Letter to Bernhard, a Converted Jew (1523)

Now since the golden light of the Gospel rises and shines, the hope is at hand that many of the Jews will be honestly and sincerely converted and drawn in earnestness to Christ, like you and some others have been, who are the remnant of the seed of Abraham, which is supposed to be saved through grace. For the one who has begun it will also lead it to completion and not allow his word to return to him empty. It therefore seemed good to me to send this little book [Luther's treatise That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew] to you for the strengthening and reinforcement of your faith in Christ, whom you recently learned to know from the Gospel and into whom you now finally also are baptized in the Spirit and are born from God. I also would wish that through your example and your work, Christ might also be made known among other Jews, who were predestined, are called, and shall come to their king David, in order that he might lead and save them, whom our priests and Pharisees in unbelievable madness reject even though they are ordained for this purpose, so that this judgment might come upon them. Conduct yourself well in the Lord and pray for me.

To be sure, Luther could be strident and abrasive in his writings. And because we know he ardently fought for what he believed and against an entrenched Roman Catholic hierarchy, these types of writings stand out in our minds. Luther never minced words, but spoke his mind and spoke so that sometimes even the common person understood him. One knew where one stood with Luther. He would rather tell you to your face what he thought about you rather than whisper behind your back.

In the just-concluded series on That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew we see those qualities of Luther shine through. We can read his rage at those who would ascribe to him false teachings concerning the teachings about Christ, his Christology if you will. He sought to affirm that he believed that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he is true God, and that he is the Messiah prophesied by the prophets. Luther wanted it made clear that he did not teach that Jesus had a human father or was not God. If anyone makes this claim about Luther, they are either mistranslating Luther's German or reading something into Luther's text that I do not see.

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