It is easy, then, to judge the doctrine of every official teacher of
the Christian Church. No one need resort to faction, no one need gaze
hither and thither in uncertainty and hesitate as to which gift or
which person is most to be regarded. We are to make the doctrine of
this verse the standard and authority as to what and how we preach
concerning Christ. He who speaks by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
certainly will not curse Christ; he will glorify and praise him. So
doing, he surely will not teach error, or give occasion for
divisions. If his teaching is not to the glory of God, you may safely
conclude that he is not true, not inspired by the Holy Spirit.
19. Thus Paul rejects the glorying and boasting of the sects over
their offices and gifts--they who pretend to be filled with the
Spirit and to teach the people correctly, and who make out that Paul
and other teachers are of no consequence. Themselves the chief of
apostles, the people must hear them and accept their baptism. More
than that, they demand a higher attainment in the Spirit for Gospel
ministers, deeming faith, the Sacrament and the outward office not
sufficient.
But Paul says: "Boast as you will about the great measure of the
Spirit you possess, it is certain that the Spirit-inspired teacher
will not curse Christ." In other words, such boasting of the Spirit
will not answer the purpose. What you believe and teach concerning
Christ must receive attention. You are either reproaching and cursing
Jesus, or praising him and owning him your Lord. If your preaching
and teaching fail to point to Christ, something else being offered,
and you nevertheless boast of the Spirit, you are already judged: the
spirit you boast is not the Holy Spirit, not the true Spirit, but a
false one. To it we are not to listen. Rather we are to condemn it to
the abyss of hell, as Paul declares (Gal 1, 8), saying: "But though
we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any Gospel other
than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema."
20. When Paul here speaks of calling Jesus accursed, he does not only
have reference to openly blaspheming or cursing Christ's name or
person after the manner of heathen and of ungodly Jews; with them
Paul has nothing to do here, nor are the Corinthians supposed to be
of that character. Paul refers rather to the Christian who, though
boasting of the Holy Spirit, does not preach Christ as the ground of
our salvation as he should, but, neglecting this truth, points the
soul away to something else, pretending that this substitute is of
the Holy Spirit and is something better and more essential than the
common doctrine of the Gospel.
All such teachers are in reality simply guilty of condemning,
reproaching and cursing Christ, though themselves bearing and
boasting that name. To slight Christ's Word and ministry, and exalt
in their stead other things as mediums for obtaining the Holy Spirit
and eternal life, or at least as being equally efficacious and
essential--what is this but scorning Christ and making him of no
consequence? Indeed, according to Hebrews 6, 6 and 10, 29, it is
crucifying the Son of God afresh, and treading under foot his blood.
21. Christ himself explains the office and ministry of the Holy
Spirit--what he is to teach in the Church--saying (Jn 15, 26), "He
shall bear witness of me." Again (Jn 16, 14): "He shall glorify me:
for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you." The tongue
of a minister of Christ--the language he employs--must be of that
simplicity which preaches naught but Christ. If he is to testify of
the Saviour and glorify him, he cannot present other things whereby
Christ would be ignored and robbed of his glory. He who does so,
certainly is not inspired by the Holy Spirit, even though he possess
great gifts and be called a teacher, a bishop, a pope, a council, an
apostle even--yes, an angel from heaven. There were among the
Corinthians some who thus neglected to preach only Christ, and
presented instead the apostles, making choice of them--one Cephas,
another Apollos and a third Paul.
And just so our monks have done. They have in a way highly extolled
Jesus, have in words honored and worshiped his name and used it to
clothe all their lying nonsense and idolatry. For instance, they
exalt Mary as the mother of Jesus and Anna as his grandmother. But
they have thus torn men's hearts away from Christ, turning over to
Mary and the saints the honor due him alone, and teaching the people
to invoke these as mediators and intercessors having power to protect
us in the hour of death. This is substituting dumb idols for Christ.
No saint has ever taught such things; still less does the Word of God
enjoin them. Thus the monks really curse and insult Christ.
22. The Pope, throughout his whole administration, has been guilty of
such insult to Christ, notwithstanding his boast that his kingdom
represents the Christian Church, that he truly possesses the Holy
Spirit and that his decrees and ordinances must be respected. Nothing
can dissuade the Papists from their practice. They ever boast of
being led by the Spirit, yet their vaunting is mere malediction, not
only of Christ in person, but of his Word and his sacraments. For
they openly condemn, and denounce as heresy, the doctrine of the
Gospel, which Gospel assures us that to Christ alone we owe the
unmerited forgiveness of our sins; they condemn also the use of the
sacraments according to Christ's command and institution. And they
destroy the people who thus offend them.
The fact is, the Pope has in our doctrine nothing to curse but Jesus
Christ, its foundation and principle, expressed by his Word and
sacraments. The same is true of other factions--the Anabaptists and
similar sects. What else do they but slander baptism and the Lord's
Supper when they pretend that the external Word and outward
sacraments do not benefit the soul, that the Spirit alone can do
that? But in these matters you have Paul's sure word of judgment to
strengthen your faith. You may be assured that the factions of the
Pope and other sects are not, as they boast, the Church of Christ,
but accursed schisms of the devil. The true Church, the righteous
bride of Christ, certainly will not curse him nor persecute his Word.
Let no one be moved by hearing men loudly boast about Christ after
the manner of the false apostles who called themselves disciples of
the true apostles of Jesus, and claimed that certain of their number
had even seen Christ in person. The Saviour himself warns us against
this class when he says (Mt 24, 5-24), "Many shall come in my name
... and shall show wonders"; and (Mt 7, 21), "Not every one that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."