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" 'Surely He has borne our griefs.' His suffering was nothing else than our sin. These words, OUR, US, FOR US, must be written in letters of gold. He who does not believe this is not a Christian. 'Yet we esteemed Him.' We thought that He was suffering because of His own sin, as it were. In the eyes of the world and of the flesh Christ does not suffer for us, since He seemed to have deserved it Himself. This is what the prophet says here too, that He was judged guilty in the eyes of the world. It is therefore difficult to believe that such a one suffered for us. The Law is that everybody dies for his own sins. Natural reason, and divine as well, argues that everybody must bear his own sin. Yet He is struck down contrary to all law and custom. Hence reason infers that He was smitten by God for His own sake. Therefore the prophet leads us so earnestly beyond all righteousness and our rational capacity and confronts us with the suffering of Christ to impress upon us that all that Christ has is mine. This is the preaching of the whole Gospel, to show us that Christ suffered for our sake contrary to law, right, and custom."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:221
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:4
1527-1530

"He was wounded.' The prophet is eloquent in describing the suffering of Christ. Word by word he expounds it in opposition to the hardened Jews. Do you want to know what it is to bear our sins, that is, what it means that 'He was wounded?' Here you have Christ delineated perfectly and absolutely, since this chapter speaks of Him. Christ is a man, a servant of the Word, who by means of suffering bore our sins. What will the unrestrained Jew answer in opposition to this delineation? From this you must infer how far apart are the teachings of Paul and the pope. Paul clings to Christ alone as the sin bearer. By means of this one word, 'Lamb of God' (John 1:29), John the Baptist understands this Levitical sacrifice, that He suffered for the sins of all. It follows, then, that the Law and merits do not justify. Away with the Antichrist pope with his traditions, since Christ has borne all these things! I marvel that this text was so greatly obscured in the church. They note the concern of Scripture that faith without works is dead, and we say the same thing. In public argument, however, we say that works are indeed necessary, but not as justifying elements. Thus anyone may privately come to the conclusion, 'It is all the same whether I have sinned or whether I have done well.' This is hard for the conscience to believe, that it is the same and in fact something angelic and divine. Therefore this text draws the following conclusion: 'Christ alone bears our sins. Our works are not Christ. Therefore there is no righteousness of works.' "

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:222

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:5

1527-1530

"Surely none of the papists can escape this fact when he sees Scripture as a whole, that Christ has accomplished all things for justification and therefore we have not done it. Appeal to works, rewards, and merits and make much of them in the realm of outward recompense. Only do not make them responsible for justification and the forgiveness of sins. We can preach and uphold this passage in public, but we can only believe it with difficulty in private. If we preserve this article, 'Jesus Christ is the Savior,' all other articles concerning the Holy Spirit and of the church and of Scripture are safe. Thus Satan attacks no article so much as this one. He alone is a Christian who believes that Christ labors for us and that He is the Lamb of God slain for our sins. While this article stands, all the monasteries of righteousness, etc., are struck down by lightning. In the light of this text read all the epistles of Paul with regard to redemption, salvation, and liberation, because they are all drawn from this fountain. A blind papacy read and chanted these and similar words as in a dream, and no one really considered them. If they had, they would have cast off all righteousness from themselves."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:222
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:5
1527-1530

"Our nature is opposed to the function and power of Christ’s Passion. As far as the fact itself is concerned, both the pope and the Turk believe it and proclaim it, but they do not accept its function. As for you, lift up this article and extol it above every law and righteousness and let it be to you a measureless sea over against a little spark. The sea is Christ who has suffered. Your works and your righteousness are the little spark. Therefore beware, as you place your sins on your conscience, that you do not panic, but freely place them on Christ, as this text says, 'He has borne our iniquities.' We must clearly transfer our sins from ourselves to Christ. If you want to regard your sin as resting on you, such a thought in your heart is not of God but of Satan himself, contrary to Scripture, which by God’s will places your sin on Christ. Hence you must say: 'I see my sin in Christ, therefore my sin is not mine but another’s. I see it in Christ.' It is a great thing to say confidently: 'My sin is not mine.' However, it is a supreme conflict with a most powerful beast, which here becomes most powerful: 'I behold sins heaped on Christ.' Thus a certain hermit who was extremely harassed by Satan could not evade him, but said: 'I have not sinned. Everybody must look upon his conscience as free.' He did not answer well because he did have sin. This is what he should have said: 'My sins have been transferred to Christ; He has them.' ”

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:223
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:5
1527-1530

"[W]hen a Christian hears these supreme consolations and then sees how weak he is with regard to his faith in them, he soon thinks that they do not apply to him. In this way Satan can turn consolation into distress. But as for you, however weak you are, know that you are a Christian, whether you believe perfectly or imperfectly, even while weakness and a feeling of death and sin remain with you. To such a person we must say: 'Brother, your situation is not desperate, but pray together with the apostles for the perfection of your faith.' Paul also struggled with this problem and was deeply disturbed. A Christian is not yet perfect, but he is a Christian who has, that is, who begins to have, the righteousness of God. I say this for the sake of the weak, so that they will not despair when they feel the bite of sin within themselves. They should not yet be masters and doctors but disciples of Christ, people who learn Christ, not perfect teachers. Let it suffice for us to remain with that Word as learners. Therefore, however perfect and absolute the teaching of Christ is that affirms that all our sins belong to Christ, it is not perfect in our life. It is enough for us to have begun and to be in the state of reaching after what is before us. Hence a Christian man must be especially vexed in his conscience and heart by Satan, and yet he must remain in the Word and not seek peace anywhere else than in Christ."

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:224

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:5

1527-1530

" 'The chastisement of peace.' Peter treats this passage (1 Peter 2:24). Christ is not so much a judge and an angry God but one who bears and carries our sins, a mediator. Away with the papists, who have set Christ before us as a terrible judge and have turned the saints into intercessors! There they have added fuel to the fire. By nature we are already afraid of God. Blessed therefore are those who as uncorrupted young people arrived at this understanding, that they can say: 'I only knew Jesus Christ as the bearer of my sins.' The name of Christ, then, is most agreeable. 'The chastisement, or punishment, of our peace', that is, His chastisement is the remedy that brings peace to our conscience. Before Christ there is nothing but disorder. But He was chastised for the sake of our peace. Note the wonderful exchange; One man sins, another pays the penalty; one deserves peace, the other has it. The one who should have peace has chastisement, while the one who should have chastisement has peace. It is a difficult thing to know what Christ is. Would that our Enthusiasts saw this clearly! And with His stripes we are healed. See how delightfully the prophet sets Christ before us. It is a remarkable plaster. His stripes are our healing. The stripes should be ours and the healing in Christ. Hence this is what we must say to the Christian: 'If you want to be healed, do not look at your own wounds, but fix your gaze on Christ.' ”

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:224

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:5

1527-1530

" 'All we like sheep have gone astray.' This is the conclusion and confutation of the preceding. There he calls all our labors and endeavors errors. Christ alone was without sin. In this text all the apostles have attacked the religions and the Law itself. All we have gone astray. The religions through their own rules and their own way want to load our sins on us and say, 'If you will observe these things, you will be free from your sins.' Yet the prophet says that 'our sins' and the sins 'of all men' have been placed on Christ.

'All we like sheep have gone astray.' As I said yesterday: This is the supreme and chief article of faith, that our sins, placed on Christ, are not ours; again, that the peace is not Christ’s but ours. Once this foundation is established, all will be well with the superstructure. If we do not bump against this rock, other teachings will not harm us. This article alone Satan cannot but attack by means of tyrants and sects. The whole world can put up with every sectarian teaching and even support it in peace. But it cannot bear this faith and the rejection of all works and merits. Because self-glory is brought to naught and the world likes to hear its own glory, it is not willing to reject its own."

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:225

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:6

1527-1530

March 20th, 2024

"The head of self-righteousness must be lopped off. I grant that the works of the godly are good and right, but they do not justify. This Satan cannot bear, and because of this we are persecuted and we suffer to the present day, since we have taught all things in peace, tranquillity, patience, and purity, more than he, certainly. By this text we have cast down every foreign righteousness and hypocrisy. Therefore write this text on the foundation in golden letters or in your own blood. That is why he says 'all we', and no one is excepted.

'Each one of us all', because Christ has nothing from us but death and labor (cf. chapter 43) and we have righteousness and life from Him.

'And the Lord has laid'. This confirms our conscience that Christ did not take our sins by His own will but by the will of the Father who had mercy on us. 'On Him', not on us, contrary to every law and order, where whoever sins is punished. Here, however, we have the punishment of our sins on Christ Himself. In public life, however, if anyone sins openly, let him be punished by the magistrate."

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:225

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:6

1527-1530

March 21st, 2024

#LutherQuote

" 'He was offered because He Himself wanted it.' This is noted and sung everywhere against the scandal of the cross over against Jews and Gentiles who say (cf. Matt. 27:42), 'How does He wish to save others when He could not save Himself?' For that reason this text responds to this slander: Because 'He Himself wanted it.' This is a good thought, but it is different in Hebrew. 'He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.' That text about His suffering is treated by Peter in this way: 'When He suffered, He did not threaten' (1 Peter 2:23).

Summary: That paragraph expresses the will and the patience of Christ as He suffers, that He does not even think of vengeance. This is the way for Christians to suffer, that they endure very patiently without threats and curses, yea, that they pray for and bless their tormentors. Therefore he depicts Christ’s patience by comparing Him in a most felicitous way with a sheep. This is the force of that crucifixion, that such a Christ will suffer who is described as overflowing in suffering like that of sheep, with His whole heart filled with love."

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:226

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:7

1527-1530

March 22nd, 2024

#LutherQuote
" 'Led to the slaughter.' The sheep that is to be shorn and slaughtered is silent. So Christ, keeping silence, always sympathizes with their ills. Thus you have Christ undergoing most shameful suffering in His person and yet suffering with a most patient heart. Having completed the first aspect, the prophet begins the second one, regarding the resurrection.
'By oppression and judgment He was taken away.' Now he begins to treat His glorification. Behold, here he declares that He whom he had until now depicted as a sheep to be killed and whom he had described as destined for a most shameful death for the sins of others is to be raised again. Now he describes Him again. He is not dead but taken away from oppression. Here he says that 'His oppression and judgment' is finished. This cannot be said of a dead person remaining in the grave, but it can be said of one liberated and revived. The text says that He was oppressed and in judgment but has now been removed from them, hence resurrected."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:226
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:7-8
1527-1530

March 23rd, 2024
#LutherQuote
" 'As for His generation, who will tell it?' Who can relate its duration, since His life and duration is eternal? Note the two contrary statements: Someone dying and yet enduring forever. 'Generation' properly means age, era, a lifetime. it is a proverbial statement that 'a generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever' (Eccl. 1:4). This must be understood as referring not to generation but to age. Here, then, the prophet established Christ in an eternal age, something that cannot be expressed, namely, that He has been transposed into eternal life. Peter expounds this passage in Acts, where he says (Acts 2:24): 'God raised Him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it,' and led Him into generation, that is, into length of life and eternity. Christ has such length of life that it cannot be expressed. Unless we believe it by faith, eternity is beyond expression."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:227
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:8
1527-1530

#LutherQuote
" 'That He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of My people.' Again he says that Christ was stricken 'for the transgression of My people.' Ever and again he says for the sins of My people. Let us not simply pass over Christ’s suffering, but we must always look to its function, that it was for the sake of our sins. He says that He was separated and brought into another life, something no one understands from the perspective of this life. Therefore the Jews are in error when they hope that He will reign in this life. No, in this life He served, preached, and suffered, and then He passed out of this world to another place.
'From the land of the living', from this world where we live. Through this suffering He was transported from a mortal existence to an immortal one. 
'And they made His grave with the wicked.' If the Jews and we, in our weakness, should hitherto have been in doubt about the suffering Christ, the following proves it even more, as if to say, 'He not only died, but He was also buried.' 'His grave will be given Him with the ungodly and with a rich man in His death.' It is clearly evident that Christ was buried and dead. The Jews read 'lifted up,' not 'buried.' Here, however, the text clearly states that He was buried. No one is said to be buried unless he were dead, and so He was buried as an ungodly man. In this way this text refutes the slanders which deny that Christ died, and it is a strengthening of our faith."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:227
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:8-9
1527-1530

March 25th, 2024
#LutherQuote
" 'His grave will be given Him with the ungodly and with a rich man in His death.'
In Scripture 'rich man' is used instead of 'ungodly' through a certain figure of speech. This is so since it often happens that the rich of this world are ungodly and their riches are often used for ungodly purposes. Therefore he says here that He died like an ungodly man and was buried like a rich man, just as the Gospel reports that He was put to death as a rebel and was buried with this name and disgrace attached to Him. The Jews, who might here dispute that Christ is king, cannot quibble, since He was to die in this way according to Scripture.
Although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. The most innocent Christ was judged by the Jews to be the most guilty, He who was most innocent and guiltless in His teaching and His life. They had not a word to say to Him. Although He was innocent, yet the Lord willed it that He should take upon Himself to be the most criminal of men. Therefore he compares Him with all other men, and they, even though most holy, are guilty. This one Christ alone is the exception; He alone is righteous and holy. For that reason death could not hold Him."
Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:228
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:9
1527-1530

March 26th, 2024

" 'If He gave His soul as the measure.' You now have the person suffering and a description of His death and resurrection. Now he describes the fruit of His passion, and this is His fruit, that He will have His future kingdom according to the statement: 'He sits at the right hand of the Father, from thence He shall come.' 'If He gave His soul', that is, He Himself gave His life as an offering for the transgression. 'Transgression' is properly called 'guilt' in Ps. 32:5. And they do not commit sin. 'To commit sin' properly means that someone has done something and remains guilty. Thus we are unable to remove our guilt. Therefore only Christ can do it.
Since, therefore, 'He gave His life for sin', it follows that 'He shall see His seed and His days shall be prolonged.' Thus he wants to say: 'We hope that the Messiah, of whom you say that He is dead, will be the completely unconquerable king.' And we say to them: 'He will be a king both ancient and eternal and will see His offspring for a very long time. None of your kings will forever and eternally see his offspring, as He will.' A king of the world does not see his offspring for long. In fact, when he dies, he leaves them behind. Here you see what 'the will of the Lord' is. He placed all our iniquities upon Him, freeing us from death and giving us eternal life. This is 'the will of God'."
Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:228
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:10
1527-1530

March 27th, 2024
" 'The travail of His soul.' So far he has especially talked about His soul being in toil, in misfortune. Hence He must now receive His reward. 'He shall see the fruit and be satisfied.' He shall have His delight in all things and have a full measure of pleasures. Everything will go just as He wants it.
'By His knowledge He will justify.' As to the manner in which the course of the Kingdom will proceed, how will this King progress? This will be the manner: 'By His knowledge.' This is a very lovely text. 'By His knowledge He will justify many, because He shall bear their iniquities.' Those who confess that their sins have been borne by Him are the righteous. The definition of righteousness is wonderful. The sophists say that righteousness is the fixed will to render to each his own. Here he says that righteousness is the knowledge of Christ, who bears our iniquities. Whoever will, therefore, know and believe in Christ as bearing his sins will be righteous."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:229
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:11
1527-1530

#LutherQuote
" 'Many servants.' Thus the Gospel is the means or vehicle by which the knowledge of God reaches us. Hence the kingdom of Christ does not consist in works or endeavors, since no rule and no law, not even the law of Moses, can lead us to that knowledge, but we arrive at it through the Gospel. A Christian cannot arrive at this knowledge by means of any laws, either moral or civil, but he must ascend to heaven by means of the Gospel. Therefore he says here 'by His knowledge.' There is no other plan or method of obtaining liberty than the knowledge of Christ. For that reason Peter and Paul are constantly saying that we must increase in this knowledge, since we can never be perfect in it (cf. 2 Peter 3:18; Col. 1:10). The knowledge of Christ must be construed in a passive sense. It is that by which He is known, the proclamation of His suffering and death. You must therefore note this new definition of righteousness. Righteousness is the knowledge of Christ. What is Christ? He is the person who bears all our sins. These are unspeakable gifts and hidden and unutterable kinds of wisdom."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:229
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:11
1527-1530

March 29th, 2024

"We have heard this outstanding passage 'by His knowledge' and 'iniquities'. I have said that the individual words must be pondered in supreme faith, and they must be read and considered with the most watchful eyes, so that it is not simply any kind of knowledge or understanding but a knowledge that justifies, in opposition to other kinds of knowledge. Thus you see this remarkable definition of righteousness through the knowledge of God. It sounds ridiculous to call righteousness a speculative knowledge. Therefore it is said in Jer. 9:24: 'Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me.' Therefore this knowledge is the formal and substantial righteousness of the Christians, that is, faith in Christ, which I obtain through the Word. The Word I receive through the intellect, but to assent to that Word is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is not the work of reason, which always seeks its own kinds of righteousness. The Word, however, sets forth another righteousness through the consideration and the promises of Scripture, which cause this faith to be accounted for righteousness. This is our glory to know for certain that our righteousness is divine in that God does not impute our sins. Therefore our righteousness is nothing else than knowing God."

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:230

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:11

1527-1530

" 'And He shall bear their iniquities.' Here he repeats, as it were, the foundation. To bring Christ, this is righteousness. Another part is, Who is Christ? He answers: 'Christ is not a judge and tormentor and tyrant, as reason apart from the Word fashions Him, but He is the bearer of our iniquities.' Yet He will become judge and tyrant to those who refused to believe in Him. It is, however, the office of Christ to bear our sins. Hence we must conclude from this text: 'If Christ bears my iniquities, then I do not bear them.' All teachings which say that our sins must be borne by us are ungodly. Thus from such a text countless thunderbolts have come forward against an ungodly self-righteousness. So Paul by this article of justification struck down every kind of self-righteousness. Therefore we must diligently observe this article. I see that there are many snorers treating this article. They are the ones who consider these words the way a man does who looks at his face in a mirror (as James says, 1:23 f.). The moment they come upon another object or business, they are overwhelmed, and they forget the grace of God. For that reason you must most diligently consider this article and not allow yourself to be led astray by other teachings, occupations, or persecutions."

Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:230
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:11
1527-1530

" 'Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong.' Here he repeats as if by an exclamation. Since 'He poured out His soul in death' and was not simply dead but 'was numbered with the transgressors', the prophet in these words repeats the suffering of Christ. Here he says: 'He gave His life into death.' With that battering ram he strikes the stubbornness of the Jews, who do not want to hear about the Christ who dies but who look for a Christ who never dies. Here the prophet in a very simple and expressive way depicts the manner of His death. He says He will die and then points with the fingers, 'He will be numbered with the transgressors', as if to say, 'You Jews want to acknowledge your Christ. He will appear in such a form that He will die the most despised kind of death in the midst of robbers.' The Jews, who look for a glorious Christ before they will believe in a crucified one, did not want to see this text. This is the way it happens to us who are blind, although as for us, let us believe in the crucified One."
Martin Luther
Luther's Works
AE 17:231
Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66
Isaiah 53:12
1527-1530

" 'Yet He bore the sins of many.' He has described the death. Now he delineates the force and power of His sufferings. He says, 'He did not die in vain, but all promises of Scripture have been fulfilled, and all our sins have been taken away.' No, He did not toil in vain by His death, but He died to fulfill the promises and to set us free.

'And made intercession for the transgressors.' There he commends His patience to us. He was heartily glad to do it. First He depicts the suffering, second, the kind of suffering, third, the power of the suffering, and fourth, His patience. Thus He compassionately prayed for transgressors and crucifiers and shed tears for them and did not deal with them with threats. Who can place the Christ thus depicted in love into his heart, as He is here described? Oh, we would be blessed people if we could believe this most noble text, which must be magnified. I would wish it to be honored in the church, so that we might accustom ourselves to an alert study of this text, to bring us to see Christ as none other than the One who bears and shoulders the burden of our sins. This figure is a solace to the afflicted, but to snoring readers these are nothing but idle words."

Martin Luther

Luther's Works

AE 17:231

Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66

Isaiah 53:12

1527-1530

" 'I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.' This is the very cup which he called his consternation, and the fact that he was humbled exceedingly because of the Word of the Lord and faith in Him. But it is a cup of salvation, that is, of Christ, because in Christ sufferings are salutary, while outside of Him they are fruitless sufferings. Hence it could also have been translated 'the salutary cup,' which is a new thing, that suffering is salutary and that there is more salvation than destruction in sufferings. Yet the whole world thinks the opposite, and both word and matter are repugnant. But faith causes sufferings to be useful and injuries to be pleasant experiences. Thus bitter is sweet, whereas they, on the contrary, put bitter for sweet, according to Is. 5:20, and the whole world does likewise.

But is this 'taking the cup' rendering something? The answer is that the text can be so arranged that the meaning is: 'I see that if I want to hold fast to faith in Christ, to His Word and grace, it is necessary for me to be humbled exceedingly; yet, because this benefit and retribution of God pleases me more than this suffering displeases me, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink it for the sake of His Word, well and good, the Lord’s will be done. Nevertheless, because of such suffering I will not fall away from the Word, I will not be ungrateful, I will not give in, but I will in every way strive to be grateful, even in the midst of sufferings, lest I be like the one about whom it is said, ‘He will praise you when you do well to him’ (Ps. 49:18).' "

Martin Luther 

Luther’s Works 

AE 11:404

First Lectures on the Psalms II 

Psalm 116:13

1513-1515

" 'To my hearing Thou wilt give joy and gladness, and the humbled bones will rejoice.'

There is good reason for my repeated statement that this psalm not only provides an example of justification in David, but also presents the true teaching about the reason and manner of justification in all men. Thus this psalm is a sort of general rule how sinners become righteous. The last two verses have set forth a part of this rule, refuting all the other ways on which men rely for cleansing from their sins and reconciliation with God, either by the works of the Law or by other works they chose for themselves. He does not only require a hidden truth against hypocrisy, but he also requires another sprinkling than the one the Law had. To make this more clearly understood, he adds: 'To my hearing Thou wilt give joy.' It is as though he were to say: 'Sprinkle me in such a way that Thou wilt give joy to my hearing, that is, that I might have peace of heart through the Word of grace.' The emphasis falls on the noun 'hearing,' but the Hebrew reads a little differently: 'Make me hear joy.' The meaning is the same in either case. He simply wants the forgiveness of sins, which alone grants joy, to come only through the Word or only through hearing. For if you tortured yourself to death, if you shed your blood, if with ready heart you underwent and bore everything that is humanly possible—all this would not help you. Only hearing brings joy. This is the only way for the heart to find peace before God."

Martin Luther 

Luther’s Works 

AE 12:367

Selected Psalms I

Psalm 51:8

1532

"When you become sad or feel divine wrath, do not look for any other medicine or accept any other solace than the Word, whether it is spoken by a brother who is present or comes from the spirit remembering a word you had heard earlier—like the passages: 'I do not want the death of the sinner, but that he turn from his way and live' (Ezek. 33:11); 'Life is in His will' (Ps. 30:5); 'God is God of the living' (Matt. 22:32); 'God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16). These and similar passages bring the hearing of gladness, whether they come from the mouth of another or from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This, too, is hidden truth and wisdom, which inexperienced men cannot grasp. Therefore the pope’s teachers bring vastly different ways by which they want to heal troubled minds. In addition, this verse is an outstanding testimony to the adornment of the ministry of the Word or the spoken Word. Because he asks for the hearing of gladness, he clearly shows that the Word is necessary for consoling minds, whether it is brought by a brother or whether the Spirit suggests a word that once was heard."

Martin Luther

Luther’s Works

AE 12:368

Selected Psalms I

Psalm 51:8

1532

"[W]e attribute everything to hearing or to the Word or to faith in the Word—these are all the same—and not to our works. Yes, in the use of the Sacraments and in confession we teach men to look mainly at the Word, so that we call everything back from our works to the Word. The hearing of gladness is in Baptism, when it is said: 'I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' (Matt. 28:19); 'He who believes and is baptized will be saved' (Mark 16:16). The hearing of gladness is in the Lord’s Supper, when it is said, 'This is My body, which is given for you' (Luke 22:19). The hearing of gladness is in confession, or, to call it by its more proper name, in absolution and the use of the keys: 'Have faith. Your sins are forgiven you through the death of Christ.' Though we urge the people to the Sacraments and to absolution, still we do not teach anything about the worthiness of our work or that it avails by the mere performance of the work, as the papists usually teach about the Lord’s Supper, or rather about their sacrifice. We call men back to the Word so that the chief part of the whole action might be the voice of God itself and the hearing itself."

Martin Luther
Luther’s Works
AE 12:369
Selected Psalms I
Psalm 51:8
1532