12TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY-2
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:4-11.
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus.
The office of the ministry is not merely a worthwhile human ordinance; it is not an arrangement as that of the teacher in the schools and the instructor in the workshops, which has been hit upon because it was seen that it was necessary and profitable that people be instructed also in religion. No, the office of the ministry has a higher origin; this office is a holy, divine office. The Most High God himself has established and chosen it as the usual way by which he wants to lead men to salvation.
This even the Old Testament states in simple language. In Jeremiah, in chapter 3 we read not only God's promise: "I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding," V,15; but also Psalm 68 expressly says of the time of the Old Covenant: "Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. The Lord gave the Word; great was the company of those that published it." Vv.10b.ll, and in Joel we read: "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he hath given you the former rain moderately (Luther: who gives you teachers for righteousness)."
The New Testament says the same thing. St. Paul writes: "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers;" 1 Cor 12:28; and again he writes: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the Word of Reconciliation." 2 Cor 5:18.19. What in this passage is ascribed to God the Father, in another passage is attributed to God the Son. We read: "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some,apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." Eph 4:9.10.
Yet we dare not suppose that this concerns only those who were directly called by God and Christ into the office of the ministry, or that the call of ministers, who are called by congregations into their office, is only a human work, a human contract. No, Christ gave his Church the Office of the Kingdom of Heaven, so that as mistress she may in his name administer the treasures entrusted to her and with his authority fill the office with qualified persons. That is why Christ also exhorts his Christians to pray the Lord of the harvest for faithful laborers in his harvest. Hence, those ministers who are called indirectly through the Church are called by God, by Christ, hold a divine office, are not servants of men but servants of Christ and ambassadors of the Most High God. Paul also says that the Holy Ghost himself made the elders of Ephesus who were called indirectly through their congregation bishops to pasture the congregation of God which he purchased with his own blood.
God has also declared beyond a shadow of doubt by his deeds, that the office of the ministry is not man's changeable ordinance but his own holy institution; for despite the raging and storming of Satan and the world against this office, God has preserved it from the beginning of the world until this hour for almo s t 6,000 years. During the early periods the first-born of every family was also its priest; later God chose the tribe of Levi and especially the family of
Aaron to be the exclusive possessors of all priestly offices and rights among the Children of Israel. In the New Testament period first the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples were the ones whom Christ sent into all the world as heralds of his Gospel; and they in turn caused other persons to be appointed bishops or elders in the congregations started by them; thus this office has remained until this day.
So many arrangements were discarded soon after they had been made; however, the office of the holy ministry has never, not for one hour, ceased to exist, not even in the time of greatest decay; at the present time this office is continually be transmitted to more than 100,000. Thus God has actually proven: The office of the ministry is his work; that is why he has protected it so mightily, so that it could disappear in the Church as little as could marriage in the family and the government in the state. For "if a work be of God it must endure; if it is of men it will come to naught." Acts 5:38.39.
How important this is for us, my friends! How comforting, first of all for us ministers! Though we ministers may always be despised by the world, though they may call us miserable clerics from whom all the unrest in the world comes, and though in this world we may be ever so defenceless against countless hostile foes, this is our comfort: Our office is an office instituted by God himself; hence we are in the service of the most high Lord; he stands at our side; our affairs are his affairs; how dare we despair ?
And how important this is also for you, my dear hearers' Then as long as he preaches God's Word to you, you can and should consider your ministers God's messenger whom He has sent to each of you in particular; then you can and should also be certain: Every time he speaks to you from God's Word, God him self speaks to you; what he says to you for the salvation of your souls is said to you from heaven at God's command; his exhortations are God's exhortations, his warning God's warning, his comfort God's comfort. What greater grace and blessing could you experience than the one that you not only have God's written Word which is directed to all men, but that God also speaks to you by word of mouth and individually! Oh blessed the house in which such Christians assemble! There one must cry out with Jacob: "How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Gen 28:17.
But my friends, the office of the Gospel ministry is to be praised not only for its divine origin; its purpose is also great and holy; glorious and divine power are the means which are given it to attain its purpose. Therefore, permit me today to praise once more the office which I hold among you. May it be done to the honor of him who has founded it, and to the profit and benefit of you and me. We, therefore, pray God in silent prayer for his grace to teach and hear.
The text. 2 Corinthians 3:4-11.
As you have heard, the Apostle Paul in the Epistle just read praises the office of the Gospel ministry, which he holds, as an office of boundless glory. He does this not from a vain, inordinate desire for fame, but because many false teachers had come among the Corinthians who had tried to belittle his office, in order thus to prevent the blessing which it had already brought among the Corinthians. In our day also and especially here in America the office of the Gospel ministry is almost universally an object of contempt; thus the blessing of God's Word within and outside the Church is hindered inexpressibly more than is usually believed, let me today imitate the Apostle and glorify my office in speaking to you on
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THE GREATNESS AND GLORY OF THE OFFICE OF THE GOSPEL MINISTRY
mentioning
1. The Great Purpose Which It Has, and
2. The Glorious Means Which Are Given It To Attain This Purpose.
Oh Lord God heavenly Father, you have established the office which preaches the reconciliation among us. Alas, very many of us still have not known the great, boundless grace you have thus shown us and not to millions of others; for up to now your Word has been preached to so many in vain. Oh, therefore, cause this hour to come today for them when they perceive your grace and open their heart to you. You have promised: "I am found of them that sought me not; I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name." Is 65:1. Therefore, if they do not seek you, do you seek them; if they do not seize you, do you seize them; yes, do more than we are able to ask and understand. Hear us for the sake of your infinite love which is in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
I.
When the Apostle Paul wanted to praise his office, he makes the following introduction in our Epistle: " And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward; not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. not of the letter, but of the spirit." Vv.4-6a. Since Paul, who as is well-known was a learned and well educated man, declared that of himself he was absolutely and completely unfit to hold the office of the New Testament or the Gospel ministry, this office must truly have a higher purpose and a higher goal; they must be great things which are to be carried out by this office.
And so it is. A minister is not there to teach a little religion to those entrusted to him and establish an external arrangement among them. If a minister has brought his hearers to the point where they have a good religious knowledge, walk honorably, where drunkards leave drink, the curser his cursing, the spendthrift his carousing, the thief his stealing, if he has established decency, order, peaceableness and the like among them, he has not in the least fulfilled the purpose of his ministry.
The purpose of the office of the Gospel ministry is infinitely greater. Through it works which far surpass all human power, wisdom, skill, and labor are to be achieved; yes, no angel in heaven can achieve them. Through it greater wonders should be done than were the healing of the lame, the blind, the deaf, and the lepers, and the awakening of the dead which Christ once did. Yes, even the creation of all visible things is a work of lesser significance than the work for which the minister of the Gospel is called.
For what is the purpose and goal of his office? Through it the harvest of the seed of his bloody suffering should be brought to Christ, that is, fallen mankind; a mankind dearly redeemed by Christ the Son of God should be brought to partake of this redemption, hence, should be delivered from all their sins and their spiritual and physical misery and be made eternally blessed. What a work, what an assignment this is! Bear in mind: By nature all men are found in the kingdom of darkness, sin, and death; they should not only be delivered from it through the office of the ministry but also be transplanted into the kingdom of light, righteousness, life, and salvation. Before God's Word
works in them mankind resembles a primeval forest full of ravening animals, snakes, and beasts of prey, full of swamps and precipices, full of thorns, thistles, and prickly briers, whilst the thickly intertwined limbs of oaks 1,000 years old let not a ray of sunlight penetrate the dark damp ground; and this spiritual forest the minister is to cultivate and turn into a beautiful flowering garden of God, into a spiritual paradise.
Do not think that I exaggerate. God's Word itself describes the work of the minister of the Gospel in no other way. St. Paul writes that if Timothy carries out his duties correctly he would save himself and those who hear him. Christ said to Paul when he called him into this office: He sends him to men "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Acts 26:18. From this you clearly see: A minister has the assignment of battling against the devil and delivering and converting all whose pastor he is called to be from his power, to bring everyone to faith, and if he has come to faith to watch over him so that he does not fall away again, in good and evil days to be at his side upon the way to life with counsel, exhortation, warning, and comfort, and finally lead him through the last conflict into the heavenly kingdom. So what miracle is to take place in and to the souls of men through a minister? He is to make the spiritually dead alive, give the spiritually blind sight, make the spiritual lepers clean, cause the spiritually deaf to hear, make the spiritually dumb speak, cause the spiritually lame and halt to walk !
He is to awaken those from their spiritual sleep, who live on securely and unconcernedly and think they need concern themselves neither about heaven or hell, so that they also finally become restless and worried about their soul's salvation, perceive the danger of being lost, and, therefore, earnestly ask: "What must we do to be saved?"
He is not only to teach those God's counsel to salvation, who do not know the way to salvation but are possessed and blinded by a thousand prejudices; he is also to make such an impression that their understanding is enlightened by the light of Christian knowledge and their heart warmed by God. He is to free those who love sin and are bound by it with bonds which they themselves cannot tear, so that at last they detest even their pet sins, regret them, and breaking forth in tears says: "What have I done? Father I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
He is to bring those who seek their heaven on earth and place their happiness and blessedness in the things or joys or honor of this world to the point where they loathe the world and say: "Farewell, world! I am tired of you; I want to go to heaven. Oh glory of the world, I will have nothing to do with you. ”
He is to bring those who are self-righteous, consider themselves virtuous and worthy of eternal reward because they live blamelessly before the world to the point where they learn to become poor sinners, smite their breast, and say with the publican: "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He is to bring those to whom the Gospel is foolishness, who want to build on their reason and belong to the enlightened and wise of this world to the point where they cry out with Paul: "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Phil 3:8. He, the Crucified is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 1 Cor 1:30.
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If a minister has thus robbed hell of its booty and brought these souls to Christ, and if they were all who were entrusted to him, he still has not completed the work he was charged with. He must also watch as a watchman on the battlement day and night, seeing whether the danger of being misled or the danger of apostasy might not threaten those rescued souls. As a spiritual father he must try to nourish, strengthen, and educate his spiritual children, so that they, as Paul writes, "all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Eph 4:13-15.
A minister must faithfully see to it that no one in his congregation wanders off in life or doctrine. If wolves in sheep’s clothing draw near, that is, false teachers with a holy air, he must boldly warn against them, reveal and reprimand their false doctrine, and thus battle against them; on the other hand, he must earnestly defend the pure doctrine and not omit one iota, whether peace or discord is the result, whether he may be praised or reviled. If sins, offences, dangerous customs, imitating the world, and the like force their way into the congregation, he must quickly oppose them, reprimand, threaten, exhort, and block them, whether it is the right time or not, whether his hearers like it or not, whether it makes friends or foes for him, whether it brings him honor or disgrace.
If he sees a weak lamb in his flock, he must strengthen it; if he sees one which is sick, he must wait upon and nurse it; if he sees one which is depressed and assailed, he must comfort it; if he sees one who has fallen, he must lift it up; if he sees one who is lost, he must go after it and search for it and not rest until he has found and can carry it home again on his shoulders to the faithful flock. He must place himself in the gap in the congregation and make up the hedge against corruption and against the punishment and judgment of God which descends. He must be a light which shines in all homes; he must be the salt of the earth which wards off the corruption of error and sin; he must be the physician who in all the sicknesses of the soul gives the correct medicine and properly binds wounds; he must be the intercessor who daily places himself before God; he must be a mother who with a mother’s love bears all in his heart; he must in a word be the good shepherd who feeds and fights, teaches and defends, and in danger does not flee like the hireling but is ready to give his life for the sheep. Therefore, he must be able to say some day to God: "Here I am and
all the children whom you have given me; count them, Lord; see, I have lost none of them."
There you see, my friends, what an office the office of the minister of the Gospel is! Which office is a higher, holier, and more blessed one than this one whereby the kingdom of darkness is destroyed and heaven is opened, whereby immortal souls dearly bought by God's blood are torn from the jaws of hell, rescued from eternal ruin, led back to God, and made eternally blessed? What is the office of an emperor or a king in comparison to such an office which rescues souls? What are all the other victories on the battlefields in comparison to the victory of such a spiritual soldier? As the soul is worth much more than the body, as heaven and eternity is much more important than the world and time, so much more precious are the works of the office of the ministry than any other office in the world. Oh, how every minister should consider all labor, toil, and worry, all disgrace and contempt, all persecution, yes, death and whatever he must bear and endure for the sake of his office as nothing in comparison to the honor of holding such a glorious office! Then though he may be pilloried his monuments are imperishable: they are immortal souls rescued through him.
However, we must not only exclaim in this connection: Who is worthy to hold this office? but also: Who is capable of holding it? If someone in tends to take upon himself such an office must he not be frightened when he hears that the apostle not only says: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves," but also adds: "As they that must give account"? Heb 13:17. Must he not be frightened when he hears what the Lord himself says: "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand." Ezek 3:17. 18.
This heavy responsibility for souls entrusted to him which God alone has placed upon his servants in carrying out the duties of their office would surely frighten everyone who is to assume it or has assumed it, if God had not also given the means which they need to attain the high purpose of their ministry. The greatness and glory of the office of the Gospel ministry consists secondly in this that God has given it such glorious, powerful means. Permit me to add a few words about this.
II.
After the apostle had said in our text, that God has made him able to hold the office of the New Testament, he adds: " Not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel would not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory. much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." Vv.6-9. In these words Paul compares his office, which he calls the ministration of the New Testament and the Spirit, with another office which he calls the ministration of the letter which is built of stone. What the apostle means by this is as plain as day; he means the ministration of the Old Testament, or the ministration of the Law, which as you know was once written on two tables of stone.
Why, my dear hearers, does the apostle exalt his office, the ministration of the New Testament so much more and so much higher than the ministration of the Old Testament? Because this was the ministration of the letter or the Law; on the other hand, his office was the ministration of the spirit or the Gospel. Hence it was the Gospel which Paul was called to preach for which sake he ascribed to his ministration great glory, and it is that which makes the ministry of the Gospel so glorious even now.
It is true, my friends: Even a Gospel preacher must preach the Law. He must show his hearers what God demands of all and what he threatens the transgressors of the Law. His hearers must learn to know that they are sinners. They are to become frightened at themselves, despair of themselves, and become hungry and thirsty for God's grace in Christ.
If we preachers had no other teaching than the Law, then we would be in a sorry state; then we could never attain in one soul the high purpose of our office—rescuing souls, leading them to God, and saving them. The Law indeed says what a person must do, but it does not show how it is possible for him to do it. The Law indeed says: Keep the Law perfectly and you will be saved; but it does not say, how one keeps it; indeed, it shouts in all the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt, thou shalt!" but it gives no power to do what one must do. The
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Law indeed shows what man lacks, but it cannot give him what he lacks; it can indeed reveal the sickness of his soul, but it cannot heal; it reveals to man his sins but: does not show how he can be rescued from sin; it announces to all men God's wrath and damnation because they are sinners, but how a sinner and transgressor of the Law can still receive grace and be saved the Law knows nothing.
Usually the Law is not understood correctly; most, therefore, think that they could stand before God as long as their lives are outwardly honorable; in this way the Law makes only hypocrites. But if the Law is understood correctly, if a person perceives that the Law is spiritual and must be fulfilled with one's whole heart, then the Law hurls one into despair, death, hell, and damnation. The apostle, therefore, says in our text: " The letter killeth," that is, the Law only hurls one to the ground.
Woe, therefore, to us ministers if we had nothing to preach except the Law! Our hearers would indeed become hungry but never satisfied; they would be frightened out of their security but they would never have peace; they would indeed learn to know their misery, but they would be without help and deliverance; the anxious question would be enticed from their lips: "What should we do to be saved?" but we would have no answer for them. And if we would proclaim God's Law until Judgment Day ever so earnestly, not one human heart would be made alive, not one person would be truly converted to God.
But happy may we be! A means has been given us which is so glorious, so precious, so mighty, so divinely powerful, that it does that miracle in all who are struck down and killed by the Law, who are given into the care of a minister of the Gospel; and this glorious, precious, mighty, powerful means from God is the Gospel, namely: The joyous news: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" 1 Tim 1,15; the joyous news: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life;" Jn 3,16; the joyous news: Jesus sinners doth receive; he is a Physician for the sick and the weak and not for the health and the strong. See, this message of the righteousness of grace turns the office of the Gospel ministry into an office of the spirit which makes alive; this gives him the greater glory with which it far, far surpasses the glory of the office of Moses, the office of the letter, the ministration of the Law.
Oh glorious office! If it weighs heavily on one's heart that he must keep God's commandments perfectly and yet cannot keep them, and he asks us: What must I do that I may be saved? we dare and should answer him: "Christ is the end of the Law;" believe in him and you will be saved. Oh glorious ministry! If a person has come to a living knowledge of sin and now he asks: What must I do to erase my infinite guilt and become clean? we dare and should answer: "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 1 Jn 1,7.
Oh glorious ministry! If a person perceives that without sanctification he cannot see the Lord, even if he is pardoned, and now asks: Whence do I receive power for a new life? we dare and should answer him: Simply enter in by faith in Jesus; for without him you can do nothing, but through him who strengthens you, you can do all things. Oh glorious ministry! If a person comes to us and says: Alas, once I was a Christian and was so blessed. But I have let sin deceive me; I have fallen, fallen deeply, very deep; is there still help for me ? we dare and should reply: Yes, there is still help even for you; just do not try to help yourself; give yourself to Jesus, for he has ascended on high, and has led captivity captive, and has received gifts for men, yes for the rebellious also !
Oh glorious ministry! Though a person's soul may he ever so sick, we can heal him through the Gospel; though he may have sunk ever so deeply into
the ruin of sin, through the Gospel we can tear him free; though he may be ever so depressed, frightened, and tempted, through the Gospel we can comfort him; yes, in whatever condition a person may be, and though he thinks that it is all over for him, he must be lost, then we can confidently greet him and say: No, as truly as God lives, he does not want the death of the sinner, not even your death; you need not be lost, you also should be saved; turn to Jesus; he can forever save all who come to God through him. And if not until he death a sinner cries out: Oh God, what have I done? Woe is me! Now it is too late' I am lost! we can and should say to him: No, no, not too late! not lost! Commit your departing soul to Jesus and today you will also be with him in paradise.
Oh, glorious, high ministry, too high for angels! Oh, may we always treasure it highly, not look at the person who holds it and because he is weak and sinful despise it; let us rather look to the Founder of this ministry, really know and faithfully use his boundless goodness which he shows us through his glorious ministry. Then we will also experience the blessings of his ministry and through it be some day gathered as full ripe sheaves in the granary of heaven. Amen.
13TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINIT Y-1 Galat i ans 3:15-22 ()
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus!.
Last week we heard that the Word of God, the Old as well as the New Testament, contains two completely different doctrines, the doctrine of the Law and the doctrine of the Gospel. Sometimes God tells us through his Law to be perfect, sometimes through his Gospel that all we are to do is believe and accept what he has done for us. One moment God through the Law promises life and salvation provided we obey perfectly, the next moment through the Gospel he promises us life and salvation without any conditions, by free grace and mercy for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ. Sometimes in his holy Law God announces to all men that they are subject to temporal, spiritual, and eternal death, sometimes in his Gospel he announces to all men grace and eternal life.
The more different both of these chief doctrines of divine revelation are the more necessary it is that at all times they are rightly divided in teaching and application by teachers and hearers. If Law and Gospel are mingled God's entire plan of salvation is perverted and all doctrines falsified; on the other hand, the proper distinction is a bright spotlight which lights up the whole way of salvation. When Law and Gospel are mingled no one can be certain of his salvation; only when these doctrines are correctly divided do we see how even the greatest sinner can be righteous before God. Whereas this mingling must necessarily produce a perplexed conscience and unrest, the correct dividing of Law and Gospel, on the other hand, brings clarity and rest. If one preaches the Law so as to say that God does not mean what he says, that God is satisfied with outwardly fulfilling the Law, that as a gracious Father he does not demand more than we poor weak men can do, such mingling of the grace of the Gospel with the thunder of the Law produces only a self-righteous hypocrite; and if one in
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preaching the Gospel says that one must first do something good, that grace alone d oes not make a person righteous and saves, that then hurls a poor sinner into d espair when he feels his great burden of sin and his complete inability to do a nything good. No person can be helped if the Gospel is turned into a new Law r the Law into the Gospel.
Dr. Martin Luther is, therefore, correct when he says: "This difference between the Law and the Gospel is the highest art in Christendom, which e ach and every one who boasts of or accepts the Christian name can and should k now. For wherever this art is lacking, one cannot tell the difference between t he Christian and the heathen or Jew; so much depends upon this difference." "Therefore, whoever knows very well the art of dividing Law and Gospel set him a t the head and call him a doctor of Holy Writ. For without the Holy Spirit it i s impossible to make this difference."
All the teachers of our Church in their writings praise God for this great special blessing, that through the Lutheran Reformation the great infinite d istinction between Law and Gospel was again brought to the light of day; for since the days of the apostles this distinction has never been shown so clearly in the Christian Church as has been done by the faithful Reformer of the 16th century and has been so wonderfully written down in the Confessions of our Church.
Therefore, let no one suppose that it is easy rightly to divide Law and G ospel in doctrine and life, in understanding and heart; only a very brief introduction can be devoted to this in a sermon. The important thing remains for every hearer to go home, bow his heart before God, and ardently implore him to teach him this difference through his Holy Spirit. If he does not come to know it in daily battle with the terrors of sin and his conscience, he remains ignorant of the real difference between Law and Gospel, and if he should think that he knows it very well, he has really become the most blind of all; that highly enlightened man of God, Luther, still calls himself in regard to this difference a pupil of the A B C's; how far from their goal must the most experienced among us therefore be!
But, my friends, we would make a great mistake, if we were to understand the difference between the Law and the Gospel in such a way that God had revealed two contradictory doctrines, that God was preaching against himself and was testing us to see whether we would find and chose the true way. No, though the Law is different from the Gospel according to its contents, purpose, and effect, yet the Law is not opposed to the Gospel, nor is the Gospel opposed to the Law, but the one must serve the other; the one must confirm the other; and both must assist each other in the great work of converting, guiding, and the future perfection of fallen man. A week ago we ponder the important difference between the Law and the Gospel; today let us reflect upon the remarkable agreement of these doctrines. May God awaken our hearts to a fruitful hearing for the sake of his eternal mercy. Let us ask him for that by praying the Lord's Prayer silently.
The text. Galatians 3:15-22.
In the words preceding our text, the apostle had clearly shown, that one must never find in the Law that righteousness which avails before God, but only in the Gospel; now in our text he shows that, even though the Law does not save us but rather demands holiness of us, it does not war against the promise, that is, the Gospel. He says: " Is the Law then against the promises of God ? God forbid; the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the Law, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." Vv.21a.27. Accordingly, I will speak to you on:
THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL
Our text shows us
1. That The Law Does Not Repeal The Gospel, and
2. That Really The Law Serves The Gospel.
Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, as the great Chief Shepherd you once ruled and pastured your sheep with the staff Beauty and with the staff Bands, the Law and the Gospel; let us perceive how wise this government and how blessed this pasture of yours is, that we may let ourselves be brought to your flock and as your sheep be led into your heavenly flock. Yes, Jesus, as the true, merciful Samaritan you pour the biting wine of the Law and the soothing oil of the Gospel into the wounds of men who have fallen among spiritual murderers in order to bring them into the heavenly resting place; show yourself just such a merciful Samaritan to every one of us and bring eternal healing to us by means of the Law and the Gospel. Let us perceive how all the means agree by which you work to save our souls; help us not to harden ourselves against the blows of the Law but let
them humble each of us; and then may we let ourselves be raised up and made a live again by your Gospel. To that end bless the sermon today for the sake of the reconciliation established on the cross. Amen.
I.
The Gospel is that teaching which by nature is unknown to men but which has been revealed by God in his holy Word to all men. Salvation can be found in no one else, neither is there any other name given by which men can be saved but the precious name of Jesus, who as God and man reconciled and redeemed sinful fallen man with his angry God.
Many take offence at this and think: If there is no salvation outside of Christ, how could the fathers of the Old Covenant be saved? Only the Law was proclaimed to them. If there is no salvation outside of Christ, why did he wait until the eventide of the world after 4,000 years had already gone by to appear? Why didn't God's Son bring his reconciling sacrifice in paradise after man's fall, so that all men could seek and find their salvation in him? Did not the Law, which they all had, annul the teaching of the Gospel ?
This offence rests upon a great error. Not only in the New Testament times but also in the Old God showed men no other way to heaven than the way of faith in the Savior of the world. For that reason we read in the last chapter of the letter to the Hebrews not only, "Jesus Christ today but " yesterday, and today, and for ever.” Heb 13:8.
Even though Christ did not die in Paradise for our sins, the Gospel about him was preached and all men were invited to believe in the coming Messiah. God spoke consolingly to the first sinners: "The woman's seed will bruise the serpent's head and it shall bruise his heel," that is, a women's son will some day erase sin with all its misery by a bloody sacrifice. This precious promise was the Gospel upon which alone all the pious of the Old Testament times placed their trust; Abel, Seth, Noah, Shem, Melchizedek held fast to this promise and in faith in it they died and were saved.
However, God was not satisfied with this. Two thousand years later he repeated that first promise to Abraham, the father of all believers. Then the Gospel read: "In thy seed," that is, through one of the descendants of your
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family, "all the nations of the earth should be blessed." That, my dear hearers, is the testament of which the apostle speaks when he says in our text: " Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the Law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." Vv.15-17. In these words the apostle states two reasons why the Law cannot annul the Gospel: First, because God gave Abraham the Gospel as his testament, as his last, inviolable will, and secondly, because the Law was not revealed until 430 years later through Moses upon Mt. Sinai.
The Apostle wants to say: How can we believe that God wants to annul his gracious Gospel by his threatening Law? Would he then have given the Law 430 years after the Gospel? And has not God himself declared that the promise of Christ is his testament, his last will, in which he has made all the nations of the earth heirs of his blessing? How do we proceed after the death of our parents? Is it in accordance to different words which they expressed during their lifetime? No, it is in accordance to their last will which they have stated in their testament. How much more with God?
Though God may have later given the Law upon Sinai in great majesty, it cannot overthrow the testament of his Gospel for us; the Law which follows can be nothing else but a new seal of the letter of his testament, which at the time of the New Covenant finally appeared in all the world through the preaching of the apostles, is revealed to all men, and is ratified through the announcement of the holy absolution. Oh, what a comforting doctrine this is for all those who are frightened by the law!
Behold, my dear Christian, if you have fallen, perhaps have fallen deeply into sin and transgression and you are afraid to approach the holy God since the Law says: "Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee," Ps 5:5, ah, know that God's last will is not to reject you, as he threatens in his Law; open the precious Gospel, read there the testament of your God, and you will discover: His last, oh rejoice, his last will which is never changed again is this: "Jesus sinners doth receive. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." For in him all the nations, also you, also you should be blessed. Oh, simply believe the Gospel of your God, and joyfully examine the seal of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper with which God had irrefutably confirmed his precious testament.
The Law is not to annul the Gospel. True, we read that most of the Jews were deluded by the thought that the Law was given to them, that by the outward keeping of the Law they were acceptable to God and were saved. However, the prophets of all times have borne witness against this and pointed alone to the grace of the New Testament. Thus says Jeremiah: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make: I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people....For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jer 31:31-34. All the Israelites, who while trying to keep the Law let themselves be enlightened by God's Spirit, came to the conviction that only faith in him who was to come would make them righteous and save them.
As it was at the time of the Old Covenant, so it still is today; even though the Gospel is preached, most think they need but live an outwardly pious and upright life according to God's commandments and they will be saved; only a
very few actually recognize and experience that only the Gospel is a power of God to save all who believe it; only a few understand the heavenly wisdom of how one becomes righteous before God. Among these few belonged, for example, David who says: "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Ps 51:6.7.16.17. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." Ps 32:1.2. David does not rely upon any outward sacrifice prescribed in the Law, and he does not say: Blessed is he who has no transgressions, but: Blessed is he to whom they are forgiven, for whom they are covered, to whom they are not imputed!
The difference between the Old and New Testament is not at all that in the Old one became righteous by the Law and we in the New become righteous through the Gospel. No, God never showed another way than the one of faith. When God majestically announced his Law to the world on Sinai, he never regretted his eternal counsel and will of grace. We read in Psalm 33: "The word of the Lord is right, and all his works are done in truth," v.4; therefore, he keeps what he once in Abraham promised to all nations, and he proved his faithfulness and truthfulness when in the fulness of time he actually sent his only begotten Son, the blessed Seed of Abraham, gave him into death for all sinners, and sent out all the apostles to preach the word of the cross to all creatures.
But if the Law does not annul the Gospel, why did God give it? My friends, that is a question which also the apostle asks in our text, when he says: " Wherefore then SERVETH the Law ?" This leads us to the second portion of our meditation which is to show us that the Law is not against the Gospel but rather serves it.
II.
It is indeed true, my friends: Through the Law no flesh shall be saved; the Law cannot make us alive, as the apostle says in our text; but the Gospel is a treasure chamber full of divine grace for all men. Nevertheless, by nature no person is ready for this grace which is offered. If a natural person perceives that he is a sinner, he does not think that he is a great sinner who can be again reconciled with God alone by the blood of the Son of God. The human heart is by nature surrounded by self-righteousness and security as though by a wall of diamonds; it has no terror of sin, no hunger for grace, but in the midst of sin has a proud, haughty mind.
As long as the heart and mind of man remains in this condition, so long the Gospel is preached to him in vain; the proclamation of grace indeed resounds in his ears, but the self-secure heart remains empty. The Law is, therefore, the messenger which God must first send into the heart of the sinner, so that it prepares it to accept the Gospel and opens an entrance into the soul for Christ. To the question: " Wherefore then serveth the Law ?" the apostle answers in our text: " It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." V.19. Hence, if the Law shows a person the greatness of his sins, if it lets him feel God's disfavor; if it demands of him what he cannot do; if it drives him into anguish, terror, and despair through its threats against all transgressors; if it gives him not a drop of comfort; if it awakens in him the sleeping testimony of his conscience so that the sinner
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must accuse and reject himself; if it fills him with unrest and misery and knocks him down into the dust of death, then through the Law the Holy Spirit does nothing else but make the poor sinner, who feels that he is lost, capable of receiving divine grace and help.
If the Law lets him taste its horrible bitterness, this happens only that he might learn to taste the sweetness of the Gospel. If the law bruises, wounds and kills him, this takes place only that the sinner will gladly let himself be bound by the good Samaritan, Jesus Christ, when he comes in the Gospel and out of grace and mercy lets Him bring him to the heavenly rest home. The sterner, the more irrevocable, the more implacable the Law is in its demands upon the sinner, the more ready he is not to seek its fulfilment in himself but only in his Savior and Substitute, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, just before the coming of Christ into the world God also revealed and caused the Law to be preached with very special brilliancy and terror, in order to awaken, nourish, and sustain in his people the yearning for the promised Redeemer. As the Israelites had to learn to yearn for the Promised Land under the tyranny of Egypt, so by the severe unbearable yoke of the Law God tried to make them long for the promised Messiah. The history of God's people must repeat itself in every one who wants to experience the coming of Christ into his heart.
If we want to be rightfully called God's children, the story of God's people must also be the story of our life. First, we also must be under the yoke of the Law until Christ celebrates his coming into our soul through faith. " The Scripture," we read at the close of our text, " hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." V.22. That is, every one must once feel and experience that he lies in the bonds of sin which Christ alone unties, that he lies in the prison of spiritual death which Christ alone can open. Most gloriously Luther says: "It is impossible that he can hear the Gospel and let the grace of the Spirit be made alive in him who will not first hear the Law and let its letter kill him; for grace is not given except to him who thirsts. Life helps only the dead, grace only the sinner, the Spirit only the letter, and no one may have the one without the other." So far Luther.
The Gospel spread the table of grace for all men, but the Law must first make them hungry guests; the Gospel is the hospital for all soul-sick and miserable, but the Law must first cause them to feel their sickness; the Gospel offers the payment for all the guilt of sin, but the Law must first show us our huge debt in its account books and bring them to a recognition of it; the Gospel is full of inexpressible comfort, but the Law must first depress us, make us sorrowful, and truly thirsty.
However, as the Law precedes the Gospel in order to bring men to the grace of the Gospel, so the Law must always assist the Gospel so that the person remains in the grace of the Gospel. As the Scriptures say, no Law is given for the righteous, that is, it dare no longer condemn him; but even the man truly righteous by faith, even the reborn Christian is not complete spirit; he still has flesh in him, sin in his heart which unceasingly incites and entices to bring the pardoned Christian again under the dominion of sin and out of the kingdom of grace. Therefore, even he who has experienced the first repentance still needs daily repentance until his death. Every day Christ must make his spiritual advent into the Christian's heart and by daily repentance the Law must prepare the way for Him. Tribulations are the Law in action; as God deems them necessary for his own, so also does the Law. If one is to remain in grace, the Law and the Gospel must work together in him until his blessed end. One's whole Christianity is a continual conflict starting with the Law and ending with the Gospel until finally the fortress of heaven is conquered by a blessed homeward journey,
where there is no more conflict but victory, peace, and eternal life.
You see from this, my friends: Though the difference between Law and Gospel is great, their agreement in guiding the person to his heavenly goal is glorious. Certainly, the oft-mentioned Reformer of our Church is right when he says: "Law and Gospel are so closely united in the heart of a Christian that not even the period in a sentence can be as close to the next. Therefore, if you want to have the one, you must keep both; he who takes away the Law, takes also God and Christ away; he who wants to preach Christ must also proclaim the Law."
Therefore, let us think God that he has revealed to us not only his holy Law but also his gracious Gospel. Ah, let none of us resist the Holy Spirit, when he wants to reveal his misery, his sin, his corruption, his fall to him through the Law. He who does not first want to become a poor sinner will also never become God's child; he who does not first want to be sorrowful over his sins will also never be comforted; he who does not first want to be weary and heavy laden will also never be refreshed and will never find that rest which Christ alone can give; he who with all his wisdom and righteousness does not first want to come to nothing in his heart will also never become wise to salvation, never become righteous before God; yes, he who does not want to die will never be made alive.
And you who groan under the burden of your sins, who deem yourself unworthy of grace, who often exclaim with Paul: "Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" who perhaps suppose through your guilt you are completely unfit for grace, but who also think: Oh, if only I would have God's grace! ah, do not let your unworthiness keep you back from seizing Jesus Christ! The more unworthy you feel you are the more eagerly will Christ accept you; the more unfit you imagine you are the more suitable he is for you, The Law has prepared you; now then let Christ enter in. If you can not pray, then sigh; if you can not sigh, then long and persevere; finally you will be able to boast with David: "I was brought low and he helped me." Ps 116:6. Amen! Yes, may God do this in us all. Amen.