On pages 20-1 in Dillenberger, Luther’s Preface to Romans, Luther says “What is the use of teaching others not to steal if you are a thief at heart yourself and, if you dared, would be one in fact?...It follows that, if you teach others, but not your own selves, you do not know what you teach, and have not rightly understood the nature of the law.” I had a lot of interest in these few lines.
These lines “What is the use...nature of the law” discuss the idea that the Jews teach and then do not practice what they teach. They are hypocritical. Luther questions what the point of teaching virtue is when the teachers indulge in vice. I feel that the point of teaching here could be a manipulative and negative. A thief, to use his example, would teach others not to steal so he could steal all the more. Also, if everyone knew how to steal then everyone would be able to discern when the teacher thief was trying to steal. They would be able to read his actions because they would know how to act like that.
He also says that if you teach but do not follow that doctrine that you do not understand what you are trying to teach. I feel that this is also not logically true. Just because I do not practice what I preach does not mean that I do not understand what I preach. The argument could be made that if I tell people to act conscientiously to one another and then I act rudely that I do not understand the meaning of acting conscientiously. However, I could fully well know and expect and demand that people act conscientiously and then act otherwise because I do not want to act so. I could treat these people poorly to show them how they were originally acting and so they could see that such behavior is bad. Or I could just dislike them. Also, I could feel that I want them to treat me in such a good way even if I did not like them, so I would tell them to act conscientiously and then treat them poorly regardless.
Dillenberger, John. Martin Luther Selections from His Writings.
