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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Concerning Christian Liberty, by Martin Luther
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Concerning Christian Liberty
+       With Letter Of Martin Luther To Pope Leo X.
+
+Author: Martin Luther
+
+Release Date: February 25, 2006 [EBook #1911]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Elizabeth T. Knuth and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
+
+by Martin Luther
+
+
+
+
+LETTER OF MARTIN LUTHER TO POPE LEO X.
+
+Among those monstrous evils of this age with which I have now for three
+years been waging war, I am sometimes compelled to look to you and to
+call you to mind, most blessed father Leo. In truth, since you alone are
+everywhere considered as being the cause of my engaging in war, I cannot
+at any time fail to remember you; and although I have been compelled
+by the causeless raging of your impious flatterers against me to appeal
+from your seat to a future council--fearless of the futile decrees
+of your predecessors Pius and Julius, who in their foolish tyranny
+prohibited such an action--yet I have never been so alienated in feeling
+from your Blessedness as not to have sought with all my might, in
+diligent prayer and crying to God, all the best gifts for you and for
+your see. But those who have hitherto endeavoured to terrify me with the
+majesty of your name and authority, I have begun quite to despise and
+triumph over. One thing I see remaining which I cannot despise, and this
+has been the reason of my writing anew to your Blessedness: namely, that
+I find that blame is cast on me, and that it is imputed to me as a great
+offence, that in my rashness I am judged to have spared not even your
+person.
+
+Now, to confess the truth openly, I am conscious that, whenever I have
+had to mention your person, I have said nothing of you but what was
+honourable and good. If I had done otherwise, I could by no means have
+approved my own conduct, but should have supported with all my power the
+judgment of those men concerning me, nor would anything have pleased
+me better, than to recant such rashness and impiety. I have called
+you Daniel in Babylon; and every reader thoroughly knows with what
+distinguished zeal I defended your conspicuous innocence against
+Silvester, who tried to stain it. Indeed, the published opinion of so
+many great men and the repute of your blameless life are too widely
+famed and too much reverenced throughout the world to be assailable by
+any man, of however great name, or by any arts. I am not so foolish as
+to attack one whom everybody praises; nay, it has been and always will
+be my desire not to attack even those whom public repute disgraces. I am
+not delighted at the faults of any man, since I am very conscious myself
+of the great beam in my own eye, nor can I be the first to cast a stone
+at the adulteress.
+
+I have indeed inveighed sharply against impious doctrines, and I have
+not been slack to censure my adversaries on account, not of their bad
+morals, but of their impiety. And for this I am so far from being sorry
+that I have brought my mind to despise the judgments of men and to
+persevere in this vehement zeal, according to the example of Christ,
+who, in His zeal, calls His adversaries a generation of vipers, blind,
+hypocrites, and children of the devil. Paul, too, charges the sorcerer
+with being a child of the devil, full of all subtlety and all malice;
+and defames certain persons as evil workers, dogs, and deceivers. In the
+opinion of those delicate-eared persons, nothing could be more bitter or
+intemperate than Paul's language. What can be more bitter than the words
+of the prophets? The ears of our generation have been made so delicate
+by the senseless multitude of flatterers that, as soon as we perceive
+that anything of ours is not approved of, we cry out that we are being
+bitterly assailed; and when we can repel the truth by no other pretence,
+we escape by attributing bitterness, impatience, intemperance, to our
+adversaries. What would be the use of salt if it were not pungent, or of
+the edge of the sword if it did not slay? Accursed is the man who does
+the work of the Lord deceitfully.
+
+Wherefore, most excellent Leo, I beseech you to accept my vindication,
+made in this letter, and to persuade yourself that I have never thought
+any evil concerning your person; further, that I am one who desires that
+eternal blessing may fall to your lot, and that I have no dispute with
+any man concerning morals, but only concerning the word of truth. In all
+other things I will yield to any one, but I neither can nor will forsake
+and deny the word. He who thinks otherwise of me, or has taken in my
+words in another sense, does not think rightly, and has not taken in the
+truth.
+
+Your see, however, which is called the Court of Rome, and which neither
+you nor any man can deny to be more corrupt than any Babylon or Sodom,
+and quite, as I believe, of a lost, desperate, and hopeless impiety,
+this I have verily abominated, and have felt indignant that the people
+of Christ should be cheated under your name and the pretext of the
+Church of Rome; and so I have resisted, and will resist, as long as
+the spirit of faith shall live in me. Not that I am striving after
+impossibilities, or hoping that by my labours alone, against the furious
+opposition of so many flatterers, any good can be done in that most
+disordered Babylon; but that I feel myself a debtor to my brethren, and
+am bound to take thought for them, that fewer of them may be ruined, or
+that their ruin may be less complete, by the plagues of Rome. For many
+years now, nothing else has overflowed from Rome into the world--as
+you are not ignorant--than the laying waste of goods, of bodies, and of
+souls, and the worst examples of all the worst things. These things are
+clearer than the light to all men; and the Church of Rome, formerly the
+most holy of all Churches, has become the most lawless den of thieves,
+the most shameless of all brothels, the very kingdom of sin, death, and
+hell; so that not even antichrist, if he were to come, could devise any
+addition to its wickedness.
+
+Meanwhile you, Leo, are sitting like a lamb in the midst of wolves,
+like Daniel in the midst of lions, and, with Ezekiel, you dwell among
+scorpions. What opposition can you alone make to these monstrous evils?
+Take to yourself three or four of the most learned and best of the
+cardinals. What are these among so many? You would all perish by poison
+before you could undertake to decide on a remedy. It is all over with
+the Court of Rome; the wrath of God has come upon her to the uttermost.
+She hates councils; she dreads to be reformed; she cannot restrain the
+madness of her impiety; she fills up the sentence passed on her mother,
+of whom it is said, "We would have healed Babylon, but she is not
+healed; let us forsake her." It had been your duty and that of your
+cardinals to apply a remedy to these evils, but this gout laughs at the
+physician's hand, and the chariot does not obey the reins. Under the
+influence of these feelings, I have always grieved that you, most
+excellent Leo, who were worthy of a better age, have been made pontiff
+in this. For the Roman Court is not worthy of you and those like you,
+but of Satan himself, who in truth is more the ruler in that Babylon
+than you are.
+
+Oh, would that, having laid aside that glory which your most abandoned
+enemies declare to be yours, you were living rather in the office of a
+private priest or on your paternal inheritance! In that glory none are
+worthy to glory, except the race of Iscariot, the children of perdition.
+For what happens in your court, Leo, except that, the more wicked and
+execrable any man is, the more prosperously he can use your name
+and authority for the ruin of the property and souls of men, for the
+multiplication of crimes, for the oppression of faith and truth and
+of the whole Church of God? Oh, Leo! in reality most unfortunate, and
+sitting on a most perilous throne, I tell you the truth, because I wish
+you well; for if Bernard felt compassion for his Anastasius at a time
+when the Roman see, though even then most corrupt, was as yet ruling
+with better hope than now, why should not we lament, to whom so much
+further corruption and ruin has been added in three hundred years?
+
+Is it not true that there is nothing under the vast heavens more
+corrupt, more pestilential, more hateful, than the Court of Rome? She
+incomparably surpasses the impiety of the Turks, so that in very truth
+she, who was formerly the gate of heaven, is now a sort of open mouth
+of hell, and such a mouth as, under the urgent wrath of God, cannot be
+blocked up; one course alone being left to us wretched men: to call back
+and save some few, if we can, from that Roman gulf.
+
+Behold, Leo, my father, with what purpose and on what principle it is
+that I have stormed against that seat of pestilence. I am so far from
+having felt any rage against your person that I even hoped to gain
+favour with you and to aid you in your welfare by striking actively and
+vigorously at that your prison, nay, your hell. For whatever the efforts
+of all minds can contrive against the confusion of that impious Court
+will be advantageous to you and to your welfare, and to many others with
+you. Those who do harm to her are doing your office; those who in every
+way abhor her are glorifying Christ; in short, those are Christians who
+are not Romans.
+
+But, to say yet more, even this never entered my heart: to inveigh
+against the Court of Rome or to dispute at all about her. For, seeing
+all remedies for her health to be desperate, I looked on her with
+contempt, and, giving her a bill of divorcement, said to her, "He that
+is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him
+be filthy still," giving myself up to the peaceful and quiet study of
+sacred literature, that by this I might be of use to the brethren living
+about me.
+
+While I was making some advance in these studies, Satan opened his
+eyes and goaded on his servant John Eccius, that notorious adversary of
+Christ, by the unchecked lust for fame, to drag me unexpectedly into the
+arena, trying to catch me in one little word concerning the primacy of
+the Church of Rome, which had fallen from me in passing. That boastful
+Thraso, foaming and gnashing his teeth, proclaimed that he would dare
+all things for the glory of God and for the honour of the holy apostolic
+seat; and, being puffed up respecting your power, which he was about
+to misuse, he looked forward with all certainty to victory; seeking to
+promote, not so much the primacy of Peter, as his own pre-eminence among
+the theologians of this age; for he thought it would contribute in no
+slight degree to this, if he were to lead Luther in triumph. The result
+having proved unfortunate for the sophist, an incredible rage torments
+him; for he feels that whatever discredit to Rome has arisen through me
+has been caused by the fault of himself alone.
+
+Suffer me, I pray you, most excellent Leo, both to plead my own cause,
+and to accuse your true enemies. I believe it is known to you in what
+way Cardinal Cajetan, your imprudent and unfortunate, nay unfaithful,
+legate, acted towards me. When, on account of my reverence for your
+name, I had placed myself and all that was mine in his hands, he did not
+so act as to establish peace, which he could easily have established by
+one little word, since I at that time promised to be silent and to make
+an end of my case, if he would command my adversaries to do the same.
+But that man of pride, not content with this agreement, began to justify
+my adversaries, to give them free licence, and to order me to recant, a
+thing which was certainly not in his commission. Thus indeed, when the
+case was in the best position, it came through his vexatious tyranny
+into a much worse one. Therefore whatever has followed upon this is the
+fault not of Luther, but entirely of Cajetan, since he did not suffer me
+to be silent and remain quiet, which at that time I was entreating for
+with all my might. What more was it my duty to do?
+
+Next came Charles Miltitz, also a nuncio from your Blessedness. He,
+though he went up and down with much and varied exertion, and omitted
+nothing which could tend to restore the position of the cause thrown
+into confusion by the rashness and pride of Cajetan, had difficulty,
+even with the help of that very illustrious prince the Elector
+Frederick, in at last bringing about more than one familiar conference
+with me. In these I again yielded to your great name, and was prepared
+to keep silence, and to accept as my judge either the Archbishop of
+Treves, or the Bishop of Naumburg; and thus it was done and concluded.
+While this was being done with good hope of success, lo! that other and
+greater enemy of yours, Eccius, rushed in with his Leipsic disputation,
+which he had undertaken against Carlstadt, and, having taken up a
+new question concerning the primacy of the Pope, turned his arms
+unexpectedly against me, and completely overthrew the plan for peace.
+Meanwhile Charles Miltitz was waiting, disputations were held, judges
+were being chosen, but no decision was arrived at. And no wonder! for
+by the falsehoods, pretences, and arts of Eccius the whole business was
+brought into such thorough disorder, confusion, and festering soreness,
+that, whichever way the sentence might lean, a greater conflagration was
+sure to arise; for he was seeking, not after truth, but after his own
+credit. In this case too I omitted nothing which it was right that I
+should do.
+
+I confess that on this occasion no small part of the corruptions of Rome
+came to light; but, if there was any offence in this, it was the fault
+of Eccius, who, in taking on him a burden beyond his strength, and in
+furiously aiming at credit for himself, unveiled to the whole world the
+disgrace of Rome.
+
+Here is that enemy of yours, Leo, or rather of your Court; by his
+example alone we may learn that an enemy is not more baneful than a
+flatterer. For what did he bring about by his flattery, except evils
+which no king could have brought about? At this day the name of the
+Court of Rome stinks in the nostrils of the world, the papal authority
+is growing weak, and its notorious ignorance is evil spoken of. We
+should hear none of these things, if Eccius had not disturbed the plans
+of Miltitz and myself for peace. He feels this clearly enough himself in
+the indignation he shows, too late and in vain, against the publication
+of my books. He ought to have reflected on this at the time when he was
+all mad for renown, and was seeking in your cause nothing but his own
+objects, and that with the greatest peril to you. The foolish man hoped
+that, from fear of your name, I should yield and keep silence; for I
+do not think he presumed on his talents and learning. Now, when he sees
+that I am very confident and speak aloud, he repents too late of his
+rashness, and sees--if indeed he does see it--that there is One in
+heaven who resists the proud, and humbles the presumptuous.
+
+Since then we were bringing about by this disputation nothing but the
+greater confusion of the cause of Rome, Charles Miltitz for the third
+time addressed the Fathers of the Order, assembled in chapter, and
+sought their advice for the settlement of the case, as being now in a
+most troubled and perilous state. Since, by the favour of God, there
+was no hope of proceeding against me by force, some of the more noted of
+their number were sent to me, and begged me at least to show respect to
+your person and to vindicate in a humble letter both your innocence
+and my own. They said that the affair was not as yet in a position of
+extreme hopelessness, if Leo X., in his inborn kindliness, would put his
+hand to it. On this I, who have always offered and wished for peace, in
+order that I might devote myself to calmer and more useful pursuits, and
+who for this very purpose have acted with so much spirit and vehemence,
+in order to put down by the strength and impetuosity of my words, as
+well as of my feelings, men whom I saw to be very far from equal to
+myself--I, I say, not only gladly yielded, but even accepted it with joy
+and gratitude, as the greatest kindness and benefit, if you should think
+it right to satisfy my hopes.
+
+Thus I come, most blessed Father, and in all abasement beseech you
+to put to your hand, if it is possible, and impose a curb to those
+flatterers who are enemies of peace, while they pretend peace. But there
+is no reason, most blessed Father, why any one should assume that I am
+to utter a recantation, unless he prefers to involve the case in
+still greater confusion. Moreover, I cannot bear with laws for the
+interpretation of the word of God, since the word of God, which teaches
+liberty in all other things, ought not to be bound. Saving these two
+things, there is nothing which I am not able, and most heartily willing,
+to do or to suffer. I hate contention; I will challenge no one; in
+return I wish not to be challenged; but, being challenged, I will not be
+dumb in the cause of Christ my Master. For your Blessedness will be able
+by one short and easy word to call these controversies before you and
+suppress them, and to impose silence and peace on both sides--a word
+which I have ever longed to hear.
+
+Therefore, Leo, my Father, beware of listening to those sirens who
+make you out to be not simply a man, but partly a god, so that you can
+command and require whatever you will. It will not happen so, nor will
+you prevail. You are the servant of servants, and more than any other
+man, in a most pitiable and perilous position. Let not those men deceive
+you who pretend that you are lord of the world; who will not allow any
+one to be a Christian without your authority; who babble of your having
+power over heaven, hell, and purgatory. These men are your enemies and
+are seeking your soul to destroy it, as Isaiah says, "My people, they
+that call thee blessed are themselves deceiving thee." They are in error
+who raise you above councils and the universal Church; they are in error
+who attribute to you alone the right of interpreting Scripture. All
+these men are seeking to set up their own impieties in the Church under
+your name, and alas! Satan has gained much through them in the time of
+your predecessors.
+
+In brief, trust not in any who exalt you, but in those who humiliate
+you. For this is the judgment of God: "He hath cast down the mighty from
+their seat, and hath exalted the humble." See how unlike Christ was to
+His successors, though all will have it that they are His vicars. I fear
+that in truth very many of them have been in too serious a sense His
+vicars, for a vicar represents a prince who is absent. Now if a pontiff
+rules while Christ is absent and does not dwell in his heart, what
+else is he but a vicar of Christ? And then what is that Church but a
+multitude without Christ? What indeed is such a vicar but antichrist
+and an idol? How much more rightly did the Apostles speak, who call
+themselves servants of a present Christ, not the vicars of an absent
+one!
+
+Perhaps I am shamelessly bold in seeming to teach so great a head, by
+whom all men ought to be taught, and from whom, as those plagues of
+yours boast, the thrones of judges receive their sentence; but I imitate
+St. Bernard in his book concerning Considerations addressed to Eugenius,
+a book which ought to be known by heart by every pontiff. I do this, not
+from any desire to teach, but as a duty, from that simple and faithful
+solicitude which teaches us to be anxious for all that is safe for
+our neighbours, and does not allow considerations of worthiness or
+unworthiness to be entertained, being intent only on the dangers or
+advantage of others. For since I know that your Blessedness is driven
+and tossed by the waves at Rome, so that the depths of the sea press
+on you with infinite perils, and that you are labouring under such a
+condition of misery that you need even the least help from any the least
+brother, I do not seem to myself to be acting unsuitably if I forget
+your majesty till I shall have fulfilled the office of charity. I will
+not flatter in so serious and perilous a matter; and if in this you do
+not see that I am your friend and most thoroughly your subject, there is
+One to see and judge.
+
+In fine, that I may not approach you empty-handed, blessed Father, I
+bring with me this little treatise, published under your name, as a good
+omen of the establishment of peace and of good hope. By this you may
+perceive in what pursuits I should prefer and be able to occupy myself
+to more profit, if I were allowed, or had been hitherto allowed, by your
+impious flatterers. It is a small matter, if you look to its exterior,
+but, unless I mistake, it is a summary of the Christian life put
+together in small compass, if you apprehend its meaning. I, in my
+poverty, have no other present to make you, nor do you need anything
+else than to be enriched by a spiritual gift. I commend myself to your
+Paternity and Blessedness, whom may the Lord Jesus preserve for ever.
+Amen.
+
+Wittenberg, 6th September, 1520.
+
+
+
+
+CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
+
+Christian faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even
+reckon it among the social virtues, as it were; and this they do because
+they have not made proof of it experimentally, and have never tasted of
+what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man to write well
+about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at
+some time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation; while
+he who has tasted of it, even to a very small extent, can never
+write, speak, think, or hear about it sufficiently. For it is a living
+fountain, springing up into eternal life, as Christ calls it in John iv.
+
+Now, though I cannot boast of my abundance, and though I know how poorly
+I am furnished, yet I hope that, after having been vexed by various
+temptations, I have attained some little drop of faith, and that I can
+speak of this matter, if not with more elegance, certainly with more
+solidity, than those literal and too subtle disputants who have hitherto
+discoursed upon it without understanding their own words. That I may
+open then an easier way for the ignorant--for these alone I am trying
+to serve--I first lay down these two propositions, concerning spiritual
+liberty and servitude:--
+
+A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a
+Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every
+one.
+
+Although these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found
+to agree together, they will make excellently for my purpose. They are
+both the statements of Paul himself, who says, "Though I be free from
+all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all" (1 Cor. ix. 19), and
+"Owe no man anything, but to love one another" (Rom. xiii. 8). Now love
+is by its own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object. Thus
+even Christ, though Lord of all things, was yet made of a woman; made
+under the law; at once free and a servant; at once in the form of God
+and in the form of a servant.
+
+Let us examine the subject on a deeper and less simple principle. Man is
+composed of a twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily. As regards the
+spiritual nature, which they name the soul, he is called the spiritual,
+inward, new man; as regards the bodily nature, which they name the
+flesh, he is called the fleshly, outward, old man. The Apostle speaks of
+this: "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day
+by day" (2 Cor. iv. 16). The result of this diversity is that in the
+Scriptures opposing statements are made concerning the same man,
+the fact being that in the same man these two men are opposed to one
+another; the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against
+the flesh (Gal. v. 17).
+
+We first approach the subject of the inward man, that we may see by what
+means a man becomes justified, free, and a true Christian; that is, a
+spiritual, new, and inward man. It is certain that absolutely none
+among outward things, under whatever name they may be reckoned, has any
+influence in producing Christian righteousness or liberty, nor, on the
+other hand, unrighteousness or slavery. This can be shown by an easy
+argument.
+
+What can it profit the soul that the body should be in good condition,
+free, and full of life; that it should eat, drink, and act according to
+its pleasure; when even the most impious slaves of every kind of vice
+are prosperous in these matters? Again, what harm can ill-health,
+bondage, hunger, thirst, or any other outward evil, do to the soul,
+when even the most pious of men and the freest in the purity of their
+conscience, are harassed by these things? Neither of these states of
+things has to do with the liberty or the slavery of the soul.
+
+And so it will profit nothing that the body should be adorned with
+sacred vestments, or dwell in holy places, or be occupied in sacred
+offices, or pray, fast, and abstain from certain meats, or do whatever
+works can be done through the body and in the body. Something widely
+different will be necessary for the justification and liberty of the
+soul, since the things I have spoken of can be done by any impious
+person, and only hypocrites are produced by devotion to these things. On
+the other hand, it will not at all injure the soul that the body should
+be clothed in profane raiment, should dwell in profane places, should
+eat and drink in the ordinary fashion, should not pray aloud, and
+should leave undone all the things above mentioned, which may be done by
+hypocrites.
+
+And, to cast everything aside, even speculation, meditations, and
+whatever things can be performed by the exertions of the soul itself,
+are of no profit. One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life,
+justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of
+God, the Gospel of Christ, as He says, "I am the resurrection and the
+life; he that believeth in Me shall not die eternally" (John xi. 25),
+and also, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed"
+(John viii. 36), and, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
+word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. iv. 4).
+
+Let us therefore hold it for certain and firmly established that the
+soul can do without everything except the word of God, without which
+none at all of its wants are provided for. But, having the word, it is
+rich and wants for nothing, since that is the word of life, of truth, of
+light, of peace, of justification, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of
+wisdom, of virtue, of grace, of glory, and of every good thing. It is
+on this account that the prophet in a whole Psalm (Psalm cxix.), and in
+many other places, sighs for and calls upon the word of God with so many
+groanings and words.
+
+Again, there is no more cruel stroke of the wrath of God than when He
+sends a famine of hearing His words (Amos viii. 11), just as there is
+no greater favour from Him than the sending forth of His word, as it is
+said, "He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their
+destructions" (Psalm cvii. 20). Christ was sent for no other office than
+that of the word; and the order of Apostles, that of bishops, and that
+of the whole body of the clergy, have been called and instituted for no
+object but the ministry of the word.
+
+But you will ask, What is this word, and by what means is it to be used,
+since there are so many words of God? I answer, The Apostle Paul (Rom.
+i.) explains what it is, namely the Gospel of God, concerning His Son,
+incarnate, suffering, risen, and glorified, through the Spirit, the
+Sanctifier. To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set
+it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching. For faith alone
+and the efficacious use of the word of God, bring salvation. "If thou
+shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
+heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom.
+x. 9); and again, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
+every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4), and "The just shall live by
+faith" (Rom. i. 17). For the word of God cannot be received and honoured
+by any works, but by faith alone. Hence it is clear that as the soul
+needs the word alone for life and justification, so it is justified by
+faith alone, and not by any works. For if it could be justified by any
+other means, it would have no need of the word, nor consequently of
+faith.
+
+But this faith cannot consist at all with works; that is, if you imagine
+that you can be justified by those works, whatever they are, along with
+it. For this would be to halt between two opinions, to worship Baal, and
+to kiss the hand to him, which is a very great iniquity, as Job says.
+Therefore, when you begin to believe, you learn at the same time that
+all that is in you is utterly guilty, sinful, and damnable, according to
+that saying, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom.
+iii. 23), and also: "There is none righteous, no, not one; they are all
+gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable: there is
+none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom. iii. 10-12). When you have
+learnt this, you will know that Christ is necessary for you, since He
+has suffered and risen again for you, that, believing on Him, you might
+by this faith become another man, all your sins being remitted, and you
+being justified by the merits of another, namely of Christ alone.
+
+Since then this faith can reign only in the inward man, as it is said,
+"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness" (Rom. x. 10); and
+since it alone justifies, it is evident that by no outward work or
+labour can the inward man be at all justified, made free, and saved; and
+that no works whatever have any relation to him. And so, on the other
+hand, it is solely by impiety and incredulity of heart that he becomes
+guilty and a slave of sin, deserving condemnation, not by any outward
+sin or work. Therefore the first care of every Christian ought to be to
+lay aside all reliance on works, and strengthen his faith alone more
+and more, and by it grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ
+Jesus, who has suffered and risen again for him, as Peter teaches
+(1 Peter v.) when he makes no other work to be a Christian one. Thus
+Christ, when the Jews asked Him what they should do that they might work
+the works of God, rejected the multitude of works, with which He saw
+that they were puffed up, and commanded them one thing only, saying,
+"This is the work of God: that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent, for
+Him hath God the Father sealed" (John vi. 27, 29).
+
+Hence a right faith in Christ is an incomparable treasure, carrying with
+it universal salvation and preserving from all evil, as it is said, "He
+that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth
+not shall be damned" (Mark xvi. 16). Isaiah, looking to this treasure,
+predicted, "The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
+For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined
+(verbum abbreviatum et consummans), in the midst of the land" (Isa.
+x. 22, 23). As if he said, "Faith, which is the brief and complete
+fulfilling of the law, will fill those who believe with such
+righteousness that they will need nothing else for justification." Thus,
+too, Paul says, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness"
+(Rom. x. 10).
+
+But you ask how it can be the fact that faith alone justifies, and
+affords without works so great a treasure of good things, when so many
+works, ceremonies, and laws are prescribed to us in the Scriptures?
+I answer, Before all things bear in mind what I have said: that faith
+alone without works justifies, sets free, and saves, as I shall show
+more clearly below.
+
+Meanwhile it is to be noted that the whole Scripture of God is divided
+into two parts: precepts and promises. The precepts certainly teach us
+what is good, but what they teach is not forthwith done. For they show
+us what we ought to do, but do not give us the power to do it. They
+were ordained, however, for the purpose of showing man to himself, that
+through them he may learn his own impotence for good and may despair of
+his own strength. For this reason they are called the Old Testament, and
+are so.
+
+For example, "Thou shalt not covet," is a precept by which we are all
+convicted of sin, since no man can help coveting, whatever efforts to
+the contrary he may make. In order therefore that he may fulfil the
+precept, and not covet, he is constrained to despair of himself and
+to seek elsewhere and through another the help which he cannot find in
+himself; as it is said, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in
+Me is thine help" (Hosea xiii. 9). Now what is done by this one precept
+is done by all; for all are equally impossible of fulfilment by us.
+
+Now when a man has through the precepts been taught his own impotence,
+and become anxious by what means he may satisfy the law--for the
+law must be satisfied, so that no jot or tittle of it may pass away,
+otherwise he must be hopelessly condemned--then, being truly humbled and
+brought to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself no resource for
+justification and salvation.
+
+Then comes in that other part of Scripture, the promises of God, which
+declare the glory of God, and say, "If you wish to fulfil the law, and,
+as the law requires, not to covet, lo! believe in Christ, in whom are
+promised to you grace, justification, peace, and liberty." All these
+things you shall have, if you believe, and shall be without them if you
+do not believe. For what is impossible for you by all the works of the
+law, which are many and yet useless, you shall fulfil in an easy and
+summary way through faith, because God the Father has made everything to
+depend on faith, so that whosoever has it has all things, and he who has
+it not has nothing. "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that
+He might have mercy upon all" (Rom. xi. 32). Thus the promises of God
+give that which the precepts exact, and fulfil what the law commands;
+so that all is of God alone, both the precepts and their fulfilment. He
+alone commands; He alone also fulfils. Hence the promises of God belong
+to the New Testament; nay, are the New Testament.
+
+Now, since these promises of God are words of holiness, truth,
+righteousness, liberty, and peace, and are full of universal goodness,
+the soul, which cleaves to them with a firm faith, is so united to them,
+nay, thoroughly absorbed by them, that it not only partakes in, but
+is penetrated and saturated by, all their virtues. For if the touch of
+Christ was healing, how much more does that most tender spiritual touch,
+nay, absorption of the word, communicate to the soul all that belongs to
+the word! In this way therefore the soul, through faith alone, without
+works, is from the word of God justified, sanctified, endued with truth,
+peace, and liberty, and filled full with every good thing, and is truly
+made the child of God, as it is said, "To them gave He power to become
+the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John i. 12).
+
+From all this it is easy to understand why faith has such great power,
+and why no good works, nor even all good works put together, can compare
+with it, since no work can cleave to the word of God or be in the soul.
+Faith alone and the word reign in it; and such as is the word, such is
+the soul made by it, just as iron exposed to fire glows like fire, on
+account of its union with the fire. It is clear then that to a Christian
+man his faith suffices for everything, and that he has no need of works
+for justification. But if he has no need of works, neither has he need
+of the law; and if he has no need of the law, he is certainly free from
+the law, and the saying is true, "The law is not made for a righteous
+man" (1 Tim. i. 9). This is that Christian liberty, our faith, the
+effect of which is, not that we should be careless or lead a bad life,
+but that no one should need the law or works for justification and
+salvation.
+
+Let us consider this as the first virtue of faith; and let us look also
+to the second. This also is an office of faith: that it honours with the
+utmost veneration and the highest reputation Him in whom it believes,
+inasmuch as it holds Him to be truthful and worthy of belief. For there
+is no honour like that reputation of truth and righteousness with which
+we honour Him in whom we believe. What higher credit can we attribute
+to any one than truth and righteousness, and absolute goodness? On
+the other hand, it is the greatest insult to brand any one with the
+reputation of falsehood and unrighteousness, or to suspect him of these,
+as we do when we disbelieve him.
+
+Thus the soul, in firmly believing the promises of God, holds Him to be
+true and righteous; and it can attribute to God no higher glory than
+the credit of being so. The highest worship of God is to ascribe to Him
+truth, righteousness, and whatever qualities we must ascribe to one in
+whom we believe. In doing this the soul shows itself prepared to do His
+whole will; in doing this it hallows His name, and gives itself up to
+be dealt with as it may please God. For it cleaves to His promises, and
+never doubts that He is true, just, and wise, and will do, dispose, and
+provide for all things in the best way. Is not such a soul, in this its
+faith, most obedient to God in all things? What commandment does there
+remain which has not been amply fulfilled by such an obedience? What
+fulfilment can be more full than universal obedience? Now this is not
+accomplished by works, but by faith alone.
+
+On the other hand, what greater rebellion, impiety, or insult to God
+can there be, than not to believe His promises? What else is this, than
+either to make God a liar, or to doubt His truth--that is, to attribute
+truth to ourselves, but to God falsehood and levity? In doing this,
+is not a man denying God and setting himself up as an idol in his own
+heart? What then can works, done in such a state of impiety, profit us,
+were they even angelic or apostolic works? Rightly hath God shut up
+all, not in wrath nor in lust, but in unbelief, in order that those
+who pretend that they are fulfilling the law by works of purity and
+benevolence (which are social and human virtues) may not presume
+that they will therefore be saved, but, being included in the sin of
+unbelief, may either seek mercy, or be justly condemned.
+
+But when God sees that truth is ascribed to Him, and that in the faith
+of our hearts He is honoured with all the honour of which He is worthy,
+then in return He honours us on account of that faith, attributing to
+us truth and righteousness. For faith does truth and righteousness in
+rendering to God what is His; and therefore in return God gives glory
+to our righteousness. It is true and righteous that God is true and
+righteous; and to confess this and ascribe these attributes to Him, this
+it is to be true and righteous. Thus He says, "Them that honour Me I
+will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Sam.
+ii. 30). And so Paul says that Abraham's faith was imputed to him for
+righteousness, because by it he gave glory to God; and that to us
+also, for the same reason, it shall be imputed for righteousness, if we
+believe (Rom. iv.).
+
+The third incomparable grace of faith is this: that it unites the soul
+to Christ, as the wife to the husband, by which mystery, as the Apostle
+teaches, Christ and the soul are made one flesh. Now if they are one
+flesh, and if a true marriage--nay, by far the most perfect of all
+marriages--is accomplished between them (for human marriages are but
+feeble types of this one great marriage), then it follows that all they
+have becomes theirs in common, as well good things as evil things; so
+that whatsoever Christ possesses, that the believing soul may take to
+itself and boast of as its own, and whatever belongs to the soul, that
+Christ claims as His.
+
+If we compare these possessions, we shall see how inestimable is the
+gain. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul is full of
+sin, death, and condemnation. Let faith step in, and then sin, death,
+and hell will belong to Christ, and grace, life, and salvation to the
+soul. For, if He is a Husband, He must needs take to Himself that which
+is His wife's, and at the same time, impart to His wife that which is
+His. For, in giving her His own body and Himself, how can He but give
+her all that is His? And, in taking to Himself the body of His wife, how
+can He but take to Himself all that is hers?
+
+In this is displayed the delightful sight, not only of communion, but of
+a prosperous warfare, of victory, salvation, and redemption. For, since
+Christ is God and man, and is such a Person as neither has sinned, nor
+dies, nor is condemned, nay, cannot sin, die, or be condemned, and since
+His righteousness, life, and salvation are invincible, eternal, and
+almighty,--when I say, such a Person, by the wedding-ring of faith,
+takes a share in the sins, death, and hell of His wife, nay, makes them
+His own, and deals with them no otherwise than as if they were His, and
+as if He Himself had sinned; and when He suffers, dies, and descends to
+hell, that He may overcome all things, and since sin, death, and
+hell cannot swallow Him up, they must needs be swallowed up by Him in
+stupendous conflict. For His righteousness rises above the sins of all
+men; His life is more powerful than all death; His salvation is more
+unconquerable than all hell.
+
+Thus the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes
+free from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with
+the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its Husband Christ.
+Thus He presents to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle,
+cleansing her with the washing of water by the word; that is, by faith
+in the word of life, righteousness, and salvation. Thus He betrothes her
+unto Himself "in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
+loving-kindness, and in mercies" (Hosea ii. 19, 20).
+
+Who then can value highly enough these royal nuptials? Who can
+comprehend the riches of the glory of this grace? Christ, that rich and
+pious Husband, takes as a wife a needy and impious harlot, redeeming
+her from all her evils and supplying her with all His good things. It
+is impossible now that her sins should destroy her, since they have
+been laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and since she has in her
+Husband Christ a righteousness which she may claim as her own, and which
+she can set up with confidence against all her sins, against death and
+hell, saying, "If I have sinned, my Christ, in whom I believe, has not
+sinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine," as it is written, "My
+beloved is mine, and I am His" (Cant. ii. 16). This is what Paul says:
+"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
+Christ," victory over sin and death, as he says, "The sting of death is
+sin, and the strength of sin is the law" (1 Cor. xv. 56, 57).
+
+From all this you will again understand why so much importance is
+attributed to faith, so that it alone can fulfil the law and justify
+without any works. For you see that the First Commandment, which says,
+"Thou shalt worship one God only," is fulfilled by faith alone. If you
+were nothing but good works from the soles of your feet to the crown of
+your head, you would not be worshipping God, nor fulfilling the First
+Commandment, since it is impossible to worship God without ascribing to
+Him the glory of truth and of universal goodness, as it ought in truth
+to be ascribed. Now this is not done by works, but only by faith of
+heart. It is not by working, but by believing, that we glorify God, and
+confess Him to be true. On this ground faith alone is the righteousness
+of a Christian man, and the fulfilling of all the commandments. For to
+him who fulfils the first the task of fulfilling all the rest is easy.
+
+Works, since they are irrational things, cannot glorify God, although
+they may be done to the glory of God, if faith be present. But at
+present we are inquiring, not into the quality of the works done, but
+into him who does them, who glorifies God, and brings forth good
+works. This is faith of heart, the head and the substance of all our
+righteousness. Hence that is a blind and perilous doctrine which teaches
+that the commandments are fulfilled by works. The commandments must have
+been fulfilled previous to any good works, and good works follow their
+fulfillment, as we shall see.
+
+But, that we may have a wider view of that grace which our inner man
+has in Christ, we must know that in the Old Testament God sanctified to
+Himself every first-born male. The birthright was of great value, giving
+a superiority over the rest by the double honour of priesthood and
+kingship. For the first-born brother was priest and lord of all the
+rest.
+
+Under this figure was foreshown Christ, the true and only First-born of
+God the Father and of the Virgin Mary, and a true King and Priest, not
+in a fleshly and earthly sense. For His kingdom is not of this world; it
+is in heavenly and spiritual things that He reigns and acts as Priest;
+and these are righteousness, truth, wisdom, peace, salvation, etc.
+Not but that all things, even those of earth and hell, are subject to
+Him--for otherwise how could He defend and save us from them?--but it is
+not in these, nor by these, that His kingdom stands.
+
+So, too, His priesthood does not consist in the outward display of
+vestments and gestures, as did the human priesthood of Aaron and our
+ecclesiastical priesthood at this day, but in spiritual things, wherein,
+in His invisible office, He intercedes for us with God in heaven, and
+there offers Himself, and performs all the duties of a priest, as Paul
+describes Him to the Hebrews under the figure of Melchizedek. Nor does
+He only pray and intercede for us; He also teaches us inwardly in the
+spirit with the living teachings of His Spirit. Now these are the two
+special offices of a priest, as is figured to us in the case of fleshly
+priests by visible prayers and sermons.
+
+As Christ by His birthright has obtained these two dignities, so He
+imparts and communicates them to every believer in Him, under that law
+of matrimony of which we have spoken above, by which all that is the
+husband's is also the wife's. Hence all we who believe on Christ are
+kings and priests in Christ, as it is said, "Ye are a chosen generation,
+a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should
+show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into
+His marvellous light" (1 Peter ii. 9).
+
+These two things stand thus. First, as regards kingship, every Christian
+is by faith so exalted above all things that, in spiritual power, he is
+completely lord of all things, so that nothing whatever can do him
+any hurt; yea, all things are subject to him, and are compelled to be
+subservient to his salvation. Thus Paul says, "All things work together
+for good to them who are the called" (Rom. viii. 28), and also, "Whether
+life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours; and
+ye are Christ's" (1 Cor. iii. 22, 23).
+
+Not that in the sense of corporeal power any one among Christians has
+been appointed to possess and rule all things, according to the mad and
+senseless idea of certain ecclesiastics. That is the office of kings,
+princes, and men upon earth. In the experience of life we see that we
+are subjected to all things, and suffer many things, even death.
+Yea, the more of a Christian any man is, to so many the more evils,
+sufferings, and deaths is he subject, as we see in the first place in
+Christ the First-born, and in all His holy brethren.
+
+This is a spiritual power, which rules in the midst of enemies, and is
+powerful in the midst of distresses. And this is nothing else than that
+strength is made perfect in my weakness, and that I can turn all things
+to the profit of my salvation; so that even the cross and death are
+compelled to serve me and to work together for my salvation. This is
+a lofty and eminent dignity, a true and almighty dominion, a spiritual
+empire, in which there is nothing so good, nothing so bad, as not to
+work together for my good, if only I believe. And yet there is nothing
+of which I have need--for faith alone suffices for my salvation--unless
+that in it faith may exercise the power and empire of its liberty. This
+is the inestimable power and liberty of Christians.
+
+Nor are we only kings and the freest of all men, but also priests for
+ever, a dignity far higher than kingship, because by that priesthood we
+are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one
+another mutually the things which are of God. For these are the duties
+of priests, and they cannot possibly be permitted to any unbeliever.
+Christ has obtained for us this favour, if we believe in Him: that just
+as we are His brethren and co-heirs and fellow-kings with Him, so we
+should be also fellow-priests with Him, and venture with confidence,
+through the spirit of faith, to come into the presence of God, and cry,
+"Abba, Father!" and to pray for one another, and to do all things
+which we see done and figured in the visible and corporeal office of
+priesthood. But to an unbelieving person nothing renders service or work
+for good. He himself is in servitude to all things, and all things turn
+out for evil to him, because he uses all things in an impious way for
+his own advantage, and not for the glory of God. And thus he is not a
+priest, but a profane person, whose prayers are turned into sin, nor
+does he ever appear in the presence of God, because God does not hear
+sinners.
+
+Who then can comprehend the loftiness of that Christian dignity which,
+by its royal power, rules over all things, even over death, life, and
+sin, and, by its priestly glory, is all-powerful with God, since God
+does what He Himself seeks and wishes, as it is written, "He will fulfil
+the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will
+save them"? (Psalm cxlv. 19). This glory certainly cannot be attained by
+any works, but by faith only.
+
+From these considerations any one may clearly see how a Christian
+man is free from all things; so that he needs no works in order to be
+justified and saved, but receives these gifts in abundance from faith
+alone. Nay, were he so foolish as to pretend to be justified, set
+free, saved, and made a Christian, by means of any good work, he would
+immediately lose faith, with all its benefits. Such folly is prettily
+represented in the fable where a dog, running along in the water
+and carrying in his mouth a real piece of meat, is deceived by the
+reflection of the meat in the water, and, in trying with open mouth to
+seize it, loses the meat and its image at the same time.
+
+Here you will ask, "If all who are in the Church are priests, by what
+character are those whom we now call priests to be distinguished from
+the laity?" I reply, By the use of these words, "priest," "clergy,"
+"spiritual person," "ecclesiastic," an injustice has been done, since
+they have been transferred from the remaining body of Christians to
+those few who are now, by hurtful custom, called ecclesiastics. For Holy
+Scripture makes no distinction between them, except that those who are
+now boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords, it calls ministers,
+servants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the
+word, for teaching the faith of Christ and the liberty of believers. For
+though it is true that we are all equally priests, yet we cannot, nor,
+if we could, ought we all to, minister and teach publicly. Thus Paul
+says, "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and
+stewards of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. iv. 1).
+
+This bad system has now issued in such a pompous display of power and
+such a terrible tyranny that no earthly government can be compared to
+it, as if the laity were something else than Christians. Through this
+perversion of things it has happened that the knowledge of Christian
+grace, of faith, of liberty, and altogether of Christ, has utterly
+perished, and has been succeeded by an intolerable bondage to human
+works and laws; and, according to the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we have
+become the slaves of the vilest men on earth, who abuse our misery to
+all the disgraceful and ignominious purposes of their own will.
+
+Returning to the subject which we had begun, I think it is made clear by
+these considerations that it is not sufficient, nor a Christian course,
+to preach the works, life, and words of Christ in a historic manner, as
+facts which it suffices to know as an example how to frame our life, as
+do those who are now held the best preachers, and much less so to keep
+silence altogether on these things and to teach in their stead the laws
+of men and the decrees of the Fathers. There are now not a few persons
+who preach and read about Christ with the object of moving the human
+affections to sympathise with Christ, to indignation against the Jews,
+and other childish and womanish absurdities of that kind.
+
+Now preaching ought to have the object of promoting faith in Him, so
+that He may not only be Christ, but a Christ for you and for me, and
+that what is said of Him, and what He is called, may work in us. And
+this faith is produced and is maintained by preaching why Christ came,
+what He has brought us and given to us, and to what profit and advantage
+He is to be received. This is done when the Christian liberty which we
+have from Christ Himself is rightly taught, and we are shown in what
+manner all we Christians are kings and priests, and how we are lords of
+all things, and may be confident that whatever we do in the presence of
+God is pleasing and acceptable to Him.
+
+Whose heart would not rejoice in its inmost core at hearing these
+things? Whose heart, on receiving so great a consolation, would not
+become sweet with the love of Christ, a love to which it can never
+attain by any laws or works? Who can injure such a heart, or make it
+afraid? If the consciousness of sin or the horror of death rush in upon
+it, it is prepared to hope in the Lord, and is fearless of such evils,
+and undisturbed, until it shall look down upon its enemies. For it
+believes that the righteousness of Christ is its own, and that its sin
+is no longer its own, but that of Christ; but, on account of its faith
+in Christ, all its sin must needs be swallowed up from before the face
+of the righteousness of Christ, as I have said above. It learns, too,
+with the Apostle, to scoff at death and sin, and to say, "O death, where
+is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin,
+and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
+us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. xv. 55-57). For
+death is swallowed up in victory, not only the victory of Christ, but
+ours also, since by faith it becomes ours, and in it we too conquer.
+
+Let it suffice to say this concerning the inner man and its liberty, and
+concerning that righteousness of faith which needs neither laws nor
+good works; nay, they are even hurtful to it, if any one pretends to be
+justified by them.
+
+And now let us turn to the other part: to the outward man. Here we shall
+give an answer to all those who, taking offence at the word of faith and
+at what I have asserted, say, "If faith does everything, and by itself
+suffices for justification, why then are good works commanded? Are we
+then to take our ease and do no works, content with faith?" Not so,
+impious men, I reply; not so. That would indeed really be the case, if
+we were thoroughly and completely inner and spiritual persons; but that
+will not happen until the last day, when the dead shall be raised. As
+long as we live in the flesh, we are but beginning and making advances
+in that which shall be completed in a future life. On this account the
+Apostle calls that which we have in this life the firstfruits of the
+Spirit (Rom. viii. 23). In future we shall have the tenths, and the
+fullness of the Spirit. To this part belongs the fact I have stated
+before: that the Christian is the servant of all and subject to all. For
+in that part in which he is free he does no works, but in that in which
+he is a servant he does all works. Let us see on what principle this is
+so.
+
+Although, as I have said, inwardly, and according to the spirit, a man
+is amply enough justified by faith, having all that he requires to have,
+except that this very faith and abundance ought to increase from day
+to day, even till the future life, still he remains in this mortal life
+upon earth, in which it is necessary that he should rule his own body
+and have intercourse with men. Here then works begin; here he must not
+take his ease; here he must give heed to exercise his body by fastings,
+watchings, labour, and other regular discipline, so that it may be
+subdued to the spirit, and obey and conform itself to the inner man and
+faith, and not rebel against them nor hinder them, as is its nature to
+do if it is not kept under. For the inner man, being conformed to God
+and created after the image of God through faith, rejoices and delights
+itself in Christ, in whom such blessings have been conferred on it, and
+hence has only this task before it: to serve God with joy and for nought
+in free love.
+
+But in doing this he comes into collision with that contrary will in
+his own flesh, which is striving to serve the world and to seek its own
+gratification. This the spirit of faith cannot and will not bear, but
+applies itself with cheerfulness and zeal to keep it down and restrain
+it, as Paul says, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but
+I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and
+bringing me into captivity to the law of sin" (Rom. vii. 22, 23), and
+again, "I keep under my body, and bring it unto subjection, lest that
+by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
+castaway" (1 Cor. ix. 27), and "They that are Christ's have crucified
+the flesh, with the affections and lusts" (Gal. v. 24).
+
+These works, however, must not be done with any notion that by them a
+man can be justified before God--for faith, which alone is righteousness
+before God, will not bear with this false notion--but solely with this
+purpose: that the body may be brought into subjection, and be purified
+from its evil lusts, so that our eyes may be turned only to purging away
+those lusts. For when the soul has been cleansed by faith and made to
+love God, it would have all things to be cleansed in like manner, and
+especially its own body, so that all things might unite with it in the
+love and praise of God. Thus it comes that, from the requirements of his
+own body, a man cannot take his ease, but is compelled on its account
+to do many good works, that he may bring it into subjection. Yet these
+works are not the means of his justification before God; he does them
+out of disinterested love to the service of God; looking to no other
+end than to do what is well-pleasing to Him whom he desires to obey most
+dutifully in all things.
+
+On this principle every man may easily instruct himself in what measure,
+and with what distinctions, he ought to chasten his own body. He will
+fast, watch, and labour, just as much as he sees to suffice for keeping
+down the wantonness and concupiscence of the body. But those who pretend
+to be justified by works are looking, not to the mortification of their
+lusts, but only to the works themselves; thinking that, if they can
+accomplish as many works and as great ones as possible, all is well with
+them, and they are justified. Sometimes they even injure their brain,
+and extinguish nature, or at least make it useless. This is enormous
+folly, and ignorance of Christian life and faith, when a man seeks,
+without faith, to be justified and saved by works.
+
+To make what we have said more easily understood, let us set it forth
+under a figure. The works of a Christian man, who is justified and saved
+by his faith out of the pure and unbought mercy of God, ought to be
+regarded in the same light as would have been those of Adam and Eve in
+paradise and of all their posterity if they had not sinned. Of them it
+is said, "The Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden
+to dress it and to keep it" (Gen. ii. 15). Now Adam had been created by
+God just and righteous, so that he could not have needed to be justified
+and made righteous by keeping the garden and working in it; but, that
+he might not be unemployed, God gave him the business of keeping and
+cultivating paradise. These would have indeed been works of perfect
+freedom, being done for no object but that of pleasing God, and not in
+order to obtain justification, which he already had to the full, and
+which would have been innate in us all.
+
+So it is with the works of a believer. Being by his faith replaced
+afresh in paradise and created anew, he does not need works for his
+justification, but that he may not be idle, but may exercise his own
+body and preserve it. His works are to be done freely, with the sole
+object of pleasing God. Only we are not yet fully created anew in
+perfect faith and love; these require to be increased, not, however,
+through works, but through themselves.
+
+A bishop, when he consecrates a church, confirms children, or performs
+any other duty of his office, is not consecrated as bishop by these
+works; nay, unless he had been previously consecrated as bishop, not one
+of those works would have any validity; they would be foolish, childish,
+and ridiculous. Thus a Christian, being consecrated by his faith, does
+good works; but he is not by these works made a more sacred person, or
+more a Christian. That is the effect of faith alone; nay, unless he were
+previously a believer and a Christian, none of his works would have any
+value at all; they would really be impious and damnable sins.
+
+True, then, are these two sayings: "Good works do not make a good man,
+but a good man does good works"; "Bad works do not make a bad man, but a
+bad man does bad works." Thus it is always necessary that the substance
+or person should be good before any good works can be done, and that
+good works should follow and proceed from a good person. As Christ says,
+"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree
+bring forth good fruit" (Matt. vii. 18). Now it is clear that the fruit
+does not bear the tree, nor does the tree grow on the fruit; but, on the
+contrary, the trees bear the fruit, and the fruit grows on the trees.
+
+As then trees must exist before their fruit, and as the fruit does not
+make the tree either good or bad, but on the contrary, a tree of either
+kind produces fruit of the same kind, so must first the person of the
+man be good or bad before he can do either a good or a bad work; and his
+works do not make him bad or good, but he himself makes his works either
+bad or good.
+
+We may see the same thing in all handicrafts. A bad or good house does
+not make a bad or good builder, but a good or bad builder makes a good
+or bad house. And in general no work makes the workman such as it is
+itself; but the workman makes the work such as he is himself. Such
+is the case, too, with the works of men. Such as the man himself is,
+whether in faith or in unbelief, such is his work: good if it be done
+in faith; bad if in unbelief. But the converse is not true that, such as
+the work is, such the man becomes in faith or in unbelief. For as works
+do not make a believing man, so neither do they make a justified man;
+but faith, as it makes a man a believer and justified, so also it makes
+his works good.
+
+Since then works justify no man, but a man must be justified before he
+can do any good work, it is most evident that it is faith alone which,
+by the mere mercy of God through Christ, and by means of His word,
+can worthily and sufficiently justify and save the person; and that a
+Christian man needs no work, no law, for his salvation; for by faith he
+is free from all law, and in perfect freedom does gratuitously all that
+he does, seeking nothing either of profit or of salvation--since by
+the grace of God he is already saved and rich in all things through his
+faith--but solely that which is well-pleasing to God.
+
+So, too, no good work can profit an unbeliever to justification and
+salvation; and, on the other hand, no evil work makes him an evil and
+condemned person, but that unbelief, which makes the person and the tree
+bad, makes his works evil and condemned. Wherefore, when any man is made
+good or bad, this does not arise from his works, but from his faith or
+unbelief, as the wise man says, "The beginning of sin is to fall away
+from God"; that is, not to believe. Paul says, "He that cometh to God
+must believe" (Heb. xi. 6); and Christ says the same thing: "Either make
+the tree good and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and
+his fruit corrupt" (Matt. xii. 33),--as much as to say, He who wishes to
+have good fruit will begin with the tree, and plant a good one; even
+so he who wishes to do good works must begin, not by working, but by
+believing, since it is this which makes the person good. For nothing
+makes the person good but faith, nor bad but unbelief.
+
+It is certainly true that, in the sight of men, a man becomes good or
+evil by his works; but here "becoming" means that it is thus shown and
+recognised who is good or evil, as Christ says, "By their fruits ye
+shall know them" (Matt. vii. 20). But all this stops at appearances and
+externals; and in this matter very many deceive themselves, when they
+presume to write and teach that we are to be justified by good works,
+and meanwhile make no mention even of faith, walking in their own ways,
+ever deceived and deceiving, going from bad to worse, blind leaders of
+the blind, wearying themselves with many works, and yet never attaining
+to true righteousness, of whom Paul says, "Having a form of godliness,
+but denying the power thereof, ever learning and never able to come to
+the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. iii. 5, 7).
+
+He then who does not wish to go astray, with these blind ones, must look
+further than to the works of the law or the doctrine of works; nay,
+must turn away his sight from works, and look to the person, and to the
+manner in which it may be justified. Now it is justified and saved, not
+by works or laws, but by the word of God--that is, by the promise of His
+grace--so that the glory may be to the Divine majesty, which has saved
+us who believe, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
+according to His mercy, by the word of His grace.
+
+From all this it is easy to perceive on what principle good works are
+to be cast aside or embraced, and by what rule all teachings put forth
+concerning works are to be understood. For if works are brought forward
+as grounds of justification, and are done under the false persuasion
+that we can pretend to be justified by them, they lay on us the yoke
+of necessity, and extinguish liberty along with faith, and by this very
+addition to their use they become no longer good, but really worthy of
+condemnation. For such works are not free, but blaspheme the grace of
+God, to which alone it belongs to justify and save through faith. Works
+cannot accomplish this, and yet, with impious presumption, through
+our folly, they take it on themselves to do so; and thus break in with
+violence upon the office and glory of grace.
+
+We do not then reject good works; nay, we embrace them and teach them in
+the highest degree. It is not on their own account that we condemn them,
+but on account of this impious addition to them and the perverse notion
+of seeking justification by them. These things cause them to be only
+good in outward show, but in reality not good, since by them men are
+deceived and deceive others, like ravening wolves in sheep's clothing.
+
+Now this leviathan, this perverted notion about works, is invincible
+when sincere faith is wanting. For those sanctified doers of works
+cannot but hold it till faith, which destroys it, comes and reigns in
+the heart. Nature cannot expel it by her own power; nay, cannot even see
+it for what it is, but considers it as a most holy will. And when
+custom steps in besides, and strengthens this pravity of nature, as has
+happened by means of impious teachers, then the evil is incurable, and
+leads astray multitudes to irreparable ruin. Therefore, though it is
+good to preach and write about penitence, confession, and satisfaction,
+yet if we stop there, and do not go on to teach faith, such teaching
+is without doubt deceitful and devilish. For Christ, speaking by His
+servant John, not only said, "Repent ye," but added, "for the kingdom of
+heaven is at hand" (Matt. iii. 2).
+
+For not one word of God only, but both, should be preached; new and old
+things should be brought out of the treasury, as well the voice of
+the law as the word of grace. The voice of the law should be brought
+forward, that men may be terrified and brought to a knowledge of their
+sins, and thence be converted to penitence and to a better manner of
+life. But we must not stop here; that would be to wound only and not to
+bind up, to strike and not to heal, to kill and not to make alive, to
+bring down to hell and not to bring back, to humble and not to exalt.
+Therefore the word of grace and of the promised remission of sin must
+also be preached, in order to teach and set up faith, since without
+that word contrition, penitence, and all other duties, are performed and
+taught in vain.
+
+There still remain, it is true, preachers of repentance and grace, but
+they do not explain the law and the promises of God to such an end, and
+in such a spirit, that men may learn whence repentance and grace are to
+come. For repentance comes from the law of God, but faith or grace
+from the promises of God, as it is said, "Faith cometh by hearing, and
+hearing by the word of God" (Rom. x. 17), whence it comes that a man,
+when humbled and brought to the knowledge of himself by the threatenings
+and terrors of the law, is consoled and raised up by faith in the Divine
+promise. Thus "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the
+morning" (Psalm xxx. 5). Thus much we say concerning works in general,
+and also concerning those which the Christian practises with regard to
+his own body.
+
+Lastly, we will speak also of those works which he performs towards his
+neighbour. For man does not live for himself alone in this mortal body,
+in order to work on its account, but also for all men on earth; nay, he
+lives only for others, and not for himself. For it is to this end that
+he brings his own body into subjection, that he may be able to serve
+others more sincerely and more freely, as Paul says, "None of us liveth
+to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live
+unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord" (Rom. xiv. 7,
+8). Thus it is impossible that he should take his ease in this life, and
+not work for the good of his neighbours, since he must needs speak, act,
+and converse among men, just as Christ was made in the likeness of men
+and found in fashion as a man, and had His conversation among men.
+
+Yet a Christian has need of none of these things for justification and
+salvation, but in all his works he ought to entertain this view and look
+only to this object--that he may serve and be useful to others in all
+that he does; having nothing before his eyes but the necessities and the
+advantage of his neighbour. Thus the Apostle commands us to work with
+our own hands, that we may have to give to those that need. He might
+have said, that we may support ourselves; but he tells us to give to
+those that need. It is the part of a Christian to take care of his own
+body for the very purpose that, by its soundness and well-being, he may
+be enabled to labour, and to acquire and preserve property, for the aid
+of those who are in want, that thus the stronger member may serve the
+weaker member, and we may be children of God, thoughtful and busy one
+for another, bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of
+Christ.
+
+Here is the truly Christian life, here is faith really working by love,
+when a man applies himself with joy and love to the works of that freest
+servitude in which he serves others voluntarily and for nought, himself
+abundantly satisfied in the fulness and riches of his own faith.
+
+Thus, when Paul had taught the Philippians how they had been made
+rich by that faith in Christ in which they had obtained all things,
+he teaches them further in these words: "If there be therefore any
+consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of
+the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be
+like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let
+nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind
+let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his
+own things, but every man also on the things of others" (Phil. ii. 1-4).
+
+In this we see clearly that the Apostle lays down this rule for a
+Christian life: that all our works should be directed to the advantage
+of others, since every Christian has such abundance through his faith
+that all his other works and his whole life remain over and above
+wherewith to serve and benefit his neighbour of spontaneous goodwill.
+
+To this end he brings forward Christ as an example, saying, "Let this
+mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form
+of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of
+no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made
+in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled
+Himself, and became obedient unto death" (Phil. ii. 5-8). This most
+wholesome saying of the Apostle has been darkened to us by men who,
+totally misunderstanding the expressions "form of God," "form of a
+servant," "fashion," "likeness of men," have transferred them to the
+natures of Godhead and manhood. Paul's meaning is this: Christ, when He
+was full of the form of God and abounded in all good things, so that He
+had no need of works or sufferings to be just and saved--for all these
+things He had from the very beginning--yet was not puffed up with these
+things, and did not raise Himself above us and arrogate to Himself power
+over us, though He might lawfully have done so, but, on the contrary,
+so acted in labouring, working, suffering, and dying, as to be like the
+rest of men, and no otherwise than a man in fashion and in conduct, as
+if He were in want of all things and had nothing of the form of God; and
+yet all this He did for our sakes, that He might serve us, and that all
+the works He should do under that form of a servant might become ours.
+
+Thus a Christian, like Christ his Head, being full and in abundance
+through his faith, ought to be content with this form of God, obtained
+by faith; except that, as I have said, he ought to increase this faith
+till it be perfected. For this faith is his life, justification, and
+salvation, preserving his person itself and making it pleasing to God,
+and bestowing on him all that Christ has, as I have said above, and
+as Paul affirms: "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
+faith of the Son of God" (Gal. ii. 20). Though he is thus free from all
+works, yet he ought to empty himself of this liberty, take on him the
+form of a servant, be made in the likeness of men, be found in fashion
+as a man, serve, help, and in every way act towards his neighbour as he
+sees that God through Christ has acted and is acting towards him.
+All this he should do freely, and with regard to nothing but the good
+pleasure of God, and he should reason thus:--
+
+Lo! my God, without merit on my part, of His pure and free mercy, has
+given to me, an unworthy, condemned, and contemptible creature all the
+riches of justification and salvation in Christ, so that I no longer
+am in want of anything, except of faith to believe that this is so.
+For such a Father, then, who has overwhelmed me with these inestimable
+riches of His, why should I not freely, cheerfully, and with my whole
+heart, and from voluntary zeal, do all that I know will be pleasing to
+Him and acceptable in His sight? I will therefore give myself as a sort
+of Christ, to my neighbour, as Christ has given Himself to me; and will
+do nothing in this life except what I see will be needful, advantageous,
+and wholesome for my neighbour, since by faith I abound in all good
+things in Christ.
+
+Thus from faith flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love
+a cheerful, willing, free spirit, disposed to serve our neighbour
+voluntarily, without taking any account of gratitude or ingratitude,
+praise or blame, gain or loss. Its object is not to lay men under
+obligations, nor does it distinguish between friends and enemies, or
+look to gratitude or ingratitude, but most freely and willingly spends
+itself and its goods, whether it loses them through ingratitude, or
+gains goodwill. For thus did its Father, distributing all things to all
+men abundantly and freely, making His sun to rise upon the just and the
+unjust. Thus, too, the child does and endures nothing except from the
+free joy with which it delights through Christ in God, the Giver of such
+great gifts.
+
+You see, then, that, if we recognize those great and precious gifts, as
+Peter says, which have been given to us, love is quickly diffused in
+our hearts through the Spirit, and by love we are made free, joyful,
+all-powerful, active workers, victors over all our tribulations,
+servants to our neighbour, and nevertheless lords of all things. But,
+for those who do not recognise the good things given to them through
+Christ, Christ has been born in vain; such persons walk by works, and
+will never attain the taste and feeling of these great things. Therefore
+just as our neighbour is in want, and has need of our abundance, so we
+too in the sight of God were in want, and had need of His mercy. And as
+our heavenly Father has freely helped us in Christ, so ought we freely
+to help our neighbour by our body and works, and each should become to
+other a sort of Christ, so that we may be mutually Christs, and that
+the same Christ may be in all of us; that is, that we may be truly
+Christians.
+
+Who then can comprehend the riches and glory of the Christian life? It
+can do all things, has all things, and is in want of nothing; is lord
+over sin, death, and hell, and at the same time is the obedient and
+useful servant of all. But alas! it is at this day unknown throughout
+the world; it is neither preached nor sought after, so that we are quite
+ignorant about our own name, why we are and are called Christians. We
+are certainly called so from Christ, who is not absent, but dwells among
+us--provided, that is, that we believe in Him and are reciprocally and
+mutually one the Christ of the other, doing to our neighbour as Christ
+does to us. But now, in the doctrine of men, we are taught only to seek
+after merits, rewards, and things which are already ours, and we have
+made of Christ a taskmaster far more severe than Moses.
+
+The Blessed Virgin beyond all others, affords us an example of the same
+faith, in that she was purified according to the law of Moses, and like
+all other women, though she was bound by no such law and had no need
+of purification. Still she submitted to the law voluntarily and of free
+love, making herself like the rest of women, that she might not offend
+or throw contempt on them. She was not justified by doing this; but,
+being already justified, she did it freely and gratuitously. Thus ought
+our works too to be done, and not in order to be justified by them; for,
+being first justified by faith, we ought to do all our works freely and
+cheerfully for the sake of others.
+
+St. Paul circumcised his disciple Timothy, not because he needed
+circumcision for his justification, but that he might not offend or
+contemn those Jews, weak in the faith, who had not yet been able to
+comprehend the liberty of faith. On the other hand, when they contemned
+liberty and urged that circumcision was necessary for justification, he
+resisted them, and would not allow Titus to be circumcised. For, as he
+would not offend or contemn any one's weakness in faith, but yielded
+for the time to their will, so, again, he would not have the liberty of
+faith offended or contemned by hardened self-justifiers, but walked in
+a middle path, sparing the weak for the time, and always resisting the
+hardened, that he might convert all to the liberty of faith. On the same
+principle we ought to act, receiving those that are weak in the faith,
+but boldly resisting these hardened teachers of works, of whom we shall
+hereafter speak at more length.
+
+Christ also, when His disciples were asked for the tribute money, asked
+of Peter whether the children of a king were not free from taxes. Peter
+agreed to this; yet Jesus commanded him to go to the sea, saying, "Lest
+we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up
+the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth thou
+shalt find a piece of money; that take, and give unto them for Me and
+thee" (Matt. xvii. 27).
+
+This example is very much to our purpose; for here Christ calls Himself
+and His disciples free men and children of a King, in want of nothing;
+and yet He voluntarily submits and pays the tax. Just as far, then,
+as this work was necessary or useful to Christ for justification or
+salvation, so far do all His other works or those of His disciples avail
+for justification. They are really free and subsequent to justification,
+and only done to serve others and set them an example.
+
+Such are the works which Paul inculcated, that Christians should be
+subject to principalities and powers and ready to every good work (Titus
+iii. 1), not that they may be justified by these things--for they are
+already justified by faith--but that in liberty of spirit they may thus
+be the servants of others and subject to powers, obeying their will out
+of gratuitous love.
+
+Such, too, ought to have been the works of all colleges, monasteries,
+and priests; every one doing the works of his own profession and state
+of life, not in order to be justified by them, but in order to bring his
+own body into subjection, as an example to others, who themselves
+also need to keep under their bodies, and also in order to accommodate
+himself to the will of others, out of free love. But we must always
+guard most carefully against any vain confidence or presumption of being
+justified, gaining merit, or being saved by these works, this being the
+part of faith alone, as I have so often said.
+
+Any man possessing this knowledge may easily keep clear of danger among
+those innumerable commands and precepts of the Pope, of bishops, of
+monasteries, of churches, of princes, and of magistrates, which some
+foolish pastors urge on us as being necessary for justification and
+salvation, calling them precepts of the Church, when they are not so
+at all. For the Christian freeman will speak thus: I will fast, I will
+pray, I will do this or that which is commanded me by men, not as having
+any need of these things for justification or salvation, but that I
+may thus comply with the will of the Pope, of the bishop, of such a
+community or such a magistrate, or of my neighbour as an example to him;
+for this cause I will do and suffer all things, just as Christ did and
+suffered much more for me, though He needed not at all to do so on His
+own account, and made Himself for my sake under the law, when He was
+not under the law. And although tyrants may do me violence or wrong in
+requiring obedience to these things, yet it will not hurt me to do them,
+so long as they are not done against God.
+
+From all this every man will be able to attain a sure judgment and
+faithful discrimination between all works and laws, and to know who
+are blind and foolish pastors, and who are true and good ones. For
+whatsoever work is not directed to the sole end either of keeping under
+the body, or of doing service to our neighbour--provided he require
+nothing contrary to the will of God--is no good or Christian work. Hence
+I greatly fear that at this day few or no colleges, monasteries, altars,
+or ecclesiastical functions are Christian ones; and the same may be said
+of fasts and special prayers to certain saints. I fear that in all these
+nothing is being sought but what is already ours; while we fancy that
+by these things our sins are purged away and salvation is attained, and
+thus utterly do away with Christian liberty. This comes from ignorance
+of Christian faith and liberty.
+
+This ignorance and this crushing of liberty are diligently promoted by
+the teaching of very many blind pastors, who stir up and urge the people
+to a zeal for these things, praising them and puffing them up with their
+indulgences, but never teaching faith. Now I would advise you, if you
+have any wish to pray, to fast, or to make foundations in churches, as
+they call it, to take care not to do so with the object of gaining any
+advantage, either temporal or eternal. You will thus wrong your faith,
+which alone bestows all things on you, and the increase of which, either
+by working or by suffering, is alone to be cared for. What you give,
+give freely and without price, that others may prosper and have increase
+from you and your goodness. Thus you will be a truly good man and a
+Christian. For what to you are your goods and your works, which are done
+over and above for the subjection of the body, since you have abundance
+for yourself through your faith, in which God has given you all things?
+
+We give this rule: the good things which we have from God ought to flow
+from one to another and become common to all, so that every one of us
+may, as it were, put on his neighbour, and so behave towards him as if
+he were himself in his place. They flowed and do flow from Christ to us;
+He put us on, and acted for us as if He Himself were what we are.
+From us they flow to those who have need of them; so that my faith
+and righteousness ought to be laid down before God as a covering and
+intercession for the sins of my neighbour, which I am to take on myself,
+and so labour and endure servitude in them, as if they were my own; for
+thus has Christ done for us. This is true love and the genuine truth
+of Christian life. But only there is it true and genuine where there
+is true and genuine faith. Hence the Apostle attributes to charity this
+quality: that she seeketh not her own.
+
+We conclude therefore that a Christian man does not live in himself, but
+in Christ and in his neighbour, or else is no Christian: in Christ by
+faith; in his neighbour by love. By faith he is carried upwards
+above himself to God, and by love he sinks back below himself to his
+neighbour, still always-abiding in God and His love, as Christ says,
+"Verily I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the
+angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (John i.
+51).
+
+Thus much concerning liberty, which, as you see, is a true and spiritual
+liberty, making our hearts free from all sins, laws, and commandments,
+as Paul says, "The law is not made for a righteous man" (1 Tim. i. 9),
+and one which surpasses all other external liberties, as far as heaven
+is above earth. May Christ make us to understand and preserve this
+liberty. Amen.
+
+Finally, for the sake of those to whom nothing can be stated so well but
+that they misunderstand and distort it, we must add a word, in case they
+can understand even that. There are very many persons who, when they
+hear of this liberty of faith, straightway turn it into an occasion of
+licence. They think that everything is now lawful for them, and do not
+choose to show themselves free men and Christians in any other way than
+by their contempt and reprehension of ceremonies, of traditions, of
+human laws; as if they were Christians merely because they refuse
+to fast on stated days, or eat flesh when others fast, or omit the
+customary prayers; scoffing at the precepts of men, but utterly passing
+over all the rest that belongs to the Christian religion. On the other
+hand, they are most pertinaciously resisted by those who strive after
+salvation solely by their observance of and reverence for ceremonies,
+as if they would be saved merely because they fast on stated days,
+or abstain from flesh, or make formal prayers; talking loudly of the
+precepts of the Church and of the Fathers, and not caring a straw about
+those things which belong to our genuine faith. Both these parties
+are plainly culpable, in that, while they neglect matters which are of
+weight and necessary for salvation, they contend noisily about such as
+are without weight and not necessary.
+
+How much more rightly does the Apostle Paul teach us to walk in the
+middle path, condemning either extreme and saying, "Let not him that
+eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not
+judge him that eateth" (Rom. xiv. 3)! You see here how the Apostle
+blames those who, not from religious feeling, but in mere contempt,
+neglect and rail at ceremonial observances, and teaches them not to
+despise, since this "knowledge puffeth up." Again, he teaches the
+pertinacious upholders of these things not to judge their opponents. For
+neither party observes towards the other that charity which edifieth. In
+this matter we must listen to Scripture, which teaches us to turn aside
+neither to the right hand nor to the left, but to follow those right
+precepts of the Lord which rejoice the heart. For just as a man is
+not righteous merely because he serves and is devoted to works and
+ceremonial rites, so neither will he be accounted righteous merely
+because he neglects and despises them.
+
+It is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but
+from the belief in works, that is from foolishly presuming to seek
+justification through works. Faith redeems our consciences, makes them
+upright, and preserves them, since by it we recognise the truth that
+justification does not depend on our works, although good works neither
+can nor ought to be absent, just as we cannot exist without food and
+drink and all the functions of this mortal body. Still it is not on them
+that our justification is based, but on faith; and yet they ought not
+on that account to be despised or neglected. Thus in this world we
+are compelled by the needs of this bodily life; but we are not hereby
+justified. "My kingdom is not hence, nor of this world," says Christ;
+but He does not say, "My kingdom is not here, nor in this world." Paul,
+too, says, "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh"
+(2 Cor. x. 3), and "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by
+the faith of the Son of God" (Gal. ii. 20). Thus our doings, life, and
+being, in works and ceremonies, are done from the necessities of this
+life, and with the motive of governing our bodies; but yet we are not
+justified by these things, but by the faith of the Son of God.
+
+The Christian must therefore walk in the middle path, and set these two
+classes of men before his eyes. He may meet with hardened and obstinate
+ceremonialists, who, like deaf adders, refuse to listen to the truth of
+liberty, and cry up, enjoin, and urge on us their ceremonies, as if they
+could justify us without faith. Such were the Jews of old, who would not
+understand, that they might act well. These men we must resist, do just
+the contrary to what they do, and be bold to give them offence, lest
+by this impious notion of theirs they should deceive many along with
+themselves. Before the eyes of these men it is expedient to eat flesh,
+to break fasts, and to do in behalf of the liberty of faith things which
+they hold to be the greatest sins. We must say of them, "Let them alone;
+they be blind leaders of the blind" (Matt. xv. 14). In this way Paul
+also would not have Titus circumcised, though these men urged it;
+and Christ defended the Apostles, who had plucked ears of corn on the
+Sabbath day; and many like instances.
+
+Or else we may meet with simple-minded and ignorant persons, weak in
+the faith, as the Apostle calls them, who are as yet unable to apprehend
+that liberty of faith, even if willing to do so. These we must spare,
+lest they should be offended. We must bear with their infirmity, till
+they shall be more fully instructed. For since these men do not act thus
+from hardened malice, but only from weakness of faith, therefore, in
+order to avoid giving them offence, we must keep fasts and do other
+things which they consider necessary. This is required of us by charity,
+which injures no one, but serves all men. It is not the fault of these
+persons that they are weak, but that of their pastors, who by the snares
+and weapons of their own traditions have brought them into bondage and
+wounded their souls when they ought to have been set free and healed by
+the teaching of faith and liberty. Thus the Apostle says, "If meat make
+my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth" (1
+Cor. viii. 13); and again, "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus,
+that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth
+anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. It is evil for that man
+who eateth with offence" (Rom. xiv. 14, 20).
+
+Thus, though we ought boldly to resist those teachers of tradition, and
+though the laws of the pontiffs, by which they make aggressions on the
+people of God, deserve sharp reproof, yet we must spare the timid crowd,
+who are held captive by the laws of those impious tyrants, till they
+are set free. Fight vigorously against the wolves, but on behalf of the
+sheep, not against the sheep. And this you may do by inveighing against
+the laws and lawgivers, and yet at the same time observing these laws
+with the weak, lest they be offended, until they shall themselves
+recognise the tyranny, and understand their own liberty. If you wish to
+use your liberty, do it secretly, as Paul says, "Hast thou faith? have
+it to thyself before God" (Rom. xiv. 22). But take care not to use it in
+the presence of the weak. On the other hand, in the presence of tyrants
+and obstinate opposers, use your liberty in their despite, and with the
+utmost pertinacity, that they too may understand that they are tyrants,
+and their laws useless for justification, nay that they had no right to
+establish such laws.
+
+Since then we cannot live in this world without ceremonies and works,
+since the hot and inexperienced period of youth has need of being
+restrained and protected by such bonds, and since every one is bound
+to keep under his own body by attention to these things, therefore
+the minister of Christ must be prudent and faithful in so ruling and
+teaching the people of Christ, in all these matters, that no root of
+bitterness may spring up among them, and so many be defiled, as Paul
+warned the Hebrews; that is, that they may not lose the faith, and begin
+to be defiled by a belief in works as the means of justification. This
+is a thing which easily happens, and defiles very many, unless faith be
+constantly inculcated along with works. It is impossible to avoid this
+evil, when faith is passed over in silence, and only the ordinances of
+men are taught, as has been done hitherto by the pestilent, impious,
+and soul-destroying traditions of our pontiffs and opinions of our
+theologians. An infinite number of souls have been drawn down to hell by
+these snares, so that you may recognise the work of antichrist.
+
+In brief, as poverty is imperilled amid riches, honesty amid business,
+humility amid honours, abstinence amid feasting, purity amid pleasures,
+so is justification by faith imperilled among ceremonies. Solomon says,
+"Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?"
+(Prov. vi. 27). And yet as we must live among riches, business, honours,
+pleasures, feastings, so must we among ceremonies, that is among perils.
+Just as infant boys have the greatest need of being cherished in the
+bosoms and by the care of girls, that they may not die, and yet, when
+they are grown, there is peril to their salvation in living among
+girls, so inexperienced and fervid young men require to be kept in and
+restrained by the barriers of ceremonies, even were they of iron, lest
+their weak minds should rush headlong into vice. And yet it would be
+death to them to persevere in believing that they can be justified
+by these things. They must rather be taught that they have been thus
+imprisoned, not with the purpose of their being justified or gaining
+merit in this way, but in order that they might avoid wrong-doing, and
+be more easily instructed in that righteousness which is by faith, a
+thing which the headlong character of youth would not bear unless it
+were put under restraint.
+
+Hence in the Christian life ceremonies are to be no otherwise looked
+upon than as builders and workmen look upon those preparations for
+building or working which are not made with any view of being permanent
+or anything in themselves, but only because without them there could be
+no building and no work. When the structure is completed, they are laid
+aside. Here you see that we do not contemn these preparations, but set
+the highest value on them; a belief in them we do contemn, because no
+one thinks that they constitute a real and permanent structure. If any
+one were so manifestly out of his senses as to have no other object
+in life but that of setting up these preparations with all possible
+expense, diligence, and perseverance, while he never thought of the
+structure itself, but pleased himself and made his boast of these
+useless preparations and props, should we not all pity his madness and
+think that, at the cost thus thrown away, some great building might have
+been raised?
+
+Thus, too, we do not contemn works and ceremonies--nay, we set the
+highest value on them; but we contemn the belief in works, which no one
+should consider to constitute true righteousness, as do those hypocrites
+who employ and throw away their whole life in the pursuit of works, and
+yet never attain to that for the sake of which the works are done. As
+the Apostle says, they are "ever learning and never able to come to the
+knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. iii. 7). They appear to wish to build,
+they make preparations, and yet they never do build; and thus they
+continue in a show of godliness, but never attain to its power.
+
+Meanwhile they please themselves with this zealous pursuit, and even
+dare to judge all others, whom they do not see adorned with such a
+glittering display of works; while, if they had been imbued with faith,
+they might have done great things for their own and others' salvation,
+at the same cost which they now waste in abuse of the gifts of God. But
+since human nature and natural reason, as they call it, are naturally
+superstitious, and quick to believe that justification can be attained
+by any laws or works proposed to them, and since nature is also
+exercised and confirmed in the same view by the practice of all earthly
+lawgivers, she can never of her own power free herself from this bondage
+to works, and come to a recognition of the liberty of faith.
+
+We have therefore need to pray that God will lead us and make us taught
+of God, that is, ready to learn from God; and will Himself, as He has
+promised, write His law in our hearts; otherwise there is no hope for
+us. For unless He himself teach us inwardly this wisdom hidden in a
+mystery, nature cannot but condemn it and judge it to be heretical. She
+takes offence at it, and it seems folly to her, just as we see that it
+happened of old in the case of the prophets and Apostles, and just as
+blind and impious pontiffs, with their flatterers, do now in my case and
+that of those who are like me, upon whom, together with ourselves, may
+God at length have mercy, and lift up the light of His countenance upon
+them, that we may know His way upon earth and His saving health among
+all nations, who is blessed for evermore. Amen. In the year of the Lord
+MDXX.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Concerning Christian Liberty, by Martin Luther
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