The letter On Translating was one of the works composed during Luther's stay at Feste Coburg. In the course of the discussion he states and defends the methods he had used to translate the scriptures. We believe that man is justified without works of the law, only by faith”.
In all these phrases it is the German usage, though it is not the Latin or Greek usage, and it is the German way of adding the word. What kind of thing is "excess heart?" No German can say this, unless, perhaps, he meant that someone had a very big heart or a lot of heart, although this is not the case either. Paul himself does not say "faith alone", but makes it even clearer and goes to the limit, p30 and says "Without the works of the law".
One, dear asses, come along and say that this is the teaching of the Church.
WHETHER SOLDIERS, TOO, CAN BE SAVED
INTRODUCTION
WORSHIPFUL AND HONORABLE
ASSA VON KRAM, KNIGHT,
As for the coarse and heedless consciences in society,—those who are called bold and foolish,—with them everything goes awry, whether they win or lose. For as it happens to those who have a good or bad conscience, so it happens to these brute beasts, because they are in the army. Victory is not given on their account because they are only shells and not the real core of the army.
Accordingly, I now send you this opinion of mine, given according to the power which God has given me, that you and others who would like to go to war may know so as not to lose God's favor and eternal life . how to arm and how to lead.
THAT SOLDIERS, TOO, CAN BE SAVED
To illustrate: In the recent uprising of the peasants, there were some who were drawn into it against their will. For no one can imagine them all or include them all in the law. For it is not in our will or power, but only in God's will and hand.
If things were to be such that anyone who was right could himself punish everyone who did wrong, what would become of the world. Towards people he should be brave, free, confident because they are wrong, and beat them with a confident and untouched spirit. That is why he has such immense wealth and is the master of the land, or rather a tyrant.
For the Christian heart, it is terrible to think and hear this in the hour when a person has God's judgment.
WAR AGAINST THE TURK
However, the publication was long delayed as the printer lost the entire first part of the work, and it had to be rewritten. One of the most serious concerns for Charles V and his brother, Ferdinand of Austria, was caused by the possibility that the Lutheran powers in Germany might demand toleration for Lutheranism as the price of their military support against the Turks. From the beginning of his public career, Luther had spoken of the Turks as the rod of God's wrath.
A few months later, after the lifting of the siege of Vienna, he expressed himself even more strongly in Heerpredigt wider den Turken. But he had objected to such a war in alliance with and under the direction of the Papacy. Warfare was not in any way the business or duty of the church, but the state.
The entire Treatise should be read in conjunction with the one on Soldiers and the One on Time Government and the Explanation of the 82nd Psalm.
SERENE, HIGHBORN PRINCE AND LORD,
PHILIP, LANDGRAVE OF HESSE
The most learned men (I will not name them) held temporal government for a heathen, human, wicked thing, as if it were dangerous to salvation to be in the ranks of the rulers. Things would be better than they are now and the Turk would not be so powerful. If we will not learn from the Scriptures, we must learn from the Turk's scabbard, until we find in our pain that Christians must not make war or resist evil.
For he does this, "sitting in the temple of God," as the head of the Church; and that the Turk does not. But in Arabic Allah means God, and is a corruption of the Hebrew Eloha. Because they have learned in the Qur'an that they will constantly boast with these words: "There is no God but God." All this is really a device of the devil.
It is also part of the Turks' sanctity that they tolerate no images or pictures and are even holier than us destroyers of images. In the second place, this standard and obedience of the emperor should be true and simple. The emperor is not head of Christianity or protector of the Gospel or of the faith.
They are usually the worst enemies of Christendom and faith, as <190201>Psalm 2:2 says, and the Church constantly laments. With the perverse you are perverse." We may perceive and grasp this by the fortune we have hitherto had against the Turk. This is the way a legate should treat the estates of the empire at the diet.
It is certain, too, that among the Turks, who are the devil's army, there is not a single Christian or one who has a humble and upright heart. For this reason, I would pity the rule of the Turk; no, it would be intolerable in Germany.
ON THE COUNCILS AND THE CHURCHES
Both writings arose as a result of the proposal to hold a general council of the Church to resolve the questions raised by Protestantism. As early as 1520, Luther had urged the meeting of a general council for the reform of the Church, declaring that if the Pope was unwilling to convene such a council, the secular authorities should do so. It demanded that the Pope convene “a general, free, and universal council of Christendom,” to be held as soon as possible “at a suitable place in Germany.” The purpose of the council was to solve the difficulties arising from the Lutheran movement and at the same time to remove the abuses complained of in the Gravamina of the German nation, presented at Worms and repeated at Nuremberg.
The memory of the reforming councils of the fifteenth century and what they had done to the papacy was very fresh in the minds of the people. It did not actually meet until 1545, at Trent, but for ten years before that, talk of the council was in the air and unfavorable preparations were being made for it. Luther was their author, but they present the view of Christian truth and the state of the Church which his party held when the council was.
It was at this time of uncertainty about the holding of the council and about the things that such a council was likely to do that the treatise was. It is also closely associated with a whole group of minor writings from the same period. All hope for a reform of the Church, as he envisioned in 1520, has disappeared.
The work is interesting because it shows the extent of Luther's knowledge of the Church's past. He also cites, albeit with great criticism, Platinus' Life of the Pope (Historia de vitis pontificum, written between 1471 and 1481). He states that their powers are limited to the defense of the Church's faith against new errors and that they have no authority to establish new articles of faith.
He casually discusses the heresies that gave rise to the councils, and occasionally goes into long digressions on matters indirectly related to the main issues. Instead of the three signs usually named - the preached Word and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper - he enumerates seven of them and adds the public forgiveness of sins ("the service of keys"), the ministry of the ministry, public worship and persecution.
THE COUNCILS AND THE CHURCH
It is about the fact that the whole world must give up on the reform of the Church. Thus he separated himself from the Church so that he could remain and not be destroyed in or with the Church. If we want to return the Church to the teaching and opinion of the fathers, St.
I know, for sure, that the pope and his followers seek this way out, and pretend that the Church has the power to change this counsel of the apostles. Moreover, it is not proper for the Church to change an ordinance of the Holy Spirit, and it never does. What would be the use of further asking how the decrees of the councils are to be kept.
It will be for us to live by the counsels and not merely boast of the letters C-o-u-n-c-i-l; for we must be Christians. Thus we learn that the articles of council are not all equally permanent and must be preserved forever, just like articles of faith. He lived long before the Council of Nicaea, in the time of the martyrs, and was himself a famous martyr.
Moreover, this article is clearly stated in the acts of the Council of Nicaea, which the heretics. Among them is this canon: f245 “The sacrament and baptism of the heretics are to be regarded as nothing, but they must be so. They want to keep one piece of the ancient law of Moses; namely, that the full moon of March should be observed: that is the old coat.
And the reason why these leaders of the blind took this position was that St. I have often said that the councils must be viewed and estimated from the point of view of the main subject that gave rise to the council. Therefore, it should have been done at another session, after the session of the council.
Elizabeth asks, “Whence is it that the mother of the Lord comes to me?”