Martin Luther’s Easter Book and the Extra Calvinisticum

As we come up to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday, I want to recommend a resource to you that you can read maybe over the next week or so, devotionally. It’s a resource put together by Roland Bainton. That name may be familiar to you since he’s written what many consider to be the best biography of Martin Luther, Here I Stand. Bainton has also put together two books that you can read devotionally. And these two books are some of Martin Luther’s sermons. One is called Martin Luther’s Christmas Book, and the other one is called Martin Luther’s Easter Book. Both are available on Amazon.

If you haven’t ever interacted with anything Martin Luther has written, you may get a bad impression of him. Sometimes he’s known as sort of the bull in the china shop. Certainly, he was very pointed in his criticism of heretics and of hypocrites, and rightfully so, so were Paul and Christ. But when you read these two books of his sermons, you will get to know the warm and pastoral side of Martin Luther. I encourage you to get a copy and read it, maybe even as a family.

The other thing you’re going to get is the opportunity to sharpen up your theology. As you may know, we don’t agree with Luther on everything. We’re thankful for his courage and his boldness during the Reformation to stand on Scripture alone. But we disagree with Martin Luther’s understanding of the sacraments, especially the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The book presents some of Luther’s sermons dealing with the Last Supper. He wrote, “It is, it is, it is says Paul, a communion of the body of Christ” (that’s Luther’s repetition, not a typo, by the way).

When Luther left the Roman Catholic Church, he rejected the idea that when the priest said the words of institution in the mass that the bread and wine actually transformed and became the body in the blood of Christ. But Luther continued to say, because of Christ’s words “This is my body,” and “This is my blood of the New Covenant” that the elements of bread and wine, did not become the body and the blood, but the body and the blood of Christ were by, with, and under the elements. We believe that Christ is spiritually present with those elements, that there is a real presence, but it isn’t by and with and under.

I want to step just into that a little bit more. The reason that Luther was able to say that the body of Christ was by and with and under, is because he believed Christ’s human nature was omnipresent like his divine nature. Calvin, in his debate with Luther, said no that’s not correct. And what you’re doing there is you’re confusing the attributes of the divine nature with his human nature. The divine and the human are inseparably joined together, but they’re not confused, they’re not mixed. The attributes of his divine nature, remain in his divine nature, and the attributes of his human nature, remain in his human nature. So the human humanity of Christ doesn’t become omnipresent.

This, then, is not just about the Lord’s Supper. This is about the nature of Christ. It is correct to say that Christ in His divine nature is omnipresent. Christ in His human nature is right now seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, in the heavenly places, and still united with His divine nature. So that’s important.

I hope you’ll, you’ll take the opportunity to pick up a copy of Martin Luther his Easter book or read through it, read it devotionally maybe as a family, pick up the Christmas book and read it. Notice the warmth of Luther but also read discerningly seeking to grow in your own understanding of your theology, your doctrine around the Lord’s Table.