Luther: I have greater confidence in my wife and my pupils than I have in Christ

Here's another obscure Table Talk quote I was able to track down: “I have greater confidence in my wife and my pupils than I have in Christ” (Table Talk, 2397b). I came across it recently on the CARM boards. It's found in Peter F. Wiener's Martin Luther, Hitler's spiritual Ancestor, as well as on the Roman Catholic web page, Luther Exposing the Myth. Wiener is probably the chief culprit. He states, "Luther does not always see eye to eye with God or Christ. 'I have greater confidence in my wife and my pupils than I have in Christ,' he said on one occasion quite shamelessly (“Table Talk”, 2397b)." Just launch a basic Google search and you'll see this quote in action.

I've been amazed by this old version of the Table Talk that's surfaced: The familiar discourses of dr. Martin Luther. It's been a goldmine for providing contexts to quotes I've searched for for years. Here's the context:

That God is more loving unto us than a Father towards his Children

GOD hath a better and more friendly heart towards his faithful ones, than a father or mother can have towards their children; as God himself saith in the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter xlix. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion of the son of her womb? yea, they, may forget, yet will not I forget thee, &c. But God must have patience with us. I believe that St. Paul was at enmity with himself, because he could not believe and love Christ so entirely as willingly he would have done. Fie on the devil, and on our wicked flesh, that we cannot believe and trust in God, who hath given us so great and manifold benefits, and still doth give us all his goodnesses, I myself must confess, that I can put more trust in my wife, and in every one of my friends, than in Christ: when as, notwithstanding, I well know, that none among them all would do and suffer for me that which he suffered, namely, to be crucified and slain for me.

So again, context presents quite a different picture than Wiener's "Luther said quite shamelessly...". Luther Exposing the Myth misuses this quote and actually perpetuates a myth. The context presents a sentiment expressing the fact that it is wrong and sinful to put trust in anyone more than Christ.