Looking for a Luther quote

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Brian Kooshian

Puritan Board Freshman
Years ago I heard a quote attributed to Martin Luther that went something along the lines of "the exact point of truth which an unbeliever denies becomes the gospel which he must believe to be saved".

Can anyone help me locate this quote?

Thanks!
 
The quote sounds wrong to me. I mean, it doesn't sound to me like Luther or Lutheranism.

But it does sound similar to a similar attribution, more true to the man (which I could never find for you, sorry) that goes something like this:

"I have written many theological works, and defended many Christian truths. However, if I fail to defend God's truth at the precise point where it is being assailed, I have denied the truth."
 
Rev. Buchanan, I think this is the quotation you were referring to,

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

Francis Schaeffer cites it and attributes it to Luther in several of his works (The God Who is There, is one place), but he never gives any specific reference for it. The Presbyterian blogger Michael Marlowe makes this statement about it:

"The words that Schaeffer attributes to Martin Luther here (and elsewhere in his writings) sound very much like Luther, but they were actually written by the Victorian-era novelist, Elizabeth Charles. The words appear in her Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family, as if written by the fictional narrator Friedrich ("Fritz") Schönberg. The attribution to Luther was perhaps due to some confusion arising from the fact that in the context this character was explaining why he could not abandon Lutheranism."

It's still a great statement though...:)
 
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Great catch! I have known of Schaeffer as the source of the "quote" and have tried several times to trace it down. It is still a great quote and quite true to the actual man.
 
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