Third Sermon for Easter Day, Torgau, 1533
by Martin Luther
translated by Paul A. Rydecki, 2023, from the Weimar edition, vol. 37
(referenced in the Formula of Concord, Article IX: On Christ’s Descent into Hell)
Since we have now buried the Lord Christ and heard how He was cut off from this life, we must also raise Him up again and celebrate Easter Day, when He stepped into another life, a new life in which He can no longer die and where He has become a Lord over death and all things in heaven and earth. The following article also demonstrates this in which we say:
He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead.
For before He rose and ascended into heaven, while He still lay in the grave, He also descended to hell, in order that He might also deliver us out from there who should have lain captive therein. It was for this same reason that He also had gone into death and was laid in the grave, that He might bring His own out from there. But I do not want to treat this article in a lofty or detailed manner—how it was done or what it means to go to hell. Instead, I want to stick with the simplest understanding—what the words mean, how one would describe it to children and to the simpleminded. For there have indeed been many who have tried to grasp this with reason and the five senses. But they have not succeeded or attained anything in so doing. Instead, they have only gone further astray from the faith. Therefore, the surest thing of all is this: Whoever wishes to keep from veering off the straight path, let him only stick to the words and imagine them for himself in a simple way, as best he can.
Thus also one finds it often painted on the walls, how He descended with a choir cape and with a banner in His hand. He comes before hell and strikes and slays the devil with the banner. He storms hell and brings out His own. This is also how they depict it when they put on a drama for the children on Easter Eve. It pleases me greatly when they depict Christ’s descent in this way for the simple—whether they play or sing or recite. We should let it remain just this simple and not trouble ourselves so much with high and lofty thoughts about how it might have taken place, since, indeed, it did not happen bodily, as Christ surely remained in the grave for the three days.
For even though one would wish to offer his own strong and detailed opinion about it—even as some teachers have debated whether He personally and actually descended according to the soul, or only through His might and power—it is, nevertheless, not something to be grasped or fathomed with our thoughts, and not even these teachers themselves have understood it. For the idea that I should explain with words or grasp with the five senses how something that is very far above and beyond this life actually occurs—I will gladly leave it alone. Indeed, if I cannot grasp all that pertains to this life (for example, what Christ experienced in the Garden in mind and spirit when He sweat blood), but must let it remain a matter of Word and faith, then much less will I be able to grasp with words or thoughts how He descended into hell. But, since we must, indeed, picture for ourselves that which the words depict for us, being unable to consider or understand any of it without such pictures, therefore it is good and right that one should, according to the Word, consider the matter just as it is often depicted, that Christ descended with His banner to break open and to destroy the gates of hell, and we should leave the high and incomprehensible thoughts behind.
For such a picture demonstrates well the power and use of this article. This is why the article exists and is preached and believed, to show how Christ has destroyed the power of hell and has taken away from the devil all his might. If I grasp that, I have the proper knowledge and understanding of it and shouldn’t investigate or speculate further how it happened or how it is possible, even as in other articles such speculation and mastery of reason is forbidden and is also unable to obtain anything. Otherwise, if I also wanted to be just as wise as others who like to delve deeply into these matters and who make fun of our simplicity, then I could certainly also joke around and ask what kind of banner He had, whether it was made of cloth or paper, and how it happened that it was not burned up in hell. Likewise, what kind of door and bars hell has, etc., and thus I could mock the Christians, as the heathen do, as if they were the greatest fools for believing such things. That is, indeed, a wicked, frivolous art in which anyone could engage, even a pig or a cow. In the same way, I could also masterfully extract allegories out of it and explain what the banner and staff is, or what the cloth and the door of hell stand for.
For, praise God, we are surely not so crude as to believe or assert that it took place in such a bodily manner, with outward show or with banners made of wood and cloth, or that hell is a building made of wood or iron. But we leave such questions, speculations and explanations at home and speak about it simply, so that one may grasp with such crude pictures what this article teaches, even as the doctrine concerning divine matters is presented in other matters through crude, outward pictures, as Christ Himself, throughout the Gospels, reveals to the people the mystery of the kingdom of heaven through visible images and parables, or as one depicts the baby Jesus treading on the head of the serpent, and as Moses depicts Him to the Jews in the wilderness through the bronze serpent. John the Baptist likewise depicts Him as a lamb when he calls Him “the Lamb of God.” For such images are quite clear and bright, enabling us to grasp and to focus on a single thing, and, what is more, they are lovely and comforting, and they serve this good purpose, even if they served no other, that they cause us to beware of the devil with his perilous darts and temptations, who wants to lead us astray from the Word with lofty thoughts, so that we climb around and speculate in the lofty articles until he finally destroys us.
And surely this is also what has come down to us from the ancient fathers as they spoke and sang about this article, as even now the old hymns ring out and we sing on Easter Day: “He who shattered hell and bound the rotten devil therein, etc.” For when a child or a simple person hears such things, he thinks of nothing else but that Christ has defeated the devil and taken all his power away from him. That is proper Christian thinking. It gets at the truth and the meaning of this article, even though it is not a precise manner of speaking and does not spell out how it happened. But so what? If it doesn’t corrupt my faith and it highlights the proper understanding clearly enough, then I can and should hold onto it. And even if I sought long and hard after greater precision, I would, nevertheless, be unable to grasp it, but would much sooner lose the proper understanding, if I were not very careful to hold fast to the Word. Indeed, one must depict things for the people in as simple and as childlike a manner as possible, or else one of two things will happen. Either they will learn and understand nothing, or, if they also want to be wise and get carried away with their reason into lofty thoughts, then they will surely wander away from the faith.
I say this, because I see that the world now wants to be wise in the name of the devil and to master the articles of faith and fathom everything according to its own way of thinking. Thus here, when it hears that Christ descended to hell, it immediately goes off and wants to speculate how it occurred, and it asks all sorts of wild and useless questions, whether only His soul descended, or whether His divinity went with it. Likewise, what exactly He did there, and how He dealt with the devil, and many such things about which they cannot possibly know anything at all. But we should let such trivial questions go and very simply attach and bind our heart and thoughts to the word of the Creed, which says: “I believe in the Lord Christ, God’s Son, who died, was buried, and descended into hell.” That is, I believe in the whole person, God and man, undivided with body and soul, born of the virgin, who suffered, died and was buried. Thus here also I should not divide anything, but should believe and say that the same Christ, God and man in one person, went to hell, but did not remain there. As Psalm 16 says of Him: “You will not abandon My soul in hell nor allow Your Holy One to see decay.” But it means “soul” according to the Scriptural use, not as we speak of it as a distinct entity from the body; it means the whole man, even as He is called “the Holy One of God.”
But how this may have happened that the man lay there in the grave and yet went to hell, that we should and must leave unfathomed and not understood. For it certainly did not happen in a bodily or comprehensible way, although one must depict it and think of it crudely and in a bodily way and thus refer to it by way of analogy, as when a mighty hero or giant enters a fortified castle with his army and his flag and his weapons and breaks it down and takes his enemy and binds him, etc. Therefore, simply say this, if someone asks you about this article: “How it took place, that I certainly don’t know, nor will I think too much about it, nor can I explain it. But I can surely paint a crude picture for you and capture it in an analogy, to speak clearly about these hidden things. Christ went and took his banner as a conquering hero and flung the door wide open with it and caused such an uproar among the devils that this one over here fell out through a window, and that one over there fell out through a hole.”
Then you come along, you untimely smart-aleck, with your toxic wisdom and mock: “Is that right? Do I hear correctly that hell has a wooden door built by a carpenter? How is it that it has stood for so long and not burned down, etc.?” Answer: Long before your wisdom was born, I was well aware of this and never pretended to teach that hell is made of wood and stone, or that it has such doors and windows, towers and bars, like a house or a castle on earth, or that He destroyed it with a banner made of cloth. I, too, praise God, can surely speak of it as accurately as any such smart-aleck, and, in addition, I can easily explain such pictures and symbols and describe exactly what they mean. But I would rather remain with a childlike understanding and use simple, clear words that depict this article for me well enough, rather than go around in lofty thoughts with those who do not understand it themselves and whom the devil leads astray from the path. For such a picture cannot harm me nor lead me astray, but serves and helps me to grasp and preserve this article even better. And the understanding remains pure and uncorrupted (God grant that the gates, door, and banner should have been made of wood or iron or of nothing at all), as we, indeed, must grasp everything that we are unfamiliar with through pictures, whether they are a bit imprecise or whether it is, in fact, just as one depicts it. Thus I also believe here that Christ Himself personally broke into hell and bound the devil, whether the banners, gates, door and chains are made of wood, iron, or of nothing at all. It matters nothing at all, as long as I grasp that which is demonstrated through this picture, what I should believe about Christ, which is the main point, use and power which we have from this, that neither hell nor devil can take or harm me and all who believe in Him.
Let that now be said in the simplest possible way about this article, so that one holds to the words and remains with this main point, that hell has been torn apart for us through Christ, and that the devil’s kingdom and power have been destroyed, which is why Christ died, was buried, and descended, so that they should no longer harm us or subdue us, as He Himself says in Matthew 16:18. For although hell remains hell, per se, and holds the unbelievers prisoner—as also death, sin, and all misfortune—so that they must remain and perish therein; and although it still terrifies and threatens us, too, according to the flesh and the outward man, so that we must be smiting and biting; nevertheless, all of that, in faith and spirit, is destroyed and torn apart, so that it can no longer harm us at all.
All of that has been accomplished by this one Man, in that our Lord Christ descended into hell. Otherwise, the whole world, with all its powers, would not have been able to rescue anyone from the devil’s bonds or remove the torment and power of hell for a single sin, even if all the saints had gone to hell for the sins of a single man. But everyone—as many as have come onto the earth—would have had to remain there eternally, if the Holy One, the Son of the almighty God, had not descended there with His own person and mightily conquered and destroyed it through His divine power. For no Carthusian cowl, nor Barefoot’s cincture, nor the holiness of all the monks, nor the might and power of the whole world could blow out a single spark of hellfire. But this is what does it, that this Man Himself comes down with His banner. Now all the devils must run away and flee from Him, for He is death to them and poison to them, and all of hell, with its fire, is extinguished before Him, so that no Christian has to be afraid of it anymore. And even if a Christian went to hell, he should no longer suffer its torment, just as he also does not taste death through Christ, but through death and hell he comes to eternal life.
But our Lord Christ has not left it at that, that He died and descended into hell, (for that would not yet have helped us in the end), but He also left death and hell again, brought life back again and opened heaven wide and thus publicly demonstrated His victory and triumph over death, the devil, and hell, that He, according to this article, rose again from the dead on the third day. That is the goal and the best thing about all of it, in which we have everything. For in this truth lies all authority, power, and might in heaven and earth. For by rising from the dead, Christ has become a mighty Lord over death and everything that has the power of death or that serves death, so that it can no longer consume or hold Him. Sin can no longer fall upon Him or drive Him to death. The devil can no longer bring a complaint against Him, nor can the world or any creature trouble Him or harm Him. None of these things can do anything against us any longer, for they serve death and hell as their officers and henchmen, who drive us to death and hand us over to it. But He who has escaped from death and its bonds, so that it can no longer hold Him or trap Him—He has also escaped for all the others and is a Lord over the world, devil, hangman’s rope, sword, fire, gallows, and all afflictions, so that He can well stand against it and confront it.
Once again, this boast now belongs to the Lord Christ alone. For He has accomplished it through His almighty, divine power. But not for Himself; He did it for us poor, miserable people who otherwise would have had to be eternal captives of death and the devil. For prior to this, He, for His own part, certainly did not have to die or go to hell. But since He clothed Himself in our flesh and blood and assumed all our sin, punishment, and misfortune, He also had to help us out of these things by coming back to life and becoming a Lord of death, even in a bodily way and according to His human nature, in order that we, too, might also finally come out of death and all misfortune in Him and through Him. Therefore He is called in Scripture the “firstborn from the dead,” as the One who forged the path for us and has gone before us to eternal life, so that we, through His resurrection, may also prevail and thus achieve a glorious victory over death and hell, that we, who were once their prisoners, might not only be redeemed, but also conquer and become lords, through faith, by which we are clothed in His resurrection and thus, by the same token, should also bodily and certainly rise and be exalted, so that all things must finally lie under our feet.
Here a strong faith belongs, which makes this article strong and good and writes this saying upon the heart in large letters, “Christ is arisen,” making this phrase as big as heaven and earth, so that faith sees, hears, thinks, and knows nothing else but this article, as if nothing else were written in the whole creation. Faith should have the kind of image upon which it can focus entirely and live only on this article, as St. Paul is wont to say, as a master painter painting this article, always having both heart and mouth full of it: “Christ is arisen!” He lays it out over and over again with such simple words. To the Ephesians in chapter 2: “He has made us alive together with Christ and has raised us together with Him and has seated us together with Him in the heavenly places.” Likewise in Galatians 2: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” And to the Romans, chapter 8: “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who will condemn? It is Christ who has died, yes, much more, who has risen from the dead, etc.”
If we would only believe this, we would live and die well. For such faith would teach us splendidly that Christ did not only rise for His own person, but that we are linked together in such a way that His resurrection avails for us, and that we, too, stand and are included in that cry, “He is risen!” Yes, we would understand that, on account of or through His resurrection, we, too, must rise and live with Him forever, that our resurrection to eternal life has already begun in Christ (as St. Paul also says), and is so certain that it is as if it had already happened, although it is still hidden from us and unseen. From now on we should focus so sharply on this article that every other sight, compared to it, is as nothing, as if you saw nothing else in all heaven and earth, so that, when you see a Christian die and be buried, seeing nothing but a corpse lying there, observing nothing but death with both eyes and ears, you, nevertheless, perceive through faith another image in place of that image of death, as if you saw no grave and no death at all, but only life, and a beautiful, delightful garden, or a green meadow, and in it, nothing but a man who is made new, alive, and happy.
For, if it is true that Christ is risen from the dead, then we have already received the best portion and the most important part with regard to the resurrection, such that the bodily resurrection of the flesh from the grave (which is still to come) is counted as a small thing compared to this. For what are we and the whole world compared to Christ our Head? We are like a drop compared to the ocean or a piece of dust compared to a great mountain! Since Christ, the Head of all Christians, through whom they live and possess all things, who is so immense that He fills heaven and earth, is risen from the grave and has thereby become a mighty Lord over all things, even over death and hell, as we have heard, then we, too, as His members, must be affected and touched by His resurrection. Yes, we must even be made partakers of that which He has accomplished, since it was done for our sake. And even as He, through His resurrection, has taken everything along with Him, so that heaven and earth, sun and moon must be made new, so will He also take us along with Him, as St. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Romans 8. The same God who raised up Christ from the dead, will also give life to our mortal bodies, and all creation with us, which is now subjected to vanity and sighs anxiously for our glorification, and which should also be glorified and freed from this fleeting existence, in such a way that we already have more than half of our resurrection, since the Head and Heart is already above. All that remains to be done is the smallest part, that the body be buried in the ground, so that it, too, may be made new. For where the Head is, there must the body also follow after, as we see in all creatures when they are born into this life.
Half of this, too, has already taken place—indeed, much more than half—namely, that through Baptism, by faith, we are already risen spiritually, that is, according to the best part of us. And thus not only has the best part of all taken place in a bodily way in that our Head has ascended to heaven from the grave, but also, in a spiritual way, our soul has already received its part, being in heaven with Christ (as St. Paul likes to say). Now only the husks and shells or shards remain here below, but they must also be taken up afterwards on account of the Head or the Chief Part. For this body is, as St. Paul says, only a tent for the soul, like something made of earth or clay, and a worn-out garment or an old, shabby coat. But since the soul is already alive, through faith, with a new, eternal, heavenly life and cannot die or be buried, the only thing we still need to wait for is for this poor tent, this old coat, to be made new, so that it can no longer perish, since the best part is above and cannot leave us behind. And just as He who is called the Resurrection has left death and grave, so must he who says “I believe” and who clings to Him also follow afterward. For this is why He has gone ahead of us, so that we should follow after Him. Indeed, this has already begun, for we daily arise in Him through the Word and Baptism.
See, we should learn to become accustomed to such thoughts of faith over against the outward, physical appearance of the flesh which places nothing but death before our eyes and would terrify us with that image and place the article of the resurrection in doubt again. For it gives great offense when a person allows his reason, with its thoughts, to dwell on what the eyes see without drawing the Word into the heart to counteract it. For in that case a person can think about nothing but death, since all he sees is the body lying there, miserable and wretched. For rotting corpses smell so bad that no one on earth can stomach it; there is no remedy but to burn it up or to bury it underground, as deep as possible.
But when you grasp the Word by faith, your vision changes. You are enabled to see through this death into the resurrection. You capture only thoughts and images of life. This in itself is a part of the resurrection and the beginning of the new life, which also creates new thoughts and new senses, which no one could have who had not already died by faith and laid hold of the resurrection, and thus also dragged the outer man along, that he should think and live accordingly. Therefore he can conclude and speak thus against all human nature and thoughts: “If I want to judge according to reason, according to what I see and understand, then I am lost. But I have a higher understanding than what the eyes see and the senses feel, an understanding that faith has taught me. For there stands the text. It says, ‘He is risen!’—and not for Himself, but for our sake. It says that His resurrection is ours and that we will also rise with Him and not remain in death and the grave, but that in our bodies also we will celebrate an eternal Easter with Him.”
For watch what the farmer does. He sows the seed in his field and casts it into the earth where it must decompose and perish. It appears as though it were lost, nor does he give it any thought, as if it were unimportant. Indeed, he forgets where the seed fell. He does not ask after it how it is doing, whether the worms have eaten it or whether it perishes in some other way. No, he goes forward thinking only about how, at Easter time, or by Pentecost, beautiful stalks will have sprung up, bearing many more crops and seeds than he had originally sown. Now, if someone who is unfamiliar with how seeds grow were to see this, he would surely say to the farmer: “What are you doing, you fool? Are you out of your mind, burying your seed so carelessly in the ground, where it must surely rot and decay and thus be of no use to anyone?” But if you ask him, he will give you a much different answer, saying: “Dear friend, I knew very well, before you did, that I should not throw away my seed in vain. But I do not do it in order that it should be lost forever. I do it so that, as it decays in the ground, it may take on another form and bring forth much fruit.” This is how everyone thinks who sees or does such a thing. For we do not judge according to what we see with our eyes, but from the fact that we have seen and experienced God’s work year after year, and still we cannot know or understand how it happens. Much less are we able, with our power, to bring forth even a tiny stalk from the earth.
If this is what we must do in this earthly life, much more should we learn it in this article of faith (which we are much less able to grasp or understand), since we have God’s Word, as well as the experience that Christ is risen from the dead. We do not judge according to what we see with our eyes as our body is buried, burned, or otherwise committed to the ground. No, we let God do the work and take care of what should come out of it. For if we were to see it at once with our eyes, then we would have no need of faith, and God would have no room to demonstrate His wisdom and power, which surpass our wisdom and understanding. Therefore it is called the skill and wisdom of Christians, in times of weeping and mourning, to be able to produce comforting and joyful thoughts of life, to consider that God allows us to be buried and to decay in the ground for the winter, in order that we may come forth again in the summer even lovelier than the sun, as if the grave were not a grave at all, but a lovely flower garden in which beautiful cloves and roses are planted which are to sprout and bloom in the summertime, just as the tomb of the Lord Christ had to be emptied and never smelled of death, but rather became something lovely, glorious, and beautiful.
This is also how the beloved martyrs and virgins spoke and thought when they were taken away to prison and to death, as we read about Saint Agatha that she allowed herself to imagine that she was going to a dance, and all the torture and suffering with which they were threatening her she viewed as someone inviting her to a ball where she could dance. Similar things are written about Saint Vincent and others, that they went to their death with joy and laughter, holding their judges and executioners in derision. For they looked forward to the resurrection with more certainty than any farmer looks forward to the harvest of his field, and they clung to it so tightly that they considered the executioner, death, and the devil as ridiculous when compared to it.
Let us learn this lesson, too, so that we may engrave this article on our hearts and thus be able to comfort ourselves with it and boast in it whenever the devil sharpens his skewer against us and threatens us with death and hell. For, as we have said, since our Head, upon whom everything depends, is risen and lives, and since we are baptized into Him, we have already received far more than half of the victory that is ours. All that remains is a small little piece, namely, that we must finally allow this old skin to be removed, so that it, too, may be made new. For since we already have practically the whole inheritance, the husks and shells must certainly also come after it.
Let this suffice for today’s sermon about our Lord Jesus Christ on this article, that we may see how all the wisdom and skill that a Christian should know are summarized and included in this article—a lofty wisdom which transcends all wisdom and skill, but which was not invented on earth, nor did it grow up out of our heads. No, this wisdom was revealed from heaven and is called a divine, spiritual wisdom, the kind (as St. Paul says) that lies shrouded in mystery. For human reason cannot obtain the smallest part of it by itself, nor could it grasp it or understand it even if it were laid out for it. On the contrary, reason does the opposite. It takes offense at such teaching and considers it pure foolishness. Yes, God, with His Word, must be a fool, in reason’s eyes, and a liar, too. And what He says and teaches must all be condemned; it must be labeled the most wicked heresy and deception that comes from the devil, as we ourselves are experiencing at the moment and are forced to suffer at the hands of our own people, although we teach nothing but this text, which they themselves sing and speak with us every day. Indeed, we are scolded by them as heretics for no other reason than that we so clearly and powerfully emphasize and herald this article about the Lord Jesus Christ, that He alone is and counts as everything that we have. He alone is the reason why we are called Christians, and we wish to know no other Lord, no other righteousness or holiness. But it gives us great comfort to know for certain that we are persecuted for no other reason on earth than on account of the Lord Christ and the faith that we have received from the apostles and that has gone out and abides in the whole world to this very day. That is our sin and our heresy in the eyes of the world, but it is our boast, our glory, and our joy before God, with all the saints since Christianity began. Let us abide in it and learn this skill better and better each day, for all our wisdom, well-being, and salvation rests in it. Where this article remains, there remains everything of which we are certain. There we have a rightly formed judgment, so that we can speak about all other doctrines and life. On the other hand, if this article is absent or comes to ruin, then all our salvation and comfort and wisdom come to ruin, so that no one can any longer think or judge rightly concerning doctrine or life. May God help us in this matter, through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be praise forever and ever. Amen.
