Collected Works of Martin Luther

by Martin Luther

  And this is what Christ desired. For before saying three times to Peter: “Feed My sheep,” He asked him thrice if he loved Him, and Peter thrice answered that he loved Him. [John 21:15 ff.] It is evident, therefore, that there is no “feeding” where there is no love. Therefore, the papacy either must be love, or it cannot be a feeding of the sheep, and if the word “Feed My sheep” establishes the papal chair, it follows that all are popes who love Christ and feed the sheep. And this is perfectly true: for aforetime all bishops were called popes, which title is now restricted to the one at Rome.

  A Distinction in Love

  But here look you what our Romanists do when they cannot overcome these words of Christ, and must admit, though with great reluctance, that no one can feed except he love Christ, as the clearly expressed words of Christ declare. Gladly they would give Him the lie, or deny Him; but now that they are hit squarely between the eyes, so that their heads swim, hear what they say. They say that Christ indeed demands love in the office of the pope, but not that high love, which, they say, is meritorious unto eternal life; but the ordinary love is quite sufficient, such as a servant has toward his master.73 Now see, this lying explanation74 of love they bring forth entirety out of their own heads, without warrant of the Scriptures, and yet they would have it appear that they are dealing with me in the Scriptures. Tell me, my dear Romanists, all of you melted together into one heap, where is there so much as one letter in the Scriptures concerning this love of which you dream? If your vile brew of Leipzig75 could speak, it would easily overcome such feather-brains, and speak better than you do of love.

  But let us follow this matter further. If there must needs be some sort of love in the papacy, what becomes of it when a pope does not love Christ at all, and seeks in it only his own gain and honor? And there have been many such, yea, almost all since the beginning of the papacy. You have not escaped me yet — you must confess that the papacy has not always existed, it has often perished, because it was ofttimes without love. But if it had been established by divine right, in these words of Christ, it would not have perished. Twist and turn as you will, these words will not yield a papacy; or else the papacy must cease in Christendom whenever the pope is without love. Now you have said yourself that the person may be evil, but the office remains; again you admit, and must admit, that the office is nothing if the person be evil — or you must let “feeding the sheep” be something else than the papacy. And this is true; let us see what you can bring against it.

  A Shepherd’s Love

  But let every one beware of the poisoned tongues and devil-glosses which can invent a love of such description. Christ speaks of the highest, strongest, best love of which man is capable. He will not be loved with a false, divided love; here there must be whole-hearted and pure love, or none at all. And the meaning of Christ is that in St. Peter’s person He is instructing all preachers how they must be equipped; as if He would say: “See, Peter, if you shall preach My word, and thereby feed My sheep, there shall rise against you the powers of hell, devil, world, and all that therein is, and you must be willing to venture body, life, goods, honor, friends, and everything which you have; and this you will not do if you do not love Me and cleave close to Me. And if you should begin to preach, and the sheep were being fed in the pastures, and the wolves would break in, and you would then flee as a hireling, and not venture your life, but leave the sheep without care, to the wolves [John 10:12 ff.], it would have been better that you had never begun to preach and feed the sheep.” For if he falls, who preaches the Word and should stand at the head, offence is given to every one, the Word of God is brought to deepest disgrace, and more harm is done to the sheep than if they had no shepherd at all. Christ cares much for the feeding of the sheep; He cares nothing at all how many crowns the pope wears, and how in all his splendor he lifts himself far above the kings of the world.

  Let any one tell if he can, whether the papacy has such love, or if Christ, in these words, has instituted such a worthless authority as the papacy is. Without doubt he is truly a pope who preaches with such love; but where can such a one be found? There is no passage that gives me as much sorrow in my preaching as this one does — of love I feel not much, of preaching I do more than enough. They accuse me of being rabid and revengeful; I fear that I have done too little. I should have pulled the wool76 much harder for the ravening wolves, who never cease to rend the Scripture, to poison and pervert it to the great injury of the poor, forsaken sheep of Christ. If I had only loved them enough I should have dealt quite differently with the pope and his Romanists, who with their laws and their prattle, their letters of indulgence, and the rest of their foolery, bring to naught out faith and God’s Word. They make for us what laws they will, only to capture us, and then sell them to us again for money;77 with their mouths they weave snares for money, and yet boast that they are shepherds and keepers of sheep, whereas they are truly wolves, thieves, and murderers, as the Lord says in John x.

  I know right well that this little word, “love,” scares the pope and his Romanists and makes them weak and weary, nor are they willing that it should be pressed, for it overturns the whole papacy. It made Dr. Eck weary at Leipzig;78 and whom would it not make weary, since Christ directly commands Peter not to feed the sheep except there be love? He must have love or there can be no “feeding.” I shall wait a while now to see how they will parry this thrust. If they prick me with “feeding,” I will prick them much harder with “loving,” and we shall see who prevails. This is the reason why some of the popes in their Canon laws so neatly pass in silence this word “love,” and make so much ado about “feeding,” thinking that thereby they have preached only to drunken Germans, who will not notice how the hot porridge burns their tongue. This is the reason, too, why the pope and the Romanists cannot bear any questioning and investigating of the foundation of papal power, and every one is accused of doing a scandalous, presumptuous and heretical thing, who is not satisfied with their mere assertions, but seeks for its real basis. But that one should ask if God is God, and seek in frivolous presumption to penetrate all His mysteries, they suffer with equanimity, and it does not concern them. Whence this perverted game? From this, that, as Christ says, John iii, “He that doeth evil, feareth the light.” [John 3:20] Where is the thief or robber who courts investigation? Thus the evil conscience cannot bear the light; but truth loveth the light, and is an enemy to darkness, even as Christ says in the same chapter, “He that doeth truth, cometh to the light.” [John 3:21]

  Now we see that the two sayings of Christ, spoken to Peter, on which they build the papacy, are stronger against the papacy than all others, and the Romanists can produce nothing that does not make them a laughing-stock. I shall let the matter rest here, and pass by whatever else this miserable Romanist spues out in his book; since I have controverted it all many times before, and now also some others have effectually done so in Latin.79 I find nothing in it, except that he soils the Holy Scriptures like a sniveling child; in no place does he show a mastery of his words or an understanding of his subject.

  The Conclusion of the Matter

  On the subject of the papacy I have come to this conclusion: Since we observe that the pope has full authority over all our bishops, and has not attained it apart from the providence of God — although I do not believe that it is a gracious, but rather a wrathful providence which permits men, as a plague on the world, to exalt themselves and oppress others — therefore I do not desire that any one should resist the pope, but rather bow to the providence of God, honor this authority, and endure it with all patience, just as if the Turk ruled over us; in this wise it will do no harm.

  I contend for but two things. First: I will not suffer any man to establish new articles of faith, and to abuse all other Christians in the world, and slander and brand them as heretics, apostates and unbelievers, simply because they are not under the pope. It is enough that we let the pope be pope, and it is not needful that, for his sake, God and His saints on earth sh
ould be blasphemed. Second: All that the pope decrees and does I will receive, on this condition, that I first test it by the Holy Scriptures. He must remain under Christ, and submit to be judged by the Holy Scriptures.

  But these Roman knaves come along, place him above Christ, and make him a judge over the Scriptures; they say that he cannot err, and whatever is dreamed at Rome, nay, everything which they dare to come out with, they would prescribe for us as articles of faith. And as if that were not enough, they would introduce a new kind of faith, so that we are to believe what we can see with our bodily eyes; whereas faith, by its very nature, is of the things which no one sees or feels, as St. Paul says in Hebrews xi [Heb. 11:1]. Now the Roman authority and fellowship80 is a bodily thing, and can be seen by any one. If the pope came to that — which may God forbid! — I would say right out that he is the real Antichrist, of whom all the Scriptures speak.

  If they grant me these two things, I will let the pope remain, nay, help to exalt him as him as they please; if not, he shall be to me neither pope nor Christian. He that must do it may make an idol of him; I will not worship him.

  Moreover, I would be truly glad if kings, princes, and all the nobles would take hold, and turn the knaves from Rome out of the country, and keep the appointments to bishoprics and benefices out of their hands. How has Roman avarice come to usurp all the foundations, bishoprics and benefices of our fathers? Who has ever read or heard of such monstrous robbery? Do we not also have the people who need them, while out of our poverty we must enrich the ass-drivers and stable-boys, nay, the harlots and knaves at Rome, who look upon us as nothing else but arrant fools, and make us the objects of their vile mockery?

  It is a notorious fact that the Russians desired to come into the Roman fellowship, but then the holy shepherds of Rome “fed” those sheep of Christ in such a manner that they would not receive them unless they first bound themselves to a perpetual tax of I know not how many hundred thousands of ducats. Such “food” they would not eat, and so they remain as they are, saying, if they must buy Christ, they would rather save their money until they come to Christ Himself, in heaven. Thus thou doest, thou scarlet whore of Babylon [Rev. 17:4], as St. John calls thee — makest of our faith a mockery for all the world, and yet wouldest have the name of making every one a Christian.

  Oh the pity, that kings and princes have so little reverence for Christ, and His honor concerns them so little that they allow such heinous abominations to gain the upper hand, and look on, while at Rome they think of nothing but to continue in their madness and to increase the abounding misery, until no hope is left on earth except in the temporal authorities. Of this I will say more anon,81 if this Romanist comes again; let this suffice for a beginning. May God help us at length to open our eyes. Amen.

  As for the slanders and evil names with which my person is assailed, although numerous enough, I will let my dear Romanist off without reply. They do not trouble me. It has never been my intention to avenge myself on those who rail at my person, my life, my work, my doings. That I am not worthy of praise, I myself know full well. But I will let no man reproach me that in defending the Scriptures I am more pointed and impetuous than some seem to like, neither will I be silenced. Whoever will, let him freely scold, slander, condemn my person and my life; it is already forgiven him. But let no one expect from me either grace or patience who would make my Lord Christ, Whom I preach, and the Holy Ghost, to be liars. I am nothing at all, but for the Word of Christ I give answer with joyful heart and vigorous courage, and without respect of persons. To this end God has given me a glad and fearless spirit, which they shall not embitter, I trust, not in all eternity.

  That I have mentioned Leipzig, no one should consider an affront to the honorable city and University. I was forced to it by the vaunted, arrogant, fictitious title of this Romanist, who boasts that he is a public teacher of ail the Holy Scriptures at Leipzig,82 which titles have never before been used in Christendom, and by his dedication83 to the city and its Council. If the jackanapes had not issued his book in German, in order to poison the defenceless laity, he would have been too small for me to bother with. For this clumsy ass cannot yet sing his hee-haw, and quite uncalled, he meddles in things which the Roman chair itself, together with all the bishops and scholars, has not been able to establish in a thousand years.

  I should have thought, too, that Leipzig ought to have been too precious in his eyes, for him to smear his drivel and snivel on so honorable and famous a city; but in his own imagination he is no ordinary man. I perceive that if I permit the petulance of all these thick-heads, even the bath-maids will finally write against me.

  But I pray that whoever would come at me arm himself with the

  Scriptures. What helpeth it, that a poor frog puffeth himself up?

  Even if he should burst, he is no ox.

  I would gladly be out of this business, and they force themselves into it. May God grant both of us our prayers, — help me out of it, and let them stick in it Amen.

  All glory be to God on high

  And praise to all eternity. Amen.

  ENDNOTES.

  1 Augustin Alveld, so named from the town of his birth, Alveld in Saxony, a Franciscan monk, Lector of his order at Leipzig. It is said of him that what he lacked in learning he made up for in scurrility, so that he himself complains that his own brother-monks wanted to forbid his writing. John Lonicerus, a friend of Luther, published a small book, Biblia nova Alveldensis, Wittenberg, 1520, in which he gathered a long list of Alveld’s terms of reproach used against Luther. To him has been attributed the origin of the undignified style adopted by so many since 1520 on both sides of the controversy about Luther’s teachings. Vid. H. A. Erhard, in Ersch und Gruber, Encyclopaedia, iii, 277; Algemeine Deutsche Biographi, I, 375.

  2 Cf., Augustine’s Confessions, III, vii: “Just as if in armor, a man being ignorant what piece were appointed for what part, should clap a greave upon his head and draw a headpiece upon his leg…”

  3 The four chief literary opponents of Luther in the earlier years of the Reformation — Sylvester Mazolini, usually called Prierias, after the city of his birth, a papal official (Magister sacri palatii) who had published three books against Luther prior to 1520; Thomas of Gaëtano, Cardinal, and papal legate at the Diet of Augsburg, 1518; John Eck, professor in the University of Ingolstadt, who had been Luther’s opponent at the Leipzig Disputation in 1519; Jerome Emser, also active at the Leipzig Disputation, whom Luther was to make the laughing-stock of Germany under the name of “the Leipzig goat,” an appellation suggested by his coat-of-arms.

  4 The Theological Faculties of Cologne and Louvaine officially condemned Luther’s writings; the former August 30th, the latter November 7th, 1519. The text of their resolutions was reprinted by Luther with a reply, Responsio ad condemnationem donctrinalem, etc. (1520); Weimar Ed., VI, 174 ff; Erl. Ed., op. var. arg., IV, 172 ff.

  5 Neidhart.

  6 The views which Luther expounds in this treatise had already been expressed in a Latin work, Resolutiones super Propositione XIII. de protestate Papae, 1519 (Erl. Ed., op. var. arg., III, 293 ff; Weimar Ed., II, 180 ff). The present work is written in German “for the laity.”

  7 Christenheit. Luther carefully avoids the use of the word “Church” (Kirche). The reason will appear in the argument which follows. In many places, however, the word “Christendom” would not Luther’s meaning, and there is, for the modern reader, no such technical restriction to the term “Church” as obtained among Luther’s readers. Where the word Christenheit is rendered otherwise than “Christendom” it is so indicated in a foot-note.

  8 The chief point argued at the Leipzig Disputation, whether the power of the pope is jure divino or jure humano.

  9 Das feine barfüssische Büchlein — i. e., a book written by a bare-footed friar. See below, p. 345.

  10 A comment explanatory of a passage of Scripture or of the Canon Law.

  11 Pallium, a scarf made of sheep’s wool, which the pope i
s privileged to wear at all times, and others only on specified occasions; conferred by the pope on persons of the rank of archbishops; on its bestowal depended the assumption of the title and functions of the office. The granting of pallis became a rich source of revenue for the pope since each new incumbent of a prelacy had to apply for his own pallium in person, or by special representative, and to pay for the privilege of receiving it. At the appointment of Uriel as bishop of Mainz in 1508, even the emperor urged a reduction of one-half the usual fees, especially since the previous incumbent had paid the full price but four years previous. The request was denied. See Art Mainz in PRE 1, 2.

  12 Zur Halfte, so nicht mehr, geistlich. See below, page 356, No. 2.

  13 Is this an allusion to the papal title, servus servorum Dei, “the servant of the servants of God”?