Christians are fully satisfied that hereafter they will see and
understand what they here believed, _viz_., that in His dealings with
men God truly is and always was absolutely just. Luther: "If you are
pleased with God for crowning the unworthy, you ought not to be
displeased with Him for condemning the undeserving [who were not worse
or more guilty than those who are crowned]. If He is just in the former
case, why not in the latter? In the former case He scatters favor and
mercy upon the unworthy, in the latter He scatters wrath and severity
upon the undeserving [who are guilty in no higher degree than those who
are saved]. In both cases He is excessive and unrighteous before [in the
judgment of] men but just and true in His own mind. For how it is just
that He crowns the unworthy is incomprehensible to us now; _but we shall
understand it when we have come to that place where we shall no longer
believe, but behold with our face unveiled_. So, too, how it is just
that He condemns the undeserving we cannot comprehend now, yet we
believe it until the Son of Man shall be revealed." (E. 284; St. L.
1870.) "Of course, in all other things we concede divine majesty to God;
only in His judgment we are ready to deny it, and cannot even for a
little while believe that He is just, since He has promised us that,
_when he will reveal His glory, we all shall then both see and feel that
He has been, and is, just_." (E. 364; St. L. 1964.)
Again: "Do you not think that since the light of grace has so readily
solved a question which could not be solved by the light of nature, the
light of glory will be able to solve with the greatest ease the question
which in the light of the Word or of grace is unsolvable? In accordance
with the common and good distinction let it be conceded that there are
three lights--the light of nature, the light of grace, and the light of
glory. In the light of nature it is unsolvable that it should be just
that the good are afflicted while the wicked prosper. The light of
grace, however, solves this [mystery]. In the light of grace it is
unsolvable how God may condemn him who cannot by any power of his own do
otherwise than sin and be guilty. There the light of nature as well as
the light of grace declares that the fault is not in wretched man, but
in the unjust God. For they cannot judge otherwise of God, who crowns a
wicked man gratuitously without any merits, and does not crown another,
but condemns him, who perhaps is less, or at least not more wicked [than
the one who is crowned]. _But the light of glory pronounces a different
verdict_, and when it arrives, it will show God, whose judgment is now
that of incomprehensible justice, to be a Being of most just and
manifest justice, which meanwhile we are to believe, admonished and
confirmed by the example of the light of grace, which accomplishes a
like miracle with respect to the light of nature." (E. 365; St. L.
1965.)
246. Statements Made by Luther before Publication of "De Servo
Arbitrio."
Wherever Luther touches on predestination both before and after 1525,
essentially the same thoughts are found, though not developed as
extensively as in _De Servo Arbitrio_. He consistently maintains that
God's majesty must be neither denied nor searched, and that Christians
should be admonished to look and rely solely upon the revealed universal
promises of the Gospel. In his _Church Postil_ of 1521 we read: "The
third class of men who also approve this [the words of Paul, Rom. 11,
34. 35: 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His
counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed
unto Him again?'] are those who indeed hear the Word of Revelation. For
I am not now speaking of such as deliberately persecute the Word (they
belong to the first class, who do not at all inquire about God) but of
those who disregard the revelation and led by the devil, go beyond and
beside it, seeking to grasp the ways and judgments of God which He has
not revealed. Now, if they were Christians, they would be satisfied and
thank God for giving His Word, in which He shows what is pleasing to
Him, and how we are to be saved. But they suffer the devil to lead them,
insist on seeking other revelations, ponder what God may be in His
invisible majesty, how He secretly governs the world, and what He has in
particular decreed for each one in the future. For nature and human
reason cannot desist; they will meddle in His judgment with their
wisdom, sit in His most secret council, instruct Him and master Him.
This is the pride of the foul fiend, who was cast into the abyss of hell
for trying to meddle in [matters of] divine majesty, and who in the same
way eagerly seeks to bring man to fall, and to cast him down with
himself, as he did in Paradise in the beginning, tempting also the
saints and even Christ with the same thing, when he set Him on the
pinnacle of the Temple, etc. Against such in particular St. Paul here
introduces these words [Rom. 11, 34. 35] to the inquisitive questions of
wise reason: Why did God thus punish and reject the Jews while He
permitted the condemned heathen to come to the Gospel? Again, Why does
He govern on this wise, that wicked and evil men are exalted while the
pious are allowed to undergo misfortune and be suppressed? Why does He
call Judas to be an apostle and later on reject him while He accepts the
murderer and malefactor? By them [his words, Rom. 11] Paul would order
such to cease climbing up to the secret Majesty, and to adhere to the
revelation which God has given us. For such searching and climbing is
not only in vain, but also harmful. Though you search in all eternity,
you will never attain anything, but only break your neck."
"But if you desire to proceed in the right way, you can do no better
than busying yourself with His Word and works, in which He has revealed
Himself and permits Himself to be heard and apprehended, to wit, how He
sets before you His Son Christ upon the cross. That is the work of your
redemption. There you can certainly apprehend God, and see that He does
not wish to condemn you on account of your sins if you believe, but to
give you eternal life, as Christ says: 'God so loved the world that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life,' (John 3, 16.) In this Christ, says
Paul, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 2, 3.)
And that will be more than enough for you to learn, study, and consider.
This lofty revelation of God will also make you marvel and will engender
a desire and love for God. It is a work which in this life you will
never finish studying; a work of which, as Peter says, even the angels
cannot see enough, but which they contemplate unceasingly with joy and
delight. (1 Pet. 1, 12.)"
"This I say that we may know how to instruct and direct those (if such
we should meet with) who are being afflicted and tormented by such
thoughts of the devil to tempt God, when he entices them to search the
devious ways of God outside of revelation, and to grope about trying to
fathom what God plans for them--whereby they are led into such doubt and
despair that they know not how they will survive. Such people must be
reminded of these words [Rom. 11], and be rebuked with them (as St. Paul
rebukes his Jews and wiseacres) for seeking to apprehend God with their
wisdom and to school Him, as His advisers and masters, and for dealing
with Him by themselves without means, and for giving Him so much that He
must requite them again. For nothing will come of it; He has carefully
built so high that you will not thus scale Him by your climbing. His
wisdom, counsel, and riches are so great that you will never be able to
fathom or to exhaust them. Therefore be glad that He permits you to know
and receive these things somewhat by revelation." (E. 9, 15 sqq.; St. L.
12, 641 sqq.)
In a sermon on 2 Pet. 1, 10, delivered in 1523 and published in 1524,
Luther said: "Here a limit [beyond which we may not go] has been set for
us how to treat of predestination. Many frivolous spirits, who have not
felt much of faith, tumble in, strike at the top, concerning themselves
first of all with this matter, and seek to determine by means of their
reason whether they are elected in order to be certain of their
standing. From this you must desist, it is not the hilt of the matter.
If you would be certain, you must attain to this goal by taking the way
which Peter here proposes. Take another, and you have already gone
astray; your own experience must teach you. If faith is well exercised
and stressed, you will finally become sure of the matter, so that you
will not fail." (E. 52, 224, St. L. 9, 1353.)
After a discussion at Wittenberg with a fanatic from Antwerp, in 1525,
Luther wrote a letter of warning to the Christians of Antwerp, in which
he speaks of God's will with respect to sin in an illuminating manner as
follows: "Most of all he [the fanatic] fiercely contended that God's
command was good, and that God did not desire sin, which is true without
a doubt; and the fact that we also confessed this did not do us any
good. But he would not admit that, although God does not desire sin, He
nevertheless permits (_verhaengt_) it to happen, and such permission
certainly does not come to pass without His will. For who compels Him to
permit it? Aye, how could He permit it if it was not His will to permit
it? Here he exalted his reason, and sought to comprehend how God could
not desire sin, and still, by permitting sin, will it, imagining that he
could exhaust the abyss of divine majesty: how these two wills may exist
side by side.... Nor do I doubt that he will quote me to you as saying
that God desires sin. To this I would herewith reply that he wrongs me,
and as he is otherwise full of lies, so also he does not speak the truth
in this matter. I say that God has forbidden sin, and does not desire
it. This will has been revealed to us, and it is necessary for us to
know it. But in what manner God permits or wills sin, this we are not to
know; for He has not revealed it. St. Paul himself would not and could
not know it, saying, Rom. 9, 20: 'O man, who art thou that repliest
against God?' Therefore I beseech you in case this spirit should trouble
you much with the lofty question regarding the secret will of God, to
depart from him and to speak thus: 'Is it too little that God instructs
us in His public [proclaimed] will, which He has revealed to us? Why,
then, do you gull us seeking to lead us into that which we are forbidden
to know, are unable to know, and which you do not know yourself? Let the
manner in which that comes to pass be commended to God; it suffices us
to know that He desires no sin. In what way, however, He permits or
wills sin, this we shall leave unanswered (_sollen wir gehen lassen_).
The servant is not to know his master's secrets but what his master
enjoins upon him, much less is a poor creature to explore and desire to
know the secrets of the majesty of its God,'--Behold, my dear friends,
here you may perceive that the devil always makes a practise of
presenting unnecessary, vain, and impossible things in order thereby to
tempt the frivolous to forsake the right path. Therefore take heed that
you abide by that which is needful, and which God has commanded us to
know, as the wise man says: 'Do not inquire for that which is too high
for you, but always remain with that which God has commanded you,' We
all have work enough to learn all our lifetime God's command and His Son
Christ." (E. 53, 345; St. L. 10, 1531; Weimar 18, 549f.)