# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1847 03 30_S88
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

time and eternity, and shown a sure way to salvation? Would it not be far more incomprehensible if God had created man only for this short span of time, if there were no eternal life, no recompense, no judgment, no heaven and no hell, than that all this exists according to the revelation of Scripture? Would it not, finally, be far more incomprehensible if God were to make man eternally blessed for the sake of a few paltry so-called good works done in this short lifetime, than that God, according to Holy Scripture, wills to make man blessed by grace alone, through faith in his beloved Son, who suffered for all mankind?

You see, my beloved, that the articles of faith of the unbelievers are far more incomprehensible than the articles of faith of the Gospel; unbelief, therefore, cannot have its true ground even in a high regard for reason. What, then, is its true source? Of this let me now add something, in the second place.

2.

When, my beloved, Christ at the beginning of our Gospel says: "Which of you convicts me of sin? But if I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me?" Christ thereby testifies that the reason the Jews did not believe his Gospel is not to be sought in any deficiency of this his Gospel — for no one could, in the first place, convict him of sin, and moreover he spoke only undeniable truth. Christ himself then gives the true source of their unbelief in the words: "Whoever is of God hears the words of God: therefore you do not hear them, because you are not of God." By this Christ means to say: whoever is godly minded will certainly also receive with joy the divine truth that I preach; but because you are not godly minded, because you are malicious, because you have an evil heart, because you love sin and darkness and will not let go of them, therefore you do not hear my word, therefore you will not believe me.

Here we have, my beloved, Christ's first indication of where we are to seek the true source of unbelief — not only in the Jews, but in all who reject the Bible, and especially the precious Gospel of Christ. According to this, we are to seek it nowhere else than in the corrupted hearts of men. God has not given his word in such a way that a person could accept it more readily the cleverer, the more educated, the more learned he is, but rather the more his corrupted heart is changed. Christ's Gospel is of such a nature that whoever wishes to accept it must then regard all his own wisdom as foolishness, recognize all his own righteousness as a filthy garment, give God alone the glory in everything, and become a fool before the world. Christ's Gospel presupposes, in all who believe it, poverty of spirit, contrition of heart, the renunciation of all one's own light, of all glorying in learning and art, of all one's own worthiness, honor, power, virtue, and good works; it demands a thorough change not only of life and of outward conduct, but of the whole heart and mind, with all its thoughts, wishes, desires, and powers; it requires, amid the greatest zeal in sanctification, above all the virtue most despised by the world — humility. It requires cleansing from every worldly, vain, earthly disposition, and a rebirth of the soul into a spiritual, divine, heavenly disposition. This, this was the reason why the Jews once would have nothing to do with Christ, their promised Messiah, and this is still today the true cause of all unbelief: namely, that the human heart by nature has a dread of the change which the Gospel of Christ requires; that the heart by nature loves what it would have to hate upon accepting the Gospel; and that the Gospel puts to shame everything of which man is by nature proud.

Could unbelievers overcome their pride, could they tear the love of earthly things out of their hearts, could they bid farewell to sin, then all their scruples concerning the divinity of the Bible, and especially of the Gospel, would soon vanish.

Yet Christ gives us here still another indication in our Gospel, when he says to the unbelieving Jews: "It is my Father who honors me, of whom you say that he is your God; and you do not know him." Christ hereby declares to the Jews that they are entirely blind — that they indeed spoke much of God as their Father, but did not know him, and that this was the reason why they would not believe in him, the Son of the Father. Here we learn the second true cause of unbelief: it is the natural blindness of all men.

For Christ's Gospel is of such a nature that no natural man can grasp and comprehend it, but must rather regard it as foolishness. If a person is to believe it, God must first enlighten him; God must, above all, first uncover to him the misery of his sin; he must make plain to him that all human, natural righteousness and respectability avail nothing before God; he must, by this means, first show him how greatly he needs a Savior, how grievously he has offended and angered God by his sins, and how he cannot himself reconcile God again, and thus cannot make himself blessed.

When a person is healed of the blindness concerning his sinful heart, when it becomes clear to him that he is an erring and lost sinner, then the greatest obstacle to unbelief has fallen; then even the wisest and most clever person in this world, even the one who was formerly most self-righteous, even the one who was formerly the worst despiser and scoffer, finds the Gospel so full of wisdom, so full of comfort, so full of power, so full of blessedness, so sublime and yet so lovely, so mysterious and yet so fitting for himself, that then all doubts vanish; the person then falls, as an ashamed sinner, like Thomas, at Christ's feet, and cries out, overcome by the power of divine truth, perhaps with bitter tears of repentance: "My Lord and my God!"

Therefore do not let yourselves be led astray, my beloved, when you see so many wise and clever people of this world despise the Gospel. Do not seek this contempt in any deficiency of the Gospel, but in the corruption and blindness of the human heart. But if you yourselves are assailed by unbelief, do not seek to excuse yourselves, but ask God for a new heart, ask him for his Holy Spirit; then you will soon sail safely with the little ship of your heart through the stormy sea of doubt, and at last put in at the calm, quiet harbor of faith, and there cast the anchor of your hope upon the rock-solid ground of the divine promise, until you arrive at the shores of a blessed eternity.

May God help us all to this through Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it."

So let this Lord build the house and keep house; do not meddle in his work. It is his task to be concerned about it, not yours. For whoever is master of the house and keeps house, let him do the worrying. If much is needed for a house, well then, God is indeed greater than a house. He who fills heaven and earth will surely also be able to fill a house, especially since he takes it upon himself and lets it be sung of him. What wonder is it, then, that much is needed for a house where God is not the master of the house? Because you do not see him, all the corners must indeed seem empty. But whoever sees rightly, for him God turns the saying around, and does not say that much is needed for a house, but rather that much goes out from a house. — Luther.

Correction.

With joy we hereby report to our readers that, according to the explanation of Mr. Spielmann, the editor of the "Lutheran Standard," it was not the opinion of the Columbus Conference that official acts performed after the expiration of the license of those performing them are "invalid," and that it was only through an oversight of the clerk that the word "ungültig" (invalid) crept into the published minutes of the said Conference in place of "ungesetzlich" (illegal).

Paid:
First half of Vol. 3: Messrs. F. Ellerbusch, F. and W. Hoffmann.
Second half of Vol. 3: Messrs. Alberswerth, F. and Ch. Fey, G. Miller, F. Sitzler, H. Volkmann.
Vol. 3 (in full): Pastors Knape and Schladermundt.

Received for the Seminary in Altenburg, Perry Co., Mo., from the congregation in St. Clair Co., Ill., served by Pastor Schieferdecker: $82.25.

Printed by Weber and Olshausen.