"Live as Free Men," Luther Comments on 1 Peter

[GHansen]

Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God [1Pe. 2:16].

This is said especially to us who have heard about Christian liberty, lest we rush in headlong and misuse this liberty, that is, lest under the name and the pretext of Christian liberty we do everything we please, so that liberty becomes impudence and carnal arrogance, which, as we see, is happening in our day. This began to take place even in the times of the apostles. From the epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul one can note that at that time people did what the great multitude does today. By God’s grace we have now again become acquainted with the truth, and we know that what pope, bishops, priests, and monks have so far taught, instituted, and practiced is sheer fraud. Our conscience has been rescued and liberated from the human laws and all the compulsion they imposed on us, so that we are not obligated to do what they have commanded us to do on pain of losing salvation. To this freedom we must now cling firmly, and we must never let ourselves be torn from it. In addition, however, we must also be very careful not to make this freedom a pretext for evil.

The pope did wrong by attempting to force and compel the people with laws. For in a Christian people there should and can be no compulsion, and if one begins to bind consciences with external laws, faith and the Christian way of life soon perish. For Christians must be guided and governed only in the Spirit, so that they know that through faith they already have everything by which they are saved, that they need nothing else for this, that they are not obligated to do anything more than serve and help their neighbor with everything they have, just as Christ helped them. All their works are performed without compulsion and for nothing; they flow from a happy and cheerful heart, which thanks, praises, and lauds God for all the good things it has received from Him. Thus St. Paul writes in 1 Tim. 1:9 that “the Law is not laid down for the just”; for of their own accord they do without recompense and unbidden everything God wants.

Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 30: The Catholic Epistles. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 30, p. 77). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.