HAPPY REFORMATION DAY!!!
1. Luther's reply at the Diet of Worms:
"Since then Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simply reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of peoples and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen." (Bainton, 180)
2. Luther on the exchange of our sin with Christ's righteousness:
"Who then can fully appreciate what this royal marriage means? Who can understand the riches of the glory of this grace? Here this rich and divine bridegroom Christ marries this poor, wicked harlot, redeems her from all her evil, and adorns her with all his goodness. Her sins cannot now destroy her, since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up by him. And she has that righteousness in Christ, her husband, of which she may boast as of her own and which she can confidently display alongside her sins in the face of death and hell and say, "If I have sinned, yet my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned, and all his is mine and all mine is his..." (Luther, "The Freedom of a Christian," 287)
3. Luther on how the Reformation came about:
"I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept...the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing. The Word did it all." (George, 53)
4. Luther on the paradox of sinners being declared righteous:
"We are in truth and totally sinners, with regard to ourselves and our first birth. Contrariwise, in so far as Christ has been given for us, we are holy and just totally. Hence from different aspects we are said to be just and sinners at the same time." (George, 71)
5. Luther on the battle for the truth of the gospel:
"Our warfare is not with flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, against the world rulers of this darkness. Let us then stand firm and heed the trumpet of the Lord. Satan is fighting, not against us, but against Christ in us. We fight the battles of the Lord. Be strong therefore. If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Bainton, 140)
6. Luther on those who identified with him and followed his teachings:
"The first thing I ask is that people should not make use of my name, and should not call themselves Lutherans but Christians. What is Luther? The teaching ins not mine. Nor was I crucified for anyone...How did I, poor stinking bag of maggots that I am, come to the point where people call the children of Christ by my evil name?" (George, 53)
7. Luther on looking to Christ for our righteousness:
This is wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves. I am justified and acceptable to God, although there are in me sin, unrighteousness, and horror of death. Yet I must look elsewhere and see no sin. This is wonderful, not to see what I see, not to feel what I feel." (Bainton, 228)
The quotes above are taken from:
Roland Bainton, Here I Stand:A Life of Martin Luther
Timothy George, The Theology of the Reformers
Luther's "The Freedom of a Christian" in Three Treatises.
"Since then Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simply reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of peoples and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen." (Bainton, 180)
2. Luther on the exchange of our sin with Christ's righteousness:
"Who then can fully appreciate what this royal marriage means? Who can understand the riches of the glory of this grace? Here this rich and divine bridegroom Christ marries this poor, wicked harlot, redeems her from all her evil, and adorns her with all his goodness. Her sins cannot now destroy her, since they are laid upon Christ and swallowed up by him. And she has that righteousness in Christ, her husband, of which she may boast as of her own and which she can confidently display alongside her sins in the face of death and hell and say, "If I have sinned, yet my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned, and all his is mine and all mine is his..." (Luther, "The Freedom of a Christian," 287)
3. Luther on how the Reformation came about:
"I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then, while I slept...the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did nothing. The Word did it all." (George, 53)
4. Luther on the paradox of sinners being declared righteous:
"We are in truth and totally sinners, with regard to ourselves and our first birth. Contrariwise, in so far as Christ has been given for us, we are holy and just totally. Hence from different aspects we are said to be just and sinners at the same time." (George, 71)
5. Luther on the battle for the truth of the gospel:
"Our warfare is not with flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, against the world rulers of this darkness. Let us then stand firm and heed the trumpet of the Lord. Satan is fighting, not against us, but against Christ in us. We fight the battles of the Lord. Be strong therefore. If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Bainton, 140)
6. Luther on those who identified with him and followed his teachings:
"The first thing I ask is that people should not make use of my name, and should not call themselves Lutherans but Christians. What is Luther? The teaching ins not mine. Nor was I crucified for anyone...How did I, poor stinking bag of maggots that I am, come to the point where people call the children of Christ by my evil name?" (George, 53)
7. Luther on looking to Christ for our righteousness:
This is wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves. I am justified and acceptable to God, although there are in me sin, unrighteousness, and horror of death. Yet I must look elsewhere and see no sin. This is wonderful, not to see what I see, not to feel what I feel." (Bainton, 228)
The quotes above are taken from:
Roland Bainton, Here I Stand:A Life of Martin Luther
Timothy George, The Theology of the Reformers
Luther's "The Freedom of a Christian" in Three Treatises.
Image of Luther
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