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On the Adoration and Veneration of the Signs of the New Testament

(November 1521)

[A1v] Karlstadt wrote his pamphlet Von anbettung vnd ererbietung der tzeychen des newen Testaments after finishing his pamphlet Von beiden Gestaldten der heylige Messze, but it was published before the latter pamphlet, by Nickel Schirlentz in Wittenberg (VD16, B6218; Barge and Freys, “Verzeichnis,” no. 68). It was reprinted two more times before the end of 1521: by Melchior Ramminger in Augsburg (VD16, B6216; Barge and Freys, “Verzeichnis,” no. 69) and by Reinhard Beck in Strasbourg (B 6217; Barge and Freys, “Verzeichnis,” no. 70). It was also published in 1522 together with Von den Empfahern: Zeichen: vnd Zuosag des heilige Sacraments by Matthias Schürer in Strasbourg (VD16, B6238; Barge and Freys, “Verzeichnis,” no. 58). There is an English translation in Furcha, Essential Carlstadt, 40–50. I based my translation on the Wittenberg edition, Köhler, Flugschriften, 791, no. 1995, but I also compared it with Furcha’s translation.

To the esteemed and renowned Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, my dear patron, I, Andreas Bodenstein, wish God’s grace and peace.

My gracious patron, hatred and envy have from perfidy invented many lies and much libel concerning us Wittenbergers, for evil always seeks hiding places from which it can bark, scold, and chatter, and some dream-seekers speak about us as though we preached and argued that the venerable sacrament should not be given honor, praise, and favor.¹ Therefore I wanted to write a short pamphlet on the adoration and veneration of the above-named sacrament, through which I might demonstrate the service I owe to all Christendom, for your goodness has obligated me to serve you according to my abilities. I commend this to God. Wittenberg, on the day of All Saints [1 November], 1521.

[A2r] 1. First it should be noted that worship is a fruit of faith, for true worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth, John 4[:23]. Faith makes spiritual, for it unites the believer with Christ, in whom all creatures become new and spiritual. Just as one becomes a Christian through faith in Christ, so one also becomes spiritual; as it is written, “He gave them power to become sons of God, as many as believed on his name,” John 1[:12]. Without this spirit, all prayer is blasphemy of God, contempt for God, lies, and deception, and it cannot please God. It would be much better not to pray than to pray without faith. As it says in scripture, “peccatori dixit Deus,” to the sinner God says, “Why do you take my testament in your mouth?” Psalm 49 [50:16], and Isaiah 1[:15], “I will turn my eyes away from you when you pray.” Without faith it is impossible for anyone to please God, Hebrews 10 [11:6]. This same faith has its own truth and word, as we read, “Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ,” Romans 10[:17]. “My sheep hear my voice,” John 10[:27]. “I will tend and feed them on the mountains of Israel,” Ezekiel 34[:14]. Likewise, “Whoever does not hear him shall be rooted out from the people,” Acts 3[:23]. Just as faith has Christ before its eyes, so it has the word of Christ and all his prophets.

Whoever doesn’t have the divine promise in his heart when he prays does not pray in truth; he prays in the visions and inventions of his heart. From this it follows that no one can pray rightly and to salvation unless he worships God in faith, which brings him to Christ, and through Christ to God. It also follows that Christ doesn’t become for him the way, the truth, and the life [John 14:6] if he doesn’t simply remain in the words of Christ. As it is written, “My disciples remain in my word,” John 8[:51]. In short, it is not possible that you can believe rightly and be outside of the truth of the divine promise. Just as little as faith may spring up and be sustained without the word, so little can you truly pray [A2v] outside of the divine word.

Christ sums up these two points concerning prayer this way: “When you pray, believe that you will receive, and it will be given to you” [Mark 11:24]. In these words you have the spirit and truth: the spirit in this word, “believe”; the truth in this, “that you will receive.” We must believe that all we desire in prayer will be given to us. God has given us his promise, through which we are shown what he wants to give and what we should ask for; without that we don’t know what is useful and good for us. See, we hear here that in prayer I must wait for him whom I worship. From this comes the premise that I shouldn’t worship that from which I receive nothing and that can give me nothing. He is a fool who seeks and asks something of someone but knows that the person can’t give it. At this point I could speak about the bread and wine in the sacrament and consider what bread and wine give us and how we should worship them. But I’ll wait until I come to the appropriate place.

In Hebrew, worship means to genuflect often, to fall on the ground, and to pay homage. It is often used this way, as in Genesis 49[:8], where it is written, “The children of your fathers shall worship you.” Although this worship is insignificant and common, God has forbidden that we show such honor to created things and that we honor them as gods. Thus God forbade us to worship either the sun or the moon.

2. Concerning the bread and wine, I will now say, and have said, that I don’t like the human, papistic, and misleading words, “form of bread” or “form of wine,” as I wrote to Jorg Reich in my booklet On Both Forms, which, God willing, will soon be printed.²

3. Accordingly, I ask whether the bread over which the priest has thanked or blessed God or spoken a benediction [A3r] should be worshiped, because it is said that the bread is the body of Christ.

4. First, I confess and say that bread and wine (which the papists call the form of bread and wine) were not instituted so that we should honor them on bended knee and accord similar ceremonies to them. The gospel explains clearly how we should use bread and wine, and it is not hidden that Christ presented the bread to eat and the wine to drink, saying, “Eat, this bread is my body. Drink the wine, which is my blood” [Matt. 26:26–28]. If Christ had the desire and pleasure that we should honor the bread and wine with our eyes, with genuflection, with kissing and processions, he would have been clever enough to have spoken about it and he wouldn’t have concealed it from us. Therefore I know that angel masses (which are dedicated and endowed for the purpose of carrying the worthy sacrament in processions) are not especially praiseworthy.³ For I know that if I want to please and serve God with external things, I should live according to and follow his law and judgments. I am also aware that I should only use ceremonies in a way that God wants to accept. Now Christ said that we should eat his flesh and drink his blood. Thus I say that the venerable sacrament wasn’t instituted so that we should honor it with our worship.

5. Christ didn’t establish the bread and wine for us to worship or to show it any other honor, but it doesn’t follow that therefore we should not show any honor to the bread and wine. For we all know that Christ said, “I did not come so that you should serve me, but so that I would serve you,” John 13[:13–15; cf. Matt. 20:28]. Nevertheless, he praised the ministry and good deed of the woman who washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and kissed them with her mouth, Luke 7[:37–50]. Likewise Christ said that the woman [A3v] who anointed his head with costly ointment had done well and a good work. He also didn’t criticize Martha or rebuke Zacchaeus, who both took him with joy into their houses, Luke 10[:38] and 19[:1–10].

Moses was given to the children of Israel for this reason, that he should lead them out of Egypt, protect them from evil, and bear them as a mother bears her children in her bosom or on her back, Exodus 3[:7–10], Numbers 11[:12]. But God will not tolerate anyone who shows him dishonor or contempt, as the histories of Miriam and Aaron prove, Numbers 12[:1–16]; likewise of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Numbers 16[:1–16], and of many others.

Christ didn’t institute bread and wine, or his flesh and blood, so that we should honor it or that we should worship it, but it doesn’t follow from this that we shouldn’t give it any honor, praise, and glory. We are obligated to give it honor and we must honor it. Paul expressed this sufficiently to the Corinthians, saying, “When you come together, you quarrel and are divided into sects, and you drink as if you were in a gambling house or tavern. Each one tries to outdo the other in eating and drinking. And so one is drunk and full, and the other sober and hungry. If you intend to do this, it isn’t fitting that you receive the venerable sacrament. Don’t you have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise God’s house? And do you shame those who have nothing? On this point I cannot praise you,” says Paul, 1 Corinthians 11[:18–22]. And he teaches that we should partake of the sacrament worthily, saying, “Whoever uses the sacrament unworthily, whoever eats the bread unworthily and drinks from the cup of the Lord unworthily, he is guilty of the death of the Lord, and he is like someone who attacked Christ’s body and blood and killed him.” Paul gives us this reason for receiving the most worthy sacrament with veneration and discernment, [A4r] saying, “You should discern the body of the Lord” [1 Cor. 11:27–29]. Hear what Paul says earlier concerning the bread and wine, that the Corinthians should receive them with worthy honor, and he gives this reason, that the recipient must discern the body of the Lord. Thus Paul says in a concealed way what he earlier wrote about openly, namely, that the bread is the body of the Lord. This is the reason why we should show honor to the bread. Whoever doesn’t see this in the bread receives the bread unworthily because he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body. This is what Paul said earlier, in chapter 10 [1 Cor. 10:16–17]: “The cup that we bless is the fellowship of the blood of Christ, and the bread which we break is a fellowship of the body of Christ.” See, this is the reason that Paul often gave, following Christ, that we should show honor to the sacrament: the bread is the body of Christ and the wine is the blood of Christ. Anyone who says that we shouldn’t honor the bread and wine that have become the body and blood of Christ is saying that we shouldn’t show honor to the body and blood of Christ. No one says this except an enemy of Paul and of all the prophets, a blasphemer against God, whom no one will heed into eternity, although the hypocrites count on nothing but the lies they have invented.

6. Now this puffed-up toad (whose eyes blaze, glitter, and blink with evil and lies) must still hear what he doesn’t want to hear, and bite his own fingers, because he said that the Wittenbergers want to call on Christ in heaven in order to force him down.⁴ May that be far from us, you poisonous dragon and miserable worm! We have a lion from the tribe of Judah who can easily stop your lying mouth, and the laity will believe not us but him. And so hear what I have learned from him, the one who taught me what I should hold to in this matter.

7. I show honor to the signs (that is, bread and wine) because I know that the consecrated bread is the body and [A4v] the wine is the blood of Christ, as I have proven at length from scripture in the pamphlet On Both Forms. Just as I believe that Christ is true God and man, so I believe that the consecrated bread is the body of Christ and that it remains bread, which he took into his hands or which the baker baked, because the scripture says the bread is the body of Christ. It is as easy for me to believe the former statement as it is the latter, for I believe both. And I know that the more the laity learns of the gospel and becomes as accustomed to this phrase, “The bread is the body of Christ,” through such long usage as they have the other phrase, “Man has become God,” that the one will be as easily and well believed as the other.

8. I think that to someone born blind it would certainly sound strange to say “The wall or the man is white,” for he has seen neither of them. In the same way, it is unbelievable according to nature that a man should be God and that natural bread should be the body of Christ. But faith finds both of these statements easy and believable. Just as I know that the bread is white and round because I see it, so I know that the bread is the body of Christ because I see it written in the gospel. I don’t doubt the word of Christ and I believe him, even if on account of me and my old Adam this is too bitter and weighty.

9. I know truly and without wavering that the consecrated bread is the body of Christ and is of Christ as he said—that is, of the whole and living Christ—and the consecrated wine is the blood of Christ. Therefore I have no doubt at all that I should show honor to the body and blood of Christ and may say to it, as Thomas said, “My Lord, my God” [John 20:28], and like the centurion, “I am not worthy that you enter under my roof, but say the word and my soul will be saved” [Matt. 8:8]. But I may receive it with joy like Zacchaeus [Luke 19:6], which was more praiseworthy, more comforting, and more in accord with Christ.

[B1r] 10. And so I may worship the bread that is Christ and ask help from it, although it was instituted for eating and given as a sign, because I worship Christ with whom the bread has become one thing, as God and man are one person.

11. Not that grace and help are given to me originally from the bread, or that I should grant such power to the natural bread from the baker once it has become the body of Christ, or finally that I should base myself and remain at rest on the bread with love, faith, hope, worship, and veneration. In that case I would worship what the baker made or what a created thing had brought about. But I proceed and go forth in Christ and honor the bread simply because it has become the body of Christ, and the wine because it has become the blood of Christ. If I worshiped the bread according to its own nature or because it is only a sign, may that happen to me that happened to the Babylonian king Belshazzar, about whom Daniel 5[:30] wrote.⁵

12. Our papists can’t honor or worship their “form” with good conscience, for they don’t have the basis for true worship that Christ, and after him Paul, and now I have given. This is the reason: they can’t say, “The form of bread is the body of Christ, the form of wine is the blood of Christ” because they lack scripture. Therefore they are the ones who can’t honor the sacrament and into whom all filth flows. We know through the gospel that the bread is the body and the wine is the blood of Christ. Therefore we discern the body of the Lord, which they can’t discern.

13. We move from the bread to Christ, whose body is the bread, and so we do and do not honor the bread. We honor it because we know that the bread is the body of Christ, and we do not honor it for we cling not to the bread but to Christ.

14. This shouldn’t sound strange to a pious Christian, for ultimately our faith doesn’t stand on the humanity [B1v] of Christ but penetrates through all created things to God. Therefore Christ says, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in the one who sent me,” John 12[:44]. See here, you envy and hate what Christ says, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me”; so I say, “Whoever believes in the bread does not believe in the bread.” If I should believe in God, then I must first believe in Christ, for through Christ we have access to God, so that we believe not in Christ but in his father, as Christ says. See how faith flees through all the heavens and from creatures and clings only to God. Why else did Christ say, “Whoever believes in me, does not believe in me”? For the one who believes in Christ doesn’t stand still at the man Christ but rises up to his father, whose command and word Christ preached.

Thus Christ said, “Whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me,” John 12[:45]. It didn’t help the Jews that they saw Christ, but it served for the salvation of believers that they saw Christ, for they saw something in Christ that was over all created things. For this reason Christ says, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see” [Matt. 13:16]. Christ always led his disciples beyond himself to his father. And so whoever worships and honors the bread or wants to seek help from it must go beyond himself into the heavenly bread that is Christ. As he himself says, “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven,” John 6[:51].

In this way I can worship, honor, praise, and glorify the bread that is the body of Christ. But if I separate the bread from the body of Christ and either won’t or can’t believe (may God preserve me from this) that the bread is the body and the wine is the blood of Christ, as Christ said with clear words, then I shouldn’t seek help in it, worship or honor it, for then I would be setting up for myself a created thing as an idol. Therefore each person should consider whether he believes Christ or not. [B2r] And then, if he has believed the words of Christ, he should give honor to the bread and wine, since they have become the body and blood of Christ, as I have written above.

15. Bread and wine are not merely signs, as the rainbow was [Gen. 9:8–17] or the cattle of Abraham, Genesis 15[:9–21], or the fleece of Gideon [Judg. 6:36–40], but they are signs and have become that thing that suffered and was shed for us;⁶ that is, bread and wine have become the body of Christ and the blood of Christ, which we should worship, as is said above in article 14.

16. Some find fault and say that many people are offended that we call the sacrament a sign. Answer: Those same people call much worse things “signs” than we do. We call bread and wine signs not of the body and blood of Christ or of bread and wine, but of the word, that is, of the two promises of Christ. Why do we care if some are offended by the word of God? Many people took offense at Christ’s words that he and his disciples confessed. Christ is the cornerstone of all unbelievers, and they take offense at him and are wounded, as it says in 1 Peter 2[:6–8]. Didn’t Simeon say that Christ would be placed for the destruction of many men, Luke 2[:34]? Should we fear those who accept and praise human inventions rather than divine scripture? Should the light and God’s word remain hidden under a bushel [Matt. 5:15]? No, the word of God must be spoken and written openly. If anyone is silent concerning it out of fear or for the sake of money, Christ also will not recognize him. Bread and wine are signs of the divine promises given to us to quiet our doubts. If you are surprised at this or want to speak of us in a useless or unchristian way because we call these above-mentioned things signs, what will they say when they read the word of Christ, who says, “As Moses raised up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Son of man [B2v] be raised up, so that the many who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life,” John 3[:14–15]. With these words Christ lets us know that he was a sign on the cross, as the snake of Moses was made into a sign in the wilderness, Numbers 11 [21:8–9]. What will they say now, when they clearly understand the divine word that Christ on the cross was a sign, just as the snake of Moses was suspended so that those who were bitten could view it? Those who looked at the snake were healed; those who looked at Christ in faith had eternal life and were assured against damnation. The snake was a sign of the promise that proclaimed bodily health; Christ is a sign of the promise that assures all believers of spiritual health, protection from destruction, and eternal life. See that Christ is a sign; see how Christ bears all righteousness beyond himself to his father, who alone is God and is not united with any created thing as Christ was united. See, this is what Paul says, “He is the righteous one who makes righteous those who belong to Christ through faith,” Romans 3[:26].

17. Although this should be enough, our enemies should know that the Lord is called a sign in Isaiah 55[:13], which says, “The Lord will make him a name and an eternal sign that will not pass away.” See, the Lord shall be an eternal, imperishable sign, as he himself says, “I will remain with you until the end of the world” [Matt. 28:20]. And so Christ is an eternal sign for us. To unbelievers he is a sign of the opposition that is encountered by everyone when they oppose him, as Simeon said, Luke 2[:34].

18. Isaiah also says that the Lord will become a name for us. We will be called by his name and so we call ourselves Christians, from Christ, and just as we have one name in him, so we are one body in Christ. Accordingly, Paul also says, [B3r] “We who eat from one bread are all one bread” [1 Cor. 10:17]. So the Lord is named or becomes a name for us, so that we are one bread, one body, one Christian assembly. From this it follows that because Christ is a sign, bread and wine could also be called two signs, and that those who use and partake of the signs receive their name and may be called bread. Therefore it shouldn’t hinder any Christian if someone calls bread and wine signs. If he wants to become angry, let him become angry with scripture.

19. Now no one should either begin or end by basing himself on the bread and wine with worship or faith, for they are created things. The bread is still bread that the baker has baked, although it has become the body of Christ, just as Christ also remains man as he was conceived in his mother’s womb, although that same human body is God. Thus when I invoke the sacrament, when I direct my faith, love, and hope to it, I don’t cling to what I see but to that which is invisible, that is, to the body and blood of Christ.

20. Therefore I don’t praise those who consider the bread in the sacrament to be just like any other bread, as it is said that the Picards do.⁷ Paul applies all the dishonor that is done to the consecrated bread (which is the body of Christ) to the body of Christ, as said above. Therefore each person should know what to do, but he should also read the scripture and ask whether my pamphlet accords and agrees with God’s word.

I don’t want to write about recent news here, and it doesn’t belong in this pamphlet. But because I want to praise and glorify God’s grace especially now, I won’t hide this from you, that my most gracious lord the archbishop of Magdeburg and primate, His Electoral Grace, gives praise, honor, and glory to God.⁸ He has splendidly enlightened the princely estate of His Grace the Elector, so that His Electoral Grace [B3v] has begun to read and consider the evangelical truth in all seriousness. It is said here that His Grace the Elector wants to administer the highest and most honorable episcopal office himself (if he is fit for it) and to preach the gospel, which gives me inexpressible joy. I don’t know if there is anything I would rather see happen. May the living God sustain and increase His Grace, so that others will follow and will surely throw the Roman yoke and chains from their necks. It is a shame that our German prelates (may God give them great understanding, so they see that the papal regiment walks on flat feet) do not govern the German nation themselves without seeking papal appointment or confirmation, in view of the fact that they send much money to Rome and bring nothing home with them except short letters and airy words. We should consider the pope as nothing other than one who empties our purses and injures Christian souls. I would gladly bring this about, and with God’s help I may be able to do so. I also know that the prelates must agree with me in their hearts. If their mouths were united with their consciences, then I’d already have their agreement.

I wish to God that they had the will as much as they have the power, right, and justification to break the Roman net. It would soon rip and snarl (but if the matter proceeds well, no priest would need to beg for bread or suffer bodily injury. Anyone who wants that is not evangelical). They lack nothing but goodwill; I lack the power. If they had my will or I had their strength, we could expel papal and unchristian teaching, virtue, morals, and religion out of Germany and would proclaim an anathema against the pope in Rome. We are imprisoned in his realm as the Jews were in Babylon; yes, it is even more harmful, for we not only lack godly victims and sacrifices, like the Jews, but also God’s word, which is much more dangerous, Hosea 6[:6], Daniel 9[:27].

[B4r] The priest who was arrested because he married has been freed and released, and he retains both his parish and his wife, as a reliable person told me.⁹ This is a clear indication to me that my gracious lord of Magdeburg is increasing in evangelical freedom and truth, as is fitting and appropriate for His Electoral Grace as the German primate. May the merciful God strengthen and preserve His Electoral Grace.