The marriage estate is God’s ordinance and we shall stick to this no matter whether they hate and persecute us and will neither regard nor listen to us; this bothers us not at all. We have God; he regards us, along with all the angels and heavenly hosts, he also defends us against all the darts of the devil and our adversaries.

Then, if our dear God and Father in heaven grants you children, nurture and care for them, raise them up in the discipline, fear, and admonition of the Lord. Then you will be doing right and performing better and nobler good works than all the monks and nuns; then you will be living in God’s vocation and ordinance and they contrary to God’s vocation and ordinance. Because I am certain that I have a gracious God, who regards me, nourishes me, and protects me, I do not care that the louse in Rome, the pope, and his lice, the cardinals and bishops, monks and nuns, do not regard or respect me. I pay no attention to it; I am content that God, my dear Father, sees me and has regard for me.

Therefore we also lead brides and grooms to the church, in order that they may publicly confess that they are entering into the holy estate of matrimony in accord with God’s ordinance, that they do not intend to live in concubinage, and they are blessed, and they have no doubt that they are blessed by God. But they must take care that they remain blessed and lead their married life as married persons should, God-fearingly, purely, and unblemished, then they will remain blessed. (“Sermon at Marriage of Sigismund von Luindenau, 1545” Luther’s Works, v. 51, p.363-364)

Here it is written: “God will judge the immoral and adulterous.”  It is not written that God will judge and condemn the married, but rather the whoremongers and adulterers. For if God were to condemn and judge the married people, he would have to condemn himself. But God does not do this, but rather is well pleased with married people, as those who live and walk in his ordinance and creation….

Therefore, those who are married should be cheerful and confident and grateful to God that they are in an estate which has been ordained and blessed by God, of sure hope and assurance that God will keep his ordinance and blessing, regardless of whether it annoys the devil, the pope in Rome, and therefore prompts them to condemn this estate….

I say this for the comfort of all those who are in the married state, that they may be emboldened and encouraged. If all of you who are married are not rich, as not all of you can be rich, then be satisfied with what you have, and let it be your strong consolation that you have been married in accord with divine ordinance, and be assured that God will keep watch over this his ordinance and blessing. Nor do we desire to prevent or force anybody in this matter.  (“Sermon at Marriage of Sigismund von Luindenau, 1545” Luther’s Works, v. 51, p.361-362)

Here let the pope, cardinals, monks, nuns, and priests pull a sour face; what do we care about that? If they will not look at us with friendly and pure eyes, then let them look at the whorehouses and the impure, filthy, and befouled cloisters. We are content to know that we are esteemed by God and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of God and rules all things, the one who ordained the marriage estate and placed us in it and watches over this estate until the last day. Because I know this and most certainly believe it, I am happy and confident, and I live in the holy ordinance of marriage with a good conscience and a happy mind. For here God says to the man: You are my man; and to the woman: You are my woman. And because I know that God speaks so to me, I also know that all the angels speak so to me, and love me and respect me. I also know that the sun, moon, and all the stars look upon me and minister to me with their light and influence, even though this terribly vexes the devil with his scales, the popes, cardinals, and monks, who also are the devil’s. I don’t care a snap for them; even though they were a thousand against one, I don’t care. If they don’t want to regard me or listen to me, then in the devil’s name let them take a look in Morolf’s looking glass. (“Sermon at Marriage of Sigismund von Luindenau, 1545” Luther’s Works, v. 51, p.360-361)

The pope and his cardinals, monks, nuns, and priests have tried to improve things and ordain a holy estate in which they might live in holiness and chastity. But how holy, pure, and chaste the lives of popes, cardinals, bishops, monks, priests, and nuns have been is so apparent that the sun, moon, and stars have cried out against it. Pigsties are nasty, dirty places, but they are clean and pure compared with the cloisters; for they have been leading such a chaste and pure life in the cloisters that one cannot very well even speak of it. Why, then, did this happen? Because they tore down and despised God’s holy ordinance of the estate of matrimony and they were not worthy to enter into marriage. But here those who have entered into holy matrimony in accord with God’s ordinance should love and esteem this saying of St. Paul:

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, etc

They should also pride themselves upon and comfort themselves with the fact that they are married; for here a man can say: I thank God that I have been created a man by God; or a woman: I thank God that I have been created a woman; and that we have also been placed by God in the holy estate of marriage in order to bring forth children according to his blessing and will. This honor, which those who are married have, is far greater. Therefore, nobody should hate or condemn this estate and ordinance of God, as the pope and his followers do, but rather highly exalt it and love and esteem it. (“Sermon at Marriage of Sigismund von Luindenau, 1545” (Luther’s Works, v. 51, p.359-360)

Therefore all men should marry and be married, and since through the fall of our first parents we have been so spoiled that we are not all fit for marriage, yet those who are not fit for the married state should so live that they walk chastely and honorably and give offense to no one, though at the beginning it was not so and all were fit to become married. But now it happens that some do not want to enter the state of matrimony even though they are fit and qualified to marriage. Some, on the other hand, would like to be married and are unable to do so. Neither do I condemn and disapprove of these. The third group, however, who desire and want to be married and are also fit and competent to do so, even though they enter the marriage state contrary to human laws, do what is right, and nobody should be scandalized by what they do. For the married state should not be forbidden to anyone who is competent to be married, but should be free and open to everyone. And this estate should not be condemned and rejected as something foul and unclean, as the pope and his followers do. For to be married is an ordinance and institution of God, since when God created man and woman, he himself placed them in this estate in which they not only could but should live godly, honorable, pure, and chaste lives, bearing children and peopling the world, indeed, the kingdom of God.

Who, then, would be so bold as to tear down the glorious, holy ordinance of God or to say anything against it? Who, then, is so bold as to condemn this ordinance and despise it as useless, unholy, and unnecessary? (“Sermon at Marriage of Sigismund von Luindenau, 1545” (Luther’s Works, v. 51, p.359)