Unusual Quotations from Luther
Edited by Rev. Jack Cascione

After about three years, and lots of interruptions, I just finished reading Luther's 8-volume set on Genesis. The goal was to learn what Luther said near the end of his career about Church and Ministry to his seminary students. Along the way there were some rather interesting comments by Luther on unrelated subjects. I thought the thousands of readers of Reclaim News might be interested in reading some of these quotations. Now that I have just purchased all of Luthers' Works on CD from CPH, no typing is necessary. It is just cut and paste.

Luther on Gun Control

"Similarly, when someone commits a murder, it is correct to say of the murderer's dagger: 'The dagger killed him.' Surely, it was not the dagger alone or by itself, but the human being who used the dagger." LW1:218

Prophecy in the Rainbow

"Our third world, which is nevertheless the world of grace, abounds to such an extent with blasphemies and abominations that it is impossible either to express these in speech or to comprehend them with the mind. Therefore it cannot be punished with temporal punishments but will be punished with eternal death and with eternal fire, or, to express it this way, with a flood of fire. Indeed, the colors of the rainbow foretell this. The first is watery, because the first world was punished with the Flood for its acts of violence and its lust. The middle one is yellow, for God punished the idolatry and the ungodliness of the middle era with a variety of misfortunes. The third and topmost color is fire, which, in the end, will consume the world with all its iniquities and sins." LW1:359

On Crime

"Nobody becomes an adulterer, and no one commits murder unless he has first cast the fear of God out of his heart." LW2:167

Date For The End Of The World

"It is senseless to imitate the foolhardy geniuses who immediately shout that an obvious error has been committed whenever such a difficulty arises and who unabashedly dare emend books that are not their own. As yet I have no real answer for this question, even though I have carefully computed the years of the world. Therefore with due and humble admission of my lack of knowledge (for it is the Holy Spirit alone who knows and understands all things) I offer the conjecture that in the case of Abraham God wanted these sixty years to be lost because of a definite plan, that no one might venture to foretell anything definite about the end of the world on the basis of an accurate calculation of the years of the world. He does indeed give signs of the Last Day, and He wants them to be prominent and to be observed. But He does not want this day to be known, no, not even the year, so that in expectation of this most momentous day the godly might continually display their faith and fear of God. I have nothing further to say about this question." LW2:239

Against The Catholic Church

"Will you not say, however, it is extraordinary perverseness to conclude that the promise and the Law are the same thing? But if a difference has been established and faith alone lays hold of the promise but works serve the Law, what folly it is to invent an unformed faith and to say that faith formed by love justified Why do they not leave each within its own fixed bounds?" LW 3:23-24

Against Legalized Prostitution

"The example concerning the houses of ill fame which are tolerated in large cities does not deserve to be discussed; for it is clearly in conflict with the Law of God, and those who publicly tolerate this disgrace should be regarded as heathen. It is silly for them to suppose that outcroppings of debauchery and adultery are reduced by this means. Once a young man who associates with prostitutes has surrendered his modesty, he will, when the opportunity arises, keep away neither from married women nor from virgins. Therefore lust is increased rather than cured by this means, and it becomes a warrant to sin for those who otherwise would be continent if this opportunity had been denied them. Other and better remedies have been pointed out and commanded by God, namely, marriage. Therefore a government which tolerates houses of ill fame should be regarded as heathenish. For a godly government should not tolerate fornication, especially manifest licentiousness. Even against the will of the officers of the state and in spite of their prohibition this evil nevertheless prevails and cannot be completely abolished." LW3:259

All Natural Disasters Are Sent By God Because of Sin

"Furthermore, from the beginning of the world there have always been various examples of the wrath of God which have not been recorded, but those that have been recorded are very memorable; they teach us to shun sins, since God punishes sinners in such a horrible manner. During this year a goodly part of the earth in the territory of Naples near Puteoli vanished because of an earthquake and an inundation-not by some chance, as the papists think, but because of the sins of the people, of which there is no end." LW3:295

God Sends Disasters to Test the Godly and Punish the Wicked

"For not only Abraham and Isaac but also other very eminent patriarchs and prophets-Jacob, Joseph, Elijah, Elisha, and eventually even Paul and other godly men-had to endure the general disaster of famine together with others. My answer is that God sends famine, wars, pestilence, and similar disasters in the first place to try and to test the godly, in order that they may learn to maintain with assurance that they will be nourished even in a time of famine, even though they are forced to experience various difficulties and, in addition, to look for unknown and uncertain dwelling places. In the second place, He does so in order to offend and punish the ungodly." LW5:10

Objective Justification

"Something, either a word or a deed, must precede which moves us, and this first impulse must be from God. This is certain: The person becomes acceptable first, acceptable, I say, by justifying grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which man knows God as such a Savior. This is truly the first grace, where we do nothing but are only passive. We hear God speaking the Word, and we feel Him working through the oral Word and the sacraments, through which He awakens in us knowledge of Him." LW5:258

The Devil Could Be Saved

"Thus they say that when the devil mocked St. Martin and censured him for the readiness with which he forgave the sins of the worst scoundrels, the saint replied: "If you, too, could say: 'I repent of my sin,' I would be willing to absolve you."48 For the devil, like all of us, would be saved if he could say from a pure heart (Ps. 51:1): "Have mercy on me, O God!"

"Absolution and the forgiveness of sins are certain. But you must acknowledge and confess that you have sinned. Yet the devil cannot bring himself to do this. Adam and Eve could not do this; for Adam said: 'I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked' (Gen. 3:10). He does not say: 'Because I have transgressed Thy commandment' until God presses him and asks further (Gen. 3:11): 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?' Still he does not want to admit that he stinks. Yet he does not acknowledge or confess the charge brought against him. No, he transfers it to his wife and says: 'The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate' (Gen. 3:12). Adam is terrified. He quakes and trembles. He knows that he has sinned. Nevertheless, he does not confess his sin." LW7:273

Insufferable Monks

"There is nothing more insufferable and poisonous on earth than a barefoot monk. For they take delight in their own ways and want to be honored in them. They want their dreams to be regarded as divine truth. Nor can they endure any reproof." LW7:357