Today is the birthday of Martin Luther, born on November 10, 1483. The photo above is a view out of a second floor window, across from the small room that scholars now believe is where Luther was born. I took the first photo in his birthhouse in Eisleben, German, ironically, the same town in which he died in 1546.The family, living in this home, though not owning it, would have had to stay in the colder rooms, in the top of the house, rather than in the lower level closer to a warming fireplace. Hans Luther took his son from this house, early on the morning of November 11, and bundled him off to be baptized in St. Peter and Paul Church, which you can see from the window, it was just down the street from where the Luther’s lived. At his baptism, he was given the name of the saint’s day on which his baptism day fell: Martin of Tours, a fitting name for one who would be a great soldier of Christ, used by God to reform the Church, a messenger proclaiming the ever-living Gospel (Rev. 14:6). This next photo is of the exterior of the house, the rear of the home.

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),

I’m happy to let you know that Concordia Publishing House has just released a new study of Martin Luther. You can view a PDF sample from the book, and order it here. The book is available with a 20% discount for all rostered church workers (of any denomination, not just Lutheran!).

A complete, new translation of Philip Melanchthon’s memoirs of Luther’s life, based on actual discussions with Luther

A fresh chronology of Luther’s life from 1501-17, based on the latest research

Extensive references to both primary and secondary literature for Luther studies
Author Franz Posset, PhD, is an independent researcher and an associate editor of Luther Digest. He has authored five books, including The Front-Runner of the Catholic Reformation: The Life and Works of Johann von Staupitz (2003), and articles for historical encyclopedias. His scholarly research has also appeared in numerous journals. In 2003 he was awarded the Natalie Zemon Davis Prize for superb scholarship.

What Others are Saying

Students and researchers should read this book as a model for how to do Reformation History.
-Markus Wriedt, Dr. Theol., Dr. Habil.
Professor of Historical Theology/Church History
Goethe University Frankfurt/Main and Marquette University

A fascinating history . . . Luther is both a Catholic and a Reformer at the same time.
-Wolfgang Thönissen, Dr. Theol., Dr. Habil.
Professor of Ecumenical Theology
Faculty of Theology, Paderborn

I was constantly fascinated and sometimes even thrilled by his insights into Dr. Martin’s continuity with medieval theology.

-Bishop Richard J. Sklba
Vicar General/Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee
Co-chair of the National Lutheran/Catholic Dialogue

Martin Luther, born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany, initially began studies leading toward a degree in law. However, after a close encounter with death, he switched to the study of theology, entered an Augustinian monastery, was ordained a priest in 1505, and received a doctorate in theology in 1512. As a professor at the newly-established University of Wittenberg, his scriptural studies led him to question many of the church’s teachings and practices, especially the selling of indulgences. His refusal to back down from his convictions resulted in his excommunication in 1521. Following a period of seclusion at the Wartburg castle, Luther returned to Wittenberg, where he spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching, translating the Scriptures, and writing hymns and numerous theological treatises. He is remembered and honored for his lifelong emphasis on the biblical truth that for Christ’s sake God declares us righteous by grace through faith alone. He died on February 18, 1546, while visiting the town of his birth.

In 1546 Luther set out for the counts of Mansfeld because they had summoned him to settle a dispute. Before he reached Eisleben, he became quite ill because it was at the end of January. On Feb. 17 he began to be very ill, being quite heavy of chest. With him were his three sons, Johannes, Martin, and Paul, and some other friends including Justus Jonas, minister of the church at Halle. Although he was quite weak, he ate lunch and supper with the rest. During supper he spoke about various matters. Among other things he kept asking this: “Will we recognize each other in eternal life?” When they wanted to learn this from him, he said: “What happened to Adam? He had never seen Eve, but when God made her, he was drowsy and fell into a very deep sleep. When he awoke and saw her, he did not ask who she was or where she came from, but said that she was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones. But how did he know that? He declared this, being filled with the Holy Spirit and endowed with the true knowledge of God. In the same manner, we, too, will be renewed through Christ in the other life, and then we will know our parents, wives, children, and whatever it is much more perfectly than Adam knew Eve.”

When he left the table to pray, as was his custom, the pain of his chest began to increase. Then, at the advice of some, he drank a unicorn’s horn of wine and slept peacefully for an hour or two on a small cot in the stove room. When he awoke, he went into the bedroom and again settled himself to rest. He greeted his friends, who were there, and told them: “Pray God to preserve for us the teaching of the Gospel, for the pope and his council are planning harsh things.” After he said this, he became quiet and slept for a while, but after midnight the pressing pain of his illness aroused him. He complained about the pain in his chest and, perceiving that the end of his life was now imminent, he implored God with exactly these words:

“Heavenly Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, God of all consolation, I give You thanks that You have revealed Your Son, Jesus Christ, to me. I have believed in Him, I have confessed Him, I have loved Him, I have praised Him, whom the pope and the remaining crowd of the wicked persecute and insult. I ask You, my Lord Jesus Christ, receive my poor soul. Heavenly Father, though I am being plucked out of this life, though I will now have to put aside this body, yet I know for certain that I will remain with You forever and that no one can pluck me out of Your hands.”

Not much after that prayer, when He had commended His spirit into God’s hands once and again, he slowly departed from life as if going to sleep, with no pain of body that anyone could notice. That fatal year of Luther was his sixty-third, a year which generally is quite dangerous.

Johannes Sleidanus, De statu religionis et republicae, Carolo quinto, Caesare commentarij (Basel, 1556), quoted in Johann Gerhard, Theological Commonplaces XXV, On the Church, § 297.

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

The new volume of Luther’s Works (vol. 58) has a good amount of teaching on the end of the world. On pp. 163-170, Luther speaks strongly from Romans 8 that this present creation will be renewed just as the bodies of Christians will be. “There remains hope, which we possess together with creation…” Of course, he still says in the same sermon that with our resurrected bodies we will go to heaven. Also, he mentions plants and minerals as participating in this renewal, but is silent about animals. However, in another sermon in the same volume (pp. 133-147), Luther says that the entire world will be destroyed, will die, and will be raised again, even that it will be obliterated, etc.The fact is, Luther could say both things: that the creation will be obliterated, and that the creation will be renewed. He seems to have held to a renewal and transformation of this earth, but only after it has been completely and totally destroyed, maybe even annihilated.

By the way, if you go to the link for the book, you will be able to take a look at a substantial sample, via PDF file. Check it out.

” 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).

“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.

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

The Jesuit priest, Father Mitchell Pacwa, has announced on the Eternal Word Television Network, that it is the intention of EWTN to produce an extensive documentary on the life of Martin Luther. In the course of discussing this project, on EWTN and elsewhere, Father Pacwa has indicated that they will be discussing the “fact” that Martin Luther was a murderer and this great sin is what drove Luther to such depths of despair and despondency that, in spite of the Church’s teachings, he could find no comfort and so arrived at his views as a result of his own unbalanced feelings of guilt. I thank Mr. James Swan for drawing this to my attention.

I have consulted with my colleagues here at Concordia Publishing House who in turn have sought out the opinion of one of the finest Luther scholars today: Dr. Christopher Brown. My colleague here, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mayes, and Dr. Christopher Brown prepared the following statement on Father Pacwa’s assertions that I believe is very helpful. No doubt as EWTN pursues this documentary, as if they continue to insist on the veracity of this vile lie about Luther, we will all be hearing more about it. Our pastors and faithful laity need to be aware of this situation and able to respond to it. Here then is Dr. Brown’s and Dr. Mayes’ response. I should note that when, and if, I acquire more information about this situation, I will post it.

Was Luther a murderer?

In the early 1980′s, Dietrich Emme popularized the theory that Martin Luther entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt not due to his experience in a storm, but in order to escape prosecution after killing a companion (Hieronymus Buntz) in a duel in 1505 (Martin Luther: Sein Jugend- und Studentenzeit 1483-1505 [Cologne, 1982]). Emme’s work on this point has been widely dismissed in recent scholarship as piling one speculative conclusion upon another (e.g., Andreas Lindner, “Was geschah in Stotternheim,” in C. Bultmann, V. Leppin, eds., Luther und das monastische Erbe [Tübingen, 2007], pp. 109-10).

The “duel theory” relies on one of Luther’s Table Talk comments:

“By the singular plan of God I became a monk, so that they would not capture me. Otherwise I would have been captured easily. But they were not able to do it, because the entire Order took care of me” (D. Martin Luthers Werke: kritische Gesamtausgabe [Weimar Edition]: Tischreden, vol. 1 [Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1912], p. 134, no. 326). Yet this refers to the Augustinian order’s protection of Luther from Rome in 1518, not a putative flight from prosecution for dueling in 1505.

If Luther’s “duel” were true, it would have been a matter of rather public knowledge, both casually, among students and the monks, and officially, both with whatever civil or episcopal authorities were supposedly trying to arrest Luther, as well as because a dispensation would have been required for Luther’s ordination (homicide being a canonical impediment for the sacrament of order). In other words, it would be practically unthinkable that when the Roman Catholic polemical biographer of Luther, Johannes Cochlaeus, was searching for data about Luther’s monastic career (and coming up with stories like Luther wailing in the choir) that such a “fact,” if true or even rumored, would not have emerged.

Dr. Christopher Boyd Brown, general editor, Luther’s Works: American Edition
Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, managing editor, Luther’s Works: American Edition

Mr. James Swan devotes considerable time on his blog site to Luther’s works, documenting where to find them in digital format on the Internet. A big thank you to Mr. Swan. Here is his latest post, with a very helpful index of the materials that are now available via a massive digitation project at Calvin College:

Here’s just a quick follow up to Carrie’s post on the new Post-Reformation Digital Library. The section on Luther is excellent. Some the texts are versions released during the 16th century. Helpful pdf links to an organized Google Books D. Martin Luthers Werke (Weimar, 1883-) is also available, as well as other resources:

D. Martin Luthers Werke (Weimar, 1883-)

• Luthers Vorlesung über den Römerbrief (1515/1516), ed. J. Ficker (Leipzig, 1908)
  • Vol. 1 (PDF) [Die Glosse]
  • Vol. 2 (PDF) [Die Scholien]

• Sämmtliche Schriften, ed. J. G. Walch (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House)
  • Vol. 3 (PDF) (1894)
  • Vol. 13, Part 1 (PDF) (St. Louis, 1904)
• Sämmtliche Schriften, ed. K. E. Förstemann (Leipzig)
  • Vol. 22, Part 1 (PDF) [1844; Colloquia/Tischreden]
  • Vol. 22, Part 2 (PDF) [1843; Colloquia/Tischreden]
  • Vol. 22 Part 3 (PDF) [1846; Colloquia/Tischreden]
  • Vol. 22 Part 4 (PDF) [1848; Colloquia/Tischreden]

• Briefwechsel, ed. E. L. Enders (Frankfurt am Main, 1884-)
  • Vol. 1 (PDF) [Apr. 1507 - Mar. 1519]
  • Vol. 2 (PDF) [Apr. 1519 - Nov. 1520]
  • Vol. 3 (PDF)
  • Vol. 4 (PDF) [Sept. 1522 - Aug. 1524]
  • Vol. 5 (PDF) [Sept. 1524 - Dec. 1526]
  • Vol. 6 (PDF) [Jan. 1527 - Oct. 1528]
  • Vol. 7 (PDF) [Oct. 1528 - June 1530]
  • Vol. 8 (PDF) [June 1530 - Apr. 1531]
  • Vol. 9 (PDF) [May 1531 - Jan. 1534]
  • Vol. 10 (PDF) [Feb. 1534 - Jul. 1536]
  • Vol. 11 (PDF) [July 1536 - Aug. 1538]

• Briefe, Sendschreiben und Bedenken, ed. W. M. L. de Wette (Berlin, 1825-28)
  • Vol. 1 (PDF)
  • Vol. 2 (PDF)
    • Missing title page
  • Vol. 3 (PDF)
  • Vol. 4 (PDF)
  • Vol. 5 (PDF)
  • Vol. 6 (PDF)

• Opera Latina varii argumenti ad Reformationis historiam imprimis pertinentia, ed. H. Schmidt (Frankfurt, 1865-73)
  • Vol. 1 (PDF) [1515-18]
  • Vol. 2 (PDF) [1518-1519]
  • Vol. 3 (PDF) [1519]
  • Vol. 4 (PDF) [1519-20; Disputationes 1519-45]
  • Vol. 5 (PDF) [1520-21]
  • Vol. 6 (PDF) [1521-23]
    • Bound with vols. 5-7
  • Vol. 7 (PDF) [1523-44]

• Exegetica Opera Latina, 23 vols. (Erlangen, 1829-61)
  • Vol. 1, Pars 1-2 (PDF)
  • Vol. 3, Pars 1-2 (PDF)
  • Vol. 5-6 (PDF)
  • Vol. 7-8 (PDF)
  • Vol. 9-10 (PDF)
  • Vol. 11-12
  • Vol. 13-14 (PDF)
  • Vol. 15-16 (PDF)
  • Vol. 17-18 (PDF)
  • Vol. 19-20 (PDF)
  • Vol. 21 (PDF)
  • Vol. 22
  • Vol. 23 (PDF)

• Der authentische Text der Leipziger Disputation (1519) aus bisher unbenutzten Quellen, ed. O. Seitz (Berlin, 1903) PDF
• Luthers Sprichwörtersammlung, ed. E. Thiele (Weimar, 1900) PDF
• Works of Martin Luther, 3 vols. (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Co., 1915)
  • Vol. 1 (PDF)
  • Vol. 2 (PDF)
  • Vol. 3

In the same way that a wife shares together in the wealth of her husband, so that what is the husband’s is also the wife’s and, on the other hand, what is the wife’s is the husbands, so also all believers are partakers of all the wealth of God. They have all that He has because we have been Named after Him. The Name gives us a new way of being when we are born anew. Previously, we were bereft of all His kindness as also we received our name from our father, Adam, who is called omnis homo mendax (“all men are liars”) and their names are not acknowledged by God. That is why God had not wanted to give the children their name beforehand, but in their circumcision. So we also do not give a child his name before his baptism, when he is united with Christ as His bridegroom.

Martin Luther’s Festival Sermons, Circumcision of the Baby Jesus, p. 187.