A Sermon by Martin Luther; taken from his Church Postil.
[The following sermon is taken from volume VII:104-118 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1909 in English by The Luther Press (Minneapolis, MN), as Luther's Epistle Sermons, vol. 2. The pagination from the Baker edition has been maintained for referencing. This e-text was scanned and edited by Richard P. Bucher, it is in the public domain and it may be copied and distributed without restriction.]
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PAUL'S GLORY IN HIS LABOR AND SUFFERING.
1. They who praise themselves are fools according to the views and speech of the
world. The saying is, "Self-praise is unsavory." It is forbidden by
Solomon in Proverbs 27, 2: "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own
mouth." And Christ says (Jn 8, 54), "If I glorify myself, my glory is
nothing." Paul acknowledges that he had to become a fool, something for
which he had no desire, by reason of the necessity laid upon him to praise
himself. The false apostles, as false spirits habitually do, delivered great,
fine, splendid speeches to the multitude, in their vainglorious attempt to raise
themselves above Paul, thereby to make contemptible and insignificant that
apostle and his doctrine.
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2. Paul was little concerned that he personally should be lightly esteemed and
the false apostles highly honored, but he could not bear to have the Gospel
perish in that way and his Corinthian converts seduced. Therefore he exerts
himself to the utmost, at the risk of becoming a fool by his boasting. But he,
in his strong spiritual wisdom, glories in a masterly manner, and skillfully
puts to shame the boasts of the false apostles.
First, he shows them he can glory in the very things wherein they glory, and in
even more. At the same time he declares himself a fool for glorying. He might
have said:, "Foolish, indeed, are they, and boorish creatures, who glory in
themselves. They should feel shame to the very depth of their heart. No true,
sane man boasts of what he is. The wicked and the frivolous do that." But
the apostle's attack is not quite so severe and harsh. He addresses them civilly
and delicately in that he makes himself appear a fool, as if to say: "Look!
how becoming self-praise is in myself, although I have grounds for my glorying.
But how much more disgraceful for you to boast when perhaps none of your claims
are true." So Paul wears the foolscap, that those coarse fools might have a
mirror in which to behold their real selves. This is wisely making foolishness
minister to the good of the neighbor and to the honor of the Gospel. To the
just, even folly is wisdom, just as all things are pure and holy unto him.
3. Second, Paul deals the false apostles a stout blow when he shows them to be
ignorant of the grounds in which a true Christian seeks his glory. For, as he
teaches them, a Christian glories in the things whereof other men are
ashamed--in the cross and in his sufferings. This is the true art of glorying.
To this he refers when he says (Gal 6, 14), "Far be it from me to glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." But the false apostles are
careful to avoid glorying thus; for they flee with alacrity from reproach and
affliction, rather seeking a life of ease and honor. They ever would have
prominence over their fellows, be superior to and unlike others--certain
indication that they lack the
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right spirit and are not of God. Christ testifies (Jn 5, 44), "How can ye
believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the
only God ye seek not?"
4. The main point of this lesson is that in a preacher or a teacher no vice is
more injurious and venomous than vainglory. It is true, however, that avarice
also is an evil characteristic of false teachers, being found hand in hand with
vainglory. For the sake of profit, for the purpose of gain, the false teachers
aspire to prominence, to honor and position. With them, nothing but current coin
will pass, and what does not pay dividend is unprofitable. Any other vice is
more endurable in a preacher than these two, though none is compatible with
goodness, blamelessness and perfection being required in the ministry according
to Paul, Titus 1, 7. This is not surprising, for the two vices under
consideration are essentially and directly opposed to the nature of the
ministry. The ministry is ordained to have as its aim the glory of God and its
promotion. Psalm 19, 1 affirms, "The heavens declare the glory of
God." And ministers must, for God's glory, suffer reproach and shame.
Jeremiah complains (ch. 20, 8), "The word of Jehovah is made a reproach
unto me, and a derision, all the day." The world will not endure the Word.
For him who in preaching seeks his own honor, it is impossible to remain in the
right path and preach the pure Gospel. Consequently he avoids striving for God's
honor; he must preach what pleases the people, what brings honor to himself and
magnifies his skill and wisdom.
5. Avarice, too, is, according to its very nature, opposed to the interests of
the ministry. Just as the ministry is to be devoted to God's honor at the
expense of our own, so is it to be devoted to the interests of our neighbor and
not to our own. Otherwise it is an injury rather than a benefit. With the false
teacher seeking only his own good, it is impossible for him to preach the truth.
He is compelled to speak what is pleasing to men in order to gratify his
appetites. Therefore Paul (Rom 16, 18) says of such preachers that they serve
their own bellies. And in many places the
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Scriptures reprove avarice. Let him, then, who would be a preacher guard
vigilantly against vainglory and avarice. But, should he feel himself in the
clutch of these sins, let him avoid the ministry. For under such conditions he
will accomplish no good; he will only dishonor God, seduce souls and be a thief
and robber in the acquisition of property. With this explanation, the lesson is
now easily understood, but we will consider a few points.
"For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves."
6. Paul commends the Corinthians for their patience and wisdom in six points: as
wise men, they cheerfully endure the foolish; they bear with those who bring
them into bondage and oppress them; with those who devour them; with those who
take from them [or take them captive]; with those who exalt themselves; with
those who smite them in the face. But his commendation is meant to pave the way
for his folly--to prepare them to suffer him the more readily. He would say,
"Since you suffer so much from them who injure you--and you are wise in
that--I trust you will bear with me who have wrought you only good, when I act
the fool for a little; particularly when my object in it is your good--to
preserve the Gospel among you in opposition to the false apostles."' Note
how tenderly and patiently he deals with the Corinthians when he might have
severely reproved them for tolerating the false apostles. He commends them as
does a father a timid child, and yet, while commending them he censures both
them and their false teachers. He handles them as tenderly as if he held a raw
egg in his hand, in order not to distract or terrify them.
7. Paul delivers a masterly stroke when with the same words he praises the
Corinthians and rebukes them and their false apostles. His commendation of their
patience is in reality reproof, blows and wounds for the false teachers. He
would say:
"I have preached the Gospel to you at my own expense and jeopardy. By my
labor have ye attained to its blessing. Ye have done nothing for me in return,
and I have been no
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tax upon you. Now, upon my departure, others come and exploit you, and seek
honor and profit from my labor. They would be your masters and I am to be
ignored. They boast as if the accomplishment were all theirs. Of these ye must
be disciples and pupils. Their preaching ye must accept, while my Gospel must
become odious. My case is that of the bee who labors to make honey and then the
idle drones and the earthworms come and consume the sweet not of their making.
In me is illustrated Christ's proverb (Jn 4, 37), 'one soweth, and another
reapeth.' Continually one enters into the fruits of another's labor. One must
toil and incur danger, while another reaps the benefit in security.
8. "Ye can suffer these false apostles, though they be fools and teach only
foolishness. In this ye display wisdom and patience. But ye do not so suffer me,
who taught you true wisdom. Nor do ye permit me much enjoyment of my labor.
Further, ye can permit them to make servants of you, to be your lords and to
order you to do their bidding. And ye obey. But I who have made myself your
servant, I who have served you without profit to myself, that ye might be lords
with Christ, must now be ignored and all my labors be lost. They rule you at
their pleasure, and their pleasure is all they consult. You suffer yourselves to
be devoured. That is, your property is consumed; for ye bestow it upon them
abundantly, as Psalm 14, 4 has it, 'Who eat up my people.' Upon such as these ye
can shower goods and gifts, and can permit them to devour you as they please.
But I have never enjoyed aught of your property. All my service has been without
recompense, that ye might become rich in Christ.
"Again, ye suffer the false teachers to take from you beyond your consent;
to exalt themselves above you, to esteem themselves better than you and me, and
to exercise their arrogance upon you. But ye deal not so with me, who have
sacrificed my own substance, and have taken from others, that I might bring the
Gospel to you; who have not exalted myself above any, but have yielded to all
and served them. The false apostles permit you to serve them; in fact,
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trample you beneath their feet. They even smite you in the face; that is, they
reproach you publicly, put you to shame, and abuse you with rude and insolent
words. They act as if ye were beasts of burden and they your real masters. All
this ye suffer. But my patience with you, my parental tenderness, past and
present, is remembered no more. Paul is now represented as having wrought no
good at Corinth."
PAUL'S DESCRIPTION OF FALSE TEACHERS.
9. Note the master hand wherewith Paul portrays the character of false teachers,
showing how they betray their avarice and ambition. First, they permit true
teachers to lay the foundation and perform the labor; then they come and desire
to do the work over, to reap the honors and the benefits. They bring about that
the name and the work of the true teachers receive no regard and credit; what
they themselves have brought--that is the thing. They make the poor,
simple-minded people to stare open-mouthed while they win them with flowery
words and seduce them with fair speeches, as mentioned in Romans 16, 18. These
are the idle drones that consume the honey they will not and cannot make. That
this was the condition of affairs at Corinth is very clear from this
epistle-indeed, from both epistles. Paul continually refers to others having
followed him and built upon the foundation he has laid. Messengers of the devil,
he terms them.
10. And such false teachers have the good fortune that all their folly is
tolerated, even though the people realize how these act the fool, and rather
rudely at that. They have success with it all, and people bear with them. But no
patience is to be exercised toward true teachers! Their words and their works
are watched with the intent of entrapping them, as complained of in Psalm 17, 9
and elsewhere. When only apparently a mote is found, it is exaggerated to a very
great beam. No toleration is granted. There is only judgment, condemnation and
scorn. Hence the office of preaching is a grievous one. He who has not for his
sole motive the benefit of his neighbor and the glory of God, cannot continue
therein. The true teacher must labor, and permit oth-
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ers to have the honor and profit of his efforts, while he receives injury and
derision for his reward. Here the saying holds true: "To love without
guerdon, nor wearying of the burden." Only the Spirit of God can inspire
such love. To flesh and blood it is impossible. Paul here scores the false
prophets when he says, "Ye suffer fools gladly"; in other words,
"I know the false preachers often act as fools, nor can they help it,
because their teaching is false; yet ye excuse them."
11. In the second place such teachers are disposed to bring the people into
downright bondage and to bind their conscience by forcing laws upon them and
teaching work- righteousness. The effect is that fear impels them to do what has
been pounded into them, as if they were bondslaves, while their teachers command
fear and attention. But the true teachers, they who give us freedom of
conscience and create us lords, we soon forget, even despise. The dominion of
false teachers is willingly tolerated and patiently endured; indeed, it is given
high repute. All those conditions are punishments sent by God upon them who do
not receive the Gospel with love and gratitude. Christ says (Jn 5, 43): "I
am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his
own name, him ye shall receive." The Pope, with his spiritual office,
became our lord, and we became his captives, through his doctrine of human
works. And our present-day schismatics pursue the same object with their
fanciful doctrine concerning their works.
12. In the third place, false teachers flay their disciples to the bone, and cut
them out of house and home, but even this is taken and endured. Such, I opine,
has been our experience under the Papacy. But true preachers are even denied
their bread. Yet this all perfectly squares with justice! For, since men fail to
give unto those from whom they receive the Word of God, and permit the latter to
serve them at their own expense, it is but fair they should give the more unto
preachers of lies, whose instruction redounds to their injury. What is withheld
from Christ must be given in
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tenfold proportion to the devil. They who refuse to give the servant of the
truth a single thread, must be oppressed by liars.
13. Fourth, false apostles forcibly take more than is given them. They seize
whatever and whenever they can, thus enhancing their insatiable avarice. This,
too, is excused in them. Thus, the great establishments of the Pope did not
suffice for him; with various artifices, bulls, laws and indulgences, he has
brought under his power land and people and all they possess, exhausting the
world by usury. And so it should be, for this state of affairs was richly
deserved by men for despising the Gospel and its preachers.
14. Fifth, these deceitful teachers, not satisfied with having acquired our
property, must exalt themselves above us and lord it over us. Not only do they
possess all property, but they must for that very reason become our superiors;
must have precedence and receive honor. We bow our knees before them, worship
them and kiss their feet. And we suffer it all, yes, with fearful reverence
regard it just and right. And it is just and right, for why did we not honor the
Gospel by accepting and preserving it?
15. Sixth, our false apostles justly reward us by smiting us in the face. That
is, they consider us inferior to dogs; they abuse us, and treat us as foot-rags.
I venture to say we became sensible of such treatment when, under the Papacy, we
were readily put in the van, cursed, condemned and delivered to the devil. We
endured it all, suffered most patiently, and yielded up property, honor, body
and soul. Fault in a sincere teacher, however, could by no means be tolerated.
Very well, then; God is just, and it is his judgment that we must honor the
messengers of Satan a thousand times more than his own, and do and suffer
everything.
"I speak by way of disparagement [speak as concerning reproach], as thought
we had been weak."
16. There are two ways of interpreting this sentence: First, as meaning: "I
speak as one of the weak whose folly you must endure; for which I deserve
reproach, since I ought to bear with you." From such meaning I to this
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day have seen no cause to swerve. The other interpretation is: "I speak as
one reproached- after the manner of the weak." Or, more fully expressed:
"I can speak in two ways of myself and my class: First, with honor, because
of our strength in the sight of God and the spiritually- minded, worthy of
honor, noble; not weak but strong, able. But I will not at present employ this
way, for we are now despised; we are not known as honorable. And all because of
the false prophets. I will, then, present myself in the other light, as I am
regarded--despised, held in reproach and disrespect, weak and incapable. But
even this condition shall be an occasion of glory for me; my reproach and
weakness is more honorable than their honor, power and strength. What would my
glory be should my actual strength inspire my speech! "Weakness,"
according to Paul's own later interpretation, implies being regarded worthless,
unfit, a failure. The apostle's meaning, then, is: "I, too, will be one of
the boasting fools. You will excuse it in me for I speak from the standpoint of
my critics, that of a man contemptible, foolish, incompetent. Before God,
however, I feel that I am a quite different being."
17. And recollect, Paul says, "Because ye are wise, ye suffer fools
gladly," implying that one fool cannot tolerate another. The saying is,
"Two fools in one house will not do." Reason and wisdom are required,
to bear with another's infirmities and to excuse them.
"Yet whereinsoever any is bold."
18. That is, in whatever the false apostles can boast, I can likewise glory.
Here we are shown what is the ground of the false apostles' boasting: their
outward respectability--being of Abraham's seed, children of Israel, Christ's
preachers. Therein they think to far excel the Corinthians, claiming their
doctrine and works to be of greater weight because they have Moses and the
prophets for their teachers. But they failed to perceive that their boast is of
mere externals, that render no one righteous or better before God. The majority
of the Hebrews, of the Israelites, of the seed of Abraham, and of the preachers
of Christ are lost. Names
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are of no consequence; they only make a fine show and serve to seduce the
simple-minded. Paul boasts of his origin and yet derides his boasting, calling
it fool's work. His object is to destroy the boasting of the false prophets,
that the people might not be deceived.
19. Note how, even in Paul's time, great men erred concerning the true sense of
the Gospel, and many noble preachers would have estimated Christian life by a
merely external appearance and name. The true spiritual preachers must have been
few. Should it be strange, then, that in our time sincere preachers are not
numerous, and that the majority of ministers riot in what they themselves seem
and do? It cannot and shall not be otherwise. The thievish drones, which are
prone to riot, let them riot! We will resist to the utmost of our power,
commending the matter to God, who doubtless will grant us sufficient honor and
profit, both temporally and eternally, though we must labor gratuitously,
accepting injury and derision as our reward. Our adversaries will not long
continue their persecutions, for, as Paul says just preceding our lesson, they
will eventually receive their deserts.
20. Again, Paul boasts of certain temporal afflictions wherein he excels the
false apostles, who suffer nothing, for the sake of either the word or of souls,
but only boast of name and person. Among the afflictions he mentions, he names
having been a night and a day in the deep. Some refer this allusion to the
voyage of which Luke writes (Acts 27, 20-21), when for fourteen days Paul and
his companions ate nothing and saw never a star, being day and night continually
covered by the surges and waves of the sea. Others think Paul was, like Jonah,
personally sunk into the deep sea, though but for a day and a night. Such is the
clear meaning of the text. Yet others interpret it as having reference to a
prison or dungeon, because the Greek text makes no mention of the sea-simply
"the deep."
"Who is weak, and I am not weak?"
21. Of external afflictions affecting not his own person, but distressing
others, Paul mentions two: he is weak if
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another is weak, and burns if another is offended. Thereby he plainly portrays
the ardor of his heart--how full of love he is; the defects and sorrows of
others pain him as his own. By "weakness," I imagine, he means, not
bodily infirmity, but weakness of faith. He refers to those who, young in the
faith, have a tender and frail conscience, thereby betokening immaturity and
feebleness of faith. He says (Rom 14, 2), "He that is weak eateth
herbs"; and in First Corinthians 8, 12, that we sin against Christ if we
wound a weak conscience. These weak ones Paul does not reject. He receives them
and conducts himself as if he, too, were weak. He asserts (I Cor 9, 22),
"To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak."
22. This interpretation of the sentence is borne out in his allusion to
"that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches."
Paul would say: "I exert myself, I have a continual care, I urge and
admonish constantly, that offenses and false doctrine may not invade and destroy
my planting; may not violate and ruin the weak consciences. As seen in his
epistle to the Corinthians, directed against the false apostles, and in that to
the Thessalonians, such is his vigilant anxiety to guard them from the tempter
that he sends them a special messenger, and he exultingly declares it is life to
him to learn of their steadfastness.
23. Likewise, by the assertion that he burns, we are to understand that he is
exceedingly grieved and pained if one is offended; that is, if through
misleading doctrines or examples one in any wise falls from the faith. Of the
offense to faith, he says much in Romans 14. Not desiring to be offended with
the offended, as he became weak with the weak, he says: "I burn and sorrow
for them."
"I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago:'
24. Of the translation of Paul into the third heaven many have written,
perplexing themselves over what constituted the first, second and third heavens,
and the paradise. Paul himself, who had the experience, does not tell, and
declares no man can tell, for none may utter the words he heard. Therefore, we
must humbly acknowledge we do
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not know the nature of these things. And it matters not. Paul does not boast of
his experience for the purpose of imparting knowledge to us or of enabling us to
duplicate it. The purpose of his boasting is simply to stop the mouths of the
fanatics and to show how paltry was their glory in comparison with his own.
Certain it is, however, that Paul was ravished from this life into a life
ineffable; otherwise his expression would be meaningless.
PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH AND HUMILITY.
"There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of
Satan."
25. And must this mighty apostle, 0 merciful God, be subject to trials lest he
exalt himself because of his great revelations? Then how should others, how
should such infirm beings as we, be free from self-exaltation? Many teachers
have explained Paul's thorn to be the temptations of the flesh. The Latin text
is responsible for this interpretation; it reads, "stimulus carnis," a
spear, or thorn for the flesh. Yet that rendering does not do justice to the
words. Paul is not in the habit of terming temptations of the flesh
"thorns." The thorn stands rather for something painful and
afflicting. In "a thorn of the flesh" the thought is not of an
instrumentality whereby the flesh stings, but of something that stings the
flesh. The Greek text impels us to the thought of a thorn for the flesh, or a
thorn upon or in the flesh. The idea is much like that in the German proverb,
"The clog is bound to the dog's neck." We may imagine Paul expressing
himself: "As a clog to a dog's neck, as a ring in a bear's nose, a bit in a
horse's mouth or a gag in the mouth of a swine, in order to restrain them from
running, biting and general mischief,-- so is my thorn a clog to my body lest I
exalt myself."
26. But Paul himself explains the nature of the clog, or thorn. He calls it
"a messenger of Satan," a devil, to "buffet" him, or to flay
and jog him. Hence a spiritual trial cannot be meant. The explanation appeals to
me that the persecutions and sufferings the apostle recounts above constitute
the devil's flaying. Thus his meaning would be: "I
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have received great revelations, for which reason the clog is bound to the dog;
that is, the many dangers and misfortunes with which the angel of the devil
buffets and humiliates my body will make me forget to exalt myself. They are the
thorn in my flesh, or upon my body; for God will not permit it to come upon my
soul."
27. Yet the text seems to imply some peculiar work of the devil upon Paul's
body, for it says the thorn, or clog, is the messenger Satan employs to beat his
body; and also that the apostle diligently but unavailingly thrice besought the
Lord to remove it. I do not imagine him praying for the cessation of
persecutions in a spirit of unwillingness to suffer them. But since he does not
specify the affliction, we must let it remain a secret one, a distress known
only to himself. It is enough for us to know that while God had given him great
revelations, revelations beyond human ken, he also bound the clog to him--gave
him a thorn for his body--to prevent his exaltation of himself; and that
the knowledge of the buffetings and flaying caused by this clog, or devil, are
likewise beyond human ken.
"My power is made perfect in weakness."
28. It is a strange sort of strength which is weak and by its weakness grows
stronger. Who ever heard of weak strength? or more absurd still, that strength
is increased by weakness? Paul would here make a distinction between human
strength and divine. Human strength increases with enhancement and decreases
with enfeeblement. But God's power--his Word in us--rises in proportion to the
pressure it receives. It is characteristic of God the Creator that he creates
all things from naught, and again reduces to naught all created things. Human
power cannot do this. The power of God is the true palm-wood which buoys itself
in proportion as it is burdened and weighted.
29. Note here, "weakness" is not to be understood in a spiritual
sense, as on a previous occasion, but externally; as not illness alone, but
every sort of evil, misfortune, suffering and persecution calculated to buffet
and humble the body. The power of Christ, in connection with which spirit-
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ual weakness cannot exist, is invoked against this weakness likewise. He says,
"Most gladly will I glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me." And his weaknesses he immediately explains as infirmities,
injuries, necessities, persecutions and distresses. The thought, then, is:
Christ is not mighty within us, his word and his faith are not strong in us,
unless our bodies suffer affliction. The false apostles, however, take excellent
care to escape suffering.