![\"Snow-Covered](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2016\/04\/Snow-Covered-Dunghill.jpg\")
<\/div>\n***<\/span><\/p>\n [Martin Luther\u2019s words will be in<\/span> blue<\/span>]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [warning<\/span>: contains some language regarding dung and related notions in just one portion, that may be offensive to some readers: from a biography of Luther: citing his own words. You (i.e., those who are or may be offended in this way) have been forewarned. Continue at your peril, and don\u2019t blame me<\/span> for the way Luther talked]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Many of us who have engaged in Catholic-Protestant debate have heard of the famous \u201csaying\u201d allegedly from Martin Luther, about justified man being a \u201csnow-covered dunghill\u201d (I certainly have). Strangely enough, however, the actual location of the saying (if, in fact, it is authentic) seems to be difficult to find. How is it, then, that a saying so mysterious has become almost commonplace as a sort of piece of \u201cLuther folklore\u201d? Even those familiar with Lutheran theology profess to be befuddled by this. Thus, Walt Tappert asked on a<\/span> Lutheran discussion forum (June 13, 2003)<\/a> :<\/p>\n A number of posters on a Catholic Discussion Board have been claiming that Martin Luther used a \u201csnow-covered dunghill\u201d as an ogy for justification. Some have claimed Luther made the ogy in his Table Talk<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n When challenged to provide a reference, others reduced the claim to say \u201cit is a part of the Lutheran tradition, and is an accepted as such by Lutherans, who believe that it is an apt ogy for explaining their concept of justification.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A search of the CD-ROM of the American Edition of Luther\u2019s Works<\/i> returned no hits for \u201csnow-covered dunghill.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I have three questions:<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Does anyone have any idea where Luther himself may have used \u201csnow-covered dunghill\u201d as an ogy for justification?<\/span><\/p>\n 2. Can anyone cite prominent and respected Lutheran<\/i> theologians who have used the phrase \u201csnow-covered dunghill\u201d as an ogy for justification?<\/span><\/p>\n 3. In the event of negative responses for questions 1 and 2, can anyone cite prominent and respected non<\/i>-Lutheran theologians who have embraced a \u201csnow-covered\u201d dunghill\u201d as an apt ogy for justification?<\/span><\/p>\n I must confess that I\u2019ve not heard the ogy used by Lutheran theologians or in Lutheran churches. I am really quite curious as to how this particular ogy became attached to Martin Luther.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Likewise, a<\/span> Q & A page for WELS <\/a>(Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) provides this exchange:<\/span><\/p>\n Q: I was reading the writings of Martin Luther and one time I came across a passage that read basically that our sins would be \u2018covered over \u2018like snow over a dunghill. \u2026 I have never been able to find this piece since I first read it. Can you tell me where the passage can be located and what writings this could be taken from?<\/span><\/p>\n A: With regard to the Luther quotation, a check in the indexes of four major editions of Luther\u2019s works does not reveal whether or where Luther might have said or written that. It is certainly in keeping with his understanding of the gospel, although he did have many ways of saying it better.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Note how it is granted that such a saying (real or not) would be \u201cin keeping\u201d with Luther\u2019s soteriology.<\/span> Another WELS page <\/a>provided more information; even approximating the \u201csaying\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n CSC: WELS Topical Q&A;: Doctrine: Justification\/Salvation: Snow-covered dung<\/span><\/p>\n Q: I often have heard the quote by Luther that we are like snow-covered dung inasmuch as we are not actually justified in Christ but our sins are simply not imputed to us. I would like to use this in a paper, but I cannot find its source. My professor has also heard it, but does not know the citation. If you are aware of a citation for this line or if you believe that it is spurious, could you please inform me?<\/span><\/p>\n A: I am not familiar with the supposed Luther quote you mention. Others with whom I consulted have heard something similar to your quotation, but likewise have no reference to which they can point. Luther said and wrote much. Therefore he is often credited with saying things that he never said. It has also happened that Luther was paraphrased and the words were later accepted as direct quotations.<\/span><\/p>\n I searched the American edition of Luther\u2019s Works<\/i> and was not able to find a match. Granted, this is only a portion of the material that we have from Luther, but I am unable to electronically search the Weimar edition which is all encompassing.<\/span><\/p>\n Your quotation is especially interesting because the picture it presents sounds so much like Luther. We are, after all, rotten to the core, and yet the Lord Jesus has covered us with his righteousness so that we look as pure as snow in God\u2019s eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n In his \u201cDisputation Concerning Justification\u201d (1536) Luther states (my bolding, as throughout):<\/span><\/p>\n I said before that our righteousness is dung<\/strong> in the sight of God. Now if God chooses to adorn dung, he can do so<\/span> (Luther\u2019s Works<\/i>, Vol. 34, page 184).<\/span><\/p>\n In that same document Luther adds:<\/span><\/p>\n All the justified could glory in their works, if they would attribute glory to God with respect to themselves. In this manner they would not be dung<\/strong>, but ornaments<\/span> (Luther\u2019s Works<\/i>, Vol. 34, page 178).<\/span><\/p>\n The picture is similar to your quotation but not an exact match. Although I cannot say with certainty that Luther spoke the words you quote, I can suggest that they do catch the sentiment Luther frequently proclaimed.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n One can find many instances (contrary to Tappert\u2019s impression) of Protestants themselves using the phrase and attributing it to Luther (alas, usually in undocumented fashion). A Google search of \u201cLuther dunghill\u201d or \u201csnow-covered dunghill\u201d or some such selection of words will quickly confirm this.<\/span><\/p>\n William Cork provided a tantalizing, but ultimately frustrating article on the subject: Both Reformed and Catholics have accepted a caricature of Luther that Lutherans would not recognize. The caricature is best summed up by a rather unpleasant image that is often used by non-Lutherans (but which few Lutherans have ever heard of). In this metaphor for the Christian life, justification is compared to a sprinkling of snow on a pile of dung. We are the dung\u2014horrible, smelly, corrupt, with no redeeming qualities. A light dusting of snow (the imputed righteousness of Christ) makes us appear to be something we are not. But the snow cannot change the dung.<\/span> Funny thing about that quote\u2014despite years of Lutheran seminary education, and experience as a pastor, and the reading of umpteen volumes of Luther\u2019s Works, I have never come across that quote in print, nor have I ever heard it from the mouth of a Lutheran. Yet it is a favorite of Luther\u2019s critics. I asked renowned Luther scholar Eric Gritsch about this, and he replied that it does exist somewhere in one of the \u201cTable Talks\u201d (after dinner ramblings written down by Luther\u2019s students\u2014not reliable sources for Luther\u2019s thought), but even he couldn\u2019t give me a reference.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Gritsch is a major Lutheran scholar, and one of the translators in the 55-volume English collection Luther\u2019s Works<\/i>, so his report is important. I searched through one online version of Table-Talk<\/i> and couldn\u2019t find the quote, but there are different versions, and German versions, etc., so that is not conclusive. If Gritsch really said that it existed, then it probably does. We just don\u2019t know exactly where<\/i> yet.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, is it plausible that at least some of Luther\u2019s thoughts<\/i> or clusters of ideas could reasonably be construed as amounting to the same thing as what this \u201cquote\u201d suggests? Perhaps. I have a theory, though I didn\u2019t succeed in proving it and can only present it in relatively vague, speculative fashion.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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\n<\/span>(Justification by Faith: Can Catholics and Lutherans Agree? Internet Archives cache-version<\/a> of 6-17-04)<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nCork also wrote in the<\/span> current version <\/a>of his paper:<\/span>
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