Psa 82:1 | Luther | STEP | Against these junkers this Psalm is made. It says: V.1. God standeth in the congregation of God And is judge among the gods. He confesses, and does not deny that they are gods. He will not be seditious or lessen their honor or power, as the disobedient rebels do, and the mad saints, the heretics and fanatics. Nevertheless he makes a true distinction between God’s power and theirs. He will let them be gods over men, but not over God Himself, as if he were to say, “It is true that ye are gods over all of us, but not over the God of all of us. For God, who appointed you as gods, surely wills that He Himself shall be an exception and that His Godhead shall not be subjected to your godhead. He does not allow you to be gods, in order that He may not remain God; but He wills to remain Supreme God, a judge over all gods.” But Moses calls them gods because all the offices of rulership, from the least to the highest, are God’s ordinance, as St. Paul teaches in ; and King Jehoshaphat, in , says to his officials, “Consider, and judge rightly, for the judgment is God’s.” Now because this is not a matter of human will or devising, but God Himself appoints and preserves all rulership, and if He no longer held it up, it would all fall down, even though all the world held it fast, therefore, it is rightly called a divine thing, a divine ordinance and such persons are rightly called divine, godlike, or gods, especially when, beside the institution itself, we have a word or command of God for it, as among the people of Israel, where the priests, princes, and kings were appointed by the oral command and word of God. From this we see how high and how glorious God will have rulers held, and that men ought to obey them, as His officers, and be subject to them with all fear and reverence, as to God Himself. He who would resist them or be disobedient to them or despise them, whom God names with His own name and calls gods, and to whom He attaches His own honor; he, I say, who despises, disobeys, or resists them, is thereby despising, disobeying and resisting the true Supreme God, who is in them, and speaks and judges through them and calls their judgment His judgment. What they win by it St. Paul shows, in , and this is abundantly shown by experience. All this is written because it is God’s will to establish and maintain peace among the children of Adam for their own good; as St. Paul says, in , “It is God’s minister to you for good.” For where there is no rulership, or where rulers are not held in honor, there can be no peace. Where there is no peace, no one can keep his life, or anything else, in the face of another’s outrage, thievery, robbery, violence, and wickedness; much less will there be room to teach God’s Word, and to raise children in the fear of God and in discipline. Because, then, God will not have the world desolate and empty, but has made it for men to live in and till the land and fill it, as is written in ; and because this cannot happen where there is no peace; He is compelled, as a Creator, preserving His own creatures, works, and ordinances, to institute and preserve rulership, and to commit to it the sword and the laws, so that He may slay and punish all those who do not obey it, as men who strive also against God and His ordinance, and are not worthy to live. But again, as, on the one hand, He keeps down the disorder of the rabble and therefore subjects them to the sword and the laws; so, on the other hand, He keeps down the rulers, that they shall not abuse His majesty and power according to their own self-will, but use them for that peace for which He has appointed and preserves them. Nevertheless, it is not His will to allow the rabble to raise their fist against the rulers or to seize the sword, as if to punish and judge the rulers. No, they must leave that! It is not God’s will, and He has not committed this to them. They are not to be judges and revenge themselves, or resort to outrage and violence, but God Himself will punish wicked rulers and impose statutes and laws upon them. He will be judge and master over them. He will find them out, better than anyone else can, as indeed, He has done since the beginning of the world. This is what this first verse says: “God standeth in the congregation of God, and is judge among the gods.” As if to say: Let no one undertake to judge the gods, to punish them, or master them, but be quiet, keep the peace, be obedient, and suffer. But neither are the gods to be proud and self-willed, for they are not gods among the people and overlords of the congregation in such a way that they have this position all to themselves and can do as they like. Nay, not so! God Himself is there also, and He will judge, punish, and master them, and if they do not obey, they shall not escape. “He standeth in His congregation,” for the congregation is also His; and “He judgeth the gods,” for the rulers, too, are His; and because both are His, it is right for Him to take the part of both; and He wills to be respected and feared by both, so that the congregation may be obedient to the rulers for God’s sake, and the rulers may administer justice and peace, also for God’s sake; thus the things of this life will go along finely, in the fear of God and obedience to Him. But if one party or the other will not do its duty, if the congregation be disobedient and the rulers self-willed, then both are guilty of death in God’s sight, and both are punished — the congregation by the rulers, the rulers by God, who can put down the mighty from their seats and tear them up by the roots, destroying their name and their memory, as the illustrations show. Observe that he calls all communities or organized assemblies “the congregation of God,” because they are God’s own, and He accepts them as His own work, just as, in , He calls Nineveh “a city of God.” For He has made, and makes, all communities; He still brings them together, feeds them, increases them, blesses and preserves them, gives them fields and meadows, cattle, water, air, sun and moon, and everything that they have, nay, body and life, as it is written in . For what have we, and what has all the world, that is not got unceasingly from Him? But even though experience ought to teach us this, He has to say it in plain words, and openly confess and boast that the communities are His; for mad Reason, in its shrewdness, and all the worldly-wise know not at all that a community is God’s creature and His ordinance, but have no other thought about it than that it has come into being by accident, by people holding together and living side by side in the same way that murderers and robbers and other wicked bands come together to disturb the peace and the ordinance of God; and these are the devil’s congregations. It is only believers that know the articles about creation from , though even their faith in it is weak, and many of them never think of it or speak of it. But David knows it very well, when he says in , “The earth is the Lord’s and they that dwell therein; for He hath founded it upon the seas and built it upon the waters”; and his son Solomon says, in , “Except God keep house and city, the builder and the watchman build and watch in vain.” What should the worldly-wise know of heavenly things, when they do not know these things, amongst which they live and move? Since such communities are God’s work, which He daily creates, supports and increases, so that they can sit at home and produce children and educate them: therefore this word is, in the first place, a great and pleasant comfort to all those who find themselves situated in such a community. It assures them that God accepts them as His work and His creation, cares for them and protects and supports them, as we can, in fact, see with our own eyes. For who could have or keep a cow or a heller, if God did not give it and help and guard it? Therefore, everyone ought to admonish himself to be thankful for everything that is offered him by his rulers, and be glad that, in such a community, he is worthy to eat his bread and live. For this word “congregation of God” is a precious word, and anyone who is in it ought to be ten times more glad than if he were enrolled as a Roman citizen, which was once a great honor on earth. But Reason does not consider this. In the second place, it is a terrible and threatening word against the wicked, self-willed gods, or rulers, for it tells them that they are set over, not wood and stone, not swine and dogs (about which God has made no commandments) but over the “congregation of God”; and they ought to fear lest the wrong that they do be done against God Himself. For the congregations are not their own, as are the swine and dogs, which God has given them as their own property; but He is, and wills to be, in them, and they are to be called His congregation. On both sides, then, everything will go well, in the fear of God and in humility. Subjects will have regard to God and gladly be obedient for His sake, and rulers will also have regard to God and do right and keep peace for His sake. But especially ought this fear and humility to be in that congregation which was not only first founded and created by that word in Genesis 1, but which was established and ordered by a special word of God. Thus the communities of the people of Israel were confirmed in many ways through Moses, and chosen before all others, and separated from them. It is especially of these communities that this Psalm speaks, and it calls them, above all others, “God’s congregations,” just as they are called in all the prophets His heritage, His possession, His kingdom, His priesthood; though it was in these very “congregations of God” that the worst and most ravenous gods were found, and the most self-willed and proudest rebels that could be upon the earth, as this Psalm indicates and history testifies. The same thing is true of our rulers, under the New Testament. Beside their creation by the word of Genesis 1, they have been established anew, through Christ, by a special word. For He says, in , “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”; and in , “Be subject to every ordinance of man”; and in , “Let every man be subject to his rulers”; and there are many more passages. This Psalm, therefore, applies to our rulers, as well as to the Jews, just as every other Scripture of the Old Testament is given to us, as well as to the Jews. For this reason, in our communities, too, this fear and humility, both of gods and subjects, ought to be all the more in evidence. Nevertheless, our condition will continue to be that of which this Psalm sings; and it says nothing good about the gods and their virtues. Now in order that these proud gods may be deprived of their defiant boastfulness, when they think that no one is to judge them or rebuke them without being called a rebel, a little peg is driven into them and a club is laid by the dog, so that they may be properly rebuked, boldly spoken to, and hard and sharply threatened, as this Psalm does. For it says here, “God standeth in His congregation and judgeth the gods”; that is, He rebukes them. For He keeps the upper hand over them and the right to judge them, and does not make them gods in such wise as to abolish His own Godhead and let them do as they please, as if they alone were gods over God. On the contrary, it is His will that they be subject to His Word and either listen to it or suffer all misfortune. It is enough that they have rule over all else; but over God’s Word they are not to have it. For God’s Word appoints them, and makes them gods, and subjects everything to them. Therefore, they are not to despise it, for it is their institutor and appointer; but they are to be subject to it, and allow themselves to be judged, rebuked, made, and mastered by it. Where, then, is God, or how do we become sure that there is a God Who thus rebukes? Answer: You hear in this place that “He stands in the congregation.” Where His congregation is, there you will find Him. For there He has His appointed priests and preachers, to whom He has committed the duty of teaching, exhorting, rebuking, comforting, and, in a word, of preaching the Word of God. How it has been commanded to preach the Word of God in all the world and in every place, I cannot here tell, for I think that everybody sees the churches and pulpits, and all of them rest on this one foundation, in , “Go and preach to all the nations, and teach them to keep the commandments I have given you.” Would God that only faithful men had this office and administered it faithfully and purely, and that it were not abused so shamefully and hatefully! Nevertheless, abuse does not destroy the office; the office is true, exactly as temporal rule is a true and good office, even though a knave has it and abuses it. Observe, however, that a preacher, by whom God rebukes the gods, is to “stand in the congregation.” He is to “stand,” that is, he is to be firm and confident, and deal uprightly and honestly with it; and “in the congregation,” that is, openly and boldly before God and men. By this two sins are prevented. The first is unfaithfulness. There are many bishops and preachers in the preaching-office, but they do not “stand,” and serve God faithfully; on the contrary, they lie down, or otherwise play with their office. These are the lazy and worthless preachers, who do not tell the princes and lords their sins. In some cases they do not notice the sins; they lie down and snore in their office, and do nothing that pertains to it, except, like swine, take up the room where good preachers should stand; they form the great majority. Others, however, play the hypocrite and flatter the wicked gods, and strengthen them in their self-will; just now they are raging and raving against the Gospel, and are stirring up their princes and lords to slander and murder. Still others fear for their skins and are afraid that they must lose life and goods. All of these do not “stand,” and are not faithful to Christ. The other sin is called back-biting. The whole world is full in every corner of both preachers and laymen who bandy evil words about their princes and lords, and curse them and call them names, though not boldly, in the open, but in corners, and in their own companies. But that accomplishes nothing except to make the evil worse. It serves only to set a secret fire, by which people are moved to disobedience, rebellion, breach of the peace, and contempt for their rulers. If you are in the office, and are not willing to rebuke your gods openly and publicly, as your office demands, at least leave off your private back-biting, calling of names, criticizing, and complaining, or be hanged to you! But if you are not in office, then leave off all rebuking and criticizing, both public and private, or the devil is already your abbot and does not need to become so; for, in Matthew 7, God has forbidden secret judging, or judging where there is no office. On the other hand, it is His will that those who are in office and are called to do it, shall rebuke and judge their gods boldly and openly. Therefore, this first verse goes on to say, “He is judge among the gods.” Judge He is, and He rebukes the gods, but He does it as a judge, to whom that office has been committed, not plotting like a hypocrite in corners among secret groups, but “among the gods” themselves. He dares to speak boldly in their presence. It does not say, “He is a slanderer or back-biter,” but “He is a judge among the gods.” Mark this well! The lords sit in high places, and everyone sees their sins and faults most of all. And because men see them most of all, there is no commoner sin than speaking evil of lords. Everyone loves to do it, for in so doing he forgets his own unrighteousness. Even though their lord had every virtue, and they could discover in him only one vice and small as a mote, while they themselves were full of vices as large as beams, yet they would see the mote in high places before they would see the virtues, and would not see the beams in the depths of all vices. So, then, this first verse teaches that to rebuke rulers is not seditious, provided it is done in the way here described; namely, by the office to which God has committed that duty, and through God’s Word, spoken publicly, boldly, and honestly. To rebuke rulers in this way is, on the contrary, a praiseworthy, noble, and rare virtue, and a particularly great service of God, as the Psalm here proves. It would be far more seditious, if a preacher were not to rebuke the sins of the rulers, for then he makes people angry and sullen, and strengthens the wickedness of the tyrants and becomes a partaker in it, and bears responsibility for it. Thus God might be angered and might allow rebellion to come as a penalty. The other way, — when the lords are rebuked as well as the people, and the people as well as the lords (as the prophets did), — neither can blame anything on the other, and they have to bear with one another, and be satisfied, and be at peace with each other. They are poisonous and dangerous preachers who take the side of one party alone and call the lords names in order to tickle the people, and court the peasants like Muenzer, Carlstadt, and other fanatics; or call the peasants names in order to flatter and please the lords, as our opponents do. The thing to do is to chop both parties in one bowl and make one dish out of the two of them. For a preacher is neither a courtier nor a slave of peasants. He is God’s servant and slave, and his commission is over lords and slaves; as the Psalm here says, “He judges and rebukes the gods.” That is the meaning of the word Judicet, “judge,” viz. judicio et jure. He is to do that which is right and proper, not with a view to favor or disfavor, but according to law, that is, according to God’s Word, which knows no distinction or respect of persons.

Psalms 82:1

^{▼▼This chapter includes a chapter introduction. Consult your software manual for how to access chapter introductions} Against these junkers this Psalm is made. It says:

_V.1. God standeth in the congregation of God And is judge among the gods.

He confesses, and does not deny that they are gods. He will not be seditious or lessen their honor or power, as the disobedient rebels do, and the mad saints, the heretics and fanatics. Nevertheless he makes a true distinction between God’s power and theirs. He will let them be gods over men, but not over God Himself, as if he were to say, “It is true that ye are gods over all of us, but not over the God of all of us. For God, who appointed you as gods, surely wills that He Himself shall be an exception and that His Godhead shall not be subjected to your godhead. He does not allow you to be gods, in order that He may not remain God; but He wills to remain Supreme God, a judge over all gods.”

But Moses calls them gods because all the offices of rulership, from the least to the highest, are God’s ordinance, as St. Paul teaches in Romans 13:1; and King Jehoshaphat, in 2 Chronicles 19:6, says to his officials, “Consider, and judge rightly, for the judgment is God’s.” Now because this is not a matter of human will or devising, but God Himself appoints and preserves all rulership, and if He no longer held it up, it would all fall down, even though all the world held it fast, therefore, it is rightly called a divine thing, a divine ordinance and such persons are rightly called divine, godlike, or gods, especially when, beside the institution itself, we have a word or command of God for it, as among the people of Israel, where the priests, princes, and kings were appointed by the oral command and word of God.

From this we see how high and how glorious God will have rulers held, and that men ought to obey them, as His officers, and be subject to them with all fear and reverence, as to God Himself. He who would resist them or be disobedient to them or despise them, whom God names with His own name and calls gods, and to whom He attaches His own honor; he, I say, who despises, disobeys, or resists them, is thereby despising, disobeying and resisting the true Supreme God, who is in them, and speaks and judges through them and calls their judgment His judgment. What they win by it St. Paul shows, in Romans 13:1, and this is abundantly shown by experience.

All this is written because it is God’s will to establish and maintain peace among the children of Adam for their own good; as St. Paul says, in Romans 13:4, “It is God’s minister to you for good.” For where there is no rulership, or where rulers are not held in honor, there can be no peace. Where there is no peace, no one can keep his life, or anything else, in the face of another’s outrage, thievery, robbery, violence, and wickedness; much less will there be room to teach God’s Word, and to raise children in the fear of God and in discipline. Because, then, God will not have the world desolate and empty, but has made it for men to live in and till the land and fill it, as is written in Genesis 1:29; and because this cannot happen where there is no peace; He is compelled, as a Creator, preserving His own creatures, works, and ordinances, to institute and preserve rulership, and to commit to it the sword and the laws, so that He may slay and punish all those who do not obey it, as men who strive also against God and His ordinance, and are not worthy to live.

But again, as, on the one hand, He keeps down the disorder of the rabble and therefore subjects them to the sword and the laws; so, on the other hand, He keeps down the rulers, that they shall not abuse His majesty and power according to their own self-will, but use them for that peace for which He has appointed and preserves them. Nevertheless, it is not His will to allow the rabble to raise their fist against the rulers or to seize the sword, as if to punish and judge the rulers. No, they must leave that! It is not God’s will, and He has not committed this to them. They are not to be judges and revenge themselves, or resort to outrage and violence, but God Himself will punish wicked rulers and impose statutes and laws upon them. He will be judge and master over them. He will find them out, better than anyone else can, as indeed, He has done since the beginning of the world.

This is what this first verse says: “God standeth in the congregation of God, and is judge among the gods.” As if to say: Let no one undertake to judge the gods, to punish them, or master them, but be quiet, keep the peace, be obedient, and suffer. But neither are the gods to be proud and self-willed, for they are not gods among the people and overlords of the congregation in such a way that they have this position all to themselves and can do as they like. Nay, not so! God Himself is there also, and He will judge, punish, and master them, and if they do not obey, they shall not escape. “He standeth in His congregation,” for the congregation is also His; and “He judgeth the gods,” for the rulers, too, are His; and because both are His, it is right for Him to take the part of both; and He wills to be respected and feared by both, so that the congregation may be obedient to the rulers for God’s sake, and the rulers may administer justice and peace, also for God’s sake; thus the things of this life will go along finely, in the fear of God and obedience to Him. But if one party or the other will not do its duty, if the congregation be disobedient and the rulers self-willed, then both are guilty of death in God’s sight, and both are punished — the congregation by the rulers, the rulers by God, who can put down the mighty from their seats and tear them up by the roots, destroying their name and their memory, as the illustrations show.

Observe that he calls all communities or organized assemblies ^{▼▼Alle Gemeinen odder ordenliche versamlung. Luther’s Gemeine means both “congregation” and “community” and he shifts continually from the one meaning to the other, as with Obrigkeit, which means both “institutions of government” and “rulers.”} “the congregation of God,” because they are God’s own, and He accepts them as His own work, just as, in Jonah 3:3, He calls Nineveh “a city of God.” For He has made, and makes, all communities; He still brings them together, feeds them, increases them, blesses and preserves them, gives them fields and meadows, cattle, water, air, sun and moon, and everything that they have, nay, body and life, as it is written in Genesis 1:29. For what have we, and what has all the world, that is not got unceasingly from Him? But even though experience ought to teach us this, He has to say it in plain words, and openly confess and boast that the communities are His; for mad Reason, in its shrewdness, and all the worldly-wise know not at all that a community is God’s creature and His ordinance, but have no other thought about it than that it has come into being by accident, ^{▼▼Ongefehr und plumbsweise.} by people holding together and living side by side in the same way that murderers and robbers and other wicked bands come together to disturb the peace and the ordinance of God; and these are the devil’s congregations. It is only believers that know the articles about creation ^{▼▼Cf. Luther’s explanation of the first Article of the Creed in The Small Catechism.} from Genesis 1:29, though even their faith in it is weak, and many of them never think of it or speak of it. But David knows it very well, when he says in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and they that dwell therein; for He hath founded it upon the seas and built it upon the waters”; and his son Solomon says, in Psalm 126:1, “Except God keep house and city, the builder and the watchman build and watch in vain.” What should the worldly-wise know of heavenly things, when they do not know these things, amongst which they live and move?

Since such communities are God’s work, which He daily creates, supports and increases, so that they can sit at home and produce children and educate them: therefore this word is, in the first place, a great and pleasant comfort to all those who find themselves situated in such a community. It assures them that God accepts them as His work and His creation, cares for them and protects and supports them, as we can, in fact, see with our own eyes. For who could have or keep a cow or a heller, if God did not give it and help and guard it? Therefore, everyone ought to admonish himself to be thankful for everything that is offered him by his rulers, and be glad that, in such a community, he is worthy to eat his bread and live. For this word “congregation of God” is a precious word, and anyone who is in it ought to be ten times more glad than if he were enrolled as a Roman citizen, which was once a great honor on earth. But Reason does not consider this.

In the second place, it is a terrible and threatening word against the wicked, self-willed gods, or rulers, for it tells them that they are set over, not wood and stone, not swine and dogs (about which God has made no commandments) but over the “congregation of God”; and they ought to fear lest the wrong that they do be done against God Himself. For the congregations ^{▼▼Or “communities.” See above, p. 292.} are not their own, as are the swine and dogs, which God has given them as their own property; but He is, and wills to be, in them, and they are to be called His congregation. On both sides, then, everything will go well, in the fear of God and in humility. Subjects will have regard to God and gladly be obedient for His sake, and rulers will also have regard to God and do right and keep peace for His sake.

But especially ought this fear and humility to be in that congregation which was not only first founded and created by that word in Genesis 1, but which was established and ordered by a special word of God. Thus the communities of the people of Israel were confirmed in many ways through Moses, and chosen before all others, and separated from them. It is especially of these communities that this Psalm speaks, and it calls them, above all others, “God’s congregations,” just as they are called in all the prophets His heritage, His possession, His kingdom, His priesthood; though it was in these very “congregations of God” that the worst and most ravenous gods were found, and the most self-willed and proudest rebels that could be upon the earth, as this Psalm indicates and history testifies.

The same thing is true of our rulers, under the New Testament. Beside their creation by the word of Genesis 1, they have been established anew, through Christ, by a special word. For He says, in Matthew 22:21, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”; and in 1 Peter 3:13, “Be subject to every ordinance of man”; and in Romans 13:1, “Let every man be subject to his rulers”; and there are many more passages. This Psalm, therefore, applies to our rulers, as well as to the Jews, just as every other Scripture of the Old Testament is given to us, as well as to the Jews. For this reason, in our communities, too, this fear and humility, both of gods and subjects, ought to be all the more in evidence. Nevertheless, our condition will continue to be that of which this Psalm sings; and it says nothing good about the gods and their virtues.

Now in order that these proud gods may be deprived of their defiant boastfulness, when they think that no one is to judge them or rebuke them without being called a rebel, a little peg is driven into them and a club is laid by the dog, ^{▼▼i.e., As a threat of punishment.} so that they may be properly rebuked, boldly spoken to, and hard and sharply threatened, as this Psalm does. For it says here, “God standeth in His congregation and judgeth the gods”; that is, He rebukes them. ^{▼▼Or “punishes them” (strafft sie).} For He keeps the upper hand over them and the right to judge them, and does not make them gods in such wise as to abolish His own Godhead and let them do as they please, as if they alone were gods over God. On the contrary, it is His will that they be subject to His Word and either listen to it or suffer all misfortune. It is enough that they have rule over all else; but over God’s Word they are not to have it. For God’s Word appoints them, and makes them gods, and subjects everything to them. Therefore, they are not to despise it, for it is their institutor and appointer; but they are to be subject to it, and allow themselves to be judged, rebuked, made, and mastered by it.

Where, then, is God, or how do we become sure that there is a God Who thus rebukes? Answer: You hear in this place that “He stands in the congregation.” Where His congregation is, there you will find Him. For there He has His appointed priests and preachers, to whom He has committed the duty of teaching, exhorting, rebuking, comforting, and, in a word, of preaching the Word of God. How it has been commanded to preach the Word of God ^{▼▼Wort Gottes treiben.} in all the world and in every place, I cannot here tell, for I think that everybody sees the churches and pulpits, and all of them rest on this one foundation, in Matthew 28:19, “Go and preach to all the nations, and teach them to keep the commandments I have given you.” Would God that only faithful men had this office and administered it faithfully and purely, and that it were not abused so shamefully and hatefully! Nevertheless, abuse does not destroy the office; the office is true, exactly as temporal rule is a true and good office, even though a knave has it and abuses it.

Observe, however, that a preacher, by whom God rebukes the gods, is to “stand in the congregation.” He is to “stand,” that is, he is to be firm and confident, and deal uprightly and honestly with it; and “in the congregation,” that is, openly and boldly before God and men. By this two sins are prevented. The first is unfaithfulness. There are many bishops and preachers in the preaching-office, but they do not “stand,” and serve God faithfully; on the contrary, they lie down, or otherwise play with their office. These are the lazy and worthless preachers, who do not tell the princes and lords their sins. In some cases they do not notice the sins; they lie down and snore in their office, and do nothing that pertains to it, except, like swine, take up the room where good preachers should stand; they form the great majority. Others, however, play the hypocrite and flatter the wicked gods, and strengthen them in their self-will; just now they are raging and raving against the Gospel, and are stirring up their princes and lords to slander and murder. Still others fear for their skins and are afraid that they must lose life and goods. All of these do not “stand,” and are not faithful to Christ.

The other sin is called back-biting. The whole world is full in every corner of both preachers and laymen who bandy evil words about their princes and lords, and curse them and call them names, though not boldly, in the open, but in corners, and in their own companies. But that accomplishes nothing except to make the evil worse. It serves only to set a secret fire, by which people are moved to disobedience, rebellion, breach of the peace, and contempt for their rulers. If you are in the office, ^{▼▼i.e., In the office of preaching.} and are not willing to rebuke your gods openly and publicly, as your office demands, at least leave off your private back-biting, calling of names, criticizing, and complaining, or be hanged to you! ^{▼▼Hab dir kein gut jar. A colloquialism implying a mild curse.} But if you are not in office, then leave off all rebuking and criticizing, both public and private, or the devil is already your abbot and does not need to become so; for, in Matthew 7, God has forbidden secret judging, or judging where there is no office. On the other hand, it is His will that those who are in office and are called to do it, shall rebuke and judge their gods boldly and openly.

Therefore, this first verse goes on to say, “He is judge among the gods.” Judge He is, and He rebukes the gods, but He does it as a judge, to whom that office has been committed, not plotting like a hypocrite in corners among secret groups, but “among the gods” themselves. He dares to speak boldly in their presence. It does not say, “He is a slanderer or back-biter,” but “He is a judge among the gods.” Mark this well! The lords sit in high places, and everyone sees their sins and faults most of all. And because men see them most of all, there is no commoner sin than speaking evil of lords. Everyone loves to do it, for in so doing he forgets his own unrighteousness. Even though their lord had every virtue, and they could discover in him only one vice and small as a mote, while they themselves were full of vices as large as beams, yet they would see the mote in high places before they would see the virtues, and would not see the beams in the depths of all vices. ^{▼▼This is an illustration of Luther’s hurried style. The “beams” are the vices, and the “depths” are depths of rank.}

So, then, this first verse teaches that to rebuke rulers is not seditious, provided it is done in the way here described; namely, by the office to which God has committed that duty, and through God’s Word, spoken publicly, boldly, and honestly. To rebuke rulers in this way is, on the contrary, a praiseworthy, noble, and rare virtue, and a particularly great service of God, as the Psalm here proves. It would be far more seditious, if a preacher were not to rebuke the sins of the rulers, for then he makes people angry and sullen, and strengthens the wickedness of the tyrants and becomes a partaker in it, and bears responsibility for it. Thus God might be angered and might allow rebellion to come as a penalty. The other way, — when the lords are rebuked as well as the people, and the people as well as the lords (as the prophets did), — neither can blame anything on the other, and they have to bear with one another, and be satisfied, and be at peace with each other.

They are poisonous and dangerous preachers who take the side of one party alone and call the lords names in order to tickle the people, and court the peasants like Muenzer, Carlstadt, and other fanatics; or call the peasants names in order to flatter and please the lords, as our opponents do. The thing to do is to chop both parties in one bowl and make one dish out of the two of them. For a preacher is neither a courtier nor a slave of peasants. He is God’s servant and slave, and his commission is over lords and slaves; as the Psalm here says, “He judges and rebukes the gods.” That is the meaning of the word Judicet, “judge,” viz. judicio et jure. He is to do that which is right and proper, not with a view to favor or disfavor, but according to law, that is, according to God’s Word, which knows no distinction or respect of persons.