(6-12-13)\n<\/p><\/span>***
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\n<\/span><\/div>\nThese are excerpts from a larger dialogue that also discussed Calvin\u2019s view (with this new introduction and summary). All words are Luther\u2019s except for a few comments from scholars on his views and positions, or my introductory comments, which will be in blue<\/span>, and the bibliographical source information: in green<\/span>. It should be noted that Luther also makes tons of negative<\/i> statements about the Catholic Church, but these are mostly<\/i> directed towards the hierarchy or the papacy, which he does not <\/i>equate with the Catholic Church as a whole<\/i>. He regards the latter as \u201cantichrist,\u201d etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0Luther\u2019s thought develops (from both true and false premises that he holds), and he is also quite capable of \u2014 and not infrequently guilty of \u2014 either self-contradiction or vacillation (on any<\/i> topic). Moreover, it is always of the utmost importance in interpreting Luther, to take into consideration context and his particular \u201cmood\u201d or the literary technique he uses at any given time. He often utilizes sarcasm and hyperbole and other non-literal devices to get his point across. Because of this, he is often cited out of context, and unjustly so: making people think he taught something that he did not, in fact, teach.<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\nAnother relevant factor to take into consideration is Luther\u2019s ravings when he was an old, embittered, sick man (disgusted even with most Protestants<\/i>, including his own party, let alone Catholics): often regarded as from 1543 till his death in 1546. Many \u2014 if not most \u2014 Luther scholars think they should be taken with a large <\/i>grain of salt: certainly not literally all down the line. Some of these rantings are blatantly anti-Catholic in nature; other famous pontifications from this period are his jeremiads against the \u201cSacramentarians\u201d (Protestants who denied the Real Presence in the Eucharist) and the Jews.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>[note: the above paragraph has become a bone of contention and was scathingly critiqued by the persistently slanderous anti-Catholic Reformed polemicist, James Swan.\u00a0 I replied at length, thoroughly backing myself up, in my paper, \u201cDid the Older Luther\u2019s Illness and Frustration Significantly Impact His Negative Rhetoric? \u201c]<\/span>
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\n<\/span>In any event, the positive statements documented below (mostly intended literally, as far as I can tell) mean what they mean, and have to be interpreted in their own right; not simply rationalized away or dismissed en masse<\/i> because he said \u201cbad stuff\u201d somewhere else (as my opponent in the larger dialogue foolishly attempted to do, in classic anti-Catholic polemical form). Nor is it insignificant that leading Luther scholars back up my present point of view. <\/span>
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\n<\/span>Amateurs and polemicists and wannabe apologists or historians on the Internet (with an agenda and ax to grind) can and do claim all sorts of things (often with a ludicrous and self-important dogmatism); what Luther scholars<\/i> or Church historians believe, on the other hand, is quite a different story indeed. Thus, I always try to massively back up my contentions with scholars (and primary documentation), for this very reason: because I know full well that my opinion as an amateur historian and student of Church history carries little or no weight without them. Nor would I ever want to give the slightest impression that they had<\/i> any weight, minus this documentation and whatever scholarly support I can find to aid my arguments.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>Baptism is especially important with regard to Luther\u2019s statements.\u00a0 He thought that the Catholic Church possessed true baptism. Now, when we analyze what Luther thought about baptism, it\u2019s clear that he thought that Catholics could very well be saved by means of it. Here is what Luther expressed along these lines:<\/span>
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\n<\/span><\/p>\nLittle children . . . are free in every way, secure and saved solely through the glory of their baptism . . . Through the prayer of the believing church which presents it, . . . the infant is changed, cleansed, and renewed by inpoured faith. Nor should I doubt that even a godless adult could be changed, in any of the sacraments, if the same church prayed for and presented him, as we read of the paralytic in the Gospel, who was healed through the faith of others (Mark 2:3-12). I should be ready to admit that in this sense the sacraments of the New Law are efficacious in conferring grace, not only to those who do not, but even to those who do most obstinately present an obstacle.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n(The Babylonian Captivity of the Church<\/i>, 1520, from the translation of A.T.W. Steinhauser, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, revised edition, 1970, 197)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nLikewise, in his Large Catechism<\/i> (1529), Luther writes:<\/span> <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Expressed in the simplest form, the power, the effect, the benefit, the fruit and the purpose of baptism is to save. No one is baptized that he may become a prince, but, as the words declare [of Mark 16:16], that he may be saved. But to be saved, we know very well, is to be delivered from sin, death, and Satan, and to enter Christ\u2019s kingdom and live forever with him . . . Through the Word, baptism receives the power to become the washing of regeneration, as St. Paul calls it in Titus 3:5 . . . Faith clings to the water and believes it to be baptism which effects pure salvation and life . . . <\/span><\/span>When sin and conscience oppress us . . . you may say: It is a fact that I am baptized, but, being baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and obtain eternal life for both soul and body . . . Hence, no greater jewel can adorn our body or soul than baptism; for through it perfect holiness and salvation become accessible to us . . .<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n(From edition by Augsburg Publishing House [Minneapolis], 1935, sections 223-224, 230, pp. 162, 165)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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