Of the fruits of faith.
Rom. 5, 1-5.
Now then, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and boast of the hope of the glory to come, which God is to give. Not only this, but we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings patience; patience brings experience; experience brings hope; hope does not bring shame. For the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Here is a place of contention against these people who seek salvation elsewhere than in the cross, against which all that is great, high and wise in the world is offended. Now all the world wants to know about the providence of God. But where a man is sure of his providence, reason cannot say otherwise than he who is strong in all troubles and has strong faith; item, he who does many excellent works. This text concludes that one should not turn to such talkers who want to have all strong Christians and tolerate no weak ones, but who are assured of God's provision, and boast of the hope that God will still give, and is not present, but is an eternal longing in them, and come in distress, crying out: Abba, Father. This is a low, bad, silly word before reason. But Paul says: Where the crying goes, there are children of God. And it is not necessary to be strong at all times; because God lets Jesus sink into all the misery of the cross, He will not deal differently with His members.
Now that we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. the evangelists write many works of Christ; but the custom of Christ, why they happened, no one can know but
*The ninth sermon is found in Col. 2560 in the VII part of the old Walch edition, and will therefore also appear in the VII part of this edition. D. Red.
Paul. If it is left alone with the mere history, it is not yet juicy; but here he says: "We have peace with God, through Christ. He commands his disciples to preach the gospel to all creatures. In the same teaching they are to lead two pieces: Repentance, and remissionem peccatorum (forgiveness of sins); there are prepared by God people who are struggling with their sins, fearing God and death. These poor consciences may exceedingly well preach such a sermon of Christ, our Savior, as he says: "preach to all creatures." For whoever is not one with God, all creatures are afraid of him. If only a board cracks, a mouse runs, if it thunders, then the conscience speaks: Woe is me, the beam cracks and knows all my sin, all creatures are against me. So that Christ may give rest to the poor consciences, he preaches to all creatures that they may have peace with men, for I have had mercy on them. Then the poor consciences are of a different mind, fearing no creature, holding and hoping that God is their Savior. Christiani dant testimonium de hac re. (But he who does not feel it has not yet learned the gospel; he may well ask God for it. So through the gospel it is said to all creatures: Let man be content with me and do not frighten him at all, I am his friend; do not drive him further. Then it follows that there is peace, joy and rest.
Through whom we also have access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and boast of the hope of the future glory that God is to give.
3 So it is found in the experience. It does not remain all the time; we hear well, and shall hardly touch me once. God must make it strange that we do not presume. Often one has a good thought, but in a moment it disappears. That is why he says here: When such good thoughts depart from us, that we have a sure access to God and ask Him to come again and not let us sink. Hilarius says that he once felt a taste, and after that never again. Augustine in Soliloquy also says that he had such a foretaste of blessedness that he would not have been of a different mind if he had been in heaven. Peter also says that after his fall he realized that when he denied Him, he was refreshed by the word that Christ said: He wanted to pray for him. Then Peter tasted how sweet the Lord was, forgiving him for the shameful sin of blasphemy and denial of the truth, that he denied Christ. He soon comes to God and realizes that he is sweet. So he also says in his first epistle Cap. 2, 3: Si gustatis
Dominum. (If you have tasted the Lord in another way.) These are all spirituales ex.
perientiae (spiritual experiences).
4 Now follows the third: If one is to preach about God, the first is that he comes to us through teaching. Secondly, he works something in us, Gal. 5, 6: Fides justificat, quae operatur caritatem (faith justifies, which is active through love), which is the confidence in God that I have a living knowledge of God, that he loves me. This love of God towards us makes us able to endure all punishments. But this is in hope; therefore it is the third, that something should come of it. It is in the fieri (becoming). Here it is a matter of stabbing, fencing and striking, not running back or fleeing from the enemy. Fugitives from the field are strangled. Paul says: Stamus, i. e. (we stand, that is), we want to wait out the storms, even though we are weak, and feel the power of the enemies; he who stands strong, and has a
curses and access to God, and asks for help and assistance.
5) Fourthly, then, let us glory; Gloriamur, etc. (We boast). (We boast etc.) that we boast of the tribulation, how God has made us stand and not let us sink in the battle.
6. to the fifth. Now follows the fifth: Spes (hope). We want to cross it out further: 1. fides (faith) catches a word from God, which Abraham believes, and is counted to him for righteousness, Gen. 15, 6. 2. God loves him very much because of that, as his dear child; he feels this with himself. 3. hope comes. God rejects his son Ishmael, and gives him a word, saying: In Isaac vocabitur tibi semen. (In Isaac shall be called thy seed). To these two words Abraham clings with his faith, to the common seed and to the named seed in Isaac. After that comes Spes (the hope), since he should sacrifice his son Isaac. There he had contentious sayings. Here he hovers between heaven and earth, Rom. 4, 18.: Speravit contra spem (He hoped, since there was nothing to hope for), there he fights with God and cuts his heart in two. One word says: Isaac shall be the seed; the other: He shall die. There lies at the bottom the hope that has veritatem verbi (the truth of the word). Hope does not let anyone be put to shame, it endures the puff. Since Abraham's heart feels this with fear, hope teaches him: Do not worry so much, God cannot lie; and lets great floods rush over faith, it lies still in the sand, and thinks: God is able to do more than I can always understand. God can raise a seed for me from the ashes of Isaac. Such hope keeps the puff in Abraham. In this hope lies the living announcement that we are provided for and are God's children, where there is such a longing in the heart: Oh God, that you would keep what you have promised. There is a sure sign of providence. If we do not have it in us, let us only crawl to the cross and ask God.
Not only that, but we also "boast" of tribulation, knowing that tribulation brings patience etc.
If such things are to happen in an experience before God and our heart, it goes like this: God lets us hear a word; because it is a command, it does not go out empty, it brings people who trust in God: that is fides (faith). Secondly, it works God's love in the heart, so that we feel that God wants to hold over us. The third is that God sets the devil and the world against such children of God: they put spurs in our sides, so that we see where we lie, how weak we are; item, how quickly we should have access to God's mercy seat. Then a Christian can say, out of the misfortune he is famous for here, it brings patience, that we can endure Christ's puff. God can make a straw as heavy as a hundred cents of lead. Therefore, do not despise those who have no temptation. God's masterpiece is that He often gives greater courage and strength out of a great temptation than to one who has a little temptation. Judge and despise no one.
Patience penetrates experience etc.
(8) This patience, so that we may exercise our Lord, brings experience. If I am challenged today, I learn to trust in God in
another, that I may esteem the other calamity less than the first, and say: God has helped me faithfully in the former; he will do it still. Third, "Experience brings hope," namely, that there is no consolation in all men when death frightens and rolls over me; then the heart lifts up and says, "Let all misfortune pass away, God will not let me sink, therefore I do not doubt at all. Such hope brings eternal life.
For the love of God is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
Why does God work such a powerful conclusion etc.? Only because the Spirit is poured into us. sed desperant, quia non habent istum παράκλητον, spiritum consolationis (The wicked also have their sufferings, prisons etc.; but they despair because they do not have that parallel, the Spirit of consolation). When the Christian is in the despondency of the cross, the Spirit awakens the hope that groans with the Spirit: Ah, where is now my God? that he may now shelter me and comfort me! These are the exercises that God works in His own whom He loves.