Another Fake Luther Quote Cited by Roman Catholics Exposed: "There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know"

There's a popular Martin Luther quote that's been online for many years claiming Martin Luther believed in the Bodily Assumption of Mary. The quote states: 

"There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know. And since the Holy Spirit has told us nothing about it, we can make of it no article of faith."

Sometimes after citing the quote, the commentary given claims that "Luther did not pronounce clearly on the subject, but was content simply to affirm it."

I've been through this quote many times before. I've had the primary source context for many years, as well as a solid English translation. When I've tried to match up the Roman Catholic version with the English translation of the context... they just don't fit together nicely. The context sort of says what the Roman Catholic version says but spread out over a much wider context. I concluded, either Roman Catholics have haphazardly translated Luther's German, or the English version I have was poorly translated. 

It's neither.

I have solved this mystery! Luther did not write the exact quote Roman Catholics say he did. Rather, the quote is not Luther words, but are from William Tappolet, author of the book, Das Marienlob der Reformatoren. The quote is actually William Tappolet summarizing his personal view of Luther on the Assumption. Then he cites a sermon from Luther for proof (the one I've had for many years). Tappolet writes on page 55:

The italicized words which begin the paragraph are Tappolet's words, not Luther's (Throughout his book, Tappolet italicizes his own words).  Tappolet wrote,  

Daß die Jungfrau Maria im Himmel ist, daran kann nicht gezweifelt werden. Wie das geschehen ist, wissen wir nicht. Und da die Heilige Schrift nichts darüber aussagt, sollen wir uns darüber keine Glaubensartikel machen. Wir sollen, uns daran genügen lassen zu wissen, daß ‘die Mutter Gottes lebt, wie denn auch die Erzväter und alle Heiligen leben. Im „Sermon von der Himmelfahrt Mariä” vom 15. August 1522 lesen wir...

Or in English:

There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. We don't know how this happened. And since the Holy Scripture says nothing about it, we should not make any articles of faith about it. We should be satisfied with knowing that the Mother of God lives, just as the patriarchs and all the saints live. In the “Sermon of the Assumption of Mary” from August 15, 1522 we read...:

Tappolet then goes on to cite Luther's sermon. Roman Catholics probably began utilizing the English version of this quote by taking it from William Cole's article, Was Luther a Devotee of Mary?. Cole uses the quote as follows:

For Luther the Assumption seems not to be so much a matter of doubt as of little importance and this is perhaps the reason, as Max Thurian affirms, that Luther did not pronounce clearly on the subject, but was content simply to affirm it. It is in this sense that Walter Tappolet interprets the Reformer's sermon of August 15, 1522, the last time Luther preached on the Feast of the Assumption. Luther had said: "There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven. How it happened we do not know. And since the Holy Spirit has told us nothing about it, we can make of it no article of faith ."... and then explained the significance for him: "It is enough to know that she lives in Christ, as God is not the God of the dead, but of the living..." [William J. Cole, "Was Luther a Devotee of Mary?" (Marian Studies), (1970), p. 123].

Tedium: William Cole miscited Walter Tappolet. Tappolet didn't write "Holy Spirit," he wrote "Holy Scripture" (Heilige Schrift). What's most important though, Cole references WA 10.3:268-269 (the sermon from 1522) and also... Tappolet, page 55. So, there's great probability Roman Catholics took this quote from Cole who originally took it from William Tappolet. In reality, Roman Catholics are citing Tappolet, not Luther!

Conclusion

I suspect now may occur, at least on some Roman Catholic webpages, the disappearing Luther quote act, which has different variations. Drumroll please:

Edited. Poof! Gone.

Or: Nope, we never cited this as a Luther quote. See.. it's not on our webpage anymore, so it never happened.

Or: the documentation will be fixed: yep, we're just great Roman Catholic researchers that figured out all of this stuff on our own. 

Or perhaps, William Cole will be thrown under the bus: Cole said it, he's an expert. It's his fault, not ours.

I've demonstrated above, William Cole made two errors: wrongly attributing the quote to Luther and mistranslating Tappolet. A third error I pointed out years ago is that Cole also miscited Roman Catholic writer Max Thurian in the same section. Cole says "... as Max Thurian affirms, that Luther did not pronounce clearly on the subject, but was content simply to affirm it." Thurian never said Luther simply affirmed the Assumption. He says Luther was content to make an assertion in 1522: "On the issue of the Assumption Luther does not speak precisely but is content to assert on August 15th, 1522..." There's nothing necessarily wrong with citing Cole. I've found useful information in his article. However, there is something wrong with not checking his references! Almost anyone can do this now. No excuses Roman Catholic apologists! Do your homework!

An obvious question remains... does the Luther sermon Cole and Tappolet cite prove Luther believed in the Bodily Assumption of Mary? I've been over that before also. Read the context for yourself, either by visiting my old blog entry, Baseley's English rendering of the sermon from Festival Sermons of Martin Luther, or the German text. The Bodily Assumption of Mary is being read into the context by Roman Catholics. 

Nowhere in the context does Luther admit to believing in the Assumption of Mary, nor does he admit he's celebrating the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. He's simply mentioning the liturgical day, and that:

",,,this Gospel tells us nothing about Mary being in heaven" (The Festival Sermons of Martin Luther, p. 145).

Original text: Darumb kan man auß disem Euangelio nitt haben wie Maria im hymel sey, und es ist auch nit von nöten (WA 10.3:268).

"It is enough that we know that departed saints live in [Christ] God" (The Festival Sermons of Martin Luther, p. 145).

Original text: Es ist genügsam das wir wissen, das sy in Christo leben (WA 10.3:268).

"We do not make articles of faith out of what doesn't rest squarely on Scriptures" (The Festival Sermons of Martin Luther, p. 145).

Original text:  Darumb ist es genügsam, das wir wissen das sy leben, wie das aber ist, das ist uns nit von nöten zü wissen, und das hab ich darumb gesagt, das unser glaub alzeit auf dem gewissen stee und machen uns kain artickel des glaubens, da wir nit geschrift von haben, sunst kommen von tag zü tag new artickel des glaubens auf (WA 10.3:269). 

"Those things that are necessary to believe which you must always preserve, which Scripture clearly reveals, are to be markedly distinguished from everything else" (The Festival Sermons of Martin Luther, p. 145).

Original text: Darumb macht ain grossen underschaid under den dingen die da nötig seind züglauben und die nit nötig seind, anhalt eüch alzeit an das das die geschrift klar anzaiget, dann was die geschrift nit klar schleüßt, da bawet nit auff  (WA 10.3:269).    

There is no Luther-an affirmation of Mary's Bodily Assumption here!

Addendum: Lutheran Scholar Eric Gritsch Makes the Same Error on Luther and the Bodily assumption of Mary 

In an ecumenical dialog even the Lutheran scholar Eric Gritsch made the passing remark that "Luther affirmed Mary's Assumption into heaven but did not consider it to be of any benefit to others or accomplished in any special way" [H. George Anderson, J. Francis Stafford, Joseph A. Burgess (editors) The One Mediator, The Saints, and Mary, Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue VIII (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1992), p. 241] Gritsch's main proof? This 1522 sermon. Keep your eye on the ball. Notice how careful Gritsch is: Luther is said to affirm Mary's Assumption into heaven but it was not "accomplished in any special way." In this brief synopsis offered by Gritsch, he appears to redefine what it means to be "Assumed" into heaven. What he gives with one hand, he takes away with the other, for being Assumed into heaven by its very nature is a special way of arriving in heaven!

Revised, March 2026