Mary's Faith (Luther)

Luther spoke of the believer's faith and the faith of Mary: this faith come before works.

« Lo! my God, without merit on my part, of His pure and free mercy, has given to me, an unworthy, condemned, and contemptible creature all the riches of justification and salvation in Christ, so that I no longer am in want of anything, except of faith to believe that this is so. [...]

[...] by faith I abound in all good things in Christ.

Voilà donc que la foi est source d'amour et de joie dans le Seigneur et que, de l'amour, découle une disposition heureuse, qui s'élance librement au service dévoué du prochain. [...]

The Blessed Virgin beyond all others, affords us an example of the same faith, in that she was purified according to the law of Moses, and like all other women, though she was bound by no such law and had no need of purification. [...]

She was not justified by doing this; but, being already justified, she did it freely and gratuitously.

Thus ought our works too to be done, and not in order to be justified by them; for, being first justified by faith, we ought to do all our works freely and cheerfully for the sake of others.[1] »

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[1] Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty, vol. II, Geneva, Labor et Fides, 1966, p. 296-298