Martin Luther on the Promises of God

I’m working on a project about the promises of God in the Scriptures. Here are a few passages from Martin Luther on the topic that I think you will enjoy.

Martin Luther On the Promises of God

1/ Only Faith Has Access to God’s Promises, Luther on Nahum 1:2 (LW 18:284)

He promises them freedom. He promises that the Lord will go to battle for them and will avenge Himself against their foes. They had need for a very great faith that would lay hold of those divine promises, a faith that would await the vengeance of the Lord against the Assyrians, a faith that would no more doubt that that vengeance would come than if it were already taking place. All the words and promises of God are of such a character that they clearly surpass all understanding and all reason, so that the flesh cannot but laugh at them and hold them in contempt. Faith alone believes all these things, and such faith only a very few had, such as pious King Hezekiah and a few others, who threw themselves on this kind of promise of the Lord. We, too, would rightly understand those promises if we would be in the same straits as they then were, straits for which those promises were made—if the pope and princes would rage against us and come with a very powerful army to destroy us, etc. Then we would understand the functions and power of these comforting words.

2/ God Keeps His Promises, Luther on Genesis 28:15 (LW 5:235)

When we are absolved from sins, we have the Word, which is founded and stands firm on the promises of God. But do we not experience the very opposite and undergo very great conflicts against the devil, death, hell, and our understanding? Although this pains the flesh very much, yet in the meantime God faithfully fulfills His promises for those who believe and wait in patience, as is stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Through faith the saints conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises” (cf. 11:33). 

3/ Trials Strengthen Our Faith in God’s Promises, Luther on Genesis 28:20 (LW 5:255)

Therefore God sends wrestlings, trials, and struggles in order that from day to day we may understand and cling to the promises of God more clearly and certainly.

4/ Faith and the Promise Go Together, Luther on 49:8-9 (LW 8:235-6)

Accordingly, I stated at the beginning of this chapter that the promises of God require faith and that these two, faith and the promises, are correlatives. For without a promise we cannot believe, and without faith the promise amounts to nothing and is abolished when we want to measure it according to fact and deed.

Therefore it is necessary for a man who has a divine promise to have exact knowledge of the art which Paul teaches and describes in the example of Abraham, namely, to hope and believe in hope when there is no hope and to hope and believe in a fact when there is no fact (cf. Rom. 4:18). For unless a man has the proper knowledge of this, he will not persist and will never be saved.

Thus we in the New Testament have the promise of the forgiveness of sins and of life in the sacraments and in the Gospel. But if you look at the fact and follow the judgment and understanding of the flesh and the eyes, you will come to the conclusion that nothing is less true than what is announced to you about the remission of sins and eternal life. For we see that men die and are buried most ignominiously, are even gnawed and consumed by worms in such a way that the cadaver of no beast stinks more and is more loathsome than the body of a human being. To be destroyed, to be buried in the ground, to be consumed and reduced to dust, and indeed with such foulness that, as cadavers are commonly depicted, owls are born from the human brain and serpents from the intestines—this is not what it means to have eternal life, is it? Yet here faith must come to a firm conclusion and expect resurrection and a return to life.

5/ We Live By the Word in the Heart, Martin Luther on Deuteronomy 8:3 (LW 9:94)

They should know that however hunger may rage, they will be fed if only they believe the Word of promise in the First Commandment, by which God promises to be God to them, just as He says also in Ps. 37:19, 25: “And in a time of hunger you shall be satisfied. For it is impossible that the righteous be forsaken, or his seed seek bread.” He may hunger indeed, but he will not die of hunger; for hunger exercises his faith in the Word, but then faith gains food also for the body. Therefore the splendid word of Moses stands: that God deals with His own by testing them with hunger and exercising them in His Word, and then feeds the believer from the midst of heaven if it cannot be done otherwise. Thus they are to learn by experience that they should not be concerned for their belly, and that life does not lie in the things we possess or in bread but in the Word by which we become rich toward God, as the Gospel says (Luke 12:15). For while we live by the Word in the heart, we force God, as it were, to feed the belly too.

6/ The Church is Born through God’s Promises, Martin Luther on the Babylonian Captivity (LW 36:107)

The church has no power to make new divine promises of grace, as some prate, who hold that what is decreed by the church is of no less authority than what is decreed by God, since the church is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For the church was born by the word of promise through faith, and by this same word is nourished and preserved. That is to say, it is the promises of God that make the church, and not the church that makes the promise of God. For the Word of God is incomparably superior to the church, and in this Word the church, being a creature, has nothing to decree, ordain, or make, but only to be decreed, ordained, and made. For who begets his own parent? Who first brings forth his own maker?

7/ All Scripture is God’s Threats and Promises, Again (LW 36:124)

For Christ has promised, in many places, that those who pray should be heard; especially in Luke 11[:5–13], where by many parables he invites us to pray. Of the Word he says: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it” [Luke 11:28]. And who can count all the times he promises aid and glory to those who are afflicted, suffer, and are cast down? Indeed, who can recount all the promises of God? Why, the whole Scripture is concerned with provoking us to faith; now driving us with commands and threats, now drawing us with promises and consolations. In fact, everything in Scripture is either a command or a promise. The commands humble the proud with their demands, the promises exalt the humble with their forgiveness.

8/ Hope has More Joy, Martin Luther on Psalm 119:111 (LW 11:490-491)

For through hope of future blessings in soul and body people rejoice more than all the rich with regard to their present possessions, yes, they rejoice even in torments because of this kind of hope. Thus for the greedy the testimonies of God are not joy and inheritance, because they do not know how to sing: “I was glad when they said to me: ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord’ ” (Ps. 122:1). But he disdains them as empty and worthless, because he savors a temporal inheritance. This, however, is a happy inheritance because it is eternal, for he says, “I have purchased [it] for a heritage forever.” The promises of God gladden the heart of those who believe and hope in them. Therefore in the meanwhile we rejoice in faith and hope of things to come which God has promised us. We rejoice, however, because we are certain that He does not lie but will do what He promised and will remove from us every evil of body and soul and will grant us every good thing, and this without end. Who will not rejoice if he is certain that his body will be clothed with glory and immortality, brightness, strength, etc.? But he is certain if he believes. So great is it that he waits for it, because what he waits for will undoubtedly come to be.