Martin Luther's Writings

Luther's Preface to the Sermon on the Mount

I am very happy to see the publication of these sermons of mine on
the three chapters of St. Matthew which St. Augustine calls "the
Lord's Sermon on the Mount." May God grant His grace so that they
may help to preserve and keep the true, sure, and Christian
understanding of this teaching of Christ, because these are such
common sayings and texts that are used so often throughout
Christendom. I do not doubt that here I have presented their true,
pure, and Christian meaning to my friends and to anyone else that is
interested. It is beyond understanding how through his apostles the
wicked devil has managed so cleverly to twist and pervert especially
the fifth chapter, making it teach the exact opposite of what it
means. Christ here deliberately wanted to oppose all false teaching
and to open up the true meaning of God's commandments, as He
emphasizes when He says (Matt. 5:17): "I have not come to abolish the Law." He takes it up piece by piece and tries to make it completely dear. Still the infernal Satan has not found a single text
in the Scriptures that he has more shamefully distorted and into
which he has imported more error and false teaching than this very
one, which Christ Himself ordered and appointed in order to head off
false doctrine. This is really the devil's masterpiece!

First, this fifth chapter has fallen into the hands of the vulgar
pigs and asses, the jurists and sophists, the right hand of that
jackass of a pope and of his mamelukes. Out of this beautiful rose
they have sucked and broadcast poison, covering up Christ with it and
elevating and maintaining Antichrist. According to them, Christ does
not intend everything He teaches in the fifth chapter to be regarded
by His Christians as a command for them to observe; but He gave much
of it merely as advice to those who want to become perfect, to be
kept by anyone who pleases. This in spite of Christ's angry threat that no one will enter heaven who abolishes even one of the
least of these commandments (Matt. 5:19); and He explicitly calls
them "commandments." On this basis they have thought up the
twelve "evangelical counsels," twelve bits of good advice in the Gospel, which may be kept by anyone who pleases if he wants to
attain a perfection higher and more perfect than that of other
Christians. Thus they have not only made perfection as well as
Christian salvation dependent upon works apart from faith, but they
have even made these works optional. I call that forbidding true and
fine good works—which is just what these vulgar asses and blasphemers accuse us of doing.

They cannot deny this, and no amount of covering or glossing over
will help them as long as this fifth chapter of Matthew stands. Their
books and glosses are in public view, as is the impenitent life, past
and present, which they lead on the basis of this teaching of theirs.
In their circles these twelve "evangelical counsels" are commonly taught: Do not requite wrongdoing! Do not avenge yourself!
Offer the other cheek! Do not resist evil! Give your cloak along with
your coat! Go the second mile! Give to everyone that asks! Lend to
him who borrows! Pray for your persecutors! Love your enemies! Do
good to those who hate! Do the other things that Christ teaches here! "All this," so they spew out, "is not commanded." And the jackasses in Paris frankly admit their reasons when they
say: "Christian teaching would have much too hard a time of it if it
were loaded down with things like this." In this way the jurists and sophists have been ruling and teaching the church till now, so that
Christ with His teaching and interpretation has had to be their
jester and juggler. Still they do no penance for this, but they
eagerly defend it. They are trying to re-establish their cursed,
shabby canons and to reinstate the crown on the head of their jackass
of a pope. May God grant that I live to provide spangles and jewels
for such a crown. Then, God willing, this jackass would be crowned
right!

Dear brother, let this preaching of mine be of service to you, in the
first place, against our squires, the jurists and sophists. I am
referring especially to the canonists, whom they themselves
call "asses"; and that is what they are. Thus you may
preserve in its purity the teaching of Christ in this chapter of
Matthew, instead of their asinine cunning and devilish dung. In the
second place there are the new jurists and sophists, the schismatic
spirits and Anabaptists. From their crazy heads they are making new
trouble out of this fifth chapter. The others go too far to the left
when they keep nothing at all of this teaching of Christ, but condemn
and obliterate it. In the same way these men lean too far to the
right when they teach miserable stuff like this: that it is wrong to
own private property, to swear, to hold office as a ruler or judge,
to protect or defend oneself, to stay with wife and children. Thus
the devil blows and brews on both sides so that they do not recognize
any difference between the secular and the divine realm, much less
what should be the distinctive doctrine and action in each realm.
Thank God, we can boast that in these sermons we have clearly and
diligently shown and emphasized this. Whoever errs or will err from
now on, we are excused from all responsibility for him; for we have
faithfully set forth our views for everyone's benefit. Let their
blood be on their own head! We shall await our reward for this— ingratitude, hate, and all sorts of hostility. And we shall
say, "Thank God!"

From these horrible examples of both the papistic and the schismatic
jurists we learn and know what the devil has in mind, especially his
intention to distort this fifth chapter of St. Matthew, and thereby
to exterminate pure Christian teaching. So let every preacher or
minister be urged and warned to keep faithful and diligent watch over
the little flock entrusted to him, and to help preserve the right
interpretation. So long as the devil lives and the world stands, he
will not stop attacking this chapter. His aim is in this way to
suppress good works altogether, as happened under the papacy; or to
institute false good works and fictitious holiness, as he has now
begun to do through the new monks or schismatic spirits. Even if both
the papistic and the schismatic jurists and monks were to perish, he
would still find or raise up others; for he has to have such a
following. From the beginning of the world, his kingdom has been
ruled by monks. Though they may not have been called "monk," yet their teaching and life have been monkish, that is, different and
special and better than what God has commanded. For example, among
the people of Israel there were the Baalites, the áÌÀîÈøÄéí, and the like; among the heathen there were the castrated priests and the
vestal virgins. Therefore we can never be smug inhis presence. From
this fifth chapter have come the pope's monks, who on the basis of this chapter have laid claim to a more perfect station in life
than other Christians, and have maintained this claim until they are
full of greed, pride, and finally every kind of devil. May Christ,
our dear Lord and Master, who has opened up the true meaning for us,
increase and strengthen it for us, and may He help us to live and act
according to it. To Him be praise and thanks, with the Father and the
Holy Spirit forever. Amen.