1882 Western District Essay
Invocation and Worship of God
Doctrinal Proceedings.
For a decade, our district has been dealing with a series of theses on the subject: "That only through the doctrine of the Lutheran Church is all glory given to God alone, irrefutable proof that its doctrine is the only true one." The third of these theses lists 12 doctrines that are intended to show that only the Lutheran Church truly gives all glory to God alone. Now that this has been done in previous years with regard to the first 9 and the 12th of these doctrines, the 10th, namely that concerning the invocation and worship of God, is before us for the current sessions.
John Gerhard has demonstrated in an entire book that all churches except the Lutheran Church often take away God's glory with their doctrine. In this book, he writes the following words of wisdom in the introduction:
"A truly golden and highly worthy apostolic rule for daily reflection is: 'Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.' (1 Cor. 10:31) … God himself directs all his works to the honor of his divine name and to the glory of his majesty, since he is the highest good, the ultimate end and the center of all things, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. As it says in Prov. 16:4: “The Lord does everything for his own sake,” and according to Eph. 1:4-6, God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, to the praise of his glorious grace. He created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them for the purpose that his goodness, wisdom, and power might be known and praised by rational creatures. (Rom. 1:20.) Therefore, the seraphim sing: “All lands are full of his glory.” (Isa. 6:3.) He has redeemed the human race, which had fallen into sin, through the Son, the Mediator, to the praise of his abundant mercy, therefore the angels sing at Christ's birth: “Glory to God in the highest!” (Luke 2:14). He calls us through the Word, rebirths, renews, enlightens, justifies, and makes us glorious and blessed for the glory of His name (Eph. 3:16, Col. 1:27); therefore the whole choir of angels and elect in heaven praise his glory and honor for all eternity (Ps. 34:4; Rev. 4:9; 5:12–13; 19:1, etc.). It is therefore right and just that we ourselves also direct all our thoughts, words, and deeds to the glory of God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Savior; as it is written in Malachi 1:6: "A son shall honor his father, and a servant his master. Am I now a father, where is my honor? Am I a master, where is the fear of me?
says the Lord of hosts. Just as in all things we must first and foremost consider and seek the glory of God and then the edification of our neighbor, so too in the interpretation of Scripture everything must be directed toward this purpose and this goal.... Any doctrine (dogma) that damages the honor of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, who is of the same essence and throne as Him, and that of the Holy Spirit, is therefore not sound and genuine; and every community that harbors and stubbornly defends false doctrines that damage God's glory is not the true church, even if it is painted with a color of twisted and misunderstood scriptures. Therefore, when a sharp dispute arose between Christ and the Jews about the truth of the church, namely, which of the two parties could rightly claim it, Christ referred, among other things, to this peculiarity of his teaching, that it was directed toward the honor of the heavenly Father, which was violated by the Jewish fabrications, saying, "I honor my Father. ' (John 8:49). From this supreme principle we conclude as follows: Any communion that harbors and stubbornly defends false doctrines that undermine the honor of God and his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is not the true, pure, and uncorrupted Church. The papal, Calvinist, and Photinian communions stubbornly hold and defend false doctrines that undermine the honor of God and his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the papal, Calvinist, and Photinian communions are not the true, pure, and uncorrupted church. — Now, in order to prove the truth of the second proposition, we will begin with the papal communion and show that they undermine the honor of God and his Son Jesus Christ, as well as that of the Holy Spirit, through their doctrinal distortions. … Although they profess with us the unity of the divine essence in words, they indirectly undermine it (oblique) when they show divine worship, which belongs to God alone, to creatures.... That in the papacy the deceased saints are invoked is too well known to require proof." (Disputatt. theol. partes tres. Jenae 1655. p. 1—4.)
Yes, God's glory is the highest thing that man has to seek. God himself does all his works — creation, election, redemption, calling, sanctification, glorification — for the praise of his glorious name: and should we, his creatures and redeemed ones, not have the same goal in mind in our deeds and words, but above all in our doctrines of faith? Therefore, if any interpretation of Scripture, any doctrine, does not promote God's glory but attacks and robs Him of it, then it is thereby marked as false. Of course, one must not judge here according to
blind reason or the dreams of one's own heart which doctrine gives glory to God. God's Word alone can decide that. Otherwise, we might end up like Calvin and Beza, who, based precisely on the principle “Glory to God alone!”, but following their own reason, constructed a system that took all glory away from God.
For further discussion of the subject, the speaker, Dr. Walther, presented five theses, which (except for the last half of the fourth and the fifth) were discussed and accepted by the synod. They read as follows:
That only through the doctrine of the Lutheran Church is all glory given to God alone is evident, tenth, from its doctrine on the invocation and worship of God.
Thesis I.
Our church teaches that only the true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is to be invoked and worshipped; not Mary, not the deceased saints, in a word, no creature.
Thesis II.
Our church teaches that Christ, God and man in one person, is to be invoked and worshipped, not his divinity alone.
Thesis III.
Our church teaches that only those prayers are pleasing to God and will be answered which are based solely on God's command and promise and are made in the name of Jesus, but that even the faintest sigh of faith is precious to God and will certainly be answered.
Thesis IV.
Our church teaches that grace is obtained not through the prayers of man, but solely through the Word and the Holy Sacraments, and that therefore prayer is neither a meritorious work nor a means of grace, but an exercise of faith for those who are already in grace, to recognize and obtain God's gifts of grace and all other good gifts of God.
Thesis V.
[not covered in this essay]
Our church teaches that the highest model of all prayers is the prayer of our Lord, or the sacred Lord's Prayer; therefore, it also teaches that it should be used most diligently.
Thesis I.
(1,, 2.)
Our church teaches that only the true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is to be invoked and worshipped; not Mary, not the deceased saints, in a word, no creature.
The first thesis highlights the first reason from the Lutheran Church's doctrine on the invocation and worship of God, which proves that it also gives God alone all honor in this matter. For the purpose of our discussion, it will be good to divide this thesis into the following two parts:
1. All invocation of any creature is contrary to the honor of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the one true God. [pp. 22-34]
2. All invocation of any creature is contrary to the honor of Christ, as the one mediator and intercessor.[pp. 34-43]
1.
According to Holy Scripture, prayer is an act of worship which God therefore desires should be offered to no one but Himself. “I, the Lord, that is my name; and I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to idols,” the Almighty calls out to his apostate people in Isaiah 42:8. In Matthew 4:10-11, Christ quotes Deuteronomy 6:13: “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone”; to reinforce this Old Testament commandment, Christ, the authentic interpreter, adds the word “alone.” However, this word is also found in this context in the Old Testament. For in 1 Samuel 7:3 it says: “Set your hearts on the Lord and serve him alone.” This also includes all the passages where angels and humans decisively rejected worship as an honor due to God alone. Revelation 19:10; Acts 10:25-26.
It is indeed almost inexplicable how the Papists can hold fast to their worship of saints, since the Holy Scriptures testify so clearly and expressly that all worship of any creature is idolatry. To justify it, they (like all false teachers) make a distinction between the words used in the Greek original text for “worship” and “serve.” The word “serve” for the Greek word latreuein is, of course, used only for the service of God, while the word “worship” for the Greek words proskynein and duleuein is also used for the service or worship to be rendered to human beings. Thus, they believe they have escaped the passage in Matthew 4:10-11, where Christ uses the Greek word latreuein in the sentence, “And serve him alone.” However, the application of this distinction by the papists is mere sophistry. Scripture does indeed speak
of “worship” (proskynein) of men (cf. 1 Kings 1:16, 31; 2:19); but it is immediately apparent that “worship” here is a civil courtesy, as was customary in the East. The Greek word proskyneinand the Hebrew hischtachavah, which is translated with the German word “anbeten” (to worship),, actually mean to bow down to the ground, and this is what Easterners do before their gods in order to worship them divinely, but before humans only to greet them politely and reverently. However, it is obvious that this is not the meaning in which the Papists speak of worship, veneration, and service of the saints. Their veneration of the saints is not civil, but religious, that is, a veneration through which they give to the creature the honor that is due to the Creator alone. — In addition, in Matthew 4:10-11, Christ clearly uses “worship” and “serve” (proskynein and latreuein) as synonyms, so that the little word “alone” refers not only to “serve” but also to “worship.”
Adam Osiander writes the following about the papist distinction that the Greek word latreia means to serve God alone, but douleia also means to serve humans:
“The papists object: In the passage cited” (Matthew 4) "the word latreia occurs, not douleia, so only the former is denied to creatures... Answer: We allow the distinction between latreia and douleia, namely, if latreuein is to mean religious worship, but douleia civil worship. But this does not help the Papists in their invocation of the saints, because according to them, douleia is a religious worship. On the other hand, although the word latreuein is used in Matthew 4:10, it is clear that douleia is also included, because (1) in Matthew 4, the devil does not desire the highest worship, but a lesser one, namely douleia, for he says in Luke 4:6: " Worship me, etc., for all things have been delivered unto me.' He therefore does not want to be worshipped as the supreme lord, but as a vassal. (2) In Holy Scripture, latreuein and douleuein are used in the same way and no distinction is made between higher and lesser worship, as in Deuteronomy 6, from which Christ's words are taken, a common expression is read for both words (abad = to serve). Christ therefore does not use the word latreia in contrast to douleia.“(Colleg. System, th. V, 360 sq.)
The first commandment already shows us that it is idolatry to worship any creature. God says to mankind:”I am the Lord your God!" That is to say: “I am and no other.” And then he immediately adds: “You shall have no other gods before me. Do not worship them and do not serve them.” So if I worship the creature, it is another god to me besides God. This prohibition puts the papist distinction between douleia and latreia to shame. For here, the word used for “worship” (to bow down, to prostrate oneself on the ground)
is interpreted by the Papists as referring to the service due to the saints.
Consider this further: if the worship of saints were not to be equated with the worship of God, it would have to be commanded in the second table. But the papists find it in the other commandment, that is, in the first table; so no matter how stubbornly they deny that their douleia is idolatry, they nevertheless give to the creature the honor that God will allow no other to have.
How easily Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could have escaped the threatened punishment if they had wanted to take advantage of the papist distinction between latreia and douleia! According to papist opinion, they could have bowed down before Nebuchadnezzar's idol without committing the slightest idolatry. But why did they not do so? Because they knew that this was a religious cult, and that not even the slightest bit of it should be given to any creature without falling into the sin of idolatry.
It is therefore truly the teaching of Scripture that only those who direct their prayers solely to the true God give all honor to God alone; that, on the other hand, those who show honor to any creature rob God of the honor that is due to Him and are therefore idolaters.
Does the Lutheran Church, with its doctrine on prayer, give this honor to God? — The tone in which the Confessions of our church combat the papist abomination of saint worship varies greatly. The irenic Augsburg Confession speaks very mildly on this subject; its Apology is already sharper; until finally Luther strikes with a thunderous axe in the Smalcald Articles. But those initial mild punishments did not in any way deny the teaching of Scripture. But let us hear the confessions themselves. [Walther clearly shows Luther’s writing as the gold standard.]
The Augsburg Confession states in Article 21:
"Our people teach that we should remember the saints in order to strengthen our faith when we see how grace has been bestowed upon them and how they have been helped through faith; and that we should take example from their good works, each according to his calling, just as the Emperor may follow the example of David in waging war against the Turks, for both are in royal office, which requires the protection and defense of their subjects. However, it cannot be proven from Scripture that one should invoke the saints or seek help from them, for there is only one mediator and reconciler between God and man, Jesus Christ, 1 Tim. But it cannot be proven from Scripture that one should call upon the saints or seek help from them; for there is only one mediator and intercessor between God and man, Jesus Christ, 1 Tim. 2:5-6, who is the only Savior, the only high priest, mercy seat, and intercessor before God, Rom. 8:34. And he alone has promised that he will hear our prayers [John 14:13].
This is also the highest form of worship according to Scripture, that one should seek and call upon the same Jesus Christ with all one's heart in all needs and concerns." (Article XXI)
Melanchthon could not have been more subtle. His main objection to the worship of saints is that it is not commanded in Scripture. Indirectly, however, he already implies here that it is basically idolatry. He is more explicit in his language in the
Apology of the Augsburg Confession:
"Even if the saints pray for the church, it does not follow that one should invoke the saints. Although our confession only states this, there is nothing in Scripture about invoking the saints or seeking help from them. If one cannot produce either a commandment, a promise, or an example from Scripture, it follows that no heart or conscience can rely on it. For since every prayer must be made in faith, how can I know that God is pleased with the invocation of the saints if I do not have God's Word for it? How can I be sure that the saints hear my prayer and the prayer of each individual? Some make the saints into gods and say that they can know our thoughts and see into our hearts. … We repeat what we said before: God's Word, Scripture, does not say that the saints understand our invocations, and even if they did understand them, that God is pleased with such invocations; there is no basis for this. The opponents cannot argue against this; therefore, the opponents should not force or urge us to do uncertain things, for a prayer without faith is not a prayer. For although they say that the church has this custom, it is certain that this is a new custom in the church; for the old collections, even if they commemorate the saints, do not invoke the saints." (Art. XXI. 10-13;)
The main passage for this, however, is found in the
Smalcald Articles. There Luther says:
"Invoking the saints is also one of the Antichrist’s abuses, and contradicts the first main article and erases the knowledge of Christ [Philippians 3:8], is neither commanded nor advised, has no example in Scripture, and we have a thousand times better in Christ, even if that were a precious good, which it is not. And although the angels in heaven pray for us (as Christ himself also does) [Romans 8:34], so do the saints on earth, or perhaps also in heaven [Revelation 6:9-10]: it does not follow from this that we should invoke the saints, worship them [Revelation 22:8-9], fast, celebrate, hold Mass for them, sacrifice for them, build churches, altars, and places of worship for them, and serve them in other ways, and consider them helpers in times of need and divide all kinds of help among them
and assign a special one to each, as the papists teach and do. For that is idolatry, and such honor belongs to God alone. For you, as a Christian and saint on earth, can intercede for me not in one but in all needs. But therefore I shall not worship you, call upon you, celebrate you, fast for you, or sacrifice to you. I shall not hold Mass in your honor or place my faith in you for salvation. I can otherwise honor you, love you, and thank you in Christ. If such idolatrous honor is removed from the angels and dead saints, the other honor will be without harm, and indeed will soon be forgotten. For where benefit and help, both physical and spiritual, can no longer be hoped for, they will leave the saints in peace, both in the grave and in heaven; for no one will remember, respect, or honor them much for nothing or out of love." (SA II II 25-28).
But what do the papists teach? As has been said, they deny to Lutherans that their veneration of saints is a religious cult; they portray it as innocent reverence that is owed to such steadfast, courageous confessors of the faith as the deceased saints have been. But if we look at what the so-called Catholic Church said at the Council of Trent, where its doctrine was established, we hear the following: "The holy council commands all bishops and others who have the teaching office and pastoral care to... carefully instruct the faithful above all about the intercession and invocation of the saints... and teach them how the saints, who reign with Christ, offer their intercessions for men to God, and that it is good and useful to invoke them humbly“(so that is the whole”careful" instruction! We find no word about what kind of invocation this should and should not be; whether it has a basis in Scripture or not, the “holy church council” says just as little; only that it is “good and useful”), “and,” it continues, “to obtain blessings from God through his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is our only Redeemer and Savior, to take refuge in their intercession, help, and assistance” (Behold the glittering sheep's clothing of the ravenous wolf! With the “only Redeemer and Savior,” they give the appearance of wanting to give all glory to Christ, while immediately pointing to the intercession, help, and assistance of the saints) — "but those who deny that the saints enjoying eternal bliss in heaven may be invoked, or who claim... their invocation, so that they may also intercede for each one of us (pro nobis etiamsingulis), is idolatry, or that this contradicts the Word of God and contradicts the honor of Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man, or
that it is foolish to implore those who reign in heaven with words or in spirit (mente!)." So they believe that the saints can also see into the hearts of men and hear their sighs and desires—a privilege that God so often reserves for Himself in Scripture. Thus, the Council of Trent not only sanctioned the invocation of saints, but also cursed all those who teach otherwise with the words: “But if anyone teaches or believes anything contrary to these decrees, let him be anathema,” that is, cursed. (Sess. 25. De invocat. etc.)
How the papists now practice this doctrine of theirs may be seen from the following: In the Middle Ages, the Psalms were rewritten as prayers addressed to Mary, and such collections were therefore called Marian Psalters. The first psalm in the psalter attributed to the scholastic Bonaventura (died 1274) reads as follows:
"Blessed is the man who delights in your name, O Virgin Mary; your grace will strengthen his soul. Like a sign watered by springs, he will bear the richest fruits of righteousness. Blessed art thou among women for the humility and faithfulness of thy heart. For thou art superior to all women in the beauty of thy flesh, and thou surpassest the angels and archangels in the excellence of thy holiness. Thy mercy and thy grace are praised everywhere; God hath blessed the works of thy hands. Ave Maria," etc. (Quoted by Chemnitz in his Examination of the Council of Trent. Ed. Genev. f. 595.)
The 19th Psalm begins with the words: “The heavens declare your glory, O Virgin Mary.” (L. c. f. 596. 596.) The 31st Psalm reads: "In you, O Mistress, I have hoped, let me never be put to shame; accept me into your grace; incline your ears to me and rejoice me in my sorrow. You are my strength and my refuge, my comfort and my protection; to you I cried when my heart was troubled, and you heard me from the summit of the eternal heights. Into your hands, O Mistress, I commend my spirit, my whole life, my last day." (L. c. f.. 597.) The words of the 51st Psalm are changed as follows: "Have mercy on me, O Mistress, you who are called the Mother of Mercy, and according to the depths of your mercy, cleanse me of all my sins. Pour out your grace upon me and do not take your customary goodness away from me. For I confess my sins to you and accuse myself before you for my crimes. Reconcile me with the fruit of your womb and make peace between me and the one who created me.“(L. c. f. 596.)”In the Prague Marian Rosarium, published in 1669, on page 209, Mary is invoked with the words: ‘Command the Son to be gracious to us.’" (L. c.)
But even that was not enough. They did not hesitate to turn even the holy Our Father into an “Our Mother” prayer.
Calov writes:
"Here we must not conceal the recent blasphemous reversal of the Lord's Prayer by a certain Dörffel, which appeared in Prague in 1653 with public approval: 'Our Mother, who art in heaven, O Mary! Praised be you and your name by all generations of mankind; may your virtues and graces come to us; may the desire of your heart be done, as in heaven, so also on earth; our daily bread, Jesus, obtain for us today and on the day of our death through the sacrament; and pray for our sins, as we pray for our offenders; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from all evil and sin, through Jesus, your beloved Son, our Lord, Amen." (System. Tom. XI. p. 92. sq.)
Truly, idolatry cannot be practiced in a more abominable manner. If the Roman Church had no other abomination than this, we would have to flee from it like the plague for the sake of this one abomination alone. All its religious services are nothing but vain idolatry. This is the wine of fornication with which, according to the prophecy of Revelation, Antichrist has made the whole world drunk.
However, here are a few more passages from the private writings of papal theologians.
Bellarmine says of the power of the saints: “That they (the saints) are not only powerful, but omnipotent, who can rightly deny this?” (Conc. IV. de beatitud. coelest. p. 411. Quoted by Gerhard in Conf. cath. f. 994.)
Cornelius von Stein: “According to Philemon 4, we have the same faith in all saints as we have in the Lord.” (Comment. in Ep. ad Philemon. v. 4. Quoted ibid.)
Cassander: “The saints are not absent from us, because they follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Rev. 14:4.” (Confutt. lat. 21. p. 964. Quoted in loc.) Obviously, this refers to a figurative following, as in Matt. 16:24. But Cassander uses this passage to attribute a certain omnipresence to the saints!
Bellarmin leaves it undecided how the saints hear the prayers and sighs addressed to them. But he states just as decisively: “Although there may be doubt as to how they (the saints) recognize what is absent and what is sometimes brought forth only by the impulse of the heart, it is nevertheless certain that they recognize it.” (Lib. I. de beat, sanet, c. 20. Quoted in loc. cit.)
Other papist theologians explain this in a different way. On this subject,
Hollaz writes:
"The papists argue: 1. That the saints see creatures, and therefore our prayers, clearly and distinctly in God's essence as in a mirror. 2. That God reveals our sighs to them. I answer to 1.: By virtue of their blessed vision, the blessed see what is actually and immediately (formaliter) in God; but they do not recognize what is in God indirectly (virtualiter) and in a special way (eminenter). To 2. I reply: If God reveals our prayers and sighs to the saints, how then do the deceased saints bring our prayers before God?" (Exam. p. 1219.)
Quenstedt summarizes all the reasons against invoking the saints as follows:
"The saints who have died in the Lord are not to be invoked and worshipped religiously, devoutly, and confidently... The first proof for this orthodox opinion is taken from that which is exclusively God's own: what belongs to the true God alone cannot and must not be attributed to the saints; the cult (service) of religious invocation belongs to the true God alone: thus. — The above proposition is proven from Isa. 42:8 and 48:11. The subordinate clause is illuminated by Deuteronomy 6:13 and Matthew 4:10. Those who worship the saints religiously transfer the honor that belongs to God alone to something else that is outside of God, and thus commit idolatry. The second proof is taken from the silence of Holy Scripture. All true invocation is based on a divine commandment and a divine promise; if an invocation lacks this foundation, it is condemned as a self-chosen form of worship, Deut. 12:8, 32; 17:3. Psalm 116:38. Isaiah 1:12. 29:13. Ezekiel 20:18-19. Micah 6:6. f. Zechariah 7:5. Matthew 15:9. Mark 7:7. Col. 2:23. But now Eck himself admits in his handbook, chapter 15, that “the invocation of saints is not expressly commanded in Holy Scripture.” The papal deputies at the Diet of Augsburg confessed the same thing, according to Chyträus' History of the Augsburg Confession, p. 254. Hebrews 13:7 requires us to devote a grateful and joyful remembrance to their name, memory, end, and change, as well as to imitate their faith and godliness; but the passage says nothing about invocation and religious veneration. Indeed, the Papists count the invocation of saints among the unwritten traditions, e.g., Pererius, Tanner, and others. Bellarmine says: ‘the veneration of saints began not so much by law as by custom’ (Book 1 of The Salvation of the Saints, Chapter 8). Finally, the Council of Trent itself does not refer here to Scripture, but to the practice of the Church. We therefore conclude that any invocation that is not based on faith in a certain and explicit Word of God is null and void; but the invocation of saints is not based on
faith in a certain and explicit commandment of God; therefore, it is null and void. Furthermore, invocation must be based on the promise of being heard, Ps. 50:15, 91:15, 138:3, 145:18, Joel 2:32, Matt. 7:7, 18:19, Luke 18:7. But there is no promise of an answer to the saints; indeed, Salmeron admits, Tom. 10, p. 468, that ‘the saints are not always heard’. The third proof is taken from the lack of an example in Scripture. No proven example of pious people from Scripture can be cited who would have invoked the dead. The papists themselves claim that in the Old Testament the departed were not invoked because they were still in limbo (in a kind of antechamber to hell);... but in the New Testament there is likewise no example, as Eck acknowledges in the cited passage and Cassander in his consultation, Article 21. Every invocation pleasing to God must, however, be in accordance with the example of the saints and not contrary to the right invocation of the true apostolic church. The fourth proof is taken from the necessary qualities of those who are invoked. Whom we invoke religiously must be omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and we must believe in him and hope in him; now the saints are not omnipresent, not omnipotent, not omniscient, and we do not believe in them and do not hope in them; thus the superior proposition is clear. That the one who is invoked is omnipresent is taught in Deut. 4:7, Ps. 91:15, 145:18, and Isa. 55:6. The prophet Elijah therefore mocks the prayers of the priests of Baal because the Baal who is invoked is not present. That He is all-knowing and a judge of hearts is emphasized in 1 Kings 18:27, Ps. 18:7, 38:10, 79:11. That he is and must be almighty (so that he can come to our aid in our need) is shown in various places in Scripture; see Psalm 46:1-2; 62:10-11, etc. That we must believe and hope in the one we call upon is taught by the Apostle in Romans 10:14: “How can they call on him in whom they have not believed?” The truth of the premise is not doubtful, since God alone is the knower of hearts, alone present everywhere, alone almighty, so that He can hear and answer. And since Paul's principle that we should only call upon those in whom we believe (Romans 10:14) is irrefutable, I do not see how it can be said that the saints and angels should be called upon without them thereby becoming the cornerstone and object of our faith. But how much this is contrary to Scripture will become clear to everyone when they read Jeremiah 17:5: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.” That one and the same object of worship is found in the Ten Commandments and in the Apostles' Creed, as well as in the Lord's Prayer and in Baptism, is evident from the
juxtaposition of these main elements of religion... But now, in the Ten Commandments and in the Apostles' Creed, as well as in the Lord's Prayer and in Baptism, there is no other object of worship besides God, cf. Luke 11:12-13; Matthew 6:9. Hence the saying attributed to Celestine († 432): “The law to pray is the law to believe and to do.” The fifth proof is taken from the ignorance of the saints. Those who do not know our shortcomings, our personal needs, worries, sighs, and inner supplications are called upon in vain; but the saints in heaven do not know our shortcomings, etc.; thus. — Here, however, a distinction must be made between general and special knowledge, as well as between the memory of the past and the knowledge of the present. Thus, that rich man took the memory of his five brothers with him, etc. Although the blessed ones generally know something about the condition of the militant church with which they once fought under the banner of the cross, and therefore pray for the church in general, they do not know the specifics, the personal needs, sorrows, sighs, and heartfelt prayers of each individual. That nothing can therefore be demanded of those who have departed from this life is clear from 1) clear testimonies, Job 14:21: “He knows not whether his children are honored, or whether they are despised.” Ecclesiastes 9:5: “The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.” Isaiah 63:16: “Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not recognize us.” 2 Kings 22:20: “Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, that you may be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place.” 2) From the constant joy of the blessed, 2 Kings 22:19-20; Isaiah 65:17, 18; Revelation 21:4. Thus, the hardships of their descendants are unknown to them, as these would disturb their joy. The sixth proof is taken from the uncertainty of invocation. The invocation of the saints is uncertain and dubious in many ways, for often those are invoked of whom it is not sufficiently known whether they ever lived, or, if they lived, whether they were truly saints, whether they are in heaven or are being tormented in hell; since those who are included in the number of the blessed by one pope are sometimes excluded by another. In short, the religious invocation of the saints is based on an uncertain and highly dubious principle, namely human traditions, and fabulous ones at that, and derives its origin from the superstitious schools of the pagans. The seventh proof is taken from the authority of the Synod of Paris (of the year 825), which was held under Louis the Pious and Lothair, which forbade the invocation of saints, on the authority of Lactantius,
Fulgentius, and Ambrose, and decreed that they should be venerated solely through love, not through any obligatory service. The eighth proof is taken from the consensus of the Holy Fathers. J. Dalläus has shown that the oldest theologians up to the 4th century knew of no other religious worship than that which belongs solely and exclusively to God. Jerome rightly says to Vigilantius: “Who, O foolish head, has worshipped the martyrs, who has believed that a man is a god?” (Theol. didact.-polem. P. 10. c. 11. s. 2. q. 4. f. 1442. 1445 ff..)
Because the Papists refer to the tradition of the early Church for everything they cannot prove from Scripture, the last two pieces of evidence are also of considerable importance, namely that in 825 a great synod forbade the invocation of saints, and that until the fourth century no one had any idea of such a thing. In the weekly prayers of our Treasury of Prayers [Gebets-Schatz], there is a request that God may give us the grace to lead a life that pleases him and all the elect in heaven. This passage is sometimes understood as if the perfected ones really knew something about our lives. But that is not what this passage means at all. Rather, it means that God will give us His grace to live a life that would please all the elect who are already in heaven if it were presented to them for examination, in a word, a truly holy life; for only such a life would gain the approval of the elect.
Finally, in his “Preface to the Prophets,” Luther compares the idolatrous invocation of saints by the papists with the idolatry of the Israelites. The incomparably beautiful passage in which Luther also gives a clear teaching on what idolatry is reads as follows:
"Because the prophets mostly cry out against idolatry, it is necessary to know what form their idolatry took. For among us, under the papacy, many are very gentle and think that they are not as idolatrous as the children of Israel. Therefore, they do not hold the prophets in high regard, especially in this matter, as they are not concerned with their punishment for idolatry. They are far too pure and holy to engage in idolatry, and it would be ridiculous for them to fear and be frightened by the threats and rebukes concerning idolatry. Just as the people of Israel did, refusing to believe that they were idolatrous, and the prophets' threats had to be lies and they had to be condemned as heretics. Such great saints were not the children of Israel, that they would have worshipped wood and stones, especially the kings, princes, priests, and prophets, who were most idolatrous. But this was their idolatry, that they abandoned the worship of God, which was instituted and ordained in Jerusalem (and where God wanted it more),
and improved, instituted, and arranged elsewhere out of their own devotion and conceit, without God's command, and invented other new ways, persons, and times for it, which Moses had strictly forbidden them (especially Deut. 12:4, 8), and always pointing them to the place that God had chosen for his tabernacle and dwelling place. Such false devotion was their idolatry, and they thought it was delightful, and relied on it as if they had done well; yet it was pure disobedience and apostasy from God and his command. Thus we read in 1 Kings 12:28 that Jeroboam did not merely set up the two calves, but also had the people preached to: “You shall no longer go up to Jerusalem, but behold, Israel, here is your God who brought you out of Egypt.” He does not say, “Behold, Israel, this is your calf,” but “this is your God who brought you out of Egypt.” He freely confesses that the God of Israel is the true God and the one who brought them out of Egypt, but one should not go up to Jerusalem to worship Him, but rather find Him here in Dan and Bethel at the golden calves. So that the opinion was: one could sacrifice and serve God both before the golden calves and before a holy sign of God, just as one served and sacrificed to God in Jerusalem before the golden ark. Behold, that means abandoning the worship of God in Jerusalem and denying God, who commanded such worship, as if He had not commanded it. And so they built on their own works and devotion, and not on God alone. With such devotion, they filled the land with idolatry on all the mountains, in all the valleys, under all the trees, building altars, sacrificing, and burning incense; and yet everything had to be called serving the God of Israel; anyone who said otherwise was a heretic and a false prophet. For that is what idolatry actually means: performing a religious service without God's command, out of one's own devotion. For he wants us to be untaught as to how to serve him. He wants to teach us and guide us; his word should be there to enlighten and guide us. Without His Word, everything is idolatry and vain lies, no matter how devout and beautiful it may seem... From this it follows that among us Christians, all those who have invented new forms of worship or still practice them without God's command and commandment, out of their own devotion and (as they say) good intentions, are idolatrous and truly deserve the prophet's rebuke. For in doing so, they certainly place their trust in their own chosen works and not solely and purely in Jesus Christ. These are called ‘adulterers’ by the prophets, who are not content with their husband, Christ, but run after others, as if Christ alone could not help us without us and our works, or as if He alone had not redeemed us, but we also had to do our part. Yet we know full well that we have done nothing
to deserve that he died for us and took our sins upon Himself and bore them on the cross, not only before the whole world could consider such a thing, but also before we were born... Therefore, it does not help our clergy to pretend that they serve no idols in their churches and monasteries, but only God the Lord. For you hear here that it is not enough to say and think: I do it to honor God; I mean the true God; again: I want to serve the one God: because all idolaters say and mean the same thing. It is not a matter of opinion or belief, otherwise those who martyred the apostles and Christians would also be servants of God; for they also believed (as Christ says in John 16:2) that they were doing God a service; and St. Paul in Romans 10:2 testifies to the Jews that they “zealously serve God”; and in Acts 26:7 he says that they hope to attain the promised salvation through worship day and night. — But let each one see to it that he is certain that his worship is founded on God's Word and not invented or well-intentioned out of his own devotion. For whoever practices worship that has no testimony from God should know that he is not serving the true God, but his own invented idol, that is, his conceit and false thoughts, and thus the devil himself, and all the words of the prophets are against him. For there is no such God who would allow us to establish worship according to our own choice and devotion, without his command and word; but there is only one God who, through His Word, has abundantly established and commanded all kinds of orders and worship in which he wants to be served. We should remain with this and not deviate to the right or to the left, neither doing more nor less, neither making it worse nor better. Otherwise, there will be no end to idolatry, and no distinction can remain between what is true worship and what is idolatry, because they all mean the true God and all use his true name. To the same one God be thanks and praise through Jesus Christ, his Son and our Lord, blessed forever, Amen." (Preface to the Prophets from 1532. XIV, 41-48 [StL 14, 32-41; AE 35:265-73])
2.
[All invocation of any creature is contrary to the honor of Christ,
as the one mediator and intercessor.]
Just as invoking any creature first robs the Triune God of the honor of His divinity, so, according to our first thesis, it also robs Christ of the honor that He alone is the Mediator.
For Holy Scripture teaches 1) that Christ is the only mediator between God and man, the only high priest, representative, and intercessor. 1 Tim. 2:5: “There is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 John 2:1–2: “And if anyone sins, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is righteous.” Romans 8:34: “Who shall condemn? Christ is here, who died, yes, rather, who was also raised, who is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.” John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.”
So what devil has inspired the papacy to say that in times of spiritual distress one should take refuge in the saints instead of in Christ, who is after all the mediator appointed by God and the only way to the Father's heart? —
Holy Scripture teaches 2) that part of our Savior's work of redemption is that we now have free and confident access to God. Romans 5:1–2: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” Eph. 2:18: “Through Him we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access in one Spirit to the Father.” Heb. 4:15-16: “Therefore (because we have such a high priest) let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.”
What devil has now inspired the papacy to tell Christians: You may not appear before God, for he is a consuming fire. Go to the saints; they are kind and will represent your cause before God? Who does not see that through this antichristian abomination the whole blessed, eternally praiseworthy work of redemption of Christ is denied, through which God is reconciled with men and has become their dear, faithful Father, who sees nothing condemnable in those who appear before him clothed in Christ's blood and righteousness, but only good and holy things?
Holy Scripture teaches 3) that the Son of God became a man, and indeed such a poor man, precisely for this reason, that He allowed Himself to be tortured and tormented in body and soul, that He sweated bloody sweat, was sorrowful unto death, and felt forsaken by God Himself, so that He might know how we feel in our afflictions, and thus have compassion on us. Christ suffered far more terribly than any human being can even imagine. Not a drop of comfort refreshed his anguished soul. When He cried out, kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me!” — there was no answer: He had to drink the cup to the dregs. Therefore, Hebrews 4:15 says: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet without sin.” Yes, Hebrews 2:17-18 says: “Therefore, he had to become like his brothers, so that He might be merciful and a faithful high priest
before God, to reconcile the sins of the people. For in that He has suffered and been tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.” It is a wonderful depth of God's love into which our spirit is introduced through these passages. God already knows, in his omniscience, how we are often troubled in our needs. But so that the sinner may have no doubt about the mercy of his Savior, God allows every conceivable hardship to befall him, “so that he might become merciful”!
What devil, one must ask here too, has inspired the papacy to point Christians to the saints because they are more merciful than Christ? It is a terrible abomination of the Antichrist to portray Christ, the Savior, the “merciful, faithful High Priest,” as a strict, cruel judge before whom one must fear, tremble, and quake, the Savior who compares Himself to a hen that lovingly and carefully takes her weak chicks under her wings; the Savior who calls Himself the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep!
Finally, Holy Scripture teaches 4) that we should pray in the name of Jesus. John 16:23: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” Yes, Christ says in John 14:13: “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” So it is the Father's glory that the Son Himself answers the prayers that are made in His name.
What devil has now inspired the papacy to say that one should come before God in the name of the saints? It is true, and every person, unless they are completely blinded by the devil, feels it: we cannot appear before God in our own name, for we are not only poor worms and like a drop in a bucket before the infinite King of heaven and earth, but we are also sinners and by nature under God's wrath. But it is our comfort that we can confidently approach God with all our petitions in Christ's name and be assured of being heard. And the devil wants to rob us of this comfort.
We must now see whether the Lutheran Church, with its doctrine of the worship of God, also gives Christ the honor that belongs to Him alone according to Scripture as Mediator and Intercessor.
The Augsburg Confession says: "It cannot be proven from Scripture that one should call upon the saints or seek help from them; for there is only one single reconciler and mediator set between God and man, Jesus Christ, 1 Tim. 2:5, who is the only Savior, the only High Priest, the mercy seat and Intercessor before God. Rom. 8:34.“(AC XXI 2)
The same reason against invoking the saints is also asserted by the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, when it says:”Such abominations against Christ... can be tolerated by bishops and theologians... But they would gladly destroy us who preach the pure gospel, if we therefore contest the invocation of the saints, so that Christ alone may remain the mediator." (Art. XXI. § 38-39)
The same: “Now the adversaries teach that we should invoke the saints... and thereby cause people to place greater trust in the saints than in Christ; yet Christ says, ‘Come unto me,’ not unto the saints.” (Art. XXI, 21)
Those who go directly to Christ, in accordance with His call, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,” can be certain that they will find a gentle Savior, before whom they need not fear. —
But let us now hear what the papists have to say about this. The papists do have crucifixes in all their churches, and the sign of the cross is used more by them than anywhere else. But the crucified one has long since been removed from their churches. Beneath their crucifixes is often written the angelic greeting: “Ave Maria, gratia plena!” “Hail Mary, full of grace!” as they interpret it, instead of “you have found grace.” And the sign of the cross has been reduced to a magic charm among them.
Konrad Dannhauer writes in his “Catechism Milk”:
"The Jesuit Mendoza raises a strange question as to which is better, to call on the name of Jesus or the name of Mary in times of need; he decides as follows: It is more advisable to go confidently, directly, and immediately to the Virgin Mary, who can sometimes be moved more easily than her son; the latter being a strict judge, but the mother of all mercy being the patroness and intercessor; just as Queen Esther appeased Ahasuerus when he was angry with the Jews, to whom the king said, ‘Half the kingdom shall be given to you’: so the Virgin Mary is the same queen to whom God has granted half of his kingdom, keeping for himself the kingdom of justice, and leaving to His mother the kingdom of mercy, through which He can gain more devotion and piety from mankind; therefore it often happened that when Christ was so enraged by the sin of the world that he armed his hands with fiery arrows and thunderbolts to destroy the world, the Mother of God intervened and met her Son in such a way that he dropped the rod and revoked his prepared vengeance." (Kat.-Milch p. 150.)
Of course, we are told that this is only a private writing and that the Church
cannot be blamed for what individual theologians have said. But this is only to throw sand in the eyes of the simple-minded. The Roman Church is otherwise sharp enough in its censorship when something does not suit it. But here it remains silent because it likes to see a theologian use rather coarse language for once.
Incidentally, its confessions speak in a very similar vein. Among other things, the Roman Catechism states:
"Of course, they (the deceased saints) should be venerated and invoked even more because they constantly pray for the salvation of mankind, and God bestows many blessings upon us because of their merits and for their own sake. For if there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, will not the citizens of heaven also support those who repent? Will they not, when asked, implore forgiveness for our sins and obtain God's grace for us?" (III, 2, 13.)
The same source:
"But the holy Church of God has also rightly added to this thanksgiving prayers and an invocation of the most holy Mother of God, whereby we devoutly and humbly take refuge in her, that she may through her intercession with God reconcile us sinners and obtain for us the goods we need both for this life and for eternal life. Consequently, we, the banished children of Eve, who inhabit this valley of tears, must incessantly invoke the Mother of Mercy and the Advocate (advocatam) of the faithful people, that she may plead for us sinners and implore help and assistance from her through this prayer; for only the wicked and malicious can doubt that she has the most glorious merits and the best will with God to help the human race." (IV, 5, 8.)
It is terrible that the papacy, in physical distress, exhorts souls to invoke the saints as the best intercessors. For this is precisely a horrible form of idolatry. But it is infinitely more terrible that it also points to the saints in spiritual distress, in distress of conscience, sin, and death. For in this way it obstructs its children's path to obtaining forgiveness of sins, and either comforts them into hell or lets them perish in despair. Anyone who cannot yet recognize that the Pope is the prophesied Antichrist must be completely blind. Even Pusey, who was very inclined toward Catholicism, was particularly deterred from finally converting to the papacy by his realization that “the religion of the Roman Church is more Marian than Christian.”
As proof of the intercession of their saints, papist theologians point out that even among men, every
distinguished man considers only those requests that are presented and supported by his secretary or his favorites. How much more must this be the case with the great God! That is why the
Apology says:
"Where is the order established by God, of which Gabriel (Biel) speaks, that we should flee to the saints? Let him bring forth a word, a single example from Holy Scripture. Perhaps they make the order from the custom that is in princely courts, where the prince's counselors present the affairs of poor people and promote them as mediators. But what if a prince or king appointed a single mediator and would hear no other matters in mercy or grant all requests through him alone? Therefore, since Christ alone is appointed high priest and mediator, why do we seek others? What can the adversaries say against this?" (Art. XXI. § 24)
Chemnitz comments very thoroughly on this supposed proof of the papists: (The papists say:)
"At royal courts, subjects do not have immediate access to the prince himself, and if someone were to suddenly appear before the king, he would be received badly. Rather, one must first turn to those who are in the prince's good graces and endear oneself to them through service, so that through them our affairs may be settled with the prince. This is even more true when we have to turn to God.' The answer to this argument is easy. For it is not from comparisons with human things, especially those corrupted by sin, but from the Word revealed by God that we are to judge the will of God. For it is written: “I am God, and not man,” Hos. 11:9. And concerning the matter of invocation itself, it is written: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways, says the Lord; but as much as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55:8-9. And as for what the thoughts and ways of the Lord are concerning invocation, He has revealed this to us through His certain Word that has been handed down. To depart from this and judge God according to the corrupt customs of the courts would truly be most foolish, not to say godless. For when princes do not listen to their own people, they do not do so because of their office, but either out of pride and negligence, because they despise their own people and do not care for them, or because they are devoted to other lusts and pleasures and do not want to take time for the affairs of their own people. But how badly these corrupt habits affect the affairs of their subjects
is attested to by the complaints of the entire East and West, so that a certain witty person has gracefully mocked this argument. For when he had been led around a certain court for a long time with handshakes, flattery, and promises of gifts, and yet achieved little, and then heard a bishop publicly defend the invocation of saints in accordance with the customs of that court, he exclaimed: “If it is like this in heaven when we turn to God, as it is at court, then we are completely lost.” But I wanted to put this argument first, so that it may be noted how the invocation of saints is not taken from the Word of God, but has been fabricated from those human reasoning conclusions from which all the idolatry of the heathens arose. For Ambrose testifies in his interpretation of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans that the pagans used this argument to confirm their idolatry (as one reaches the king through counts). And Augustine reports in the 8th book of the City of God that the Platonists therefore invented certain intermediary deities between the supreme being (principium) and the prayers of men as mediators, who received our prayers and brought them before the supreme God, effected their fulfillment, and, after this was done, brought them back to us; for they thought we were not worthy to approach God ourselves, and that it was contrary to God's majesty to attend to the prayers of each individual, since it was likely that that supreme majesty was occupied with greater things. But it is known from Scripture that God wills, indeed, commands that we turn to Him with supplication, and promises to hear each individual and to care for even the smallest matters of each individual, such as the hairs falling from their heads." (Examen Concil. Trid. Ed. Genev. f. 617 sq.)
It is impossible to describe the sad fruits that this shameful doctrine, that one must not approach Christ directly but must seek the mediation of the saints, has borne. For one thing, it has meant that it is extremely rare for anyone to pray to God.
Chemnitz writes:
"Erasmus reports jokingly in his own way: When once, in a shipwreck, everyone took refuge in his saint, as in his guardian god, calling upon him, one man, seeing that the most urgent danger was imminent, which allowed no long delay and no late help, considered all kinds of things: if he called upon his Nicholas, it was uncertain whether he would hear him; he might be busy listening to the prayers of others and fulfilling them, and might not be able to help him so quickly, but even if he wanted to, he would not find a quick response from God. Finally, he decided to do the surest and most certain thing, namely to take refuge directly with God through Christ,
because it is written in Psalm 50:: ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me’; and further, in Hebrews 4:16: ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’" (Examen Concil. Trid. Ed. Genev. f. 613) —
The second evil fruit was that Christ ceased to be the gracious Savior of tortured consciences and became a severe judge, from whom one would rather turn to the saints. On this subject,
Chemnitz writes on this subject:
"Consider only those reasons which are given why, besides Christ, the saints are also to be invoked as mediators and advocates or intercessors, namely because Christ is harder, stricter, and rougher, but the saints are more gracious, kind, and merciful, indeed, more willing to hear and help, since they themselves had experienced the same hardships in the flesh. This reason undeniably places the saints in the office of mediator not only beside Christ, but apparently also above him, and thus directly contradicts the expressed opinion of Scripture, Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15-16." (Examen Concil. Trid. Ed. Genev. f. 615.)
Luther is the clearest example of this, as he himself confesses in various places in his writings. Thus, in his “Sermons on the Third and Fourth Chapters of the Gospel of John,” which he preached from 1537 to 1540, he says: “I have also been so deep in darkness that I was an enemy of Christ and loved Mary and St. George.” (Erl. ed. 47. p. 41.) In his “Sermons on Several Chapters of the Evangelist Matthew” (1535-1540), he says:
"So we should now remain with the Lord Christ when we have sinned, and not turn our backs on Him, otherwise we will lose the forgiveness of sin. When I was in the monastery wearing the cap, I was so hostile to Christ that when I saw his painting or image hanging on the cross, etc., I was frightened and lowered my eyes, and would have preferred to see the devil. For my heart was completely poisoned by this papist doctrine that I had defiled my baptismal garment, lost Christ and Baptism, and now had to help myself; as is still preached in the papacy today: Christ has done enough for original sin, but whoever sins after receiving Baptism must do enough himself; and has become a devil out of Christ, the Savior. That is why people also crawled under Mary's mantle, made pilgrimages to the saints, did this and that; but it does not lead to heaven, but to the abyss of hell. “(Erl. ed. 44, 127)
In the same sermons, Luther writes:
”We have all believed in the papacy and also preached and taught and pretended thus: How? If Christ is no longer your Savior? Then seek
another, for Christ has now become your judge. See how you might reconcile Him and make Him gracious. Run into a monastery and torment yourself with fasting and prayer and call upon the saints, whip yourself so long until you yourself destroy your sin. That has been the teaching and belief of the pope.... I was often frightened by the name of Jesus, and when I looked at Him on the cross, it seemed to me as if he were a flash of lightning, and when His name was mentioned, I would rather have heard the devil's name; for I thought I would have to do good works until Christ became my friend and was gracious to me. “(Erl. ed. 45, 154. 156.)
It seems quite terrible to us when we read such confessions from this man of God; but he was just a good papist Christian and therefore had to fear Christ,”the harsh judge," more than even the devil himself.
Meurer tells the following story in his “Life of Luther,” which has not been known for very long. He writes:
"At that time (around 1503), another accident befell him. He was traveling to visit his parents (on the third day of Easter). On the way, he accidentally kicked his sword with his foot; the knife shot out and he stabbed himself, cutting a major artery. He was with a single companion, about half a mile from Erfurt. The blood flowed terribly and could not be stopped, and as he lay on his back, his leg raised and his finger pressed against the wound, his leg swelled enormously. Finally, a surgeon came from the city and bandaged the wound. But Luther cried out in mortal danger: “Mary, help!” And when the wound opened during the night and he fainted, he likewise called only on Mary. “At that time,” he said later, “I would have died for Mary.” (Luther's Life. Youth and Popular Edition. Leipzig 1878. p. 7.)
Here and there, despite the prevailing superstition, a soul found peace by turning to Christ alone.
Ludwig von Seckendorf recounts the following in his history of the Reformation about the end of Duke George of Saxony, one of the most furious enemies of the Reformation:
"Father Eisenberg did his best to point the dying prince to his own merits and to the saints; beforehand, he earnestly commanded him to invoke his patron saint, St. James. When it became clear that this consolation was still far from sufficient and adequate for the frightened lord, Dr. Rothe dared to put his arms around the sick prince and cry out to him: " Gracious lord, you have a saying: Straightforwardness gives the best runners; therefore, pay no attention to what people tell you about deceased saints and other intercessors; but set your heart straightforwardly on the crucified Jesus, who died for our sins and is our only
intercessor and savior, and you will be all the more certain of your salvation.' When the two chamberlains had carried the impetuous Eisenberg out and the prince heard these words of comfort, he is said to have said: ‘Well then, help me, faithful Savior Jesus Christ; have mercy on me and make me blessed through your bitter suffering and death, Amen.’ Then he passed away." (JuniiCompend. Seckendorfianum, or A Concise History of the Reformation. Frankfurt 1755. III, 402.)
And, as we hope, he fell asleep blessedly. For it is not man's merit or worthiness, but God's free grace that opens heaven even to the most rejected sinner, if he appropriates Christ's merit in faith. — Finally, here is a passage from a letter from the
Church of Smyrna from the second century, in which it describes the end of the martyr Polycarp; which is further proof that even the early church turned only to Christ as the one and only intercessor. Towards the end of this letter, it says:
"Some gave Nicetas permission to speak to the proconsul, that he should not give up his (Polycarp's) body, lest the Christians, as they said, let go of the Crucified One, and begin to worship Him. They said this on the information of the Jews, who watched us carefully when we wanted to take him out of the fire. But they did not know that we can never abandon Christ, who suffered for the salvation of the redeemed throughout the world, nor can we worship anyone else. For we worship Him as the Son of God, but we love the martyrs as disciples and followers of the Lord, well deserved because of their exuberant love for their king and teacher. May we also become their companions and fellow disciples!" (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, trans. by Stroth. St. Louis, Mo. Published by Volkening, 1869. Book IV. Chap. 15. p. 119 f.)
Let us now think of the terrible moral dilemmas into which Luther was plunged to an extraordinary degree by the invocation of saints, and in which countless good Catholics still torment themselves in vain today; and let us also remember that God has allowed us to be born and raised in a church that gives Him all glory, and thereby opens up the richest source of comfort to its members through the pure knowledge that we have free access to God's grace through Christ, our only mediator: our hearts should overflow with joy and our mouths be full of thanksgiving; we should now also hasten diligently to the Father's heart of our God through Christ in all our concerns, whatever they may be.
Thesis II.
Our church teaches that Christ, God and man in one person, is to be invoked and worshipped, not his divinity alone.
When considering this thesis, one would naturally like to delve deeply into the wonderful doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ, of the personal union of both natures in Christ, and of the communication of attributes. But here we must content ourselves with the simplest explanation.
The Gospel of John begins with the mysterious and sublime words:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1-4, 14).
With these words, the Holy Spirit reveals to us that the eternal personal Word, through whom all things were made, that is, the true, living God Himself, became man. He, the only begotten Son of God, did not merely take up residence in the flesh; that could be an indwelling of God, as every believing Christian may experience. No, it says: “The Word became flesh!” This is the greatest, highest, deepest, most wonderful, most worshipful mystery of divine wisdom and mercy among all those that God has revealed to us in His Word. Even the apostle Paul, filled with admiration through the Holy Spirit, must exclaim: "Great indeed is the godly mystery: God is revealed in the flesh! " (1 Tim. 3:16). Yes, even the holy angels desire to look into this depth, as Peter writes in the first chapter of his first letter in verse 12.
However incomprehensible this mystery is, Holy Scripture speaks of it in very unambiguous terms. In Col. 2:9, Paul says: “In him (in Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (σωματιχώς), that is, just as the soul dwells in the human body, so that both constitute a spiritual-physical human person, so the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ's human nature, so that Godhead and humanity are one divine-human person. As it says in the Athanasian Creed: “Just as body and soul are one human being, so God and man are one Christ.”
Therefore, Holy Scripture also calls the God Christ man and the man Christ God, and speaks of human things concerning the God Christ and divine things concerning the man Christ. It says,
for example: “The Prince of Life” — that is, the true God — “you have killed”; “the Lord of Glory” — that is, the true God — “you crucified.” (Acts 3:15, 1 Cor. 2:8) “Christ comes from the fathers according to the flesh, who is God above all, blessed forever” (Rom. 9:5), so the true God has a human lineage. “God acquired the church through His own blood.” (Acts 20:28). “The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7). Here, Holy Scripture attributes something purely creaturely and human to God, namely that He has blood. But again, Scripture speaks of divine things concerning Christ, who is human. It says: “The holy one to be born of you” — that is, the true man — “will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35), that is, He will be the Son of God. “The second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47). Christ himself, in his state of humiliation, calls Himself “the Son of Man who is in heaven” and “ascends to heaven” as the one who came down from heaven. (John 3:13). Yes, when He once asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Christ does not reject this answer as blasphemy, but on the contrary praises Simon Peter, because this was not revealed to him by flesh and blood, but by His Father in heaven. (Matthew 16:13, 16.)
From this it follows naturally that Christ, as God and man in one person, is to be invoked and worshipped not only according to His divinity, but also according to his humanity. But we do not base this part of the doctrine of prayer on this mere conclusion; rather, Scripture itself expressly demands it. For we find two things in it: first, that we are called upon to invoke the whole person of Christ, that is, also according to his humanity, or as a human being, and indeed expressly so; and second, that the believers have gone before us in this by their example.
First, Philippians 2:9–11 says: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” It is obvious that Christ is being referred to here as a human being. It does not merely say that the kneeling or worship and invocation should take place in the name of the Son of God, but expressly: “in the name of Jesus.” But Jesus is the name of our Savior, which he received in His humanity. And furthermore, according to these words, it is precisely He who has been exalted who is to be invoked; exalted at the right hand of the
Father, to divine omnipotence and majesty. But the Godhead can neither be exalted nor humbled. Of it it is said: “You remain as you are.” So it cannot be the Godhead that is meant, but must be the humanity. This is finally shown by the words: “And has given Him a name that is above every name.” According to the divinity, however, nothing more could be given to Christ, since as God He already had everything from eternity. “What is given to Christ in time is given to him according to His humanity,” is therefore the old theological rule. Thus, in this passage, the worship of Christ is demanded by angels and men precisely as a human being or according to his humanity.
Psalm 45:11 says: “For he is your Lord, and you shall worship him.” Who is the Lord whom the Church is to worship according to this? The one whom this psalm praises with the words: “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” This includes all the messianic passages of the Old Testament in which the future Savior of the world, that is, Christ, the God-man in one person, is given the honor of worship. For example, Psalm 72:11: “All kings shall worship him, all nations shall serve him.” Psalm 97:7: “Worship him, all you gods!” (cf. Hebrews 1:6, where that passage is interpreted as referring to Christ). Isaiah 45:23: “Every knee shall bow to me.” (cf. Romans 14:11, where that passage is also interpreted as referring to Christ). Joel 3:5: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Compare Romans 10:13, as above.)
When Paul finally asks in Romans 10:14, “How can they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” he explains at the same time that one can only call on, but also should call on, the one in whom one believes. Now, however, we believe not only in the divinity of Christ, but in the whole Christ, God and man in one person. For only as such is He our mediator. As it says in 1 Tim. 2:5: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, namely the man Christ Jesus.”
Among the examples presented to us in Holy Scripture, foremost is that of the wise men from the East, of whom it is said: “They found the child with Mary, His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him,” not the mother, but the child. (Matthew 2:11) Then, during the time of Christ's public ministry, countless people in need fell on their knees before him, the almighty helper, and begged Him for help. The Lord never refused them, but always accepted this honor as due to Him. Or did all these seekers of help worship only His divinity, completely disregarding His humanity? — After the resurrection, it is said of the disciples: “When they saw him, they fell down before him and worshiped him.” Matt. 28:17. Luke 24:52. They saw him only in his humanity, and yet
they fell down before him on their knees. And Christ does not say, “Examine yourselves carefully to see whether you are now giving the honor of worship only to my divine nature. When you worship me, your hearts must completely disregard my humanity, and your prayers must be directed only to my divinity.” No, nothing of the sort. Rather, Christ takes pleasure in their worship. Indeed, he praises Thomas, who, having just touched the nail marks, now worships and proclaims him as his “Lord” and his “God,” and only criticizes him for not having believed before. — The first martyr, Stephen, called upon the Lord twice during his stoning: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” He does not say, “Lord, thou Son of God,” but calls upon Jesus and finds his prayer answered. — Furthermore, the prayer of Ananias in Acts 9:13-14 is exceedingly remarkable, in which he characterizes Christians as invokers of Jesus, saying to Christ, speaking of Saul, “He has all power here,” and calling him “Lord Jesus.” 9:13-14, in which he characterizes Christians as invokers of Jesus. In referring to Saul, he addresses Christ: “He has power from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name”; and thus testifies that whoever does not want to pray to Jesus should not dare to call himself a Christian. — Indeed, it is so much the duty to render the honor of worship to the humanity of Christ that even all the inhabitants of heaven fall down before the “Lamb that was slain” and “worship” Him. Rev. 5:12–14. And to add one more thing: The entire Holy Scripture concludes with a prayer to the God-man, in which he is again called by his human name: “Come, Lord Jesus! Amen!”
Is it not appalling that almost all churches except the Lutheran, Calvinists as well as Papists, teach that it is permissible to worship Christ according to his divinity, but that to worship him according to his humanity is idolatry? It is now commonly believed that even though the various Christian parties differ in so many doctrines, they are all united in the belief that Christ is truly God and truly man in one person. But this is by no means the case. For although the sects talk much about Christ's divinity and humanity, they do not do so in the sense of Scripture. They have no understanding whatsoever that Christ's blood is truly God's blood, that Christ's body, heart, eyes, and hands are God's body, heart, eyes, and hands, because divinity and humanity are personally, that is, united in one person. They believe that God united Himself with the man Jesus only to a much higher degree and in a much closer way than with other people. But no; the Son of God did not, so to speak, take on a finished human being, an independent human person, but a human nature, a humanity, and took this into His person and gave it his personality. If the sects' conception of Christ's person were correct, then one could not worship the man Jesus,
who existed apart from the person of the Son of God, without idolatry, any more than one could worship a fellow Christian in whom God himself dwells with all his grace. But this is precisely a false conception. Because one cannot comprehend the wonderful mystery of the incarnation of God with one's reason, one tears it apart with a sacrilegious hand. While God's Word so clearly testifies that in Christ the whole fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, as the soul dwells in the body of a human being, that therefore in Christ's person God is man and man is God, that wherever his Godhead is, his humanity is also, and that therefore, as the Godhead is worthy of worship, so also is humanity in its union with the Godhead: Papists and Reformed Christians deny this most wonderful and incomprehensible teaching of Scripture. They deny the truth of the promise of the God-man: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.” They rob Christians of this wonderful comfort and the whole human race of this high honor, that they may pray to their Brother in all their needs. Yes, they rob Christ of the honor that is due to Him, that His humanity is also exalted at the right hand of power on high.
Even the Christians of the post-apostolic period always worshipped the Crucified One as their God. We even have the testimony of a pagan, Pliny, to this effect. The church historian
Eusebius writes:
"In Tertullian's Latin Apology it is stated: 'We have found that the investigation against us has been forbidden. For when Pliny Secundus was governor and had condemned various Christians and deprived others of their dignities, he was finally put in an awkward position by the multitude of them and sought instructions from the emperor Trajan (98-117) as to how he should proceed. He reported that he had learned nothing more about their religion than that they refused to sacrifice to idols and that they gathered in the morning to sing songs in honor of Christ as a god and to maintain unity in their religion; otherwise, they forbade murder and adultery, fraud, perjury, and other vices." (The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea. St. Louis, Mo., by L. Volkening. 1869. p. 94.)
Reformed Christians and Papists can therefore refer neither to Scripture nor to Christian antiquity when they say: when praying to Christ, one must completely disregard the person of our Savior and turn only to His divinity. This is rather the old error of the Nestorians, long since condemned by the Church, who also separated the two natures in Christ in such a way that two Christs arose, a man who could not be worshiped and a God who could not be crucified.
But what does the Lutheran Church teach?
Already in the Augsburg Confession, it confesses: “This is also the highest worship according to Scripture, that one should seek and call upon the same Jesus Christ with all one's heart in all needs and concerns.” (AC XXI 3) — Prompted by disputes over the doctrine of the person of Christ, however, our church had to express itself more precisely on this very question in the
Formula of Concord. It states:
"Therefore we believe, teach, and confess that the Son of Man is exalted at the right hand of the almighty majesty and power of God is realiter, that is, in deed and truth, according to human nature because He was excepted from God when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in His mother's womb and His human nature was personally united with the Son of the Most High. Which majesty He always had according to the personal union, and yet expressed Himself in the state of His humiliation, and [therefore] truly increased in all wisdom and grace with God and men; therefore He did not always show such majesty, but only when it pleased Him, until He completely laid down the form of a servant, and not his nature, after his resurrection (Phil. 2:6 ff.) and placed in the full use, revelation, and manifestation of divine majesty, thus entering into his glory, so that he now, not only as God but also as man, knows all things, can do all things, is present to all creatures, and has all things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth under His feet and in His hands; as He himself testifies: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”; and St. Paul: “He is gone above all the heavens, that He might fill all things”; which power He can exercise everywhere, and everything is possible and known to Him." (Ep. Art. VIII. § 15. 16)
It is often objected that Christ did not demand worship from anyone during his time on earth. The answer to this is given by Luther when he says that the worship of Christ during his time and state of humiliation was voluntary and no one was forced to do so. It is enough for us that the Lord did not prevent anyone from worshipping him, but accepted it. Christ's humiliation consisted precisely in this, that He did not always show and use all the divine majesty that He also possessed according to His humanity by virtue of His personal union, in order to become like us in all things except sin, and to be able to suffer and die for us.
Regarding the doctrines of the Calvinists and Papists, Quenstedt writes:
"The Calvinists claim: ‘To say that Christ's flesh is to be worshipped is the sin of terrible idolatry.’ This is written, for example, by Theodore Beza... Most Calvinists make a distinction between mere and simply divine worship, purely human worship, and finally mediatorial worship; the former they reserve solely for the divine nature; but they do not dare to attribute purely human worship to the flesh of Christ; therefore they teach that the God-man Christ is to be worshipped through a mediatorial or as the mediator of both natures. Thus Danaus... However, Calvinists themselves do not agree among themselves as to what this intermediate worship consists of, and they often change their wording, but never their meaning. — The Papists, who make a distinction between worship (latreia) and excessive worship (hyperduleia), attribute worship to God alone, veneration to angels and men, but the cult of hyper-veneration to the humanity of Christ and the Blessed Virgin." (L. c. f. 287 sqq.)
It is indeed exceedingly terrible that the Calvinists follow their reason so far that they themselves declare what Holy Scripture presents to us in commandment, promise, and example to be idolatry! They do not want to accord divine veneration to the humanity of Christ, but they do not dare to withdraw all worship from Him. But where does Scripture say a single word about such half-hearted, so-called “mediatory” worship as they invent? If the honor is greater than that which is due to a creature, then it is divine, and therefore, according to Calvin's view, idolatrous; but if it is not divine worship, then our mediator is reduced to a mere creature, and that is contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture. There is no third option here. The same applies to the so-called “hyper-veneration” of the Papists.
Zwingli was already among those who did not want to accept the teaching of Scripture on the communication of natures without reservation. But because he could not get around the clear statements of Scripture, he helped himself by inventing a new figure of speech, which he called alloeosis or shifting of emphasis.
According to this figure, he said, one could say something about a subject, even though one meant something completely different. Everyone can see that such language is pure mischief. For example, according to Zwingli, it would be an alloeosis if Christ said that the Son of Man is in heaven, he meant to say that the Son of God is in heaven, etc. Luther took a very serious stance against this, writing, among other things: “That is, he (Zwingli) calls it alloeosis when something is said about the divinity of Christ that actually pertains to humanity, or vice versa.”
Luther took a very serious stance when he wrote, among other things:
"That is to say, he (Zwingli) calls it alloeosis when something is said about the divinity of Christ that actually pertains to humanity, or vice versa; as in Luke 24:26: 'Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and thus enter into His glory? Here he deludes
us into thinking that Christ is taken for human nature. Beware, beware, I say, of alloeosis, it is the devil's mask; for it ultimately judges such a Christ, according to which I would not want to be a Christian, namely that Christ is no longer there with His suffering and life, but just another saint. For if I believe that human nature alone suffered for me, then Christ is a poor savior to me; then He Himself needs a savior. In short, it is unspeakable what the devil seeks with the alloeosis.“(XX, 1180 [StL 20, 942-943; AE 37:209 f.])
The same:
”Schwenkfeld does not know what he is talking about, but this is his opinion and his principle: The creature must not be worshipped, because it is written: ‘You shall worship God, your Lord.’ He concludes from this that Christ is a creature; therefore I should not worship Christ as a human being. And so he makes two Christs, saying that the creature was transformed into divinity after the resurrection and glorification and must therefore be worshipped... The children recite it poorly: “I believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, conceived by the Holy Spirit,” etc. Thus the fool wants to make two Christs for me, one hanging on the cross and another at the right hand of the Father. I am not to worship the Christ who hangs on the cross and walks on earth. He allowed himself to be worshipped when they fell down before him and said, ‘Whoever believes in me believes in him who sent me.’" (W1 XXI, 1594 [AE 54:469 f.])
Hunnius:
"Christ is, as the apostle expressly assures us, ‘a name that is above every name, given that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,’ Phil. 2:10-11. But this name is given to him, as the Church Fathers unanimously agree and as the context of the apostolic text proves, according to His human nature. This is also proven above all by the Greek word used by the apostle in that passage, namely echarisato, which means that he has given it as a gift or out of grace. For that name worthy of worship could not be given or bestowed by grace upon the divinity of Christ, since it is worthy of worship by nature." (Libelli IV de persona etc. p. 147)
Gerhard:
"Christ the man is worthy of religious worship... By religious worship we do not mean any lesser worship than that which is due to God, but a truly divine worship, due to God alone. However, we do not call human nature worthy of worship through and from itself in relation to its essential characteristics;
because it does not exist through itself by its own personality, therefore it is also not to be worshipped through and from itself. Nor do we say that it is only accidentally worthy of worship, as when a king is honored, his purple robe is also accidentally honored. For because it does not exist in the (eternal, personal) Word as something accidental, but as part of the person, it is not merely accidentally worthy of worship... We also do not say that Christ's flesh is to be worshipped because it has been essentially transformed into the divine nature or swallowed up by the divine nature, or is of the same nature, the same status, and the same constitution as the nature of the Word, as Schwenkfeld taught. We also do not say that it is to be worshipped in the sense that it constitutes a special person distinct from the Word; but we say that Christ, God and man, is to be honored with the same reverence of religious worship because the personality of both natures is one and the same undivided. The worship of Christ, which Scripture knows, is the one that belongs to the Word according to His essence, to the assumed flesh by virtue of the grace of union. When we say that Christ as man is worthy of religious worship, the phrase “as man” does not express the reason and cause of worship, for human nature is not the reason and cause, but (only) the object of worship, which is not only the divine nature, but also the human nature assumed in the person of the Word." (Conf. cath. f. 478.)
The Godhead is like the sun, which imparts its light to the moon, so that it too shines, but only as long as the sun shines on it. If it were possible (which is not the case, however) for the divinity to ever separate itself from humanity again, then the divinity would retain its divine attributes, but humanity would immediately lose them, and then its worship would truly be idolatry. But as long as both are personally united (and the union is and remains inseparable for all eternity), it is sacrilege to deprive humanity of this honor, not because humanity has been so improved and enlarged and its nature so changed that it has ceased to be a creature; no, humanity has not been transformed into the Godhead, it remains humanity and retains its creaturely attributes forever. But the divine attributes are communicated to it. Therefore,
Quenstedt also writes:
"The flesh or human nature of Christ is not to be worshipped separately or as a separate person, but as the nature that has become personal, which exists personally in the person of the Son of God and has become partaker of the divine majesty through personal union. “(Theol. did.-polem. P. III. cap. 3. s. 2. q. 15. f. 296.)
And with that, the objection that one might think to take from Isa. 48:11,”I will not give my glory to another," also falls away. Regarding this in another place
Quenstedt says:
"It is objected to us: Isa. 48:11 says that God Himself says, ‘I will not give my glory,’ that is, religious worship, ‘to another’; but Christ's flesh is not God. — Answer: When the incarnate Word communicates the honor of worship to human nature through personal union, it does not give it to ‘another,’ but to its own humanity, that is, to the one it has made its own through union and has incorporated into the unity of its person, without any multiplication, equalization, or diminishment of itself." (L. c. f. 297.)
Scherzer writes:
"The honor bestowed upon the humanity of Christ has not been bestowed upon another person distinct from God. Therefore, the worship attributed solely to the Trinity does not exclude the humanity of Christ, but includes it. For whomsoever one believes in, one calls upon religiously according to Romans 10:14: ‘How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?’; but we believe in the man Christ, John 3:16; thus. For the Father ‘has given the Son power to execute judgment also, that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father’, John 5:22, 27. But he has given Christ the power to judge according to humanity; thus also the honor of the same worship by which the Father himself is worshiped; the same, I say, in essence, not in manner. For God is worshipped in relation to himself and his nature, and humanity is worshipped in relation to something else and out of grace or for the sake of the grace of union, Phil. 2:9-11. Because Christ's flesh (that is, his human nature) is the flesh of the Word, not of a mere man, the passage in Jer. 17:5: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm,” is vainly opposed; for there only the one who considers the flesh of a mere man, not that of a God-man, to be his arm is declared cursed. (Syst. th. Loc. II. p. 81.)
One could also explain it as idolatry if we rely on God's Word, when in fact we do so only because God's Word is an outflow (απόρροια) from God, and we therefore actually trust only in God himself.
This teaching of our church about the worship of Christ even according to his humanity is also reflected in our hymns. Let us just think of the wonderful Christmas carol:
“I rejoice in you
And welcome you,
My dearest little Jesus;
You have decided
To be my little Brother.”
And the words of the fourth verse are addressed to this little Jesus, our little Brother:
"Well then, I will hold fast to you, O Jesus,
And even if the world
Should split into a thousand pieces;
O Jesus, to you, only to you,
I live for you alone,
To you, alone to you.
My Jesus, I fall asleep.“
But what Paul Gerhardt sings is utterly magnificent:
”Lord, my Shepherd, fountain of all joy,
You are mine, I am yours,
No one can separate us;
I am yours because you gave your life
And your blood for my sake In death.
“You are mine because I fast
And do not, O my light,
Let you out of my heart.
Let me, let me get there,
Where you and I
Physically embrace each other.”
In newer hymnals, the word “physically” is often changed to “lovely.” But this is precisely what Gerhardt means. Here we have looked at our Savior with the eyes of faith and embraced Him spiritually with the hand of prayer; but there, the seeing and embracing will be real, physical. Let the Papists and Calvinists laugh at us as idolaters: we remain true to the teaching of Scripture and wait for the time when they too, God grant, must bow their knees before Him without fear and trembling.
Thesis III.
Our church teaches that only prayer based solely on God's command and promise, and is offered in the name of Jesus, is pleasing to God and will be answered, but that even the faintest sigh of faith is precious to God and will certainly be answered.
This thesis gives the third reason why only the Lutheran Church, with her teaching on prayer, gives all glory to God alone, namely because only it teaches correctly about the nature and character of a true prayer that is pleasing to God.
For just as even the pagans knew and still know that there is a God, but did not know and still do not know what this God is like, so too they knew that one must call upon God, but they did not know and still do not know what the right kind of worship pleasing to God is. God had to reveal it. And God has revealed to us what the third thesis calls the doctrine of our church, namely
1. that prayer must be based on God's command and promise and on Christ's merit, and
2. that such a prayer is pleasing to God and finds favor, even if it is but a sigh of weak faith.
1.
That true prayer must be based on God's commandment, we see above all in David's words: “My heart holds your word before you: You shall seek my face! Therefore, I also seek your face, Lord.” (Ps. 27:8, Luther’s German; DE) There are many passages where God commands us to pray. Among the Ten Commandments, the second one expressly commands us to “call upon the name of God in all our troubles, to pray, praise, and give thanks.” In Ps. 50:15, God calls out to us: “Call upon me in the day of trouble!” He does not say: You may, you are allowed to, you can call upon me; no, He commands us to ask for help, to pray in every need. And we should not be falsely modest and ask for only a little. On the contrary, God commands: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Ps. 81:11) He wants us to ask much, very much of Him. Furthermore, the prophet Isaiah exclaims: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near!” (Isa. 55:6) This is not to say that God does not always want to be found and is not always near as long as one has His Word; rather, it means that if one no longer has God's Word, one can no longer find God, and that after the time of grace has expired, the door will be closed. But as long as a person has God's Word and as long as the time of grace lasts, the command “Seek! Call upon!” also applies. And this commandment of God must not be transgressed any more than any of the others. Christ says: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9.) A wonderful interpretation of this passage, given by
Luther, may be found here. He writes:
"Christ says: 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. First, he wants us to ask when we are in trouble, for God often hides himself somewhere and does not want to hear us, indeed, he does not want to be found; so we must seek him, that is, persist in prayer. When we seek him, he locks himself in a little room; if we want to get in, we must knock. When we knock once or twice, he listens a little. Finally, if we knock too much, he opens the door and says, “What do you want?” “Lord, I want this or that.” Then he says, “So have it.” So we must wake him up." (W1 XXII, 835 ff.)
And not only is prayer itself commanded, but God's Word also calls us to “persevere in prayer” (Rom. 12:12), “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), and “pray always in the Spirit, with all your prayers and supplications” (Eph. 6:18). So not only should there be no matter, however small or great, that we do not want to bring before God, but there should also be no time when we do not pray. We cannot always bend our knees and fold our hands; but “in the Spirit” we can and should always come before God with requests and supplications, always communicating with God and approaching Him with the sighs and desires of our hearts.
As for the promise on which we should base our prayers, James 5:16-18 is particularly relevant here. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, just like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” Elijah, who accomplished so much with his prayer, “was,” it says, “a man just like us.” Take note of this! Every person may therefore, based on the promise, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective,” present their need to God: they will be heard. The greater piety of the person praying does not make their prayer powerful and effective. No, according to Scripture, true prayer requires, on the contrary, that one despair of all one's own worthiness and merit.
Thirdly, however, one must also base one's prayer solely on Christ's merit. This means praying in the name of Jesus. Daniel gives us a beautiful example of this when he speaks to God with the whole people: “We lie before you with our prayer, not on our righteousness, but on your great mercy” (Dan. 9:18), which in New Testament language means “for the sake of Jesus Christ,” “in the name of Jesus Christ.” Christ says of prayer in His name: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything
in my name, He will give it to you.” (John 16:23) “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:22)
But is there really a church that denies that a true, God-pleasing prayer must be based on God's command and promise and on Christ's merit? — Admittedly, no church denies this outright, but no church except the Evangelical Lutheran Church takes it seriously. The enthusiasts, for example, make the godliness of prayer dependent on man's worthiness and skill in praying. A prayer that is not spoken freely “from the heart” with great eloquence is hardly considered a prayer by them. And yet it is usually the case that the less one feels worthy and the less the words flow, the more pleasing the prayer is to God. For then one clings to the divine command, as if to say, "If you had not commanded it, O God, I would not dare to cry out to you. But you want it. And you have promised that you will not put to shame those who run to you. On the basis of this command and promise, I come before you in the name of Jesus." Then, even if the person praying feels unworthy, even if he has just committed a mortal sin, even if, like Peter, he has just denied his Savior, even if his mouth cannot find words and only tears wet his cheeks, or even if it is only the tax collector's sigh, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” rise up to God from the depths of his heart: this is still a powerful prayer, a prayer that pleases God and that he cannot leave unheard.
But there is such a lack of simple and single-minded adherence to God's commandment and promise—and unfortunately not only among the sects, but even among us Lutherans. How much more eagerly and joyfully would we turn to God in every need, even in the need of our souls, in the trials that our sins bring upon us, if we always remembered his commandment and his promise! If a king not only declared himself willing to pay the debts of all the debtors in his country, but also commanded them to have them paid from his treasury, would even one of them remain behind? But God is just as kind, indeed much kinder, for he not only commands us to ask him to forgive our debts, but also to ask him for everything we need. All preachers must therefore work to ensure that the evangelical character of the prescribed prayer is first brought to bear on themselves and then on their congregations. The dogmatists of the 17th century mostly treated the doctrine of prayer under the locus of the law, and as a result, the rich consolation that lies in the demand for prayer was somewhat pushed into the background. During the Reformation, however, we find
that in dogmatics, prayer is always dealt with in a separate chapter, where the legalistic aspect recedes and the genuine Lutheran, that is, scriptural, evangelical view of the commandment to pray comes into its own. [Walther renews the vigor of the Reformation!]
If we now look at the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, we find that it bases the godliness of prayer on nothing other than God's commandment and promise and Christ's merit.
Even our children learn to answer the question, “What does ‘Amen’ mean?” with the following response: “That I should be certain that such petitions are pleasing to the Father in heaven and will be heard; for he himself has commanded us to pray thus and promised that He will hear us, Amen, Amen, that is, Yes, yes, it shall be so.”
The Large Catechism states: “By calling upon it and praying, the name of God is honored and used profitably.” [LC III, 8] For if we do not pray hypocritically and pretend to pray, if we do not merely parrot our morning and evening prayers or the Lord's Prayer while we actually want nothing from God and hardly think about what our lips are saying, for such prayer certainly does not honor God; rather, it is a shameful desecration of God's name; indeed, it is not prayer at all, but nothing but hypocrisy.
"You should note above all else that we should be silent and reject such thoughts that keep us from it and deter us; for just as it is worthless for a son to say to his father, 'What does my obedience matter? I will go and do what I can, it is still just as important; but there stands the commandment: You shall and must do it; so here too it is not in my will to do or not to do, but prayer must and shall be offered (under God's wrath and disfavor). One must now understand and remember above all else that one should be silent and reject the thoughts that keep us from it and deter us, as if there were no great power in whether we pray or not, or as if it were commanded to those who are holier and better with God than we are; for the human heart is by nature so desperate that it always flees from God and thinks that He does not want or accept our prayers because we are sinners and deserve nothing but wrath. Against such thoughts [I say] we should consider this commandment and turn to God, lest we provoke Him further by such disobedience. For through this commandment He makes it sufficiently clear that He does not want to reject or chase us away, even though we are sinners, but rather draw us to Himself, that we may humble ourselves before Him, complain of our misery and need, and ask for mercy and help. Therefore, we read in Scripture that He is also angry with those who, because of their sins,
have been struck down, that they did not turn back to Him and, through prayer, appease His anger and seek mercy. From this you should now conclude and think, because it is so highly commanded to pray, that no one should despise prayer, but rather hold it in high esteem, and always take the parable of the other commandments. A child should by no means despise his obedience to his father and mother, but always remember: The work is a work of obedience, and what I do, I do not do of my own accord, but because [it] is in obedience and God's commandment, on which I can base and ground myself, and regard it as great, not for my own worthiness, but for the sake of the commandment. So also here, whatever and for whatever we pray, we should regard it as required by God and done in obedience to Him, and thus think: For my sake it would be nothing, but it should be valid because God has commanded it. Therefore, everyone, whatever he has to ask for, should always come before God with obedience to this commandment. Therefore, we ask and exhort everyone most earnestly to take this to heart and in no way despise our prayer; for until now it has been taught in the devil's name that no one has regarded this, and it has been thought that it is enough that the work be done, whether God hears it or not. That is to say, prayer is put on the line and left to chance; therefore, it is a lost prayer. For we allow such thoughts to mislead and deter us: I am not holy or worthy enough; if I were as pious and holy as St. Peter or Paul, then I would pray. But cast such thoughts far away; for precisely the commandment that St. Paul fulfilled applies to me as well, and the other commandment is set forth for my sake as much as for his; that he has no better or holier commandment to boast of. Therefore, you should say: My prayer, which I offer, is as precious, holy, and pleasing to God as that of St. Paul and the Most Holy; for I will gladly let him be holier in terms of person, but not in terms of commandment, because God does not regard prayer in terms of the person, but in terms of His Word and obedience to it. For I place my prayer on the commandment on which all the saints place theirs; I pray for the same things that they all pray for or have prayed for; so it is as important and more necessary for me than for those great saints. — Let this be the first and most necessary part, that all our prayers should be based on and stand on obedience to God, regardless of our person, whether we are sinners or pious, worthy or unworthy; and we should know that God does not want to be trifled with, but will be angry and punish us if we do not pray, just as He punishes all other disobedience; after that, He will not let our prayers be in vain and lost; for if He did not want to hear you, He would not command you to pray and impose such a strict commandment on it. —
Secondly, we should be all the more driven and motivated by the fact that God has also made a promise and assured us that what we ask for will surely and certainly be granted, as He says in Psalm 50:15: ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you’; and Christ in the Gospel of Matthew 7:7-8: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you, etc.; for everyone who asks receives.’ This should always awaken our hearts and inspire us to pray with joy and love, because he testifies with his word that our prayers are pleasing to him, and that they will certainly be heard and granted, so that we do not despise them or treat them lightly and pray uncertainly. You can bring this before Him and say: Here I am, dear Father, and I ask, not because of my own merits or worthiness, but because of your command and promise, which cannot fail me or lie. Whoever does not believe in such a promise should know that he angers God, as he dishonors Him most and accuses Him of lying." (LC III 12-21; from the German)
In any case, therefore, those who doubt that their prayers will be answered take away God's honor, whether it be because they do not give God the honor of His truthfulness in the depths of their hearts, or because they do not consider themselves good and worthy enough to be heard, thus casting doubt on God's grace. Of course, even the best Christian will often have doubts as to whether God will value his prayer highly. For the devil and the flesh are busy. But all the more reason for the Christian to rely firmly on God's commandment and promise and not cease to implore: “I believe, Lord; help my unbelief!”
Many foolish Christians think it is humility to consider their prayers insignificant and to belittle them, perhaps because they lack a flow of words or sweet feelings, as if these made their prayers more acceptable to God. But this is not humility; it is pride. They want the glory for themselves. A Christian should think highly of his prayer, if it is based on God's commandment and promise and Christ's merit, and as surely as God is true, so surely should the Christian believe that his prayer will benefit him, yes, open heaven and the Father's heart. What Luther once said in his sermons against the agitator Carlstadt about confession: “I would have been overcome and strangled by the devil long ago if this confession had not preserved me,” all Christians must say about their prayers. How can they, how dare they, think little of them without robbing God of His glory?
That faith in the answering of prayer rests firmly on the truthfulness of God, says Luther in his sermon on the Gospel of the wedding at Cana:
"Here you also see how faith does not fail and God does not let it fail, but gives more and more gloriously than one asks for. For here, not only wine is given, but delicious and
good wine, and in abundance. So that He may once again entice and lure us to believe in Him comfortingly, even if He delays. For He is true and cannot deny Himself; He is good and gracious, He must confess this of Himself and also prove it; unless one hinders Him and does not allow Him the time, place, and manner to do so: in the end, He cannot refrain from doing so, any more than He can refrain from being himself, whoever can endure it." (W1 XI, 648)
2.
The present thesis states that the Lutheran Church also gives all glory to God alone with its doctrine on the nature of prayer because it teaches, secondly, that even the weakest sigh of faith is a prayer precious to God and will certainly be heard.
When the Christian can no longer speak coherently with God, when distress oppresses and torments him so much that no words come to mind; he wishes he could pray, but feels no strength to do so; he struggles, but sees no victory; yet he sighs again and again: "Oh God, oh God, help me, have mercy on me!" this is the most powerful prayer that can exist in heaven and on earth. Never does a Christian pray more truthfully and earnestly than when he feels completely powerless in his great distress. Then he is a true Israelite, wrestling with God, and he will surely be victorious.
The example of Moses at the Red Sea is a wonderful illustration of this. The people of Israel had reached the Red Sea on their exodus from Egypt. But behold! In the midst of their joy at finally having escaped the hands of their oppressors, they suddenly see Pharaoh pursuing them with a great army. Terror seizes the people. They see no way out. Moses himself cannot utter a word. And yet God calls out to him: “Why do you cry out to Me?”
Luther says the following about this wonderful story: “If despair does not come, but is a sigh, then it is the most perfect strength in the weakest weakness.” If, of course, man despairs of God's grace, then his prayer—if he still prays at all—is blasphemy. But if the Christian feels only powerlessness within himself, even if he considers his prayer to be blasphemy, but still desires to get out of this state, then that is a cry that fills heaven and earth.
Luther proves this from Moses' example when he continues in the passage we began:
"Thus says the Lord to Moses in the second book, chapter 14, verse 15: ‘Why do you cry out to Me?’ But Moses did not cry out at all; rather, he was silent with fear; no sound of any voice was heard there; he was as if he were dead. But the Holy Spirit,
who understands the same sighing, says that it is a great cry. But how does he cry? Answer: "Abba Pater: Oh dear God?' There, despair is not yet complete, but there is still a little trust, a little breath, a little sigh, which is very small in your eyes, but in the ears of God it is very great, and is a cry above all cries, which fills heaven and earth, so that God cannot refrain from hearing such a cry, and must answer:,What are you crying for?'" (Great Exposition of the First Book of Moses. On Gen. 32:6-8. Walch II, Hall. A. 1099 f.; [St. L. 2, 751; AE 6:108])
The following passages serve as evidence: Psalm 10:17: “You hear the desires of the afflicted, O Lord; their hearts are confident that your ear is attentive to them”; and Romans 8:26: “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”
We do not read that the lame man at Lystra, whom the holy Apostle Paul healed, expressed the desire of his heart in words. And yet he received the help he longed for. We find several more such examples in the New Testament.
That is why Valentin Ernst Löscher sings:
“And when I can no longer speak,
So accept my last sigh:
God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Thesis IV.
Our Church teaches that grace is obtained not through the prayers of man, but solely through the Word and the Holy Sacraments, and that therefore prayer is neither a meritorious work nor a means of grace, but an exercise of faith for those already in grace, in order to recognize and obtain God's gifts of grace and all other good gifts from God.
The fourth reason why we claim that only the Lutheran Church, with its doctrine on prayer, gives all glory to God alone is that, according to its doctrine, prayer is neither a meritorious work nor a means of grace, but rather the exercise of faith by one who is already in grace.
It is well known that the Reformed sects call prayer a means of grace. The Methodists, for example, teach in their “Doctrine and Church Order”: "It is expected of all who wish to remain in the community that they demonstrate their desire for salvation through regular use of all the means of grace ordained by God, such as: public worship, listening to the Word of God,
whether it be read or expounded, the Lord's Supper, praying with the family and in private, searching the Scriptures, fasting, and abstinence.“(§ 34.)”The means of grace are either expressly prescribed in God's Word or rules of conduct based on Christian wisdom. Those prescribed in God's Word are prayer," etc. (p. 118.) (Quoted in Günther's Symbolik, 2nd ed., p. 241.)
To call prayer a means of grace does indeed have some appearance of truth. Prayer and conversion are inseparable. As long as a person does not yet pray, he still resists. But nevertheless, prayer is still not a means of grace. For a means of grace is a means by which God offers, bestows, communicates grace, or, if we already have it, confirms and seals it. But prayer does none of these things. We are not to bring down God's grace from heaven through prayer. It is already there; God is already reconciled to all people. Scripture says clearly and plainly: “If, while we were still enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life” (Rom. 5:10). “If one died for all, then all died. … For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Cor. 5:14, 19) In Christ, then, we all already have a reconciled God. But what must we do to become partakers of the reconciliation that Christ has already obtained for us? God himself must make it ours, and He does this through the means of grace. When the Lord Jesus sent his disciples out to gather his kingdom, he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” [Mark 16:15] Here we hear what means the apostles were to use to lead the world to the enjoyment of the salvation they had obtained for them, namely, the Word of the Gospel of God's grace in Christ, which applies to all, and Holy Baptism, through which God seals to each individual whom He calls by name the word that belongs to him and which he has accepted. It is the same here as with every reconciliation. If a good friend asks my enemy for forgiveness on my behalf and obtains it, then I do not have to ask for forgiveness myself, but only believe the message of reconciliation. And I can do this all the more easily if my former enemy, so to speak, goes the extra mile and sends me a gift as a seal of his friendly disposition. — That is why the Apostle adds to his proclamation of God's accomplished reconciliation with the world in 2 Corinthians 5: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God!” (v. 20). The apostle means to say: Now that God has been reconciled to you through Christ,
all that remains is for the enmity to be removed from your hearts. And this will happen as soon as you accept with faith the reconciliation accomplished by Christ and offered to you in the Gospel.
What, then, does the one who makes prayer a means of grace do? He denies that God has truly been reconciled with the world through Christ. And so the sects actually teach that Christ has only earned us the opportunity to obtain God's grace through our prayer, whereby man is made a contributing cause of his own salvation: because prayer is indeed a work of the Holy Spirit, but one in which man must be active.
It will soon become clear how far the enthusiasts deviate from Scripture when we notice how they apply their supposed means of grace as such in practice. They preach the law and thereby cast their listeners into hell—and that is right. But when such a poor sinner asks, “What must I do now to get out of hell and into heaven?” the Methodist answers him, “Now you must pray and struggle, and we will pray with you and for you until the feeling of peace with God blesses your heart.” But that is a thoroughly un-evangelical answer. It implies that God is not yet reconciled with the sinner, and thus denies Christ's work of reconciliation and asserts that man must now do the main thing and first reconcile himself with God, thereby making himself the cause of his own salvation.
How different is the answer given by Holy Scripture to the poor sinner's question about the way to salvation! When Paul and Silas were thrown into prison in Philippi, they were treated most cruelly by the jailer there. He inflicted every conceivable torment on them. But it is written: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Probably also the jailer, who may not have been feeling very well at the time. “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were loosed.” When the jailer realizes this, fear and terror seize him. Despair in God and man fills his heart. Like a flash of lightning, the thought flashes through his soul: You are a sinner. These men are undoubtedly messengers of God. How have you treated them?! Woe to you! So, in the fear of his soul, he takes up his sword to take his own life. But when Paul stopped him, he fell on his knees before him and his companion and asked contritely, “Dear sirs, what must I do to be saved?” If the apostles had wanted to give him a Methodist answer, they would have said something like this: "What? You
ask how you can be saved? You just took up the sword to commit suicide, and only when you saw that we were all here did you put the sword aside! You have done all kinds of evil to us holy men! You are a true hellfire. And there is still not the slightest change in you. But there is still a way out for you. Fall on your knees before God; pray, wrestle, fight, cry out until God changes your godless heart and makes it a worthy vessel of His grace." But what would have happened with such an answer? Christ and His blessed work would have been denied, and the poor man would have been cast into hell, from which he had been redeemed by Christ's precious blood. But behold! The apostles respond quite differently. They say, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household will be saved.” They preached the gospel to him in all its sweetness. And that was the means of grace that would bring him salvation. That is why it goes on to say: “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he was baptized immediately, he and all his household.” (Acts 16:23-33)
Whoever has become a damned sinner in himself deserves comfort, not because he has now become more worthy of comfort, but because he now needs comfort. For merit and worthiness do not apply here; otherwise, all people would have to be condemned. No, nothing applies here but grace, free grace.
Yes, one might say, how can one say to a godless person: Your sins are forgiven? Answer: Christ himself does this when he gives his disciples the commission to preach the gospel to all creatures. — So then, would all people, even the unbelieving wicked, be saved? one might ask. Answer: Not at all; just as little as the one who despicably rejected the hundred thalers that were offered to him can enjoy them. They were, of course, given to him as a gift. The absolution given to the hypocrite is just as powerful and certain as that given to the believer. But the former remains in his sins and in his damnation because he rejects forgiveness; the latter receives it for his salvation because he accepts it and takes comfort in it. Just as “our unbelief cannot nullify the faith of God” (Rom. 3:3), so our faith does not make the means of grace effective. These bring with them the whole treasure of grace and blessedness and, as far as God is concerned, grant it to us. But those who reject them do not have them, of course, but only bring greater wrath upon themselves, precisely because God is truly gracious to them, and yet they retain their rebellious hearts.
We see the same thing in the story of the first Christian Pentecost. When Peter's sermon had touched the hearts of his listeners, Peter did not tell them that they must now obtain God's grace through prayer, but called out to them: “Repent!” But since they already had the first part of repentance, namely remorse, he meant to say:
“Accept the gospel of Christ, in which God declares you all righteous.” And so that no one would hesitate to accept the general promises of the gospel, Peter added: “And let each one be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
As certain as it is that prayer is not necessary for God's sake, so that He may become gracious to us through it, it is certainly necessary for our sake, so that we may accept and firmly believe in the grace that has already been acquired for us. Prayer is therefore an exercise of faith for those who have already received grace, not a means of obtaining grace, but the gifts of grace. When we say to God, “Be gracious to me,” we do not want to make Him gracious, but we ask Him to strengthen the faith in His grace in our hearts. For prayer is a sign that faith already dwells in the heart, even if it is only a small spark; without faith it is impossible to pray. The ancients compare prayer to the crying of a newborn child. Crying does not give the child life. If it does not have life, it will not cry. But because the new life is still weak and can be extinguished all too easily, the Christian must continually ask for faith. In this sense, Luther says in his preface to the Epistle to the Romans: “Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain without faith forever; you will think and do what you want or can.”
We must now look again at the confessions of our church to see whether it also gives God the honor He deserves in this matter.
In Article II of the Epitome of the Formula of Concord (par. 13), however, it says:
“We reject and condemn the error of the enthusiasts” (those who believe that they already carry God within themselves by nature [εν — ϑεός] and that they have an inner light without the Bible), “who claim that God draws people to himself, enlightens them, and makes them righteous and blessed without means, without hearing God's Word, and even without the use of the holy Sacraments.”
The enthusiasts of our day are similar. God's Word is good for frightening people, but it does not bring forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. To attain these things is the work of man himself. The Gospel is for them only a story that there is forgiveness of sins and that one can attain it through prayer and struggle. And now, to top it all, the sacraments! They are mere empty signs. Oh, how they rob God of all honor!
Luther speaks more extensively about this in his House Postil, where we read:
"Learn here that you may be able to speak about the matter: I know
well, and also confess, that God alone forgives sin; but I must also know how I can be sure that my sins are forgiven. Holy Scripture teaches me and all Christians that if I want forgiveness of sins, I must not sit in a corner and say, ‘My God, forgive me my sin,’ and then wait for an angel to come down from heaven and say to me, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ For God promises that He will come down to me and himself promise me forgiveness of sins. This happens first of all in holy Baptism; for there is His command that I should be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and furthermore, with this command is the promise: ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.’ Mark. 16:16. (House Postil, Sermon on the 19th Sunday after Trinity. W1 XIII, 2079 f. [St. L. 13b, 2438])
In his treatise “On the Keys,” however, Luther says:
"Do not be misled by the Pharisaical chatter with which some deceive themselves: how a man can forgive sins when he cannot give grace or the Holy Spirit. Hold fast to the words of Christ and be assured that God has no other way to forgive sin than through the spoken word, as He has commanded us human beings."
(Baptism and the Lord's Supper are also nothing other than the spoken Word. God has no other means of forgiving our sins than these. If we take the certainty of the forgiveness of sins from elsewhere, for example from the feelings of our hearts or from a supposed supernatural revelation that we believe we have had after our prayers, we are grasping at mist, and at the hour of death this foundation will disappear from under our feet. How confident, on the other hand, can be the one who draws the certainty of forgiveness of sins from the Word and the Sacrament, even in death! For this is a “foundation that stands unshakable when earth and heaven perish.” Whatever his feelings may be, he may say:
“I believe what Jesus' Word promises,
whether I feel it or not!”
“And even if my heart said no:
His Word shall be more certain to me.”
Therefore Luther continues:) “If you do not seek forgiveness in the Word, you will gaze in vain toward heaven for inner forgiveness.” (The enthusiasts mock us, saying that we rely on external forgiveness, while they have internal forgiveness. But such a distinction is utter nonsense. Forgiveness is a thought that God has about us and reveals in His Word when He says: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” Luther continues:) "But if you say, as the evil spirits and sophists also do: ‘Many hear the keys binding and loosing, yet they do not turn to them and remain unbound and unloosed; therefore there must be something else besides the word and the keys: the Spirit, Spirit, Spirit must do it.’"
(The enthusiasts of our time cry out in exactly the same way. They reproach us for clinging to the letter, while they themselves have the Spirit. But this is simply not true. We Lutherans also have what the enthusiasts understand by spirit, namely the blessed feeling of God's peace; but we do not rely on it. Finally, the enthusiasts will have to see with horror how their mockery of us is put to shame, how they have rejected the pure water of God's Word and instead dug leaky wells that give no water. Luther therefore concludes the passage as follows:)
"But do you think that he who does not believe in the binding key is not bound? He shall well learn in his time that, because of his unbelief, the binding has not been in vain, nor has it failed. Likewise, whoever does not believe that he is set freeand his sins forgiven shall also learn in time how certain it is that his sins have now been forgiven, and that he did not want to believe it. St. Paul says in Romans 3:3: ‘Because of your unbelief, God will not fail.’ — So we do not speak now about who believes in the keys or not; we know very well that few believe; but we speak of what the keys do and give. Those who do not accept it have nothing, of course, but the keys are not lacking because of that. Many do not believe the Gospel, but the Gospel is not lacking and does not lie because of that. A king gives you a castle: if you do not accept it, the king has not lied or failed because of that, but you have deceived yourself and it is your fault; the king has certainly given it.... For it is God's command and word that the one speaks and the other hears; both are guilty before the salvation of their souls if they do not believe this as surely and firmly as all other articles of faith." (Writing on the Keys. 1530. XIX, 1175 f. 1177 [St. L. 19, 946 ff.; AE40:366 ff.])
Oh, if only everyone would always approach the means of grace in such a way that they could completely disregard the person of the preacher and believe: “Now God Himself is dealing with me!” How joyful and certain we would then become in our faith! —
As far as the sects' doctrine on the means of grace is concerned, in addition to the passages already quoted, a few words from the report of our district assembly of 1876 may be appropriate here. There it was noted [p. 26]:
"But even the enthusiasts create new
means of grace. All Methodists declare prayer to be one such means. But how can grace be found in something that we do? Prayer is rather an effect, a fruit of the means of grace. As long as these have not given me grace, I cannot yet pray, for I do not yet know that God is gracious to me; so long, therefore, my prayer is only empty chatter, that babbling of which the Savior says that it is peculiar to the heathen. This error of the Methodists is much more grievous than one might think. Because they experience sweet religious feelings when they pray, they think that prayer is a means of grace; they therefore consider these sweet feelings to be grace. But they confuse grace with the gift of grace, χάριςwith χάρισμα, an important distinction that Luther explains in more detail in his preface to the Epistle to the Romans." —
In practice, however, certain Methodist-minded theologians in our church also make prayer a means of grace, without teaching this explicitly. These are the so-called Pietists. For example, in his “Confession and Communion Book,” Joh. Phil. Fresenius advises sinners, “so that they may be thoroughly converted in a short time,” to first pray for grace, then to watch over grace, and finally to contemplate God's Word. This is indeed extremely misguided advice! First, the sinner, the enemy of God, should pray, then watch (i.e., pray again), and finally, reading the Word of God should follow! It seems unbelievable, but it is really so.
Fresenius writes:
"Because all those who allow sin to rule over them are unworthy to partake of Holy Communion, they should by no means be advised to go to the Lord's table in this state of sin and God's wrath; for the Spirit of God says in 1 Corinthians 11:29: ‘Whoever eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment upon himself’; words of thunder that should rightly frighten every unrepentant person and keep them from the table of grace... but (they should) turn to the Lord... Since everything depends on the conversion of such sinners if they are to be able to obtain forgiveness of sins and worthily enjoy the body and blood of Jesus Christ, I will now impart some faithful instruction as to what they must observe on their part, so that they may be thoroughly converted in a short time.... For it is essential that the sinner observe only three rules... The first rule is: Pray for grace. The second: Watch over grace. The third rule: Consider God's Word in the right way. Because the sinner cannot convert himself, he must pray for this grace. Because he can easily lose the grace he has asked for, he must watch over it. Because God's Word is the means of grace through which God enlightens us and brings about rebirth or change of
heart in adults, he must consider it in the right way.... The first rule is therefore: whoever wants the grace of conversion must pray for this grace. However, this prayer must be different from what one was accustomed to doing before in one's prevailing sins. It must not remain a cold, foreign, and dead lip service, but must be done with great earnestness of heart. One goes into one's little room, as the Savior advises in Matthew 6:6, or wherever else one can talk to God alone, one must bow one's knees before Him and cry out with all one's strength for grace, and not only for the grace that God may forgive one's sins, but also for the grace that He may truly change one's heart and destroy the love of sin in it. And because Christ has already obtained for us the first grace of conversion, we also base this first prayer on His merit and call upon God to grant us the grace of conversion for His sake, because the Lord Jesus has paid such a dear ransom for us. This prayer is not said once or twice, but is continued daily with sighs, begging, calling, and crying out until one obtains the grace to be assured from one's own experience of the true change of heart. Here, some will think: I accept that one obtains grace when one asks in this way; but how can the sinner pray like this? Is not prayer itself already a work of divine grace, which we therefore do not have of ourselves as long as we are still dead in sins? Answer: It is true that this kind of prayer is a work of grace, which the dead sinner cannot perform by his own power; but we also know that prevenient or awakening grace often and earnestly knocks at the sinner's door to wake him from his sinful slumber.... If he now accepts this power, it is no longer impossible for him to pray, call, and cry out as his ruin requires." (Confession and Communion Book. 6th edition. 1770. p. 147 ff.)
Fresenius contradicts himself here again and again. He calls prayer a work of grace, says that the sinner must be converted before he can pray, admonishes him not to come before God with cold, alien, dead lip service, but to pray with great earnestness of heart and to base his prayer solely on Christ's merit: and yet the sinner must at the same time cry out with all his might for the grace of forgiveness and conversion! According to this, man would have to ask for his conversion when he is already converted! What must now follow from such confusion of the salutary doctrine? This: that poor souls float in constant uncertainty, without certainty as to their state. They have grace, and yet they are to believe that they do not have it! They are converted,
and yet they are to ask God for their conversion! And what is most strange and incomprehensible about this is that all this “faithful advice” is given to those “who still allow sin to rule over them”! This perverse presentation is the fruit of that tiresome distinction between the awakened and the converted, which the Pietists invented.
And now another passage from our confession that prayer is an exercise of faith for those who have already been graced. In the
Large Catechism, Luther says of the Fifth Petition:
"Therefore, it is exceedingly necessary to pray and cry out: Dear Father, forgive us our sins; not that He would not forgive our sins even without our asking (for He has given us the Gospel, in which there is complete forgiveness, before we asked for it or ever thought of it); but it is necessary that we recognize and accept such forgiveness. For because the flesh in which we live daily is such that it does not trust and believe in God, and is always stirred up with evil desires and tricks, so that we sin daily with words and deeds, with actions and burdens, our conscience is troubled, so that it fears God's wrath and displeasure and thus loses the comfort and confidence it finds in the Gospel: it is therefore necessary without ceasing to run here and seek comfort, to lift up the conscience again. " (LC III 88-89)
Our church teaches us that when we ask for forgiveness, we already have it. But because the spirit is weak and the flesh is strong, we must cry out daily, “O Lord, help us!” That is why it is so important to pray, not to obtain grace in the first place, but to recognize that Word and Sacrament have already given it to us fully and completely, and to obtain its preservation, confirmation, and increase—in a word, to obtain the gifts of grace.
So it is certain: in this too, the Lutheran Church gives all glory to God. Oh, that we might only recognize this truly and become and remain true Lutherans until our last hour. Amen! —
Unfortunately, we had to stop here due to lack of time. Because of the importance of the subject addressed in the fifth thesis, the synod resolved to ask the reverend speaker, Dr. Walther, to make his explanation of the fifth thesis available to the general public through a series of articles in Der Lutheraner magazine. [A search of the contents of Der Lutheraner in subsequent months and years turned up empty.]