The Bible is alive; it speaks to me. It has feet; it runs after me. It has hands; it lays hold of me!

Note on attribution: Die bildhafte Formulierung wird Luther seit dem 19. Jahrhundert zugeschrieben, lässt sich in seinen Weimaraner Werken jedoch nicht wörtlich nachweisen.

Topics: The Bible & the Word of God

Occasions: For Reflection

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483–1546) war ein deutscher Theologe, Augustinermönch und Universitätsprofessor in Wittenberg, der die reformatorische Bewegung des 16. Jahrhunderts anstieß. Er steht für das reformatorische Schriftprinzip und die Lehre von der Rechtfertigung allein durch den Glauben und prägte die deutsche Sprache durch seine einflussreiche Bibelübersetzung. Für heutige Bibelleser bietet sein Werk fundamentale theologische Denkanstöße zur Gnade Gottes, wirft durch seine späten antijüdischen Schriften und seine Haltung im Bauernkrieg aber auch bleibende historische Kritikpunkte auf.

All quotes by Martin Luther (565)

More on this topic

[The Bible is] shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
Augustine of Hippo

A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.
Unknown

The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.
John Charles Ryle

The Bible is almost bursting with good news for bad people.
Corrie ten Boom

I read the Bible the way I harvest my apple tree: I shake it, and what falls down and is ripe, I take. The rest I leave hanging for now.
Martin Luther

The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.
Martin Luther

The law is divine and holy. Let the law have its glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified, and shall live through it. I grant it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbor; also to live in love, soberness, patience, etc., but it ought not to show me how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell. Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, which teaches me, not what I ought to do but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me: that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel wills me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.
Martin Luther

Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.
Madeleine L'Engle

All quotes · lumen.bible