The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 34

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34

The Lutheran Pioneer.

He cried out on the cross, “It is finished !” full pay-
ment for our debt had been made, and the hand-
writing that was against us had been blotted out.
By raising Christ from the dead God the Father
Himself declared that the price which His Son
laid down for us has been accepted as the full pay-
ment of all our debt. Therefore Christ, before His
ascension, told His disciples to go into all the world
and preach the Gospel to every creature. The Gos-
pel is the glad news of what Christ has done for
us; yea, the Gospel is a receipt in full, and the
sinner who by the grace of the Holy Spirit believes
the Gospel accepts this receipt, and with the un-
erring knowledge of faith, which rests upon God’s
own receipt, he knows that his debt is paid. Happy
believer! Well may tears of thankfulness rush to
his eyes, and well may his heart be filled with a joy
which his lips cannot express, and well may he in
loving gratitude serve this Redeemer by making
known to others the glad Gospel tidings of Jesus’
unspeakable love.

Of Holy Baptism.

IV. Wuar Dors Sucu. Barrizinc wirit WATER

SIGNiFy ?

Our Catechism answers: “It signifies that the
old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and
repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and
evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth
and arise, who shall live before God in righteous-
ness and purity forever.”

‘In his Large Catechism Luther writes: “TFi-
nally, we must know what Baptism signifies, and
why God has ordained just such external sign and
form for the sacrament by which we are first re-
ceived into the Christian Church. But the act or
form is tliis, that we are sunk under the water,
which passes over us, and afterwards are drawn out
again. These two parts, to be sunk under the water
and drawn out again, signify the power and efficacy
of Baptism; which is nothing else than putting to
death the old Adam, and after that the resurrection
of the new man, both of which must take part in
us all our lives. So that a truly Christian life is
nothing else than a daily Becta once begun and
ever “to be continued.”

Baptizing with water “signifies that the old
Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repent-
ance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil

lusts,” says our Catechism. The old Adam, or old
man, “is that which is born in us, from Adam,
malicious, hateful, envious, lascivious, avaricious,
indolent, haughty, yes, unbelieving, infected with
all vices, and having by nature nothing good in it.”
In other words, it is that utter depravity of our
whole nature which we have received from Adam.
Of this old man Paul says, “Put off concerning the
former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts.” This old Adam
is to be put off, drowned, and die with all his sins
and evil lusts. How? By daily contrition and
repentance. Day after day we shall examine our-
selves in the mirror of God’s Law and learn to know
and lament our sins, and day by day shall we turn
from our sins to Christ, our Savior. As St. Paul
puts it, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts,” Gal. 5, 24. He
that is crucified is to be deprived of his life; thus
the flesh, the sinful nature, of those who belong to
Christ, is to lose its life. But this can only be
done gradually. Crucifixion is a slow way of put-
ting to death; thus also the evil in us will die but
slowly. But though death comes slowly to him that
is crucified, his powers gradually diminishing, so
also the old Adam in us is daily to grow weaker in
us with all sins and evil lusts.

Now, this warfare against the old Adam is a
most bitter one, for the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. It is as
a certain converted heathen once complained. This
convert came to his missionary and said: “When I
was yet a heathen, I had but one heart, a black one;
now that I have become a Christian I have two
hearts, a black one and a white one, and these two
are always opposed to one another. The black heart
always wants what the devil wants, and the white
heart what God wants. The white heart says:
and pray;’ the black heart says: ‘Go and work,
you have no time to pray.’ The white heart says:
‘Go to church;? but the black heart in opposition
says: ‘Go and sleep awhile.’ And thus it is every
day; the white heart and the black heart aoe always
at war and never parce ” “Go, my son,” said the
missionary to him, “continue to fight and do not
lose courage. Just because you have two hearts
you are a Christian; for the heathen have but one
heart. Continue the good fight, but see to it that
the white heart always gains the victory; then all
will be well, and you will receive the crown of life.
And when you are once with Jesus, the black heart
will be gone.”

‘Go -