[Since material and secular things] do not
pertain to the soul and the future life and are subject to reason, a man may
speak of them at home in whatever way he pleases and may say: This is mine. But
in the ministry, where God’s Word is concerned, what Christ says here must
obtain: that no one should preach a doctrine unless he has the confidence and
conviction that he is not preaching doctrine which is his own...
Well, then, let everybody
see to it that he is sure when he is
called on to speak of matters pertaining, not to matters secular but to
conscience and salvation, that one may know where to leave his soul when he
departs for another life and that every preacher and hearer then can say: I
have not invented this doctrine; it is no explanation, interpretation, or
teaching of my own; it is His who has sent me.
Everybody in Christendom should
be convinced that the ministers, preachers, and teachers, yea, all who deliver
the Word, are certain that their message is not their own but are sure that it
is God’s Word, or that if they doubt that it is God’s Word, they will be quiet
and not open their mouths until they are sure that it is indeed the Word of
God. A man is a man and soon dies; his words and all his thoughts die with him,
as is written in Ps. 146:4... The word of a mortal man is also mortal. If a man
cannot have life eternal through his message and teaching, he should be quiet
and hear nothing but the Word of God; for without God’s Word there is no
life... for only the Word of God remains forever.
...Therefore a Christian, whether
he is preacher or hearer, must be sure that he is speaking or hearing, not his
own word but God’s Word; otherwise it would be better if he had never been
born, and preacher and hearer together must go to the devil.
Martin Luther
What Luther Says, pp. 1111-1112
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