Bibles Studies by Martin Luther
In his lectures on Genesis, Luther marvelously describes the nature of faith and believing. Abraham was justified by faith (Rom. 4:1-6). He believed the extraordinary promises of the Lord and the Lord counted it to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). The same is true for you.
The hallmark of the Reformation is justification by faith alone. Luther emphasized this Reformation truth in his lectures on Genesis, particularly regarding the covenant of circumcision.
Luther says of the Genesis 12:1, “Therefore this passage is important as proof for the doctrine of grace over against the worth of merits and works, which reason extols so highly.
In the Large Catechism on the First Commandment Luther says, “There has never been a nation so wicked that it did not establish and maintain some sort of worship. All people have set up their own god, to whom they looked for blessings, help, and comfort.
The connection between the salvation given to the human race in the flood and the eternal salvation distributed in holy baptism cannot be overlooked. St. Peter writes...
Because we believe that this world will end and our Lord Jesus Christ “will come again to judge the living and the dead,” the world scoffs at and is hostile to what we preach. As we hold fast to the Word of God, let us consider how...
Rather than leaving Adam and Eve in the depravity of their alienation and hostility, God promised One Who would come and crush the serpent’s head. Jesus is the promised Seed of the Woman Who would reconcile a world of sinners back to God.
In the second article of the Augsburg Confession, Lutherans confess, “It is also taught among us that since the fall of Adam all men who are born according to the course of nature are conceived and born in sin...
A key teaching of the Reformation is Luther’s understanding of the three estates established and instituted by God: the church, the home, and the state.
The Bible is dripping with verses which teach that the Triune God - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - created all things and that this same God has redeemed us from sin, death, and hell through the blood of the incarnate Son.
Following in the footsteps of St. Paul, Luther and the Reformers sought true peace and unity in the Church through the pure proclamation of the Gospel.
In Galatians 5:16-17 St. Paul describes the conflict, within the believer, between the flesh and the Spirit, which are opposed to each other. Luther writes, “When someone becomes aware of this battle of the flesh...
Instead of preaching the Gospel of forgiveness and salvation by grace through faith in Christ, apart from works of the Law (Gal. 3:16), the false teachers in Galatia were peddling a religion of works based on the Law.
In chapter 4 of Galatians, St. Paul uses Sarah and Hagar to illustrate that salvation comes not by works of the law, but according to the promise of God. In the final verse...
The propensity of the sinner is to trust in the visible works of the Law; to place our confidence in our own deeds, rather than the saving act of Jesus’ death and resurrection.