A Treatise on Good Works | Page 4

the Sacrament of Penitence; Of
Preparation for Death; Of the Sacrament of Baptism; Of the Sacrament
of the Sacred Body; Of Excommunication. With but few exceptions
these writings all appeared in print in the year 1519, and again it was
the congregation which Luther sought primarily to serve. If the bounds
of his congregation spread ever wider beyond Wittenberg, so that his
writings found a surprisingly ready sale, even afar, that was not
Luther's fault. Even the Tessaradecas consolatoria, written in 1519 and
printed in 1520, a book of consolation, which was originally intended
for the sick Elector of Saxony, was written by him only upon
solicitation from outside sources.
To this circle of writings the treatise Of Good Works also belongs
Though the incentive for its composition came from George Spalatin,
court-preacher to the Elector, who reminded Luther of a promise he had
given, still Luther was willing to undertake it only when he recalled
that in a previous sermon to his congregation he occasionally had made
a similar promise to deliver a sermon on good works; and when Luther
actually commenced the composition he had nothing else in view but
the preparation of a sermon for his congregation on this important
topic.
But while the work was in progress the material so accumulated that it
far outgrew the bounds of a sermon for his congregation. On March 25.
he wrote to Spalatin that it would become a whole booklet instead of a
sermon; on May 5. he again emphasizes the growth of the material; on
May 13. he speaks of its completion at an early date, and on June 8. he
could send Melanchthon a printed copy. It was entitled: Von den guten
werckenn: D. M. L. Vuittenberg. On the last page it bore the printer's
mark: Getruck zu Wittenberg bey dem iungen Melchior Lotther. Im
Tausent funfhundert vnnd zweyntzigsten Jar. It filled not less than 58

leaves, quarto. In spite of its volume, however, the intention of the
book for the congregation remained, now however, not only for the
narrow circle of the Wittenberg congregation, but for the Christian
layman in general. In the dedicatory preface Luther lays the greatest
stress upon this, for he writes: "Though I know of a great many, and
must hear it daily, who think lightly of my poverty and say that I write
only small Sexternlein (tracts of small volume) and German sermons
for the untaught laity, I will not permit that to move me. Would to God
that during my life I had served but one layman for his betterment with
all my powers; it would be sufficient for me, I would thank God and
suffer all my books to perish thereafter.... Most willingly I will leave
the honor of greater things to others, and not at all will I be ashamed of
preaching and writing German to the untaught laity."
Since Luther had dedicated the afore-mentioned Tessaradecas
consolatoria to the reigning Prince, he now, probably on Spalatin's
recommendation, dedicated the Treatise on Good Works to his brother
John, who afterward, in 1525, succeeded Frederick in the Electorate.
There was probably good reason for dedicating the book to a member
of the reigning house. Princes have reason to take a special interest in
the fact that preaching on good works should occur within their realm,
for the safety and sane development of their kingdom depend largely
upon the cultivation of morality on the part of their subjects. Time and
again the papal church had commended herself to princes and
statesmen by her emphatic teaching of good works. Luther, on the other
hand, had been accused -- like the Apostle Paul before him (Rom. 3 31)
-- that the zealous performance of good works had abated, that the
bonds of discipline had slackened and that, as a necessary consequence,
lawlessness and shameless immorality were being promoted by his
doctrine of justification by faith alone. Before 1517 the rumor had
already spread that Luther intended to do away with good works. Duke
George of Saxony had received no good impression from a sermon
Luther had delivered at Dresden, because he feared the consequences
which Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone might have upon
the morals of the masses. Under these circumstances it would not have
been surprising if a member of the Electoral house should harbor like
scruples, especially since the full comprehension of Luther's preaching

on good works depended on an evangelical understanding of faith, as
deep as was Luther's own. The Middle Ages had differentiated between
fides informis, a formless faith, and fides formata or informata, a
formed or ornate faith. The former was held to be a knowledge without
any life or effect, the latter to be identical with love for, as they said,
love which proves itself and is