Treatise on Good Works, 1520

The Annotated Luther

Martin Luther, Timothy J. Wengert

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781506413532
• eBook ISBN: 9781506413549
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

In sermons and pamphlets, Luther and his colleagues claimed that salvation came by faith alone and not by works. Although the better-known pamphlets of 1520—To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Improvement of the Christian Estate, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of a Christian— would also appear, Timothy J. Wengert shows how Luther's Treatise on Good Works fulfilled Luther's own prediction that it would be one of the clearest and most accessible introductions to Luther's reforming work and theology. Luther's main goal was to commend a new, down-to-earth piety to all Christians. This piety was new, because at its center was a radically different meaning of good works that would transform the way believers practiced their faith.

This volume is excerpted from The Annotated Luther series, Volume 1. Each volume in the series contains new introductions, annotations, illustrations, and notes to help shed light on Luther's context and to interpret his writings for today. The translations of Luther's writings include updates of Luther's Works, American Edition, or new translations of Luther's German or Latin writings.

Image Credits

262, 285, 316, 317, 365: Courtesy of the Digital Image Archive, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

318 (© photos.com): Thinkstock.

279 (SEF), 434 (Foto Marburg): Art Resource, NY.

Treatise on Good Works, 1520 (Timothy J. Wengert)

a.WA Br 2:75 (March 25, 1520).

b.For the Address and Freedom of a Christian, see below, p. 369 and 467. For the Babylonian Captivity, see LW 36:3–126.

c.Hans-Ulrich Delius, Augustin als Quelle Luthers, 3d ed. (Berlin, 1984), 66.

d.Johannes Altenstaig (d. c. 1525), Vocabularius theologiae (Hagenau, 1517), fol. 169b.

e.Martin Luther Studienausgabe, vol. 2, ed. Hans-Ulrich Delius (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1982), 12–88; and WA 6:196–276. The manuscript in Luther’s hand is found in WA 9:226–301.

f.Die guten Werke, in Martin Luther Taschenausgabe, vol. 4, Evangelium und Leben, ed. Horst Beintker (Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1983), 36–131; Von den guten Werken, ed. Werner Jetter, in Martin Luther Ausgewählte Schriften, vol. 1: Aufbruch zur Reformation, ed. Karin Bornkamm and Gerhard Ebeling, 2d ed. (Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1983), 38–149.

g.An allusion to Matt. 7:15.

h.A rhymed German adage also found in the Latin. See Wander, 1:582.

i.Gemeinde: his Wittenberg congregation and community.

j.German: den Glauben (the faith). Luther published an explanation of the Apostles’ Creed in 1520 along with explanations of the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer that had been printed in 1518 and 1519 (WA 7:194–229).

k.Luther relates this first good work, faith, to the first commandment, beginning below in par. 9 (p. 274).

l.See charges 31 and 32 in the papal bull, Exsurge Domini, published in October 1520. For a later example of this same charge, see the Augsburg Confession XX.1–2 in BC, 52–53.

m.Luther’s rendering of the text.

n.In both psalms, Luther renders the Vulgate’s “hope” (NRSV: “take refuge”) with “trust.”

o.Singular in the original.

p.See 1 Cor. 13:3.

q.John 6:29. For Luther, faith is a work that God effects in human beings.

r.A reference by Jesus to the Pharisees in Matt. 15:14.

s.Love, peace, and joy are named fruits of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22.

t.Citing the text as a statement, not a question.

u.Luther, like most in his day, regarded the patriarchs, prophets, and other faithful women and men of Hebrew Scripture as saints.

v.1 Sam. 1:6–28, esp. vv. 18–19.

w.The NRSV, following the Greek and Latin, has “Spirit of the Lord.”

x.Literally: “a completely free journeyman,” a saying derived from the guilds and the “graduation” from apprentice to journeyman. An English equivalent might be “As free as the wind.”

y.Singular in the original.

z.Cf. 1 Cor. 2:15–16.

a.Ps. 90:10. But see also Job 4:8; 5:6; Pss. 10:7; 55:11; Isa. 10:1.

b.A close paraphrase of Wisd. of Sol. 5:6–7. Throughout his career, Luther cited passages from the Apocrypha, to which he later accorded a secondary authority but also included in his translation of the complete Bible in 1534.

c.This argument is closely related to Luther’s theology of the cross. See the Heidelberg Disputation, above, pp. 98–101.

d.Cf. Lev. 11:1–8. An indirect, sarcastic use of allegory to refer to those who in fact disagreed with his view of good works.

e.Two parts of the sacrament of penance.

f.Luke 2:14. Luther is citing a translation of the Greek reflected in the Vulgate and the Latin Mass and used in sixteenth-century German and English translations.

g.“God is to be worshiped with faith, hope, and love.” Augustine, Enchiridion 1, 3 in Basic Writings of Saint Augustine, ed. Whitney J. Oates (New York: Random House, 1948), 1:658 [= MPL 40:232].

h.See, e.g., 1 Kgs. 18:1–30 or Isaiah 36.

i.See Rom. 6:1–19. Luth...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Publisher's Note
• Series Introduction
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Treatise on Good Works
• Image Credits