This, you see, is the way we teach concerning suffering, and you should also accustom yourself to distinguish carefully between the suffering of Christ and all other suffering and know that his is a heavenly suffering and ours is worldly, that his suffering accomplishes everything, while ours does nothing except that we become conformed to Christ, and that therefore the suffering of Christ is the suffering of a lord, whereas ours is the suffering of a servant. And those who teach otherwise know neither what Christ’s suffering nor our suffering is. Why? Because reason cannot do otherwise; it likes to put on a display with its suffering, as with all other works, so that it may gain some merit. That’s why we must learn to distinguish. We have said enough for this time concerning the example of the Passion and our suffering. God grant that we may understand and learn it aright. Amen. (Luther’s Works, v.51, p.198-199)
Picture: Table of Contents from Das Newe Testament Deuotzsch.
The table of contents from Martin Luther’s (1483-1546) September Testament published in September of 1522. The New Testament in German was Luther’s crowning achievement which opened the Bible to laypeople. The table of contests had four books of the Bible at the bottom (Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation) without numbers showing Luther’s preference for the other books. http://pitts.emory.edu/