-Wir sein pettler. Hoc est verum.--"We are beggars. This is true."--Martin Luther-

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Lutheran Quote of the Day: "To be human is 'to have God's Word and cling to it in faith.'"


I came upon this quote from Robert Kolb and thought it expressed well what I have written previously, especially my post: The Word, Communication, and Sanctification. Notably I point out how God's Word establishes the character of our entire relationship before him, and how the sin of Adam and Eve, and all sin, is a rejection of God's Word.

Kolb writes:

"Luther captured the Biblical presupposition that the almighty Creator acts in His creation through His Word, in its various forms. 'God created [the essence of each individual created person or thing] through the Word so that it grows without ceasing and we do not have any idea how...It is an eternal Word, spoken from eternity, and it will be spoken always. As little as God's essence ceases , so litle does his speaking cease.' Luther asserted that God has the whole world on His lips: '[T]he earth has its power only from God's Word...The entire world is full of the Word that drives all things and bestows and preserves power.'...

...Therefore, it is no wonder that Luther described sin in terms of Adam and Eve being torn away from God's Word. To be human is 'to have God's Word and cling to it in faith.' Restoration of life with God comes to sinners by a creative act of God's Word, just as Isaac was given to Abraham and Sarah as a result of such an act of the Word. 'The divine majesty pours out the power with the Word. Therefore he is a child of the divine Word even though produced by flesh and blood...Therefore, they are not God's children apart from being born through the Word.'...

...Restoration to a proper, righteous relationship with God takes place through the action of God in His Word, through its re-creative power. Already in 1523 Luther employed the Sacrament of Baptism as described by Paul in Romans 6:3-11 and Colossians 2:11-15 as a model for God's justifying activity. Sinners die when baptized into Christ, and the children of God are brought to new life through the mystery of God's working in this sacramental form of the Word."
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-Robert Kolb, “God and His Human Creatures in Luther’s Sermons on Genesis: The Reformer’s Early Use of His Distinction of Two Kinds of Righteousness,” Concordia Journal 33, no. 2 (2007), 175-176.

4 comments:

Kobra said...

Yeah, man, I dig. That's why my life is one of unbelief and sin. When I pray I sin. When I take communion I sin. When I repent I sin. I don't believe God's word, but thankfully the Gospel is outside of me. I cast my lot on the head of another. A scapegoat who I willfully bloody--and I enjoy it. Thank God that God is true and every man a liar!

Joel Woodward said...

Though we should never be comfortable in our sin. I thankfully place my sin on Christ, but I never, never, enjoy that I have to. Scripture and the Confessions are pretty clear on the seriousness of sin. Let us be the ones weeping at the cross, not the ones mocking it.

Joel Woodward said...

By the way, I just realized...what does this have to do with this post?

Kobra said...

Forgive me, bro. I only have a college education and don't read too well. My greatest sin is not feeling bad about it. I confess my love for sin and hatred for God every (or at least every other) Sunday.

PS--I try not to blog unless I'm good and lubricated. And when I do get lubed up I tend to focus on bigger principles and not the nuanced crap. Not that your writing is crap. I have a heady friend who said that your stuff "isn't too bad." That means you are doing very well coming from a guy like him. Just don't get to the place where you get paralysis by analysis.