Martin Luther Quotes

359 Sourced Quotes

Not only the words (vocabula) which the Holy Spirit and Scripture use are divine, but also the phrasing

Martin Luther
If we esteem them too highly, good works can become the greatest idolatry.

Martin Luther
Peace is more important than all justice; and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace.

Martin Luther
If the heart has been reformed by the spirit, it makes use of both the useful and delightful things created and given by God in a holy manner and with thanksgiving.

Martin Luther
A safe stronghold our God is still,
A trusty shield and weapon.

Martin Luther
They are splendidly built [Italian Hospitals], the best food and drink are at hand, the attendants are very diligent, the physicians are learned, the beds and coverings are very clean, and the bedsteads are painted. As soon as a sick man is brought in, all his clothes are taken off in the presence of a notary and are faithfully kept for him. He is then laid in a handsomely painted bed with clean sheets. Two physicians are fetched at once. Attendants come with food and drink, served in immaculate glass vessels; these are not touched with as much as a finger but are brought on a tray.

Martin Luther
However, they have not acquired a perfect mastery of the art of lying; they lie so clumsily and ineptly that anyone who is just a little observant can easily detect it. But for us Christians they stand as a terrifying example of God's wrath.

Martin Luther
By faith we began, by hope we continue, and by revelation we shall obtain the whole.

Martin Luther
Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.

Martin Luther
We do not become righteous by doing righteous deed but, having been made righteous, we do righteous deeds.

Martin Luther
A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.

Martin Luther
How great, therefore, the wickedness of human nature is! How many girls there are who prevent conception and kill and expel tender fetuses, although procreation is the work of God.

Martin Luther
But the exceedingly foul deed of Onan, the basest of wretches, follows. Onan must have been a malicious and incorrigible scoundrel. This is a most disgraceful sin. It is far more atrocious than incest and adultery. We call it unchastity, yes a Sodomitic sin. For Onan goes in to her; that is, he lies with her and copulates, and when it comes to the point of insemination, spills the semen, lest the woman conceive. Surely at such a time the order of nature established by God in procreation should be followed. Accordingly, it was a most disgraceful crime to produce semen and excite the woman, and to frustrate her at that very moment.

Martin Luther
If it were art to overcome heresy with fire, the executioners would be the most learned doctors on earth.

Martin Luther
The confidence that God is mindful of the individual is of tremendous value in dealing with the disease of fear, for it gives us a sense of worth, of belonging, and of at homeness in the universe.

Martin Luther
You should be certain that angels are protecting you when you go to sleep. Yea, that they are protecting you also in all your business, whether you enter or leave your home.

Martin Luther
I have done nothing; the Word has done and accomplished everything.... I let the Word do its work!

Martin Luther
The Bible is the proper book for men. There the truth is distinguished from error far more clearly than anywhere else, and one finds something new in it every day. For twenty-eight years, since I became a doctor, I have now constantly read and preached the Bible; and yet I have not exhausted it but find something new in it every day.

Martin Luther
Our stubbornness is right, because we want to preserve the liberty which we have in Christ. Only by preserving our liberty shall we be able to retain the truth of the Gospel inviolate.

Martin Luther
Nothing is more unbecoming to a teacher of the Word than flippancy. He must be serious and should not act like a clown.

Martin Luther
It is with all these qualities that we must stand before God and intervene on behalf of those who do not have them, as though clothed with someone else's garmentBut even before men we must, with the same love, render them service against their detractors and those who are violent toward them; for this is what Christ did for us.

Martin Luther
The Mass is the greatest blasphemy of God, and the highest idolatry upon earth, an abomination the like of which has never been in Christendom since the time of the Apostles.

Martin Luther
We believe that the very beginning and end of salvation, and the sum of Christianity, consists of faith in Christ, who by His blood alone, and not by any works of ours, has put away sin, and destroyed the power of death.

Martin Luther
All we who believe on Christ are kings and priests in Christ.

Martin Luther
I think these things [firearms] were invented by Satan himself, for they can't be defended against with (ordinary) weapons and fists. All human strength vanishes when confronted with firearms. A man is dead before he sees what's coming.

Martin Luther
The fool will upset the whole science of astronomy.

Martin Luther
Here again you confuse and mix everything up in your usual way.

Martin Luther
Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.

Martin Luther
The Apostle Paul wants us to work with our hands in order to share with the needy (Ephesians 5:28). Notice that he could have said that we should work to support ourselves. But Paul says that we work to give to those in need. This is why caring for our body is also a Christian work. If the body is healthy and fit, we are able to work and save money that can be used to help those in need.

Martin Luther
As to why some are touched by the law and others not, so that some receive and others scorn the offer of grace...[this is the] hidden will of God, Who, according to His own counsel, ordains such persons as He wills to receive and partake of the mercy preached and offered.

Martin Luther