2 Quotes from Erasmus and Luther
Talk Reformation Era: History and Literature
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1geoffreymeadows
The Erasmus and Luther study is coming to a close. I have only about 2 & 1/2 books to go. I thought that maybe a good way to start winding down would be to share a quote from each of the two reformers. So, these are my favorite 2 passages from their works:
Erasmus from the Ratio Verae Theologiae, -
“(517) … that Christ, the heavenly teacher established in the world a new sort of people that depended entirely upon heaven, and distrusting all the supports of this world, was rich in a different sort of way, was wise, noble, powerful, happy in some different way, and that found its happiness by despising all the things the common crowd admires. These were a people who did not know envy or spite - no doubt because their eye was sound; who did not know impure desire inasmuch as they were of their own accord castrated, practicing in the flesh the life of angels; who did not know divorce evidently either bearing or correcting every evil; who did not know the taking of oaths, as people who neither distrusted anyone nor (518) deceived anyone; who did not know the love of money, as their treasure had been laid up in heaven; who were not titillated by vain glory, as people who referred all things to the glory of Christ alone; who did not know ambition inasmuch as they were people who, the greater anyone was, the more he submitted himself to all on account of Christ; who, not even when provoked know how to become angry or to curse, much less to take revenge — in fact, they stove to do well even to those who had harmed them; whose manner of life was so innocent that it was approved even by the pagans; who had been, as it were, born again, refashioned into the purity and the simplicity of babes; who, like the birds and lillies, lived from day to day; among whom there was the greatest harmony, exactly like that among the members of the body in whom mutual charity made all things common, so that when some good befell it came to the assistance of those in need, and when anything evil arose it was either (519) removed or at least alleviated by the obligations of kindness. These were people who, as the heavenly spirit was their teacher, were so wise, who so lived according to the example of Christ, that they were the salt and light of the world, a city set on a hill and visible to all around; who whatever they were able to do, this they were able to do in the interest of helping all; for whom this life was of no consequence, while death was to be desired because of their longing for immortality; who feared neither tyranny nor death, nor even Satan himself, relying on the help of Christ alone; who in every respect conducted themselves in such a way that they were always girded, as it were, and ready for that final day. (I note) that this is the target-point set out by Christ to which all the affairs of Christians must be directed — granted, meanwhile, that we must bear with and encourage the weak, until they make progress and in gradual stages unobserved grow into the measure of the fullness of Christ.”
From Erasmus on the New Testament, Sider, ed. by Robert D., — Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020, pp. 46-48.
Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will, in reply to Erasmus’ Freedom of the Will —
“For my own part, I frankly confess that even if it were possible, I would not have free choice given to me, or to have anything left in my own hands by which I might strive toward salvation. For, on the one hand, I should be unable to stand firm and keep hold of it amid so many adversaries and perils and so many assaults of demons, seeing that even one demon is mightier than all men, and no man at all could be saved; and on the other hand even if there were no perils or adversities or demons, I should never the less have to labor under perpetual uncertainty and to fight as one beating the air, since even if I lived and worked to eternity, my conscience would never be assured and certain how much it ought to do to satisfy God. For whatever work might be accomplished, there would always remain an anxious doubt whether it pleased God or whether He required something more, as the experience of all self-justifiers proves, as I myself learned to my bitter cost through so many years. But now, since God has taken my salvation out of my hands into His, making it depend on His choice and not mine, and has promised to save me, not by my own work or exertion but by His grace and mercy, I am assured and certain both that He is faithful and will not lie to me, and also that He is too great and powerful for any demons or adversaries to be able to break Him or snatch me from Him. ‘No one,’ He says, ‘shall snatch them out of my hand, because my Father who has given them to Me is greater than all,’ (John 10:28ff)… Moreover, we are also certain and sure that we please God, not by the merit of our own working, but by the favor of His mercy promised to us, and that if we do less than we should or do it badly, He does not hold this against us, but in a fatherly way pardons and corrects us. Hence the glorying of all the saints in their God.”
From Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation, ed. and transl’d by E. Gordon Rupp, w/ A.N. Marlow; and Philip S. Watson, w/ B. Drewery. — Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1969, pp. 328-329.
Two beautiful Christian men, two beautiful visions of God.
Erasmus from the Ratio Verae Theologiae, -
“(517) … that Christ, the heavenly teacher established in the world a new sort of people that depended entirely upon heaven, and distrusting all the supports of this world, was rich in a different sort of way, was wise, noble, powerful, happy in some different way, and that found its happiness by despising all the things the common crowd admires. These were a people who did not know envy or spite - no doubt because their eye was sound; who did not know impure desire inasmuch as they were of their own accord castrated, practicing in the flesh the life of angels; who did not know divorce evidently either bearing or correcting every evil; who did not know the taking of oaths, as people who neither distrusted anyone nor (518) deceived anyone; who did not know the love of money, as their treasure had been laid up in heaven; who were not titillated by vain glory, as people who referred all things to the glory of Christ alone; who did not know ambition inasmuch as they were people who, the greater anyone was, the more he submitted himself to all on account of Christ; who, not even when provoked know how to become angry or to curse, much less to take revenge — in fact, they stove to do well even to those who had harmed them; whose manner of life was so innocent that it was approved even by the pagans; who had been, as it were, born again, refashioned into the purity and the simplicity of babes; who, like the birds and lillies, lived from day to day; among whom there was the greatest harmony, exactly like that among the members of the body in whom mutual charity made all things common, so that when some good befell it came to the assistance of those in need, and when anything evil arose it was either (519) removed or at least alleviated by the obligations of kindness. These were people who, as the heavenly spirit was their teacher, were so wise, who so lived according to the example of Christ, that they were the salt and light of the world, a city set on a hill and visible to all around; who whatever they were able to do, this they were able to do in the interest of helping all; for whom this life was of no consequence, while death was to be desired because of their longing for immortality; who feared neither tyranny nor death, nor even Satan himself, relying on the help of Christ alone; who in every respect conducted themselves in such a way that they were always girded, as it were, and ready for that final day. (I note) that this is the target-point set out by Christ to which all the affairs of Christians must be directed — granted, meanwhile, that we must bear with and encourage the weak, until they make progress and in gradual stages unobserved grow into the measure of the fullness of Christ.”
From Erasmus on the New Testament, Sider, ed. by Robert D., — Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020, pp. 46-48.
Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will, in reply to Erasmus’ Freedom of the Will —
“For my own part, I frankly confess that even if it were possible, I would not have free choice given to me, or to have anything left in my own hands by which I might strive toward salvation. For, on the one hand, I should be unable to stand firm and keep hold of it amid so many adversaries and perils and so many assaults of demons, seeing that even one demon is mightier than all men, and no man at all could be saved; and on the other hand even if there were no perils or adversities or demons, I should never the less have to labor under perpetual uncertainty and to fight as one beating the air, since even if I lived and worked to eternity, my conscience would never be assured and certain how much it ought to do to satisfy God. For whatever work might be accomplished, there would always remain an anxious doubt whether it pleased God or whether He required something more, as the experience of all self-justifiers proves, as I myself learned to my bitter cost through so many years. But now, since God has taken my salvation out of my hands into His, making it depend on His choice and not mine, and has promised to save me, not by my own work or exertion but by His grace and mercy, I am assured and certain both that He is faithful and will not lie to me, and also that He is too great and powerful for any demons or adversaries to be able to break Him or snatch me from Him. ‘No one,’ He says, ‘shall snatch them out of my hand, because my Father who has given them to Me is greater than all,’ (John 10:28ff)… Moreover, we are also certain and sure that we please God, not by the merit of our own working, but by the favor of His mercy promised to us, and that if we do less than we should or do it badly, He does not hold this against us, but in a fatherly way pardons and corrects us. Hence the glorying of all the saints in their God.”
From Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation, ed. and transl’d by E. Gordon Rupp, w/ A.N. Marlow; and Philip S. Watson, w/ B. Drewery. — Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1969, pp. 328-329.
Two beautiful Christian men, two beautiful visions of God.
