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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMartin Luther Collection: Luther, Martin - Table Talks: 15. Of Baptism
TOPIC: Luther, Martin - Table Talks (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 15. Of Baptism
Other Subjects in this Topic:
OF BAPTISM
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CCCXL.
The ancient teachers ordained three sorts of baptizing; of water, of the
Spirit, and of blood; these were observed in the church. The catechumens
were baptized in water; others, that could not get such water-bathing, and
nevertheless believed, were saved in and through the Holy Spirit, as
Cornelius was saved, before he was baptized. The third sort were baptized in
blood, that is, in martyrdom.
CCCXLI.
Heaven is given unto me freely, for nothing. I have assurance hereof
confirmed unto me by sealed covenants, that is, I am baptized, and frequent
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Therefore I keep the bond safe and sure,
lest the devil tear it in pieces; that is, I live and remain in God's fear
and pray daily unto him. God could not have given me better security of my
salvation, and of the gospel, than by the death and passion of his only Son:
when I believe that he overcame death, and died for me, and therewith behold
the promise of the Father, then I have the bond complete. And when I have
the seal of baptism and the Lord's Supper prefixed thereto, then I am well
provided for.
I was asked: when there is uncertainty, whether a person has been
baptized, or not, may he be baptized under a condition, as thus: If thou be
not baptized, then I baptize thee? I answered: The church must exclude such
baptizing, and not endure it, though there be a doubt of the previous
baptizing of any person, yet he shall receive baptism, pure and simple
without any condition.
CCCXLIII.
The papists, in private confession, only regard the work. There was
such a running to confession, they were never satisfied; if one had
forgotten to confess any thing, however trivial, which afterwards came to
his remembrance, off he must be back to his confessor, and confess again. I
knew a doctor in law who was so bent upon confessing, that, before he could
receive the sacrament, he went three times to his confessor. In my time,
while in popedom, we made our confessors weary, and they again perplexed us
with their conditional absolutions; for they absolved in this manner: "I
absolve and loosen thee, by reason of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of the sorrow of thy heart, of thy mouth's confession, and of the
satisfaction of thy works," etc. These conditions, and what pertained
thereunto, were the cause of great mischief. All this we did out of fear,
that thereby we might be justified and saved before God; we were s o
troubled and overburdened with traditions of men, that Gerson was
constrained to slacken the bridle of the conscience and ease it; he was the
first who began to break out of this prison, for he wrote, that it was no
mortal sin to neglect the ordinances and commandments of the church, or to
act contrary to them, unless it were done out of contempt, willfully, or
from a stubborn mind. These words, although they were but weak and few, yet
they raised up and comforted many consciences.
Against such bondage and slavery I wrote a book on Christian liberty,
showing that such strict laws and ordinances of human inventions ought not
to be observed. There are now, however, certain gross, ignorant, and
inexperienced fellows, who never felt such captivity, that presumptuously
undertake utterly to condemn and reject all laws and ordinances.
CCCXLIV.
If a woman that had murdered her child were absolved by me, and the
crime were afterwards discovered publicly, and I were examined before the
judge, I might not give witness in the matter - we must make a difference
between the church and temporal government. She confessed not to me as to a
man, but to Christ, and if Christ keep silence thereupon, it is my duty to
keep silence also, and to say: I know nothing of the matter thereof: if
Christ heard it, then may he speak of it; though, meantime, I would
privately say to the woman: Thou wretch, do so no more. For, while I am not
the man to speak before the seat of justice, in temporal causes, in matters
touching the conscience, I ought to affright sinners with God's wrath
against sin, through the law. Such as acknowledge and confess their sins, I
must lift up and comfort again, by the preaching of the Gospel. We will not
be drawn to their seats of justice, and markets of hatred and dissension. We
have hitherto protected and maintained the jurisdiction and rights of the
church, and still will do so, yielding not in the least to the temporal
jurisdiction in causes belonging to doctrine and consciences. Let them mind
their charge, wherewith they will find enough to do, and leave ours to us,
as Christ has commanded.
CCCXLV.
Auricular confession was instituted only that people might give an
account of their faith, and from their hearts confess an earnest desire to
receive the holy sacrament. We force no man thereunto.
CCCXLVI.
Christ gave the keys to the church for her comfort, and commanded her
servants to deal therewith according to his direction, to bind the
impenitent, and to absolve them that, repenting, acknowledge and confess
their sins, are heartily sorry for them, and believe that God forgives them
for Christ's sake.
CCCXLVII.
It was asked, did the Hussites well in administering the sacrament to
young children, on the allegation that the graces of God apply equally to
all human creatures? Dr. Luther replied: they were undoubtedly wrong, since
young children need not the communion for their salvation; but still the
innovation could not be regarded as a sin of the Hussites, since St Cyprian,
long ago, set them the example.
CCCXLVIII.
Does he to whom the sacrament is administered by a heretic, really
receive the sacrament? Yes, replied Dr. Luther: if he be ignorant that the
person administering is a heretic. The sacramentarians reject the body of
Christ: the anabaptists baptism, and therefore they cannot efficiently
baptize; yet if a person apply to a sacramentarian, not knowing him as such,
and receive from him the sacrament, himself believing it to be the veritable
body of Christ, it is the veritable body of Christ that he actually
receives.
CCCXLIX.
The anabaptists cavil as to how the salvation of man is to be effected
by water. The simple answer is, that all things are possible to him who
believes in God Almighty. If, indeed, a baker were to say to me: "This bread
is a body, and this wine is blood," I should laugh at him incredulously. But
when Jesus Christ, the Almighty God, taking in his hand bread and wine,
tells me: "This is my body and my blood," then we must believe, for it is
God who speaks - God who with a word created all things.
CCCL.
It was asked whether, in a case of necessity, the father of a family
might administer the Lord's supper to his children or servants. Dr. Luther
replied, "By no means, for he is not called thereto, and they who are not
called, may not preach, much less administer the sacrament. `Twould lead to
infinite disorder, for many people would then wholly dispense with the
ministers of the church."
CCCLI.
When Jesus Christ directed his apostles to go and instruct and baptize
all nations, he meant not that children should be excluded: the apostles
were to baptize all the Gentiles, young or old, great or small. The baptism
of children is distinctly enjoined in Mark x. 14: "The kingdom of God is of
little children." We must not loot at this text with the eyes of a calf, or
of a cow vaguely gaping at a new gate, but do with it as at court we do with
the prince's letters, read it and weigh it, and read it and weigh it again
and again, with our most earnest attention.
CCCLII.
The papists say that `twas Pope Melchiades baptized the emperor
Constantine, but this is fiction. The emperor Constantine was baptized at
Nicomedia, by Eusebius, bishop of that town, in the sixty-fifth year of his
life, and the thirty-third of his reign.
CCCLIII.
The anabaptists pretend that children, not as yet having reason, ought
not to receive baptism. I answer: That reason in no way contributes to
faith. Nay, in that children are destitute of reason, they are all the more
fit and proper recipients of baptism. For reason is the greatest enemy that
faith has: it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but - more
frequently than not - struggles against the Divine Word, treating with
contempt all that emanates from God. If God can communicate the Holy Ghost
to grown persons, he can, a fortiori, communicate it to young children.
Faith comes of the Word of God, when this is heard; little children hear
that Word when they receive baptism, and therewith they receive also faith.
CCCLIV.
Some one sent to know whether it was permissible to use warm water in
baptism? The Doctor replied: "Tell the blockhead that water, warm or cold,
is water."
CCCLV.
In 1541, Doctor Menius asked Doctor Luther, in what manner a Jew should
be baptized? The Doctor replied: You must fill a large tub with water, and,
having divested the Jew of his clothes, cover him with a while garment. He
must then sit down in the tub, and you must baptize him quite under the
water. The ancients, when they were baptized, were attired in white, whence
the first Sunday after Easter, which was peculiarly consecrated to this
ceremony, was called dominica in albis. This garb was rendered the more
suitable, from the circumstance that it was, as now, the custom to bury
people in a white shroud; and baptism, you know, is an emblem of our death.
I have no doubt that when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordon, he was
attired in a white robe. If a Jew, not converted at heart, were to ask
baptism at my hands, I would take him on to the bridge, tie a stone round
his neck, and hurl him into the river; for these wretches are wont to make a
jest of our religion. Yet, after all, water and the Divine Word being the
essence of baptism, a Jew, or any other, would be none the less validly
baptized, that his own feelings and intentions were not the result of faith.