15. The Christian life and prayer.
The nexus indivulsus between Christian life and prayer. After a man has become righteousness before God through faith and has entered into filial relationship with God, he begins to converse with God. This individual intercourse of the Christian
361) Rom. 7:14: πεπραμένος νπό την αμαρτίαν. V. 23: "I see another law in my members," αίχμαλωτίζοντά με τω νόμφ της αμαρτίας πω οντι εν τοΐς μέλεσί μον.
362) Rom. 7:24:ταλαίπωρος εγώ ανϑρωπος.
363) Even the sins that Christians do not want to commit register in their conscience as guilt, by which they deserve eternal damnation, and by which the devil wants to drive them to despair of God's grace. A 'Christian is always in anguish of conscience because of his sins, which is why he prays the fifth petition continually, not merely formally, but with inner desire. (Cf. Luther, St. L. XV, 1551 ff.).
364) St. L. XII, 727, 728, 735.
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with God is referred to by the name prayer. The definition of prayer as "conversation of the heart with God" is scriptural.365) The words of the mouth are not absolutely necessary for prayer,366) but of course they are not excluded either.367) Prayer, as a consequence of faith in the forgiveness of sins in Christ, is a continuum, namely the unceasing desire of the heart directed toward God, because the Holy Spirit, who has made his dwelling in the heart through faith and is the causa efficiens of prayer, does not behave as a dormant potency, but continually animates and moves the heart.368) Therefore, the Christian prays even when, as is often the case in the direction of his earthly calling, he is not conscious of prayer, indeed even when he thinks he cannot pray because of suffering and woe.369) Christians' prayer has been aptly compared to the pulse of natural life. Luther says: "Where there is a Christian, there is actually the Holy Spirit, who does nothing else but always pray. For even though he does not always stir the mouth or utter words, nevertheless the heart, like the arteries and the heart in the body, goes and beats without cessation with such groans: "Oh, dear Father, that your name may be hallowed, that your kingdom may come, that your will may be done for us and for everyone, etc.". And after that the punishments and temptations and hardships press and drive harder, after that also such sighing and pleading goes the stronger, also verbally. That no Christians can be found without prayer, as little as a living man without the pulse, which never stands still, stirs and beats for itself forever, although the man sleeps or does otherwise, so that he is not aware of it." 370) — The division of the prayer into thanksgiving and petition is sufficient.371)
365) Ps. 27:8.<w:t>366) Is. 65:24; Rom. 8:26-27.
367) Acts 7:59; 16:25; Luther IX, 923.
368) Rom. 8:14. 15: The Christians πνενματι ϑεον αγονται. Luther (VIII, 361): "This is a restless spirit in the highest rest, that is, in God's grace and peace, that it cannot be quiet nor idle, but always strives and strives for it with all its strength, as one who lives solely for the purpose of bringing God's glory and praise further among the people."
369) Luther IX, 922.<w:t xml:space="preserve">370) To Joh. 14:13. 14. St. L. VIII, 363<w:t>.
371) Luther (X, 2204): "We can no more act against God than in two ways, namely, with thanksgiving and petition. With thanksgiving we honor him for the goods and graces we have already received; with prayer we honor him for the goods and graces we would like to have henceforth." Also, intercession for all men and the authorities (1 Tim. 2:1-3; Jer. 29:7),
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2 The preconditions of prayer. As a prerequisite of prayer on the part of the person praying, Schleiermacher's "paranoid sense of dependence” [schlechthinniges Abhängigkeitsgefühl] is not sufficient, nor is Ritschl's belief in divine providence.372) The prerequisite for the wonderful fact that a man, who is earth and ashes373) and in addition a sinner, speaks with the majestic and holy God, as a child speaks with the Father, is in any case, the faith, wrought by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel, that God is gracious to him, the one who prays, for the sake of Christ's vicarious satisfaction, and both calls him to pray and promises an answer to his prayer. In other words, prayer always presupposes Christian faith in justification.375) Only where there is faith in the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake is prayer a prayer "in the name of Christ," and only prayer in Christ's name has God's command and the promise of answer.376) Also, only in this prayer is the joyfulness to pray present in the heart of man. Luther says on Joh. 14:13-14, “that apart from Christ no one is able to pray a letter that is valid and pleasing before God, as prayer is to all Turks, Jews, monks and hypocrites”.377) On the other hand, it has been argued that even those who know nothing of Christ's vicarious satisfaction, like the heathens, and even those who reject and fight against Christ's vicarious satisfaction, like the Unitarians, pray with earnestness, even "immersing themselves in God through contemplation". But all devotion and all prayer that does not flow from faith in the reconciliation that has come about through Christ lies in the realm of natural emotional and nervous excitation. The causa efficiens of such prayers is not the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit only transfigures Christ in His atoning work,378) but the devil, who has his work in all unbelievers.379) The Scripture expressly says: What the
for the believers (Eph. 6:18) and the unbelievers, also for the enemies (Matt. 5:44; Luke 23:34; Acts 7:59) etc. subordinates itself to the prayer.
372) Ritschl, Unterricht in der christlichen Religion, § 54.
373) Gen. 18:27.<w:t>374) Matt. 6:9.
375) Apol. 142, 212: Nititur oratio misericordia Dei, quando credimus nos propter Christ pontificem exaudiri, sicut ipse ait: Quidquid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, dabit vobis. In nomine meo, inquit, quia, sine hoc pontifice non possumus accedere ad Deum. [Google]
376) Matt. 16:23; 14:13-14.<w:t xml:space="preserve">377) St. L. VIII, 362; IX, 922 f.
378) Joh. 16:14.<w:t>379) Eph. 2:2.
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heathens sacrifice — and that is where their prayer belongs — they sacrifice to the devils and not to God.380) It is true that Ritschl states the correct principle: "The invocation of God as our Father through Jesus Christ distinguishes the Christian religion from all others." But because Ritschl denies the very thing that distinguishes the Christian religion from all other religions, namely, the satisfactio vicaria, his religion also lacks the prerequisite for "the invocation of God as our Father through Jesus Christ." The objection that God can be thought merciful even without Christ's vicarious satisfaction is not valid. The feeling of guilt in the heart and conscience of man does not give way to human thinking, but only to the faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice wrought by the Holy Spirit, whereby the Holy Spirit writes the divine judgment of justification into the heart in place of the divine judgment of condemnation.381) Luther thus addresses the prerequisite of prayer: "Where the Spirit of grace is, he makes that we also can and may, indeed must, begin to pray. Therefore Christ wants to say here: If you believe in me and have received the Spirit, by which the heart is assured of the grace of God, of which he said above: If anyone sees me, he sees the Father also," it will certainly follow that you must also pray. For this is the right, proper and only work of Christians.382) For before we become Christians and believe, we do not know what and how we should pray. And even though man prays most earnestly,383) the spirit of grace is not there. For the heart is only like this: Dear Lord, you also wanted to see me live like this, suffer so much, or this and that saint's merit, pious people's
380) 1 Cor. 10:20. This is of course also true of Socrates' prayer, which we find mentioned in Xenophon (Memorab. I, 3, 2) and in Plato (Phaedo, at the end). Socrates' last word was: "We still owe a cock to Asclepius; sacrifice it yes and do not pass it by!" That just also in Socrates the devil ό ενεργών appears especially in his pride of virtue. Cf. the remarks of the great Socrates admirer Funke, Real-Schullexikon V, 374.
381) Incidentally, it is reported, as by Horace Bushnell, so also by Ritschl, that they returned to prayer on their deathbeds on the basis of satisfactio vicaria. Cf. II, 442 ff.
382) Augustine: Si fides in Christ deficit, oratio perit. In Quenstedt II, 1438.
383) namely, seen on the outward work, as with heathens, Romanists, Unitarians, etc.
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intercession and good works. There is no faith in divine grace and mercy through Christ, and the heart always remains uncertain, so that it cannot conclude that it is certainly heard; only wants to act with God on his or other people's holiness, without Christ, as if God should humble himself before him and allow his grace or help to be wrested from him by ourselves, and thus become our guilty and servant, so that this is not called mercy, but deserves wrath, and is not prayed for, but rather mocked by God."384) The uncertainty inherent in every prayer that does not flow from faith in Christ is also evidenced by the stammering speech of the heathen and the Romans, for they think they will be heard if they make many words.385) — All the saints have prayed for Christ's righteousness or, which is the same thing, for God's grace and mercy in Christ, setting aside all their own worthiness.386) So also now, until the Last Day, the joy of prayer comes to every individual only from the trust in the reconciliation made through Christ, and in view of the divine commandment and promise, setting aside his own worthiness or unworthiness.387)
3. Value and effect of the prayer of Christians. Since God sustains the world only for the sake of Christians, namely for the exercise of their Christian vocation388) and the will of Christians expressed in their prayer coincides with the all-sustaining and governing will of God,389) it is natural that Christians with their prayer instrumentaliter sustain and govern the whole world.
384) VIII. 361 f.
385) Matt. 6:7. Luther, Gr. Cat. 466; 25.[Trigl. 705, Large Cat., 25 🔗] The Rosary of the Roman. The prayer wheels of the Tibetan Buddhists.
386) Dan. 9:18.
387) Quenstedt (II, 1438) reminds correctly: Caveant precantes, ne in dubium vocent Dei potentiam, quasi iuvare non possit, licet velit, aut benevolum eius affectum, quasi nolit iuvare, licet possit, sed certo statuant, Deum et posse et velle iuvare. [Google] But without the fides specialis, qua credit unusquisque [each for his person] sibi remitti peccata propter Christ et Deum placatum et propitium esse propter Christ (Apol. 94, 45 [Trigl. 133, Apol., IV, 45 🔗]), no one believes that the potentia Dei comes into effect for his sake and the benevolus Dei affectus applies to him.
388) Matt. 24:14.
389) What the Christians ask, they ask κατά τό όέλημα αυτόν [“according to His will.”], 1 Joh. 5:14.
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Everything that happens in the Church and the world is mediated through the prayer of Christians. The Scriptures go into detail here. That the Word of God has its course in the world despite the hostility of the world,390) e.g. the apostle Paul finds an open door, speaks the address with joy,391) is saved from danger,392) happens through the prayer of Christians. Through the prayer of the Christians also the existence and the well-being of the civil community,393) the preservation and restoration of peace,394) also the downfall of the bloodthirsty and false,394) One must only not forget that according to the doctrines of Scripture the Christians do the same thing that Christ does, expressed more precisely, that Christ, what he works as causa efficiens, also does at the same time through the Christians as causa instrumentalis. Luther: "It is not necessary to separate the head and his members, that is, Christ and his apostles and the whole of Christendom. Every individual Christian is such a man as the Lord Christ himself was on earth, and does such great things that he can rule the whole world in divine matters, help and benefit everyone, and do the greatest works that are done on earth. For he is also more highly esteemed in the sight of God than the whole world, that God for his own sake gives to the world and preserves all that it has; that if there were not Christians on earth, neither city nor country would have peace; yea, in one day all that is on earth would be destroyed by the devil. But that grain still grows in the field and people recover, have their food, peace and protection, they have all this to thank the Christians for. We are poor beggars," says St. Paul in 2 Cor. 6:10, "but we make ourselves rich; we have nothing, but we have everything. And it is also true that what kings, princes, lords, civilians and peasants have in the world, they have not for the sake of their yellow hair, but for the sake of Christ and his Christians. … Lords, citizens and peasants must have their land and people, power, honor and property for the sake of the Christians who live with them, even if they do not recognize it and give evil thanks for it. … Therefore the Christians are pure helpers and saviors, even lords and gods of the world, as God also says to Moses in Exodus 7:1: 'I have set you as a god over Pharaoh.' Therefore
390) 2 Thess. 3:1.<w:t>391) Col. 4:2-4; Eph. 6:19-20.
392) Rom. 15:30-32.<w:t>393) Jer. 29:7.
394) 1 Tim. 2:1-3; Ps. 76:7.<w:t>395) Ps. 5:7, 11; 55:24.
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Psalm 8 also says: "You have put everything under his feet," namely emperors, kings, princes, power, honor and property, even the cattle in the field, oxen, sheep, wild animals, birds in the sky and fish in the water. He also does not want to forget to show what the world has and is able to do, which they have on loan from the beggars, who have nothing and yet have everything, and everything that is given to the world by God, he gives for its sake, so that it is called all the works and miracles of the Christians, which they do until the Last Day, so that when they stop, God will also put an end to the world and burn everything with fire. … The world only looks at what seems to be high and great, rich and mighty, and glorious and magnificent, and yet cannot see where they got it. But if you have been baptized, says Christ, and believe in me, you are the man who has and is able to do much more and greater things, even the works and greater things than I am doing now.396) For I will make you lords, if you believe in me, that your works shall be counted for more and do more than any king or lord on earth; that ye may work and do what ye will, and with me help both to reign spiritually over souls unto salvation, and also bodily, by your prayers, to obtain and keep all things that are on earth, that they may take and have them all from you, and so enjoy your unknowing."397)
4. The object of Christian petition. To the question of what the Christian should and can ask for, the first answer is: for everything that is covered by the divine will and the divine promise. What God has commanded to ask and promised to give should be the object of our asking. Hence also the promise that Christians will obtain whatever they ask for. "All things (πάντα δσα) ye ask in prayer, if ye believe, ye shall receive." 398) We are not justified in restricting the πάντα δσα that Scripture so strongly emphasizes. But we must not forget that the will of Christians, in so far as they are Christians, quite coincides with God's will, and therefore they do not ask what occurs to them, but only that from God for which they have God's command and promise. Admittedly, in Christians, as long as they have the flesh about them, self-will still asserts itself. But insofar as
396) namely in the state of humiliation.
397) To Joh. 14,. 12. St. L. VIII, 350-356.
398) Matt. 21:22; Mark. 12:24; Joh. 14:13-14; 16:23; Matt. 7:7-8.
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this is the case, Christians a priori renounce the hearing of their request, because their prayer stands under the general rule: "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." Our congregational orders usually contain, in one form or another, the provision that from the outset every congregational decision should be invalid that stands in contradiction to the Word of God. In the same way, every Christian includes in his prayer a priori the provision that every prayer should be invalid if it asks for something that is not covered by God's will and therefore also not by God's promise. This fact is expressed in 1 John 6:14: "And this is the joy that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will (κατά το ϑέλημα αντον), he hears us." Therefore it is quite correct when in the catechisms to the question, "For what and with what distinction shall we ask?" the answer is thus or similarly, "For the spiritual goods which are necessary to our salvation we should ask without condition, but for the other goods with the condition that God will give them to us if it is to His glory and to our salvation." 399) This is true because the grace of God, that is, the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, is guaranteed in all circumstances by the divine promise and will. We see this from the divine answer, "Be content with my grace," when Paul asked three times in vain for the heavy cross to be taken down.400) There are, of course, cases in which Christians have asked unconditionally even in bodily matters, as Luther asked unconditionally for Melanchthon's life in 1540. Luther himself says: "There our Lord God had to serve me; for I threw the sack at his door and rubbed his ears with all his promises that he would hear prayer, which I knew to enumerate in the Holy Scriptures, that he would have to hear me where I should otherwise trust his promises." 401) But these cases belong to the field of heroica and do not fall under the general rule. They arise from the prayer life of individuals for special occasions, and it betrays an unspiritual audacity to deny them.402) — Of the Lord's Prayer, because it is taught by
399) Brief exposition of the Kl. Katech. St. Louis. Fr. 212 Dietrich's Kl. Katech. St. Louis. Fr. 348. 349.
400) 2 Cor. 12:9.<w:t xml:space="preserve">401) Köstlin, Luthers Leben II, 515.
402) Cf. Roos, Reformation History, Tübingen 1782, vol. II, p. 472, note. On the fides heroica in the healing of the physically possessed, cf. Walther,
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Christ Himself, what Luther says in the Large Catechism applies: "We should also be attracted and drawn by the fact that God, in addition to the commandment and promise, comes first and Himself sets the word and way and takes it into our mouths how and what we should pray, so that we can see how heartily He takes care of our need and never doubt that such prayer is pleasing to Him and will certainly be heard, which is a great advantage over all other prayers that we ourselves might think up. For then the conscience would always stand in doubt and say: I have asked, but who knows how it pleases him, or whether I have taken the right measure and manner? Therefore no nobler prayer is to be found on earth than the daily Lord's Prayer, because it has such excellent testimony that God is glad to hear, for which we should not take the world's good." 403) Prayers to the departed saints are folly,404) idolatry405) and blasphemy against the perfect merit of Christ and the perfectly gracious God for Christ's sake.406) Prayer to angels is also expressly forbidden in Scripture.407) This was further explained in the doctrines of God and of the angels. That divine honor is due to Christ even according to human nature because of the unio personalis was explained in the doctrine of Christ's person.408) — As far as "free prayer" ("prayer of the heart") and prayer in established form (form prayer) are concerned, it should not be said that free prayer in and of itself stands higher.409) Free prayer is also exposed to the abuse of "mechanical babbling" and battology [stammering speech], as experience in some revival meetings shows.410) — What
Pastorale, p. 294. Quenstedt (II, 1439): Extant exempla heroica imprecationum certorum quorundam hominum, divino zelo impulsorum, quae non sunt temere imitanda. As an example, Quenstedt cites Elisha's prayer against the boys of Bethel, 2 Kings 2:23, 24.
403) M., p. 465 f. [Trigl. 703, Large Cat., Lord's Prayer, 22 f. 🔗]
404) Is. 63:16; 1 Kings 8:39.
405) Matt. 4:10.
406) 1 Tim. 2:5. 6; Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2; Rom. 8:31. 32.
407) Rev. 19:10; 22:8-9.<w:t>408) II, 237 ff.
409) Nitzsch-Stephan, Ev. Dogmatik, p. 131.
410) Whoever has time for public prayer and preparation should not forget careful preparation. Cf. Dr. Walther's "Addresses and Prayers in Congregational Meetings." St. Louis, Mo. publisher, Concordia. Published by the entire congregation after Walther's death. Those who read these prayers receive the impression that careful preparation has done no harm to the intimacy of the prayers. From American Reformed circles
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of the gestures of prayer, Luther's reminder suffices: "There is no great power in standing, kneeling or falling down, for they are bodily ways, neither commanded nor forbidden, as necessary; just as others raise their heads and eyes to heaven, fold their hands, beat their breasts; only that they are not despised, because the Scriptures and Christ Himself praise them (Eph. 3:14; 1 Tim. 2:8; Jn. 17:1). On the other hand, it is not wrong to pray with the heart alone when one is tying sheaves in the field or lying on the bed.” 411)