#26- Others Would Be Willing To Learn If Someone Would Tell It To Them

“On the other hand, there are some who have heretofore not yet heard the gospel, and who would be willing to learn if someone would tell it to them, or who are so weak that they cannot readily grasp it. These you should not bully or beat up, but instruct in a kindly and gentle manner, giving them a defense and explanation. If they are unable to grasp it at once, bear with them for a time. St. Paul says of them in Romans 15, ‘“Welcome him who is weak in faith’; and Peter says in I Peter 3[:15], “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who desires a defense and explanation of the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and fear.” Here you see that we are to give instruction in our faith gently and in the fear of God to any man who desires or needs it.

If you only want to parade your vast learning before such people; if you pounce upon them with the bare assertion that their way of praying, fasting, and celebrating mass is wrong; …and if you do not, in addition, with gentleness and fear explain to them the why and wherefore—then these simple souls cannot help but think that you are a proud, impudent, and wicked man, and that is just what you are! They will get the impression that men are not to pray or do good, that the mass is nothing, and so on. You will be the cause of their error, and of their taking offense; you will be to blame. That is how it comes about that they disparage and belittle the holy gospel, and imagine that you have been taught some monstrous things. What do you gain by thus troubling your neighbor and hindering the gospel? When your inconsiderate ardor has cooled, they will say, ‘Ei, I will stick to my beliefs,’ and they will shut their hearts against the genuine truth” (Luther’s Works, v.45 p. 71-72).

Posted in 2017 Reformation Quotes.