Who Are Rightly Called Saints, and Are So in Deed

This place, (as I have also forewarned you by the way) contains in it a singular consolation: For it teaches us that the saints and most holy men in this world live not without concupiscence and temptations of the flesh, nor yet without sins. It warns us therefore to take heed that we do not as some did, of whom Gerson writes, which labored to attain to such perfection, that they might be without all feeling of temptations or sins: that is to say, very stocks and stones.

The like imagination the Monks and Schoolmen had of their Saints, as though they had been very senseless blocks and without all affections. The virgin Mary felt great grief and sorrow of spirit when she missed her son (Luke 2:48). David in the Psalms complains that he is almost swallowed up with excessive sorrow for the greatness of his temptations and sins. Paul also complains that he has battles without, and terrors within: and that in his flesh he serves the law of sin (Romans 7:2[illegible]). He says that he is careful for all the churches: and that God showed great mercy toward him, in that he delivered Epaphroditus being at the point of death, to life again, lest he should have had sorrow upon sorrow (2 Corinthians [illegible]:5). Therefore the saints of the Papists are like the Stoics, who imagined such wise men, as in all the world were never yet to be found. And by this foolish and Devilish persuasion which proceeded of the ignorance of this doctrine of Paul, the Schoolmen brought both themselves and others without number, into horrible desperation.

When I was a Monk I did many times most heartily wish, that I might once be so happy, as to see the conversation and life of some Saint or holy man. But in the mean time I imagined such a Saint as lived in the wilderness abstaining from meat and drink, and living only with roots of herbs and cold water: and this opinion of those monstrous saints, I had learned not only out of the books of the Sophisters and Schoolmen, but also out of the books of the fathers. For thus writes Jerome in a certain place: As touching meats and drinks I say nothing, for as much as it is excess, that even such as are weak and feeble should use cold water, or eat any sodden thing, etc. But now in the light of the Gospel we plainly see who they are whom Christ and his Apostles call Saints: Not they which live a sole and a single life, or strictly observe days, meats, apparel and such other things, or in outward appearance do other great and monstrous works, (as we read of many in the lives of the fathers): but they which being called by the sound of the Gospel and baptized, do believe that they be justified and cleansed by the death of Christ. So Paul everywhere, writing to Christians, calls them holy, the children and heirs of God, etc. Whoever then does believe in Christ, whether they be men or women, bond or free, are all Saints: not by their own works, but by the works of God, which they receive by faith: as his word, his sacraments, the passion of Christ, his death, resurrection, victory, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. To conclude, they are saints through such a holiness as they freely receive, not through such a holiness as they themselves have gotten by their own effort, good works and merits.

So the ministers of the word, the magistrates of commonwealths, parents, children, masters, servants, etc. are true saints, if first and before all things they assure themselves that Christ is their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption: Secondly, if every one does his duty in his vocation according to the rule of God's word, and obeys not the flesh, but represses the lusts and desires thereof by the spirit. Now, whereas all be not of like strength to resist temptations, but many infirmities and offenses are seen in the most part of men: this nothing hinders their holiness, so that their sins proceed not of an obstinate willfulness, but only of frailty and infirmity. For (as I have said before) the godly do feel the desires and lusts of the flesh, but they resist them, to the end that they accomplish them not. Also if they at any time unadvisedly fall into sin, yet notwithstanding they obtain forgiveness thereof, if by faith in Christ they be raised up again: who would not that we should drive away, but seek out and bring back the straying and lost sheep, etc. Therefore God forbid that I should straightway judge those which are weak in faith and manners, to be profane or unholy, if I see that they love and reverence the word of God, to come to the supper of the Lord, etc. For these God has received, and counts them righteous through the remission of sins: to him they stand or fall, etc.

Therefore, with great rejoicing I give thanks to God, for that he has abundantly and above measure granted that to me, which I so earnestly desired of him when I was a Monk: For he has given to me the grace to see, not one but many saints, indeed an infinite number of true saints: not such as the Sophisters have devised, but such as Christ himself and his Apostles do describe. Of the which number I assure myself to be one. For I am baptized, and I do believe that Christ my Lord by his death has redeemed and delivered me from all my sins, and has given to me eternal righteousness and holiness. And let him be held accursed, whoever shall not give this honor to Christ, to believe that by his death, his word, etc. he is justified and sanctified.

Therefore, rejecting this foolish and wicked opinion concerning the name of Saints (which in the time of Popery and ignorance we thought to pertain only to the Saints who are in heaven, and on earth to the Hermits and Monks who did certain great and strange works), let us now learn from the holy Scripture that all who faithfully believe in Christ are Saints. The world has in great admiration the holiness of Benedict, Gregory, Bernard, Francis, and such like, because it hears that they have done in outward appearance and in the judgment of the world certain great and excellent works. Doubtless Hilary, Cyril, Athanasius, Ambrose, Augustine, and others were Saints also, who lived not so strict and severe a life as they did, but were conversant among men, and did eat common meats, drink wine, and used clean and comely apparel, so that in a manner there was no difference between them and other honest men as touching the common custom and the use of things necessary for this life, and yet were they to be preferred far above the other. These men taught the doctrine and faith of Christ sincerely and purely, without any superstition; they resisted heretics; they purged the church from innumerable errors; their company and familiarity was comforting to many, and especially to those who were afflicted and heavy-hearted, whom they raised up and comforted by the word of God. For they did not withdraw themselves from the company of men, but they executed their offices even where the greatest resort of people was. On the contrary, the others not only taught many things contrary to the faith, but also were themselves the authors and first inventors of many superstitions, errors, abominable ceremonies, and wicked worshippings. Therefore, except that at the hour of death they laid hold of Christ and reposed their whole trust in his death and victory, their strict and painful life availed them nothing at all.

These things sufficiently declare who are the true Saints in deed, and which is to be called a holy life: not the life of those who lurk in caves and dens, who make their bodies lean with fasting, who wear hair cloth, and do other like things with this persuasion and trust, that they shall have some singular reward in heaven above all other Christians. But the holy life is that of those who are baptized and believe in Christ, who put off the old man with his works, but not all at once. For concupiscence and lust remain in them as long as they live; the feeling of which does them no harm at all if they do not allow it to reign in them, but subdue it to the spirit.

This doctrine brings great consolation to godly minds, so that when they feel the darts of the flesh with which Satan assails the spirit, they should not despair. As it happens to many in the Papacy, who thought that they ought to feel no concupiscence of the flesh, whereas nevertheless Jerome, Gregory, Benedict, Bernard, and others (whom the Monks set before them as a perfect example of chastity and all Christian virtues) could never come so far as to feel no concupiscence or lust of the flesh. Indeed, they felt it, and that very strongly. Which thing they acknowledge and plainly confess in various places of their books.

Therefore we rightly confess in the articles of our belief that we believe there is a holy Church. For it is invisible, dwelling in spirit in a place that none can attain to, and therefore her holiness cannot be seen; for God does so hide and cover her with infirmities, with sins, with errors, with various forms of the cross and offenses, that according to the judgment of reason she is nowhere to be seen. Those who are ignorant of this, when they see the infirmities and sins of those who are baptized, who have the word and believe it, are immediately offended and judge them not to belong to the Church. And in the meantime they dream that the Hermits, the Monks, and such other shavelings are the church, who honor God with their lips and worship him in vain, because they follow not the word of God but the doctrines and commandments of men, and teach others to do the same. And because they do certain superstitious and monstrous works, which carnal reason magnifies and highly esteems, therefore they judge them only to be Saints and to be the church. And in so doing they change and turn this article of the faith completely contrary: 'I believe that there is a holy church' — and in the place of the words 'I believe' they put 'I see.' These kinds of righteousness and holiness of man's own devising are nothing else but spiritual sorceries with which the eyes and minds of men are blinded and led from the knowledge of true holiness.

But thus we teach, that the Church has no spot nor wrinkle, but is holy, and yet through faith only in Christ Jesus. Again, that she is holy in life and conduct by abstaining from the lusts of the flesh and the exercise of spiritual works; but yet not in such a way that she is delivered from all evil desires or purged from all wicked opinions and errors. For the church always confesses her sins and prays that her faults may be pardoned. She also believes the forgiveness of sins. The Saints therefore do sin, fall, and also err; but yet through ignorance, for they would not willingly deny Christ, forsake the Gospel, etc.; therefore they have remission of sins. And if through ignorance they err also in doctrine, yet is this pardoned; for in the end they acknowledge their error, and rest only upon the truth and the grace of God offered in Christ, as Jerome, Gregory, Bernard, and others did. Let Christians then endeavor to avoid the works of the flesh; but the desires or lusts of the flesh they cannot avoid.

It is very profitable therefore for them to feel the unclean lusts of the flesh, lest they should be puffed up with some vain and wicked opinion of the righteousness of their own works, as though they were accepted before God for the same. The Monks being puffed up with this opinion of their own righteousness, thought themselves to be so holy, that they sold their righteousness and holiness to others, although they were convinced by the testimony of their own hearts, that they were unclean. So pernicious and pestilent a poison it is for a man to trust in his own righteousness, and to think himself to be clean. But the godly, because they feel the uncleanness of their own hearts, therefore they cannot trust to their own righteousness. This feeling so makes them to stoop, and so humbles them that they cannot trust to their own good works, but are constrained to flee to Christ their mercy seat and only succor: who has not a corrupt and sinful, but a most pure and holy flesh, which he has given for the life of the world: in him they find a sound and perfect righteousness. Thus they continue in humility: not counterfeit and monkish, but true and unfeigned, because of the uncleanness which yet remains in their flesh: for which if God would strictly judge them, they should be found guilty of eternal death. But because they lift not up themselves proudly against God, but with a broken and a contrite heart humbly acknowledging their sins, and resting wholly upon the benefit of the Mediator Christ, they come forth into the presence of God, and pray that for his sake their sins may be forgiven them: God spreads over them an infinite heaven of grace, and does not impute to them their sins for Christ's sake.

This I say to the end that we may take heed of the pernicious errors of the Papists touching the holiness of life, wherein our minds were so wrapped, that without great difficulty we could not wind ourselves out of them. Therefore do your endeavor with diligence, that you may discern and rightly judge between true righteousness or holiness, and that which is hypocritical: then shall you behold the kingdom of Christ with other eyes than carnal reason does, that is, with spiritual eyes, and certainly judge those to be true Saints indeed which are baptized and believe in Christ, and afterwards in the same faith whereby they are justified and their sins both past and present are forgiven, do abstain from the desires of the flesh. But from these desires they are not thoroughly cleansed: for the flesh lusts against the spirit. Notwithstanding these unclean and rebellious lusts do still remain in them, to this end that they may be humbled, and being so humbled, they may feel the sweetness of the grace and benefit of Christ. So these remnants of unclean lusts and sins do nothing at all hinder, but greatly further the godly: for the more they feel their infirmities and sins, so much the more they flee to Christ the throne of grace, and more heartily crave his aid and succor: to wit, that he will cover them with his righteousness, that he will increase their faith, that he will endow them with his holy spirit, by whose gracious leading and guiding they may overcome the lusts of the flesh, that they rule and reign not over them, but may be subject to them. Thus true Christians do continually wrestle with sin, and yet notwithstanding in wrestling they are not overcome, but obtain the victory.

This have I said, that you may understand, not by men's dreams, but by the word of God, who be true Saints indeed. We see then how greatly Christian doctrine helps to the raising up and comforting of weak consciences: which treats not of cowls, shavings, shearings, fraternities and such like trifles, but of high and weighty matters, as how we may overcome the flesh, sin, death and the Devil. This doctrine, as it is unknown to all justiciaries and such as trust to their own works, so is it impossible for them to instruct or bring into the right way one poor conscience wandering and going astray: or to pacify and comfort the same when it is in heaviness, terror, or desperation.

Verse 19. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness, idolatry, witchcraft, etc.

Paul does not recite all the works of the flesh, but uses a certain number for a number uncertain. First he reckons up the kinds of lusts, as adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness, etc. Now, not only carnal lust is a work of the flesh, as the Papists dreamed, who called marriage also a work of the flesh (so chaste and holy are these men) of which God himself is the author, which also they themselves reckoned among their sacraments: but he numbers also among the works of the flesh (as I have said before) idolatry, witchcraft, hatred and such other, which hereafter follow. Therefore this place alone does sufficiently show what Paul means by the flesh. These words are so well known that they need no interpretation.

This passage, as I have also noted along the way, contains a remarkable comfort — for it teaches us that the saints and the holiest people in this world do not live free from fleshly desire and temptation, nor free from sin. It warns us not to follow the example of some people Gerson writes about, who labored to attain such a level of perfection that they would be without any feeling of temptation or sin — seeking to become, in effect, logs and stones.

The monks and scholastics had the same idea about their saints — as though they had been senseless blocks without any feelings or emotions. The virgin Mary felt deep grief and anguish when she could not find her son (Luke 2:48). David complains throughout the Psalms that he is nearly swallowed up by the overwhelming weight of his temptations and sins. Paul also laments that he faces conflicts on the outside and fears within, and that in his flesh he serves the law of sin (Romans 7). He speaks of his constant anxiety for all the churches, and says that God showed him great mercy by sparing Epaphroditus from death — so that Paul would not have sorrow upon sorrow (2 Corinthians 2:5). The saints of the papists, therefore, are like the ideal wise men of the Stoics — figures that never actually existed anywhere in the world. And through this foolish and diabolical idea, which arose from ignorance of Paul's teaching, the scholastics drove both themselves and countless others into terrible despair.

When I was a monk, I often wished with all my heart that I could see the life and conduct of some saint or holy man. But the saint I imagined was someone living alone in the wilderness, fasting from food and drink, surviving on roots and cold water. I had learned this notion of monstrous saints not only from the books of the scholastics but also from the writings of the early fathers. Jerome writes in one place: 'Concerning food and drink I say nothing, since it is already excess if even the weak and sick use cold water or eat anything boiled.' But now in the light of the Gospel we can clearly see who Christ and His apostles actually call saints: not those who live a solitary and withdrawn life, strictly observing special days, foods, clothing, and similar things, or performing great and extreme outward feats (as we read of many in the lives of the fathers) — but those who, called by the preaching of the Gospel and baptized, believe that they are justified and cleansed by Christ's death. Paul everywhere, writing to Christians, calls them holy, children and heirs of God. Whoever believes in Christ — whether men or women, slave or free — is a saint: not through their own works, but through the works of God which they receive by faith — His word, His sacraments, Christ's suffering, His death, resurrection, victory, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. In short, they are saints through a holiness they freely receive, not through a holiness they have earned by their own effort, good works, and merits.

So ministers of the word, civil magistrates, parents, children, masters, servants — all are true saints, if first and above all they are assured that Christ is their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and if second, each person does his duty in his calling according to God's word and does not obey the flesh but represses its desires through the Spirit. Not everyone has equal strength to resist temptation, and many weaknesses and failures are visible in most people — but this does not destroy their holiness, as long as their sins arise not from stubborn willfulness but only from fragility and weakness. For the godly, as I said before, do feel the flesh's desires — but they resist them so as not to carry them out. And if they do sometimes fall into sin carelessly, they can still obtain forgiveness — if by faith in Christ they are lifted up again by Him, who does not want us to drive away the straying and lost sheep but to seek them out and bring them back. God forbid, then, that I should immediately judge as unholy those who are weak in faith and in conduct, when I see that they love and honor God's word, come to the Lord's Table, and so on. For these God has received and counts as righteous through the forgiveness of sins — before Him they stand or fall.

I therefore give thanks to God with great joy that He has given me abundantly and beyond all measure what I so earnestly longed for when I was a monk — for He has granted me to see not one but many saints, an endless number of true saints: not the kind the scholastics invented, but the kind Christ Himself and His apostles describe. I am assured that I myself am among their number. For I am baptized, and I believe that Christ my Lord has by His death redeemed and delivered me from all my sins, and has given me eternal righteousness and holiness. And let anyone be held accursed who will not give Christ this honor — to believe that through His death, His word, and all He has done, a person is justified and sanctified.

Let us therefore abandon that foolish and wrong idea about who is called a saint — an idea we held in the time of popery and ignorance, when we thought sainthood applied only to those in heaven and on earth only to hermits and monks who performed certain extraordinary feats. Let us learn from holy Scripture that all who faithfully believe in Christ are saints. The world greatly admires the holiness of Benedict, Gregory, Bernard, Francis, and those like them, because it hears that they performed outwardly impressive and unusual works by worldly standards. But Hilary, Cyril, Athanasius, Ambrose, Augustine, and others were saints as well — and they did not live so strict and austere a life. They moved about among people, ate normal food, drank wine, wore decent and respectable clothing — in most ways of daily life there was little outward difference between them and other upright men. And yet they were far superior to the others. These men taught the doctrine and faith of Christ sincerely and purely, without superstition; they resisted heretics; they cleared the church of countless errors; their company and friendship were a comfort to many, especially to the afflicted and troubled, whom they lifted up and comforted through the word of God. They did not withdraw from human society but carried out their calling right where people gathered most. The others, by contrast, not only taught many things contrary to the faith, but were themselves the originators and inventors of many superstitions, errors, abominable ceremonies, and wicked forms of worship. Therefore, except for those who at the hour of death laid hold of Christ and placed their whole trust in His death and victory — their strict and arduous way of life availed them nothing.

All of this makes sufficiently clear who the true saints actually are, and what kind of life is rightly called holy. It is not the life of those who hide away in caves and dens, who starve their bodies with fasting, wear hair garments, and do similar things — believing that through these acts they will receive some special reward in heaven above all other Christians. The truly holy life is that of those who are baptized and believe in Christ, who are putting off the old self and his works — though not all at once. For desire and fleshly craving remain in them as long as they live, yet this feeling does them no harm as long as they do not allow it to reign but keep it subdued to the Spirit.

This teaching brings great comfort to godly minds, so that when they feel the arrows of the flesh with which Satan attacks the Spirit, they will not despair. Many in the papacy fell into despair precisely because they believed they were supposed to feel no fleshly desire whatsoever — while Jerome, Gregory, Benedict, Bernard, and others (held up by monks as perfect examples of chastity and all Christian virtue) could never reach the point of feeling no desire or craving of the flesh. They felt it — and felt it strongly. They acknowledge and openly confess this in various places in their own writings.

We therefore rightly confess in the articles of our faith that we believe there is a holy church. For it is invisible, dwelling in spirit in a place beyond reach — and so its holiness cannot be seen, because God hides and covers it with infirmities, sins, errors, various kinds of cross-bearing, and offenses. By the judgment of reason it seems to be nowhere. Those ignorant of this, when they see the weaknesses and sins of those who are baptized, have the word, and believe it, are immediately offended and conclude that these people do not belong to the church. Meanwhile they imagine that hermits, monks, and similar shaved-headed figures are the church — people who honor God with their lips but worship Him in vain, because they follow not God's word but the traditions and commandments of men, and teach others to do the same. Because these people perform certain unusual and impressive works that fleshly reason admires and esteems highly, they are judged to be the only true saints and the only real church. In doing so, people completely reverse and invert this article of faith — 'I believe there is a holy church' — replacing the words 'I believe' with 'I see.' These human inventions of righteousness and holiness are nothing but a kind of spiritual witchcraft that blinds people's eyes and minds and draws them away from the knowledge of true holiness.

But we teach this: the church has no spot or wrinkle but is holy — through faith in Christ Jesus alone. She is also holy in life and conduct by abstaining from the desires of the flesh and practicing spiritual works — yet not in such a way that she is free from all evil desires or purged of every wrong opinion and error. For the church always confesses her sins and prays for the pardon of her faults. She also believes in the forgiveness of sins. The saints therefore do sin, fall, and even err — but through weakness, not because they would willingly deny Christ or forsake the Gospel. And so they have the forgiveness of sins. If through weakness they err also in doctrine, that too is pardoned — for in the end they acknowledge their error and rest solely on the truth and the grace of God offered in Christ, as Jerome, Gregory, Bernard, and others did. Let Christians strive, then, to avoid the works of the flesh — the desires of the flesh, however, they cannot avoid.

It is in fact very good for the godly to feel the unclean desires of the flesh, lest they become puffed up with some vain and wicked confidence in the righteousness of their own works, as though God accepted them for those works. The monks, inflated with exactly this confidence in their own righteousness, imagined themselves so holy that they sold their righteousness and holiness to others — even while their own hearts convicted them of uncleanness. This is how poisonous and deadly it is for a person to trust in his own righteousness and to imagine himself clean. The godly, because they feel their own heart's uncleanness, cannot place their trust in their own righteousness. That feeling keeps them bowed down and humbled, so that they cannot lean on their own good works but are driven to flee to Christ their mercy seat and only help — whose flesh is not corrupt and sinful but most pure and holy, given for the life of the world. In Him they find a complete and perfect righteousness. They continue therefore in humility — not the fake and monkish variety, but genuine and unfeigned humility, because of the uncleanness that still remains in their flesh. If God were to judge them strictly for it, they would be found guilty of eternal death. But because they do not exalt themselves proudly against God, but with broken and contrite hearts humbly acknowledge their sins and rest entirely on the grace of the Mediator Christ — coming into God's presence and asking that their sins be forgiven for Christ's sake — God spreads over them an infinite heaven of grace and does not count their sins against them, for Christ's sake.

I say this so that we may be on guard against the dangerous errors of the papists concerning holiness of life — errors in which our minds were so deeply entangled that we could barely free ourselves from them without great struggle. Work diligently, then, to distinguish and rightly judge between true righteousness and holiness on the one hand and mere hypocrisy on the other. Then you will see Christ's kingdom with different eyes than the fleshly ones — with spiritual eyes — and will rightly recognize as true saints those who are baptized and believe in Christ, and who in the same faith by which they are justified and their sins both past and present are forgiven, also abstain from the desires of the flesh. Yet they are not fully freed from those desires — for the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit. Nevertheless, these unclean and rebellious cravings remain in them for this purpose: that they might be humbled, and being humbled, might taste the sweetness of Christ's grace and blessing. So these remaining unclean desires and sins do not hinder the godly at all — they actually advance them. For the more they feel their weaknesses and sins, the more earnestly they flee to Christ the throne of grace and the more urgently they cry out for His help — asking Him to cover them with His righteousness, to strengthen their faith, and to fill them with His Holy Spirit, by whose gracious leading they may overcome the desires of the flesh, so that those desires do not rule and reign over them but are kept subject. In this way true Christians are continually wrestling with sin — and yet in wrestling they are not overcome but win the victory.

I have said all this so that you may understand, not from human imagination but from the word of God, who the true saints actually are. We see how greatly Christian teaching helps to lift up and comfort weak consciences — it does not deal with religious habits, tonsures, monastic vows, brotherhoods, and similar trifles, but with weighty and serious matters: how we overcome the flesh, sin, death, and the devil. This teaching is unknown to all who pursue righteousness through works and trust in their own merits — and so it is impossible for them to guide even one poor, wandering, and lost conscience back to the right path, or to bring peace and comfort to a conscience weighed down by grief, terror, or despair.

Verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, etc.

Paul does not list every single work of the flesh — he uses a specific list to represent the broader category. He begins with various kinds of sexual sins: adultery, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, and so on. Now, not only sexual desire is a work of the flesh, as the papists imagined — who also called marriage a work of the flesh (so chaste and holy were these men!), even though God Himself instituted marriage, and they themselves counted it among their sacraments. As I said before, Paul also numbers among the works of the flesh: idolatry, sorcery, hatred, and the other sins that follow in the list. This passage alone is enough to make clear what Paul means by 'the flesh.' These terms are well known enough that they need no further explanation.