that our conscience may not be terrified before his wrath and
judgment, as St. Paul says, Rom. 5,12: "Through him we
have peace with God and access by faith into his grace."
448 i,uthe;r's church postii..
327. Now this is a much greater thing, that he makes us
safe toward God and sets our consciences at peace, that God
and ourselves are not at enmity, than that he should make the
creatures harmless to us. For guilt is much greater than pain,
and sin than death, since sin brings death, and without sin
there would be no death, or it would not be injurious. As
Christ is now Lord over sin and death, and has it in his power
to give grace and life to all who believe on him; so to offer
gold and incense is to recognize these two offices and works
of his, and to thank him, as St. Paul does, 1 Cor. 15,55-56:
"O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
The sting of death is sin ; and the power of sin is the law ; but
thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ."
828. This is surely a strong defense, that a man can set
this high priest against his sin, against his bad conscience,
against God's terrible anger and judgment, and with unshaken
faith say and confess: Tu es saderdos in aeternum, thou art
a high priest forever. But, if thou art a high priest, thou in-
terecedest for all sin of those who confess you as such a priest.
As little as God's judgment and anger, sin and a bad conscience
may condemn or terrify you, do they condemn and terrify me,
for whom thou art such a priest. See, this is to offer true in-
cense, to be undismayed against all sin and the wrath of God
through faith in Christ.
329. In the third place, they used myrrh to anoint dead
bodies, that they should not corrupt in the grave. Therefore
the death and resurrection of Christ are here set forth ; since it is
he alone who died and was buried and is not corrupted, but
arose again from the dead, as Ps. 16,10 says: "For thou
wilt not leave my soul to Sheol, neither wilt thou suffer thy
holy one to see corruption." And his incorruptibility is indi-
cated through all who are preserved and kept through bodily
myrrh. Accordingly to offer myrrh is as much as to confess
that Christ died and yet remained incorrupt, that is, that death
has been overcome by life, and that he never died according to
his divinity, and that his human nature again awoke from death.
330. This confession is the most important of all the three,
EPIPHANY. 449
although all three are necessary and must be undivided. For,
since he has become a king and priest for you, and given you
so great a possession, you must not think that it has been
done in vain, or that it has cost little, or come to you through
your own merit. Sin and death have been overcome for you
in him and through him, and grace and life given you ; but it
was bitter for him, and cost him much, and has been bought
for a high price, namely, with his own blood, body, and life.
For it was impossible to put away God's wrath and judg-
ment, conscience, hell, death, and every evil thing, divine
righteousness must be satisfied, sin atoned for, and death over-
come by justice. Accordingly it was St. Paul's practice, when
he preached God's grace in Christ, to mention his suffering
and blood together, that he might show how all our good
things have been given through Christ, but not without his
unspeakable merit and cost, as he says, Rom. 3, 25 : "God
has set him forth, to be a propitiation through faith." Also,
1 Cor. 2, 2 : "For I determined not to know anything among
you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified," etc. Therefore
to offer myrrh is to confess the great cost and pains that it
meant for Christ to become our priest and king.
331. See, these are the three parts in which we should
praise and confess his three works which he has shown us,
and will show us daily until the day of judgment. And the
order too is fine: but the evangelist puts gold in the first
place. For it would not be possible that he should be king
over all things for our good, if he had not first reconciled us
to God and assured our conscience, that with calm and peace
he might rule and work in us as in his own kingdom. Ac-
cordingly he must first be priest for us. But, if he is to be
priest and to reconcile us to God according to his priestly
office, he must fulfil God's righteousness for us. But there was
no other satisfaction ; he had to give himself to death, and
in his own person overcome sin with death. So too through
death he came to the priesthood, through his priesthood to
the kingdom, thus receiving the myrrh before the incense,
and the incense before the gold. But the Scripture at all
times declares the kingdom to be first, then the priesthood,
450 luthick's church fostil.
and finally his death,.s Ps. 110, 1-7 also does, which Psalm
describes for the first time his kingdom as follows : ''Jehovah
saith unto my lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make
thine enemies thy footstool." It follows then from his priest-
hood thus: "Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Finally
he closes with his martyrdom thus: "He will drink of the
brook in the way: Therefore will he lift up his head." Here
too he wishes to say : He will taste the myrrh, therefore he will
become a priest; he is a priest, and therefore he will also
be king; so that one follows from the other; one is the cause
of the other, and they follow one upon another.
332. With these simple and plain interpretations I let the
matter rest, and commend the lofty considerations to people
of leisure. Here it concerns us most to have care that we
do not take any one of these three confessions alone, but
offer them together. And although Isaiah 60, 6, speaks of
gold and incense only, and is silent about the myrrh, it may
readily be on this account, namely, that Christ's kingdom
and priesthood have been from the beginning of the world,
as St. Paul says. Heb. 13, 8 : "Jesus Christ is the same yester-
day and today, yea and for ever." For all the saints have been
redeemed from death and sin through him and his faith ; and
yet at that time the third part, his passion, the myrrh, had not
yet been accomplished, which properly belonged to the evan-
gelist to announce after its fulfilment.
333. But the Herodians and Papists have not only sep-
arated these three offerings, but also by an unspeakable out-
rage have destroyed them, retaining, however, the names and
confessing with words that Christ is a king and priest, and
that he has died for us. However, with other, contradictory
words they deny all this with the heart and their whole life,
and condemn it in the most shameful way. We, to observe
such a thing, have begun with the myrrh, but they teach that
man, without the grace of God, of himself and from the natural
power of his reason and free will, may make himself worthy
and receptive of divine favor. What else is this than to de-
EPIPHANY. 451
sire, without Christ's blood and suffering, to satisfy through
one's own act the divine righteousness, to appease the worth
and judgment of God, and to give the conscience peace? This
is indeed to make nothing of Christ's blood and all his suffer-
ing, yea, his whole humanity and all his work, to regard them
as useless and to tread them under foot, of which St. Paul says,
Heb. 6, 5-6 : ''It is impossible to renew to repentance those
who fell away; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of
God afresh, and put him to an open shame." For without
Christ there is no grace nor repentance, but wrath only. Nev-
ertheless the Papists teach that we can seek and find grace
without him. Accordingly the offering of myrrh is entirely
done away with.
334. Then the offering of incense must first cease to be.
For how shall Christ be their priest and intercessor, if they
are so good and pure that they do not need his blood and in-
tercession, but intercede through themselves, and stand of
themselves before God, and attain grace and eternal life
through their own ability?
Thereby they confess and teach that natural ability is
pure and good, and therefore Christ need not be priest. Who
would ever have believed that Christians would arrive at such
a stage when some one would teach and hear such things
which are dreadful to think of?
335. But now we see that all higher schools as well as the
pope and his clergy do not teach and hold differently, yes, they
condemn as heresy whatever does not conform to their teach-
ing. How clearly has Peter described them, w^hen he says,
2 Pet. 2, 1 : "Among you also there shall be false teachers,
denying even the Master that bought them." He does not
say: They will deny Christ, but: "the Master that bought
them ;" as if he wished to say : Christ they will confess with
words; but they will not regard him as having bought them
with his blood ; but without his blood they will redeem them-
selves, through their own natural power they will attain God's
grace, which Christ alone has bought for us all with his blood.
This is what thev mean, when thev sav that is costs and affords
452: Luther's church positi..
nothing to attain God's grace. Therefore they wish to redeem
themselves and can not bear to hear of Christ's redemption.
336. Where, however, Christ is not acknowledged as priest,
there he is much less acknowledged as king. For they are in
no wise subject to him, they are their own masters, that is,
the devirs own household. Although they do not suffer him
to rule over them and to exercise his power in them, he is
nevertheless a king, priest, and redeemer, without their con-
sent, over all creatures. Behold, thus you see that now is
the time when St. Peter thrice denies Christ. Would to God
that they would hear the cock's crow, that they would recover
from their error, acknowledge their fall, cry bitterly, and go
out from the house of Caiphas, that is, out from the diabolical
assembly of the pope, where the fire of wordly love has been
kindled, and where the pope's household is to warm itself;
for the divine love is utterly extinguished in them. Let this
suffice of the spiritual offerings. We come now to :
And being wmned of God in a dream that they should not
return to Herod, they departed into their omn country another
way.
337. This is the outcome and end, namely, that we are to
shun human teaching, and are not to relapse into it, when we
have once been redeemed therefrom ; just as the wise men,
having once been freed from Herod, do not return to him. Thus
I also say that we are to shun the pope's and all Papists' law
and teaching, if we do not wish to incur God's displeasure and
hazard our soul's salvation, since we have already experienced
the true evangelical truth. For their teaching brings us away
from God and makes us follow our own reason and work.
Thereby God's work is hindered, who should and would give
us and work in us all things, and who desires us also to ex-
pect that of him.
338. Human teaching, however, leads us so that we just
begin all works, desire to be the first ones to seek God, and
that we then expect God to come afterwhile and to look at
what we have begun. Let me give you this for an example:
Those that seem to be the best teachers of young people say
EPIPHANY. 453
to them that they are wiUing to pray and to go to church,
to Hve ichaste, and to be pious ; however, they do not tell them
where they are to begin and to seek all this; just as it were
enough that they had instructed them to be pious. Again,
when after this they are to marry or to enter orders, they
think it is enough that they themselves have begun, they do
not look at God, neither do they consult him about it; but,
when they have begun, then they want God to come, to see
what they have made and to be satisfied with it.
339. Yes, the young people are educated so that a girl is
ashamed to ask God for a young man, and a young man to
ask God for a girl ; they consider it foolish to ask God for a
such a thing, they want to do it themselves. Ought not a girl
to be taught with all earnestness to come to God and to say
with all confidence : See, dear God, I have become old enough
to marry, be thou my Father and let me be thy child, give me
a pious young man, and graciously help me to enter the estate
of matrimony, or, if it pleases thee, give me a spirit to remain
chaste. Thus also a young man is to ask for a girl, and is to
begin nothing himself, but is to ask God that he may begin
and to lay the first stone. These would be true children of
God indeed, who begin nothing but consult God about it, no
matter how insignificant it may be. Thus Christ would re-
main our king, and all our works would be his works and
would be done well. But human teachings do not allow this,
they act as if there is no God, and as if they would have to do
whatever is to be done well. Behold, from these examples
you can learn, how all human teaching is seductive and against
God.
340. There are, however, three ways in which human
teaching can be avoided: first, that it is avoided by the con-
science only and not by the deed. For instance, when I con-
fess, pray, and fast acording to the pope's canon, not as if it
were necessary for us to do so, or as if it were sin, if I were
not to do it; but when I do it willingly, of my own accord,
not compelled by necessity, when I can leave it undone, if I
wish so. Here the deed is under human teaching, but the con-
454 LUTHKR^S CHURCH POSTIL.
science is free, it considers the doing no more nor no less
than the not doing, it does not think it a sin to neglect it, nor
a good work to do it; for it is not obedient but docs it of its
own accord. This is the best way.
841. Thus the wise men are still in Herod's land, they
also travel under his rule, but they do not regard him, do not
come to him, and are not obedient to him. He, therefore,
who now also is under the pope, and who observes his law,
not for the sake of obedience, but of his own accord, how, when,
where, and as long as he pleases, he, I say, suffers no harm.
This understanding, however, is above the average mind and is
found with but few people, and as it was given to the wise
men secretly in their sleep, so we experience it only in our
heart through God's Spirit ; it can not be given to anyone with
a heart from without, if the heart itself does not receive it from
heaven.
342. The second way is that human teaching is avoided
by the conscience as well as by deeds, as those do who trample
it under foot and only do the contrary with a glad secure con-
science. And this way is the most necessary and best for weak
consciences that they may J^e liberated and made strong, per-
fect, and free, as the foregoing. This can not be very readily
accomplished with words and conscience alone, if ;'ou do not
show the contrary by examples ; just as Christ did, who allowed
his disciples, contrary to the law of the Pharisees, to neglect
to wash their hands. Thus it were good, if we would neglect
the prescribed confession, prayer, and fasting for a certain
time and show by examples that the pope's laws are foolery
and deception, and if we would at another time do all this of
our own accord.
343. The third way Is that it is avoided by the deed alone
and not by the conscience, as those do who boldly neglect
human teaching and still believe that they do wrong in not
observing it. And alas, such a conscience is ever to be found
among the common people. For their sake St. Paul calls these
times grievous times, 2 Tim. 3, 1. For such consciences sin
continually whether they observe or do not observe, and the
pope with his law is the murderer of their souls and the cause
ßPIPHANY. 455
of such danger and sin. If they observe, they do it against
faith, which is to be free from all human teaching. If they
do not observe, they do it against their conscience which be-
lieves that it must be observed. It is necessary that these are
well instructed in the free Christian faith, and that they put
aside this false conscience, or^ if they are not able to do this,
that we bear their infirmities for a time as St. Paul teaches,
Rom. 15, 1, and that we suffer them to follow and observe
such a conscience together with faith, till they also have be-
come large and strong.
344. Behold, this is the other way to depart into one's
own country and not to return to Herod. For generally,
when people begin to be pious, they do it through human
teaching and outward holiness, but we must abandon this
and come to pure faith and not suffer ourselves again to fall
from faith into works. Thus we surely come into our father-
land, from which we have come, that is, to God, by whom we
have been created. The end thus comes together with the be-
ginning as in a golden ring. God grant this through Christ,
our king and priest, who be blessed to all eternity.*
* This sermon closes that part of the Postil which Luther edited
in 1522. Therefore we find the following words at the end of this
part: "Here we will tarry for a while that this book may not be-
come too large and that the reader may not be wearied. I hope
though that in the twelve Epistles and Gospels the Christian life
has fully been pictured, that a Christian has been instructed enough
in what is necessary for salvation. Oh, would to God, that my
interpretation and that of all teachers perish and that every Chris-
tian himself would read only the Scriptures and the pure Word
of God. You can see for yourself from your sermons how incom-
parably better the Word of God is than the word of any man and
how no man with all his w^ords is able sufficiently to expound and
interpret a single Word of God. It is an infinite Word whch must
be comprehended and contemplated with a still spirit, as we read
in the 84th Psalm: I will hear what God himself says in me. And
no one but such a still contemplating spirit is able to comprehend
it. For him w^ho could attain this without glasses and interpre-
tations, my glasses and those of other men would be unnecessary,
yes, would be but a hindrance. Therefore into the Scriptures, into
the Scriptures, dear Christians, and let my interpretation and that
of other teachers be but a scaffold for the true structure that we
may comprehend and taste the pure unadulterated Word of God
and remain there. For there alone God lives in Zion. Amen."
|KE,AD LUTHER! I
«je J,
I The Faith of the Fathers in the Language of the Children! *
+ "The Stondard Edition of Luther's Works in English,** edited by f
♦ J. N. Lenker, D. D., in connection with leading scholars of all T
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♦ troduction. Beautifully and substantially bound in uniform size +
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+ the prophet of our own times. It is marvelous how he treats the problems of today. 4*
♦ The monk who once shook the world needs but the opportunity to shake it again, the 4*
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I Commentary on the first Twenty-two Psalms ♦
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«|i This is one of Luther*S best works, it ought to find its way into the libraries of ^
41 all Lutheran pastors and intelligent laymen.— Luther himself wrote: "There is no 4.
41 book of the Bible in which I have been so much exercised as in the Psalms." This is 4>
41 recommendation enough. Luther, however, needs no recommendation. The high- 1^
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t Commentary on Genesis *
^ Vol. I. The Creation. 448 pp. Revised, enlarged, parts retrans- %
4» lated and edited in complete form by J. N. Lenker, D. D 2.25 4»
+ As his "Commentary on the Psalms" was the great work of Luther's early lifo, so his «^
â–¼ "Commentary on Genesis''' was the great work of the last ten years of his life, being, J
â–¼ as it has been called, his Swan Song, or his "It is Finished." Kirchner says: "In this v
T book theologians must go to school and no one will ever graduate in it" y
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% Church Postil, Trinity Gospels %
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Libracy Bureau Cat. No. 1137
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Luther, Martin
The precious and sacred writings of Mart
BR 330 . E5 1903 10
Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.
The precious and saci^ed
writings of Martin Luther