Thursday, May 28, 1528 (Part 2)

Martin Luther preaches a sermon on baptism. This is the ninth sermon (of eleven) in Luther’s first (of three) series of sermons on the Catechism preached in 1528. As I have not found an English translation of these catechism sermons, in lieu of an excerpt from the sermon preached on May 28, we have a second except from the Large Catechism‘s (1529) discussion of the sacrament of baptism.

Quotation:

[continued from the previous post] To be baptized in the name of God is to be baptized not by men, but by God himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God’s own act. From this fact everyone may readily conclude that it is of much greater value than any work performed by a man or a saint. For what human work can possibly be greater than God’s work?

But here the devil sets to work to delude us with false appearances, and lead us away from the work of God to our own works. For it makes a much more splendid appearance when a Carthusian [1] does many great and difficult works and we all attach much more importance to that which we do and our own merit. But the Scriptures teach that even if we were to collect in one pile all the works of all the monks, however splendidly they may shine, they would not be as noble and good as if God would pick up a straw. Why? Because the person performing the act is nobler and better. Here, then, we must not evaluate the person according to the works, but the works according to the person, from whom they must derive their worth. But insane reason will not consider this, and because baptism is not dazzling like the works that we do, it is regarded as worthless.

From this you can now understand how to answer the question, “What is baptism?” Namely, that it is not mere ordinary water, but water comprehended in God’s word and command and sanctified by them, so that it is nothing else than a divine water; not that the water in itself is nobler than other water, but that God’s word and commandment are added to it.

Therefore it is pure wickedness and devilish blasphemy that now our new spirits, [2] to blaspheme baptism, remove from it God’s word and institution, and look upon it in no other way than as water which is taken from the well, and then they blather and say: “How can a handful of water help the soul?” Yes, indeed, my friend! Who does not know that water is water if it is considered separately? But how dare you thus tamper with God’s ordinance and rip away the most precious treasure with which God has connected and enclosed it, and which he will not have separated from it? For the real significance of the water lies in God’s word or commandment and God’s name which is a treasure greater and nobler than heaven and earth.

Notes

[1] The Carthusian Order was founded by St. Bruno at the Grande Charteuse near Grenoble, France in 1084. The order was noted for its vows of renunciation and silence and frequently mentioned by Luther as an example of an especially ascetic monastic order.

[2] I.e., the Anabaptists.