Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: for many false prophets are gone out into the world.
(1) The reason for the good counsel given in this chapter is to be repeated from the conclusion of the preceding third chapter. For there he had said, "By this we know that we abide in him, by the Spirit which he hath given us." From this arises inevitably the question: Who is the same Spirit? And so this chapter contains the explanation of this. One must give the child a name in order to know what the same spirit is called by which we recognize that God abides in us. For there are more spirits in the world. This text is therefore connected with the previous one in such a way that no syllable of it can be omitted.
2. 1) First of all, we find that there are two kingdoms of spirits, which are of great power and strength, namely, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. Satan is as strong in his children as God is in his. And by nature the holy men are also in this kingdom. They have sucked it from their mothers and are stuck in it. If Satan is not to have any power over us, and if we are to get rid of him, we must have this text.
3. 2) We must also note the instruments that are used in these realms. But in the kingdom of God it is the word of God. For it is said of it, v. 2: "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is of God. God lets his word go, thereby he administers his kingdom. But Satan also has his word, by which he spreads his kingdom, and he also has his power and strength, according to the description of Christ, who calls Satan a strong armed man, who keeps his palace, so that what is his may be left to him in peace, Luc. 11, 21. Similarly, it is said, 2 Cor. 4, 4, that the gospel is also revealed for the sake of those to whom the God of these things is not of God.
The world has blinded their eyes so that they do not see the bright light of it.
4. 3) Now if there is a word of teaching in this realm, there is also a confession in it. For not all who will one day say to Christ: Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of God, Matth. 7, 21. What kind of confession must it be? Whoever teaches the doctrine must be confessed. The test of it is this: "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come into the world is of God." The test is fine gold. Accordingly, the confession is this: that not Satan, but only the Father is our Lord. This difference of confession also makes a difference among the kingdom. It is not enough that the Jews, Saracens and Turks confess that God created heaven and earth and that for this reason He is our Lord, but it must also be added that He is the God whose Son, Jesus Christ, was conceived in Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, who hungered and thirsted as another man, who preached the will of God, who dealt with other men, who was poor and miserable, who helped to raise Joseph, who finally suffered and died under Pontio Pilato. This is the Jesus who makes us blessed. From this follows the conclusion that he is the true God who has a Son through whom the world shall be saved. An explanation of this saying can be read from two passages in my writings. First, in the sermon that bears the title: "Army Sermon Against the Turks," 1) where, in the explanation of the other commandment, it is remembered that the Christian slaves imprisoned in Turkey thought of this article: And of JEsum Christum, his only-begotten Son, our Lord; whereby, avoiding all hypocrisy, they press their hands with their thumbs and say: JEsus Christ is my splendor and my holiness. 2) The other place is found in the postilion of the day.
1) Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. XX, 2154.
2) Ibid. Col. 2181 f., § 61.
John the Baptist, 1) who did not trust in his own holiness, but pointed people to Christ, who alone is the way, the truth and the life, and apart from whom no other name is given to men, in which they should be saved. John the Baptist led a very strict way of life, but what did it help him without Christ? Therefore it is better to drink malmsey and walk on roses in faith in Christ than to put on a hard shirt or eat locusts without Christ, because all this does no good without Christ, and the latter does no harm with Christ.
The first is from the Old Testament, the second is from the New Testament.
5 We find various descriptions of the testing of spirits in the holy scriptures. But first of all the place 5 Mos. 18, 18. 19. is very strange, because it actually concerns the great prophet, whom the holy scripture called Messiah. The same place means: "I will raise up a prophet from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all things whatsoever I shall command." But this place does not merely contain a teaching, but a warning is also added: "Whosoever will not hear my words which he shall speak in my name, of him will I require it." One has probably never seen anything more perfect and skilful than the Law of Moses, for it contains everything that is intended both for God and for man. For example, it is a reasonable law that if someone finds a bird's nest in which the mother is sitting on the eggs or young, they should let them fly away, Deut. 22:6, 7. Likewise, when it decrees how it should be kept clean in the camp of the Israelites, and everyone should sweep out the filth, Deut. 23:12, ff. Now if the law has commanded all such works, so that nothing new can be devised apart from its precepts, it follows that this prophet of whom Moses speaks here has a quite different, heavenly teaching.
1) Walch, St. Louis Edition, .vol. XI, 2268 ff.
[has] to recite. For this confoundeth reason together, and thinketh that nothing better can be said. And God also wanted to disgrace them in such a way that he said: If the work of the law does not help, how much less your own works. The police laws thus had their intentions on the Jewish people and on their courts. But this prophet did not come to choose a special people from among the people, to prescribe laws and an outward police for them, but this was his work, that he should give power to become children of God to those who believe in his name. From this should now arise a completely different way of serving GOtt, namely this: To fear GOD, to believe, to call upon His name, to hear Him, and to follow Him. Now many are opposed to this true prophet, that they do not hear him. And this is the characteristic of all false prophets. Such false prophets have different names in the Old Testament. They are called:
6. 1) XXXXX, Kosemim, vaticinatores; and these are the dreamers who bring their dreams into the Scriptures. Of this kind are among us the abbot Joachim's interpretations of the prophet Jeremiah, which Münzer 2) has followed. Such people have gained much experience and have often been tempted to death. Therefore, Satan has taught them the arrogant thought of themselves, as if they were masters of the Scriptures; they want to explain and interpret everything according to their imagination; and especially Muenzer 2) has boasted that if there were no Bible, he would make a new one. Such cosemem are now the Brigittä, Sybillä and others. Among them is also Storchius, who said that he was sent to wield the sword, and that he received this calling from the angel Gabriel. These and similar people have miserably deceived both themselves and the poor peasants.
7. 2) To the other class belong XXXXX, Onenim, 3) that is, the diurnal voters; the like
2) "Münzer" put by us instead of: "Mincerus" in the old edition. Compare under § 15, where Storch and Münzer are also placed next to each other.
3) "Onenim" put by us instead of "Meronenim" according to Jer. 27, 9.
There are also people among us who say, for example, that it is good to wean children on such and such a day. Item: Satan has more to do with one woman in six weeks than with another.
8. 3) The XXXXXX Menaheschim, that are the soothsayers, such among us: If the raven or the owl cries, then one will die. This has now become a great truth among the common man, what such people once taught them.
9. 4) XXXXXX Mechasbim, malefici, warlocks. Some think that such a thing cannot happen. But it is very easy for Satan, by divine permission, to make a projectile in the arm or thigh, in which hair, coals, iron and the like are found. Among us belongs here: the wheel of fortune, the traveling students, the weather makers, putting a dash through the grain; he [Satan] cannot even kill it. In the second book of Moses it was commanded that such a malefica should not be left alive.
10. 5) XXXXXX Hoberim, incantatores, dragon brides, and dragon bridegroom, they fetch cheese, butter, grain; but it does not pay well. From reason one cannot judge enough how far the power of Satan extends. These dragon brides sting brown and blue, as if one were beaten. Item, the Wischelein, which the people, so serviced, 1) wait for the horses, wash up, and the like. In Ireland there are such servile spirits, likewise in Torgau. In the Mark, Satan served in a monastery and carried everything necessary until he got a canon stabbed to death; he then went around the monastery, sounding as if with bells, and shouted that he had served them until he was removed from the way. Therefore we are not to be sure, because this evil spirit is everywhere near, soon in the brain, soon in the heart of man. Here also belong the treasure diggers, the crystal seers. Read also the Augustinum de civitate Dei. Here belong the incubi, who must be given roast meat to eat and wine to drink on Thursdays. Satan demands the external
1) i.e. to keep servants.
The service of men as a sign of his dominion over them, so that one day they may despair at the hour of their death and have to say as a sign of their own condemnation: O woe! I have given him food and drink in addition.
11. 6) XXXXX Oboth, python, or pythonissa the wise man, wise woman, people who can tell fortunes and indicate when something is lost. Examples of this can be found in the lives of the ancient fathers. When Julianus Apostata had banished the devil, Macarius prayed and thus prevented Satan from passing by, which he also confessed to Juliano when he inquired of him. Item, that one stabs into a water, and thus gouges out an eye. In Silesia there was a house in which there was such a monster at night that no one could stay in it. It was announced to a lansquenet, who lay in the house for a night. When he heard such a clamor of cats and other animals that he was terrified and jumped up and pulled off his leathers, lashing out. In the morning they found the women, who were suspected of some devilry: one had no arm, the other no eye, and the third was sore. See acta de Pythone.
12. 7) XXXXX Jidonim, sortilegi and our astrologers or astrologers, who erect planetary houses, and according to them want to prophesy or put nativity: Whoever is born in such and such a sign will be a drunkard, a fornicator, or a pious, happy person. But we are all born in the sign of Adam and Eve; we come into the world as sinners, as angry, as blasphemers, and inclined to all evil. This is our horoscopium.
13. 8) and 9). Finally, there are those who ask the dead or make their children pass through the fire. The nine kinds of false prophecies are told by Moses, and therefore one must know them, so that we learn to fear God from the heart. Cicero, in his fine book de divinatione, has laughed at this, and has mentioned several more types of it, but says that it is teasing, 2) that such things do not happen by intention, but by chance. This is how far reason has fallen,
2) i.e. empty talk.
that she wants to despise all this as vanity and deception. The best advice is that we keep to our true prophet Jesus Christ and his teachings. Isa. 8:20: "According to the law and the testimony" we should keep; if this does not happen, we will not see the dawn.
(14) In the New Testament we find three or four verses that give us a rule on how to test the spirits that now and then stand out among God's people and want to be seen as people who have new prophecies and want to instruct Christians in them. The first place is Rom. 12:7, where it says, "If anyone has prophecy, let it be like faith." The second place is 1 Cor. 14:31, 32: "Ye can all prophesy, that they all may learn. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." Which also applies to those who say, "The spirit drives me. The right spirit is a disciplined spirit that does nothing willfully and carelessly. The third place is here in 1 John 4:3: "Every spirit that teaches and confesses that Jesus is the Lord," that teaches that we are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, without our own works, "is of God." The fourth place is 2 Pet. 1, 16. 17.: "We have not followed wise fables, when we made known to you the power and future of JEsu Christ; but we have seen His glory for ourselves, when He received glory and honor from God the Father, by a voice which came to Him from the great glory, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then he adds, vv. 19, 20: "We have a firm prophetic word, and you do well to heed it, as a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. And this ye ought to know, that no prophecy of the scripture is of your own interpretation." From these four oters of holy scripture, a description of what a prophecy actually is can be made as follows: A prophecy is a teaching directly revealed by God, which is powerful to teach and comfort all men, and which confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh for the salvation of men.
(15) The Turks boast that they have prophecy, as do the Papists and the Jews, and we also boast that we receive it from God when we preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments. Furthermore, Storchius and Münzer, the sacrament abusers, boast of such prophecies; furthermore, those who deny the baptism of small children. Now examine all these prophecies according to the description of a prophecy given above, and consider:
1. whether it has the characteristics of a divine inspiration?
2. whether it is similar to faith; or whether it has an explicit command, word and promise of God for itself?
3. Whether it also teaches with earnestness and emphasis to fear God, to trust in His grace and mercy, or whether it instructs people to repent and seek forgiveness of their sins from God.
4. Whether it can also provide comfort in times of trial?
5. whether they also confess that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come in the flesh?
16. Because the Turks despise the command of God: Because the Turks despise the command of God, "This is the one you shall hear," and do not consider Christ worthy to be accepted as their mediator (for God's people must also act according to the command given by God); because, on the other hand, the papists seek justification in their own works, with contempt for the true faith in Jesus; because, furthermore, the Jews, just as the Turks, deny and blaspheme Christ; because our new prophets likewise do not press for Christ; and finally, the new seducers and sacramental abusers, following their own speculations, and taking the dreams of their reason for divine revelations, say that now and then in the holy Scriptures it means so much as significat, therefore it must everywhere be taken and declared to be significat: it follows that they have no such prophecy of which they can boast that it was revealed to them by God. The dialecticians call such kinds of conclusions fallacias consequentis, when one concludes thus: In such and such a place the
The word is taken in this sense, ergo it has the same meaning in all other places. The. Rhetoricians or teachers of eloquence call it probationem inartificialem. For example: nectar wine is a mixed wine, ergo all other wines. A jurist would not allow the conclusion: My neighbor's field looks like my own, ergo the same is also mine. A completely different proof is required, otherwise he will not be able to make a ruling on it.
17 We have the firm prophetic word against Papists, Turks, Jews and Gentiles: "Christ died for our sins and was raised for our righteousness", Rom. 4, 25. "We are justified without merit through Jesus Christ, whom God has set before us as a mercy seat through faith in His blood," Rom. 3:24, 25. His blood cleanses our conscience from dead works," Heb. 9:14. We believe this revelation and prophecy because it is a firm word. The only word: "God has set Him up as a mercy seat", Rom. 3, 25, "He is a mediator between God and His people.
1. a spirit that is of God confesses that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh.
2. the Spirit from God dwells and works in the believers.
3. the Spirit from God is heard by those who are born of God.
The spirit from God is a spirit of truth.
(5) Those who hear the Spirit of God also love one another with a pure heart.
(6) By the Spirit, who is of God, believers have an assurance that they are born of God.
7. those who have the Spirit of God also do as God does.
19 To love is not to be burdensome to anyone, but to be of service to everyone. The world helps itself only with a semblance of it, and thinks: I may do with my own as I will. It is indeed dangerous to preach to the world, for it looks only at the outward appearance. And even if one preaches the word to Christians, to whom it really belongs, one must be careful,
and men", 1 Tim. 2, 5, fortifies us against all the seductive prophecies of the new prophets. Against the sacramenters we rely on the word of Jesus: "This is my body, this is my blood", Luc. 22, 19. "He calleth unto him that is not, that he may fei", Rom. 4, 17. "With God no thing is impossible", Luc. 1, 37. "Not of bread alone, but of every word that comes through the mouth of God", Matth. 4, 4. Against the Anabaptists the single word of Jesus is already enough: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God", Joh. 3, 5.
V. 3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, of which ye have heard that it shall come, and is already now in the world.
18 Hereby John makes a contrast between a spirit that is of God and the one that is not of God:
1. a spirit that is not of God denies that Jesus Christ came into the flesh.
2. the spirit that is not of God dwells and works in the unbelievers.
The spirit of the world speaks what is pleasing to the world, and the world also hears him.
The spirit that is not of God is a spirit of falsehood and error.
(5) Those who follow the spirit of the world have no love for one another, but seek only their own, as the rich glutton did.
(6) Those who follow the spirit of the world have the characteristic that they are not of God.
(7) Those who have the spirit of the world do not do as God does.
Not to make Christ into Moses, and the gospel into the law. The faith that is active through love makes blessed. It does not speak of love as it is active toward one's neighbor, but by virtue of which we cling to God and are certain that He will not forsake us. (See the explanation of the epistle to the Galatians.)
Every spirit that confesses that JEsus has come into the flesh.
There is a twofold great emphasis in the word "Christ" and in the word "confess". 1) First of all, there is much force and emphasis in the few words: "Jesus Christ has come into the flesh". For he who teaches that Jesus Christ has come into the world confesses that all good and all perfect gifts have come down from above to men. He confesses that the Word became flesh, or that God sent His Son into our flesh to bear and endure our weakness in the flesh. He also teaches that the Christ, who has been in the bosom of the Father from eternity and was promised to the faithful in the Old Testament through the prophets, has made his dwelling among us and lived, that is, has hungered and thirsted, has worked, and has grown weary like other men; that he has performed the office entrusted to him, has lived as a common man, and has suffered all the things that befall a man in this world; that he further endured true agony and the terrors of hell, died on the cross, rose from the dead on the third day, and then ascended into heaven; that he thereby truly redeemed us, reconciled the Father, sent the Holy Spirit, and established a church on earth in which all true believers have a common share in the fine goods they have acquired; that he may be with us at last, and comfort us in all our afflictions, that we of ourselves are not able and able; that we are not saved by our own works, but by the grace of God and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the word "Christ" contains two important terms, namely fine anointing for the work of redemption, and redemption itself. The anointing convicts us of the gracious will of God towards us; but the redemption gives us forgiveness of sins, life and blessedness. Christ was destined from eternity to redeem the world. The Father's counsel becomes flesh. This is an unspeakable mystery, it is wonderful in our eyes. These are two extrema in materia remotissima, that is, in two infinite
things far different from each other. The eternal God becomes a man, lives and weaves like other men. He came in the midst of us, lived like us, turned water into wine, was ready to serve, and yet was in danger of being stoned.
21. 2) Now this Christ is to be confessed. -For he who confesses him confesses first of all the reason why he came into the world, namely, that we cannot be saved by our own works or by our own strength, but must be reconciled to God and accepted in grace only through his bloody death and his great merit. Whoever confesses this repents, praises God, loves his neighbor, recognizes the greatness of divine grace and mercy, which is higher than all reason; he fears lest he offend God again, with whom he was once reconciled through Christ; he calls upon God and knows that he is loved by Him as a child by its father. But he who denies that Jesus Christ came into the flesh also denies the cause of his mission into the world, relies on his own works, deprives Christ of the name of a mediator, does not fear God, does not thank him for his grace, does not guard against insults to him, does not recognize Christ as one who came into the world to make us children of God, but only as a people who are to be kept in discipline and order by all kinds of laws. These people do not drive a goose across the path of our Lord God, saying: If I did not have it better than others, I would rather have become a monk.
22 A question arises: whether the works that precede faith or the works that follow it make a man righteous? The Gospel answers: Neither the works that precede nor those that follow make a man righteous, but only faith in Jesus Christ. But the good works that God has commanded serve to give us an exercise of our faith. It is therefore far safer to attribute everything to the grace of God. The Scholastici 1) sing: Kyrie eleison, but they add: This is a
1) d, i. the school theologians.
hard word for the flesh; make also well these wrong conclusions: If works do not make righteous, then man would have no free will at all; or: If works do not make righteous, there will be a desolate, raw life. But God says, "Be it hard or severe, I will have it so. This is the sign of Jonah. But they do it in such a way that the truth must give way to lies; they impose their laws, orders, monasteries, and deny Christ over it.
So far, the two words "Christ" and "confess" have been used. Now the expression is still left: "He who is of GOD", or "born of GOD", [who] shall be called a child of GOD. I will give a common example: If I were traveling in a foreign land and were a stranger there, but said to one whose son or brother I knew, "I should greet you from your son, brother," he would say to me, "Do you know my son? Come into my house, spend the night with me. In this way, the name of the son I know would make [me] comfortable with the father I did not know before. So also no one knows God, for no one has ever seen Him; but if we invoke the name of the Son, and say, Oh Father, I am indeed a great sinner, but I know your Son, Jesus Christ, [we become pleasing to God]. 1) These then are they of whom John says, "The Son has given them power to become children of God," John 1:12. But who are such? "Those who believe in His name." So also here John says, "You are of GOD, and GOD is greater than your heart." Here again belongs the story of Cain and Ahitophel.
V. 4. Little children, you are of God and have overcome those, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Note here that there is an emphasis in the words: "who is in you". The note is very beautiful that Augustine made of a twofold governor and ruler, namely Christ and Satan. The former goes to life, but the latter to damnation. Just
1) Added by us.
This is also expressed in Rom. 8, 14. 9. thus: "Whosoever is moved by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God; but whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ, the same is not his."
V. 5 They are of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
25 That is, they act on worldly things that are nowhere commanded to them by God. The whole saying can be easily understood by virtue of the contrast and compared to what is read in Gal. 1, 10: "Am I now preaching to men or to God?
V. 6. We are of God, and he who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us.
This saying again belongs to the testing and discernment of spirits. Paul especially emphasizes this in Romans 10:17: "Faith comes from the sermon" or the hearing of the divine word. In contrast to this are the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians, who despise the outward word of God; but their judgment stands: They are not of God. Others say: Yes, no one is improving; and we all often cry: It will not go away. On the other hand, they are told to continue listening until God's grace is manifested more in them, and they can overcome the world and sin.
By this we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
It is the spirit of error that deceives us, does not hear us, or at least only pretends to hear us. The spirit of truth, however, deals with truth, he hears and believes, and in believing calls upon God more and more. It is a twofold righteousness. The one has ears and hands; the other has ears and a heart. The former says: I hear enough, if I could only do it; the latter says: I hear it, if I could only believe.
V. 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.
Here now follow the praises of right love. The description is: "Who loves
is from God. This love changes the heart, so that man makes a comparison between the spiritual benefits that God has shown us and the physical ones that we owe to our neighbor. This is a true new birth.
V. 8. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Not only does he not know God, but there is darkness and ignorance in his heart.
V. 9. In this the love of God toward us appeared, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
(30) Thus John shows the right origin of blessedness; otherwise man always remains with a trust in his works. The law and our own gratifications kill us.
V. 10. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin.
The love of God and the love of neighbor are the most important things in the Gospel. In explaining the two great commandments, Christ adds: "The other is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." That is, you cannot love me if you love yourself more, but give thanks to God that he first loved you, and if you lack, call on him. The Law, and the love commanded in it, cannot lead us to God, it is too high; but the Gospel leads us to God, and something becomes of it.
Note from the right kind of love.
32) This is not true love, if one only gives much to his neighbor, for this latter can also be done by the pagans. But true love is actually a movement of the Holy Spirit in the heart to do good to one's neighbor. Therefore Paul wrote: "If I take all my possessions and give them to the poor, and do not have love, I would be nothing", 1 Cor. 13:3. Giving is therefore a fruit of love, but it is not a fruit of love.
not love itself. This saying of Paul is therefore a correct rule according to which love must be judged. Love is a spiritual gift that touches the heart and not only the hand, that cleanses the heart, but by no means sweeps out the purse and exhausts the necessary means for the maintenance of life. It is a fervent will and benevolence. Accordingly, a spiritual kind of love is required from Johanne, in which I do not exist before the world, but before God. In the love of the world there is no desire to do good, but the love of Christians feels such a desire. Love is not what the hand does, but what the heart feels. The law of Moses cannot do that.
V. 12. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is completely in us.
This is a new subject, which deals with the difference between the law and the gospel. The law insists on love, the gospel demands faith, by which alone we know how much we are loved by God. The world does not grasp this teaching and cannot find its way into it. The Gospel says: Recognize the good that God has shown you, and be careful not to offend Him in the future with your sins. That is, the Gospel points to the forgiveness of sins in addition to repentance. Just as works and trust in them, as two distinct things, must be distinguished from one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Therefore, no man has ever been able to begin to love God. Nil amatum, nisi cognitum, what one does not know, one cannot love. Therefore, those who want to please or reconcile with God either through the law, or through their own gratifications, or through the love they think they have for God, deceive both themselves and others. All that we see of God is His love and the benefits flowing from it. He who believes in God's love for him also sees God in such faith.
We also see God in His great works, because of which He is called the God of Jerusalem, the God of Zion, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the God who led His people out of Egypt with a strong hand. John wrote in his Gospel Cap. 1, 18: "No one has ever seen God, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed Him to us."
In this, His love is completely with us.
That is, his love expresses itself in us in all kinds of good effects, and makes it possible for us to love one another warmly again. Therein lies at the same time a glorious consolation of the Holy Spirit for a frightened, stupid conscience. The latter preaches the comforting truths, but the latter tastes such comfort in itself and is calmed by it.
If we love each other among ourselves.
Thirty-six: Do you ask: How do I come to love those who are also my enemies? Answer: This is the result of God's love, which makes me do to others what God has done to me. That is, to go in and out with God.
V. 13. By this we know that we abide in him, and he in us, that he hath given us of his Spirit.
This spirit works in us all kinds of good movements of the heart, which is a sign that such love cannot be considered a mere fruit of human nature. Some say, to be sure: Who will get better from it? And this is also the complaint of many saints, which they present to God in their weakness: "It will not get better, because you hit it in the back with a club.
V. 14. And we have seen and bear witness that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
John cannot cope with the ideas of love. Paul says: This is the word we preach to you. John makes the gospel the basis of such love.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
(39) This is the true sign by which we know that we are loved by the Father. And it is none other than the sign of the prophet Jonah.
V. 15. Whoever therefore confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, in him abides God, and he in God.
(40) This is a fruit of the foregoing, that all things must be brought into confession, and the mouth opened.
V. 16. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
In the Benedicite, everything is pure, clean and evangelical. In it we ask three things of God: 1) Bless us, God, and feed us in our souls. 2) Preserve also my body and those gifts by which it may be nourished and preserved; and this do not for my works, but for thy mercy's sake. 3) Especially through Jesus Christ, your Son, whom you sent to be my Savior. "God is love, and we are all children at His table. Therefore resist the devil, lest he stir up strife and dissension among us. Therefore, when you sit down at table with others, do not forget to pray: "God is love. O Lord! Keep us safe, Satan will cause strife, watch that strife is not instigated by him. Seldom does a table full of guests sit together that something hostile should not go on among them. Some may be offended only with a little word, then he becomes restless about it, and this happens if they have not prayed. That is why there is so much quarreling, misunderstanding, and even murder and death in the course of hostilities. This is where the 133rd Psalm of David belongs: "Behold, how good and how sweet it is when brothers are united. In hostilities, people of various kinds come together, poor and rich, pious and wicked, one living in these circumstances, the other in those. Give us, then, O Lord, the grace to learn to bear with all people's customs. For God is love.
God is love.
He wants all people to be helped and, as proof of his love, he also distributes his benefits among them without distinction.
And he who abides in love abides in GOD, and GOD in him.
Thus, true Christians do it according to the example of God: they work for the betterment of all people and distribute their good deeds among them. Behold, how pleasant and sweet it is! God loves peace. This balm must now flow down into Aaron's beard and onto his garment, and the great and noble must learn to bear the small and lesser. Augustini's golden saying should be inscribed everywhere. Unhappy is the man who sleeps in this life, in which he does not like to die. One should see how he stands with God and his neighbor. So also, when you go to the table with others, make the cross for yourself and others, and say, "God is love," keep me from being angered by another's word or work. Love is actually a sweet, pleasant sensation of the heart, and a kindly inclination toward our neighbor, which is sometimes also connected with all kinds of real good deeds. Augustine explained these words effectively, or with regard to their effect: "God is love," that is, He first demonstrates love in His Son; for "for this reason God shows His love for us, that while we were still His enemies, Christ died for us," Rom. 5:8. But He also demonstrates love with regard to the outward temporal life of man. He is love in the flesh. An example can be taken from the cow and the calf. A cow wants to be suckled by the calf; and when the calf attacks her udders with great desire, she does not strike, but endures; yes, she entices the calf with her cry that it should take its food from her. In this way, God is also effective in love. He wants to be throbbed, shaken and awakened, just as Jesus was when he slept in the ship, when we are in need of nourishment of body and life. And if we forget to knock at his door, he will wake us up himself.
that we should ask, seek, knock.
(44) In this place, love is first presented as complete love; then the various kinds of love are described; and finally it is shown how such love is also found in us. The description of love as a complete love is contained in the words:
V. 17. In this love is fully with us, that we may have joy in the day of judgment.
Here, then, love is presented as complete love, with regard to its effect. For love consists in having a good heart toward God, in trusting Him that He not only really loves us now, but also that He will never leave us, yes, that God, as it was said above, is greater than our heart. But then love is not complete if man does not know that God is greater than his heart. Consider this, whoever will, and he will find that this love is very seldom found in the hearts of men; it contains a very high doctrine, in which few bring it to perfection. This place has been treated quite extensively by Paulo Rom. 8. There he investigates the reason why a Christian should bear the cross patiently. There are many reasons to be found, but the last one is taken from the nature of human courts, in which a judge, plaintiff and defendant are to be found. The plaintiffs are our own heart and conscience, as it was said above: "If our heart condemns us. Then man stands in the court of God, and has his own heart as plaintiff and witness against him. There David asks in the 42nd Psalm, v. 6: "Why do you grieve, my soul, and are so troubled within me?" Fie on you, soul! After all, GOD is merciful. God is here, who makes just, approves our cause, but the plaintiffs receive a negative answer. Therefore, it now remains true: "GOD is greater than our heart." And the Gospel is a mirror in which we can see the kindness and lightness of GOD. "Who will condemn? Christ is here, who represents us," who is our intercessor with the Father, whom the Father is also pleased to hear. The admonition of Jesus Luc. 6, 36. also belongs here: "Be merciful, as
Your Father also is merciful"; "who makes his rain to fall, and his sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good, upon the just and upon the unjust", Matth. 5, 45. Sun and rain are the greatest of the bodily benefits. The sun gives life, the rain the sustenance of it. God pours out these great benefits on all people. And just in this God's love is completely against us, because no respect of the person takes place. All people should be like this, but since they are not really all like this, they should repent for this reason.
For as he is, so are we in this world.
46. Just as God is impartial in His love, giving rain and sunshine to all without distinction, so shall we be; and if it be so, God is also our Father in heaven. Paul's explanation of the seventh commandment, to which he counts work, "so that one may give to the needy", Eph. 4, 28, is to be counted here. Not working is already theft; not less, if one deprives others, especially the needy, of help. Summa, as we enjoy God, so shall our people enjoy us again.
V. 18. Fear is not in love, but complete love casts out fear.
The nature of love is twofold. The first is a complete love that does not fear because it is convinced and certain of God's goodness. The other is an imperfect love that is always afraid. Imagine the two adverse affections, hatred and love. At times the heart softens, can forgive, but it does not last long in it, and soon becomes hostile again. Now, if a man loves soon, hates soon, this indicates a great weakness; these adverse affects alternate in him in one hour. God allows this to happen, however, so that He may put a bridle and a bit on us, and we should not boast of our own virtues and merits. Imagine bravery and timidity. In the case of the latter, man is sometimes willing and ready to die; soon, however, other thoughts set in with him. He remembers that others do not
He therefore wishes: "Oh, let death not yet come! In the 3rd Psalm, v. 7, David says: "I am not afraid of many hundreds of thousands that are set against me. Where the world would be against me, I would not take hold of the earth. But soon after he says, v. 8, "Arise, O Lord, and help me." For with you one finds the right help. Hilarius and Augustine also testify to this, that when they felt a little spark in their souls, they soon sank back into hell. There Christ says of Judah: "Satan must stand at his right hand," Pf. 109, 6. With the godless and despisers of the word he stands eternally at their right hand, but with the pious and faithful he may do so only for a time. The right hand often means in the holy scriptures as much as comfort and assistance. He who despises the word of God in his whole life shall not enjoy it in death. And even if the murderer and other gross sinners say: Oh! if only God would save me once, as He helped the murderer on the cross! But it shall not be so good for them. For because they despise the Word, proving themselves to be swine and dogs in their lives, they shall also perish in death. For Satan is at their right hand. But in the case of the pious and holy, this happens only for a time, namely when an evil thought occurs to them, which often leads a hundred others after it. For whoever gets an evil thought, nothing good comes to his mind. And this happens both with sins and good works, that they always sigh: O Lord God, how will it be! This is a characteristic of imperfect love. In contrast, this consolation takes place that he is love and tolerates our weaknesses.
Fear is not in love, but complete love casts out fear.
But who can love again as he was loved? This is, of course, a strange explanation in the face of reason, that he who loves his neighbor loves God. If man thinks it is necessary to ascend to heaven, as it were, and love God, he is instructed to love his neighbor,
that one should gladly do good, and let other people enjoy ours again. Therefore Christ said of this commandment, "The other is like unto it." And John learned it from him. The Gospel does not say: You must love God or die, but: There is another commandment equal to this. God knows well our weakness, therefore He requires of us: You shall be favorable to your neighbor, and let other people enjoy what He has done for your benefit.
V. 19. We love God, because He first loved us.
We are favorable to him, because his seed remains in us. And the saints prefer this sensation of the power of the divine word than if they had to govern a worldly kingdom.
For he first loved us.
50. here belongs the beautiful place from Bernhardo: the cup that you yourself have drunk has made you pleasant and amiable in my eyes. Amabile te mihi fecit calix, quem bibisti. It is certainly a strange thing to die for an enemy; for the sake of a good one would rather die, Rom. 5, 7. 8.
V. 20. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if anyone does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?
(51) No one wants to forgive anything in the world, but rather the world likes strife, wars and rights. Therefore, we are liars when we say: "I love God. For in the Gospel it says: Here it is to give way, and not to quarrel; but rather to say: I will let it all lie and stand as it lies and stands. John takes his proof from the external senses. Man does not see God, but he sees his neighbor. But what a man knows, that he also loves.
the most. Now, if he does not love his neighbor whom he sees, it is xxxxxxxx quite impossible for him to love God.
V. 21. And this commandment have we from him, that he that loveth God love his brother also.
(52) This saying applies to all walks of life and all times of men. Paul summarized it in these two words: "Be glad with the glad and weep with the weepers", Rom. 12, 15. We also want to summarize it in two words: First, it means to love one's neighbor: to promote his welfare; second, it means to ward off misfortune and harm. Therefore, one does not have to be angry if one's neighbor is doing well, if he has received more honor, favors and gifts from God. So also, if I put everything to the worst for my neighbor, then I do not love him, but there is hatred, enmity, lie in my heart. But one must also ward off harm, [not] 1) seek advantage, not deceive in trade and commerce, in buying and selling. Do you say: I have the gospel and I am favorable to God, but if you do this against your neighbor, you are a liar, you misuse the name of God, and you will not go unpunished, but he will punish you with hellish fire. This is spoken against the carnal security. For this is a thousand times worse than piety, and is connected with sin in the Holy Spirit. For such people sin against God's mercy, saying: It does no harm. God is merciful.
(53) We have heard, first, what love is; second, how it is divided into imperfect and perfect love, but in this world we cannot get beyond imperfect love; third, how it is to be expressed, namely, in love toward one's neighbor, which the apostle confirmed with a proof borrowed from the external senses.
1) "not" added by us.