FIVE MINUTES A DAY WITH LUTHER
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December 8
Psalm 119:101-102 I have restrained my feet from every evilway, That I may keep Thy word. I have not turned aside from Thine ordinances, For Thou Thyself hast taught me.
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When Bullinger once remarked to Luther that those who attributed too much to the literal Word sinned against God and His almighty power as the Jews did in naming the ark God, Luther corrected himin the following manner:
You err in that you cut asunder and separate the Word and the Spirit; you separate those that preach and teach the Word from God who works the same; you also separate the ministers who baptize from God who commands it; and you think that the Holy Ghost, is given and works without the Word, which Word, you say,is an external sign and mark that finds the Spirit of which the heart is already in possession. According to your false opinion, if the Word does not find the Spirit, but is heard byan ungodly person, then it is not God's Word, and thus you define the Word not according to God who speaks it, but according to how people entertain and receive it. You will only grant that such is God's Word which purifies and brings peace and life; but when it does not work in the ungodly, then it is not God's Word. You will not yield that God's Word is the
instrument through which the Holy Ghost works and accomplishes His work and prepares a beginning to righteousness or justification. But I say, teach, and acknowledge that the Word,
whether it produces fruit or not, is, nevertheless, God's strength, which saves all that believe.
It (the Word) is the power of God to save
From sin and Satan and the grave;
It works the faith which firmly clings
To all the treasures which it brings.
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Cuda.
aka Pastor Robin Fish
It isn't whether we win or lose, it is "Do we stand faithfully?"
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GJ - The post above is the essence of Biblical theology, Luther's theology, and the Book of Concord. No one can embrace Enthusiasm (UOJ, Receptionism, Church Growth) and be faithful to the Word of God, which carries Christ the way a cradle carries a baby. Sever the Holy Spirit/Word/Sacrament connection and the cradle is demolished.
What Would Jesus Do? He would not abandon the divinely inspired Word for the so-called wisdom of man.
