V. 1. I am a true vine, and my father a vinedresser.
001 All these things that follow in this and the sixteenth chapter the Lord spake unto the apostles, when he arose after supper to go by the way into the garden. And now he speaks further, not only of the consolation which they should have after his resurrection, that they should see him again, but which should endure for ever, when he should be gone up to heaven, and they should be scattered abroad, having also sufferings and persecutions. And herewith he sees before him how it will be for his dear disciples and Christians, and at the same time couples himself and them together, grasps both in the eyes, his suffering, as it was now present, and also the suffering, which would subsequently pass over the disciples; and
makes a beautiful likeness and painting of it, as if he should speak: What shall I tell you much? I am going there and must suffer and die; you will have to do the same hereafter. Therefore I am reminded as of a vine and a vinedresser, for it will be the same with us as it is with the vine and its branches.
2 This is a very comforting image, and a fine, lovely prosopopoeia, so that it sets before the eyes, not a useless, barren tree, but the dear vine, which, though not delicious to look at, yet bears much fruit, and gives the sweetest, sweetest juice; and interprets all the suffering that is to befall both him and them, that it is nothing else, but the diligent work and maintenance that a vinedresser
or vine dresser does to his vine and vines, so that they may increase and bear much. This is to teach us that we should look at the afflictions and sufferings of Christians in a much different way than how they feel and appear to the world, namely, that they do not happen without divine counsel and will, and are not a sign of wrath and punishment, but of grace and fatherly love, and must serve us for the best.
(3) Now it is an art to believe and hold these things to be true, that what grieves and distresses us should not be said to be grievous or hurt, but done for good and good. That we should regard it as if we saw a vine dresser hoeing and working on his vine, who, if he could hear and speak, and saw the vinedresser coming along, and with the hoe or hoe hewing in to him about the root, and with the hoe or wine-knife cutting the wood from the vines, would have to say after such seeing and feeling, Alas! what doest thou? Now I must wither and perish, because you drive up and take the earth from me, and set your iron teeth 1) on my vines, tearing and twisting me all over, so that I must stand bare and barren in the earth, and you treat me so cruelly, as one does neither to a tree nor to a plant. But against this, the vinedresser would also say: You 2) are a fool, and do not understand it 3). For even if I cut down one of your vines. If I cut off one vine, it is a useless vine that takes away your strength and juice, so that the other vines that are supposed to bear must decrease; therefore just take it away, it is for your own good. Yes, I do not understand (you say), and feel much differently. But I understand it well, and do it for this very reason, that it should be your benefit and piety that the foreign wild vines do not suck out their strength and juice from the others, so that you can bear the 4) better and more, and give good wine. So also, if the vinedresser pours dung on the trunk or vine, he also benefits the vine, even though he may complain and speak here:
1) In the old editions: "zeen".
2) Erlanger: Da.
3) Erlanger: understands.
4) Wittenberg and Erlangen: deß. Jenaer: the more.
What is this? Is it not enough that you chop and cut me? but must I also suffer that you defile my tender vines, which give such good sweet juice, so shamefully with the unclean cow dung, which one can suffer in the stable, nor anywhere else?
4 Christ interprets the suffering that he and his Christians are to have in the world in this way, so that it does not mean hurt or suffering, but is good for them and helps them, so that they may bear fruit better and more abundantly; so that we may learn to imagine it in the same way as he himself imagines it. As if he should say: It is true after all, and I cannot interpret it differently. It is the same for me as it is for the vine. My Jews will heap dung on me and heap it on me, they will mock me so shamefully, they will torture me most shamefully, they will scourge me, they will crucify me and execute me, so that all the world will think that I must finally perish and be destroyed. But such fertilizing and beating, which is done to me, is for the very purpose that I may bear the more fruit, that is, that through the cross and death I may come to my glory, and begin my kingdom, that I may be known and believed in by all the world. In the same way, he says, it will be the same for you. For you also must be weighed down and naked. For the Father, who has made me a vine and you branches, will not suffer the vine to lie untended and unpruned, or it will become a wild, unfruitful vine, and in the end it will perish. Now, however, if it is well worked, fertilized, pruned and leafed, it grows with full vigor and bears not only much, but also delicious, good wine.
5 So this is a fine, comforting image, if only one could understand and interpret it in hardships and temptations, and when death strikes a Christian right in the head, the devil attacks and plagues him, the world blasphemes and disgraces him, as an apostle of the devil. 2c, that he might then say, "Behold, I am being fertilized and worked as a branch on the vine: "Well done, dear hoe and hoe, hoe, cut and leaf with confidence, I will gladly keep you; for they are God's hoes and hoes, for my use and good. Go on, Christ
interprets it as a master, and can thus model it for himself: I will be fertilized, chopped up, cut in pieces, and left to die, but I know well what it is; not as the world sees it, that I should perish and be destroyed, but that it is my Father's work, as he works on his vine, if it is to grow and bear well.
6 Therefore, let everyone who is able to learn, think that the world, the devil, death and all misfortune are nothing other than God's hoes and hoes. So, all blasphemy and shame that befalls Christians is God's manure, and say: Thanks be to the pious God, who can use the devil and his wickedness in such a way that everything must serve us for the best; otherwise (if it were due to his evil will) he would soon strangle us with his knife and suffocate us with his dung. But now God takes him in his hand and says: "Devil, you may be a murderer and an evil-doer, but I will use you for whatever I want; you shall only be my hip, the world and what hangs on you shall be my manure for my dear vineyard, that it may become the better.
(7) This may be called a fine master who can do this art, that he may use the devil's malice and all the world's for it, that it may serve the vine for good, and not for harm nor for destruction, as they have in mind. But he says to this: Ye have it wickedly enough in mind, are almost bitter and angry, and think to cut off the vine: but I will and must have you to be my instruments in the vine, that it may be wrought and made ready: therefore only cut, hew, and hoe with confidence, but no further than I will. For so far shall it go, that it shall not destroy my vine, but shall profit and improve it; and so far shall I fertilize and know, that it shall not be choked, but shall become fine, juicy, and fat.
8) So the dear holy martyrs of old saw their suffering and torture: as one reads of the martyr St. Jgnatio (who was the disciple of the apostle St. John), when he was to be thrown to Rome among the wild beasts, which were let run into the barriers to tear the Christians, and they had their spectacle and amusement by it.
Then he began and said, "Let them come, for I am God's grain, and must first be ground and crushed 1) if he is to make something of me. That would mean fine and Christian interpreted according to this text, and differently regarded, because flesh and blood do, which such suffering cannot hold for God's work, but for the devil's fury and wrath, so that he murders and kills humans. But he does not look at the horrible wild lion's and bear's teeth differently, but as God's millstone, by which he must be ground, so that he may be prepared for God as a good cake.
9) So also of St. Agatha, who was a maiden of fourteen or fifteen years; when they led her into prison and to torture, she went there with joy, and said: She would be no different than if they led her to the dance. These are the right comforting, defiant words of a young maiden, who does not regard the torture and death to which she is led any differently than if she were going to a wedding and to the highest joys. This is what faith does when it has turned its eyes from the fleshly appearance and feeling to the flesh, up into that life, and has thought: What can they do, if they make it evil at once, and put all misfortune on me, but that they may promote me, that I may only soon come out of this misery to Christ in heaven? (10) All the sufferings of Christians are of such benefit that they only promote our Christian life and bring forth fruit, to a fuller knowledge and stronger confession of the Word, and certain hope, and further expansion of the kingdom of Christ. The world may mean to make it very evil, but they do no more with it, than as the church sings of the martyrs: Introducunt nescientes in aeterna gaudia, etc. They themselves do not know that without their knowledge they bring the Christians (through torture and death) to eternal joys. That such torture is nothing else than (as St. Agatha said) being taken neatly from the poor and led to heaven (as a bride to the dance). For this purpose, what happens to the Christians from the world to sorrow, that God turns their anger, and creates for them the best. As also
1) In the old editions: gemalet.
2) Erlanger: and there.
the pious patriarch Joseph 1 Mos. 50, 20. said to his brothers: Ye thought evil of me; but God hath turned it to good etc.; as if to say, Ye would slay me, that I should not be your lord, and sold me among the heathen; but that ye would prevent this, ye have made me lord.
(11) For God is such a Master, who knows the art that what wants to hinder and harm us must promote and benefit us; what wants to kill us must serve us for life; what wants to cause us to sin and condemn us must only help us so that faith and hope may be strengthened, prayer may be all the stronger, and answered all the more abundantly. So he has done in our time against the papacy and all who persecute the gospel, that if they were wise and would listen, or if they were to be advised, we would say to them, "Not so, dear sirs, stop, you will not dampen it, but only blow into the fire, so that the ashes will be thrown under your eyes, then they would do wisely and could well remain. But because they will not cease to rage against the word, but to muffle evil thoughts, they do nothing more, without only encouraging and urging us to hold fast to the word, and to pray more earnestly, that it may go on and on, and at last bring them down without all mercy. What profit is there for them, or what harm is there for us?
12) So also, that with us some of the lords of the nobility, burghers and peasants cannot stand the gospel and its preachers either, nor do they want to hear the truth being told to them, are worried that the preachers would want to become lords again, and were looking for a way to get rid of them, to them we say: Yes, go ahead, 1) dear lords, you are on the right path to this. For just so that you want to resist, you will promote it the most, and only hinder yourselves. For here is the Master, who always creates the contradiction, against the world's mind and thoughts, and needs just that, which it means in the worst way. For it is God who calls that which is nothing to be, Rom. 4:17,
1) "fort" is missing in the Wittenberger.
turns everything around and makes everything new. It does not seem, when one tramples his Christians underfoot, or cuts off their heads, that it should be called honor and glory, joy and blessedness, but feels only vain contradiction. But I can make (says he), that there stand what there is nothing, and become vain joy out of sorrow and all heartache. I can say: Death and grave, be you life; hell, be you heaven and bliss; poison, be you delicious medicine and refreshment; devil and world, be you more useful to my Christians than the dear angels and pious saints. For I can and will build and maintain my vineyard in such a way that it will only become better through all kinds of suffering and misfortune.
(13) Therefore, though all the devils, the world, our neighbors, and our own people are enemies to us, reviling and blaspheming, beating and tormenting us, we should not regard them otherwise than as a shovelful of dung poured on the vine and fertilizing it well, or cutting off the useless foreign vines, or taking off a little foliage that was too much and hinders. So they do nothing more (if they think they have done us great harm, and have smelled good), but that they serve us, that we may learn the more patience and humility, and believe the more strongly in Christ. But what do they gain by this? Nothing, for, as they say, when the father has chastised the child, he throws the rod into the fire. So also, when God has used enough tyrants and blasphemers for the good of his Christianity, he keeps his vine and grapes; but the 2) dung, hoes and hoes he finally throws away into the eternal fire.
(14) Yea, saith the world, is it true, why complain ye? If it is good for you, we will help you to do it, and we will do enough chopping, cutting and slicing. Just as the disowned, renegade emperor Julianus did the Christians the mischievous thing, saying, "Your master taught you to be poor and to suffer everything for the sake of the kingdom of heaven; so we will soon help the cause, so that you may go to heaven, and he took from them everything they had. But against this we have the consolation that nevertheless herewith a goal has been given to them.
2) "den" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
is. For we have a vintner or winegrower, who has the hoes, hoes and forks in his hand, lets them fertilize well, know, blatten and clean. But if they want to do it too much, he can stop them hot. When Julianus also wanted to exercise his courage with cutting and chopping, he said to him, "Lie down and die," and he had to stop. For He leads the cutters and hoes; they do not lead themselves. Therefore do not be afraid if they continue their raging and persecuting, and it seems as if there will be no end to it. For it is already decided that they shall not be vinedressers and fertilizers, but forks and hoes only; and they must cease when he wills, and go no further than is expedient and good for us.
(15) And it is a beautiful image that he presents himself to us in this way, the dear God, not as a tyrant or a master of the vineyard, but as a pious gardener who waits for and cares for his vineyard with all faithfulness and diligence, and certainly does not think of destroying it when he fertilizes and hoes it, prunes it and leaves it. For he does not leave his vineyard to be torn up by dogs and wild sows, but waits and tends it, and strives to make it bear well and give good wine. Therefore he must hoe and leaf in such a way that he does not cut away the trunk or the root, nor cut and prune the vines too much, or even take the foliage. Thus (saith Christ) doth my Father also toward me and toward you. Therefore let us be undaunted, and not be afraid of the evil muck, prongs, and teeth of the devil, and of the world: for he will not suffer them to go any further, neither will he grant them any more: for it is for our good.
16 We see this also before our eyes (praise God!). For where pabst, bishops and their tyrants could do what they would like, they would have long since gladly executed all of us. The Hippen and Karst are sharp enough, so the dung is lazy and evil enough. Summa, both, the will and the power are there that they could do it and would like to do it. What is lacking, then, that it does not happen? Well, it is not in their hands, for they are not the vinedressers, but another man (saith Christ), who is called my
Heavenly Father, who has in his hand, like the vinedresser, his sharp hoe and hoe, and can defy them to walk differently than he leads them, or to hoe, dig and cut more than is good for the vine and branches.
(17) Behold, the Lord Christ himself, when he is about to go to his passion and cross, comforts himself by making me an example and exemplar of the same comfort to us. I am the true vine, and without doubt a dear vine to the Father, and you are my and the Father's dear vines; that where ever a vine is fertilized, pruned and purified with care and faithfulness, I am it. Therefore, let what goes, and let the devil and the world do what they can, they will not make it any longer, more evil and worse, than my dear Father wants it. What more do we want? Is it not comforting or kind enough that the Father takes care of us so highly and cordially as of his dear vine and branches? that what evil and harm should befall them, that should befall him himself. But now he does and governs it so that everything that happens to me happens for the best, both to me and to you. For this purpose he has measured it out and provided it so that it will not go any further than this, because he sees that it is of use to us. For he is, saith he, the husbandman, which is, as they say, even the man, 1) Who looketh on it by himself, and tendeth his vineyard, and suffereth it not to be done by others.
18 This is the beautiful image of consolation, which, if anyone can see and grasp it in faith, he must become bold and confident against the devil and everything. But these are words and such an image that spiritual ears and eyes should hear. For outwardly it seems much different, and here (as it is said) it depends on a good interpreter; that everything that is said here be rightly seen, both the husbandman, the vine and the branches, and also the hoes, hoes and forks of the vinedresser. For in the sight of the world, it is not called God's vine or branches, but the devil's herbs, nettles, thistles and thorns, which only "burn," bite, prick and scratch, and in short are not to be suffered. For she will not and can not suffer it, that one should
1) Cf. § 430 of the previous chapter: "Selbst ist der Mann.
not with her, and touches and punishes her thing; yet it is not we, but God's word that does this, which we preach to everyone for repentance and 1) salvation. Therefore they consider us only fireworks, which are good for nothing, except to be destroyed and thrown into the furnace. As they cry out about Christ himself [Luc. 23, 18]: Only away with this one, he is worthy of death; and about St. 2) Paul [Apost. 22, 22]: It is wrong that this man should live; no better than only dead with such people. But because God Himself calls Christ His right vine, and recognizes us as members and branches of this vine, let the world, the devil, hell, as they will not let us, throw us 3) into the furnace of fire or into 4) hell, and it shall not hurt us. For here is God, who has a stronger, greater language and voice than the world and the devil, and will overrule them, so that they must call us, together with Christ, His right, fruitful vines and let us remain.
(19) Again, in the sight of God and us, they are to be nothing but God's helpers and instruments, who neither should nor must destroy the vine and its branches, but only benefit and serve, so that we may bear much fruit for our vinedresser, and that he may make us eternally blessed and glorious.
(20) This is the right Christian knowledge, that one may see so sharply, and interpret so spiritually and heavenly, and understand: what the world regards as vile misfortune and abominable thing, that we regard the same as vile happiness and salvation, and learn to accept sin, death, suffering, and what concerns us, with joy as life and blessedness, and make vain good out of that which is evil.
V. 2. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he will cut off etc.
(21) Then he makes an arid distinction between them that are called branches of the vine, showing that even so there are also false Christians. For he forms almost all the kind that are in the vine. Now some grow on it
1) "zur" is missing in the Wittenberger and in the Erlanger. 2) "St." is missing in the Erlanger.
3) "throw us" is missing in the Erlanger.
4) "the" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
Vines that are called water vines or wild vines, which are naughty plants 5) and branches that bear no fruit, do no more than consume the sap that the right fruitful vines should have. Therefore my father, he says, is such a vinedresser: where he sees such a vine that is not good and hinders the others, he cuts it off and throws it away. This cutting off is evil and terrible to the wrong ones; but that he prunes, leaves and cleanses the others, yet leaves them standing, is no harm to them, but useful and good. But this is a cutting off to the fire.
22) Now this we also see and lament, that in Christendom there are always also some false and unprofitable branches, which bear only shoots, that they must be cast away. 6) They come out of the vine, but do not remain in it. They come out of the vine, but do not remain in it, are baptized, hear the gospel, and have forgiveness of sins. Summa, they are first in Christ, as he says here, as in the vine; but if they are to continue, they become wild branches, which have only the mere name of Christians; they may well lead God's word, boast of God's glory, need and enjoy the foreign juice, so that they grow great on the vine, want to have the honor and glory as the best Christians, can pretend to be more delicious and glorious than the others, and have the appearance and prestige above all; But there is nothing behind, and is found to be vain rotten wood, without proper sap and strength, who neither teach nor confess the word righteously, and all is vain false pretense. These are the first, so we call the spirits of the rotten and false brethren.
23) Secondly, there are also the lazy Christians, who have the word and the right teaching, but do not follow it with their lives, 7) wanting only to do and live as they please. Such are not far from them, for they lack only a master. For such loose, lazy Christians are very easily overthrown by the mobs and false teachers, who, when they come, soon find in them right disciples, who already have
5) Bankert - bastard. In the old editions: banckart.
6) "and" is missing in the Erlanger.
7) Wittenberger: descendant.
They are more capable of doing this than those who are already tired of the right doctrine and have had enough of it; since they also have to do to remain righteous, those who are fresh and brave in the right faith. Therefore these two are not far from each other, so that when false teachers come to such lazy Christians, in the end it becomes a chastisement, that is, a rebellion, so that they cannot remain with us, but separate themselves and make it evident that they are unfit.
(24) Now Christ says that his Father is the vinedresser, who looks well to his vine and waits for it, and distinguishes such false branches from the others, and does not want them to suffer, lest they overgrow and destroy the true vine. Therefore he paints them and pronounces the sentence that they must be cut off and thrown into the fire.
(25) But it seems to be much different in appearance. For such are seen to grow and increase, to become much stronger, fatter, and thicker than others, and are thought to be the only ones who will bear fruit; but we, on the contrary, are small, thin, and barren. Yes, they want to cut us off and cut us off as useless and unfit, but those go as if they should remain forever, and all the world thinks much of them. Therefore, it takes a spiritual mind and face to believe it. For God always does it in such a way that, no matter how many mobs rise up against the Christians, His rightful group always remains, and the mobs are cut off. Since the time of the apostles, so many heresies have arisen against the articles of Christ, baptism, sacrament, righteousness of faith, etc., and they have been torn down as if the true doctrine and the Christian Church would perish as a result. But God cut them all off, and preserved His branches, so that we nevertheless remained with the right doctrine, baptism and sacrament, which were planted by the apostles, and the faith has penetrated the world from Abel, the first, and will remain until the last and youngest Christian. So that not one of them is cut off, but all remain in one accord on the vine; as one has taught, believed, and lived, so they all teach, believe, and live.
26 For this reason we are not to consider or judge here how large and strong such false branches are to be regarded, but only according to which are the true branches in Christ. Which Christ himself soon after shows and signifies, when he says, "Ye are clean because of my sayings"; that is, behold, whosoever hath and keepeth the doctrine which is pure and cleanly grounded in the Scriptures, as the apostles and prophets had it, thou mayest know and perceive that they are the true Christians; though they seem not, and be thin branches, yet this doth no harm; for one weak, thin branch often beareth fair grapes, while another corrupt, thick vine can bear nothing at all. Accordingly, you can know and conclude from these two that these vines, which hold to Christ and have his word, should remain, and no one should cut them down or dampen them, however strong and large the others 1) may be, as if they wanted to overgrow them, but that they should and must be cut off when it is time, so that these may also remain before them.
(27) But this also requires patience and waiting in faith. For he does not cut off the wild branches as soon as they grow out of the vine, but lets them come out until it is revealed what they are. But surely he does not remain outside; but the stronger, the greater, and the thicker they grow, the sooner he cuts them off, and the greater fireworks he makes of them. Therefore a Christian, as a true vine in Christ, must hold fast in the faith among such false saints, persevere, and wait to be found righteous. For without such perseverance there can be no true faith. It is the same in all things. So that I show a rough example: When a loaded wagon goes through a deep mud, it seems as if the mud wants to be master and hinder the wagon; but it always goes over the land, through mud and puddles, and leaves the mud behind, even if it clings firmly and thickly to the wagon. That's why they say in German, "He sticks to it like mud to a wheel; of those who mix in all things, they want to be the best and the most distinguished, and yet they can do nothing, because
1) Wittenberger: the other false Rottm.
that they only want to hinder others. In the same way, the false Christians attach themselves to the good and pious ones, but they have to come down and stay behind, and these let them continue and stay.
028 Therefore, if it seemeth as if these little vines were cut off and rejected, and should now perish, and the rest should hover above, having the cry, power, and glory, let it not deceive thee; only see which are the righteous, fruitful vines. If thou seest them not, be not displeased, how great, how high, how strong, and how thick they are; but take comfort in this text, saying, My vinedresser is God, who is greater than such vines, and hath a wine-knife also sharper than all their might and splendor, and will cut off the unprofitable vines, and cast them away. For what is all the greatness and multitude of all men against God, but a little spark against an everlasting fire? But where thou seest the true branches, know that they shall remain, though all the world oppose them, and cut them down, and destroy them. For he calls them his beloved branches, and keeps them great, though they seem small and feeble, and are despised of all men upon the earth.
(29) Behold, he hath included this for the comfort of his dear Christians, to whom such false spirits do much heartache and great harm (above that they are otherwise persecuted of the devil and the world), that they be not too much afraid, whether false vines also grow up among them. For it must be so, and cannot be otherwise. The useless water vines must also grow under the right vines, and where God's word goes, the dirt must also hang on the wheel. Thus Judas had to be among the apostles, among the disciples Nicolaus and Simon the Sorcerer, among the fathers Arius, Sabellius, Marcion, and after that always other types. Where do they come from, without being from the small group that is God's people and church? And from where did they draw their poison, but from the right holy scriptures, which the right Christians have? They have always attached themselves to it with their excrement, and have disrupted Christianity with their mobs and heresy.
(30) Here then the wise world begins to cry out against us: What has the new gospel raised but vain deceit? What comes
from the Scriptures, because it is all heresy and error? So they paint and color the church of Christ no differently than a real boys' school, and the Biblia a real heretic book; as the pope calls it with his priests. For of course no heresy has ever arisen from the faith of the heathen, and Aristotle or other heathen books, unless it had previously existed in the church and had been brought forth from the Scriptures. So also, the Roman council, emperor and kingdom have never made a heretic, but they must come from Christianity; not that the church is heretical, or false doctrine is found in the Scriptures, but it is like the beautiful rose, from which the spider sucks vain poison; Not that there is poison in the rose, as the dear little bee sucks nothing but honey from it, but it is the spider's fault, which also corrupts that which is sweet and good, over which it comes, and makes everything poison, even though it has sugar and honey in its mouth; and just as if one poured poison under malt liquor, or put it into a poisoned vessel, whoever drinks of it drinks and receives vain poison, not of the wine, but of the vessel.
31 So also here. The Biblia is indeed a pure, pure malvasia, yes, a right healing medicine and refreshment, but when the impure, evil worms come over it, and with their poisonous thoughts, poured in by the devil, draw out of it and take to themselves, then they spew out vain poison for 1) malvasia. Therefore heresy and false doctrine are not brought and led anywhere but from the Scriptures, but not by the same pure doctrine, but by their poisoned thoughts, which the devil has poured into them. For they want to confirm all their things as being founded in the Scriptures and taken from them, and yet they do it only from an unclean heart, by which they falsify the Scriptures. For they are evil, and false branches, which have no wholesome juice in them, nor can they give of themselves, enjoy the juice of the vine, but not to bear fruit, but only to do harm. For as soon as they received such juice, they corrupted it, making both them and others deadly poison, since the right vines have and give only good, sweet juice.
1) In the original and in the Wittenberg: "feur für".
32. therefore it is true, that boys come from the church, and heresy from the Scriptures; whence else should they come? and what else could they know of God, or of the faith? But we say at once, as St. John says [1 Ep. 2:19], "They came from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us," or of our kind, "they would have remained with us." Is it not so in our own bodies? It is a beautiful, noble creature of God; but what does it let out of itself but butter, sweat, dung, urine, snot, pus and sores? I also have to say that festering and pus are in the body, but the body is not evil if these things come out of it. For if it were good, it would remain in it, like other members. But because the body together with its members is good and healthy, the impurities must be separated and thrown away. But if you want to reject the body because it stinks, festers and makes you unclean, cut off your own neck. So also Christianity is a living, healthy body of the pious multitude who are God's children; but there is also filth and stink mixed in, which must be thrown out.
(33) What then is it but that thou shalt cry out in hostility? What good can there be in the doctrine of the gospel, and in those who adhere to it? yet so much wickedness and rascality come from it, because if you would cry out about your own body, "What good can there be in the body, since nothing but filth comes from it every day? But if thou canst be content, and discern wisely between the body and that which proceedeth from it, and art not so mad and foolish as to promise the body, but praisest it that it can cleanse itself as well as a fine, healthy body, that the nose bloweth well, and the belly sweepeth well, and hast it the better, and doth cleanse it, and doth adorn it, and doth lay it gently; why canst thou not discern and say so here also: The dear apostles, disciples and Christians are indeed a clean, healthy body, and yet they also have their Judam among them? This is the filth that comes out of them, but cannot and should not remain with them (as a right member), but must sweep itself out and separate itself.
34 Yes, you say, there are nevertheless many evil ones.
Among the heap, and do harm! So is your body, and yet it remains a good body with its members, which do innumerable good things. The eyes see and guide, the ears hear, the hands do all kinds of work, the feet carry him wherever and however far he wants. In sum, they all bring forth delicious, good fruits, which cannot be told, and they all serve the whole body well, even in that they sweep out the foreign, unhealthy things in the body and give them up. For it is good for the body to be swept clean, and the evil to go away quickly, even though it causes a stench, so that the body suffers displeasure and annoyance, and must wash and cleanse itself again and again. So also here: If filth goes out of the spiritual body of the true church, should the whole bunch be condemned?
35 For this cause I say, that we may know how to meet the blasphemers, who are able to cry out and blow so poisonously, that there are also wicked men among us, and that after the gospel is preached there arise many mobs; and that we may learn to make a distinction, as the scripture teacheth, that we receive and keep them that are righteous, and sweep out the rest, and let them go. This those poisonous worms cannot do; but as soon as they see a traitor, Judas, appear from among the apostles, or a heretic and a ringleader from among the fathers, they cry out and blaspheme, as if they were all knaves, and condemn all Christendom. Just as if you were to shout and cry out in hostility, "Man can do nothing but sweep out his lust and stink, and all the evil goes out of him; you must be an evil worm or a rough donkey to reproach the body and throw it away, so that it sweeps out the evil and throws it away.
For this reason, such people are the very unfaithful and poisoned with blindness and malice, so that they neither want nor are able to see the good in us, but only look and ponder where there is something evil in us that must be swept out. Just as if an evil mother did not want to see anything else in her child but its dung and urine, and therefore threw it away, and did not want to know or see the beautiful limbs that God had given it. So do these,
who only look us in the butt and see where we are unclean; and where they smell or feel something, there they stir and burrow, as the flat sows with their unclean trunks, so that it only stinks. Well, we let them wallow in their filth, roll around and graze as long as they want, as they are worth nothing better, because for such sows such game belongs. But we want to select the pure, and thus distinguish: What can St. Peter and the dear apostles do that there is a Judas among them? If the blasphemers want to reprove and stir up such filth, they may also have the stink, and smear both mouth and nose, as they do. But we take comfort in the fact that the body is healthy and fresh, that it can sweep out the stink, and in addition does much good, and brings forth innumerable fruits. For who can tell what use even a single member of the body is? And whoever does not know or wants to know, let a blind man or a deaf man tell him what eyes and ears are good for, or a lame man or a crippled man tell him how good it is to have hands and feet. For if you do not have them, you will only see how necessary and useful they are.
(37) Therefore let no one dispute if they cry out against us in hostility, and see nothing in us except where we are defiled. For they are not worthy to see the good in us. Let us ourselves say with Christ that out of the good, noble vine grows false branches, and out of the cluster of Christ come bad boys, and out of his Scriptures false teachers. Should the vine, which God Himself planted, therefore be unfit and cut off? or should God's people be condemned, and His word be called a lie? They themselves have all said that Christianity is divided into two kinds of people, which they call Christianos nomine vel numero, et Christianos re, that is, some who are Christians; some who are only called Christians. These are indeed among the multitude and in number, like 1) pennies or false florins among the righteous, but are not of a right kind, and must also finally be cast out.
38 Therefore it is no pity for us that we are accused of having heretics and mobs coming from
1) Jenaer: the.
As little as the malmsey harms me when I drink, and another pours into an unclean vessel, and makes it poison itself; item, that my body is well cleansed, and the filth goes away quickly. For this is rather his honor and health. So also that some of us run, and make a stink, we say: It is the dung that should and had to come out. Summa, it is said: False branches are also on the vine; but at last they do not remain, but must be cut off, and wither, or be burned, without harm to the vine. For it nevertheless remains a good vine.
39 Now this is the comfort against the trouble that seems to be in Christendom. First, that it must be known that it cannot and will not be otherwise, that false, rotten and unfruitful vines must grow up beside and among the righteous. Secondly, that they should not remain, but must be cut off and taken away.
40. But what the fruits are that the righteous branches in Christ shall bear is obvious enough. Namely, first of all, that a Christian goes out according to his faith, praises and thanks God, and confesses and praises before all the world the benefits he has received from Him. Item, then also practices works of patience, bears and suffers all kinds of evil, and on the other hand does good to everyone with serving, helping and counseling etc. Christ also means these fruits, and especially the first ones, which actually concern the apostleship, namely, preaching the gospel, by which God is known and praised; as he soon after interprets this, saying, "In this my Father is honored, that you go and bear much fruit. When this fruit comes forth, the branches are right.
But the others do not do this, both false and lazy Christians, but either let the sermon stand, or snore and sleep, and if they preach, they do not preach it rightly, but corrupt and pervert the pure doctrine with their masters and clowns, for they seek their own glory, not God's praise, nor the salvation of souls. Such may well grow up and become great for a time, but they shall be cut off at last.
And every speech that bringeth forth fruit shall he purify to bring forth more fruit.
(42) He is not content, a good husbandman, to have a good vine and righteous branches, but would gladly have such a vine and branches that bear much fruit. Therefore, he continues to work and clean it, pruning and leafing, helping and tending it, so that it will grow and increase and bear more and more, as it does when it is cultivated and maintained.
God also does this to every Christian who is on this vine, whether a preacher or a disciple and listener; he does not let him celebrate, but sends him to temptations that force him to practice his faith, hangs the devil on his neck, and the world with persecution, within and without; thus he sweeps the vines clean and draws them out so that they grow larger and stronger. All this is done so that they may bear more and more fruit, so that their faith may become more and more practiced, more and more certain and strong through temptation and experience; item, that they may praise God more and more, praying, preaching, confessing, so that the word and power of the word may increase everywhere, both in the persons who believe, so that they may become stronger in faith and spirit for themselves, and also in the multitude, so that through them many others may also come to faith, and thus not only bear great and complete fruit, but also (as he says here) much and abundant fruit.
44 For this reason I have said that we should not be afraid if we have to suffer from being challenged and afflicted, either internally by the devil through terror and fear, so that he would like to bring Christians either to disbelief or despair, and make their lives so sour that they would pine away because of sadness; or externally by the world, through violence, tyranny, imprisonment, deprivation of goods, or even of bodily life. For everything must promote and benefit that Christians only become stronger in faith, and the more joyful to resist and overcome the devil. For through such challenges they are driven to seek comfort and help in God.
Word, and to practice and increase their faith by calling, praying and giving thanks, and thus to become ever stronger in spirit, more humble, more patient and more perfect.
45 Thus God, as stated above 5 ff.] of all temptation and suffering, not to harm Christianity (as the devil and the world mean by this), but for the best, that it may be cleansed and improved by this, to bear much fruit for the vinedresser. For this is what he means here by cleansed, that those who are in Christ may continue and increase forever. But how this cleansing comes about, or what the true main cleansing is, by which they are implanted in Christ as branches, he clearly adds, and says:
V. 3. You are now clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
This is a strange cleansing, and seems as if it did not rhyme with what he said before about suffering and the cross, but rather as if it were thrown in across. But he precedes it well, and gives a preservative or remedy against the poison, which is called false confidence or presumption of one's own holiness, lest someone think that by suffering he will obtain forgiveness of sins and become a vine in the sight of God apart from Christ. For this tends to follow naturally: when a man has done many good works or suffered much, and feels his fruit, that he has done something special and accomplished something with preaching or other things, the sweet poison always wants to strike, so that he thinks: "Well, I have nevertheless also done something, which God will look upon and be gracious to me. 2c, and nature always drives such offshoots and wild little vines that want to grow up with it, and take away the juice and strength of the real vines, so that they cannot progress. Therefore, the vinedresser must be careful and always ward off such false arrogance and presumptuousness, by constantly practicing the word.
47 Therefore he says, "You are not clean because you do these things and suffer and bear fruit, for you would not do these things even if you had not first been cleansed and were good, righteous vines. That ye
1) "zu" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
But if you are to be cleansed, it must be through the word, which must always be there, purifying you both before and after. But that the same may have power in you, and be firmly grasped and kept, therefore the Father sends you many afflictions, dangers, fears, distresses, and temptations, that ye may be humbled, and learn that purity is not of yourselves, nor is it of your doing. Therefore, your suffering is not purity itself, so that you should be declared clean before God for its sake; but it does serve to drive the person to grasp and hold the word all the more firmly and strongly, and thus faith is exercised through it. But the word itself is actually the purification of the heart, if it is and remains attached to the same.
He clearly says: "Through the word that I have spoken to you, you are clean"; this is nothing else than the whole preaching of Christ, how He was sent by the Father into the world, that He paid for our sins through His suffering and death, and reconciled the Father, so that all who believe in Him are not condemned nor lost, but have forgiveness of sin and eternal life for His sake [John 3:16]. This word makes a person pure (if it is grasped in the heart through faith), that is, it 1) brings forgiveness of sin, and makes us pleasing in the sight of God, so that because of the same faith, through which alone such a word is received and grasped, we who cling to it are counted and held pure and holy in the sight of God, even though we are not yet pure enough for the sake of our nature and life, but sin, weakness and infirmities, which still need to be cleansed, always remain in us while we live on earth.
(49) So with this saying he teaches the right main part of the Christian doctrine, how and by what means a person becomes and remains pure and righteous before God, so that this purity, which is to be valid before God, is not to be given and measured to our actions or sufferings against sin, although it is done by those who are Christians, and is now called right, good, pure fruit. For he speaks all-
1) Wittenberger: he.
here with his dear apostles, whether believers or Christians, and says: "You are clean," not because you bear good fruit, but "because of my word.
50 How does this work? How are they at the same time not pure, and yet pure? If they are pure, why does he say that they must always be purified? Or, why do they pray the Lord's Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses; item: Thy will be done etc., so that they ever confess that they still have sin and are unclean? For he is not called pure who asks for forgiveness of sin, and complains that God's will has not been done. But again, they are unclean and still need to be cleansed, so how does he call them clean? How do the two rhyme together? Answer: Thus, as I have said, that a man is first made clean by the word of God for the sake of Christ in whom he believes. For through such faith in the Word he is made a part of the vine, Christ, and clothed in the same purity, so that it is imputed to him as if it were his own, and as perfect and whole as it is perfect and whole in Christ. All this happens through the word, if it is received and grasped in faith, in which I hear God's will and promise that He will forgive my sin for Christ's sake, and esteem and keep me pure. And so when I take hold of the word by faith, such a word (through the Holy Spirit who works through it) makes new heart and thoughts in me, which hold fast to the same and do not doubt, live and die on it. Because I cling to it, what is still unclean and sinful in me is not reckoned to me for its sake, but the same weak, fragmentary, begun purity is reckoned to be completely perfect purity, and God makes the cross over it, and does not look at the remaining uncleanness in me. Where such purity is and goes by faith through the word, then God goes to it, drives it and exercises it through the cross and suffering, so that it becomes stronger and more complete, so that faith increases, and the remaining impurity and sin decreases from day to day and is swept out into the pit. This means that the branches, which are in the vine and are now clean through the word, are always pruned and cleansed, as he said above [v. 2].
506 Erl. 4s, S77-S7S. Interpretations on John the Evangelist. W. viii, [ss-sss. 507
(51) Thus he finely shows that the purity of Christians does not come from the fruits they produce, but again, their fruits and works come from the purity they have beforehand from the word, by which the heart is cleansed, as St. Peter says in Acts 15:9. 15, 9. The fruits then follow from this, but are not themselves purity, unless they are also counted pure and good for the sake of faith, and are pleasing to God.
(52) This is the Christian doctrine of righteous purity, which no unchristian, popery, or paganism can understand. For it is not possible for them to rhyme the two together, that a Christian should be both pure and impure. For they do not know and do not know the power of Christ and his word, how we are made pure through the word for his sake (as he is pure), even though we are still unclean in ourselves because of our sinful nature. For the devil will not reprove the word, nor punish a lie, nor make Christ unclean; but since the word is right and true, and Christ remains pure, we also want to remain pure and holy in him, and no one should make us unclean or sinners, and yet so that such cleansing also produces good fruit in us, as he said [v. 2].
V. 4: Abide in me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit on its own, but abides in the vine, so neither can you, but abide in me.
(53) Ye have therefore my word, by which ye are clean, and by which also your fruits are good, and all things are pleasing unto God. But see to it that you abide in me only by faith, where you will keep purity and bring forth good fruit, and not fall into your own doing through presumption or false confidence, nor otherwise by other temptation let yourselves be turned away from the faith and torn, lest you lose both your purity (which you have in me), and spoil and destroy the fruit.
54 Thus this is set for admonition and warning, and should be terrible if we did not have such hard heads. For he herewith pronounces the sentence, "He who does not abide in me cannot bear fruit.
And shall be cast away, as a withered unprofitable vine. Therefore, if you bear fruit, that your word and doctrine may be right, and your life good, think that you abide in me, and be not found apart from me. 1)
55 Now all the great multitude on earth are of the opinion that they think it is not necessary for them to be or remain in Christ, because one also sees much finer fruit in other people, as Turks and false Christians. For they also do much greater works than the true Christians themselves, lead a beautiful, honorable, hard and strict life, establish and hold beautiful, glorious worship, give and suffer much for the sake of God etc. And as some here scoff and gloss over this text and say that one can still do much without Christ; for we see that people build, govern land and people, maintain justice, peace and discipline, and do much more good: this is what reason and nature are able to do, therefore this saying (apart from me you can bear no fruit; item: "without me you can do nothing") is to be understood as meaning that Christ is Lord over nature etc. For he and nature create nothing in vain. But such scoffers let go, until they have exhausted.
(56) Christ speaks here of such fruits, according to His own interpretation, which remain forever (as He Himself subsequently decides) and never come to an end, but are praised and glorified by and before God forever. These are not natural fruits. For of the same we know very well that to beget and raise children, to govern land and people, and the like, may be as good and better among the heathen and unbelievers than among Christians, and that the heathen also have the same bodily life and being, and all kinds of gifts, as we have; that we may not be taught, nor the Scriptures interpreted, such works as God's Word does not teach, but lets them go as they are created, and reason is commanded to rule in them. But the Scripture teaches about such fruits, which serve for eternal life. For those works are valid and pleasing to God no further than in and for this bodily life;
1) Erlanger: will.
But there none will be any more, but must perish all here, and be buried the world with all its essence, so it has led.
(57) Therefore, this text must be understood only from the essence that is led so as to please God both here and there, and never be forgotten. These are then the lasting fruits (as Christ calls them), which we will take with us, and God will testify to them on the last day: These are fruits that please me, and I will reward them forever etc. No Gentile or Turk will ever come to this, whether he be found a pious, honorable man, or woman, prince, citizen, or peasant. For these are natural, good, but not Christian, nor everlasting fruits. Therefore he now says: "If you want to bring forth the right fruits (that are valid before God), then you must remain in me. For I am speaking of higher status, nature and fruits than those of which Moses, Book 1, Cap. 1, 28, writes, how God created heaven and earth, and everything that is on them, was given to man and commanded to rule, but of those that one should have when Moses' and reason's rule ceases, and this life and all its doings are over, so that one may know where to remain when death comes and takes everything away. No heathen nor all the world knows anything about it; but you (as Christians) alone should know it and can know it, and bring forth such fruits, if you remain in me otherwise.
(58) With these words he looks again at all of Christendom, how it should and will always be when this preaching is done, namely: Whoever believes in me and is baptized shall be saved [Marc. 16, 16], and whoever wants to be saved from sins, death and the devil, let him call on me. So shall and shall they preach of me. But where these things are concerned, there will also be found, first of all, the devil with the world, and by force will want to subdue; or where he is not able to do this, by mobs and sects; there will be many who at first gladly accept it, and are called Christians, but when it comes to the meeting, and they are to suffer for it, or stand in danger of life, property or honor, then they pull in the pipes, and think: I want the
I will still remain a Christian, even if I keep what is mine; and so make a nose at Christ, as if they do not want to deny, and yet they are so fated that they must not suffer hatred and persecution from the world etc.
(59) Again, on the other hand, many who also boast of me will say, "Behold here, behold Christ," as the priest's and the monks' sects; whoever follows me, keeps such a rule, and thus lives, is a true Christian, and will make so many sects that many people will be offended by them, and (as he himself says [Matth. 24, 23.]) even the elect may be led astray, so that there will be very few of them who keep my word pure and remain in me. For they all teach such doctrine as is according to our understanding, and rhymes well with it; so reason always wants to hold and teach that which it thinks right, but what it finds offensive it will not accept. For example, the Anabaptist mob slandered that baptism could not wash a person of sins, for it was only bad water, but external things did not help to forgive sins; the Spirit alone must do it. etc. Therefore it is no more than a seal or sign of the Christians that they belong to Christianity etc.; item, that the Arians blaspheme: Do you think that Christ, the Virgin Son, should be true God and equal to the Father? and what similar heresies are, all of which are such doctrines, which reason can understand and gladly believes, and yet all want to be in Christ and boast of him, so that they also say: Behold, here is Christ, this is the right doctrine etc.
The faithful Savior, Christ, saw all this well, that it would be difficult and not so easy to remain in him, because the devil throws so many obstacles in his way, here with violence and murder, there with lies, as he is a liar and murderer from the beginning. Therefore, where the truth arises, he strikes the vines with so much hail and lightning that he brings them out of the vine of Christ with fire, sword, and whatever he can; he would like to cut down and destroy the vine. Then the beautiful cover of the lamb helps to comfort the people, so that they say, if they are destroyed for the sake of the gospel 1)
1) "willen" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
wants to attack: What shall I do? nevertheless one must be obedient to the authorities, not leave wife and child etc. Item, if that does not help, that he dampens it by force, he nevertheless sends his shameful ravens, sparrows, and other vermin and creatures, that is, false doctrine and sects, which nevertheless devour and corrupt the vine.
61 Therefore look on it, says Christ, and be warned, it will be a great trouble and danger to remain in me. For he that shall do this must suffer the murderer and the liar, and be strong, that he may withstand and resist him, that he may not be taken away by force or guile. This I say beforehand, that you may know that it is not so easy, though it does not come to pass without great fruit (as he also says afterwards). For verily I say unto you, As the branch cannot bring forth fruit, but abideth in the vine; so neither can ye, but abideth in me." Therefore do not let the false, beautiful, glittering fruits deceive you, which appear to those who pursue the gospel, and who alone want to be called Christianity, do many excellent, great works, and attack themselves much harder than the true Christians, as the monks have done up to now and always (and I, as one of the same, have also done), but beware of them! For they are called fruits, but they are not and do not remain in them; therefore they are false, damned works of lies, and rotten fruits in the sight of God, even though they seem delicious in the sight of the world. For they believe that they have the right fruits and are closest to God, and consider you to be heretics, apostates and cut-offs; and if you want to see and judge according to such appearances, you will soon go astray, because you do not know which ones are true Christians. See then that ye abide in me aright, and be not deceived by the hypocrites, lest ye also, like them, and with them, be cut off and cast away.
62) Then sayest thou, How can I know which are the right fruits, or how shall I know which abide in Christ? Answer: That 1) he has now said, "Ye are now
1) Wittenberger: Da.
purely because of the word which I have spoken unto you" etc., that it should not be seen how great and much they do. For all these things are no more than works, which even unbelievers and boys are able and do: but first of all, looking at the mouth, what they teach and believe, whether it be the pure word of Christ, or not? and first of all, whether your doings, sufferings, or worship be of the word which Christ speaketh, we will soon say, whether it be right, pure, and good. For if it is not, we freely conclude that it is not pure nor good fruit from this vine, but already condemned by Christ, whether you torture yourself to death or raise the dead every day, for it does not abide in Christ because it does not have His word.
Now we see that the main doctrine of the pope and of all the pagans is: If you want to get rid of sins and be saved, you must not only believe, but also live in such a way, do so much and suffer so much; indeed, our papists have neither understood nor taught anything at all about faith, without now learning the word "faith" from us, and must be ashamed of their former doctrine, start to patch it up, and call it faith, but make the addition of the merit of works, that faith must be nothing after all. And that is the most fearful thing, when they have long taught it, they have finally sealed it with such stink, and publicly said: a man may be pious, and do much good, but still he does not know whether he will obtain favor or disfavor with God. This is what they say about the pious, who are righteous and do good deeds, and yet do not know what their fate is with God. This is what the wretched, cursed devil from hell has called them to talk and preach.
(64) From this it may be seen what their fruits are, and how their doctrine is according to the pure word of Christ. For first of all, they say nothing about believing that we have forgiveness of sins through Christ, but call me to do good works (by which I am to be cleansed of sins), and yet, when I have done them all, I am not to know nor believe that I have a gracious God, when Scripture teaches me that I must first believe and know that God is gracious to me by
2) Jenaer: schendlich.
Christ, before I do works that please God. Therefore I can freely conclude that whoever thus returns or believes and lives is not in the vine, but is a lost branch, condemned with all his deeds and fruits, because they teach nothing, except that one should always doubt and never be sure whether one is in Christ (that is, in the grace of God) and has true fruits or not. For this reason alone the papacy is to be condemned as the devil's seduction, even though nothing else about it would be reprehensible.
(65) For how would I come to the misery of being a Christian, and doing such good works (as they teach), and tormenting myself with them unto death, as some have done, and still doubting above all things, and saying, God knoweth whether I please him, and am in grace. Let the wretched devil do this in my place. Should a prince, a mayor, a householder lead his position and office with hard work, care and unwillingness, and never know whether God would be pleased with it, if he had done it in the best way? Who, in the end, would want to serve God more, or to do and suffer something for His sake? Such cursed, unchristian doctrine has still gone astray in the world under the papacy, and has been practiced in all schools and preachers' chairs.
66. But the Scriptures and the Gospel teach us that we should put this first and foremost, as the foundation, and be sure beforehand that God is our gracious Father (which happens when we believe in Christ), and from this foundation build up everything we say, do, and live, so that I may say, "I know that I have a gracious God, and that my works, done according to the Word and in such faith, are pleasing to Him and good fruits.
67) Where such preaching goes, by which the hearts become certain of the matter, how they are with God, then 1) I can conclude that it is the right preaching and the 2) pure word of Christ, and judge against it that all other preaching is a lie and devil's doctrine, so that the two pieces are reversed and say: one should not know whether we are in grace, and yet on such adventures and doubts demand and do the works.
1) Wittenberger: that.
2) "that" is missing in the Erlanger. Wittenberger: da.
That it may be said to them, If I shall hear no other comfort from thee, but that I shall never know how I am with God, the devil confess thee, and be thou a preacher in the abyss of hell.
68. But do you say, "How can I conclude that God is gracious to me and that my works are pleasing to Him? Am I full of sin and unworthy? Answer: Why then do you do such works, and atone for sin with them, if you do not think that they are pleasing to God? Just as much as you remained as you were before, so you do the works with unbelief and false delusion, and only thereby anger God more etc. For because you believe and hold thus, God cannot be gracious to you, nor let your deeds please Him, but happens to you as you think of Him and doubt that He is ungracious to you, and you can never come out of such thoughts. Therefore, we say: If you want to act with God and not to run away, you must be certain of this before all things, so that you can say: I know that this work I am doing is a good work and pleases God.
(69) But whence cometh this, or how cometh one to conclude that he is gracious, and hath pleasure in us? Certainly not from yourself, but only from the fact that he says, "If you abide in me," for, "Just as the branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." Therefore it is not necessary here to look at ourselves, what we are and do, whether we are worthy enough or our works are sufficient; otherwise it would be right, as the papacy teaches, and monks and priests say: Who knows whether he is worthy of grace or disgrace etc. For they look no further than themselves and their status or work, and want to reconcile God with it and gain grace, like pagans and Turks, and do not know what it means to be in Christ. Therefore, they can never be sure of things, nor conclude that their state and life are pleasing to God, and must forever hang in such doubt; and the more they work and toil to please God, the further they get away from it, until at last they even despair. As must certainly happen to all, so upon themselves and
their actions remain. For there is 1) finally nothing else, but that all our actions are sinful before God and condemned to hell, where it is best. For wrath has already been pronounced by the word of God on everything that is man's own ability, strength and works, and everything that is not in this vine, Christ, must be condemned and cut off.
Therefore, whoever wants to be helped out of such doubt, 2) only think that he may come out of himself and all his deeds into Christ, and learn to recognize how we come to grace through him, and please God, and thus, through faith, are incorporated into him as branches, 3) so that he can say: I now know (praise God!) well that I am, unfortunately, a poor, unworthy person, and before God have earned nothing but wrath and hell. But I also know that God is gracious to me because of the Lord Christ, who suffered and died for my sin. And because I am therefore in Christ and cleansed by Him, God is pleased with my life and work, which come from such faith, and considers it good fruit. 4)
So I can speak much differently of my status and work than a pagan, a Turk, or a believing saint. For I am not only a prince or a householder, man or woman, who does the work of his office or station, as others do, but I am also baptized and washed by the blood of Christ. This is not my work nor my position. For baptism does not make a prince, nor a subject, nor a husband, nor anyone else, but it makes a Christian. Item, I also have the word that Christ died for me and rose again; the same word does not make a priest or monk, lord or servant, but such a heart that receives God's grace and is cleansed by faith. This then is called "being and abiding in Christ. For let them preach to me what they will, and I will abide by the fact that I was baptized, not on
1) Wittenberg and Jena: sichs.
2) Wittenberger: have. The Erlanger, which also read "become" in its original, has exchanged this with "see" according to Walch.
3) Wittenberger: will.
4) Erlanger: "u. s. w."
my life and status, but on the man who is called Jesus Christ. Through Him I am in grace, and have forgiveness of sins with God. So also, when I hear the gospel, I do not hear anything about myself or my works that I might be justified before God, but about Christ, given to me for this purpose by the Father, that I might be redeemed from sins and eternal wrath. Therefore, through the Word and baptism you have a sure testimony and confirmation that you may no longer doubt and stammer, but can and should certainly conclude that you have a gracious God and Father in Christ. 5) I am not a sinner.
(72) Wherefore, if there be such faith and sure knowledge of grace in Christ, thou mayest certainly conclude of thy estate and works, and say that the same are well pleasing to God, and are good, Christian fruits; and so also the works which are temporal and corporal, such as governing the land and the people, keeping house, bringing up and teaching children, serving, working, etc., shall also become abiding fruits unto eternal life. So also the holy patriarch Abraham, and the holy archmother Sarah, will be praised and glorified from their conjugal life at the last judgment. Although the same status with all worldly life and being, which even the unbelievers have now, will cease and be no more, this holy Sarah, and others too, will receive their crown from the fact that she was a pious wife and housemother. Not because of her works, which must cease, but because she did them in faith. Thus the works of every Christian are done, that they may please God forever, and not be cast away, as the unbelievers are, but have their eternal reward in that life also, because they are done in Christ, and grow out of the vine.
From this you see that it is not to be suffered to preach in Christianity that we should not or could not know whether God is gracious to us or not, but the contradiction must be taught, and say (who wants to be a Christian preacher or believing Christian): I know that I have a gracious God,
5) Wittenberger: some.
and my life is pleasing to him. For I know whether I believe in Christ, that is, whether I cling to his word that is preached to me or not, whether I remain in baptism or fall away from it etc. But if I believe, then this must be certain and true, that God is my gracious Father, and for this I have the pledge and seal given by Christ, baptism and the holy sacrament. Therefore, if I remain in Christ, it is certain that for this reason my status, life and work will be pleasing to God and will be delicious fruit in His sight. And even if I am still weak in faith for my own part, and many infirmities and sinful lusts remain in me and run along with me forever, it shall not be counted against me, but shall be forgiven me, so far as I do not put them away or leave them in the bridle, and let myself be torn from the faith and from the vine.
For because the vine is rooted in the trunk or stock, 1) and its sap and strength remain in it, its fruit must also be and remain good, whether it is otherwise bitten by the worm or attacked by caterpillars and other vermin. So also, because a man abides in Christ, and receives and retains juice and power from him through faith, that he works in him with his power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, the remaining weakness, which is aroused by the devil and this sinful nature, must not harm him; but so that he resists it with a constant struggle of faith, and fights out such vermin. But if thou wilt forsake or pervert the doctrine of faith, (as the Papists and other wicked men do,) and fall from Christ unto thy holiness, or live openly in sins and shame, and yet boast of the gospel and the Christian name, know that thou art a false vine, and hast no part in the vine, but art condemned with wood and fruit, and cast away into everlasting fire.
75 Therefore he warns everyone that we should be careful and watchful. For there will (he will say) be much trouble and sectarianism mixed in, and you will have the devil around you in the back and in the front, that he may
1) "tst" is missing in the Wittenberger.
tear you away from me. But only hold fast to me, that your faith may remain pure and firm, and in such faith go your life and work: then have no doubt nor worry how you are with God, and must not fear any wrath, and let the cursed doctrine 2) have an evil year; 3) for if a monk tortures himself to death with works, fasting, vigils, and mortifications, 4) he still cannot know whether he has earned heaven or hell. Cause, because he does not keep Christ's word, and even if he speaks the child's faith that Christ suffered, was crucified and died etc., he still does not believe that [it] happened for his good. 5) This is then no different, 6) for as much as said, I know not whether it be true that Christ saith, He that believeth on him, and is baptized into him, the same shall be saved? Item, that faith is uncertain and nothing, so also the children pray: I believe in Jesus Christ our Lord, who suffered and died for us etc.; item, I believe forgiveness of sins etc., and I do not know whether it is true that Christ feeds me in the sacrament with his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.
What more abominable blasphemy could be devised against Christ and his holy word? Therefore, whoever remains in such thoughts in the hour of death and dies there, must certainly go to the sorrowful devil and remain in eternal disgrace and condemnation, as if he were to deny Christ, deny his suffering and death, baptism and sacrament. But he who wants to die blessedly and go well must think and say: "Have mercy on me, you merciful God, for I am a poor sinful man, and deserve nothing but wrath; but still, I have lived as I wish, so I hold myself here, so that I know and should not doubt that I was baptized and called a Christian for the forgiveness of sins, and that my Lord Christ was born, suffered, died and rose again for me, and gave me his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.
2) Wittenberger: Doctrine of human commandments.
3) Erlanger: "have, so da saget: If" etc.
4) Erlanger: "has martyred to death" etc.
5) This sentence: "Ursach-sei." is missing in the Jenaer by Walch and in the Erlanger.
6) Jenaer und Erlanger: "Denn was ist das anders".
The food and strength of faith; item, that I am absolved and delivered from my sins in the name and power of Christ. Such a heart and faith cannot go wrong or be lost, no more than God's word can be missing or wrong. Of this I can be your guarantor, for God Himself is your guarantor through His word.
But this doctrine, as it has always been, and Christ here shows that not all will abide in it (both with doctrine and faith), for there has never arisen a mob or sect that has not taught against it (as well as the pope), and led the people from Christ to other uncertain things, so that one does not abide in it. For when they say many things, this is the sum of it: faith alone does not do it, one must attack oneself differently, leave everything, and thus still lead to works, so that it always remains uncertain. But they do not get there by laying the first stone right on the foundation, and thus teaching: "Before I begin to do a work, I must first be sure of the grace of God in Christ. When the stone is laid, then go on 1) and do good works as much as you can, and thank God who has accepted you in grace, before and without all your work. They do not want to hear or see the little piece, and they reproach and condemn us for it. But when we ask them to do better, they come up with their old tricks: "You must be truly pious, do much and suffer much. But if thou askest further, What is it more, or what profit is it to thee? they say, If God wills and pleases him, he is gracious to thee. This is just put on the monkey's tail. For if you follow such teaching for a long time, you are just as uncertain as before.
78. But Christ teaches thus: If you want to play the game of conscience, you must first of all be in me before you do a single work or bring forth fruit, so that all of it comes out of me and from me; but after that you can also bring forth really good fruit. 3. But if thou turnest it back, and bringest forth fruit before thou art in me, neither shall thou be in me.
1) Wittenberger: "als" instead of: alsdann.
2) "so" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena.
3) Wittenberger: "a little". In the Jenaer is missing: a.
Vines still remain fruit. For who has ever heard that a vine has grown from the grape? Must not everyone say that the vine and branches must be there before the fruit? For the grape does not make the vine, but the vine brings and bears the grapes. So we must first be in Christ, after which we can bear fruit and do good works.
This is so clear and certain that everyone must confess it, even our papists themselves, if they could do honor to the truth, and see or hear against us and our doctrine before their ugly faces and poisonous ears. For they are like the Pharisees and scribes, who were bitter and murderous enemies of Christ; therefore what he said and did was poison in their ears and eyes. Therefore Christ also saith unto them, How can ye do good, or speak good, because ye are of a kind of evil worms? So also we say to them: How can such grasp this doctrine and bear good fruit, because they are not in the vine, yea, will not hear his word nor suffer? They themselves cannot deny that the tree and the vine must be there sooner than the fruit. Nor will they let it be right when we teach such things from the word of Christ, and must be called heresy, and good works forbidden.
80) As if the vine would say to the husbandman: You spoil the vine, because you produce the vines before you have the wine: make grapes first, then they will become good vines. Then, of course, the vine dresser would say again: "You dear fool, I can hear that you have not yet seen many vines or grapes. So foolish and foolish are they that they cannot understand that no one can do a good work that is pleasing to God, and is called good fruit, he must first be a Christian and believer, as a branch on the vine. Now this doctrine of ours, for which they persecute us, is so clear and evident that they are thereby convicted before God and the world. And we can take all farmers, vintners and gardeners as witnesses, whether they do not have to say, before one grows a pear, apple, grape or a
4) Erlanger: Dem.
Before any other fruit is born, the stalk, tree or trunk must have grown. This is written in nature, yes, in all creatures, that they must all bear witness to this doctrine, against the shameful perversion and lies of the devil.
V. 5. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.
81 Then he almost repeats the previous words, so that he may impress upon them to look to him alone and cling to him. I am the vine, and you are my branches. As if he wanted to say: It will not be done differently, it was once decided with God that it should be me and no one else; as you have heard. Further, you must not look around as if there should be any other vine than me, or that you or others should be true vines in the sight of God, except in the one vine, which is me.
For he has seen (as I have said) how it would be in Christendom, how both angry tyrants and false teachers would be found against this doctrine, and would bear much the name, both of the vine and of the branches, which yet do not belong to them; as we have hitherto done almost all. As, the bare-footed red men openly and unashamedly put up their Franciscum with his rule for the vine, and lifted him up in all things and works like Christ, and so taught: Whoever would be a right vine and bring forth perfect fruit, must follow the same, and keep such a rule. There have been, and will always be, countless such people who have such names and appearances, so that (as Christ himself says [Matth. 24, 24]) even the elect may be deceived. For they shine much more beautifully and prettily than Christ with his true vines, so that I, on the other hand, am not considered a vine, but a wild thorn, and you the thorn hedges. But let not these things vex you, nor deceive you with glorious appearances and splendid words. For I, I 1)
1) "I" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
it must be and remain alone (as planted and set as a vine by God Himself), and you who cling to me and remain shall be the true vines alone, even though the devil and all the world says otherwise. This admonition and repetition is so necessary that no one understands or believes, unless the time comes and the need arises, when one learns how many and various things rot against this vine, and how few there are who persevere and remain in it. That is one thing.
83 For this reason also he says, "He who abides in me and I in him," against the false Christians, so that it may be known that it is not by natural power or works that one is a true vine in Christ. For it must not be made, but grown thing, and of the nature or kind of the vine of "Christ." The vine and branches are not put together or grafted as a twig or rice on a dry trunk, but they must be of the same right kind and nature, grown from Christ. For this does not make one a Christian, that thou art so called, and dwellest among Christians, as the apostle Jude or others, though thou mayest live with Christians, pray, fast, go to the sacrament, and outwardly so live, that they cannot be cast out; and yet are not true branches, but strange, dry thorns, among the grapes, though in appearance they seem to be far above the rest. But now it must be so: Whoever is to be a Christian must be naturally born and grown from the vine, Christ.
Therefore, it cannot be made or carved here, as the bishops' larvae and patsies, or monks and nuns think they make people holy with their jiggery-pokery, when they smear the Chresem, shear plates and put on caps; but it remains unmade and uncarved, a mere larvae and jiggery-pokery. But a Christian and a true saint must be a divine work and creature, who is such a master, who with one word makes everything out of nothing, so that it is whole and perfect. No human work, rule or order can do that.
2) Wittenberger and Erlanger: one.
For even if an abbot is long in breeding and accustoming a monk, he makes nothing else, but a man, as he is created in his free will and reason, or flesh and blood, who is differently clothed and adorned with works, but nevertheless the way it is, remains a rogue as before, and nothing differently natured nor minded. For he still wears the old Adam on his neck, as before, without having put on a larva, and has made other ways and works. That is called all human business. Just as a schoolmaster trains a child and lions it with works, he cannot make another creature or form, but the Creator alone must do this by his own hand and power, without the help of man.
When I am baptized or converted through the gospel, the Holy Spirit comes and takes me like clay and makes me into a new creature, so that I now have a different mind, heart and thoughts, namely, a right knowledge of God and a right trust in His grace. In sum, the foundation of my heart is renewed and changed, so that I become a new plant, planted in the vine of Christ and grown from it. For my holiness, righteousness, and purity do not come from me, nor do they stand on me, but are only from and in Christ, into whom I am rooted through faith, etc., just as the sap from the vine springs up into the branches, etc., and am now like him and his kind, so that both he and I are of one nature and essence, and I bear fruit in and through him, which is not mine but the vine's fruit. So Christ and the Christians become One Cake and One Body, that it may bear 1) right fruits; not Adam's or his own, but Christ's. For that he baptizes, preaches, comforts, exhorts, works and suffers, this he does not as a man of Adam, but Christ in him, so that his mouth and tongue, so that he acts or confesses God's word, is not his, but Christ's mouth and tongue; his hand, so that he works and serves the neighbor, this is his Lord Christ's hand or member, who is in him (as he says here), and he in Christ.
1) "may" is missing in the original and in the Wittenberg.
See, this is what he says: "He who abides in me, and I in him," etc., to indicate that Christianity is so, that it is not brought in from the outside, or put on as a garment, nor is it given a new manner and nature, so that it walks and lives in works, like monasticism and self-chosen holiness, but so that it is born anew through God's Word and Spirit, and must even be a new man from the bottom of the heart. But after that, when the heart is thus born anew 2) in Christ, there also follow fruits, confession of the gospel, works of love, being obedient, patient, chaste etc.
(87) Christ thus warned his disciples to abide by his word, which makes newborn and regenerate true Christians, who bring forth much fruit of the vine, and to beware of all other doctrine, which perverteth these things, and would make of the fruit a tree, or of thistles and briers grapes. For nothing ever comes of it. Kind does not leave kind, and if one teaches long, drives, and blushes with works, nature will not be different, there must be nature and kind, or no driving nor blossoming will bring it about. For the two are and always will be widely differentiated: one is called made; the other is called naturalized or grown. Now it is always the case that we have to work much harder and more cruelly on what we have made, and yet we do not want to leave it as it has grown; for it goes, stands, lives and does well by itself, as it should. So also, he says, all other teachings have to deal only with doing, so that they make something out of works, and yet they can get nowhere. But if ye be in me as planted in the vine, and natural branches, ye shall surely bring forth good fruit, and much of it.
For without me you can do nothing.
This is a short conclusion, and it transfigures what he has 3) now said. "Without me", that is, if you do not remain in me and become born Christians through me, you will not do it, you do and do alike 4) what you want.
2) "is" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena.
3) "he" is missing in the original and in the Wittenberg.
4) Erlanger: nevertheless.
But how does he behave so rudely here, and speak so peevishly? Should so many more pious and excellent people than were among the Jews at that time, and may still be among the Christians, have done nothing at all, and lost everything, when they have done and are still doing much more and greater things than the poor, wretched multitude, who know nothing to boast of but this Christ? O, it is an angry, blasphemous word in the ears of the great saints, as there were the holy Jews, Pharisees and others, as St. Paul in his beautiful, blameless righteousness according to the law, and now the spiritual, devout hermits, Carthusians and other monks (as I also have been), who take it up with great earnestness that they want to be pious and go to heaven. Look at the pagans, how they have governed the land and the people, made excellent laws and order, kept beautiful peace and discipline, produced all kinds of arts, so that all the world praises and marvels at their wisdom. Item, one reads that some heretics have lived much more strictly, and have done greater 1) works than the right Christians, as, the Cathari and Encratitä; as also the forty-day-fasting of the heretics has arisen. And it is said of the Turks that many among them lead a very strict life, and do miraculous works with fasting, almsgiving and other etc. And now all the mobs cry out against us and our doctrine, so that we do not attack ourselves so harshly, saying that we do not have the Spirit, because we do not live as they do; how then does Christ say here, "Without me you can do nothing"?
90) To this is to be answered, as it is also said above [§ 55 ff], that he does not speak here of natural or worldly being and life (as the scoffers counterfeit it), but of fruits of the gospel. For he created the world in such a way that he commanded it and gave it power to rule bodily over cattle, birds and fish; item, to keep house, to raise children, to build fields, to govern land and people etc. Christ did not teach any of these things. For it is implanted in nature beforehand, and written in her heart, to do all things.
1) Wittenberger: large.
Books that are written apart from the holy Scriptures are derived from the same source. Therefore, Christ's teaching and word must not be taken as if he wanted to teach and regulate something else, more or better. But he speaks only of his spiritual kingdom and regiment, in which God himself dwells, rules and works through his Word and Spirit for spiritual, eternal life. For this is called God's own rule, that one baptizes, preaches the gospel, gives sacraments, comforts and strengthens the stupid, afflicted consciences, scares the wicked and punishes them with the ban, and practices works of love and mercy, and suffers the cross. This is done so that we may please God, be His children, be redeemed from sin and death, and have eternal life. The worldly regime does and can do nothing for this everywhere. Because everything must end with this life.
In this kingdom (says Christ) you are nothing, do nothing and are not able to do anything, if you are not and remain in me, yes, it is all nothing (before God), what all the world does, thinks, does and is able to do, all Jews, Turks, Pabst's saints own devotion, spirituality and chosen worship. Therefore, any Anabaptist who has fallen from Christ can never teach or do anything right, but only leads both himself and other people further away from Christ. As now the Anabaptists with their spirituality only baptize out of the church and strive against the spirit, as can be seen by their fruits. Likewise, all monks and orders who teach and practice their work sanctity can never come to Christ, nor bring a man to right knowledge, nor counsel or comfort a conscience, nor help from the least sin, nor bring forth some Christian fruit; Therefore, whatever they do, even if it is much, great and difficult work, it is all lost, and the more they torture themselves and fear, the less they accomplish, as I myself must testify by my own experience, after having been a devout monk for more than fifteen 3) years, keeping daily Mass, and thus occupying myself with prayer and fasting.
2) Wittenberger: "nu". The "r" seems to have dropped out (at the end of the line), because the space is there for it.
3) Erlanger: twenty.
526 Erl. 4S, soo-sos. Interpretations on John the Evangelist. W. VIII, S62-SVS. 527
that if I had remained in it, mine would not have been long. And yet, if I were to gather all these things together, I could not help myself in a small challenge, so that I could say before God: "I have done so much, but look at it, and be merciful to me.
(92) What have I done with it, then, but that I have toiled and perished in vain, and have lost time, and must now let the judgment of Christ pass over it: You did it without me, therefore it is nothing, and does not belong to my kingdom, can neither help you nor others or benefit eternal life. Yes, I myself must now make it sinful and condemn it as done in idolatry and unbelief, and be terrified of it when I think of it. Everyone still clung to it and considered it the way to salvation. All the world has given and given enough, wanting to buy such holiness and merit from them, as they have brazenly offered for sale, and sold with seals and letters.
So here is decided an abominable judgment of all life and deeds, however great, glorious and beautiful they may be, if they are apart from Christ, that they can do nothing, and are to be called nothing. It is indeed great and much in the sight of the world, for it is called excellent, delicious works; but here, in the sight of God, in the kingdom of Christ, it is truly nothing, because it did not grow out of him, nor does it remain in him. For it is not his word, baptism and sacrament, but a thing of our own making, which we have chosen and forced apart from the word. Therefore it cannot bear fruit, nor remain before God, but must, as a rotten, withered tree, without sap and strength, be uprooted, and (as he says afterwards) thrown into the fire. Therefore, let others carve and make what they can without him, until they make a new birth out of their works, and out of the fruit the tree; but they shall (if God wills) make this saying true, and out of all become nothing at all.
94. but who believes that this saying should spread so far and condemn so many people? or that the world should be so full of false
1) Erlanger: "much". This is not a printing error, because the variant "rope" is given.
Christians and saints? But it is preached to us that we do not run and work in vain (as St. Paul exhorts us in 1 Cor. 9:26), but see to it that we are ever found abiding in Christ, that is, that we hold fast to His word, and do not let anything 2) snatch us away from it; then the right abiding fruits will also surely follow. For it is a mighty comfort and defiance when a man knows that he does not live and work in vain, but that his works are pleasing to God and bear true fruit, and that he can say from the bottom of his heart, "I have been baptized into Christ; I did not devise this myself, nor did I do it through my order, rule or choice of men, but my Lord Christ Himself, I know this for certain. Secondly, I know and confess before all the world that I believe in the man by the grace of God, and think to abide with him, and to leave both body, life and all, before I would deny him; in such faith I stand and live. Then I go out, eat and drink, sleep and watch, rule, serve, work, do and suffer all in the faith of that in which I was baptized, knowing that it is good fruit and pleasing to God.
95 For such a man, whatsoever he liveth and doeth, whether it be great or small, and whatsoever it be called, it is all fruit, and cannot be without fruit: for he is born unto this in a newness of life in Christ, that he may be full of good fruits without ceasing: and whatsoever he doeth is easy unto such a man, and without sour labor or vexation; there is nothing too heavy or too great for him, that he cannot suffer and bear. On the other hand, others who do not have faith and want to bear fruit themselves, even though they toil in hostility and do many great works and more than others, never have such comfort, but do everything with a heavy heart, so that they never become happy, nor do they think that it pleases God, and so everything they do is in vain and lost. That it is true, whatsoever is without Christ, or apart from Christ, is not done, and is vain, vain, vain works; and again, in Christ all things are done, and are rich, full, delicious fruits.
2) Wittenberger: not.
But the world, with its false saints and cults, cannot understand such things. What kind of Christian should he be? He can do no more than eat and drink, work in the house, care for children, and drive the plow etc. I can do that just as well, and better. One must make a distinction between what a Christian does and what the heathen do, and not soon call all the fruits of the Christian life, otherwise the heathen would have it better than we, after such common works as father and mother, child, servant, 1) man or woman do. Therefore we must have something different and special about the common man's works, such as going to a monastery, lying on the ground, wearing hard shirts, praying to one another day and night. So they interpret the works they call a holy life and Christian fruits, and quickly conclude that this is not a holy life, raising children, doing housework etc. For they cannot judge by the 2) stem or birth in the vine, but see only the outward larva of the work. But who does not know that monasticism with its works seems greater when one looks at them and reckons how they are made and carved, and not according to the kind or birth from whence they come?
97 But now Christ saith, That these only are good fruits, which come of them that are and abide in him. And what such a one does and lives is called all good fruit, even though it be less than a farmer's servant loads up a wagon full of dung and carries it out. They cannot understand this, but consider such things (as they see them before their eyes) to be common, pagan works. But among Christians there is a great difference between the works they do and those done by pagans or others (apart from Christ), even though they are the same. For the works of the heathen do not spring and grow from the vine of Christ; therefore they cannot please God, nor be called Christian fruits. But the works of Christians, because they come from faith in Christ, are all true and useful fruits. Just as from the shepherd
1) Wittenberger: "servant, maid". - Child" is missing in the Wittenberger and in the Erlanger.
2) "dem" is missing in the Erlanger.
The little one says that there is nothing in him that is not useful and good, not only the flesh, fur and legs, but also the urine and dung.
For this reason it is true that a Christian does not appear with his works and fruits to be a spirit of the sect or a peculiar person, because he does not choose a particularly glittering work, but remains with the common daily works as they appear to him. But this is lacking, so that the world cannot see that they are the works of a new person in Christ. Therefore the same work is not equal, even in a man who did a work before he believed in Christ, and does it now. But before he was a thistle and a briar apart from the vine, that he could bear no fruit, and what he did was lost and condemned; but now that he is a Christian, such a work is a goodly, delicious cluster of grapes; not because it is thus made or done, but because it comes from the good stock, which is Christ.
(99) Therefore it is not to be judged by what work is done, but by what cause it is done. It is not a matter of what is done, whether it is great or small, much or little, but of the source and spring from which it flows; there the life and nature of Christians, and of all others on earth, are separated and set apart. For here Christ comes and makes the distinction; he speaks to him who deals with the works that he himself has set forth for him: Your deeds are nothing and lost. I have said mass every day for so many years, I have not eaten meat for so long, I have chastened myself, and I have become heartily sour to live so strictly; shall such great, many, heavy works be nothing? Yes, he says, they may be called great, hard works, but I call them nothing at all, for they are all done without me. On the other hand, a poor little girl, like Mary the Virgin, who has done no special work than other common people, he pronounces the judgment: "Behold, this one has none of your great, difficult works everywhere, and yet she is full of good works, for they are such works as are called done in me; therefore I consider her to be precious gems, and I will praise and reward her before God and all the angels;
3) Wittenbergers: good works.
5Z0 Erl. "9, sv4-so7. Interpretations about the evangelist John. W. vm, zsg-zm. 531
But your works, because they are not in me, will be of no use anywhere, except to be thrown into the fire as thorns and thistles. It will not do for you to cry out in hostility that you have been wronged, or to excuse yourself and say that you did not know. For he shall also say unto thee, Why hast thou not heard my word, which I spake aforetime, and warned that men should beware 1) of all things that might be done apart from me, and that without me no man might do anything?
(100) Therefore learn not to look at works as a cow looks at a gate, but from what heart and person they come. If it is in Christ, let the work be called as great or as small as it pleases, and he will call it good fruit, for what remains in him must bring forth much fruit, and all such works will be called the most delicious grapes, even though at times sin also runs along with them and they stumble. For this is the dung, that he may fertilize his field, that even his infirmities may come to good, and not to harm.
Again, in the other monastic, Turkish and pagan saints, not only are the public sins condemned, but also their best works, so that they think they deserve heaven, are rejected and condemned to the fire together with them, and such a judgment goes over them justly and rightly. For what devil leads us, who are called Christians and are baptized, to fall away from baptism and Christ, and to seek and choose our own work apart from Christ? We do not want to live, work and do like the other common Christians, and open people's eyes with special, new, self-chosen things: Doing.
I see no special work nor fruit of the spirit in those who know nothing but to teach about Christ. One must attack oneself differently, with sour looks, gray skirts, having nothing of one's own, or, like the monks, with fasting, casteism, not eating and drinking, like the others. For such things make a great appearance, that the rabble comes and says: What are our preachers, and those who follow them, compared to these? These are holy, Christian people, so forsaken everything, gray
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: solle.
Wear skirts etc. So they let themselves be beguiled and seduced by Christ. And it serves them right. Do you hear that Christ says here that one should not see or judge according to the outward appearance of the works, but according to the stem and root from which they come? Therefore you should first ask: Why do you look so sour, and walk in a gray robe, and do a special thing in front of others? Yes, one must truly attack oneself and separate oneself from the world, if one wants to be blessed. There you see the donkey with his ears sticking out. Thou shameful hypocrite and deceiver, how wilt thou make fruit without and apart from the vine? It does not come to heaven with a sour look, but you must first be in the vine, from which it must grow and spring. Therefore such a work of thine is lost, and nothing, because it is apart from and without Christ, yea, against Christ also.
V. 6. He that abideth not in me is cast away as a branch, and withereth; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and burn them.
(103) He has left his Christians the high consolation and excellent glory that a Christian life that remains in faith is vain and delicious fruit, and such fruit does not remain on earth or come to an end here, but remains with us forever in heaven, no matter what and how small it may be. This should be cause and stimulus enough for us to gladly remain with this Lord Christ. Here he sets up the contradiction, and concludes a short and terrible judgment on all life and being that does not grow out of him and remain in him; and names five kinds of harm that will befall those who do not remain in the faith, nor hold to the vine. For it has been decided, he wants to say, that in me everything is fruit, except me it is harm; if anything good is to be valid in the sight of God, it must be said to have grown out of me and to have welled up; otherwise nothing will come of it. Therefore you have here the two judgments against each other: If you remain in me and do not fall away from me, then know that what you live, do and suffer is good fruit, which pleases God. Again, he that abideth not in me, let him do what he will and can, but it shall not be unto him.
Like vines that do not bear fruit, they are cut off and thrown away to wither, and then they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.
104 This is also a strange simile, and is also taken from the prophet Ezekiel, Cap. 15, v. 2, and seems to be drawn from the same. For thus God speaks there: Son of man, what good are the dry grapes? can anything be made of them? etc. The vine is a noble wood above all others, because it stands on the vine, for it has the noblest sap and fruit; nor is it so, as soon as it comes off the vine, that it is of no use, says the prophet, that one cannot make a nail or hook out of it to hang anything on, but serves no purpose except to be thrown into the fire, to be burned up and consumed to ashes. So also here, says Christ, whichever branch does not remain in me (as in the right vine) can no longer bear fruit, nor do anything good that pleases God, but must be cut off from the vine, so that it does not hinder the other branches. After that, if it is removed from the vineyard and thrown, it must wither, and is now good for nothing, except to be tied together in a bundle 1) and thrown into the fire, and let it burn there until it turns to ashes.
(105) All this is said against those who are not righteous, believing Christians, and 2) yet are presumptuous spirits, that they think they are the only ones, and also think they can do so much apart from Christ that they take root and remain green; they want to trust the best, most noble vines, and not be cast out, but cultivated and honored before others; they think that Christianity cannot exist or remain without them. Just as the pope and the bishops (along with other groups) now boast. But against this he warns us to beware, and to take care that we ever remain in him, and do not fall into such false conceit. For the judgment is already decided (he says), so it will happen to all who do not remain in me. First of all, they must be cleared away, as the first Psalm, v. 5, also says, "The
1) In the old editions: "Bündle".
2) Wittenberger: "the" instead of: and.
The wicked do not remain in the judgment, nor in the congregation of the righteous. This is the first thing that is raised up, that they may be separated from the multitude of those who preach and believe aright, which is the proper judicial office of Christianity, and the assembly or congregation of God. Just as it can be seen that righteous preachers and false preachers, righteous Christians and false Christians, do not suffer one another; indeed, they separate themselves from one another, because the word or doctrine separates the hearts. So we cannot keep it up with your papal group, likewise with the Anabaptists and other groups, and they in turn cannot keep it up with us either, but are separated like winter and summer. Summa, they cannot remain with the right group, nor with the word, but must be thrown out, so that it will be obvious to everyone that they have been false and unfit vines. 3.
Now they ask nothing of this, for they do not consider this (that they separate from us) to mean that they are cut off or thrown away, but want to be next to God and the right chosen branches, but they consider us to be cut off, rejected, unfit branches. As they publicly reproach and condemn us. This we must suffer. But it is as Christ says, that it must be separate and distinct. In the same way as on the threshing floor, when the farmer plows the grain, the grain goes to one place; but the chaff separates itself, and cannot remain with the grain. So, when God's word goes, and He leads the word shovel in His hand, the chaff (that is, the false Christians) goes where it is winnowed; but the grain remains in the threshing floor. He then who abides in the pure doctrine and faith of Christ has this comfort, that he is a true noble vine, and what he does is good fruit. Again, all the others, however great, mighty, learned, wise and holy they may be called, are but rotten, unfit branches, which are cut off and cast away.
(107) This some judgment would be terrible enough if it were believed that a man should know that he must be cut off.
3) The words: "bei dem rechten Häuflein, noch bei" are missing in the original and in the Wittenberg.
from Christ and Christianity, and deprived of the Word, Baptism and Sacrament, the intercession of Christ, His blood and Spirit, and all that is in Christ and Christianity. This is already an all too gracious pity, which afterward brings with it much greater. Although they do not respect it, because they have fallen into the wrong doctrine, and with it bewitched and blinded, that they cannot do otherwise.
(108) There is not yet so much trouble with those who are otherwise infirm, as our many are, even sinners, if they only abide in the pure doctrine of Christ, and do not become spirits of the rot. For the vine can get a crack or a break or any other damage, but if it remains in the vine and does not separate itself from the vine, it can be healed by the vine. So also, if a Christian has already fallen and been harmed for the sake of his life, but if he does not start something new against the doctrine, he can be helped again, if he sticks to Christ again through repentance and faith, he is not yet condemned and cast away, as he who establishes another doctrine and sect, according to his foolish head, still wants to do right, 1) and has not punished the error, or 2) remains in unrepentant life, and does not want to stick to Christ again. For these are the unfit and cast out branches. Even though they remain among the Christians, according to the outward society, they are deprived of all comfort, grace, help and blessedness that is with the Christians.
(109) Secondly, Christ says that if a vine does not remain in him, it will not only be cut off or thrown away, but it will also wither; that is, the longer it remains, the worse it will become, until it is hardened and hardened, like a vine that has lost its sap and is now withered, so that it can no longer be bent, but only broken. So also, when a man falls from me and is torn from the vine, it is already done for him. For there is no other vine to be found without and apart from this one. Therefore, the longer they fall, the deeper they fall into hardening, and there they have it.
1) "dazu" is missing in the Erlanger.
2) Wittenberger: or so.
(110) For these are the two grievous cases, that a man should perish unto the pit of hell: the first, that he should fall from Christ; the second, that he should be hardened in unbelief and sins. The first fall may still be atoned for, if in time one comes again to the vine (that is, to the doctrine and faith of Christ); but if one remains so, withered and hardened in error, that is Pharaoh, Judas and others, who will not nor can return to repentance. As now also the papal crowd, who know well that they are wrong and of no use, and yet set up their heads so that they are hardened and hardened about it, and will not come to Christ in courage. They are already as deep in hell as they should be. For one cannot sin more grievously than when he falls away from the faith and will not return to it. This is the sin of death, which cannot be helped. But they think that there is no harm for them anywhere, and that the wine tastes as good to them as otherwise; for they are still rich and fat, sitting in honor and power etc. But see what follows.
The third is to gather them together and throw them into the fire and burn them. They have now done it in the previous two ways, and could not do it worse; therefore there is nothing left to wait for but punishment. Because they have not remained in Christ, and will not return, he will do it to them again; and they shall suffer it, that they be gathered together, and bound, and cast into the fire, that they may be burned.
This is the final judgment they shall not escape. Therefore beware lest you fall into the dreadful fall. For it shall not be given to them that will not abide in Christ, yea, that will stubbornly oppose it, and yet safely go as if they were well off; but it is determined, and the irrevocable sentence pronounced, that they shall be taken away, and gathered into a bundle unto everlasting fire.
(113) For this gathering is no other thing than this: Let no man think that any shall escape from them; let him become a Carthusian or a hermit, and run and walk to Rome or Jerusalem, and make an endowment, and do whatsoever he can; and he shall be loosed out of the snares and the cords.
They will not come in bonds, nor escape punishment, but will be gathered together in one heap with the hardened Pharaoh, Judah, Caiphah, Herod, Mahomet, Pabst, and all the rest of the mob, and bound to be punished at the same time. This is already happening before the last day, when he will always carry off one after the other, so that they will lie buried there and already prepared, so that they will only be thrown into the fire, and so one stubborn person after the other will always be put there, until they all come together, so that no one remains, nor escapes, being as powerful, learned, wise and proud as he wants to be. Then the fire will be lit and they will be thrown into it. This is the end and the reward that they will have to wait for, because they have fallen from Christ, and besides him, he himself will advise and help them.
Yes, says the world, what's the harm? It is to do with an evil hour. Yes, but he adds a wicked addition, and says, "They will be burned. It will not be a fire that only roasts or scorches them a little and then stops, like the fire and suffering that Christians have to go through on earth, which hurts them but will soon be removed. And even though they are reduced to ashes, they are not burned up, but only swept up and purified. But with those it will not go so that they would like to hope to come out again. It will not be said that they have been roasted or fried a little, but that they have remained in it forever and have been burned to powder, for it will be a fire that will never go out, as Christ says in Marci 9:43 ff.
V. 7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
Behold, how highly a man praises a Christian life. Where someone would not have understood 1) or would like to ask: Dear, how does one remain in Christ? How am I or do I remain a branch in this vine? So here he adds the gloss, and says: "Only pay attention to my word, for it all depends on whether my word remains in you. The
1) In the old editions: not someone.
If you believe and confess the articles taught by the infant faith, I believe in Jesus Christ our Lord, crucified for me, dead, risen from the dead, seated at the right hand of the Father, and what is attached to it, and abide in it, being willing to venture and leave all things before you will accept other doctrines or works. If then thou abide in the word, I abide in thee; and again, thou in me. And so both are rooted and united in each other, that my word and your heart have become one thing, and you must ask no further how I am in you, or you in me, for you will see that in that life. But now you can neither understand nor comprehend otherwise than that you have my word, and are washed by faith in my blood, and are anointed and sealed by my Spirit; so then all that you live and do is well done, and all good fruit.
(116) And not only shall you have this, but whatsoever you shall then ask, that shall you be granted and receive assuredly. Now what more do you want? All that thou doest shall be good and pleasant, and thou shalt be the dear child, and canst not spoil it. Though thou be infirm, and though, as a child or a sick man, thou defile thyself from time to time, yet will he not cast thee off at once, but will always cleanse thee and make thee better. Moreover thou shalt have power, honor, and glory, that whatsoever thou shalt ask shall be done unto thee. If thou hast any want or need that oppresseth thee, call unto him, and open thy mouth confidently, as a child to his father, who will please him whatsoever the child shall do, if he cleave unto his father; especially if he shall babble childishly with him, and ask anything of him, that he will gladly do and give all that the child shall have. Yes, not only that, but he cares for the child, and thinks no other way than to provide and give him everything he needs. These things, saith Christ, ye shall surely provide unto my Father and me, if ye abide in the trunk, and the branches in the vine. 2)
117 These are now these two pieces (of which the prophet Zechariah says in chapter 12, v. 10): "The spirit of grace, and of prayer",
2) Erlanger: stay.
which is poured out on Christians, which first of all makes them agree that everything they do is pleasing to God and is all grace; and even if it is still sinful, it is still forgiven and covered up by it, which also drives them to cry out to God in all kinds of distress, and assures them in their hearts that they will be heard.
For this reason Christians have great advantage and glory if they remain pure and firm in the faith and guard against false doctrine and life. And this is a glorious, comforting sermon about the Christian state. What devils have we made with our preaching of monasticism, and all the filthiness which we have praised and exalted above the Christian state and our baptism? Where is there any state or life on earth, of which one finds such glorious promises, as of this? which are promised to all who are called Christians and are baptized, whether monk or layman, master or servant, wife or maid, young or old etc. This must be a blessed state, and highly praiseworthy before all, to whom such divine promises are given, that what one asks and desires from God in it shall certainly be heard and yes, and without that, everything that happens in it shall be well done and praised before God. Shouldn't we 1) run to find out where such a promise could be found, at the end of the world? Now it is brought to us at the door, without all our trouble and cost, to one as well as to the other, who only wants to accept it. How I have labored and toiled so long (since I wanted to be a pious monk, as I was) with fasting, vigils, prayers and other things, that I might attain such things; and yet all my life long I could not find it in my heart that God would be pleased with my works, which I had done most diligently, or that my prayer would certainly be heard.
119] That is why it has been a hostile, cursed life with all the monasticism and everything else, so that one has wanted to serve God, and yet can never come to the glory and comfort that Christians have, and say: I know that everything I do in the name of Christ must please God, even if the devil should be sorry for it; therefore I will
1) "we" is missing in the original and in the Wittenberg.
go and do all my works that I should and can do in my state, however small it is, because I know that it is called pleasing to God and pleases Him just as much as the most beautiful, most difficult and most delicious work of the highest state. I could not have done this before with all the works that could be done on earth, for we did not know what a Christian life was. But now that I have come to know Christ and believe in him, I am happy to boast that everything I do in this faith pleases him, and whatever need or need I have should fall before him and pray, and be sure and certain that I will be helped.
120 Now the contradiction follows from this text, as he said above [v. 7]: If any man abide not in me, and my words abide not in him, he may do many things, and be tormented to death with them; but they are nothing but vain, forsaken, rejected, damned works, as of a corrupt, unfruitful speech, which is good for nothing, but to be cast into the fire, and to be burned up. And in addition, if he wanted to pray as long and as much, he should still obtain nothing; as we have prayed so much until now in all churches and monasteries all hours, and yet never prayed anything. For we could not provide ourselves with the grace that we would certainly be heard; we only thought: I must therefore pray my horas, rosaries and other things, but whether God is pleased with them and wants to hear me, I do not know.
(121) This is the wretched state of the world apart from Christ, when it is said, "Much has been done and labored, and yet nothing has been accomplished everywhere; much has been prayed for, sought for, and knocked for, and yet nothing has been obtained, found, or accomplished. For they lack the right door. For what they do and pray, they do without faith, as they would any other work; they have no comfort or confidence, indeed, no right thought that it will please God or hear them. Therefore, they can never not pray. For, as I have often said, praying is the work of faith alone, and no one but a Christian can do it. For these do not pray in themselves, but in the name of the Son of God, in whom they have been baptized; and are sure that thus God prays.
because he commanded to pray in the name of Christ and promised to answer. Others do not know this, who began to pray in their name; they want to prepare and gather themselves together until they become worthy and skilled enough, and so they make it a real work. And when they are asked if they are sure that they have been heard, they say: I have prayed, but whether I am heard, God alone knows. But what does it mean to have prayed, if you do not know what you are doing, or what 1) God says about it?
A Christian, however, does not depart from prayer in this way; but, as he begins it at God's command and promise, so he offers it up to God in the name of Christ, and knows that what he has asked will not be denied him, and experiences it in fact, that he will be helped in all his troubles. And even though he will not soon be delivered from it, he knows that the prayer is pleasant and answered, and God gives him that he can bear it and overcome it. Which is just as much as if it were taken away from him, and is no longer called a calamity or plague after it is overcome. So far, praise God, we have also experienced many great dangers and hardships from our enemies and others, as God has helped and saved us for so many years through prayer, or has given us, that we have endured and overcome them, and are still overcoming them until we are finally redeemed.
V. 8. In this my Father is honored, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
I will praise you even more highly for your Christian life, he will say, so that you can not only do all good and overcome and avert all misfortune through prayer, but also be the people through whom my Father is honored and the priests and God's servants who do holy, pleasing sacrifices to my Father without ceasing.
How many people are there on earth who would like to have the honor and glory of being called God's servants, whom He would honor and praise? And what effort and labor did we put into it before we invented how to serve God? Since everyone has
1) "what" is missing in the Erlanger.
He was not striving to become a holy priest, priest, or monk, or to establish much worship, and he gave help so that he would also be able to do so. If a boy came to say his first mass, how blessed did the mother think she was who had borne the son and made God a servant? just as if we had to become God's servants through our actions and works, apart from and without Christ; and thus we ourselves would have to perform such works, which would be called worship. Hence the distinction between the laity and the priests, who are nothing but ministers of the Mass, that they alone were called spiritual, and served God only by what was done in the church, and all other common professions and works on earth were despised as neither spiritual nor holy, and in them one could not serve God, since their so-called spiritual life is vain, incompetent, unfruitful works before God; because there is no Christ and faith, and truly God has not been honored nor served, but rather dishonored, and His right service has been prevented, even obscured and put down.
It is true that the noblest and highest service is to preach and hear God's word; item, sacraments, etc., as the works of the first table among the ten commandments; but everything is called serving God, even what is found in the works of the other table, as honoring father and mother, living patiently, chastely and modestly. For he who lives in this way serves and honors the same God. Thus, says he, I will consecrate you, who remain in me, to be holy priests, that you may be my Father's priests, and that what you do may not only be right and well done, but may also be the most delicious service of God, much nobler and better than that of the unbelieving Jews, or of Pabst and all his mass priests. For I do not want such stinking services, which only have a false appearance, but which my heavenly Father truly considers to be worship, and accepts as a glorious, holy sacrifice, and pleases him from the heart.
So you see how the Christians are so highly honored by God that they alone are the people on earth whom God considers His servants. What about all the Jews, Turks, Papists, who want to be holy without faith?
by their works (not of the Ten Commandments, but which they themselves choose), for vain stink before God? But you, he says, are the holy people, and right priests consecrated by God, and your works are holy and acceptable sacrifices. This means that our works are not only praised on earth as good fruits, but also lifted up to heaven and offered to God, so that he accepts them for his special honor and as his highest service. How could a Christian life be praised more highly? And what could be used to 1) incite and exhort someone more strongly to it, than that it has such fruits, benefits and honor with God?
But what is this that he adds, "that ye should become my disciples"? Are they not his disciples beforehand? Or, how, are they to become so only by their works? What then is Christ, and what he hath hitherto said [v. 5.], that without him they can do nothing, and bring forth no fruit? Answer: But behold what manner of man Christ is; he is he that can do the art best. For all that he does is right and well done, and all that he asks is undoubtedly yes and answered, and all his works are the highest worship and sacrifice before the heavenly Father. They should also be such people, so that they are called disciples and followers of this Master, and thus do as he does and what he does. This the apostle St. Paul further points out from Rom. 12, 1. 2. that our perfect, spiritual worship, actually speaking, is nothing else than to be disciples of this man and to become like him, who is the one person, whose whole office and all works are vain worship and holy sacrifices. As the 110th Psalm v. 4. says: "You are a priest forever" etc., and makes us, if we are and remain in him, also such priests etc. This we have, if we remain in him.
But if we fall away from it, or go beside it, we are like those who 2) have gone before, who want to make the world full of priesthood and worship, and yet never learn or know what true worship is, nor can we become disciples and followers of Christ.
1) "man" is missing in the Erlanger.
2) "it" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
toil to death over it with his own works. For all fruit is lost, and they can do nothing in trouble and fear, but run hither and thither seeking help, and yet obtain nothing. For they cannot call upon God with faith and trust in Christ, but vow themselves to the devil in the name of the dead saints, or come in their name, and always remain in doubt and unbelief. Therefore, they cannot serve God, nor do pleasing sacrifices; indeed, they do not know that their whole life in Christ should be a constant priesthood and service of God; they pervert and corrupt the right sacrifices, with their self-conceived piety and abominable sacrifice of the Mass. In sum, they never become Christ's disciples, but remain the devil's disciples, 3) and what they are and live is lost and condemned.
V. 9. As my Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.
Until now, he has comforted and exhorted them to remain in him and to be good branches through the benefit and fruit they will receive from him. Now, for the last time, he gives them a doctrine or commandment of love, which they are to have among themselves.
The cause and necessity of this commandment is that he saw how things would go in Christendom, that the devil would also bring about his disunity, anger, impatience, hatred and envy among Christians, as has been seen and experienced all too often, unfortunately, and is still before his eyes. So it is with us 4) that we are branches that need sweeping and cleansing without ceasing. For though we are clean in Christ, if we abide in him in any other way, we are not yet clean because of our life, because we have this sackcloth on our necks, and there still remain many daily weaknesses and infirmities. And it cannot be otherwise; at times one limb must bump the other, as in our body one foot or toe bumps the other, or man injures himself. Such jolts and challenges do not remain outside, especially because we are all here in the
3) "but - disciple" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
4) Wittenberger: us too.
The devil's kingdom, which attacks us without ceasing, and in addition the flesh is still weak and full of infirmities.
For this reason, even the most pious 1) and dearest of friends can become divided and suspicious among themselves, so that the devil sometimes puts suspicion and poison into their hearts for the sake of a word or a look, which causes them to dislike one another. He is a master of this, and takes great pains to do it, and has done it before anyone knows or realizes it. How it happened between St. Paul and Barnaba, Apost. 15:2, that they clashed sharply with one another and drew away from one another. The two men, Jerome and Rufinus, were the best of friends, and like brothers to each other, and yet they disagreed so much about a preface that they could not become friends again. This would also have happened between St. Augustine and Jerome, where Augustine would not have been wiser. So from small things such quarrels and enmity can arise that [it] brings great harm to a whole group afterwards. For the blood soon begins to flow; so the devil shoots his poisonous arrows into the heart through evil tongues, so that no one speaks or thinks anything good of the other; he blows, and would gladly set people on each other, and cause misery and murder.
132) One reads an example of this, 2) which may be fictitious, but it rhymes well with this, to show the devil's art: how a couple of people, husband and wife, loved each other so dearly that the devil could not make them disagree (and yet would have liked to do so), until he finally hired an old weather whore, to whom he talked a red pair of shoes, where she could make the two spouses disagree. She accepted this, and first went to the man, and persuaded him that his wife was a whore, and was attached to another, and sought his life; and that as a sign (she said) he would find a sharp shear knife in the bed under her pillow, so that she would cut his throat in the night. Now, the man draws the poison that he be-
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: "furnemesten".
2) The same narrative is found in the Table Talks, Cap. 43, tz 40. Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. XXII, 1146.
begins to get suspicious. However, the old whore also comes to the same man's wife and says the same thing, how he follows others and secretly wants to strangle her. Therefore, she advises her to come before him and take a shear knife to her bed. Then it happened that they did not give each other a friendly word or sign that day, and she took the shear knife into bed with her; and the man was also waiting for it; and when he found it, he took the knife and cut off her neck. It is also said here (and is believable), that the devil had caught the old woman's red pair of shoes on a pole, and said: I will not come to you, because you are much worse than I am.
For this reason we Christians should know the devil's art and trickery, and so direct ourselves to be wise, and know how to guard against it, so that we do not let such poison grow up in our hearts, but, if we are already moved to suspicion and dislike, fight back, and remember that we do not let love be broken up and extinguished for this reason, but hold fast to it against it; and if there is any dislike or disagreement, that love and friendship may be restored and improved. For to begin to love is not such a great art, but to remain in love, as Christ says here, that is the right art and virtue. For as often as many of them come together in wedlock, who at first want to devour one another with great love and ardor, and then become deadly enemies to one another, so it also happens among Christian brethren that for some small cause love is broken up, and those who should be most hard together and hold one another, tear one another apart, so that they become the worst, most bitter enemies. As it happened in Christendom after the time of the apostles, when the devil awakened his seditionists and heretics, that the bishops and preachers burned against each other, and after that also divided the people into various sects and divisions; thus Christendom suffered murderous damage.
This is then the devil's delight, and
3) In the old editions: "lausset".
Lust, which seeks nothing else 1) but to destroy love among Christians and to cause vain hatred and envy. For he knows well that it is through love that Christianity is built up and preserved. Therefore St. Paul, Col. 3, 14, calls it a "bond of perfection" by which Christians are held together; and in 1 Cor. 13, 13 he calls it the greatest virtue, as the one that creates and accomplishes the most in the Christian regime. For where this is lacking, doctrine cannot remain pure, nor can hearts be kept separate from one another.
For this reason Christ exhorts us so highly and nobly, that after we have believed in him, and have now become his branches, we hold fast to love above all things, and sets both his Father and himself as an example, as the noblest and most perfect example: "As my Father loves me, so I also love you; therefore abide in my love" etc. My Father (he wants to say) loves me in such a way that he puts all his power and authority over me, lets me suffer now and then; but everything that I do and suffer, he takes care of as if it happened to him, and will make me alive out of death and make me the Lord over all things, and even transfigure his divine majesty in me. "Thus," he says, "I love you." For I do not leave you in your sins and death, but lay down my body and life for you, that I may save you out of them; and I commit to you my purity, holiness, death, resurrection, and all that I am able; wherefore abide also in such my love one toward another. Even though you are severely challenged and urged to fall from me for my sake, hold on and suffer; let my love be stronger, greater and more powerful than the suffering or pain you feel. For I know that the devil will be hard on you for my sake, that he will make you sad, weary and impatient, so that you will let go and say, "I wish I had never started this. As is happening to many now, and I myself have often been so tempted
1) So in the old editions and also in the original used by the Erlanger edition. Accordingly, Walch's change: "after nothing else" is included in the text by the Erlanger.
I have felt displeasure and weariness, and almost 2) think: If I had not started it, I would never preach a word, and let everything go as it goes. For flesh and blood is flesh and blood, and it shocks anyone that he should see and suffer so much contempt, ingratitude, persecution and danger for love and good deeds.
136 But it is not said thus. Do not let the devil, the world, or your own flesh overpower you, but think how I have loved you and still love you, and what I have done for you, that through me you might become righteous and blessed, pleasing to the Father, his priest and servant, and my disciple, and for this reason have suffered and overcome everything that both the devil and the world have been able to do against me. Dear one, remain in my love, and do not let the multitude and unpleasantness of the challenge deter you; only stand firm and defend yourself chivalrously. I would also have cause to complain, and to become unhappy or impatient, that the Father lets me be so miserably blasphemed, and so shamefully crucified, and that the world gives such evil thanks for my love; but I will not let any torture or suffering deter me from such love of my Father, and yours. Therefore, if the world causes you pain and suffering, look to me for what I have done and suffered for your sake. Let it go to the devil wherever it wants to go, but do this for my love, so that you only remain with me, and my word remains in you.
137 Therefore, according to this example of Christ, we should also learn to practice this commandment among ourselves, each in his own class against the other. For if we did not have such an example of Christ set before us, it would be too difficult, indeed quite impossible, for us to keep and endure. But now, when I see what he has suffered for my sake, I can again take courage and say, "Well, if he has done these things for me, let this and other things also be suffered for his sake; and if the world should become mad and foolish with rage, then I will still remain with the man and be content with the fact that he, and the Father also through him, loves me, and calls me, and the Father, and the Father also through him, loves me.
2) Wittenberger: "unterweilen" instead of: schier.
3) "before" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
Hold fast to his love. This is the first piece of love against Christ, so that we must maintain against the hatred of the world.
138. Secondly, as I said, he also wants to urge love among us toward one another, and to prevent us from causing unrest and discord among ourselves in Christendom, so that each one may think, if something displeasing happens to him, that he must suffer and bear too much, not only from the world or from those who are outside our fellowship, but also from those who are among us and are our brothers; But that we know that it cannot be otherwise, that there must be many infirmities and errors among us; that we are not angry because we bite our tongue with our teeth, or our fist goes into our eye, or our foot bumps, or our head runs against the wall, but think thus: Well, it is your member, your brother or neighbor, what will you make of it? He has done it by mistake, and not gladly, and does not mean it so badly, or has it ever happened out of weakness and lack of understanding. The blow has happened that hurts you, but will you throw away your limb because of it? It is a little spark; spit into it, and it shall be quenched, lest the devil come with his poisonous breath, or with evil tongues, and make a fire of it, which afterward cannot be quenched, and such strife and hatred as cannot be reconciled, and do harm to the whole multitude. For he is such a spirit that neither ceases nor desists when he is not resisted.
V. 10-12 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I keep my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I speak unto you, that my joy may abide in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I love you.
139 He preaches a long sermon, and carries this exhortation almost to the end of this chapter: that after we have become his branches and abide in him (lest we be deceived by strange doctrine, and so be cut off from him), we also thereafter keep ourselves together among ourselves, as his right branches, and in the common company of this vine, through the
Love; so that one can see how much he cares about this. For where love and unity are destroyed, and division and discord arise, there also the united doctrine perishes, so that one again falls away from Christ. Therefore, says he, if you are and remain in me, think also and keep my commandments, for I must also lay up for you a work which is a sign, that it may be known that you are my branches. As he says, John 13:35, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." And this very commandment, which I myself also keep and do, is for you an example and a model, for therefore I abide in my Father's love, because I keep his commandment; therefore, if ye keep my commandments, ye abide in my love also. These are the two parts of Christian doctrine that must be daily practiced in Christendom, so that neither is slackened.
(140) For if faith be not preached, and let the first thing be as we are incorporated into Christ, and become branches in him, all the world falleth upon their works. Again, where faith alone is taught, they become false Christians, who boast of faith, and are baptized and numbered among the Christians, but neither fruit nor power is evidenced in them.
That is why it is difficult to preach to the people. Because, as one preaches to them, it does not go right; they always fall aside. If one does not preach faith, it becomes a vain hypocrisy. But if one practices faith alone, no works will follow. Summa, either vain faithless workers or even vain believers want to become. Therefore it is only a sermon for those who accept and grasp both; the others, who do not want to, remain behind. There is nothing to be gained by making all the world godly, as little as the devil, who is their God and Lord. And if one says much to her, she only defies it the more, and takes it as an irritation, that they should only make it worse. Therefore we let them go, because they will not hear nor believe until they find and know, not only there forever, but also here in time.
142 But we preach to the multitude who are
Knowing and thinking where they will finally abide, that they will abide in this vine above all things, and put all their comfort in it; and afterward also show this in deed and with life. For where faith is, it will undoubtedly show itself with such fruits as he said above [v. 5.], "He that abideth in me bringeth forth much fruit." For he will have to think thus: I believe in Christ, who loved me, and gave his body and life for me; therefore I will also show myself to my neighbor by love, that I may be kind and helpful to him, and where he is infirm, or has too much to do, bear it with patience and gentleness. You must not lay down your life and limb for him, as Christ did for you, but I only command," he says, "that you show the sign of faith by serving, helping and supporting your neighbor, by being faithful and loving. If you do this, you have done all that I require of you, and are now like me; but if you leave this standing, or do the contrary, you must not boast of me either, and your own deeds testify against you that you are not the right fruitful branches in me, but rotten cut wood.
143. For it is not that he should have left his body and blood for thee, and should have turned all that he hath unto thee, and should have borne and suffered all thy sins and infirmities that are yet in thee, and thou wouldest not have done so much again for his sake, as to let thy neighbor off a farthing, or to forbear an evil word; I will not let you steal and rob him, and overcharge him with usury, and overcharge him with usury, and deceive him in buying and cheating him with false goods, and in sum, prove all the evil things and deceitfulness, as almost everyone does now, and no one takes no conscience about it.
Therefore, let each one go home into his heart and examine himself to see how he stands, and do not rely on such thoughts: I am baptized and called a Christian, have heard God's word, and go to the sacrament. For here he himself separates false Christians from the righteous Christians, as if he were to say, "If you are true believers in me and have my treasure, it will be all right.
If not, do not think that I will recognize and accept you as my disciples, and you will have deceived and defrauded no one but yourselves, to eternal mockery and harm; the gospel and Christ will remain undeceived and undeceived 1).
145 He has to admonish this and must always be enforced in Christianity, because we see how there are always many of these among us. For he does not want to have or know any false Christians, as he testifies in Matth. 7, 23, where he passes a terrible judgment on them, 2) and says that he will say to them in that day: "Depart from me, all you 3) evildoers, I have never known you." For if such false men were even more heathen and unchristian, they would not do harm to Christendom with a grievous example, disgracing and blaspheming the holy name of Christ and his word.
V. 13. 14. No one has greater love than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
He makes it out of measure kindly and sweetly with words, that he speaks this commandment into their hearts, which he leaves for them last, and sets an example, that they should see how he has loved them and what he has done for them. That is a great, mighty love, if a man in his need gave another a hundred or a thousand florins, or paid all his debts for him; but how great would it be if a king or prince gave a poor beggar a county or principality, even his own kingdom or land and people? Then all the world would sing and say of unheard-of love. Now all this is small compared to the fact that Christ gives his body and life for you, which is of course the highest love that a man can show to another on earth, because to serve with money and goods, even with the body, is also to love. But there is no one who would not rather give away his money and possessions, even his country and people, because
1) Wittenberger: deceived - "-betrogen", that is: unbetrogen.
2) Erlanger: stellet.
3) "their" is missing in the Jena.
that he should die for another; and even if he did, it would still be nothing compared to the Son of God lowering himself from heaven and taking your place, and willingly shedding his blood and dying for you, who were his enemy and a condemned man. This is love, which is far greater and higher than heaven and earth, and all that can be called.
What can you or will you do to him, even if you give your life and limb for your neighbor? What is that against his life and limb? Although he does not demand so much of you, unless it comes to the greatest need, that you could or should save him from death by your death. But he demands only that you show yourself to your neighbor in your life, so that your love can be felt and noticed. I would like that," he says, "and I would have enough of it if you would show loyalty and respect, friendship, service and help to one another, as you are all under one head and members of one body, and not create divisions and split up love among yourselves. This is my commandment altogether, as I interpret and require of you, for so great and unspeakable a love; if ye would otherwise, that ye should be known and taken for my disciples. For whoever will not do this, let him know that he is not a Christian, though he may go under the name of Christianity; for faith is certainly not there, where not love but contradiction is shown and solved. And though the works of love do not justify and save, yet they are to follow as the fruits and emblems of faith.
Therefore he says: You are my friends, if you do what I command you. As if to say, "Because I have made you friends and have shown you all my love, I in turn demand of you that you love one another as friends. For though it be true that we are made friends by his blood alone, yet this must be and follow, that such things may be manifested among Christians one toward another, or friendship may become
1) "Glieder" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
be false and nothing. For these are not called friends, since one proves not love to the other, but hatred, envy, or wicked malice. If then, says he, you are truly my friends, you will do what I tell you to do.
Now this is a sweet, sweet word, that he calls them his friends. For he would gladly provoke us to look upon his love, as he has made his Father a friend to us, and has shown himself a friend to us above all friends; only that we, who are all his friends, may also live kindly among ourselves. And this is a fine and easy commandment, put in the easiest and kindest way. For he does not give them, he says, as servants who must be held and driven to obedience by compulsion and force, but admonishes them as friends, that they should do this for his love as their friend. And in Himself is the easiest and sweetest work, which otherwise we ourselves should willingly do without all commandments, as He died for them not out of necessity, but willingly and gladly. Therefore he will say, I lay no heavy burden or weight upon you, much sacrifice or worship, or any other thing 2) to which great cost or toil and labor 3) belongs. The gospel, baptism and sacrament I have laid 4) upon you. This is not a commandment, but your treasure, which I have given you freely, and compel no one to receive it, as Moses did, with coercion and punishment, but let everyone choose who will gladly accept it. You are not commanded to do it for God's sake, but for your own benefit, that you may obtain your blessedness there, if you wish to be blessed in some other way. But now, because ye have all received the treasure which ye ought to have, do but this one thing, that ye keep yourselves together through love. For as Adam in paradise was charged with one prohibition, that he should not eat of one tree, when all other trees were lawful for him: so I give you but one commandment, and absolve you from as many grievous commandments, and as many strange works as Moses laid, or else might be laid. But that be
2) "Thing" is missing in the Erlanger.
3) "and work" is missing in the Jena.
4) Erlanger: not you.
5) Wittenberger: Holiness.
I require of you that you love 1) one another; as indeed you owe without this, because you are at the same time my disciples, and enjoy the same common good from me.
(150) This may be called 2) a friendly commandment, that the Lord, who has left body and soul for us and has done everything for us, does not demand anything in return that we should give or do to him, as if we had to do it for his sake, but only for our own benefit. From him we have everything for nothing, that we may do nothing more without helping ourselves among ourselves.
(151) How heavy a reckoning will we have to give for this, when he himself will reproach us: I have laid no commandment upon you against me, but have commanded you among yourselves, or against yourselves only, that ye should love one another, and think kindly of one another, and serve one another with faithfulness, all to your profit, that ye may have the best of it. And yet you did not want to suffer such a commandment, which I gave you myself for your benefit and piety, for the treasure I gave you and left you. If I had commanded you to fast and lie on the ground every day, you would have said it was too hard and too much for you, even though you would owe it to me if I demanded it, and it would be even less than the love and kindness I have shown you. But now I mean nothing to you, except that you love one another as I have loved you, which is natural, and you should do it without being asked. For it is in nature that everyone must confess himself that he would like everyone to show him love and faithfulness, and to help him; and therefore we are mingled together by God, that we should dwell with one another, and one should serve and help the other. God is not allowed to be anywhere, nor do we give it for His sake, but we are allowed to do it heartily.
Now we should run to the end of the world, that we might be relieved of our burdens and burdens, and come to such an easy service or commandment. How we have toiled and labored until now under the papacy, and have given and done everything that we might only serve God.
1) Wittenberger: from you.
2) Erlanger: yes.
serve. What a hellish torture the secret confession alone has been? that I keep silent about the others. How gladly one would have given money upon money, so that we would be rid of the same affliction, or that it would ever be alleviated. But now that it has happened, no one gives thanks. Yes, it would be easy to forget giving thanks, if it were not for the abuse of such freedom, and if people did not become more angry because of it than they were before. For we do just as our first father, Adam, did in paradise. If God had painted and forbidden him many trees, he would have complained that it was difficult and dangerous, and would easily have taken offense at so many forbidden trees; but now he does not give him more than the one tree, and leaves the others all free, nor does he like any of them, and they are disgusting to him, and he only wants to eat from the forbidden tree [Gen. 2:17].
Such a sorrowful plague has also befallen us. Since all the commandments have been taken away from us, and we have been freed from the innumerable burdens under the papacy, and have only this one commandment, that we should love our neighbor, we do not want to eat from the forbidden tree alone, and do not want to keep this one commandment, regardless of the fact that we have received so much from him, his blood, body and life, and this freedom from all the laws of Moses and others, and only become more angry and strive against love more fiercely than ever before.
This will also put an end to the game. For He will not suffer not only such ingratitude, but also the arrogant will that He should not charge us so much for such unspeakable good deeds, that we should only keep this one commandment, which should only be a sign and testimony that we live as Christians. If God were to give us all His grace, Christ His Son, and say: You shall do nothing everywhere without what you desire, and leave all willfulness and selfishness free, who would call Him so? We must have at least one sign, that we may confess,
3) Wittenberger: von unserm treuen Heiland.
4) Erlanger: Shall he us.
That we may have such benefits from him, and be free from all that we were before weighed down, and also do something to him in gratitude, especially because we ourselves have good need of one another, that one may serve and help another through love.
(155) Therefore he says, "You are my friends, if you do what I command you. Before you were enemies, but because of this you are friends, that I consider you friends; not because you do me much good, as the world is called friends, but to whom I do vain good. For such friends I die, who never did me no good, only that I loved them and made them friends. Summa, you have not made yourselves friends to me, but through me you have become so, from enemies, who by nature were friends of the devil. So now you shall be and remain my friends, if you alone keep this my one commandment, for my love, and for your own good. I have given you my life and limb, and you are my dear friends, redeemed and bought by my blood, and you shall have everything through me, be rich and free nobles 1); only do it so that you remain in friendship and do not become enemies again, nor live so that no one can say that you are friends.
(156) So he clearly testifies (2) that even though we are Christians and baptized, and are his friends, he wants us to be grateful for such friendship, and to prove it by love. For by this it must be known whether you have the treasure with you, and keep the friendship with you, as by an outward sign and confession. Which, if it be not, is a testimony against thee, that thou hast not rightly believed, nor received friendship, but hast suffered all to be lost in thee, which Christ hath addressed unto thee.
157 For, as has often been said, even if love does not make friends and make one blessed, it must be followed by such a sign of friendship, or of the received treasure of righteousness and innocence. Just as Adam, when he kept the commandment, was not innocent, but before the commandment he was created pure and without sin by God, both in body and soul, and
1) In the old editions: Junckherrn.
2) Wittenberger and Erlanger: shows.
was not allowed to earn it by obeying the commandment. To such a holy, pious man, who already had what he was supposed to have and was what he was supposed to be, God gave this commandment as a sign to prove that he was obedient to God. By nature he was pious, because he was created that way. Just as when we are born, a light must not be lit for us to get eyes that see, but is already there by nature. So he did not need 3) to become holier or more perfect (because he already was) and yet receive the commandment, that 3) he prove and practice his obedience and godliness. Then the devil came and brought him into disobedience, 4) corrupted his beautiful pious soul and pure body. Then it was already wrong, and vain disobedience; yes, fallen so low, that he also fears God, can not stand him, where he sees and hears him, which he did not do before.
So we are all through him, that by nature we no longer know God, our reason is blinded, our will is turned away. But now through Christ we are born again and purified, without all our works or law, just as Adam was created pure in the first place. But just as the commandment to obey was laid upon him, who was thus created pure 5), so also this is laid upon us, that we may confess our obedience.
But as he kept it, so keep it still, alas! And as he fell from the commandment of his creation, and thus lost his innocence, and turned away from God, so it is with those who let themselves be torn from the obedience of this commandment, fall again from the new birth, until they are also blinded and hardened, so that they no longer want to hear nor suffer what is preached, admonished and punished, and become evil devils; or, where it is otherwise, desperate people who despair of God and His grace, like Cain and Judas the Apostle.
V. 15. I do not say henceforth that you are servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing.
3) Wittenberger: da.
4) Erlanger: and.
5) Thus the Wittenbergers. Jenaer and Erlanger: "born".
6) Wittenberger: of his pure creation.
do. But to you I have said that you are friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
160 He drives the word "friend" and puts "servant" and "friend" against each other. I do not call you servants (as you were before, and all the Jewish people were under the law before Christ was known), for the servant does not know what his master has in mind, or what he wants to do with him, and has no part nor fellowship with him in his goods, but takes only his hired wages, which he may give him every hour, and so let it run. You are not such, but the Jews and false saints, who serve me for the sake of pleasure, and not from the heart out of love, but you are my friends. For I have revealed and given you all that I have received from my Father.
161 Then you will hear whom he calls his friends, and from what causes, namely, those who received good things from him. For this is his way of speaking, just as in the Gospel of Luke 10:36, 37 it is said of the wounded man who had fallen among the murderers, that he was his neighbor who had shown him mercy. We turn it around and call them "friends" who do good to another; but he is talking about how we come to be called his friends in the sight of God, namely, that we receive good things from him. For we have not given him anything beforehand, nor have we earned anything for him to become our friend; as he will now say, "You have not chosen me," etc. but he has begun it, and taken us from enemies to friends and made us friends, so that we must thank him and confess that it is only due to his grace and goodness that we are friends.
These are also beautiful, comforting words, as we also heard in the previous chapter, that he says: "You should rejoice that you have a treasure given to you, which is not given to any servant, that I reveal to you everything I have heard from my Father. This must truly be a friend who tells another everything he knows and reveals, trusts and gives all his secrets. I show this mightily by the fact that I have
you both, all my heart, and also of the Father.
This is to serve against the despondent, stupid consciences, which struggle with the thoughts of how God is against them, and fear, since it is not to be feared. Such thoughts he wants to uproot purely with this. As if he should say: If you want to know what the Father's will and thoughts are in heaven, you have it all here, because I have told you everything. Therefore, a Christian can also 1) certainly conclude: I know (praise God) everything that God wills and has in his heart, and nothing is hidden from me, namely, that which serves me for salvation. For he does not speak that we should know everything, how many pebbles there are in the sea, or stars in the sky, but everything that God thinks about us, and all his heart towards us.
Therefore, if you want to know what God in heaven thinks of you, and whether He is gracious to you, you must not run into corners, nor seek it in your thoughts or works, but only do everything from the heart, 2) and only hear what this Christ says, for everything is revealed in Him. Now therefore he says: I am therefore sent unto thee of the Father, to shed my blood for thee, and to die etc. and for this thou hast baptism and sacrament as a sign, and I command thee to believe these things. There you have all that I know and have heard from the Father. Therefore you may safely conclude that the Father thinks nothing else, nor has anything else in mind for you, except that if you have Christ and believe, you shall be blessed. Therefore you see how I love you, and what friendship and glory, joy, comfort and security you have from me, which you can neither obtain nor have anywhere else, neither in heaven nor on earth. For no teacher, no prophet, no Moses could do this, nor could any monk or other spirits (who aspired to it and wanted to go to heaven with their thoughts, or especially sought secret revelation from God) attain it. But here it is certain, through God's
1) "also" is missing in the Jena.
2) The Jena one has as marginal gloss: "This little word 'gethan' is not in the old copy."
3) Wittenberger: and.
The Son himself brought from heaven, who heard all things from the Father himself, and declared to us that we should have no doubt, but be sure, because we have been baptized into him, and have heard his word, and have believed, that there is no other thought of the Father in heaven, but that we should all have his grace and eternal life. This is the judgment decreed in heaven, which no creature, devil, or calamity shall turn away or abolish.
V. 16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and have appointed you to go and bring forth fruit, and to suffer your fruit; that if ye shall ask the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Then he himself explains how he wants to have understood that he said: "I do not call you servants from now on, but my friends" etc. This friendship (he says), that I call you my friends, you have not from yourselves, but from the fact that I have chosen you as friends beforehand, through my suffering and death, and recognize you as my friends: therefore you must not boast as if you had earned it for me, and were well worth it. Summa, by my choosing and accepting you are called friends, who otherwise would be of no other kind than vain enemies, who would know nothing either of me or of God; but now you are friends, 1) solely because I have loved you so much and meant so faithfully that I have redeemed you and placed you in eternal life. And by this also you shall remain friends, and enjoy my friendship forever; only that you thus prove that I have not meant you thus in vain. So he repeats and indicates what this friendship is; for in the world it is not so, but there one calls another his friend, for which he provides good, and waits to receive good from him; not he who earns nothing, can give nothing, help, or do good. Here, however, these 2) friends are called those who have never done him any good, indeed, have never recognized him, but the poor, miserable sinners, indeed, God's enemies, whose sins and death he takes upon his neck etc.
1) Wittenbergers: but now you are friends.
2) Wittenbergers: the.
166] Thus is purely cut off and condemned all the presumption of the false saints against God, that they want to do and earn so much as to propitiate God and make him their friend. 3) For what do such do but seek election, and want to be first? that their merit may come first, and His grace come rolling after; and that it is not He who chooses us, but we seek Him, and want to make ourselves friends, that we may boast that He has received good things from us. So do all the world, Jewish, Turkish, and Papal saints, who presume to merit God's grace by their works. But it is said, "Ye have not chosen me," etc., that is, ye are my friends, not for your sake, but for mine. For if you were for your own sake, I would have to consider your merit. But now you are mine and mine alone; for 4) I draw you to myself, and give you 5) all that I have, that your glory may be nothing else, but of my grace and love, against your works and the works of all the world. For I did not let you find me, but I had to seek you out and bring you to myself, when you were far from the knowledge of God [Eph. 2:11, 12, 13] and were lying in error and condemnation like the others. But now I am come, and have called you out of darkness, before ye asked it, or did any thing for it; ye are my friends, so that ye receive good things of me, and know that ye have all things freely, and of pure mercy.
Let the monks and all the world go and boast of their merit, and choose as long as they will, and you will hear him say, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," and he does not want to be chosen by you; and all Scripture condemns and condemns such our choosing (before and without God's command). As the Jews also did, who set up their worship, chosen and set apart by themselves above all others that God had ordained and set, and wrote on it the title, This is the chosen worship; here let us
3) Wittenberger: want to make.
4) Erlanger: the.
5) "you" is missing in the Erlanger.
562 Erl. "s, 511-S1S. Interpretations on John the Evangelist. W. VIII, 4IS-4IS. 563
To find God, to make atonement, and to obtain mercy. Thus they did in all things against God, that they would always lay the first stone, and choose what he should please him; so they offered so much incense and sacrifice in all places and on the mountains, where there was a green forest, or some other pleasant place, and boasted that they had found the right God there, and that he should be gracious to them. Oh, how the dear prophets were divided with the people over this shameful vice!
168. as Isa. 66, 3: "This is what they have chosen in their ways, and their soul delights in their abominations"; and Isa. 1, 29: "You must be ashamed of what you delight in and choose"; and Cap. 66, 3. He says: "I am warned whoever does such a chosen sacrifice or service, as he who sacrifices a sow's blood; whoever sacrifices a sheep, as he who breaks a dog's neck; whoever slaughters an ox, as he who murders a man. 2c, that such self-chosen holiness is nothing else before him than vain murder and blasphemy or denial of God; for he does not want badly that we should pre-mark and choose what shall please him. As we monks have chosen until now, how we wanted to find God to be gracious to us: "Oh, if I go to a monastery, I thought, and serve God in cap and plate, he will reward me and welcome me. Thus the whole papacy is thoroughly disobedient and hostile to God; for they are so furious and mad that they do not want to approach him, if he seeks them and chooses them by his word, and offers them all his grace and friendship through his Son's suffering and death, but despises everything and rejects it, wanting to have the glory and preference that he should live by our grace and do according to our choice.
Now this has been the struggle in the world from the beginning, and will probably remain until the end. For Cain also wanted to choose God as he wanted him, so that he would look upon his work and sacrifice and not his brother. The world has always followed this until this very hour, and it cannot be resisted; it cannot do otherwise than to turn back this sentence, and with
He will say: I do not want to be chosen by God, but I want to choose him first. So he cannot and will not suffer it, and also turns it around: You cannot and shall not choose me, but I must choose you. It shall not be as you think, but as I will; I will be your Lord and Master, and not be mastered by you.
For this reason he has everywhere in Scripture condemned and rejected such choice without and against his commandment. And St. Paul is also very hostile to vice, as he says Col. 2, 18: "Let no man shift his aim, who walketh after his own choice in humility and spirituality"; item v. 23: "Which have a semblance of truth, through self-selected spirituality and humility" etc. Thus he 1) described future monasticism, that they would bring up vain self-chosen worship, and thus embellish and adorn it: I mean well, and do it for the love and honor of God, therefore it will please Him and be gracious to me. Yes, to such he is twice more gentle than to others. For he himself will begin to tell us what it is to serve him; just as he himself called the Jewish people out of Egypt and gave them the Ten Commandments, what they should do and not do, so that they should not invent or paint for themselves how they should serve him.
Therefore he speaks here: Take away all glory from me, as if you had chosen me, but cling to me, so that you first let me choose you, and hear what I say to you, so that not you but I may have the glory that I have earned it for you by my blood and death. So he put on them the humility that Christians must have, because they have the high honor and glorious glory of being called friends of Christ and God; that they nevertheless know and do not forget from whence they are friends, and remain in the confession that they did not earn or acquire such things, but that they were given to them by the pure grace of the Lord Christ. Such a friend should be held dear and in high esteem, who neither takes nor demands anything from us, but only gives and gives to us.
1) Erlanger: the.
The world usually likes to do well and not like to give; why don't they do it here? On earth we gladly accept it from everyone, no one can do too much for us; but because he wants to give us everything good from heaven, we do not want to accept it. Here we want to turn it around and do good to the poor man, our Lord God, from whom we are to receive it; there we build, donate and sacrifice with heaps, give and do what we should give and do, so that we may only boast about our service to God. But again, when we should give and do good, namely, to the neighbor who needs our help, we will and can neither give nor do anything. Summa, from him we will take nothing; to others we will give nothing: this is ever a shameful, grievous plague of the devil, brought upon the human race, who perverts and corrupts all that is valid, right and godly.
Therefore, because the world is such a little fruit, a Christian should learn to turn it around against the world, that is, to receive from above all that he should have for salvation, and then to give it out again from below to his neighbor. For we have enough good from him, both eternally and temporally, that we can easily help our neighbor; but this is the complaint that, unfortunately, little is done about it; and the more one preaches, the worse the world becomes, lives and acts as if one wanted to be evil in defiance of God. Every day it continues to tear itself apart with all kinds of wild, furious life, so that no regiment, discipline, fear or timidity remains. Well, God always lets shout and preach; but even if the apple is ripe, it must fall. And indeed the punishment and plague has already begun; and where it will not be otherwise, we Christians may send ourselves to suffer with them. But we, who have believed the word and preached it to the world, shall suffer no harm; but let them see where they are, for they have no cause to complain that it was not told them.
He continues: "And I have set you to go and bring forth much fruit" etc. Then he repeats what he said above [v. 14]: "You are my friends", that is, the people chosen by me, and
receive all good things from me 1) etc. But it does not mean that you should do nothing at all, or live as you please. It is true that you should do nothing, that you may receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life for yourselves; you have all these things through me. But because you have it, you should nevertheless show it outwardly and bear witness to it by loving your neighbor, so that your life may be a sign that you believe in me. If you do this, your friendship is right and well established, so that I have not shed my blood for you in vain; if not, know that you have not received my blood and my good deeds rightly.
For I have chosen you for this purpose, and have appointed all these things for you, that ye should bring forth much fruit, and so live that it may be seen that ye are my disciples indeed. You must not do it to redeem sin, for that is too high for you, and belongs only to my election and friendship; but you must do it, first, so that God may be honored and praised by it, and show your obedience; then, for the benefit and correction of your neighbor, so that it may be seen that you believe rightly and belong to Christ. This will be done from the fruits they produce, so that you will be seen to be a kind, charitable, patient person who does no harm or damage to anyone.
176 This is what it means: "That you go and bear much fruit. You must not go to Rome or Jerusalem, but to your neighbor, so that you do not sit quietly without fruit and work, but show yourselves publicly, so that other people may enjoy you and also come to you through your preaching, confession, service and help; for in this way it can be seen that your faith is right. For where there is no faith, one will certainly not dare, do, or suffer anything for the sake of the gospel; but where there is such a man, who for the sake of Christ dares to give life, goods, and honor, and would gladly bring everyone to it, and faithfully serves his neighbor, and acts like and brotherly with him, this is a sure sign that he is a true believing Christian.
177 For the fruits are manifest enough that one may well know and experience what is of the
1) Wittenberger: empfahen.
Spirit or flesh are works, as St. Paul says Gal. 5, 19. 20. 21: "Obvious are the works of the flesh" etc. It is not secret, and does not require a high intellect, but enough in the day that it can be seen and grasped. For the works of love, item, confessing and preaching, cannot be hidden like faith between God and us alone, but go out among the people, so that everyone must see and hear, and say: He has done this and that or suffered for the sake of the gospel etc. Such fruits, he says, you shall bring forth more and more, by which it may be known that I have chosen you, and such fruits that remain, or are eternal fruits, so that even in that life they will be praised by God and shine with all honor.
178 Behold now the great glory which Christians have through Christ: First, that he hath called and chosen them by his word, that they should be his dear branches, and have all that he hath purchased, victory and dominion over sin, death, and the power of the devil. Secondly, that we also should be his servants, and help to spread his kingdom, creating and doing much good; which he calls bringing forth much fruit, and such fruit as shall remain forever, and stand before God, though it be contested of the devil, and blasphemed and persecuted of the world. Thirdly, he adds one more thing, saying: "If you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. This also is a piece, yea, the power and consequence of his election. For we have grace in Christ, not only to become friends of God through him, and to come over to the Father, but also to be chosen to ask of him what we need, and to be sure that it will be given to us.
For since it is because of both the devil, the world, and our own flesh that we must in all things suffer temptation, opposition, and hindrance, and that there always remains much weakness and infirmity, both in ourselves and in others, that things do not work out as they should, we need to call for strength, help, and salvation in everything that befalls and presses us, as the Lord's Prayer, which Christ taught us to pray, sufficiently shows us. And
have the consolation that our prayer shall not be in vain, but is acceptable to God, will surely be heard and given what we are to have, if we pray in faith alone from the name of Christ. And so we are consecrated by Him to the priestly office, that we may and should joyfully come before God, and bear both our and other people's distress before Him, and according to His promise certainly wait that what we ask shall be heard and yes, as we shall hear further in the following chapter on prayer.
I command you to love one another. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.
180 Then he repeats and concludes the word and commandment which he has held out to them, by which Christianity must keep to one another, where it should remain, and which is the sign by which one recognizes which are true believers or Christians. For he insists that he has seen how many false Christians there would be who boast of faith with fine words and great appearances, and yet there would be nothing behind them. For, just as the holy name of God, which is the most noble name of all, and yet is most profaned and misused for all falsehood and wickedness; item, as the name of Christianity or the church, and everything that is holy, is misused and falsely led: so also the name, faith and love and good works must be used for false appearances and disgraceful coverings. For the devil does not want to be as black as he is painted, but therefore shine in the beautiful dress, God's word, Christian church, faith, love etc.
181 Therefore he teaches us that it is not enough to boast much about faith and Christ, but that we must look at the fruits. For where these do not appear, or where the contradiction appears, it is certain that Christ is not there, but nothing but a mere false name. Therefore one must say to such: "I hear the beautiful, glorious name, which is noble and worthy of all honor; but who are you? Just as the possessed man, Apost. 19, 15, to the conjurers, who call the name of Jesus, the
St. 1) Paul preached, led, said, "JEsum I know well, and Paulum I know well; but who are ye?"
(182) Yes (you say), does faith make you righteous and blessed without works? Yes, that is true. But where is it, or where does it remain? Where does it prove itself? For it must not be such a rotten, useless, deaf or dead thing, but a living, fruitful tree, bursting forth with fruit. Therefore this is the difference and proba between righteous faith and 2) false or colored faith, that where faith is true, it also proves itself with life; but the false one has the same name, word and fame, but nothing follows after it.
183 Not only does he urge the exhortation or commandment, but he also comforts them with it, and carries it out into the whole world. This commandment, that ye love one another, saith he, I repeat therefore: For ye, my apostles and disciples, shall find it so, even among yourselves, that men shall be at enmity with you, and ye shall wonder, saying, If I thought that there should be love and concord among us, as our gospel teacheth; whence then cometh this separation, dissension, hatred, and enmity? Therefore I tell you these things, that ye may know them beforehand, and be ready for them; if ye would be my disciples, consider them, and give yourselves up well, that nothing else may come of them; ye must be cast down, and be stuck (because ye are here), that the world will hate you. Therefore see that you hold on to each other the more firmly through love, and do not let yourselves be deterred or torn away from me, even though you lose the favor and grace of the world, and have to let go of many friends for my sake. etc.
And here, see how he paints the world, and gives a clear definition of what the world is. We cry out and complain about popes, bishops, tyrants, yes, even burghers and peasants, that they are hostile to us; but what is the cause, or what have we done to them? What does a poor pious village priest do to his peasants or squires? Why are they all so murderously hostile to us? Because
1) "St." is missing in the Erlanger.
2) Erlanger: "or". The following "or" is missing.
It is reasonable to wonder, because they are not hostile to us for this reason, nor do they blame us for being adulterers, robbers, murderers or bad boys, which otherwise the world is full of. But this is the cause (he says) that ye love me, and preach of me. What have I done to deserve (that I might also boast a little) that the pope and his mob should be hostile to me, and gladly chase me out into the world, except only that I preach Christ? 3) Why don't I keep quiet, or preach, as before, about indulgences, pilgrimage, saints' service, purgatory, mass market, so I could also keep favor and friendship? But because we want to preach the gospel and Christ, if you want to (says the devil), I will also salt your soup and prepare it so that it will not taste good to you.
185. When the pope ruled through the whole of Christendom, there was truly a fine regiment for the world, his preachers were held in honor, and all the monks and priests could throw enough at them; the peasants, burghers and nobility had to suffer from them that they slept with their wives and daughters, and called them worthy, dear lords, and set them above them at their tables; And yet there was not one who said anything about Christ and the right consolation of consciences; indeed, it was almost a disgrace to mention the name of Jesus on the sermon platform (except in the Passion or in the text of the Gospel); otherwise nothing but vain Aristotle and saintly legends were heard. Then the world was at peace, no psaff was chased away, but they were held in all honor; no layman was allowed to touch a hair of their head, or all people had to let banishment and interdict pass over them. But now, when Christ is preached, I will awaken (thought the devil) all bishops, princes and lords, even your own church, so that they will be more hostile to you than any man on earth. And go thus, as the world should do. For who would not be hostile to him who calls bread a 4) roll and his mother a dear woman? This is a great sin. But it is much greater for a man to be such a blasphemous man, and for Jesus to be a blasphemer.
3) Wittenberger: preached.
4) Wittenberger: dear Brod.
Christ may be called our Lord; the 1) is no longer to be suffered, but must be punished and redeemed with sword, rope, fire and powder.
186 Therefore we should not be surprised if all the world is hostile to us when we preach Christ, for we deserve it. For do you not hear that the world does not want to see or hear him, and is deadly hostile to all who speak of him? Why do we not keep silent, or preach the devil's stink and lies, or ravish their wives and children? If only they would leave us in peace, give us money and goods, and let them toil and be toiled for as far as they could go. 2) But now they are a just enemy to us, that we put our sweat, body and life into it, so that we may help them to heaven. This shall be the thanks and reward which we shall earn from them, for we also want to have it so. Behold, this is the world of kind and nature; such a pious, tender fruit that it will not suffer, nor can it suffer, that one should do it good and help it, especially if one tells it about this Savior Christ. Christians must know and get used to this. For it also does well in worldly rule; just as the heathen have complained greatly about the world's unfaithfulness and ingratitude, they have also raged and raged with impatience and vengeance.
The Greeks wrote of a citizen of Athens named Timon, who had served the city and helped it with his body and goods, so that he was impoverished. Now that he had nothing left, they no longer regarded him, but mocked him and did him all sorts of mischief. Then he became impatient and began to curse and rage: Now the wretched devil is serving the people; if I saw one of them fall into the fire and could pull him out, I would throw ointment, even oil and pitch, so that it would burn. And out of such impatience I became such an inhuman and senseless head that no one could perish with him. So does flesh and blood, if it is for the 4)
1) Wittenberger: this sin.
2) "Ridge" - backbone. In the old editions both spellings occur: "ridge" and "degree"; here "degree".
3) Erlanger: "but" instead of: have.
4) "the" is missing in the Erlanger.
Love and good deeds shall be rewarded with ingratitude and enmity, for it is too painful and cannot be borne. There is no one so low, if he had taught his servant a trade, and had fed and clothed him himself, and he despised and mocked him for wages, who would not say, "I would have thrown my money into the Elbe for this, or buried it in the earth, and never have helped anyone.
This is what the devil does. When someone has served and helped people to the utmost, he incites them against him, so that they do not make friends with him again, and he only buys enemies for him, as Jesus Sirach says in chapter 29, v. 8, and has raised a snake in his bosom. Again, he does this to make people weary and discontented, so that because of such ingratitude and wickedness no one will do any good and no one will help, and such Timones become vain. This is where the saying comes from: The bread given to strange dogs and strange children is lost. This is what he seeks: "When he sees that you want to do good to your neighbor and invest your property well, I will make it salty and sour enough for you. So then nature cannot suffer it. So love and good deeds are stuffed, even in the very finest and highest people. For there are very few who can bear it, if they should do the best for countries and people, and receive nothing in return, but only shameful ingratitude, hatred and envy. This also made monks, who ran away from the people into the desert, that they could not see such wickedness nor suffer it.
Now, this happens in worldly matters, in cities and houses, among neighbors and friends; but much more and more difficult in spiritual matters, since a priest or pastor means his parishioners with all faithfulness, must watch over them and care for them, and bear so much that it hurts him body and life and heart; and shall gain nothing more by it, unless one is so hostile to no one as to him. Well then, what shall one do? If one should do and leave it for the sake of the world's evil, then one would never have to do any good. So also here; if one were to follow reason, one would have to say: "Well, if you do not want God's word, then God will give you the pope.
with all the plagues. If you do not want to hear the gospel, hear about indulgences and all other deceptions. If you do not want to be baptized, run to the monastery. If you do not want to do good to your neighbor, go and buy masses, and be deceived for money, body and soul, and have the infernal fire for it. No, not so; for this is what the devil seeks, that he may tear us from good, and make us like the wickedness of the world, that we may all become like devils among ourselves.
190 For this reason Christ teaches and admonishes us here, that we by no means become impatient, nor let ourselves overcome the wickedness of the world, but always continue, knowing that we must bear such hatred for his sake. As if to say, "If you were false preachers, they would carry you on their hands; but because you preach about me, the devil is so hostile to me and my name that he will set on you and hang on you all he can in the world, and you must have no grace or friendship. Well, that is still nothing for our person. For what shall we lament, we poor wretches, who deserve the wrath of the world not only through the preaching of Christ, but also for our own sins, if we had not deserved to be cast into the fires of hell. Therefore we are not wronged, whether the devil and all the world afflict us, but are justified on both sides, both because of our office (which is not ours, but Christ's) and because of our person. And so it is accounted to us, both on account of our sin, that we have well deserved and still deserve it for ourselves, and also on account of our office, because we want to preach and help the world. For they shall give their faithful servants no other reward than this.
191 But this is only the true abominable enmity (of which he says here: "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you"), that one is so bitterly and murderously hostile to the dear Savior and Lord Christ, the Son of God. And this is not only done by the common people of the 1) world, or the foreign Gentiles, but also by his dear people.
1) Erlanger: the.
and little brothers, his own blood and flesh, and even those who want to be called Christians and boast about him. Now he is innocent for his person, and has not deserved that something should happen to him; yes, the world is also not worthy of him, even if it would always carry him on its hands; in addition, he is not only holy and innocent for himself, but has also, through his ministry, sent so much to the world to save the poor people from sins and death with his precious blood, that they can pay him such love and grace with no thanks. They are so hostile to him that they cannot stop until they have crucified him and killed his Christians. Why did the Romans murder the holy martyrs so horribly, because they wanted to help them from all misfortune, the devil and hell through their preaching of Christ?
Who then can attain with words, or attain with thoughts, what the world is? What else can be said of it, but that it must be a heap of people, possessed with a hundred thousand devils, because it hates not only us poor sinners, though we serve it with life and limb in vain, but much more the Lord himself, who died for it and shed his blood to redeem it. What are we against him? For though we preach to her and do all good, we are not yet those who died for her, but preach and boast of Christ alone. For this reason it cannot be measured what a devilish thing this is, that one hates Christ and is an enemy, and yet we see it daily before our eyes. Otherwise no human heart would not believe it etc.
193 Therefore Christ did not command his apostles and preachers in vain when he sent them out to preach, Matth. 10, 14: "If anyone will not receive you or hear your word, come out of that place or city and shake off the dust from your feet. This 2) he undoubtedly spoke out of great anger, that they should not only not take a penny from them, but also not leave a spear on their shoes, which they would not accept.
574 Erl. 4S, SS4-SS7. Interpretations on John the Evangelist. W. VIII, 4SS-4LS. 575
not give them back. They are not worthy that he should have taken anything from them. And he adds an exceedingly terrible sentence in v. 15: "Verily I say unto you, that it shall be worse for the land of Sodoma and Gomorrah at the last judgment, than for that city. Is it not a very fair judgment that the good man should be offered all his grace and good deeds in vain and be brought to the door, and that he should be so blasphemously mocked, reviled and disgraced, and show all hatred and enmity?
194 Now this is said for the comfort of the apostles, and of all who preach Christ and help the world, that they neither wonder at it nor are angry because of it, but say in their hearts, as Christ says here, "If they had not hated Christ before, they would not hate me; but because they hate him who died for them, what wonder is it that they are hostile to me? What am I against this Lord? For it happens to me justly, as by two rights. First, that I deserve it for my person, as a sinner. Secondly, that I am a servant of the Lord, to whom the world is hostile. And because he himself must suffer such enmity, I shall fare no better. But neither shall the world be worthy that we should take a piece of it. And even if it despises it and scoffs at it, it will come to that one day, when it will be found what is to happen to both it and us. No one may give us an account for it, but on that day they will hear the verdict, which will be too heavy and unbearable for them.
Well, it is painted and shown horribly and terribly enough that the heart in the flesh would be horrified that the world should be so shamefully evil and full of diabolical hatred and bitterness against those who help it and do everything good, even in worldly matters. Now the devil should rule the world, if they deserve no thanks, if they protect and defend peace and justice, good and honor, but only gain enmity for it. If they had such lords, who only rumbled among them with strangles and all plagues, like the stork among the frogs, they would have to cower, 1) and be glad that they had peace;
1) In the old editions: tücken.
But where they have protection and all good things under pious lords and princes, they cannot suffer, but seek and think how they may be rid of them. But they deserve much more hatred and persecution, who help and serve the world in much greater things, namely, that it may be freed from sin, death and the devil's power and become blessed. Beat them purely to death, the sooner the better, because they are bad not to suffer. But if a bunch of Spaniards or Turks came, running through their houses, plundering and robbing, devastating and burning what they had, or false teachers and devil's fools, who led them straight to the devil and into all error, that is what they wanted, then they would have to say Deo gratias to it. 2) They would have to say Deo gratias. Therefore nothing is better for the world than the Pabst's and the Turk's regiment. For the Turk knows how to stir up both the proud peasants and the young men so that they become humble and obedient; so the pope knows how to plague the consciences and souls and to lead them into the devil's jaws. Such shall be sent to the world, as will happen to it again.
Therefore, let us beware lest we be found as members of the world. For there is nothing else but the devil himself with all hell, who will not listen to anyone telling her about God's grace, Christ's suffering and death, or about eternal life, but can suffer nothing except to be led to hell, and to have both heaven, body and goods taken from her. That means in German, people who are full of devils in the flesh. Therefore we must not be disdainful nor slothful, that they should be hostile to us, because we have ruled rightly and well, or have spoken the truth, that they may be saved etc. This is the world's thanks and reward, and we would be wronged if it were otherwise. Behold, what I have done (saith Christ), if for this cause I have cast away all men, that the world should not suffer me, no man should ever be unsaved: and if for the sake of many (that hate me) I should cease to preach, all the rest also should perish.
197 So let us also remember that we will not turn away from the wickedness of the world.
2) In the editions: had to. In the Wittenberg: "led, that they had to suffer and to it" etc.
Rather, we should continue to praise and honor God and our dear Lord Christ, and to resist the devil and his crowd, knowing that God wants to reward it abundantly, and that it should not go without fruit on earth, but should benefit some people. And even if it is lacking for this time, it should still come to pass one day, or even be undestroyed by God. A Christian should be such a man, who can freely throw his good deed into the rapus and lose it (just as God does). Nevertheless, he will find someone who will put it on, and who will love him for it. If you have a pious subject, citizen or parishioner, or two, 2) thank God. If a neighbor, a child or a servant is good for you, be content. If you get two or more of them, lift up your hands and consider it a great mercy. For you live here no differently than in the devil's murder pit, and as among vain dragons and serpents. Therefore see to it that you do not become like them, and also worldly, that is, full of devilish hatred and malice. For there must be one of two things: either people must become devils against you, or you must become a devil yourself. Now it is better that others are evil-doers and devils, but we remain followers of the Lord Christ and children of the heavenly Father.
V. 19. If you were of the world, the world would love you; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you from the world, therefore the world hates you.
He says all this to his own for comfort, so that they may learn to despise the world again with their envy and hatred, and what it may do to them. For since they neither want to nor can do otherwise than hate God and Christ their Savior, and for his sake also us, we must know this art against it, so that we may overcome their malice, which is no other than to despise their defiance and hope. For the more we would embrace such things and mourn for them, the more the world and the devil would prefer it.
1) Erlanger: "dem" instead of: unserm lieben.
2) Thus the Jenaer. In the original and in the Wittenberg, "or" appears; in the Erlangen, "or zween" is missing.
3) "will" is missing in the Wittenberger.
also. And if he could make us grieve and sorrow day and night that the world should rage and rage against the gospel, he would laugh in his fist and have his joy in it, and the world would only have it the longer the more, and think that it had only done well to make us weep and wail, and now everything would be won. But if we defiantly despise it, they will become angry, sad and displeased that they have such enemies, who will strike a cliff at them, and mock them in their teeth when they rage and rage the most, and must see that they are useless with their hatred and envy, and would burst with malice.
For the devil is a good, hopeful spirit, together with the world, his bride. Therefore he can suffer nothing so badly as to be despised and mocked; and where he feels this, and cannot turn, he lifts himself away. Otherwise he does not stop until he makes us despondent and weary; he presses and presses so long and hard that one would die of grief. But when he sees that we have staked it on enduring as much and as long as he can always do, with hating, angering and tormenting, and being of good cheer about it, and only continuing to defy him, then he gets tired first of all, because his pride is so high that he cannot suffer defiance and contempt.
200 Therefore, though it be a little grievous, yet we must cast ourselves about against the contempt of the world and of the devil, lest we die of sorrow before the hour come. Just as Christ did not die of fear, but was killed by force on the cross. So also we, when we see and feel the world's willfulness, wrath, and hatred, let us learn to resist it, saying, "What can you do more than this? Or, what is this new? Did you also do it to my Lord before, and yet you had to let him stay until now? This is the first cause, that he may comfort us, and provoke us to despise all the world's hope and ravings with proud faith, and instead leap and joyfully sing to God a psalm.
4) Wittenberger: "that" instead of: as.
lein 1) and Deo gratias, to the world's sorrow and vexation.
The other reason is that he says here, "I pronounce judgment on you, that you are not of the world. This is also a comforting word, because he has painted and described the world so horribly that nothing more terrible can be heard or thought by a Christian than that he should be counted among the same heap and be called "of the world. And again, let him take comfort and rejoice that he hears such a divine judgment, that he is not of the world, because he believes in Christ and confesses his word, and therefore suffers hatred and persecution from the world, that such hatred, and all that he suffers from the world, should be dear and valuable to him, as a sure sign that he does not belong among the same 2) condemned heap, but is cut off and saved in Christ. For if ye were of the world, (saith he,) the world would love its own, and would remain hated and unsought of it.
But here he speaks of the things concerning the gospel. For the world, praise God, has the virtue of hating, envying and persecuting one another; one prince another, one neighbor another, one trade another; but here they all agree, Pilate, Herod, Caiphas, Judas, and all the devils, who are otherwise enemies of one another, against Christ and his Christians. They are friends among themselves, like dogs and cats, but in the matter of Christ they all hate with one accord. Just as before this time, no monk, order, bishopric, prince or city was one with the other among the clergy. Now, however, they are all good friends and stand together faithfully against the gospel; they love, honor, and celebrate each other to the highest degree, only to dampen the teaching of the gospel.
Now, this text, as I said, is worth a hundred thousand florins, indeed, it cannot be paid for with any money, that it itself gives us the verdict that we are not of the world, and that this is the sign that it hates us. So have
1) Wittenberg and Erlanger: a psalm.
2) Wittenberg and Erlangen: den.
we not only have the example of our Lord that he, our Head and Savior, was hated by her before, but also the testimony in ourselves that we will also be hated hereafter for his sake. If we are hated for his sake, this is a great defiance and comfort, that we have already been chosen, judged, and declared as chosen by him and set apart from the world.
(204) Now we can happily and with truth boast that the whole papacy is not hostile to us for the sake of worldly things. For they cannot say (they want to lie publicly) that they are hostile to us and persecute us because of vice and immorality, but this is the hostility, that we do not believe as they want. Above faith, word and sacrament, everything is elevated. So we can also boast and defy: The gospel which we preach, the baptism and sacrament which we receive and give, are not ours, but the gospel of our Lord Christ. We did not invent it, nor did we make and establish it, but it was revealed to us by God, ordained and given to us through Christ, in whom we were baptized, called and believe; and for this reason we incur the hatred and enmity of the world, because we confess this, and want to bring consciences from error to Christ.
205 Therefore he accepts us, and brings it to himself, and so wants to comfort us: Well, my dear Christians, you do not suffer for your own sake, otherwise you would be tormented and punished like murderers and evildoers; no one can blame you for that, but only for my sake, that you are my disciples. But be content, for they also could not suffer me as long as I lived on earth. Therefore they also do not want to suffer you. But you have the comfort that you know that you are not of the world, but chosen by me. Therefore only be bold in faith, that you may say: Dear world, pope, bishops, princes etc., why are you hostile to me, what harm have I done you? Yes, you are a heretic, and have put down the spiritual orders, the indulgences, and the mass market, and have made our doctrine and commandments null and void; should one not be hostile to you? Answer: Yes, I wanted to, and so it is right. But now I have not done so,
but my Lord Christ and his word, which says that we are to be saved by faith in him, not by monasticism or other things, and has forbidden that no other 1) word or teaching (concerning our salvation) be heard or accepted. Whether this displeases the pope, or he is harmed by it, the indulgences fall, purgatory is extinguished etc., what can I do about it? Why did he build this on his lies (except, yes, against God's word, and yet under the same appearance and name)? I did not devise it from myself, nor preach it from myself, but I myself was just as deep in their doctrine of lies as the others, before Christ enlightened me by his Word and Spirit. We have done nothing but preach his gospel (as he commanded us) purely and clearly. If they have been harmed by this, and their thing has fallen, let it be their fault. Why do they not preach (as they should) God's word without their own deeds? But if they want to be hostile, let them fight it out with Christ.
This is the consolation, both of Christ's example and of our own experience and certain signs, that we should know that we are chosen from the world and belong to Christ, because we suffer for His sake; so that whoever hates us or causes us pain or suffering (as His members) must have done it to Himself. As he also comforts his own by the prophet Zachariam [Cap. 2, 8.]: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye." That is comforting and heartily spoken: He that toucheth but one, as the smallest limb (if he believe in me), shall not have touched a poor man, or struck him on the mouth, but my tender limb and noblest jewel, which is called the apple of God's eye, which feels the most, and can suffer the least. Therefore, be content, and let what you have to suffer go confidently; it shall not be called hurt to you, but to me, and I will avenge you and repay them. So also to Paul, when he was departed from Jeru-
1) "other" is missing in the Jena.
2) "euch" is missing in the Wittenberger.
salem 3) to Damascus to persecute the Christians [Acts 9:4], he does not say, Why do you persecute my Christians on earth? but, you persecute me yourself. Why is this? Because these things happened to them for Christ's name and word. Therefore he says that it affects himself, and is silent about his suffering Christians.
These are (I say) vain comforting words to strengthen our faith and to make us hopeful that we will despise the persecution and hatred of the world and sing a little song in defiance of its sadness, so that it will sink us. 4) The world is not persecuted by you, but by my Lord Christ. Dear world, you do not persecute me, but my Lord Christ. Because I know this, let only what you can do come here; here I stand in God's name, and let you be angry with all the devils from hell, in their name; you can persecute, chase away, yes, even kill me (if my Lord Christ wills), but you shall not take away my courage and defiance, nor bring it so far that you offend my heart. For because it is for Christ's sake, I will confidently dare him, and only sing and shout joyfully against the devil's raging. So he knows that he will lose his power, that he will not be able to cut and thrust his sword and spear as deeply as he would like. For he is not concerned that he should afflict us physically, but is such a spirit that thirsts without ceasing for our tears and drops of blood from the heart, that we should despair and pine away because of sadness; that would be his delight and joy. But he shall not go so far as this, but turning the page, we shall learn to mock both the devil and the world. So that we, not they, may have our joy and laughter in them, and so that they may lack the art of making us sad, angry and impatient, so that they themselves may be consumed with their hatred and anger, and see and suffer the burnt sorrow in us, so that we may be happy about it, and despise them when they want to cool their sorrows in us to the utmost.
So, in ancient times, the holy fairy-
3) Original: "of Damasco, the Christians of Jerusalem". Jenaer: "gen Damasco, the Christians of Jerusalem". Wittenberger: "gen Damasco, the Christians of Jerusalem". Erlanger: "from Jerusalem, the Christians at Damasco".
4) "to" is missing in the Wittenberger.
tprer, also the young maidens (as Agnes and Agatha) did, and the more their judges and tyrants raged with anger, the more defiant they were. Anastasia, a 1) noble citizen of Rome, when she was accused of having burned her father's idols, and the judge was very angry about it: "Yes (she said), I have honored them with honor; for since they were full of dust and covered with 2) cobwebs and other vermin, and the mice wanted to nest in them, I threw them into the fire, so that they would become finely clean. Item, further she spoke: How are you angry that I burn your gods? Let me deal with them; if they are gods, they will defend themselves against a poor woman. Behold, all these things flow from this consolation, which Christ gives us, if we suffer but for his sake: as he saith also Matt. 5:11, "Blessed are ye, if men shall revile you, and persecute you for my name's sake, and shall say all manner of evil against you, lying in it. Be glad and of good cheer, for it shall be well rewarded you in heaven." How could a preacher speak more kindly and comfortingly than he 3) has spoken to us here? Or, how could he make greater courage and defiance against the mighty devil and angry world, and all that is not Christian?
209 This is that he says: "Because I have chosen you from the world, the world hates you. I am he whom the world cannot bear, and am the cause of such hatred and persecution, and have therefore chosen you, that ye should not be of the world, that is, be in the accursed devil's hatred and envy wherein it is. Therefore, if it happens to you as it does to me, be ready to despise it and to defy me, and you will remain joyful and undaunted, and the world will be mad and foolish about it. So we are separated from it. For there shall never be peace nor harmony between the world and Christendom, any more than between Christ and the devil. There are indeed fine, clever, learned, wise, pious and honorable people in the world; but the wiser, more learned and more honorable they are, the more hostile they become to us. How to read both, and
1) Wittenbergers: the.
2) "von" iehlt in the Wittenberger and in the Jenaer. 3) Wittenberger: "he, the dear HErr".
Even now, many a fine, pious prince and honorable man is found to be poisonous to this doctrine of the Gospel and hostile to it beyond all measure. But let them be poor or rich, noble or ignoble. Pious or wicked, it is decided, if they do not accept the gospel, they are certainly enemies of Christ. On the other hand, we have the glorious, sure consolation that we are not among them. For we do not despise his gospel, but suffer for the faith and confession.
V. 20. Remember my word that I said to you. The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will also keep yours.
This is the third part, that he may comfort them by a similitude or example. It would have to be a shameful, cursed servant who would lie behind the stove and snore, or laugh and be of good cheer, if his master were in danger of his life and limb. 5) The servant should not be nobler or better than his master. The servant should not be nobler or better than his master; and a pious servant risks his life and limb with and for his master, saying, "Where my master abides, there will I abide also. Such a likeness Christ now points out to us, that we should not be disdainful nor slothful, 6) whether we suffer anything for his sake and with him in the world. I am your Lord (he wants to say), you are my servants and slaves; why do you want it better than I? It does not rhyme that the head wears a crown of thorns and the limbs sit on a soft cushion. He also says Luc. 6:40: "If a servant does as his master does, he will be perfect"; that is, he does right and as he should do, and is a true faithful servant who suffers good and evil from his master.
This is the likeness. Now he concludes: "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. He who strikes the master on the mouth will certainly not celebrate the servant; he who despises the woman will be in front of
4) "all" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Jena.
5) "Leib- und" is missing in the Wittenberg, "and" is missing in the original.
6) i.e., not to be annoyed or sorry.
Do not be afraid of the maidservant. Therefore, do not let it be strange or strange to you if you are despised and your word is not kept and condemned; for it is the same with me. Therefore let it be ordered to me, as it concerns the most, and only be bold and confident against it. Do not let the devil and the world be good enough for you to let a sigh or a gray hair grow for the sake of their throbbing and defiance; as I also, praise God, have never done, nor 1) want to do. For the sake of my sin, when it comes to my life, the devil may well frighten me and make me afraid; but when I see that it is a matter of this Christ, I do not ask about his terror and wrath anywhere. If he will devour me, let him devour him first; or if he devours me, let him give him a stench for a reward; in the matter of my Lord Christ he shall not grieve me, but only be mocked and most hopefully despised. For I know that [it] grieves him and his scales most of all, and can do them no greater mischief. For they want to be unnoticed, but feared with their violence and anger.
V. 21 But they will do all these things to you for my name's sake, because they do not know him who sent me.
This also is a comfort, as we have heard. The hatred so that they hate you will be lifted up, not because of evil works or sin, that you are scoundrels and thieves, murderers or adulterers, but only because you want to preach about me and say that I shed my blood and died for the world, and they cannot and must not be saved except through me. This will be the cause of all hatred and persecution in the world. And truly, a praiseworthy cause. The name of Christ from your mouth will be vain poison and death to them, and must be called devil's doctrine and heresy. Therefore, if you want peace in the world, only be silent from me; let them live and teach as they wish, deceiving and seducing themselves and everyone with their monasticism, indulgences, purgatory, masses, etc., and what is their own name and doings; then they will be the cause of all hatred in the world.
1) Wittenberger: "noch durch sein gnad".
which they leave you satisfied. But if you want 2) to teach against this, and otherwise, how they must be saved through me, and their thing helps nothing to this, then only consider that you must be hated and persecuted by it to the highest.
213. But that they do these things unto you, saith he, is all because, For they know not him that sent me. You must not be angry with them, nor seek revenge against them; they have already smelled too high, and have already passed their punishment, so that you cannot do them so much harm or wish them so much harm; they have it much worse on their necks. They are smitten with blindness and madness, yes, possessed by the devil, that they are mad and foolish; what more do you want to harm them? Let them rage and rage as they will; they have already begun their judgment, damnation and hell.
For what greater, more horrible punishment and plague is there on earth, than that which is called spiritual blindness or insanity; namely, when a man can no longer hear, nor will he suffer to be told how to be saved? How would I take greater revenge on the pope, bishops and tyrants today than to see with my own eyes how they are plagued by God, so that they become blind, mad and foolish? When God is justly angry and sends his severe punishment, he first closes the eyes of the people, so that they go blind from one pit to another, just as it happened to King Pharaoh in Egypt, until he drowned in the Red Sea; and then to the Jews in Christ and his apostles, until not one stone was left upon another in Jerusalem. Therefore they do so, both to me and to you, that they know neither me nor him that sent me.
Yes (they say), should we not know him whom we praise and confess that he is our God, who created heaven and earth, gives us all goods, land and people, wife and child? etc. So all the world on earth, Jews, Turks and the Pope also praises: "Shall we not know Him, the one, almighty God, whom we serve and honor? Yes, even more, we also believe (says the Pope's church)
2) "wollet" is missing in the original and in the Wittenberg.
in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and have baptism and sacrament and the holy scriptures, and are the heirs of the holy apostles etc. Should we then be so blind as not to know him? Of course not, he says. For why do they persecute and kill me whom God has sent? If they wanted to know the Father, they would have to receive me as sent by him, with all honor and joy, as their dear Lord and Savior. But now I come, and they go and crucify me, and become murderers over me. This is the honor they do me, and the thanks they give to God.
216. Therefore it is because of the word, "He who sent me. They say that they know and have the true God, as the Creator of heaven and earth, but it is a matter of some dispute that they should know him as the one who sent me; they do not know the sender. Now he wants to be known not only as the one who created heaven and earth, but in the clothing and form in which he preaches to us that he has sent his Son to redeem us. They do not want to know such a sender and messenger, nor do they want to hear him. And even though they say in words, "they know God" (says St. Paul Titus 1:16), they deny it in deed.
The Jews want to know God, who alone is the true God and Creator of all creatures, as the Scriptures testify; but that the God should be the one who sent this Jesus, they say no to, yes, the contradiction they say, not God, but the wicked devil sent him. Therefore, although they already know God as the Creator of heaven and earth, and yet not as the One who sent the Son to help the world from sin and death, He is not yet known. For in this form and shape alone he wants and must be known, if it is to be called otherwise blessedly known. But so they do not want to know him. For they have no need of God, as they think he will send his Son to them as Savior to redeem them and make them God's children, because they first boast of being God's children, so that they have the law and through it think they will be freed from sin and saved. Therefore
1) "to" is missing in the Wittenberger.
they cannot suffer Christ, but must beat him to death.
The papal crowd does the same. If we preach this article, that we must be saved by Christ alone; pilgrimage, monasticism, anglicized masses etc. will not do it; one must take hold of this mediator, sent by God, and learn to know the Father, almighty God and Creator, in this form (namely, in this his Son, sent to us as Savior and Redeemer), - No, they say, that is the devil talking to you: you are a heretic, sent by the devil; should our thing be nothing and in vain? Shouldn't a monk with his holy order and 'austere life deserve heaven? Should so many holy fathers have erred? etc.
. What else can be said here, but that they do not know him who sent Christ? For they know and understand not why and for what purpose he is sent, but look to their own righteousness, can by themselves make the way to heaven, and think nothing of faith. They go on from such blindness, condemning both God who sends and Christ who is sent, cursing and persecuting all who teach and confess such things. This means that they are struck with terrible, devilish blindness, that they do not know God, which they boast about even against the true Christians.
Therefore it must follow, Christ says, that they hate your teaching, just as they hate mine. Therefore, if you have my word, hold fast to me, for we are one with one another; only do not let them condemn you, knowing that they are blind and insane and do not know what they say or do. But you learn to know me as the one who was sent, and the Father who sent me, that through my suffering and blood I should reconcile you to God and save you from sins and death, without any merit or effort on your part. This is the true knowledge that only Christians have. All the others, even though they hear, read, sing and say about God forever, they never know Him. For they do not know what his opinion, counsel, will and heart are, namely, that he sent the Son so that we might be helped, John 3:16.
They know nothing about the doctrine of God the Almighty Creator (where they teach and live best). But of Him who sends His Son out of grace and mercy, they know nothing; indeed, they can neither hear nor suffer such teaching, wanting to settle it all before God by themselves and with their works, until they must perish and perish.
V. 22, 23, 24: If I had not come and told them, they would not have sinned. But now they have no excuse for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would have had no sin. But now they have seen it, and yet they hate both me and my Father.
221] Here all excuse and remedy is taken from them and cut off, so that they might plead that they have persecuted Christ and his word, and say: We did not know it; if we had known him, we would have gladly accepted him with all our heart and received him with all honors. No, he says, such an excuse of ignorance will not help them. For it is not hidden nor concealed from them, but said enough that they might and should know it. But now they are not only blind and ignorant, which could well be forgiven and corrected, but willfully remain blind and ignorant, and neither hear nor see, though it be laid before their ears and eyes. They have two things that will condemn them, word and deed. For it is plainly said unto them, that I am sent of the Father, both by John the Baptist, who therefore was sent before me, and by myself, who now 1) have preached into the fourth year, and have sent you apostles to preach, so that the word hath gone forth before all through all the earth, and is not hid, that they cannot deny it, let it be told them; wherefore the blame of the doctrine is not mine, neither is it my Father's. Secondly, they have also seen and heard such works as no one else has ever done.
1) "nun" is missing in the Wittenberg. The original offers: only.
as he himself says Matth. 11, 5: "The blind see, the lame walk, the dead rise" etc. These two testimonies stand against them with force. Because they do not know me nor want to know me, this is not my fault nor my father's fault, but their wickedness.
So now we may also say against our adversaries that they cannot claim that they did not know the teaching of the Gospel, for we have preached it to them, painted it, written it and sung it, and they have heard it and read it, and even written against it themselves, and they have also seen that God has done wonders enough for us against their plots and practices, at so many imperial congresses and elsewhere, that he has done enough for them. What more can he and his Christianity do, than to preach and confess freely in every way, and to suffer for it, and God does wonders for them; that their lives cannot be punished with truth, and their things are wonderfully preserved, and they are visibly helped, and the enemies are often beaten back in their attacks, and yet they do not respect all this. Therefore, such ignorance will not excuse them from God at all, but will rather accuse them, and their sin will weigh them down, yes, condemn them completely.
But that he thus says, "If I had not come, they would have had no sin," must not be understood to mean that they are therefore without sin; for he speaks here of a new sin, which goes against his word. Before they also sinned against Moses and the ten commandments; but now that Christ has come to take away such sin, they go on; and as they did not hear Moses before, so they will hear Christ much less. They did not want to obey Most, who told them from God what they should do and what they should not do, but resisted and sinned against him without ceasing: but now he comes, who does not interpret the law to them, nor does he threaten them with punishment, but wants to take away both punishment and sin, does not demand anything from them, but wants to give them, serve them and help them, they want and are able to suffer him much less.
But is this not the wretched devil in the world? If I had such a servant
590 Erl. 49, svs-svö. Interpretations on John the Evangelist. W. vin, "so-tsg. 591
In the house, I told him what he should and should not do, and he rebelled against it, and wanted to live against it, and I then proceeded to overcome him with goodness, and lied to him with charity, whether I could thus make him pious, gave him about a thousand guilders, and he thanked me for it: I do not look at you, go to the devil with your money and goods; do you hear, I do not want yours: What should I do further to such a one, who neither asked nor asked by me, neither with compulsion nor with love and friendship wanted to do me favor? And I would be silent that he would not do what I would have him do, but that he would be so proud and evil, and reject my gift and good deed, that would be unbearable.
So they also did. They would not listen to Moses, but would have gladly stoned him; now I come, says Christ, give my life and limb for them, willingly shed 1) my blood, that I may save them from sin, the devil and death, offering them, freely and out of great love, all that I have: nor are they much more hostile to me than must, or anyone on earth. Now what more shall God do to them? Nothing else, but as Christ Matth. 22, 7. says before: "He sent out his armies, and destroyed these evildoers; and set their city on fire." For it is such a devil who not only does not want to do good, but also does not want to suffer good to be done to him, and rages and rages against the offered grace and good deeds. This is the real sin, which keeps all the others. For if the word of Christ were accepted, all their sins would be forgiven and given; but because they will not accept it, it becomes a sin that cannot be forgiven. Therefore, if I had not come," he says, "they would have no sin. For they might say, "We would not have been so wicked as not to be forgiven sin, if we had only known it; indeed, we would have run after it to the end of the world, but, alas, we did not know it. No, he will say, you have heard my word, and you have not known.
1) The words: "give ... vergieße" stand alone in the Jena.
who saw that they had not been done before, and yet would not listen, and about the sin against Moses, even this one did against the gospel.
226 As now also the pope and his mob, because they have lived shamefully and practiced idolatry, approach, and charge sin upon themselves, that they will not hear nor suffer the preaching of the forgiveness of sin, sealing it with blasphemy and persecution. This is the real sin of the Antichrist, yes, of the devil himself. For this is not yet a miracle, that one is an enemy of one who demands and drives much; this is given by nature, no one wants to be imprisoned and bound by the law. But here, when nature is helped and given eternal life and all good things, that it first wants to resist and resist is no longer a natural sin, but the sin of the infernal devil who possessed it, that it cannot suffer its own salvation and good. Therefore, if I had not come and preached to them, both of the Father who sent me and of me, it would have remained hidden from them, and they might have excused themselves.
227 Therefore, he says, "Whoever hates me hates my Father also," for whoever hates the one who was sent hates the one who sent him. Therefore, because they are my enemies, they are also the Father's enemies. 3) Be comforted, and let it be known to you that you are not hated alone, but both I and my heavenly Father are hated. For they are blind, and know neither me nor the Father, and yet without excuse, though they be blind and ignorant. And even though they might have been so far excused before they heard the gospel, they are no longer excused now that they do not want to accept the gospel, so their blindness is revealed to them and they are punished, because they willfully do not want to know it. It has been preached to them enough, and witnessed to with miracles. And it will not help them to claim at the last judgment that they did not know that this was the right teaching, but they will have to hear it: You have heard and seen enough, and yet you do not want to know.
2) "they" is missing in the Erlanger.
3) Erlanger: The.
So these are vain comforting sayings, that we should not be frightened by them, when we see that the world stands so securely and defiantly on its thing that one would like to doubt whether our teaching is right. But it must be so, they knowingly want to be and remain blind, and thus perish. So much has been said and done to them that if it would help, they should have come here long ago; but because they will not, let them go. The word is not preached, nor the works performed, for their excuse, but that they may be persuaded, because they will not receive it. Therefore let not these things offend you, but abide in me; and know that he that hateth me hateth my Father also. We are one with one another in these matters; it is not only about you, nor also about me, but whoever opposes you opposes me; but whoever strives against me strives against the Father.
Let us now see if the evil, angry tyrants, pope, bishops and princes, are greater and stronger than the Father and Christ. We will indeed lie down between the cliffs 1) and let ourselves be caught, but we will also wait and see whether they will thus cast him down from heaven. But if he shall cast them into hell, they shall have it; for we have told them, and warned them, and have directed our own.
V. 25 But that the saying might be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hate me without a cause.
It must be done, he says, because it was written long before, Psalm 69:5: "They hate me without a cause. They must fulfill this scripture. For this is the rhyme of the world, which may well be painted on its shield and over its door, even on its forehead: this is its noble virtue and best glory, which it leads, that it not only does not accept and despises the word of God, which is a great, grave sin, and yet would not be so grave if it pursued it ignorantly, or out of pure blindness and lack of understanding, but it must knowingly and deliberately oppose it, and with feet
1) Cliff a trap that collapses.
want to step. 2) is not called human wickedness, which is still to be advised (for God has often helped those who have ignorantly opposed it, like St. Paul before his conversion), but the devil's own sorrowful, hellish wickedness and hatred. Such things are not read in the histories of the Gentiles (who did not know about God), but only arise there and among those who preach Christ's word; they must become devils, worse than all the Gentiles.
Is it not a devilish wickedness of ours, pope, bishops and their tyrants, that they cannot nor may not deny that the use of both forms of the holy sacrament is God's order, and yet with sacrilegious thirst condemn, chase away and persecute all those who use the same? For there is no sin of ignorance, because their own testimony and confession stands against them, and they cannot put forward any cause of their poisonous hatred against the innocent Christians, except that they live according to the order of Christ, and not contrary to it. Item, then they must confess without their thanksgiving that our doctrine of repentance and forgiveness of sins is right, that we obtain forgiveness of sins by grace, through faith, for the sake of the Lord Christ. For this they must say, that Christ shed his blood for this purpose, that we might thereby be redeemed from sin and death etc. Why then do they not want to hear such teaching and preaching from us, nor do they want to suffer it, and persecute us most horribly about it?
We have not known nor experienced such wickedness before, not even among the Gentiles, nor among all who have not heard nor known the gospel. I would have sworn a thousand oaths to see if any man could be so wicked as to condemn wilfully the word of God and the truth, if he knew and confessed that it was the truth, and to persecute, heresy and murder all who hold to it. That the world is wicked against the ten commandments, lying and deceiving, stealing, robbing and murdering, is not strange; it has always been so. But that it should become so wicked, when the gospel has been preached to it, how it should become blessed, and only, over its heathen wicked sin
2) Wittenberger: It.
and evil, even against their God and Savior, who offers her all grace and blessedness, and gladly wants to help her from all evil: this can be nothing other than devilish wickedness, as the Pharisees and chief priests, when they heard Christ and saw him before their eyes, marveled with words and works, so that no reason could say otherwise, but that this was God's miraculous work. Even the pagan judge Pilate himself had to testify against them, saying that they had delivered him up out of pure hatred and envy, and publicly recognized and judged him innocent.
Therefore, he paints the world beforehand for us, so that we will not be surprised or frightened when we see such wickedness, which we would not have believed to be in the hearts of men. How I would not have known nor believed when I was a monk; and thanks be to God that I did not know it, for if I had known it, I would never have opened my mouth. But because Christ knows this, and sends his own to preach to the world, which is so wicked that it neither wants nor is able to suffer the word, and only gets worse from it, he comforts them first. As if he wanted to say: So you will find the world, and worse than you can now believe, because I know it. And not only this, but I have also experienced it in my own person, against my teaching and works; and as it has happened to me, so shall you also experience it. But do not let this frighten you, but know that it is all to be done for my sake. If I were not here, you would never experience such hatred and malice. For the world is not so hostile to any vice or wickedness as to the name of Christ and his gospel. It is beyond measure how the devil rages and rages with hatred and envy, because he does not want to suffer this name and faith.
Now we Christians are called to this state, that we should experience and suffer such things; not human hatred and envy of the world and the heathen, but of the devil himself, who so possesses and oppresses people that they are no longer human, or humanly angry and hateful. As we see it, the devil's will will be fulfilled in bishops, princes, even in our nobility, citizens and peasants.
before, they were much more moral as men, but now they are mad and 1) nonsensical, as full of devils, if they go against the preaching of the gospel. Where does this come from, if not from the wretched devil, who is so hostile to the gospel of Christ that he would rather the world fall on one another than have a pastor or preacher teach the gospel?
That is, he says, what the Scripture says: "They hate me without a cause. Know ye therefore what ye read in the Psalms, that this is the glory and title of the world, and such tender fruits are they, that they must persecute me without all blame and cause, yea, for vain benefits. Me they hate, that is, I who preach to them of God's grace and their salvation; and you, as belonging to me, being my disciples and confessing me. Summa, it is all about the word that causes hatred and anger; otherwise they would not be so 2) hostile and dangerous to him and to us (for the sake of the person). But since we preach his word, we must not only be despised, but also hated, and yet so that they have no cause for it, but on the contrary great and much, even vain cause to love, serve, and thank us.
236 We must know this, that when it comes to the point that we must go forth and preach or confess the word, we will be guided by it. Then it will come to pass, both outwardly among the enemies, and also inwardly among ourselves, that the devil himself will also speak to thee, and show thee how hostile he is unto thee, that he may bring thee into sadness, impatience, gloom, and lay all plagues upon thee. Who does all this? Certainly not Christ, nor any good spirit, but the sorrowful, desperate enemy, who drives such arrows into the heart; not because you are a sinner, as others, adulterers, thieves, etc., but that he is hostile to you, as a Christian, and does not want to suffer you to be called a Christian, and to cling to him, 4) or to speak or think a good word of him, but would gladly pierce your heart with vain poison and gall, so that
1) "and" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
2) "so" is missing in the Wittenberger.
3) dangerous - hostile, leprous.
4) Erlanger: hangest. Wittenberger: und an Christo hangest.
you should blaspheme: Why has he made me a Christian? Why do I not let him go? then I would have peace etc.
237 Therefore, when you feel and experience these things, either in your ministry or in yourself in particular, send yourself to meet him and say, "Now I see why the devil is so angry with me; he wants to frighten me from my ministry, preaching, confession, and faith, and make me despondent, so that I will not do anything good for my Lord Christ, nor praise, glorify, or call on him. For he is his sworn, renounced enemy. But even if you have the hellish fire, you wretched Satan, I will still preach and praise this man all the more in spite of you, and comfort and defy my heart on his blood and death, even if you should burst with all hell. You must learn and practice this if you want to stay with Christ. For this is the devil's doing, to tear us away from Christ, and our flesh's way, that it does not respect him, but hates him, to whom we should give all honor and carry him on our hands, and have our heart's comfort and joy in him.
This is the conclusion of this text or painting of the world, so that he may comfort his own, that it 1) must be so, and not for our sake, but for Christ's sake. But they also deserve that there is no counsel for their sin, and cannot excuse themselves, because they knowingly and wickedly will not hear Christ nor us. Therefore let them do, saith he, as they will; it is written in the scriptures, and declared beforehand; and only let not your hearts be troubled, or moved to despair, when ye see and feel such things, how all the world dare condemn you, persecute you, as heretics, and as the devil's own, and boast of their holiness and godliness etc., but know that it must be so with me and my name that they hate me more than any devil or evil thing on earth; but yet with their hatred and malice they shall neither work nor accomplish anything either in me or in you. For I will preserve you against them, and against all wickedness, by the Holy Ghost; that he may yet
1) Original: er. Wittenberger: ers.
shall remain and testify of me to them in defiance, and preach as follows:
But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
239. About this (he wants to say), that I now comfort you with my example, how it will go with me; item also with it, that you hear what you will find in the world, namely, that they will run and storm against the truth (if they still recognize) and against their own conscience, about this I will also give you an addition and gift. This shall be the Holy Spirit, who shall make these words, which I now speak to you, understand in your hearts and declare them right, so that the longer you understand and know what you both have in the world and in me, and give you the courage and strength to cling to me and to continue. For if he were not with you, and you were to stand daily in battle, both against the devil and the world, you would not be able to endure it. Therefore he must truly be with you, and not only resound to your ears with the word, but also strengthen your heart with his light and fire, so that you can lead it out, and have such strength, which is stronger than both the world and the devil, with all their wickedness and power.
240 In this text the whole holy trinity, or all three persons of the divine being and majesty, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is written and named. And here it is to be noted first and foremost how he paints the Holy Spirit as a consolation against the evil spirit that reigns in the world, and calls him, as he also did above (Cap. 14, 26.), a comforter and spirit of truth.
For the devil has two things to attack the Christians, either above their office or for their own person, in the agony and others, namely sin or 2) punishment of sins. The greatest, however, is the terror of sin, by which he makes the heart dumb and mad.
2) Wittenberger: "horror of sin and" instead: Sin or.
makes him timid when he reproaches him: So and so you have done. And he can act as a good master, so that he not only takes the sin that you yourself must confess, as murder and adultery, and blows it up with his fiery breath so great that the heart melts before it, like salt in water; but he can also turn your good life and the best works into manifold sins and disgraces, so that you do not keep one stick of it. As those who have been in the right battle with him know well. After that, he does the same with the punishment: With this or that sin, you have deserved that you should be reproached and revenged, put to death a hundredfold, and hell eternally. And he makes it so hot and terrible that heaven and earth become too narrow for a man, and he runs through all the fires in fear, and lies and is crushed with such thoughts: O Lord God, what have I done? If it is evil, it is not good; if it is good, it is much worse. If he seizes you, and you do not know how to defend yourself, he will soon win.
For this reason God has given us grace, that against this spirit of terror he has appointed a Comforter, and such a Comforter, who is much stronger with his comfort (than God himself is) than the devil is with terror. If then the devil also comes with God's law, and presses upon your works and life, and so destroys them that even your good works shall be evil and condemned (as in this he is a master and excellent theologian), let the Holy Spirit with his comfort speak into your heart: Be confident and undaunted, go, preach, and do what you are commanded, and fear neither sins, nor death, nor the devil's terror, though it be given in God's name. For he will not be angry with you nor cast you off, because Christ, the Son of God, died for you and paid for your sin, so that it should not be imputed to you (if you believe in him), no matter how great the sin; and your works, for the sake of faith, are called pleasing to him, right and proper, even though weakness is involved. What then dost thou suffer thy sin to be falsely blown out of thee? Chri-
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: martert.
stus, your righteousness, is greater than your sin and the sin of all the world; his life and comfort are stronger and more powerful than your death and hell.
243. 2) So he makes the heart joyful and bold again, so that it takes up such courage and defiance: Now I will believe in Christ, preach him and praise him, if the world and all devils are sorry. And even though I am a sinner and have lived so wickedly, I will not deny and cast away the man, nor will I hold his suffering and death in such low esteem (as you devils do and pretend to me) that it should not wipe out and extinguish all sin, with all your hell.
244 Behold, therefore, a heart that is brave and undaunted, that can despise the devil with all his terrors and plagues, and defy all his power: Sin, if thou wilt condemn me, do it first to Christ, my dear Savior, priest and intercessor with the Father. Death, if you want to devour me, look at Christ, my head. Devil and world, if thou wilt afflict and terrify me, tear him down from the throne first. Summa, I should and will fear nothing, even if the lightning of this moment should strike down and throw everything into one another. For Christ is mine with his suffering, death and life, the Holy Spirit with his consolation, and the Father himself with all his grace, who sends the Holy Spirit to preach Christ to my heart and fill it with his consolation. This is the first glory and title of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, he is also called a spirit of truth, against all lies and false spirits. For the world is always full of spirits, as it is said: Where God builds a church, the devil builds his chapel or tabernacle next to it; that is, where God's word is pure, he leads sects and mobs and many false spirits, who also lead the glory and name of Christ and his church. But basically everything is false, and there is no truth nor certainty. But I will give you (says Christ) the Spirit, which shall make you sure and certain of the truth, that ye may not doubt in this or that thing, if your
2) This entire paragraph is missing in the Wittenberg and Erlanger. Likewise, the first word of the following paragraph.
He will make you not only fighters and conquerors, but also put on the biretta and be called doctors and masters who can conclude with certainty what is right or wrong doctrine in Christendom. So he will not only make you fighters and victors, but also put on the biretta, and be called doctors and masters, who can certainly conclude what is right or wrong doctrine in Christianity; the devil shall not pretend to be so sharp, and no spirit of the mob shall be so nimble, that he will make your doctrine wrong, or mislead you.
For this is also one of the greatest temptations, when a man comes into doubt and goes astray in the faith. It is painful when the devil frightens the conscience inwardly through sin, so that it fears God, or outwardly through tyrants and various persecutions, so that it does not grow weary. But this is so evil and difficult; when the devil sees that he can neither win inwardly with his terror, nor outwardly with plagues, he attacks it with wisdom and swift grasps, begins to entice with praise and hypocrisy: O you are a fine Christian, continue, you are on the right path. If then one creeps in among the multitude, among which you are, and keeps company with you for a while, until he sees his time, then he goes away, when he has found you out, and becomes your poisonous enemy, and begins to boast against you that you have not only the Scriptures and the Word of God; and as they speak now: Have we not the Spirit as well as thou? etc. As Moses did, through Aaron, and Miriam his sister, Num. 12:2: "Does the Lord speak through Moses alone? Does he not also speak through us?" must he alone be master and all that he says be right? shall we then be nothing? And Köre and his companions also rose up against him afterwards, 4 Bios. 16:3, saying, "Will he alone rule and exalt himself over the whole congregation of God? shall what we say be nothing? are we not also the children and priests of God, as well as he?
247 He does much more harm through such mobs than through tyrants. For these, though they deter from the right doctrine with violence and threats, are few in number. But here, when he spews his venom under the name of the gospel, the Christian church, and pretends that he wants to help the souls from error, the people are not yet right, or
We have never been taught enough, and now we must learn better and differently: not one or two, but a whole city and country falls, and in one hour tears down what has been built in many years. As has also happened to us through the spirits of the enthusiasts and other groups.
For this reason Christ promises to give such a spirit, which not only strengthens our hearts and courage, but also makes our faith sure that we must not doubt, but can judge and judge all other spirits. We should have such a promise, so that we can stand against the devil's lies. For he is able to present them in the most beautiful way, so adorned and so prominent that, as Christ says [Matth. 24, 24], even the elect would be deceived by them. What would we have done if we had not had such a certain understanding, given to us by the Spirit of truth? Who would have been allowed to blame and condemn such a great, glorious appearance of holiness in the papacy? Or who may do so even now, because they have only begun to adorn themselves more and more highly?
But this spirit of truth passes through and pronounces the verdict: This is the truth, that is a lie, and lets them adorn themselves and boast with the false name and appearance of the church and Christ as long as they can. Thus Christianity has remained from the beginning to this day, among so many groups and lying spirits, which cannot be counted, as it has been from the beginning and may yet come. But it passes through and keeps its baptism, sacrament, gospel and Christ, ten commandments and prayer pure and unadulterated, thus judging and separating from it all false doctrine and that which opposes it, even though the devil becomes a light angel and presents himself in such a 1) beautiful, glorious form as if he were 2) God himself (like Christ, Matth. 4, 1. ff.). So St. Paul boasts of the same Holy Spirit of Truth, 1 Tim. 2, 7, a doctor or teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth, that all the world should hear his preaching, and this
1) "so" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
2) Regarding this intercalation, compare v. 25 of the sixteenth chapter.
He who wants to remain unconvinced and undestroyed must adhere to the teachings and follow them.
250 Thirdly, he says, when you have been comforted and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and your mind and spirit have been preserved in certain truth, 1) he will drive you to testify of me. For first he will testify inwardly in your hearts; then also outwardly by miraculous works and your confession and preaching, so that you may say, as those who were with me from the beginning, what you have heard and seen, and such testimony, by which I am praised, both against the angry lion and the crafty dragon, that is, the murderer and lying spirit.
251 And these words are also to be noted with diligence. For herewith he hath appointed the Holy Ghost, or rather shewed us, what and whereof he shall teach and testify, or not. For he shall testify, saith he, nothing else, but of me: this shall be the preaching, which is called the preaching of the Holy Ghost. Therefore he will not be a Moses or a preacher of the law, as you have been before and 2) still have; but I will put into his mouth another, higher preaching than Moses gave you, who taught only the law or ten commandments, though he also received from God, namely, what you are to do and what you are not to do; but this one shall make such preachers and confessors out of you, who do not speak and testify of their doings and lives, but of me.
This is the true ministry of the Holy Spirit, and all other doctrines are to be distinguished from it, so that none of them have the glory and honor (even if they want to be praised for it) that it is the Holy Spirit's doctrine or testimony, and by it we can defend ourselves and preserve ourselves against the devil's lies and false pretenses, when he attacks the heart and conscience, and drives us to argue before God's judgment out of the opposition to our life and works. If I stay there and get involved with him, he pushes me to the ground and I have to sink. For here he is too mighty, and no saint on earth can stand against him;
1) "is" is missing in the Erlanger.
2) "and" is missing in the Wittenberg and in the Erlanger.
3) Original and Wittenberger: gleich sich. The Jenaer remarks in passing: This little word "sich" seems to be too much.
for he has God's commandment for himself, to which no man on earth does enough. But he cannot deny that Christ suffered, died, was buried, and rose again for our sins, and sits up in heaven for our sake, as our dear high priest and mediator with God.
253 Therefore, if he already wins me over with the law or ten commandments, when he says that you are a sinner, I must say yes to it; but if he wants to conclude that I am to be condemned and his own, I say no to it: for I still have a sermon or word, which is called the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the sermon of Christ. You hold up to me Moses alone, who preaches God's commandment to me; but I shall not and will not remain in the school. For I now know myself, and alas, all too well, that I am a sinner, and will not dispute further whether I have done something good or not; if it is wrong, let it be wrong. But now I shall hear and learn what the Holy Spirit preaches to me, namely, how Christ shed his blood for us and blotted out sin for me, overcame death, extinguished God's wrath and hell, and through his suffering, death and resurrection alone makes me an heir of eternal life. The devil cannot overthrow this.
Therefore, there is no other way to comfort, strengthen, instruct, protect and defend consciences than through this preaching and testimony of the Holy Spirit. With this doctrine I can judge the devil in all his interposition and disputation: You strike me before God's commandment and law, I cannot punish that. But I shall not and will not dispute (if I am to stand before God's judgment) what concerns my life, for I know well beforehand that it cannot stand there. But you, you mischievous one, want to drown me and immerse me in thoughts that I should think how to fulfill the law and please God through myself, and thereby forget my Savior Christ, and thus tear me away from the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
255 Therefore, whoever has grasped this revelation and testimony of the Holy Spirit can be against all such teaching and be right.
4) "wanted to deny" --- should be able to deny.
And so distinguish between them: One is my life and work, which I should do according to the ten commandments; the other is that of my Lord Christ, which is written in my creed, on which is my salvation and blessedness, and all the consolation of my conscience. With this difference I can meet the devil as he attacks me, and say: If my life is not as it should be, according to the ten commandments, God forgive me; but I hold to this man's life who died for me, which baptism and sacrament I have received. Not that we should not do good works as much as we always can, but that now, when we are in the battle with the devil and our own conscience, there is no need to argue about it. For this requires a higher life and piety than that of all men, namely Christ our Lord, who died for me and rose from the dead, and baptism, if I have it not in my works but in the same Christ, that alone should and must do it. So I am sure of the matter, both with doctrine and life, that I cannot fail. For the devil drives us, either on our life, against faith, if he wants to make us devout; or if he rises high, and wants to make you wise and sober, he leads you on your reason, against doctrine, like the heretic Arium and others. But if thou dwell upon the life of the Lord Christ, and say, I am not baptized into myself, nor into the life of any man, but into my Lord Christ alone, he cannot gain anything.
So also, when he challenges you with the high article, and leads you to your own head and wisdom, and no longer disputes about life, but how to believe, and attacks the very foundation on which you are building: then he will smother you with the pointed thoughts of reason, and ask how it rhymes? etc. Now if thou wilt proceed aright, lest thou be overthrown, thou must say once more, Thou hearest, I believe not my wisdom and my reason, but, as the children pray, in God the Father, and Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost. The
1) "Life and" is missing in the Wittenberg and the Erlanger.
2) "HErrn" is missing in the Erlanger.
is God's word, preached by the Holy Spirit into the world, and also known to the children, which even the gates of hell shall not overthrow.
Lastly, here is also to be said of the nature of the Holy Spirit, because the text gives it that He is true God, as our faith holds: I believe in the Holy Spirit. For faith belongs to no one without God alone, and no one should demand the faith that belongs to eternal life without the one alone who can give it, namely God. Because we believe in the Holy Spirit, we also believe in the true God.
This is enough for the simple, that they remain in their faith, and hear no further the unruly clever ones, who want to be pointed in this, and cavil with their sophistry" For such belongs to the scholars, that they fight with such in the school, and dissolve and refute their false intrigues. But this article is clear and strong enough to prove from this text, since it says: "The Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you from the Father"; item: "Who proceeds from the Father". 5) For these words testify and prove that the Holy Spirit is not called a bad Spirit (as a creature, or something apart from God, and yet given by Him to man, nor His work alone, if He works in our hearts), but such a Spirit, who is Himself essentially God, and has His being from the Father; not created nor made, but both proceeding from the Father, and also sent from Christ. And gives him also such names, as are personal names, or showing and naming a self-existent person, as that he is called the Comforter; and also for this purpose personal works, as that he should testify of Christ; item (as he speaks above 6) at the 14th chapter, v. 26:) "he shall teach them all things" etc.
259. so also in this it is sufficiently shown that the Holy Spirit is a distinct and different person from the Father and the Son, because he says: "the Comforter whom I will send"; item: "who proceeds from the Father"; and still
3) "auch alsdann" is missing in the Jena.
4) cavilliren ---- quibble.
5) From the beginning of this paragraph until now, the Wittenberg and Erlanger.
6) Erlanger: "darnach", "am 14. Capitel" is missing.
the same right, true, one God, because he is to perform such work as God alone does, namely, to enlighten the hearts inwardly and bring them to right knowledge, to kindle, awaken and strengthen faith in them; item, to comfort the consciences and keep them undaunted against the terror of the devil and all creatures etc.
This is strong and certain enough, without what other sayings are more, to sustain this article of the divine nature of the Holy Spirit; as we shall also hear in the following chapter. 1)
1) Wittenberger and Erlanger: Amen.