# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1855_S205
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Lutheran-Theological Pastors’ Library. 205

what benefit those who are appointed to the preaching ministry will derive from this biblical work.”

b. As important an aid as the Weimar biblical work is for a proper understanding of the whole of Holy Scripture, every preacher should nevertheless possess at least one somewhat more extensive commentary on the New Testament writings in general, and particularly on the four Gospels and the apostolic epistles, especially those of Paul. Among all the works, however, that provide an exposition of the entire New Testament, the following, in our opinion, remains the best: Glossa compendiaria M. Matthiae Flacii Illyrici Albonensis in Novum Testamentum. Basileae 1570. Fol. This work (about 1,500 folio pages in length) is arranged as follows. First, for each book of the New Testament, Flacius provides, in addition to the Synopsis of Athanasius, his own introduction, in which he discusses its canonicity, occasion, content, arrangement, distinctive features, etc. Then, in one column, follows the Greek text of the chapter to be explained, with a Latin translation opposite it, and then the Glossa, that is, an exposition of the chapter verse by verse, in which especially those words, expressions, and sentences that present some difficulty are explained, and the aim and context are demonstrated. Setting everything else aside, Flacius is concerned only to disclose in brief words the meaning of the Holy Spirit who speaks in Scripture, and to make the whole clear from the individual parts and the individual parts from the whole. Although it could never occur to us to declare this work perfect—for how could it be possible for one man to discover and reproduce perfectly the true meaning of every passage even in the New Testament alone?—we nevertheless believe we can maintain that the method Flacius follows as an interpreter in this work is the best, especially for those who do not have enough time to study extensive commentaries and whose immediate concern is simply to gain a clear understanding of the meaning and context of the divine words. The name of the dear Flacius admittedly has a bad reputation, since he fell into the serious error that man’s original sin was his very substance, thereby causing great unrest in the Church in his day. Yet, however earnestly our theologians have always condemned this error, they have been just as far from condemning the dear Flacius himself on that account, or from denying the great value of the immortal works of this great man and advising against their use—though, to be sure, they must necessarily be used with caution on that particular point. This is not the place to set forth the history of Flacianism, to present what may be said in its author’s defense, and to demonstrate his otherwise very great services to the Church. We cannot refrain, however, lest any of our readers be deterred by the stain attached to Flacius’ name from using the excellent works of this