Strengthening Words from Luther for Victims of Spiritual Abuse
Photo by Wim van 't Einde on Unsplash
In my ongoing study of spiritual abuse in the Gospel of John, one interpreter that I have been waiting to read in more depth is Martin Luther. He preached through John in the latter half of his ministry, and I have been curious if and how he applies Jesus’ conflict with the religious leaders to his own context. I finally started reading Luther’s exposition of John 14-16, and his approach demonstrates what I previously wrote about as hermeneutics for spiritual abuse healing.
Luther’s reflections on John 15:18 and 16:2 are especially noteworthy. His comments on those verses (and throughout John 14-16) display his belief that Christ’s assurances regarding hostility from the “world” applied to present day mistreatment of Christians at the hands of the pope and Roman Catholic spiritual leaders. In today’s language, Luther applies Jesus’ upper room discourse to the experience of spiritual abuse.
Rather than offer my own reflections on Luther’s reflections, I have selected some passages from those sections. For those who have been or are being forced out, pushed out, abusively excommunicated, or #churchfired from church and denomination and Christian organization, hear these words from the Doktor Luther.1
John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”
Here Christ repeats and concludes the commandment He had given them before; He points out to them how Christendom must live together, what its fate will be, and by what sign true believers or Christians are identified. Christ makes this so urgent because He foresaw how many false Christians there would be who would vaunt their faith with excellent words and a strong outward show but without foundation. For just as the holy name of God, the most sublime of all names, is nevertheless violated and misused for all falsehood and wickedness; just as the name of Christendom or of the church and of all that is sacred is misused and falsely adduced; so also the name of faith, love, and good works must submit to being misused for a false show and serve as a mask. For the devil does not want to be as black as he is painted; but he would like to shine in the beautiful garment of God’s Word, the Christian Church, faith, love, etc.
Therefore Christ teaches us to make a point of looking for the fruits; it is not enough to boast a great deal of faith and Christ. For where no fruits are in evidence, or where the opposite is seen, Christ will certainly not be present; there will be only a false name.
“Yes,” you say, “but does not faith justify without the works of the Law?” Yes, this is true. But where is faith? What happens to it? Where does it show itself? For it surely must not be such a sluggish, useless, deaf, or dead thing; it must be a living, productive tree which yields fruit. Therefore this is the test, and this is the difference between faith that is genuine and faith that is false and colored: where faith is true, it manifests itself in life. A false faith, to be sure, bears the same name, employs the same words, and boasts of the same things; but nothing results from it.
Not only does Christ exhort and command them, but He also comforts them. His words apply to all the world. He says: “I am repeating this commandment — that you love one another — because you, My apostles and disciples, will encounter enmity also among and from your own people…Do not be frightened or torn away from Me, even though you forfeit the favor and the affection of the world and must give up many friends for My sake.”
John 16:2 “They will put you out of the synagogues...[and] think he is offering service to God.”
In the two preceding chapters [John 14-15] Christ informed his disciples at length about their lot in the world after His departure. He wanted them to be prepared for this and to adjust themselves to it. Now He concludes this subject and says briefly: “I told you all this to keep you from being offended, that is, to keep you from falling away or from despairing of Me. For when you see and feel that the whole world will hate and persecute you, and especially those who are called God’s people and the true church, you will be troubled; and you will be moved either to doubt that your faith and doctrine are true or to become impatient and weary, and to think: I am not going to worry about this doctrine any longer. I might just as well believe and live as the others do. Then I will have peace.”
“This kind of treatment,” says Christ, “you must simply be prepared to expect. It will tempt you to fall away from Me and to think: ‘Perhaps this is not the true doctrine. Perhaps I have been duped by this Christ.’ I am telling you this beforehand, in order that you may be armed against it and be able to withstand such offense.”
As the saying goes: “Not all who carry long knives are cooks.” Thus not all who lay claim to the title “church” are the church. There is often a great difference between the name and the reality.
Therefore I say that we must maintain, and call attention to, the distinction made by St. Paul: that not all who are called God's people or the church are God’s people or the church. From this we can gain both instruction and strength not to be offended by their ban and condemnation but to retort: “I congratulate myself if they excommunicate me; for such a ban is nothing but a misnomer, just as all their boasting and all their activity are false. Christ Himself warned me here beforehand and exhorted me not to be concerned about this.”
They are enemies of God, even though they are the great majority, who are in possession of the government and have prestige, as if they alone were the true people. Therefore even if they excommunicate the others, we say to them: “To be sure, you are called God's people, but you are not. You are renowned as being descended from the saints and as being numbered among them. Therefore you imagine that everything you do must be right.”
Behold, here Christ wants to teach the Christians not to worry if they are excommunicated by those who are called the church and God's people...He wants them to hold to the true church, even though the great crowd of exalted, powerful, and holy men is opposed to it and persecutes it, just as the leaders of the people, the princes, the chief priests, the scribes, and the prophets did in Christ’s time. For Christ is not at all concerned about their condemnation of Him and His own; He keeps on overthrowing their rule and what they do, just as He will also do in the end with His present-day enemies.
These are the true church. It is not found in only one place, as, for example, under the pope; but it exists over the entire earth wherever Christians are found...Physically separated and scattered here and there throughout the wide world, we are nevertheless gathered and united in Christ.
Similarly, we say to the pope and the bishops: “We shall be glad to honor you and to respect your law and your ban, provided that you use these properly.” “Yes,” they say, “you do not have to teach us this. We are the church, and we have our office from God. Therefore you must listen to us and obey us. Whatever we say and do is right.” But we say with St. Paul: “If you propose to abuse this holy name and office, then we, regardless of you, would sooner destroy the temple, the Law, and everything, and let them perish. We gladly acknowledge that these are holy and good, and we would be glad to retain them; but if they are not used for the purpose which God ordained, then either the abuse must be done away with or the priesthood, the temple, the people, the Law, and everything will be lost.” Thus we also say to the pope and his followers: “Dear sirs, just see to it that you use your office properly and administer it as you should. Otherwise you will lose everything. The papacy will be split and reduced to dust.”
For God did not give us His Law, temple, priesthood, ministry, Sacrament, and Office of the Keys to do with as we please but to use and administer in accordance with His command. If we are unwilling to do this, He dismisses us and takes everything away from us.
Thus St. Paul’s sermon and ours are directed against the Law and yet not against the Law, against the church and yet not against the church. For we do not attack such divine institutions; we attack the erroneous conception and the abuse which our opponents adorn with the name of the church and thus distort the Law and God’s Word, and in this way oppress the true church and God’s people. Therefore we must pull off their mask and point out the true nature of the Gospel, Baptism, and the ministry; we must divorce these from their misuse of them. The devil always adorns himself with such an angelic, yes, such a divine form and appearance, just as he makes a god of himself when he speaks to Christ in Matt. 4:9. Here Christ Himself must contend, not against man but against a god — not against the true God but against the devil, who uses God’s name and adorns himself with divinity.
In this manner St. Paul, too, contends against the people of God, the temple, and the Law. And we are also obliged to oppose the church and preach against it — yet not against God's temple, people, or Law but against a false angel of light whom we must divest of his angelic garb and reveal as the devil. We oppose the church, which is not the church but the rascal who has adorned himself with the beautiful name and appearance of God and His Word, of the Sacrament, the ministry, and the Christian Church.
“Therefore,” says Christ, “do not be intimidated by the fact that they have and use the name of God and yet misuse it as they please; that they direct it against you and thus excommunicate and curse you as blasphemers, heretics, and apostates. Be wise, and distinguish well God’s name, office, and priesthood, and their false addition.’ That is what St. Paul does. I let the Law, God’s people, the priesthood, and the temple stand, and I show them all honor; but I oppose the rogues who misuse all these, and still more the masks donned by the devil, which they defend and refuse to remove. We resent these masks; and we let them damn us, revile us, and do whatever they can, until we — or God through us — tear off their masks, so that nothing of them remains.
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1 All quotes are from Luther’s Works Vol. 24: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John Chapters 14-16, pp. 264-265, 301-312.