Analysis of the Seventh Chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1523, Erlangen edition, LI, p. 1. Here Luther still interprets the idea of the freedom of every calling before God in the sense of this passage, so as to emphasize (1) that certain human institutions should be repudiated (monastic vows, the prohibition of mixed marriages, etc.), (2) that the fulfillment of traditional worldly duties to one’s neighbour (in itself indifferent before God) is turned into a commandment of brotherly love. In fact this characteristic reasoning (for instance pp. 55, 56) fundamentally concerns the question of the dualism of the lex naturae in its relations with divine justice. ↩
Compare the passage from Von Kaufhandlung und Wucher, which Sombart rightly uses as a motto for his treatment of the handicraft spirit (= traditionalism): “Darum musst du dir fürsetzen, nichts denn deine ziemliche Nahrung zu suchen in solchem Handel, danach Kost, Mühe, Arbeit und Gefahr rechnen und überschlagen und also dann die Ware selbst setzen, steigern oder niedern, dass du solcher Arbeit und Mühe Lohn davon hasst.” The principle is formulated in a thoroughly Thomistic spirit. ↩
As early as the letter to H. von Sternberg of 1530, in which he dedicates the Exigesis of the 117th Psalm to him, the estate of the lower nobility appears to him, in spite of its moral degradation, as ordained of God (Erlangen edition, XL, pp. 282 ff.). The decisive influence of the Münzer disturbances in developing this viewpoint can clearly be seen in the letter (p. 282). Compare also Eger, Die Anschauung Luthers vom Beruf (Giessen, 1900), p. 150. ↩
Also in the analysis of the 111th Psalm, verses 5 and 6 (Erlangen edition, XL, pp. 215–16), written in 1530, the starting-point is the polemics against withdrawal from the world into monasteries. But in this case the lex naturae (as distinct from positive law made by the Emperor and the Jurists) is directly identical with divine justice. It is God’s ordinance, and includes especially the division of the people into classes (p. 215). The equal value of the classes is emphasized, but only in the sight of God. ↩
As taught especially in the works Von Konzilien und Kirchen (1539) and Kurzer Bekenntnis vom heiligen Sakrament (1545). ↩
How far in the background of Luther’s thought was the most important idea of proof of the Christian in his calling and his worldly conduct, which dominated Calvinism, is shown by this passage from Von Konzilien und Kirchen (1539, Erlangen edition, XXV, p. 376): “Besides these seven principal signs there are more superficial ones by which the holy Christian Church can be known. If we are not unchaste nor drunkards, proud, insolent, nor extravagant, but chaste, modest, and temperate.” According to Luther these signs are not so infallible as the others (purity of doctrine, prayer, etc.). “Because certain of the heathen have borne themselves so and sometimes even appeared holier than Christians.” Calvin’s personal position was, as we shall see, not very different, but that was not true of Puritanism. In any case, for Luther the Christian serves God only in vocatione, not per vocationem (Eger, pp. 117 ff.). Of the idea of proof, on the other hand (more, however, in its Pietistic than its Calvinistic form), there are at least isolated suggestions in the German mystics (see for instance in Seeberg, Dogmengeschichte, p. 195, the passage from Suso, as well as those from Tauler quoted above), even though it was understood only in a psychological sense. ↩
His final position is well expressed in some parts of the exegesis of Genesis (in the Exegetica opera latina edited by Elsperger).
Vol. IV, p. 109: “Neque haec fuit levis tentatio, intentum esse suae vocationi et de aliis non esse curiosum. … Paucissimi sunt, qui sua sorte vivant contenti … (p. 111). Nostrum autem est, ut vocanti Deo pareamus … (p. 112). Regula igitur haec servanda est, ut unusquisque maneat in sua vocatione et suo dono contentus vivat, de aliis autem non sit curiosus.” In effect that is thoroughly in accordance with Thomas Aquinas’s formulation of traditionalism (Secunda secundae, Question 118, Art. 1): “Unde necesse est, quod bonum hominis circa ea consistat in quadam mensura, dum scilicet homo … quaerit habere exteriores divitas, prout sunt necessariae ad vitam ejus secundum suam conditionem. Et ideo in excessu hujus mensurae consistit peccatum, dum scilicet aliquis supra debitum modum vult eas vel acquirere vel retinere, quod pertinet ad avaritiam.” The sinfulness of the pursuit of acquisition beyond the point set by the needs of one’s station in life is based by Thomas on the lex naturae as revealed by the purpose (ratio) of external goods; by Luther, on the other hand, on God’s will. On the relation of faith and the calling in Luther see also Vol. VII, p. 225: “…
