March 11, 1522
Dr. Martin Luther
Preacher at Wittenberg
We have heard the things most necessary in Christian life, and what is a necessary result, namely, the doing away with the private mass. For the works which are necessary are those which God has either commanded or forbidden, according to the appointment of the Majesty on high. But no one should be dragged to them by the hair, or kept from them by force, for I can drive no man to heaven with a club. I said this plainly enough and I believe you understood what I said.
We shall now consider the things that are not necessary, but are left to our free choice by God, and which we may do or not do. For instance, whether one should marry or not, or whether monks and nuns should leave the cloisters. These things are matters of choice and must not be forbidden by any one, and if they are forbidden, the forbidding is wrong, since it is contrary to God’s appointment. In the things that we are free to do, such as being married or remaining single, you should act in the following way: If you can restrain yourself without burdening your conscience thereby, do so by all means, but there must be no general law, and every one shall be perfectly free. Any priest, monk or nun who cannot restrain the desires of the flesh, should marry, and thus relieve the burden of conscience. But see to it that you be well-armed and fortified, so that you can stand before God and the world when you are assailed, and especially when the devil attacks you in the hour of death.
It is not enough to say: This man or that man has done the same thing, I followed the example of the crowd, according to the preaching of the provost, or Dr. Carlstadt, or Gabriel, or Michael. Not so, but everyone must stand on his own feet and be prepared to give battle to the devil. You must rest upon a strong and clear text of Scripture if you would stand the test. If you cannot do that, you will never withstand him — the devil will pluck you like a withered leaf.
Therefore the priests who have taken wives, and the nuns who have taken husbands, in order to save their consciences must stand squarely upon a clear text of Scripture, such as this one by St. Paul — although there are many more: “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, (I think Paul uses plain language here!) forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created.” (1 Timothy 4:1) This text the devil will not overthrow nor devour. It will rather overthrow and devour him. Therefore any monk or nun who is too weak to keep the vow of chastity, should conscientiously examine himself. If his heart and conscience are strong, so that he can defend himself with a good conscience, let him marry. Would to God all monks and nuns could hear this sermon and properly understand this matter and would all forsake the cloisters and thus all the cloisters in the world cease to exist — this is my earnest desire. But now they have no understanding of the matter (for no one preaches it to them), and hearing that in other places many are leaving the cloisters, who however are well-prepared for such a step, they would follow their example, but have not yet fortified their consciences and do not know that it is a matter of liberty. This is bad, although it is better that the evil should be outside than inside.
Therefore I say, what God has made free shall remain free, and you must not obey if someone forbids it, even as the pope has done, the Antichrist. He who can do so without harm and for love of his neighbor, may wear a cowl or a tonsure, since it will not injure his faith. Wearing a cowl will not kill him.
Thus, dear friends, it is plain enough, and I believe you ought to understand it and not make liberty a law, saying: This priest has taken a wife, therefore all priests must take wives. Not at all! Or this monk or that nun has left the cloister, therefore they must all come out. Not at all! Or this man has broken images and burned them, therefore all images must be burned — not at all, dear brother! And again, this priest has no wife, therefore no priest dare marry. Not at all! They who cannot retain their chastity should take wives, and for others who can be chaste, it is good that they restrain themselves, as those who live in the spirit and not in the flesh. Neither should they be troubled about the vows they have made, such as the monks’ vows of obedience, chastity and poverty (although they are rich enough).
For we cannot vow anything that is contrary to God’s commands. God has made it a matter of liberty to marry or not to marry, and you are a fool to attempt to turn this liberty into a vow against the ordinance of God? Therefore you must leave liberty alone and not make a compulsion out of it. Your vow is contrary to God’s liberty. Suppose I should vow to strike my father on the mouth, or to steal some one’s property, do you believe God would be pleased with such a vow? And as little as I ought to keep a vow to strike my father on the mouth, so little should I abstain from marriage because I am bound by a vow of chastity, for in both cases God has ordered it otherwise. God has ordained that I should be free to eat fish or flesh, and there should be no commandment concerning them. Therefore all the Carthusians and all monks and nuns forsake the ordinance and liberty which God has given when they believe that if they eat meat they are defiled.
Now let us consider images. It is also true that they are unnecessary, and we are free to have them or not, although it would be much better if we did not have them. I am not partial to them. A great controversy arose on the subject of images between the Roman emperor and the pope. The emperor held that he had the authority to banish the images, but the pope insisted that they should remain, and both were wrong. Much blood was shed, but the pope emerged as victor and the emperor lost.
What was it all about? They wished to make a “must” out of that which is free, and that God cannot tolerate. Do you wish to change what the Majesty on high has ordered? Certainly not! You should not do any such thing. You read in the Law, Exodus 20:4, “You will not make any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” There you take your stand. That is your ground. Now let’s see! When our adversaries say: The first commandment aims at this, that we should worship one God alone and not any image, even as it is said immediately following, “Thou will not bow down to them nor serve them,” and declare that the worship of images is forbidden and not the making of them, they disturb and unsettle our foundation for us. And if you reply: The text says, “Thou will not make any images,” They answer: It also says, “You will not worship them.”
In the face of such uncertainty who would be so bold as to destroy the images? Not I. But let us go farther. They say: Did not Noah, (Romans 8:20) Abraham, (Genesis 22:9) and Jacob (Genesis 35:1) build altars? And who will deny that? We must admit it. Again, did not Moses erect a brazen serpent, as we read in his fourth book? (Numbers 21:9) How can you say Moses forbids the making of images when he himself makes one? It seems to me, such a serpent is an image, too. How shall we answer that? Again, do we not read that two birds were erected on the mercy-seat, the very place where God willed that He should be worshiped? (Exodus 37:7) Here we must admit, that we may make images and have images, but we must not worship them, and when they are worshiped, they should be put away and destroyed, just as King Hezekiah smashed into pieces the serpent erected by Moses. (2 Kings 18:4)
And who will be so bold as to say, when called to respond: They worship the images. They will answer: Do you dare to accuse us of worshiping the images? I do not believe that they will acknowledge it. To be sure it is true, but we cannot make them admit it. Remember how they acted when I condemned works without faith. They said: Do you believe that we have no faith, or that our works are performed without faith? I can do nothing more than put my flute back in its pocket. Give them a hair’s breadth, and they take a hundred miles.
Therefore it should have been preached that images were nothing and that God is not served by building them, and they would have fallen of themselves. That is what I did. That is what Paul did in Athens, when he went into their churches and saw all their idols. He did not strike at any of them, but stood in the marketplace and said, “Men of Athens, you are all idolatrous.” (Acts 17:22) He preached against their idols, but he overthrew none by force.
Yet you would rush in, create an uproar, break down the altars and overthrow the images? Do you really believe you can abolish the images in this way? No, you will only set them up more firmly. Even if you overthrew the images in this place, do you think you have overthrown those in Nuremberg and the rest of the world? Not at all. St. Paul, as we read in the Book of Acts, sat in a ship on whose prow were painted or carved the Twin Brothers. (Acts 28:11) He went on board and did not bother about it at all; neither did he break them off. Why must Luke describe the Twins at this place? Without doubt he wanted to show that outward things could do no harm to faith, if only the heart does not cling to them nor put its trust in them. This is what we must preach and teach, and let the Word alone do the work, as I said before. The Word must first capture the hearts of men and enlighten them — we cannot do it. Therefore the apostles gloried in their service, ministry, and not in its effect, execution.
We will let this be enough for today, and pray God for His grace.
Copyright: Public Domain
Translated by A. Steimle. Edited and Language Modernized by Robert E. Smith
From: The Works of Martin Luther. Philadelphia: A. J. Holman, 1915, 2:387-425.
