John 18

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John 18:1

[[Luther published three sermons for John 14:23-31. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 23-25; the second in verses 26-28; and the last in verses 29 (Parts I-III) and 30-31 (Parts IV-V).]]

V.23. “And we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

IV. FURTHER ILLUSTRATION OF THIS PROMISE.

40 This will be a really glorious and new Pentecost and an excellent manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit; a heavenly assembly or council for the hearts which are enlightened and aflame with love to Christ through the Holy Spirit, wherein the love of Christ and the Father shines and beams upon them. God and man will cleave unto each other as friends, for the Holy Spirit himself prepares the heart of man and consecrates it as a holy house and dwelling, a temple and dwelling-place of God. What a glorious, noble, loving and precious guest and house-companion does man receive — God the Father and the Son and certainly with them also the Holy Spirit!

41 Great glory and grace is this for men, that they are accounted worthy of being such an honored dwelling, castle, hall, yes, Paradise and kingdom of heaven, in which God dwells upon earth — they who are such poor, dejected, timid hearts, who feel nothing but sin and death, and who fear and tremble at the wrath of God, thinking that God is farthest from them and the devil nearest. Yet, these are the people to whom such things are promised, and they may freely comfort themselves with the thought that they are the true house of God and the true Church, not anointed with the foul oil of the consecrating bishop, but consecrated by the Holy Spirit himself, where God desires to rest and remain. The prophet Isaiah says concerning these, in chapter 66:1-2, directing his words against those who were proud and puffed up in the thought of their own holiness and divine service: “What manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest? For all these things hath my hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith Jehovah: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my Word.”

42 And where else should God dwell? He finds no other habitation upon earth. Those self-constituted saints in their own estimation excellent, high and great, are much too proud, much too high, wise, prudent and holy. They have passed up through and far beyond heaven, so that they could not be his habitation upon earth, although they boast of themselves as being the only church and people of God. So also God is far too great and holy to dwell with such proud, ambitious saints as these, who, like the devil, their idol, wish to be equal with God and boast before him of their own holiness. Though they appear in all the pomp and glory and ornament of their fine self-made holiness, yet he does not do them the honor to look at them. He is found, however, in the humble cots of such as are poor and despised, who fear and believe the Word of Christ and would gladly be Christians, but who feel themselves to be very unholy and unworthy sinners.

43 This is, certainly, a sublime, beautiful promise, and, as St. Peter (Peter 1:4) says, one of the precious and exceeding great promises granted unto us poor, miserable sinners, that we through them should become partakers of the divine nature, and should be so highly honored as not only to be loved of God through Christ Jesus and to enjoy his favor and grace — as the highest, the most precious and sacred thing — but should even have the Lord himself dwelling completely in us. For it shall not, he would say, be love — simply that he turns his wrath from us and shows a gracious, fatherly heart toward us — but we are also to enjoy that love; otherwise, his love to us would be vain and useless, as says the proverb: To love and not to enjoy etc. We are to find great benefit and treasure in his love, which shall be assured to us in its manifestation of deeds and gifts.

44 These are the two things which Christians receive from God, namely, grace and gift, as St. Paul distinguishes them in Romans 5:15. Grace takes away sin, secures comfort and peace for the conscience, and places man in the kingdom of divine mercy; the kingdom of loving-kindness, as it is called in Psalms 117:2: “For his loving-kindness is great toward us, and the truth of Jehovah endureth for ever.” But the gift or grant is this, that the Holy Spirit inspires new thoughts and creates a new mind and heart in man and grants him comfort, strength and life.

45 That is what he means here when he says: “We will make our abode with him.” The effect of God’s grace and love must be that it makes the heart of man a throne and seat of the divine majesty, better and nobler than heaven or earth; as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:17: “The temple of God is holy, and such are ye;” likewise in 2 Corinthians 6:17: “We are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.”

These things are accomplished in this way: In addition to the grace by which a man begins to believe and to hold fast to the Word, God also rules in man through his divine power and agency, so that he constantly grows more and more enlightened, becomes richer and stronger in spiritual understanding and wisdom, and better fitted to understand all matters of doctrine and practice. He furthermore makes daily progress in life and good works, becomes eventually a kind, gentle, patient man, ready to serve everyone with doctrine, advice, comfort and gifts; is useful to God and man; through him and because of him men and countries receive benefit; in short he is a man through whom God speaks, in whom he lives and works, and such a man’s words, life and doings are God’s. His tongue is God’s tongue, his hand is God’s hand, and his word is no more the word of man, but God’s Word.

46 His doctrine and confession as a Christian are not of men, but of Christ, whose Word he has and holds. So also the office of a Christian which he exercises is not of man’s ability, but of God’s. He holds it by the command, authority and power of God; it is granted of God through the Holy Spirit, as St. Peter says. In all things, then, he does only good, even as he has received every good from God; and outwardly, also, his body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19. A Christian, good and true, brings forth only good fruit — does good and profitable works — resisting and avoiding evil.

47 Observe now, what a worthy being the man is who is a Christian, or who, as Christ says, keeps Christ’s Word. A wonderful man, indeed, is he upon earth, who is of more value in the eyes of God than heaven and earth; yea, he is a light and Savior of the whole world, in whom God is all in all, and who in God is able to do all things. But to the world he is hidden; he is unknown. Moreover, the world does not deserve to know Christians. It holds them as its doormats, yea, like St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:13: “As the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things,” because of whom the earth and inhabitants are cursed and must perish, and who, the sooner the better, should be executed, as a service to God and as purification of the world.

48 Oh, what mockery must it have been to the ears of the Jewish saints and priests and Pharisees when they heard the words that declare how God will make his habitation only with those who hear the words of this man! They were only a little handful of timid, poor, despised people. As if God did not have a better and more glorious habitation, becoming his majesty, in the saints and superior persons who were the bright lights and the eminent ones among God’s people, in the holy city of Jerusalem! And the glorious temple and divine worship — did not the Scriptures and the prophets themselves call them the holy city and dwelling-place of God, the chosen place where God would rest, Psalms 132:14, and that forever? Of this they boasted very haughtily, and claimed that their kingdom, their priesthood and divine worship, should never fail.

49 But here Christ ignores all these things as if he were totally indifferent to them, and utters the remarkable saying that the place of his own and his Father’s abode — their habitation and their Church — is where a Christian is found, who keeps Christ’s Word. Thus he discards the old habitation of Judaism and the temple of Jerusamlem, and builds a new, holy, glorious Church and house of God, which is not Jerusalem or Judaism, but is spread abroad throughout the whole world, without distinction of person, place or custom. Jews, Gentiles, priests or laymen — it matters not. This house of God is not of stone or wood, made by the hand of man, but newly created of God himself, namely a people that loves Christ and keeps his Word.

50 It is true that up to this time God was still the master of the house among the Jewish people; he had his hearth and fire there, as he says in Isaiah 31:9, but this was for the sake of his Word, proclaimed through the prophets, which was still there and which was always believed in by a few, and for the sake of the true Church of God, the land and the city were preserved. But now, since Christ himself has come, and the people do not want to hear his Word, but they persecute his apostles and the Christians and drive them out of the land, until no Christian can remain there — now the temple, the city and the land of Judaism must be desolated and ruined, the priesthood forever rejected, never again to be restored. For Moses and the prophets had before declared unto them that if they did not keep his Word they should no longer be nor be called his people, and this city and temple should no more be his city and temple. Deuteronomy 32:21; Hosea 1:9.

51 Here, now, you have the definition and the answer to the muchdisputed question as to what the Church really is and whence is its power. We rightly and in truth say that it is ruled by the Holy Spirit. Christ says that the Father and the Son dwell with it, and what it says and does is said and done through them; everyone at the risk of his salvation is bound to hear the Church. So far are we agreed, as the basis of this and other promises, that there is a people upon earth which is called God’s people, where he desires to be master in his house, prince in his castle, God in his Church; a people so precious and highly esteemed before God that he did not deem his very heaven above so great as to keep him from coming to his Church in this vale of sorrow and remaining with it until the end of the world. He would not have man to gaze up in vain and seek his Church in Paradise. He would have him find it here until the other life begins.

52 There is, therefore, no dispute as to whether or not there is a Church upon earth to which we owe allegiance. She is, as it were, the sovereign or queen through whom God speaks and works. But the disputed question is, who and what is the Church? To decide this question and to discover the one rightful Church, one must not, says St. Augustine, judge according to men’s words and opinions. We become sure of the case when we hear how Christ the Lord, himself, portrays it in his Word.

Now, he designates it as the little company that believes in Christ and keeps his Word, for thereby one knows and feels such love. The Word, which is called the Word of Christ, must be the rule and touchstone by which the Church is to be discerned and by which it must govern itself. There must be a certain rule by which the Church shall measure its conduct. It will not do for individuals to formulate their own ideas of conduct, act accordingly and then say that the Church is led by the Holy Spirit.

53 Therefore, Christ binds the Church to his Word and makes that the distinguishing mark by which must be measured the teaching, the preaching, the rule of conduct Is all done out of the love of Christ? Where you find conformity to the Word in these things, there you have discovered the right Church, and you are in duty bound to obey it. You certainly have warrant for concluding that God dwells therein and speaks and acts through that Church.

54 St. Peter lays down this rule, as we have heard above in his epistle, where he says in 1 Peter 4:11: “If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth.” That is, whatever a member of this household shall do or say, let him see that he does and speaks that which is God’s work and Word; otherwise, let him abstain from doing and speaking. Let him rule in his own house if he cannot measure his conduct by the rule of God’s house. Without this house, the world has its own word and work. Lords, emperors, princes, heads of families, each rules in his own dominion. In a rightly ordered household all things are guided by the will of the master of the house.

Although the servants may in other things play the knave and be wicked, yet the master’s bidding must be done, and things are ordered as he commands, So, in this house where God is Lord and ruler, it is his desire to be supreme, to be in all things implicitly obeyed. Only his commands are to be regarded and his work executed. It is his intent that everyone may know his will and in certainty rely upon it.

55 This is the beautiful promise concerning the superabundant glory of Christians, namely, that God troubles himself so deeply for their sakes and comes so near to them; he does not manifest himself anywhere except in them and through their word and conduct. Thus God greatly distinguishes them from all other people. One single Christian, however lowly he may be, receives distinction and is more highly honored of God than all kings, emperors, princes and the whole world combined; for they have nothing of such reputation and honor. Moses says in Deuteronomy 4:7: “For what nation is there that hath a God so nigh unto them, as Jehovah our God is whensoever we call upon him?” There is reason, then, to look with favor upon the Word of the Gospel. We have every encouragement to cling boldly to it and for its sake leave everything in the world.

56 But we must remember, as I have said, that among Christians upon earth there is still weakness in the things of the Word and faith. Christians well have need to cry to God and pray for the help and strength of the Holy Spirit. A beginning has been made in Christ’s kingdom. Christians are indeed called and made the habitation of God, and in them God speaks and rules and works. But the work is not yet complete; it is an edifice on which God yet works daily and makes arrangement. It shall be completely prepared and perfected in his own good day. Wherefore, Christ here does not say, We shall find our abode prepared with him, but, “We shall make our abode with him.”

57 Christ brings with him all kinds of spiritual material that may be necessary for building, ornamenting and completing the dwelling. The Word and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are materials with which he builds. Though the dwelling is not altogether completed, yet through his grace and love it is accepted of God. Then the Christian becomes his house, and, through the operation of the Word and the Holy Spirit, is constantly being prepared and improved, growing stronger in knowledge, wisdom, faith, gifts and virtues. That which remains of the old birth, still rough and uncouth, is being hewn off, or mortified, through the cross, through temptation and suffering and there is constant progress in grace and in the work of the Holy Spirit.

58 Therefore, no one should despise a brother Christian nor despair concerning himself when he sees in another or feels within himself great weakness, enticement, inclination to unbelief, impatience etc., although at times he may even err and stumble, as did Peter when he denied Christ and was for that reason forsaken of God and rejected as a worthless instrument; but the Christian should again raise himself up through repentance and faith in the Word, and should comfort himself with the thought that he is of the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of grace, which is far mightier, than sin. Romans 5:20. The Holy Spirit is given, not only as a means of imparting courage and strength, but also to comfort the stumbling one in weakness, and to make of him the habitation of God, in which God’s love, which covers up such infirmities and imputes it not, constantly abides.

59 Accordingly, as the prophet Zechariah, in beautiful words, in chapter 12:10, says, the spirit of grace and of supplication is poured out in the kingdom of Christ. This is the Holy Spirit, who together with the Father and the Son, lives in believers, speaks and works through them, and gives them comfort and the power to remain steadfast against sin, death and the devil’s power. This he does not through a mere demonstration of his almighty power; but, in their consciousness of sin and unworthiness, he bears with them, and shelters and comforts them with grace and forgiveness in Christ. Being conscious of great weakness in this conflict, they are moved by him to pray and cry for help and strength; thus, the Spirit, through such praying and crying, conquers in them. These things St. Paul declares concerning the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:16 and 26: “The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God;” and: “The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity and maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

60 Great saints often lament that they do not have enough comfort, joy and strength; they find that, in this state, they must comfort themselves with grace and sustain themselves through prayer and endeavor. St. Paul, himself, in many places complains of his weakness, as in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, where he says that there was given him, through the messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh, which so pierced and tortured him that he could not feel the Spirit’s strength and power, and in anguish he besought the Lord three times that it might be taken from him. But he was told: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” His crying and prayers were indeed heard, yet he was not relieved of his weakness. The spirit of grace within him, however, comforted and sustained him in the conflict so that he should not sink under it to him was given the assurance: My power is made perfect, or overcomes, in the weak.

V.24. “He that loveth me not keepeth not my words.”

V. CHRIST ADDS A DECISION TO THIS PROMISE.

61 There you have a short, vigorous decision, Whoever would be a Christian must love. To love means, cheerfully and willingly to keep God’s Word. Either do this or nothing. We must sincerely desire and love Christ, or else abandon him altogether. For he that seeks his own in Christ, and does not sufficiently love him to be willing for his sake to sacrifice his own honor and reputation and righteousness, and to abandon everything earthly, is of no value to Christ’s kingdom. It is not given to all to be Christians, though they may indeed boast of themselves in this respect.

St. Paul says, 2 Thessalonians 3:2: “For all men have not faith;” for they have not yet known nor tasted his grace and love. Hence, they cannot love him nor obey the injunction of his Word, that they should be willing to risk or to leave anything for its sake.

62 From this decision now follows the opposite phase of the question. Christ speaks of the alternative course and its consequences. In words short and concise, he declares that whoever does not keep his Word, certainly does not believe in him; furthermore, he dare not presume upon any love from God, but is already disunited from the kingdom of grace, and continues under everlasting wrath and judgment. John 3:36 says: “He that obeyeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

63 Such souls must suffer the loss of all things. They cannot be God’s habitation, nor have the Holy Spirit; they are not deserving of the grace that God should speak and work through them. Since they despise God’s Word, God also despises them, and they are thus left without protection from the devil, who drives them about according to his will. ‘In his wicked power, they can neither will nor do God’s pleasure, but, as St. Paul says in Titus 1:16, are “unto every good work reprobate.” They can only bring harm and misfortune into Christendom. It avails not how much they may claim for themselves in respect of holiness, divine service, good works etc., nor that they imagine themselves nearest and dearest to God.

Although they may otherwise be superior and highly endowed with wisdom, understanding etc., yet they have not the grace to effect anything good and pleasing to God or worthy of his blessing. All their attempts to work righteousness will be productive of evil. Psalms 109:7, says: “Let his prayer be turned unto sin” etc. On the other hand, in the kingdom of Christ, although those who love him have some sins and weaknesses remaining, yet these very things shall be made to prove helpful, and all things must work together for the good of these, his children. Again Psalms 37:24 says: “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for Jehovah upholdeth him with his hand.”

64 Among the Jews, in Christ’s time, the most prominent class comprised such unhappy people. They were esteemed as most holy and wise, and made claims to be God’s people above all others. Afterwards, in the Church there were heretics, schismatics and false brethren, who likewise professed great spirituality, love of truth and holiness, and yet through them the devil introduced misery and ruin.

Such too, only worse in degree, is, at the present time, the whole rabble of popedom. They not only knowingly despise utterly God’s Word, but also without any compunction whatever, persecute its heralds and oppose its preaching. They are people completely possessed of the devil, and in whom neither God, Christ nor the Holy Spirit can dwell. Their lives are openly of such a character that they are nothing but scandals and stains of shame in Christendom, as testifies the epistle of Jude (verse 13). Yet they desire forcibly to silence those who have the name and honor of the Church.

65 That they are not the Church of Christ needs no further proof. It follows clearly enough from this saying of Christ that whoever does not love him does not keep his Word; whoever does not keep his Word, is no member of his Church, and has no part in his kingdom, as stated. That they do not keep Christ’s Word nor love Christ is itself testimony against them, crying unto heaven. They continue in this evil until the present day, so blinded as not to heave one sigh of Christian repentance for the error and abomination of which they are convicted, and of which they must be conscious, and by which they have led so many souls into ruin. Nor are they at all anxious that for the future God’s Word might be rightly preached and that poor souls find help. On the contrary they resist with might and main and would rather see the country and its people, yea, the whole world, drenched in blood than that they should correct even one of their errors. From all this it may be seen how completely they are in the power of the devil, and that God’s wrath must eventually reach them.

66 Christians are set apart from all other people upon earth, not by certain outward signs or certain works which all non-Christians and hypocrites may likewise do, but only by this, that they love Christ and keep his Word. Therein faith and love to Christ are made manifest. Those who do not love Christ and keep his Word, and do not desire to, thus separate and cast themselves out. Love to Christ, as has been said, cannot remain secret and hidden, but it must manifest itself in word and deed. So, likewise, must unbelievers manifest themselves. Notice that it is not enough to hear the Word; it must be kept; that is, one must bear witness before all the world in deed and in confession, and must stand by the faith, even though it should mean the loss of everything on account of it. One’s sincerity or hypocrisy will surely reveal itself.

67 Now it should be plain why Christ, at the beginning, said that he would manifest himself, not unto the world, but unto those who love him. The world has no inclination to accept Christ in the character he has shown himself on the cross and in his unattractive earthly form. He does not bring the things it desires — worldly power, honor and riches, and praise and approval of its own wisdom, its holiness etc. It is completely sunk and submerged in lust and love of riches. Wherever it does not find these things, there it perceives nothing further, and will not be attracted. On the contrary, it retreats lest it be robbed of its earthly treasures. Especially does it repel the suggestion that worldly reputation and honor, temporal wisdom, virtues and holiness should be denounced and reduced to sin and shame before God.

68 Therefore, the kingdom of Christ must remain hidden to the world and the Gospel be concealed; the world’s heart must be blinded by the devil. People of the world can know neither Christ nor the Father, and he can make no abode with them, that they might experience some comfort from his Word and some power from his work. So the Gospel and the knowledge of Christ certainly remain a revelation, and, as St. Paul says in Romans 16:25 and 1 Corinthians 2:7 — a mystery, a hidden, secret thing. Not that it has not been declared publicly enough to all the world and clearly brought to the light, but the world despises it, and deems it foolishness and an offense compared with its own wisdom. Hence, it is believed only by a few simple people, who are not offended at the unattractive figure of the cross of Christ, hidden under which are comfort, strength, victory, life and salvation, treasures which are theirs through faith.

The others do not deserve to know about this Gospel, for they do not desire it. Christ says in Matthew 11:25: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes.”

V.24. “And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.”

69 Here, you see, he speaks of the oral Word, which they heard of him; and he so magnifies it that whoever despises and rejects it, has not despised the man who utters it but the divine majesty. Again, he comforts those who keep his Word with the assurance that thereby they are doing the will of God the Father. He does not want to let the matter rest with himself alone, but, as said, he wishes to draw us upward through himself to the Father. This he does everywhere in the Gospel of St. John, to shield us against great and dangerous temptation, wherein the devil is a master. It is in pious, suffering hearts that the devil labors most, that he may separate Christ from the Father. It is his intention that one who hears Christ’s Word may yet, in thought, undertake to find the will and heart of God outside of Christ.

70 For the devil is content if one holds only to the man Christ and goes no further; yes, he is also willing that the word that Christ is truly God should be preached and heard. But what he opposes is, that the heart should unite Christ and the Father so intimately and inseparably as to be convinced that the Word of Christ and the Word of the Father are altogether the same Word and heart and will. Uninstructed hearts think- Yes, I, indeed hear how Christ in friendliness comforts troubled consciences, but who knows how I stand before God in heaven? This is not believing God and Christ as one, but it is making for one’s self another Christ and another God. It is missing the true God, who would be found nowhere except in this Christ. Christ says concerning this, to Philip, in John 14:9: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”

So, also, Christ says in John 7:16: “My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me.” That is precisely what he says here: What you hear from me is assuredly my Father’s Word and will, and you need not search any further, nor be anxious, as though God were angry with you or had evil thoughts toward you; but you are to be positive that God is gracious and favorable toward you, for he has sent me from heaven to declare this unto you.

71 Therefore, beware, by all means, of other thoughts or suggestions that may move you to doubt this, or that may direct you to look for another revelation of God’s will concerning you, aside from this Christ. In such search you must surely fail, yes, even meet with harm and destruction, if you think of finding the divine majesty elsewhere. Or you may be deceived by the devil, who, instead of God, offers his own phantom. For he possesses the art of representing himself in the majesty of God, even as he did before Christ, inducing souls to worship and obey him. If this scheme fails, he confuses his victim with all manner of thoughts and imaginations, in an attempt to tear him away from this Christ. Against this, a Christian needs to be fortified, and skilled in wisdom; he must learn to bind his heart and his thoughts alone to the Word of Christ, that he may not wish to know or hear any other God than him. This I have elsewhere treated at length.

THE OTHER PART OF THIS GOSPEL.IV. THE FOURTH PROMISE: HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS.

V.25, 26. “These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you. But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.”

72 These, now, are closing words which Christ speaks to his disciples — a conclusion to his sermon, his utterances of comfort. He wishes to part from them; he thus takes his leave and directs them to further future comfort, when the Holy Spirit shall be given them, who shall teach them to understand all these things and to experience this comfort in very deed. As if he would herewith say: So far I have been with you, and have done for you what I should and could do. I have given you my Word, and have comforted you by word of mouth, to which you are to hold when I depart from you. It is true that the comfort of the words which I have spoken is indeed great and sublime; but while I am still with you, you do not take them to heart that you experience their sweetness and power. They remain only as the Word that I speak to you, and are as yet nothing more.

73 But they are not to continue simply as my words and speech, but are also to become a part of your own experience; not a mere empty sound or echo, but a living comfort in your hearts. This however cannot be so long as I am with you, for ye now possess only the bodily and physical comfort of my presence; therefore, I must be taken from you, in order that this comfort may become effective in you and that the Holy Spirit may teach you these things. When ye have lost me and are left alone in danger, need and fear, then, for the first time, ye will realize the need of comfort and of praying for it. Then will the Holy Spirit find you to be really teachable pupils. He will prove to be your helper and reminder. Through his aid you may perceive to what end I said these things. Then shall your hearts experience the comfort and power of the fact that I manifest myself and the Father unto you, and so abide in you that others may also learn of this comfort through your word.

74 And note well this text, how Christ here binds the Holy Spirit to his Word, and fixes his limit and measure, so that the Spirit may not go further than his Word. Everything which I have said he shall remind you of, publishing it further through you. Thereby he shows that in the future nothing else shall be taught through the Holy Spirit in all Christendom than what the apostles had heard from Christ, but which they did not yet understand, until the Holy Spirit had taught them. So the teaching may always proceed from the mouth of Christ, then be transmitted from one mouth to another, and yet always remain the Word of Christ. The Holy Spirit is thus the school-master who teaches these things and brings them to remembrance.

75 Secondly, it is shown here that this Word precedes or must be spoken beforehand, and that afterwards the Holy Spirit works through the Word. One must not reverse the order and dream of a Holy Spirit who works without the Word and before the Word, but one who comes with and through the Word and goes no farther than the Word goes.

76 Thirdly, the example of the apostles show how Christ rules his Church in her weakness; the Holy Spirit does not dwell in Christians at all times, nor so soon as they have heard the Word does he come with such power and effectiveness as to enable them to believe it all and rightly to understand and grasp it. And in our case there is a great difference between hearing the Word and feeling in it the power and effect of the Holy Spirit. For although the apostles are so far advanced — the Holy Spirit working so much in them — as to hear Christ’s Word willingly and to have begun to believe, yet even they can not take these words of comfort to heart until the Holy Spirit teaches them after the departure of Christ.

77 So it is at present. We hear God’s Word, which is in fact the preaching of the Holy Spirit, who is at all times present with it, but it does not always at once reach the heart and be accepted by faith; yea, in the case of those who are moved by the Holy Spirit and gladly receive the Word, it does not at once bear fruit. One may not, indeed, for a long time feel that he has been made any better or comforted and strengthened, especially where as yet he has experienced no fear and danger, but only peace and rest. This was the case with the apostles before Christ was taken from them; they thought of nothing more than of preserving bodily comfort. Therefore, it must, in our case, come to this: In need and danger we look about and sigh for comfort; then the Holy Spirit can perform his office of teaching the heart arm bringing to its remembrance the Word preached.

78 It is then profitable always to hear the Word and to train one’s self there with, even if it does not at once reach the mark, in order that in time of need the heart may recall what it has heard, and may begin rightly to understand it, and to feel its power and comfort. As an illustration, the embers that have lain under the ashes for a time will burn again and kindle if one stir and blow upon them. One should, therefore, not look upon the Word as ineffective or as having been preached in vain, nor seek for another because its fruit is not at once apparent.

79 It is not worth while here to answer the papists, who, in this text “He shall teach you all things” etc., want to find support for their figment and so foolishly say that Christ has not taught the apostles all that they needed to know, but has left and reserved much for the Holy Spirit to teach them. Such drivel is sufficiently destroyed by the text itself, which declares in clear, plain words: “The Holy Spirit shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.” So, also, before this, he directed them everywhere to his Word alone, as he says: “If a man love me, he will keep my Word.” Likewise, in John 16:14, he says concerning the Holy Spirit: “He shall not speak from himself but he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you.”

80 But it is a sin and a shame to hear and suffer such pretension in Christendom as this, that the Holy Spirit should teach — I will not say something adverse only, such as the pope, as the live Antichrist, with the open abominations of his doctrine, teaches, things directly against Christ, namely, those things which the pope urges most as merit of personal work, the offering of the mass, denial of the cup, celibacy, calling upon departed saints, lies of purgatory and fictitious power — but that he should teach something different and better than Christ the Son of God has taught, who himself is the teacher, sent from heaven for that purpose. Or that Christ should have omitted something more needful, which it was necessary to reveal and teach by means of the councils. Excepting the first councils, wherein the Scriptures established against the heretics the one doctrine concerning the deity of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, the councils dealt only with the lesser matters of doctrine, which pertain merely to things of human arrangement and ordinances, for which the Holy Spirit’s power is not needed, either to promise or to give anything. Ah! he has much higher things to teach and to reveal, things concerning which human councils can neither order nor establish anything: how one may escape God’s wrath, conquer sin and death, trample the devil under foot. Christ alone teaches these things and he says that whoever would accomplish them must keep his Word.

81 If these perverted, shameful glosses of the papists were not otherwise faulty, one should condemn and curse them as the devil’s poison and lies because they tear hearts from the Word of Christ. If one thinks Christ has not taught everything, then eyes and ears are at once wide open to gaze and listen elsewhere and one thinks: Oh, there must be still something great, not taught by Christ, which the Holy Spirit is still to teach! Oh, if I could but hear and know this, then I should surely be saved!

82 The result of this is harm and mischief: one does not attach importance to the Word of Christ, and when he afterwards hears anything new, he deems it a precious thing and necessary unto salvation. Christ, in order to warn us against everything that is not his Word, as if against the devil’s poison, not only binds the Holy Spirit to his Word, that he should not teach anything else, but he, himself, in his preaching appeals to his Father’s command and says: It is not mine, but my Father’s Word. How, then, can one sanction councils in teaching or ordering some new thing when they can never present any authority for such action? The apostles have the command from Christ and the Holy Spirit that they should teach nothing but the Word of Christ, as they, themselves, testify; hence; councils and all men are in duty bound to abide by the same command and to show that what they teach is the same doctrine.

V.27. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

V. THE FIFTH PROMISE: MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU.

83 This is bidding them a friendly good night. Christ was willing and able to speak with his disciples in the most loving manner. Well, I must away, he says, and cannot speak much more with you, therefore ye have my good night, and let it be well with you. I wish and give you nothing else but peace, that is, that it may be well with you. (For, according to the Hebrew language, “peace” means nothing else than to give and to bestow all good.) That is to be my last farewell. Ye shall suffer no hurt nor want because of my departure. I will richly repay you, for ye shall have from me, in my stead, the best that ye can wish, the peace and good of the fact that in my Father ye have a merciful God, whose thoughts toward you are those of a father’s heart and love. And in me ye shall have a good, faithful Savior, who will do you all good, and not forsake you in any need, will defend and stand by you against the devil, the world and all wickedness, and in addition will give you the Holy Spirit, who shall so rule your hearts that you find in me true comfort, peace and joy.

84 That is what is meant when he says, My peace is given you and left with you. Not as the world gives peace; for it is not able to give such peace and blessing, all its peace and good being not only transient but also uncertain and changing with each hour. The world bases peace and comfort only upon transient things — gold, possessions, power, honor, the friendship of men etc. When these are gone, then peace and confidence and courage are gone. Though it were in the power of the world to give and preserve all these, yet it has not, nor can it have, true eternal peace, so that a heart enjoys God’s favor and is certain of his grace and of everlasting life.

85 But since this is not the world’s peace, the holy cross is laid upon it; then, measured by reason and by our feelings, it means no peace, but distensions, anguish, terror, fear and trembling. Christ says in John 16:33: “In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world;” that is to be your peace. Therefore, ye are not to think that ye will have a kingdom and power and ease in the world, or that men will receive your preaching, since ye do not proclaim and bring to it what it seeks and enjoys. But only hold fast to my Word, then ye shall have peace against the devil and the world. This they shall not take from you with their distensions.

86 Observe, thus Christ has secured and satisfied his Church with peace, a peace that abides in the midst of thorns and briars, that is, of tribulation and temptation. The devil and the world, for the sake of the Word and of confession of Christ, will sting, torture and plague you; so that, as the Word is a Word of grace, love and of the peace of God and Christ toward us, so is it here in the world a Word of wrath and trouble. Therefore, when the heart feels oppressed, in anguish and even terrified and as if a fugitive before God on account of the devil’s suggestion, this peace must be fixed in faith, the heart may inclose and secure itself in the Word of Christ and say: I know, nevertheless, that I have God’s pledge and the witness of the Holy Spirit, that he wants to be my kind Father and is not angry. with me, but assures me of peace and all good through Christ, his Son If he is my friend, then let the devil and the world, so long as they do not want to smile, be angry and rave with their affliction.

V.27. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”

87 This is the real, friendly, personal voice of the faithful Savior; he would gladly write upon the hearts of his Christians that they should have and expect from him nothing else but peace and every good. He well knows how difficult it is to retain this peace and comfort of the heart, and how the devil opposes here; even if a man is courageous and able to despise and overcome the wrath and enmity of all the world, Satan tries to drive him into terror and fear before God. Yes, Christ knows this well — that natural flesh and blood shudders and that no one laughs when it goes ill with him, when all that he has is taken and he is delivered to the hangman; much less when the devil actually seizes the timid heart and mangles it between the spurs, so that it can scarcely get its breath for anguish.

88 But hear ye well, he wishes to say, what I say unto you for the sake of my Father, that he does not want you to be fearful, nor are ye to be concerned about any affliction or fear. Ye are to know that it is only the miserable spirit of lies, the devil, who wishes to make you fearful, and who, under the name and appearance of God, wants to blind and deceive pious hearts. As a devil he does nothing publicly, for he knows that where he is known his cause is already lost. Therefore let not your heart be taken, but be only the stronger and the more undismayed, and this from love and obedience to my Father and myself, but for the confusion and vexation of the devil and the world.

89 If one could believe these words, and could see how they are the words of Christ the Lord, he would surely be comforted, and be able to despise what all hell may do to terrify him. For whom should he fear who knows that Christ, and God through him, together with the Holy Spirit, give him the pledge of grace and peace, and command him to be joyful and without fear? It is only because of our weakness that we are not able here to believe Christ, and that our flesh and blood, feeling their unworthiness, believe the devi1 and his false fears rather than the true and gracious Word, in which God if only we begin to believe on Christ, announces unto us forgiveness of sin and perfect salvation.

V.28. “Ye heard how I said unto you. I go away and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father for the Father is greater than I.”

90 All is intended richly to comfort the disciples and to strengthen them in view of his departure; therefore he speaks very plainly with them, saying: “If ye loved me” etc., and yet he means it beyond measure most kindly, even as the dearest friend would feel toward another. I have told you, says he, and it is true, that I must leave you. Ye do not like to hear this, for ye know that, so long as I am with you, joy is your only portion in me. But, my dear disciples, if ye have heard the one message, then hear the other likewise, and listen to what is said, that I will again come to you with better and greater ‘comfort and joy than ye so far have had in me.

91 Yes, if ye rightly loved me, as ye think, ye should be glad that I now go away from you, for it is in truth to your best interest, and from the heart ye should be pleased, both for your sake and mine, and should not want to see it otherwise. For my departure does not mean that ye will lose me, or that I or ye shall suffer any hurt; but it is alone for your sake that I should enter into my glory, in my Father’s kingdom, and, sitting at the right hand of the Father, should become a mighty Lord over everything in heaven and upon earth, where I can protect and help you against everything that seeks to injure you. This I cannot do now, upon earth, in my humility and littleness, where I have been sent to suffer and die.

92 For what he says — the Father is greater than I — is not said of the personal, divine essence of his own nature nor of his Father’s as the Arians have falsely interpreted this passage, not wishing to see why or whereof Christ so speaks here; but concerning the difference between the kingdom which he shall have with his Father and his service or servile state in which he was before his resurrection. Now I am small, he wishes to say, in my work and station as a servant; as he says in Matthew 20:28: “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” That is making one’s self little, and, as St. Paul says in Philippians 2:8, humbling one’s self, or casting one’s self beneath all things and letting sin, death, devil and world tread upon one. But this littleness shall not continue, he says, for that would be a complete undoing; it shall only be a passageway, the way and means by which I come to the Father, where I shall no longer be little, but great and powerful, as he is, and where I shall rule and reign with him forever.

93 That this is the plain, simple meaning of this text appears from the fact that he is speaking here properly of that which he calls going unto the Father. It is not a change in his person or essence. In that sense we do not say of him that he goeth unto the Father, or that he went forth and was separated from the Father, for he is and remains one with the Father, in one divine essence, without beginning or end, to eternity; he dare not ascend higher nor grow greater. But he is speaking concerning the change of office, from his state of service to that of glory and eternal dominion.

94 Therefore, what is said here about going to the Father and about the Father’s being greater, means nothing else than the glorification of Christ, and is said that it may appear what and who he is; not what he in his person should or could be, for that he was already and from eternity, though it was not yet revealed and could not be known, since he was still in the servile, suffering, dying state. The Father was greater than he; not according to the essence of the two persons, by which God is Father and Christ is the Son, but according to dominion and glory. As the schools state it: not by the first act but by the second etc.

95 Therefore, he says, ye should much prefer to see me lay aside this little, humble state and this form of a servant and enter into my own dominion in the character of ruler, which I have enjoyed with my Father from eternity. For this present state upon which I entered through my incarnation of the virgin, necessitates suffering and abasement; but there I shall enjoy supreme authority, with all things under my feet.

96 Now this was said not alone to the disciples, but also to all Christians; for the experience of the apostles is that of Christendom at all times. Christians find themselves in fear and anguish, without comfort and help; with the apostles, such a state would be called a going away of Christ. Such going away grieves in truth; and doubtless the apostles were sorely hurt; they fell into such despair that they all denied Christ and were scattered. This is the hour of deep mourning, when laughter and joy are precious, and there is nothing but need and misery. Here, says Christ, we should rejoice and be glad. Yes, if any one could do it.

Flesh and blood, of course. cannot. St. Paul confesses in 2 Corinthians 7:5, that in the flesh he had no rest even though he rejoiced in spirit and in faith and boasted o/f tribulation and of his weakness. And Christ himself says concerning this, in Matthew 26:41: “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The flesh cannot judge nor think otherwise than it feels, and it prefers not to feel, but to get rid of all that oppresses and torments it.

97 If you would learn the art of dominating your feelings and living above them, you must listen, and hear and grasp the word which Christ utters: Dear Christians, do believe me, it will not be to your injury, but for your good. My departure does not mean that ye will be forsaken by me, but that I, through this going away, shall conquer, and that ye may experience my power and might as I, seated at the right hand of the Father, rule over your sin and over your enemies, the devil, death and hell; then none of these shall touch you by a hair’s breadth, except at my will, and shall not hurt you, but rather serve and benefit you.

Therefore, do heed my Word above your feelings. If I have told you the truth, saying that I shall go away, which ye shall now be able to prove, so also will I not deceive you in the other matter of my coming again; ye shall be able to say: I did not believe that my Lord Christ would be so near to me and would have helped me in such a wonderful manner; now I could not wish that he had not gone from me.

98 Behold what comfort it is in the hour of greatest need, when Christ seems altogether lost, that one may have the victory if he still holds on to the Word of Christ as to a life saving plank, until he gets out of danger! Thus, he does not sink when the flood of trouble overwhelms horse and wagon. That is what it means, then, to rejoice over the departure of Christ; according to the flesh, altogether a weak and very secret joy. Yet, in so far as faith holds fast to the Word, it is nevertheless joy, until faith overcomes and the experience follows that Christ has not forsaken us, but, seated at the right hand of the Father, protects and helps us out. But none can know this except he experiences it. As the saying is, when the water runs into his mouth, he must learn to swim.

V.29. “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe.”

99 This, of course, is said concerning experience. I, indeed, say it to you now in words, but it does not at all enter into you, nor become effective, as yet. I say it in order that ye may, nevertheless, have a little comfort when ye think of it and recall that I had told you beforehand that thus it must be; when ye have once been helped, your faith will be strengthened and ye may also contend further and overcome.

V.30, 31. “I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me; but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.”

100 Come, then, says he; now we must part. The devil is coming on. He will seize me and think that if he only gets me, then it will be a sorry case with you. As prince and lord of the world, he has destroyed so many that he thinks to continue lord and prince over you. He will also get me between the spurs and undertake to vanquish me. But he shall fail and shall find me to be another than he supposed. With others, he has indeed a claim upon them; he finds them in sin and guilty of eternal death. But in me he has no right of claim and thereby he passes judgment upon himself that, with death and hell, he must lie at my feet, and, moreover, secure nothing from those who are mine.

101 Thus, in the hour of his greatest conflict, he gathers courage and boldness for himself from the strength of his innocence and his advantage over the devil and death, wherein they must meet their ruin by him and forfeit their claim upon those who believe in him and for whose sake he surrenders himself. Thus, by his blood and his death, he takes revenge on the devil for all other blood and death. This blood, which cries for vengeance, is, as the Epistle to the Hebrews says (Hebrews 12:24), far different blood from that of Abel, which cried to God against the murderer. That is a type of this blood which pronounces condemnation upon the devil and death for all the shed blood of his believers since the beginning of the world. Thus Christ seeks, not alone by his divine power, but also by the weakness of his suffering and death, to despoil the devil of his power and dominion over the Christians, so that he must be cast out, as he says in John 12:31, and leave him the prince and captain of salvation.

102 Why, now, does he do and suffer these things? The devil has no claim upon him and he could easily escape him or could vanquish him. But it must be done, says he, that the world may realize that I love the Father and fulfill his commandment. This is the comforting word by which he reveals to us the Father’s will and heart, that we may see all this which he does and suffers for our sakes was so determined by the Father’s good will; that thus he, as the true, faithful mediator, might appease all of the wrath and displeasure of God, and assure our hearts of his fatherly grace and love. For how should God yet be angry with or condemn us, since he has so earnestly commanded his Son to divest himself of all his divine glory and might and, for our sakes, cast them under the feet of the devil and of death? But oh, Christ says, if the world but knew and believed that I do not do this of myself, but out of great love, giving my body and life remains of the old birth, still rough and uncouth, is being out of obedience to my Father! Whoever can believe that, is saved already, rescued from the devil and death.

John 18:2

V.23. “And we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

IV. FURTHER ILLUSTRATION OF THIS PROMISE.

V.24. “He that loveth me not keepeth not my words.”

V. CHRIST ADDS A DECISION TO THIS PROMISE.

V.24. “And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.”

THE OTHER PART OF THIS GOSPEL.IV. THE FOURTH PROMISE: HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS.

V.27. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

V. THE FIFTH PROMISE: MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU.

V.27. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”

V.28. “Ye heard how I said unto you. I go away and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father for the Father is greater than I.”

V.29. “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe.”

John 18:29

[[Luther published two sermons for John 15:26-16:4. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 26-27; the other in verses 1-4.]]

Sermon for the Sunday after Christ’s Ascension; John 15:26-16:4

1 Beloved, you have heretofore heard much about faith. Today you hear also of the witness of faith and of the cross that follows. Paul says to the Romans, “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Romans 10:10. If one be pious, he must begin in his heart and believe. That serves only unto godliness; it is not enough for salvation. Therefore, one must also do what the Christian life requires, and continually abide in that life.

Hence, Paul adds: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, thou shalt be saved,” It is these two things that constitute our salvation, faith and the confession of faith. Faith rescues from sin, hell, Satan, death and all misfortunes. Now, when we have this we have enough. We then let God live here that we may reach a hand to our neighbor and help him. Besides, God desires to have his name praised and his kingdom developed and extended. Therefore, we must praise his name, confess our faith and win others to do the same, so that God’s kingdom may be extended and his name praised.

2 Thus, faith must be exercised, worked and polished; be purified by fire, like gold. Faith, the great gift and treasure from God, must express itself and triumph in the certainty that it is right before God and man, and before angels, devils and the whole world. Just as a jewel is not to be concealed, but to be worn in sight, so also, will and must faith be worn and exhibited, as it is written in 1 Peter 1:7: “That the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire,” etc.

3 Now, by confession I must take upon myself the load of Satan, hell, death and the whole world–kings and princes, pope and bishops, priests and monks. By faith, everything falls that reason can or ever has devised for the salvation of the soul. It must chastise the apish tricks of the whole world, and its jewel alone must be praised. The world cannot endure this, therefore it rushes in, destroys, kills, and says: “It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not,” as Caiaphas says in John 11:50. Thus, the confession must break forth, that God alone is the Saviour; and the same confession brings us into danger of losing our lives. As the Lord says later to the disciples: “They shall put you out of the synagogues.”

4 One cannot paint the cross differently than it is here painted; that is its true color. But the cross of illness–to lie in bed at home ill–is nothing compared with the cross of persecution. The first is indeed suffering: but the suffering is golden when we are persecuted and put to death with ignominy; when our persecutors have the praise; when right and honor apparently are on their side, while shame, disgrace and injustice are on our side, compared with the world that wishes them thereby to have God’s honor defended, so that all the world says we are served right and that God, the Scriptures and all the angels witness against us. There can be no right in our cause, and without trial we must be banished and isolated In shame and disgrace. So it also was the lot of Christ–they put him to death in the most scornful and disgraceful way, and crucified him between two thieves or murderers; he was regarded as chief of sinners, and they said, with blasphemous words: Aye, he called himself God’s Son; let God help him now, if he wills it differently. Since he does not, God and all the angels must be against him.

So Christ says in our Gospel, “They will kill you,” and not in an ordinary way, but in an infamous manner, and all the world will say that they thereby offer God a service. It is, indeed, hard to hold and confess that God is gracious to us and that we have a Saviour who opposes all the world, all its glitter and shine. But, let the struggle be as hard and sharp as it will, faith must express itself, even though we would like to have it otherwise.

5 Faith must expect all this, and nothing follows its confession more surely than the cross. For it is certain to come to us, either in life or at death, that all our doings will appear to be opposed to God and the Scriptures. It is better that it be learned during life, from the people, than from the devil at death; for the people cannot force it further than into the ears, but Satan has a pointed tongue that pierces the heart and makes the heart tremble. Satan torments you until you conclude that you are lost and ruined, that heaven and earth, God and all the angels, are your enemies. This is what the prophet means in Psalms 6:7-8, when he says: “I am weary with my groaning; every night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye wasteth away because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine adversaries.” It is hard to endure this.

Now you see bow weak you are who are permitted to bear witness of this faith. One fears his wife, another his children and riches, and a third fears himself.

6 Faith is in vain where it does not continue steadfast to the end. Christ says in Matthew 10:22, and 24:13: “But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” Hence it is better to experience persecution here than punishment at the end. If one flees persecution, there is no faith in his heart –only a dead knowledge or erroneous belief, without sap and strength, marrow and bone; but where there is a true, living faith, it presses forward through sword and fire. Let us now notice how the Lord comforts his disciples. He says:

V.26. “But when the Comforter is come.”

I. CHRIST’S SERMON OF COMFORT.

7 That we may, under no circumstances, despair, Christ says, I will send you a Comforter, even one who is almighty. And he calls the Holy Spirit here a Comforter; for although both my sins and the fear of death make me weak and timid, he comes and stirs up the courage in my heart, and says: Ho, cheer up! Thus he trumpets courage into us; he encourages us in a friendly and comforting manner not to despair before death but to cheerfully go forward, even though we had ten necks for the executioner, and says: Aye, although I have sinned, yet I am rid of my sins; and if I had still more, so that they overwhelmed me, I would hope, that they should do me no harm. Not that one should not feel his sins, for the flesh must experience them; but the Spirit overcomes and suppresses diffidence and timidity, and conducts us through them. He is powerful enough to do that. Therefore, Christ says further:

V.26. “Whom I will send unto you from the Father.”

8 For he, the Father, is the person that takes the initiative: I am the Son; and from us the Holy Spirit proceeds. And the three persons are one, and one essence, with equal power and authority, as he better expresses it when he says:

V.26. “The Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father.”

9 That is as much as to say: He who will comfort you is almighty and Lord over all things. How can the creatures now harm us, if the Creator stands by us? Notice how great the comfort of the Holy Spirit is. Now let all the Turks attack us. As long as he is our guard and rearguard, there is no danger. John also says in his First Epistle, 3:19-20: “Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him; because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” Likewise, in the following chapter, verse 4, he says: “Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” So the Lord now says, Him will I send unto you, so that nothing can harm you.

Is not that liberal comfort? Who would not be fearless and cheerful in view of this? And Christ calls him “The Spirit of truth;” that is, where he is and comes there is a rock foundation through and through, the real truth. Neither falsehood nor hypocrisy is there, for the Spirit is not hypocritical. But wherever he is not, there is nothing but hypocrisy and falsehood. Therefore, we fall when the test comes, because the Spirit of truth is not present.

Christ now further says:

V.26. “He shall bear witness of me.”

10 That is, if he is in the heart he speaks through you, and assures and confirms you in the belief that the Gospel is true. Then, as a result, the confession of the Gospel springs forth. What, then, is the Gospel? It is a witness concerning Christ, that he is God’s Son, the Saviour, and beside him there is none other. This is what Peter means when he says: “Ye are a royal priesthood, that we are elected thereto, that we preach and show forth the excellencies of Christ.” 1 Peter 2:9. Hence, there must always be witnessing.

Witnessing loads upon itself the wrath of the whole world. Then the cross follows, then rebellions rise, then the lords and princes and all who are great become angry; for the world cannot hear, nor will it tolerate, this kind of preaching. Therefore, the Gospel is hated and spoken against.

11 Reason thinks: Aye, one can, nevertheless, easily preach the Gospel in a beautifully simple and plain way, without a revolution in the world, and then it will be heartily welcomed. This is the utterance of Satan; for if I believe and say that faith in Christ alone does and accomplishes all, I overthrow the monkey play of the whole world; and that they cannot allow. Therefore, Christ’s teachings and man’s teachings cannot stand together; one must fall. Priests and monks, as they are at present, are dependent in name, character and works upon human institutions, which the Gospel thrusts to the ground. Hence, they dare not accept the Gospel, and they continue as they are.

12 Thus, I say that the Christian faith is founded upon Christ alone, without anything additional. The priests will not permit their affairs and institutions to fall; in consequence, seditions and rebellions follow. Therefore, there must be dissension where the Gospel and the confession of Christ are; for the Gospel opposes everything that is not of its own spirit. If the teachings of Christ and the priests were not antagonistic, they could easily stand together. They are now pitted against one another. As impossible as it is for Christ not to be Christ, so impossible is it for a monk or priest to be a Christian. Therefore, a fire must be kindled. The Lord himself, in Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:51 says: “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Then follows in our text:

V.27. “And ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”

13 Yes; then, first, when you become certain of your faith through the Holy Spirit, who is your witness, you must also bear witness of me, for to that end I chose you to be apostles. You have heard my words and teachings and have seen my works and life and all things that you are to preach. But the Holy Spirit must first be present; otherwise you can do nothing, for the conscience is too weak. Yes, there is no sin so small that the conscience could vanquish it, even if it were so trifling a one as laughing in church, Again, in the presence of death the conscience is far too weak to offer resistance. Therefore another must come and give to the timid, despairing conscience, courage to go through everything, although all sins be upon it. And it must, at the same time, be an almighty courage, like he alone can give who ministers strength in such a way that the courage, which before a rustling leaf could cause to fear, is now not afraid of all the devils, and the conscience that before could not restrain laughing, now restrains all sins.

14 The benefit and fruit of the Holy Spirit is, that sin will be changed to the highest and best use. Thus Paul boasts to Timothy, when he was converted, that whereas he had lived such a wicked life before, he now held his sin to be so contemptible that he composed a hymn and sang about it thus, in 1 Timothy 1:12-17: “I thank him that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his service; though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an example of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

II. CHRIST’S SERMON OF WARNING.

V.1. “These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be caused to stumble.”

15 Now that Christ had comforted and strengthened his disciples, he warns them of their future sufferings, in order that they might be able to bear them valiantly. He is an especially good friend who warns one; and the evil visitation is much easier borne when one is prepared beforehand for it. Christ says:

V.2. “They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God.”

16 You will certainly experience this; therefore, arm yourself and be prepared. The most of all will be that, when they have treated you in the most shameless manner, they will think they did a good work in doing so, and it will appear to them as if your God had taken stand against you, and they will sing over it a Te Deum laudamus (Lord God, we praise thee), as if they had done God’s will and offered unto him a service. Hence, he arms them here, that they may be of good courage when it comes to pass; and he concludes with the thought that they shall have God’s favor, although at the time there shall be no signs of it; for God does stand on the side of his disciples. He adds:

V.3. “And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

17 Therefore, be patient, be prepared, be firm. See to it that ye, by no means, take offense at me. Remember that I told you before that they have known neither the Father nor me; and therefore they will heap upon you dishonor, shame and persecution. You should never forget this, for it will give you great comfort and make you bold, cheerful and undismayed. Therefore, Christ concludes the admonition by saying:

V.4. “But these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is come, ye may remember them, how that I told you. And these things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with you.”

18 Who, now, has been considered to be worse than he who told the pope that he knew not the Father? The pope would, of course, declare the contrary and say: Aye, Satan has commissioned you to speak that. Now, they all say that they know the Father. The Turk also says that he does. In like manner, they declare they believe God and the Scriptures. But there are two kinds of knowledge. The first for example, such knowledge as one might have of the Turk from his noise and reputation; the other the knowledge one would have of the Turk through his deeds were he to capture and occupy Rome. In this latter sense we do not know the Turk.

19 It is this first kind of knowledge that some people have of God. They know very well how to say of him: I believe in God the Father, and in his only begotten Son. But it is only upon the tongue, like the foam on the water; it does not enter the heart. Figuratively a big tumor still remains there in the heart; that is, they cling somewhat to their own deeds and think they must do works in order to be saved–that Christ’s person and merit are not sufficient. Thy work is nothing, thy wisdom is foolishness, thy counsel is nothing, thy truth also amounts to nothing, neither does the mass avail anything before God. Then they reply: Aye, the devil has prompted you to speak thus.

They say, Christ has truly died for us, but in a way that we, also, must accomplish something by our deeds. Notice how deeply wickedness and unbelief are rooted in the heart. The puffed-up pride of the heart is the reason why man can know neither Christ nor the Father.

20 But to know Christ in the other and true sense is to know that he died for me and transferred the load of my sin upon himself; to so know this that I realize that all my doings amount to nothing. To let go all that is mine, and value only this, that Christ is given to me as a present; his sufferings, his righteousness and all his virtues are at once mine. When I become conscious of this, I must in return love him; my affections must go out to such a being. After this I climb upon the Son higher, to the Father, and see that Christ is God, and that he placed himself in my death, in my sin, in my misery, and bestows upon me his grace. Then I know also his gracious will and the highest love of the Father, which no heart of itself can discover or experience. Thus I lay hold of God at the point where he is the tenderest, and think: Aye, that is God; that is God’s will and pleasure, that Christ did this for me.

And with this experience I perceive the high, inexpressible mercy and the love in him because of which he offered his beloved child for me in ignominy, shame and death. That friendly look and lovely sight then sustain me. Thus must God become known, only in Christ. Therefore, Christ himself says to his disciples: “No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27.

21 On the other hand, those who parade their own works, do not know Christ. Neither do they know what the Father has done through Christ. Nor do they know that God is not interested in their good works, but in his Son alone. Thus, they do not know the Father, neither do they know what they have received from the Father, through Christ. Therefore, they must fall and perish, and behold God in his severest aspect–as a judge. They try to silence the judgment with their good works, but they find no good work that is sufficient to do this, and then they must finally despair.

When people see that they, themselves, are nothing, and establish the foundation of their hearts upon Christ, esteem him as the highest good, and know God as a Father in death and life–this is to “know God.” Enough has been said on this Gospel. We will pray to God, to give us grace to know him and his Christ aright. Amen.

John 18:30

[[Luther published two sermons for John 15:26-16:4. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 26-27; the other in verses 1-4.]]

Sermon for the Sunday after Christ’s Ascension; John 15:26-16:4

Now you see bow weak you are who are permitted to bear witness of this faith. One fears his wife, another his children and riches, and a third fears himself.

V.26. “But when the Comforter is come.”

I. CHRIST’S SERMON OF COMFORT.

V.26. “Whom I will send unto you from the Father.”

V.26. “The Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father.”

Christ now further says:

V.26. “He shall bear witness of me.”

V.27. “And ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”

II. CHRIST’S SERMON OF WARNING.

V.1. “These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be caused to stumble.”

V.2. “They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God.”

V.3. “And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

John 18:32

[[Luther published two sermons for John 15:26-16:4. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 26-27; the other in verses 1-4.]]

Sermon for the Sunday after Christ’s Ascension; John 15:26-16:4 (2nd Sermon)

1 The first part of this Gospel, referring to the Holy Spirit, we will reserve for consideration on Pentecost, at which time it is appropriate to state why Christ calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter and the Spirit of truth; also, how he distinguishes him from the Father and the Son, namely: He is the person who proceeds from, or is sent by, the Father and the Son; therefore, the Holy Spirit is called, at the same time, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, that is, of Christ, as St. Paul and St. Peter respectively call him in Galatians 4:6, and 1 Peter 1:11. It is here also testified that Christ is truly eternal God with the Father when he states that he and the Father send forth the Holy Spirit and bestow the same upon the Christian Church. This is stated more fully in the explanation of chapters 15 to 17 of the Gospel of St. John.

I. THE COMFORT CHRIST IMPARTS TO HIS DISCIPLES.

2 But the Lord Jesus Christ speaks these words, and all of the discourse of these three chapters, before his departure and ascension, in order to comfort his beloved disciples, and not only the disciples but all Christians to the end of time, concerning all that shall happen to them in the world after he shall have left the world and gone to the Father; to comfort them when he is no longer visibly present with them and when he rules, not temporally but spiritually. He says these things that we may be strengthened and comforted through faith in his Word, to withstand the great and serious trials which confront Christians on earth, as we shall further hear.

3 He often announced to them how the world would array itself against them because of their office. He plainly told them, in order to forewarn them, that the world would not agree with them, nor accept their doctrines. They had hitherto hoped that all the world, and more especially his own people, would gladly accept him. Now he tells them that the world will not only despise their teaching and regard their words as vain assertions of foolish men who preach about simply a crucified man, but will, for the sake of himself, hate and persecute them. In a word, he told them that they should not expect friendship and kindness of the world; he wished them to learn that his kingdom is in no respect a temporal one.

4 But Christ would not have them be dismayed by his words and think: What shall be the outcome of this? Shall we preach if no one will hear us–if even our own people are to become our enemies if we open our mouths to speak, not to think of what others will do? Let us be silent and let the world go its own way; let it believe and live as it chooses, rather than that we should speak only to be compelled, with shame and amid mockery, to remain silent. We should not be able to accomplish anything, for what are we and what can we poor, despised few do against so many, against the wisdom, power and might of the world? He would not discourage them; therefore he comforts and strengthens them beforehand with these words:

V.26. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.”

5 Be it so, he says, even though they hate and persecute you for my name’s sake, and though the devil, who is responsible for such hatred, aims thereby to prevent you from speaking; nevertheless they shall not be able to stifle and nullify your preaching, for after my departure, when they think that I am forever dead, another shall come whose mouth they shall not be able to shut. He will publicly testify of me and will speak before all the world, whether the world smile or be angry. This one, he says, shall be the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and is sent by me. If I now go to the Father, through suffering and death, and begin to reign in divine power and majesty, then I shall speak through him; not, as now, personally and with my weak human will, in this small corner of the world, but publicly and before all the world. For I will send him in such form that he shall be in you, and he shall be your Comforter, since you will obtain no comfort from the world. He shall give you courage and strength to withstand the enmity of the world and the fear of the devil, enabling you to confidently and publicly testify of me.

This testimony of yours shall be called and be the testimony of the Holy Spirit, given by you in your official capacity. He shall be sent to you by the Father and by me, and you may know, and the world will be compelled to see, that what the Holy Spirit shall say through you is by my power and authority, and according to the will and command of the Father.

6 This is the consolation which Christ gives the disciples to strengthen their faith. They would have need of it in their coming work for him. This promise is a promise to his whole Church that, after his resurrection and ascension, the word and teaching of the Holy Spirit shall at all times, so long as Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, testify through the apostles and their successors, and that this testimony shall remain in the world, no matter who hears it or hears it not. For the disciples were not to be concerned as to who did or did not hear and receive their testimony, but they should know, because it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, that he would be present and working with them, to the end that some might believe. Nor should the world be able to hinder or prevent this, though it should rage against it with its hatred and persecution. Yea, even if no person on earth received their teaching, nevertheless the world should be reproved through the preaching of his Word. He says: The Holy Spirit will reprove the world, which will thus receive the judgment of its condemnation because it heard the preaching but nevertheless would not believe it and therefore has no excuse; as he said afterwards: “If I had not come and spoken unto them,” and “had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin.”

7 Now, when he says: V.27. “Ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning,” he thus presents the apostles as special examples for all preachers and confirms their preaching so that all the world is bound to their word, to believe the same without contradiction, and is assured that everything the apostles teach and preach is the true doctrine and the preaching of the Holy Spirit, heard and received from himself; as I John 1:1-2 testifies, saying, “That which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we have beheld and our hands have handled concerning the Word of life …. declare we unto you.” No other preachers on earth have testimony like that of the apostles; all others are commanded to follow in the footsteps of the apostles, to remain in the same doctrine, and to teach none other.

8 In addition, the true criterion is given by which the preaching of the Holy Spirit may be tested, when he says, “The Holy Spirit shall testify of me;” that is, he will preach nothing except concerning this Christ, not concerning Moses, Mohammed, or our own works. St. Peter says, in Acts 4:12, “and in none other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved,” except through this crucified Christ.

V.1, 2. “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues, yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God.”

II. THE PROPHECY OF THE WORLD’S HATRED AND PERSECUTION OF BELIEVERS.

A. Hatred and Persecution Analyzed.

9 He pointed out clearly enough what should happen to them in the world as a result of their preaching. He mentions two sources of opposition to the Gospel, than which none could be stronger: One, that the preachers should be excommunicated and put to death; the other, that the persecutors would regard this as rendering a service to God. Who can withstand such persecution? or who will or can preach if those who testify of Christ shall be thus abusively treated and slain? Nevertheless, he has said that the Holy Spirit should testify of him and that they also should bear witness; and he assures them that their testimony shall not be effaced by this rage and persecution of the world. He gives them this assurance beforehand for the very purpose that they may know and be prepared against these same abuses.

10 Now, it is a strange and almost incredible thing to bear that not only the world shall oppose, with its bitter hatred and rage, Christ, the Son of God and its Saviour, but that also the apostles themselves must be offended at such judgment of the world. Who could ever conceive that Christ and his Gospel should be received in this manner among his own people, to whom he had been promised by God, and from whom they were to expect nothing but that which is good, as indeed they have received from him? But here you are told that the Gospel is a teaching which, according to human judgment, gives nothing but offense; that is, men regard it, not only as a great error or folly and justly mocked and despised of the world, but as a thing unworthy to be heard or tolerated–to be condemned as if it were the very devil’s most dangerous gift from hell.

11 The kingdom of Christ on earth shall so come that it must be apparent to all that it is not an earthly kingdom, after the manner of men. But the world shall refuse to recognize its nature. It shall not be called the kingdom of Christ or of God, but a destruction and subversion of all good government, both spiritual and temporal. It is well nigh inconceivable that the Son of God should be so received by those who are called the people of God and who are regarded as the most irreproachable in the world; for he speaks here not of open, malicious, wicked knaves and godless men, but of those who are regarded as the most eminent, the wisest, the most holy, and, as he here says, the servants of God.

12 Hitherto no one has understood these words, nor can any one among the papists interpret the expression, “They shall excommunicate you” etc. They can say nothing else of this passage than that it is now an old and, in fact, a dead thing, referring to the Jews, who were a wicked and hardened people, that would not endure Christ and his apostles. It is hard to believe that even now there can be such wicked people on earth among Christians or in the Church as those who would excommunicate their brethren. But it cannot be Jews nor Turks who are meant; they have nothing to do with the Church. Nor has it ever been known that among the papists any one of them was excommunicated or persecuted or killed for the sake of the Gospel or the knowledge of Christ. Then, of course, this sermon does not concern them, and gives them neither instruction nor comfort.

13 But we, thank God, have been compelled, by our experience as preachers of the Gospel, to learn something of Christ’s meaning here and why he has spoken these things. We discover, in connection with the controversy concerning doctrine which we carry on with our adversary, that the papacy with its numerous adherents has been and still is composed of the tender, pious, holy people of whom Christ here speaks, who excommunicate his Christians for the Gospel’s sake and think that thereby they are rendering service to God. They certainly did this when by force they suppressed the Gospel and compelled submission, the Church accepting and obeying their mandates, and when, if anyone dared a single opposing word, he was promptly burned at the stake.

14 To exterminate the accursed heretics and enemies of God was called doing a holy work for God. In our time, also, they have shown this spirit in many examples and still show it in their treatment of numerous pious people whom they foully put to death, solely on account of their confession of faith in Christ and God, and will not consent to spare their lives even were they willing to recant. Therefore this passage does not need many annotations other than that we learn from it the difference between the true and the false Church, and thereby receive strength and comfort in our hour of a similar persecution. In view of this, let us briefly examine the words of the Gospel.

15 The words, “they shall excommunicate you,” are to be understood, as the Greek text clearly sets forth, in the sense of banishment and exclusion from the synagogue or the assembly of God’s people and virtual separation from all fellowship of the Church, the offender being committed to the devil, to be cast into the abyss of hell, never to have any part in the kingdom of God, of grace and of everlasting salvation. This is, indeed, a severe and terrible word, at which every pious heart must be greatly affrighted.

16 It is an incontrovertible truth that God has given such authority and power to the Church that whoever is excommunicated by it is truly excommunicated by God; that is, is placed under the wrath and curse of God and deprived of all fellowship with the saints, as Christ says in Matthew 18:17-18: “What things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,” and again, “If he refuse to hear the church let him be unto thee as the gentile and the publican.” What fate more terrible could happen to a man than to have the curse and imprecation of God and of all men pronounced upon him, and to be forever deprived of all comfort and salvation?

17 When, therefore, this ban and curse are pronounced, these other words of Christ must follow: “Whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service to God.” This is the punishment and execution which the world thinks it must carry into effect upon those who are publicly excommunicated —that they should, without any mercy, be exterminated from the earth. This penalty is to apply especially to such as oppose God’s people with a new teaching and faith; just as the apostles were accused of preaching against the Law, the temple, and the people of God. Indeed, God specifically commanded in the Law that those who are guilty in these matters should not be permitted to live, but should be condemned without mercy, and that no one should favor his nearest friend nor brother, his son nor daughter, if an offender. Deuteronomy 13:8. This, Christ says, shall also happen to you–you will be not only excommunicated by your own people and be put under the curse of God, but they will also carry out the sentence of punishment upon you as the enemies of God, and think that they can render no service more praiseworthy than to exterminate such accursed people, to the praise and glory of God. Thus, the disciples of Christ shall fare even as their Head and Lord himself fared; they shall be regarded as such evil, dangerous, corrupting, accursed people that everyone is in duty bound to assist in exterminating them from the earth; he who does this has performed a good work, one acceptable to God in heaven, and can render him no better obedience.

IV. What Moved Christ to Prophesy Of this Hatred and Persecution.

18 Behold, should not this persecution prove too heavy to be borne by the disciples? Christ tells them later that it shall be their lot to personally see and suffer such treatment, not only with reference to their Lord, in whom they believe, but also for themselves; that they, for Christ’s sake, must be shamefully cursed and put to death by those who are called the people of God, and who possess the authority of the Church and command the honor and respect of men for not only doing right, but for serving God most zealously, as pious and holy people, ardently promoting the honor of God. What great tribulation must be in store for the rest of the little flock of Christ’s Church, if these things happened in its beginning and first planting, when the Holy Spirit so powerfully manifested himself in miracles before the whole world! What better things could they later expect from idolatrous heathen, if they are to suffer these at the hands of their own brethren and friends, the Jewish people?

19 Christ’s words, then, mean that the Church is to be established in a most wonderful manner, beyond and inconsistent with all human understanding. Who has ever heard that this is to be the way in which God will introduce Christ’s kingdom upon earth, establish his Word in all places, and gather his Church, if it is to begin in such an inconsistent manner and to meet with such opposition that the dear apostles must, in shame and disgrace, yield up their lives and not they, with their few followers, but their adversaries, bear the name of God’s people and God’s Church? This ought to be sufficient to drive out of the hearts of the disciples the erroneous delusion they had held concerning the temporal kingdom of Christ, and to teach them not to expect from it worldly and temporal good and honor and power and peace, but to perceive that he meant to give them something else, since he permitted them to suffer shame and death.

20 With this word of consolation, Christ prepares his disciples, and future Christians, assuring them that the Holy Spirit will testify of him in the face of so much discouragement, as was greatly needed. That the disciples could understand his words, must be due to the revelation of the Holy Spirit. How otherwise could they believe that this crucified, accursed and condemned Jesus, represented by his disciples and pupils, could be the true Son of God, the Lord of life and of eternal glory?

21 There is presented to us in this text a picture of the reception accorded this kingdom of Christ in the perverse, opposing kingdom of the world, concerning which God prophesied in the earliest promise of his Word–the promise in which the Church had its first beginnings–where God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise (crush) thy head, but thou shalt bruise bis heel.” Genesis 3:15. This enmity, then, must continue in the world, an unending enmity and contest; as soon as Christ comes, teaching the Word, he meets the serpent, which immediately becomes venomous and at every opportunity attacks and bites with its poisonous fangs, for it fears the loss of its head. But in spite of all efforts, it has not yet gained anything and is still under the feet of the Seed of the woman, who tramples on its head, until its venom and wrath against him shall have been spent in vain and its power utterly destroyed.

22 We have the comfort of this victory of Christ–that he maintains his Church against the wrath and power of the devil; but in the meantime we must endure such stabs and cruel wounds from the devil as are necessarily painful to our flesh and blood. The hardest part is that we must see and suffer all these things from those who call themselves the people of God and the Christian Church. We must learn to accept these things calmly, for neither Christ nor the saints have fared better.

23 It was also a bitter and hard thing for our first parent, Adam, to learn to understand the fulfilment in his own children of this same truth, “I will put enmity between thee” etc., when his first born and God-given son murdered his own brother because of his offering to God and his obedience to him. The patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and others who, for the time being, were the true Church, had to pass through the same experience when brothers who had learned from the same father one and the same faith, Word and worship of God, became enemies and one received persecution at the hands of the other. We ought not to be surprised, then, if a similar experience must be ours, not alone at the hands of the papists, from whom we have already received condemnation and whose disposition toward us is plainly apparent; but also at the hands of those who are still among us as evangelical Christians, and who yet are not upright.

C. The Cause of This Hatred and Persecution.

24 This is the first part of this Gospel and prophecy of Christ. The second part now follows, explaining how it is that such worthy people, the best, the wisest and most holy among God’s children, who earnestly seek to serve and honor God, should so bitterly and mercilessly persecute Christ and his people.

V.3. “These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me.”

25 There you have the reason. Christ tells what moves them to such hatred and persecution of Christians. It is, he says, because you preach concerning me, whom they do not know; for they jealously regard their own office of teaching and preaching in the capacity of chief-priest and scribe (and in this day of pope, bishop, etc.) repudiating all doctrine that differs from that of Moses and the Law. They rigidly follow the command of Moses in Deuteronomy 13:6ff. How, then, shall the apostles be permitted to promulgate this utterly new doctrine concerning an unknown Messiah, one, too, whom they reject as a false prophet, yea, whom they have crucified as a deceiver and blasphemer? Who, in opposition to all recognized authority and intelligence, would acknowledge as Christ this executed victim? These so-called people of God boast to the apostles of their authority, saying, in Acts 5:28: “Did we not straitly charge you not to teach in this name?”

26 That they do not know this Christ is true without a doubt. Their own confession and deeds prove it. It is plainly evident in what high esteem they hold themselves as being the people of God, who possess the Law, and the promise, the priesthood and worship of God (even as our people possess the Scriptures, baptism, the sacrament and the name of Christ); yet they are blind and without the true knowledge of God and of Christ, and consequently have become hardened, opposing God and his Son with their acts of ban and murder, under the very appearance and with the boast of thereby serving God. But Christ strengthens and comforts his own people that they may not fear harsh judgment, nor be intimidated by jealous authority from preaching and confession, but may say to their adversaries as the apostles answered the chief-priests and the council at Jerusalem, in Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.”

27 In this connection Christ fixes the standard of judgment and points out the difference between the true and the false Church. The Church is not to be judged by name and external appearance; but insight must be had and the identifying mark be forthcoming, by which the holy Church and the true people and servants of God may be recognized. Reason and human wisdom cannot furnish the necessary qualifications for the true Church. The actual test is in ascertaining who have the real knowledge of Christ and who have it not. Judgment cannot be passed in this case according to mere external appearance and name, according to the office and authority and power of the Church; in all these externals the Jews excelled the apostles and the papacy excels us by far.

28 Accordingly, we concede to the papacy that they sit in the true Church, possessing the office instituted by Christ and inherited from the apostles, to teach, baptize, administer the sacrament, absolve, ordain, etc., just as the Jews sat in their synagogues or assemblies and were the regularly established priesthood and authority of the Church. We admit all this and do not attack the office, although they are not willing to admit as much for us; yea, we confess that we have received these things from them, even as Christ by birth descended from the Jews and the apostles obtained the Scriptures from them.

29 In view of these prerogatives, they make their perverse boast against us and censure and curse us as obstinate and recreant apostates and enemies of the Church. It is unpleasant to suffer such reproach, and for this reason the devil easily terrifies the hearts of some of the ignorant and overwhelms men with the thought: Alas! the Church has pronounced the ban and it really possesses the office; this is certainly a thing not to be made light of, for Christ says in Matthew 18:18: “What things soever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven.” Therefore whom the Church excommunicates is undoubtedly also condemned by God. Most assuredly they do not excommunicate in the name of the devil, nor of the pope, but in the name of God the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, by the authority of Christ etc., embellishing the ceremony with appropriate and high-sounding and solemn words.

30 It is necessary to a thorough understanding of the matter that we understand what Christ here says concerning the two Churches: One is the Church which is not recognized by the world, but is robbed of its name and exiled; the other, the Church that has the name and honor but persecutes the small flock of believers. Thus we have the opposing situations: The Church which is denied the name is the true Church, whilst the other is not the reality, though it may occupy the seat of authority and power, and possess and perform all the offices conceded to be offices and marks of the holy Church and yet we are obliged to suffer its ban and judgment.

31 The reason for the difference in the two Churches is contained in Christ’s saying: “Because they have not known the Father nor me;” that is, the false Church regards itself as superior to the teachings of Christ, when a knowledge of Christ is the very basis of distinction between the true and false Church. It is not enough merely to have the name and the office of the Church since these could be unlawfully assumed and abused; the second commandment and the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer indicate that the name of God is often abused, not hallowed but blasphemed and dishonored. Hence, we must not be too ready to endorse the declaration: I say or do this in the name of God or of Christ, and at the command and by the authority of the Church. But we should reply thus: I accept the name of God and of the Church as they are dear and precious to me; but I do not concede to you that in this name you should prescribe and sell whatever you please.

32 Thus we say to the papists: We grant you, indeed, the name and office, and regard these as holy and precious, for the office is not yours, but has been established by Christ and given to the Church without regard for and distinction of the persons who occupy it. Therefore, whatever is exercised through this office as the institution of Christ, and in his name and that of the Church, is at all times right and proper, even though ungodly and unbelieving men may participate. We must distinguish between the office and the person exercising it, between rightful use and abuse. The name of God and of Christ is always holy in itself; but it may be abused and blasphemed. So also, the office of the Church is holy and precious, but the person occupying it may be accursed and belong to the devil. Therefore, we cannot decide according to the office who are true or false Christians, and which is the true or false Church.

33 But the basis of distinction shall be: to know Christ or not to know Christ; that is, to know the doctrine and faith of Christ and to confess him. It is evident, as supported by Christ’s own statement, that some know neither him nor the Father; it is determined by him that they are not the Church of Christ, rather that those constitute the Church who bear the name of Christ and have his truth, yet are persecuted by the others. Under authority of this conclusion, Christians are to be undaunted; they are not to be concerned even though they may be denounced as heretics and be cursed, but are to regard it as a comforting sign that they are the few who belong to Christ, when they are excommunicated by the majority in power. For excommunication certainly is not exercised among members of the false Church for the sake of the knowledge of Christ and of faith; their policy is to stand approved and unchastised, yea, they dare even to denounce crowned authority to the extent of curse and ban, protected as they are by the name and sanctity of the Church.

34 Now, what does it mean to know Christ and the Father? The papists, forsooth, boast of such a knowledge, even as the Jews boasted of being able to recognize the Messiah when he should come, Indeed, who should so well know the Messiah as the same Jews who possessed his Law and promises, his temple, priesthood etc., and who worshiped the true God, creator of heaven and earth and promiser of the Messiah? But here you learn that an intellectual knowledge of God is not sufficient–the Law and temple service cannot avail; he who wishes to know God truly, must know him in this Christ, that is, in the Word, in the promises which the Scriptures and the prophets have spoken concerning him. The teaching and preaching of the Gospel is nothing else than that Christ is the Son of God, sent by the Father as a sacrifice and ransom for the sin of the world, by his own blood, that be might appease the wrath of God and effect reconciliation for us, redeeming us from sin and death and securing for us righteousness and everlasting life. It must follow, then, that no one, by his own work and holiness can atone for his sins–or appease the wrath of God, and that there is no other way to attain the grace of God and eternal life than by the faith which thus apprehends Christ.

35 This teaching points out the true Christ and the real knowledge of him. He who thus knows Christ, knows the Father also; for the knowledge of Christ teaches him that, for the sake of his Son, God will be gracious to us and will save us, that no one shall come to God except through him who is the bearer of our sins and is our mercy-seat, and that all this and nothing else is the eternal counsel, desire and will of God the Father.

36 This knowledge is the article of faith by which we become Christians, and it is the foundation of our salvation. Whenever, therefore, we have the knowledge of Christ, we must cease trusting and boasting in self-righteousness, in works and in worship of the God of the Jews merely performed according to the Law, and we must place no confidence in all the trumpery of the papal self-ordained juggling and baubles; for if Christ alone shall bear my sins, I cannot at the same time atone for them by my own works and my own pretended worthiness.

37 The former Jewish saints would not, nor will our present papists, accept nor believe this preaching of Christ; they testify, then, by their own deeds that they do not know Christ nor the Father who sent him. The Jews meanwhile set up their own God, who has regard for their holiness–a holiness consisting in the Law, the priesthood and temple-service–and they set up a Christ who, when he comes, will be highly pleased with such holiness and, because of it, promote them to positions of great honor and glory before the whole world. If they hear the apostles preach that no one can be justified before God by the works of the Law, and that no other name is given whereby we can be saved than that of this crucified Christ, they will not suffer the doctrine, but must bitterly persecute its advocates, pronouncing the ban and condemning and slaying the apostles and the Christians.

38 Even so do the papists; they will not endure the teaching that we, for Christ’s sake and not by our own works, may be accounted righteous before God and be saved. Even though they retain the name of Christ and of faith, yet they rob Christ of his work and power, justify the erroneous doctrine of human merit, and admit only that faith and Christ are indeed of some help if love and good works be present. This means simply that Christ does not count so much as our own works; but whatever merit he confers is because of our works, as they teach in the schools: Propter unum quodque tale etc., and as they publicly say: Faith, which must always believe in Christ, is useless, void, yea, dead, does not avail, if it is not clothed and made alive by love, which is the soul and life of faith. They say that therefore Christ and faith may be found even in a person who is impenitent and lives openly in mortal sin. This is nothing else than to make Christ a mere empty husk or container and to make out of works the grain and the gold; to regard Christ as a dead body but our works as the soul. When works are added to faith, they say, faith becomes a living body, a full container. This is a shameful and blasphemous interpretation of Christ, that his merit and power must be dependent upon our works, that he must receive his ability from them, and become a beggar of us for that which he should give us.

39 From these two convictions–that they do not know him and that they persecute and slay his advocates–Christ now passes the judgment that the so-called Church is not the Church. He then concludes that with their false doctrines and persecutions they are both liars and murderers of God and of Christ and of all his saints.

40 From the analysis given, you may decide for yourself in which group you are to be found; for you must be on one side or the other, and it is useless to wait for human council in this matter. It has already been unalterably determined that the two divisions can never agree. The larger body, which has the recognized authority, will always persecute the minority, even to the extent of excommunication and murder, as practiced from the beginning. Those who know Christ–the true Christians–will accept Christ’s classification and be numbered with the minority, who have the Word and the knowledge of Christ, and they will suffer persecution for the faith rather than, for the sake of the friendship and honor of this world, to belong to those who, condemned by Christ, are the bitterest foes of God and of the Church, and who cannot see the kingdom of God, nor be saved.

41 In this article of faith, distinction must be made between the true Church and the false; for it is the command of God and of Christ that one shall not be confused with the other. Therefore, we must separate ourselves from the papal Church, regardless of the fact that they trust in their Church authority and condemn us as apostates.

42 If they excommunicate and persecute us because of our evangelical preaching and our knowledge of Christ, we already have the decision of Christ that they are not the true Church, and their office and all the authority of which they boast cannot avail against us; that rather our teaching and judgments against them shall avail before God in heaven. We are certain, by reason of the test which Christ here applies, that the true Church is with the few who know Christ and are united in doctrine, faith and confession of him. And where the true Church is and abides, there remain, also, the offices of the Church, the sacraments, the keys and all things to it by Christ; it needs neither to ask nor to receive them from pope or council. In the true Church, not only is the office pure in itself, but those who exercise it use it lawfully.

43 We admit that the papists also exercise the appointed offices of the Church, baptize, administer the sacrament etc., when they observe these things as the institution of Christ, in the name of Christ and by virtue of his command (just as in the Church we must regard as right and efficacious the offices of the Church and baptism administered by heretics), yet if they attempt to pervert the right use of these offices by exercising them against us, we may, by virtue of the judgment of Christ, declare their action void and regard themselves as apostates of the Church of Christ.

John 18:33

[[Luther published two sermons for John 15:26-16:4. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 26-27; the other in verses 1-4.]]

Sermon for the Sunday after Christ’s Ascension; John 15:26-16:4 (2nd Sermon)

I. THE COMFORT CHRIST IMPARTS TO HIS DISCIPLES.

V.26. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.”

II. THE PROPHECY OF THE WORLD’S HATRED AND PERSECUTION OF BELIEVERS.

A. Hatred and Persecution Analyzed.

IV. What Moved Christ to Prophesy Of this Hatred and Persecution.

C. The Cause of This Hatred and Persecution.

V.3. “These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me.”

John 18:34

[[Luther published two sermons for John 15:26-16:4. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 26-27; the other in verses 1-4.]]

Sermon for the Sunday after Christ’s Ascension; John 15:26-16:4 (2nd Sermon)

I. THE COMFORT CHRIST IMPARTS TO HIS DISCIPLES.

V.26. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.”

II. THE PROPHECY OF THE WORLD’S HATRED AND PERSECUTION OF BELIEVERS.

A. Hatred and Persecution Analyzed.

IV. What Moved Christ to Prophesy Of this Hatred and Persecution.

C. The Cause of This Hatred and Persecution.

V.3. “These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me.”

John 18:35

[[Luther published two sermons for John 15:26-16:4. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 26-27; the other in verses 1-4.]]

Sermon for the Sunday after Christ’s Ascension; John 15:26-16:4 (2nd Sermon)

I. THE COMFORT CHRIST IMPARTS TO HIS DISCIPLES.

V.26. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.”

II. THE PROPHECY OF THE WORLD’S HATRED AND PERSECUTION OF BELIEVERS.

A. Hatred and Persecution Analyzed.

IV. What Moved Christ to Prophesy Of this Hatred and Persecution.

C. The Cause of This Hatred and Persecution.

V.3. “These things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me.”

John 18:36

[[Luther published three sermons for John 16:5-16. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 5-7; the second in verses 8-11; and the last in verse 12-13 (Part I) and 14-15 (Part II).]]

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter; John 16:5-15

1 The meaning of this Gospel lesson we have also often heard elsewhere; the only trouble is, the words have not generally been understood to have the meaning of things with which we are familiar. Therefore we will explain it a little, in order that one may see that the same teaching is contained in these words, that is found in all the other Gospel lessons. It is a fine Gospel, but it also requires fine students. We will omit the first part and consider what the Lord says, that the Holy Spirit is to convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and will see what the meaning of all this is.

2 In the first place, we see here that the world is accused of blindness and ignorance. All those who are without the Holy Spirit, however wise they may be in matters pertaining to the things of this world, are, before God, fools and blind. They do not like to hear this; and when they are told that their doings are of no account before God, it displeases them and makes them angry, because they insist that they are In possession of reason and the natural light, which God created in them. But what does this matter to us? There are the Scriptures and the Word of God plain and clear, that the Holy Spirit is to come to convict the world, because it does not know what sin, righteousness and judgment are. Thus it is determined, there it stands; let be angry who will, Christ does not care.

3 It is much to be deplored that the world is convicted, not only because of its sin and want of righteousness, not being able to judge rightly, but that it does not acknowledge nor see this, to say nothing of its endeavor to alter the matter. Oh, how completely the praise of all comes to naught, who, while they endeavor to make other people pious, know not themselves what sin is! Let us take, for example, at the present day, all the schools of learning and the learned men and see whether they can tell us what that one little word “sin” is? For who has ever heard that not to believe in Christ is sin? They say, it is sin if one speaks, desires or does something against God’s will and commandment. But how does that correspond with this saying of Christ: It is sin because they do not believe on me? Therefore, they are easily convicted of the fact that they know not what sin is; and if they be ever so learned, they will not be able to explain this text.

4 In like manner, they are not able to know what “righteousness” is. For who has ever heard that a man should become pious and just because Christ ascended to heaven or goes to the Father and we see him no more? There we must say, a fool has thus spoken and not a wise man. For they say, righteousness is a virtue, which teaches man what he owes others. This is true, but the trouble is, they do not understand their own words, such blind fools they are. Therefore, one needs not be surprised that they rage so much against the Gospel and persecute the Christians. How could they do otherwise? They know no better.

5 Neither do they know what “judgment” or right is, that is, a right judgment, a correct good opinion and sense, or whatever you may call it. For they say: Right is that which is written in books, how one is to know and distinguish things, to quiet and end quarrels. But how does Christ define it? He says: “It is right, that the world is to be judged.” Who understands such speech, and where will it go in or out, and how does it correspond with reason? Let us see whether we can explain it so that it may be understood.

6 In the first place one must know that the Word of God does not speak only of the outward existence and appearances, but it takes hold of the heart and the depths of the soul. Accordingly it does not judge man as to his outward appearance and action, but according to the depths of his conscience. Now, everyone will experience in himself, if he wishes to acknowledge it, however pious he may be (even though he were a Carthusian or as holy as any one on earth), that in his heart he would rather do the contrary, and otherwise than what he is outwardly compelled to do. Thus, if I were left to myself, a monk, who walks about in poverty and chastity, as they pride themselves, but were made to confess how I feel in my heart, I must say: That which I do, I would rather not do. If there were no hell and I would not feel the disgrace, I would leave my office have the misfortune, and run off. For I have no desire from the heart to do it, but am compelled thereto, and must do it in spite of hell, punishment or disgrace.

It is not possible that I should do it from choice and gladly. Such everyone who is without grace finds in his own heart. The same you will find continually in other matters. I am never from my heart kind and friendly to my enemy, for this is impossible to nature; and though I act otherwise, in my heart I think thus: If it were not for the punishment, I would have my way and not remain without revenge. Thus, I still go about before the world, and do not as I would like and feel inclined to do, for fear of punishment or disgrace. Likewise if you go through all the commandments, from the first to the last, you will find that there is no one who keeps God’s commandments from the bottom of his heart.

7 Now, against this evil God found a remedy and determined to send Christ, his Son, into this world, that he should shed his blood and die, in order to make satisfaction for sin and take it away, and that the Holy Spirit then should enter the hearts of such people, who go about with the works of the Law, being unwilling and forced to it, and make them willing, in order that without force and with joyous heart they keep God’s commandments. Otherwise there might be no means of removing the misery; for neither human reason and power, nor even an angel could rescue us from it. Thus, God has done away with the sins of all men who believe on the Christ, so that henceforth it is impossible for one to remain in sin who has this Saviour, who has taken all sins upon himself and blotted them out.

8 Inasmuch as Christ has now come and commanded to preach that everything we may do, however great and beautiful it may appear, is sin, because we do nothing that is good with pleasure and willingly, and that for this reason he has stepped forward and has taken away all sin, in order that we may receive the Holy Spirit, through whom we obtain love and pleasure to do what God wants us to do, in order that we do not attempt to come before God through our own works, but through Christ and his merits, therefore it cannot be called any longer sin committed against the Law, for the Law did nothing to assist us in becoming pious, since we are not able to do anything good.

9 What sort of sin then remains upon earth? No other than that one does not receive this Saviour and refuses to accept him who has taken away sin. For if he were present, there would be no sin, since he, as I have said, brings the Holy Spirit with him, who kindles the heart and makes it willing to do good. Therefore, the world is no longer punished and condemned on account of other sins, because Christ blots them all out; only this remains sin in the New Testament, that one will not acknowledge nor receive him. Therefore he likewise says in this Gospel:

V.8, 9. “When the Holy Spirit is come, he will convict the world in respect of sin, because they believe not on me.”

10 As if he wished to say: Had they believed on me, everything would already have been forgiven them, whatever sin they might have committed, for I know that they by nature cannot do otherwise. But because they will not receive me, neither believe that I can help them, this it is that will condemn them. Therefore, God will at the final judgment pass a sentence like this on them: Behold, thou wast in sin and couldst not free thyself from it, still I did not on this account wish to condemn thee, for I sent my only begotten Son to thee and intended to give thee a Saviour, in order that he might take the sin from thee. Him thou didst not receive. Therefore, on this account alone, thou wilt be condemned, because thou hast not Christ.

11 This sentence, then, is given for the honor and glory of the high grace, which God has given us in Christ the Lord. What reason would have ever been so wise as to discover that this was done for man’s sake? Reason is not able to rise higher in its thoughts than to say: I have sinned in deeds done. I must make good by doing other deeds. I must blot out and pay for the sin, in order that I may thus obtain a gracious God. If reason comes so far, it has reached its climax. Still it is nothing but foolishness and blindness.

12 But God speaks thus: If thou wilt be rid of sin, thou must do other works wherewith to pay the price. But with all the works which thou dost, thou canst do nothing but sin, even with the works wherewith thou thinkest to reconcile me and to do penance for thy sins. How wilt thou then, thou fool, blot out sin with sin? For even in the works which thou considerest the best and which thou canst do, thou sinnest if thou dost not do them willingly and from the heart. For if thou didst not fear punishment, thou wouldst rather not do them at all. Thus thou dost no more than that thou seekest to blot out little sins by doing greater ones; or else to commit such great ones that thou mayest lay aside others.

13 Wherefore, it is ever great blindness that a man does not see what sin is, nor know what good works are, but accepts sin for good works. When the Holy Spirit comes, he convicts the people and says: The works which thou hast done, as well as those which thou art still doing, are nothing but sin; therefore, it is all in vain that thou dost attempt to make satisfaction for thy sin according to thy ability. Then they feel compelled to say: Behold, this I did not know. Then says he: For this purpose I am here, in order to tell thee this. If thou hadst known it, it would not have been necessary for me to come and make it known. What wilt thou do now in order to be helped?

This thou must do: Believe on the Saviour, the Lord Christ, that he has taken away thy sin. If thou believest this, he is thine and thy sins will disappear; if not, then thou wilt never get rid of sin, but wilt always fall into it deeper and deeper.

14 Thus, with this passage everything has been completely overthrown that has hitherto been preached about penance and satisfaction for sin, and all else that has been practiced and urged. For this reason there have been founded many orders and masses, and on this account we have become priests and monks and have run to and fro in order best in the world, which the world considers pious and holy, to get rid of sin. Therefore, it also follows: Whatever is that is nothing but mere sin and a damnable thing. Thus we have considered one part of this Gospel.

15 The second thought then follows: V.10. “The Holy Spirit will convict the world in respect to righteousness, because I go to the Father,” says Christ, “and ye behold me no more.” Righteousness means piety and a good and honorable life before God. What is this now? It is, says Christ, “because I go to the Father.” We have often said about the resurrection of Christ that it came to pass not for his sake, but for our sakes, in order that we may apply it to ourselves as a blessing which is our own. For this reason he is risen from the dead and has ascended to heaven, that he might begin a spiritual kingdom, in which he reigns in us through righteousness and truth. Therefore, he sits above; he does not rest and sleep, does not play with himself, but, as Paul says, Ephesians 1:22, has his work here upon the earth, governing the consciences and the souls of men with the Gospel.

16 Wherever Christ is now preached and acknowledged, there he reigns in us, from the right hand of his Father, and is himself here below in the hearts of men. There he reigns with might, power and dominion over you and all your enemies, and guards you from sin, death, devil and hell. Thus is his resurrection and ascension our comfort, life, blessing, righteousness and everything in one. This is what the Lord means when he speaks of righteousness, that the people thereby should become pious and righteous, that he ascends to heaven to the Father and we see him no more. This the world does not know, therefore the Holy Spirit must come and convict the world of it.

17 How does this come to pass? Just as we have heard. Am I to become pious, it will not be enough for me to perform outwardly good works, but I must do them from the bottom of my heart, gladly and willingly, so that I may be free from the fear of sin, death and the devil; be joyous, and with a good conscience, and all confidence stand before him and know how I stand with him. This no work, no creature can give unto me, but Christ alone, who has ascended into heaven–there, where one cannot see him, but must believe that he sits yonder and wishes to help one. Such a faith makes me acceptable unto God; Christ gives me the Holy Spirit into my heart, who makes me willing and happy in the doing of every good work. In this manner I become righteous, and in no other; for the works themselves make me more and more unwilling, the longer I occupy myself with them.

18 But the longer one is engaged in this work, the more willing it makes one’s heart; for wherever there is such knowledge, there the Holy Spirit cannot be wanting. When he comes, he makes the heart willing, joyful and happy, so that one may be free and willingly do what is pleasing to God, with joyous courage, and suffer whatever there is to suffer, yea, and even die willingly. And in proportion as this knowledge is clear and great, in that proportion the willingness and joy will also be great. Thus the commandment of God is fulfilled and everything done that one is to do, and thus thou art righteous. Who would ever have thought that this would be righteousness and that thus it should be. This question we have hitherto often heard about and considered, and although the words here be different, yet the sense and meaning are the same.

19 In the third place, the Holy Spirit is to convict the world in respect of judgment, that is that the world does not know what right is. For who has ever heard the definition of this right to be, because the prince of this world hath been judged? The prince of the world, to be sure is the devil, which one may readily see in his government.

20 If now I have learned to know what sin is and am free from it, and have obtained righteousness, so that now I stand in a new character and life and have become another man- -have now the Lord Christ and know that something else than our works is required to get rid of sin-if these have come to pass in me, it then follows that I may have a correct judgment, having learned to judge differently before God. For, according to such understanding, I know how to discuss, conclude and judge of all things in heaven and upon earth, and to pass correct judgment; and when I have passed such a judgment, I can live accordingly. This no one else can do.

21 The world, in its holiness, maintains that righteousness means to perform good works wherewith to do penance for sin and reconcile God. This has been taught in all the schools of learning. Such teachers think it is right and well done if only they can accomplish good works. But now comes the Holy Spirit and says: Not so. You err and are mistaken. Your judgment is wrong. Therefore there must be another judgment. You should judge thus: Everything that your reason concludes, is erroneous and false, and you are a fool and a simpleton.

22 Reason may do other things; for instance, know how to judge in worldly and human matters and affairs, how to build cities and houses, how to govern well, and the like. In such matters one may easily be able to judge and decide more wisely than another. Of this, however, we do not speak here, but of judgment in the significance of what is right or wrong before God. Here the Holy Spirit concludes thus: Every judgment of reason is false and worth nothing. Everything that is born of man and is not born from above, must be rooted out and crucified, so that no one may boast of it and depend upon it. Again, whatever the world considers as wisdom, that which it votes as wisely and intelligently devised and accomplished, is foolishness before God.

In short, whatever the world does, is useless and cursed, unless it proceeds from Christ, the Lord, and is of his Word and Spirit, as he teaches us. If it does not proceed from him, it is surely mere blindness and there is no good in it.

23 Therefore everything that the world considers good is debased. Everything is evil because it does not proceed from the Word and the Spirit, but from the old Adam, who is nothing more than a blind fool and sinner. And why? Should not your wisdom and reason be foolishness and count for nothing, since the most exalted one, who has all the power and wisdom of this world in the highest degree, is condemned? For, without doubt, there is no one in the world so wise, shrewd and rational as the devil, and no one is able to make a more pious appearance. And all wisdom and holiness that do not proceed from God, as well as the most beautiful things in the world, are found in their highest degree in the devil.

Since he is a prince and the ruler of the world, the wisdom and righteousness of the world must proceed from him; here he reigns with all his power. Therefore, Christ says: Since the same prince of the world is condemned, with all that he has and can do, the world is ever blind because it considers that to be good which has been condemned already, namely his wisdom and piety.

24 We must, therefore, pass a correct judgment, such as Christ passes, if we are to guard against everything that the world considers and declares precious in order that it may appear before God prudent, wise and pious. If people who have not the Word and Spirit of Christ, desire to teach and govern, everything is already condemned; for in this way one accomplishes no more than to make the old Adam stronger and to establish him in his opinion that his works, his piety and prudence are to avail before God. Thereby one must work himself deeper and deeper into the devil’s kingdom.

25 But now, since the prince of this world and the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the devil, are directly opposed to one another, and the Holy Spirit is not willing that anyone should parade his own deeds and praise himself on account of them, the holy cross must soon follow. The world will not consent to be reprimanded for its blindness. Therefore one must willingly submit and suffer persecution. If we have the right kind of faith in our hearts, we must also open our mouths and confess righteousness and make known sin. Likewise we must condemn and punish the doings of this world and make it known that everything it undertakes, is damned. For this we must be considered heretics, and must pass through the fire.

They say: This is against the holy councils and the canon of the holy father, the pope. Then you are to answer: How can I help it? Here it stands–the text does not say the Holy Spirit is to convict them and say their doctrine is error, blindness and the government of the devil. This, of course, they will not endure, but would have us call them gracious noblemen. Therefore, one must here risk his neck.

26 These are the three parts we have in this Gospel lesson: Sin is unbelief; righteousness is faith; the judgment is the holy cross. Therefore give heed and learn to consider everything that is without the Spirit as nothing and as condemned, and afterwards be prepared for the holy cross that thou must suffer on account of it. Now follows in the Gospel further:

V.12, 13. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth.”

27 These words ought to be understood in all their simplicity, as if the Lord were to say: “These three parts which I have now related, you cannot yet fully understand, even though I were to explain them unto you. I would have to say much about them in order to explain them more fully, to make plain how things shall be, and you still stick too deep in your coarse, carnal reason to be able to comprehend it. Therefore, I will forbear now. When the Holy Spirit comes, he will enlighten your hearts, so that you will understand it, and will call to your remembrance all things, I tell you of it now, in order that you may think about it.” Thus, we give these words in their simple meaning. It is as if I conversed with some one and said: “I would yet have many things to say, but they are too difficult for you. You cannot yet comprehend and grasp them.”

28 But our doctors and highly learned men have made use of these words in a frivolous way and said that it was necessary to have something more than the Gospel and the Scriptures; therefore one ought also to bear what the councils and the popes decree. They endeavor to prove in this way that Christ says here: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now;” therefore, because he has not told them all things, it must follow that he told them to the councils, popes and bishops, who are now to teach them.

29 Now look at these fools, what they say. Christ says: “I have yet many things to say unto you.” What does “you” mean? To whom does he speak? Without doubt, to the apostles. To these he says: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all truth.” Therefore, if Christ is not to lie, his Word must have been fulfilled at the time that the Holy Spirit came.

The Holy Spirit must have said everything to them and accomplished everything that the Lord here refers to, and, of course, he led them into all the truth. How, then, do we get the idea that Christ should not have said everything, but should have kept much back, which the councils were to teach and to determine? With this idea his words do not at all harmonize. Christ gives to understand that soon the Holy Spirit would tell and explain to them all things, and that afterwards the apostles should carry out everything, and through them should be made known to the world what they have learned from the Holy Spirit. But, according to the councils and popes, it depends on what they say, teach and command, even to the end of the world.

30 Moreover, Christ says further: “He shall guide you into all the truth.” Here we conclude: If what the councils teach be the truth, that one is to wear the tonsure and the cap and live a life of celibacy, then the apostles never came to the truth, since none of them ever entered a cloister, nor kept any of those foolish laws. Thus, Christ must indeed have betrayed us in this, that he said the Holy Spirit should guide us into all the truth, when in reality he wished to teach how we were to become priests and monks and not to eat meat on certain days, and like foolish things.

31 Without doubt it is “truth” before God when one lives an upright and sincere life. But if we now look at our ecclesiasts, pope, bishops, priests and monks, we see nothing but carnival masks, who give themselves the outward appearance of being pious, but in their hearts they are villains. What popes, bishops, and orders have ever led us into this truth, which should spring from within–out of the heart? In everything they are concerned about the outward appearance of things, in order that they may make a display before the eyes of the people.

32 Thus they have perverted this text masterfully in order to strengthen their lies; and yet we are to call them gracious lords! To hear such things is exasperating and it should grieve our hearts that we are to suffer such great outrage–should see how shamefully the people act against the precious Word of God and that they make the Holy Spirit a liar. Should not this single passage be powerful enough against the pope and the councils, even if we had no other in the Scriptures?

33 Thirdly, Christ says: “You cannot bear them now.” Here we ask: My dear, should it have been too hard for the apostles to understand or to obey such laws as abstaining from meat, and the like? They had been accustomed in the law of Moses to observe many such outward ceremonies, and had been educated therein all their life, so that it would have been child’s play for them. Moreover, they understood this better than we do. Is it such a difficult matter– that a monk must wear a black or gray cap, the pope three crowns, a bishop a pointed hat, or the manner of dedicating churches and altars and baptizing bells–are these so difficult as to make it necessary that the Holy Spirit should come from heaven to teach such things? If it is not acting the fool enough that one jests with these noble words, then I do not know how one may be a worse fool.

34 Therefore, beware of these liars and understand the words rightly, thus: Christ wishes to speak of the inward, actual character, not of outward jugglery. He wishes to make the heart, before the eyes of God, pious and righteous in order that it, in the first place, acknowledge its sin, and in the second place, that it acknowledge him to be the one who forgives sin and suffers himself to be sacrificed upon the cross. This is that “truth” which the apostles were not yet able to hear and understand. But those outward things make no one righteous, lead no one to the truth. They make only hypocrites and a show, by which the people are deceived.

35 Thus, we have the true meaning of this passage, from which we see how fools who seek from it to bolster up their jugglery, place themselves in opposition to it and build upon the sand. There is scarcely a passage that is more strongly opposed to them than this one. We have briefly explained this Gospel lesson in order that we may see how it teaches just that which we have always preached.

John 18:37

[[Luther published three sermons for John 16:5-16. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 5-7; the second in verses 8-11; and the last in verse 12-13 (Part I) and 14-15 (Part II).]]

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter; John 16:5-15

V.8, 9. “When the Holy Spirit is come, he will convict the world in respect of sin, because they believe not on me.”

V.12, 13. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth.”

John 18:38

[[Luther published three sermons for John 16:5-16. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 5-7; the second in verses 8-11; and the last in verse 12-13 (Part I) and 14-15 (Part II).]]

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter; John 16:5-15

V.8, 9. “When the Holy Spirit is come, he will convict the world in respect of sin, because they believe not on me.”

V.12, 13. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth.”

John 18:39

[[Luther published three sermons for John 16:5-16. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 5-7; the second in verses 8-11; and the last in verse 12-13 (Part I) and 14-15 (Part II).]]

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter; John 16:5-15 (2nd Sermon)

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD OF SIN.

1 Christ pictures to us in this Gospel what his kingdom is and what takes place in it, how it is governed and what it accomplishes. Here you learn that there is a kingdom upon the earth and that it is invisible, and that it cleaves to and rests upon the Word of God alone. Christ does not say that he wishes his disciples to follow him up into heaven at once; but that he will send them the Holy Spirit and that he departs from them for the very purpose of sending them the Holy Spirit, in order that thereby his kingdom may be further developed. Therefore, he says: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” They could not understand that kingdom, how it should exist and be administered. Their reason and senses were still too carnal, they had never seen a spiritual kingdom, nor heard of one; therefore they continually thought of a temporal, outward kingdom. And here as in other Gospels, faith and trust in Christ are preached.

We wish now to consider the leading thoughts in this Gospel and to explain them as far as God gives us his grace to do so. The Lord addresses his disciples thus:

V.8. “When the Comforter is come, he will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me.”

2 Here we must let that be “sin” which is ascribed to, and included in, sin by the high majesty of heaven. In the text only unbelief is mentioned as sin, “because,” says the Lord, “they believe not on me.”

3 But what is it to believe on Christ? It is not simply to believe that he is God, or that he reigns in heaven in equal power with God the Father; many others believe that: But I believe on Christ when I believe that he is a gracious God to me and has taken my sins upon himself and reconciled me with God the Father, that my sins are his and his righteousness mine, that there is an intermingling and an exchange, that Christ is a mediator between me and the Father. For the sins of the whole world were laid upon Christ, and the righteousness of the Father, that is in Christ, will swallow up all our sins.

No sins dare and can remain upon Christ. Such faith makes me pure and acceptable to the Father. Of this faith the pope and our highly educated leaders know nothing to speak, much less to believe. They teach that man should do many good works if he is to be acceptable to God and be free from sin, and that then God imparts to him his grace.

4 However, here the Lord speaks quite differently, and says: “The Holy Spirit will convict the world in respect of sin, because they believe not on me.” Unbelief only is mentioned here as sin, and faith is praised as suppressing and extinguishing the other sins, even the sins in the saints. Faith is so strong and overpowering that no sin dare put it under any obligation. Although sins are present in pious and believing persons, they are not imputed to them, nor shall their sins condemn them. This is Paul’s meaning when he says in Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Their hearts are cleansed by faith, as Peter writes in Acts 15:9. Therefore, whatever they do in this faith, in this assurance is all good, pure and pleasing to God. On the contrary, without this faith all their doings are sin and destruction, though their good works may shine and glitter as beautifully as they will, and even though they raise the dead. For Paul says: “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” Romans 14:23.

5 What will now become of all the priests, nuns and monks who, wishing to escape sin, run into cloisters and undertake to do many good works without this faith? Unbelief is called sin, as I said, but to believe on Christ–that he takes my sins upon himself, reconciles me to the Father and at the same time makes me his heir of all that is in heaven and earth–this is good works. In John 6:28-29, the Jews asked Christ: “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Yea, and should we preach thus, who will then enter the cloisters or contribute anything for them? The purses of the monks would then surely become flat, their kitchens scanty, their cellars empty and neglected. For this reason they will not allow faith to be preached; nay, they condemn this doctrine and banish its preachers. Indeed they have already set about it in good earnest. Christ further says:

V.10. “Of righteousness, because I go to the Father.”

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

6 Here all the learned come armed, yea, the whole world besides, and tell us what kind of righteousness this is. Yes, and they shall err. For the world has never known this righteousness; it does not yet know it, and it does not wish to know it. Hence, the Lord says here that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of this righteousness.

7 But what are we to understand here by “the world?” We dare not understand by it the coarse, outward sins, as adultery, murder, stealing and theft. There are instituted for such characters the wheels and gallows, with which the worldly powers, the kings, emperors and princes, have to do. But we will interpret “the world” as the subtle and secret sins, of which the Holy Spirit convicts, which the world does not know as sin. Yea, it pronounces them divine works; it applauds them and will not permit them to be called sins. How else can unbelief and other secret sins live in the heart while the heart itself is not conscious of them and knows not that they are sins? But those who convict the world must, on that account, be reviled as heretics and be banished from the country, as we see at present. Therefore, the Holy Spirit must convict the world.

8 The rod, however, by which the world is convicted and punished, is the divine Word and the holy Gospel, proclaimed by the apostles and preachers, as God the Father says to his Son in Psalms 2:9: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” That is, you shall humble them with the holy Gospel. But the world resents such conviction and punishment; yet it punishes severely, and even more severely than the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit takes rods, but the world uses swords and fire. Isaiah also speaks in like terms of Christ our Lord in Isaiah 11:4: “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.”

9 What is now the righteousness the Lord means here? Some say righteousness is a virtue that gives to every person his own. Although this is a fine definition, yet it is misleading, in that we do not know how we are indebted to every one, to God and to man. This God desires and demands of us. Therefore, his righteousness is nothing more than the faith and grace of God, by which God makes us pious and righteous. Such righteousness we must have and thus be righteous, if we are to be found righteous and unblamable before God, and not only before man. For the smallest letter or tittle of the Law shall not fail, but all will be fulfilled.

10 Noah was found to be such a righteous man. It is written of him in Genesis 6:8-9: “Noah was a righteous man, and blameless in his generation; he walked with God. Therefore he found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.” It is also written of Job, in Job 1:1, that he was a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and turned away from evil. But that is done only by faith, when one believes that God has strangled and swallowed up one’s sins in his righteousness. For this righteousness is nothing but to believe that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father; that he is equal with God possessing equal power; that he has become Lord by virtue of his passion, by which he has ascended to the Father, reconciled us with God and is there as our mediator. This is what the prophet means in Psalms 110:1. “Jehovah saith unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Therefore, St.

Paul calls Christ now a mediator, 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 8:6; then a throne of grace, Romans 3:25; a propitiation, 1 John 2:2, and other like names. God requires this honor from us and faith demands it that we possess him as our Lord and Saviour; and this glory he will not concede to any one else, as he says through the prophet: “My glory will I not give to another,” Isaiah 42:8.

11 His way to the Father is his glory. For “to go” means to die, and to pass through death to the Father and enter upon another existence. He glories in his future course when he says: “I go unto the Father.” Therefore, here righteousness is nothing more than traveling by faith the road through death unto the Father. This faith makes us righteous before God, this faith by which we believe that he delivered us from sin, death, Satan and hell, through his passion, and that thereby God, the Father, is reconciled and our sins are blotted out by his blood. This is also the reason that he mentions his going, when he says, in respect of righteousness, not that he is with the Father, but that he goes to the Father. In this going, sin is swallowed up in righteousness and Christ passes cheerfully through death, so that no one is even aware of it. Therefore it follows:

V.10. “And ye behold me no more.”

12 The nature and art of faith are here set forth: Faith neither feels nor gropes, nor do the things connected with it require a science; but it bestirs itself cheerfully to believe the things it neither feels nor can measure with all its powers inwardly or outwardly. Paul says in Romans 8,24: “Who hopeth for that which he seeth?” Therefore, the Lord aptly says: “And ye behold me no more.” As if he would say that this way of good works which he is traveling, will not be seen nor grasped by the senses, but it must be believed. Now follows the third and last part of our Gospel.

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD OF JUDGMENT, OR THE CROSS.

V.11. “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

13 The prince of this world is Satan, and his members include all unbelieving and godless persons, all flesh with all its powers is condemned by these words, and what the world praises is condemned by God, including both the godly and the ungodly, believers and unbelievers, friends and enemies, as St. Peter cites in his first Epistle (4:17), when he says: “For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God,” that is, with the elect, in whom God dwells. The righteous, while they live here, have flesh and blood, in which sin is rooted. To suppress this sin God will lead them into great misery and anxiety, poverty, persecution and all kinds of danger (as Paul writes to the Romans, 7:18ff; 8:4; and to the Corinthians) until the flesh becomes completely subject to the Spirit.

14 That, however, does not take place until death, when the flesh is completely turned to ashes. We must be in all points like Christ. Since he was here despised, mocked and tried, so that, as the prophet Isaiah (53:3) says, he was esteemed and held as one stricken and smitten of God, the most despised and unworthy, full of grief and sorrow. His disciples must also go through the same experiences. Every one should carefully consider this. It is so decreed, as Christ himself before declared to his disciples, saying: “Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me they will also persecute you.” John 15:20. Hence Paul says in very plain words in 2 Timothy 3:12: “All that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

15 Therefore, St. Peter carefully discriminates and says: “If judgment begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?” I Pet 4:17-18. This discrimination is between the sufferings of the godly and of the wicked. Godly and believing persons know their sins; they bear all their punishment patiently, and are resigned to God’s judgment without the least murmur; therefore, they are punished only bodily, and here in time, and their pain and suffering have an end. Unbelievers, however, since they are not conscious of their sins and transgressions, can not bear God’s punishment patiently, but they resent it and wish their life and works to go unpunished, yea, uncensored.

Hence, their punishment and suffering are in body and soul, here in time, and last forever beyond this life. The Lord says here, “The prince of this world is already judged.” As if he were to say, All that the world and humanity in the world discover, praise and condemn, amounts to nothing; and whatever God judges the world cannot suffer nor bear, but rejects, repudiates and condemns.

16 Thus, three thoughts have been presented to us in this Gospel: Sin, righteousness and, finally, the cross and persecution. We shall be freed from sin through faith. If we believe that Christ made satisfaction for our sins and that his satisfaction is ours, that is then the righteousness. When we are free from sin, and are just and pious, then the world, Satan and the flesh will arise and contend and battle against us. Then come persecution and the cross. This we wish to have set forth in brief at present from this Gospel. May God grant his grace that we learn it thus, and know how to govern ourselves by it when we need it.

John 18:40

[[Luther published three sermons for John 16:5-16. One can be found in the electronic version in verses 5-7; the second in verses 8-11; and the last in verse 12-13 (Part I) and 14-15 (Part II).]]

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Easter; John 16:5-15 (2nd Sermon)

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD OF SIN.

We wish now to consider the leading thoughts in this Gospel and to explain them as far as God gives us his grace to do so. The Lord addresses his disciples thus:

V.8. “When the Comforter is come, he will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me.”

V.10. “Of righteousness, because I go to the Father.”

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

V.10. “And ye behold me no more.”

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS THE WORLD OF JUDGMENT, OR THE CROSS.

V.11. “Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

Luther's Commentary on Selected Bible Passages

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German theologian, Augustinian friar, and the central figure of the Protestant Reformation. His biblical commentaries, drawn from his lectures at the University of Wittenberg, are foundational documents of Protestant theology. This collection includes Luther's …

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Old Testament

GEN JOB PSA PRO ECC SOS ISA JER LAM EZK DAN HOS JOL AMO OBA JON MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL

New Testament

MAT MRK LUK JHN ACT ROM 1CO 2CO GAL EPH PHP COL 1TH 2TH 1TI 2TI TIT PHM HEB JAS 1PE 2PE 1JN 2JN 3JN JUD REV

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