Luther confessed boldly, often with strong language. On occasion, he wrote and spoke too strongly. He granted as much when he was differentiating between the types of books he had written. As he considered what he had written against some so-called distinguished people who supported Rome’s false teaching, he admitted, “Against these I confess that I have been more violent than my religion or profession demands.”[1] While he would not retract the content of the books, because they spoke for the righteousness of faith and against the lies of the Roman church, he recognized that he should have written in a kinder, gentler way. As he stood before the diet on April 18, he spoke humbly and respectfully. He addressed those gathered with deference: “Most serene emperor, most illustrious princes, most clement lords.”[2] Acknowledging that he was no expert in courtly customs, Luther asked them to pardon his breaches of etiquette. His goal was to let God’s Word have center stage, not him and his manner of expression. His confidence was that the gospel had power to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor 10:5 NIV). There was no need for him to resort to human techniques to compel people to believe.
The Apostle Peter encourages us, as we confess why we are certain that we will live with God in the home of righteousness, to do so “with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15 NIV). It’s entirely too easy to speak with contempt about (and to) those who believe and teach contrary to Scripture. After all, they are dishonoring God by their false teaching. They are depriving people of the comfort the Lord desires them to have and therefore do not deserve our respect. That, however, is to have a memory like a sieve. It’s to forget how we came to know the gospel. That we know the truth isn’t because we were nobler than others, more likely to listen humbly to what God says in his Word. We know the gospel only because God is gracious. We cannot look down on others for their ignorance because we would be right there with them, if not for the grace of God.
One wonders if the oft-used expression, “We teach the Word of God in its truth and purity,” might be a bit boastful. If the expression is used, it ought to be to confess our amazement at the grace God has shown us, that he has enabled us to teach the Scriptures properly. Robert Rosin encourages Lutherans to be mindful of the way they confess the truths of Scripture: “We confess not to hear ourselves talk or to pat ourselves on the back for being guardians of the truth even as we drive people away with our self-congratulatory attitudes or with the way we go about trying to teach and witness to that truth.”[3] Our goal in proclaiming the truth is not to prove that we are right and worthy of honor as “defenders of orthodoxy,” but to be the Lord’s instruments in reaching people with the gospel. The cause is the Lord’s, as Luther prayed the night before his second appearance. We want people to see Jesus, not us. As he addressed the illustrious lordships gathered in Worms, Luther said that in everything he had taught and written, he “had in view only the glory of God and the sound instruction of Christ’s faithful.”[4] Because that is our goal, too, we strive to confess our faith humbly.
[1]. LW 32:111.
[2]. LW 32:109.
[3]. Rosin, 73.
[4]. LW 32:109.