The Central Theological Message of the Treatises

Two interconnected themes run through most of the early works published in Strasbourg: first, that we must acknowledge our own sinfulness and surrender all reliance on our own works, and, second, that we should trust God and God's promise in Christ as our only source of salvation. A few examples, taken from Luther's earliest Strasbourg treatises, should illustrate this well-known theme. Luther's exposition of the seven penitential psalms, which appeared in Strasbourg in 1519, returned repeatedly to our own sinfulness and wretchedness and our total dependence on God for help, strength, and salvation. Punishment came from God to remind us of our true nature, to make us rightly humble, and to prepare us for God's gracious gift of unmerited forgiveness. A good life, Luther explained, consisted not in outward works and appearance but in a sighing and troubled spirit.^[23] Yet while his stress on wretchedness, humility, sinfulness, and submission to deserved punishment understandably dominated this work on penitential psalms, Luther still brought in his second theme, as can be seen in a striking commentary on the seventh penitential psalm.

Not in my righteousness for that is sin and unrighteousness. As he says. Graciously make me true and righteous for I see some who wish to be true and righteous through their own truth and righteousness. Protect me from that! They wish to be something when they in fact are nothing, empty, liars, fools, sinners. It should be noticed here that the little word "your truth" and "your righteousness" does not refer to that by which God is true and righteous, as many think, but refers to the grace by which God makes us true and righteous through Christ, as the Apostle Paul, Romans 1 and 2 and 3, calls the righteousness of God and the truth of God, which is given to us through faith in Christ. In addition, God's truth refers not only to the word but more to the work and fulfillment of his word, which is due to this same grace and mercy. And just as a token or a painted gulden is not a true gulden but only represents one, and is indeed an empty thing and a deception if it is given or considered to be a true gulden. But a proper gulden is the truth and without deception. In such fashion all haughty and holy lives and works and righteousness is in relation to the righteousness and work of the grace of God a mere appearance and a deadly, harmful falseness if they are considered true goods where there is no truth. Rather it is God's [truth] which gives the true, substantial righteousness which is the faith of Christ. For this reason the little word "truth" may also be translated from Hebrew in fide tue , that is, in your faith.^[24]

To a modern ear sensitive to Luther's 1545 autobiographical account of his breakthrough to a new understanding of God's righteousness, this is a paragraph pregnant with significance, closely paralleling his later description of his Reformation discovery.

In his sermon on prayer and procession during Holy Week, Luther stressed from the outset that one had to trust in God's promise. For a prayer to be truly good and heard, one had to have a promise from God. "From this it follows," Luther advised his readers, "that no one obtains something on account of the worthiness of his or her prayer but only on account of the depths of divine goodness which anticipates all requests and desires through His gracious promise."^[25] It was crucial not to doubt God's promise.^[26] Above all our prayer to God should not rely on any sense of our worthiness. In fact it was our own sense of unworthiness that, paradoxically, made us worthy to be heard "because we believe that we are unworthy and we confidently venture everything on God's trustworthiness."^[27] In his sermon on contemplating Christ's passion, Luther located the promise in baptismal faith. Faith, Luther explained, firmly believed that baptism had established a covenant between us and God. For our part in the covenant, we had to fight against sin. For God's part, God had promised to be merciful to us and not count our sins against us.^[28] In his treatise on How One

Should Confess , published in Strasbourg in 1520, Luther began with the advice that a Christian should ground his confession "on the greatest and fullest trust in the most merciful promise and pledge of God and should firmly believe that almighty God will mercifully forgive him his sins."^[29] These examples could be multiplied many times over.