Martin Luther

“Sinners that think they need
no physician will not endure the
healer’s hand. The Law is therefore
necessary to give knowledge of sin, so
that proud man, who thought he was
whole, may be humbled by the discovery of
his own great wickedness, and sigh and pant
after the grace that is set forth in Christ.”
Martin Luther

We would not see nor realize it (what a distressing and horrible fall in which we lie), if it were not for the Law, and we would have to remain forever lost, if we were not again helped out of it through Christ. Therefore the Law and the gospel are given to the end that we may learn to know both how guilty we are and to what we should again return.” Martin Luther

“I have so much to do [today] that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.” Martin Luther

The true function of the Law
is to accuse and to kill;
but the function of the gospel
is to make alive.
Martin Luther
1483-1546
German Priest
Who founded the Lutheran Church

"Whatever we make the most of is our God."
Martin Luther

Martin Luther As long as a person is not a murderer, adulterer, thief, he would
swear that he is righteous. How is God going to humble such a person
except by the Law? The Law is the hammer of death, the thunder
of hell and the thunder of God’s wrath to bring down the proud and
shameless hypocrites. When the Law was instituted on Mount Sinai
it was accompanied by lightning, by storms, by the sounds of trumpets,
to tear to pieces that monster called self-righteousness. As long
as a person thinks he is right he is going to be incomprehensibly
proud and presumptuous. He is going to hate God, despise His grace
and mercy, and ignore the promises in Christ. The gospel of free forgiveness
of sins though Christ will never appeal to the self-righteous.
This monster of self-righteousness, this stiff-necked beast, needs an
axe. And that is what the Law is, a big axe. Accordingly the proper use
and function of the Law is to threaten until the conscience is scared
stiff.

"Whatever we make the most of is our God." Martin Luther

The proper effect of the Law
is to lead us out of our tents
and tabernacles,
that is to say,
from the quietness and security
wherein we dwell,
and from trusting in ourselves,
and to bring us before
the presence of God,
to reveal His wrath to us
and to set us before our sins.
Martin Luther
1483-1546
German Priest
Whose Objections
To Roman Catholicism
Sparked the Reformation

The on saving faith is that which casts itself on God for life of death.
Martin Luther
1483-1546
German Priest
Founded the Lutheran Church

The ultimate proof of the sinner is that he doesn't know his own sin. Our job is to make him see it.
Martin Luther
1483-1546
German Priest
Founded the Lutheran Church

Satan, the god of all dissension, stirreth up daily new sects, and last of all, which of all other I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he hath raised up a sect as such as teach . . . that men should not be terrified by the Law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.
Martin Luther
1483-1546
German Priest
Founded the Lutheran Church