# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1855_S367
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Exposition of 1 Corinthians etc. 367

than by his giving us the very body that was broken for us on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, and the blood that was shed for us on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. You might, in the hour of temptation, become uncertain of your faith, by which you accept for yourself the word of the forgiveness of sins; for you know that God regards you in Christ as a new and holy man, but you, though dead to sin in repentance, still find sin clinging even to your best works and can discover nothing of the life of the new man. Then the word comforts you (Colossians 3:3), that your life continues, only invisibly, hidden with Christ in God; but alongside the word comes the sacrament, which gives you the body and blood of Christ, of the New Man himself; be of good comfort, you who are fed and given drink by God with the body and blood of the true New Man — God assuredly regards you in Christ as a new man; therefore doubt not the forgiveness of your sins; be of good comfort, you who receive the body and blood of the Holy Man Jesus Christ — God will give you sanctification and growth in sanctification, victory and triumph over all sin and temptation. Sweetly does the preaching of the resurrection of our Lord Christ comfort us when, in sickness and the anguish of death, we become truly aware in what body and in what world of this death we walk; but how much more does that precious sacrament comfort us, which imparts to us the body and blood of the Man who died and rose again from the dead and lives forever; for we may not believe otherwise than that the same God who even now plants in us the body and blood of him who has become the firstfruits among those who sleep will also raise us up out of the earth. And how is all this comfort further heightened by what Paul especially emphasizes, that the communicants also possess, as remaining with them, the holy and precious body and blood of the Lord Jesus; their fellowship is surely the kingdom of heaven, even while they still contend in faith, and a pledge is given them that they shall one day triumph in the beatific vision together with the righteous made perfect. Let the devil, if he will, turn your eyes to the infirmities, the rifts, and the discord of the church fellowship with which you make your confession, and mockingly ask you whether that, then, is the Church, the bride of the Lord and his royal priesthood and holy people; let it become a terror to you, as though you must depart from your church as from a godless rabble — remember the means of grace that are offered you in pure abundance; yes, remember the Holy Supper, which the Lord gives to you and to all who confess with you, far and near; though earthly divided, scattered among the peoples of the earth, unknown to one another, called by different names, you communicants are all one body through the one bread and the one cup of which you are made partakers; you are the holy body of the Lord Jesus, your Head, for you have his body and his blood in common with one another as a blessed possession. Yet you think of how many among the communicants receive the body and blood of Christ in unbelief? Do not let this thought lead you astray,