Luther’s 1532 Easter sermon

Martin Luther, preached in Wittenberg on Easter day, 31. March 1532 on the topic of Christ's descent into hell. It is a long sermon, partly because I believe when it was published in Luther's Works it was a combination of three separate sermons he had preached combined into one. The original German can be found in the Weimar Ausgabe (WA 37 (XXI) 35-72).

LUTHER ON THE DESCENT OF CHRIST INTO HELL

[From a Sermon at Torgau 1533  See Epitome and SD 9 (Kolb 514, 634)]

 1. As we have now buried Christ the Lord, and heard how He died, we must also resurrect Him again, and celebrate the day of Easter, on which He entered upon another and new life, in which He can no more die, and has become a Master over death and all creatures in heaven and earth. This is declared by this article when we say: Descended into hell, on the third day arose from the dead.

 2. For before He arose and ascended into heaven, and while yet lying in the grave, He also descended into hell, in order that He might deliver us from it who were to be held as prisoners in it; just as He became subject to death and was buried in the grave, so that He might deliver His own there from. But I will not discuss this article profoundly and minutely, as to how this took place or what the phrase descended into hell means, but will be content with the simplest meaning.

 3. That the words convey, as we must represent the matter to children and uneducated people. There have indeed been many who have attempted to bring this matter down to the level of reason and common sense. They have, however, accomplished nothing thereby, but were led only farther away from the faith. Therefore, if any one wishes to get on well and not be hindered, the safest thing for him to do is to stick to the words and understand them in a simple way as best he can.

 4. In this way it has been the custom to represent in fresco — painting how Christ went down, clad in a priestly robe and with a banner in His hand — how He reaches hell and with His banner beats and drives out the devil, takes hell by storm and delivers His followers. And in this way, too the children have been taught in their plays the night before Easter.  And I am glad to see it thus set before the simple-minded in paintings, plays and songs, etc.; and so we should let well enough alone, and not worry ourselves with profound and envious questions as to how it may have taken place, since it surely did not occur physically, for He remained those three days in the grave.

 5. Although we might with acuteness and subtlety discuss the question as to how it really occurred (indeed, we teachers have disputed whether He descended personally and by actual presence of His soul, or only by virtue of His power and effectively), this cannot be grasped or fathomed by our reasonings, and those disputants have not understood it themselves. For I may well refrain from attempting to describe in language or to grasp with my senses what is going on in the state of being that is far beyond and above this life. For I cannot even understand everything that belongs to this life; as, for instance, what were the thought and feelings of our Savior in the garden when He compassionately endured the bloody sweat;  but I must let it stand as it is in the Word and in the Creed. Still less can we think or tell how He descended into hell; but, as we are compelled to form conceptions and images of that which is conveyed to us in words, and cannot think of or understand anything without such an image, it is proper and right that we look at it literally, just as it is painted, namely, that He descends with the banner, breaks to pieces and destroys the gates of hell; and we should give ourselves no concern about deep and incomprehensible reasonings on the subject.

 6. For such paintings well exhibit the force and value of this article; therefore it is held forth, preached and believed how that Christ destroyed the power of hell and stripped the devil of all his might. If I have this, I have the real gist and meaning of it, and am not to ask or curiously inquire any further as to how this took place or was possible, just as such frivolous and rationalizing concerning the other articles is forbidden, and is, besides, of no avail. Otherwise, if I wanted to be as smart as some who carry their heads very high and make fun of our simplicity, I too could joke about it and ask what kind of a banner He had, whether it was made of cloth or of paper, and how it happened that it was not burned in hell; also, what kind of gates and castles hell has, etc.; and thus, after a heathenish fashion, I could laugh at the Christians as the greatest fools for believing such things. That is a wretched and an easily acquired art that everybody may know without their teaching; yes, even swine and kine  [cows] may be adepts in it. So, too, I could grandly allegorize about it, and show the meaning of banner and staff or cloth and gates of hell.

 7. For we are, thank God, not so dumb as to believe or say that this took place physically or with standard of wood and cloth, or that hell is a wooden or iron building.  But we have nothing to do with such questions, frivolity and explanations, simply saying that one may form an idea from such rude pictures of what this article means; just as other doctrines concerning Divine things are represented by rude outward images, as Christ Himself everywhere in the Gospels exhibits to the people the mystery of the reign of heaven by visible images and by parables, or as we paint the Child Jesus stamping upon the head of a serpent, and as Moses represented Him to the Jews in the wilderness by the brazen serpent [Numbers 21,8-9]; also as did John the Baptizer when he called Him the Lamb of God [John 1,29]. For such images clearly and easily help us to understand and to remember anything, besides giving pleasure and comfort; and if they were of no other use they serve to ward off the devil with his dangerous darts and temptations, who tries to lead us astray from the Word with his lofty reasonings, so that we may grope and scramble about with our reason in the grand articles until he at last overthrow us.

 8. And we have undoubted proof that the old fathers spoke and sang in this same way about it; so too it is sung in the old hymns; and we sing at Easter:

 He who shattered hell,
 And in it bound the hateful devil, etc.

For if a child or unlettered person hears this, he does not think anything else than that Christ conquered the devil and took away all his power; that is the true and Christian way to think about it; it exactly hits the real truth and meaning of this article, although not strictly describing the fact or expressing it just as it occurred. But what of that, if it does not injure my faith, but gives me clearly the real meaning that I can and am to get out of it? And, though I search diligently ever so long, I cannot understand anything more about it, but am very likely to lose the real meaning of it if I am not thoroughly guarded and do not cling firmly to the Word. We must present the truth in child-like and simple figures to the rude people as best we can. Otherwise, one of two things will happen: either they will not learn or understand anything about it, or if they want to be wise and reason profoundly about it they may lose their faith altogether.

 9. I speak in this way because I see that the world now wants to be wise in the devil’s name, and to love it according to their own notions in the articles of faith, and to get to the bottom of everything. So here, when it hears that Christ descended into hell, it rushes in and is determined at once to reason it out how it occurred, and starts all manner of far-fetched and useless questions: Whether the soul alone descended, or whether the Divinity went along with it? Also, what He did there? And how He managed the matter with the devil? And many such matters of which they can know nothing. But we ought to let such useless questions alone, and simply fix and fasten our hearts and thoughts upon the words of the Creed, which says: I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, dead, buried and descended into hell; that is, on the whole person, God and man, with body and soul, undivided, born of the Virgin, suffered, died and is buried; therefore here too I must not divide it, but believe and say that the same Christ, God and man, on one person, descended into hell, but did not remain there; as Psalm 16,10 says of Him: You will not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer your Holy One to see corruption. The word soul is here applied to Him according to the Scriptural use of the term, not meaning an existence distinct from the body, but the whole man, as He here calls Himself, the Holy One of God.

 10. But how this could be, that the man lies in the grave and yet descends into hell — that we must leave unexplained and un-comprehended, for it certainly did not take place physically and comprehensibly, although we must imagine and paint it rudely and physically, and thus speak of it by comparisons, as if a powerful general or a giant were to enter a fortified castle with his army and banners and weapons and destroy it, and capture and bind the enemies therein, etc. Therefore, if you are asked about this article, how the descent to hell took place, answer simply thus: I really do not know that, nor shall I be able to understand or explain it; but I can roughly paint it for you, and give you a picture of it that will speak clearly and plainly of hidden things: that He went and took the banner as a conquering hero, and with it burst open the gates, and made such an ado among the devils that one tumbled out of a window this way and another that way out of a hole.

 11. And now here you arrive, you half-fledged witling, with your bespattered sophistry and begin to mock: Is it then so, as I hear, that hell has wooden gates, made by the carpenter? How, then, has it stood so long without being burned up? Answer: That I knew very well before your wisdom was born, and you needn’t teach me, that hell is not built of wood and stone, nor has it such gates and windows, locks and bolts, as a house or castle on earth, and He didn’t destroy it with a banner made of cloth. Thank God, I can speak of these things just as smartly as any one of these frivolous people, and, besides, can nicely explain and interpret the meaning of such images and figures. But I will rather be content with the childlike understanding and the simple, clear words of this article than to plunge with them into the profound reasonings which they do not themselves understand, and with which the devil is leading them astray. For such an image cannot harm or mislead me, but is of service and helps me more firmly to grasp and hold this article, and its meaning remains clear and undistorted (God may decide whether the portals, gates and banners are wooden or iron, or whether there were none at all), since we must by means of figures form our ideas of things that we do not actually know, even if they do not exactly fit or are not really as they are represented.

 12. And so I believe here that Christ Himself personally has destroyed hell and bound the devil. God may decide whether the banner, portal, gate and chain were of wood or iron, or whether there were none at all: no matter about that, if I only hold on to that which I am to believe concerning Christ, and which is represented by such images. This is the principal matter, the benefit and the power that we derive from it, so that neither hell nor devil can capture or harm me or any who believe on Him.

 13. This is now what we have to say in the plainest manner in regard to this article: That we should hold fast to the words and cling to this main point, that for us, through Christ, hell has been torn to pieces and the devil’s reign and power utterly destroyed; that to accomplish this He died, was buried and descended thither, so that it should no longer harm or overwhelm us, as He Himself says, Matthew 16,18.

 14. For, although hell itself remains hell and holds captive the unbelieving (so also death, sin and all misfortune), so that they must remain therein and perish, and alarms and distresses even ourselves according to the flesh and the outward man, so that we have to fight and struggle with it, yet in faith and in the spirit is all destroyed and rent asunder, so that it can no longer harm us.

 15. This has all been accomplished by this one Man: that Christ our Lord descended into hell, otherwise the world with all its powers would not have been able to redeem any one from the bonds of the devil, or to remove the pain and the power of hell for one sin, though all the saints had gone down to hell for the sin of one man; but all that ever came upon earth would have had to remain therein for ever if the Holy, Almighty Son of God had not descended thither in His own person and conquered and destroyed it by His Divine power. For no Carthusian hood or Carmelite hempen girdle, nor the holiness of all the monks, nor the power and might of the whole world, could have extinguished a little spark of the fire of hell. But it is done when this Man Himself descends with His banner; then all the devils have to run and flee as from their death and poison, and all hell with its fire becomes extinguished before Him, so that no Christian needs to fear it, and if he were to go down thither he should suffer none of the pain of hell; just as through Christ he does not taste death, but presses through death and hell to eternal life.

 16. But our Lord Christ did not simply leave it at that, that He died and descended into hell (for in the end that would not have done us any good). He also came back from death and hell. He was brought again to life, and He opened heaven. Thus, He publicly demonstrated His victory and triumph over death, the devil and hell in that, according to this article, „on the third day He rose again from the dead.“ That is the culmination and the very best of what He has done, and in it we have everything. For therein lies all power, strength and might and everything that is in heaven and earth. Through the fact that he is risen from the dead, he has become a mighty Lord over death and everything that lay in death’s power or that served death. Thus, death can no longer gobble him up nor hold him in its grip. Sin cannot fall upon Him anymore and drive Him to death. The devil cannot bring an accusation against Him anymore; nor can the world or any other creature harass or harm Him. And non of them can do anything against us anymore, for they serve Death and Hell as the judge’s flunky and the hangman’s toady; they usher us to the judge and hangman and hand us over to them. All those who have escaped death are outside its control, and therefore they cannot trap us or hang on to us. We have also escaped all these other enemies and are lord over world, devil, every trap, sword, fire, gallows and all afflictions, and we can defy and deride them.

 17. The praise for this belongs alone to the Lord Christ. For through His Almighty Divine power, He has brought this to pass. But He did not do so for Himself; rather, He did it for His poor miserable people who would have had to remain eternally captive to death and the devil. Beforehand, in and of Himself, He had had nothing to fear from death and all other misfortune. He did not have to die and to descend into hell. But because He stuck Himself into our flesh and blood and took all our sins, punishment and misfortune upon Himself, He had to help us escape. And then He grabbed hold of life again. In His own body, according to His human nature, He became the lord of death so that we might escape in Him and through Him from death and every misfortune. Therefore Scripture speaks of Him as the firstborn of the dead as He broke the trail for us and went ahead of us into eternal life so that through His resurrection we might go through and experience a glorious victory over death and hell. For we whom death and hell had held captive are not only redeemed; we also have become victors and lords through faith. Through this faith we are clothed in His resurrection, and we shall all someday rise physically and visibly and shall soar above; all things shall lie eternally under our feet.

 18. It is characteristic of a strong faith to make this article of faith strong and sure and to write these words: Christ is risen, with large letters onto the heart and make them as large as heaven and earth. As a result, our hearts will be able to see, hear, think and know nothing else than this article, as though there were nothing else written in all of creation. Faith should submerge itself totally in this article and live from it alone, as St. Paul was accustomed to say; he was a true master at setting forth this article. His heart and mouth were always filled with descriptions of how Christ is risen. He slipped so easily into words like these: He has made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, Ephesians 2,5-6. In Galatians 2,20, he wrote: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In Romans 8,33-34, he wrote: Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, yes, who was raised, and so forth.

 19. If we would believe this, then we would live well and die well. For such a faith would teach us properly that He not only is risen for Himself but that His resurrection is inseparably connected with ours. It is also valid for us, and we also stand in the He is risen and are enwrapped in it. Through it and because of it we must also rise and live with Him eternally. Our rising and living (as St. Paul also says) has begun in Christ. Even though it is still hidden and not revealed, it is as certain as if it had already happened. Henceforth, we should fix our gaze on this article so firmly that everything else in our view is nothing by comparison, so firmly that you see nothing else in earth or heaven. So when you see a Christian dying and being buried, lying there like nothing else than a dead piece of wood, dead to both your eyes and your ears, nonetheless, through faith you see another image instead of that image of death. You see not a grave, not a dead piece of wood. You see nothing but life and a beautiful, lovely garden or a green meadow, and in it nothing but new, living, happy human creatures.

 20. For it is so that Christ is risen from the dead, and because of this we have the best part, the foremost piece of the resurrection already. Our own physical resurrection from the grave in the flesh (which is still future) is not very important by comparison., For what are we and all the world alongside Christ our head? Hardly a droplet alongside the sea, or a little fleck of dust alongside a large mountain. For Christ, the head of the Christian Church, through whom she lives and has everything and has grown so great, fills heaven and earth. He is risen from the grave and through His resurrection has become a mighty lord fall things, including death and hell, as we have heard. So because we are His members, His resurrection also make its impact in our lives and engages us, for we share it with Him. He has arranged that. His resurrection happened for our sakes. He has taken everything along with Himself. Through His resurrection, both heaven and earth, sun and moon, must become new. Likewise, He will also take us along with Himself, as St. Paul said in 1. Thessalonians 4,14 and then in Romans 8,11.20. The same God who raised Christ from the dead will make our mortal bodies alive. Along with us, all creatures who now are subjected to futility, and who long for the glory that is ours, will be freed from this decaying existence and be glorified. Therefore, we already have more than the half of our resurrection because the head and heart are already above. What is yet to take place is the smallest part: the body must be buried in the earth so that it may be made new. For where the head is, there the body must also follow, as we see in the birth of all animals.

 21. And there is the other half, yes, far more than a half: that we have already risen spiritually in faith through Baptism. The best part for us is not only that physically the very best has taken place—our head has ascended out of His grave into heaven—but also that in its spiritual essence, our soul already has its part and is with Christ in heaven (as St. Paul was accustomed to say). Now only the husks and the peelings or the shards are here below, but because of the chief part they must also follow into heaven as well. For this body is, as St. Paul says, only a hovel for the would, made of earth or clay, a worn-out piece of clothing, an old, mangy fur. However, because the soul is already in the new heavenly life through faith and cannot die and be buried, we expect nothing more than that this poor hovel and this old fur will become new and never pass away. For the best part is above and cannot leave us behind. He who is called Ressurexit has taken off, has left death and the grave behind. Those who say the Creed and cling to it shall follow after, for Christ has gone before us that we should follow after Him. He has initiated this so that we might daily rise in Him through the Word and Baptism.

 22. Behold! we should get used to thinking such thoughts of faith against outward, physical perspectives of the flesh, which simply place death before our eyes. They want to terrify us with its image and cause us to doubt the article of the resurrection and destroy this article of faith. We can really set ourselves up for a fall when we let our reason with its ideas hang before our eyes, and when we do not clutch the word in our hearts against reason. For we cannot have thoughts of anything else but death when we see a corpse lying there. It is more heartrending and ghastly than a dead piece wood, sordid, rotting and stunning so badly that no person on earth can stand it. There is no medical treatment that can help, nothing to be done apart from burning the body or burying it as deep under the earth as possible.

 23. But when you grasp the word in faith, yo get another point of view. It can see through this death into the resurrection and form nothing but thoughts and images of life. This is indeed a part of the resurrection and the beginning of new life. It creates a new way of thinking and conceiving of things. No one could think this way who had not already made this transition through faith and come to understand the resurrection and brought the outward self along, so that it has to think and live in this way, too. Therefore, against everything in human nature an human thinking, we can conclude: If I want to orient myself according to reason as I see and understand things, then I am lost. But I have higher level of understanding, for my eyes see and my senses feel what faith teaches me. There stands the text: He is called Resurrexit, He is risen, and not for Himself but for our sakes . His resurrection is our resurrection, and we have been raised in Him. We shall not remain in the grave and in death, but we shall observe the eternal Easter day with Him in our bodies.

 24. For look at what the farmer does. He sows in his field and throws the grain onto the earth, where it has to spoil and rot. It looks as though it has been lost. But he is not worried, as if all had been in vain. He actually forgets where the grain is. He does not ask about it, or whether the worms are eating it or it is being spoiled in some other way. He proceeds simply with the idea that by Easter or Pentecost there will be beautiful stalks rising up, and even more that they will be bearing grain, for he has thrown the seed into the field. If others, who had never seen grain growing before, would see that, they would certainly say to the farmer: „What are you doing , you fool? Are you crazy and stupid that you throw away your seed onto the earth in such a wasteful fashion , for it is certainly going to rot and decay and will be of use to no one?“ If you did ask him, he would give a very different answer. He would say: „Friend, I knew beforehand, before you asked, that I was not supposed to throw away the grain for no good purpose,. But I did not do it so that it would rot, but rather so that by decaying in the earth, it would take on another form and produce much fruit.“ That is the way all think who see or do such things. We do not take our orientation from what we see with our eyes but rather what we have seen and experience as the work of God year after year, even if we may not know or understand how it takes place, and much less have the ability with our own power to bring one little stalk out of the earth.

 25. Because we have to conduct ourselves according to this kind of earthly procedure, how much more should we learn this article (which we can grasp and understand much less) because we have the Word of God and with it the experience that Christ has risen from the dead. We do not take our orientation from that which we see before our eye as our body is buried, burned or in some other way returns to the earth. Instead, we should let God do and take care of what is supposed to come of it. For if we immediately comprehend what is before our eyes, we would not need to believe, and God would not have the opportunity to demonstrate His wisdom and power over our wisdom and understanding. therefore, it is called the skill, the art and the wisdom of the Christian that in midst of mourning and lamentation, we can draw comforting and joyful thoughts regarding life: God lets us be buried in the earth and rot for the winter, so that in the summer we shall once again emerge much more beautiful than this sun. It is as if the grave were not a grave but rather a garden planted with wonderful carnations and roses that remain green and blossom the whole lovely summer through. Similarly, the grave of the Lord Christ had to be emptied, stop stinking and become lovely, glorious and beautiful.

 26. In this manner, the dear, holy martyrs and virgins have spoken and thought as they were led into jail and to death, as can be read about St. Agatha, who convinced herself that she was going to a dance and that all torture and suffering with which she was threatened should not be regarded in any other way as that they were whistling a dance tune for her so that she could dance. It is also written of St. Vincent and others that with joy and laughter they went to their death and mocked their judges and hangmen. For they had a far firmer image of the resurrection than any farmer has of his harvest in the field. They grasped it so firmly to that they could only mock the hangmen, death and the devil.

 27. Let us learn this in such a way so that we drive this article into our hearts. We can take comfort in it and use it to spite the devil when he sharpens his spear against us and threatens us with death and hell. For, as we said, since our Head, upon whom everything rests, has risen and lives, and since we are baptized in Him, we already have more than half the matter behind us. Only a tiny little part remains that has to be fulfilled as we lay aside the old skin so that it might become new. Fro because we already have taken complete possession of the inheritance, the husks and peelings will follow most certainly.

 28. For this time, that is enough on this article of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here can be seen how to summarize and recapitulate all the wisdom and knowledge which a Christian should know. This is indeed a sublime wisdom, above all wisdom and knowledge, but it is not created on earth, nor does it develop in our own heads. It is revealed from heaven and is a Divine spiritual wisdom. It lies hidden in mystery (as St. Paul says in Romans 11,33). For reason and this world cannot attain the tiniest piece of this wisdom, cannot grasp it, cannot understand it even if it is placed directly before it. Instead, reason and the world do the very opposite. They get angry with such teaching and regard it as no more than a great foolishness. God with His Word must simply be their food and be a liar in their eyes. They have to condemn what He says and teaches in every point. They have to label it the worst of heresies and the deduction of the devil, as we are now experiencing from our own people. But we teach nothing other than this text, which they also recite and say with us each day. There is no other reason for them to slander us as heretics, for we have proclaimed the article on theLord Jesus Christ so clear and so powerfully, and we have extolled it as the only thing and everything that matters so that we have Him and Have His Name as Christians and want to know no other righteousness or holiness. That is our great comfort because we are certain that we are being afflicted for no other reason on earth than because of the Lord wrist and the faith which we have received from the apostles and which has gone into all the world and stands fast to this day. That is our sin. That is what makes us heretics in the world’s sight. In God’s sight, it is what makes us—and all other saints from the beginning of the Christian Church—defiant, boastful and joyful. We stand upon this and learn stay in and day out no other skill than this, for in it rests our wisdom, our salvation, and our blessedness. Where this article remains, everything remains. It grants us assurance, and in it we have the correct foundation for speaking about all other matters and living. One the other hand, where this part of Christian teaching is lost, our entire salvation, comfort and wisdom are lost. No one can come to a right judgment or assessment in either teaching or living. May God help us through His Dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord. May He be praised eternally.


Works Cited

Von Jesu Christo eine Predigt zu Hofe zu Torgau gepredgt. April 16, 17, 1533. WA 37 (XXI) 35-72.

Weimar Ausgabe: https://archive.org/details/werkekritischege37luthuoft

Kolb translation from Sources and Contexts of the Book of Concord, pp. 246-55.