Index To All Four Sections PART III Martin Luther and Mary The Mother of Christ.
Did Luther ardently venerate Mary or are the numerous quotations from Martin Luther's extensive writings and numerous sermons accurate representations of what Luther thought and said? Quotes and Misquotes
The Veneration of Mary
More Than Eve Or Sarah?
Nobility, Wisdom, And Holiness Personified
The Assumption
The Immaculate Conception
The Rosary
Mother of God Mary's Perpetual Virginity
was the one Catholic doctrine Luther held onto through his life
Quotes and Misquotes
Lutherans usually claim that "Martin Luther himself spoke of Mary with great reverence and respect" [01] on the other hand Catholic apologists claim that he was an ardent devotee of Mary - his opinions exactly or substantially the same as Rome's.
Were they? Or are the numerous quotations from Martin Luther's extensive writings and numerous sermons accurate representations of what Luther thought and said about Mary the mother of Christ. Some Protestant websites have used these excerpts in their effort to show that Luther's robust Mariology was clear evidence that he never broke away from Catholicism - that he was an imposter who worshipped Mary until he died. Quotations from other people's writings are most often used to illuminate the meaning or to support the arguments of the work in which the quotation is being used. However, what we cannot do is misquote people in order to convince others of the truth of what we are telling them. Quoting text out of context is a dishonest and deceptive way to make it seem that the original author had an entirely different opinion than the one they actually held. See Context is Crucial
As Christians we arrive at many of our beliefs when someone - teacher, preacher, leader, author pastor etc. - tells us that this is what the word of God says and points to the appropriate verse in Scripture for supporting evidence. The problem is that although the Bible has been translated into virtually every language under the sun, we are a lazy and gullible people who do not pick up our Bible to see whether the verses pointed to have been quoted out of context (the text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.) Unfortunately many of the quotations plastered all of the internet are (at best) shoddy cut-and-paste job without the slightest attempt to ensure their validity. One cannot know what Luther actually said or meant unless one reads the original writings in context. Besides which, all too many of the statements attributed to Luther are quoted from secondary sources that have very sparse (eg. "Sermon 1522") and sometimes incorrect documentation. If you are truly interested in Martin Luther's actual beliefs regarding Mary, I urge you to look them up in English translations of his original writings. The problem being that one has to either be able to buy some of Luther's voluminous writings, know someone who owns them, or have access to a very good library. However, a blog entitled Beggars All has some excellent examples of the unreliability of Luther's supposed Marian quotations that throw all Luther's supposed pro-Mary statements into doubt. Note: We do exactly the same thing with the Scriptures reading into the written word only what we wish to see and glossing over the parts that do not completely agree with what we have already decided to believe. One excellent example of the various interpretations of the Seven Feasts of Israel that many have shuffled in the attempt to make them support what the author has already decided is the truth. In reality the Feasts were given by the Father in a set chronological order and commanded they be celebrated on a particular day. How dare we change that?
The Veneration of Mary
Assumed to mean that Luther was in favor of the idolization that surrounded Mary, the following quotation and citation have been repeatedly copied and pasted into numerous online articles and has even found its way into several books.
"The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart (Martin Luther, Weimar edition of Martin Luther's Works (Translation by William J. Cole) 10, III, p.313)". Note that the Weimar edition, also known as the Weimarer Ausgabe (WA), is a complete edition of all Martin Luther's written and verbal work in Latin and German.
However, if you read for yourself the material that surrounds Luther's oft-quoted words you will see he was saying exactly the opposite. In a sermon preached on September 8, 1522, Luther said, (All Emphasis Added) You know, my friends, that deep in the heart of men is inscribed the honor with which one honors the mother of God; yes, it is even so deep that no one willingly hears anything against it, but extols her more and more. Now we grant that she should be honored since we are enjoined by the Scripture to receive one another with honor, as Paul says (Romans 12:10); so man must also honor her. Above all she must be rightly honored, but the people have "fallen" so deeply in this honor that she is more highly honored than is right and there are two harmful results of all of this: a rupture with Christ inasmuch as the hearts of men are more directed to her than to Christ himself. Christ is put behind in darkness and entirely forgotten! The other result is the harm done to the common folk; for when the Mother of God and her service are held in such high esteem, poor, indigent Christians are forgotten. I gladly allow you to hold her in high respect, to praise her greatly, but only insofar as there is no law made about it. Thus the Holy Scripture itself has described nothing about her birth so that no one should set his heart on her. But now the priests and monks wish to extol the honor of women and have so highly extolled Mary that they have made out of this humble servant a goddess after the manner of the heathens. To arrive at such a position they have to use lies and to turn Scripture around to say things which do not belong to it. You see that the gospel which was read today refers to Christ's birth and not to Mary's ... yes I willingly allow that one honors her, but I ask that those who honor her should not make lies out of Scripture! WA 10 (3) 313, 15 to 315, 16. [02]
He also wrote, Now we have placed Mary so far above all the choirs of angels, next to her son and Lord, that dishonor and harm is done to her loving child. This is a great injustice and I claim that if she were on earth that she would weep blood about such dishonorable honor. Man should leave her in the honor which has come to her and respect her as a child of God. Yes, even see her as mother of God and praise God in her the same way that she herself has done in Magnificat. Grimmental, Oetigan, Einsiedein, (pilgrimage centers) ach, and so on, but go into the house of the neighbor who is in need and what you would spend on a pilgrimage, give to him! This I say about the honor of the saints. WA 10 (3), 325 13 to 326, 17. [03]
While there is little question that Luther honored Mary - even seeing has as the 'mother of God', he roundly condemned the excesses that surrounded her - people (as I have often seen) paying far more attention to her than her Son. Yes, he said "we have an obligation to honor Mary" but as part of the obligation we have to honor each other for the sake of Christ who dwells in us. As he said (All Emphasis Added) "Today's feast of the blessed Virgin celebrates her birth. We also read today in the beginning of Matthew the accounting of part of the family tree including the great ancestors of Jesus Christ. But you know, my friends in Christ, that the honor given to the mother of God has been rooted so deeply into the hearts of men that no one wants to hear any opposition to this celebration. There is rather a desire to further elevate it and make it even greater. We also grant that she should be honored, since we, according to Saint Paul's words [Romans 12] are indebted to show honor one to another for the sake of the One who dwells in us, Jesus Christ. Therefore we have an obligation to honor Mary. But be careful to give her honor that is fitting. Unfortunately, I worry that we give her all too high an honor for she is accorded much more esteem than she should be given or than she accounted to herself... I would allow a high regard for Mary and her praise, just so long as you do not get carried away and consider making a law out of it so that she must be honored as a condition for your salvation. For the Scriptures have recorded nothing about her birth or life. So your hearts must not be placed upon her and she must not be exalted above her proper status. The monks invented all this abuse. They wanted to praise the woman. They have used Mary as an excuse to invent all kinds of lies by which she could be used to establish their twaddle. They have used Scriptures to drag Mary by the hair and force her to go where she never intended. For the Gospel that is read today reveals Christ's nativity, not Mary's. See how many lies have come out of this which we can in no way tolerate. I can surely allow her to be honored but not in a way that belies the Scriptures.
It is by Him we have the surety we are just as holy as Mary and the other saints, no matter how great they are, when we only believe in Christ. For this faith makes all of us brothers and sisters, even Mary herself. Her being given great grace is not done so that we should venerate her, but out of God's mercy for her. For we could not all be God's mother, but apart from that she is just like us and must also come to grace through the blood of Christ as we do " (p. 158). [04] These words should make it pretty obvious that, as Basley wrote in his introduction, Luther's goal in issuing the festival sermons was to wean his people away from the adoration and veneration of the saints which had crept into the church in order to lead them back to venerate Christ alone and to serve not the dead but the living saints in need, according to Christ's command. [05] Note Joel Baseley has been translating and self publishing primarily 19th century German theological writings since in 1988.
More Than Eve Or Sarah
Another oft repeated quote
"No woman is like unto thee! you are more than an empress or a queen! you are more than Eve or Sarah; blessed above all nobility, wisdom or saintliness!" No, she was not filled with pride by this lofty, excellent and super-abundant praise ...' " [Weimar, 45: 105, 7 to 106, 1].
Max Thurian, subprior of the Taizé community (an ecumenical monastic order) in France said it well. "...then on another Feast of the Visitation, July 2.1537, Luther said: 'When the Virgin received the acclamation of Elizabeth as being the blessed Mother of God, because she had believed and because all was coming to pass as the angel had spoken, she was not filled with pride by this praise which no other woman had ever yet spoken to her - this immense praise: "No woman is like unto thee! you are more than an empress or a queen! you are more than Eve or Sarah; blessed above all nobility, wisdom or saintliness!" No, she was not filled with pride by this lofty, excellent and super-abundant praise ...' Weimar, 45: 105, 7 to 106, 1. [07] In other words, Luther was simply elaborating on Elizabeth's words to Mary in Luke 1:42-45. Note he was not saying she was an empress of 'queen of heaven' but more than both those - and more than Eve or Sarah. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.” [06]
Nobility, Wisdom, And Holiness Personified
One other quote used to 'prove' Martin Luther's devotion to Mary is...
[She is the] highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ . . . She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough. Still honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures. (Festival Of Christ's Nativity. Preached Christmas Eve, 1532 ).
However, as shown below these words were said in the context of a sermon preached by Luther on the Festival Of Christ's Nativity, i.e. Christmas Eve. Nor that the focus of the sermon was on Christ, not Mary. Under the papacy only the mother has been praised and extolled. True it is, she is worthy of praise and can never be praised and extolled enough. For this honor is so great and wonderful, to be chosen before all women on earth to become the mother of this child. Nevertheless, We should not praise and extol the mother in such a way as to allow this child who has been born unto us to be removed from before our eyes and hearts and to think less highly of him than of the mother. If one praises the mother, the praise ought to be like the wide ocean. If either one is to be forgotten, it is better to forget the mother rather than the child. Under the papacy, however, the child has all but been forgotten, and attention riveted only on the mother. But the mother has not been born for our sakes; she does not save us from sin and death. She has, indeed, begotten the Savior! for this reason we are to wean ourselves away from the mother and bind ourselves firmly to this child alone! [08]
The Assumption
In regard to the Assumption, the Catholic apologetic website quotes Luther as saying
There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know." [Martin Luther, Weimar edition of Martin Luther's Works (Translation by William J. Cole) 10, p. 268]. [10]
This is what Luther's said in his Sermon on the Visitation on the day of Mary's Ascension, 1532, WA LII, pp.681-88 (Emphasis Added) The feast of the ascension of Mary is completely papist, that is, full of blasphemy and established without any grounding in Scripture. For that reason we have let it lapse in our churches and have used the day to preach about how Mary went over the mountain to visit her relative Elizabeth and what happened there. In the first place there is no sign in Scripture of the feast of the ascension of Mary so that the papists themselves just use a saying from Jerome, who is supposed to have said: "I do not know whether she ascended into heaven in her body or out of her body." And how is anyone supposed to know this when there is nothing in Scripture about it? The most annoying and dangerous thing about making this ascension into a feast is that people honor the Virgin Mary and call to her, as they sing in the response: "O you pure Mother of God, we ask that you, because you were taken up to heaven, be gracious to us and make us citizens in heaven."
But we Christians do not know of any ascension that we can enjoy except for that of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us. For that reason we can console ourselves in his Ascension and know that we will enjoy this, that we will also come to heaven and shall be heard here on earth by him in everything we ask for in his name. for that reason it is a wonderful, exalted and comforting feast, the Ascension of Christ, that the Virgin Mary enjoyed just as we do. We however, even if she has already gone to heaven, cannot enjoy her ascension, and should not for that reason call to her or to take comfort in her intercession as the pope teaches and through this shames and dishonors the Ascension of our Lord Christ, because he wants to make the mother equal to the son in everything. [11]
The Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception does not refer to the conception of Jesus as many think, but to Mary's conception. The doctrine that Mary was conceived just like everyone else was, but God made her free of inherited sin came into being in 1854 when Pope Pius officially stated
The blessed Virgin Mary to have been, from the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of Mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 1854).
See Original Sin.. Fact Or Fable? www.inplainsite.org/html/original_sin_fact_or_fable.html The following quotes floating around in cyber space are often used to show that Martin Luther acknowledged the doctrine of Mary's Immaculate Conception, "... she is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin. ... God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil. ... God is with her, meaning that all she did or left undone is divine and the action of God in her. Moreover, God guarded and protected her from all that might be hurtful to her". [12]
"But the other conception, namely the infusion of the soul, it is piously and suitably believed, was without any sin, so that while the soul was being infused, she would at the same time be cleansed from original sin and adorned with the gifts of God to receive the holy soul thus infused. And thus, in the very moment in which she began to live, she was without all sin... [13] In regard to the second of the two quotes, James Swan tells us that, "Luther's Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, volume 4, 694" is a bogus reference. Volume 4 of LW does not have a page 694. Luther's Works volume 4 is entitled "Lectures on Genesis 21-25.” Why would a volume dedicated to Luther's Genesis lectures include "Sermon: "On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God," since in fact selections from Luther's sermons appear in volumes 51 and 52? " [14]
It should also be noted that in 1518, Luther also said "The Roman church along with the general council at Basel and almost with the whole church feels that the Holy Virgin was conceived without sin. Yet those who hold the opposite opinion should not be considered heretics, since their opinion has not been disproved.” [15]
As Luther's theology developed, the statements concerning the Immaculate Conception that existed in a 1529 print edition were not included in later editions published during his lifetime. Additionally, In 1532 he preached (Emphasis Added) Mother Mary, like us, was born in sin of sinful parents, but the Holy Spirit covered her, sanctified and purified her so that this child was born of flesh and blood, but not with sinful flesh and blood. The Holy Spirit permitted the Virgin Mary to remain a true, natural human being of flesh and blood, just as we. However, he warded off sin from her flesh and blood so that she became the mother of a pure child, not poisoned by sin as we are ... For in that moment when she conceived, she was a holy mother filled with the Holy Spirit and her fruit is a holy pure fruit, at once God and truly man, in one person. [16]
The Rosary
There is little question that Martin Luther included the 'Hail Mary' in his 1522 Personal Prayer Book. However, at the time, the traditional Hail Mary consisted of a repetition of the angel's greeting to Mary in Luke 1:28, and concluded with Elizabeth's words, "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus" in Luke 1:42. It was taken directly from the Scripture and contained no petition.
As Luther said in his Personal Prayer Book: You see that these words are not concerned with prayer but purely with giving praise and honor. Similarly there is no petition in the first words of the Lord's Prayer but rather praise and glorification that God is our Father and that he is in heaven. Therefore we should make the Hail Mary neither a prayer nor an invocation because it is improper to interpret the words beyond what they mean in themselves and beyond the meaning given them by the Holy Spirit (LW 43:39).
He went on to suggest that while one shouldn't use the Ave Maria as a prayer, we can use the Hail Mary as a meditation in which we recite what grace God has given her. Second, we should add a wish that everyone may know and respect her (as one blessed by God) (LW 43:39-40).
For those interested, the petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen" was framed by the Church. "The Church Council of Trent (1545-1563) embraced the "Hail Mary" as we know it, applauding it as the organic effort of the Church to complete what the Scripture initiated. The sense was that this prayer was a natural progression from the role of Mary as the mother of Jesus, the mother of God, to her being one who could continue to intercede on our behalf with God." [17]
It was only after this that the "Hail Mary" appeared in the Roman Breviary in its present form. Incidentally, the Council of Trent was called because of the growing Protestants Reformation. "The primary purpose of the council was to condemn and refute the beliefs of the Protestants, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, and also to make the set of beliefs in Catholicism even clearer". [18]
The council reaffirmed the doctrines of transubstantiation, purgatory, and the validity of the Apocrypha. It also rejected Sola Scriptura, condemned as heresy the doctrine of sola fide - justification by faith alone, and damned those who claimed that indulgences were useless. Canon 24 stated If any one saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema. [19]
Mother of God
There is little question that Martin Luther called Mary the "Mother of God". However, if you go into the matter a little more deeply, you will find that Luther's understanding of the phrase was far removed from how Catholicism understood it.
Article 971 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says (All Emphasis Added) 971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary. [20]
In complete opposition to this, Luther wrote (All Emphasis Added) The devil is very assiduous in trying to divert us from Christ. To invoke the Virgin Mary and the saints may make a beautiful show of holiness; but we must stay together under the Head, or we are eternally damned. What will become of those who rely on St. Barbara and St. George, or those who crawl for shelter under Mary's cloak? To be sure, such people present a fine semblance of worship, but they transform the Son and His love into a judge. Why, then, did God grant Him to us as Mediator and High Priest? The pope has definitely endorsed the invocation of the saints, and by means of false teachers and evil temptations the devil does not cease to rob us of consolation. (LW 22:490-491)
As Max Thurian put it To call Mary the 'Mother of God' is to completely recognize that God became incarnate so completely and so really in our human flesh that He had a truly human mother and was a truly human son in a human family. [ 21]
Mary's Perpetual Virginity
Regarding Mary, the one very Catholic doctrine Luther held onto through his life was Mary's Perpetual Virginity
According to His humanity, He, Christ, our Savior, was the real and natural fruit of Mary's virginal womb (of which Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to her in Luke 1:42: "Blessed is the fruit of your womb!"). This was without the cooperation of a man, and she remained a virgin after that. Everything else that a mother imparts to a child was imparted by Mary, the mother of God's eternal Son. Even the milk He sucked had no other source than the breasts of this holy and pure mother. [22] Then he [Luther] was asked whether Mary also had intercourse with Joseph after the birth of Christ, for Matthew says (1:25) that he knew her not until she had borne a son. He replied, The church leaves this and has not decided. Nevertheless, what happened afterward shows quite strongly that Mary remained a virgin. For after she had perceived that she was the mother of the Son of God, she didn't think she should become the mother of a human child and adhered to this vow. [23]"
End Notes - Martin Luther and Mary
[01] The mother of our church? Living Lutheran. April 1, 2013. https://www.livinglutheran.org/2013/04/mother-church/ [02] James Swan. https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2008/10/luther-veneration-of-mary-is-inscribed.html [03] William Cole S.M. Martin Luther: On Marian Devotion — Invocation and Intercession cession.University of Dayton
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1113&context=udr [04] Joel Basely. Festival Sermons of Martin Luther. The Day of The Nativity of Mary. Publisher: Mark V Publications (June 30, 2005). Pgs. 157-158 [05] Joel Basely. Festival Sermons of Martin Luther. Why the Festival Sermons? Publisher: Mark V Publications (June 30, 2005) [06] James Swan. https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-carm-friend-bonnie-is-trying-to-get.html [07] Max Thurian, Mary Mother of the Lord, Figure of the Church (London: The Faith Press, 1963), p.80.
https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-carm-friend-bonnie-is-trying-to-get.html [08] James Swan. https://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2018/10/6-beautiful-quotes-on-mary-you-wont.html [09] James Swan. Beggars All - Reformation and Apologetics - Luther's Mariology - Martin Luther praised Mary and said that she should be honored in his very last sermon at Wittenberg? http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2007/04/previously-i-noted-difficulties-in.html [10] The Protestant Reformers On Mary http://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/general/mary.htm [11] Luther on Women: A Source book. Translation from Susan C. Karant-Nunn and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks. (Cambridge University Press, New York: 2003), p. 46-47. https://goo.gl/sqwXUg [12] Luther's Works, American edition, Vol. 43, p. 40, ed. H. Lehmann, Fortress, 1968 [13] Martin Luther, Weimar edition of Martin Luther's Works, English translation edited by J. Pelikan [Concordia: St. Louis], Volume 4, 694. [14] James Swan. http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2010/10/luther-infusion-of-marys-soul-was.html [15] Martin Luther, Luther's Works, 31:173. [16] Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 3, ed. John Nicholas Lenker. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 291 [17] Rev. John Stephens. Sermon preached on Sunday, December 20, 2015 at St. Philip's Anglican Church in Vancouver.
https://www.stphilipsdunbar.com/blog/advent-4-2015 [18] Joe Carter. 9 Things You Should Know About the Council of Trent. The Gospel Coalition. December 5, 2013.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-should-know-about-the-council-of-trent [19] ibid. [20] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p6.htm [21] Max Thurian, Mary Mother of the Lord, Figure of the Church (London: The Faith Press, 1963), Pg. 80.
https://archive.org/stream/marymotherofallc013235mbp#page/n83/mode/1up [22] Luther's Works, eds. Jaroslav Pelikan (vols. 1-30) & Helmut T. Lehmann (vols. 31-55), St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House (vols. 1-30); Philadelphia: Fortress Press (vols. 31-55), 1955, v.22:23 / Sermons on John Chapters 1-4 (1537-39) [23] Table Talk #4435 in Luther' Works, Vol. 54 [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967], p. 341 | 
