THE CHRISTIAN AS A HOLY OBJECT

'...If you wish to boast of a holy object, why do you not praise the holy object that Jesus Christ, God's Son, has touched with His own body? What does He touch? My living and dying; my walking, standing; my suffering, misfortune, and trials - all of which He experienced, bore, and passed through.'

Martin Luther in John W Kleinig, Wonderfully Made, p.68.

LUTHER ON MALE & FEMALE

'God divided mankind into two classes, namely male and female, or a he and she... Therefore each of us must have the kind of body God has created for us. I cannot make myself a woman, nor can you make yourself a man; we do not have that power. But we are exactly as he created us; I am a man and you are a woman. Moreover, he wills to have his excellent handiwork honored as his divine creation, and not despised. The man is not to despise or scoff at the woman or her body, nor the woman the man. But each should honor the other's image and body as a divine and good creation that is well pleasing unto God himself.'

Martin Luther in John W Kleinig, Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body, p.23.

DROWNING SUFFERING

'The sea of God's mercies should swallow up all our particular affections.'
Martin Luther in Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, p.209. 

REPELLING THE ACCUSER

'When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: "I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made a satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also.' 

Martin Luther in Jeremy R Treat, The Crucified King, p.202. 

WHAT IS A GOD?

'What does it mean to have a god? What is God? my answer is: A god is whatever a person looks to for all good things and runs to for help in trouble.' 

Martin Luther in Brian S Rosner, Known by God, p.62. 

MARTIN LUTHER ON SUFFERING

'The good God permits such small evils to befall us merely in order to arouse us snorers from our deep sleep and to make us recognize, on the other hand, the incomparable and innumerable benefits we still have. He wants us to consider what would happen if He were to withdraw His goodness from us completely. We also are to look at our misfortunes in no other way than that with them God gives us light by which we may see and understand His goodness and kindness in countless other ways. Then we conclude that such small misfortunes are barely a drop of water on a big fire or a spark in the ocean.' 

Martin Luther in Carl Trueman, Luther on the Christian Life, p.124. 

GOD'S LOVE CONTRASTED WITH HUMAN LOVE

'The love of God does not find but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.' 

Martin Luther in Carl Trueman, Luther on the Christian Life, p.66. 

THE WONDER OF CREATION

'If you really examine a kernel of grain thoroughly, you would die of wonder.' 

Martin Luther in Craig G Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell, p.236. 

CHURCH

'Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?' 

Martin Luther in Rory Shiner, One Forever, p.65. 

THE RESURRECTION

‘Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.’

Martin Luther in Randy Alcorn, Heaven, p.126.

TRUST

'Our trust in God will be perfect when life and death, glory and shame, adversity and prosperity, will be the same to us.'

Martin Luther in Os Guiness, God in the Dark, p.209.

FEELINGS

'God has not created man to be a stock or stone but has given him five senses and a heart of flesh, so that he loves his friends, is angry with his enemies, and commiserates with his dear friends in adversity.'

Martin Luther in Os Guiness, God in the Dark, p.195.

TEMPTATION

'Eve got into trouble when she walked in the garden alone. I have my worst temptations when I am by myself.'

Martin Luther in Os Guiness, God in the Dark, p.130.

JESUS

'Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him and say "Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine; yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.'

Martin Luther in John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p.233.

FAITH & WORKS

'The tree must be first, and then the fruit. For the apples make not the tree, but the tree makes the apples. So faith first makes the person, who afterwards brings forth works.'

Martin Luther in John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p.220.

THE CHURCH

'There is no greater sinner than the Christian Church.'
Martin Luther in John Webster, Holiness, p.73.

PREACHING

'The church is not a pen-house but a mouth-house...'
Martin Luther in Michael Horton, The Great Commission, p.167.

FATHERHOOD

'When a father washes diapers and performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, God with all his angels and creatures is smiling.'

Martin Luther in Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth, p.329.

PREACHING

'Cursed are all preachers that in the church aim at height and hard things, and, neglecting the saving health of the poor unlearned people, seek their own honour and praise, and therewith to please one or two ambitious persons. When I preach, I sink myself deep down. I regard neither Doctors nor Magistrates, of whom are here in this church above forty; but I have an eye to the multitude of young people, children, and servants, of whom are more than two thousand. I preach to those, directing myself to them that have need thereof. Will not the rest hear me? The door stands open unto them; they may begone.'

Martin Luther in Christopher Ash, The Priority of Preaching, p.63.  

POSSESSIONS

'I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.'

Martin Luther in Randy Alcorn, Money, Posssessions & Eternity, p.93.