Martin Luther's Writings: October 2003

October 30, 2003

Sacrament of Baptism Part One

THE HOLY AND BLESSED SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

1. Baptism [Die Taufe] is baptismos in Greek, and mersio in Latin, and means to plunge something completely into the water, so that the water covers it. Although in many places it is no longer customary to thrust and dip infants into the font, but only with the hand to pour the baptismal water upon them out of the font, nevertheless the former is what should be done. It would be proper, according to the meaning of the word Taufe, that the infant, or whoever is to be baptized, should be put in and sunk completely into the water and then drawn out again. For even in the German tongue the word Taufe comes undoubtedly from the word tier [deep] and means that what is baptized is sunk deeply into the water. This usage is also demanded by the significance of baptism itself. For baptism, as we shall hear, signifies that the old man and the sinful birth of flesh and blood are to be wholly drowned by the grace of God. We should therefore do justice to its meaning and make baptism a true and complete sign of the thing it signifies.

2. Baptism is an external sign or token, which so separates us from all men not baptized that we are thereby known as a people of Christ, our Leader, under whose banner of the holy cross we continually fight against sin. In this holy sacrament we must there fore pay attention to three things: the sign, the significance of it, and the faith.

The sign consists in this, that we are thrust into the water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; however, we are not left there but are drawn out again. This accounts for the expression: aus der Taufe gehoben.3 The sign must thus have both its parts, the putting in and the drawing out.

3. The significance of baptism is a blessed dying unto sin and a resurrection in the grace of God, so that the old man, conceived and born in sin, is there drowned, and a new man, born in grace, comes forth and rises. Thus St. Paul, in Titus 3[:5], calls baptism a "washing of regeneration," since in this washing a personis born again and made new. As Christ also says, in John 3[:3, 5], "Unless you are born again of water and the Spirit (of grace), you may not enter into the kingdom of heaven." For just as a child is drawn out of his mother's womb and is born, and through this fleshly birth is a sinful person and a child of wrath [Eph. 2:3], so one is drawn out of baptism and is born spiritually. Through this spiritual birth he is a child of grace and a justified person. Therefore sins are drowned in baptism, and in place of sin, righteousness comes forth.

4. This significance of baptism—the dying or drowning ofsin—is not fulfilled completely in this life. Indeed this does not happen until man passes through bodily death and completely decays to dust. As we can plainly see, the sacrament or sign of baptism is quickly over. But the spiritual baptism, the drowning of sin, which it signifies, lasts as long as we live and is completed only in death. Then it is that a person is completely sunk in baptism, and that which baptism signifies comes to pass. Therefore this whole life is nothing else than a spiritual baptism which does not cease till death, and he who is baptized is condemned to die. It is as if the priest, when he baptizes, were to say, "Lo, you are sinful flesh. Therefore I drown you in God's name and in his name condemn you to death, so that with you all your sins" may die and be destroyed." Wherefore St. Paul, in Romans 6[:4], says, "We were buried with Christ by baptism into death." The sooner a person dies after baptism, the sooner is his baptism completed. For sin never ceases entirely while the body lives, which is so wholly conceived in sin that sin is its very nature, as the prophet says [Ps. 51:5], "Behold I was conceived in sin, and in iniquity did my mother bear me." There is no help for the sinful nature unless it dies and is destroyed with all its sin. Therefore the life of a Christian, from baptism to the grave, is nothing else than the beginning of a blessed death. For at the Last Day God will make him altogether new.
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October 28, 2003

Penance Part Five

21. This is the authority of which Christ speaks, in Matthew 9[:6–8], to the unbelieving scribes, "That you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he said to the paralytic—'Arise, take up your bed and go home.' And he rose and went home, When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men." Now this authority to forgive sins is nothing other than what a priest, indeed, if need be, any Christian, may say to another when he sees him afflicted or affrighted in his sins. He can joyously speak this verdict, "Take heart, your sins are forgiven" [Matt. 9:2].

And whoever accepts this and believes it as a word of God, his sins are surely forgiven. Where, however, there is no such faith, it would do no good even if Christ or God himself spoke the verdict. For God cannot give a person something he does not want to have. And that person does not want to have it, who does not believe that it is being given to him; he does the word of God a great dishonor, as was said above. You see, then, that the whole church is full of the forgiveness of sins. But few there are who really accept and receive it. For they do not believe it and would rather rely upon their own works. So it is true that a priest genuinely forgives sin and guilt, although he is in no position to give to the sinner that faith which receives and accepts the forgiveness. For this faith God must give. Nevertheless the forgiveness is genuine, as true as if God had spoken it, whether it is grasped by faith or not. Such authority to forgive sins, and thus to render a verdict in God's place, no one possessed in the Old Testament, neither high priest nor ordinary priests, neither kings nor prophets, nor anyone else among the people. The only exceptions occurred at God's express order, as when Nathan confronted King David [II Sam. 12:1–15]. But in the New Testament every Christian has this authority to forgive sins, where a priest is not at hand. And he has it through the promise of Christ, where he said to Peter, "Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" [Matt. 16:19]. Had this been said to Peter alone, then in Matthew 18[:18] Christ would not have said to all in general, "Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." There he is speaking to all Christendom, and to each [Christian] in particular. The great thing about the Christian is that God cannot be fully loved and praised if we are no longer given to hear more than one man speaking to us in such a word. Now the world is full of Christians, yet no one pays any attention to this or gives God thanks.

To sum it all up:
Whoever believes, to him: everything is helpful, nothing is harmful. Whoever does not believe, to him: everything is harmful, nothing is helpful.

October 20, 2003

Penance Part Four

17. In confession, if a priest wishes to inquire, or if you want to examine yourself, as to whether or not you are truly contrite, I have no objections. Just so no one becomes so bold in the sight of God that he claims to have sufficient contrition. Such an attitude is presumptuous and fabricated, for no one has sufficient contrition for his sin. [I would allow] even that the inquiry begreatly expanded as to whether a person firmly believes the sacrament, that his sins are forgiven him as Christ said to the paralytic, "My son, have faith and your sins are forgiven you" [Matt. 9:2]; and to the woman, "Have faith, my daughter, your faith has made you well" [Matt. 9:22]. Such inquiry, has become quite rare in this sacrament; we operate only with contrition, sin, satisfaction, and indulgence. And so one blind man keeps leading the other [Matt. 15:14]. Actually in this sacrament the priest, in his word, brings God's message about sin and the forgiveness of guilt. Hence he should indeed be the one who inquires and discerns most of all whether a person is receptive to the message. Such receptivity can never consist in anything other than faith and the desire to receive this message. Sin, contrition, and good works should be treated in sermons before the sacrament and confession.

18. It may happen that God does not cause a person to find the forgiveness of guilt, and the turbulence and uneasiness of conscience persist after the sacrament as before. Here one must deal wisely, for the fault is in the faith. It is just as impossible that the heart should not be joyful when it believes its sins are forgiven, as that it should not be troubled and uneasy when it believes its sins are unforgiven. Now if God allows faith to remain weak, one should not despair on that account, but rather recognize it as a trial and temptation [anfechtung] by means of which God tests, prods, and drives a person to cry out all the more and plead for such faith, saying with the father of the possessed boy in the gospel, "O Lord, help my unbelief" [Mark 9:24], and with the apostles, "O Lord, increase our faith" [Luke 17:5]. Thus does a person come to learn that everything depends on the grace of God: the sacrament, the forgiveness, and the faith. Giving up all other hope, despairing of himself, he comes to hope exclusively in the grace of God and cling to it without ceasing.

19. Now penance and the sacrament of penance are two different matters. As said above the sacrament consists inthree things: in the word of God, that is, the absolution; in the faith [which trusts] in this absolution; and in the peace, that is, the forgiveness of sins which surely follows faith. But penance has also been divided into three "parts": contrition, confession, and satisfaction.Now just as in contrition there is many an abuse, as has already been noted, so it is also in the case of confession and satisfaction. There are a host of books on these subjects, but unfortunately very few on the sacrament of penance. Where, however, the sacrament proceeds correctly in faith, there p enance—confession, contrition, and satisfaction—is a less weighty matter, and there is no danger of there being too little or too much. For the faith of the sacrament makes all the crooked straight and fills up all the uneven ground. So no one who has this sacramental faith can err, whether in contrition, confession, or satisfaction; and even if he does err, it does him no harm. Where there is no faith, however, there neither contrition, nor confession, nor satisfaction is adequate. For this reason so many books and teachings appear on contrition, confession, and satisfaction. These serve only to frighten hearts into confessing often; whether the sins they confess are venial ormortal, they do not know. Yet this time we desire to say a little more about the subject:

20. Venial sins one need not confess to the priest, but only to God. Now, however, another question arises: What are mortal and venial sins? There has never yet been a teacher, nor will there ever be one, learned enough to give us a dependable rule for distinguishing venial from mortal sins, except in such obvious offenses against God's commandments as adultery, murder, theft, falsehood, slander, betrayal, hatred, and the like. It is, moreover, entirely up to God to judge which other sins he regards as mortal. Nor is it possible for man to recognize this, as Psalm 19[:12] says,"O God, who can discern all his sins? Cleanse me from secret sins." Therefore private confession is no place for [reciting] sins other than those which one openly recognizes as deadly, those which at the time are oppressing and frightening the conscience. For if one were to confess all his sins, he would have to be confessing every moment, since in this life we are never without sin. Even our good works are not pure and without sin. Yet it is not fruitless to confess the slighter sins, particularly if one is not aware of any mortal sins. For as has been said, in this sacrament God's word is heard, and [through it] faith is strengthened more and more. And even if one should have nothing to confess, it would still be profitable for the sake of that very faith to hear often the absolution, God's word. Thus one would grow accustomed to believing in the forgiveness of sins. This is why I said that the faith of the sacrament does everything, even though the confession be too much or too little. Everything is profitable to him who believes God's sacrament and word.

Concerning satisfaction let this now suffice: the best kind of satisfaction is to sin no more and to do all possible good toward your fellow-man, be he enemy or friend. This kind of satisfaction is rarely mentioned; we think to pay for everything simply through assigned prayers.

Luther, M. (1999, c1960). Vol. 35: Luther's works, vol. 35 : Word and Sacrament I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (Vol. 35, Page 18-21). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

October 09, 2003

Penance Part Three

13. Those, however, who do not desire peace think then that they have produced adequate contrition and works beyond that, they make Christ a liar and flirt with the sin against the Holy Spirit, in addition to treating the most worthy sacrament of penance unworthily. So they receive their deserved reward: they build on sand [Matt. 7:26], trusting themselves more than God. The result must necessarily be an ever greater uneasiness of conscience, a vain striving after impossible things, a quest for assurance and comfort that they never find. Such a perversion issues finally in despair and eternal damnation. For what else are they seeking but a certainty achieved by their own efforts? As though they wanted by their own works to reinforce God's word, through which they are supposed to be strengthened in faith and begin to buttress heaven, to which they should be clinging for their own support. That is, they will not let God be merciful. They want him only for judge, as if he should not forgive anything freely unless it were first recompensed to him. Yet in the entire gospel we read of no one of whom God required anything but faith; out of grace he bestowed all his benefits full and free upon the unworthy, bidding them afterward to live aright and to go in peace, etc.

14. Do not worry about whether a priest in his absolution errs, is himself bound [Matt. 16:19] or is merely jesting.If you just receive the words sincerely and believe them, as long as you neither know nor despise his error or bond, you are nevertheless absolved and have the full sacrament. For as already indicated, this sacrament does not depend on the priest, nor on your own actions, but entirely on your faith; you have as much as you believe. Without this faith you could have all the contrition in the world, but it would still be only the remorse of Judas that angers rather than reconciles God. For nothing reconciles God better than when one does him the honor [of acknowledging that] he is truthful and gracious; and no one does this except the one who believes his words. Thus David praises him,'Lord, thou art slow to anger, merciful, and truthful. And this same truth saves us from all sins, if we cling to it by faith.

15. It follows that the keys or the authority of St. Peter is not an authority at all but a service; and the keys have not been given to St. Peter but to you and me. The keys are yours and mine. For St. Peter, insofar as he is a pope or a bishop, does not need them; to him they are neither necessary nor helpful. Their entire virtue lies rather in this, that they help sinners by comforting and strengthening their conscience. Thus Christ ordered that [the exercise of] authority in the church should be a rendering of service; and that by means of the keys the clergy should be serving not themselves but only us. For this reason, as one sees, the priest does no more than to speak a word, and the sacrament is already there. And this word is God's word, even as God has promised. The priest, moreover, has sufficient evidence and reason to grant absolution when he sees that one desires it from him. Beyond that, he is not obligated to know anything. I say this in order that the most gracious virtue of the keys should be cherished and honored, and not despised because of abuses by some who do little more than threaten, annoy, and pronounce the ban. They create nothingbut tyranny out of this lovely and comforting authority, as if Christ were thinking only of the will and dominion of the priests when he instituted the keys and did not even know to what use they should be put.

16. Just so no one accuses me again of forbidding good works, let me say that one should with all seriousness be contrite and remorseful, confess and do good works. This I maintain, however, as best I can: that in the sacrament we let faith be the chief thing, the legacy through which one may attain the grace of God. After that we can do a lot of good [works]to the glory of God alone and to the benefit of our fellow-men, and not in order that we might depend upon that as sufficient to pay for our sin. For God gives us his grace freely and without cost; so we should also serve him freely and without cost. Besides, everything that I have said about this sacrament is said to them whose conscience is troubled, uneasy, erring, and terrified, who would gladly be loosed from their sin and be righteous, but who do not know where to begin. For these are the ones who likewise have true contrition, indeed they are too contrite and fainthearted. God comforts people like these through the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40,Cry to the fainthearted and say to them, consolamini,be comforted, you faint of heart; behold your God. And in Matthew 11 [:28], Christ says,Come to me, you who are burdened and troubled, I will comfort you, etc. The hardhearted, however, who do not asyet seek comfort for their conscience, have likewise not yet experienced this tormenting anxiety. To them this sacrament is of no use. One must first soften them up with the terrible judgment of God and cause them to quail, so that they too may learn to sigh, and seek for the comfort of this sacrament.