Luther Notes On Psalm 110 and Easter

By: Rev. Jack Cascione
Luther writes 120 pages on Psalm 110 from pages 228 to 348 in Vol. 13 of the American Edition.  He considered Psalm 110 the preeminent psalm about Christ.  The following are a few selected quotations from Luther's commentary on Psalm 110.


KJV Psalm 110:1 {A Psalm of David.} The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
 2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
 4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
 5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
 6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
 7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.


"THIS is a true and exalted psalm, the main one to deal with our dear Lord
Jesus Christ. Here, as nowhere else in the Old Testament Scriptures, we find
a clear and powerful description of His person-who He is, namely, both David
's promised Son according to the flesh and God's eternal Son, as well as the
eternal King and Priest-and of His resurrection, ascension, and entire
kingdom.  For this reason it is quite right and fitting always to use or to
sing this psalm on the feasts of the Lord Christ, such as Easter, Ascension
Day, and the Day of Pentecost. Both Christ and His apostles often cite this
psalm in the New Testament Scriptures because it serves as the most
conclusive basis and confirmation of the article of faith regarding Christ's
person and His spiritual kingdom and righteousness."LW13:228


"Likewise Christians also today believe things (although rather weakly when
compared to this spirit and faith) which at present they can neither see nor
grasp. For example, we believe that after this life our bodies shall rise
from death, the grave, and corruption, to be with the Lord Christ, far more
glorious in beauty and light than the sun and all the other creatures. Now,
since we know that our Lord Christ has preceded us and rules even now at the
right hand of God in order to raise us also to such glory, we really ought
to hold on to this article of faith much more strongly and firmly than we
do."  LW13:229


"One word [sit] exalts Him to the position of a glorious King! Not over that
beggarly palace in Jerusalem or the imperial throne of Babylon, Rome, or
Constantinople, or the whole earth-which would indeed represent tremendous
power.  Not merely king of the heavens, the stars, and anything else the eye
can see! This is something far higher and more important, for it means: 'Sit
next to Me on the exalted throne upon which I sit, and be My equal!' To sit
next to Him - at His right hand, not at His feet-means to possess the very
majesty and power that is called divine. Surely, by this one short word
Christ is raised from the earth and exalted above all the heavens, as St.
Paul says, and becomes a King inconceivably glorious and of unspeakable
power." LW13:233


"Observe, therefore, that we become His people - that kind of people, as
this text has it, who willing body God - by means of such preaching.
Wherever the message is heard that God is no longer angry with us and hence
does not intend to damn us for our sins as we deserve but offers and bestows
upon us His grace and mercy, the human heart can have a childlike and joyful
trust toward God instead of taking hostile flight from God. Thus, comforted
and raised up by this faith, a man receives new ideas about God, a new mind
and disposition. He begins to love God. He calls upon Him with all his heart
and confidently expects help in every need. He gets a desire and a love for
God's Commandments. For God's sake he is ready to do and to suffer whatever
he must. The Holy Spirit rules him now, so that he need not be driven and
forced, as before, by means of the Law or punishment. And though this
obedience is still weak indeed, though it is impure and imperfect, and
though much disobedience still stirs within him, such a man has the comfort
of God's grace and forgiveness in Christ."  LW13:290


"But this Lord Christ sits above at the right hand of God, having a kingdom
of life, peace, joy, and redemption from all evil, not a kingdom of death,
sorrow, and misery. Therefore it must follow that His own will not remain
subject to death, anxiety, fear, spiritual conflict, and suffering. They
will be snatched from death or the grave and all misery. They will live with
Him beyond sin and evil after He has made them alive again in body and soul.
He illustrates this in His own Person. He became a human being and
condescended to the miserable level of our present nature in order to begin
His kingdom in us by personally sharing all human weakness and trouble. For
this reason He also had to die. But if He was meant to be a Lord and King of
all creation, sitting at the right hand of God, He could not remain under
the conditions of death and suffering. By God's power He had to break
through death and the grave and everything else, so that He might seat
Himself at the place where He can work all these things in us and grant them
to us." LW13:240


"To sum it up and to bring it to some sort of conclusion, there is a great
and rich fountain in this verse which speaks of Christ as 'a Priest forever'
or 'an eternal Priest'; indeed, it is a treasure, the source of all
Christian doctrine, understanding, wisdom, and comfort. There is no single
passage in Scripture which expresses this so richly or completely. Here is
stated the difference between the Old and the New Testament, as was said
before. It reveals all that our faith affirms and teaches.

"In the first place, as I said before, the prophet's description of this
Person differs from that of anyone else. He presents Christ as both true God
and true man in one indivisible Person and ascribes to Him all the qualities
that belong respectively to these two natures, the divine and the human.
Because He is our Priest and Mediator between God and us (1 Tim. 2:5), He
must also be a man of our nature; He must be flesh and blood, just as
Hebrews 5:1 says: 'For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed
to act on behalf of men in relation to God.' On the other hand, because He
is called an 'eternal Priest,' one who possesses in His person the quality
of eternity, He must also be true God.

"Again, if He was to be the One who should reconcile us with God and free us
from our sins, He had to be pure, conceived and born without sin.
Nevertheless, as our High Priest He had to assume our sin and pay for it; He
had to shed His blood and die. But since the true divine nature was in Him
and His priestly office was eternally established, He could not remain in
death or in the grave. He had to rise again and enter into another life, an
eternal life, where He can function as our Priest forever in the presence of
the Father.

"Secondly, since this Person is eternal and lives as Lord of all creation,
possessing total power, He must bestow His eternal gifts on us, whose Priest
He is. These gifts are our redemption from sin, from death, and from all the
power of the devil and of evil. He must create an entirely new nature and
being in us, so that we may also rise from the dead, in body and soul, and
live with Him in eternal glory, in purity and perfection. This is the reason
why He became our High Priest. Everything He did was designed to achieve and
obtain this for us.

"No other priestly office can, or ever could, achieve this, not even the
office which God established through Moses! Still less is it within the
possibility of any other person, act of worship, holiness, wisdom, power,
and might on earth. Such a person and his possessions are temporal and
perishable; he must die and cease to be. Consequently he cannot achieve or
bestow something that is eternal. In this text the very idea is made
irrelevant! All glory which God recognizes in this matter is concentrated
upon this one Person, so that we may cling only to Him in faith and obtain
from God everything that pertains to everlasting righteousness and
everlasting life.

"Thirdly, it summarizes the article concerning the Christian Church, which
will always exist on earth, together with the office of preaching the
Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. These are in force as long as the
world remains. For if He is to be an eternal Priest, He must always have a
people or a following which recognizes His priestly office and exists by
virtue of it. He must have people who believe in Him, preach Him, and
confess His name in word and conduct. If He did not have such a following
any longer, He could no longer be called a Priest. Therefore, He maintains
Christendom on earth until the Last Day against all the power and might that
opposes, and rages against, it. In this Christendom He rules as Priest or
true pope through the office of the ministry and through the power of the
Holy Spirit, in order even in this life to make new men out of us, to
communicate to us His eternal and divine gifts, that now we may have daily
and everlasting forgiveness of sins, His power and strength, victory over
death, devil, and hell, and may begin our life of eternal righteousness.

"Although He has ascended to heaven and no longer preaches on earth in
person, He has not stopped speaking through the apostles and their
successors; nor will He stop extending His Gospel farther and farther and
powerfully working in it by means of the Holy Spirit. If He did not
effectively do this Himself, then the entire Scripture, the Christian
pulpit, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the name of Christ would have been
uprooted and exterminated a long time ago. And if He did not stir up our
hearts and preserve them through the Holy Spirit, no man would believe the
Gospel or remain faithful to it."LW13:323

April 12, 2003