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By Martin Luther
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 neighbor
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 neighbor, 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 neighbor, 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
neighbor 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 neighbor, 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
neighbor 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 neighbor 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 neighbor 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 neighbor 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
neighbor--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 neighbor, 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 neighbor, which I am to take on myself, and so labor
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.
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