Luther on Outward and Inward Worship
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In the following excerpt from his 1523 writing On the Adoration of the Sacrament (AE 36:290-293), Luther, based on John 4:20-24, carefully distinguishes between outward and inward worship. The former consists of the body's external acts of worship, while the latter is the heart's faith in Christ. The outward worship is, by itself, utterly worthless before God: it mocks God rather than worshiping him. However, this does not lead Luther to discard it entirely.[1] Rather, he sees man's outward acts of worship as spontaneously flowing out of man's inward worship, faith, without any meritorious intentions and motives.
Luther thus rejects external practices not per se, but when they are done with the intention of acquiring God's favor. Christ's words concerning "spirit and truth" are evangelically understood by the Reformer as calling for the heart's faith in Christ that is generated and sustained by the gospel of Christ in word and sacraments; they thus do not call for subjective feelings of "sincerity" or "authenticity" in man's quest for self-realization. Christian worship centers on God in Christ, not on man in pursuit of himself. Worship in "spirit and truth" is thus not an invitation to personalized diversity in outward worship.
[edit] Christ's Word in John 4: Worship in Spirit and Truth
In John 4[:20–24], the Samaritan woman asked the Lord where one should worship. Jesus answered her:Woman, I tell you, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father spiritually and truly, for the Father also seeks such worshipers. God is a spirit, and he who worships him must worship him spiritually and truly.
[edit] Two Kinds of Worship: Outward and Inward
From these words we understand that there are two kinds of worship: one outward and physical, the other inward and spiritual. It is outward worship when you choose outward places and gestures to express it, as when in the church or before the altar or the sacrament you prostrate yourself, kneel, bend your body, bow your head, look up toward heaven, speak with your mouth and do similar things that can be done outwardly and are signs by which you outwardly acknowledge your God or overlord. But in this passage Christ rejects such worship if it takes place with the idea that it is pleasing to God and is enough in itself without any inward spiritual worship, as the Jews maintained. But where the inward worship accompanies it, it is well and good, as the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and all the saints have done. For when Christ says here: “Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship” [John 4:21], he certainly rejects all outward places, but in such a way as to make all places free. His intention is to set consciences free. It is as if he were to say: “I desire that henceforth no outward place shall be regarded as necessary for worship, as when you say that one must worship in Jerusalem or on this mountain, but that all places shall now be free for worship, as has hitherto not been the case. If the spiritual worship is present, you may worship also outwardly, whether you be in Jerusalem or on this mountain, in the house or out in the field, in Persia or in Greece. But hitherto one could worship only in Jerusalem, or at least facing Jerusalem, no matter what part of the world he was in.”
[edit] Outward Worship by Itself is Mockery of God
Now where outward worship is all alone, there is downright hypocrisy and actual mockery of God. There our Lord receives the same kind of honor as that which the Jews gave him when during his Passion they knelt before him and said: “Hail, King of the Jews” [Matt. 27:29]. For when there is no spiritual worship, it cannot be meant earnestly and it does not come from the heart. And if it does not come from the heart, it is certainly a mockery of God. Alas, this kind of worship fills the whole world today in all its corners. The mockery is now in full swing which the Jews began during Christ’s Passion when they called him the “King of the Jews.” For there are so many churches and services of divine worship on every hand, and yet there is scarcely one in a thousand who honor God with spiritual worship. Instead they all mock him with the outward, hypocritical worship. And this mockery of Christ takes place especially in all the masses and in the monstrance at Easter and on Corpus Christi day. For at those times he receives great outward honor, but it is pure mockery because it is without faith.
Therefore, where there is no faith and spiritual worship, it is better to stay far away. And one should not celebrate mass where there are no real and genuine Christians. Until such Christians are present one should abandon the monstrances and the Corpus Christi processions,21 because there is no need for them; they serve no useful purpose and they only dishonor the sacrament with gross hypocrisy and mockery. Moreover, the monasteries and foundations of charity should be provided with believing priests and monks, or else they should be dissolved. For their chief work is mere outward worship and they think they have accomplished their purpose if they do a lot of outward kneeling, bending, and bowing. And the pope has assigned indulgences to such processions and honoring of the sacrament, and so has filled the world with Jews who worship Christ in mockery [Matt. 27:29].
[edit] Inward Worship
The second kind of worship is true and spiritual. It is free in all external matters, so that it does not require the worshiper to use special places or to employ special gestures. For every man can engage in this kind of worship wherever he may be or go or stay, even in the field, or sick in bed, or captive in prison; and not only in the churches or chapels, before the altar, or on his knees. But I suppose there are in reality many people who do not know what is meant by the word “worship” and do not see any difference between praying [beten] and worshiping [anbeten]. Let us therefore first clarify this distinction; then it will be easier to instruct concerning true worship.
[edit] Prayer of the Mouth and Outward Worship of the Whole Body
Worship [anbeten] is not a matter of the mouth, like praying, petitioning, and pleading. For to pray [beten] is really to repeat the words of a prayer such as the Psalms or the Lord’s Prayer. But to petition [bitten] is to accompany such a spoken prayer with one’s own special need and indicate it by name, just as the Lord’s Prayer contains seven such petitions, and so forth. To plead [flehen] is to go beyond the petition in one’s prayer and to admonish God through something that He prizes very highly, such as his mercy, name, honor, truth, or through Christ, and so forth. In addition there is also intercession for others, and praise and thanksgiving. All of this is a work of the mouth.[2]
Worship [anbetten] is nothing of the sort. It is not a function of the mouth but of the whole body. It is to bow the head, bend the body, fall on the knees, prostrate one’s self, and so forth, and to do such things as a sign and acknowledgment of an authority and power; just as people bow in silence before secular princes and Lords, and just as popes, bishops, abbots, and people generally, have themselves honored and adored [ehrbieten] by bowing and kneeling, and so forth. Such outward adoration [ehrbietunge] is what the Scriptures really mean by worship [anbeten]. It is out of a complete misunderstanding that the little word adorare is translated “worship” [anbeten], because the latter has too strong a connotation of praying with the mouth. Were it not such a common usage, it would still be a good thing if we were to say “adoration” [ehrbieten]—or “bowing” [neygen] as the Hebrew has it—instead of “worship” [anbeten]. We read in the Scriptures that worship [anbeten] or adoration [ehrbieten] is rendered outwardly both to God and to kings without distinction, just as bowing and kneeling are still rendered outwardly both to God and to men.
[edit] True Spiritual Worship: Faith, the Bowing of the Heart
From this understanding of outward worship you will also understand what Christ meant by true spiritual worship. It is the adoration or bowing of the heart, so that from the bottom of your heart you thereby show and confess yourself to be his subordinate creature. For from this you see that true worship can be nothing else than faith; it is faith's sublimest activity with respect to God. For no one is capable of such heartfelt confession, adoration, bending, and bowing (or whatever you want to call it) before God in his heart, unless he unwaveringly holds God to be his Lord and Father, from whom he receives and will receive all good things, and through whom, without any merit on his part, he is redeemed and preserved from all sins and evil.[3]
[edit] Outward Worship Will Follow Inward Worship
In a word, where there is none of this heartfelt trust and confidence that comes from a true and living faith, concerning which I have spoken so often, there can be no true worship, because there God is not recognized with the heartfelt confidence of faith. Therefore it is also impossible for him to be confessed, honored, and adored. For although people may with their mouths call him God and Father and outwardly adore him, nevertheless the heart is faithless and the result is lies and hypocrisy. But where worship is offered from the heart, there follows quite properly also that outward bowing, bending, kneeling, and adoration with the body. For this reason it is not possible to maintain a distinction in the New Testament between the worship [anbeten] of God and that of a man. For people bow, bend, and kneel before both alike; only with respect to God they lift their eyes and faces to heaven. But inwardly in the heart the difference is greater than that between heaven and earth; for the heart holds God to be God, but the prince it holds to be a man.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ He makes this clear especially in his writings against the "enthusiasts," that is, against those who denied the presence of Christ's true body and blood in the Lord's Supper, thereby applying Christ's word to God, not to God's worshipers:
The first time he really puts Luther in the wrong is when he cites the passage of John 4[:20 ff.], that God wills to be worshiped in spirit, not in Jerusalem or on the mountain. “Here now you have a definite answer, that Christ’s body is not here and there, hence also not in the Supper!” If only this spirit would answer the question, he would hit the mark very beautifully. But where he leaps over it, he is insufferable. Well, so heaven is spirit, for Christ is to be worshiped in spirit, i.e. in heaven. But how is it possible for him to be at a certain place in heaven? Is “spirit” equivalent to “in a certain place”? Why not? If this spirit says it is, it must certainly be so. But then what would the blind man do who worshiped Christ on earth? John 9[:38]. Of course he committed an error, and Christ was not serious in accepting such adoration, otherwise “spirit” will mean the same as “on earth.” My friend, you must not laugh. This spirit might get angry, for he is serious! But this is still finer: Christ says of the worshipers that they shall worship neither in Jerusalem nor on the mountain, just as the woman said to him, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship” [John 4:20]. These words refer also to the worshipers, for she says not, “God is not on the mountain,” and Christ does not say, “God is not in Jerusalem or on this mountain.” But this spirit teaches us that this passage refers to God, meaning that he is not here and there, and does not refer to the worshipers. My friend, what do you think God has in mind by allowing the fanatical spirit to play the fool so outrageously with the Scriptures? Nothing else, surely, than if he should say, “Dear child, there will be no failure on my part; I will faithfully take care of you and not permit these spirits to handle Scripture except in so crude, clumsy, and stupid a manner that if anyone allows himself to be misled, he will have no excuse that he was not sufficiently warned and cautioned by me. He who believes such spirits wilfully plunges into perdition, because he fails even to observe what foolishness they are committing, but swills up everything, as they say, like a filthy pig.” But we believe that to worship in the spirit is to worship spiritually, in a spiritual manner, whether Christ is in heaven, on earth, in the sacrament, or anywhere else. For Christ contrasts this spiritual worship with bodily worship, which the Jews and the hypocrites of our day so bind to given places and times that it must take place in an external manner, as place and time appoint, as if prayer derived its nature and power and life and all its benefit from the place or time. So they teach that obedience is the main concern in such prayers, even though they neither pray for anything nor know what they are prattling about. You see, this is what Christ here calls praying in Jerusalem and at appointed places, and not in spirit and truth. (AE 37:283-285)
- ↑ See also Luther's discussion of prayer in his 1519 An Exposition of the Lord's Prayer for Simple Laymen:
First, concerning the manner, that is, how we should pray. Our prayer must have few words, but be great and profound in content and meaning. The fewer the words, the better the prayer; the more words, the poorer the prayer. Few words and richness of meaning is Christian; many words and lack of meaning is pagan. Therefore Christ says that the disciples should “not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do.” And in John 4 [:24] he tells the Samaritan woman, “Those who worship God must pray to him in spirit and in truth.” The Father desires such worshipers. The term “to pray in spirit” or to pray spiritually is directed against untoward prayer, and the term “to pray in truth” is directed against sham prayer. For the sham oral prayer is the mouth’s thoughtless mumbling and chattering. It is seen and heard by people; it is performed with the mouth, but not in truth. On the other hand, spiritual and sincere prayer reflects the heart’s innermost desires, its sighing and yearning. The former makes hypocrites and gives a false sense of security; the latter makes saints and respectful children of God. However, we must make a distinction here, for external prayer springs from three different motives. First, it may be prompted by sheer obedience, as are the prayers sung or read by priests and monks. Or, think of the prayers imposed by penance or by vows. In these, I suppose, obedience is the best part, somewhat like the obedience shown in any other physical endeavor (provided, of course, that this obedience stems from a simple sense of duty, and not for the sake of riches, honor, and praise). There is such a great measure of grace in the word of God that even a prayer that is spoken with the mouth and without devotion (with a sense of obedience) becomes fruitful and irritates the devil. Second, a prayer may be spoken unbidden, but reluctantly and grudgingly, or for the sake of monetary reward, honor, or praise. Such a prayer were better left unspoken. However, they also receive their reward, namely, temporal goods or honors, even as God pays wages to the servants but not to the children. Third, some prayers are spoken with devoutness of heart, but a semblance is added to the truth and the external is mingled with the internal. Yet, the inner truth breaks forth and glows with an external semblance. However, it is impossible for one who prays spiritually and sincerely to be verbose. When the soul becomes aware of what it is saying, and in its awareness tries to muster both the words and the ideas, it will be compelled to dispense with the words and cling to the thoughts, or, conversely, to lose sight of the thoughts and stress the words. Such oral prayers are to be valued only insofar as they spur and move the soul to reflect on the meaning and the desires conveyed by the words. Many psalms,2 therefore, have captions and titles such as these: “Ad victoriam,” “Ad invitatorium,” to indicate that these prayers, though of few words, are an invitation and inspiration to the heart to think of or to wish for something that is good. Some psalms are also distinguished by the word Selah (that is, rest), a word which is neither read nor sung, but exhorts us to pause and ponder when a particular item is mentioned in the prayer and to meditate on the meaning while forgetting about the words. (AE 42:19-21)
See also his comments in his 1520 Treatise on Good Works:It follows from this that he who prays aright never doubts that his prayer is surely acceptable and is heard, although the very thing for which he prays may not be granted him. For we are to lay our need before God in prayer, but not prescribe to him the measure or the manner, the limits or the place. If he wills to give us something better or something other than we think, we are to leave it to him; for frequently we do not know what we pray, as St. Paul says in Romans 8[:26]. “God works and gives above and beyond all that we understand,” as he also says in Ephesians 3[:20]. So there can be no doubt that the prayer is acceptable and heard, and yet we leave the time and place, the measure and the limit up to God: he will surely do it as it should be. “They are the true worshipers who worship him in spirit and in truth” [John 4:24]. For those who do not believe that they will be heard sin against this commandment on the left side, and go far astray with their unbelief. But those who prescribe a limit to him sin on the right side and come too close to tempting God. He has forbidden us to stray from his commandment either to the left or to the right, that is, neither with unbelief nor with tempting. He has commanded us to remain on the right path with simple faith, believing in him but at the same time setting him no limits. (AE 44:59-60)
- ↑ Cf. Luther's remarks in his 1520 Treatise on Good Works:
Now this is the work of the first commandment, which enjoins, “Thou shalt have no other gods.” This means, “Since I alone am God, thou shalt place all thy confidence, trust, and faith in me alone and in no one else.” For you do not have a god if you [just] call him God outwardly with your lips, or worship him with the knees or bodily gestures; but [only] if you trust him with your heart and look to him for all good, grace, and favor, whether in works or suffering, in life or death, in joy or sorrow. As the Lord Jesus Christ said to the heathen woman in John 4[:24], “I say to you, whoever wants to worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth.” And this faith, this trust, this confidence from the heart’s core is the true fulfilling of the first commandment. Without such faith no work at all can satisfy this command. And because this commandment is the very first of all commandments and the highest and the best, [the one] from which all others proceed, in which they exist and by which they are judged and assessed, so its work (that is, the faith or confidence that God is gracious at all times) is the very first, highest, and best from which all others must proceed, in which they must exist and abide, and by which they must be judged and assessed. Compared with this work the other good works are like the other commandments would be if they were without the first and as if there were no God. (AE 44:30)
See for yourself what a difference there is between the fulfilment of the first commandment with outward works and fulfilment with inward trust. For it is the latter which makes true, living children of God; the former makes for a wretched idolatry and the most pernicious hypocrites on earth, who with their great show of righteousness lead countless folk into their way, yet they leave them without faith. So these folk are led astray pitiably and bogged down in external wailing and show. Christ speaks of their kind when he said in Matthew 24[:23], “Beware then if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ ” Or again, John 4[:21–23], “I say to you, the time will come when you shall not worship God either on this mountain or in Jerusalem, for the Father seeks spiritual worshipers.” (AE 44:33)
