“In like manner you may deal harshly with the liars and hardened tyrants, and act boldly in opposition to their teachings and their works, for they will not listen. But the simple people, whom they have bound with the ropes of their teaching and whose lives are endangered, you must treat quite differently. You must with caution and gentleness undo the teachings of men, providing them a defense and explanation, and in this way gradually set them free. This is what St. Paul did when, in defiance of all the Jews, he would not permit Titus to be circumcised [Gal. 2:3], and yet he circumcised Timothy [Acts 16:3]. You must treat dogs and swine differently from men; wolves and lions differently from the weak sheep. With wolves you cannot be too severe; with weak sheep you cannot be too gentle. Living as we do among the papists today, we must act as though we were living among heathen. Indeed, they are heathen seven times over; we should therefore, as St. Peter teaches [I Pet. 2:12], maintain good conduct among the heathen, that they may not speak any evil of us truthfully, as they would like to do. They are delighted when they hear that you make a boast of this teaching and give offense to timid souls. This affords them a pretext for denouncing the whole teaching as offensive and harmful, for they have no other way of demolishing it; they have to admit that it is true.

God grant us all that we may practice what we preach, putting our words into deeds. There are many among us who say, ‘Lord, Lord’ [Matt. 7:21], and praise the teaching, but the doing and following are simply not there” (Luther’s Works, v.45 p. 73).

“You should rather tell them your reasons with fear and gentleness (as St. Peter teaches [I Pet. 3:15]), saying something like this, ‘My dear man, fasting and the eating of eggs, meat, and fish are matters of such a nature that salvation does not depend upon them. Both the doing of these things and the leaving of them undone may be for good or for evil; faith alone saves,’ etc., or, ‘The mass would be a good thing if it were properly celebrated,’ etc. In this way they would come to you and listen, and ultimately learn what you know. But now that you are so insolent, priding yourself on your superior knowledge, acting like the Pharisee in the gospel [Luke 18:11–12], and basing your pride on the fact that they do not even know that which you know, you fall under the judgment of St. Paul in Romans 14[:15], “You are no longer walking in love,’ you are despising your neighbor, whom you ought to be serving with gentleness and fear.

Take an analogous case: If an enemy had tied a rope around your brother’s neck, endangering his life, and you like a fool were to fly into a rage at rope and enemy and frantically pull the rope toward you or slash at it with a knife, you would most likely either strangle or stab your brother, doing him more harm than either rope or enemy. If you really want to help your brother, this is what you must do: You may slash away at the enemy as vigorously as you please, but the rope you must handle gently and with caution until you get it off his neck, lest you strangle your brother” (Luther’s Works, v.45 p. 72-73).

“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).

“In the second place, if you want to handle the gospel in a Christian way, you must take into account the people to whom you are speaking. These are of two kinds. On the one hand, there are those who are hardened and will not listen, and who, in addition, deceive and poison others with their lying mouths. Such are the pope, Eck, Emser, and some of our bishops, priests, and monks. You should not deal with them at all, but hold to the injunction of Christ in Matthew 7[:6], ‘Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and the dogs turn to attack you.’ Let them remain dogs and swine; they are a lost cause anyway. And Solomon says, ‘Where there is no hearing, pour not out words.’  But when you see that these same liars pour their lies and poison into other people, then you should boldly take the offensive and fight against them, just as Paul in Acts 13[:10–11] attacked Elymas with hard and sharp words, and as Christ called the Pharisees a ‘brood of vipers’ [Matt. 23:33]. You should do this, not for their sake, for they will not listen, but for the sake of those whom they are poisoning. Just so does St. Paul command Titus to rebuke sharply such empty talkers and deceivers of souls [Titus 1:10–13]” (Luther’s Works, v.45 p. 71).

“From ‘A Sincere Admonition…,’ 1522, Luther writes, ‘In the first place, I ask that men make no reference to my name; let them call themselves Christians, not Lutherans.  What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine [John 7:16]. Neither was I crucified for anyone [I Cor. 1:13]. St. Paul, in I Corinthians 3, would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christian. How then should I—poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am—come to have men call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not so, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christians, after him whose teaching we hold. The papists deservedly have a party name, because they are not content with the teaching and name of Christ, but want to be papist as well. Let them be papist then, since the pope is their master. I neither am nor want to be anyone’s master. I hold, together with the universal church, the one universal teaching of Christ, who is our only master’” (Luther’s Works, v.45 p. 70).

“From, ‘Receiving Both Kinds in the Sacrament,’ later in 1522, He writes, ‘True, by any consideration of body or soul you should never say: I am Lutheran, or Papist. For neither of them died for you, or is your master. Christ alone died for you, he alone is your master, and you should confess yourself a Christian. But if you are convinced that Luther’s teaching is in accord with the gospel and that the pope’s is not, then you should not discard Luther so completely, lest with him you discard also his teaching, which you nevertheless recognize as Christ’s teaching. You should rather say: Whether Luther is a rascal or a saint I do not care; his teaching is not his, but Christ’s’” (Luther’s Works, v.36, p.265).