Closest Ever - Philadelphia and Gettysburg Promise To Get Along at United Lutheran Seminary

 

It took a long time to reconcile, as you can see.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote. Trinity 7, Second Sermon. "With the Office of the Ministry the Contrary is the Case, Whoever Will Perform Its Duties Faithfully, Must Expose Himself to Danger And Poverty."

 

Click here for complete sermon ->SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. SECOND SERMON: MARK 8:1-9.

5. Just so it is also at present: Where true pastors and preachers are so poorly supported that no one donates anything to them, and moreover what they have is snatched out of their mouths by a shameless and unthankful world, by princes, noblemen, townsmen and farmers, so that they with their poor wives and children must suffer need, and when they die leave behind them pitiable, rejected widows and orphans. By this very many good-hearted and very clever people are more and more discouraged from becoming pastors and preachers. For all arts, trades and callings in life serve to the end that we may through them fortify ourselves against hunger and poverty; but with the office of the ministry the contrary is the case, whoever will perform its duties faithfully, must expose himself to danger and poverty.

6. From this then will follow the ruin of the Church, in that the parishes will stand vacant, the pulpits be neglected and again preachers arrive who seek not faithfully God’s Word nor the kingdom of Christ; but who think, as they preach, what the people will gladly hear, so that they may continue in that direction and again become rich; and in this manner things will again go to ruin. Therefore also at present the great and powerful, especially the nobility, plan to keep their pastors and preachers under their feet in order that they may not again become rich, and lord it over them as they formerly experienced and are now overcautious. But they will not be able to bring it about as they plan.

7. How shall we now act in this matter and from what source shall we obtain preachers and pastors in order that the kingdom of Christ may be perpetuated? For neither poverty nor riches is good for the Church; mere poverty, hunger and anxiety the preachers cannot suffer; great possessions and riches they cannot stand. Poverty hinders the development of their personality; riches are in the way of them performing the duties of their work and office. But wherever it thus happens that support is not given, and the pulpit and the office of the pastor are left vacant, then will the world also see what it will have to enjoy because of such action.

For if each will consider the welfare only of his own house and seek how he may maintain himself and no one inquires how the Word of God and the office of the ministry are to be perpetuated, then will God also say as he said in the prophecy of Haggai 1:4-11, where the people also left the house of the Lord desolate, neglected God’s Word and the service of the temple, so that the priests and servants of the temple had to resort to work as farmers and learn to do other things, by which they could support themselves because nothing was given for their office and service.

Therefore he speaks thus: “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste? Now therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts:

Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah.

Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.”

Daily Luther Sermon Quote. Trinity 7, Second Sermon. "He Arms And Comforts His Disciples with These And Like Examples And Sayings in Order That They Might Not Despair."

 

Click here for complete sermon ->SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. SECOND SERMON: MARK 8:1-9.

PART 1. THE ADMONITION AND CONSOLATION.

1. To-day’s Gospel presents to us again both the doctrine and the consolation against the temptation in caring for the necessaries of this life, or the temporal support and maintenance of the Church upon the earth.

And faith belongs here since Christ came not for the purpose of establishing a government that may be called a political or a domestic kingdom, which were long ago established by God and given for the purpose of meeting our bodily needs. And reason itself here teaches how and from what source we can bring it to pass that everyone in his station may enjoy a livelihood, peace and protection, so that one may see before his eyes and have in his hands all the necessaries of life that he needs to maintain the temporal government. Therefore this did not claim the attention of Christ since it was not a part of his calling and office; but as his kingdom was to be a different government, in which all persons in all callings and offices, high and low, as sinners condemned before God to everlasting death, should be helped to the divine, eternal kingdom and life; the spiritual kingdom had to engage his attention while he passed by the other two, the civil, and the domestic.

2. Therefore it had to follow that his disciples, preachers and servants would have to suffer poverty because they could not outside of their service and office seek their livelihood as the rest of the world does, nor hope to become rich from their calling; in addition, that they, aside from this, would be persecuted by the world, which would oppose their preaching because it would not be in harmony with their understanding and prejudices. And thus the Christians in the world could not depend upon any sure guarantee for their peaceful life and protection; but had to live continually in uncertainty because of the world, and felt in danger and as restless as the waves of the sea because of that which they already had or might have. But should they have enough to eat and to drink and a place and a room where to live, they could not expect it from any other one than alone from Christ.

3. Now Christ knows this very well, therefore he arms and comforts his disciples with these and like examples and sayings in order that they might not despair. Although his kingdom has nothing to do with eating and drinking, building and caring for the needs of the body; yet they should not die from hunger. And this he again confirms in the passage of Matthew 6:33. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” For by to-day’s Gospel he proves that they, who followed him to hear his preaching, and followed him so faithfully that they continued with him three days in the desert, could not now very well return out of the desert without fainting and coming to poverty, need and distress on account of his Word. Yet since they sought first the kingdom of God and Christ had previously preached, prayed and accomplished that which pertains to the righteousness of God, there must follow also that which pertains to the body in order that they may learn to believe that they would not come to want and that they should expect from him all his Church needs for the maintenance of her bodily or external existence upon the earth.

4. It is true that in all ages of the Church two things have done and are doing great harm, namely, poverty and riches. For in the first place, we see the apostles and true bishops and preachers in such straightened circumstances, that no one gave them anything and they themselves were not able to acquire anything; hence everybody felt shy of such an office and no one wished to enter it. In the second place, when the church became extremely wealthy through great endowments and stipends and sat in all luxury, the ministers themselves neglected the office of preaching and the care of souls, and themselves became lords.

The Book of Concord Series. Misleading and Self-Serving Terms.

"Thrilled To Be in Agreement with Objective Faithless Justification"

The LCMS, ELS, and WELS got together to acknowledge and publish their delight in agreeing with Objective Faithless Justification. The Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic) did not participate, but they agree. There are a few other breakaway groups still licking their wounds about something and staying separate. The ELCA agrees with the concept of everyone in the world already forgiven and saved, which explains why the LCMS-WELS-ELS works with them through Thrivent Financial (dabbing eyes).

"Confessional"

This term suggests the synods named above agree with the Book of Concord - ELCA only with the Augsburg Confession (so they say). Because no  synod teaches Justification by Faith - but instead repudiates the Chief Article, not one of them is "confessional"

"Orthodox"

The term orthodox is especially confusing, since they 

• love every modern translation but hate the KJV, 
• rely on corrupt and fake Greek New Testament texts, and 
• lean heavily toward the dogma of Zwingli, Calvin, Barth, Tillich, and Schuller.

 From the Babylon Bee

"Teach Inerrancy"

The term "inerrant" has become quite weak, because the supposed conservative seminary, Fuller, did not accept the accuracy of Biblical history or geography but claimed they taught inerrancy. Saying the Word of God is wrong about history and geography is not inerrancy, but Fuller - bless their pea-picking granite hearts - got even worse, in touch with all the modern apostates, by repudiating their former weak stance.

"Bible-Believing"

WELS tried this out in their ads. ELCA and its predecessors spent so much time making fun of the Scriptures while degrading their seminaries into radical beehives. Denying Justification by Faith is not in harmony with Bible-believing.

"Conservative"

If the sects and synods adhered to the King James Version and the Book of Concord, they could be called conservative. All the books and documents are clear - the demons of apostasy have taken over Lutherdom, the process starting when the KJV revision promoted fake New Testament texts (Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) and invited blatant false teachers to help manage the Revision. The process was slow, allowing the ELCA make the rest look "conservative."

Quia Subscription to the Book of Concord

Dr. Lito Cruz observed that the quia term probably came from the bowels of Calvinism. Throwing a lot of terms around is a good way to confuse and mislead people. If the knot-heads want to use the term, they should recognize that teaching the efficacy of the Word - which is throughout the Bible and the Book of Concord - is foreign, even hateful to them.

"Friendly"

That description is so funny that I have to rest a while for a good, long bout of laughter. The friendly spin reminds me of the Appleton Alcoholics posting their fake blog trying to mock this one, spewing hatred from their pickled minds, afraid to use their own names.

The emails were just as hilarious. They concluded that the 19,172 messages sent to Ichabod were written by me! They were not sure that I actually went to Notre Dame, earning two degrees. Their other claims made me worry that airplane glue sniffing was a powerful and widespread addiction. 

Frosty Bivens borrowed the Mark Zarling claim that Objective Faithless Justification was the Chief Article of the Christian Faith.

The editors of the Formula of Concord clearly repeated the Biblical doctrine of Justification by Faith, taught by Luther and Melanchthon. Would someone explain how all the Lutheran synods and sects missed that?

Ski Update - Andy Stanley's Prophetic (False Prophet) Reveal

 

Andy Stanley stood stunned as Ski posed like an Elvis fan. Andy's father, Charles Stanley, flew to Korea to learn from Cho. Andy was thrilled by Hybels, or was Hybels saying "Hi, Belles!" while chasing them for 40 years.

More on Charles and Andy.

Andy Stanley Says Insisting on Biblical Inerrancy is an ‘Unnecessary Obstacle’ for Believers + Compares it to Judaizers Insisting on Circumcision

If we go back a few years, the notorious WELS pastor, known as Ski, had been rescued from Mark Jeske's tax-enhanced church. Ski was so popular that he got two calls at the same time but went to Tim Glende's church in Appleton, Wisconsin. Tim had closed two parishes in the same Illinois town, but he was miraculously promoted to senior pastor of a huge Wisconsin congregation. "Thanks, Uncle Brug!" 

In Illinois, Tim left behind a thriving Eastern Orthodox church and fast-growing Baptist church, but only a wisp of his first call, which may still exist today - in name only.

Ski got to pretend he had a church when Glende started a branch named The CORE, with Bishop Katie doing much of the work, until she quit suddenly. Katie and Ski had worked together under Jeske.

In the meantime, the Trio of Glende, Ski, and Kati went to a bunch of Church Growth Extravaganzas, including Andy Stanley's money-making summer camp.

"But Andy is a Babtist! That can't be!" - WELS chorus. They are "in fellowship" with everyone who is not a Lutheran.

Andy, who always struck me as very sad, got way ahead of the gay movement among Babtists. One Babtist minister refused to believe this happened, and became angry that I sent the graphic to him after he demanded proof.

DP Don Patterson is so with it that he had bunnies for kids to pet on Easter Sunday, then hid the promotion about petting bunnies the next Easter. He is smoother than a frozen lemon yogurt shake and almost as sweet. He and Paul Kelm presented papers to the Mequon faculty on how to improve GA hazing's sado-masochism - and the numbers went down even more. None dare call it Mordor.

The WELS Andy-groupies photographed their exciting worship at Stanley's money-making summer camp. Around 8 WELSians came to it, Bishop Katie gushed. Ski was inspired to create a blog about how wonderful it was. And that is OK, because the future District President took his gang to even bigger pan-denominational thrill-fests.

WELS is not Lutheran and definitely not conservative. They are reactionary, attaching themselves to every confession of faith except the Book of Concord. They are as thirsty for success as they are for hard likker. They are as attracted to fads as night-time bugs to porch lights.

Ski was so successful at The CORE that they replaced him fairly soon and sent him down to Texas, to a place where the previous pastor was promoted to the portable Asian mini-seminary. 

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 2023.

Bethany Lutheran Church

Springdale, Arkansas 

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

Vimeo Link for Anger Sermon, Trinity 6

The melodies are linked in the hymn title. 

The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.

• The melody site is linked here.
• TLH Lyrics are linked on The Bethany Lutheran Hymnal Blog

The Hymn # 388      Just As I Am   

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

The Lord is the Strength of His people: 

He is the saving Strength of His anointed.

Save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance: 

feed them also and lift them up forever.

Psalm. Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord, my Rock; be not silent unto me: lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

Lord of all power and might, who art the Author and Giver of all good things, graft in our hearts the love of Thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of Thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual   

Gradual

He shall call to the heavens from above: 

and to the earth that He may judge His people.

V. The heavens shall declare His righteousness: 

for God is Judge Himself. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. The ransomed of the Lord shall come to Zion with everlasting joy upon their lands: 

they shall obtain joy and gladness, 

and sorrow and weeping shall fly away.

 Hallelujah!

   

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #394   My Faith Looks Up to Thee  

The Problem with Anger

The Communion Hymn #370 My Hope Is Built  

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #50        Lord, Dismiss Us

In Our Prayers

• Diagnosis and treatment, Sarah Buck; Maria Ellenberger Way and Kermit Way; Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris Shrader; Callie and her parents; those suffering from emotional and metabolic distress; those we name in our hearts.
• Twenty more KJV Bibles were ordered for children and will arrive this week. Cost - $5 each.
• Best Buy will have a Geek Squad techie here this coming Saturday, roughly speaking. Codec is an issue in muffling the sound. It can involve Vimeo and individual computers.

                                    

Sixth Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father, we confess that we are poor, wretched sinners, and that there is no good in us, our hearts, flesh and blood being so corrupted by sin, that we never in this life can be without sinful lust and concupiscence; therefore we beseech Thee, dear Father, forgive us these sins, and let Thy Holy Spirit so cleanse our hearts that we may desire and love Thy word, abide by it, and thus by Thy grace be forever saved; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

KJV Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

KJV Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

The Problem with Anger

KJV Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

This is not Jesus preaching that the Pharisees were outwardly evil. Everyone knew they were scrupulous in their own laws and traditions. Instead, Jesus is saying there is a lot more involved than the righteousness of the Law. For those relying on their own works, this was shocking, completely different from what the scribes and Pharisees were teaching.

The crowd said - "He preaches with divine authority, not like the scribes and Pharisees."

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

Almost everyone would be exonerated if they had never killed someone. But Jesus is leading into something else, and Luther preached a sermon on this topic - anger - when using this text to illustrate.

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

It is easy to get stuck on these categories. This is an issue involving the most common category of our negative emotions - anger. As a country, we are a nation of angry laws, which grow in venom and minute detail every day. Not long ago, people who honored the Fifth Freedom - the Freedom To Breathe - were handed rebukes and insulting gestures. These were not polite requests to don masks and swab gym equipment with unlabeled purple goop - they were giving orders, often sneering orders and threats. On a passenger jet I was told I could breathe without a mask only if I was drinking coffee. I kept sipping mine and asking for refills - and breathing.

Luther's sermon on anger, based on the Trinity 6 reading from the Sermon on the Mount, deals with our abuse of anger, which so easily becomes a sin and places us on the same level as the scribes and Pharisees.

KJV Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Anger itself is not necessarily a sin, but dwelling on it can easily build its destructive power. Not forgiving builds up the negative emotions and ruins peace of mind, friendships, and marriages. What comes "naturally" is from our sinful self, and that must be washed away.

The foundation is Christ, not our emotions, because He took on all the evil, wrath, and torture that mankind suffers from and He made it His own. That is why the modernists mock the atoning death of Jesus, because they cannot imagine God doing this for all and graciously taking that away from us and replacing it with graces and the fruits of the Spirit.

That is where we must return, to those two little verse that ends up being central to the Gospel - though ignored so often. The Holy Spirit will condemn the world of its sin, because they do not believe in what He did, suffered, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. 

KJV John 8 And when He [the Holy Spirit through teaching and preaching the Word] is come, He will reprove [accuse, condemn] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me;

The central topic of all sermons, lessons, and books must be condemning the angry world for its unbelief. That is because this singular blessing is ignored and the world continues to rage and get worse.

The sermon and the teaching are not provided to raise funds for the new church addition or school gym, not for supporting the denomination's new and very pretty office building, not for re-writing the Bible for modern times.

Luther:

8. Therefore Christ here takes energetic action, and abolishes anger wholly and completely in the entire world, draws it to himself and says: I do not merely say, Thou shalt not kill, nor say Raca to thy brother, but thou shalt in no case be angry; the one is as solemnly and earnestly prohibited as the other.

For you are not told to judge or avenge yourself, and even though you are right and have a just cause, still your wrath is of the devil; as St. James in his James 1:20, says: “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

The point is - why harbor grudges while bringing something to the altar? Since faith is central and foundational, everyone should flourish because of contrition and forgiveness.

25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Luther:

So our whole conduct should be guided by this, that we do not contemplate or attempt anything of ourselves; but see what God enjoins, or does through his servants; this then God himself has done and all is good and proper.

The most ideal world we can have is one where we experience God's grace through the Gospel each and every day. Getting even is not the worst we can do, because getting especially even is our flawed nature. Every chance to let go of the anger is beneficial to both sides. Often it can be one-sided because of the Old Adam at work, but the standard is still there. 

When I was in Canada, the youth leader played a film based on increasing revenge between neighbors as they got more furious with each other. One college student kept snickering and saying, "This has to be an American film." The student was quite the Canadian nationalist. As the film got increasingly grotesque, he raised his voice more and kept repeating his disdain for the creators of the film. The credits rolled - Made in Canada by the Ontario Film Board! I really wanted to laugh but stifled myself.

Someone asked for the definition of holiness or sanctification. I said, "When we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness, holiness follows." 

Another way of expressing this is - the fruits of the Spirit follow - love, joy, peace - all the blessings given to us from remaining on the True Vine and being cleansed by the Spirit's work (John 15).

Our little congregation, world-wide, continues to be an example of the efficacious Word at work through the Means of Grace. 

Luther's Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 2023.

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
     
THIRD SERMON:

MATTHEW 5:20-26.


KJV Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.



1. This Gospel we have fully and sufficiently explained on other occasions, when treating of the entire sermon of Christ, which Matthew the Evangelist records in three chapters; for today we will take a part of it, where Christ expounds and explains the fifth commandment. For here we observe first, that Christ attacks a sin called anger, which is very common and powerfully rules the world.

And it is not one of the gross, public vices punished also by the world, but one of those fine sins of the devil that do not want to pass for sin. For they sail under false colors, so that no one can rebuke and punish them. For instance, pride will not be called pride, but truth and justice; envy and hatred do not want to be reprimanded, but rather extolled as being true earnestness and godly zeal against wickedness. These are really the two colors the devil carries in his realm, namely, lying and murder, which in the eyes of the world claim the honor and praise of being holiness and righteousness in the highest degree.

2. For this reason our Lord and Savior singles out the Pharisees, who fain would be the holiest and most pious, and be so considered by everybody; he even calls their doings by the beautiful name of righteousness, but he pictures and judges it as one not leading to heaven but into the abyss of perdition, a veritable fruit of satan. And this he does for the reason that they wanted to be called righteous and pious, defying the whole world to prove the contrary, and at the same time were filled with venomous wrath, envy and hate. The world cannot see nor judge in such matters, therefore Christ alone is the judge here who dare and can pass such a sentence of judgment. Even if this righteousness of the Pharisees be ever so beautiful and holy, yet, they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; for I do not desire nor will have a righteousness that stamps itself as such, and will not be called sin, but struts about in the fine coat of divine righteousness, so that we must call them Christian, pious people, holy spiritual fathers, etc.

3. Now, on what is this righteousness of the Pharisees based and where does it derive its name? On the fact that God said, “Thou shalt not kill,” etc. On these words they planted themselves and stood. The text says nothing more than “Thou shalt not kill;” hence it follows that whoever does not kill, is righteous. But when my feelings are hurt and I am wronged, I have good grounds and reasons for being wrought up and for resenting the injustice; at the same time my wrath appears doubly justified because it suffers violence and injustice without actually killing. This wrath of mine advances a step by embellishing its cause in proclaiming its innocence and parading its piety before God and the world thus: Have I not good reasons for being angry? This and that my neighbor has done to me in return for my many favors, and I would have gladly given him my life’s blood; this is the thanks, the returns, with which he pays me. Am I to suffer all this and pass such malice by? And at this point a Pharisee boldly proceeds to malign and persecute his neighbor in the highest degree, wherever he can, inflicting harm and injury; and all this is claimed to be done justly, he himself being pious and holy, yea, extolled as a martyr in the sight of God and men.

4. In like manner, when the Pope and his followers condemn. burn and murder all who will not worship their abominations, counting them as disobedient to the Christian Church and obstinate, this of course must be called genuine service of God, and God should feel elated over becoming worthy of such saints. Our great noblemen act much in the same way, who boast so loudly they are friends of God and of the whole world, but enemies to iniquity. Indeed, what a great friendship we here have with God and with mankind! Where shall God stand before such saints in order to raise them high enough heavenward?

5. Behold the excellent, grand and sacred anger of the cavalier or nobleman, who cannot possibly be guilty of a transgression or an injustice; and whoever is not of this opinion is evidently not a godly man. This sermon of Christ seems therefore very peculiar to the world, in fact it is unknown in use and practice, though heard often enough and well known as to its words. For the world does not consider it a sin for a man to resent a wrong, when he is innocent; and it is true that he who has a clear case against his offender can also seek redress in court, all this we must admit.

But in adding his personal wrath to matters and trying to avenge himself, he overdoes it; one law now conflicts with the other, and a small right develops into a great wrong.

6. Hence you must in this instance so tune the organ as to have the pipes sound in harmony, and so as to prevent two from clashing. For what kind of justice would you call it when one offends you by a mere word, or pilfers a penny’s worth, and you go and cut off his arm or burn down his house, crying angrily the while: Well, he did me wrong, and I have good reasons, etc.! In such a case your murderous wrath, that does tenfold more violence and injustice to me, is not to be called a sin, but righteousness and holiness, while I am to be considered unrighteous and suffer wrong.

7. This now I am not saying for the benefit of strangers, who are without, except merely for an illustration to show how this vice rules in the world; but concerning us, both teachers and scholars, who pride ourselves on being evangelical and still want the liberty of becoming angry and to rage when we please; and not permit ourselves to be punished nor reproved, but rather than that everything may go to pieces, if only we be considered to be in the right, and pious, despite the fact that such a despicable farce of right causes a hundredfold more wrong.

8. Therefore Christ here takes energetic action, and abolishes anger wholly and completely in the entire world, draws it to himself and says: I do not merely say, Thou shalt not kill, nor say Raca to thy brother, but thou shalt in no case be angry; the one is as solemnly and earnestly prohibited as the other.

For you are not told to judge or avenge yourself, and even though you are right and have a just cause, still your wrath is of the devil; as St. James in his James 1:20, says: “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Hence all anger is to be abolished entirely from us and the wrath of God alone is to work; otherwise it will turn out to be the devil’s wrath and it certainly does not cool down without sin. Just as also these three: to judge, to avenge and to glory, have been taken from us, and no person should share in them, though they have ever so good a cause and ever so great holiness. But to God alone belong honor, judgment and vengeance, hence also wrath.

9. Now, I fear, this will not be done by us as long as we are here in this life, and yet it would be grace, if we only became so pious as to make a beginning; for as soon as we suffer an injury, flesh and blood at once act as flesh and blood; they begin to rage and rave in anger and impatience. It is natural for us to feel hurt when suffering injustice and violence, hence it is necessary to check and restrain the feelings of anger and resist them. The feeling that you are injured will pass away; but that you in addition desire to avenge yourself in this or that way, is prohibited. Therefore see to it that one fits well into the other, that one claim does not conflict with the other nor cancel it, but let the two harmonize, so that both may continue. If you cannot secure your rights without doing greater harm, let it go. For it is not good to check or punish one wrong with another, nor is God willing to have universal justice perish because of your petty claims.

10. Now the aim and contents of this sermon by Christ are as follows: You fancy that whoever does not inflict a blow with his arm has not acted contrary to God’s command; but he is at liberty to be angry at his neighbor and to avenge himself; and to take vengeance is so far right, and no sin at all. This would nullify the commandment, leaving it without any force whatever. For it does not ask merely that you refrain from killing with your fist, but also from doing harm or injury with your tongue or your heart. If not, how about the command that we are to do good to our enemy? If that is to hold good, we most certainly must not work against our neighbor.

Otherwise in what respect would we be better than publicans and public sinners, as Christ himself says, Luke 6:32, who are friends to each other, the one not inflicting any harm on the other?

11. But possibly you say’ Well, if wrath is to be so thoroughly rooted out of the heart of man, how is evil to be stayed and punished, which cannot be done without some severity? But if evil is to have free course and left go unpunished, you would soon have no house and no town. I would reply:

We know that God has committed the judiciary to the civil government and to that end established princes and lords, who bear the sword in God’s stead; their sword and its edge is God’s sword and edge. Aside from this they are personally exactly as other people are, having no more right to be angry than anybody else. Now the judge or executioner, in condemning and executing a man that never personally did an injury to either, does so in God’s stead, officiating in God’s place, inasmuch as the malefactor has become liable to God’s sentence and penalty. Assuredly there should be no anger nor bitterness in man’s heart, and yet God’s wrath and sword accomplish their work.

12. The same holds good in war, when you must either defend yourself, or vigorously thrust, beat and burn: then likely wrath and revenge reign supreme, and yet it should not proceed from the heart of man, but emanate from the divine authority and command, so that the wicked be punished and peace be maintained. Even though you thereby meet with damage and harm, you must submit. Thus God suffered his wrath to come over Jerusalem through the king of Babylon; again through the Romans, until not one stone remained upon another.

13. Hence where such wrath exists it is not to be called man’s wrath, but God’s. And when, unhappily, you commingle God’s and man’s wrath, it is the miserable doings of the devil. Wickedness, I say, must be restrained; but this duty must be performed in God’s place and stead. But when a judge and government are not godly, and they mingle their personal wrath with God’s, and grace their actions with the name and shield of the office; when they are secretly hostile to me and can do me harm, they avail themselves of opportunities to do so, and then claim to have done so officially: this I would call diabolical malignity, but they claim to have done the right thing and to be entitled to praise.

14. But you say: Well, the officer has done this and the other thing to me, and I cannot restrain him in any other way; if I should allow it, I would never have peace. I answer: It is indeed not right for persons to harm you, nor are you forbidden to protect yourself in a proper way; but it will never do for you to play double, using the office as a vent for your wrath, so that people will later on say: Mr. John — or Mr. Peter — did not do this, but the mayor or the judge, and you then take credit in saying that you did not do it from motives of anger or hatred, but of duty and justice.

15. Here you see that infamous filth formed by appending human, yea, devilish wrath to divine wrath and making one cake of both, which indeed should be kept asunder farther than heaven and earth. And just as they, contrary to the second commandment, use the name of God in vain by swearing and the like, making that sacred name serve the purpose of a lie, so that it can be on the market under the label of that beautiful and glorious name: so too in this instance the office and law that are God’s must serve the purposes of your envy and hatred giving them a standing so they can achieve all they purpose in the way of harming a neighbor. At the same time you parade about as if you had done the right and proper thing. Yea, you are a two-fold saint; in the first place you have been abused; in the second place, you do not avenge yourself or seek redress personally, but in the capacity of an officer or judge. In this same way our tender saints, the Papists, bishops and priests, now act everywhere, and, following in their wake, great princes and lords illtreat and murder people, as the whim of their raving wrath and hatred may move them. And in the end all this is to be called the service of God and supreme holiness.

16. Thus the wrath of man is at all times full of envy and hatred to his neighbor, being occasioned by the devil and planted in the heart of man, especially in the Pharisaical saints, who sin manifoldly and are more worthy of condemnation than others, since, for one thing, they interfere with God’s office and law, robbing him of his own, and then want to be in the right and be considered pious.

17. On the contrary when God’s wrath is administered according to his command, it does not spring from envy or hatred, but from pure love and a good heart. A heart that deplores the fact that man should suffer any ill, and yet, for his own sake and the sake of his office, God must punish and abolish wickedness.

18. For it is indeed plain that Adam loved his son Cain as being his firstborn flesh and blood, and he moreover wished to be holy and began to serve God with his first offering, etc; and thought his offering was far more acceptable to God than his brother’s. He also insisted that he was right and his brother wrong by virtue of being the first-born, so that he had to be the true priest and the first in God’s sight. On these things he depended, despised his brother, and fancied to have good reasons for being angry and for persecuting and slaying his brother; as if injustice were done him in that Jehovah had no respect unto his offering. Therefore he goes ahead, and because his father did not approve and praise him, he murders his brother.

He follows this up by being insolent, for when Adam in the name and place of God calls him to account he retorts, What do I know of my brother? Am I to be his keeper? Now, dear as he was to Adam as a natural child, and after Abel’s death his only child, still his father pronounces that stern and dreadful sentence, Genesis 4:10: “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now thou art cursed from the earth.”

Again: “A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. “Truly these are the words and actions of wrath, for by them he placed him under the gravest ban and direst anathema, expelling him from heaven and earth. And Adam forthwith proceeds to execute this stern wrath, and banished his son, so that he should nowhere have a safe dwelling place. Without doubt he did this very reluctantly, for he would by far have preferred to keep his son; but the wrath of God must take its course, assigning death and the fire of hell.

19. The Christian Church must act on the same principles, when putting a person under the ban and “delivering such a one unto Satan,” as St. Paul did at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 5:5; also when denying him the sacrament and all fellowship, so as not to participate in his sin. This indeed is a dreadful sentence and terrific wrath; still it is not the wrath of man but of God. For the Church would much rather see man converted and be saved; as she shows by her actions, for where one repents and is converted, she gladly receives him back as her dear son and rejoices over him with all the angels, as Christ says of the lost sheep and the prodigal son. Luke 15:6f.

20. Here we must beware not to abuse this power, as the Pope has been guilty of doing against those attacking his person or rule, thus confounding his person with his office, making out that his wrath is God’s wrath, thereby spoiling both and pouring poison into the wine. For thus the Pope has, under the name of divine wrath, threatened and stunned emperors and kings, and yet he accomplished nothing more than to pour out his own wrath and spite. For this reason his church is in Scripture called a church of blasphemies, Revelation 13:5,16, having the marks of blasphemies written on her forehead, in all her words and deeds.

21. This now is the wrath we call the divine or paternal wrath. Then there is another, called the brotherly wrath, of the same nature because it proceeds from love. For instance when I am angry at a person whom I heartily love and to whom I wish all manner of good, and I am grieved because he will not forsake his sins and do better, so that I always distinguish between the person and the sin, to help the person and restrain the sin, doing all I can by exhorting, warning, threatening and correcting, in order to lead him to forsake his sins.

22. But it is well here also to be on one’s guard, lest a rogue be back of this, in the sense of one’s own wrath intermingling. For our wrath should be so wholly absent that not a speck of it be found; but that God’s wrath alone hold sway, which is to flow either from the office assigned, or from brotherly love, which here would mean from the wrath of God. For it is God’s command that we admonish, correct, reform and help one another, so that our neighbor desists from his sins and receives our admonitions gladly and with thanks. This is the “wrath” of that common Christian love of which Christ says, Matthew 18:15: “If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone,” and in Scripture it is called an excellent, godly jealousy. St. Paul in Corinthians 11:2 says: “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy.” For a wrath of this nature does not seek your disgrace or disadvantage, but your honor and advantage; it would regret to see you injure the prospects of your soul’s salvation.

23. So we assert that Christ here is not preaching on the office which is God’s, nor on love, but on each person’s own and individual wrath, proceeding from our heart and will, and directed against the person of our neighbor: — this wrath is to be wholly done away with and be put to death, no matter if the injury and injustice done to us hurts and pains. To illustrate that John the Baptist was so shamefully slain, that Christ was nailed to the cross, that the holy martyrs were so cruelly put to death, all this did not pass without the weeping and lamentation of pious hearts; for we do not have, nor should we have, hearts of iron but of flesh, as St.

Bernhard says: Dolor est, sed contemnitur; it is painful, but must be borne and overcome. And there is quite a difference between enduring pain, weeping and lamenting, and seeking revenge, or entertaining hatred and envy.

24. Now God wants this commandment: Thou shalt not kill, understood to mean so much that no one is to be angry. For by nature we all are liars, born in natural sin and in blindness, not knowing how to be angry, nor seeing how depraved our nature is, to-wit. , that it is not able either to love or be angry aright, since in both it seeks nothing but self and selfish ends.

Since now by nature we are so corrupt, it is forbidden and annulled both to love and be angry as a human being, in which our nature would seek its own ends. On the other hand, divine love that “seeketh not her own” but that of one’s neighbor, is enjoined, and an anger that is zealous not for his own but for God’s sake, whom it behooves either to punish transgressions against his commandments, or out of a spirit of love, and for the good of our neighbor to help him.

25. The Pharisaical holiness, however, does not act thus; but as it has no love for one’s neighbor but only wishes to see self honored and praised and served; so too it cannot but rage and rave against the truly pious persons, and still pretends not to have sinned against the commandment in question. Just as Christ was treated by the Pharisees and high priests, who delivered him to the judge Pilate to be offered upon the cross, and still they did not want to be accounted guilty, but to eat the pascal lamb and remain holy.

26. Hence the Lord strikes a fresh blow at all the Pharisaic holiness and righteousness, denying them every particle of grace and the kingdom of heaven and condemning them to hell-fire, as having an unrighteousness doubly wrong in God’s sight and corrupt to the very core. Therefore I say, says God: “Whosoever is angry with his brother;” I do not say, He only that slays with his hand, but if you have anger in your heart, then you are already worthy to be condemned by the judgment; for such wrath originates only in man’s inborn malice, which seeks either its own revenge and wantonness, or its own honor and gain. But God does not want you to seek your own honor and right; but let him seek and demand it who should, and to whom he has given authority, namely, the judge and executioner, who are not looking after their own but God’s affairs, for otherwise they would not be permitted to execute or punish anybody. But see to it, says he, that you personally do not grow angry, but so completely control your anger that, be it in official duty or not, it does not proceed from the heart.

PART 2. CONCERNING THE SIGNS OF ANGER.

27. The other part of this text, “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,” etc. , we hold to mean all kinds of evil demeanor and bad turns done to a neighbor, which are not done by angry words. Such a man, Christ says, “is in danger of the council;” it has, as yet, not been determined what to do with him, but he has incurred the verdict of guilty; it remains merely to determine the penalty. This means that such a person cannot enter heaven, but has already merited his condemnation, the only difference between him and those in perdition is that he is a little more remote from the final punishment; but nevertheless he also belongs there.

28. The third part is: “Whosoever shall say, Thou fool. “This is also a very common vice, consisting in robbing our neighbor of his honor and reputation, be it done behind his back or to his face, which is called “contumeliam” and “conuitium,” defaming and reviling. Whoever does this, Christ says, “is in danger of hell-fire;” that is to say, there is no need of debating the question, of citing the culprit, indicting and sentencing him; he is already convicted and condemned, it but remains for the executioner to lead him off and do his duty. So God does not want you to avenge yourself out of anger in any form or manner, be it with your heart, with your fist, or with your mouth, and thus do an injury to your neighbor, show him spite, give him unkind words, etc.

29. But I hear you say, Who then can be a preacher or a judge or a plaintiff, if no one’s honor is to be questioned, or be ever called a fool?

Why then preachers, judges, plaintiffs, witnesses, etc. , are all to hold their peace. But here, as I have stated, this difference is to be observed. When I, as a preacher, reprove you publicly from the pulpit, or privately in confession, I do not do so, but God’s Word: therefore you are not to complain that I am speaking against your honor. For a preacher cannot, in keeping with his office, abuse or revile anybody, unless he be a rogue, who mingles his own malice and hatred with his office. And you cannot say to a judge when performing the functions of his office: You are speaking against my honor in calling me a thief and a murderer; for God and not the judge, has spoken thus to you. Therefore it will not do to say it is touching your honor, when being reproved or corrected. True, such words do not promote your honor; however, not man, but God did it; should he not have the right and authority to speak on this subject?

30. But when God through the office has already rendered a verdict, both I and others may speak of that; for anyone may speak of God’s public works and judgments; it is then a matter of history, discussed everywhere.

Therefore we must nevertheless not enjoin silence on everybody to the extent of forbidding him to say, “This man is a thief or a rogue,” after the judge has pronounced him such. For more honor you can neither take from nor give to a man than God has taken or given. Now since God has declared the sentence and published it publicly through the judge or preacher, everyone may with a good conscience speak of it. I recur to this because we are always inclined to go the wrong road. When preaching, there is always an inclination so to turn and twist everything as not to be bound by the Word of God. Likewise, when with Christ we say that no one should be angry or at variance with his brother or speak evil of him, everybody would like to silence the preacher to the extent that he is not to touch upon or punish public sins and vices.

31. Finally this is the sense of our Gospel lesson: When you, as a man, for personal reasons speak against the honor of your neighbor, feeling elated over his sins, this is wicked and wrong. But when it has come so far that God himself makes anything public, then it will not do for me to praise a public, scoundrel, whom God himself has publicly proved to be such; for that would be the same as defending and abetting rascality. So our whole conduct should be guided by this, that we do not contemplate or attempt anything of ourselves; but see what God enjoins, or does through his servants; this then God himself has done and all is good and proper. So it will not do to be silenced in such cases, but to stand on the side of truth and justice, and contribute your influence in upholding and lauding God’s judgment, in order to terrify and warn others. Let this suffice for the present on this Gospel text.