Luther Quotes

[JM]

free will without God’s grace is not free at all, but is the permanent prisoner and bondslave of evil. . . . What is ineffective power but (in plain language) no power at all? So to say that free will exists and has power, albeit ineffective power, is, in the Sophists’ phrase, a contradiction in terms. It is like saying free will is something which is not free . . .

If anyone should tell you that a thing was free, which of its own power could go only one way, that is, the bad way—it could indeed go the other way, that is, the good way, but not by its own power, only with the help of another—could you refrain from laughing, my friend? For on these grounds I shall easily establish that a stone or a log has free will, because it can go up and down; though by its own power it can only go down, and can go up only with the help of another!

To give the name of freedom to something that has no freedom is to apply to it a term that is empty of meaning. Away with such freaks of language!

 

[stenerson]

Gottah love Luther. He was brilliant, but at the same time down to earth.

 

[gord44]

i was always partial to the ones about chasing away the devil with farts.

 

[Apologetic_Warrior]

"There is nothing more dangerous than to be weary of the Word. He therefore that is so cold, that he thinks himself to know enough, and begins by little and little to loathe the Word, that man has lost Christ and the Gospel, and that which he thinks himself to know, he attains only by bare speculation." - MARTIN LUTHER

"We should overcome heretics with books, not with fire, as the old Fathers did. If there were any skill in overcoming heretics with fire, the executioner would be the most learned doctor in the world; and there would be no need to study, but he that could get another into his power could burn him." - MARTIN LUTHER

"Let the preacher of the gospel be certain that his calling is from God. And it is expedient that according to the example of Paul, he should magnify this his calling, to the end that he may win credit and authority among the people, just as the king’s ambassador magnifies his office and calling. And thus to glory is not vain, but a necessary kind of glorying, because he does not glory in himself, but in the king who has sent him, whose authority he desires to be honored and magnified." - MARTIN LUTHER

"When a man is humbled by the law, and brought to the knowledge of himself, then follows true repentance (for true repentance begins at the fear and judgment of God), and he sees himself to be so great a sinner that he can find no means how he may be delivered from his sin by his own strength, endeavor, and works." - MARTIN LUTHER

"Do we work nothing for the obtaining of this righteousness? I answer: Nothing at all. For the nature of this righteousness is, to do nothing, to hear nothing, to know nothing whatsoever of the law or of works, but to know and to believe this only: that Christ is gone to the Father and is not now seen; that he sits in heaven at the right hand of his Father, not as a judge, but made unto us of God, wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption; briefly, that he is our high priest entreating for us, and reigning over us and in us by grace." MARTIN LUTHER

See my current sig for another one....

 

[cubanito]

I too like much about Luther. It is sad than in his later years he went so virulently anti-semitic. Does anybody know why Luther became hateful of Jews?

Luther is a great man, I do think he would have benefited from some lithium or similar as he clearly had a manic depressive problem (as have many other great figures).

JR

 

[gord44]

i too heard he was quite the raging anti-semite in his later years. I read somewhere that it was from what he perceived as the Jews continued rejection of Jesus. I spent some time in Judaism at one point so I can say that it's pointless to get upset over that stuff. It's all point of view and the context you see the Hebrew Bible, especially Isaiah.

Of course that may have not been Luther's reasons.

 

[stenerson]

i too heard he was quite the raging anti-semite in his later years. I read somewhere that it was from what he perceived as the Jews continued rejection of Jesus. I spent some time in Judaism at one point so I can say that it's pointless to get upset over that stuff. It's all point of view and the context you see the Hebrew Bible, especially Isaiah.

Of course that may have not been Luther's reasons.

I've read that early on he believed the reformation was an eschatological sign of Christ's soon return. He reached out to Jews and believed that they would soon embrace Christ. When time passed by and nothing changed he became angry.
That's something I read years ago, not sure how true it is.

 

[gord44]

I've read that early on he believed the reformation was an eschatological sign of Christ's soon return. He reached out to Jews and believed that they would soon embrace Christ. When time passed by and nothing changed he became angry.
That's something I read years ago, not sure how true it is.

Sounds very possible. Shows the dangers of 'expecting' anything. Just take it a day at a time as you walk your path towards God.

 

[JM]

Germans have a long, long history of antisemitism dating back before the Reformation.

 

[jdbrown]

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