Martin Luther Quotes Page

• "Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.  We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides...  No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day." ('Let Your Sins Be Strong, from 'The Wittenberg Project;'  'The Wartburg Segment', translated by Erika Flores, from Dr. Martin Luther's
  Saemmtliche Schriften, Letter No. 99, 1 Aug. 1521.)
   
• "Those pious souls who do good to gain the Kingdom of Heaven not only will never succeed, but they must even be reckoned among the impious; and it is more important to guard them against good works than against sin."  (Wittenberg, VI, 160, quoted by O'Hare, in 'The Facts About Luther, TAN Books, 1987, p. 122.)
   
• "...with regard to God, and in all that bears on salvation or damnation, (man) has no 'free-will', but is a captive, prisoner and bondslave, either to the will of God, or to the will of  Satan." (From the essay, 'Bondage of the Will,' 'Martin Luther: Selections From His Writings, ed. by Dillenberger, Anchor Books, 1962 p. 190.)
   
• "...we do everything of necessity, and nothing by 'free-will'; for the power of 'free-will' is nil..."  (Ibid., p. 188.)
   
• "Man is like a horse.  Does God leap into the saddle?  The horse is obedient and accommodates itself to every movement of the rider and goes whither he wills it.  Does God throw down the reins?  Then Satan leaps upon the back of the animal, which bends, goes and submits to the spurs and caprices of its new rider...  Therefore, necessity, not free will, is the controlling principle of our conduct.  God is the author of what is evil as well as of what is good, and, as He bestows happiness on
  those who merit it not, so also does He damn others who deserve not their fate."  ('De Servo Arbitrio', 7, 113 seq., quoted by O'Hare, in 'The Facts About Luther, TAN Books, 1987, pp. 266-267.)
   
• "I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture.  If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God.  In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter." (De Wette II, 459, ibid., pp. 329-330.)
   
• "The history of Jonah is so monstrous that it is absolutely incredible." ('The Facts About Luther, O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987, p. 202.)
   
• "The book of Esther I toss into the Elbe.  I am such an enemy to the book of Esther that I wish it did not exist, for it Judaizes too much and has in it a great deal of heathenish foolishness." (Ibid.)
   
• "Of very little worth is the Book of Baruch, whoever the worthy Baruch might be." (Ibid.)
   
• "...the epistle of St. James is an epistle full of straw, because it contains nothing evangelical."  ('Preface to the New Testament,' ed. Dillenberger, p. 19.)
   
• "If nonsense is spoken anywhere, this is the very place.  I pass over the fact that many have maintained, with much probability, that this epistle was not written by the apostle James, and is not worthy of the spirit of the apostle."  ('Pagan Servitude of the Church,' ed. Dillenberger, p. 352.)
   
• "John records but few of the works of Christ, but a great deal of his preaching, whereas the other three evangelists record many of His works, but few of His words.  It follows that the gospel of John is unique in loveliness, and of a truth the principal gospel, far, far superior to the other three, and St. Paul and St. Peter are far in advance of the three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke."  ('Preface to Romans,' ed. Dillenberger, pp. 18-19.)
   
• And he complained about the Book of Revelation: "to my mind it bears upon it no marks of an apostolic or prophetic character...  Everyone may form his own judgment of this book; as for myself, I feel an aversion to it, and to me this is sufficient reason for rejecting it." (Sammtliche Werke,  63, pp. 169-170, 'The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987, p. 203.)
   
• And finally, he admitted adding the word 'alone' to Rom. 3:28 of his own volition:  "If your Papist annoys you with the word ('alone'), tell him straightway, Dr. Martin Luther will have it so:  Papist and ass are one and the same thing.  Whoever will not have my translation, let him give it the go-by: the devil's thanks to him who censures it without my will and knowledge.  Luther will have it so, and he is a doctor above all the doctors in Popedom."  (Amic. Discussion, 1, 127,'The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987, p. 201.)
   
• "Jews are young devils damned to hell."  ('Luther's Works,' Pelikan, Vol. XX, pp. 2230.)
   
• "Burn their synagogues.  Forbid them all that I have mentioned above. Force them to work and treat them with every kind of severity, as Moses did in the desert and slew three thousand... If that is no use, we must drive them away like mad dogs, in order that we may not be partakers of their abominable blasphemy and of all their vices, and in order that we may not deserve the anger of God and be damned with them.  I have done my duty.  Let everyone see how he does his.  I am excused."  ('About the Jews and Their Lies,' quoted by O'Hare, in 'The Facts About Luther, TAN Books, 1987, p. 290.)

•   " This one will not hear of Baptism, that one denies the Sacrament, another puts a world between this and the last day: some teach that Christ is not God, some say this, some say that: there are about as many sects and creeds as there are heads. No yokel is so rude but when he has dreams and fancies, he thinks himself inspired by the Holy Ghost and must be a prophet." (DE Wette III, 61)
   
• "If the mistress of the house is unwilling, let the maid come. (Sermon De Matrimonio) ('The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987,p. 90)
   
• "Man must persuade himself that he has nothing to do with the Law and that no sins can condemn him ;nay, let him, so to say, boast of his sinfulness and thus take the weapon out of the devil's hand. When the devil rushes at you and tries to drown you in the deluge of your sins...say to him, 'Why do you wish to make a saint of me, why do you expect to find justice in me, who has nothing but sins, most grievous ones?" (Wittenb. V 281 B){'The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987, p. 113}
   
• "In fact, what would be the use of Christ, if the Law and our transgressions of the Law could still annoy and terrify us? When the conscience is terror-stricken on account of the Law and struggles with the thought of God's judgment, do not consult reason or the Law... act exactly as if you had never heard of the Law of God." (Wittenb. V. 303 B)['The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987,p. 113]
   
• "Answer: There is a time to live and a time to die; there is a time to hear the Law and a time to despise the Law... Let the Law be off and let the gospel reign." (Wittenb. V. 304 B.)['The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987, p. 113]
   
• "The body with its members, has to be subject to the Law, it has to carry its burden like a donkey, but leave the donkey with its burden in the valley when you ascend the mountain. For the conscience has nothing to do with the Law, works, earthly justice. We want indeed 'the light of Evangelium' [Gospel] to understand this, and  in this light the meaning is: 'Keep the Law, by all means; but if you do not, you need not be troubled in your conscience, for the transgression of the Law cannot possibly condemn you.'"(whittenb. V. 304)['The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987,p. 113]
   
• "Poor Jerome Weller, you have temptations; they must be overcome. When the devil comes to tempt and harass you with thoughts of the kind you allude to, have recourse at once to conversation, drink more freely, be jocose and playful and even indulge in some sin in hatred of the evil spirit and to torment him, to leave no room to make us overzealous about the merest trifles; otherwise we are beaten if we are too nervously sensitive about guarding against sin. If the devil says to you, 'Will you not stop drinking, answer him: I will drink all the more because you forbid it; I will drink great droughts in the name and to the honor of Jesus Christ., Imitate me. I never drink so well, I never eat so much, I never enjoy myself so well at table as when I am vexing the devil who is prepared to mock and harass me. Oh, that I could paint sin in a fair light, so as to mock the devil and make him see that I acknowledge no sin and am not conscious of having committed any! I tell you, we must put all the Ten Commandments, with which the devil tempts and plagues us so greatly, out of sight and out of mind. If the devil upbraids us  with our sins and declares us to be deserving of death and Hell,' but what then? Are  you for that reason to be damned eternally? By no means. 'I know One who suffered and made satisfaction for me, viz., Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there also I shall be.'" (De Wette, V. 188)['The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987,pp. 117-118]
   
• "How often have I taken with my wife those liberties which nature permits, merely in order to get rid of Satan's temptations. Yet all for no purpose, for he refused to depart; for Satan, as the author of death, has deprived our nature to such an extent that we will not admit any consolation. Hence  I advise everyone who is able to drive away these Satanic thoughts be diverting his mind, to do so, for instance, by thinking of a pretty girl, of money making, or of drink, or, in fine, by means of some other vivid emotion." (Colloq. ed. Binsdell, 2 p. 299). "Let us fix our minds on other thoughts," he had also said to Schlaginhaufen,"on thoughts of dancing, or of a pretty girl, that also is good." ['The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987,p 119]
   
• "Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe more boldly still... We must sin as long as we are what we are... sin shall not drag us away from Him [Christ] even should we commit fornication or murder, thousands and thousands of times a day," (Letter to Melanchon  published in Grisar's work, Volume III, p. 196) ['The Facts About Luther,' O'Hare, TAN Books, 1987, p. 120]
   
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