and does not rhyme. But we humans think that everything that is beautiful also rhymes. So the pope has also made many canons; but if it only appears, then it is over. So also with the purification, which the fathers have ordered, it is a fine thing; but if one sets it, where the head is to stand, that does not go. The pope invents and speaks much, that should stand in the place where Christ should stand, because it is fine and beautiful. Now the bride is also beautiful, and it suits her when she is with the bridegroom. But when she is found in a whorehouse, or running after another man, she is black, and the clamor is heard over her. She is 3) beautiful, but with the adulterer she should not be 4) beautiful, but then looks like the devil.

Now John wills that Christ be over all men: and he hath also given the estates, as, of parents, and authorities, and citizens, and peasants, and hath adorned all estates, every one in his order. But let [it] be in its place, where it shall be, and where it shall prosper. But with it you shall not want to wipe out your sin, as the pope and lawyers pretend. It will not do for you to come a tailor and pretend that your wammes is a delicious shoe. So the worldly rule is also fine: but let it be in the world.

1) Added by us.

2) Erlanger: startled.

3) Erlanger: it is.

4) Erlanger: "solls nothing already".

Let it remain, and do not put it in the bridal chamber of Christ. Let justice remain in matters of strife, and do not put it into the church. But if it happens, it looks human and like that, if one eye would stand on the knee and the other on the back. The pope is just such an image. He wants to drive the bridegroom Christ out of the chamber, and sits on the stocking, 5) and cries out that his doctrine is holy, which should govern the Christian church, and whoever does not believe it, and does so, is damned. Then comes the tailor, as I said above. A man should stick to what is given him, for if a man does it beautifully and in the best way, and does not use it properly, it may be beautiful, but it is not even. If this happens in small matters, then as God has given it, it must remain in its circle and even place: much more should nothing be mixed in the church of God, be it divine law or jurisprudence, nor John the Baptist or prophet. But where the contrary is done, the eyes are on the top of the head, and the nose on the kneecap. What does not go in its place and person is nothing. We experience this in lesser things, indeed, in all classes.

But in the church, that is, in matters of faith, the pope brings in all his handiwork and what he can think up. But John says: "Man is nothing, nor I, compared to the man Christ. Therefore, whoever wants to be a master or ruler of the church, let him say: I will leave it as Christ has ordered and commanded. For otherwise it will not do for one to master another's craft. If the tailor came with the last [to the cobbler] and said, "Dear, make pants for yourself," and the cobbler came with the cloth and said to the tailor, "Dear, make me shoes;" item, the maid wanted to reform the wife, and the student wanted to teach the master: 6) then it would soon be noticed that it would not last long.

Now John does not speak here of such little things, but of the cleansing, .

5) Perhaps: chair? because "stocking", i.e. torso, does not seem to fit.

6) Erlanger: learn.

There shall be nothing but Christ alone. Man shall neither do nor know anything, except what is called Christ. For as skillful craftsmen [do not suffer], 1) that a man should make their work otherwise than as they have made it: much more shall it be said here also, when God saith unto his dear Son, Thou only shalt be the Bridegroom, and none else. So John says, "I have indeed done something, and have been the forerunner of the Messiah; but of the things of which I speak here, I have and can do nothing. For though a man be honourable, honest, and beautiful, and have glorious gifts, yet is he not saved thereby. A person does not go to heaven because of this, even if he has made good canons. It takes more than what John and the prophets can do (let alone the lawyers), if one wants to be saved. For John can say, I am the greatest of those born of women, nor can I come to sleep with the bride; that is, no one can teach the church how to be saved. But this we can do, that we direct her to him and run.

Therefore there is something else under it, because a man is bad, because it is found here 2) which purification is right, whether the teaching of the pope is right, or whether this, that John says: He who comes after me, he is; it is something else. I, who am so near that I point with my finger to the 3) Messiah, nor must I say that I am not, but he alone is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit; and point all of us also with his preaching still to this one. The saints may be adorned with beautiful gifts, but it shall all be nothing. Why? Because if you look at it in itself, it is fine; but if you hold it against the bridegroom, it is nothing, and is called according to S. John's word, "Man can take nothing" etc. But if this is not done, then you make an eye into a hand; as the pope also did, who let himself be thought beautiful: but if

1) "not suffer" added by us- "artful" put by us instead of: more artful".

2) So put by us instead of: "But if it is found here".

3) Erlanger: dem.

If it is held against the bridegroom, it is nothing. Therefore no purification helps, but only that which the bridegroom himself brings. Therefore the canons and decrees are fine, but it does not rhyme here. The Turk has a fine regiment, Moses the like: but against him it is called nothing, it is called Concilia or Canönichen. For man can do nothing, here belongs another and a certain man, namely the bridegroom, whose bed shall not be stained. He speaks of it quite clearly, so, 4) that it is not the craftsmen who can suffer it. Therefore, whores and boys should not come into the bridal chamber, nor what people otherwise think of. Therefore all that men invent and devise is nothing, for they have no better thoughts than to beget children in wedlock. This is God's order; he does not want you to beget children in adultery. Item, he also says: Rule over the fishes of the sea etc. Therefore say: III Things concerning salvation, I know nothing at all, but Christ alone. But if you come with the canons and conciliarities, here you have the verdict that it is nothing, especially if you add what is written in the decree: Districte praecipiendo mandamus. This is the devil and death, when he says: Kiss my feet, you shall and you must. Yes, kiss the devil. But if I should do it for good friendship or play, I could still do it well. But if thou sayest, If thou do it, thou shalt be saved, it is Christ's alone, who alone is Lord over righteousness; but if he say, I will not have it of thee, that thou mayest be saved by my laws, but believe on Christ. So John also says: By my cleansing you will not be saved, but I must become small, but Christ 5) must grow; and with this he pushes on a heap of everything that human senses, reason and thoughts can think up more. We have done much in monasteries, and yet have done nothing, for all is lost, because it was devised by men. John and

4) "so" put by us instead of: as.

5) Erlanger: Christum.

The prophets have pointed to Christ, but not yet; and he will say, I will take you as witnesses that it is not the opinion that my baptism makes blessed, but for this reason I baptize, that you may receive Christ. For I am not the true Purifier, but the finger and witness of the Messiah, who is the true Purifier, and he that believeth on him and dieth shall be saved; not that I have cleansed him, but that I have pointed him unto and to him that cleanseth. I have hanged them about his neck, all my disciples, and you also, that ye all might abide with him.

That is why they say: You baptized him, now they all run to him. But John answers: Have you not heard what I have said? I must become small, but Christ must grow; I was a voice calling before the Lord, and pointing you to him.

John is truthful, because he says: "I am not Christ", as the Jews wanted to accept him for it. So should the pope also do, and his own. But they have done as Christ prophesied before, "Many shall come and say, I am Christ." Item: Many will come in my name, and pretend: If you run to Rome, you will receive forgiveness of sins. John does not say that he cleanses you or forgives sins, for "I am not Christ": nor has the Pope submitted to this; and John would say, "I am indeed great, and far greater and better than the Pope, for Christ himself speaks; I [John] am greater than the prophets, for I was the nearest angel before the Lord; but what I live and do will not help you to salvation. For though I wear a leather belt around me, and put on camel skin, and eat locusts, and dwell by the waters, these things do not make me clean, but Christ alone. Otherwise all estates are also his, the law of Moses is also fine, the Turk also has fine laws: but when it comes to purification, it is the devil. The purification of the lawyers in their circle is fine; so it is also that a bishop wears a staff and hat: but that it should make clean, and take away death, that is the devil.

cannot do it. I am a forerunner, that is, he who points to the Baptist and the Purifier. This is his office, that he says, "I am not Christ," but he is. So all should still point to it, Pabst, monks etc.

The likeness is taken from the world, is a tangible likeness. The bride belongs to the groom. If one says: This is a fine fellow who leads the bride to the dance, why should he not have the bride? But it does not help, if one is noble, rich, learned, or beautiful, the bride does not belong to him, but the bridegroom belongs to the bride. So also in these spiritual things. There is no other bridegroom who takes the bride but Christ, and in the immortal life one cannot suffer the bride to be of any other than the bridegroom. What is he doing, John? He may assign the bride to the bridegroom, and may dance, eat and drink with her. The prophets and all the saints and I are brideservants and friends, serve him at the wedding: but I will not purify the bride. The popes have written and pretended that they are the bridegroom of the Christian church, and the bishops the bridegroom of their churches. But they have been harlots. John, who is greater than all the popes and bishops, does not want this, but only rejoices that he may hear the voice of the bridegroom.

What does S. John know about the bridegroom and the bride while he was in the desert? But he wanted to set this likeness, so that no man is so rude who does not know that the bride is the bridegroom, so that in this great, important transaction Christ alone is entitled to the church. For otherwise the pope wants to make of Christ's wedding and of his bride a dog's wedding and a whore. But John says: "I am not Christ", it is only One Christ. So now he says: The bride is no one's but the bridegroom's, who also therefore has the bride, and all rejoice with the bridegroom, that the guests have been invited to his honor, and may hear the bridegroom. John is glad with all his heart that it has come to this, that he may hear and see Christ; the joy is full. John has preached before, John should now quietly swear.

gen. Christ has risen and is preaching himself, taking the bride in his arms, baptizing and cleansing her. Before, John will say, I preached and said that he should come and you should run to him. Since he preaches zero himself, there is the bride to the bridegroom, led. My ministry is over, he shall grow. So John always points us to Christ.

The forty-first sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday after Kiliani [July 12, 1539].

Let every man do in his own order what is his office and calling, according to the saying in the first book of Moses: "Rule over the birds of the air and over everything that crept on the earth, and only rule well, having reason and other worldly wisdom to do so. But here, when it is said that one should know something more than one otherwise knows in this life, be silent, and let bride and bridegroom deal with each other. What you should know, that you should live eternally, there must be another wisdom, than this world's wisdom, which only deals with houses and other things; when the pope preaches that you should not eat meat on Friday, item, you should celebrate, that you then say: Shut up, and let the consciences not swear, or use your wisdom in your house.

So he wanted to keep the church pure, so that the word of God would also be preached purely. Therefore he and other prophets will depart from Christ; rather, let those who speak from a human head depart, and let him who hears them say, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom. Therefore let us no longer suffer the teaching of the pope, and say, All canons, statutes, decrees, and councils, if they be not the voice of the bridegroom, I say, All human doctrine is truly idolatry, therefore let it not be suffered; and if the philosophers and Moses cannot be tolerated, how shall we suffer the decree of the pope and of the councils? Therefore John goes very high.

There are some of them who preach against Christ, as those who forbid that one should not

to administer both forms of the Lord's Supper to the laity, item, to forbid marriage to the priests. Others are without Christ, who are a little better than the dear fathers, who set many things, but not of Christ; he commanded it not, but said: We have considered it good, and have set it; as though it were not contrary to Christ, and yet it is contrary to him, when it is held against the word of Christ. After this there is another thing, which is still higher, if Christ's word be kept, wherein the pope and the rotten ones are. These hear that what is said apart from Christ and without Christ is not valid, nor do they want to be the bridegroom, that is, to preach Christ, since it is not true, just as a bride who would let anyone into her bedchamber is a whore. But if a rogue comes and pretends to be the host, so does Satan. These are the spirits that do not hear the bridegroom, but are thieves and of the devil, as the pope did with the saying, "Thou art Peter." Then they adorned themselves in Christ's name and word, as it is written in the 24th chapter of Matthew.

Speak therefore not only against those who are publicly hostile to Christ, as the ungodly and the pope with his canons, but also against those who speak the word of Christ. A matron can be deceived if another has a language than her landlord. For this reason we should take heed of the devil, lest he devour us. For a Christian does not walk securely, nor sleep, nor snore, but a Christian says, "The devil is valiant, and not only rages openly against Christ, but also comes in the form of the Lord Christ, and deceives people. Therefore let the church take care that she is not deceived under the form of the bridegroom's voice, but learns to recognize and understand the voice of her bridegroom, the Lord Christ. For if he will not have the prophets and Moses, nor John, who is of God, much less can he suffer those who preach something without or against the voice of the bridegroom, and speak something else under the appearance of the divine word.

For this reason, we are to see to it in the church that we neither preach nor hear anything unless

The voice of the bridegroom, and not a fictitious or imitated voice. For it is Christ alone who takes away sin and overcomes death. Therefore believe no man that he cometh in the majesty or form of Christ against Christ, or without Christ, or for him. 1) But take heed only, and hold fast that which he hath preached; and if any man shall say any thing that is not in rhyme with the voice of Christ, and I find it contrary, I shall say, Fie on thee, thou whoremonger, wilt thou make me a whore? Well, I would like to say, do I speak a holy thing? Reason thinks it to be good itself. But you say: I have the voice of the bridegroom, I must believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and then love my neighbor, as I am taught in catechism. But we consider it a small teaching, because how many are ours who hear such teaching now? Now it is easier to understand, if one preaches against it, than, if one prays both forms of the Lord's Supper, and pretends: There is as much in one part as in both; if you take the body, you receive the blood of Christ in it. After that the common rabble, if they receive a figure in the papacy, thinks they have it. Then you say, "I know this myself, but why do you priests receive the cup if we are to be satisfied with one form? But they say, "Yes, we are priests, and in a more peculiar state than you laymen. This is a great wisdom. Where did you learn that you should distinguish between priests and laymen in the Lord Christ? Do the laity have a different baptism from the priests? Why then does the Lord Christ say that he died for the whole world, and makes no distinction among all classes of men? The servants and the emperors have the same baptism, and at the same time one Christ. Why then should the sacrament not go out the same, since they have the same baptism, faith and hope in Christ, and the same Holy Spirit, and Christ goes out the same? 2) You alone make an inequality in the sacrament.

1) In the original: "without Christ; or for him".- "for him" - under his name.

2) equal out - straight out.

ment, and say: The layman is something different from the priest. Should the sacraments also be distinguished according to the difference of men? What do you say to this? Did Christ order that the layman should have one part and the priest two? Answer: No. Why then do you teach that Christ wants to be used completely? Yes, they say, it is the order of the Christian church. Which one? The church should and must be the bride of our Lord God. So she is the pope's bride, I have not seen a more hideous whore in my life. But if she is a bride, she hears the voice of the bridegroom. Now the bridegroom says, "Take, eat, drink." This is what the Church hears. For this is the Christian church, which hears the voice of the bridegroom. But those who do not do this are called the church of the devil. They only thumb their noses at us with the words, "The church has done it. I may be assured that the pope with his own is the bride, that is, the church that believes in Christ, and [that] 3) everything that Christ taught, they also teach others, and keep it. Now he did not command one form of the Lord's Supper, but both. How then do we come to the shameful whorehouse? For Christ saith that we should not believe them which come in his name, that is, in the name of the bridegroom: much less should we hear them which come in the name of the bride; and the first shall not be counted as: "Here is Christ," and not to believe those who come in His name, that is, the doctrine taught under the name of the Bridegroom; much less to believe the name of the Church; therefore to have heard the right, true voice of Christ, as was said to the Ephesians in the 5th chapter [v. 22]. Chapter [v. 22] it is also said, "Let the wives be subject to their husbands," and not again let the husbands be subject to the wives. For if the man is called something, and the woman wants to do the opposite, what would become of it? So here too. Christ has ordered this, but the church has changed it) Then say: Always away with the church, I want to have the right bridegroom and his voice.

3) "that" added by us to make some sense.

And if we did not see and hear it, we could not believe that people were so wicked. But they say, "Well, my dear, the Christian church has decreed that the laity should be given the same form. But it is a blasphemous speech. For are you to blame the church for trampling underfoot the voice of Christ? For there is no church which is not obedient to Christ. It is said, "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." Now the devil is trying to deceive the bride, so that she may lose the chastity and virginity in which she otherwise trusted in Christ.

Therefore let us learn to discern, that we may know which is the bridegroom's voice. For if any man come without Christ, not bringing him with him, or come against Christ, or under the name of Christ, say, The name of the bridegroom and of the bride must not be blasphemed and profaned; but say, Christ speaketh thus and so. He therefore that followeth the voice of the bridegroom, changeth not, nor perverteth it. For no one in the house can bear that the wife should do otherwise than the husband hath commanded. But if he is a gag, he may get up from his wife and put another one with her. If it cannot be tolerated there, it will be tolerated much less in the church. Nor can the church do it, that it should let Christ, the bridegroom, speak and order, and then change it for him. Therefore it is blasphemy to say, "The church has ordered it. For the bridegroom and the bride are one body, and what the bridegroom does, the bride does, says Paul to the Ephesians in the fifth chapter. Now they do it in majesty against Christ, or without Christ, or under his name. It is all one thing, that is, it is against him. Therefore we must be valiant against the devil, who attacks us with doctrine that is against Christ, as the tyrants do, and then without Christ, as with the canons. Then one comes to the Scriptures, and looks at the form of the Lord Christ, and there one is also against Christ. Therefore he alone remains the bridegroom, as he also has the command from heaven to be heard. Now whoever is not Christ's, that is, through Christ's

not preach, let them be silenced. For in him we shall be content; we shall not wait for Moses, much less for others, for God has put his word in his mouth. In the chamber Christ alone shall speak, for the Father has commanded him, and no one else shall be heard, be it Moses or an angel from heaven, as S. Paul says. And since it will not apply to us if we speak against Christ, or without Christ, or under the name of Christ, what will the papists do with the name of the church or bride? For if I am not to be moved by anything given under the name of Christ, the Bridegroom, such as the saying, "Thou art Peter," etc., much less am I to turn to the name of the church or bride.

So we are to learn that the Son has it all in his hands. Therefore, we must remain a pure, undefiled virgin who wants to know nothing but Christ, who redeemed her with his precious blood. By this we do not reject the worldly authorities, for it is also the voice of the bridegroom that one should be obedient to the authorities; item, the parents who preach the ten commandments and the gospel to the children: if I know the voice of the bridegroom, I must follow and be obedient, and then I am also a piece of a pure virgin, that is, of the church, which is one body with Christ.

Now it is a great honor and glory to be called the bride of the Lord Christ, which is one body with him, for which reason the devil would gladly destroy it, and we now know which is his voice or not. For the pope with his church is the devil's whorehound, for he preaches that which is against Christ and without Christ, which is also attributed to others under his name. John says zero: I do not want to be Christ; much less the pope and the other fathers and saints; and if he does not want to have John, how should he accept those? If St. Francis had believed this, he would not have done so much harm with monasticism. But it did not happen, and if he preached: If you put on a cap, 1) you will be blessed, then he is worse than the one who preached it.

1) Erlanger: anzeuchts.

Judas, and goes 1) into abyss of hell. So S. Anthony has also given: This is a member of the church, who runs into a desolation.

But the dolts, who followed them, have interpreted it in such a way, as then the pope has fooled with the cap. But keep always all Christ, and the voice of the bridegroom heard with joy, or it is lost; and preaches S. Franciscus the bridegroom's voice, then I listen; if not, then always with him to the devil. So everything goes into the abyss of hell, the pope also with his own. For he has cast Christ out of the church, and made the church a whore.

The forty-second sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday after Mary Magdalene [July 26, 1539].

The text in John: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom", we have recently dealt with, and was to do with purification. For John's disciples grumble that Christ also baptizes, and the disciples run to him, and John the Baptist is made less and less. John answered, "It is right for him to baptize, and for all to run to him, and for him to grow, for this is how it should be. For they had heard before that he was not Christ, who should win the following of all the people, but that this was his office, that he should go before Christ. But when he comes and follows John, he says, "This is right, for I also preached that one greater than I would come after me, and that I would not be worthy to untie his shoe laces. So I have always preached that I am not, but that I am wise and lead you to another. Therefore do not complain that they run to him and that he baptizes, for that is why it began. For if this were not done, Christ would never come, since it is my ministry, and I am directed to point to Christ; and we should diligently distinguish John's ministry from the ministry of all prophets and Christ. Now is John's sermon,

1) Erlanger: "would be". That "drives" is to be read, proves the following paragraph.

that he should go before Christ; therefore his ministry and baptism cannot remain. Since Christ himself baptizes and preaches, John's ministry ceases; saying, He shall come after me, I am sent before him, that I may hang you all, not on me, but with my finger pointing to him. If I do this, I have done my part. John Baptist did not preach for more than two years, when he awakened the people to accept Christ who would come after him, yes, who was already present, and thus accept the baptism of Christ. But it is the same baptism, as much as the water is sucked, item, that he testifies of the future Christ. But this is the difference, that John says he will come, he has not yet preached, and will preach in a little while, before two years pass; and now that he comes, all things come to pass, of which John had prophesied before; and so it can be said that the baptism of Moses and the Jews was all for the people of the law to accept baptism as a sign of admonition that they were God's people, not that they would be cleansed from sins by baptism, but that they would be admonished to look to the main promise, and that you would be sure that he would come. Therefore they had circumcision, the law, and all kinds of daily cleansing and much washing. So also S. Paul, 1 Cor. 10 [v. 1 ff], says that the children of Israel were baptized in the Red Sea, and under the cloud also had the same food as we have. How then? He says they all drank from the spiritual rock, which was Christ. He went about with them. For Christ was with them in the Red Sea, and also with the rock, and with the bread of heaven: and these were all signs, that they should be reminded that they were signs of the coming of Christ, and that they should not be abiding signs, as the Jews thought that Moses gave the laws, and his baptizing and cleansing, that they should abide for ever, and that the Gentiles also should come and receive such cleansing. Therefore Moses said that the Messiah would come; item: God will send you another prophet; item: "The Seed of the Woman".

shall bruise the head of the serpent." Therefore all their law, baptism, and purification were all directed that the people should send themselves and cleave unto the Messiah to come; so also all the saints were saved by the Messiah to come, as we also are. John is the next that saith, He shall come, even as I live, and before two years pass, and I will not cease to preach, until ye see him, of whom all the prophets spake, and for whom all things were prepared, and in whom all the prophets hoped.

This is a glorious sermon, which introduces the Messiah to them in the present time. Otherwise the Jews thought that Moses, the prophets and John should be and remain the masters and the whole world should fall to them. But John says here: No, you shall be different, and come to the Lord, for he will come and crush the serpent's head, and be the blessed seed. Jacob and Judah shall become one kingdom, but the kingdom shall not remain so; but so shall it be said, The scepter shall not be taken away from Judah, nor a teacher from the temple, except the Lord himself come. And unto him shall all nations cleave: for he shall not be king in Judah only, which is a small corner: but it shall not abide in Jerusalem, but all the earth shall fall unto it, and cleave unto it.

Manichaeus wanted to throw away the law and said that the devil had given it: but Christ is today and yesterday. Adam and Eve with their children believed in him, because they had the promise of the seed of the woman, which would bruise the head of the serpent. Adam preached this and had many signs, but they all went to provoke and awaken him to look to Christ. So Moses' law, baptism, sacrifice, kingdom, and priesthood were not ordained to remain, but to last only for a time. How then? Until the seed of the woman should come, and all who have thus understood have been saved, as the patriarchs; even as we still preach, teach, baptize, and have authority, all of which is directed, not that it should remain so, but that we should wait for it.

and hope in Christ, who has come in the flesh. Therefore, they are only alarm clocks that remind and admonish us. So Christ our Savior remains future and present. The little children who go before Christ sing Hosanna, like the patriarchs. But we go behind, with the whole world, and the same song we have of Christ, only that they have gone before, and we follow after. Therefore what is ordered is all ordered to Christ. Therefore the rock was Christ, because he was to come from this people. Therefore they had the same faith with us, only that they went before.

Now John's ministry must decrease, so also Adam's and Abel's, whose ministry was to preach that the seed of the woman would come and crush the serpent's head, and then sacrifice. That was their alarm clock, that stopped. Noah also preached that the Messiah would come, and this was also the teaching of the other patriarchs who followed. Then came Abraham, that in his seed should all the families of the earth be blessed; and David, that out of his loins should the Messiah be born. All this was directed to the loins of David, from which Christ was to be born. Now John comes and says, "There is an end of Adam, of Abraham, of David, and of his kingdom, and of my ministry also, who am the nearest to him. For we all preach one thing, but their preaching is far off, and that he shall yet come. But I say, Yes, he will come, but in such a way that he is already present and available.

This shall decrease; that no man should cleave unto his ministry, but John's. He that would now believe that he should yet come would be damned: but he is come, saying, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." There I hear not that he said, I will come, but: I am come. For so Marcus saith his gospel: The time is fulfilled, ye must not wait for prophecies, nor for the preaching of John. For the time is fulfilled which they meant, as John is said on the 5th. Therefore you should not think of an earlier time, when the Messiah would come.

The kingdom of heaven is here. If we believe, we will be saved; if not, we will be damned; and even though their prophecies have ceased, they are still useful, for they bear witness to Christ. One should not hope that Adam with his sacrifice, and Moses shall remain, for Christ strikes him down 1). John preached lukewarmly that I would come; now I am here, and he must cease. Therefore both are false, that the Jews think the law shall remain, and John also shall remain; but John saith, "He that hath the bride is bridegroom." It is no more, for only One Bridegroom. Adam was a great prophet, for these words passed through his mouth; so Noah also, and other patriarchs: as yet none is the bridegroom. John is the greatest man after Christ, but he is not the bridegroom either. For from the beginning of the world there is only One Bridegroom, Christ, and He will remain so until the end of the world. So also the church is his bride, who believes in him from the beginning of the world to the end, and where you see his signs, know that there is the church.

It is a lovely image that he calls Christ a bridegroom, for the bridegroom and the bride have all goods in common. The man entrusts all his secrets to the woman, she also has the power of his body and carries the keys on all her sides. So here Christ is also the bridegroom, and one flesh of our flesh, as is said by S. Paulo in the epistle to the Ephesians, just as a bride in the flesh is one body with her bridegroom, and they have the same goods, and there shall be no other bridegroom. Adam, Abel, David, Isaiah, Augustine are not the bridegroom, but Christ alone; of whom all the prophets prophesied, and spoke of his marriage. For this reason the pope is very foolish in boasting that he is the bridegroom of the church, for this is what the devil says. For the church that accepts the pope and considers him its bridegroom is the devil's whore. For in the world there must be only one bridegroom who belongs to the bride: therefore [there must be] also only one bridegroom the church alone.

1) Erlanger: them.

or they are both harlots; and if Christ is the bridegroom, the pope cannot be. Therefore the church must be under Christ alone, or it is a whore.

Therefore, this text should be diligently noted against those who want to curry favor with the church, that is, those who want to disgrace and destroy it by force, as the tyrants and heretics do, and the pope also wants to force us to worship his humanity and lies for the word of the Lord Christ. On the other hand, they do not [only] 2) come against Christ, but also without Christ. Some begin with the needy, but others begin with wooing the bride, that they may soften her, that she may be made a whore. These are the preachers who preach the law and good works and pilgrimages. They all want Christ not only to be the bridegroom, but to be holier than a common man, and we ourselves should also be the bridegroom. The third are much more shameful, who sell themselves under the likeness of the Lord Christ; and this can now be more easily understood and noticed, if anything is done contrary to the holy Scriptures. But when those come who clothe themselves in the adornment of the Lord Christ, and bear the name of the church and of the Lord Christ, as it is said in the 24th chapter of Matthew, and bear the word of Christ, there a man is soon deceived and seduced. For they pretend: One must do good works, for so says the Lord Christ [Luc. 6, 38]: "Prayer, and it shall be restored unto you"; item: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments of God" [Matth. 19, 17]. These seduce people under the name of Christ. For this the devil is a master craftsman. Therefore keep the word of God, and let no one know of any other word, whether it be without Christ, under Christ, against Christ, or any other word. Let no man sleep with the bride, neither let any man make the bride with child, neither let any man make her fruitful: for the one Lord Christ alone, if he teacheth not, or preacheth not, or maketh souls with child, then is it lost. But the sermons in the papacy

2) Added by us.

have all been without Christ, and the pope has pretended that one must nevertheless have laws in addition to the holy Scriptures. One might well keep it, but one should not put it 1) that it does enough for sin and makes people blessed; item, if you keep these laws, then it is right, if not, then you are damned. We cannot suffer this. For the church has no power to call sin righteous, and this is not commanded in holy scripture to make it a constraint 2). When the pope says: "Because a priest has hastened to take a wife, he sins and is condemned, the pope makes sin, since God has not made any. Item, he calls him digamum who takes another wife, or if he takes one who is not a virgin, and will not suffer such in the church office. Well, what sin is that? O, he says, it is against the prohibition of the holy Christian church. Then you say: Who has commanded the church to call sin that which God has not called sin? One must nevertheless be obedient to the church, they say. Neiil, you say. Why? Well, it is not the church of Christ, but the devil's bride. If I were a young journeyman and needed a wife, I would take a widow in marriage who had had three husbands, only to the lawyers' chagrin. 3) For God says: This is sin, if you do not believe etc.; and the right sins are innate to us. So you Pabst want to make [that] a sin for us, 4) if I do not wear a cap. But the more stubbornly the pope insists on it, the more in defiance of him I should do against it. For they want to make a sin out of it, and want to make me skillful for the preaching ministry, if I take a pure virgin. I could not eat meat if I were free to do so, but if they want to make it a sin for me to eat it, it will not do. And 5) If anyone says: One must be obedient to the church, the church has commanded it, then say: Just because you want it.

1) Erlanger: "one should put that to it".

2) Erlanger: "Schwang" instead of: Compulsion.

3) On "digamy" and the position of the jurists on it, compare Tischreden, Cap. 43, § 48. Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XXII, 1150.

4) Erlanger: "make us sunden".

5) Thus set by us. In the Erlanger: "if I eat it. But thuts nicht, und ob man saget" u. s. w.

If I have to fast, I will not do it. For I am commanded to fast for the loss of eternal blessedness, since I am to keep above Christian liberty.

Therefore one should teach and do so, and forcefully press for Christ alone to remain the bridegroom. But because I do not consider Christ to be the bridegroom, and omit something as if it were a sin, since Christ did not make it a sin, I put a harlot in the bride bed; and as dear as Christ is to me, so woe is me when I see Christians thus deceived, and led around by the nose with the name of church, sin, God's word; and you say: Give and knock as you will, give also good, kind words, yet I will not let [you] in, for you bring Christ and God's word, you must not take away the bridehood from me. Therefore, the harder one insists, the harder one should oppose. This is a pious bride who holds her marriage so tightly that she would rather be strangled than allow a foreign bridegroom; and if Christ does not remain the bridegroom alone, we will certainly become harlots. But the princes and the bishops are now chastising us to accept their fornication. The others say: We should accept the canons and what the spiritual fathers have decreed, item, we should keep the statutes of the church. But say what you will, and it is not the word of the Lord Christ. Therefore everything is thrown into the fire. The third parties put on their clothes as if their doctrine were Christ Himself. This is where we get into trouble, because they make Christ look like him, so that I think he is him, and yet he is not. So in the sermons, these same spirits adorn themselves under the name of Christ, so that one cannot say: Here are all canons, but [they] lead God's word. But a pious bride soon recognizes the voice of her bridegroom, and even if she hears such words as if they were his, they do not sound like that, it is the voice of Jacob. 6) If you do not have Christ Himself who baptizes, but have fathers and concilia, then

6) "The voice of Jacob" because he pretended to be Esau. Gen. 27, 22.

they make you a nose, [they] turn it as they themselves want. Say then always: The bride is not of tyrants, nor of the pope, nor of those who creep under the guise of the bridegroom, but of the Lord Christ alone. We are only friends and servants; Adam and Eve are friends of the Bridegroom. Noah, Abraham, David are not the bridegroom, much less Augustine and all the bishops and fathers, but no one is the bridegroom, but only Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Mary the Virgin. What the man's word is not, there say, I hear it not; the mouth shall be free to him [Christo]. 1)

But they say, If thou wilt not keep it, it is wrong. Well, answer thou, thou hast no sin to make, Christ alone hath power; I will fast if it please me. But if you would say: If thou fastest not, thou doest sin in this, say, Thou art not Christ; whence from this? So that, "The Christian church has commanded it"? But there is a false confidence here, where it should not be; do not put the dirt in the bride's bed.

Therefore, the name of the church, the fathers, or the churches shall not be a challenge to us; nor can we suffer coercion, nor will we tolerate it, for it is called imprisonment, because I must do what Christ has not commanded, but has forbidden, and we want to break these cords. We have Christ, and we hear his voice alone. If any tyrant comes, or appearance and form of Christ, we areware of it, and in the prophets this spiritual fornication is remembered now and then.

Now let them cease that have preached of Christ: much more let them hold their peace that preach without Christ, or against Christ; for these also shall be purely dead.

The forty-third sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday after Cyriaci [August 9, 1539].

We have heard so far how John the Baptist humbled himself, and does not want to be the

1) The meaning will be: another may speak what he wants, I will not accept it. Christ alone shall have the word.

But he rejoices that he is the bridegroom's friend and that he may hear the bridegroom's voice. He also says zero:

V. 30. He must increase, but I must decrease.

This is to be understood of his ministry, which was that he should preach and run before Christ, saying, Christ the Bridegroom cometh, and cometh soon after me, even while I am yet present. He is already born, but has not yet entered the ministry.

Now we certainly distinguish the preaching of John from all the prophets, even from the preaching of the Lord Christ. For the prophets prophesied of Christ afar off, long before it was time. But John prophesied of Christ near, saying, It is not I, but he himself is there. Now this is that he says, "I must decrease," that is, my preaching and my baptism must cease. For I preach of him who is to come, and now that he is present, my preaching must cease.

Now this is a glorious saying against the Jews, who do not want to suffer John's baptism and teaching, and think that Christ should still come, and deceive many simple-minded and dilapidated Christians. For the people do not know that the Christian faith is against the faith of the Jews, then they become Jews again, believe that Christ is still to come, and John's voice is even despised, no longer valid, because it is not said: He will come, but: He is coming.

Thus the saying also serves against the priesthood, since one wanted to earn Christ by good works, when he came long before, since one was baptized by the Holy Spirit and brought out of the kingdom of darkness; and should now rejoice at the voice of the bridegroom, and also lead others to him, who do not yet know him. But these come out of baptism again, having been born again through Christ, and then become worse than the Jews.

Now we must preach and teach this sermon forever, and John says, "My ministry has come to an end; hear me no more, when

I preach that Christ will come, for he has appeared all ready, preaching and baptizing himself; and he speaks further:

V. 31. He who comes from above is He who is all.

As if to say, It is he alone who comes from above. In the first chapter above, he [Christ] said: "No one ascends to heaven; he alone ascends and descends. That is, it is impossible for man, born of flesh and blood, to know how God is minded and what He has decreed: the Son must teach us, who has come down from heaven. Otherwise we cannot go up to know, for no one could otherwise go up, or come down, or even remain above. No one can say, Thus and thus it is in heaven. But the Son of God, who is above, who is in the heart of the Father, descends and reveals it to us. Therefore he says, "He who comes from above is above all."

Now we should get used to believe what we have heard and not what our five senses may understand, because this is our Christian faith. He who is of the earth can do nothing else, for what is earthly is of nature. So he speaks. He cannot speak from above, because no one has seen God, and because we are from the earth, we can speak nothing but earthly things. For kind does not change from kind, so no one will also change nature. I can adorn a woman with a man's clothes, as if she were a man, but I cannot make a man out of a woman, nor can I make a woman out of a man. So also all children that are begotten outside of [woman's] seed are of the earth; therefore they also speak and do that which is earthly. And this saying is a hard blow against the Pope's teaching; and "to be and to speak earthly" does not only mean to speak of gross things, as of building houses, taking wives or husbands, eating and drinking, buying and selling, for he does not speak of these things here: but if they are truly earthly, they speak as our bishops do now. They do not ask about God, His Gospel, baptism and the Lord's Supper, nor do they ask about natural and reasonable customs, but they pasture

They are like swine, indulging, drinking and doing everything they can, as if there were no God. These are very coarse. The philosophers and poets still talked about a fine change. Others are miserly, therefore they speak of miserliness, item, of shameful words and works. They are unfaithful, therefore they also speak and do so. Nature also punishes these vices. Reason also says: "It is not right to steal, rob, hurt or be stingy. But earthly speaking is higher here, namely, that one also wants to speak of God, not of money, fornication, avarice, etc., but that one wants to be wise in divine things, how we may obtain God's grace, and be rid of sin, and have a good conscience, and reconcile God: these things S. John means especially. For S. John condemned not only the Sadducees, who believed nothing at all, but also the Pharisees, the high, great, holy, excellent, wise people, who were not only enlightened with glorious gifts of reason, but also had the holy Scriptures for themselves, from which they taught in their own way the way to salvation.

The others are also punished by nature, reason and also by the philosophers. For reason here is blind, foolish, and too high for it. Even if it tells the ten commandments that one should not have other gods, it is not so wise that it could see how deeply man is corrupted by the birth of Adam; much less does it understand how God wants to reconcile us. Therefore she is twice blind here, and says: "If you have sinned, do penance and good works, so that you may pay for this sin, become a monk and a nun, and make the three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience to God. Then you will not only pay for your sin, but also for other people's sins, because you will have good works left to share with others. Now you are not commanded to be poor and obedient to your prior. But the priest says, Thou art far in a higher state, and then adds the idol to it, as presumption in thine own righteousness and wisdom. If then thou hast kept the three vows for other causes, it would be well if the two nobles did not

namely, to do the commandments of God enough by such works, and that I might keep the commandments. This is a lie; this is gross blindness, for there is not a man on earth who could keep the ten commandments thoroughly and purely, as can be seen in Matthew 5' from Christ's sermon, where it is said, "Unless your righteousness is better than that of the Pharisees and scribes, you cannot enter the kingdom of God." For they thought they kept the law, and fulfilled it even when they kept it outwardly. Now that would be fine if they kept it. But they are too high, and nature too wicked, and we too deeply poisoned, that one does not trust in God with all his heart. For in temptation, anger passes over love, and impatience over gentleness, which always remains a secret harm. Therefore, it is a great and harmful, dangerous blindness that man thinks he fulfills the law.

This is what S. John calls earthly speaking. If one comes to the market and I pay something to someone, I must do enough and give him money or goods. Item, in court one is punished or atoned for; 2) if he gives the penance, he has paid. This is excellent and almost grossly earthly. So also in divine matters we speak very earthly; as one buys and pays in the market, so one does here. You have kept the ten commandments of God, and are very pious; now I will forgive you all sin. That is to say, as a farmer speaks in the market and in the Kretzmar, because he wants to trade, wants to do enough, wants to pay what the law requires of him. As I do with a farmer, so shall he do with me: that is an earthly purchase and trade.

Now it is fine to practice the Ten Commandments, as the Pharisees did, and we lived in monasteries, obeying the priors and toiling day and night. But it was twofold earthly, for the sake of the addition, that we thought: If I walk thus in obedience, I have not only paid God, but I have also done other works. There then is the gross earthly being

1) In the manuscript: "one, and coarse thick", which the Erlanger has changed so: "one coarse and thick".

2) atoned - punished.

moved up into the divine being. Reason thinks it is earthly, but the addition is not good. Therefore it is the first blindness that a man does not recognize how much he owes and that he cannot pay. In this blindness there is pabstry, and in it there are still many people. But a man must know that he should fulfill the ten commandments, and that he still cannot do it. But the world often regards this as fulfillment, which is not. But I do not deceive God, but myself. Now this is the blindness of which John says that the Jews are worksaints, and the monks are outwardly 3) in spiritual discipline. But know that because of this you do not have Christ, nor do you become Christians by it, but are still in the old birth of Ada, and have neither other holiness nor wisdom, but only earthly. With this you must go to the abyss of hell, because you blind yourselves and deceive yourselves.

The other blindness is that reason does not know that it must come down from above, but we want to work it up from below, so that satisfaction is in me, and does not want to know that Christ, the Son of God, died for me, and that my sins are forgiven by grace: first, they do not see the defect, and second, they do not know how to use the medicine. He who thinks that he is strong and healthy does not ask for a doctor, because first of all he does not see that he is sick, and secondly, he does not know any advice or remedy for weakness. This is a double blindness. So here reason does not want to see the wounds and our illness, nor does it want to have any help or comfort.

That is the earthly birth. He who is earthly remains earthly; he speaks and does nothing else but earthly. Now, are all the virtues of the pagans, item, monasticism, in which there is such a strict life, as St. Bernard also led, all earthly things? Can reason speak and see that it is an honest and holy life! It is still earthly, because it wants to go up and act between God and me. If it were to remain on earth and say, "I will not be destroyed by this.

3) "outwardly" set by us instead of "out of itself" in the Erlanger.

If I were to serve heaven, nor do enough for my sin, it would be fine for a child to be obedient, and not to fear the rod. But to say, God will look upon it, and give me grace for it, is to go too high. You will not go up if you think as the Pharisees do, but fall and break your neck, and so remain earthly, for their doctrine and life is earthly. Therefore, when they tortured themselves to death, as the kings of Israel sacrificed their firstborn and onlyborn children and burned them with fire, they sacrificed the ones they loved the most to God; If they had no sons, they sacrificed their daughters and offered them up to the devil and called it sacrificed to God, thinking that they were doing God a great service by doing so; and it is truly the greatest work of all to have a son slaughtered, sacrificed and burned on the altar 1). It is a great work that a father's heart has been able to overcome itself in this way; should God not look upon this? No. Why? Well, it is an earthly work. But the thought of a hypocrite is so great that he thinks this work deserves forgiveness of sin and gives happiness and bliss. But the thought comes from reason. Now it is said: That which is born of the earth is earthly; and it is a grievous thing to live in chastity to those who are not given this grace, whether they be male or female. They truly cry out against it, that one should surrender to live chastely all his life, item, that he should have nothing of his own, and everything should be under the control of another, and not live in matrimony. This was also a great thing when they sacrificed their children. But when they added: By this I will obtain forgiveness of sins, it is a sin. So they do not know two things: where to take forgiveness of sins, and that this harm must be healed by another work than by an earthly thing. Take all the works of the monks, they are not heavenly, but human works, done by men, born and created from the earth.

How do we lose the name of the Jr.

1) Erlanger: keratinize.

dish? Our gospel teaches it, which they so miserably condemn, namely, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, of whom we say in the articles of the Christian faith: I believe in Jesus Christ etc., he comes down from above, he is not earthly, but heavenly, as 1 Cor. 15. says. For he is not conceived of an earthly man, but of the Holy Spirit, from above, bringing heavenly things with him, being born of man, dwelling and living on earth, praying, fasting, doing good to many. Now reason does not speak of this, because it does not know anything about it. No other man has come down from heaven, so we have not received the Holy Spirit, nor suffered under Pontio Pilato, nor died for the whole human race; but must say with the little children: We believe in Jesus Christ, conceived, born, suffered etc. For man's works alone do it. All that is ours is earthly; but he who is from above, whose death and bloodshed do it. Even a little drop of his blood helps the whole world, because the person is truly God, begotten from eternity by the Father. He has the money and payment for me, and he does not do it for himself; he was not born, nor did he suffer and die to become the Son of God, for he was before, but that I might become the Son of God through him, and that my righteousness, wisdom and sanctification might be from above.

First, the world does not know its damage, which is a great blindness; second, it does not know where to seek help. It does not say: I believe in Christ, who died for me. But John the Baptist says: Christ came down from heaven and died for me. Therefore he has heavenly works, and what he speaks and does is all heavenly. Again, what men do is vain error and blindness, for it is earthly. Again, he who is from heaven is heavenly, and speaks and does heavenly things. If then we know where we lack, that we do not keep the ten commandments, nor cover up our sin, but confess it, and [I] say, I am earthly, and speak earthly things, therefore I hold myself to the

I will be incorporated into the heavenly man by faith, and he will say to you, "You are mine, and I am yours, for I have done these heavenly works for you. So also the bridegroom says to the bride, If thou wilt have me in marriage, behold, thou hast the keys and all my goods. Then she is not a woman's image, but a man's wife, who has power over her husband's goods and body. Therefore also the kingdom of God and eternal life must come from pure grace, and not from our earthly works, but from the works of the heavenly man, which he did before we were born, even which he did from the beginning of the world, immediately after the fall; as the promise made to Adam and Eve says: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.

Therefore John always insists that we learn to recognize Christ and that we are earthly people, just as the pope is also earthly and remains earthly, with all his works and life, yes, all his thoughts are earthly. It is beautiful to look at by heart, but the blisters and the leprosy and the scab are covered with the cap. But if you take hold of the one who has come down to you from above, you will be fine. For he is not earthly, neither doeth his works condemnation: but he overcometh all things, and filleth all things: and thou art not gone up to him into heaven, but he is come from heaven unto thee upon the earth. If thou therefore abide with him, and say: I believe in the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, then his works are your works, which are not earthly works, because otherwise we insist that they should help us, but because word and doctrine are heavenly and God's word, and through them you also become heavenly and also ascend to heaven; and the devil with all hell cannot keep thee down; but [we] 1) ascend with thee out of sin, death, and the devil's jaws, for a Christian is then a heavenly man.

1) "we" added by us.

Otherwise our satisfaction fulfills nothing; our human wisdom and righteousness blind people so that they do not see this heavenly righteousness of the heavenly man, because they think they can do it with their earthly works. A barefoot monk and Carthusian says: "I have been a monk for so many years, and have led a hard order and a strict life, and should not have deserved more than a child born today, or any maid and servant in the house? and become very angry about it, because it annoys them that we want to get over it so easily. If one then says that Christ has come from heaven, they say it is heresy, and we forbid good works; they say: Eh, should I have lived so long in the monastery, and not deserve more? I have also lived fifteen years in such an evil and shameful way.

There you have your judgment that you are from the earth. Tear yourself apart for it and be angry as you like. For what you speak of your rules, statutes and glorious, great works, that is all earthly spoken and done. But why do you not do so, that you rather give thanks to God that the grace happens to you, that you take the twelfth hour, and come from the earthly to the heavenly works, even if I had worked eleven hours, and carried the heat and burden of the day.

This is the only way. "He who comes down from above is above all," that is, the heavenly man must come to the rescue, otherwise the earthly man is lost, however high he may be. Truly, the monks are not Christ, therefore they are of the earth. Franciscus is not Christ, nor are his works Christ's work. So S. Augustine is also a great man, also a holy man, but that is why I do not want to sing his little song: I believe in S. Augustine; but of the Son of God alone it is said: I believe in Jesus Christ, who sought and fetched me from heaven, and ascended again into heaven. Therefore it is a great blasphemy that we put our earthly works above everything, also above Christ Himself, who after all

2) "The" put by us instead of: "Who" in the Erlanger.

He came to make us all heavenly people.

Now follows a complaint that such teaching is first blasphemed and desecrated:

V. 32: And no one receives his testimony.

As if he should say: I lower myself to the earth for your love, become a young child, have taken on body and soul and human nature, without sin, received through the Holy Spirit, and become a heavenly man, and yet a true natural man, who has flesh and blood, body and soul, for your comfort, even that I die for you, and go to hell for you. If you believe this, whether you are in hell or in the grave, as little as all this has kept me, so little shall it keep you. For you are now a heavenly man, and no longer earthly; you no longer think, speak and act earthly, but heavenly.

Now this is the blindness of the world, that it does not know that our salvation stands on the man. Christians should do good works, which John speaks about in chapter 14. But if I take hold of Christ, I have become a heavenly man. Paul converted a thousand times more than Christ converted, for Paul went out to twenty countries and preached there. Therefore Christ says, "He who believes in me will do the same works that I do, that is, heavenly works, and so will come to good works. Now they blame us for forbidding good works. But we preach of heavenly works, and they of earthly. Well then, let them do earthly works; let us have heavenly works, and ask nothing of their earthly and evil works, and abide in the works of Christ, which he hath done for us, and hath given us, and thereby worketh in us still.

The forty-fourth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

The Saturday after assumtionis Mariae the 16th day of August 145394

So far we have heard about the ministry of John the Baptist, that he is to judge it from the Son of God. For before him he

shall go and point to him with fingers and words, so that the world may not miss him, as otherwise happened to the Jews, who missed him and still cannot find him today. But it is decided that what the Son of God is not and does not do, that is not done, because everything is put in him, and everything will be found in him, because through him one has the protection of wisdom. But so that we lie secretly and hidden within. For no reason can understand it, but one must hear the word of God and grasp it by faith, for flesh and blood cannot tell from their reason and skill that Joseph's Son of Nazareth has in his hands all that is in heaven and on earth. She sees no further than that he is a man, like other men, or if she regards him highly, she considers him to be a holy man, like the prophet Jeremiah, Isaiah, or David and Peter; and even if a man has the Ten Commandments to help him, he does not by any means attain to the knowledge that this person is God, or that there is no God apart from him. Therefore, what is decided apart from him is lacking. Therefore, he must be grasped in such a way that he is God and man, on whom everything depends, otherwise it is lost. Whoever then does this, and holds him to be the one who is over all things, will hereafter know what a deep abyss of wisdom there is in him concerning God and all things. For he is the light and the life. For this reason, all things must be formed in us so that we do not ask for wisdom, but only for the wisdom of the Lord Christ, especially in matters concerning eternal life, for the worldly government was created and ordered before Christ; but speak of the wisdom in which the world wants to be wise, and wants to know how it stands with God.

If one speaks of this as being apart from and above this life, it is all blindness and foolishness, for it is not Christ. Therefore, S. John concludes that many wise people have been and still are, who pretend that one should live in such and such a way. The Turks also think that they have great wisdom, and that they serve God and praise Him: nevertheless, their wisdom is not Christ.

Wisdom and great appearances are nothing, if they are set and held against God's wisdom. But in the man they all set, and will not hear him nor see him, and strangle all those who like to hear of him. But they say: The pope and the emperors are not fools. They also go about under the delusion that they want to be saved, singing and boasting that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. What are they lacking? The Turk is a public enemy of Christ, but the pope is not, but a secret enemy and persecutor, a false friend; therefore he is all the worse.

Therefore he decides that all wisdom and holiness are condemned, if God's grace, God's wisdom and true service of God are not present. Otherwise it is a vain thing of the devil, however beautiful it may be. For Christ is above all things. Did not David and others preach the truth? If Adam, Eve, Isaac and others had not been so wise, and had set their minds on this future Messiah, all their wisdom and holiness would have been nothing. But their faith has been directed to him. Abraham said, "My Isaac, I, and the circumcision, and all my holiness are nothing, neither shall they be; but the promised seed, whereby all nations shall be blessed. Thus have all the saints done from the foundation of the world, in that they have cleaved themselves to Christ; and all men must do so still, even unto the end of the world, or else be lost for ever. The man Christ alone does it. Adam, if he wants to be saved, must be called a Christian. So must all others, or they are nothing.

Do 1) you want to say: Are they not baptized after all? There is nothing to it. They have hoped for the baptism and teaching of Christ, and have had it in faith, and have had other signs than the sacrifices. But all things were directed to Christ, who is to be called above all things. Therefore hear nothing concerning eternal life, but only the voice and teaching of Christ. Otherwise, if we receive another, we are finished. For the Turk hath put away Christ, and receiveth Mahomet; the Pabst

1) Erlanger: Mogst.

rejects Christ, adheres to his canons. So do the monks and nuns with their rules, speaking then: Let us mean well from the heart. If you are not Jesus Christ, it is nothing, but Christ is not here or there; or that you are a monk and live chastely, or that you have nothing of your own. Salvation is not of our works and deeds, but he who believes with all his heart, and hangs on the Lord Christ with true faith, and seals it in his heart, and does not doubt that Christ is his Savior, has it. A red skirt is not called a red garment because it is made of cloth, but because it is red in color. 2) A red skirt is not called a red garment because it is made of cloth, but because it is red in color. So a Christian does not become one by wearing a cap and becoming a monk and toiling. Where does it come from? From the fact that he presses into his heart and says, "I believe in Jesus Christ. Now these are common words, and they are a lay sermon. The monks and priests must have something higher than this common teaching. For they say: Should I have been a monk for ten, twenty or thirty years, and should not have earned more? Now attack it, attack it severely, who will defend you? But when thou shalt go forth, thou shalt not abide in the shirt and cart-house order, but thou must go forth, and must go among the worms. Even if you put on an angelic garment, where will you stay? Then stop cap, plate, father and mother, status and everything. What remains then? He who sits at the right hand of God, a judge of the living and the dead. Who then would have him, and would be clothed and adorned in him, would stand well; if not, you will see that caps, plates, pope and Turk faith will not hold the sting. But he who has in his heart the seal and seal: 3) I believe in Christ, and lived and died on it, remains well. For whoever believes in Christ will be saved. For in the 14th chapter of John it is said, "I live, and ye also shall live." Because I live, and ye believe in me, ye shall not die, but, as I have died, so shall ye live.

2) Here we have deleted "rothem" because it is too much.

3) Original: Pointed shaft.

If I live, you also shall live, if you believe in me. Item: "This one is above all." Therefore hang on to him, or you are damned and lost.

Why does John urge this so strongly? The people were so miserably deceived that they thought nothing of Christ the Messiah, but hoped for a Messiah who would come in all splendor, and be a lord of the whole world, riding in golden armor with many thousands of horses. Whoever preached against this, they called him a fool, and said that he had the devil; and he did not live like other people, and his doctrine did not rhyme with their thoughts; so he must have the devil. So when their hearts were set on such thoughts, that he should come with a great host, there was no hearing. But if he had ridden into Jerusalem with great splendor, saying, I am the Christ, they would all have fallen at his feet and accepted him. Therefore John must be there, preaching and defending, saying: He who comes from heaven is above all, he is present, and will not burst in as you dream, you will overlook him.

That is why we should do the article, because the world despises it, and when we die, they will want to take the article away, and the mobs will turn it all around, and paint Christ as the Pope paints him. Therefore against this opinion of the Jews follows in the text:

V. 32: And he testifies what he has seen and heard.

What is the Christ for, and what is the Messiah good for? What kind of Messiah is he? Is he to do nothing else? Does he come in like this? What does he do? He witnesses. If he enters so weakly, and does not grasp his regiment other than to testify, can he do anything else but preach and say? He wields no sword, nor does he have a handful of land and people; what then is his business? Preach. Yes, indeed, we would have to accept such a Messiah. Well, as you wish. Now one also says: Oh, what should that be, which they of Wittenberg now write and preach? If the pope, the emperor, or the bishop of Mainz did it, taught it, and wrote it, and if it were

had described the Concilium, then we would accept it; otherwise, they are lowly people who preach it. How, then, if God wills that the Messiah should not come as an emperor? It is, to speak with leave, a filth and unflattery with all that the Turk and the emperor have. He does not want to do them the honor of coming as mighty as they are now. But that he comes so bare, and does nothing but preach, that is an inexpressible wisdom and strength, yes, the treasure of wisdom and knowledge, namely, that whoever believes in him shall live forever. If he believes and does the works of his calling, he shall be king and emperor in heaven, and equal with the angels. So shall his kingdom be his preaching. But who shall stand? Thou shalt not see it. His government and preaching is a testimony. Whoever then wants to be justified before God, let him hear the witness, that is, the preacher. It is a sermon that alone testifies to things not seen or heard in the books of law or in the world. It means to testify that one has not seen. A judge does not judge that he sees, but he must have witnesses. But here it means to speak and preach something that is not seen. So the Lord Christ the Father is a witness from heaven over all. He shall do nothing but open his mouth, and his preaching shall be a testimony of the Father, how he is minded, and how he will save men, and deliver them from sins, death, and the power of the devil. This is what he testifies. He lets himself become man, die and rise again from the dead, and wants to say, "In these words is my testimony. If you believe this testimony and works, then you believe the testimony of God.

What does he mean by this, that we shall not perish, but have eternal life? This is his testimony that he has come and wants to be a priest and Lord, but so secretly that even reason is offended by it. For the Lord is poor and has not a penny's worth, but women follow him and feed him. Since he himself has nothing worth a penny, how can he give to others? But if you follow reason, you have failed, as it is the case with the pope and

But hear alone, and then say, Though I understand it not, yet believe I it; though it be hid, yet shall it be so, and by faith alone shall it be apprehended; I shall not see it, nor apprehend it. Now this the world will not do, and will always conspire with the sacrament of the altar, and with baptism; for the sacramentarians deny that in the Lord's Supper is not the true body and blood of Christ. They also do not want to believe that the Virgin Mary gave birth to a Son, who is God and man. For the world says: How can God and man be one thing? For God is an eternal nature, but man is mortal. So the world has always wanted to know and understand. But if we could have understood it, he should not have come from heaven and revealed it to us. For reason is blind, and man shall hang his ear upon his mouth, and hear his word. What will he preach? How to believe. Therefore he that is above all does nothing else but testify.

Now you have pictured and described the Messiah of whom all the prophets testify, namely, that he is to be a preacher. This is to be his kingdom and rule, to preach, and in this testimony there is all wisdom, life and truth. For he is such a witness who has seen and heard for himself. If this were not so, he would not reveal it and testify to it; and what he now preaches, he himself did not conceive or dream, but he saw it, for he is the Son of God, and knows the abyss of God's will 1) and wisdom, and what the Father has decreed with him, that he has revealed to us. Now this word is against the pope and the Turks, who do not hear this man's testimony.

The forty-fifth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday after the day Timothei [August 23, 1539].

Next, we have heard why the Lord Christ's sermon is called a testimony, because it is a sermon that reason cannot understand.

1) Erlanger: Will.

But reason must hear and be told, and the kingdom of the Messiah must be called a testimony, that is, he must preach and preach such sermons as no one has heard or seen before. Therefore he must testify.

But John the Baptist speaks:

V. 32 And no one accepts his testimony.

The apostles and the church have accepted it, and we also say: I believe that there is a holy Christian church. But S. John looks at the great multitude in the world who do not accept it. For the Turk, the Pope and his church, do not accept it; but the others, who abide in the testimony of Christ, he thinks that they seal that God is true. And when the Lord entered Jerusalem, the greatest number, as the Pharisees and others, did not accept the testimony. But he speaks of the rest of the multitude in such a way that he who accepts it seals it. For some hear it and accept it, and those who hear the sermon accept what is otherwise incomprehensible, even beyond all reason, and give glory to God, and consider God to be a true God.

In the first article of the Christian faith, as of creation, we are all one. But in the other article of redemption, and in JESUS CHRIST by all means, we are divided. For there the testimony begins, of which he speaks here, that he, the Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of a woman's image, and was the natural son of the Virgin Mary, and yet the only begotten Son of God, a true God. The Jew, the Turk, and the dodderer do not want to accept Christ's testimony, 2) and the pope agrees with us as far as the mere words are concerned, because he sees to it that we should do enough for sin with our works. For this is the evidence of monasticism. For no one became a monk because he played a carnival game, but because he atoned for his sin by doing so. Who then has spoken to the children: Christ died and was buried, he was saved. But there remains

2) "that one accepts Christ's testimony" put by us instead of: "that Christ accepts the testimony".

the pope hangs. For he does not believe that Christ has come, that he is sufficient for sin. This then is the office of the Lord Christ, that he should testify. These are, as the children say, short words, but inscrutable and unfathomable words, and those who do not let them be jesting words, but accept them with earnestness, and so that they live, die, do and leave everything over them, seal them that God is true.

This is strange and wonderful. Can't God be truthful, take the seal from us and receive the testimony that he is truthful? I meant that we should receive seals and letters from him, but this is how the opposite is said here. Now this is the strife that has been from the beginning of the world and will remain until the end, as it is also said in the 51st Psalm: "All that thou mayest be right in thy words when thou art judged"; and in Romans, in the 3rd chapter, S. Paul also introduces it. This is the quarrel, the world does not want to let God be true. God, when he is in his majesty, we will not make him true. We do not speak to Him as He is in Himself and in His majesty, for He is too high; but speak of God as He is to be served, and as He is to be preached. The same is said in the 51st Psalm, v. 6: "That you may be right." Where? "In thy words." In what, then, are you justified? Not in his majesty, but in your words and sermons, and in your speeches you will be judged and overcome. That is what he must suffer. In majesty, he is a consuming fire. But we want to have the God who became flesh and who suckles the breasts of the Virgin Mary, and see him as Mary carries him in her arms, and shall model him to me as he hangs on the cross. In the play, when he is a preacher, and preaches, the quarrel begins. Adam tries it in paradise, and Lucifer in heaven, they do not lead it out; but God, who became man, born of Mary the Virgin, suffers the sting and bite of the old serpent. But he is not eaten up and devoured.

This means to judge, punish and condemn our Lord God. Not in majesty, but in his speeches and office he is condemned, so that the whole world cries out: This is heresy, therefore always put to death and thus to hellish fire! And the pope is so embittered against this teaching that he would rather accept the Turk and the devil than it. The Jews, when they hear it, spit with malice at the earth, and call Mariam a whore. So then Christ is scoffed at and mocked, as we see when he hung on the cross, and 1) truly died and was publicly judged and condemned most horribly. Therefore the Father sent the Son to preach. But what happens? All that he does and creates through the Son must be the devil's preaching and called heresy; and we now see publicly that the world does nothing else, for God must be its liar, not in majesty, but [the world] punishes him in the preaching that flew out of Christ's mouth. The gospel considers it a lie and heresy. If therefore any man say unto Christ, Thou art a liar, and a heretic, and possessed with devils; is not this spoken against the Father, which sent unto us the Son? Therefore saith the Lord Christ [Joh. 5, 19.], I do the works not of mine own, but the Father which is in me doeth them. Item [Joh. 7, 16.], the doctrine which I teach is not mine, but the Father's. If I therefore reprove Christ, I do it also unto the Father, not in majesty, but in Christ whom he hath sent unto me, and in his preaching.

Your sermon, then, condemns the world outright, and if it could eradicate it, it would do so. The world is nothing else but a crowd of people, who disgrace and blaspheme God in their speeches.

From this the text of S. Pauli can be understood that the Antichrist will be a regent and king, a preacher, in the temple, that is, in the Christian church. There he will sit, and will rise up and resist God; not wanting to be above God in His majesty, but above the preached and honored God. That is, he shall set himself higher,

1) Erlanger: well.

For God is, not in majesty, but in his words, namely, that where the holy scripture gives something, it must not be God's word to him. Item, he says: Both forms of the Lord's Supper are right; yet one should not keep it, condemn it and call it heresy. Item, the marriage state was created by God and commanded that men should be fruitful. But he saith, Thou shalt not do it, though God hath commanded it. 1) So also every man is free to eat whatsoever he pleaseth. But he has forbidden eating meat, cheese and butter; and thus the teaching of the pope is nothing else but a raising up and opposing of God, not as he is in his majesty, but as he has revealed himself in his word against us, or as God is preached to us; and the brighter his word is, the higher and more he has railed against God's word. The Turk does not sit in the Christian church, but the pope handles the Bible and Sacrament. Nevertheless, he opposes it with all his might, and so the divine word and the sacraments must be called wrong, and the lies and the devil must be called right. But it lasts as long as [it] can, and as the Psalm [says], "That thou mayest be right when thou art judged," for they condemn thee, but at last thou art right. The serpent may bite thee in the heel, and condemn thee, yet thou shalt be right. So it still happens today. The pope bit Christ in the heel, but the divine word now comes forth again, and men hold it higher than the pope; and the Lord Christ now lifts up a foot again, and tramples this serpent (the pope) again. So thou shalt be clean and holy, though thou be damned, that is, though thy word be called heresy, and an unclean word, and filthy speech, and unclean poison. But thou shalt be cleansed, and the word which thus defileth and staineth them shall be made as pure as the sun. So it is understood from the thing itself, which is, "Thou shalt be judged." For God's word must be called filth and heresy, but it shall rise again from the dead, and shine gloriously. As,

1) Erlanger: hab.

now you hold up the divine word, but the pope who shone that time as the sun is now dirt.

Therefore, whoever accepts the testimony of the Lord Christ, which is otherwise condemned by everyone, seals it that God is true, that is, he gives God the honor that he is true and just, and can say that the pope (who was previously considered a truthful preacher, who then called the divine word a lie) is now an arch liar with his preaching, and that God's word, which he had condemned, is now the eternal truth; and God or his word does not need our letter and seal, but it is good for us that his word is the truth, because where it is not, we are lost. For where the word does not shine and shine, it is just as the Lord Christ says, that the blind lead the blind, and both fall into the pit.

But if God is justified in his word, that is, if he is right, then he attains his glory, namely, that his word and sacrament are pure, and that they are blessed and have eternal life. Then the pope falls with his teaching and is even destroyed, yes, he is condemned to the abyss of hell. For if I consider God to be righteous, then I give him the divinity. How so? By confessing that his word is true. Then God becomes gracious to us, not in His majesty, for there He is too high for us. So also, when I say: The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is right, the marriage state is a holy state, then I make God God. Before, the devil sat in his place. But now I put God there again, who allowed himself to be offered to me, who preached to me and whom I served, who also made himself known to me in his word, in his word and in [the] sacraments; not in his majesty, but when he humbles himself and becomes man, speaks to us and gives his sacraments: then the same preached God becomes man, suffers, dies and rises again from the dead, who then comes into my ears and through the rulers into my heart. Whoever now blasphemes this Christ also blasphemes God, for he is a person in the Godhead.

But what is that, that we may truly

by our testimony? Why does he call it sealed and attested? The other part does nothing about it, but would rather destroy it in the ground and put themselves in God's place. But these are certain, and also make it certain, and everything is certain and undoubted with them.

Nothing is more certain among people than seals and letters. If I have something in a letter and seal, it is certain, and now it happens that people want to be more certain of their money with seals and letters than if they had the money in a box, where a thief could steal it. Therefore, among men, a seal and a letter is a sure thing. So among Christians the testimony is also certain. They have no doubt about it in their hearts, and speak of it with their mouths and tongues, confess it with their whole lives, and make it certain that this doctrine is the truth; just as the dear merchants have insisted on it, who hang 1) and press, I think, a seal on it, so that they leave their life and limb over it.

One must be accustomed to the Scripture. To seal that God is true is to put in no doubt that God is God and true. But many others hear it, but it goes in one ear and out the other, believing for a time, but in the time of trial and tribulation they fall away again. For their heart is not sure nor steadfast; in time of trouble they let it go away again, for it is not sealed, holding fast to money and goods, honor and power, rather than to God's word. But whoever accepts the preaching of the Gospel rightly once, has a seal and a letter, and then they say, "A seal and a letter means life and limb and everything they have. That is, the heart is sure and has no doubt about it, and if one believes it, the tongue does not dispute it, the life is also based on it.

See what S. Paul does. He says [2 Cor. 3, 2. f. 1 Cor. 9, 2.]: You are my letter and the seal of my letter, we do not need any other, we have received the letter.

1) Handwriting: hencken.

makes the church at Corinth a letter to be read in all places, not, he says, that we are the arch-scribe, but by a diaconum. For Jesus Christ is the true scribe; in his pen, that is, in his preaching office, he does not bring ink, but the Holy Spirit and his gift, as is said in the first epistle to Corinthians in the 12th chapter. This is the ink, the sermon, which he writes through the apostles, and the Holy Spirit has written it through us. Christ is the scribe, and writes it in our heart, not by ink, but the beautiful letters of the Holy Spirit are faith and hope, which are fiery and living letters that go forth.

Elsewhere he says: You are sealed in heart, yes, also in hands, in words and works. The Christian is our Lord's letter, and those who believe and live a Christian life are sealed, that is, they have faith, and the Holy Spirit has written the word in the heart so that it is the truth. For it is not reason, but a living letter, written in the heart through our preaching ministry and the sacraments, so that the heart is full of living letters burning 2) in love. The true faith therefore shines and condemns all heresies and errors, and writes the truth into the heart through the preaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, so that it says: I do not doubt that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Son of Mary. So the text goes, as we have written.

So S. Paul calls the church a letter, and himself the pen. We prepare the letter. By what? I am the pen, that it may be written, and Christ takes the letters, that a Christian may receive the truth and faith from the heart of the Holy Spirit. Others do not do this, therefore they do not seal it, for those have the Holy Spirit who preached into the heart, saying, In this word is the truth. Thus he makes God to be God in the heart. Therefore it is also said in another place [Eph. 4, 30.]: You shall not grieve

2) Handwriting: brunnen.

the Holy Spirit with whom you are sealed. For what? In the Lord. You have received a pledge of your inheritance, namely the Holy Spirit, who is in your heart [Eph. 1:14, 2 Cor. 1:22], but through the oral word. He wrote it by his gifts, and impressed it upon your hearts, that the pledge, the seal, and the surety, are one thing; not that ye should gather florins therewith; but for this purpose ye are sealed, written, and have received the pledge, that ye should believe, saying: I believe in JESUS Christ, and that I shall be among the company of the elect; and the Holy Spirit will not leave us under the earth, for therefore it is written that we are redeemed and are the children of God, and whoever reads the word of God, with them also the Holy Spirit speaks. Speaking and writing are then one thing, only that the oral speaking is stronger than the written, because through writing you can also speak with those who are over a hundred miles away from you.

So the Holy Spirit's speaking is his writing and sealing. When the Holy Spirit preaches, and has the pen in his hand, and presses the letters into the heart, people are changed, and such a one is certain, because it is written and pressed into his heart, he bears a pledge, a ring and a seal, that he has no doubt that God is true; and this is a great glory in his heart, that God is true. But he that despiseth or condemneth it, maketh a lie of God, and putteth God out of his heart, and putteth the devil in his place; and the greatest glory that we can give to God is, that we serve his word. He who does this says: God is true. But he who does not believe says to God, "You deny and are not true. Thus it is also said to the Romans in chapter 4: Abraham gave glory to God when he believed, for he knew it certainly and truly. This is the seal, that he had bright, fine letters in his heart, and a pure and sharp seal, that is, he knew for certain.

Now, to give glory to God is to say that His word is true. For the truth that he has in his majesty he keeps. Again, those who believe as

Abraham, they know it for sure, they have it so hard in their hearts that they die and live on it.

John commends them for receiving Christ, giving glory to God, making God true, sealing it and certifying it, and not doubting it, being certain of it. For what else should we do? If we are not sure of it, we do nothing, we suffer nothing for it, we do not die on it, for they have no seal and letter, they do not die on it. Therefore, the word must be pure and remain so, and the world should go to ruins over it. But it is not such a small art, faith, faith, as [those probably consider a bad thing who do not accept Christ. For they have only a delusion of faith, that Christ died, and speak of it as a jackdaw, a parakeet, or a parrot speaks. But that one should be so sure that God is true, the Holy Spirit gives faith the office of justifying God.

They are considered magicians and black-hearted people who can make gold out of copper, but good and experienced artists can do it. But he who justifies God in his words, that is a true master, considers God to be true in his majesty and in his word. Therefore, faith drives the devil out of his and other people's hearts, and the devil must be put out of the heart and God in his place. There is another thing about faith than they think; it is to be a living writing, a seal and a finger, that one may be sure, and leave everything above it. Then God comes to you and makes a dwelling place there, and out of your heart becomes a kingdom of heaven and paradise. It is all for our good. For if we keep God true, we have righteousness and eternal life from Him, and then one becomes so sure of his faith that he says, "He who condemns God's word is of the devil, and is tortured to death over it. For this finger ring he carries with him, and does not let it 1) be taken away from him.

1) Erlanger: let's him.

The forty-sixth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday after St. John's beheading [August 30, 1539].

John has so far preached of Christ that he should be an excellent preacher, for he would bring his testimony from heaven, and whoever would accept it should seal it that God is true and God is God. Now follows further:

V. 34. For he whom God has sent speaks the word of God.

This is a sermon of John the Baptist that has not been described by any other evangelist. For all the others write little of John the Baptist, saying only that he preached, "Another shall come after me, that I am not worthy to loose his shoe laces," and how he scolded the Pharisees. But John the Evangelist describes much of what he preached, especially here, namely that God would become true on earth. Now this is strange. For several parts of the world make God a liar, and that he is unrighteous, and the devil remains their god, and they serve him honestly. But Christ was sent into the world to speak the word of God. Therefore he says, "Whom God has sent, he speaks the word of God." But what is the use of preaching? Is the world so perfectly pious, when it hears the word of God, that one should believe, and that one should hear the one whom God has sent. Says they, there is no discord, even among the Gentiles, for one knows this beforehand. Must John preach like this and say of Christ that he was sent by God? Who would so reproach the pious, virtuous world for not hearing God's word and for not believing in him who was sent to it? Does it do so from the heart? Item [Joh. 3, 35.]: "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand." It is no wonder that he loves the Son, for he loves all the saints and creates them all. Item [v. 34.]: "He who has been sent by God speaks the word of God." Soon reason says, "Yes. Why then does this

Strife and battle, that Cain kills Abel? and the pope condemns us, and considers us children of the devil and heretics, and we, on the other hand, say that the pope is of the devil with all bishops and cardinals? Now, on both sides it is said of God and His Word, so they also want to uphold the persons who preach, and accept and worship the Word, and are indeed one with the whole world, Turk and Pope. But there is the fact that God's commandment is: One should hear the Son, and his servants should be honored, and sealed that God is true. But that Christ is the Son of God, and that His preaching is the Word of God, there is a conflict. The major propositio is vera, sed minor negatur; [it is said] that Christ is not the Son of Mary on earth, and the Jews say: We are disciples of God, Moses brought it from God, but Christ's word is from the devil. Where did he come from? The whole world is quarreling about this. He is sent by God, and brings gifts with him; but it should be well laid out, so we become divided over it. If we could feel that the pope was sent by God, it would be a delicious thing. But we say that he has put himself there as a murderer and a thief. For God did not place him where he now sits. Therefore, God did not send him. If he had come from God, we would have heard him; if not, we would not have heard him. But if he says, "I am sure that I have the word of God, but you, where do you get the testimony that you are from God? Therefore, your doctrine and teaching is not from God. So the Jews also insisted that Moses was their master and preceptor, and Christ was not sent by God, so they did not hear his word. The Turk says that he was sent by God, but his ministry has an end, and Mahomet came after him, sent by God, and what he says now should be heard and accepted. So we Christians also say: Moses and Abraham were circumcised, but now circumcision is dead. So also the Turk says: The word and sending of Christ is no longer valid. Who then is judge among us, since we are one with each other in majore propositione, that one should accept all the word of God?

should hear? Do they then say: This is also the word of God, the Jews and the Turks deny it.

John says: "He who is sent by God speaks the word of God. I am a witness to it, for I am its forerunner, and God has ordained me to be a prophet. He has also preached many things that are not described, so that he has confirmed his profession. I am, he says, his forerunner; after me you will have no other Christ, but he who is now sent is above all who have ever been sent. I am to listen to him, and after his death I am to see who will follow him. For of him he said, He that shall come after me is certain. But they killed Christ and John, and asked nothing of the testimony of John. For Christ arose quickly, preached and performed miracles, and proved his calling mightily; he only sent the prophets before him, and thereafter Christ's doctrine and miracles stood, which testified of him who he was. But they asked nothing about all these things, neither about the doctrine, miracles, nor testimony of John; indeed, they crucified the Lord of glory in addition. Now they had no doubt that he was sent by God and that he preached God's word. But they could not bring themselves to believe that the Son of the Virgin Mary (who was poor and had a carpenter) should be the Lord, of whom John thus testified. If they had wanted to talk about it, they could have said: He is like the son of a cobbler, or whoever he wants. What does it matter to me that he is the son of a poor woman? Truly, he still does that which John proclaimed about him. But it does not help, they still go and gape, God shall send them their Messiah. But he did, and sent him, and the Son of God became man. They have seen him, heard him, felt him, grasped him, and crucified him; now they cry out and bleat, and look up to heaven. But they are not heard, for they want to have such a Messiah as they dream of.

For this reason John preaches so diligently that one should pay attention to his testimony, saying, "The Father sent the Son,

and gave all things into his hand: he that believeth on him hath everlasting life; saying, This is now the true Messiah. But the others hold the contrary, and insist that he is not of God. Therefore they crucify him as a blasphemer and rebel.

So it is the same with us. We stand on the fact that God has sent us and called us. For we speak the Word of God, and the two things rhyme together, that those who speak the Word of God must also be sent by God, and those who are sent by God cannot speak anything but the Word of God. For the word of God cannot be spoken by reason; it must be given from above. Truly, we do not preach the human wisdom of philosophers, lawyers, physicians, or any other art. We know what the poets, philosophers and lawyers can do, but we do not preach it. Item, we also know what is the doctrine of the whole papacy and of all monks; but we do not preach what has sprung from our reason. For reason has otherwise received a dominion to rule over fish, birds and animals, Genesis at the first and other chapters, and as you will do it there, it shall be right. For I set you and reason as rulers and masters over this, if it seems right to you that an acre should be worth four guilders, and a bushel of grain should be worth as much. Item, how expensive the house, cloth, I give you home with full authority. So reason rules in law books, in all arts and crafts, laws, courts etc. But we also do not preach of it, but heard everything for the reason, and must govern the lawyers cities, country and people. But that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, item, that God has begotten His only begotten Son from eternity, item, that the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Godhead, and that God's Son became man, item, that the Christian church believes in the forgiveness of sins, neither reason, nor cows, nor fields know a word about this. Therefore Christ brought us this preaching of the Gospel and commanded the apostles to preach it. It came to us from the apostles,

and will remain until the end of the world. Those who preach this are called sent by God.

That now the pope comes and says: One should consecrate herbs, wear a gray nock and wide plates etc., by this you shall be blessed; saying: Money, clothing and other things are all subject to reason. Where from with your wisdom? Let the lawyers do it. Emperors, kings, princes and lords, these are all fictitious things ex ratione; what does it help you and me to blessedness? But our sermon is this, that whoever hears this sermon of Christ, and believes in him, has eternal life. The word of God, sent from heaven, should be a part of it, so that if you were burned to ashes, you would still know where you came from. For what do I care if you are a husband or live chastely, have money and goods? We must all die, and on the last day everything must burn. Therefore it is a vain transient thing, which belongs to lawyers and parents. Still the pope does nothing else in his books, but how one may preserve the glory of the bishops, and put one so, the other otherwise, wear such a skirt, wear a broad plate and cap. But here on the little wood one is to preach the word, which is not invented by men, but sent from heaven, so that a Christian may say that he has his faith and preaching not from the philosophers who were in Persia, Grecia or Rome, but from the word of God, which came from heaven, confessing and saying: I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life. These have other sayings, which are not of perishable things, but that after this temporal life one has eternal life and the resurrection from the dead. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit must come to us, and we must believe in them. Therefore we have God's word for certain, and from this we have enough evidence that we are called. For we are baptized, and those who are baptized are also called to praise, glorify and confess God after their baptism, as S. Agnes, Agatha, Anastasia and others did,

which, though they have not been preachers, yet they have confessed their faith, that they have been baptized.

So God has also sent you from heaven. How then? You come out of baptism, being born a child of God through Christ; and if we are all called, we cannot all preach at the same time, but nevertheless you are guilty of publicly confessing Christ. But let some be chosen, who shall preach to all the rest, and all the rest shall listen to him, and say yea unto it, and confess with a deed that it is the truth. The baptized people grant them 1) a special calling, namely in priestly ordinations, and those who are thus called speak God's word.

There is no dispute that not all are priests. How is it that many heretics, who are all baptized, are called by God, but still do not speak the truth? But those who are Christians certainly believe that they are called to confess God. We all received the Chrism and the priestly garment in baptism, as it is said in the first epistle of S. Peter in the 2nd chapter, that we are called out of darkness into His glorious light, that we should proclaim His virtue, power and miracles. So he writes to the whole church that whoever wants to be a Christian must confess and say: What I have heard in the sermons, I will die and live by. What are these virtues? I preach, and you believe and confess that you are redeemed by baptism, not full of pestilence or leprosy, but from death, sin, and the power of the devil, working in me blessedness and eternal life. Let this be a wonder, that a man who is damned and lost, who has died, who stinks in the grave, should yet have the consolation that his sins are forgiven, and grace and mercy should shine upon him, and he should be encompassed with grace and mercy, and be eternally blessed. This shall be preached, and he that believeth it shall have it assuredly; as it follows: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." These are the miraculous deeds,

1) Erlanger: him.

that God works in us through the oral ministry of preaching.

Now I do not preach to myself, but you must go with me so that you can say: This was not spoken by my preacher, but is a heavenly sermon, and is sealed. If you believe, you are called and are in the number of those who believe and confess. So they prove their calling, first of all by baptism, since all are brought into a Christian fold, and have the sacraments and absolution. Therefore we are the Christian church, or a part of it, and the same has authority, keeps preachers, and takes from a group those who are skilled and capable, not for their own sake, but for the benefit of the church, and when an emergency arises, each one must see for himself. But for this reason they cannot all preach, but one alone speaks before the whole multitude. Therefore the ministry of preaching is not mine, but that of all the others; it is a public profession and confession. Therefore I say also to the pope: Where are you sent from? And prove to us that your teaching is the word of God, and see whether we preach differently from what is expressed here, and whether you also preach in this way: we hold the word of God before you. Item, see if we baptize and have absolution, and have preachers and people who like to hear the word. If so, you must bear witness that we are sent and that we preach the word of God. Truly, we have now experienced it, and have brought it about that our adversaries must all confess that we preach God's word and are sent by God.

What is it that offends? The Jews, if they had indulged Christ in coming from God, would have been right; but they do as the pope does to us. But they should preach God's word beside it. In this the pope is worse than the Jews. For he confesses that we have the word of God, and that we are baptized: nevertheless he wants us also to accept his decrees and letters. It is as if a farmer came to me and said, "You preach the word of God, of God the Creator and of Christ the Redeemer; but I do not have enough, so I add this to it and preach to myself that a bushel of grain should be given for ten pennies;

I would truly say, Go and ask the market for it. If he then said, "If you do not want to do this, I will not hear you," I would say, "Do not do it. So the pope also wants me to preach, in addition to the fact that Christ was sent into the world so that one might be saved through him, which is well preached, that nevertheless monasticism is not to be rejected. But I cannot do that. If I were free to wear a cap outside the church, or whatever I wanted, I could well do it. If only it would not come into the Christian church and no human doctrine would be mixed under this doctrine, then we could well get along. If only he did not put his doctrine next to it, nor the sour vinegar next to the malmsey, then I would gladly wear a cap, just so that it would not be said that it is necessary for salvation. I would like to joke. Reason should rule here, as one should buy, sell, govern. If a city ordains what an honest matron should wear, and a virgin wear a little wreath, that is fine; but do not add to it: So she becomes holy. But whoever wants to be justified before God, let him hear him who was sent from heaven, saying, "I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Whoever then seeks something else that is necessary for salvation, do not hear him. Then they say that this is right and fine preaching, and they themselves also preach the catechism, but, they say, that we also accept their thing. Yes, we would gladly do so, but to the extent that it does not burden our conscience. For that their thing should be like Christ, the devil takes it in my stead. He does not have to come into the creed and the Christian faith, and I would rather leave life and limb over it.

The Pope lets us believe that it is a profession and God's word. But because we do not want to teach his thing, we are not the church, and therefore our profession is nothing, and we do not have God's word, and therefore the word of God, baptism and the Lord's Supper are nullified. What is he preaching? How much a

1) "sodann" put by us instead of "sondern" in the Erlanger.

The priests are told that the canon has to earn more guilders than another priest, or how one should wear caps and plates. What is this foolishness against the blood of Christ? Nor shall we be heretics about it, when Christ and the apostles have not preached one letter of it in the New Testament. I do not find caps and plates in it, but one should let oneself be baptized, and go to the sacrament, let oneself be absolved. This concerns Christ alone.

The forty-seventh sermon [on the Gospel of John].

On the Saturday after Aegidii [September 6, 1539].

John speaks here of the sending, which is various, but especially of the sending of the Son, and I have intended to deal with the same part at length; and there are two ways spoken of sending, first, that God sends His people without any means, as the prophets and apostles, Moses and S. Paul, who are not called by men, as by a means, but sent by God without any means, and have verbal command. The same sending has not happened before, unless God wanted to start something new, than through Moses and the prophets. He stopped in the New Testament, because the apostles' mission was the very last one. This is the high sending, which is from God alone.

The other sending is also from God, but is done through men and means, after the office is established by God, that one preaches, and the power of the keys is used. 1) This will then remain, and there will be no other 2) ministry. But the persons do not remain, but die, therefore one must always have new preachers. This cannot be done without means. The ministry, as the word of God, baptism and the Lord's Supper, is bad without means from Christ, but after that Christ is no longer on earth. There is then another mission, which is through men, and not of men. So we are sent, and we also choose others,

1) Erlanger: become.

2) Erlanger: andern.

and put them in the ministry of preaching and administering the sacraments, and yet this mission is also from God. For God commanded it, and if one helps, he himself sends workers into his vineyard, and yet he does it through men.

Therefore, let each one know that he must be sent, that is, he must know that he is called, and not sneak in by himself, but [it must be done] publicly. This is called a sending from God, and is nevertheless done by men, as a city, prince or other community, who choose and elect one from etc.

Now one would like to ask here: "He who is sent by God speaks the word of God", are there many of them who only preach vain lies? How is that? The text must not be true, because there are many devil heads who do not speak the word of God. Judas was not only called by Christ Himself without any means, but he also betrayed Christ. So there were many false prophets in the Old Testament. Item, Caiaphas and Annas were sent by God without any means, because the priesthood was ordered by God. Now they were not only false teachers, but they also crucified Christ. Now the bishops and popes sit in the apostles' chair and place, and yet they do the opposite. One may ask that "whom God sends, he speaks the word of God," is it true? For "whom God sends" means that he has an office that is from God, etc., so S. John wants to instruct me with it and force me to hear and believe everything that the pope or another who is sent speaks or pretends, and should Christ himself and the apostles also have heard Kaiphä's teaching, and Isaiah, Jeremiah should have said that the high priests taught rightly, because they were sent? 3)

First of all, it must be understood this way: Those who are sent speak God's word, namely, if they remain in their office, and possess the office as they received it. For they certainly speak the word of God, as Christ says of the Pharisees [Matth. 23, 2.]

3) To this sentence is to be added, for the sake of understanding: How can it be true?

on the chair of Moses" etc.; and now those who have the chair of Moses, they are sent. If they preach what Moses preached, hear them. But according to their works do not do, that is, if they preach otherwise, and go out of the way, and break their command, and keep not their command. If a king sends an envoy or an embassy, and the envoy keeps his command and instruction, he does right; if he does not, he cuts off his head. It can also happen that a man who is appointed to an office is still a prankster. For this reason he commands that the commandment and the commandment be obeyed, and that nothing be done about it, and nothing be done about it. Therefore we see that [if] one is called, he is in an office. Now if he preaches what his office requires, and he preaches the word of God upon which the office is founded, it is right; but if he does not, it is said, "Beware of false prophets." But if he remains in the ministry and preaches the word of the ministry, then it is right. He also said above [v. 27], "Man can do nothing 1) unless it is given him from above.

So then he says: Whom God has sent, that is, God's word is not called, because that is sent. That is, no one thinks that God's word on earth comes from human devotion. If it is to be God's word, it must be sent. Otherwise it is impossible that the holy scripture can be understood or interpreted out of one's own devotion, arbitrariness. It is not valid that one should speak, and is not called, for God's word comes only from the fact that God sends it. If not, the whole world cannot speak that which could save from sins and comfort the conscience. If he had not sent the word and the ministry, we would have nothing. Therefore nothing shall be spoken nor heard, but only the word of God. If it is made up out of human choice and devotion, avoid it. It does not come unless it is sent from heaven. And whoever is to deal with the monks, ask whether their thing is also the word of God. There you will hear that they pretend: It is done out of good opinion, in honor of God; therefore it is a service of God, and

1) Erlanger: not.

God's word. But it takes more than good opinion to worship and pay for sin; devotion flows from your heart, conceit. But say whether God has sent it from heaven, or whether he has commanded it. Has it been done in honor of God? It is all the more annoying, and a twofold blasphemy, that you call that the word of God and a service of God, which you have devised yourself. Thus the pope has deceived the world under your name and title of the church. But without God's mission no word comes into the world. If it has grown out of my heart, I hang on Chrysostom, Augustino and Ambrosio; so it is not God's word. For there is a great difference between the word that is sent from heaven and the word that I make up of my own choice and devotion. The holy scripture did not grow on earth. Thus John says: 2) He who is of the earth speaks earthly things. Therefore, we must learn to place our salvation thoroughly on the power of God's word, and not on our devotion or conceit.

S. John refers here especially to Christ, of whom he preaches and speaks here:

V. 34. For he whom God has sent speaks the word of God.

The law of Moses was given, and the prophets were sent, but it was all gone, directed to Christ. Then that was to cease. Therefore they said, He shall come, that shall cease when he cometh. He that preacheth yet, He shall come, denieth that he which is born of Mary is the Messiah. Then all the prophets said that the Messiah would come. The Jews hold these speeches as if they were still valid, when they have long since been fulfilled. They did not lie, but told the truth. For he was born in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth. When I hear this, then it is time for me to believe it, because whoever goes beyond it has lost it. And John sees with his sermon in [the] saying 5 Moses at the 18th chapter: God will raise up for you another prophet from among your brethren, like unto me, whom ye shall hear; and he shall put his word in his mouth, and shall speak with you.

2) Thus set by us. Erlanger: "The holy scripture, if it has grown on earth, so says John" and so on.

speak. Whichever soul will not hear him, he will demand it himself and punish it; as if Moses should say: I Moses preach to you now. But from among your brethren a preacher shall be raised up, into whose mouth God shall put his word. Then remember that you are listening to him. Do not say: We are Mosis discipuli. I point you to a prophet who did not come from a foreign land, but was born among your brothers, and he will bring God's word. Therefore the law shall be done away with, and the promise fulfilled, that there shall be no more preaching, save that which the Messiah shall speak. So he is sent, as all the prophets testify of him. He is here, says John, whom God wanted to send, and has sent him now, of whom he prophesied long before that he should come. He alone speaks the word of God. Whoever speaks anything else, whether before the prophets or afterward, his preaching is nothing. For it is not God's word, so no one else is sent, except the one who speaks God's word.

Therefore we shall not boast of our devotion, that we are the disciples of the prophets, or the children of the patriarchs. You shall never be. For the Father hath taken it out of Mosi's hand, and given it unto the Son. For this cause your devotion and your goodness, Moses also, and all the prophets, being past their time, are not to be preached, neither your own devotion and your own goodness, but him only that is to come, who is over all. So shall ye do, or ye shall be lost. The prophets do not agree with you. For they all testify of this, and then turn their word. They all say: This is the one we wanted. It is he, they say. Jeremiah, Isaiah count for nothing against him, for they only preach that the Messiah is to come, and stop the prophets and John, and say, He is here. Therefore the ears of all the world are bound to the mouth of this messenger, for he says, He shall be called sent, and so that he alone shall be counted in heaven, on earth, and in hell, even against sin and death. Now this is John's ministry and his greatest diligence, that he should direct all his preaching to him, that he might increase, and that all the prophets might decrease. Let it be heard then, for from his mouth

God himself is heard. There is great power in it, the devil causes great trouble, the world also always wants to make something different and more perfect, and lets the man go. The Turk has left him, says: The Messiah is long dead; I now have another, passes by, says he has taught The Jews still hope for him, that he should come. The pope is like the Turk, saying, "In baptism you received forgiveness of sins. But because afterwards thou hast sinned again, Christ is of no use to thee. Therefore, go to a monastery. He throws something else in the way, just as the Turk does. So they all go over before the man, and either beat him to death, or hope for something else. But let no other preacher be a model to you, who should teach how to get rid of sins, than this one. Say not, He is past, or is long gone; but is yesterday, and is to day, and is my Saviour unto the grave, and out of the grave, and unto the last day, and for ever.

Therefore it is always written in John: The Father has sent, sent that He Christ is the right messenger; no one is therefore sent, and His word shall be it. As he teaches, so one should believe, trust and hope; and John, as a faithful forerunner, warns and admonishes that apart from him there is no other word, no messenger. He also did not die as Jeremiah, Isaiah, or as Moses and others. Therefore it is true for and for his gospel. The word began through him and remains forever, and through it one becomes blessed. St. Augustine says that the word of Christ was not understood before, but afterward it was understood better, since the law had been abolished and the prophecy fulfilled, and no one should hear it but he alone. Beware of all others. If you hear another, know that he is not sent, nor will you hear God's word from him, but hear only this one, for he has God's word.

1) Erlanger: "ausgelernet". The meaning here is: The teaching of Christ is now over; Mahomet has taken his place.

V. 34. God does not give the Spirit according to measure.

That is also strangely spoken. But he wants to form and drive in us, also to put before our eyes, that we neither hear nor see anything, but Christ alone. If it is he alone, that is enough, for Moses and the prophets must cease. For the glory of the Messiah is cut off from all others, and he who insists on his own holiness, as the Pope and the Turk do, is condemned. This would be without measure, if the pope and the Turk wanted to teach thus. 1) But John thus speaks of Christ alone doing it, as I have also said of His word when He leads, that God speaks in the 5th book of Moses in the 18th chapter: "You shall hear My word from His mouth. If you hear it, you shall be saved; if not, you shall be damned; that is to say, Moses' thing has been measured out, that he who lives in the ten commandments and does good etc. walks like a hare that is strained 2). There is no freedom, of which S. Paul otherwise says [2 Cor. 3, 17.] that "where the Spirit is, there is freedom". This doctrine will give the Holy Spirit without measure, and this person does not have One piece or two of the Holy Spirit, as the prophets, apostles and we have, as is said in the first zttn Corinthians at the 12th chapter. There the Holy Spirit is distributed according to pieces, as it was also said to Moses [Num. 11, 16. 17.]: Take seventy-two men, six from each tribe, and they will receive full of your spirit. There it is said that the Holy Spirit was divided among the seventy-two men; that is, a divided Spirit, in various offices and gifts, and not given all to one. But Christ has the Holy Spirit without measure. Therefore think not that he hath but a part of the Holy Ghost. For he is much another and a strange preacher and teacher, since the Holy Spirit is not in the inside in a piece.

1) This sentence is very obscure, and the rendering of Luther's speech is deficient here. It seems best to us if this sentence would be deleted completely. The meaning is perhaps: If the pope and the Turk would also teach that Christ alone is the way to blessedness, then they too would recognize the spirit without measure in him. But then it should not be continued with "but", but with "for".

2) "more tense" perhaps as much as: more confined.' Cf. the following paragraph.

but in Colossians [Cap. 2, 3. 9.] it is said: In him are the treasures of wisdom, life, blessedness, grace and mercy, for the Godhead dwells in him bodily. Therefore the Holy Spirit is wholly without measure, for he is the only begotten Son of the Father. We are also children of God, but not the one who has everything and from whose fullness we take everything. For he hath given us wisdom, and righteousness, and to be over all things. Therefore no other is sent; he alone brings the word, wherein are all things. . Now this is not having the Spirit by measure.

Now it is also to our advantage that he has the Spirit beyond all measure, for his fulfillment brings us Christian freedom. Otherwise, he who walks in the ten commandments and lives by the law is like a prisoner. But he that believeth in Christ is made partaker of this immeasurable liberty, because the Spirit saith, Thou art not only free from the law of Moses, but also from all his accusation and condemnation. Therefore we now have one preacher who has everything; to the others he has given it in measure. We who believe also receive from the same intemperate spirit, enjoying his also as the chief good by faith.

After that he makes Christ like him, and as great as he is, as John 14 chapter also says. But we are of him, and not of ourselves; we are free according to conscience, from all laws and terrors, but in him. Therefore, if in Christ the Spirit is fully present, through Him we also have the Spirit. We have such a preacher, since we have to draw from the inexpressible fullness. There we drink up, and are filled with him, body and soul.

He now gives cause for this: For "the Father loved him, and Hai gave him everything into his hands.

The forty-eighth sermon [on the Gospel of John].

Den Sonnabend nach nativitatis Mariae, den 13. Septembris f1539f,

"God does not give the Spirit according to measure." This saying is actually and especially spoken of the person of Christ alone, that He

have not measured the Holy Spirit or a little of it, but wholly with one another. For in other saints the Spirit is distributed and given to them piecemeal; no one has it altogether, not even Moses. But to him alone is it given, for he also is full of grace and truth, and S. Paul says that in him are hidden the treasures of wisdom, for apart from him there is vain blindness, idolatry, and ignorance.

And this sermon and the whole gospel of John is to the effect that we should all cling to the man and seek no other salvation apart from him, and be sure of all sermons, be they of the pope, or the imperial law, or the law of God; and however wise, prudent and high they may be, yet put them behind. So they all do not help to eternal life. But this doctrine alone does it, and if we had stuck to the same doctrine, there would not have been so many rotters, for all fullness is with man, and God is bodily in him, and the Holy Spirit beyond measure. The others have a part of it, and the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, as is said to Corinthians [Cap. 12]. Nevertheless, through and in him we are also made partakers of the Holy Spirit and of grace, which is called inordinate; and Paul says [Eph. 4:11] Some have grace, that one is an apostle, another a prophet, a third an evangelist, or can expound the Scriptures. But in the main grace we all divide ourselves into the fullness of our Lord God. So abundantly is the grace and mercy of God poured out upon us, that there is no measure but eternally, on every side, in height, depth and breadth. This is called grace. For other gifts are many, but all cease, that the church may be governed. But grace and mercy are eternal, and our forgiveness of sin is not for one or two thousand years, but an eternal redemption, blessedness, joy, life, and forgiveness of sin, without measure. This we have also received from him; it is not in us, but in him, originally. Therefore we also have grace and the Holy Spirit without measure, not because of our merits, but because we believe in him.

V. 35. The Father loves the Son.

The evangelist always introduces the preaching of John the Baptist, that nowhere should one hear anything, nor run anywhere else, but here; as if he should say, This is over all, for he is from heaven and speaks the word of God, and does not give the Holy Spirit according to measure; and are these words, "The Father loves the Son," the cause of what he has said so far, as if he should say, "That you may know why I speak of him thus: He who is from heaven and is over all, this is the cause and reason. For he is the beloved Son, and he that hath the Son hath also the Father; and in the baptism of Christ the Father himself saith, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; him shall ye hear."

Now distinguish between those who are from heaven and those who are down on earth, for this is how it has been decided: Let all the rest be called what they will, under the wrath of God. There is no love or mercy, but disgrace, if you are apart from the man, for God the Father has turned his love nowhere else but to the Son. Therefore he will call us and gather us under this hen, so that we will not go astray under the vulture, for there is no mercy to be expected except here. They all toil in vain, for there is no other love but in and under this Son alone. Apart from him, there is anger, disgrace and displeasure, and S. Paul tells the Philippians that he has called us and sanctified us in his beloved. Why does he not say: in the beloved Son? He means to say that there is no other love or friendship but in the beloved Son, for everything else is under wrath. If therefore I say, He hath loved us in the Beloved, I understand his Son, because apart from him there is otherwise vain disgrace, and help not to pretend: I mean well, I serve God, I call upon the Creator of heaven and earth. Listen, it is vain disgrace and wrath until you take hold of Christ, for God wants to gather the Christian Church under One Head, if there is Christ, then it will also be loved. Now these things are not written for the sake of the Lord Christ, but for our sake, so that we may learn that nowhere else is God's love more than in this person, and so we may

We must remain gathered together and beware of those who seek other mediators and helpers than this Christ; and the devil does nothing else than to lead us away from this Christ; and it is indeed a fine and beautiful appearance to call upon the Virgin Mary and the saints; but we must keep ourselves together under the head, or else we are eternally damned. What will become of those who rely on S. Barbara and S. George, and crawl under the mantle of Mary? This probably has a delicious appearance of a service to God. But they make a judge out of the Son and his love. Why then did God present him to us as mediator and high priest? And the invocation of the saints has been finely confirmed by the Pope, just as the devil does not cease to take away our comfort through false teachers and evil temptations. Therefore we should say: "Speak and preach, whoever will; what is of the earth is earthly, but whoever is of heaven speaks the word of God, and the Father loves the Son. That is, apart from him you do not come to the love of God, and so that you do not doubt, he so loved him that he gave everything into his hands, that is, he made him omnipotent, as S. Paul says that all the treasures of wisdom are in him, that is, God's supreme wisdom, righteousness, and truth are placed in the Son, and all things have been given to him; and whoever then wants to be a Christian does not have to seek another God, nor go the wrong way, nor follow a false way, but salvation, death, and sin are all placed in one heap, and are placed in and on the person. If you want to have God and be blessed, you must put everything under the head, as it is also said in the 8th Psalm: "You have put everything under his feet", nothing is excluded in heaven and earth. All angels, all men, leaves, fruits, all these he has in his hand, and is almighty God. All oxen and sheep and everything else God has subjected to man, as it is written in the first and second chapters of Genesis; but it is not added that he should be Lord over everything. Adam did not come to rule over all birds, fish and animals, and even if he had all these things, he is not yet a ruler.

set over heaven and earth, over death and life, sin and righteousness. But to this Lord Christ all things are given, nothing excepted; as much as God Himself hath, so much hath Christ also. Therefore, if he has given him all things, he has also set him in his throne and majesty.

Now here is a question: How does it rhyme: If he is a Lord over all and is also man? If he is God, how did he give him everything? If he is God, he has everything beforehand, and that he has everything, one concludes that he must be God, for God does not give anyone everything in heaven or on earth, unless he is God. If he is God and has everything, how is it given to him? Now we have often heard that we should learn to meet the enthusiasts. You know that there is the communicatio idiomatum, that in the Lord Christ there are two natures, and yet only One Person, and that these two natures lead and retain, even share with each other their attributes.

This thing hath misled many, that the man which is called Jesus Christ, and is the Son of Mary, born of Mary, is not older than a thousand five hundred and thirty-nine years. Therefore one soon concludes: "Well, then he is not eternal. And this man Christ suffered on the cross at the time when Pontius Pilate was the governor in Judea. Then they quickly say: "How can he have everything in his hands? If he has everything, he must have it before he became man. How do you put this together? Just as the two natures, humanity and divinity, are inseparable, but so united in one person that what is said of one nature is also attributed to the other. As, dying is peculiar to human nature, then human nature is united in One Person with the Godhead, so that death, which is nevertheless attributed to human nature alone, is also attributed to the Godhead, and then it is said: God became man, God suffered and died. Otherwise, if you wanted to separate mankind from the Godhead, it is a lie, for God cannot die. But if in one person the two natures remain together, then it is rightly spoken and true. To be born and to sing at the breasts, the

actually belongs to human nature, because God does not suck milk. Yes, if man and God are not One Person. But they are united in One Person, so that one can rightly say: God's mother is a virgin, God is born. For since God and man are One Person, that which is due to mankind alone is assigned to the Godhead, for the characteristics of the two natures also unite. Not being born is due to the divine nature etc. We also pray and confess in faith: "He who is conceived and born"; this is human; "sitting at the right hand" wants to become divine, even if it is human. So, the child who drinks the mother's milk is eternal, who was before the beginning of the world and created heaven and earth. For the two natures are united in One Person, therefore the consequence and quality are also united; and it is true that the quality of the divine nature does not rhyme with the human nature, and I will say more: God and man rhyme still less, and yet the two natures are thus united, that there is One God and Lord, that Mary suckles God with her breasts, and God bathes, cradles and lifts, item, Pilate and Herod crucified God and put him to death; and the two natures thus rhyme together, that the true Godhead and humanity are One Thing. Therefore, if there is a true God in Christ, who was born of Mary, that is, who made and created all things, it must be said that they [Deity and humanity] have not only united and combined their natures, but also their attributes, except sin.

Therefore, when the Scriptures speak of Christ as a man, one should also confess the Godhead. In the hundred and tenth Psalm it is said: "Sit at my right hand. This text is about mankind alone, but it is to be applied to the Godhead as well. For after his ascension he began to sit there. Before that, mankind did not sit there. But that did not mean that he as God should not have sat there before. So Christ, true man, is called Lord over all, because he is true God; and one should not say, as Arius pretended, "If he now sits there, he will not sit there.

When he goes up to heaven, he has not been there before. No, he was there before, but he was not yet man. But now that he is man, the two natures combine their properties, and the divine nature gives its property to the human nature, and again the humanity also to the divine nature; and John speaks through his whole gospel of Christ as a pure man, and again etc. Here he speaks of Christ, who was born and baptized, and who has discipulos, as truly being a natural man, and yet he gives into his hands all things that belong to God alone, and yet he says: given to him. This is due to a human being.

Thus the two natures are united in one person, so that there are not two Christs. Therefore, when you hear a saying about Christ, that God gives all things into his hands and raises him from the dead, this is then spoken of Christ as a man. Again it is said: He sits at the right hand of God the Father. There the human nature is united with the Godhead, and then being crucified and living are one thing, being below and above one thing, as we also said above in chapter 6. Does it shock you now that Christ died and lives, much more should it seem strange to you that Christ is God and man One person, that Christ dies on the cross as a man, and yet remains Christ for eternity.

So you should get used to going through all troubles properly, and we are also called Christians because we recognize him from his teaching. How can anything be given to him? He does not take it according to the Godhead, but because God and man are One Person, He gave it to Christ. Because the Son is a man, what was God's was given to man. Therefore, since it is given to man, it is also given to God. For whoever touches and worships this man also worships God, for he is essentially God. Whoever sees the Son also sees the true God, says Christ to Philippo John in the 14th chapter. For I am the way, the person, whom Thomas sees before his eyes, but does not know that he is the way.

be, item, the truth and the life. These are divine attributes, for a man is not a way to life. But it makes the person of Christ not only a mere man, but personally and essentially God. Therefore, whoever sees Him and hears Him, hears God. So he says here: "The Batet has given all things into his hands." Now, to have everything in his hands is to be God, for God gives no one his glory, as is written in Isaiah. Here He gives it all to the Son, born of Mary, that He may have it all in His hands. How can this be? He had it all before. Yes, he was not a man before, but now that he dies and rises from the dead, it is first given to the Son, so that you can say: He who hangs on the cross is Lord over all, and only now does he get dominion, for this makes the unity of the two. natures. Before it was not so. Now he is transfigured, and is proclaimed to everyone that he is Lord over all.

Thus the human nature in Christ comes to honor, that it bears all the qualities that are otherwise due to God, and is therefore called given to Him, that the human nature is added to it, which it receives, and which it did not have before. Therefore it is truly and rightly said that the Son of God and the Son of Mary has been from eternity, and now Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, is Lord over all, and that Christ, the Son of God, has all things from His Father. Now apart from this man Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered, you shall seek no god, nor any salvation or help, for he himself is God. This offends the Jews, who think that we are foolish people, alleging also the first commandment: "Thou shalt not have other gods. Item, the Turk says: You are great fools, because you worship three gods. But we are not such gross asses as to make two or three gods, but worship only One God, who is a true God. But in it there are three persons, one of whom is Christ, of whom we have heard above that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him, and from his fullness we all receive grace for grace, and whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

The forty-first and last sermon on the third chapter of John.

[No date given; probably 1539.]

V. 35. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

We may preach the dear Lord Christ as long as God gives us time, for we see that the more we preach, the angrier and more ungrateful the world becomes; and therefore it seems to me that it will not last long. However, let us preach and thank God as long as we live.

John the Baptist, however, speaks here: "The Father loves the Son." We have just heard that God does not give the Spirit according to measure, for the Father gives everything into his hand. But he speaks of Christ, whom we call our Savior, that in him the Holy Spirit is not distributed piecemeal, as in all other men. For he had no less when he walked on earth than he has now, for in him is no sin, nor error, as in all other saints. There was no prophet, not even Moses himself, who did not have to pray a Pater noster. Only this man Christ, the seed of the woman, is praised, as it is said of him in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah and in 1 Peter 2, that he did no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. For the Holy Spirit was thus in him abundantly and without measure. Now this concerns his person. We Christians also have the Holy Spirit, but in part; yet He becomes our own, and His fullness stands for our lack and infirmity. But Christ lacks nothing, for in him is the fullness of the Godhead. But this same fullness also becomes ours, not personally, as he has it, but through faith, that we may pay, and where the Lord is, there is also the Spirit, yea, there is all things.

"For the Father loves the Son." The evangelist speaks of the matter as if he saw nothing else to preach about. He puts everything out of sight, and looks only at the Son of God, as we should also do; and rightly so, so that we keep the great miraculous work before our eyes, and everything else for vain chaff against the Son.

Respect God. For he created the heavens, the earth, and all creatures, of which it would be good to sing and rejoice. But when he setteth the Son before his eyes, he bringeth all creatures with him. He has given him all that is on earth, saying, "I will show you the head under which all things are formed, which is my Son.

If I have this zero in mind, that God's Son became man, and I believe in him, then all creatures would be a hundred times more beautiful to us than they are now. Then you will understand what the sun, moon, stars, trees, apples and pears would be, namely, if you understand that he is the Lord, and everything is to be done around him. So the Holy Spirit also speaks of him in the eighth Psalm: "You have made him Lord over all. Even though he was born of Mary the Virgin, he sits at the right hand of God. Now the right hand of God is to rule over all, to set His throne over the sun, over the moon, and over all creatures. We are otherwise concerned about many things. But if we thought only of Jesus Christ, born of Mary, we would gladly lose our thalers, barley and grain. But we turn away from the beautiful sight, and fall on the poor creature, and do not believe that he is a Lord. For if we had him before our eyes, we would not think so much as to have thalers and corn. But flesh and blood do not, but put themselves into the heap of grain and into the bag, with eyes and heart, saying, What Christ? For this reason we do not recognize him, nor do we consider him to be the Lord over all, as John also praises him here.

The Father loves him. God also loves his own, item, the creatures, otherwise he would not have created them. For all that he created, behold, it was very good, it is said in the first book of Moses. But what the devil does, that is all ugly. But he saith unto no creature, Be thou Lord over all: and unto none giveth he the Holy Ghost without measure, but unto the Son. Therefore he loves the Son so that he says to him, "Be you Lord over heaven and earth, over the devil also, over sin, life and righteousness, and over all things.

Let everything be in your hand. This is truly great love; and these things also are written for our sakes, that we may learn and believe them, for they follow in the text:

V. 36. He who believes in him has eternal life. But he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

We have a certain Lord, whom we can take hold of, lying in his mother's womb, hanging on the cross, and who out of an infinite God became a finite and definite man; and there the heart is certain that it has a true and righteous Lord, to whom all that is in heaven and on earth is subject, and angels and devils lie under his feet, and the Father loves him as his only begotten Son. If then I know this, and am certain that he is Lord over all things, above heaven and earth, above angels and all creatures, and know that God is well pleased with him, that he also sets him at his right hand, and that therefore the man born of Mary the Virgin shall also reign and rule there; if then I know this (I say), my heart is won over and says: If I have him who is favorable and gracious to me, who is Lord over angels and devils, over death and life, let alone over gold, silver, grain and barley, then I will not be afraid of the world, and I can trust in God that no evil will harm me. For it is decreed that even the wrath of God shall be taken away from the faithful, for God loves the Son. Then a heart can be fearless and say: What can the devil, death and the world do to me? For this Lord is gracious and kind to me, whom God has ordained and set as Lord over all creatures, and with Him is the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the majesty of God; and then one is joyful and fearless in the name of Christ, even if he were afflicted by the Turk and the devil, only that we might believe that this Lord is favorable to us.

And thou shalt not think, What profit is it, though Christ love me? As if the Father were angry with me? No, the Father gives it from

him. If you have the favor and grace of the Son, says the Father, do not doubt my grace. Then neither the Turk nor the devil nor death shall take thee away, nor put thee to death. Neither sword, nor fire, nor violence shall separate thee from Christ, for all things are given into Christ's hand. If then he loves me, I am sure, as far as I believe, and as strong as I believe, so strong am I sure.

This is now being preached. But the world is not worthy of it, and also hates us for the sake of this light and knowledge. But would God that we could accustom our hearts to look at a creature, whatever it may be, and then say: This is a creature of my dear Lord, who died for me. If then wind or water came, I would say, "It is also my Lord's creature. If he lets it go differently than I like, then he is the Lord, and the creature remains under him, and I also, because the Father has given everything into his hand.

This is the preaching of the Christians, which is such wisdom that no one else knows but only the godly. The others ask nothing about this sermon, but go about with usury and pleasure, and never come to this wisdom. Therefore, we may be grateful to God and gladly hear and learn this sermon. For we shall never learn that the Son of Mary, Christ, is Lord over all; and this I see in all creatures. Paul says [Eph. 1:23] that he fills all things. Why? He takes it from this text. God created everything and threw it under Christ's feet. Wherever I turn my eyes, I see it. So the world is written full of Christ, but few see it. Therefore they also separate the Son from the Father, thinking that they must come to the Father by their own doing, as the Turk and the Pope do, thinking that Christ is asleep. The rule is too high for us; we cannot understand it, but must believe it, for if the world were full of devils, as it is, the gospel of Christ and baptism will remain.

yet the Holy Spirit says that the whole world is Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary. No sparrow can fly, it must be his counsel; and know that faith pleases him, for he loves the Son, and therefore it is written that we should learn it.

Now follows why this was written and why it is still preached. Why is it done? "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. These foregoing words, that he has the Holy Spirit without measure, and that he is the Lord, having all things under his feet, as the 8th Psalm and the 110th Psalm testify, are therefore preached by him for the benefit of me and you, that we may believe them, and learn to know him. For if thou hearest this sermon, and believest that it is so, though it be otherwise, for there is much trouble, then sayest thou, If the whole world be full of devils, and death and devils come under our eyes, and hunger and sorrow, and sweet things, and sour things, I will ask nothing of them, but will shut mine eyes, and pass through. Well then, you shall have eternal life, for the Son has the same power as God the Father has.

This is said so that you may believe that the Lord Christ became man for the sake of sin, as is shown in the articles of the Christian faith. For I am assured of eternal life, and the devil shall not devour me, neither shall death swallow me up, neither shall the affliction that oppresseth thee hurt thee. Oh what a comforting sermon this would be to the captive Christians in Turkey, who could believe it, no matter how horribly the Turk might rage and rage; and so also the martyrs have done. They said, when the sword was put to their necks and the fire was lit: Nor will I take him for my Lord. But it often seems as if he could not help us from sin, death and tyrants, and yet they know that they are loved by the Son and the Father. Would to God that we could preach this to our brethren who are imprisoned under the tyranny of the Pabst and the Turk, for we are tired and weary of this doctrine and no longer ask anything about it. But we may be wise, and the redoubt

1) because the Turk wants to come here and look for such bad boys. See what the thalers will do for you. But the world doesn't believe it, puts itself into the thalers and pleasures of this world, and yet knows well that it must die. Thalers, money and goods will not help. Yes, they say: Is it still so long? 2) Truly, it is not shame. Why do you not turn to Christ, who is your Savior, whom neither death, the devil nor the Turk can take away from you? Oh, where will those go who not only do not believe, but think it is a fairy tale? Yes, says the world, I praise him who has a chest full of florins, and a floor full of grain, and a cellar full of wine; what do they believe? But where will they be who persecute and blaspheme the gospel? Therefore we may well be grateful to our Lord God when he speaks to us and calls us to the kingdom of heaven. The gospel was not always preached in Rome, but it was preached in Turkey a long time ago. If it comes from us once, we will not get it again. Rome and Jerusalem did not want it either, that is why they lost it.

But let Christ be the only image of our heart, that I may say, I believe in one Lord, whose name is Jesus Christ, who was born of a virgin, and who is Lord over all things, who creates all things; that I may say, I have such a Lord in Jesus Christ, who received all things into his hands from God the heavenly Father; that therefore the Lord Christ is not only God, but also man; and that same man, born of Mary, is Lord over all things. For this one person is God and man, and this Lord we may find in all creatures. Then we would not be so terribly stingy, but would say, "If I have a Lord who provides grain, wine, and all necessities. If then I have that same Lord, I shall have all things with him. But if he takes it away, then I will also take it patiently.

1) To provide the redoubt -to miss the opportunity. "Redoubt" from the French: eüanos. Now still m the idiom: "to hit the redoubt" i.e. to dare, to risk, to put at risk.

2) Perhaps to read "it's still a long time away!"

suffer. If then thou believest in him, thou art sure of eternal life, whether death choke thee, and thou be buried, or pestilence kill thee. Nevertheless you will live, even if all the French and pestilence fall upon you, because the Lord Christ is Lord over all. But that he lets the pestilence choke you, he punishes you with it.

What kind of love does he have against God? This says the symbolism, he was born, suffered. Such is all an inexpressible love.

"But he that believeth not in him shall not see life."] 3) This is decreed, that all things shall be under his hands and feet. If this is so, he must give it to you. Therefore it is said: I believe in him. If then all things are in his hands, why will you seek them in other places? If you forget him and go after another, what will you find? Hellish fire, for you search where you can find nothing. Where are you going? To the devil's ass. For it is he alone whom the Father loves, and it is the Son's love toward us, for he died for you. Therefore run hither and seek hither, for there also alone is found. Or if you do not, you will find nothing. For he saith, Whosoever believeth not on him is lost; item, the wrath of God abideth on him; 4) He cannot come ex ira Dei; saith, He abideth on him. 5) But if thou believest on him, thou deservest not wrath, but art in grace. For otherwise you are conceived in sins, born, live and die in them, unless you believe in the Son.

This is powerful preaching. What have we done in the ministry? I have let it sour me day and night, what have I gained from it? Hellish fire, where God had not given me the knowledge of His dear Son. I did not believe in Christ as a soloist in the priesthood. I knew that he would come to judge the living and the dead, the righteous and the wicked, and we called him a blessed man who did enough even for his sin; but that he should have died for me, that was dead long ago.

3) This addition is added by us.

4) Erlanger: him.

5) Erlanger: them.

in my heart. In the same way it was taught that after baptism each one should think how he would be saved. The same is the Turkish belief: If you are pious and righteous, and do good, you will be blessed; and so teach all the saints of works, all led and placed only on ourselves. That is to say, we have run and asked God to be merciful to us and to consider our good works. Now all this happens apart from Christ, to whom the Father has given everything into his hand, so that whoever believes in him may have a gracious God and eternal life. But we flee from this, and all want to go to heaven without him. So the Turk runs, and the best of those who are in the papacy all forget the Lord Christ, to whom the Father has given all things into his hand, and loves him, so that we may believe in him.

But do not be deceived by the fact that the children speak of these words 1) in such a bad and simple way, as do all Christians. You will not learn it, because it is a great annoyance and offense, so this teaching hinders. Yea, if her faith were without all great temptation, vexation, and offence. For a great man, who has now come to his years and understanding, sees that only the opposite happens, he feels sin, death and the devil with all his scales. Therefore, beware, lest you be offended by it and your faith be dampened. A child 2) can do better than you, for he does not have such shocks and resistance. But we often see such terrible things that we think that the Lord Christ has no kingdom at all; and if the Turk had conquered all kings and kingdoms, we would still have to say that the Turk is also under Christ; and if the blows, punches, and temptations were not there, faith would be a poor art. But we have to swallow up all the troubles, and it will actually come to that, that heaven and earth

1) Instead of "of these words" probably should be read:- "thesewords".

2) "Child" and "it" put by us instead of "sinner" and "he".

will be transformed by fire, but [God] will make a new heaven. If then you despise Christ and seek forgiveness of sins elsewhere without him, or eternal life apart from him, you will gain nothing. For he did not give S. Peter, nor John the Baptist, nor an angel, much less himself, that by his help thou shouldest be delivered from sins; but gave his only begotten Son. Believe in him, or you are lost, for the Father has given all things into his hand. Then the pope and all idolatry and abominations and false worship fall to the ground, for we have only one Lord, of whom the little children say, I believe on Jesus Christ; otherwise I will have no other. If then you believe in him, do not be dismayed, for eternal life is yours. Otherwise go barefoot and to S. Jacob, and be burned with fire; yet nothing will come of it. But if thou wilt hurt thyself, and scourge thyself, first take hold of the Son of God, that the Father may love thee. After that, flagella and the devil's fiery arrows will come, and you will have to work in the spirit to overcome the terrible things, so that he gives the world into the hand of the priest and the devil, and the Christians, on the other hand, are put into innumerable tribulations and terrors of the heart. If you then stay with Christ, the devil will bring you enough bones and hard shirts, and then you will have enough to do that you will devour death in it, when you see that you are abandoned and are to die, and yet you can say: I believe in Christ. This is a spiritual conflict, so that a Christian has to struggle until he reaches his grave; and if poverty, sickness, sorrow, and other tribulations come afterward, then you will see how hard it is to persevere in the faith of the Son of God, who is Lord over all.

End of the sermons of D. M. Luther on the third chapter of John.

3) "Flegel" stands for ünAeltn, scourges.