depicted most exquisitely in quite short and yet rich words wherein
consists all our wisdom, which surpasses and exceeds the wisdom, mind,
and reason of all men. For although the whole world with all diligence
has endeavored to ascertain what God is, what He has in mind and does,
yet has she never been able to attain to [the knowledge and
understanding of] any of these things. But here we have everything in
richest measure; for here in all three articles He has Himself revealed
and opened the deepest abyss of his paternal heart and of His pure
unutterable love. For He has created us for this very object, that He
might redeem and sanctify us; and in addition to giving and imparting
to us everything in heaven and upon earth, He has given to us even His
Son and the Holy Ghost, by whom to bring us to Himself. For (as
explained above) we could never attain to the knowledge of the grace
and favor of the Father except through the Lord Christ, who is a mirror
of the paternal heart, outside of whom we see nothing but an angry and
terrible Judge. But of Christ we could know nothing either, unless it
had been revealed by the Holy Ghost.
These articles of the Creed, therefore, divide and separate us
Christians from all other people upon earth. For all outside of
Christianity, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and
hypocrites, although they believe in, and worship, only one true God,
yet know not what His mind towards them is, and cannot expect any love
or blessing from Him; therefore they abide in eternal wrath and
damnation. For they have not the Lord Christ, and, besides, are not
illumined and favored by any gifts of the Holy Ghost.
From this you perceive that the Creed is a doctrine quite different
from the Ten Commandments; for the latter teaches indeed what we ought
to do, but the former tells what God does for us and gives to us.
Moreover, apart from this, the Ten Commandments are written in the
hearts of all men; the Creed, however, no human wisdom can comprehend,
but it must be taught by the Holy Ghost alone. The latter doctrine [of
the Law], therefore makes no Christian, for the wrath and displeasure
of God abide upon us still, because we cannot keep what God demands of
us; but this [namely, the doctrine of faith] brings pure grace, and
makes us godly and acceptable to God. For by this knowledge we obtain
love and delight in all the commandments of God, because here we see
that God gives Himself entire to us, with all that He has and is able
to do, to aid and direct us in keeping the Ten Commandments -- the
Father, all creatures; the Son, His entire work; and the Holy Ghost,
all His gifts.
Let this suffice concerning the Creed to lay a foundation for the
simple, that they may not be burdened, so that, if they understand the
substance of it, they themselves may afterwards strive to acquire more,
and to refer to these parts whatever they learn in the Scriptures, and
may ever grow and increase in richer understanding. For as long as we
live here, we shall daily have enough to do to preach and to learn
this.
Part Third. OF PRAYER.
The Lord's Prayer.
We have now heard what we must do and believe, in which things the best
and happiest life consists. Now follows the third part, how we ought to
pray. For since we are so situated that no man can perfectly keep the
Ten Commandments, even though he have begun to believe, and since the
devil with all his power together with the world and our own flesh,
resists our endeavors, nothing is so necessary as that we should
continually resort to the ear of God, call upon Him, and pray to Him,
that He would give, preserve, and increase in us faith and the
fulfillment of the Ten Commandments, and that He would remove
everything that is in our way and opposes us therein. But that we might
know what and how to pray, our Lord Christ has Himself taught us both
the mode and the words, as we shall see.
But before we explain the Lord's Prayer part by part, it is most
necessary first to exhort and incite people to prayer, as Christ and
the apostles also have done. And the first matter is to know that it is
our duty to pray because of God's commandment. For thus we heard in the
Second Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the lord, thy God,
in vain, that we are there required to praise that holy name, and call
upon it in every need, or to pray. For to call upon the name of God is
nothing else than to pray. Prayer is therefore as strictly and
earnestly commanded as all other commandments: to have no other God,
not to kill, not to steal, etc. Let no one think that it is all the
same whether he pray or not, as vulgar people do, who grope in such
delusion and ask Why should I pray? Who knows whether God heeds or will
hear my prayer? If I do not pray, some one else will. And thus they
fall into the habit of never praying, and frame a pretext, as though we
taught that there is no duty or need of prayer, because we reject false
and hypocritical prayers.
But this is true indeed that such prayers as have been offered
hitherto when men were babbling and bawling in the churches were no
prayers. For such external matters, when they are properly observed,
may be a good exercise for young children, scholars, and simple
persons, and may be called singing or reading, but not really praying.
But praying, as the Second Commandment teaches, is to call upon God in
every need. This He requires of us, and has not left it to our choice.
But it is our duty and obligation to pray if we would be Christians, as
much as it is our duty and obligation to obey our parents and the
government; for by calling upon it and praying the name of God is
honored and profitably employed. This you must note above all things,
that thereby you may silence and repel such thoughts as would keep and
deter us from prayer. For just as it would be idle for a son to say to
his father, "Of what advantage is my obedience? I will go and do what
I can; it is all the same"; but there stands the commandment, Thou
shalt and must do it, so also here it is not left to my will to do it
or leave it undone, but prayer shall and must be offered at the risk of
God's wrath and displeasure.
This is therefore to be understood and noted before everything else, in
order that thereby we may silence and repel the thoughts which would
keep and deter us from praying, as though it were not of much
consequence if we do not pray, or as though it were commanded those who
are holier and in better favor with God than we; as, indeed, the human
heart is by nature so despondent that it always flees from God and
imagines that He does not wish or desire our prayer, because we are
sinners and have merited nothing but wrath. Against such thoughts (I
say) we should regard this commandment and turn to God, that we may not
by such disobedience excite His anger still more. For by this
commandment He gives us plainly to understand that He will not cast us
from Him nor chase us away, although we are sinners, but rather draw
us to Himself, so that we might humble ourselves before Him, bewail
this misery and plight of ours, and pray for grace and help. Therefore
we read in the Scriptures that He is angry also with those who were
smitten for their sin, because they did not return to Him and by their
prayers assuage His wrath and seek His grace.
Now, from the fact that it is so solemnly commanded to pray, you are to
conclude and think, that no one should by any means despise his prayer,
but rather set great store by it, and always seek an illustration from
the other commandments. A child should by no means despise his
obedience to father and mother, but should always think: This work is a
work of obedience, and what I do I do with no other intention than that
I may walk in the obedience and commandment of God, on which I can
settle and stand firm, and esteem it a great thing, not on account of
my worthiness, but on account of the commandment. So here also, what
and for what we pray we should regard as demanded by God and done in
obedience to Him, and should reflect thus: On my account it would
amount to nothing; but it shall avail, for the reason that God has
commanded it. Therefore everybody, no matter what he has to say in
prayer, should always come before God in obedience to this commandment.
We pray, therefore, and exhort every one most diligently to take this
to heart and by no means to despise our prayer. For hitherto it has
been taught thus in the devil's name that no one regarded these things,
and men supposed it to be sufficient to have done the work, whether God
would hear it or not. But that is staking prayer on a risk, and
murmuring it at a venture, and therefore it is a lost prayer. For we
allow such thoughts as these to lead us astray and deter us: I am not
holy or worthy enough; if I were as godly and holy as St. Peter or St.
Paul, then I would pray. But put such thoughts far away, for just the
same commandment which applied to St. Paul applies also to me; and the
Second Commandment is given as much on my account as on his account, so
that he can boast of no better or holier commandment.
Therefore you should say: My prayer is as precious, holy, and pleasing
to God as that of St. Paul or of the most holy saints. This is the
reason: For I will gladly grant that he is holier in his person, but
not on account of the commandment; since God does not regard prayer on
account of the person, but on account of His word and obedience
thereto. For on the commandment on which all the saints rest their
prayer I, too, rest mine. Moreover I pray for the same thing for which
they all pray and ever have prayed; besides, I have just as great a
need of it as those great saints, yea, even a greater one than they.
Let this be the first and most important point, that all our prayers
must be based and rest upon obedience to God, irrespective of our
person, whether we be sinners or saints, worthy or unworthy. And we
must know that God will not have it treated as a jest, but be angry,
and punish all who do not pray, as surely as He punishes all other
disobedience; next, that He will not suffer our prayers to be in vain
or lost. For if He did not intend to answer your prayer, He would not
bid you pray and add such a severe commandment to it.
In the second place, we should be the more urged and incited to pray
because God has also added a promise, and declared that it shall surely
be done to us as we pray, as He says Ps. 50, 15: Call upon Me in the
day of trouble: I will deliver thee. And Christ in the Gospel of St.
Matthew, 7, 7: Ask, and it shall be given you. For every one that
asketh receiveth. Such promises ought certainly to encourage and kindle
our hearts to pray with pleasure and delight, since He testifies with
His [own] word that our prayer is heartily pleasing to Him, moreover,
that it shall assuredly be heard and granted, in order that we may not
despise it or think lightly of it, and pray at a venture.
This you can hold up to Him and say: Here I come, dear Father, and
pray, not of my own purpose nor upon my own worthiness, but at Thy
commandment and promise, which cannot fail or deceive me. Whoever,
therefore, does not believe this promise must know again that he
excites God to anger as a person who most highly dishonors Him and
reproaches Him with falsehood.
Besides this, we should be incited and drawn to prayer because in
addition to this commandment and promise God anticipates us, and
Himself arranges the words and form of prayer for us, and places them
upon our lips as to how and what we should pray, that we may see how
heartily He pities us in our distress, and may never doubt that such
prayer is pleasing to Him and shall certainly be answered; which [the
Lord's Prayer] is a great advantage indeed over all other prayers that
we might compose ourselves. For in them the conscience would ever be in
doubt and say: I have prayed, but who knows how it pleases Him, or
whether I have hit upon the right proportions and form? Hence there is
no nobler prayer to be found upon earth than the Lord's Prayer which we
daily pray because it has this excellent testimony, that God loves to
hear it, which we ought not to surrender for all the riches of the
world.
And it has been prescribed also for this reason that we should see and
consider the distress which ought to urge and compel us to pray without
ceasing. For whoever would pray must have something to present, state,
and name which he desires; if not, it cannot be called a prayer.
Therefore we have rightly rejected the prayers of monks and priests,
who howl and growl day and night like fiends; but none of them think of
praying for a hair's breadth of anything. And if we would assemble all
the churches, together with all ecclesiastics, they would be obliged to
confess that they have never from the heart prayed for even a drop of
wine. For none of them has ever purposed to pray from obedience to God
and faith in His promise, nor has any one regarded any distress, but
(when they had done their best) they thought no further than this, to
do a good work, whereby they might repay God, as being unwilling to
take anything from Him, but wishing only to give Him something.
But where there is to be a true prayer there must be earnestness. Men
must feel their distress, and such distress as presses them and compels
them to call and cry out then prayer will be made spontaneously, as it
ought to be, and men will require no teaching how to prepare for it and
to attain to the proper devotion. But the distress which ought to
concern us most, both as regards ourselves and every one, you will find
abundantly set forth in the Lord's Prayer. Therefore it is to serve
also to remind us of the same, that we contemplate it and lay it to
heart, lest we become remiss in prayer. For we all have enough that we
lack, but the great want is that we do not feel nor see it. Therefore
God also requires that you lament and plead such necessities and wants,
not because He does not know them, but that you may kindle your heart
to stronger and greater desires, and make wide and open your cloak to
receive much.
Therefore, every one of us should accustom himself from his youth
daily to pray for all his wants, whenever he is sensible of anything
affecting his interests or that of other people among whom he may live,
as for preachers, the government, neighbors, domestics, and always (as
we have said) to hold up to God His commandment and promise, knowing
that He will not have them disregarded. This I say because I would like
to see these things brought home again to the people that they might
learn to pray truly, and not go about coldly and indifferently, whereby
they become daily more unfit for prayer; which is just what the devil
desires, and for what he works with all his powers. For he is well
aware what damage and harm it does him when prayer is in proper
practice. For this we must know, that all our shelter and protection
rest in prayer alone. For we are far too feeble to cope with the devil
and all his power and adherents that set themselves against us, and
they might easily crush us under their feet. Therefore we must consider
and take up those weapons with which Christians must be armed in order
to stand against the devil. For what do you think has hitherto
accomplished such great things, has checked or quelled the counsels,
purposes, murder, and riot of our enemies, whereby the devil thought to
crush us, together with the Gospel, except that the prayer of a few
godly men intervened like a wall of iron on our side? They should else
have witnessed a far different tragedy, namely, how the devil would
have destroyed all Germany in its own blood. But now they may
confidently deride it and make a mock of it, however, we shall
nevertheless be a match both for themselves and the devil by prayer
alone, if we only persevere diligently and not become slack. For
whenever a godly Christian prays: Dear Father let Thy will be done, God
speaks from on high and says: Yes, dear child, it shall be so, in spite
of the devil and all the world.
Let this be said as an exhortation, that men may learn, first of all,
to esteem prayer as something great and precious, and to make a proper
distinction between babbling and praying for something. For we by no
means reject prayer, but the bare, useless howling and murmuring we
reject, as Christ Himself also rejects and prohibits long palavers. Now
we shall most briefly and clearly treat of the Lord's Prayer. Here
there is comprehended in seven successive articles, or petitions, every
need which never ceases to relate to us, and each so great that it
ought to constrain us to keep praying it all our lives.
The First Petition.
Hallowed be Thy name.
This is, indeed, somewhat obscure, and not expressed in good German,
for in our mother-tongue we would say: Heavenly Father, help that by
all means Thy name may be holy. But what is it to pray that His name
may be holy? Is it not holy already? Answer: Yes, it is always holy in
its nature, but in our use it is not holy. For God's name was given us
when we became Christians and were baptized, so that we are called
children of God and have the Sacraments by which He so incorporates us
in Himself that everything which is God's must serve for our use.
Here now the great need exists for which we ought to be most
concerned, that this name have its proper honor, be esteemed holy and
sublime as the greatest treasure and sanctuary that we have; and that
as godly children we pray that the name of God, which is already holy
in heaven, may also be and remain holy with us upon earth and in all
the world.
But how does it become holy among us? Answer, as plainly as it can be
said: When both our doctrine and life are godly and Christian. For
since in this prayer we call God our Father, it is our duty always to
deport and demean ourselves as godly children, that He may not receive
shame, but honor and praise from us.
Now the name of God is profaned by us either in words or in works. (For
whatever we do upon the earth must be either words or works, speech or
act.) In the first place, then, it is profaned when men preach, teach,
and speak in the name of God what is false and misleading, so that His
name must serve to adorn and to find a market for falsehood. That is,
indeed, the greatest profanation and dishonor of the divine name.
Furthermore, also when men, by swearing, cursing, conjuring, etc.,
grossly abuse the holy name as a cloak for their shame. In the second
place also by an openly wicked life and works, when those who are
called Christians and the people of God are adulterers, drunkards,
misers, envious, and slanderers. Here again must the name of God come
to shame and be profaned because of us. For just as it is a shame and
disgrace to a natural father to have a bad perverse child that opposes
him in words and deeds, so that on its account he suffers contempt and
reproach, so also it brings dishonor upon God if we who are called by
His name and have all manner of goods from Him teach, speak, and live
in any other manner except as godly and heavenly children, so that
people say of us that we must be not God's, but the devil's children.
Thus you see that in this petition we pray just for that which God
demands in the Second Commandment; namely, that His name be not taken
in vain to swear, curse, lie, deceive, etc., but be usefully employed
to the praise and honor of God. For whoever employs the name of God for
any sort of wrong profanes and desecrates this holy name, as aforetime
a church was considered desecrated when a murder or any other crime had
been committed in it, or when a pyx or relic was desecrated, as being
holy in themselves, yet become unholy in use. Thus this point is easy
and clear if only the language is understood, that to hallow is the
same as in our idiom to praise, magnify, and honor both in word and
deed.
Here, now, learn how great need there is of such prayer. For because we
see how full the world is of sects and false teachers, who all wear the
holy name as a cover and sham for their doctrines of devils, we ought
by all means to pray without ceasing, and to cry and call upon God
against all such as preach and believe falsely and whatever opposes and
persecutes our Gospel and pure doctrine, and would suppress it, as
bishops, tyrants, enthusiasts, etc. Likewise also for ourselves who
have the Word of God, but are not thankful for it, nor live as we
ought according to the same. If now you pray for this with your heart,
you can be sure that it pleases God; for He will not hear anything more
dear to Him than that His honor and praise is exalted above everything
else, and His Word is taught in its purity and is esteemed precious and
dear.
The Second Petition.
Thy kingdom come.
As we prayed in the First Petition concerning the honor and name of God
that He would prevent the world from adorning its lies and wickedness
with it, but cause it to be esteemed sublime and holy both in doctrine
and life, so that He may be praised and magnified in us, so here we
pray that His kingdom also may come. But just as the name of God is in
itself holy, and we pray nevertheless that it be holy among us, so also
His kingdom comes of itself, without our prayer, yet we pray
nevertheless that it may come to us, that is, prevail among us and with
us, so that we may be a part of those among whom His name is hallowed
and His kingdom prospers.
But what is the kingdom of God? Answer: Nothing else than what we
learned in the Creed, that God sent His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, into
the world to redeem and deliver us from the power of the devil, and to
bring us to Himself, and to govern us as a King of righteousness, life
and salvation against sin death, and an evil conscience, for which end
He has also bestowed His Holy Ghost, who is to bring these things home
to us by His holy Word, and to illumine and strengthen us in the faith
by His power.
Therefore we pray here in the first place that this may become
effective with us, and that His name be so praised through the holy
Word of God and a Christian life that both we who have accepted it may
abide and daily grow therein, and that it may gain approbation and
adherence among other people and proceed with power throughout the
world, that many may find entrance into the Kingdom of Grace, be made
partakers of redemption, being led thereto by the Holy Ghost, in order
that thus we may all together remain forever in the one kingdom now
begun.
For the coming of God's Kingdom to us occurs in two ways; first, here
in time through the Word and faith; and secondly, in eternity forever
through revelation. Now we pray for both these things, that it may come
to those who are not yet in it, and, by daily increase, to us who have
received the same, and hereafter in eternal life. All this is nothing
else than saying: Dear Father, we pray, give us first Thy Word, that
the Gospel be preached properly throughout the world; and secondly,
that it be received in faith, and work and live in us, so that through
the Word and the power of the Holy Ghost Thy kingdom may prevail among
us, and the kingdom of the devil be put down, that he may have no right
or power over us, until at last it shall be utterly destroyed, and sin,
death, and hell shall be exterminated, that we may live forever in
perfect righteousness and blessedness.
From this you perceive that we pray here not for a crust of bread or a
temporal, perishable good, but for an eternal inestimable treasure and
everything that God Himself possesses; which is far too great for any
human heart to think of desiring if He had not Himself commanded us to
pray for the same. But because He is God, He also claims the honor of
giving much more and more abundantly than any one can comprehend, --
like an eternal, unfailing fountain, which, the more it pours forth and
overflows, the more it continues to give, -- and He desires nothing
more earnestly of us than that we ask much and great things of Him, and
again is angry if we do not ask and pray confidently.
For just as when the richest and most mighty emperor would bid a poor
beggar ask whatever he might desire, and were ready to give great
imperial presents, and the fool would beg only for a dish of gruel, he
would be rightly considered a rogue and a scoundrel who treated the
command of his imperial majesty as a jest and sport, and was not worthy
of coming into his presence: so also it is a great reproach and
dishonor to God if we, to whom He offers and pledges so many
unspeakable treasures, despise the same, or have not the confidence to
receive them, but scarcely venture to pray for a piece of bread.
All this is the fault of the shameful unbelief which does not look to
God for as much good as will satisfy the stomach, much less expects
without doubt such eternal treasures of God. Therefore we must
strengthen ourselves against it, and let this be our first prayer;
then, indeed, we shall have all else in abundance, as Christ teaches
[Matt. 6, 33]: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
and all these things shall be added unto you. For how could He allow us
to suffer want and to be straitened in temporal things when He promises
that which is eternal and imperishable?
The Third Petition.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.