It happens to all - you meet with a setback or fail at something, and you're tempted to give up. Here's a surefire way to help you through it: it's all in how you look at it.
To give an example, what would you think about the following person:He failed in business at age 31, was defeated for the legislature at 32, failed again in business at 34. His sweetheart died when he was 35, and he had a nervous breakdown at age 36. He was defeated in election at age 38, and then was defeated for Congress at 43 and again at 46 and 48. He was defeated for the Senate at age 55 and for Vice President at 56, and for the Senate again at 58. He was elected President of the United States at age 60.
Who was this man? It was Abraham Lincoln - who was certainly a success, not a failure.
Put into perspective, failing in something is just another opportunity
for learning and growth, for finding out what works and what doesn't. Looked at positively, you'd never learn if you didn't fail. Or to put it even more strongly, you can't succeed unless you have failed before.
As Thomas Edison said of his many attempts to invent the electric light, "1 have not failed. I've found 10,000 ways that won't work."
Probably nobody knows this better than sports celebrities. Their abilities and reputations are put on the line in every game they play. Basketball great Michael Jordan has said, "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why 1 succeed."
Don't stop believing in yourself for fear of failure. It is a necessary step to success.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
the first Protestant
A treatise on Good Works
together with the
Letter of Dedication
by Dr. Martin Luther, 1520
INTRODUCTION
1. The Occasion of the Work. --
Luther did not impose himself as
reformer upon the Church. In the course of a conscientious
performance of the duties of his office, to which he had been
regularly and divinely called, and without any urging on his
part, he attained to this position by inward necessity.
In 1515
he received his appointment as the standing substitute for the
sickly city pastor, Simon Heinse, from the city council of
Wittenberg. Before this time he was obliged to preach only
occasionally in the convent, apart from his activity as teacher
in the University and convent. Through this appointment he was
in duty bound, by divine and human right, to lead and direct the
congregation at Wittenberg on the true way to life, and it would
have been a denial of the knowledge of salvation which God had
led him to acquire, by way of ardent inner struggles, if he had
led the congregation on any other way than the one God had
revealed to him in His Word.
He could not deny before the
congregation which had been intrusted to his care, what up to
this time he had taught with ever increasing clearness in his
lectures at the University -- for in the lectures on the Psalms,
which he began to deliver in 1513, he declares his conviction
that faith alone justifies, as can be seen from the complete
manuscript, published since 1885, and with still greater
clearness from his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
(1515-1516), which is accessible since 1908; nor what he had
urged as spiritual adviser of his convent brethren when in deep
distress -- compare the charming letter to Georg Spenlein, dated
April 8, 1516.
Luther's first literary works to appear in print were also
occasioned by the work of his calling and of his office in the
Wittenberg congregation. He had no other object in view than to
edify his congregation and to lead it to Christ when, in 1517,
he published his first independent work, the Explanation of the
Seven Penitential Psalms. On Oct 31 of the same year he published
his 95 Theses against Indulgences. These were indeed intended as
controversial theses for theologians, but at the same time it is
well known that Luther was moved by his duty toward his
congregation to declare his position in this matter and to put
in issue the whole question as to the right and wrong of
indulgences by means of his theses.
His sermon Of Indulgences and
Grace, occasioned by Tetzel's attack and delivered in the latter
part of March, 1518, as well as his sermon Of Penitence,
delivered about the same time, were also intended for his
congregation. Before his congregation (Sept., 1516-Feb., 1517)
he delivered the Sermons on the Ten Commandments, which were
published in 1518 and the Sermons on the Lord's Prayer, which
were also published in 1518 by Agricola. Though Luther in the
same year published a series of controversial writings, which
were occasioned by attacks from outside sources, viz., the
Resolutiones disputationis de Virtute indulgentiarum, the
Asterisci adversus obeliscos Joh. Eccii, and the Ad dialogum
Silv. Prieriatis responsio, still he never was diverted by this
necessary rebuttal from his paramount duty, the edification of
the congregation.
The autumn of the year 1518, when he was
confronted with Cajetan, as well as the whole year of 1519, when
he held his disputations with Eck, etc., were replete with
disquietude and pressing labors; still Luther served his
congregation with a whole series of writings during this time,
and only regretted that he was not entirely at its disposal. Of
such writings we mention:
Explanation of the Lord's Prayer for
the simple Laity (an elaboration of the sermons of 1517); Brief
Explanation of the Ten Commandments; Instruction concerning
certain Articles, which might be ascribed and imputed to him by
his adversaries; Brief Instruction how to Confess; Of Meditation
on the Sacred Passion of Christ; Of Twofold Righteousness; Of the
Matrimonial Estate; Brief Form to understand and to pray the
Lord's Prayer; Explanation of the Lord's Prayer "vor sich und
hinter sich"; Of Prayer and Processions in Rogation Week; Of
Usury; Of the Sacrament of Penitence; Of Preparation for Death;
Of the Sacrament of Baptism; Of the Sacrament of the Sacred Body;
Of Excommunication.
With but few exceptions these writings all
appeared in print in the year 1519, and again it was the
congregation which Luther sought primarily to serve. If the
bounds of his congregation spread ever wider beyond Wittenberg,
so that his writings found a surprisingly ready sale, even afar,
that was not Luther's fault. Even the Tessaradecas consolatoria,
written in 1519 and printed in 1520, a book of consolation, which
was originally intended for the sick Elector of Saxony, was
written by him only upon solicitation from outside sources.
To this circle of writings the treatise Of Good Works also
belongs Though the incentive for its composition came from George
Spalatin, court-preacher to the Elector, who reminded Luther of
a promise he had given, still Luther was willing to undertake it
only when he recalled that in a previous sermon to his
congregation he occasionally had made a similar promise to
deliver a sermon on good works; and when Luther actually
commenced the composition he had nothing else in view but the
preparation of a sermon for his congregation on this important
topic.
But while the work was in progress the material so accumulated
that it far outgrew the bounds of a sermon for his congregation.
On March 25. he wrote to Spalatin that it would become a whole
booklet instead of a sermon; on May 5. he again emphasizes the
growth of the material; on May 13. he speaks of its completion
at an early date, and on June 8. he could send Melanchthon a
printed copy. It was entitled: Von den guten werckenn: D. M. L.
Vuittenberg. On the last page it bore the printer's mark: Getruck
zu Wittenberg bey dem iungen Melchior Lotther. Im Tausent
funfhundert vnnd zweyntzigsten Jar. It filled not less than 58
leaves, quarto.
In spite of its volume, however, the intention
of the book for the congregation remained, now however, not only
for the narrow circle of the Wittenberg congregation, but for the
Christian layman in general. In the dedicatory preface Luther
lays the greatest stress upon this, for he writes: "Though I know
of a great many, and must hear it daily, who think lightly of my
poverty and say that I write only small Sexternlein (tracts of
small volume) and German sermons for the untaught laity, I will
not permit that to move me. Would to God that during my life I
had served but one layman for his betterment with all my powers;
it would be sufficient for me, I would thank God and suffer all
my books to perish thereafter....
Most willingly I will leave the
honor of greater things to others, and not at all will I be
ashamed of preaching and writing German to the untaught laity."
Since Luther had dedicated the afore-mentioned Tessaradecas
consolatoria to the reigning Prince, he now, probably on
Spalatin's recommendation, dedicated the Treatise on Good Works
to his brother John, who afterward, in 1525, succeeded Frederick
in the Electorate. There was probably good reason for dedicating
the book to a member of the reigning house. Princes have reason
to take a special interest in the fact that preaching on good
works should occur within their realm, for the safety and sane
development of their kingdom depend largely upon the cultivation
of morality on the part of their subjects. Time and again the
papal church had commended herself to princes and statesmen by
her emphatic teaching of good works. Luther, on the other hand,
had been accused -- like the Apostle Paul before him (Rom. 3 31)
-- that the zealous performance of good works had abated, that
the bonds of discipline had slackened and that, as a necessary
consequence, lawlessness and shameless immorality were being
promoted by his doctrine of justification by faith alone. Before
1517 the rumor had already spread that Luther intended to do away
with good works. Duke George of Saxony had received no good
impression from a sermon Luther had delivered at Dresden, because
he feared the consequences which Luther's doctrine of
justification by faith alone might have upon the morals of the
masses. Under these circumstances it would not have been
surprising if a member of the Electoral house should harbor like
scruples, especially since the full comprehension of Luther's
preaching on good works depended on an evangelical understanding
of faith, as deep as was Luther's own. The Middle Ages had
differentiated between fides informis, a formless faith, and
fides formata or informata, a formed or ornate faith. The former
was held to be a knowledge without any life or effect, the latter
to be identical with love for, as they said, love which proves
itself and is effective in good works must be added to the
formless faith, as its complement and its content, well pleasing
to God. In Luther's time every one who was seriously interested
in religious questions was reared under the influence of these
ideas.
Now, since Luther had opposed the doctrine of justification by
love and its good works, he was in danger of being misunderstood
by strangers, as though he held the bare knowledge and assent to
be sufficient for justification, and such preaching would indeed
have led to frivolity and disorderly conduct. But even apart from
the question whether or not the brother of the Elector was
disturbed by such scruples, Luther must have welcomed the
opportunity, when the summons came to him, to dedicate his book
Of Good Works to a member of the Electoral house. At any rate the
book could serve to acquaint him with the thoughts of his
much-abused pastor and professor at Wittenberg, for never before
had Luther expressed himself on the important question of good
works in such a fundamental, thorough and profound way.
2. The Contents of the Work. -- A perusal of the contents shows
that the book, in the course of its production, attained a
greater length than was originally intended.
To this fact it must
be attributed that a new numeration of sections begins with the
argument on the Third Commandment, and is repeated at every
Commandment thereafter, while before this the sections were
consecutively numbered. But in spite of this, the plan of the
whole is clear and lucid. Evidently the whole treatise is divided
into two parts: the first comprising sections 1-17, while the
second comprises all the following sections. The first, being
fundamental, is the more important part. Luther well knew of the
charges made against him that "faith is so highly elevated" and
"works are rejected" by him; but he knew, too, that "neither
silver, gold and precious stone, nor any other precious thing had
experienced so much augmentation and diminution" as had good
works "which should all have but one simple goodness, or they are
nothing but color, glitter and deception."
But especially was he
aware of the fact that the Church was urging nothing but the
so-called self-elected works, such as "running to the convent,
singing, reading, playing the organ, saying the mass, praying
matins, vespers, and other hours, founding and ornamenting
churches, altars, convents, gathering chimes, jewels, vestments,
gems and treasures, going to Rome and to the saints, curtsying
and bowing the knees, praying the rosary and the psalter," etc.,
and that she designated these alone as truly good works, while
she represented the faithful performance of the duties of one's
calling as a morality of a lower order. For these reasons it is
Luther's highest object in this treatise to make it perfectly
clear what is the essence of good works. Whenever the essence
of good works has been understood, then the accusations against
him will quickly collapse.
In the fundamental part he therefore argues: Truly good works are
not self-elected works of monastic or any other holiness, but
such only as God has commanded, and as are comprehended within
the bounds of one's particular calling, and all works, let their
name be what it may, become good only when they flow from faith,
the first, greatest, and noblest of good works." (John 6:29.) In
this connection the essence of faith, that only source of all
truly good works, must of course be rightly understood. It is the
sure confidence in God, that all my doing is wellpleasing to Him;
it is trust in His mercy, even though He appears angry and puts
sufferings and adversities upon us; it is the assurance of the
divine good will even though "God should reprove the conscience
with sin, death and hell, and deny it all grace and mercy, as
though He would condemn and show His wrath eternally." Where such
faith lives in the heart, there the works are good "even though
they were as insignificant as the picking up of a straw"; but
where it is wanting, there are only such works as "heathen, Jew
and Turk" may have and do.
Where such faith possesses the man,
he needs no teacher in good works, as little as does the husband
or the wife, who only look for love and favor from one another,
nor need any instruction therein "how they are to stand toward
each other, what they are to do, to leave undone, to say, to
leave unsaid, to think."
This faith, Luther continues, is "the true fulfilment of the
First Commandment, apart from which there is no work that could
do justice to this Commandment." With this sentence he combines,
on the one hand, the whole argument on faith, as the best and
noblest of good works, with his opening proposition (there are
no good works besides those commanded of God), and, on the other
hand, he prepares the way for the following argument, wherein he
proposes to exhibit the good works according to the Ten
Commandments. For the First Commandment does not forbid this and
that, nor does it require this and that; it forbids but one
thing, unbelief; it requires but one thing, faith, "that
confidence in God's good will at all times."
Without this faith
the best works are as nothing, and if man should think that by
them he could be well-pleasing to God, he would be lowering God
to the level of a "broker or a laborer who will not dispense his
grace and kindness gratis."
This understanding of faith and good works, so Luther now
addresses his opponents, should in fairness be kept in view by
those who accuse him of declaiming against good works, and they
should learn from it, that though he has preached against "good
works," it was against such as are falsely so called and as
contribute toward the confusion of consciences, because they are
self-elected, do not flow from faith, and are done with the
pretension of doing works well-pleasing to God.
This brings us to the end of the fundamental part of the
treatise. It was not Luther's intention, however, to speak only
on the essence of good works and their fundamental relation to
faith; he would show, too, how the "best work," faith, must prove
itself in every way a living faith, according to the other
commandments. Luther does not proceed to this part, however,
until in the fundamental part he has said with emphasis, that the
believer, the spiritual man, needs no such instruction (1.
Timothy 1:9), but that he of his own accord and at all times does
good works "as his faith, his confidence, teaches him." Only
"because we do not all have such faith, or are unmindful of it,"
does such instruction become necessary.
Nor does he proceed until he has applied his oft repeated words
concerning the relation of faith to good works to the relation
of the First to the other Commandments. From the fact, that
according to the First Commandment, we acquire a pure heart and
confidence toward God, he derives the good work of the Second
Commandment, namely, "to praise God, to acknowledge His grace,
to render all honor to Him alone." From the same source he
derives the good work of the Third Commandment, namely, "to
observe divine services with prayer and the hearing of preaching,
to incline the imagination of our hearts toward God's benefits,
and, to that end, to mortify and overcome the flesh." From the
same source he derives the works of the Second Table.
The argument on the Third and Fourth Commandments claims nearly
one-half of the entire treatise. Among the good works which,
according to the Third Commandment, should be an exercise and
proof of faith, Luther especially mentions the proper hearing of
mass and of preaching, common prayer, bodily discipline and the
mortification of the flesh, and he joins the former and the
latter by an important fundamental discussion of the New
Testament conception of Sabbath rest.
Luther discusses the Fourth Commandment as fully as the Third.
The exercise of faith, according to this Commandment, consists
in the faithful performance of the duties of children toward
their parents, of parents toward their children, and of
subordinates toward their superiors in the ecclesiastical as well
as in the common civil sphere. The various duties issue from the
various callings, for faithful performance of the duties of one's
calling, with the help of God and for God's sake, is the true
"good work."
As he now proceeds to speak of the spiritual powers, the
government of the Church, he frankly reveals their faults and
demands a reform of the present rulers. Honor and obedience in
all things should be rendered unto the Church, the spiritual
mother, as it is due to natural parents, unless it be contrary
to the first Three Commandments. But as matters stand now the
spiritual magistrates neglect their peculiar work, namely, the
fostering of godliness and discipline, like a mother who runs
away from her children and follows a lover, and instead they
undertake strange and evil works, like parents whose commands are
contrary to God. In this case members of the Church must do as
godly children do whose parents have become mad and insane.
Kings, princes, the nobility, municipalities and communities must
begin of their own accord and put a check to these conditions,
so that the bishops and the clergy, who are now too timid, may
be induced to follow.
But even the civil magistrates must also
suffer reforms to be enacted in their particular spheres;
especially are they called on to do away with the rude "gluttony
and drunkenness," luxury in clothing, the usurious sale of rents
and the common brothels. This, by divine and human right, is a
part of their enjoined works according to the Fourth Commandment.
Luther, at last, briefly treats of the Second Table of the
Commandments, but in speaking of the works of these Commandments
he never forgets to point out their relation to faith, thus
holding fast this fundamental thought of the book to the end.
Faith which does not doubt that God is gracious, he says, will
find it an easy matter to be graciously and favorably minded
toward one's neighbor and to overcome all angry and wrathful
desires. In this faith in God the Spirit will teach us to avoid
unchaste thoughts and thus to keep the Sixth Commandment. When
the heart trusts in the divine favor, it cannot seek after the
temporal goods of others, nor cleave to money, but according to
the Seventh Commandment, will use it with cheerful liberality for
the benefit of the neighbor.
Where such confidence is present
there is also a courageous, strong and intrepid heart, which will
at all times defend the truth, as the Eighth Commandment demands,
whether neck or coat be at stake, whether it be against pope or
kings. Where such faith is present there is also strife against
the evil lust, as forbidden in the Ninth and Tenth Commandments,
and that even unto death.
3. The Importance of the Work. -- Inquiring now into the
importance of the book, we note that Luther's impression
evidently was perfectly correct, when he wrote to Spalatin, long
before its completion -- as early as March 2 5. -- that he
believed it to be better than anything he had heretofore written.
The book, indeed, surpasses all his previous German writings in
volume, as well as all his Latin and German ones in clearness,
richness and the fundamental importance of its content. In
comparison with the prevalent urging of self-elected works of
monkish holiness, which had arisen from a complete
misunderstanding of the so-called evangelical counsels (comp.
esp. Matthew 19:16-22) and which were at that time accepted as
self-evident and zealously urged by the whole church, Luther's
argument must have appeared to all thoughtful and earnest souls
as a revelation, when he so clearly amplified the proposition
that only those works are to be regarded as good works which God
has commanded, and that therefore, not the abandoning of one's
earthly calling, but the faithful keeping of the Ten Commandments
in the course of one's calling, is the work which God requires
of us. Over against the wide-spread opinion, as though the will
of God as declared in the Ten Commandments referred only to the
outward work always especially mentioned,
Luther's argument must
have called to mind the explanation of the Law, which the Lord
had given in the Sermon on the Mount, when he taught men to
recognize only the extreme point and manifestation of a whole
trend of thought in the work prohibited by the text, and when he
directed Christians not to rest in the keeping of the literal
requirement of each Commandment, but from this point of vantage
to inquire into the whole depth and breadth of God's will --
positively and negatively -- and to do His will in its full
extent as the heart has perceived it.
Though this thought may
have been occasionally expressed in the expositions of the Ten
Commandments which appeared at the dawn of the Reformation, still
it had never before been so clearly recognized as the only
correct principle, much less had it been so energetically carried
out from beginning to end, as is done in this treatise.
Over
against the deep-rooted view that the works of love must bestow
upon faith its form, its content and its worth before God, it
must have appeared as the dawn of a new era (Galatians 3:22-25)
when Luther in this treatise declared, and with victorious
certainty carried out the thought, that it is true faith which
invests the works, even the best and greatest of works, with
their content and worth before God.
together with the
Letter of Dedication
by Dr. Martin Luther, 1520
INTRODUCTION
1. The Occasion of the Work. --
Luther did not impose himself as
reformer upon the Church. In the course of a conscientious
performance of the duties of his office, to which he had been
regularly and divinely called, and without any urging on his
part, he attained to this position by inward necessity.
In 1515
he received his appointment as the standing substitute for the
sickly city pastor, Simon Heinse, from the city council of
Wittenberg. Before this time he was obliged to preach only
occasionally in the convent, apart from his activity as teacher
in the University and convent. Through this appointment he was
in duty bound, by divine and human right, to lead and direct the
congregation at Wittenberg on the true way to life, and it would
have been a denial of the knowledge of salvation which God had
led him to acquire, by way of ardent inner struggles, if he had
led the congregation on any other way than the one God had
revealed to him in His Word.
He could not deny before the
congregation which had been intrusted to his care, what up to
this time he had taught with ever increasing clearness in his
lectures at the University -- for in the lectures on the Psalms,
which he began to deliver in 1513, he declares his conviction
that faith alone justifies, as can be seen from the complete
manuscript, published since 1885, and with still greater
clearness from his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
(1515-1516), which is accessible since 1908; nor what he had
urged as spiritual adviser of his convent brethren when in deep
distress -- compare the charming letter to Georg Spenlein, dated
April 8, 1516.
Luther's first literary works to appear in print were also
occasioned by the work of his calling and of his office in the
Wittenberg congregation. He had no other object in view than to
edify his congregation and to lead it to Christ when, in 1517,
he published his first independent work, the Explanation of the
Seven Penitential Psalms. On Oct 31 of the same year he published
his 95 Theses against Indulgences. These were indeed intended as
controversial theses for theologians, but at the same time it is
well known that Luther was moved by his duty toward his
congregation to declare his position in this matter and to put
in issue the whole question as to the right and wrong of
indulgences by means of his theses.
His sermon Of Indulgences and
Grace, occasioned by Tetzel's attack and delivered in the latter
part of March, 1518, as well as his sermon Of Penitence,
delivered about the same time, were also intended for his
congregation. Before his congregation (Sept., 1516-Feb., 1517)
he delivered the Sermons on the Ten Commandments, which were
published in 1518 and the Sermons on the Lord's Prayer, which
were also published in 1518 by Agricola. Though Luther in the
same year published a series of controversial writings, which
were occasioned by attacks from outside sources, viz., the
Resolutiones disputationis de Virtute indulgentiarum, the
Asterisci adversus obeliscos Joh. Eccii, and the Ad dialogum
Silv. Prieriatis responsio, still he never was diverted by this
necessary rebuttal from his paramount duty, the edification of
the congregation.
The autumn of the year 1518, when he was
confronted with Cajetan, as well as the whole year of 1519, when
he held his disputations with Eck, etc., were replete with
disquietude and pressing labors; still Luther served his
congregation with a whole series of writings during this time,
and only regretted that he was not entirely at its disposal. Of
such writings we mention:
Explanation of the Lord's Prayer for
the simple Laity (an elaboration of the sermons of 1517); Brief
Explanation of the Ten Commandments; Instruction concerning
certain Articles, which might be ascribed and imputed to him by
his adversaries; Brief Instruction how to Confess; Of Meditation
on the Sacred Passion of Christ; Of Twofold Righteousness; Of the
Matrimonial Estate; Brief Form to understand and to pray the
Lord's Prayer; Explanation of the Lord's Prayer "vor sich und
hinter sich"; Of Prayer and Processions in Rogation Week; Of
Usury; Of the Sacrament of Penitence; Of Preparation for Death;
Of the Sacrament of Baptism; Of the Sacrament of the Sacred Body;
Of Excommunication.
With but few exceptions these writings all
appeared in print in the year 1519, and again it was the
congregation which Luther sought primarily to serve. If the
bounds of his congregation spread ever wider beyond Wittenberg,
so that his writings found a surprisingly ready sale, even afar,
that was not Luther's fault. Even the Tessaradecas consolatoria,
written in 1519 and printed in 1520, a book of consolation, which
was originally intended for the sick Elector of Saxony, was
written by him only upon solicitation from outside sources.
To this circle of writings the treatise Of Good Works also
belongs Though the incentive for its composition came from George
Spalatin, court-preacher to the Elector, who reminded Luther of
a promise he had given, still Luther was willing to undertake it
only when he recalled that in a previous sermon to his
congregation he occasionally had made a similar promise to
deliver a sermon on good works; and when Luther actually
commenced the composition he had nothing else in view but the
preparation of a sermon for his congregation on this important
topic.
But while the work was in progress the material so accumulated
that it far outgrew the bounds of a sermon for his congregation.
On March 25. he wrote to Spalatin that it would become a whole
booklet instead of a sermon; on May 5. he again emphasizes the
growth of the material; on May 13. he speaks of its completion
at an early date, and on June 8. he could send Melanchthon a
printed copy. It was entitled: Von den guten werckenn: D. M. L.
Vuittenberg. On the last page it bore the printer's mark: Getruck
zu Wittenberg bey dem iungen Melchior Lotther. Im Tausent
funfhundert vnnd zweyntzigsten Jar. It filled not less than 58
leaves, quarto.
In spite of its volume, however, the intention
of the book for the congregation remained, now however, not only
for the narrow circle of the Wittenberg congregation, but for the
Christian layman in general. In the dedicatory preface Luther
lays the greatest stress upon this, for he writes: "Though I know
of a great many, and must hear it daily, who think lightly of my
poverty and say that I write only small Sexternlein (tracts of
small volume) and German sermons for the untaught laity, I will
not permit that to move me. Would to God that during my life I
had served but one layman for his betterment with all my powers;
it would be sufficient for me, I would thank God and suffer all
my books to perish thereafter....
Most willingly I will leave the
honor of greater things to others, and not at all will I be
ashamed of preaching and writing German to the untaught laity."
Since Luther had dedicated the afore-mentioned Tessaradecas
consolatoria to the reigning Prince, he now, probably on
Spalatin's recommendation, dedicated the Treatise on Good Works
to his brother John, who afterward, in 1525, succeeded Frederick
in the Electorate. There was probably good reason for dedicating
the book to a member of the reigning house. Princes have reason
to take a special interest in the fact that preaching on good
works should occur within their realm, for the safety and sane
development of their kingdom depend largely upon the cultivation
of morality on the part of their subjects. Time and again the
papal church had commended herself to princes and statesmen by
her emphatic teaching of good works. Luther, on the other hand,
had been accused -- like the Apostle Paul before him (Rom. 3 31)
-- that the zealous performance of good works had abated, that
the bonds of discipline had slackened and that, as a necessary
consequence, lawlessness and shameless immorality were being
promoted by his doctrine of justification by faith alone. Before
1517 the rumor had already spread that Luther intended to do away
with good works. Duke George of Saxony had received no good
impression from a sermon Luther had delivered at Dresden, because
he feared the consequences which Luther's doctrine of
justification by faith alone might have upon the morals of the
masses. Under these circumstances it would not have been
surprising if a member of the Electoral house should harbor like
scruples, especially since the full comprehension of Luther's
preaching on good works depended on an evangelical understanding
of faith, as deep as was Luther's own. The Middle Ages had
differentiated between fides informis, a formless faith, and
fides formata or informata, a formed or ornate faith. The former
was held to be a knowledge without any life or effect, the latter
to be identical with love for, as they said, love which proves
itself and is effective in good works must be added to the
formless faith, as its complement and its content, well pleasing
to God. In Luther's time every one who was seriously interested
in religious questions was reared under the influence of these
ideas.
Now, since Luther had opposed the doctrine of justification by
love and its good works, he was in danger of being misunderstood
by strangers, as though he held the bare knowledge and assent to
be sufficient for justification, and such preaching would indeed
have led to frivolity and disorderly conduct. But even apart from
the question whether or not the brother of the Elector was
disturbed by such scruples, Luther must have welcomed the
opportunity, when the summons came to him, to dedicate his book
Of Good Works to a member of the Electoral house. At any rate the
book could serve to acquaint him with the thoughts of his
much-abused pastor and professor at Wittenberg, for never before
had Luther expressed himself on the important question of good
works in such a fundamental, thorough and profound way.
2. The Contents of the Work. -- A perusal of the contents shows
that the book, in the course of its production, attained a
greater length than was originally intended.
To this fact it must
be attributed that a new numeration of sections begins with the
argument on the Third Commandment, and is repeated at every
Commandment thereafter, while before this the sections were
consecutively numbered. But in spite of this, the plan of the
whole is clear and lucid. Evidently the whole treatise is divided
into two parts: the first comprising sections 1-17, while the
second comprises all the following sections. The first, being
fundamental, is the more important part. Luther well knew of the
charges made against him that "faith is so highly elevated" and
"works are rejected" by him; but he knew, too, that "neither
silver, gold and precious stone, nor any other precious thing had
experienced so much augmentation and diminution" as had good
works "which should all have but one simple goodness, or they are
nothing but color, glitter and deception."
But especially was he
aware of the fact that the Church was urging nothing but the
so-called self-elected works, such as "running to the convent,
singing, reading, playing the organ, saying the mass, praying
matins, vespers, and other hours, founding and ornamenting
churches, altars, convents, gathering chimes, jewels, vestments,
gems and treasures, going to Rome and to the saints, curtsying
and bowing the knees, praying the rosary and the psalter," etc.,
and that she designated these alone as truly good works, while
she represented the faithful performance of the duties of one's
calling as a morality of a lower order. For these reasons it is
Luther's highest object in this treatise to make it perfectly
clear what is the essence of good works. Whenever the essence
of good works has been understood, then the accusations against
him will quickly collapse.
In the fundamental part he therefore argues: Truly good works are
not self-elected works of monastic or any other holiness, but
such only as God has commanded, and as are comprehended within
the bounds of one's particular calling, and all works, let their
name be what it may, become good only when they flow from faith,
the first, greatest, and noblest of good works." (John 6:29.) In
this connection the essence of faith, that only source of all
truly good works, must of course be rightly understood. It is the
sure confidence in God, that all my doing is wellpleasing to Him;
it is trust in His mercy, even though He appears angry and puts
sufferings and adversities upon us; it is the assurance of the
divine good will even though "God should reprove the conscience
with sin, death and hell, and deny it all grace and mercy, as
though He would condemn and show His wrath eternally." Where such
faith lives in the heart, there the works are good "even though
they were as insignificant as the picking up of a straw"; but
where it is wanting, there are only such works as "heathen, Jew
and Turk" may have and do.
Where such faith possesses the man,
he needs no teacher in good works, as little as does the husband
or the wife, who only look for love and favor from one another,
nor need any instruction therein "how they are to stand toward
each other, what they are to do, to leave undone, to say, to
leave unsaid, to think."
This faith, Luther continues, is "the true fulfilment of the
First Commandment, apart from which there is no work that could
do justice to this Commandment." With this sentence he combines,
on the one hand, the whole argument on faith, as the best and
noblest of good works, with his opening proposition (there are
no good works besides those commanded of God), and, on the other
hand, he prepares the way for the following argument, wherein he
proposes to exhibit the good works according to the Ten
Commandments. For the First Commandment does not forbid this and
that, nor does it require this and that; it forbids but one
thing, unbelief; it requires but one thing, faith, "that
confidence in God's good will at all times."
Without this faith
the best works are as nothing, and if man should think that by
them he could be well-pleasing to God, he would be lowering God
to the level of a "broker or a laborer who will not dispense his
grace and kindness gratis."
This understanding of faith and good works, so Luther now
addresses his opponents, should in fairness be kept in view by
those who accuse him of declaiming against good works, and they
should learn from it, that though he has preached against "good
works," it was against such as are falsely so called and as
contribute toward the confusion of consciences, because they are
self-elected, do not flow from faith, and are done with the
pretension of doing works well-pleasing to God.
This brings us to the end of the fundamental part of the
treatise. It was not Luther's intention, however, to speak only
on the essence of good works and their fundamental relation to
faith; he would show, too, how the "best work," faith, must prove
itself in every way a living faith, according to the other
commandments. Luther does not proceed to this part, however,
until in the fundamental part he has said with emphasis, that the
believer, the spiritual man, needs no such instruction (1.
Timothy 1:9), but that he of his own accord and at all times does
good works "as his faith, his confidence, teaches him." Only
"because we do not all have such faith, or are unmindful of it,"
does such instruction become necessary.
Nor does he proceed until he has applied his oft repeated words
concerning the relation of faith to good works to the relation
of the First to the other Commandments. From the fact, that
according to the First Commandment, we acquire a pure heart and
confidence toward God, he derives the good work of the Second
Commandment, namely, "to praise God, to acknowledge His grace,
to render all honor to Him alone." From the same source he
derives the good work of the Third Commandment, namely, "to
observe divine services with prayer and the hearing of preaching,
to incline the imagination of our hearts toward God's benefits,
and, to that end, to mortify and overcome the flesh." From the
same source he derives the works of the Second Table.
The argument on the Third and Fourth Commandments claims nearly
one-half of the entire treatise. Among the good works which,
according to the Third Commandment, should be an exercise and
proof of faith, Luther especially mentions the proper hearing of
mass and of preaching, common prayer, bodily discipline and the
mortification of the flesh, and he joins the former and the
latter by an important fundamental discussion of the New
Testament conception of Sabbath rest.
Luther discusses the Fourth Commandment as fully as the Third.
The exercise of faith, according to this Commandment, consists
in the faithful performance of the duties of children toward
their parents, of parents toward their children, and of
subordinates toward their superiors in the ecclesiastical as well
as in the common civil sphere. The various duties issue from the
various callings, for faithful performance of the duties of one's
calling, with the help of God and for God's sake, is the true
"good work."
As he now proceeds to speak of the spiritual powers, the
government of the Church, he frankly reveals their faults and
demands a reform of the present rulers. Honor and obedience in
all things should be rendered unto the Church, the spiritual
mother, as it is due to natural parents, unless it be contrary
to the first Three Commandments. But as matters stand now the
spiritual magistrates neglect their peculiar work, namely, the
fostering of godliness and discipline, like a mother who runs
away from her children and follows a lover, and instead they
undertake strange and evil works, like parents whose commands are
contrary to God. In this case members of the Church must do as
godly children do whose parents have become mad and insane.
Kings, princes, the nobility, municipalities and communities must
begin of their own accord and put a check to these conditions,
so that the bishops and the clergy, who are now too timid, may
be induced to follow.
But even the civil magistrates must also
suffer reforms to be enacted in their particular spheres;
especially are they called on to do away with the rude "gluttony
and drunkenness," luxury in clothing, the usurious sale of rents
and the common brothels. This, by divine and human right, is a
part of their enjoined works according to the Fourth Commandment.
Luther, at last, briefly treats of the Second Table of the
Commandments, but in speaking of the works of these Commandments
he never forgets to point out their relation to faith, thus
holding fast this fundamental thought of the book to the end.
Faith which does not doubt that God is gracious, he says, will
find it an easy matter to be graciously and favorably minded
toward one's neighbor and to overcome all angry and wrathful
desires. In this faith in God the Spirit will teach us to avoid
unchaste thoughts and thus to keep the Sixth Commandment. When
the heart trusts in the divine favor, it cannot seek after the
temporal goods of others, nor cleave to money, but according to
the Seventh Commandment, will use it with cheerful liberality for
the benefit of the neighbor.
Where such confidence is present
there is also a courageous, strong and intrepid heart, which will
at all times defend the truth, as the Eighth Commandment demands,
whether neck or coat be at stake, whether it be against pope or
kings. Where such faith is present there is also strife against
the evil lust, as forbidden in the Ninth and Tenth Commandments,
and that even unto death.
3. The Importance of the Work. -- Inquiring now into the
importance of the book, we note that Luther's impression
evidently was perfectly correct, when he wrote to Spalatin, long
before its completion -- as early as March 2 5. -- that he
believed it to be better than anything he had heretofore written.
The book, indeed, surpasses all his previous German writings in
volume, as well as all his Latin and German ones in clearness,
richness and the fundamental importance of its content. In
comparison with the prevalent urging of self-elected works of
monkish holiness, which had arisen from a complete
misunderstanding of the so-called evangelical counsels (comp.
esp. Matthew 19:16-22) and which were at that time accepted as
self-evident and zealously urged by the whole church, Luther's
argument must have appeared to all thoughtful and earnest souls
as a revelation, when he so clearly amplified the proposition
that only those works are to be regarded as good works which God
has commanded, and that therefore, not the abandoning of one's
earthly calling, but the faithful keeping of the Ten Commandments
in the course of one's calling, is the work which God requires
of us. Over against the wide-spread opinion, as though the will
of God as declared in the Ten Commandments referred only to the
outward work always especially mentioned,
Luther's argument must
have called to mind the explanation of the Law, which the Lord
had given in the Sermon on the Mount, when he taught men to
recognize only the extreme point and manifestation of a whole
trend of thought in the work prohibited by the text, and when he
directed Christians not to rest in the keeping of the literal
requirement of each Commandment, but from this point of vantage
to inquire into the whole depth and breadth of God's will --
positively and negatively -- and to do His will in its full
extent as the heart has perceived it.
Though this thought may
have been occasionally expressed in the expositions of the Ten
Commandments which appeared at the dawn of the Reformation, still
it had never before been so clearly recognized as the only
correct principle, much less had it been so energetically carried
out from beginning to end, as is done in this treatise.
Over
against the deep-rooted view that the works of love must bestow
upon faith its form, its content and its worth before God, it
must have appeared as the dawn of a new era (Galatians 3:22-25)
when Luther in this treatise declared, and with victorious
certainty carried out the thought, that it is true faith which
invests the works, even the best and greatest of works, with
their content and worth before God.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
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