Introduction and First Commandment - Jacobs' Luther's Large Catechism

Yea, even among the nobility there are some rude and niggardly fellows, who declare that, from now on, there is need neither of pastors nor preachers; that we have everything in books, and everyone can learn it for himself; and in this confidence they allow the parishes to fall into decay and desolation, and cause pastors and preachers to suffer hunger and extreme distress. Such conduct is to be expected from crazy Germans. For we Germans have such disgraceful people, and must endure them. But this I say for myself. I am also a doctor and a preacher, yea, as learned and experienced as all who have such presumption and security. Yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism. Every morning and whenever I have time I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must still read and study daily, and yet I can not master it as I wish, but must remain, and that too gladly, a child and pupil of the Catechism. And yet these delicate, fastidious fellows pretend with one reading to be doctors above all doctors, and to know everything and be in need of nothing. And this is in deed a sure sign that o they despise both their office and the souls of the people, yea even God and his Word. They need not be afraid of a fall, since they are already fallen all too horribly; but they need be come children, and begin to learn their alphabet, which they imagine that they have long since out grown. Therefore I beg such indolent epicures or presumptuous saints, for God’s sake, to believe and be persuaded that they are by no means so learned or such great doctors as they imagine; and never to presume that they have thoroughly learned this [all the parts of the Catechism], or know enough of everything, even though they think that they know it ever so well. For though they should know and understand it perfectly (which, how ever, is im possible in this life), yet if it be daily read and practiced in thought and speech, it yields much profit and fruit; for in such reading and repetition and meditation the Holy Ghost is present, and ever be stows new and more light and devoutness, so that we daily relish and appreciate it better, ac cording as Christ promises (Matt. 18:20): “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Besides, nothing is more effectual against the devil, the world and the flesh and all evil thoughts than to be occupied with the Word of God, and to

speak thereof, and meditate upon it; so that the first Psalm declares those blessed who meditate upon the law of God day and night. Undoubtedly, you will never offer any incense or other savor against Satan more efficacious than employment upon God’s commandments and words, and speaking, singing, or thinking thereof. For this is in deed the truly holy water and holy sign from which he flees, and by which he is driven away. If you had no other profit and fruit there from, for this reason alone you ought gladly to read, speak, think of and practice these things, viz. thereby to drive away the devil and evil thoughts. For he can not hear or endure God’s Word; and God’s Word is not like any care less talk, as that of Dietrich of Berne2, etc., but as St. Paul says (Rom. 1:16): “The power of God.” Yea, in deed, the power of God which gives the devil extreme pain, and strengthens, comforts and helps us beyond measure.

And what need is there of many words? If I were to recount all the profit and fruit which God’s Word produces, whence would I have enough pa per and time? The devil is called the master of a thou sand arts. But what shall we say of God’s Word, which drives away and brings to naught this master of a thousand arts with all his arts and power? It must of course be the master of more than a hundred thousand arts. And shall we frivolously despise such power, profit, strength and fruit – we, especially, who wish to be pastors and preachers? If so, we should not only have nothing given us to eat, but be driven out with the dogs, and be cast away with refuse, be cause we not only daily need this all, as we do our daily bread, but must also daily use it against the daily and incessant attacks and stratagems of the devil with his thousand arts. And if this were not sufficient to admonish us to read the Catechism daily, yet God’s command even alone ought to constrain us, which in Deut. 6:6 sqq. he solemnly enjoins, that we should always meditate upon his precepts, when we sit down, and when we walk forth, and when we lie down, and when we rise up, and should have them before our eyes and in our hands as a constant mark and sign. Doubtless he did not so solemnly require and enjoin this with out a purpose; but because he knew our danger and need, as well as the constant and furious assaults and temptations of devils, he wishes to warn, equip and preserve us against them, as with a good armor against their fiery darts and with good medicine against their poisonous drafts.

Oh, what mad, sense less fools are we, that while we must ever live and dwell among such mighty enemies as devils, we never the less despise our armor and defense, and are too indolent to look for, or think of them! And what else are such supercilious, presumptuous saints, who are unwilling to read and study the Catechism daily, doing, but esteeming themselves much more learned than God himself with all his saints, angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and all Christians? For inasmuch as God himself is not ashamed to teach the same daily, since he knows nothing better to teach, and always keeps teaching the same thing, and does not take up anything new or different, and all the saints know nothing better to learn, or different, and cannot learn this perfectly, are we not wonderful men to imagine, if we have once read or heard it, that we know it all, and have no farther need to read and learn, but can learn perfectly in one hour what God himself cannot finish teaching, since he continues teaching it from the be ginning to the end of the world, and all prophets, together with all saints, have been occu pied with learning it but in part, and are still pupils, and must re main such? For it is certain that whoever knows the Ten Commandments perfectly must know all the Scriptures, so that, in all circumstances and events, he can advise, help, com fort, judge and decide both spiritual and temporal matters, and is qualified to sit in judgment upon all doc trines, estates, spirits, laws, and what ever else is in the world. And what in deed is the en tire Psalter but thoughts and exercises upon the First Commandment? But now I know of a truth that such in do lent epi cures and pre sumptuous spirits do not understand a single psalm, much less the entire Scriptures; and yet they pretend that they know and despise the Catechism, which is a compend and brief summary of all the Holy Scriptures. Therefore I again implore all Christians, especially pastors and preachers, not to be doctors too soon, and imagine that they know everything (for imagination and stretched cloth fall far short of the measure), but that they daily exercise themselves in these studies and constantly apply them to practice. Let them guard with all care and diligence against the poisonous on a infection of such security and presumption, and persevere in reading, teaching, learning, thinking, meditating, not ceasing until they have learned by experience and are sure that, by this teaching, they have killed Sa tan, and have become more learned than God himself and all his saints. If they manifest such diligence, then I will agree with them, and they will perceive what fruit they will have, and what excellent men God will make of them; so that in due time they themselves will acknowledge that the longer and the more they have studied the Catechism, the less they know of it, and the more they find yet to learn; and then only, as hungry and thirsty ones, will they truly appreciate that which now, be cause of great abundance and satiety, they can not endure. To this end may God grant his grace! Amen.

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Part First. 

The Ten Commandments 

The First Commandment Thou shall have no other gods be fore me. That is: Thou shalt have [and worship] me alone as thy God. What is the force of this, and how is it to be understood? What is it to have a god? or, what is God?

ANSWER: A god is that whereto we are to look for all good and to take refuge in all dis tress; so that to have a god is to trust and believe him from the whole heart; as I have of ten said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true. And, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two be long together, viz. faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god. There fore it is the in tent of this commandment to re quire such true faith and trust of the heart as regards the only true God, and rest in him alone. That is as much as to say: “See to it that you let me be your God, and you never seek an other,” i.e. “What ever you lack in good, seek it of me, and look to me for it, and when ever you suffer misfortune and distress, lay hold of me and cling fast to me. I verily will give you enough and help you out of every necessity; only let not your heart cleave to or rest in any other.”  This I must unfold some what more plainly, that it may be understood and perceived by ordinary examples of the contrary, Many a one thinks that he has God and everything in abundance when he has money and possessions, in which he trusts and boasts so arrogantly as to care for no one. Lo, such a man also has a god, Mammon by name, i.e. money and possessions, on which he sets all his heart, and which is also the most com mon idol on earth. He who has money and possessions feels se cure, and is as joyful and undismayed as though he were in the midst of Paradise. On the other hand, he who has none doubts and is despondent, as though he knew of no God. For very few are to be found who are of good cheer, and who neither mourn nor complain if they have not Mammon. This [care and desire for money] adheres and clings to our nature, even to the grave. So too, whoever trusts and boasts in the possession of great skill, prudence, power, favor, friendship and honor has also a god, but not the only true God. This appears again when you notice how presumptuous, secure and proud people are because of such possessions, and how despondent when without them or deprived of them. Therefore I repeat that the true explanation of this point is that to have a god is to have something upon which the heart entirely trusts. Besides, consider what, in our blindness, we have hitherto been doing under the Papacy. If any one had toothache, he fasted and honored St. Apollonia [macerated his flesh by voluntary fasting to the honor of St. Apollonia]; if he were afraid of fire, he sought St. Laurence as his deliverer; if he dreaded pestilence, he made a vow to St. Sebastian or Rachio, and a countless number of such abominations, where every one selected his own saint whom he worshiped and invoked in distress. Here belong those also whose idolatry is most gross, and who make a covenant with the devil, in order that he may give them plenty of money or help them in love-affairs, preserve their cattle, restore to them lost possessions, etc., as e.g. sorcerers and necromancers. For all these place their heart and trust else where than in the true God, and neither look to him for any good nor seek anything from him. Thus you can easily understand what and how much this com mand ment requires, viz. that man’s entire heart and all his con fi dence be placed in God alone, and in no one else. For to have God, you can easily per ceive, is not to lay hold of him with our hands or to put him in a bag [as money], or to lock 29 him in a chest [as silver vessels]. But he is said to be apprehended when the heart lays hold of him and de pends upon him. But to de pend upon him with the heart is nothing else than to trust in him entirely. For this rea son he wishes to with draw us from every thing else, and to at tract us to him self, viz. be cause he is the only eternal good. As though he would say: What ever you have hereto fore sought of the saints, or for which you have trusted in Mam mon, as well as all else, expect of me, and regard me as the one who will help you and endow you richly with all good things. Lo, you have here the true honor and service of God, which pleases God, and which he commands un der penalty of eternal wrath, viz. that the heart know no other trust or confidence than in him, and do not suffer it self to be torn from him, but, for him, risk and dis regard everything upon earth. On the other hand, you can easily see and judge how the world practices only false worship and idol a try. For no people has ever been so god less as not to institute and observe some sort of divine service. Thus everyone has set up as his own god whatever he looked to for blessings, help and comfort. When, for example, the heathen who aimed at power and dominion elevated Jupiter as the supreme god, the others, who were bent upon riches, happiness, or pleasure and a life of ease, venerated Hercules, Mercury, Venus, or others. Women with child worshiped Diana or Lucina. Thus everyone makes that to which his heart is inclined his god. So that even in the mind of the heathen to have a god is nothing but to trust and believe. But their error is this, that their trust is false and wrong; for it is not placed in the only God, beside whom there is truly no other in heaven or upon earth. Wherefore the heathen really form their self-invented notions and dreams of God into an idol, and put their trust in that which is altogether nothing. Thus is it with all idolatry; for it consists not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it, but rather in the heart, which is intent on some thing else, and seeks help and consolation from creatures, saints or devils, and neither accepts God, nor looks to him for good to such an extent as to believe that he is willing to help; neither believes that whatever good it experiences comes from God. Besides, there is also a false divine service and extreme idolatry, which we have hitherto practiced, and is still prevalent in the world, upon which also 30 all ecclesiastical orders are founded, and which alone concerns the conscience, that seeks in its own works help, con solation and salvation, presumes to wrest heaven from God, and reckons how many institutions it has founded, how of ten it has fasted, attended Mass, etc. Upon such things it depends, and of them boasts, as though un willing to receive any thing from God gratuitously, but desires itself to earn them or merit them superabundantly, as though he were in our service and debt, and we his lord. What is this but reducing God to an idol, yea, a mere Pomona1 , and elevating and regarding ourselves as God? But this is slightly too subtle, and cannot be comprehended by young pupils. But let this be said to the simpler, in order that they may well note the meaning of this commandment and retain it in memory, viz. that we are to trust in God alone, and look to him and expect from him all good, as from one who gives us body, life, food, drink, nourishment, health, protection, peace and all necessaries of both temporal and eternal things; who also preserves us from misfortune, and if any evil be fall us delivers and aids us, so that it is God alone (as has been sufficiently said) from whom we receive all good, and by whom we are de livered from all evil. Hence also, I think, we Germans from ancient times designate God (more elegantly and appropriately than in any other language) by that name from the word Good, since he is an eternal fountain which gushes forth and overflows with pure good, and from which emanates all that is and is called good. For even though otherwise we experience much good from men, we are still to consider whatever we receive by his command or arrangement as received from God. For our parents, and all rulers, and everyone besides, with respect to his neighbor, have received from God the command that they should do us all manner of good; so that we receive these blessings not from them, but, through them, from God. For creatures are only the hand, channels and means whereby God gives all things, as he gives to the mother breasts and milk to sup port her child, and corn and all manner of produce spring from the earth for nourishment, none of which could be produced by any creature of himself. There fore no man should presume to take or give any thing ex cept as God has commanded; in order that thereby it may be acknowledged as God’s gift, and thanks may be rendered him for it. On this account also these means of receiving good gifts through creatures are not to be rejected, neither should we in presumption seek other ways and means than God has commanded. For that would not be receiving from God, but seeking of ourselves. Let everyone, then, see to it that he esteem this commandment great and high above all things, and do not de ride it. Ask and examine your heart diligently, and you will find whether it cleave to God alone or not. If you have a heart that can expect of him nothing but what is good, and this too especially in want and distress, and that renounces and forsakes everything that is not God, then you have the only true God. If, on the contrary, it cleave to any thing else, of which it expects more good and help than of God, and do not find refuge in him, but in adversity flee from him, then you have an idol, an other god. In order that it may be seen that God will not have this commandment disregarded, but will most strictly enforce it, he has attached to it first a terrible threat, and then a beautiful consolatory promise which it is important to learn and to impress upon young people, that they may take it to heart and retain it: 

Exposition of the Appendix to the First Commandment