Protestant Reformation
On Papal Power
The Romanists have very clearly built three walls around themselves. Hitherto they have protected themselves by these walls in such a way that no one has been able to reform them. As a result, the whole of Christendom has fallen abominably.
In the first place, when pressed by the temporal power they have made decrees and declared that the temporal power had no jurisdiction over them, but that, on the contrary, the spiritual power is above the temporal. In the second place, when the attempt is made to reprove them with the Scriptures, they raise the objection that only the pope may interpret the Scriptures. In the third place, if threatened with a council, their story is that no one may summon a council but the pope.
In this way they have cunningly stolen our three rods from us, that they may go unpunished. They have [settled] themselves within the safe stronghold of these three walls so that they can practice all the knavery and wickedness which we see today. Even when they have been compelled to hold a council they have weakened its power in advance by putting the princes under oath to let them remain as they were. In addition, they have given the pope full authority over all decisions of a council, so that it is all the same whether there are many councils or no councils. They only deceive us with puppet shows and sham fights. They fear terribly for their skin in a really free council! They have so intimidated kings and princes with this technique that they believe it would be an offense against God not to be obedient to the Romanists in all their knavish and ghoulish deceits…
The Romanists have no basis in Scripture for their claim that the pope alone has the right to call or confirm a council. This is just their own ruling, and is only valid as long as it is not harmful to Christendom or contrary to the laws of God. Now when the pope deserves punishment, this ruling no longer obtains, for not to punish him by authority of a council is harmful to Christendom…
Therefore, when necessity demands it, and the pope is an offense to Christendom, the first man who is able should, as a true member of the whole body, do what he can to bring about a truly free council. No one can do this so well as the temporal authorities, especially since they are also fellow-Christians, fellow-priests, fellow-members of the spiritual estate, fellow-lords over all things. Whenever it is necessary or profitable they ought to exercise the office and work which they have received from God over everyone.
Justification by Faith
You may ask, "What then is the Word of God, and how shall it be used, since there are so many words of God?" I answer: The Apostle explains this in Romans 1. The Word is the gospel of God concerning his Son, who was made flesh, suffered, rose from the dead, and was glorified through the Spirit who sanctifies. To preach Christ means to feed the soul, make it righteous, set it free, and save it, provided it believes the preaching.
Faith alone is the saving and efficacious use of the Word of God, according to Rom. 10:9 "If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Furthermore, "Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified" (Rom. 10:4). Again, in Rom. 1:17, "He who through faith is righteous shall live (The just shall live by faith)." The Word of God cannot be received and cherished by any works whatever but only by faith. Therefore it is justified by faith alone and not any works; for if it could be justified by anything else, it would not need the Word, and consequently it would not need faith.
This faith cannot exist in connection with works—that is to say, if you at the same time claim to be justified by works, whatever their character—for that would be the same as "limping with two different opinions" (I Kings 18:21), as worshipping Baal and kissing one's own hand (Job 31:27-28), which, as Job says, is a very great iniquity.
Therefore the moment you begin to have faith you learn that all things in you are altogether blameworthy, sinful, and damnable, as the Apostle says in Rom. 3:23, "Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and, "None is righteous, no, not one; … all have turned aside, together they have gone wrong" (Rom. 3:10-12). When you have learned this you will know that you need Christ, who suffered and rose again for you so that, if you believe in him, you may through this faith become a new man in so far as your sins are forgiven and you are justified by the merits of another, namely, of Christ alone.
Since, therefore, this faith can rule only in the inner man, as Rom. 10:10 says, "For man believes with his heart and so is justified," and since faith alone justifies, it is clear that the inner man cannot be justified, freed, or saved by any outer work or action at all, and that these works, whatever their character, have nothing to do with this inner man. On the other hand, only ungodliness and unbelief of heart, and no outer work, make him guilty and a damnable servant of sin. Wherefore it ought to be the first concern of every Christian to lay aside all confidence in works and increasingly to strengthen faith alone and through faith to grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ Jesus, who suffered and rose for him, as Peter teaches in the last chapter of his first Epistle (I Pet. 5:10). No other work makes a Christian…
Our faith in Christ does not free us from works but from false opinions concerning works—that is, from the foolish presumption that justification is acquired by works. Faith redeems, corrects, and preserves our consciences so that we know that righteousness does not consist in works, although works neither can nor ought to be wanting; just as we cannot be without food and drink and all the works of this mortal body, yet our righteousness is not in them, but in faith—and yet those works of the body are not to be despised or neglected on that account. In this world we are bound by the needs of our bodily life, but we are not righteous because of them. "My kingship is not of this world" (John 18:36), says Christ. He does not, however, say, "My kingship is not here, that is, in this world." And Paul says, "Though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war" (II Cor. 10:3), and in Gal. 2 (:20), "The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." Thus what we do, live, and are in works and ceremonies, we do because of the necessities of this life and of the effort to rule our body. Nevertheless we are righteous, not in these, but in the faith of the Son of God.
论教皇的权力 (On Papal Power)
罗马教徒（Romanists）极其巧妙地在他们周围筑起了三道城墙。迄今为止，他们一直躲在这些城墙后保护自己，以至于无人能对他们进行改革。结果，整个基督世界遭到了令人厌恶的堕落。
第一， 当受到世俗权力（temporal power）的压力时，他们颁布法令并声称，世俗权力对他们没有管辖权；相反，属灵权力（spiritual power）高于世俗权力。第二， 当人们试图引用《圣经》来指责他们时，他们提出异议，称只有教皇才有权解释《圣经》。第三， 如果有人以召开大公会议（council）相威胁，他们的说法是，除了教皇，谁也不能召集大公会议。
通过这种方式，他们狡猾地从我们手中偷走了三根“诫杖”，从而使自己免受惩罚。他们将自己安顿在这三道城墙的堡垒中，以便 practice（实施）我们今天所见的所有诡计和邪恶。即使他们被迫召开了大公会议，他们也会预先要求王公贵族宣誓维持现状，从而削弱会议的权力。此外，他们还赋予教皇对大公会议所有决定的绝对权威，因此，无论是否有大公会议，结果都是一样的。他们只是用“木偶戏”和“假仗”来欺骗我们。他们在一个真正自由的大公会议面前，极其担忧自己的皮肉之苦！他们利用这种手段恐吓国王和王公，使后者相信，如果不顺从罗马教徒那些邪恶且恐怖的欺骗，就是对上帝的冒犯……
罗马教徒关于“唯独教皇有权召集或确认大公会议”的主张，在《圣经》中毫无根据。这仅仅是他们自己的裁决，且仅在不损害基督世界或不违背上帝律法的前提下才有效。如今，当教皇理应受到惩罚时，这一裁决就不再成立，因为如果不通过大公会议的权威来惩罚他，将会有损于基督世界……
因此，当必要性提出要求，且教皇成为基督世界的冒犯者时，每一个有能力的人，作为整体（基督身体）的真正成员，都应当尽其所能促成一个真正自由的大公会议。没有人能比世俗当局做得更好，尤其是因为他们也是基督徒同胞、祭司同胞、属灵等级中的同僚，以及统治万物的领主同胞。每当必要或有益时，他们应当对每一个人行使上帝赋予他们的职分和工作。
因信称义 (Justification by Faith)
你可能会问：“既然上帝的话语如此之多，那么什么才是‘上帝的道’（Word of God），又该如何使用它呢？”我回答：使徒在《罗马书》第一章中解释了这一点。“道”就是关于上帝儿子的福音，祂道成肉身、受难、从死里复活，并借着使人成圣的圣灵得着荣耀。传讲基督意味着滋养灵魂，使之称义（righteous），使之获得自由与拯救——前提是灵魂相信这种传讲。
唯独信心（Faith alone）才是对上帝之道拯救且有效的运用，正如《罗马书》10:9所说：“你若口里认耶稣为主，心里信上帝叫他从死里复活，就必得救。”此外，“律法的总结就是基督，使凡信他的都得着义”（罗10:4）。又如《罗马书》1:17所言：“义人必因信得生。”上帝的道不能通过任何行为（works）被领受或珍视，而只能通过信心。因此，人称义唯独通过信心，而非任何行为；因为如果可以通过其他任何事物称义，也就不需要“道”，随之也就不需要信心了。
这种信心不能与行为共存——也就是说，如果你同时声称要靠行为称义（无论是什么性质的行为），那就像是“心持两意”（列王纪上18:21），既膜拜巴力又亲吻自己的手（约伯记31:27-28），正如约伯所说，这是极大的罪孽。
因此，当你开始拥有信心的那一刻，你就会了解到你内在的一切都是完全该受责备的、有罪的且该受惩罚的，正如使徒在《罗马书》3:23中所说：“因为世人都犯了罪，亏缺了上帝的荣耀”，以及“没有义人，连一个也没有……都是偏离正路，一同变为无用”（罗3:10-12）。当你了解到这一点，你就会明白你需要基督，祂为你受难并复活，使你若信祂，便能通过这信心变成一个新的人，因为你的罪得赦免，并通过他人的功德（即唯独基督的功德）而称义。
既然这种信心只能在“内在的人”（inner man）中掌权，如《罗马书》10:10所说：“人心里相信，就可以称义”，且既然唯独信心使人称义，那么很明显，“内在的人”绝不能通过任何外在的行为或行动称义、获救或得救，那些行为无论是什么性质，都与“内在的人”无关。另一方面，唯有内心的不敬虔和不信（而非外在行为）使人有罪并成为该受惩罚的罪之奴仆。因此，每个基督徒的首要任务应该是：放下对行为的所有依赖，不断地加强“唯独信心”，并借着信心不断增长对耶稣基督的认识（而非对行为的认识），祂为信徒受难并复活。没有任何其他行为能成就一个基督徒……
我们对基督的信心并没有使我们摆脱“行为”，而是使我们摆脱了对行为的错误观念——即那种认为“称义是靠行为获得”的愚蠢假设。信心救赎、纠正并保护我们的良知，使我们知道正义并不在于行为，尽管行为不应该、也不可能缺失；就像我们不能没有食物、饮料和凡胎肉身的所有活动一样，我们的义并不在于它们，而是在于信心——然而，肉身的那些行为并不因此而被蔑视或忽略。在这个世界上，我们受制于肉体生活的需要，但我们并不因此而称义。基督说：“我的国不属这世界”（约18:36），但祂并没有说“我的国不在这里，即不在这个世界上”。保罗也说：“我们虽然在血气中行事，却不凭着血气争战”（林后10:3），以及在《加拉太书》2:20中说：“我如今在肉身活着，是因信上帝的儿子而活。”因此，我们在行为和仪式中的所作所为、所活、所是，是因为生命之必要以及对身体的约束。尽管如此，我们称义，不在于这些，而在于对上帝儿子的信心。