"On the Freedom of a Christian" by Dr. Martin Luther, 1520

The Christian is both "a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none" and "a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all." This special release is in recognition of the 250th anniversay of American independence. Americans celebrate freedom every Fourth of July. We commemorate independence, self-government, and the rights secured by our Constitution. More than 250 years before the American Revolution, however, Martin Luther wrote about a very different kind of freedom. In The Freedom of a Christian, Luther argues that the deepest human bondage is not political but spiritual, and that the deepest freedom is found not in self-rule but in faith in Christ. His work invites us to ask a timely question: What does it mean to be truly free? As we celebrate the liberties of a nation, Luther challenges us to consider the freedom of the conscience, the freedom of the Gospel, and the paradox that a Christian is both "a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none" and "a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all." The following reading is Martin Luther's "The Freedom of a Christian," (or, "Concerning Christian Liberty") written in 1520. This recording uses the public-domain English translation by R. S. Grignon, originally published in 1910. I will also include Luther's accompanying letter, written directly to Pope Leo X, to whom the treatise was dedicated.