{"id":93977,"date":"2025-10-23T12:33:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T16:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=93977"},"modified":"2025-10-23T12:33:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T16:33:50","slug":"luther-favored-death-for-heresy-transcript","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2025\/10\/luther-favored-death-for-heresy-transcript.html","title":{"rendered":"Luther Favored Death for Heresy (Transcript)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Photo credit<\/strong>: copyright 2025 by Lux Veritatis<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

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This is a written transcript of the video, Did Martin Luther support the DEATH PENALTY for heretics?<\/a> (Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 10 minutes, 5-1-25; production by Kenny Burchard). Martin Luther\u2019s words will be in blue<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Examining unsavory occurrences in Christian history on all sides is necessary for honest, fair historical appraisal. Historical facts are what they are and most Protestants are unaware of the skeletons in their own closet, while on the other hand, one always hears about the embarrassing and scandalous Catholic stuff and not often very accurately or fairly at that. We are what we eat, as the saying goes. There are very few if any Christian groups that never persecuted other Christians, including capital punishment. By the mid 18th century, it had stopped for various reasons.<\/div>\n
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If we can get past our disdain for a moment and seek to understand how people thought about this hundreds of years ago, there was a fairly coherent reason for killing heretics, that makes internal sense. The medievals believed that heresy could be every bit as harmful to persons and societies as physical crime, if not<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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more so. The belief that heresy is bad and soul-destroying is still believed today among serious Christians. But the understanding of the motives of the heretic and thereby the treatment we give them is very different. The \u201cheretic\u201d: as we may view someone, is not always acting in bad faith or insincerely and most often is simply ignorant about the Bible and\/or the historic faith.<\/div>\n
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Dr. Jordan Cooper, a prominent Lutheran professor and YouTube apologist, stated in his video called \u201cA Further Critique of Offering Prayers to the Saints\u201d<\/a> (10-5-20) at the 10-minute mark, \u201cLuther was opposed to the killing of heretics.\u201d This is simply untrue, and he ought to know that. I learned about this in 1984 when I read [as a fervent Protestant evangelical] the most famous Protestant biography of Luther in English, Here I Stand<\/em>, by Roland Bainton.<\/div>\n
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In that book on pages 376 to 378, Bainton documented how Luther advocated the death penalty for Anabaptists in 1530, 1531, and 1536. Luther thought other dissenting behavior, not just heresy, could be met with death as well. Now, let\u2019s document what he himself wrote about it. In his work, The Estate of Marriage<\/em>, from 1522, found in the 55-volume Luther\u2019s Works<\/em>: Volume 45 on page 32, Luther wrote,\u00a0 \u201cThe temporal sword and government should therefore still put adulterers to death.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n
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And on page 33, he stated, \u201cWhy do they not put adulterers to death?\u201d<\/span> Then Luther discusses wives who have deprived their husbands because the Bible says, \u201cThe wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does\u201d (1 Corinthians 7:4), and concludes on page 34, \u201cThe civil government must compel the wife or put her to death.\u201d<\/span> Luther, by the way, doesn\u2019t say this about a man who acted in the same way [even though the same verse also<\/em> states, \u201clikewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does\u201d]. In 15:26, in his Sermon on Exodus 22:18<\/em>, Luther preached, \u201cConcerning the female sorcerer, let them be killed.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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In Luther\u2019s region of Saxony, Anabaptists had been executed as early as 1527 and later also in 1530, 1532, and\u00a01538. Anabaptists were Christians who<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
believed in adult \u201cbeliever\u2019s\u201d baptism and [were] in that respect the same as Baptists today. Evidence exists that in November 1529, Luther and his right-hand man, Philip Melanchthon, writing to their elector, favored the death penalty for Anabaptists. Bainton noted that in 1530, Luther advanced the view that blasphemy could be punished by death and that a rejection of an article of the Apostles Creed is blasphemy. This is seen in Luther\u2019s Commentary on <\/em>the 82nd Psalm<\/em> (Luther\u2019s Works<\/em>, Volume 13, pages 39 to 72).<\/div>\n
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Bainton discusses a memorandum written in 1531 by Luther\u2019s friend, Philip Melanchthon and signed by Luther. It espoused the death penalty for Anabaptists.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Luther added, \u201cI assent. Although it seems cruel to punish them with the sword, it is crueler that they condemn the ministry of the word and have no well-grounded doctrine and suppress the true and in this way seek to subvert the civil order.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Luther\u2019s general thought on the question of execution of heretics was expressed in a chilling statement from his Home Postils<\/em> in 1533:<\/div>\n
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The worldly authorities bear the sword with orders to prevent all scandal, so that it may not enter and inflict harm, but the most dangerous and horrible scandal is where false doctrine and worship penetrates. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Then a little later he writes,<\/div>\n
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They, that is state officials, must resist it, that is such scandal, stoutly, and realize that nothing else will avail save their use of the sword and of the full extent of their power in order to preserve the doctrine pure and the worship clean and undefiled.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In a second memorandum, written in 1536 by Melanchthon and again signed by Luther, there is no distinction between peaceful and a small minority of violent Anabaptists. And it noted that in cases of a denial of infant baptism and original sin, \u201cThe stubborn sectaries must be put to death.\u201d <\/span>By 1536, Luther advised Landgraf Philip of Hess, which is close to Saxony, to execute by the sword Anabaptists discovered in his domain. On the 16th of June 1536 in Zwickau, a town in southwest Saxony about 99 miles from Wittenberg, where Luther lived, a man named Peter Pestel was executed by the sword, mainly due to his denial of the Lutheran doctrine of the [Real Presence in the] Eucharist: a view that even Melanchthon adopted shortly thereafter.<\/div>\n
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On the 20th of August 1538, [Georg] Spalatin, a good friend of Luther\u2019s, recorded him as saying, \u201cOne should hasten to put such witches to death,\u201d<\/span> and seemingly sanctioning these alleged witches, being \u201cexamined by torture,\u201d<\/span> and opining that \u201can example should be made of them to terrify others.\u201d<\/span> Luther is also reported to have said on the 25th of August 1538, about alleged witches, \u201cNo mercy is to be shown them. I myself would begin to burn them according to the law that the priest should begin to stone culprits.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Both of these purported statements of Luther come from the book of his sayings, called Table Talk<\/em>. We know that a woman accused of witchcraft [and of having poisoned cattle; in fact, a drought had killed the cattle] named Prista Fr\u00fchbottin was, along with three purported accomplices [her son and two farmhands], tortured and burned to death on the 29th of June 1540 in Wittenberg. Luther lived there until his death in 1546. So it\u2019s quite possible \u2014 if not plausible \u2014 that he approved of these\u00a0particular burnings.<\/div>\n
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In another excerpt in Table Talk<\/em>, from the Weimar German edition of Luther\u2019s writings, dated between 1538 and 1540, he again advocates torture: this time applied to prostitutes, \u201cIf I were a judge, I would have such a poisonous syphilitic tortured by being broken on the wheel and having her veins lacerated.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Biographer Roland Bainton believes that Luther\u2019s views in this regard softened in the last six years of his life. Maybe so. But if so, that doesn\u2019t lessen the great harm he [had] already [done].<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Luther also frequently changed his opinions or simultaneously held contradictory ones. At any rate, the myth that Martin Luther was totally tolerant of those with other views must be laid to rest. People love fairy tales, but they must yield to facts when it comes to history.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Related Articles<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Luther: Execute Frigid Wives; Torture & Burn Witches: Including Two Examples of Luther\u2019s Espousal of Capital Punishment for Wrong or Aberrant Behavior Prior to 1530<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Luther Favored Execution of Heretics (vs. Jordan Cooper)<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Luther Favored the Death Penalty for Anabaptists<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Luther on the Deaths of Zwingli, St. Thomas More, & St. John Fisher<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Martin Luther and Anabaptist Executions in the 1530s<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Related Books<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther<\/em><\/a>, Roland Bainton, New York: Mentor, 1950 (see pages 376-378). <\/span><\/div>\n
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Martin Luther: Catholic Critical Analysis and Praise<\/em><\/a> (my book, April 2008, 264 pages; available in paperback or for only $2.99 as an e-book)<\/div>\n
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The \u201cCatholic\u201d Luther : An Ecumenical Collection of His \u201cTraditional\u201d Utterances<\/em><\/a> (my book, Dec. 2014, 166 pages; available only as an e-book, for $3.99; see details at the link)<\/div>\n
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Related Web Pages<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Martin Luther: a Catholic Critique & Appraisal<\/a><\/div>\n
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Lutheranism: Catholic Critique<\/a><\/div>\n
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Photo credit<\/strong>: copyright 2025 by Lux Veritatis<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Summary<\/em>: I thoroughly document how Luther favored the death penalty for not only heresy (e.g., Anabaptists, who practiced adult baptism) but for witches, prostitutes, & adulteresses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 This is a written transcript of the video, Did Martin Luther support the DEATH PENALTY for heretics? (Lux Veritatis, 10 minutes, 5-1-25; production by Kenny Burchard). Martin Luther\u2019s words will be in blue. ***** Examining unsavory occurrences in Christian history on all sides is necessary for honest, fair historical appraisal. 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1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}