Luther: "Whoever possesses a good (firm) faith, says the Hail Mary without danger!"

"Whoever possesses a good (firm) faith, says the Hail Mary without danger!"

Here's another one of those "Luther was extraordinarily devoted to Mary" quotes. As far as I can tell, the quote has found its way to cyberspace via web documents like this:

"Luther did strongly condemn any devotional practices which implied that Mary was in any way equal to our Lord or that she took anything away from His sole sufficiency as our Savior. This is, and always has been, the official teaching of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, Luther often "threw out the baby with the bath water," when it came to criticizing erroneous emphases and opinions which were prevalent in his time - falsely equating them with Church doctrine. His attitude towards the use of the "Hail Mary" prayer (the first portion of the Rosary) is illustrative. In certain polemical utterances he appears to condemn its recitation altogether, but he is only forbidding a use of Marian devotions apart from heartfelt faith, as the following two citations make clear: Whoever possesses a good (firm) faith, says the Hail Mary without danger! Whoever is weak in faith can utter no Hail Mary without danger to his salvation" (Sermon, March 11, 1523) [Source].

I think one thing can safely be ruled out from the start: the Catholic apologist cited above did not actually read Luther's sermon of March 11, 1523. But what the Catholic apologist cited above may have read was the article by William J. Cole, "Was Luther a Devotee of Mary?" (Marian Studies 1970). Or perhaps he simply read someone else who had cited this old article. Cole cites the quote exactly as presented above.

To my knowledge, this sermon is not available in English. The interesting thing though about Cole's citation is the two page detailed overview he gives of this particular sermon. Cole points out in this same sermon, Luther states:

It were best that the Hail Mary should entirely be laid aside because of the abuses connected with it. It is no prayer; it is a formula of praise (Lobpreis). When we think of it in this way, we use it correctly, but this is not the custom. Man prays in order to attain something.

Cole then states:

"[Luther] then proceeds to point out that Mary is on the same level as we are, in support of his contention that we really should not pray to her:

We are brothers and sisters of Mary; we call her Mistress of the world. Queen of the Heavens. She is bodily virgin and is adorned with more gifts, but these are exterior advantages; in spiritual things, she is not better than we since she has no other Christ, no other Gospel, than we have. I would wish that the Marian cult were removed alone because of the misuse."

So, is Luther "only forbidding a use of Marian devotions apart from heartfelt faith" according to Cole's context? Again, one must ask a basic question: what exactly do modern day Roman Catholic apologists mean by "devotion" and what does Luther mean by "devotion"? Note Luther's words above, "she is not better than we since she has no other Christ, no other Gospel, than we have." For Luther, one could praise God for the gifts given to Mary, but praying to her, or using her as an intercessor was not to be the case.

So when Luther states, "Whoever possesses a good (firm) faith, says the Hail Mary without danger! Whoever is weak in faith can utter no Hail Mary without danger to his salvation." He most likely means, those who pray to Mary or view her as an intercessor, or pray to her in order to obtain something are those who utter the Hail Mary with danger to their salvation. Note above, the Catholic apologist cited call it a "prayer." Luther says it is no prayer.