Faith is a free surrenderand a joyous wager on the unseen, unknown, untested goodness of God.
Martin LutherIf there is anything in us, it is not our own; it is a gift of God. But if it is a gift of God, then it is entirely a debt one owes to love, that is, to the law of Christ. And if it is a debt owed to love, then I must serve others with it, not myself.
Martin LutherThe will of man without grace is not free, but is enslaved, and that too with its own consent.
Martin LutherChristianity can be summed up in the two terms faith and love...receiving from above [faith] and giving out below [love].
Martin LutherGod doesn't slack his promises because of our sins or hasten them because of our righteousness. He pays no attention to either.
Martin LutherGodly people are waiting for the Lord; therefore they live, therefore they are saved, therefore they receive what has been promised.
Martin LutherAt Poltersberg, there is a lake similarly cursed. If you throw a stone into it, a dreadful storm immediately arises, and the whole neighboring district quakes to its centre. 'Tis the devils kept prisoner there.
Martin LutherWhat shall we do with...the Jews?...I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews.
Martin LutherMarried love burns as fire, and seeks nothing more than the mate. It says, "I want only you"
Martin LutherIndeed, to spur your Baal to action, I will taunt and challenge you ... to create as much as a single frog in the name and by the power of free choice, though the heathen and ungodly magicians in Egypt were able to create many.... I will not set you the heavy task of creating lice, which they could not produce either
Martin LutherThe fatuous idea that a person can be holy by himself denies God the pleasure of saving sinners. God must therefore first take the sledge-hammer of the Law in His fists and smash the beast of self-righteousness and its brood of self-confidence, self wisdom, and self-help. When the conscience has been thoroughly frightened by the Law it welcomes the Gospel of grace with its message of a Savior Who came-not to break the bruised reed nor to quench the smoking flax-but to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, and to grant forgiveness of sins to all the captives.
Martin LutherThe Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.
Martin LutherBewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge.
Martin LutherI am of a different mind ten times in the course of a day. But I resist the devil, and often it is with a fart that I chase him away. When he tempts me with silly sins I say, 'Devil, yesterday I broke wind too. Have you written it down on your list?
Martin LutherThe purpose of marriage is not to have pleasure and to be idle but to procreate and bring up children, to support a household. This, of course, is a huge burden full of great cares and toils. But you have been created by God to be a husband or a wife and that you may learn to bear these troubles.
Martin LutherThe state of matrimony is the chief in the world after religion; but people shun it because of its inconveniences, like one who, running out of the rain, falls into the river.
Martin LutherChrist took our sins and the sins of the whole world as well as the Father's wrath on his shoulders, and he has drowned them both in himself so that we are thereby reconciled to God and become completely righteous.
Martin LutherHereby we may understand that God, of His special grace, maketh the teachers of the gospel subject to the Cross, and to all kinds of afflicitons, for the salvation of themselves and of the people; for otherwise they could by no means beat down this beast which is called vain-glory.
Martin LutherAlso when it is a case of only upholding some spiritual tenet, such as infant baptism, original sin, and unnecessary separation, then . . . we conclude that . . . the stubborn sectaries must be put to death.
Martin LutherPeace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.
Martin LutherSin cannot tear you away from him [Christ] even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders.
Martin LutherThe Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing, who would ever have been spared?
Martin LutherNo man should be alone when he opposes Satan. The Church and the ministry of the Word were instituted for this purpose, that hands may be joined together and one may help another.
Martin LutherWhen one is possessed with doubt, that though he call upon the Lord he cannot be heard, and that God has turned him heart from him, and is angry ... he must arm himself with God's Word, promising to hear him.
Martin LutherEither sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God.
Martin LutherReason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and ... know nothing but the word of God.
Martin LutherIf I had to refute all the other articles of the Jewish faith, I should be obliged to write against them as much and for as long a time as they have used for inventing their lies - that is, longer than two thousand years.
Martin LutherBut the Jews are so hardened that they listen to nothing; though overcome by testimonies they yield not an inch. It is a pernicious race, oppressing all men by their usury and rapine. If they give a prince or magistrate a thousand florins, they extort twenty thousand from the subjects in payment. We must ever keep on guard against them.
Martin LutherFor that purpose Christ instituted holy baptism, thereby to clothe you with his righteousness. It is tantamount to his saying, My righteousness shall be your righteousness; my innocence, your innocence. Your sins indeed are great, but by baptism I bestow on you my righteousness; I strip death from you and clothe you with my life.
Martin Luther