in which he entered into his office, consecrated king and priest by the Father; preached on the day of the appearing of the Lord Christ.*)
Preface.
This day is consecrated for the sake of three things that have come to pass on this day. First, that Christ appeared and was made known to the Gentiles in the exit of the suns, by a miraculous sign which they saw in the sky. Second, Christ took his principality and entered into his ministry, was baptized by John in the Jordan and confirmed by his Father as a preacher, and began to reign and preach, becoming king and priest. Third, he made wine of water at Cana in Galilee.
First, he appeared to the Gentiles as a Lord; second, he was confirmed by the Father as a priest and teacher; third, he made himself known by signs. The first we have dealt with today in the Gospel; the third is directed to the next Sunday after the appearance of Christ. Now we want to take the other part, of the baptism of Christ, and talk about how much grace God gives us, which has so far been put under the pew, and we want to read the Gospel of Matthew.
Matth. 3, 13-17.
At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John rebuked him, saying: I have need that I be baptized of thee, and thou comest to me? And Jesus answered and said unto him, Let it be so now: so it is meet for us to fulfill all righteousness. And he suffered him. And when Jesus was baptized, he came up straightway out of the water: and, behold, the heaven was opened upon him. And John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
1 This sermon of the evangelist Matthew has hitherto been held in low esteem; for many festivals have been set up, and other sermons have been preached to us, and blued with saints' exaltation; but this piece, of the baptism
*) This sermon also appeared in three single prints from 1526. Cf. Erl. A. 15, 237.D. Red.
Christ and of his office and regiment, had to remain behind, no one knew how great such a thing was in the sight of God. For in the New and Old Testaments almost all Scripture refers to the baptism of Christ; and Scripture does not make much of the birth and infancy of Christ, it almost leaves it at that, that he came from David and his seed.
and Isaiah adds that his mother should also be a virgin, Isa. 7:14. Therefore the evangelists write little of his childhood, but hasten to the thirtieth year to describe his ministry, to which he came; and after that they no longer hasten, but describe all his words, works and signs with great diligence and earnestness; so that it can be seen that in the Old and New Testament the baptism of Christ is seen most of all as the most important part of Scripture.
2 And there also the New Testament begins, and not at the childhood of Christ; wherefore also Marcus and John little remember his childhood. Peter and Paul write nothing of it: not that they despise what Matthew and Lucas write of it; but they hasten to the perfect part, wherein the ministry is concerned. For though he was born a child, yet the ministry was not begun, neither did he abstain from it until he was called of the Father. And Summa Summarum, in the baptism the ministry begins, there he becomes our Christ, our Savior, therefore he came, as Isaiah speaks Cap. 61, 1; and Christ draws it upon himself in Luke Cap. 4, 18. 21. where he says: "The Lord has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and vision to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." This gracious kingdom he came to preach, and begins with John's preaching, as Lucas says in the Histories of the Apostles Cap. 1, 22. and Marcus begins his Gospel with John's preaching and Christ's baptism, Marc. 1, 1. ff.
But why this? Then Christ begins to be a Christ, then he is inaugurated, enters into his ministry; and the Father has made the world sure that it should not have any doubts about Christ, because he himself has confirmed him. You know how miserably we have been deceived by the false prophets, who deceive the poor people through their own dreams, so that even the whole world is deceived by them. That is why God is very concerned about this and has allowed himself to be deceived a lot.
He has turned his most beloved treasure to make us sure that we have the right doctrine.
4 And it is truly a great and excellent grace and mercy of God, that the divine majesty thus lets himself down, and thus makes us certain of Christ, and assures the matter in the highest way through the prophets, he determines certain time, country, tribe, family, city and person. The country: for in the Jewish country he wanted to be born, as Christ himself says in John Cap. 4, 22: "Salvation is of the Jews and of no other people. The tribe (for the Jewish people was divided into twelve tribes) was the tribe of Judah, as the patriarch Jacob prophesied Gen 49:10. The lineage: for he was to come from the lineage of David, to be his flesh and blood. He also singles out the city where he is to be born, namely, Bethlehem, as it is written in Micah Cap. 5, 1. as it is written in Matthew Cap. 2, 6. where he says: "And you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means the least of the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come to me the duke, who shall be a lord over my people Israel." This is certainly said and well assured, it is not the will of the kind, gracious God that we should err.
005 Now if the person be present, he also maketh him to appear, pointing with his fingers, and saying: He is the one, there you have him; let John go before him, the great prophet, who for this office is called an angel of the Lord in the Scriptures, as, in Malachi Cap. 3:1: "Behold, I will send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face," as Christ himself points to John in Matthew 11:10, who was also taken by the people for a prophet, even for Christ, because of his holiness. This great man had to run ahead of Christ, pointing to him, so that we would ever be sure where our salvation should be.
6. what happens? As the prophets indicated the country, tribe, family and city, John comes and makes it even clearer, showing us also the person. The testimony was so great that it could not have been greater or more certain. For John had a great reputation among the people; he pointed to him
with fingers, saying: This is the Lamb, this is the man who can save you from sins. It cannot be more certain. God sets before us a high and mighty man, who sets Christ before our eyes, and makes the thing so certain that it could not be more certain. For I could never make a thing more certain than by pointing to it with my fingers and saying, "There it is. So John makes the Jews certain, speaks many words, and says Cap. 1, 26-29: This is the Lamb, the one I told you about, he is in your midst, he is greater than I, and many other words, as John the Evangelist describes them. For if he had not thus assured us, we would have wavered to and fro; especially the Jews would have thought, Perhaps he is born in another country, place, tribe, family, or city. Now God leads us to and binds us to the person, to Christ Himself, and in the end He gives a higher testimony from heaven, not only pointing to Him with fingers through a man, but God Himself with His Spirit, confirming and assuring all this with His Word, saying from heaven: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
(7) All this was done so that we might know that it is not a small thing, but that it is very important for him to confirm it through holy people, through himself and his Spirit, so that all creatures must confess that he is Christ, and so that we cling to Christ and think nothing of anyone else. Although the Jews did not accept this, they did not want to cling to him; as is the case with us now, they pay little attention to the word of God and the Gospel, and let it pass by. Let this be said for an entrance, now let us deal with the gospel from word to word. Matthew speaks thus:
At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.
8. up to the age of thirty Christ was unknown, he was a journeyman craftsman, a carpenter, no one thought he was Christ, they thought he was a pious man; he was
waited for his work, built houses until the thirtieth year. He was born in Nazareth, they knew his mother and father, no one thought that in Nazareth should be Messiah; as also Nathanael speaks to Philippo, Joh. 1, 46.: "What good should come out of Nazareth?" And in another place the Jews marvel, saying: Is not this Joseph's son? We know his mother, brothers and sisters. But he is a carpenter, how does he come by this? Marc. 6, 3.
009 When therefore John began to preach, and was so renowned, that the people ran with multitudes, thinking that he was Christ, he saith: Ye think that I am Christ; I am not: but I will sing you a little song of him. Do you want to know where he is? He was born among you, lives and walks among you. So John wanted to reject them and give Christ a reputation. If one should say that Christ is in Wittenberg, everyone would be astonished and open their mouths and say: Where is he? So they should have done; but they let it pass, it was nothing to their hearts, they let themselves sing and say: "He is in the midst of you", that is, he is carpentering houses, doing his trade, don't you know him? Neither do I know him; but I know this well by the Spirit, that he is come and is among you.
10 This is the testimony of John; while Christ remains unknown in Nazareth, stays with his mother, is not rich, leads a poor life, and is not at all respected by the Jews. Now, the testimony of John does not help how much he tells them about the servant; as it usually happens, when a thing does not exist, it is considered great, everyone says about it; but when it comes to the eyes, it is considered little. No one believed that the roomer was Christ, of whom John the great man told them; they thought, if he is among us, why do they not ring all the bells? Why do they not strew all the streets in honor of the king? Where are his horses, chariots, rods and armor? Yes well, yes, should Jesus the carpenter be the man?
11. because Johannis testimony goes, and
no one knows him, not even John, but only by the Spirit of God, Jesus of Nazareth comes to John at the Jordan. Until now he was his mother's subject and obedient; but now he gives her the valete and becomes her Lord, goes to the Jordan and no longer comes home as before, takes permission*) from her, and enters his office, to which his father had sent him, goes and is baptized. Although he had the power to baptize, he did not use this power, but kept to himself like the others and was baptized by Johanne. How foolish and simple-minded he is! Who would have considered him the Messiah? for he is no different from any other man who came to John's baptism. Because he is greater than John, as John says, he should have said to John: You shall not baptize me, the ministry is mine, I shall baptize you; but he does not do it, hides himself, pretends that he is not Christ, does not let himself be noticed with any word, does not care about anything. This is a wonderful humility, he does not let himself be shouted out, does not glorify himself until the Father glorifies him; as Paul says: "He endured the time until the voice from heaven came: This is my beloved Son! Hebr. 5, 5.
12. Christ was the Son of God, he had all things in his power; still he would not submit: he did not preach, did not let himself be heard with a word before the thirty years, that he would be the spiritual man, who should help all men; did not, like us journeymen, when we only read a little word, our belly becomes too big, cannot abstain, must go out with the little piece, all the world must hear it, only get ears, where do we get ears that hear it? So our red-blooded spirits take pains to bring something new onto the track, so that it will be heard; they forget that Christ taught here with his example that one should not enter the preaching ministry without being called. They have done enough damage these years that one might well shy away from them; they do not even think behind themselves whether they also have the voice and the command of God. They say, we have the spirit of God, that tells us. Dear fellow, I
*) Instead of "Erlaubniß" have c d "Urlaub". D. Red.
Keep as much of your spirit as of your flesh in that place; there is more to it than your spirit. The man Christ was more than a spirit, namely, was God himself, he was full of all spiritual goods, he is full of the spirit, but he does not flee, like our mad spirits, he waits for the command of the Father, he does not break out, until he hears from the Father: "He is my dear Son.
013 Therefore let us not fall suddenly to believe the spirits, which can do nothing but boast of the Spirit; say unto them: I know not thy spirit. But if thou wilt that I believe thee, give a public testimony of thee, by which devout men may prove thee, as John of Christ heareth a voice from heaven; otherwise I will not believe thee. If this does not happen, but you want to bring something new into the place, then only conclude freshly that it is done from the devil's spirit.
14. to Corinthians 1. ep. 2, 4. also says of the Spirit, but he says, "in evidence of the Spirit." It is another thing to have the Spirit, and to prove the Spirit. If I did not have a proof of the Spirit, I would never preach. Now this is my proof, not that I am called to the preaching ministry by the face of God, but that I am compelled to do it by other people and must do it for the sake of other people. So I have the evidence of the spirit of love, which does not seek its own, but is diligent for other people's benefit. I have nothing to gain from it but restlessness, I would rather stay at home in my little room; but I am guilty and obliged out of the spirit of love. And even if I had no other spirit and were a boy in the skin, I should still do it for the sake of love, should help those who need it and who desire it from me. That is now my defiance. But this is their defiance, they are so proud of it that the spirit has taught them. But who asked you to teach and preach to us?
15 But this you may well do: if you feel a spirit within you that is giving you something, then you may talk to someone else about it, whether it is right, and whether it is not wrong.
according to our faith and the Scriptures; as John 1 Ep. 4, 1. says: "You shall prove or test the spirits, whether they are of God." And St. Paul says to the Romans Cap. 12, 7: "If any man have prophecy, let it be like faith." But to blurt it out, to ask no one about it, to defend oneself, to declare oneself, to be subject to no one, is surely the devil. Christ is full of the Spirit; he does not yet speak a word, nor does he do a work, unless he was glorified by the Father beforehand: he does not want to enter the ministry by himself, but through another, through the Father. After the transfiguration, however, he takes up the cause, carries on his ministry, teaches, preaches, does miracles, and that is how it went. Follows in the text:
John rebuked him, saying: I am in need of being baptized by you, and you come to me.
16 This is not written by any evangelist except Matthew, and reads as if John had known Christ before he baptized him. But John the Evangelist writes the contradiction, that John did not know Christ; for so John the Baptist says in John Cap. 1, 30-33: "I did not know him"; I have given testimony that I am not Christ, he will come after me who is before me; I know that this is my ministry, that he should be known to all men through me, but I do not know him. "But he that sent me to preach hath given me a sign, saying: Upon whom thou shalt see a dove descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."
17 Now look, this is how it happened, John did not know him: he knew that he was there, that he was among the people, but he did not yet know the person, he could not yet speak: It is he. He had the sign, he looked at the dove. He had baptized many of them and took special care of them all. So his heart stood: When will he come? Perhaps it will be him. He certainly baptized many godly people, but the sign was not yet there. But when Jesus baptized
the sign came, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit came upon him like a dove, and the Father said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. And this happened after the baptism.
(18) What then shall we say to this, that Christ and John thus lock themselves up and depart? John wanted to be baptized by Christ and Christ by John. Did he recognize him or not? As Matthew says, he recognized him; but John's gospel is against it. Answer: We cannot say anything else about it, because John's words sound: it is true, he did not recognize him before the baptism, but it will have seemed to him that he was not a bad man, that there would be something higher behind him; he also smelled him in the womb when Mary came to Elizabeth, Luc. 1, 41. It seems to him well, but he is not sure of the matter. Christ was not shaped for him like other people, something more powerful came from him than from another person. That is why he remains delirious, thinking that he will be, that he is a good man, why does he come to me? Although he does not quite decide for himself that he is Christ, he still considers him a great, brave and spiritual man: he smells the spirit, because juice and power went out of him.
19 And it is also true that where such a spiritual man is, one who is with him feels better than with other people, the spirit cannot hide itself, there is a special power that comes from such people. As we read a very fine example of a pious father who wanted to lead a maiden from a common house; when the maiden sat with him, she did not know what happened to her, she felt that there was something special behind the man, a sweet smell came from him. For this is the nature and manner of the spirit, that it lets itself be felt and noticed, it shows itself with looks and gestures, gives people a different manner, sense and taste. So it also happened here: when Christ comes and John becomes aware of him, he sees him as a special and holy man, and immediately falls, it will truly be Christ.
20. on the delusion are the words Mat-
thäi, as if he recognized him, but he does not know that for sure; because the sign was not yet present, he had not yet seen the dove. On it John's words go that he had not recognized him. So the two evangelists must be helped together, otherwise they would be against each other. So John stands in delusion, and thus tempts him, saying, "I am to be baptized by you," and thus John humbles himself and wants to submit to Christ as a godly man; and again, Christ submits to John, as godly Christians do, as to the Philippians Cap. 2, 3. 4. Paul beautifully shows, when he says: "Do nothing by quarreling or vain honor, but by humility respect yourselves one another's chief; and look not every man on his own, but on another's"; and to the Romans Cap. 12, 10. he says: "Let one come before another with reverence."
21 Thus the two men humbled themselves, Christ under John, John under Christ. The nature of Christ was still hidden; therefore each wants to be more humble than the other. John says that Christ is holier than he is; and Christ also sets himself up like this, but does not go out of his way, for the sake of his Father, to whom he gives glory. Christ answers him, saying, "It is fitting thus." He does not deny that he is the Messiah, but the Father wants such humility, as if Christ wanted to speak: Dear John, you do right to humble yourself in this way; I also should do it for my Father's sake.
Dear Lord God, how the pious people can handle humility! We poor people, when we have a word or a saying, we have to come out with it, no one wants to yield to the other, one always wants to be above the other, not waiting until God draws us out. Behold, how Christ humbles Himself, holds Himself as another man, until another, that is, the Father, draws Him forth. The two men stoop before each other, one giving way to the other; and it is true, they are both great men, full of the Spirit, and it would not have been unreasonable for either to give way to the other; for
they are both sent by God, full of grace and certain of their cause.
23 John did not give honor and humility to the Pharisees; he even scolded them and called them viper-bred, because they alone carried the appearance of holiness: but the sinners who recognized their sickness, he humbly received. It should now be so among Christians, should give way to one another and not want to go through it with their heads; but we do not leave it, what comes before us must go, and if it costs a country, consider little the damage that comes from it. That is why we must have so many sects. But we have the advantage that we recognize the devil all the more, who cannot hide himself, and also sense the true Christians, who do not easily believe the spirits of the sects, but flee them as the devil himself, when they become aware of them. But we should wait until God calls us to it, like Christ and John, and still attack them with fear.
And Jesus answered and said, Let it be now; so it behooveth us to fulfill all righteousness: and he suffered him.
What is "to fulfill all righteousness"? What is "all righteousness"? This is all righteousness: to consider oneself unrighteous before God, and to confess from the heart that no one can stand before His judgment, but must bow down before Him, so be holy as they always want to be, and confess themselves sinners; just as David, who was nevertheless a man such as God wanted him to be, desired that God would not require him to stand trial, for there neither he nor all men would want to stand, Psalm 143:2. 143, 2. This means to fulfill all righteousness: to be pious and not to want to be pious, that is, to confess oneself a sinner, not to accept piety. This then is a twofold righteousness: he is righteous by faith in Christ, and on the other hand he does not ascribe righteousness to himself, but is vain sin and filthiness; as we all are by nature, for sin clings to our flesh until it becomes powder. So again, it is a twofold wickedness, if one is a jack in the
Skin is not and does not want to be a knave, pretends to be good and is nothing behind it; he is a mischievous man by nature, and also because he does not want to confess this. So here the two, Christ and John, are righteous before God; on the other hand they prove their piety with humility. Thus they fulfill all righteousness with the heart through faith, and with outward evidence, which is a witness of inward and right faith.
(25) We are also to stay down, not being defiant, but always standing in fear and humility. John does not presume anything here. Away, he thinks, with righteousness, there comes a more pious man than I am, boasting not before Christ: so is all righteousness fulfilled. But it is hard in nature for a man to be pious, and to consider himself a sinner, to be treated and reproached for a sinner; it is a great virtue to have much grace, and yet to pretend that there is only sin, to have wisdom of spirit, and to pretend to be foolish and simple. Whoever then does this will be free from defiance and hope. So Christ also sets himself up like other people, and is also baptized, and says, "Let it be so; so shall all righteousness be fulfilled"; as if he wanted to speak: So shall all the world know that we are the children of righteousness. He did not yet want to be what he was until the Father transfigured him. Follow further in the text:
And when Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water quickly, and behold, the heavens were opened above him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.
26. there is the declaration and the testimony from heaven, of the Father and of the Spirit, another man is made of Christ: not of his person, but of the ministry; he is glorified from heaven in the presence of John, having seen the sign, John 1:34, which the Father promised him, the Spirit like a dove, and over which he heard the voice of the Father, as follows:
And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
This is the Savior who sets us free from sins, death, the devil and hell. Now, here we are to learn how to come to God: whoever wants to be a dear child before the Father must become one through Christ, through the dear Son alone, who sits in the Father's bosom, on whom alone the Father looks, without whom he accepts nothing, and what is pleasing to the Father is pleasing to him through this Son. Therefore, whoever wants to go to the Father must cling to the dear child, must sit on the child's back; for all titles are lifted up with the voice: Let it shine with piety and holiness, however beautiful it may be, it must go away, it counts for nothing before the Father, for only the dear Son is pleasing to him. Whoever then wants to be dear and valuable to the Father, should run into the lap of the Son, and then he will come to the Father; as Paul says to the Ephesians Cap. 1, 5, that we are ordained through Christ into childship; without Christ we are enemies of God.
(28) He who through faith clings to Christ abides in the friendship of God, becomes dear and precious like Christ, and one with the Father and the Son: but if not, there is wrath, no piety, no strength, no free will, no prayer, no fasting, no other work, all is lost. For this is an excellent, mighty, powerful saying, "This is my beloved Son," since all things are contained and written in all the Scriptures; just as all things have been given into Christ's hand and all things have been gathered together to be subject to him, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 1:1. Paul says Eph. 1, 22. Col. 1, 16. 17. For when he says, "This is my dear Son," and points to Christ alone, and knows no one else to point to and name, he sufficiently indicates that no one else is the dear Son. But if they are not the dear sons, they are certainly children of wrath and disgrace. For if there were more dear sons, he should not paint and indicate this one alone, and say, "This is my dear son," and have his eyes on this one alone, and boast of this alone, as if he knew no one else. For the words are as if he had looked around and yet found no one.
without this, saying, This is he; as if to say, There is once one that pleaseth me, and is my beloved son; the rest are all not so.
29 We must not only understand the words in such a way that they prove that Christ is the true God, as the epistle to the Hebrews Cap. 1, 5. says: "To which angel did he ever say: You are my son, today I have begotten you? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. "2c, Ps. 89, 27. For it is certainly true that Christ is glorified with these words, that he is God's true natural Son, because such a word was never spoken to any creature; for he would nevertheless have been God's Son, and would have remained forever, as he has been from eternity, if we had not been told from heaven, and if nothing had been said to him about it, nor had it been taken away from him; but we should see that such glorious praise and glory is spoken of Christ for our sake. For as he himself says in John 12:30, the voice is not for his sake, but for ours: he does not need to be told how he is the Son of God; he knows it beforehand and has already prepared it by nature eternally. Therefore, because this is put into the voice and word, it is for us and not for Christ. Christ has the essence for himself without the word; we have the word of it without the essence. Therefore we must take care of the words without the essence, just as he takes care of the essence without the word.
(30) What then does this word do? Look up and listen. It teaches us to know Christ, in which knowledge lies our salvation completely, as Isaiah, Paul and Peter teach. How does it teach us to know him? That he is the Son of God and pleases God, his Father. With these words God makes the heart of all the world laugh and rejoice, and infuses all creatures with divine sweetness and comfort. How so? Well, if I know and am certain that the man Christ is the Son of God and pleases the Father (as I must be certain, because the divine Majesty Himself from heaven speaks such things, which cannot lie), then I am also certain that everything this man speaks and says is true.
This is the vain word and work of the Son, which must be pleasing to God in the best of ways. Well then, I realize this and understand it well. Wherever I hear Christ speak or see him do something to benefit me, as he does everywhere, saying, "He does and suffers all things for my sake; he came to serve, not to be served. 20, 28. Luc. 22, 27: so I remember these words of the Father, that He is the dear Son; so it must occur to me that such speaking, doing and suffering of Christ, which is done for me, as He says, must be heartily pleasing to God.
Now, how could God pour Himself out more and offer Himself more lovingly or sweetly than to say that it pleases Him with all His heart that His Son Christ speaks so kindly to me, that He means me so warmly, and that He suffers, dies and does everything for me with such great love. Do you not think that if a human heart were to feel such pleasure of God in Christ when he serves us in this way, it would have to burst with joy into a hundred thousand pieces, for then it would see into the abyss of the fatherly heart, yes, into the causeless and eternal goodness and love of God, which he bears to us and has borne from eternity.
(32) But we are too cold and hard, the flesh is too heavy on our necks, that we do not grasp such a word, do not think about it, nor take it to heart, how wonderful and unspeakable love and pleasure it contains; otherwise we would see without a doubt that heaven and earth are full of fire of divine love, full of life and righteousness, full of honor and praise; that hell, on the other hand, with its fire, death and sin, is nothing but a painted thing. But we are cold, lazy, ungrateful wretches, letting such words pass by as little things and as if they were the words of men, or lying in a book or written on paper, as if they were dead and had long since ended, and as if they did not concern Christ alone and us; not seeing that they do not concern Christ at all, but that they apply to us alone and are there for our sake.
33 Thus you see that God draws Christ into Himself with these words, and that He draws Himself into Christ.
stum with that his good pleasure be in all that Christ does; and again, in the same words, both pouring himself and Christ in his dear Son upon us, and pouring himself into us, and drawing us into himself, that he may be altogether humanized, and we altogether deified. How so? Thus, because God says that it pleases Him that Christ is and does, the words lead you to see God's good pleasure and His whole heart in Christ, in all words and works, and again, to see Christ in the heart and good pleasure of God; and both are in each other in the deepest and highest, and you cannot lack any of them, because God cannot lie.
34. Further, since Christ, the dear and pleasant child, is in such good pleasure and in the heart of God, is yours with all his words and deeds, and serves you with them, as he himself says, you are certainly also in the same good pleasure, and just as deeply in the heart of God as Christ, and again God's good pleasure and heart are just as deeply in you as in Christ; that now you and God, together with His dear Son, are wholly and completely in you, and you are wholly and completely in Him, and everything is one thing with each other, God, Christ and you.
35) See, this is the reason for many sayings in the Gospel of John, such as, Cap. 14, 23: "Whoever loves me, my Father will love him; and we will come to him and make our home with him"; item Cap. 12, 26: "Father, I want that where I am, there my servant may be also"; item Cap. 17, 21: "I pray that they may be one in us, as you and I are one, I in you, and you in me, and they in me." But where is Christ? In the good pleasure of God, in the abyss of His heart, there we are also, if we know and love Christ; there we are, I think, safe enough, there our refuge is set high enough that no evil will reach there, as it says in Psalm 91, v. 10.
(36) But you see that here faith wants to belong, and that to these things no law helps, no work does, no merit is valid. That is why these precious words remain so hidden and unknown to reason, because it has been possessed by the devil from the beginning.
from the world, when she wanted to become God in paradise, and reached for the honor that God bestows on Christ alone, that he is his son; she still persists in this and fights against these words, and again, these words against her. For since Christ alone is here glorified as the Son of God, what makes itself God is utterly cast down. But who are they who make themselves God? The devil and man, who are pleased with themselves, are also pleased with themselves, love themselves, do not ask about God, but strive to be like God. But what will God say to them? Undoubtedly the contradiction of what he says about Christ: "Christ is my beloved Son, who pleases me because he does not glorify himself and make himself God, even though he is God; but you are boys in whom I am displeased because you glorify yourselves and make yourselves God, even though you are creatures and men and not God.
(37) Thus this saying humbleth all the world, and taketh away the Godhead from all, and giveth it unto Christ; and all this for our good, if we will otherwise, and receive the saying; or for our damnation, if we will not, and despise the saying. For in short, apart from Christ there is no good pleasure, nor a beloved son, but only wrath and theft of God. We will save for another time what more is to be said about this than about the dove, which was raised from heaven.
Some sayings from the Scriptures about Christ, that through him we are loved by the Father, and without him we are hated.
38. John in the first v. 16. 17.: "From his," that is, Christ's, "fullness we have all received grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth became Christ through Jesus." John 3:13: "No man leadeth unto heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the Son of man which is in heaven." John 3:16, 17, 18: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God has
sent not his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not judged: but he that believeth not is judged already, because he believeth not the name of the only begotten Son of God. Item there at the end of v. 35, 36: "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him." John, sixth v. 40: "Now this is the will of him that sent me, that whosoever seeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life, and be raised again at the last day." John on the seventh v. 37, 38: "But on the last day of the feast, which was most glorious, JESUS arose, and cried out, and said, 'I will raise you up.
said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." To Titum on the third v. 4-8."But the kindness and mercy of God our Savior appeared, not because of the works of righteousness which we had done, but according to His mercy He made us blessed, through the bath of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior, that we through His grace might be justified, heirs of eternal life, according to the hope which is ever certainly true." And many other sayings, especially in St. Paul's Epistles, which each one may read for himself.