Looking for a quotation by Martin Luther.

[Von]

Martin Luther once said that when the church/doctrine is being attacked, your primary defence should be at the point of attack (like when you are attacking a fort). Does someone know the exact quotation and where it is from?

 

[DTK]

If you are referring to the following quote...

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

I think the general consensus is that proof from Luther cannot be sustained. No one can provide the source for it.

It's sorta like that famous "Augustine" quote, "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity." No source from his corpus can be produced to sustain the claim.

 

[Von]

Yup - I was looking for that one. Thanks, but now you've also spoiled it for me... I can always go with "someone once said".

 

[Von]

Interesting article on the actual origins of the quote (as well as how it relates to what Luther said) on the website of Creation Ministries.