Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People: A Reader

Text #7: That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew (1523)

76 Language: German Critical edition: WA 11: (307–) 314–336 english Translation: LW 45: (195), 199–229 Text #7 That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew (1523) This treatise was one of the most popular and successful things that Luther ever wrote.1 After first defending himself against charges made at the diet of Nuremberg (1522) to the effect that he denied the virginity of Mary—and thus by implication the divinity of Christ, which would have made him a heretic against the decisions of the early councils he so revered—the treatise evolves into a kind of manual on how to deal with the Jews in hopes of converting them. Luther’s proposed strategy regarding Jewish conversion involves a two-step process: (1) treat them kindly; (2) teach them how to interpret Scripture (that is, the Old Testament) properly.This strategy is at the same time a frontal assault on the papal church and its reliance on baptism of Jews,often coerced,and on its failure properly to catechize Jewish converts. Luther’s interest is in a genuine/sincere/internal Jewish conversion to the gospel, and for him the most promising approach is to unfold the Christ promised already in the OldTestament, which involved proving the virginity of Mary.Thus the initial task is to convince Jewish readers of the biblical arguments for Jesus as Messiah.Only after this “milk” has been given to them to drink can the larger issue of Christ’s divinity be introduced. especially noteworthy is the lack of any reference to Jewish hardening or stubbornness.The Jews are portrayed rather as victims of dehumanizing treatment and failed catechesis at the hands of Christians, who are not exactly distinguishing themselves with their actions or their lack of proper understanding of Christian faith.The empathetic tone that Luther strikes here was misunderstood already by his contemporaries, who quickly labeled him a “Jew friend.” Luther did not want that label any more than the accusation of being a heretic who denied Mary’s virginity.In his later vehement anti-Jewish writings,Luther would repeatedly accuse the Jews of misusing his intentions in this treatise. One of the many ironies of this treatise is that, although Lutherans have often pointed to it as the exemplum of how open the younger Luther was to the Jews, it That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew 77 is throughout a sustained critique of Jewish exegesis of Christian proof texts, and it is these very same proof texts that he will draw on in his later bitter anti-Jewish diatribes. That the distance between his arguments in this treatise and those later bitter writings is not large is signaled here by Luther himself when he states that he has more rhetorical ammunition at his disposal, and he is fully prepared to utilize it later on if he needs to. The treatise falls into two parts, each of which is structured around proof texts: Part I. Jesus was a born Jew, of the Virgin Mary (Four Proof Texts) Gen. 3:15 The Seed of the Woman Gen. 22:18 The Seed of Abraham 2 Sam. 7:12-14 The Seed of david Isa. 7:14 TheVirgin Part II versus Jewish Messianic Expectation (Two [Four] Proof Texts) Gen. 49:10-12 Shiloh dan. 9:24-27 The coming of Jesus coincides with daniel’s 490 years (Hag. 2:9) (Zech. 8:23) The selections below deal with treatment of the Jews and with Luther’s take on the Shiloh passage in Gen. 49:10-11, where he develops at length his “1,500-year argument” against the Jews. This argument—well known to medieval anti-Jewish polemicists—will be the most consistent, and the most persistent, that Luther will utilize in his attacks on the Jews. That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew {LW 45:199–201} A new lie about me is being circulated. I am supposed to have preached and written that Mary, the mother of God, was not a virgin either before or after the birth of Christ, but that she conceived Christ through Joseph, and had more children after that.Above and beyond all this, I am supposed to have preached a new heresy, namely, that Christ was [through Joseph] the seed of Abraham. How these lies tickle my good friends, the papists! Indeed, because they condemn the gospel it serves them right that they should have to satisfy and feed their heart’s delight and joy with lies.I...