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A Treatise on Good Works
A treatise on Good Works together with the Letter of Dedication by Dr.
Martin Luther, 1520
INTRODUCTION
1. The Occasion of the Work. -- Luther did not impose himself as
reformer upon the Church. In the course of a conscientious performance
of the duties of his office, to which he had been regularly and
divinely called, and without any urging on his part, he attained to
this position by inward necessity. In 1515 he received his appointment
as the standing substitute for the sickly city pastor, Simon Heinse,
from the city council of Wittenberg. Before this time he was obliged
to preach only occasionally in the convent, apart from his activity as
teacher in the University and convent. Through this appointment he was
in duty bound, by divine and human right, to lead and direct the
congregation at Wittenberg on the true way to life, and it would have
been a denial of the knowledge of salvation which God had led him to
acquire, by way of ardent inner struggles, if he had led the
congregation on any other way than the one God had revealed to him in
His Word. He could not deny before the congregation which had been
intrusted to his care, what up to this time he had taught with ever
increasing clearness in his lectures at the University -- for in the
lectures on the Psalms, which he began to deliver in 1513, he declares
his conviction that faith alone justifies, as can be seen from the
complete manuscript, published since 1885, and with still greater
clearness from his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
(1515-1516), which is accessible since 1908; nor what he had urged as
spiritual adviser of his convent brethren when in deep distress --
compare the charming letter to Georg Spenlein, dated April 8, 1516.
Luther's first literary works to appear in print were also occasioned
by the work of his calling and of his office in the Wittenberg
congregation. He had no other object in view than to edify his
congregation and to lead it to Christ when, in 1517, he published his
first independent work, the Explanation of the Seven Penitential
Psalms. On Oct 31 of the same year he published his 95 Theses against
Indulgences. These were indeed intended as controversial theses for
theologians, but at the same time it is well known that Luther was
moved by his duty toward his congregation to declare his position in
this matter and to put in issue the whole question as to the right and
wrong of indulgences by means of his theses. His sermon Of Indulgences
and Grace, occasioned by Tetzel's attack and delivered in the latter
part of March, 1518, as well as his sermon Of Penitence, delivered
about the same time, were also intended for his congregation. Before
his congregation (Sept., 1516-Feb., 1517) he delivered the Sermons on
the Ten Commandments, which were published in 1518 and the Sermons on
the Lord's Prayer, which were also published in 1518 by Agricola.
Though Luther in the same year published a series of controversial
writings, which were occasioned by attacks from outside sources, viz.,
the Resolutiones disputationis de Virtute indulgentiarum, the
Asterisci adversus obeliscos Joh. Eccii, and the Ad dialogum Silv.
Prieriatis responsio, still he never was diverted by this necessary
rebuttal from his paramount duty, the edification of the congregation.
The autumn of the year 1518, when he was confronted with Cajetan, as
well as the whole year of 1519, when he held his disputations with
Eck, etc., were replete with disquietude and pressing labors; still
Luther served his congregation with a whole series of writings during
this time, and only regretted that he was not entirely at its
disposal. Of such writings we mention: Explanation of the Lord's
Prayer for the simple Laity (an elaboration of the sermons of 1517);
Brief Explanation of the Ten Commandments; Instruction concerning
certain Articles, which might be ascribed and imputed to him by his
adversaries; Brief Instruction how to Confess; Of Meditation on the
Sacred Passion of Christ; Of Twofold Righteousness; Of the Matrimonial
Estate; Brief Form to understand and to pray the Lord's Prayer;
Explanation of the Lord's Prayer "vor sich und hinter sich"; Of Prayer
and Processions in Rogation Week; Of Usury; Of the Sacrament of
Penitence; Of Preparation for Death; Of the Sacrament of Baptism; Of
the Sacrament of the Sacred Body; Of Excommunication. With but few
exceptions these writings all appeared in print in the year 1519, and
again it was the congregation which Luther sought primarily to serve.
If the bounds of his congregation spread ever wider beyond Wittenberg,
so that his writings found a surprisingly ready sale, even afar, that
was not Luther's fault. Even the Tessaradecas consolatoria, written in
1519 and printed in 1520, a book of consolation, which was originally
intended for the sick Elector of Saxony, was written by him only upon
solicitation from outside sources.
To this circle of writings the treatise Of Good Works also belongs
Though the incentive for its composition came from George Spalatin,
court-preacher to the Elector, who reminded Luther of a promise he had
given, still Luther was willing to undertake it only when he recalled
that in a previous sermon to his congregation he occasionally had made
a similar promise to deliver a sermon on good works; and when Luther
actually commenced the composition he had nothing else in view but the
preparation of a sermon for his congregation on this important topic.
But while the work was in progress the material so accumulated that it
far outgrew the bounds of a sermon for his congregation. On March 25.
he wrote to Spalatin that it would become a whole booklet instead of a
sermon; on May 5. he again emphasizes the growth of the material; on
May 13. he speaks of its completion at an early date, and on June 8.
he could send Melanchthon a printed copy. It was entitled: Von den
guten werckenn: D. M. L. Vuittenberg. On the last page it bore the
printer's mark: Getruck zu Wittenberg bey dem iungen Melchior Lotther.
Im Tausent funfhundert vnnd zweyntzigsten Jar. It filled not less than
58 leaves, quarto. In spite of its volume, however, the intention of
the book for the congregation remained, now however, not only for the
narrow circle of the Wittenberg congregation, but for the Christian
layman in general. In the dedicatory preface Luther lays the greatest
stress upon this, for he writes: "Though I know of a great many, and
must hear it daily, who think lightly of my poverty and say that I
write only small Sexternlein (tracts of small volume) and German
sermons for the untaught laity, I will not permit that to move me.
Would to God that during my life I had served but one layman for his
betterment with all my powers; it would be sufficient for me, I would
thank God and suffer all my books to perish thereafter.... Most
willingly I will leave the honor of greater things to others, and not
at all will I be ashamed of preaching and writing German to the
untaught laity."
Since Luther had dedicated the afore-mentioned Tessaradecas
consolatoria to the reigning Prince, he now, probably on Spalatin's
recommendation, dedicated the Treatise on Good Works to his brother
John, who afterward, in 1525, succeeded Frederick in the Electorate.
There was probably good reason for dedicating the book to a member of
the reigning house. Princes have reason to take a special interest in
the fact that preaching on good works should occur within their realm,
for the safety and sane development of their kingdom depend largely
upon the cultivation of morality on the part of their subjects. Time
and again the papal church had commended herself to princes and
statesmen by her emphatic teaching of good works. Luther, on the other
hand, had been accused -- like the Apostle Paul before him (Rom. 3 31)
-- that the zealous performance of good works had abated, that the
bonds of discipline had slackened and that, as a necessary
consequence, lawlessness and shameless immorality were being promoted
by his doctrine of justification by faith alone. Before 1517 the rumor
had already spread that Luther intended to do away with good works.
Duke George of Saxony had received no good impression from a sermon
Luther had delivered at Dresden, because he feared the consequences
which Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone might have
upon the morals of the masses. Under these circumstances it would not
have been surprising if a member of the Electoral house should harbor
like scruples, especially since the full comprehension of Luther's
preaching on good works depended on an evangelical understanding of
faith, as deep as was Luther's own. The Middle Ages had differentiated
between fides informis, a formless faith, and fides formata or
informata, a formed or ornate faith. The former was held to be a
knowledge without any life or effect, the latter to be identical with
love for, as they said, love which proves itself and is effective in
good works must be added to the formless faith, as its complement and
its content, well pleasing to God. In Luther's time every one who was
seriously interested in religious questions was reared under the
influence of these ideas.
Now, since Luther had opposed the doctrine of justification by love
and its good works, he was in danger of being misunderstood by
strangers, as though he held the bare knowledge and assent to be
sufficient for justification, and such preaching would indeed have led
to frivolity and disorderly conduct. But even apart from the question
whether or not the brother of the Elector was disturbed by such
scruples, Luther must have welcomed the opportunity, when the summons
came to him, to dedicate his book Of Good Works to a member of the
Electoral house. At any rate the book could serve to acquaint him with
the thoughts of his much-abused pastor and professor at Wittenberg,
for never before had Luther expressed himself on the important
question of good works in such a fundamental, thorough and profound
way.
2. The Contents of the Work. -- A perusal of the contents shows that
the book, in the course of its production, attained a greater length
than was originally intended. To this fact it must be attributed that
a new numeration of sections begins with the argument on the Third
Commandment, and is repeated at every Commandment thereafter, while
before this the sections were consecutively numbered. But in spite of
this, the plan of the whole is clear and lucid. Evidently the whole
treatise is divided into two parts: the first comprising sections
1-17, while the second comprises all the following sections. The
first, being fundamental, is the more important part. Luther well knew
of the charges made against him that "faith is so highly elevated" and
"works are rejected" by him; but he knew, too, that "neither silver,
gold and precious stone, nor any other precious thing had experienced
so much augmentation and diminution" as had good works "which should
all have but one simple goodness, or they are nothing but color,
glitter and deception." But especially was he aware of the fact that
the Church was urging nothing but the so-called self-elected works,
such as "running to the convent, singing, reading, playing the organ,
saying the mass, praying matins, vespers, and other hours, founding
and ornamenting churches, altars, convents, gathering chimes, jewels,
vestments, gems and treasures, going to Rome and to the saints,
curtsying and bowing the knees, praying the rosary and the psalter,"
etc., and that she designated these alone as truly good works, while
she represented the faithful performance of the duties of one's
calling as a morality of a lower order. For these reasons it is
Luther's highest object in this treatise to make it perfectly clear
what is the essence of good works. Whenever the essence of good works
has been understood, then the accusations against him will quickly
collapse.
In the fundamental part he therefore argues: Truly good works are not
self-elected works of monastic or any other holiness, but such only as
God has commanded, and as are comprehended within the bounds of one's
particular calling, and all works, let their name be what it may,
become good only when they flow from faith, the first, greatest, and
noblest of good works." (John 6:29.) In this connection the essence of
faith, that only source of all truly good works, must of course be
rightly understood. It is the sure confidence in God, that all my
doing is wellpleasing to Him; it is trust in His mercy, even though He
appears angry and puts sufferings and adversities upon us; it is the
assurance of the divine good will even though "God should reprove the
conscience with sin, death and hell, and deny it all grace and mercy,
as though He would condemn and show His wrath eternally." Where such
faith lives in the heart, there the works are good "even though they
were as insignificant as the picking up of a straw"; but where it is
wanting, there are only such works as "heathen, Jew and Turk" may have
and do. Where such faith possesses the man, he needs no teacher in
good works, as little as does the husband or the wife, who only look
for love and favor from one another, nor need any instruction therein
"how they are to stand toward each other, what they are to do, to
leave undone, to say, to leave unsaid, to think."
This faith, Luther continues, is "the true fulfilment of the First
Commandment, apart from which there is no work that could do justice
to this Commandment." With this sentence he combines, on the one hand,
the whole argument on faith, as the best and noblest of good works,
with his opening proposition (there are no good works besides those
commanded of God), and, on the other hand, he prepares the way for the
following argument, wherein he proposes to exhibit the good works
according to the Ten Commandments. For the First Commandment does not
forbid this and that, nor does it require this and that; it forbids
but one thing, unbelief; it requires but one thing, faith, "that
confidence in God's good will at all times." Without this faith the
best works are as nothing, and if man should think that by them he
could be well-pleasing to God, he would be lowering God to the level
of a "broker or a laborer who will not dispense his grace and kindness
gratis."
This understanding of faith and good works, so Luther now addresses
his opponents, should in fairness be kept in view by those who accuse
him of declaiming against good works, and they should learn from it,
that though he has preached against "good works," it was against such
as are falsely so called and as contribute toward the confusion of
consciences, because they are self-elected, do not flow from faith,
and are done with the pretension of doing works well-pleasing to God.
This brings us to the end of the fundamental part of the treatise. It
was not Luther's intention, however, to speak only on the essence of
good works and their fundamental relation to faith; he would show,
too, how the "best work," faith, must prove itself in every way a
living faith, according to the other commandments. Luther does not
proceed to this part, however, until in the fundamental part he has
said with emphasis, that the believer, the spiritual man, needs no
such instruction (1. Timothy 1:9), but that he of his own accord and
at all times does good works "as his faith, his confidence, teaches
him." Only "because we do not all have such faith, or are unmindful of
it," does such instruction become necessary.
Nor does he proceed until he has applied his oft repeated words
concerning the relation of faith to good works to the relation of the
First to the other Commandments. From the fact, that according to the
First Commandment, we acquire a pure heart and confidence toward God,
he derives the good work of the Second Commandment, namely, "to praise
God, to acknowledge His grace, to render all honor to Him alone." From
the same source he derives the good work of the Third Commandment,
namely, "to observe divine services with prayer and the hearing of
preaching, to incline the imagination of our hearts toward God's
benefits, and, to that end, to mortify and overcome the flesh." From
the same source he derives the works of the Second Table.
The argument on the Third and Fourth Commandments claims nearly
one-half of the entire treatise. Among the good works which, according
to the Third Commandment, should be an exercise and proof of faith,
Luther especially mentions the proper hearing of mass and of
preaching, common prayer, bodily discipline and the mortification of
the flesh, and he joins the former and the latter by an important
fundamental discussion of the New Testament conception of Sabbath
rest.
Luther discusses the Fourth Commandment as fully as the Third. The
exercise of faith, according to this Commandment, consists in the
faithful performance of the duties of children toward their parents,
of parents toward their children, and of subordinates toward their
superiors in the ecclesiastical as well as in the common civil sphere.
The various duties issue from the various callings, for faithful
performance of the duties of one's calling, with the help of God and
for God's sake, is the true "good work."
As he now proceeds to speak of the spiritual powers, the government of
the Church, he frankly reveals their faults and demands a reform of
the present rulers. Honor and obedience in all things should be
rendered unto the Church, the spiritual mother, as it is due to
natural parents, unless it be contrary to the first Three
Commandments. But as matters stand now the spiritual magistrates
neglect their peculiar work, namely, the fostering of godliness and
discipline, like a mother who runs away from her children and follows
a lover, and instead they undertake strange and evil works, like
parents whose commands are contrary to God. In this case members of
the Church must do as godly children do whose parents have become mad
and insane. Kings, princes, the nobility, municipalities and
communities must begin of their own accord and put a check to these
conditions, so that the bishops and the clergy, who are now too timid,
may be induced to follow. But even the civil magistrates must also
suffer reforms to be enacted in their particular spheres; especially
are they called on to do away with the rude "gluttony and
drunkenness," luxury in clothing, the usurious sale of rents and the
common brothels. This, by divine and human right, is a part of their
enjoined works according to the Fourth Commandment.
Luther, at last, briefly treats of the Second Table of the
Commandments, but in speaking of the works of these Commandments he
never forgets to point out their relation to faith, thus holding fast
this fundamental thought of the book to the end. Faith which does not
doubt that God is gracious, he says, will find it an easy matter to be
graciously and favorably minded toward one's neighbor and to overcome
all angry and wrathful desires. In this faith in God the Spirit will
teach us to avoid unchaste thoughts and thus to keep the Sixth
Commandment. When the heart trusts in the divine favor, it cannot seek
after the temporal goods of others, nor cleave to money, but according
to the Seventh Commandment, will use it with cheerful liberality for
the benefit of the neighbor. Where such confidence is present there is
also a courageous, strong and intrepid heart, which will at all times
defend the truth, as the Eighth Commandment demands, whether neck or
coat be at stake, whether it be against pope or kings. Where such
faith is present there is also strife against the evil lust, as
forbidden in the Ninth and Tenth Commandments, and that even unto
death.
3. The Importance of the Work. -- Inquiring now into the importance of
the book, we note that Luther's impression evidently was perfectly
correct, when he wrote to Spalatin, long before its completion -- as
early as March 2 5. -- that he believed it to be better than anything
he had heretofore written. The book, indeed, surpasses all his
previous German writings in volume, as well as all his Latin and
German ones in clearness, richness and the fundamental importance of
its content. In comparison with the prevalent urging of self-elected
works of monkish holiness, which had arisen from a complete
misunderstanding of the so-called evangelical counsels (comp. esp.
Matthew 19:16-22) and which were at that time accepted as self-evident
and zealously urged by the whole church, Luther's argument must have
appeared to all thoughtful and earnest souls as a revelation, when he
so clearly amplified the proposition that only those works are to be
regarded as good works which God has commanded, and that therefore,
not the abandoning of one's earthly calling, but the faithful keeping
of the Ten Commandments in the course of one's calling, is the work
which God requires of us. Over against the wide-spread opinion, as
though the will of God as declared in the Ten Commandments referred
only to the outward work always especially mentioned, Luther's
argument must have called to mind the explanation of the Law, which
the Lord had given in the Sermon on the Mount, when he taught men to
recognize only the extreme point and manifestation of a whole trend of
thought in the work prohibited by the text, and when he directed
Christians not to rest in the keeping of the literal requirement of
each Commandment, but from this point of vantage to inquire into the
whole depth and breadth of God's will -- positively and negatively --
and to do His will in its full extent as the heart has perceived it.
Though this thought may have been occasionally expressed in the
expositions of the Ten Commandments which appeared at the dawn of the
Reformation, still it had never before been so clearly recognized as
the only correct principle, much less had it been so energetically
carried out from beginning to end, as is done in this treatise. Over
against the deep-rooted view that the works of love must bestow upon
faith its form, its content and its worth before God, it must have
appeared as the dawn of a new era (Galatians 3:22-25) when Luther in
this treatise declared, and with victorious certainty carried out the
thought, that it is true faith which invests the works, even the best
and greatest of works, with their content and worth before God.