Concordia Publishing House has released the newest addition to the Luther’s Works series: Luther’s Works, Volume 57, Sermons IV. This volume contains selections of Luther’s preaching between May 1531 and June 1539. During this period, Luther grappled with how best to teach the doctrine of justification. The doctrine had been expressed in the Augsburg Confession at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, but Luther sought to make the doctrine accessible for every Christian through his preaching. The sermons explored the topics of Christian righteousness and the proper distinction of Law and Gospel as he crafted an approach to teaching justification that we still utilize today.

In this nine-year period, Luther also addressed Baptism, ordination to the preaching office, marriage, Christ’s return, the end of the world, the confession of the Trinity in the creeds, and the person of Christ. The topics Luther explained in his preaching and the content of the sermons themselves clarify that Christian doctrine is not for scholars and pastors alone, but also for the hearing, admonition, and consolation of all Christians. The messages he delivered in the sixteenth century still remain relevant today.

“Unlike many of Luther’s sermons, which were expository sermons on the Gospel and Epistle readings of the liturgical year, most of these sermons are topical in nature. The sermon on the thorough distinction of Law and Gospel from 1532, which was so influential on American Lutherans, now appears in its originally published form with the later expansions indicated in footnotes. The ordination sermons from 1535 and 1539 show Luther defending a new practice: centralized examinations and ordinations of pastoral candidates in Wittenberg, a change that Luther and his Elector enacted to check the spread of false doctrine in Saxony. The Sermon in Torgau (1533), moreover, is cited by the Lutheran Formula of Concord (1577) as an authoritative explanation of the doctrine of Christ’s descent into hell. These and many other sermons round out another solid contribution to the American Edition of Luther’s Works.

“These are significant sermons that shaped the formation of the church that confessed the Augsburg Confession at Luther’s time, and guided the Lutheran Church wherever and whenever she spoke German. Now these sermons are finally available in clear, accurate English, to guide all English-speaking Christians throughout the world to more faithfully hold to God’s Word and the grace of God in Christ.”

—Benjamin T. G. Mayes, Co-General Editor for Luther’s Works: American Edition; Assistant Professor of Historical Theology (elect), Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Features of Volume 57, Sermons IV:

  • Detailed footnotes and introductions explaining historical and theological context
  • Fully indexed
  • Clear, accurate translation in modern American English

To request a review copy of Luther’s Works Volume 57, please contact Lindsey Martie, Public Relations, at 314-268-1303 or by email at lindsey.martie@cph.org. Visit cph.org to learn more.

About the New Volumes of Luther’s Works, American Edition

Never before in English, the new series of Luther’s Works consists of the reformer’s Bible commentaries, sermons, prefaces, postils, disputations, letters, theology, and polemics—translated and published in English for the first time. No library is complete without these twenty-eight new volumes.