The second epistle of St. Peter preached and interpreted. *)
Preached in 1523, printed in 1524.
Preface.
1) St. Peter wrote this epistle because 2) he saw how the righteous, pure doctrine of faith would be falsified, obscured, and suppressed; and he wanted to counter two kinds of error, which come from unrighteous
2) Wittenberger: because.
The first is to follow the teaching of faith in the true sense, and to defend both sides, namely, not to give works the power to make one pious and pleasing in the sight of God, which belongs to faith; and again, not to let anyone think that faith can be without good works. For when one preaches of faith that it is
*) In 1523 Luther preached on Sunday afternoons on the first and second epistle of St. Peter and on the epistle of St. Jude, as has already been said in the first note on the interpretation of the first epistle of St. Peter. The first single edition of our epistle was published in 1524 in Wittenberg by Hans Lufft under the title: "Die ander Epistel S. Petri vnd eyne S. Judas gepredigt vnd ausgelegt durch Mart. Luther. Wittemberg D. XXIIII." In the same year two more single printings followed without indication of place and printer under the same title; one printing appeared at Strasbourg. In the collections: Wittenberger (1556), vol. I, p. 549; Jenaer (1585), vol. II, p. 371; Altenburger, vol. II, p. 464; Leipziger, vol. XI, p. 546; and Erlanger, vol. 52, p. 212. The Latin translation is found in the Latin Wittenberger, Dom. V, lol. 485. We give the text according to the Jena edition, comparing the Latin Wittenberger and the Erlanger. The German Wittenberg edition has allowed itself great changes not only in the preface, but also in the interpretation, which is why we must dispense with an indication of the variants. We have given a few samples of them in the beginning.
without all the addition of works, people say that one must not do any work, as we see from daily experience; and again, if one falls on works and lifts them up, then faith must lie low, so that the middle road is difficult to maintain here where there are not righteous preachers. Now we have always taught that faith alone justifies 1) and sanctifies before God. After that, when faith is present, good works should and must follow from it; 2) since it is not possible that we should walk idly in this life and do no work.
1) Wittenberger: just.
2) From here on, the Wittenberg edition omits our preface and adds Luther's preface to the second epistle of St. Peter with a few introductory words (Walch, alte Ausg., Bd. XI V, 144).
2 In this epistle, St. Peter also teaches and confronts those who might have taken a wrong understanding from the previous epistle: it would be enough to believe if one did no works. And against these especially goes the first chapter, in which he teaches that believers should test themselves by good works, and become certain of their faith. The other chapter is against those who are strict about works and suppress faith. Therefore he warns against the false teachers of the future, who would completely destroy the faith through the teachings of men. For he has well seen what a terrible seduction would become in the world; as it already began, as St. Paul says 2 Thess. 2, 7: "The secret of wickedness is already stirring. So this epistle is written to us as a warning that we prove faith by good works, that is, that we do not trust in works.