Martin Luther
Martin Luther's Definition of Faith:
An excerpt from
"An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans,"
Luther's German Bible of 1522
by Martin Luther, 1483-1546
Translated by Rev. Robert E. Smith
from DR. MARTIN LUTHER'S VERMISCHTE DEUTSCHE SCHRIFTEN.
Johann K. Irmischer, ed. Vol. 63
(Erlangen: Heyder and Zimmer, 1854), pp.124-125. [EA 63:124-125]
August 1994
Faith is not what some people think it is. Their human dream
is a delusion. Because they observe that faith is not followed by
good works or a better life, they fall into error, even though they
speak and hear much about faith. ``Faith is not enough,'' they
say, ``You must do good works, you must be pious to be saved.''
They think that, when you hear the gospel, you start working,
creating by your own strength a thankful heart which says, ``I
believe.'' That is what they think true faith is. But, because
this is a human idea, a dream, the heart never learns anything
from it, so it does nothing and reform doesn't come from this
`faith,' either.
Instead, faith is God's work in us, that changes us and gives
new birth from God. (John 1:13). It kills the Old Adam and makes us
completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits,
our thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with
it. Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this
faith. Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn't
stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone
asks, it already has done them and continues to do them without
ceasing. Anyone who does not do good works in this manner is an
unbeliever. He stumbles around and looks for faith and good
works, even though he does not know what faith or good works are.
Yet he gossips and chatters about faith and good works with many
words.
Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of
God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.
Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy,
joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The
Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you
freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve
everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who
has shown you such grace. Thus, it is just as impossible to
separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from
fire! Therefore, watch out for your own false ideas and guard
against good-for-nothing gossips, who think they're smart enough
to define faith and works, but really are the greatest of fools.
Ask God to work faith in you, or you will remain forever without
faith, no matter what you wish, say or can do.
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Bio of Martin Luther
Luther was born to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther)[10] and his wife
Margarethe (née Lindemann) on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, then part
of the Holy Roman Empire. He was baptized the next morning on the feast day of
St. Martin of Tours. His family moved to Mansfeld in 1484, where his father was
a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters, and served as one of four citizen
representatives on the local council. Martin Marty describes Luther's mother as
a hard-working woman of "trading-class stock and middling means," and notes that
Luther's enemies would later wrongly describe her as a whore and bath attendant.
He had several brothers and sisters, and is known to have been close to one of
them, Jacob.
Hans Luther was ambitious for himself and his family, and was determined
to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent Martin to Latin schools
in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended a school operated by a
lay group called the Brethren of the Common Life, and Eisenach in 1498. The
three schools focused on the so-called "trivium": grammar, rhetoric, and logic.
Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell.
At the age of seventeen in 1501, he entered the University of Erfurt —
which he later described as a beerhouse and whorehouse, — which saw him awakened
at four every morning for what Marty describes as "a day of rote learning and
often wearying spiritual exercises." He received his master's degree in 1505.
In accordance with his father's wishes, he enrolled in law school at the
same university that year, but dropped out almost immediately, believing that
law represented uncertainty.[16] Marty writes that Luther sought assurances
about life, and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing particular
interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel. He was deeply
influenced by two tutors, Bartholomäus Arnoldi von Usingen and Jodocus
Trutfetter, who taught him to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers, and
to test everything himself by experience. Philosophy proved to be unsatisfying,
offering assurance about the use of reason, but none about the importance, for
Luther, of loving God. Reason could not lead men to God, he felt, and he
developed what Marty describes as a love-hate relationship with Aristotle over
the latter's emphasis on reason. For Luther, reason could be used to question
men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only
through divine revelation, he believed, and Scripture therefore became
increasingly important to him.
He decided to leave his studies and become a monk, later attributing his
decision to an experience during a thunderstorm on July 2, 1505. A lightning
bolt struck near him as he was returning to university after a trip home. Later
telling his father he was terrified of death and divine judgment, he cried out,
"Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!" He came to view his cry for help as a
vow he could never break.
He left law school, sold his books, and entered a closed Augustinian
friary in Erfurt on July 17, 1505. One friend blamed the decision on Luther's
sadness over the deaths of two friends. Luther himself seemed saddened by the
move, telling those who attended a farewell supper then walked him to the door
of the Black Cloister, "This day you see me, and then, not ever again." His
father was furious over what he saw as a waste of Luther's education.