Gross Sinners

Luther was known for speaking his mind, especially when it came to those who despise Christ, His Word, and His Church. Read on...

“Our usurers, gluttons, drunkards, whoremongers, blasphemers, and scoffers shouldn’t be excommunicated by us. They excommunicate themselves. They despise the Word of God, enter no church, hear no sermon, receive no sacrament. If they don’t want to be Christians, let them be heathen, and forever! Who cares about this anyhow? If they take the goods of ministers and appropriate everything for themselves, the minister shouldn’t absolve them or administer the sacrament to them. They shouldn’t be allowed to attend any baptism, any honorable wedding, or any funeral. They should behave among us as heathen, which they’ll be glad to do! When they are dying, no minister or chaplain should visit them, and when they have died the hangman should drag them outside the town to the carrion pit, and no student or chaplain should escort them. If they want to be heathen we’ll treat them as heathen,” etc.

Martin Luther
Summer or Fall, 1542
“Gross Sinners Excommunicate Themselves”
Luther’s Works, Vol. 54: Table Talk, No. 5438

HT: Steadfast Lutherans