# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1859_S366
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

366 Comparison of Luther with Arndt and August H. Francke in Respect, etc.

fore: "The Savior thus proved, by this great power of his which he showed toward the paralytic, in that he made him well at once and by a single word, not only that this man's sins were forgiven him, but also that he has power on earth to forgive sins. He did not need to say this for the paralytic's own sake, but for our sake, lest we should think: Yes, that indeed happened to that man, but what does it matter to us? Therefore our Savior now carries his proof further: But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, etc. By this he meant to prove that what he had done to one man he could also do to others, and say to each one: 'Your sins are forgiven you.' With this Francke then breaks off, and says not a syllable about the office of reconciliation still present today. That Christ can still do the same thing today means to him nothing other than that he can still, through his Spirit, absolve in their hearts those who pray and struggle for it. Francke points only the converted, the assailed, to the Word. He writes of such a Christian: 'He must hold God's Word up against this suspicious thought, and when such doubt comes upon him, he must say: This is surely and certainly true, and a dear, worthy word, that,' etc. But even the assailed Francke does not venture to point to the Word alone; he immediately goes on to say that the assailed one must add: 'I am a great sinner; but behold, I cannot deny what God has done in my soul.' The experienced conversion thus remains, after all, the final ground of the certainty of forgiveness. In the whole great yearly cycle of sermons, absolution is therefore mentioned only once, and then only insofar as Francke warns against the false comfort that many would draw from it.

3. As for, finally, the third peculiarity of Luther's, that without in the least diminishing the fullness of comfort contained in the Gospel, he describes those alone who are capable of the comfort of the forgiveness of sins and have become partakers of it — this shows itself in that he continually testifies how only he is capable of comfort who recognizes his sin and feels remorse over it, and how true faith awakens and brings about a new life, inward and outward, in love and every kind of good work, but never demands repentance without faith as a duty to be fulfilled beforehand or a condition to be striven for; rather he preaches damnation to the secure and self-righteous people, and thus does not drive them into work-righteousness, but, God willing, shatters them and makes them despair and hunger after God's grace and forgiveness, before they can think of preparing themselves for grace through faithless repentance; and finally, that where he preaches forgiveness and justification, he lets the doctrine of good works and of sanctification and renewal remain unmixed with it. In general Luther does not make it his chief concern to warn against false comfort and to drive hypocrites away from the comfort of the Gospel, but rather to hold out to those who are of God the whole full-