Gethsemane: Sayings of Luther

Our sin was killing Jesus in Gethsemane.

Here are a few sayings of Martin Luther about Jesus, Gethsemane, sin, and death.

• "He is the Son of God, — the everlasting Righteousness! And although He assumed our flesh and blood, His flesh and blood is altogether sinless. Yet, since He took upon Himself foreign sin, namely that of all the world, in order to atone for it, this sin of others so affected Him, filled Him with such grief and anguish, and so terrified Him, that He began to tremble and quake, confessing: 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.'"[1]
  
  
• "Sin is so mighty that it can affect Jesus Christ, my Lord and God, with the greatest grief, though it be not His own sin, but entirely that of others."[2]
  
  
• "It is the most intolerable burden, because it so agitated His innocent heart."[3]
  
  
• "He trembles at the mount of Olives, and feels such anguish that His sweat is as it were great drops of blood; my sins, which He has taken upon Himself, and whose heavy burden He has borne, have brought Him to this."[4]
  
  
• “'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,' that is, I am so full of anguish, that I could die of agony."[5]
  
  
• "Since He became a substitute for us all, and took upon Himself our sins, that He might bear God’s terrible wrath against sin and expiate our guilt, He necessarily felt the sin of the whole world, together with the entire wrath of God, and afterwards the agony of death on account of this sin."[6]
  
  
• "Thus the scene at the mount of Olives also serves for our consolation; it assures us that Christ has taken our sins upon Himself and rendered satisfaction for them. For how could we otherwise account for such fear and trembling?"[7]

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1. Martin Luther, The Sufferings of Jesus Christ for Sinners: A Series of Sermons Delivered by Martin Luther, Chris Rosebrough, ed., Kindle Edition, Pirate Christian Media, April 24, 2011, Kindle Locations 81-84.

2. Id., Kindle Locations 95-96.

3. Id., Kindle Locations 98-99.

4. Id., Kindle Locations 129-30.

5. Id., Kindle Location 47.

6. Id., Kindle Locations 54-56.

7. Id., Kindle Locations 133-34.