We all know that the times were different, that the circumstances were different, and that Luther's concerns were different (more about the rejection of Jesus as Messiah than a condemnation of the Jews as a race). We all know that even then some of Luther's words are still and will always be both shocking and inexcusable in the context of today. Strange, though, how we presume today that Luther's prejudicial condemnations of the Jews are more powerful than his contention for what is right in the Gospel. Sure, there are always those who look through the annals of history to find voices to justify and support their own flawed and failed reason. Racists are always looking for other racists in the same way the guilty are always looking for others with the same guilt. Suffice it to say that Luther was wrong. Period. End of discussion. While we esteem Luther highly when he got it right, we as Lutherans are no more bound to Luther's errors than we are to anyone else's failings. Luther's egregious words are neither part of our Confessions nor something to which we are obligated to defend. He was wrong. But we do not have to follow his error. It saddens me that there was a time when Luther's rhetoric (as well as the similar words of others) was almost normal. I do not own Luther's words on the Jews anymore than I own any other words of Luther that were not included in the Lutheran Confessions. Can we leave it at Luther was wrong about this?
There are Lutherans on the wrong side of just about every issue. What matters is not whether we own them and their words but whether we own the words of God! It is Scripture we are bound to and the Confessions and creeds that are faithful to the Scriptures. The same could be said of every other theological tradition -- from Roman Catholic to Jehovah's Witness. Surely we need to spend at least as much time professing the Scriptures and its promise of salvation in Christ alone as we do distancing ourselves from the sins and errors of those who went before us -- or perhaps even more time? Luther said some pretty screwy things and some shocking things that no Lutheran would ever agree with. Our job is to reject what he and others like him got wrong and put the bulk of our efforts and energies into what he got right -- the faith once delivered to the saints. If we spent all our time into identifying and distancing ourselves from what they got wrong, we would have nothing left to proclaim what he and others like him got right -- Jesus Christ crucified and risen.
Sometimes Christians get put on the hot seat just like those folks who are trotted out to hearings on Capital Hill. There is more interest in producing gotcha moments for the news cycle and fund raising letters than there is in real truth. So many of those who delight in pulling out Luther's words about the Jews are less interested in what Luther has to say than in creating another gotcha moment for Lutherans. We all know that. Some will try to pin the sins of the present upon Luther -- though perhaps fewer folks than those who tried to explain Hitler and the Nazis. In any case, we are bound to rather few of Luther's writings and only those that are part of the Lutheran Confessions. Luther had a lot of good things to say that do not bind us and a lot of bad things that also do not bind us to him or to his words. Curiously, this subject comes up every now and then but today it comes with the backdrop of Israel and Gaza. How we are connected to that fight, I do not know. There is little excuse for those who try to find cover for their racist or anti-Semitic views and yet there seems to be no shortage of folks who spout off with them -- Christians included. While it is tempting to do battle with those who find such prejudice Biblical or laudable, we should not waste our time on the lunatic fringe or on crackpots seeking fame or infamy on the internet. Edit a bit Jesus' own words: [Racist or anti-Semite], what have I to do with thee?
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There is nothing we can do about the past, except learn from it. If we do not learn from the past, as the saying of George Santayana noted, “we are condemned to repeat it.” Anyone familiar with the infamous and cruel comments Luther wrote about the Jews could not possibly excuse it, nor simply judge it as the cultural morays and the ignorance of his generation. We know Luther was great in so many ways, and God’s spear thrusting into the heart and soul of the Reformation, but like David, who sinned as well, including infidelity and the murder of Uriah, the grace if God extends to the penitent. Soli Deo Gloria
Antisemitism did not start in Germany with Luther, nor did it end with him. The real tragedy is that anti-Semitism was prevalent in Germany, and most of Europe, for centuries before Luther. We can find the names of the chief agitators, if we dig for them. By the time of the twentieth century, many of us knew their names. However, because Luther became a person of whom almost everyone had heard, his notoriety and his authority saw to it, that most of the anti-Semites referred to him in their ravings.
No, I will not take Luther to task for his anti-Semitism. The testimony of many learned writers has done that very effectively. The question that bothers me is, “how did baptized and church-going Christians fail to see the obvious, that Christianity and anti-Semitism are incompatible?”
About 80% of Germans, who took part in atrocities against Jews during Nazi rule, were baptized Christians.
Kristallnacht was deliberately scheduled by the Nazis on the eve of Martin Luther’s birthday.
As we face turmoil in the United States, we have to be very careful that we recognize what actions of our government demand our opposition, because they clearly defy what our Lord has taught us. Must we try to help the millions of children who will die of hunger, because of what our government has done? Must we help the families that were torn apart by immigration laws? Must we help the many children in our country, who will hunger, because the programs that fed them have been shut down?
I propose that we are not only obligated by our Lord’s words to help them, but also to expose those who caused these atrocities.
Peace and Joy!
George A. Marquart
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