Luther’s Reformation of Marriage

“How I dread preaching on the estate of marriage! . . . but timidity is no help in an emergency; I must proceed. I must try to instruct poor bewildered consciences, and take up the matter boldly.”

Martin Luther’s 1522 The Estate of Marriage begins with an honest reflection regarding the difficulty of addressing such a topic. Nonetheless, he saw a dire situation in 16th-century Germany. He knew his words and counsel were needed, and so he boldly took up the pen. In doing so, he dismantled the medieval system of marriage and family and replaced it with a vision of the Christian home that flowed directly from his discovery of justification by faith.