Part 31 (1/2)
through them Satan has already made much headway under thy predecessors In short, believe none who exalt thee, believe those who huhty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble” [Luke 1:52] See, how unlike His successors is Christ, although they all would be His vicars And I fear that most of them have indeed been too literally His vicars For a vicar is a vicar only when his lord is absent And if the pope rules while Christ is absent and does not dwell in his heart, what else is he but a vicar of Christ? But what is such a Church except a mass of people without Christ? And what is such a vicar else than antichrist and an idol? How much more correctly did the Apostles call themselves servants of the present Christ, and not vicars of an absent Christ!
[Sidenote: Luther Follows St Bernard's Example]
Perhaps I areat, so exalted a personage, froues of thine boast, the thrones of judges receive their decisions
But I a the exaenium_, a book every pope should have by heart
For what I aerness to teach, but as an evidence of that pure and faithful solicitude which constrains us to have regard for the things of our neighbors even when they are safe, and does not pernity, since it is intent only upon the danger they run for the advantage they ain For when I know that thy Blessedness is driven and tossed about at Rome, that is, that far out at sea thou art threatened on all sides with endless dangers, and art laboring hard in that htest help of the least of thy brethren, I do not think it is absurd of h office and do what brotherly love demands
I have no desire to flatter in so serious and dangerous a matter, but if men do not understand that I am thy friend and thy eth [John 8:50]
[Sidenote: Luther's Gift]
Finally, that Iwith me this little treatise published under thy naood hope Froe hat studies I would prefer to be ed, as I could be if your Godless flatterers would per if thou regard its bulk, but, unless I a in brief for I aift to offer, and thou hast no need to be ift With this I commend myself to thy Fatherhood and Blessedness May the Lord Jesus preserve thee forever A, September 6, 1520[11]
A TREATISE ON CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
[Sidenote: Faith]
Many have thought Christian faith to be an easy thing, and not a few have given it a place a the virtues This they do because they have had no experience of it, and have never tasted what great virtue there is in faith For it is impossible that any one should write well of it or well understand what is correctly written of it, unless he has at soives a man when trials oppress him But he who has had even a faint taste of it can never write, speak,fountain springing up into life everlasting, as Christ calls it in John iv [John 4:14] For h I have no wealth of faith to boast of and kno scant reat and various temptations, I have attained to a little faith, and that I can speak of it, if not antly, certainly more to the point, than those literalists and all too subtile disputants have hitherto done, who have not even understood what they have written
[Sidenote: Liberty and Bondage]
That I may make the way easier or the unlearned--for only such do I serve--I set down first these two propositions concerning the liberty and the bondage of the spirit:
_A Christian man is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none_
_A Christian man is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all_
Although these two theses seem to contradict each other, yet, if they should be found to fit together they would serve our purpose beautifully For they are both Paul's oho says, in I Cor ix, ”Whereas I was free, I made myself the servant of all,” [1 Cor 9:19]
and, Ro, but to love one another” [Rom
13:8] Now love by its very nature is ready to serve and to be subject to hih Lord of all, was made of a woman, made under the law [Gal 4:4], and hence was at the same time free and a servant, at the same time in the form of God and in the form of a servant [Phil 2:6 f]
[Sidenote: Man's Nature]
Let us start, however, with so more remote from our subject, but more obvious Man[12] has a twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily According to the spiritual nature, which men call the soul, he is called a spiritual, or inner, or newto the bodily nature, which men call the flesh, he is called a carnal, or outward, or old h our outward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed day by day”
[2 Cor 4:16] Because of this diversity of nature the Scriptures assert contradictory things of the same man, since these two men in the saainst the spirit and the spirit against the flesh (Gal v) [Gal 5:17]
[Sidenote: The Inward Man]
_First_, let us contehteous, free and truly ChristianIt is evident that no external thing, whatsoever it be, has any influence whatever in producing Christian righteousness or liberty, nor in producing unrighteousness or bondage A siument will furnish the proof What can it profit the soul if the body are well, be free and active, eat, drink and do as it pleases?
For in these things even the most Godless slaves of all the vices are well On the other hand, hoill ill health or ier or thirst or any other external s even the most Godly men are afflicted, and those who because of a clear conscience are s touch either the liberty or the bondage of the soul The soul receives no benefit if the body is adorned with the sacred robes of the priesthood, or dwells in sacred places, or is occupied with sacred duties, or prays, fasts, abstains from certain kinds of food or does any hatsoever that can be done by the body and in the body The righteousness and the freedos which have been mentioned could be done by any wickedbut hypocrites On the other hand, it will not hurt the soul if the body is clothed in secular dress, dwells in unconsecrated places, eats and drinks as others do, does not pray aloud, and neglects to do all the things mentioned above, which hypocrites can do
[Sidenote: The Word of God]
Further, to put aside all manner of works, even contemplation,One thing and one only is necessary for Christian life, righteousness and liberty
That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, as he says, John xi, ”I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, shall not die forever” [John 11:25]; and John viii, ”If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” [John 8:26]; and Matthew iv, ”Not in bread alone doth man live; but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” [Matt 4:4] Let us then consider it certain and conclusively established that the soul can do without all things except the Word of God, and that where this is not there is no help for the soul in anything else whatever But if it has the Word it is rich and lacks nothing, since this Word is the Word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of righteousness, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdo beyond our power to estimate This is why the prophet in the entire cxix Psalhs yearns after the Word of God and applies so many names to it [Psalue hich the wrath of God can s of His Word, as He says in Areater mercy than when He sends forth His Word [Amos 8:11 f], as we read in Psalm cvii, ”He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions” [Psalm 107:20] Nor was Christ sent into the world for any other ministry but that of the Word, and the whole spiritual estate, apostles, bishops and all the priests, has been called and instituted only or the ministry of the Word
[Sidenote: The Gospel]