[13] German: Wie man sein brauchen und niessen soll, "how we are to benefit by and enjoy what He is for us."
[14] German: der heubt gerechtigkteit.
[15] Possibly a reminiscence of the Leviathan serpentem tortuosum in Isa. 27:1. Cf. Erl. Ed., xxiv, 73; xxvii, 323 f; xviii, 91. Lemme translates Teuelswahn.
[16] German: die fasten und gepett etiichen heyligen so derlich gethan.
A BRIEF EXPLANATION (EINE KURZE FORM) OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE CREED, AND THE LORD'S PRAYER
1520
INTRODUCTION
The work here presented bears the German title, Eine kurze Form der zehn Gebote, eine kurze Form des Glaubens, eine kurze Form des Vaterunsers. It is the most important of Luther's catechetical works prior to the Catechisms of 1529, and deserves the name that has been given it, "the first evangelical catechism."[1]
To be sure, the name "catechism" was not applied to the Kurze Form at the time. In mediaeval usage "catechism" was the name for oral instruction in the elements of Christian truth. This instruction had been based from time immemorial upon the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The decalogue held a minor place and was overshadowed by the commandments of the church. During the later Middle Ages the influence of the sacrament of penance gave it a higher position. It gradually became a subject of "catechetical" instruction, but only alongside of the other standards for the classification of sins.[2] It was the work of Luther so to expound the Ten Commandments as to give them a permanent place of their own in Christian instruction, side by side with the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.
The first manuals of instruction of this kind were prepared for the use of the priests, to guide them in the questioning of penitents, but with the discovery of the art of printing popular hand-books for the use of the laity became more and more common, and with certain of these manuals Luther was familiar.[3]