Title: Martin Luther: Peasant's Rebellion | Page 1 of 1
Headings: Martin Luther: Peasant's Rebellion
Martin Luther: Peasant's Rebellion
Will the Theologians Please Sit Down
Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants
Introduction

Content: Because of the similarity of ideas and language in a letter written to Ruehel8 on May 4, 1525, it is assumed that Lu­ther wrote this strongly worded treatise at or about the same time as the letter. There is a similar difficulty with the date of publica­tion. It was certainly before the middle of May, but a more exact date of publication cannot be given. In the treatise Luther arraigned the peasants on three charges: ( 1) they had violated their oaths of loyalty to their rulers and were therefore subject to temporal punishment; ( 2) they had robbed, plundered, and murdered, and were subject to death in body and soul; and (3) they had committed their crimes under the cover of Christ’s name, thereby shamefully blaspheming God. The peasants were like a mad dog which had to be destroyed. The government, he argued, must use its God‑given office to subdue the rebels with force, the only language they understood. Who­ever lost his life in suppressing this rebellion, Luther argues, would be a martyr to the gospel.