Whoever believes this to be true must also believe what is written there, v. 6: Omnis caro foenum, all flesh is like grass that withers and does not remain until the end.
4) The preceding three sentences: "Das sähet... ewiglich währen" are missing in the Erlangen edition, but are in the Wittenberg and Jena editions.
tomorrow. As Matth. 6, 30. is written: "If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today stands, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven" etc. We also experience this daily, how we die and wither away like the grass, and even less: we still do not want the word that abides forever, and helps us to abide forever with it, but cling to yours, which cannot make us secure forever, even not for a moment. Thus we go with the vain mammon, belly, and what are more of the beautiful flowers of the corrupt flesh, to eternal ruin. 1)
Isa. 55, 11.
My word that goes forth from my mouth shall not return to me void, but shall do that which I please, and shall prosper when I send it.
This is a comforting saying, where we could believe that God is talking to us, and God's word is what we read or hear in the Bible. There we would find and feel that it would not be read or heard without fruit nor in vain. But the cursed unbelief and the afflicted flesh do not let us see or consider that God speaks to us in the Scriptures, or that it is God's word, but think that it is Isaiah, Paul, or some other bad man who did not create heaven and earth. Therefore, it is not God's word to us, nor does it bear fruit until God's word is recognized in us.
Isa. 59, 21.
My spirit which is with thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy child (saith the Lord), from henceforth even for ever.
That is, I am God and want to remain God, which you, devil, shall not refuse, and let me remain an eternal preacher, that nevertheless my word always for and for and always helps the poor sinners to eternal life. Make it as curly as you like, so the seed of the woman shall tread you on the head, and speak when you must be silent.
1) "into eternal perdition" is missing in the Erlanger.
From the prophet Daniel.
Cap. 11, 37.
He will not respect women's love, nor some of God's.
That God does not want fornication, adultery or other abuses of the male and female body is clearly and powerfully taught by the sixth commandment: You shall not commit adultery. Again, he also wants the male and female bodies to be married to each other, so that they are called one body, for the breeding of children, and to avoid sin against the sixth commandment. And honor them highly in the fourth commandment, giving honor to father and mother, next to him. From this you can see what kind of devil the pope is, who destroys such a commandment and work of God, not only in deed, but also, as if it were well done, teaches to do such things, and thus, as the true Antichrist, rejects and condemns God's commandment and work.
From the prophet Habakkuk.
Cap. 2, 4.
The righteous lives by his faith.
A wonderful speech is this, faith is to be life. Why? Because he hangs on the word, by which all things were created, live and remain, which is Jesus Christ, John 1:1, 14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh.
From the Prophet Zachariah.
Cap. 9, 9.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, and exult, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King is coming to you, a righteous man and a helper, poor etc.
That is, Christ, your God and Lord, is your Righteous One and Savior, who will bring and help you from sin to righteousness, from death to life. And this he will do, not by sword and spear, but by his humility, meekness, poverty, misery, suffering and death. You may well be comforted and rejoice in such a king, who is sure that after this short miserable life you will be with
2) This year is only in Walch.
You will live with him eternally, as long as you can here in this mortal life, or as the devil wills, but he will not be able to will it that way for long.
From the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Cap. 4, 4. 1)
Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
For so Moses writes that all things are also created by God's word.
Matth. 5, 6.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
This hunger and thirst is felt when a person likes to hear and read God's word; he certainly has the hope that he will find refreshment and certain comfort through the word in all kinds of trials, hardship and death. But those who are full, that is, who do not hear or read God's word, but turn a deaf ear to it and despise it, will finally be so hungry and thirsty that no one will refresh them with even the smallest drop of water, as was the case with the rich man in hell, who could not be refreshed in the flame with the smallest finger of Lazari, Luc. 16, 24. It is said, "Believe in the light while you have it, that you may be the children of light," John 12, 36. Item: "See that you do not receive the grace of God in vain, now is the acceptable time," etc. 2 Cor. 6, 1. 2.
Matth. 7, 7.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
He who neither gets nor finds anything has certainly not asked nor sought. And to whom it is not opened, he certainly has not knocked. Therefore, if we lack anything, there is no doubt that we are lacking; God cannot be lacking, who is so willing, inclined and ready to give that He not only means to ask, diligently seek and confidently knock, but also assures us with a precious oath through His only begotten Son, whom He has made a propitiation for us.
1) Luther inscribed this statement in a New Testament of 1545. (Erl. ed. 52, 399.)
and intercessor, saying Matth. 17, 5: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, him you shall hear." But now the Son of God speaks thus, Joh. 16, 23: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it you." God does not give happiness to lazy hands that do not take hold here, amen.
Ask and it will be given to you etc. 2)
This is clearly said, that our asking, seeking, knocking, should not be in vain, but that everything should be certain and vain yes. Oh, whoever could believe this and pray in such faith, how blessed would be the man to whom God himself is so high and dear that he wants to hear his prayer and do what he asks. O Lord! Help our unbelief. Amen. Martin Luther, D. 1544.
Matth. 7, 8.
He who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
It would not be a miracle, and should be, that a Christian would listen to God all hours with prayer, and not let him go, because he lets himself be heard so graciously, and listens to us without ceasing, and says: Ask, seek, knock. Oh, that we were so diligent to pray (at least with sighing of the heart), as God is with charms, allurements, commands, promises and needs for prayer. Ah, we are too lazy and ungrateful. God forgive us for that and strengthen our faith, amen.
Matth. 7, 9.
Which of you men, if his son asks him for bread, will offer him a stone?
He prayed and asked, and promised that it would be answered and yes, and can
2) In our copy of Walch's edition there is the following remark in an old hand: "Luther wrote these words in front of a copy of the little prayer book with the Catechism and Passional, printed at Wittenberg in 1542, which is kept in the Salfeid school library as a rarity." The handwritten variants given there: "could pray" instead of: iebete, "GOtt himself" instead of: GOtt, "hear" instead of: erhören, we have included, also the "Amen" and the signature and year.
do not lie to us, nor do we lack. He gives an example of the Father and the Son, which we should be ashamed of, all those who do not like to pray, or who doubt that their prayers will be answered. For God is kinder to us, and much more inclined to give to us, than a human father is to his Son; as follows, v. 11: "So then you, who are evil, can give good gifts to your children; how much more will your Father in heaven give good things (also the Holy Spirit, Luc. 11, 13.) to those who ask him."
Matth. 9, 6.
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sin etc.
So that you, dear Christians, do not err like the Pharisees and hypocrites, who think that God alone forgives sins in heaven, or, as the papists dream, in purgatory, outside 1) the earth, you should muck up, so that with you, among you, and through you, who live on earth, forgiveness of sins may be given and received, so that God, who forgives sin, is as close to you on earth as God is Creator, who creates, sustains, feeds, nourishes and protects on earth. For as He creates, sustains, feeds, nourishes, and protects you through you, among you, and with you, so also He offers grace and forgives sin through you, among you, and with all of you who accept and believe His word.
Now if you want to know God, to see God, even to grope, see and take care of yourselves. For you are God's work, and His works are in you, and among yourselves through you, in you. And this I (the Son of Man) do through you. For God does not do these things presently in His glory or majesty, which it is impossible for you to see (for no man shall live who thus beholds God), nor by any angels; but the Son of Man has power to forgive sin on earth, and after Him no man's children for ever, until the day of the blessed and glorious coming of the Son of Man come; then God Himself, without you, shall be and do all things in you, and you all things in Him, amen.
1) Thus the Erlangen. Wittenberg and Jena: except.
He who receives you receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.
Help God! What a great, blessed Lord is he who gladly hears and reads God's word, that he always has such great, glorious guests with him, as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. O cursed unbelief! O wretched world! that you despise such guests, even persecute them, and instead ask the devil and death as guests, yes, want to have them as masters. How inexpressible a treasure is faith! How incomprehensible a pity is unbelief!
Matth. 10, 41.
Whoever receives a prophet in a prophet's name will receive a prophet's reward.
There we hear that the Lord wants to have read and heard the prophets. He also promises that such a one will be like the prophet and will be as good as him, both here and there. Here, that he may be made a partaker of the prophet's wisdom; there, that he may live forever with the prophet and be blessed, amen.
Matth. 11, 6.3)
Blessed is he who does not take offense at me.
This is, indeed, a strange trouble, since the world is angry with Christ, who raises the dead, gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and preaches the gospel to the poor etc. Whoever thinks such a Savior is a devil, what does he want for a God? But there it is, he wants to give the kingdom of heaven, so the world wants to have the kingdom of earth. He wants to give certain, imperishable, eternal, blessed and heavenly goods, so the world wants to have earthly, perishable ones (since it has more worry and fear than pleasure and joy, of which it is not sure for a moment). Over it they part, there it is annoying. For even the high holiness of the hypocrites basically seeks nothing else than earthly honor, fleshly will, human
2) The year is only in Walch.
3) This passage is also found in Aurifaber's Table Talks, Cap. 41, § 7. In our edition of the Table Talks, it is omitted.
Life, which after all everything must pass and stop, and just when you most insist and defy.
Matth. 13, 16. 17. Luc. 10, 23. f. 1)
Blessed are the eyes that see that ye see. For I say unto you, That many prophets and kings would see that ye see, and have not seen; and hear that ye hear, and have not heard.
This is: Believe because you have it. If it is taken away, you cannot believe, even if you would like to. For where the word is taken away, faith cannot remain, as we have unfortunately experienced under the papacy.
Matth. 15, 13.
All plants that my heavenly Father does not plant will be eradicated.
Therefore beware of everything that is not certainly the word of God. For it is said: Verbum Domini manet in aeternum, that is: God's word remains forever, Is. 40, 8. Without doubt, the word of man will not remain forever. Because even the pope now falls, who is almost as firmly established as the devil himself, how much less will other, lesser breeds remain. Summa, God's word remains pier and there. Whoever believes and hangs on to it, also remains here and there. Everything else, as great and holy as it may seem, cannot remain, but must perish. This is what the Bible teaches us.
Matth. 17, 5.
This is what I want you to hear.
Him alone do we hear, and no other. "The Holy Spirit must give us this, or we will do badly in the face of opposition. "The devil does not like to hear him, and he fights back tooth and nail. That is why we believe so weakly. God forgive us for this, and strengthen us in faith.
Matth. 19, 17.
If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.
1) Luther inscribed this statement in an entire Bible from 1545. (Erl. ed. 52, 399.)
The commandments must be kept, or there is no life, but only death. For even faith is nothing where love (that is, the fulfillment of the commandments) does not follow, 1 Cor. 13:2. For Christ, the Son of God, did not come, nor did He die, that we should freely disobey the commandments, but that we should fulfill the commandments through His help and cooperation. Therefore, as it is said that works without faith are nothing, so it is also said that faith without fruit is also nothing. For works 2) without faith is idolatry. Faith without works is a lie, and no faith at all.
Matth. 21, 22.
Truly I say to you, whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive it.
The same word must also be imposed on God, saying: "My God of heaven and earth, you have commanded us to believe that the request made in the name of Christ, your beloved Son, will be granted: I ask and rely on the fact that you will not abandon me, and that you will give me true faith, so that everything I ask for the sake of your Son will be granted. One should also pray to God all one's life for one blessed hour, amen.
Matth. 24, 13.
He who perseveres to the end will be blessed.
This is found in truth, even in outward things. Everyone who diligently waits and works in his state of activity will be blessed, rich and happy in the sight of the world. It is much more important in Christianity (which is a life of the cross, since the devil and the world throw many obstacles in the way) to persevere to the end, that is, to tear chivalrously through all obstacles and troubles, if you are to be blessed in the sight of God. For the kingdom of heaven (says Christ elsewhere, Matth. 11, 12.) suffers violence, and those who do violence snatch it to themselves. Therefore a Christian must not only begin in faith, hope, love, patience, and continue for a time, but also persevere to the end. Otherwise, if all the good that one begins were to come to an end, the earth would be the kingdom of heaven.
2) Erlanger: the work.
Matth. 24, 15.