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Martin Luther The conflict between Catholics and Protestants leads Catholics, who are a small extremist minority in the US [less than 25%, compared to 93% who claim to be Christians, leaving 68% who are Protestants], to proclaim that Protestants are “mindless bigots”, “agnostics”, “racists”, “heretics”, and even “blasphemers” whose level of blasphemy rises to the level of blasphemy of the NAME of the Lord, requiring the death penalty: And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death. Leviticus 24:16 Of course Protestants make the counter-claim that Catholics are “goddess worshipers” [the “mother” Mary], “cannibals” [drinking the literal blood of Jesus],
Disputation On the Divinity and
Humanity of Christ February 27, 1540 conducted
by Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546 translated
from the Latin text WA 39/2,.92-121 by
Christopher B. Brown The Theses Theological
Disputation 1.
This is the catholic faith, that we confess one Lord Jesus Christ,
true God and man. 2.
From this truth of the double substance and the unity of the person follows
the communication of attributes [communicatio idiomatum], as it is called. 3.
So that those things which pertain to man are rightly said of God,
and, on the other hand, those things which pertain to God are said of man. 4.
It is true to say: This man
created the world, and this God suffered, died,
was buried, etc. 5.
But these are not correct in the abstract (as it is said) of human nature [in abstractis humanae naturae]. 6.
For it cannot be said,
Christ is thirsty, a servant, dead; therefore he is
thirst, servitude, death. 7.
Wherefore this [statement] too is condemned: Christ is humanity, even
though it is said: Christ is divinity. 8.
Even though man and humanity are otherwise synonyms, as are God and divinity. 9.
In the divine predicates or attributes there is
not a difference of this kind between the
concrete and the abstract. 10.
Even though both the scriptures and many fathers do not distinguish between
the concrete and the abstract in many predicates of human nature. 11.
The Symbol [the _Te Deum_ ] proclaims,
"When thou tookest man upon thee to deliver
him" [Tu ad liberandum
suscepturus hominem], and Augustine
often does the same. 12.
Although the normal way of speaking (as it seems) would be: "When
thou tookest humanity, or human nature upon thee to
deliver it." 13.
Thus some are not afraid to say:
Christ is a creature, since a errantly it is
said that Christ was created. 14.
And John 1 says: "The Word
was made flesh," when in our judgment it would
have been better said, "The Word was incarnate," or "made fleshly." 15.
It is rightly taught, that in this matter the manner of speaking preserved
in the scriptures and in the orthodox fathers should prevail. 16.
Or rather, many things are allowed even to the fathers who are agreed to be
orthodox, which we should not imitate. 17.
Wherefore in this matter we should beware of etymology, analogy,
[logical] consequence, and examples. 18.
Just as in grammar certain heteroclite nouns and irregular verbs are not subject to
etymology, analogy, or example. 19.
And generally, in every sort of subject and art, practice often dictates against
the rule. 20.
Nonetheless it is certain that with regard to Christ [in Christo]
all words receive a new signification, though the thing signified is the same [in eadem re significata]. 21.
For "creature" in the old usage of
language [veteris linguae usu]
and in other subjects signifies a thing separated from divinity by infinite degrees [infinitis modis]. 22.
In the new use of language it signifies a thing inseparably joined with
divinity in the same person in an ineffable way [ineffabilibus modis].
23. Thus it must be that the
words man, humanity, suffered, etc., and everything that is
said of Christ, are new words. 24.
Not that it signifies a new or different thing, but that it signifies in a new
and different way [nove et aliter],
unless you want to call this too a new thing. 25.
Schwenkfeld and his frog-and-mouse warriors [batarchomyomachis] foolishly scoff
[when we say] that Christ according to his humanity is called a creature. 26.
A man without learning [or] training, and moreover without common sense,
does not know how to distinguish between words with more than one meaning [vocabula aequivoca]. 27.
For those who say that Christ is a creature according to the old use of language, that
is, by himself [separatam], were never Christians. 28.
But rather everyone vehemently denies that Christ is a creature in this way, which the
Arians taught. 29.
It is clear, therefore, that Schwenkfeld is
barking into an empty darkness [in vacuum chaos]
against his own dreams of the creature in Christ. 30.
And forgetting himself, the man concedes that God was made flesh, though he has not
yet dared to deny that flesh is a creature. 31.
But Eutyches dwells hidden in such heretics,
ready someday to deny that the Word was
made flesh. 32.
They make a show of conceding that the Word was made flesh, ready someday to deny it,
when the theater is darkened, after it is denied that there is a creature
in Christ. 33.
In these ineffable matters, therefore, this [rule] must be kept, that we interpret
the teachings of the fathers (as is necessary) in a suitable way
[commode]. 34.
It is wicked, when you know that the sense of someone's teaching is
Christian [pium] and sound, to make up an error out
of words ineptly spoken. 35.
For there were never any fathers or doctors who
never spoke in an improper way, if you
want to scoff at their teachings. 36.
[Coelius] Sedulius,
the very Christian poet, writes:
"The blessed author of
the world / Put on a lowly servant's form" [Beatus
auctor seculi
servile corpus induit], and so through the entire
church. 37.
Although nothing more heretical could be said than
that human nature is the
clothing of divinity. 38.
For clothing and a body do not constitute one person, as God and man constitute one
person. 39.
And yet Sedulius' thought was very Christian [piissime], as his other hymns abundantly
prove. 40.
For the same reason that common saying would be
heretical: The whole Trinity worked the
incarnation of the Son, as two girls dress a third, while she at the same time
dresses herself. 41.
Thus certain scholastics, who think that the union [habitudinem] of divinity and
humanity is like the union [unioni] of form with matter, could not be
defended. 42.
Others on the other hand [who think that] the union [habitudinem] is similar to [the
union of] matter to form, speak much more ineptly, if they
are strictly judged. 43.
Nor could that [image] be maintained, in which the divinity is compared to fire
and the humanity to iron, even though it is a very beautiful image. 44.
Nor could that [image] be tolerated which Athanasius puts forward: "As the reasonable soul and flesh is one
man, so God and man is one Christ." 45.
For all deny that Christ is "composed" [of two natures] though they affirm that he is
"constituted." 46.
But none have spoken more awkwardly [insulsius]
than the Nominalists
[Moderni], as they are called, who of all men wish to
seem to speak most subtly and
properly. 47.
These say that the human nature was sustained or "supposited" by the divine nature, or
by a divine supposite. 48.
This is said monstrously and nearly forces God as it were to carry or bear the humanity. 49.
But all of them think [sapiunt] in a correct
and catholic way, so that they are to be
pardoned their inept way of speaking. 50.
For they wished to utter something ineffable, and then every image limps and never (as
they say) runs on all four feet. 51.
If [anyone] is not pleased by this or does not understand it, that Christ according as
he is a man is a creature [Christus secundum quod homo est creatura], the
grammarian consoles him. 52.
Let him who has learned to discuss the same matter in various ways be commanded to speak
as simply as possible. 53.
As the Ethiopian is white according to [secundum]
his teeth, the grammarian could
speak otherwise thus: The Ethiopian is
white with respect to his
teeth [albus dentibus], or
"white of tooth" [alborum dentium]. 54.
But if this is unpleasing, let him say:
The Ethiopian has white teeth, or the teeth
in the Ethiopian are white, or, most simply, the Ethiopian's
teeth are white. 55.
Since in all these forms of speech the author wishes to signify the same thing, it is
useless to seek an argument over words. 56.
Thus since these forms of speech--Christ according as he is a man [secundum
quod homo], or according to his humanity [secundum humanitatem],
or with respect to his humanity [humanitate], or by
his humanity [per humanitatem], or in his humanity [in humanitate]--mean
nothing else than that he has a
creature or has assumed a human creature, or, what is simplest, the
humanity of Christ is a creature, the false logicians [pravilogicales] are to be condemned,
who give different meanings to different
grammatical forms of expression of the same matter. 57.
Therefore heresy lies in meaning [sensu], and
not in words, as St.
Jerome rightly said when he was provoked by his calumniators. 58. Otherwise Moses would be the greatest of
heretics, for he recounts the
Decalogue itself in different forms in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. 59.
On the other hand, anyone with a wicked
meaning, even if he shall speak aptly and
brandish the Scripture itself, is not to be tolerated. 60.
For Christ did not permit the demons to speak when they testified that he
was the Son of God, as if they were transfiguring themselves into
angels of light. 61.
Such is the simplicity and the goodness of the Holy Spirit, that his agents [homines sui], when they speak falsely according to grammar, speak the truth according
to the sense. 62.
Such is the craftiness and the wickedness of Satan, that his agents [homines sui], while they speak truly according to grammar,
that is, as to the words, speak
lies according to theology, that is, according to the sense. 63.
Here it may be said: If you are
lying, even in what you say truly, you lie; on the
other hand, if you are speaking the truth, even in what you say falsely, you
speak the truth. 64.
This is what it means to be a heretic:
one who understands the Scriptures otherwise than the Holy Spirit demands.
The Disputation Disputation
of the Reverend Father Herr Doctor Martin Luther concerning the divinity and
humanity of Christ. In
the year 1540, the 28th day of February. Preface The
reason for this disputation is this, that I desired
you should be supplied and
fortified against the future snares of the devil, for a certain man has put forth a
mockery against the Church. I am not so
much troubled that an unlearned,
unskilled, and altogether ignorant man seeks praise and a name for himself, as that
the men of Lower Germany are troubled by his inept, foolish,
ignorant, unlearned, and ridiculous mocking.
May you preserve this article in its
simplicity, that in Christ there is a divine and a human nature, and
these two natures in one person, so that they are joined together like no other thing, and
yet so that the humanity is not divinity, nor the divinity humanity,
because that distinction in no way hinders but rather confirms the
union! That article of faith shall
remain, that Christ is true God
and true man, and thus you shall be safe from all heretics, and even from Schwenkfeld,
who says that Christ is [not] a creature, and that
others teach falsely, though
he does not name those who teach wrongly. This is the malice of the devil:
he implicates us as well as the papists, but he names no one. If
he were to say such things to me, I would answer: You are lying, [when you imply that] we say
that Christ is not the Lord God. For our
writings cry out in answer [to your
charge]. That wicked man perceives that
he cannot survive if he
comes into the light, therefore he works secretly among women under secret names [tectis nominibus]. But I am not troubled that he thus seeks to make a name for
himself and works secretly, but more by the fact that better theologians
are not moved by these frivolous calumnies to say to him: "You, wicked man, are a liar! We do not say that Christ is merely a creature, but that
he is God and man in one person. The
natures are joined |
