Luther’s Works, Volume 24
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
The sermons contained in this volume show how masterfully Luther employed the cardinal principles of effective preaching. The Gospel According to St. John was close to Luther’s heart. To him this book was a never-failing source of edification, wisdom, and strength. In his preface to the sermons he delivered on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of Saint John’s Gospel he states that he is “resolved to interpret these chapters for the common man, but especially to defend and preserve the true and pure doctrine of Christ and of the Christian faith against the vile mobs of the devil, whether present or future.” The Reformer commends the words written by the evangelist “to pious Christians as their highest and most precious treasure and consolation.”
Top Highlights
“Happy is the Christian who can interpret it thus and apply it in hours of distress and trial, when death upsets him, when the devil assails and torments him, when the world reviles and defames him as an apostle of the devil. Then he can say: ‘See, I am being fertilized and cultivated as a branch on the vine. All right, dear hoe and clipper, go ahead. Chop, prune, and remove the unnecessary leaves. I will gladly suffer it, for these are God’s hoes and clippers. They are applied for my good and welfare.’” (Volume 24, Page 195)
“He who is able to learn, therefore, let him learn, in order that when afflicted and assailed everyone may conclude that the world, the devil, death, and all misfortune are only God’s hoe and clipper; that all the revilement and disgrace the Christian experiences is God’s way of fertilizing him.” (Volume 24, Page 195)
“But these words were recorded, not for their sakes, but for ours that we might also learn to apply this comfort to both present and future need. Every Christian, when baptized and dedicated to Christ, may and must accept and expect encounters with terror and anxiety, which will make his heart afraid and dejected, whether these feelings arise from one or from many enemies and adversaries. For a Christian has an exceedingly large number of enemies if he wants to remain loyal to his Lord.” (Volume 24, Pages 10–11)
“But the fertilizing and pruning I suffer will yield a richer fruit: that is, through My cross and death I shall come to My glory, begin My reign, and be acknowledged and believed throughout the world.” (Volume 24, Page 195)
“‘Wherever God erects a church, the devil builds his chapel or tavern next to it’” (Volume 24, Page 292)
- Title: Luther’s Works, Volume 24
- Authors: Helmut T. Lehmann, Martin Luther, Hilton C. Oswald, Jaroslav Pelikan
- Series: Luther’s Works
- Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
- Print Publication Date: 1961
- Logos Release Date: 2001
- Era: era:reformation
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible › Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History; Bible. N.T. John › Commentaries; Lutheran Church; Theology › Early works to 1800
- Resource ID: LLS:42.110.124
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-10-07T22:16:03Z