Luther, vol. 3 of 6

by Hartmann Grisar

It should be noted of the statements to be quoted that they betray no trace of having been made in a jesting or rhetorical mood, but are, on the contrary, in the nature of theological arguments.

In 1537, he declared: “I have frequently said that I never desired God to grant me the grace of working miracles, but rejoice that it is given to me to hold fast to the Word of God and to work with it; otherwise they would soon be saying: ‘The devil works through him.’” For, as the Jews behaved towards Christ, “so also do our adversaries, the Papists, behave towards us. Whatever we do is wrong in their eyes; they are annoyed at us and scandalised and say: The devil made this people. But they shall have no sign from us.” All that Christ said to the Jews was: “Destroy this temple,” that is, Me and My teaching; I shall nevertheless rise again. “What else can we reply to our foes, the Papists?... Destroy the temple if you will, it shall nevertheless be raised up again in order that the Gospel may remain in the Christian Church.”[451]—The great miracle required of Christ was merely deferred, He performed it by His actual resurrection from the dead. What sign such as this was it in Luther’s power to promise?

Luther is even anxious not to have any signs. “I have besought the contrary of God,” i.e. that there should be no revelations or signs, so he writes in 1534, in the enlarged Commentary on Isaias, “in order that I may not be lifted up, or drawn away from the spoken Word, by the deceit of Satan.”[452]—“Now that the Gospel has been spread abroad and proclaimed to the whole world it is not necessary to work wonders as in the time of the Apostles. But should necessity arise and the Gospel be threatened and suffer violence, we should then have to set about it and work signs rather than leave the Gospel to be abused and oppressed. But I hope it will not be necessary, and that things will not come to such a pass as to compel me to speak with new tongues, for this is not really necessary.” Here he is thinking of believers generally, though at the close he refers more particularly to himself. Speaking of all, he continues prudently: “Let no one take it upon himself to work wonders without urgent necessity.” “For the disciples did not perform them on every occasion, but only in order to bear witness to the Word and to confirm it by miraculous signs.”[453]

That he believed the power to work miracles might be obtained of God may be inferred from many of his declarations against the fanatics, where he challenges them to prove themselves the messengers of God by signs and wonders; for whosoever is desirous of teaching something new or uncommon, he had said, must be “called by God and able to confirm his calling by real miracles,” otherwise let him pack up and go his way.[454] But his own doctrines were an entirely new thing in the Church, and, in spite of every subterfuge, when thus inviting others to perform miracles, he cannot always have been unmindful of the fact. Hence it has been said that he claimed a certain latent ability to work miracles. It should, however, be noted that he always insists here that his teaching, unlike that of the fanatics and other sects, Catholics included, was not new, but was the original teaching of Christ, and that therefore it stood in no need of miracles.

Still, his confident tone brings him within measurable distance of volunteering to work miracles in support of his cause. “Although I have wrought no such sign such as perhaps we might work, should necessity arise,” etc.[455] These words are quite in keeping with the above: “We should have to set about it,” etc.

It is strange how Luther repeatedly falls back on Melanchthon’s recovery at Weimar in 1540. This eventually followed a visit of Luther to his friend, to encourage and pray for the sick man, whose health had completely broken down under the influence of melancholy.[456] It is possible Luther saw in this a miraculous answer to his prayer; owing to the manner in which he recounted the incident it became a tradition, that the power of his prayer was stronger than the toils of death. Walch, in his Life of Luther, wrote, that people had then seen “how much Luther’s prayer was capable of.”[457]

The same scholar adds, as another “remarkable example,” that that godly and upright man, Frederick Myconius, the first evangelical Superintendent at Gotha, had assured him before his death, that only thanks to Luther’s prayers had he been able to drag on his existence, notwithstanding his consumption, for six years, though in a state of “great weakness.”[458] In cheering up Myconius, and promising him his prayers, Luther had said: As to your recovery, “I demand it, I will it, and my will be done. Amen.”[459] “In the same way,” Walch tells us, “he also prayed for his wife Catharine when she was very ill; he was likewise reported to have said on one occasion: ‘I rescued our Philip, my Katey and Mr. Myconius from death by my prayers.’”[460]

How does the case stand as regards the gift of prophecy, seeing that Luther apparently claims to have repeatedly made use of higher prophetic powers?

On more than one occasion Luther declares that what he predicted usually came to pass, even adding, “This is no joke.” In the same way he often says quite seriously, that he would refrain from predicting this or that misfortune lest his words should be fulfilled. We see an instance of this sort in his circular-letter addressed, in February, 1539, to the preachers on the anticipated religious war.[461]