Luther on Harmony

1st Peter 3:8
Finally, everyone must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble.

Martin Luther wrote, "we should strive to live in harmony with each other. Peter and Paul both emphasized that we all should be of one heart, one spirit, and one mind. What seems right and good to one person should be regarded with consideration by others as well. It's a powerful teaching that we should strive to understand. All of us cannot do the same work. Each one of us must pursue his own work. It's foolish to teach that we should all do one kind of work, as some preachers have taught. They preach about the legends of the saints, that this saint has done one work, another a different one. But then they conclude that we also should do such work. Undoubtedly, Abraham did a precious work when he offered his son to be sacrificed because it was specifically commanded to him of god. But when the parents wanted to sacrifice their own sons, God considered that an outrage. So also King Solomon did well when he built a temple, and God rewarded. but now blind fools come and tell us we must build churches and temples when God commanded nothing of the sort. So even today, they say we should do one work, but there are various opinions about which work we should do. ...we must teach that there should only be one mind, many works, one heart and many hands, we shouldn't try to do the same things, rather each one should pay attention to his own responsibilities. Otherwise, we cannot be of one mind and one heart. We must allow the works to be varied so that each person can use the gifts God has entrusted to him. We should simply do the work at hand, the work that God has called us to do, in the place where God has called us to do it."