Luther on the Deity of Christ
From AE 22 (commentary on John 1):
We must take close note of the evangelist’s words. Earlier he said (John 1:3): “All things were made through the Word.” However, he does not stop there but repeats the selfsame words with intent and premeditation: “The Light was in the world, and the world was made through Him” (John 1:10). For in this way He wants to fortify and reinforce the article on which our entire faith rests, namely, that Jesus Christ is, in His nature, both very God and very man. It is as if he were to say: “The very same child that lies in the manger, takes its mother Mary’s breasts, and later becomes subject to her, is the Life and the Light of man, yes, is God, the Creator of all things; for the world was made through Him.”
We who are named for Christ find our chief article of faith in this truth; there is absolutely no other correct and true belief than this one, which confesses that Christ is very God and very man. This is the only saving faith. Let whoever insists on another go his way and see how he fares. If reason refuses to believe that God could become man, let her shift as she will. But we Christians believe it because God’s Word says it. Nothing is impossible to faith, may reason be vexed and offended as she will. It is irrefutably true that deliverance from the devil’s power, and from sin and death, as well as the gift of salvation, are dependent on the faith that Christ is true God, through whom the world was made, and also true man, born of Mary. It is exclusively this faith, and no other, regardless of what label it bears, that saves. This is attested by Scripture in Matt. 1:21: “Mary will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” And in Luke 2:11: “For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” And in John 3:18: “He who believes in Him is not condemned.”
For this reason the evangelist affirms and reaffirms that Christ, our Lord, is true and natural God. The creation of sun, moon, stars, heaven, and earth is never ascribed to an angel; for it is not an angel’s work to create the world. No, this is a divine work; creating is the domain of the true God, who is not a painting or a carving, but God in His very nature and essence.
Therefore the texts: “All things were made through the Word” and “The world was made through Him” are strong testimony and incontrovertible proof against the Arians.57 They conceded that the Word was indeed an exalted, sublime, and divine Person, in whom two natures, the divine and the human, were joined. But they denied that the Word was God in His nature and in His essence, born of the Father in eternity; they maintained that He was merely called God. Arius acknowledged that Christ was true man, and he also confessed that He was God; but he would not admit that by nature He was God coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He believed that God had created Him before all creatures, also before the angels, had fashioned Him more glorious, more noble, and more sublime than all the angels, and had then called Him God. Thus reason acts smart in divine matters. But now give ear to what the evangelist says: “All things were made through the Word” and “The Light was in the world, and the world was made through Him.”
As already said, no angel or any other creature can lay claim to this title of Creator of all, but only the one true God. And now since Holy Writ assigns this title of Creator of the world, together with divine omnipotence, to Christ, our Lord, the true son of Mary, saying that the world was made through Him, it follows incontestably that He is true and essential God and Creator of all things, that, therefore, two natures, the divine and the human, are indissolubly fused in one person, namely, Christ. But, as you will hear later, He is also a child and true man.
This is the foremost article of the Christian creed. It is found only among Christians and is their greatest honor, comfort, and joy, namely: that God’s very Son assumed human nature, became flesh and blood with man, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty in equal majesty and power as man’s Advocate and Intercessor. Among the Jews, the Tartars and Turks, and also among the Epicureans, who fill the world today, He has no standing. In fact, they ridicule and sneer at us Christians because we are so stupid as to be persuaded that the Creator of heaven and earth became man and was crucified for us.
Let them go with their mistaken and heretical belief! They believe and teach whatever is approved by reason; blind and mad reason is capable of comprehending their belief that there is only one God. The heathen and Mohammed believe that too. But when we declare that three distinct Persons dwell inseparably in one divine essence, and that the Second Person, the Son, became incarnate, crushed the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15), became a blessing to the human race, that is, delivered it from sin and death, then they behave very foolishly; for all of this is incomprehensible to reason. However, we Christians believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We concede that it is a sublime article of faith beyond the grasp of reason, but we know that nothing is too sublime or impossible for faith. For faith relies on God’s Word and is guided by it, not by reason. Faith is firmly convinced that the divine truth is unshakable and eternal; for God has said this, and His Word testifies to it. No, this doctrine is not derived from reason; it is derived from the Holy Spirit. And therefore, I suppose, it will always remain incomprehensible to reason without the aid of the Holy Spirit.
Related posts:
- Merry Christmas! I pray that you all have a wonderful, joyous celebration...
- Sweet has Christ made the bitter waters Thoughts on today’s Feast of the Annunciation: At the...
- “My Father is greater than I” I’ve been struggling to fully understand the Gospel reading for...
- The Annunciation to Mary – Luke 1.26-38 Some of the phrases and most all of the thoughts...
- Filioque St. Augustine on the procession of the Spirit from the...
