“God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not be lost, but have eternal life.” [John 3:16]Martin Luther, “Gospel for Pentecost Monday (John 3:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 77 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2014), 367–376. This sermon is found in WA 21:479–97 (Aland Po 246; Cruciger’s edition of the Summer Postil, 1544). See also E 12:350–73; StL 11:1092–115, from which: Lenker 3:350–71. The textual basis for this sermon cannot be determined (cf. WA 22:xxiii).
8. With these words He leads us directly up into the Father’s heart so that we would see and know that this is the high, wonderful plan of God, decreed from eternity: that we would be helped through this Son. This also had to be fulfilled in this way to establish God’s truth, since He had promised it previously in Scripture. From this we should plainly see and know that God does not intend to throw us away and condemn us because of our sins. Rather, when we are frightened of God’s wrath because of our sins, He wants us to consider this eternal, divine will and fervently believe that we obtain God’s eternal grace and eternal life for the sake of this Savior and Mediator.
9. Let us look at what kind of rich, comforting words these are which present to us, in every circumstance and all kinds of ways, this great, excellent work of God and His inexpressible treasure, which is offered and given to us here. First, the person of the Giver is not a man, an emperor, or a king, or even an angel, but the high, eternal Majesty, God Himself, compared to whom all people—no matter how rich, powerful, and great they are—are nothing but dust and ashes (Isaiah 40 [:6–7]). What more can we say about Him? He is incomprehensible, immeasurable, inexhaustible.
10. He is no longer a driver who only demands from us and, as Moses calls Him, a consuming and “devouring fire” [Deut. 4:24; 9:3], but a rich, gushing, eternal fountain of all grace and gifts. He really should be called the true Giver.3 What are all emperors and kings with their gifts, gold, silver, land, and people compared to Him? Here our hearts should swell and grow with desiring, wishing, and expecting what this Lord and God will give. It must certainly be something great and excellent, suitable for this high Majesty and rich Lord. Everything in heaven and on earth must be small and insignificant compared to this Giver and His gifts.
11. Second, what is the reason for His giving, and what moves Him to do this? It is nothing other than pure, inexpressible love. He does not give out of debt or obligation or because someone had asked or entreated for this. Rather, He is moved by His own goodness as a Lord who gladly gives, whose desire and joy is to give completely free of charge, without anyone seeking it.
12. Just as there is no greater giver than God, so there is no greater virtue (either in God or man) than love. We pawn and spend everything, even body and life, for what we love. In comparison, patience, humility, and all other virtues are nothing or are included in this one, which is everything. When I love someone, I certainly will not be angry with him nor wrong him nor quarrel with him nor be insufferable toward him, but I will be ready to serve, aid, and help him wherever I see that he needs me. In summary, he has me with my body, goods, and all my possessions.
13. Therefore, here again our hearts should grow and become big against all sorrow, because such riches of the boundless love of God are set before us. He gives them in such a way that they flow from the fatherly heart, and thus gush up from the highest virtue, which is the fountain of all goodness. This makes the gift valuable and precious, just as the proverb praises the person who regards an insignificant gift as valuable and says, “It comes from a loving hand.” Where there is love and friendship, one does not look so much at the gift as at the heart, which brings great importance to the gift. If God had given me only one eye, hand, or foot, and I knew that He did this out of fatherly love, it would be much dearer to me than many thousand worlds. When He gives us the dear Baptism, His Word, Absolution, and the Sacrament, they should be our daily paradise and kingdom of heaven, not with regard to the gift’s appearance, which is not great before the world, but because of the great love from which it was given.
14. Third, look at the gift itself. Without a doubt, it must be something excellent and inexpressibly great which such a rich Giver gives us out of sincere, great love. What does He give? Not great kingdoms, not one or more worlds full of silver and gold, not heaven and earth with all that is in them, not the entire creation, but His Son, who is as great as He Himself is. This is an eternal, incomprehensible gift (just as the Giver and His love are also incomprehensible). It is the fountain and source of all grace, goodness, and kindness—yes, the possessions and property of the eternal goods and treasures of God. This is a love not with words but with deeds and in the highest degree, proven with the most precious benefit and work that God Himself has and can do.
15. What more should or can He do and give? Because He gives the Son, what does He retain that He is not giving? By doing this, He even gives Himself completely, as Paul says, “If He did not spare His only-begotten Son, how shall He not with Him have given us all things?” (Romans 8 [:32]). Obviously, everything must have been given with this one who is His only-begotten, dearest Son, the Heir and Lord of all creation; and all creatures must have been subject to us: angels, devils, death, life, heaven and earth, sin, righteousness, the present and the future, as again St. Paul says, “All are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3 [:22–23]), for in this Son it is all and all.
16. Fourth, how and in what way is the Son given? Look at what He does and suffers! For our sake He becomes a man under the Law, that is, under God’s wrath (on account of our sins), and was put to death, even the most disgraceful death—lifted up on the wood and hanging in the air, condemned (as Christ says just before this [John 3:14]). He had to take on Himself the devil’s and all of hell’s rage and fury and contend with them. That means that He was offered up in the highest way. Nevertheless, He did all this in such a way that He tramples underfoot the devil, sin, death, and hell; He rules over them through His resurrection and ascension; He gives us all this to be our own, so that we have both Him and all that He did. He gives all of this in such a way that He does not count the gift as a reward or merit—nor is it loaned, borrowed, or to be repaid—but it is freely given and granted out of purely tender grace. The receiver should and can do nothing more than open his hand and hold it out and accept whatever is given to him by God—which he certainly needs—with love and thanksgiving.
17. Fifth, the receiver, to whom this is given, is also depicted here. He is, in a word, the “world.” This is, first, a strange and unusual loving and giving. This is a very strange antitype: the one loved compared to the one loving. How does this love of God for the world make sense? What does He find in it that causes Him to pour Himself out so much for it? If it were said that He loved the angels, they at least are glorious, noble creatures, worthy of love. But what, on the other hand, is the world other than a great mass of people who do not fear, trust, or love, praise or thank God, who misuse all creatures, slander His name, and despise His Word? Moreover, they are disobedient, murderers, adulterers, thieves, scoundrels, liars, betrayers, full of unfaithfulness and all evil tricks. In short, they are transgressors of all commandments, insubordinate and refractory in every point, adhering to God’s enemy, the devil.
To this tender, sweet fruit, this dear and beautiful bride and daughter, He gives His dear Son and with Him everything. Yet He would have more than enough reason (if He only heard “the world” mentioned) instantly to smash her altogether to powder with His thunder and lightning and throw her into the abyss of hell. The word “world” sounds exceedingly shameful before God, and they are very rarely put together. “God loves the world” sounds like two highly contradictory things, almost as if someone said, “God loves death and hell and is the friend of His bitter, eternal enemy, the accursed devil.”
18. This love is demonstrated beyond measure, and the gift is made inexpressibly great, when we compare both the Giver and the one to whom it is given. God pours out His heart so very much toward the unlovely, hostile figure, whom He really should abandon to only wrath, vengeance, and damnation. He pays no attention to the fact that the world is so full of despising God, slander, disobedience, and utter ingratitude for all the gifts He previously bestowed on it, but swallows at once all its vices and sins. Even if the Giver were so great and full of goodness, the great wickedness and vices of the world, which are excessive and innumerable and great, ought to stop and restrain Him. What man can even count and sufficiently weigh his own sin and disobedience? Yet this great love overcomes Him so that He takes away from it each and every sin and transgression, so that they are forgotten eternally, dead, and gone, and instead He grants His Son and everything with Him.
19. Thus this article, for which St. Paul and the doctrine of faith contend, is sufficiently and undeniably proven and attested, namely, that we have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life without any of our merit and worthiness (gratis), out of pure grace, only for the sake of His beloved Son, in whom God has loved us so highly that this love takes away and blots out all our sins and the world’s sins. With us there is nothing but sin, for which He gives us His love and forgiveness. The prophet Isaiah (chapter 40 [:2]) says how the Gospel will be preached: “Her sin is forgiven, and she has received double from the hand of the Lord for all her sins.”
20. Thus this gift and grace is much greater, more boundless, and mightier than all sins on earth, so that the unworthiness of any man and of all of them together—even the deserved eternal wrath and damnation—cannot be so great that the greatness of this love and grace or forgiveness does not outweigh and even inundate them in height, depth, breadth, and width [Eph. 3:18], as St. Paul says, “Grace abounds more than sin” (Romans 5 [:20]). Psalm 103 [:11] says, “As high as the heaven is above the earth,” so far He takes all our sins away from us. What else can it be than the forgiveness of sin when He loves the world, while it is still stuck in all its sins, abominations, and slander? If He can love the world, which is His enemy and slanderer, in such a way and to such an extent that He gives Himself for it, how, then, can He be angry with you (if you seek and desire grace) or not want to forgive your sins?
21. What heart would not cheerfully expect all good from Him when He shows such love that He sent His dear Son to the evil, damnable people (that is, the whole world, which is all people), who never did anything good, but every hour acted against His Commandments? First of all, they should [not] have such great love and unspeakable good as a reward. What did I do and live previously in my life in the monastery, when I crucified Christ daily for fifteen years and practiced all idolatry! And besides all that with which I so highly angered Him, He loved me in such a way that He forgets all my evil and reveals to me His Son and Himself with all grace. This can truly be called an incredible richness of boundless love.
22. Lord God, how can the world not take to heart such excellent, great things? Should we not all be happy at heart here? We have lived to see the time when we can hear such things, love and praise this God, and in thanks not only gladly serve Him but also gladly suffer everything. Should we not even laugh if we have to die for the sake of His Word and obedience, and let this maggot sack be put to death through fire, sword, and all torment? However, thanks to the shameful, abominable unbelief and the great, blind darkness (about which Christ Himself later complains)—with which hearts are possessed—they are so obstinate and dead that we can hear such things and yet not believe!
23. Sixth, we next have the causa finalis, [that is,] why and to what purpose He does all this, and what His intention is. He obviously gives it not so that I can have something to eat and drink from it, or some ordinary worldly benefit, riches, honor, or power. Similarly, He does not want to give it as harm or poison, just as He has not given His Word, Baptism, and the Sacrament as poison, but so that we should have the highest, best benefit from it. He gives them for the purpose (He says) “that man would not be lost, but have eternal life” [John 3:16]. What this means is not that I would get many golden crowns and kingdoms from it, and yet still have to remain in sin and death, but that I would be free from hell and death and not lost eternally. What this gift will effect is that hell is obliterated for me, the devil is thrown under my feet, and thus my frightened, distressed, deadened heart becomes a cheerful, living heart; and, in summary, that I have eternal, imperishable life instead of eternal destruction and death.
24. This must certainly follow such an excellently high gift, when the Son of God is rightly known and grasped with the heart. Where He is, there must also be everything good, conquest over all evil and redemption from it, eternal freedom, glory, and joy—not, however, deserved by us. Rather, we are delivered by the great, eternal love with which God has mercy on our misery and distress and gave His Son. Otherwise, we would have to be and remain lost forever, irrespective of all our holiness from works and worship, and could never obtain eternal life.
25. Whoever can enlarge his heart has enough reason here to do so. What thing more glorious and better could you wish to say to a heart than that eternal life has been given and presented to it, so that death will never again be seen, and there will be no want, need, sorrow, and temptation forever? Rather, it will feel only joy and the full riches of all treasures, and be certain that we have a gracious God and that all creatures cheerfully smile on us. It can easily be seen from this that God does not have in mind or intend to slay and trouble the people, as the devil portrays it to timid hearts through the Law and by showing them their unworthiness. Rather, He wants to give life, the life that is called “eternal life” and “joy.” He gives His own Son as a pledge and token of this. He certainly would not do that if He did not love us but wanted to be angry and condemn us.
26. This and similar glorious and comforting passages should really be worth more to a Christian than the treasures of all the world, for they are the kind of words that no one can thoroughly investigate or exhaust. Yes, if they are rightly believed, they would make a good theologian or, even more, a strong, cheerful Christian who can speak and teach rightly about Christ, judge all other doctrines, advise and comfort anyone, and suffer everything that comes his way.
27. However, we must pray that the Holy Spirit would impress this on our hearts, and we must daily think this over, so that we fall asleep and wake up with these words. Now, however, as we regard them, so they take root, so that they cannot produce the fruit they should. Rather, we must bewail the world’s ingratitude, which lets [these words] pass by ears and hearts, while it seeks perishable goods, honor, and glory. As a result, it loses this eternal treasure, for which it must condemn and curse itself in hell forever.
28. Seventh and last, what is the way by which we are to grasp this treasure and gift, or what is the bag or chest in which we are to put it? It is faith alone (as Christ says here, “So that all who believe in Him will not be lost” [John 3:16], etc.). Faith opens its hands and pocket and simply lets good be done to it. Just as God, the Giver, grants this through His love, so we are the receivers through faith, which does nothing except receive the gift. It is not our doing, and it cannot be merited through our works. It has already been given and offered, but you are to open your mouth—or, rather, your heart—keep quiet, and be filled [cf. Ps. 81:10]. This can happen in no other way than by believing these words, since you hear that He requires faith here, which ascribes this treasure completely to it.
29. Here you also see what faith is and means: it is not a mere empty thought about Christ, that He was born of the Virgin, suffered, was crucified, rose, and ascended into heaven. Rather, faith is a heart that includes and contains the Son of God in itself, as these words read, and holds with certainty that God has offered up His only-begotten Son for us and loved us so much that for His sake we shall not be lost but have eternal life.
That is why He plainly says “all who believe in Him” [John 3:16]. This is a faith that does not look at its works, nor at the strength and worthiness of its faith, nor at what kind of qualitas—a created or infused virtue—lies in its heart, about which the blind sophists dream and delude themselves. Rather, apart from itself it clings to Christ and includes Him as its own, certain that it is loved by God for His sake, not because of its own works, worthiness, or merit; for all of that is not the treasure given by God, which is Christ, God’s Son, in whom we are to believe.
30. What other benefit would there be in the present or gift—which is faith itself—if it were nothing more than an unused tool and if people did not look at it and take comfort from what it grasps and contains? This alone is what makes it precious, so that people can say, “Faith may be a small and insignificant monstrance or box, but in it there is a gem, pearl, or emerald so precious that heaven and earth cannot contain it.”
31. Therefore, we teach from Scripture that we are justified and please God through faith alone, because it alone grasps and contains this treasure, the Son of God. If I weigh and compare this gift and my works with each other, then the scales are greatly tipped and overflow, so that all people’s holiness is nothing compared to a drop of the blood that He offered up and poured out for us, to say nothing about all that He has done and suffered. Therefore, I cannot at all rely on my own virtue or worthiness.
32. Why would we want to boast anymore about our deeds when we hear that our situation is such that we would altogether have to be lost forever, if this treasure had not been offered up for us? This takes the glory away not only from all human works but also from the entire Law of God, so that, even if someone has all of it and does it according to his ability, he still has not reached the point that he will not be lost. Otherwise, what other need would there be for these words: “so that all who believe in Him will not be lost,” etc.? Thus He shows that neither Moses nor the holiness of all people can redeem them from death or give life. It all depends only on this one Son of God.
33. Now you see what great and excellent things are combined in this passage. The Giver, who is so great and mighty, the Creator of all creatures, not only says, “Good morning,” or kindly smiles at us, but loves us—and loves us so heartily that He gives us not only a beggar’s portion of perishable goods but also His highest, dearest treasure, His Son, who is also Lord of heaven and earth. He shows this love not to His friends, but to those who are His enemies, and no creature (with the exception of the devil himself) is less worthy of that love. Thus He offers Himself up for them so that they are snatched out of death and hell and made certain of eternal life. What greater and higher thing could be said or thought, in every point?
34. No matter how great and inexpressible all of this is, it is in comparison much greater and more amazing that a human heart can believe all of this. It must be a heart that can grasp more than heaven and earth can contain. We must see what an excellent, divine power and work faith is. It can do what is impossible for nature and all the world and is no less miraculous than all God’s miracles and works, even greater than that God became man, born of a virgin (as St. Bernard [1090–1153] says [in Sermons on the Eve of the Lord’s Birth 3.7–10]). The greatness of the things we are hearing about are too wide and far from each other to be compared, namely, the love of Him who gives and of Him who is given, and the unworthiness of the one given to. Everything is so very large, and the human heart is so very small, narrow, and weak that it must be startled and frightened at such greatness.
35. If it was said to me that God had endowed me above all people such that I should live on earth several thousand years, have peace and prosperity, and all that my heart desires, then I would say: “That cannot be God’s Word! It is too much and too great. Who am I that God should give me such things?” How much less does it enter the human heart that God should give this treasure, His Son, and with Him eternal life and salvation? Who can express how great it is? How precious and noble this merely bodily life is! Who would give it up for all the kingdoms, money, and goods on earth? But compared to eternal life and treasures, it is much less than a moment. In summary, it cannot be imagined, unless we might take away a little from it and so consider by comparison the harm and misery which is called “being lost forever.”
36. Nevertheless, a Christian must reach the point that he does God and the Lord Christ the honor of believing that His Word is the truth and of regarding his own unbelief as a liar. Where this happens, the Holy Spirit has already begun His power and work of faith, and the heart is so wide open that it can take hold of this treasure, which is greater than heaven and earth. Even so, this happens in great weakness, and on earth it can never attain to perceiving faith as it should, but it always remains in the longing and sighing of the Spirit, which is also inexpressible for man himself, so that his heart says: “If only that were true!” and “Who could believe it?” etc.
37. Nevertheless, this sighing and spark of faith does so much that God counts it as complete faith and says, “As you believe, so may it be to you.” Because you believe this, you will surely be saved, for this Word is a power and might stronger than all fright of sin and damnation. This gift is so great that it swallows sin, death, and hell, just as when a little drop of water falls into a glowing oven or when a little spark on a straw falls into the deep ocean. If only the heart could remember these words in temptation, then no devil or hell could frighten it, and it would cheerfully have to say: “Of what will I be afraid? I have God’s Son, given to me by the Father. Of this He gives me the Word as witness, which I know is His Word. It will not lie to me, as little as He can lie and deceive, even though I, unfortunately, cannot believe strongly enough.”
38. “Yes,” you say, “I would gladly believe if I were like St. Peter, Paul, and others who are righteous and holy, but I am too great a sinner. Who knows whether I am elect?” Answer: Look at the words! Look at how and about whom He is speaking: “God so loved the world” and “so that all who believe in Him” [John 3:16]. Now, “the world” does not mean only St. Peter and Paul, but the entire human race together, and here no one is excluded. God’s Son was given for all, all are to believe this, and all who believe will not be lost, etc. Look at yourself in the face, or look in your bosom, to see whether or not you are also a human being (that is, a part of the world) and in the number which the word “all” includes, as well as others. If I and you do not accept this, then these words must also have been spoken falsely and in vain.
39. This was surely not preached—much less given and granted—to cows and geese. Therefore, beware of excluding yourself by permitting thoughts such as: “Who knows whether it has also been given to me?” That would be calling God a liar in His Word. Rather, make a cross before yourself and repeat these words: “Even if I am not St. Peter or Paul, I am still a part of the world. If He had wanted to give it only to the worthy, then He would have had to send this preaching only to the angels, who are pure and without sin. Yes, He would even have had to withhold it from St. Peter, David, and Paul, for they were sinners as well as I am. No matter who I am, I know that God’s Word is true, and if I do not accept it, then, on top of all other sins, I am also committing this one, that I regard God’s Word and truth as lies and am slandering them.”
In other sections of this sermon, Luther also added:
He wants to have us pinned and bound to this [Word], so that in faith we escape the judgment and are saved. The others, however, are justly damned, not because they have had sin, but because they despised the Son and did not want to believe in this name, which was proclaimed to them for salvation and blessedness. All creatures, sin, and death should and must yield to this name (wherever it is preached and believed); the devil and all the gates of hell must be frightened and flee from it.Luther, “Gospel for Pentecost Monday (John 3:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, 77:378.
Well, He has done enough for the world, everything He should do, in letting His light shine, offering and declaring His love and eternal life in Christ. What more can they now plead for why they should not justly, even according to their own verdict and for their own guilt, be damned?Luther, “Gospel for Pentecost Monday (John 3:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, 77:380.
It becomes obvious when they, without any reason, persecute Christ, who wants to deliver them and all the world; when they slander and push away God’s Word, which brings them all grace and salvation; when they banish and murder good, innocent people, who confess the Word and love Christ.Luther, “Gospel for Pentecost Monday (John 3:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, 77:381.
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