Luther on "Good Man" and "Good Works"

"Good works do not make a man good, but a good man does good works."
                -- Martin Luther

Entry # 1 for "Tongue-in-Cheek Theology"

From the conclusion to this theological article at Monergism.com.

Perhaps a story from the life of Martin Luther would be instructive here: when some inquisitive theologian asked him what God was doing before he created the world, Luther quipped, “He was busy creating hell for foolish theologians who pry into such questions”. The response is a little tongue-in-cheek, of course, but perhaps there is some wisdom in it, particularly when we are addressing the lapsarian question.

Luther on Prayer, Again

Martin Luther on prayer: "Or we recall Martin Luther saying to his students, 'I wish I could get you to pray the way my dog goes after meat!'" (quoted by William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer and the Christian Life, 29).

Luther on Prayer

Martin Luther on prayer: "As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray" (quoted by Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 68).

Charles Spurgeon Wants You To Pray Like Luther

"The secret of Luther's power lay in the same direction [the endeavor of prevailing with God for men in prayer]. Theodorus [a friend of Luther] said of him: "I overheard him in prayer, but, good God, with what life and spirit did he pray! It was with so much reverence, as if here speaking to God, yet with so much confidence as if he were speaking to his friend." My brethren, let me beseech you to be men of prayer. Great talents you may never have, but you will do well enough without them if you abound in intercession" (C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, 45).

God Revealing Godself: The Heart of All Theology

"[A]t the heart of all theology for Luther is God and how one knows God; or perhaps better said, one must start all theology with understanding how it is that God reveals Godself" (Thomas J. Davis, This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 58).

The Community of Love

"Luther did not do away with the notion of good works, works of love; he repositioned good works so that they follow necessarily from the working of the Word. Good works do not effect salvation; they are its flowering. The communio sanctorum, the community of love, is thus a necessary result of the Word" (Thomas J. Davis, This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 58).

Eucharistic Model, Again

Thomas J. Davis quoting Martin Luther: "Now this is the fruit, that even as we have eaten and drunk, and say the same words to our neighbor, Take, eat, and drink . . . meaning to offer yourself with all your life, even as Christ did with all that he had" (This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 56).