The Marriage Ring: Three Sermons on Marriage

by Martin Luther, Paul Tice (Foreword)

Martin Luther (1483-1546) war der theologische Urheber der Reformation. Als zu den Augustiner-Eremiten gehörender Theologieprofessor entdeckte er Gottes Gnadenzusage im Neuen Testament wieder und orientierte sich fortan ausschließlich an Jesus Christus als dem "fleischgewordenen Wort Gottes". Nach diesem Maßstab wollte er Fehlentwicklungen der Christentumsgeschichte und in der Kirche seiner Zeit überwinden. Aus dem Buch: "Aufs erste wollen wir sehen, welche Personen miteinander die Ehe schließen können. Und auf dass wir dazu einen passenden Eingang machen, nehmen wir uns den Spruch 1. Mose 1, 27 vor: "Gott schuf den Menschen, als Mann und Weib." Auf Grund dieses Spruches sind wir sicher, dass Gott die Menschen in die zwei Teile geteilt hat: dass Mann und Weib oder ein Er und Sie sein soll. Und das hat ihm so gefallen, dass er's selbst ein gutes Schöpfungswerk nennt (1. Mose 1, 31). Darum wie Gott seinen Leib einem jeden von uns geschaffen hat, so muss er ihn haben, und es steht nicht in unserer Gewalt, dass ich mich zu einem Weibsbild oder du dich zu einem Mannsbilde machest, sondern wie er mich und dich gemacht hat, so sind wir: ich ein Mann, du ein Weib."

124 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1978

About the author

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, theologian, university professor and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.

Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.

Luther's confrontation with Charles V at the Diet of Worms over freedom of conscience in 1521 and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state as he had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the perceived unity of the medieval Church with the secular rulers of western Europe, the widespread acceptance of Luther's doctrines and popular vindication of his thinking on individual liberties were both phenomenal and unprecedented.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular, making it more accessible to ordinary people, had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.

Much scholarly debate has concentrated on Luther's writings about the Jews. His statements that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed were revived and used in propaganda by the Nazis in 1933–45. As a result of this and his revolutionary theological views, his legacy remains controversial.