Leonhard Kaiser's 1527 Confession "Grace through Christ"

Abstract

Leonhard Kaiser's 1527 Confession "Grace through Christ" Translated by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Leonhard Kaiser did not start off as a steady, unswerving witness to his faith. He grew up near Passau, on the border of today's Germany and Austria, and studied in Leipzig. In the auspicious year of 1517 he became a vicar in the village of Waizenkirchen, not far from his home. In a few years' time books from the north began to trickle down to his rural area, and in them he found a fresh account of the gospel that moved him deeply. He began to preach "Lutheran" themes. The authorities did not like this, and in 1524 Kaiser caved in to the pressure to recant. But by the next year he had recanted his recantation and went so far as to move to Wittenberg to take up his studies again at the feet of the master. During his three years there he sent home a steady stream of Lutheran books and his own letters of exhortation, which guaranteed that the authorities remained annoyed. Kaiser's studies came to an abrupt end when he learned that his father was mortally ill. He came home to visit and took the opportunity to preach. Luther's old nemesis John Eck got wind of the heterodox preacher's whereabouts and had him arrested. Kaiser was charged with all the usual Lutheran teachings: that faith makes a person righteous before God, that Christians should receive both the bread and the wine at holy communion, that priests should be permitted to marry, that the saints are examples and witnesses but not objects of veneration or prayer. Leonhard confessed to holding all these beliefs; more than that, he wrote a long and detailed [End Page 425] testimony of his convictions, which he entitled "Grace through Christ," translated here. The result: Kaiser was condemned to death. Luther tried to intervene on his behalf. He pleaded with Elector John the Steadfast of Saxony and Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg to do something. They tried, but to no avail. Luther wrote Kaiser a letter of comfort, exhorting him to "be strong and steadfastly overcome the weakness of the flesh—or, rather, endure it patiently by the power of Christ, who is with you even in prison and will also be with you in all need, as He promised so kindly and faithfully in Psalm 91 … Call on Christ faithfully, who is present and powerful everywhere."1 In August of 1527, Archbishop Ernst of Passau formally condemned Kaiser, stripped him of his priesthood, and burned him at the stake in the town of Schärding. That might have been the end of the story, and the end of the memory. But shortly after Kaiser's death an anonymous eyewitness account began to circulate, with Luther's letter appended—a guaranteed bestseller. One small problem: the account was not entirely accurate and made inflated claims about miracles surrounding Kaiser's death, perhaps to try to convince readers of Kaiser's saintliness. Eck seized on the errors and published his own version of the story, attempting to expose the first account as fraudulent and indeed everything about Kaiser as fraudulent. For Luther, however, it was not miracles that marked Kaiser out as a saint, but his faithfulness and the faith for which he died: "Ah, Lord God, it was the most beautiful articles [of faith] for which the righteous Kaiser shed his blood and gave up his life, condemned on earth as a heretic but in heaven glorified as a true martyr."2 That meant there was everything to gain from getting the story straight and nothing to gain from exaggeration. Luther consulted with Michael Stifel,3 a personal friend of Kaiser who is mentioned in "Grace through Christ," and accordingly published a revised edition of the martyrdom, along with Kaiser's testimony. Within the year it went through nine editions. Luther wrote in his Preface to the book, "I am of the opinion that those of us who want to be Christians cannot without sin keep silent about this glorious confession of the truth, which this Herr Leonhard Kaiser has made by the great grace of God. And...