Luther on Word, Sacraments, and Worship
From Luther’s First Lectures on the Psalms (1513–1515), Psalm 68:
“[N]ote that the strength of Scripture is this, that it is not changed into him who studies it, but that it transforms its lover into itself and its strengths… It is light, and therefore souls are enlightened; it is truth, and therefore they are truthful; it is wisdom, and therefore they are wise; it is discipline, and therefore they are disciplined.” (LW 10:332–33)
From “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church” (1520):
“[W]e ought to receive baptism at human hands just as if Christ himself, indeed, God himself, were baptizing us with his own hands. For it is not man’s baptism, but Christ’s and God’s baptism, which we receive by the hand of a man, just as everything else that we have through the hand of somebody else is God’s alone. Therefore beware of making any distinction in baptism by ascribing the outward part of man and the inward part to God. Ascribe both to God alone, and look upon the person administering it as simply the vicarious instrument of God, by which the Lord sitting in heaven thrusts you under the water with his own hands, and promises you forgiveness of your sins, speaking to you upon the earth with a human voice by the mouth of his minister.” (LW 36:62–3)
From the Large Catechism on “The Sacrament of the Altar”:
“‘This is my body and blood, given and poured out FOR YOU for the forgiveness of sins. Why? Because the words are there, and they impart it to us! For this reason he bids me eat and drink, that it may be mine and do me good as a sure pledge and sign—indeed, as the very gift he has provided for me against my sins, death, and all evils. Therefore, it is appropriately called food of the soul, for it nourishes and strengthens the new creature.” (Book of Concord, p. 469)
From his Sermon at the Dedication of the Castle Church in Torgau (1544):
“[T]he purpose of his new house [is] that nothing else may ever happen in it except that our dear Lord himself may speak to us through his holy Word and we respond to him through prayer and praise.” (LW 51:333)
