# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1845 09 15_S8
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

the whole of Holy Scripture, its application. But if this is correct, then, first, the anxious and protracted struggle of repentance that many demand as necessary before rebirth falls away of itself; for neither the name of it, nor indeed the thing itself, can be demonstrated in a single example in the whole New Testament. But if the Father of spirits chooses to make an exception in the case of this or that soul, awakening them at the very outset with great anguish of heart, and then, soon after, giving them special assurance of his grace and love — as is sometimes seen in dealing with souls — that is another matter. Yet they have no advantage over an honest Nathanael, for whom conversion took place quite quietly; rather, they are, so to speak, like a tough piece of meat that needs a greater and stronger fire in order to be made tender.

Second, in this way there also falls away the forceful insistence on a felt, necessary assurance of the forgiveness of sins, without which one supposedly could not be a child of God and heir of all heavenly goods before God — for little of this, too, is to be found in the examples of the New Testament, not even in the case of those to whom the Savior expressly said: Your sins are forgiven you.

Third, expressions such as "He does not yet have grace, he has not yet broken through, he has not yet experienced justification, he does not know the Savior, he is not born again, he has no forgiveness of sins and has not yet experienced the blood of Jesus," and so on, would need to be very carefully examined, so that one interprets them in the sense of Scripture, and not according to one's own opinion or sect.

Fourth, one can better reconcile, on this basis, how it was that the believers of the New Testament were converted so quickly, whereas with us it goes so slowly; and, conversely, how it was possible that the apostles in their letters still had to censure so much, and the believers still retained so much, which one sometimes thinks they should long since have been done with.

But since this is a very small beginning, everything now depends on the souls walking faithfully in Christ Jesus, whom they have received, being rooted and built up in him, firm in faith (Colossians 2:6-7), denying themselves, taking up their cross, learning patience, and so on — for it is here that it first becomes evident whether they will be temporary believers, foolish virgins, or wise and upright souls. It then happens that earnest souls first come to see clearly the inner corruption and power of sin — how poor, wretched, miserable, blind, and naked they are — and experience the blessedness (Matthew 5) that the Savior spoke to his disciples only after they were already with him; or else it proceeds, as Romans 7 has it, more slowly in one, more quickly in another, more harshly or more gently. But this is what now makes Jesus, whom one has received, truly precious for the first time. One comes to know him more closely in his merit, righteousness,

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grace, forgiveness of sins, life, and power. Now when a soul comes to this living enjoyment of Jesus, its first conversion indeed seems by comparison as nothing, and very slight; and it may afterward happen that one thinks one has only now been converted, has only now received forgiveness of one's sins — and accordingly teaches and leads others in the same way — whereas, in point of fact, it is nothing more than a fuller enjoyment of him whom one had already received; a breaking-forth of what had already been laid in the heart at that first, small beginning; an opening of the Scriptures, as with the disciples after the resurrection (Luke 24). And yet even that is by no means everything. It goes ever further, into the depths (Ephesians 3) and into the heights.

It has, however, struck me as noteworthy in this connection that Holy Scripture, especially the New Testament, fixes no degrees, but only ever says, in general: Whoever wishes to preserve his life — whoever follows me — grow in grace. Strive for it. Likewise: that Christ may dwell in your hearts, and so on — expressions in which the strongest and holiest still always finds much before him, while the smallest or weakest likewise always goes along and is carried forward with the rest; just as, in Luther's writings too, one nowhere finds any degree of the new birth specified.

Editor's Note.

God grant that these words may be blessed to this end: that inexperienced pastors, who have fashioned for themselves a set pattern of conversion and, with good intentions, accordingly lead and judge other souls by it, may fall into a holy fear, and take their model from nowhere else than the Bible, which shows so simple a way — so that those entrusted to them may neither be falsely comforted, nor yet held back from the knowledge of the grace that has already been given to them.

May those souls, too, who have guides that hold them back through merely human striving, be encouraged by the foregoing discussion to hold to the bare Word, to let nothing keep them away from Christ and nothing diminish their comfort in him, when they feel the burden of the Law and of sin and hunger and thirst after the righteousness that avails before God. We have, alas, had to learn from our own experience how pitiable it is when those who have come to a sense of their own powerlessness are prescribed, in addition, some great process that must first take place in them before they may call Christ their Savior too, and be allowed to say: I also have found grace — "Ho, everyone who is thirsty," do not wait first for a felt assurance, but "come to the waters; and he who has no money" — who finds nothing good in himself — "come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Isaiah 55:1. "The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied." Psalm 22:27. For Christ says: "Him who comes to me I will not cast out." John 6:37.

Preaching Christ.

To teach and confess Christ rightly is not possible without faith. As St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:3: "No one can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Spirit." For no false Christian, nor factious spirit, can understand this doctrine. How much less, then, will he preach and confess it rightly, even though he takes up the words and repeats them, yet does not remain true to them nor leave them pure? He always preaches in such a way that one can tell he does not have it right; he smears his own slaver upon it, whereby he takes from Christ his honor and credits it to himself. Therefore this alone is the surest work of a true Christian: that he praises and preaches Christ in such a way that people learn from it that they are nothing, and Christ is everything.

Luther, on Matthew 5:16.

Conduct in One's Calling.

One should look only to God's Word, command, and work, and praise and honor only these; everything else that goes outside the Word and command of God should be condemned. Now when a maidservant tends the cattle, a wife bears children, a man attends to his trade, or a prince or lord has a wicked rogue's head cut off, they may all, each in his own station, boldly declare and say: God has done it. But if with a sermon you could save the whole world, and you do not have the command to do it, then leave it be; for you would be breaking the true Sabbath, and it would not please God.

Luther, on Exodus 20:8-11.

A preacher who is silent in the face of sin and error is a hireling, even if he does not abandon his office.

"O hireling, you saw the wolf coming, and you fled! You answer and say: See, I am still here and have not fled. You have fled, because you kept silent; and you kept silent, because you were afraid. Fear is the flight of the soul. In body you have remained standing; in spirit you have fled."

Augustine. Tractate XLVI on John.

Receipt. Paid for Vol. 1: Herr Pastor Wier.

"Der Lutheraner" can always be obtained at the residence of the distributor, Herr Gräber (South 5th Street, opposite the oil mill), and from the publisher.

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