Martin Luther

===On the soul after death===
[[File:Epi Michael-Meienburg-1555.jpg|thumb|Luther on the left with [[Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]] being raised by Jesus from the dead, painting by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]], 1558]]
In contrast to the views of [[John Calvin]]<ref>''Psychopannychia'' (the night banquet of the soul), manuscript Orléans 1534, Latin Strasbourg 1542, 2nd.ed. 1545, French, Geneva 1558, English 1581.</ref> and [[Philipp Melanchthon]],<ref>''Liber de Anima'' 1562</ref> throughout his life Luther maintained that it was not false doctrine to believe that a Christian's soul sleeps after it is separated from the body in death.<ref>D. Franz Pieper ''Christliche Dogmatik'', 3 vols., (Saint Louis: CPH, 1920), 3:575: "Hieraus geht sicher so viel hervor, daß die abgeschiedenen Seelen der Gläubigen in einem Zustande des seligen Genießens Gottes sich befinden .... Ein Seelenschlaf, der ein Genießen Gottes einschließt (so Luther), ist nicht als irrige Lehre zu bezeichnen"; English translation: Francis Pieper, ''Christian Dogmatics'', 3 vols., (Saint Louis: CPH, 1953), 3:512: "These texts surely make it evident that the departed souls of the believers are in a state of blessed enjoyment of God .... A sleep of the soul which includes enjoyment of God (says Luther) cannot be called a false doctrine."</ref> Accordingly, he disputed traditional interpretations of some Bible passages, such as the parable of the [[Rich man and Lazarus#Luther: a parable of the conscience|rich man and Lazarus]].<ref>''Sermons of Martin Luther: the House Postils'', Eugene F.A. Klug, ed. and trans., 3 vols., (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1996), 2:240.</ref> This also led Luther to reject the idea of torments for the saints: "It is enough for us to know that souls do not leave their bodies to be threatened by the torments and punishments of hell, but enter a prepared bedchamber in which they sleep in peace."<ref>Weimarer Ausgabe 43, 360, 21–23 (to Genesis 25:7–10): also Exegetica opera latina Vol 5–6 1833 p. 120 and the English translation: ''Luther's Works'', American Edition, 55 vols. (St. Louis: CPH), 4:313; "Sufficit igitur nobis haec cognitio, non egredi animas ex corporibus in periculum cruciatum et paenarum inferni, sed esse eis paratum cubiculum, in quo dormiant in pace."</ref> He also rejected the existence of [[purgatory]], which involved Christian souls undergoing penitential suffering after death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bookofconcord.org/smalcald.php#part2.2.12|title=Smalcald Articles, Part II, Article II, paragraph 12|publisher=Bookofconcord.org|access-date=15 August 2012|archive-date=10 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010210703/http://bookofconcord.org/smalcald.php#part2.2.12|url-status=dead}}</ref> He affirmed the continuity of one's personal identity beyond death. In his [[Smalcald Articles]], he described the saints as currently residing "in their graves and in heaven."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bookofconcord.org/smalcald.php#part2.2.28|title=Smalcald Articles, Part II, Article II, paragraph 28|publisher=Bookofconcord.org|access-date=15 August 2012|archive-date=10 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010210703/http://bookofconcord.org/smalcald.php#part2.2.28|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Lutheran theologian [[Franz Pieper]] observes that Luther's teaching about the state of the Christian's soul after death differed from the later Lutheran theologians such as [[Johann Gerhard]].<ref>Gerhard ''Loci Theologici, Locus de Morte'', § 293 ff. Pieper writes: "Luther speaks more guardedly of the state of the soul between death and resurrection than do Gerhard and the later theologians, who transfer some things to the state between death and resurrection which can be said with certainty only of the state after the resurrection" (''Christian Dogmatics'', 3:512, footnote 21).</ref> [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing|Lessing]] (1755) had earlier reached the same conclusion in his analysis of [[Lutheran orthodoxy]] on this issue.<ref>Article in the ''Berlinischer Zeitung'' 1755 in Complete Works ed. Karl Friedrich Theodor Lachmann&nbsp;– 1838 p. 59 "Was die Gegner auf alle diese Stellen antworten werden, ist leicht zu errathen. Sie werden sagen, daß Luther mit dem Worte Schlaf gar die Begriffe nicht verbinde, welche Herr R. damit verbindet. Wenn Luther sage, daß die Seele IS nach dem Tode schlafe, so denke er nichts mehr dabey, als was alle Leute denken, wenn sie den Tod des Schlafes Bruder nennen. Tode ruhe, leugneten auch die nicht, welche ihr Wachen behaupteten :c. Ueberhaupt ist mit Luthers Ansehen bey der ganzen Streitigkeit nichts zu gewinnen."</ref>

Luther's ''Commentary on Genesis'' contains a passage which concludes that "the soul does not sleep (''anima non sic dormit''), but wakes (''sed vigilat'') and experiences visions".<ref>Exegetica opera Latina, Volumes 5–6 Martin Luther, ed. Christopf Stephan Elsperger (Gottlieb) p. 120 "Differunt tamen somnus sive quies hujus vitae et futurae. Homo enim in hac vita defatigatus diurno labore, sub noctem intrat in cubiculum suum tanquam in pace, ut ibi dormiat, et ea nocte fruitur quiete, neque quicquam scit de ullo malo sive incendii, sive caedis. Anima autem non sic dormit, sed vigilat, et patitur visiones loquelas Angelorum et Dei. Ideo somnus in futura vita profundior est quam in hac vita et tamen anima coram Deo vivit. Hac similitudine, quam habeo a somno viventia." (Commentary on Genesis&nbsp;– ''Enarrationes in Genesin'', XXV, 1535–1545)"</ref> [[Francis Blackburne (priest)|Francis Blackburne]] argues that [[John Jortin]] misread this and other passages from Luther,<ref>Blackburne ''A short historical view of the controversy concerning an intermediate state'' (1765) p121</ref> while [[Gottfried Fritschel]] points out that it actually refers to the soul of a man "in this life" (''homo enim in hac vita'') tired from his daily labour (''defatigus diurno labore'') who at night enters his bedchamber (''sub noctem intrat in cubiculum suum'') and whose sleep is interrupted by dreams.<ref>[[Gottfried Fritschel]]. ''Zeitschrift für die gesammte lutherische Theologie und Kirche'' p. 657 "Denn dass Luther mit den Worten "anima non sic dormit, sed vigilat et patitur visiones, loquelas Angelorum et Dei" nicht dasjenige leugnen will, was er an allen andern Stellen seiner Schriften vortragt"</ref>

Henry Eyster Jacobs' English translation from 1898 reads:
:"Nevertheless, the sleep of this life and that of the future life differ; for '''in this life''', man, fatigued by his daily labour, at nightfall goes to his couch, as in peace, to sleep there, and enjoys rest; nor does he know anything of evil, whether of fire or of murder."<ref>Henry Eyster Jacobs ''Martin Luther the Hero of the Reformation 1483 to 1546'' (1898). Emphasis added.</ref>