Luther's Works, Vol. 23

Luther’s Works: The American Edition, published by Concordia and Fortress Press between 1955 and 1986, comprises fifty-five volumes. These are a selection representing only about a third of Luther’s works in the Latin and German of the standard Weimar Edition, not including the German Bible. Luther set special store by the Gospel According to St. John. He often spoke and wrote of John as the foremost of the evangelists. The tenderness with which the writer of the fourth Gospel sets forth the message of God's love and mercy made a deep and lasting impression on the Reformer. Luther lays special stress on what they evangelist states about the Messiah as the one and only Way to salvation and about good works as the inevitable fruits of that faith. Luther's assaults on those who either misinterpreted or deliberately falsified the Biblical teachings are sharp and devastating. Although he often speaks with the utmost tenderness, he does not hesitate to hurl thunderbolts at those who sought to discredit him and played fast and loose with Scriptural truth. The Reformer's discourses are plain, clear-cut, and logical. He calls John a master in the doctrine of justification.