{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_1911/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_1911","id":"gutenberg_1911","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1911","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Reformation -- Germany"],"text":"Produced by Elizabeth T. Knuth and David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\nCONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY\n\nby Martin Luther\n\n\n\n\nLETTER OF MARTIN LUTHER TO POPE LEO X.\n\nAmong those monstrous evils of this age with which I have now for three\nyears been waging war, I am sometimes compelled to look to you and to\ncall you to mind, most blessed father Leo. In truth, since you alone are\neverywhere considered as being the cause of my engaging in war, I cannot\nat any time fail to remember you; and although I have been compelled\nby the causeless raging of your impious flatterers against me to appeal\nfrom your seat to a future council--fearless of the futile decrees\nof your predecessors Pius and Julius, who in their foolish tyranny\nprohibited such an action--yet I have never been so alienated in feeling\nfrom your Blessedness as not to have sought with all my might, in\ndiligent prayer and crying to God, all the best gifts for you and for\nyour see. But those who have hitherto endeavoured to terrify me with the\nmajesty of your name and authority, I have begun quite to despise and\ntriumph over. One thing I see remaining which I cannot despise, and this\nhas been the reason of my writing anew to your Blessedness: namely, that\nI find that blame is cast on me, and that it is imputed to me as a great\noffence, that in my rashness I am judged to have spared not even your\nperson.\n\nNow, to confess the truth openly, I am conscious that, whenever I have\nhad to mention your person, I have said nothing of you but what was\nhonourable and good. If I had done otherwise, I could by no means have\napproved my own conduct, but should have supported with all my power the\njudgment of those men concerning me, nor would anything have pleased\nme better, than to recant such rashness and impiety. I have called\nyou Daniel in Babylon; and every reader thoroughly knows with what\ndistinguished zeal I defended your conspicuous innocence against\nSilvester, who tried to stain it. Indeed, the published opinion of so\nmany great men and the repute of your blameless life are too widely\nfamed and too much reverenced throughout the world to be assailable by\nany man, of however great name, or by any arts. I am not so foolish as\nto attack one whom everybody praises; nay, it has been and always will\nbe my desire not to attack even those whom public repute disgraces. I am\nnot delighted at the faults of any man, since I am very conscious myself\nof the great beam in my own eye, nor can I be the first to cast a stone\nat the adulteress.\n\nI have indeed inveighed sharply against impious doctrines, and I have\nnot been slack to censure my adversaries on account, not of their bad\nmorals, but of their impiety. And for this I am so far from being sorry\nthat I have brought my mind to despise the judgments of men and to\npersevere in this vehement zeal, according to the example of Christ,\nwho, in His zeal, calls His adversaries a generation of vipers, blind,\nhypocrites, and children of the devil. Paul, too, charges the sorcerer\nwith being a child of the devil, full of all subtlety and all malice;\nand defames certain persons as evil workers, dogs, and deceivers. In the\nopinion of those delicate-eared persons, nothing could be more bitter or\nintemperate than Paul's language. What can be more bitter than the words\nof the prophets? The ears of our generation have been made so delicate\nby the senseless multitude of flatterers that, as soon as we perceive\nthat anything of ours is not approved of, we cry out that we are being\nbitterly assailed; and when we can repel the truth by no other pretence,\nwe escape by attributing bitterness, impatience, intemperance, to our\nadversaries. What would be the use of salt if it were not pungent, or of\nthe edge of the sword if it did not slay? Accursed is the man who does\nthe work of the Lord deceitfully.\n\nWherefore, most excellent Leo, I beseech you to accept my vindication,\nmade in this letter, and to persuade yourself that I have never thought\nany evil concerning your person; further, that I am one who desires that\neternal blessing may fall to your lot, and that I have no dispute with\nany man concerning morals, but only concerning the word of truth. In all\nother things I will yield to any one, but I neither can nor will forsake\nand deny the word. He who thinks otherwise of me, or has taken in my\nwords in another sense, does not think rightly, and has not taken in the\ntruth.\n\nYour see, however, which is called the Court of Rome, and which neither\nyou nor any man can deny to be more corrupt than any Babylon or Sodom,\nand quite, as I believe, of a lost, desperate, and hopeless impiety,\nthis I have verily abominated, and have felt indignant that the people\nof Christ should be cheated under your name and the pretext of the\nChurch of Rome; and so I have resisted, and will resist, as long as\nthe spirit of faith shall live in me. Not that I am striving after\nimpossibilities, or hoping that by my labours alone, against the furious\nopposition of so many flatterers, any good can be done in that most\ndisordered Babylon; but that I feel myself a debtor to my brethren, and\nam bound to take thought for them, that fewer of them may be ruined, or\nthat their ruin may be less complete, by the plagues of Rome. For many\nyears now, nothing else has overflowed from Rome into the world--as\nyou are not ignorant--than the laying waste of goods, of bodies, and of\nsouls, and the worst examples of all the worst things. These things are\nclearer than the light to all men; and the Church of Rome, formerly the\nmost holy of all Churches, has become the most lawless den of thieves,\nthe most shameless of all brothels, the very kingdom of sin, death, and\nhell; so that not even antichrist, if he were to come, could devise any\naddition to its wickedness.\n\nMeanwhile you, Leo, are sitting like a lamb in the midst of wolves,\nlike Daniel in the midst of lions, and, with Ezekiel, you dwell among\nscorpions. What opposition can you alone make to these monstrous evils?\nTake to yourself three or four of the most learned and best of the\ncardinals. What are these among so many? You would all perish by poison\nbefore you could undertake to decide on a remedy. It is all over with\nthe Court of Rome; the wrath of God has come upon her to the uttermost.\nShe hates councils; she dreads to be reformed; she cannot restrain the\nmadness of her impiety; she fills up the sentence passed on her mother,\nof whom it is said, \"We would have healed Babylon, but she is not\nhealed; let us forsake her.\" It had been your duty and that of your\ncardinals to apply a remedy to these evils, but this gout laughs at the\nphysician's hand, and the chariot does not obey the reins. Under the\ninfluence of these feelings, I have always grieved that you, most\nexcellent Leo, who were worthy of a better age, have been made pontiff\nin this. For the Roman Court is not worthy of you and those like you,\nbut of Satan himself, who in truth is more the ruler in that Babylon\nthan you are.\n\nOh, would that, having laid aside that glory which your most abandoned\nenemies declare to be yours, you were living rather in the office of a\nprivate priest or on your paternal inheritance! In that glory none are\nworthy to glory, except the race of Iscariot, the children of perdition.\nFor what happens in your court, Leo, except that, the more wicked and\nexecrable any man is, the more prosperously he can use your name\nand authority for the ruin of the property and souls of men, for the\nmultiplication of crimes, for the oppression of faith and truth and\nof the whole Church of God? Oh, Leo! in reality most unfortunate, and\nsitting on a most perilous throne, I tell you the truth, because I wish\nyou well; for if Bernard felt compassion for his Anastasius at a time\nwhen the Roman see, though even then most corrupt, was as yet ruling\nwith better hope than now, why should not we lament, to whom so much\nfurther corruption and ruin has been added in three hundred years?\n\nIs it not true that there is nothing under the vast heavens more\ncorrupt, more pestilential, more hateful, than the Court of Rome? She\nincomparably surpasses the impiety of the Turks, so that in very truth\nshe, who was formerly the gate of heaven, is now a sort of open mouth\nof hell, and such a mouth as, under the urgent wrath of God, cannot be\nblocked up; one course alone being left to us wretched men: to call back\nand save some few, if we can, from that Roman gulf.\n\nBehold, Leo, my father, with what purpose and on what principle it is\nthat I have stormed against that seat of pestilence. I am so far from\nhaving felt any rage against your person that I even hoped to gain\nfavour with you and to aid you in your welfare by striking actively and\nvigorously at that your prison, nay, your hell. For whatever the efforts\nof all minds can contrive against the confusion of that impious Court\nwill be advantageous to you and to your welfare, and to many others with\nyou. Those who do harm to her are doing your office; those who in every\nway abhor her are glorifying Christ; in short, those are Christians who\nare not Romans.\n\nBut, to say yet more, even this never entered my heart: to inveigh\nagainst the Court of Rome or to dispute at all about her. For, seeing\nall remedies for her health to be desperate, I looked on her with\ncontempt, and, giving her a bill of divorcement, said to her, \"He that\nis unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him\nbe filthy still,\" giving myself up to the peaceful and quiet study of\nsacred literature, that by this I might be of use to the brethren living\nabout me.\n\nWhile I was making some advance in these studies, Satan opened his\neyes and goaded on his servant John Eccius, that notorious adversary of\nChrist, by the unchecked lust for fame, to drag me unexpectedly into the\narena, trying to catch me in one little word concerning the primacy of\nthe Church of Rome, which had fallen from me in passing. That boastful\nThraso, foaming and gnashing his teeth, proclaimed that he would dare\nall things for the glory of God and for the honour of the holy apostolic\nseat; and, being puffed up respecting your power, which he was about\nto misuse, he looked forward with all certainty to victory; seeking to\npromote, not so much the primacy of Peter, as his own pre-eminence among\nthe theologians of this age; for he thought it would contribute in no\nslight degree to this, if he were to lead Luther in triumph. The result\nhaving proved unfortunate for the sophist, an incredible rage torments\nhim; for he feels that whatever discredit to Rome has arisen through me\nhas been caused by the fault of himself alone.\n\nSuffer me, I pray you, most excellent Leo, both to plead my own cause,\nand to accuse your true enemies. I believe it is known to you in what\nway Cardinal Cajetan, your imprudent and unfortunate, nay unfaithful,\nlegate, acted towards me. When, on account of my reverence for your\nname, I had placed myself and all that was mine in his hands, he did not\nso act as to establish peace, which he could easily have established by\none little word, since I at that time promised to be silent and to make\nan end of my case, if he would command my adversaries to do the same.\nBut that man of pride, not content with this agreement, began to justify\nmy adversaries, to give them free licence, and to order me to recant, a\nthing which was certainly not in his commission. Thus indeed, when the\ncase was in the best position, it came through his vexatious tyranny\ninto a much worse one. Therefore whatever has followed upon this is the\nfault not of Luther, but entirely of Cajetan, since he did not suffer me\nto be silent and remain quiet, which at that time I was entreating for\nwith all my might. What more was it my duty to do?\n\nNext came Charles Miltitz, also a nuncio from your Blessedness. He,\nthough he went up and down with much and varied exertion, and omitted\nnothing which could tend to restore the position of the cause thrown\ninto confusion by the rashness and pride of Cajetan, had difficulty,\neven with the help of that very illustrious prince the Elector\nFrederick, in at last bringing about more than one familiar conference\nwith me. In these I again yielded to your great name, and was prepared\nto keep silence, and to accept as my judge either the Archbishop of\nTreves, or the Bishop of Naumburg; and thus it was done and concluded.\nWhile this was being done with good hope of success, lo! that other and\ngreater enemy of yours, Eccius, rushed in with his Leipsic disputation,\nwhich he had undertaken against Carlstadt, and, having taken up a\nnew question concerning the primacy of the Pope, turned his arms\nunexpectedly against me, and completely overthrew the plan for peace.\nMeanwhile Charles Miltitz was waiting, disputations were held, judges\nwere being chosen, but no decision was arrived at. And no wonder! for\nby the falsehoods, pretences, and arts of Eccius the whole business was\nbrought into such thorough disorder, confusion, and festering soreness,\nthat, whichever way the sentence might lean, a greater conflagration was\nsure to arise; for he was seeking, not after truth, but after his own\ncredit. In this case too I omitted nothing which it was right that I\nshould do.\n\nI confess that on this occasion no small part of the corruptions of Rome\ncame to light; but, if there was any offence in this, it was the fault\nof Eccius, who, in taking on him a burden beyond his strength, and in\nfuriously aiming at credit for himself, unveiled to the whole world the\ndisgrace of Rome.\n\nHere is that enemy of yours, Leo, or rather of your Court; by his\nexample alone we may learn that an enemy is not more baneful than a\nflatterer. For what did he bring about by his flattery, except evils\nwhich no king could have brought about? At this day the name of the\nCourt of Rome stinks in the nostrils of the world, the papal authority\nis growing weak, and its notorious ignorance is evil spoken of. We\nshould hear none of these things, if Eccius had not disturbed the plans\nof Miltitz and myself for peace. He feels this clearly enough himself in\nthe indignation he shows, too late and in vain, against the publication\nof my books. He ought to have reflected on this at the time when he was\nall mad for renown, and was seeking in your cause nothing but his own\nobjects, and that with the greatest peril to you. The foolish man hoped\nthat, from fear of your name, I should yield and keep silence; for I\ndo not think he presumed on his talents and learning. Now, when he sees\nthat I am very confident and speak aloud, he repents too late of his\nrashness, and sees--if indeed he does see it--that there is One in\nheaven who resists the proud, and humbles the presumptuous.\n\nSince then we were bringing about by this disputation nothing but the\ngreater confusion of the cause of Rome, Charles Miltitz for the third\ntime addressed the Fathers of the Order, assembled in chapter, and\nsought their advice for the settlement of the case, as being now in a\nmost troubled and perilous state. Since, by the favour of God, there\nwas no hope of proceeding against me by force, some of the more noted of\ntheir number were sent to me, and begged me at least to show respect to\nyour person and to vindicate in a humble letter both your innocence\nand my own. They said that the affair was not as yet in a position of\nextreme hopelessness, if Leo X., in his inborn kindliness, would put his\nhand to it. On this I, who have always offered and wished for peace, in\norder that I might devote myself to calmer and more useful pursuits, and\nwho for this very purpose have acted with so much spirit and vehemence,\nin order to put down by the strength and impetuosity of my words, as\nwell as of my feelings, men whom I saw to be very far from equal to\nmyself--I, I say, not only gladly yielded, but even accepted it with joy\nand gratitude, as the greatest kindness and benefit, if you should think\nit right to satisfy my hopes.\n\nThus I come, most blessed Father, and in all abasement beseech you\nto put to your hand, if it is possible, and impose a curb to those\nflatterers who are enemies of peace, while they pretend peace. But there\nis no reason, most blessed Father, why any one should assume that I am\nto utter a recantation, unless he prefers to involve the case in\nstill greater confusion. Moreover, I cannot bear with laws for the\ninterpretation of the word of God, since the word of God, which teaches\nliberty in all other things, ought not to be bound. Saving these two\nthings, there is nothing which I am not able, and most heartily willing,\nto do or to suffer. I hate contention; I will challenge no one; in\nreturn I wish not to be challenged; but, being challenged, I will not be\ndumb in the cause of Christ my Master. For your Blessedness will be able\nby one short and easy word to call these controversies before you and\nsuppress them, and to impose silence and peace on both sides--a word\nwhich I have ever longed to hear.\n\nTherefore, Leo, my Father, beware of listening to those sirens who\nmake you out to be not simply a man, but partly a god, so that you can\ncommand and require whatever you will. It will not happen so, nor will\nyou prevail. You are the servant of servants, and more than any other\nman, in a most pitiable and perilous position. Let not those men deceive\nyou who pretend that you are lord of the world; who will not allow any\none to be a Christian without your authority; who babble of your having\npower over heaven, hell, and purgatory. These men are your enemies and\nare seeking your soul to destroy it, as Isaiah says, \"My people, they\nthat call thee blessed are themselves deceiving thee.\" They are in error\nwho raise you above councils and the universal Church; they are in error\nwho attribute to you alone the right of interpreting Scripture. All\nthese men are seeking to set up their own impieties in the Church under\nyour name, and alas! Satan has gained much through them in the time of\nyour predecessors.\n\nIn brief, trust not in any who exalt you, but in those who humiliate\nyou. For this is the judgment of God: \"He hath cast down the mighty from\ntheir seat, and hath exalted the humble.\" See how unlike Christ was to\nHis successors, though all will have it that they are His vicars. I fear\nthat in truth very many of them have been in too serious a sense His\nvicars, for a vicar represents a prince who is absent. Now if a pontiff\nrules while Christ is absent and does not dwell in his heart, what\nelse is he but a vicar of Christ? And then what is that Church but a\nmultitude without Christ? What indeed is such a vicar but antichrist\nand an idol? How much more rightly did the Apostles speak, who call\nthemselves servants of a present Christ, not the vicars of an absent\none!\n\nPerhaps I am shamelessly bold in seeming to teach so great a head, by\nwhom all men ought to be taught, and from whom, as those plagues of\nyours boast, the thrones of judges receive their sentence; but I imitate\nSt. Bernard in his book concerning Considerations addressed to Eugenius,\na book which ought to be known by heart by every pontiff. I do this, not\nfrom any desire to teach, but as a duty, from that simple and faithful\nsolicitude which teaches us to be anxious for all that is safe for\nour neighbours, and does not allow considerations of worthiness or\nunworthiness to be entertained, being intent only on the dangers or\nadvantage of others. For since I know that your Blessedness is driven\nand tossed by the waves at Rome, so that the depths of the sea press\non you with infinite perils, and that you are labouring under such a\ncondition of misery that you need even the least help from any the least\nbrother, I do not seem to myself to be acting unsuitably if I forget\nyour majesty till I shall have fulfilled the office of charity. I will\nnot flatter in so serious and perilous a matter; and if in this you do\nnot see that I am your friend and most thoroughly your subject, there is\nOne to see and judge.\n\nIn fine, that I may not approach you empty-handed, blessed Father, I\nbring with me this little treatise, published under your name, as a good\nomen of the establishment of peace and of good hope. By this you may\nperceive in what pursuits I should prefer and be able to occupy myself\nto more profit, if I were allowed, or had been hitherto allowed, by your\nimpious flatterers. It is a small matter, if you look to its exterior,\nbut, unless I mistake, it is a summary of the Christian life put\ntogether in small compass, if you apprehend its meaning. I, in my\npoverty, have no other present to make you, nor do you need anything\nelse than to be enriched by a spiritual gift. I commend myself to your\nPaternity and Blessedness, whom may the Lord Jesus preserve for ever.\nAmen.\n\nWittenberg, 6th September, 1520.\n\n\n\n\nCONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY\n\nChristian faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even\nreckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do because\nthey have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of\nwhat efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well\nabout it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at\nsome time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation; while\nhe who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never\nwrite, speak, think, or hear about it sufficiently. For it is a living\nfountain, springing up into eternal life, as Christ calls it in John iv.\n\nNow, though I cannot boast of my abundance, and though I know how poorly\nI am furnished, yet I hope that, after having been vexed by various\ntemptations, I have attained some little drop of faith, and that I can\nspeak of this matter, if not with more elegance, certainly with more\nsolidity, than those literal and too subtle disputants who have hitherto\ndiscoursed upon it without understanding their own words. That I may\nopen then an easier way for the ignorant--for these alone I am trying\nto serve--I first lay down these two propositions, concerning spiritual\nliberty and servitude:--\n\nA Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a\nChristian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every\none.\n\nAlthough these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found\nto agree together, they will make excellently for my purpose. They are\nboth the statements of Paul himself, who says, \"Though I be free from\nall men, yet have I made myself servant unto all\" (1 Cor. ix. 19), and\n\"Owe no man anything, but to love one another\" (Rom. xiii. 8). Now love\nis by its own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object. Thus\neven Christ, though Lord of all things, was yet made of a woman; made\nunder the law; at once free and a servant; at once in the form of God\nand in the form of a servant.\n\nLet us examine the subject on a deeper and less simple principle. Man is\ncomposed of a twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily. As regards the\nspiritual nature, which they name the soul, he is called the spiritual,\ninward, new man; as regards the bodily nature, which they name the\nflesh, he is called the fleshly, outward, old man. The Apostle speaks of\nthis: \"Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day\nby day\" (2 Cor. iv. 16). The result of this diversity is that in the\nScriptures opposing statements are made concerning the same man,\nthe fact being that in the same man these two men are opposed to one\nanother; the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against\nthe flesh (Gal. v. 17).\n\nWe first approach the subject of the inward man, that we may see by what\nmeans a man becomes justified, free, and a true Christian; that is, a\nspiritual, new, and inward man. It is certain that absolutely none\namong outward things, under whatever name they may be reckoned, has any\ninfluence in producing Christian righteousness or liberty, nor, on the\nother hand, unrighteousness or slavery. This can be shown by an easy\nargument.\n\nWhat can it profit the soul that the body should be in good condition,\nfree, and full of life; that it should eat, drink, and act according to\nits pleasure; when even the most impious slaves of every kind of vice\nare prosperous in these matters? Again, what harm can ill-health,\nbondage, hunger, thirst, or any other outward evil, do to the soul,\nwhen even the most pious of men and the freest in the purity of their\nconscience, are harassed by these things? Neither of these states of\nthings has to do with the liberty or the slavery of the soul.\n\nAnd so it will profit nothing that the body should be adorned with\nsacred vestments, or dwell in holy places, or be occupied in sacred\noffices, or pray, fast, and abstain from certain meats, or do whatever\nworks can be done through the body and in the body. Something widely\ndifferent will be necessary for the justification and liberty of the\nsoul, since the things I have spoken of can be done by any impious\nperson, and only hypocrites are produced by devotion to these things. On\nthe other hand, it will not at all injure the soul that the body should\nbe clothed in profane raiment, should dwell in profane places, should\neat and drink in the ordinary fashion, should not pray aloud, and\nshould leave undone all the things above mentioned, which may be done by\nhypocrites.\n\nAnd, to cast everything aside, even speculation, meditations, and\nwhatever things can be performed by the exertions of the soul itself,\nare of no profit. One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life,\njustification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of\nGod, the Gospel of Christ, as He says, \"I am the resurrection and the\nlife; he that believeth in Me shall not die eternally\" (John xi. 25),\nand also, \"If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed\"\n(John viii. 36), and, \"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every\nword that proceedeth out of the mouth of God\" (Matt. iv. 4).\n\nLet us therefore hold it for certain and firmly established that the\nsoul can do without everything except the word of God, without which\nnone at all of its wants are provided for. But, having the word, it is\nrich and wants for nothing, since that is the word of life, of truth, of\nlight, of peace, of justification, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of\nwisdom, of virtue, of grace, of glory, and of every good thing. It is\non this account that the prophet in a whole Psalm (Psalm cxix.), and in\nmany other places, sighs for and calls upon the word of God with so many\ngroanings and words.\n\nAgain, there is no more cruel stroke of the wrath of God than when He\nsends a famine of hearing His words (Amos viii. 11), just as there is\nno greater favour from Him than the sending forth of His word, as it is\nsaid, \"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their\ndestructions\" (Psalm cvii. 20). Christ was sent for no other office than\nthat of the word; and the order of Apostles, that of bishops, and that\nof the whole body of the clergy, have been called and instituted for no\nobject but the ministry of the word.\n\nBut you will ask, What is this word, and by what means is it to be used,\nsince there are so many words of God? I answer, The Apostle Paul (Rom.\ni.) explains what it is, namely the Gospel of God, concerning His Son,\nincarnate, suffering, risen, and glorified, through the Spirit, the\nSanctifier. To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set\nit free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching. For faith alone\nand the efficacious use of the word of God, bring salvation. \"If thou\nshalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine\nheart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved\" (Rom.\nx. 9); and again, \"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to\nevery one that believeth\" (Rom. x. 4), and \"The just shall live by\nfaith\" (Rom. i. 17). For the word of God cannot be received and honoured\nby any works, but by faith alone. Hence it is clear that as the soul\nneeds the word alone for life and justification, so it is justified by\nfaith alone, and not by any works. For if it could be justified by any\nother means, it would have no need of the word, nor consequently of\nfaith.\n\nBut this faith cannot consist at all with works; that is, if you imagine\nthat you can be justified by those works, whatever they are, along with\nit. For this would be to halt between two opinions, to worship Baal, and\nto kiss the hand to him, which is a very great iniquity, as Job says.\nTherefore, when you begin to believe, you learn at the same time that\nall that is in you is utterly guilty, sinful, and damnable, according to\nthat saying, \"All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God\" (Rom.\niii. 23), and also: \"There is none righteous, no, not one; they are all\ngone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable: there is\nnone that doeth good, no, not one\" (Rom. iii. 10-12). When you have\nlearnt this, you will know that Christ is necessary for you, since He\nhas suffered and risen again for you, that, believing on Him, you might\nby this faith become another man, all your sins being remitted, and you\nbeing justified by the merits of another, namely of Christ alone.\n\nSince then this faith can reign only in the inward man, as it is said,\n\"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness\" (Rom. x. 10); and\nsince it alone justifies, it is evident that by no outward work or\nlabour can the inward man be at all justified, made free, and saved; and\nthat no works whatever have any relation to him. And so, on the other\nhand, it is solely by impiety and incredulity of heart that he becomes\nguilty and a slave of sin, deserving condemnation, not by any outward\nsin or work. Therefore the first care of every Christian ought to be to\nlay aside all reliance on works, and strengthen his faith alone more\nand more, and by it grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ\nJesus, who has suffered and risen again for him, as Peter teaches\n(1 Peter v.) when he makes no other work to be a Christian one. Thus\nChrist, when the Jews asked Him what they should do that they might work\nthe works of God, rejected the multitude of works, with which He saw\nthat they were puffed up, and commanded them one thing only, saying,\n\"This is the work of God: that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent, for\nHim hath God the Father sealed\" (John vi. 27, 29).\n\nHence a right faith in Christ is an incomparable treasure, carrying with\nit universal salvation and preserving from all evil, as it is said, \"He\nthat believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth\nnot shall be damned\" (Mark xvi. 16). Isaiah, looking to this treasure,\npredicted, \"The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.\nFor the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined\n(verbum abbreviatum et consummans), in the midst of the land\" (Isa.\nx. 22, 23). As if he said, \"Faith, which is the brief and complete\nfulfilling of the law, will fill those who believe with such\nrighteousness that they will need nothing else for justification.\" Thus,\ntoo, Paul says, \"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness\"\n(Rom. x. 10).\n\nBut you ask how it can be the fact that faith alone justifies, and\naffords without works so great a treasure of good things, when so many\nworks, ceremonies, and laws are prescribed to us in the Scriptures?\nI answer, Before all things bear in mind what I have said: that faith\nalone without works justifies, sets free, and saves, as I shall show\nmore clearly below.\n\nMeanwhile it is to be noted that the whole Scripture of God is divided\ninto two parts: precepts and promises. The precepts certainly teach us\nwhat is good, but what they teach is not forthwith done. For they show\nus what we ought to do, but do not give us the power to do it. They\nwere ordained, however, for the purpose of showing man to himself, that\nthrough them he may learn his own impotence for good and may despair of\nhis own strength. For this reason they are called the Old Testament, and\nare so.\n\nFor example, \"Thou shalt not covet,\" is a precept by which we are all\nconvicted of sin, since no man can help coveting, whatever efforts to\nthe contrary he may make. In order therefore that he may fulfil the\nprecept, and not covet, he is constrained to despair of himself and\nto seek elsewhere and through another the help which he cannot find in\nhimself; as it is said, \"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in\nMe is thine help\" (Hosea xiii. 9). Now what is done by this one precept\nis done by all; for all are equally impossible of fulfilment by us.\n\nNow when a man has through the precepts been taught his own impotence,\nand become anxious by what means he may satisfy the law--for the\nlaw must be satisfied, so that no jot or tittle of it may pass away,\notherwise he must be hopelessly condemned--then, being truly humbled and\nbrought to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself no resource for\njustification and salvation.\n\nThen comes in that other part of Scripture, the promises of God, which\ndeclare the glory of God, and say, \"If you wish to fulfil the law, and,\nas the law requires, not to covet, lo! believe in Christ, in whom are\npromised to you grace, justification, peace, and liberty.\" All these\nthings you shall have, if you believe, and shall be without them if you\ndo not believe. For what is impossible for you by all the works of the\nlaw, which are many and yet useless, you shall fulfil in an easy and\nsummary way through faith, because God the Father has made everything to\ndepend on faith, so that whosoever has it has all things, and he who has\nit not has nothing. \"For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that\nHe might have mercy upon all\" (Rom. xi. 32). Thus the promises of God\ngive that which the precepts exact, and fulfil what the law commands;\nso that all is of God alone, both the precepts and their fulfilment. He\nalone commands; He alone also fulfils. Hence the promises of God belong\nto the New Testament; nay, are the New Testament.\n\nNow, since these promises of God are words of holiness, truth,\nrighteousness, liberty, and peace, and are full of universal goodness,\nthe soul, which cleaves to them with a firm faith, is so united to them,\nnay, thoroughly absorbed by them, that it not only partakes in, but\nis penetrated and saturated by, all their virtues. For if the touch of\nChrist was healing, how much more does that most tender spiritual touch,\nnay, absorption of the word, communicate to the soul all that belongs to\nthe word! In this way therefore the soul, through faith alone, without\nworks, is from the word of God justified, sanctified, endued with truth,\npeace, and liberty, and filled full with every good thing, and is truly\nmade the child of God, as it is said, \"To them gave He power to become\nthe sons of God, even to them that believe on His name\" (John i. 12).\n\nFrom all this it is easy to understand why faith has such great power,\nand why no good works, nor even all good works put together, can compare\nwith it, since no work can cleave to the word of God or be in the soul.\nFaith alone and the word reign in it; and such as is the word, such is\nthe soul made by it, just as iron exposed to fire glows like fire, on\naccount of its union with the fire. It is clear then that to a Christian\nman his faith suffices for everything, and that he has no need of works\nfor justification. But if he has no need of works, neither has he need\nof the law; and if he has no need of the law, he is certainly free from\nthe law, and the saying is true, \"The law is not made for a righteous\nman\" (1 Tim. i. 9). This is that Christian liberty, our faith, the\neffect of which is, not that we should be careless or lead a bad life,\nbut that no one should need the law or works for justification and\nsalvation.\n\nLet us consider this as the first virtue of faith; and let us look also\nto the second. This also is an office of faith: that it honours with the\nutmost veneration and the highest reputation Him in whom it believes,\ninasmuch as it holds Him to be truthful and worthy of belief. For there\nis no honour like that reputation of truth and righteousness with which\nwe honour Him in whom we believe. What higher credit can we attribute\nto any one than truth and righteousness, and absolute goodness? On\nthe other hand, it is the greatest insult to brand any one with the\nreputation of falsehood and unrighteousness, or to suspect him of these,\nas we do when we disbelieve him.\n\nThus the soul, in firmly believing the promises of God, holds Him to be\ntrue and righteous; and it can attribute to God no higher glory than\nthe credit of being so. The highest worship of God is to ascribe to Him\ntruth, righteousness, and whatever qualities we must ascribe to one in\nwhom we believe. In doing this the soul shows itself prepared to do His\nwhole will; in doing this it hallows His name, and gives itself up to\nbe dealt with as it may please God. For it cleaves to His promises, and\nnever doubts that He is true, just, and wise, and will do, dispose, and\nprovide for all things in the best way. Is not such a soul, in this its\nfaith, most obedient to God in all things? What commandment does there\nremain which has not been amply fulfilled by such an obedience? What\nfulfilment can be more full than universal obedience? Now this is not\naccomplished by works, but by faith alone.\n\nOn the other hand, what greater rebellion, impiety, or insult to God\ncan there be, than not to believe His promises? What else is this, than\neither to make God a liar, or to doubt His truth--that is, to attribute\ntruth to ourselves, but to God falsehood and levity? In doing this,\nis not a man denying God and setting himself up as an idol in his own\nheart? What then can works, done in such a state of impiety, profit us,\nwere they even angelic or apostolic works? Rightly hath God shut up\nall, not in wrath nor in lust, but in unbelief, in order that those\nwho pretend that they are fulfilling the law by works of purity and\nbenevolence (which are social and human virtues) may not presume\nthat they will therefore be saved, but, being included in the sin of\nunbelief, may either seek mercy, or be justly condemned.\n\nBut when God sees that truth is ascribed to Him, and that in the faith\nof our hearts He is honoured with all the honour of which He is worthy,\nthen in return He honours us on account of that faith, attributing to\nus truth and righteousness. For faith does truth and righteousness in\nrendering to God what is His; and therefore in return God gives glory\nto our righteousness. It is true and righteous that God is true and\nrighteous; and to confess this and ascribe these attributes to Him, this\nit is to be true and righteous. Thus He says, \"Them that honour Me I\nwill honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed\" (1 Sam.\nii. 30). And so Paul says that Abraham's faith was imputed to him for\nrighteousness, because by it he gave glory to God; and that to us\nalso, for the same reason, it shall be imputed for righteousness, if we\nbelieve (Rom. iv.).\n\nThe third incomparable grace of faith is this: that it unites the soul\nto Christ, as the wife to the husband, by which mystery, as the Apostle\nteaches, Christ and the soul are made one flesh. Now if they are one\nflesh, and if a true marriage--nay, by far the most perfect of all\nmarriages--is accomplished between them (for human marriages are but\nfeeble types of this one great marriage), then it follows that all they\nhave becomes theirs in common, as well good things as evil things; so\nthat whatsoever Christ possesses, that the believing soul may take to\nitself and boast of as its own, and whatever belongs to the soul, that\nChrist claims as His.\n\nIf we compare these possessions, we shall see how inestimable is the\ngain. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul is full of\nsin, death, and condemnation. Let faith step in, and then sin, death,\nand hell will belong to Christ, and grace, life, and salvation to the\nsoul. For, if He is a Husband, He must needs take to Himself that which\nis His wife's, and at the same time, impart to His wife that which is\nHis. For, in giving her His own body and Himself, how can He but give\nher all that is His? And, in taking to Himself the body of His wife, how\ncan He but take to Himself all that is hers?\n\nIn this is displayed the delightful sight, not only of communion, but of\na prosperous warfare, of victory, salvation, and redemption. For, since\nChrist is God and man, and is such a Person as neither has sinned, nor\ndies, nor is condemned, nay, cannot sin, die, or be condemned, and since\nHis righteousness, life, and salvation are invincible, eternal, and\nalmighty,--when I say, such a Person, by the wedding-ring of faith,\ntakes a share in the sins, death, and hell of His wife, nay, makes them\nHis own, and deals with them no otherwise than as if they were His, and\nas if He Himself had sinned; and when He suffers, dies, and descends to\nhell, that He may overcome all things, and since sin, death, and\nhell cannot swallow Him up, they must needs be swallowed up by Him in\nstupendous conflict. For His righteousness rises above the sins of all\nmen; His life is more powerful than all death; His salvation is more\nunconquerable than all hell.\n\nThus the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes\nfree from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with\nthe eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its Husband Christ.\nThus He presents to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle,\ncleansing her with the washing of water by the word; that is, by faith\nin the word of life, righteousness, and salvation. Thus He betrothes her\nunto Himself \"in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in judgment, and in\nloving-kindness, and in mercies\" (Hosea ii. 19, 20).\n\nWho then can value highly enough these royal nuptials? Who can\ncomprehend the riches of the glory of this grace? Christ, that rich and\npious Husband, takes as a wife a needy and impious harlot, redeeming\nher from all her evils and supplying her with all His good things. It\nis impossible now that her sins should destroy her, since they have\nbeen laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and since she has in her\nHusband Christ a righteousness which she may claim as her own, and which\nshe can set up with confidence against all her sins, against death and\nhell, saying, \"If I have sinned, my Christ, in whom I believe, has not\nsinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine,\" as it is written, \"My\nbeloved is mine, and I am His\" (Cant. ii. 16). This is what Paul says:\n\"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus\nChrist,\" victory over sin and death, as he says, \"The sting of death is\nsin, and the strength of sin is the law\" (1 Cor. xv. 56, 57).\n\nFrom all this you will again understand why so much importance is\nattributed to faith, so that it alone can fulfil the law and justify\nwithout any works. For you see that the First Commandment, which says,\n\"Thou shalt worship one God only,\" is fulfilled by faith alone. If you\nwere nothing but good works from the soles of your feet to the crown of\nyour head, you would not be worshipping God, nor fulfilling the First\nCommandment, since it is impossible to worship God without ascribing to\nHim the glory of truth and of universal goodness, as it ought in truth\nto be ascribed. Now this is not done by works, but only by faith of\nheart. It is not by working, but by believing, that we glorify God, and\nconfess Him to be true. On this ground faith alone is the righteousness\nof a Christian man, and the fulfilling of all the commandments. For to\nhim who fulfils the first the task of fulfilling all the rest is easy.\n\nWorks, since they are irrational things, cannot glorify God, although\nthey may be done to the glory of God, if faith be present. But at\npresent we are inquiring, not into the quality of the works done, but\ninto him who does them, who glorifies God, and brings forth good\nworks. This is faith of heart, the head and the substance of all our\nrighteousness. Hence that is a blind and perilous doctrine which teaches\nthat the commandments are fulfilled by works. The commandments must have\nbeen fulfilled previous to any good works, and good works follow their\nfulfillment, as we shall see.\n\nBut, that we may have a wider view of that grace which our inner man\nhas in Christ, we must know that in the Old Testament God sanctified to\nHimself every first-born male. The birthright was of great value, giving\na superiority over the rest by the double honour of priesthood and\nkingship. For the first-born brother was priest and lord of all the\nrest.\n\nUnder this figure was foreshown Christ, the true and only First-born of\nGod the Father and of the Virgin Mary, and a true King and Priest, not\nin a fleshly and earthly sense. For His kingdom is not of this world; it\nis in heavenly and spiritual things that He reigns and acts as Priest;\nand these are righteousness, truth, wisdom, peace, salvation, etc.\nNot but that all things, even those of earth and hell, are subject to\nHim--for otherwise how could He defend and save us from them?--but it is\nnot in these, nor by these, that His kingdom stands.\n\nSo, too, His priesthood does not consist in the outward display of\nvestments and gestures, as did the human priesthood of Aaron and our\necclesiastical priesthood at this day, but in spiritual things, wherein,\nin His invisible office, He intercedes for us with God in heaven, and\nthere offers Himself, and performs all the duties of a priest, as Paul\ndescribes Him to the Hebrews under the figure of Melchizedek. Nor does\nHe only pray and intercede for us; He also teaches us inwardly in the\nspirit with the living teachings of His Spirit. Now these are the two\nspecial offices of a priest, as is figured to us in the case of fleshly\npriests by visible prayers and sermons.\n\nAs Christ by His birthright has obtained these two dignities, so He\nimparts and communicates them to every believer in Him, under that law\nof matrimony of which we have spoken above, by which all that is the\nhusband's is also the wife's. Hence all we who believe on Christ are\nkings and priests in Christ, as it is said, \"Ye are a chosen generation,\na royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should\nshow forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into\nHis marvellous light\" (1 Peter ii. 9).\n\nThese two things stand thus. First, as regards kingship, every Christian\nis by faith so exalted above all things that, in spiritual power, he is\ncompletely lord of all things, so that nothing whatever can do him\nany hurt; yea, all things are subject to him, and are compelled to be\nsubservient to his salvation. Thus Paul says, \"All things work together\nfor good to them who are the called\" (Rom. viii. 28), and also, \"Whether\nlife, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours; and\nye are Christ's\" (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23).\n\nNot that in the sense of corporeal power any one among Christians has\nbeen appointed to possess and rule all things, according to the mad and\nsenseless idea of certain ecclesiastics. That is the office of kings,\nprinces, and men upon earth. In the experience of life we see that we\nare subjected to all things, and suffer many things, even death.\nYea, the more of a Christian any man is, to so many the more evils,\nsufferings, and deaths is he subject, as we see in the first place in\nChrist the First-born, and in all His holy brethren.\n\nThis is a spiritual power, which rules in the midst of enemies, and is\npowerful in the midst of distresses. And this is nothing else than that\nstrength is made perfect in my weakness, and that I can turn all things\nto the profit of my salvation; so that even the cross and death are\ncompelled to serve me and to work together for my salvation. This is\na lofty and eminent dignity, a true and almighty dominion, a spiritual\nempire, in which there is nothing so good, nothing so bad, as not to\nwork together for my good, if only I believe. And yet there is nothing\nof which I have need--for faith alone suffices for my salvation--unless\nthat in it faith may exercise the power and empire of its liberty. This\nis the inestimable power and liberty of Christians.\n\nNor are we only kings and the freest of all men, but also priests for\never, a dignity far higher than kingship, because by that priesthood we\nare worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one\nanother mutually the things which are of God. For these are the duties\nof priests, and they cannot possibly be permitted to any unbeliever.\nChrist has obtained for us this favour, if we believe in Him: that just\nas we are His brethren and co-heirs and fellow-kings with Him, so we\nshould be also fellow-priests with Him, and venture with confidence,\nthrough the spirit of faith, to come into the presence of God, and cry,\n\"Abba, Father!\" and to pray for one another, and to do all things\nwhich we see done and figured in the visible and corporeal office of\npriesthood. But to an unbelieving person nothing renders service or work\nfor good. He himself is in servitude to all things, and all things turn\nout for evil to him, because he uses all things in an impious way for\nhis own advantage, and not for the glory of God. And thus he is not a\npriest, but a profane person, whose prayers are turned into sin, nor\ndoes he ever appear in the presence of God, because God does not hear\nsinners.\n\nWho then can comprehend the loftiness of that Christian dignity which,\nby its royal power, rules over all things, even over death, life, and\nsin, and, by its priestly glory, is all-powerful with God, since God\ndoes what He Himself seeks and wishes, as it is written, \"He will fulfil\nthe desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will\nsave them\"? (Psalm cxlv. 19). This glory certainly cannot be attained by\nany works, but by faith only.\n\nFrom these considerations any one may clearly see how a Christian\nman is free from all things; so that he needs no works in order to be\njustified and saved, but receives these gifts in abundance from faith\nalone. Nay, were he so foolish as to pretend to be justified, set\nfree, saved, and made a Christian, by means of any good work, he would\nimmediately lose faith, with all its benefits. Such folly is prettily\nrepresented in the fable where a dog, running along in the water\nand carrying in his mouth a real piece of meat, is deceived by the\nreflection of the meat in the water, and, in trying with open mouth to\nseize it, loses the meat and its image at the same time.\n\nHere you will ask, \"If all who are in the Church are priests, by what\ncharacter are those whom we now call priests to be distinguished from\nthe laity?\" I reply, By the use of these words, \"priest,\" \"clergy,\"\n\"spiritual person,\" \"ecclesiastic,\" an injustice has been done, since\nthey have been transferred from the remaining body of Christians to\nthose few who are now, by hurtful custom, called ecclesiastics. For Holy\nScripture makes no distinction between them, except that those who are\nnow boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords, it calls ministers,\nservants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the\nword, for teaching the faith of Christ and the liberty of believers. For\nthough it is true that we are all equally priests, yet we cannot, nor,\nif we could, ought we all to, minister and teach publicly. Thus Paul\nsays, \"Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and\nstewards of the mysteries of God\" (1 Cor. iv. 1).\n\nThis bad system has now issued in such a pompous display of power and\nsuch a terrible tyranny that no earthly government can be compared to\nit, as if the laity were something else than Christians. Through this\nperversion of things it has happened that the knowledge of Christian\ngrace, of faith, of liberty, and altogether of Christ, has utterly\nperished, and has been succeeded by an intolerable bondage to human\nworks and laws; and, according to the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we have\nbecome the slaves of the vilest men on earth, who abuse our misery to\nall the disgraceful and ignominious purposes of their own will.\n\nReturning to the subject which we had begun, I think it is made clear by\nthese considerations that it is not sufficient, nor a Christian course,\nto preach the works, life, and words of Christ in a historic manner, as\nfacts which it suffices to know as an example how to frame our life, as\ndo those who are now held the best preachers, and much less so to keep\nsilence altogether on these things and to teach in their stead the laws\nof men and the decrees of the Fathers. There are now not a few persons\nwho preach and read about Christ with the object of moving the human\naffections to sympathise with Christ, to indignation against the Jews,\nand other childish and womanish absurdities of that kind.\n\nNow preaching ought to have the object of promoting faith in Him, so\nthat He may not only be Christ, but a Christ for you and for me, and\nthat what is said of Him, and what He is called, may work in us. And\nthis faith is produced and is maintained by preaching why Christ came,\nwhat He has brought us and given to us, and to what profit and advantage\nHe is to be received. This is done when the Christian liberty which we\nhave from Christ Himself is rightly taught, and we are shown in what\nmanner all we Christians are kings and priests, and how we are lords of\nall things, and may be confident that whatever we do in the presence of\nGod is pleasing and acceptable to Him.\n\nWhose heart would not rejoice in its inmost core at hearing these\nthings? Whose heart, on receiving so great a consolation, would not\nbecome sweet with the love of Christ, a love to which it can never\nattain by any laws or works? Who can injure such a heart, or make it\nafraid? If the consciousness of sin or the horror of death rush in upon\nit, it is prepared to hope in the Lord, and is fearless of such evils,\nand undisturbed, until it shall look down upon its enemies. For it\nbelieves that the righteousness of Christ is its own, and that its sin\nis no longer its own, but that of Christ; but, on account of its faith\nin Christ, all its sin must needs be swallowed up from before the face\nof the righteousness of Christ, as I have said above. It learns, too,\nwith the Apostle, to scoff at death and sin, and to say, \"O death, where\nis thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin,\nand the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth\nus the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ\" (1 Cor. xv. 55-57). For\ndeath is swallowed up in victory, not only the victory of Christ, but\nours also, since by faith it becomes ours, and in it we too conquer.\n\nLet it suffice to say this concerning the inner man and its liberty, and\nconcerning that righteousness of faith which needs neither laws nor\ngood works; nay, they are even hurtful to it, if any one pretends to be\njustified by them.\n\nAnd now let us turn to the other part: to the outward man. Here we shall\ngive an answer to all those who, taking offence at the word of faith and\nat what I have asserted, say, \"If faith does everything, and by itself\nsuffices for justification, why then are good works commanded? Are we\nthen to take our ease and do no works, content with faith?\" Not so,\nimpious men, I reply; not so. That would indeed really be the case, if\nwe were thoroughly and completely inner and spiritual persons; but that\nwill not happen until the last day, when the dead shall be raised. As\nlong as we live in the flesh, we are but beginning and making advances\nin that which shall be completed in a future life. On this account the\nApostle calls that which we have in this life the firstfruits of the\nSpirit (Rom. viii. 23). In future we shall have the tenths, and the\nfullness of the Spirit. To this part belongs the fact I have stated\nbefore: that the Christian is the servant of all and subject to all. For\nin that part in which he is free he does no works, but in that in which\nhe is a servant he does all works. Let us see on what principle this is\nso.\n\nAlthough, as I have said, inwardly, and according to the spirit, a man\nis amply enough justified by faith, having all that he requires to have,\nexcept that this very faith and abundance ought to increase from day\nto day, even till the future life, still he remains in this mortal life\nupon earth, in which it is necessary that he should rule his own body\nand have intercourse with men. Here then works begin; here he must not\ntake his ease; here he must give heed to exercise his body by fastings,\nwatchings, labour, and other regular discipline, so that it may be\nsubdued to the spirit, and obey and conform itself to the inner man and\nfaith, and not rebel against them nor hinder them, as is its nature to\ndo if it is not kept under. For the inner man, being conformed to God\nand created after the image of God through faith, rejoices and delights\nitself in Christ, in whom such blessings have been conferred on it, and\nhence has only this task before it: to serve God with joy and for nought\nin free love.\n\nBut in doing this he comes into collision with that contrary will in\nhis own flesh, which is striving to serve the world and to seek its own\ngratification. This the spirit of faith cannot and will not bear, but\napplies itself with cheerfulness and zeal to keep it down and restrain\nit, as Paul says, \"I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but\nI see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and\nbringing me into captivity to the law of sin\" (Rom. vii. 22, 23), and\nagain, \"I keep under my body, and bring it unto subjection, lest that\nby any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a\ncastaway\" (1 Cor. ix. 27), and \"They that are Christ's have crucified\nthe flesh, with the affections and lusts\" (Gal. v. 24).\n\nThese works, however, must not be done with any notion that by them a\nman can be justified before God--for faith, which alone is righteousness\nbefore God, will not bear with this false notion--but solely with this\npurpose: that the body may be brought into subjection, and be purified\nfrom its evil lusts, so that our eyes may be turned only to purging away\nthose lusts. For when the soul has been cleansed by faith and made to\nlove God, it would have all things to be cleansed in like manner, and\nespecially its own body, so that all things might unite with it in the\nlove and praise of God. Thus it comes that, from the requirements of his\nown body, a man cannot take his ease, but is compelled on its account\nto do many good works, that he may bring it into subjection. Yet these\nworks are not the means of his justification before God; he does them\nout of disinterested love to the service of God; looking to no other\nend than to do what is well-pleasing to Him whom he desires to obey most\ndutifully in all things.\n\nOn this principle every man may easily instruct himself in what measure,\nand with what distinctions, he ought to chasten his own body. He will\nfast, watch, and labour, just as much as he sees to suffice for keeping\ndown the wantonness and concupiscence of the body. But those who pretend\nto be justified by works are looking, not to the mortification of their\nlusts, but only to the works themselves; thinking that, if they can\naccomplish as many works and as great ones as possible, all is well with\nthem, and they are justified. Sometimes they even injure their brain,\nand extinguish nature, or at least make it useless. This is enormous\nfolly, and ignorance of Christian life and faith, when a man seeks,\nwithout faith, to be justified and saved by works.\n\nTo make what we have said more easily understood, let us set it forth\nunder a figure. The works of a Christian man, who is justified and saved\nby his faith out of the pure and unbought mercy of God, ought to be\nregarded in the same light as would have been those of Adam and Eve in\nparadise and of all their posterity if they had not sinned. Of them it\nis said, \"The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden\nto dress it and to keep it\" (Gen. ii. 15). Now Adam had been created by\nGod just and righteous, so that he could not have needed to be justified\nand made righteous by keeping the garden and working in it; but, that\nhe might not be unemployed, God gave him the business of keeping and\ncultivating paradise. These would have indeed been works of perfect\nfreedom, being done for no object but that of pleasing God, and not in\norder to obtain justification, which he already had to the full, and\nwhich would have been innate in us all.\n\nSo it is with the works of a believer. Being by his faith replaced\nafresh in paradise and created anew, he does not need works for his\njustification, but that he may not be idle, but may exercise his own\nbody and preserve it. His works are to be done freely, with the sole\nobject of pleasing God. Only we are not yet fully created anew in\nperfect faith and love; these require to be increased, not, however,\nthrough works, but through themselves.\n\nA bishop, when he consecrates a church, confirms children, or performs\nany other duty of his office, is not consecrated as bishop by these\nworks; nay, unless he had been previously consecrated as bishop, not one\nof those works would have any validity; they would be foolish, childish,\nand ridiculous. Thus a Christian, being consecrated by his faith, does\ngood works; but he is not by these works made a more sacred person, or\nmore a Christian. That is the effect of faith alone; nay, unless he were\npreviously a believer and a Christian, none of his works would have any\nvalue at all; they would really be impious and damnable sins.\n\nTrue, then, are these two sayings: \"Good works do not make a good man,\nbut a good man does good works\"; \"Bad works do not make a bad man, but a\nbad man does bad works.\" Thus it is always necessary that the substance\nor person should be good before any good works can be done, and that\ngood works should follow and proceed from a good person. As Christ says,\n\"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree\nbring forth good fruit\" (Matt. vii. 18). Now it is clear that the fruit\ndoes not bear the tree, nor does the tree grow on the fruit; but, on the\ncontrary, the trees bear the fruit, and the fruit grows on the trees.\n\nAs then trees must exist before their fruit, and as the fruit does not\nmake the tree either good or bad, but on the contrary, a tree of either\nkind produces fruit of the same kind, so must first the person of the\nman be good or bad before he can do either a good or a bad work; and his\nworks do not make him bad or good, but he himself makes his works either\nbad or good.\n\nWe may see the same thing in all handicrafts. A bad or good house does\nnot make a bad or good builder, but a good or bad builder makes a good\nor bad house. And in general no work makes the workman such as it is\nitself; but the workman makes the work such as he is himself. Such\nis the case, too, with the works of men. Such as the man himself is,\nwhether in faith or in unbelief, such is his work: good if it be done\nin faith; bad if in unbelief. But the converse is not true that, such as\nthe work is, such the man becomes in faith or in unbelief. For as works\ndo not make a believing man, so neither do they make a justified man;\nbut faith, as it makes a man a believer and justified, so also it makes\nhis works good.\n\nSince then works justify no man, but a man must be justified before he\ncan do any good work, it is most evident that it is faith alone which,\nby the mere mercy of God through Christ, and by means of His word,\ncan worthily and sufficiently justify and save the person; and that a\nChristian man needs no work, no law, for his salvation; for by faith he\nis free from all law, and in perfect freedom does gratuitously all that\nhe does, seeking nothing either of profit or of salvation--since by\nthe grace of God he is already saved and rich in all things through his\nfaith--but solely that which is well-pleasing to God.\n\nSo, too, no good work can profit an unbeliever to justification and\nsalvation; and, on the other hand, no evil work makes him an evil and\ncondemned person, but that unbelief, which makes the person and the tree\nbad, makes his works evil and condemned. Wherefore, when any man is made\ngood or bad, this does not arise from his works, but from his faith or\nunbelief, as the wise man says, \"The beginning of sin is to fall away\nfrom God\"; that is, not to believe. Paul says, \"He that cometh to God\nmust believe\" (Heb. xi. 6); and Christ says the same thing: \"Either make\nthe tree good and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and\nhis fruit corrupt\" (Matt. xii. 33),--as much as to say, He who wishes to\nhave good fruit will begin with the tree, and plant a good one; even\nso he who wishes to do good works must begin, not by working, but by\nbelieving, since it is this which makes the person good. For nothing\nmakes the person good but faith, nor bad but unbelief.\n\nIt is certainly true that, in the sight of men, a man becomes good or\nevil by his works; but here \"becoming\" means that it is thus shown and\nrecognised who is good or evil, as Christ says, \"By their fruits ye\nshall know them\" (Matt. vii. 20). But all this stops at appearances and\nexternals; and in this matter very many deceive themselves, when they\npresume to write and teach that we are to be justified by good works,\nand meanwhile make no mention even of faith, walking in their own ways,\never deceived and deceiving, going from bad to worse, blind leaders of\nthe blind, wearying themselves with many works, and yet never attaining\nto true righteousness, of whom Paul says, \"Having a form of godliness,\nbut denying the power thereof, ever learning and never able to come to\nthe knowledge of the truth\" (2 Tim. iii. 5, 7).\n\nHe then who does not wish to go astray, with these blind ones, must look\nfurther than to the works of the law or the doctrine of works; nay,\nmust turn away his sight from works, and look to the person, and to the\nmanner in which it may be justified. Now it is justified and saved, not\nby works or laws, but by the word of God--that is, by the promise of His\ngrace--so that the glory may be to the Divine majesty, which has saved\nus who believe, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but\naccording to His mercy, by the word of His grace.\n\nFrom all this it is easy to perceive on what principle good works are\nto be cast aside or embraced, and by what rule all teachings put forth\nconcerning works are to be understood. For if works are brought forward\nas grounds of justification, and are done under the false persuasion\nthat we can pretend to be justified by them, they lay on us the yoke\nof necessity, and extinguish liberty along with faith, and by this very\naddition to their use they become no longer good, but really worthy of\ncondemnation. For such works are not free, but blaspheme the grace of\nGod, to which alone it belongs to justify and save through faith. Works\ncannot accomplish this, and yet, with impious presumption, through\nour folly, they take it on themselves to do so; and thus break in with\nviolence upon the office and glory of grace.\n\nWe do not then reject good works; nay, we embrace them and teach them in\nthe highest degree. It is not on their own account that we condemn them,\nbut on account of this impious addition to them and the perverse notion\nof seeking justification by them. These things cause them to be only\ngood in outward show, but in reality not good, since by them men are\ndeceived and deceive others, like ravening wolves in sheep's clothing.\n\nNow this leviathan, this perverted notion about works, is invincible\nwhen sincere faith is wanting. For those sanctified doers of works\ncannot but hold it till faith, which destroys it, comes and reigns in\nthe heart. Nature cannot expel it by her own power; nay, cannot even see\nit for what it is, but considers it as a most holy will. And when\ncustom steps in besides, and strengthens this pravity of nature, as has\nhappened by means of impious teachers, then the evil is incurable, and\nleads astray multitudes to irreparable ruin. Therefore, though it is\ngood to preach and write about penitence, confession, and satisfaction,\nyet if we stop there, and do not go on to teach faith, such teaching\nis without doubt deceitful and devilish. For Christ, speaking by His\nservant John, not only said, \"Repent ye,\" but added, \"for the kingdom of\nheaven is at hand\" (Matt. iii. 2).\n\nFor not one word of God only, but both, should be preached; new and old\nthings should be brought out of the treasury, as well the voice of\nthe law as the word of grace. The voice of the law should be brought\nforward, that men may be terrified and brought to a knowledge of their\nsins, and thence be converted to penitence and to a better manner of\nlife. But we must not stop here; that would be to wound only and not to\nbind up, to strike and not to heal, to kill and not to make alive, to\nbring down to hell and not to bring back, to humble and not to exalt.\nTherefore the word of grace and of the promised remission of sin must\nalso be preached, in order to teach and set up faith, since without\nthat word contrition, penitence, and all other duties, are performed and\ntaught in vain.\n\nThere still remain, it is true, preachers of repentance and grace, but\nthey do not explain the law and the promises of God to such an end, and\nin such a spirit, that men may learn whence repentance and grace are to\ncome. For repentance comes from the law of God, but faith or grace\nfrom the promises of God, as it is said, \"Faith cometh by hearing, and\nhearing by the word of God\" (Rom. x. 17), whence it comes that a man,\nwhen humbled and brought to the knowledge of himself by the threatenings\nand terrors of the law, is consoled and raised up by faith in the Divine\npromise. Thus \"weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the\nmorning\" (Psalm xxx. 5). Thus much we say concerning works in general,\nand also concerning those which the Christian practises with regard to\nhis own body.\n\nLastly, we will speak also of those works which he performs towards his\nneighbour. For man does not live for himself alone in this mortal body,\nin order to work on its account, but also for all men on earth; nay, he\nlives only for others, and not for himself. For it is to this end that\nhe brings his own body into subjection, that he may be able to serve\nothers more sincerely and more freely, as Paul says, \"None of us liveth\nto himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live\nunto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord\" (Rom. xiv. 7,\n8). Thus it is impossible that he should take his ease in this life, and\nnot work for the good of his neighbours, since he must needs speak, act,\nand converse among men, just as Christ was made in the likeness of men\nand found in fashion as a man, and had His conversation among men.\n\nYet a Christian has need of none of these things for justification and\nsalvation, but in all his works he ought to entertain this view and look\nonly to this object--that he may serve and be useful to others in all\nthat he does; having nothing before his eyes but the necessities and the\nadvantage of his neighbour. Thus the Apostle commands us to work with\nour own hands, that we may have to give to those that need. He might\nhave said, that we may support ourselves; but he tells us to give to\nthose that need. It is the part of a Christian to take care of his own\nbody for the very purpose that, by its soundness and well-being, he may\nbe enabled to labour, and to acquire and preserve property, for the aid\nof those who are in want, that thus the stronger member may serve the\nweaker member, and we may be children of God, thoughtful and busy one\nfor another, bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of\nChrist.\n\nHere is the truly Christian life, here is faith really working by love,\nwhen a man applies himself with joy and love to the works of that freest\nservitude in which he serves others voluntarily and for nought, himself\nabundantly satisfied in the fulness and riches of his own faith.\n\nThus, when Paul had taught the Philippians how they had been made\nrich by that faith in Christ in which they had obtained all things,\nhe teaches them further in these words: \"If there be therefore any\nconsolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of\nthe Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be\nlike-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let\nnothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind\nlet each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his\nown things, but every man also on the things of others\" (Phil. ii. 1-4).\n\nIn this we see clearly that the Apostle lays down this rule for a\nChristian life: that all our works should be directed to the advantage\nof others, since every Christian has such abundance through his faith\nthat all his other works and his whole life remain over and above\nwherewith to serve and benefit his neighbour of spontaneous goodwill.\n\nTo this end he brings forward Christ as an example, saying, \"Let this\nmind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form\nof God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of\nno reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made\nin the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled\nHimself, and became obedient unto death\" (Phil. ii. 5-8). This most\nwholesome saying of the Apostle has been darkened to us by men who,\ntotally misunderstanding the expressions \"form of God,\" \"form of a\nservant,\" \"fashion,\" \"likeness of men,\" have transferred them to the\nnatures of Godhead and manhood. Paul's meaning is this: Christ, when He\nwas full of the form of God and abounded in all good things, so that He\nhad no need of works or sufferings to be just and saved--for all these\nthings He had from the very beginning--yet was not puffed up with these\nthings, and did not raise Himself above us and arrogate to Himself power\nover us, though He might lawfully have done so, but, on the contrary,\nso acted in labouring, working, suffering, and dying, as to be like the\nrest of men, and no otherwise than a man in fashion and in conduct, as\nif He were in want of all things and had nothing of the form of God; and\nyet all this He did for our sakes, that He might serve us, and that all\nthe works He should do under that form of a servant might become ours.\n\nThus a Christian, like Christ his Head, being full and in abundance\nthrough his faith, ought to be content with this form of God, obtained\nby faith; except that, as I have said, he ought to increase this faith\ntill it be perfected. For this faith is his life, justification, and\nsalvation, preserving his person itself and making it pleasing to God,\nand bestowing on him all that Christ has, as I have said above, and\nas Paul affirms: \"The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the\nfaith of the Son of God\" (Gal. ii. 20). Though he is thus free from all\nworks, yet he ought to empty himself of this liberty, take on him the\nform of a servant, be made in the likeness of men, be found in fashion\nas a man, serve, help, and in every way act towards his neighbour as he\nsees that God through Christ has acted and is acting towards him.\nAll this he should do freely, and with regard to nothing but the good\npleasure of God, and he should reason thus:--\n\nLo! my God, without merit on my part, of His pure and free mercy, has\ngiven to me, an unworthy, condemned, and contemptible creature all the\nriches of justification and salvation in Christ, so that I no longer\nam in want of anything, except of faith to believe that this is so.\nFor such a Father, then, who has overwhelmed me with these inestimable\nriches of His, why should I not freely, cheerfully, and with my whole\nheart, and from voluntary zeal, do all that I know will be pleasing to\nHim and acceptable in His sight? I will therefore give myself as a sort\nof Christ, to my neighbour, as Christ has given Himself to me; and will\ndo nothing in this life except what I see will be needful, advantageous,\nand wholesome for my neighbour, since by faith I abound in all good\nthings in Christ.\n\nThus from faith flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love\na cheerful, willing, free spirit, disposed to serve our neighbour\nvoluntarily, without taking any account of gratitude or ingratitude,\npraise or blame, gain or loss. Its object is not to lay men under\nobligations, nor does it distinguish between friends and enemies, or\nlook to gratitude or ingratitude, but most freely and willingly spends\nitself and its goods, whether it loses them through ingratitude, or\ngains goodwill. For thus did its Father, distributing all things to all\nmen abundantly and freely, making His sun to rise upon the just and the\nunjust. Thus, too, the child does and endures nothing except from the\nfree joy with which it delights through Christ in God, the Giver of such\ngreat gifts.\n\nYou see, then, that, if we recognize those great and precious gifts, as\nPeter says, which have been given to us, love is quickly diffused in\nour hearts through the Spirit, and by love we are made free, joyful,\nall-powerful, active workers, victors over all our tribulations,\nservants to our neighbour, and nevertheless lords of all things. But,\nfor those who do not recognise the good things given to them through\nChrist, Christ has been born in vain; such persons walk by works, and\nwill never attain the taste and feeling of these great things. Therefore\njust as our neighbour is in want, and has need of our abundance, so we\ntoo in the sight of God were in want, and had need of His mercy. And as\nour heavenly Father has freely helped us in Christ, so ought we freely\nto help our neighbour by our body and works, and each should become to\nother a sort of Christ, so that we may be mutually Christs, and that\nthe same Christ may be in all of us; that is, that we may be truly\nChristians.\n\nWho then can comprehend the riches and glory of the Christian life? It\ncan do all things, has all things, and is in want of nothing; is lord\nover sin, death, and hell, and at the same time is the obedient and\nuseful servant of all. But alas! it is at this day unknown throughout\nthe world; it is neither preached nor sought after, so that we are quite\nignorant about our own name, why we are and are called Christians. We\nare certainly called so from Christ, who is not absent, but dwells among\nus--provided, that is, that we believe in Him and are reciprocally and\nmutually one the Christ of the other, doing to our neighbour as Christ\ndoes to us. But now, in the doctrine of men, we are taught only to seek\nafter merits, rewards, and things which are already ours, and we have\nmade of Christ a taskmaster far more severe than Moses.\n\nThe Blessed Virgin beyond all others, affords us an example of the same\nfaith, in that she was purified according to the law of Moses, and like\nall other women, though she was bound by no such law and had no need\nof purification. Still she submitted to the law voluntarily and of free\nlove, making herself like the rest of women, that she might not offend\nor throw contempt on them. She was not justified by doing this; but,\nbeing already justified, she did it freely and gratuitously. Thus ought\nour works too to be done, and not in order to be justified by them; for,\nbeing first justified by faith, we ought to do all our works freely and\ncheerfully for the sake of others.\n\nSt. Paul circumcised his disciple Timothy, not because he needed\ncircumcision for his justification, but that he might not offend or\ncontemn those Jews, weak in the faith, who had not yet been able to\ncomprehend the liberty of faith. On the other hand, when they contemned\nliberty and urged that circumcision was necessary for justification, he\nresisted them, and would not allow Titus to be circumcised. For, as he\nwould not offend or contemn any one's weakness in faith, but yielded\nfor the time to their will, so, again, he would not have the liberty of\nfaith offended or contemned by hardened self-justifiers, but walked in\na middle path, sparing the weak for the time, and always resisting the\nhardened, that he might convert all to the liberty of faith. On the same\nprinciple we ought to act, receiving those that are weak in the faith,\nbut boldly resisting these hardened teachers of works, of whom we shall\nhereafter speak at more length.\n\nChrist also, when His disciples were asked for the tribute money, asked\nof Peter whether the children of a king were not free from taxes. Peter\nagreed to this; yet Jesus commanded him to go to the sea, saying, \"Lest\nwe should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up\nthe fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth thou\nshalt find a piece of money; that take, and give unto them for Me and\nthee\" (Matt. xvii. 27).\n\nThis example is very much to our purpose; for here Christ calls Himself\nand His disciples free men and children of a King, in want of nothing;\nand yet He voluntarily submits and pays the tax. Just as far, then,\nas this work was necessary or useful to Christ for justification or\nsalvation, so far do all His other works or those of His disciples avail\nfor justification. They are really free and subsequent to justification,\nand only done to serve others and set them an example.\n\nSuch are the works which Paul inculcated, that Christians should be\nsubject to principalities and powers and ready to every good work (Titus\niii. 1), not that they may be justified by these things--for they are\nalready justified by faith--but that in liberty of spirit they may thus\nbe the servants of others and subject to powers, obeying their will out\nof gratuitous love.\n\nSuch, too, ought to have been the works of all colleges, monasteries,\nand priests; every one doing the works of his own profession and state\nof life, not in order to be justified by them, but in order to bring his\nown body into subjection, as an example to others, who themselves\nalso need to keep under their bodies, and also in order to accommodate\nhimself to the will of others, out of free love. But we must always\nguard most carefully against any vain confidence or presumption of being\njustified, gaining merit, or being saved by these works, this being the\npart of faith alone, as I have so often said.\n\nAny man possessing this knowledge may easily keep clear of danger among\nthose innumerable commands and precepts of the Pope, of bishops, of\nmonasteries, of churches, of princes, and of magistrates, which some\nfoolish pastors urge on us as being necessary for justification and\nsalvation, calling them precepts of the Church, when they are not so\nat all. For the Christian freeman will speak thus: I will fast, I will\npray, I will do this or that which is commanded me by men, not as having\nany need of these things for justification or salvation, but that I\nmay thus comply with the will of the Pope, of the bishop, of such a\ncommunity or such a magistrate, or of my neighbour as an example to him;\nfor this cause I will do and suffer all things, just as Christ did and\nsuffered much more for me, though He needed not at all to do so on His\nown account, and made Himself for my sake under the law, when He was\nnot under the law. And although tyrants may do me violence or wrong in\nrequiring obedience to these things, yet it will not hurt me to do them,\nso long as they are not done against God.\n\nFrom all this every man will be able to attain a sure judgment and\nfaithful discrimination between all works and laws, and to know who\nare blind and foolish pastors, and who are true and good ones. For\nwhatsoever work is not directed to the sole end either of keeping under\nthe body, or of doing service to our neighbour--provided he require\nnothing contrary to the will of God--is no good or Christian work. Hence\nI greatly fear that at this day few or no colleges, monasteries, altars,\nor ecclesiastical functions are Christian ones; and the same may be said\nof fasts and special prayers to certain saints. I fear that in all these\nnothing is being sought but what is already ours; while we fancy that\nby these things our sins are purged away and salvation is attained, and\nthus utterly do away with Christian liberty. This comes from ignorance\nof Christian faith and liberty.\n\nThis ignorance and this crushing of liberty are diligently promoted by\nthe teaching of very many blind pastors, who stir up and urge the people\nto a zeal for these things, praising them and puffing them up with their\nindulgences, but never teaching faith. Now I would advise you, if you\nhave any wish to pray, to fast, or to make foundations in churches, as\nthey call it, to take care not to do so with the object of gaining any\nadvantage, either temporal or eternal. You will thus wrong your faith,\nwhich alone bestows all things on you, and the increase of which, either\nby working or by suffering, is alone to be cared for. What you give,\ngive freely and without price, that others may prosper and have increase\nfrom you and your goodness. Thus you will be a truly good man and a\nChristian. For what to you are your goods and your works, which are done\nover and above for the subjection of the body, since you have abundance\nfor yourself through your faith, in which God has given you all things?\n\nWe give this rule: the good things which we have from God ought to flow\nfrom one to another and become common to all, so that every one of us\nmay, as it were, put on his neighbour, and so behave towards him as if\nhe were himself in his place. They flowed and do flow from Christ to us;\nHe put us on, and acted for us as if He Himself were what we are.\nFrom us they flow to those who have need of them; so that my faith\nand righteousness ought to be laid down before God as a covering and\nintercession for the sins of my neighbour, which I am to take on myself,\nand so labour and endure servitude in them, as if they were my own; for\nthus has Christ done for us. This is true love and the genuine truth\nof Christian life. But only there is it true and genuine where there\nis true and genuine faith. Hence the Apostle attributes to charity this\nquality: that she seeketh not her own.\n\nWe conclude therefore that a Christian man does not live in himself, but\nin Christ and in his neighbour, or else is no Christian: in Christ by\nfaith; in his neighbour by love. By faith he is carried upwards\nabove himself to God, and by love he sinks back below himself to his\nneighbour, still always-abiding in God and His love, as Christ says,\n\"Verily I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the\nangels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man\" (John i.\n51).\n\nThus much concerning liberty, which, as you see, is a true and spiritual\nliberty, making our hearts free from all sins, laws, and commandments,\nas Paul says, \"The law is not made for a righteous man\" (1 Tim. i. 9),\nand one which surpasses all other external liberties, as far as heaven\nis above earth. May Christ make us to understand and preserve this\nliberty. Amen.\n\nFinally, for the sake of those to whom nothing can be stated so well but\nthat they misunderstand and distort it, we must add a word, in case they\ncan understand even that. There are very many persons who, when they\nhear of this liberty of faith, straightway turn it into an occasion of\nlicence. They think that everything is now lawful for them, and do not\nchoose to show themselves free men and Christians in any other way than\nby their contempt and reprehension of ceremonies, of traditions, of\nhuman laws; as if they were Christians merely because they refuse\nto fast on stated days, or eat flesh when others fast, or omit the\ncustomary prayers; scoffing at the precepts of men, but utterly passing\nover all the rest that belongs to the Christian religion. On the other\nhand, they are most pertinaciously resisted by those who strive after\nsalvation solely by their observance of and reverence for ceremonies,\nas if they would be saved merely because they fast on stated days,\nor abstain from flesh, or make formal prayers; talking loudly of the\nprecepts of the Church and of the Fathers, and not caring a straw about\nthose things which belong to our genuine faith. Both these parties\nare plainly culpable, in that, while they neglect matters which are of\nweight and necessary for salvation, they contend noisily about such as\nare without weight and not necessary.\n\nHow much more rightly does the Apostle Paul teach us to walk in the\nmiddle path, condemning either extreme and saying, \"Let not him that\neateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not\njudge him that eateth\" (Rom. xiv. 3)! You see here how the Apostle\nblames those who, not from religious feeling, but in mere contempt,\nneglect and rail at ceremonial observances, and teaches them not to\ndespise, since this \"knowledge puffeth up.\" Again, he teaches the\npertinacious upholders of these things not to judge their opponents. For\nneither party observes towards the other that charity which edifieth. In\nthis matter we must listen to Scripture, which teaches us to turn aside\nneither to the right hand nor to the left, but to follow those right\nprecepts of the Lord which rejoice the heart. For just as a man is\nnot righteous merely because he serves and is devoted to works and\nceremonial rites, so neither will he be accounted righteous merely\nbecause he neglects and despises them.\n\nIt is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but\nfrom the belief in works, that is from foolishly presuming to seek\njustification through works. Faith redeems our consciences, makes them\nupright, and preserves them, since by it we recognise the truth that\njustification does not depend on our works, although good works neither\ncan nor ought to be absent, just as we cannot exist without food and\ndrink and all the functions of this mortal body. Still it is not on them\nthat our justification is based, but on faith; and yet they ought not\non that account to be despised or neglected. Thus in this world we\nare compelled by the needs of this bodily life; but we are not hereby\njustified. \"My kingdom is not hence, nor of this world,\" says Christ;\nbut He does not say, \"My kingdom is not here, nor in this world.\" Paul,\ntoo, says, \"Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh\"\n(2 Cor. x. 3), and \"The life which I now live in the flesh I live by\nthe faith of the Son of God\" (Gal. ii. 20). Thus our doings, life, and\nbeing, in works and ceremonies, are done from the necessities of this\nlife, and with the motive of governing our bodies; but yet we are not\njustified by these things, but by the faith of the Son of God.\n\nThe Christian must therefore walk in the middle path, and set these two\nclasses of men before his eyes. He may meet with hardened and obstinate\nceremonialists, who, like deaf adders, refuse to listen to the truth of\nliberty, and cry up, enjoin, and urge on us their ceremonies, as if they\ncould justify us without faith. Such were the Jews of old, who would not\nunderstand, that they might act well. These men we must resist, do just\nthe contrary to what they do, and be bold to give them offence, lest\nby this impious notion of theirs they should deceive many along with\nthemselves. Before the eyes of these men it is expedient to eat flesh,\nto break fasts, and to do in behalf of the liberty of faith things which\nthey hold to be the greatest sins. We must say of them, \"Let them alone;\nthey be blind leaders of the blind\" (Matt. xv. 14). In this way Paul\nalso would not have Titus circumcised, though these men urged it;\nand Christ defended the Apostles, who had plucked ears of corn on the\nSabbath day; and many like instances.\n\nOr else we may meet with simple-minded and ignorant persons, weak in\nthe faith, as the Apostle calls them, who are as yet unable to apprehend\nthat liberty of faith, even if willing to do so. These we must spare,\nlest they should be offended. We must bear with their infirmity, till\nthey shall be more fully instructed. For since these men do not act thus\nfrom hardened malice, but only from weakness of faith, therefore, in\norder to avoid giving them offence, we must keep fasts and do other\nthings which they consider necessary. This is required of us by charity,\nwhich injures no one, but serves all men. It is not the fault of these\npersons that they are weak, but that of their pastors, who by the snares\nand weapons of their own traditions have brought them into bondage and\nwounded their souls when they ought to have been set free and healed by\nthe teaching of faith and liberty. Thus the Apostle says, \"If meat make\nmy brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth\" (1\nCor. viii. 13); and again, \"I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus,\nthat there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth\nanything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. It is evil for that man\nwho eateth with offence\" (Rom. xiv. 14, 20).\n\nThus, though we ought boldly to resist those teachers of tradition, and\nthough the laws of the pontiffs, by which they make aggressions on the\npeople of God, deserve sharp reproof, yet we must spare the timid crowd,\nwho are held captive by the laws of those impious tyrants, till they\nare set free. Fight vigorously against the wolves, but on behalf of the\nsheep, not against the sheep. And this you may do by inveighing against\nthe laws and lawgivers, and yet at the same time observing these laws\nwith the weak, lest they be offended, until they shall themselves\nrecognise the tyranny, and understand their own liberty. If you wish to\nuse your liberty, do it secretly, as Paul says, \"Hast thou faith? have\nit to thyself before God\" (Rom. xiv. 22). But take care not to use it in\nthe presence of the weak. On the other hand, in the presence of tyrants\nand obstinate opposers, use your liberty in their despite, and with the\nutmost pertinacity, that they too may understand that they are tyrants,\nand their laws useless for justification, nay that they had no right to\nestablish such laws.\n\nSince then we cannot live in this world without ceremonies and works,\nsince the hot and inexperienced period of youth has need of being\nrestrained and protected by such bonds, and since every one is bound\nto keep under his own body by attention to these things, therefore\nthe minister of Christ must be prudent and faithful in so ruling and\nteaching the people of Christ, in all these matters, that no root of\nbitterness may spring up among them, and so many be defiled, as Paul\nwarned the Hebrews; that is, that they may not lose the faith, and begin\nto be defiled by a belief in works as the means of justification. This\nis a thing which easily happens, and defiles very many, unless faith be\nconstantly inculcated along with works. It is impossible to avoid this\nevil, when faith is passed over in silence, and only the ordinances of\nmen are taught, as has been done hitherto by the pestilent, impious,\nand soul-destroying traditions of our pontiffs and opinions of our\ntheologians. An infinite number of souls have been drawn down to hell by\nthese snares, so that you may recognise the work of antichrist.\n\nIn brief, as poverty is imperilled amid riches, honesty amid business,\nhumility amid honours, abstinence amid feasting, purity amid pleasures,\nso is justification by faith imperilled among ceremonies. Solomon says,\n\"Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?\"\n(Prov. vi. 27). And yet as we must live among riches, business, honours,\npleasures, feastings, so must we among ceremonies, that is among perils.\nJust as infant boys have the greatest need of being cherished in the\nbosoms and by the care of girls, that they may not die, and yet, when\nthey are grown, there is peril to their salvation in living among\ngirls, so inexperienced and fervid young men require to be kept in and\nrestrained by the barriers of ceremonies, even were they of iron, lest\ntheir weak minds should rush headlong into vice. And yet it would be\ndeath to them to persevere in believing that they can be justified\nby these things. They must rather be taught that they have been thus\nimprisoned, not with the purpose of their being justified or gaining\nmerit in this way, but in order that they might avoid wrong-doing, and\nbe more easily instructed in that righteousness which is by faith, a\nthing which the headlong character of youth would not bear unless it\nwere put under restraint.\n\nHence in the Christian life ceremonies are to be no otherwise looked\nupon than as builders and workmen look upon those preparations for\nbuilding or working which are not made with any view of being permanent\nor anything in themselves, but only because without them there could be\nno building and no work. When the structure is completed, they are laid\naside. Here you see that we do not contemn these preparations, but set\nthe highest value on them; a belief in them we do contemn, because no\none thinks that they constitute a real and permanent structure. If any\none were so manifestly out of his senses as to have no other object\nin life but that of setting up these preparations with all possible\nexpense, diligence, and perseverance, while he never thought of the\nstructure itself, but pleased himself and made his boast of these\nuseless preparations and props, should we not all pity his madness and\nthink that, at the cost thus thrown away, some great building might have\nbeen raised?\n\nThus, too, we do not contemn works and ceremonies--nay, we set the\nhighest value on them; but we contemn the belief in works, which no one\nshould consider to constitute true righteousness, as do those hypocrites\nwho employ and throw away their whole life in the pursuit of works, and\nyet never attain to that for the sake of which the works are done. As\nthe Apostle says, they are \"ever learning and never able to come to the\nknowledge of the truth\" (2 Tim. iii. 7). They appear to wish to build,\nthey make preparations, and yet they never do build; and thus they\ncontinue in a show of godliness, but never attain to its power.\n\nMeanwhile they please themselves with this zealous pursuit, and even\ndare to judge all others, whom they do not see adorned with such a\nglittering display of works; while, if they had been imbued with faith,\nthey might have done great things for their own and others' salvation,\nat the same cost which they now waste in abuse of the gifts of God. But\nsince human nature and natural reason, as they call it, are naturally\nsuperstitious, and quick to believe that justification can be attained\nby any laws or works proposed to them, and since nature is also\nexercised and confirmed in the same view by the practice of all earthly\nlawgivers, she can never of her own power free herself from this bondage\nto works, and come to a recognition of the liberty of faith.\n\nWe have therefore need to pray that God will lead us and make us taught\nof God, that is, ready to learn from God; and will Himself, as He has\npromised, write His law in our hearts; otherwise there is no hope for\nus. For unless He himself teach us inwardly this wisdom hidden in a\nmystery, nature cannot but condemn it and judge it to be heretical. She\ntakes offence at it, and it seems folly to her, just as we see that it\nhappened of old in the case of the prophets and Apostles, and just as\nblind and impious pontiffs, with their flatterers, do now in my case and\nthat of those who are like me, upon whom, together with ourselves, may\nGod at length have mercy, and lift up the light of His countenance upon\nthem, that we may know His way upon earth and His saving health among\nall nations, who is blessed for evermore. Amen. In the year of the Lord\nMDXX.","title":"Concerning Christian Liberty; with Letter of Martin Luther to Pope Leo X.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":18515}