Quotes from Martin Luther

There will not be, nor arise in us, the righteousness of God, unless our own righteousness falls and perishes utterly. We do not rise unless we who are standing badly have first fallen. Thus altogether the being, holiness, truth, goodness, life of God, etc., are not in us, unless in the presence of God we first become nothing, profane, lying, evil, dead. Otherwise the righteousness of God would be mocked, and Christ would have died in vain.

For this is what GOD means when Peter says: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of GOD" (1 Peter 5:6), and for this reason He humbles and disciplines His saints so that they should not be proud.

We all shouldn't try to do the same work. Rather, each of us should pay attention to our own responsibilities. Otherwise, we cannot be of one mind and one heart. We must allow the works to be varied so that each of us can remain with what God has entrusted to us. We should simply do the work at hand.

How much less, then, is the disorder to be tolerated that arises when a Christian leaves his office and takes upon him a temporal office, or when a bishop or pastor leaves his office and takes upon him the office of a prince or judge; or, on the other hand, when a prince takes up the office of a bishop and lets his princely office go? Even today this shameful disorder rages and rules in the whole papacy, contrary to their own canons and laws.

He lives and reigns who saved the three youths from the fiery furnace of the king of Babylon, and if He will not save me, my head is worth nothing compared with Christ.

For we have vowed enough in baptism, more than we can ever fulfill; if we give ourselves to the keeping of this one vow, we shall have all we can do.

And the way Christ treats the works of Satan, so Satan attempts to destroy the works of Christ, such as life, righteousness, joy, and the like.

What recourse do we have but to be of mutual help to one another and to forgive those who fall, since we ourselves have already fallen or are about to fall?

If we will not learn out of the Scriptures, we must learn out of the Turk's scabbard, until we find in our hurt that Christians are not to make war or resist evil. Fools must be chased with clubs.

Therefore Augustine was right when he said: "The external works of the Godhead are indivisible.

One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of God, the Gospel of Christ, as He says, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me shall not die eternally" (John xi. 25), and also, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John viii. 36), and, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. iv. 4).

If I were emperor, king, or prince in a campaign against the Turk, I would exhort my bishops and priests to stay at home and mind the duties of their office, praying, fasting, saying mass, preaching, and caring for the poor, as not only Holy Scripture, but their own canon law teaches and requires.