May God grant His gracious answer to this beautiful prayer by Dr. Martin Luther:

“God grant every Christian the sort of heart that, when they hear the word Sacrament or LORD’s Supper, races in pure joy, yes, even with the kind of true spiritual joy that weeps sweetly. For I have such a heartfelt ardor for the dear blessed Supper of my LORD JESUS Christ, where he even gives his physical body and blood into my physical mouth to eat and to drink, with such thoroughly sweet and kind words: Given for you, shed for you.”

(L.W. XIX, 1576; as quoted by Dr. C.F.W. Walther in Der Lutheraner, March 7, 1846; translated by Pastor Joel Baseley),

From President Harrison’s blog. First President Harrison’s remarks, then the letter from Luther he commends to us.

This is an incredible letter. Every Christian ought have its choicest lines memorized. Indeed: “Christ dwells only in sinners.” Thanks be to God for that! Matt Harrison

To George Spenlein

Wittenberg, April 8, 1516

George Spenlein was an Augustinian friar in the monastery at Wittenberg who had recently been transferred to Memmingen. In this letter Luther is reporting on the disposal of some of Spenlein’s possessions. It gives an insight into Luther’s understanding of justification and its implication for the Christian life prior to his controversy with Rome.

Text in Latin: WA, Br 1, 35–36. The following translation, with minor changes, is by Theodore G. Tappert and is used by permission from Luther: Letters. LCC 18, 109–111. Published 1955, The Westminster Press.

To the godly and sincere Friar George Spenlein, Augustinian Eremite1 in the monastery at Memmingen, my dear friend in the Lord
Jesus Christ

Grace and peace to you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ

My dearest Friar George:

…Now I should like to know whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ. For in our age the temptation to presumption besets many, especially those who try with all their might to be just and good without knowing the righteousness of God, which is most bountifully and freely given us in Christ. They try to do good of themselves in order that they might stand before God clothed in their own virtues and merits. But this is impossible. While you were here, you were one who held this opinion, or rather, error. So was I, and I am still fighting against the error without having conquered it as yet.

Therefore, my dear Friar, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to praise him and, despairing of yourself, say, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, just as I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given to me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.” Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners. On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners. Meditate on this love of his and you will see his sweet consolation. For why was it necessary for him to die if we can obtain a good conscience by our works and afflictions? Accordingly you will find peace only in him and only when you despair of yourself and your own works. Besides, you will learn from him that just as he has received you, so he has made your sins his own and has made his righteousness yours.

If you firmly believe this as you ought (and he is damned who does not believe it), receive your untaught and hitherto erring brothers, patiently help them, make their sins yours, and, if you have any goodness, let it be theirs. Thus the Apostle teaches, “Receive one another as Christ also received you to the glory of God.” And again, “Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, [did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped], but emptied himself,” etc. Even so, if you seem to yourself to be better than they are, do not count it as booty, as if it were yours alone, but humble yourself, forget what you are and be as one of them in order that you may help them.

Cursed is the righteousness of the man who is unwilling to assist others on the ground that they are worse than he is, and who thinks of fleeing from and forsaking those whom he ought now to be helping with patience, prayer, and example. This would be burying the Lord’s talent and not paying what is due. If you are a lily and a rose of Christ, therefore, know that you will live among thorns. Only see to it that you will not become a thorn as a result of impatience, rash judgment, or secret pride. The rule of Christ is in the midst of his enemies, as the Psalm puts it. Why, then, do you imagine that you are among friends? Pray, therefore, for whatever you lack, kneeling before the face of the Lord Jesus. He will teach you all things. Only keep your eyes fixed on what he has done for you and for all men in order that you may learn what you should do for others. If he had desired to live only among good people and to die only for his friends, for whom, I ask you, would he have died or with whom would he ever have lived? Act accordingly, my dear Friar, and pray for me. The Lord be with you.

Farewell in the Lord.

From Wittenberg, April 8, 1516

AE vol. 48

” I want to see whether any doctrine concurs with Christ. I dare not forget the clear rule which St. Paul gives us Christians: to pay attention to what conforms to the doctrine of Christ and to the faith. In Rom. 12:7 he says: “Let it be in conformity with the faith”; that is, it must be in harmony and conformity with Christ. And St. Peter declares: “Whoever speaks, let him speak as the Word of God” (1 Peter 4:11). You must not go only to St. Bernard and St. Ambrose, but it is imperative that you take them with you to Christ and see whether they agree with His teaching. If they do not, but have added something to that which Christ has taught, or have evolved something from their own piety and taught this, I shall let them answer for that. But I must not convert it into an article of faith; nor am I to believe it, since they do not entirely agree with Christ. For I am to adhere to Christ alone; He has taught neither too much nor too little. He has taught me to know God the Father, has revealed Himself to me, and has also acquainted me with the Holy Spirit. He has also instructed me how to live and how to die and has told me what to hope for. What more do I want? And if anyone wishes to teach me anything now, let him beware of any innovations. If he tries to present anything new, I must say to him: “I will not believe it, dear pastor, dear preacher, dear St. Ambrose, dear St. Augustine. For anything that goes beyond and above the man who is called Christ is not genuine. It is still flesh and blood, and Christ warned us against relying on that. He Himself did not trust Himself to man.”

“When the command is certain, let us obey at once without any argument, and let us conclude that God is wiser than we are. He who argues about why God gives a particular command actually doubts that God is wise, just, and good. What sin can be more hideous and more intolerable to God? Therefore we must believe—this is part of our duty—and not argue, for these matters are too lofty for us to be able to argue about them.

“If God followed our counsels, he would this very hour kill the Turk and the pope, and He would not allow Satan to give vent to his fury as he is doing and to rage without restraint. Everybody would regard this as a beneficial and good work. But God’s wisdom makes it clear that this is a foolish thought; otherwise things would turn out this way. Therefore if you ask why God bears with the ungodly for so long a time, it is enough to say: “Thus it pleases Him, thus it is profitable, and thus it is beneficial; otherwise He would be doing something different.” He who is not satisfied with this reason and searches into the reasons for God’s counsel lays himself open to the danger by which Adam was overcome in Paradise.

“Therefore let us crucify this baneful why, and let us say: “Glory to God, who alone is wise; but confusion to us!” Satan opened our eyes in Paradise, and now our every effort is directed toward closing them again and making them blind. The fact that Adam had his eyes opened is the occasion and cause of death and damnation for all his descendants.

“Accordingly, Moses gives grand praise to Abraham’s faith and obedience. For Abraham cuts off all hindrances and all causes of offense; he obeys God’s command without arguing. He does not think, as we do: “Why does God command this? What profit is there in the disgraceful and shameful business? Can I not be saved without being circumcised at the age of a hundred?” He Simply cuts the throat of this baneful why and tears it out of his heart by the roots. He takes reason captive and finds satisfaction in the one fact that He who gives the command is just, good, and wise; therefore He cannot command anything but what is just, good, and wise, no matter what the opinion of reason is, and no matter if reason does not understand. For God’s judgments are beyond our comprehension. Reason cannot grasp them. Therefore if it argues about them, it not only deceives itself but also falls into blasphemy. Accordingly, let it be enough for us that we hear the Word and understand what it commands, even though we do not understand the reason for the command.

Martin Luther, vol. 3, Luther’s Works, Vol. 3 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 15-20, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther’s Works, Ge 17:27 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), p. 173.

Martin Luther, vol. 3, Luther’s Works, Vol. 3 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 15-20, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther’s Works, Ge 17:27 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999).

Doctrine is heaven; life is earth. In life there is sin, error, uncleanness, and misery, mixed, as the saying goes, “with vinegar.” Here love should condone, tolerate, be deceived, trust, hope, and endure all things (1 Cor. 13:7); here the forgiveness of sins should have complete sway, provided that sin and error are not defended. But just as there is no error in doctrine, so there is no need for any forgiveness of sins. Therefore there is no comparison at all between doctrine and life. “One dot” of doctrine is worth more than “heaven and earth” (Matt. 5:18); therefore we do not permit the slightest offense against it. But we can be lenient toward errors of life. For we, too, err daily in our life and conduct; so do all the saints, as they earnestly confess in the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed. But by the grace of God our doctrine is pure; we have all the articles of faith solidly established in Sacred Scripture. The devil would dearly love to corrupt and overthrow these; that is why he attacks us so cleverly with this specious argument about not offending against love and the harmony among the churches.

Martin Luther, American Edition of Luther’s Works, Vol. 27.

Get used to believing that Christ is a real Savior and that you are a real sinner. For God is neither joking nor is He dealing in imaginary affairs, but He was deadly serious when He sent His own Son into the world and sacrificed Him for our sake, etc. (Romans 8:32; John 3:16). Satan – who is alive and well – has snatched these and similar reflections, which come from soothing Bible passages, from you memory. Therefore, you are not able to recall them in your present great anguish and depression. For God’s sake, then, turn your ears my way, brother, and hear me cheerfully sing. I am your brother. At this time I am not afflicted with the desperation and depression that is oppressing you. Therefore, I am strong in my faith. The reason I am strong in the faith – while you are weak and harried and harassed by the devil – is that you may lean on me for support until you regain your old strength.

If you want to know which dog has been struck, it is the one who cries out. Therefore, you are accusing yourself , if you grumble, and are defaming yourself. As Cicero says, when vices are rebuked in general terms, whoever becomes angry at it shows himself to be guilty. Whoever cannot bear it when unbelief is rebuked along with the fruits of unbelief, he is most certainly the dog who has been struck.

(Martin Luther, sermon of June 7, 1545, in Luther’s Works, Volume 58, forthcoming from Concordia Publishing House in November 2010).

“After Baptism there still remains much of the old Adam.  For, as we have often said, sin is forgiven in baptism, but we are not yet altogether clean, as is shown in the parable of the Good Samaritan, who carried the man wounded by robbers to an inn.  He did not take care of him in such a way that he healed him at once, but rather bound up his wounds and poured on oil.  The man who fell among robbers suffered two injuries.  First, everything that he had was taken from him, he was robbed; the second, he was wounded, so that he was half-dead and would have died, if the Samaritan had not come to him.  Adam fell among the robbers and implanted sin in us all.  If Christ, the Samaritan, had not come, we should all have had to die.  He it is who binds our wounds, carries us into the church, is now healing us.  So we are now fully under the Physician’s care.  The sin, it is true, is wholly forgiven, but it has not been wholly purged.  If the Holy Spirit is not ruling men, they become corrupt again; but the Holy Spirit must cleanse the wounds daily.  Therefore this life is a hospital; the sin has really been forgiven, but it has not yet been healed.”

That was from his last sermon preached in the town of Wittenberg in 1546.  You can read the whole of it in AE 51:375.

HT: Pr. Weedon’s sister.

“God had proclaimed through the prophets and had foretold through Moses that prayer or worship at any other places would be unacceptable to Him. But they would not listen. Instead, they cried out: “This is where we worship the true God.” And they persisted in their self-invented worship and even killed the prophets over it. There was a small group, however, which believed God’s Word and paid no attention to the great multitude. This is what true Christians must do today. They must not be influenced by the actions of those who enjoy the name and the reputation of great and holy people, who are called God’s servants and the church. They must declare: “Here is my God. I refuse to believe in any other God than the Creator of heaven and earth. I will believe only in the God who is united with Him who is called Jesus Christ. In Him I must place my trust. Then I know that I have the true God. If I have Him, I can proudly defy the devil and the world. If they deprive me of mammon, goods, honor, life and limb, I still have a Christ who is Lord over life and death, over the world and everything. And even if the devil frightens me and makes me depressed and conscience-stricken, he will still not obtain the victory. For here is my Lord, in whom I believe. And if I trust in Him, I am trusting in God; for He Himself is true God. Hence whatever temporal and physical harm I suffer, I account as a husk or as a hollow nut, instead of which God will grant me an eternal treasure and everlasting life.”

“Thus these words are also spoken as a consolation for the Christians, whom God allows to suffer this misery and to cope with their enemies—the devil, who plagues and torments them, and the world, which confronts them with pride, contempt, persecution, murder, etc. Christ says: “To remain cheerful in the midst of all this, and to ward off defeat, remember only that I am the real Savior and God, and rely on Me; then you will encounter the true God and experience My omnipotent power and might. Let the world and the pseudo saints depend and rely on whom they will. Let them believe and do as they want. It is all vain and futile. Against all this you need no other weapon or armor than your adherence to Me. In this way you cling to God. He cannot do otherwise than help you. Therefore if they hate, persecute, and murder you, We will love, adopt, and protect you; We will quicken you and dwell with you forever.”

Source: Martin Luther, see Luther’s Works, Volume 24, p. 24.

“We must know this and be guided by it when we must step forth to preach and confess the Word. Then indeed we shall find out, both on the outside among our enemies and on the inside among ourselves, when the devil himself will attack you and show you how hostile he is to you, in order that he may bring you into sorrow, impatience, and heaviness of heart, and inflict every plague on you. Who does all this? Surely not Christ or any good spirit; it is the accursed, desperate enemy. He shoots such darts into your heart, not because you are a sinner as others are, adulterers, thieves, and the like. No, he does so because he is hostile to you for being a Christian. He cannot suffer that you are known as a Christian, that you cleave to Christ, or that you speak or think a good word about Him. He would like to embitter your heart with sheer venom and gall, and cause you to blaspheme: “Why did He make me a Christian? Why do I not desert Him? Then I would at least have peace!”

“Therefore be prepared, so that when you experience and feel these temptations either in your official capacity or especially in your heart, you can confront the devil and say: “Now I see why the devil assails me in this way. He wants to scare and drive me from my office, from my preaching, my confession, and my faith, and to make me despondent. He does not want me to expect anything good from my Lord Christ or to praise, honor, or call upon Him. For the devil is Christ’s sworn and declared enemy. But I despise you and your power, you accursed devil. I am determined to defy you and to preach and praise this Man all the more, to comfort my heart with His blood and death, and to put my trust in Him, even if you and all hell should burst asunder.” This you must learn and practice if you want to remain with Christ. For the devil strives to tear us away from Christ. And it is the nature of our flesh to pay Christ no heed but even to hate Him, whom we should really accord every honor and should cherish as our heart’s comfort and joy.”

On Him [Christ] fix your eyes. For you cannot grasp God in Himself, unless perchance you want a consuming fire. But in Christ you see nothing but all sweetness, humanity, gentleness, clemency—in short, the forgiveness of sins and every mercy, etc. When you have Him, then good for you; you are a tower of defense with God the Father. Cling to Christ, otherwise you will hear the Father Himself speaking against you when He says (Matt. 17:5): “Listen to Him.” The Jews could not listen to Him, etc. And Paul says that the deity dwells bodily in Christ (Col. 2:9). The incarnation of Christ powerfully calls us away from speculating about the divinity. I learned from Staupitz that I had been carried away to the devil by my speculations, for human weakness could not bear these if it did not gain access to God somewhere. This they know by the mercy of God, etc.: The flesh of Christ, like ours, does not strike him down who beholds it. And the man in temptation either will not know God, who created heaven and earth and did other wonderful works, or his knowledge will not give him hope and deliverance from temptation. But Christ (as this text shows in a marvelous way) is useful to us for all things and in all things, and through this very Man we are to come to God. To Him Paul and other disciples of Christ come down; they do not climb up to an observation of the majesty, or Paul was not learned because he was not a sophist. When man looks at Christ, Satan is put to flight, and the conscience of a man in temptation is made happy and free from care. God clearly demands honest and pure righteousness of us, and since no one produces it, He permits no one to approach Him by his own strength. Christ has fulfilled this for us, therefore through Christ alone we have access to the Father. To be sure, it is true that one who has never felt his sin can contemplate God, or better, weave his phantasies about God; he can for a while reach out for the godhead he has invented for himself. But one who feels his sin and becomes fainthearted from fear of God will soon withdraw his foot from his speculations and turn to Christ, and he will be better off. He will have coolness in the shade, protection in the pavilion, banishment of Satan and of evil thoughts, also strength against all the gates of hell (Matt. 16:18), etc. The names applied to Christ in this text should, however, be carefully studied, so that we may know what has been given to us in Christ and that in Him there is victory and light, etc.

Martin Luther

LW 16:55

Doctrine is the chief matter in which I am defiant, not only against princes and kings, but also against every devil, and indeed, apart from that there is nothing else that preserves, strengthens, cheers, and can make my heart even more defiant. The second matter, my personal life, I myself know to be sinful to such a degree it is not worth defending. I am a poor sinner and its fine with me if my opponents are pure saints and angels. Good for them, if they can maintain it. Not that I want to be that kind of person before the world and those who are not Christians, but before God and his dear Christians. I also want to be good before the world, and I am, so much so that they are not worthy to untie my shoelaces. They shall also never be able to prove by the truth that I have lived or acted towards anyone before the world such that I was not teaching them what is good. In short, I am not someone who is too humble, nor too proud, just as St. Paul says: “I can be exalted and I can be humbled, I can suffer poverty or have enough.” Phil. 2.3. For the sake of my doctrine I am very much too stalwart, unbending and proud to the devil, emperor, king, princes and all the world, but for the sake of my life I am also humble and submissive even to every child. Whoever doesn’t know that should hear it now.

— Martin Luther, Reply to the King of England’s Blasphemous Letter. L. W. Halle. XIX. 510-11.

Printed by C.F.W. Walther in Der Lutheraner, Volume I, Number 20 (May 1845), p. 80; Translated by Rev. Joel Baseley. Register to receive copies of Pastor Baseley’s translations of Der Lutheraner, for free.

Great quote from C.F.W. Walther in the book At Home in the House of My Fathers [which you simply must buy and read!]:

One should avoid getting hung up by Luther’s plainspoken style . . .Luther’s language had to be simple. He was called not to reform the scholarly world, but the Christian people. . . . A man ought to make it a rule for himself to read something in Luther’s writings every day. He should especially flee to them when he needs to be refreshed for his work, is tired, forsaken, discouraged, in need of counsel, and feels miserable. He should especially read the letters, for they cheer, strengthen, and revive. One should make himself so familiar with his edition of Luther that he can find every document without time-consuming reference works.

From: The Fruitful Reading of the Writings of Luther, by C.F.W. Walther, 1887 in At Home in the House of My Fathers, p. 343.

Pastors, do we read Luther as we should, as we must?

The other day, a friend was commenting on the interesting abbreviations a person runs across when reading materials that reference Martin Luther’s writings. It is a alphabet soup kind of situation. Here is a very well done summary overview of the “codes” you come across, actually, abbreviations used by scholars to refer to various editions of the writings of Martin Luther. I thought you would find it helpful as well. It was prepared by Mr. James Swan, a conservative Reformed Christian, who has taken a great interest in Martin Luther. Here is his blog post.

If you’ve come across obscure Luther quotes and can’t understand the documentation, this entry is for you. Often, those who cite Luther polemically can’t provide a context, and the references they provide look like an unknown code. Below is a bit of the code book, so to speak. The above graphic comes from Luther’s own statements concerning his teaching and its results by Henry O’Connor, page 164. It’s typical of the anti-Luther books that Roman Catholics put out in the late 1800′s- early 1900′s. The sources O’Connor refers to are usually out of reach for a typical English speaking blogger. Google Books has made it somewhat easier to locate these some of these type of old sources, but even if you find them, there’s still the question of reading German and Latin.

Sometimes O’Connor will mention a specific treatise title, often he won’t. It makes tracking down Luther quotes and putting them in context very tedious and difficult. Of course, if your typical Roman Catholic Internet warrior would read the actual sources available now, and quote Luther via those sources…. ah, never mind. That’s wishful thinking.

Below are some of the main collections of Luther documents referred to by friends and foes of the Reformation. This is only a brief look. Citations in older books like O’Connor’s and Patrick O’Hare’s are often sparse, cryptic, fragmented, or in a foreign language. If you come across someone using an obscure Luther quote with a reference you don’t understand:

1. If you’re aware that it’s a primary source from long ago, let them know you’re in awe that they have had access to such a rare book. Tell them it’s an honor to dialogue with someone who’s read things like de Wette or Walch, and you look forward to being their pupil.

2. Ask them what the reference means. Chances are, they might not be able to tell you. That’s a good sign they have swiped the quote from a secondary source, and haven’t a clue as to the context.

3. If they can identify the reference as coming from an actual collection of Luther’s works, ask them what specific treatise it’s from and if they know any of the background as to the writing of the treatise.

4. If they do link you to an old Google Book in German or Latin, ask them if they can read either German or Latin.

5. Remember, if someone uses a quote, it’s their responsibility to provide the context, not yours. If they can’t provide an actual context and an historical context, their conclusions and interpretation are worthless.

Luther’s Works
Usually referred to as LW. English edition, published by Concordia Publishing House. You can usually find this set (54 volumes with the 55th book index) in a good library. Single volumes are relatively inexpensive and can bought new or used. There is also a CD ROM of this set. I’ve had this CD ROM for a number of years, and it’s proved invaluable. Concordia is also releasing new volumes of Luther’s Works, but I’m not sure if they will also be initially available electronically.

Works of Martin Luther: With Introduction and Notes
Often referred to as PE. The Philadelphia Edition (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press). Sometimes called the Holman Luther, since it was originally published by A.J. Holman Co. This is an English set in 6 volumes. No need to go out and buy these, you can find them on line. They were published in the early 1900′s.

WA: Weimar Edition of Luther’s Works. 1883-.
Usually referred to as WA. D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe; Weimar, 1883. This is the largest set of Luther’s works, in German. It’s arranged in four parts: Writings (WA),11 volumes of Letters (WA Br, or Briefe), 6 volumes of Tabletalk (WA TR or Tischreden) 9(or 12?) volumes of the German Bible (WA DB). This set was supposed to follow a chronological sequence, but more Luther material was found after the set had been put in motion. When newer items are found, or better source documents of previous material, they are be released in volumes entitled, Archiv zur Weimarer Ausgabe (AWA). The numbering of the Weimar set can be very confusing, like “WA 10, I, 2″.

The Erlangen Edition
Usually referred to as EA. 1826-1857. Sometimes this set is referred to as “Dr. M. Luthers Samtliche Werke” or “E”. The set includes German and Latin writings from Luther. The 68 German volumes were published 1826-1857, and revised later that century. The 38 Latin writings are specific to biblical interpretation (Exegetica Opera Latina, sometimes referred to as E op ex and Opera latina varii argumenti). They likewise were published in the 19th Century. This set includes 18 volumes of Luther’s letters edited by E.L. Enders, and were also published separately. It also includes Luther’s commentary on Galatians in 3 volumes.

Walch: The Walch Edition
1740-1753. 24 topical volumes. This was a set of Luther’s works published 1740-1753 by Johann Georg Walch. This set is German, and Walch translated many of Luther’s Latin writings into German. Sometimes this set is referred to as the St. Louis version, the St. Louis-Walch version, or the Halle edition, or Luthers Samtliche Werke, herausgegeben von J. G. Walch. It may be Abbreviated as “St.L“ This set also includes writings by others, friends and foes of Luther. The set was revised from 1885-1910 (in St. Louis), and may not match up with the earlier set. Sometimes the revision is referred to as St.Lb. Volumes 15-17 contain rare Reformation history texts, and contemporary letters.

Dr. Martin Luthers Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken (Dewette)
5 volumes of Luther’s letters in German edited by Dr. Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette. “The best collection of his Letters was edited by De Wette (5 vols., Berlin, 1825-8), with a supplementary volume by Seidemann (1856)” (source). “The Letters of Luther were separately edited by De Wette, Berlin, 1825, sqq., 5 vols.; vol. VI. by J. C. Seidemann, 1856 (716 pp., with an addition of Lutherbriefe, 1859); supplemented by C. A. H. Burkhardt, Leipz., 1866 (524 pp.); a revised ed. with comments by Dr. E. L. Enders (pastor at Oberrad near Frankfurt a. M.), 1884 sqq. (in the Erl. Frankf ed.). The first volume contains the letters from 1507 to March, 1519. For selection see C. Alfred Hase: Lutherbriefe in Auswahl und Uebersetzung, Leipzig, 1867 (420 pages). Th. Kolde: Analecta Lutherana, Briefe und Actenstücke zur Geschichte Luther’s. Gotha, 1883. Contains letters of Luther and to Luther, gathered with great industry from German and Swiss archives and libraries” (source).

Br:The Braunschweig Edition. 10 volumes of devotional writing, published 1889-1905.

The Clemen (ClL) or the Bonn Edition (BoA). 1825-1828. 8 German volumes. The first four contain complete treatises, 5-8 are selections from early lectures, letters, sermons, and tabletalk. The text is said to be superior to WA.

The Munich Edition (Mu). 6 German volumes, with 7 supplement volumes (Mu Erg), published in the 1900′s.

Luther Deutsch (LD). 11 volumes, with 3 volumes of commentary.

The New Calwer Edition. 12 volumes in modern German.

Martin Luther Studienausgabe. 6 German volumes.

The Wittenberg Edition. 1539-59. contains 12 German and 8 Latin volumes. The material was topical, at the request of Luther. This volume contains some of the writings of Luther’s opponents as well.

The Jena Edition. 1555-1558. 8 German and 4 Latin volumes, 2 supplementary volumes. John Aurifaber, one of the chief collectors of Luther’s Tabletalk was one of the editors of this set.

The Allenburg Edition. 1661-1702. A poorly edited 11 volume German set.

The Leipzig edition. 1729-1740. 23 volumes in German, arranged topically.

"We have a Savior who can save us from the power of this world’s god (2 Cor. 4:4) and prince (John 16:11), the devil, that is, from sin and death. This means that He must be the true, eternal God, through whom all believers in Him become righteous and are saved. For if He is not greater and more exalted than Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, or John the Baptist, He cannot be our Redeemer. But if, as God’s Son, He sheds His blood to redeem us and cleanse us from sin, and if we believe this, rubbing it under the devil’s nose whenever he tries to plague and terrify us with our sins, the devil will soon be beaten; he will be forced to withdraw and to stop molesting us. For the hook, which is the divinity of Christ, was concealed under the earthworm. The devil swallowed it with his jaws when Christ died and was buried. But it ripped his belly so that he could not retain it but had to disgorge it. He ate death for himself. This affords us the greatest solace; for just as the devil could not hold Christ in death, so he cannot hold us who believe in Christ. But, secondly, we must have a Savior who is also our Brother, who is of our flesh and blood, who became like us in all respects but sin. And in the children’s Creed we say, sing, and confess: “I believe in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God the Father Almighty, conceived by the Holy Ghost, not by Joseph, born of Mary, a true, natural man who suffered, was crucified, died, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God, coequal with the Father in power and glory.” With a cheerful heart I may declare: “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, who sits on His right hand as my Advocate. He is of my flesh and blood; yes, He is my Brother. For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, became incarnate, and died for our sins.” And John, too, introduced his Gospel with the theme of the eternal deity of Christ when he said: “In the beginning was the Word”; “this Word,” he added later, “became flesh.”

Source:
Martin Luther
Sermon on John 1:4, 1537.
American Edition
Volume 22
Page 24