Quotes of Martin Luther
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By the one solid rock which we call the doctrine of justification, we mean that we are redeemed from sin, death, and the devil and are made partakers of life eternal, not by ourselves...but by help from without, by the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ.(W40.I.33)
If the article of justification is lost, all Christian doctrine is lost at the same time. . . for there is no middle ground between these two righteousnesses: the active one of the Law and the passive one which comes from Christ. Therefore the man who strays from Christian righteousness must lapse into the active one, that is since he has lost Christ, he must put his confidence in his own works.
According to the usage of Scripture, grace signifies that favor of God which wishes us well and justifies us. That is, it freely grants us the faith which alone justifies us. (W11.302)
God would tie and attach us to this one person, Christ. Apart from this person, born of Mary and having real flesh and blood, we are neither to seek nor to find God. For we are to grasp and find God only through faith in the flesh and blood of Christ. (W.33.190)
We should rather allow Scripture to rule and master us, and we ourselves should not be the masters, according to our own mad heads, setting ourselves above Scripture. (W.47.367)
Just so Baptism is right and remains true even though it were proved that a little child or an old person who had been baptized does not believe. For Baptism is no work of ours. Whether I believe or do not believe, baptism is and remains right and good by itself. But this is also true: if I believe, baptism is a benefit to me; if, on the other hand, I do not believe; baptism is forever no benefit to me. (W.46.687)
See to it that you fasten your attention to God's Word and stay in it, like an infant in the cradle. If you let it go for one moment, you have fallen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God's will and works with their reason.(W.19.498)
I am seeking and thirsting for nothing else than a gracious God. And He earnestly offers Himself as such and urges even those who spurn Him and are His enemies to accept Him as such. (W.BR.4.272)
But in the sacrament (Holy Communion) we are, as it were, baked into one cake; for there we have the same faith, the same confession, love, and hope. . . For the Sacrament is to serve as a means to hold the Christians together in the same understanding, doctrine, and faith, so that nobody should be an individual kernel apart from the rest and have his own doctrine and separate faith. (W.42.208)
God Himself is Love and His Being is nothing but pure Love. (W.36.424)
Sinners are lovely because they are loved; they are not loved because they are lovely. (W1.365)
Our principal doctrinal position is this: whatever is not established by the Word of God is abominable and diabolical if we presume to appease God thereby. Therefore nothing is to be done, taught, or believed except what is commanded by a very definite Word of God. But in all matters which do not pertain to conscience or to the establishment of righteousness before God we may safely follow human teachings, as in economic and political affairs. For wisdom to administer these matters is created in us, and these things pertain to temporal life only; but conscience we can and must control only by the Word of God.(W.25.286)
