Forgiveness, Divine: “This article (I say) they simply do not want to tolerate; we, on the other hand, cannot do without it. For when this article is gone, the church is gone, and no error can be resisted, because without this article the Holy Spirit neither will nor can be with us; for He must glorify Christ for us… Because of this article Abel and all the saints were slain. And all Christians must die because of it.” [SL 16, 1664]
Forgiveness, Divine: “I grant the Law—and all the devils—nothing. If only a man can believe the forgiveness of sin, he is a blessed person.” [W-T 6, NO. 6827]
Forgiveness, Human:
“The apostles… knew and saw that no one can live so discreetly in
his daily associations with people—such purity is found in no home, even
between husband and wife—as not at some time or other inadvertently to give
offense to someone or move him to anger by words, gestures, or actions… Now he
who in his social relations would be a saint so exacting and obstinate as
neither to bear nor overlook any evil word or gesture or any frailty is unfit
to be among people, knows nothing of Christian love, and can neither believe
the article of the Creed concerning the forgiveness of sins nor practice it in
his daily life.” [SL 12, 605] 1 Peter 4:8
Friendship: “The
province of a friend is freely to admonish his friend when he errs in any
respect… To be sure, in the world the commonest experience is that the truth
reaps hatred, and he is regarded an enemy who tells the truth. But this does not happen among friends, much
less among Christians.” [SL 9,
553f.] Galatians 4:16
Germans and
Giving: “Just
as Abraham receives the Lord Himself as a Guest without being aware of it, so
we, too, receive Christ Himself as a Guest, coming to us in His poor, when we
do good to one of the lowliest of the kingdom of God.” [SL 1, 1141]
Glory: “When men are put to the test by any reflection cast on their honor, when they are slighted or despised, deprived of anything, or some other disagreeable experience comes their way, then their better knowledge is forthwith forgotten, and the thornbush brings forth its fruit—spines and prickles. Then the [donkey], ears and all, peers from the lion’s skin. Then they begin to exclaim: O God of heaven, look down and see what a gross injustice is being done to me!
…If it belongs to
God alone, why, pray, should He not take it away from you, give it, throw it
hither and thither? If it is His, you
should stand still and let Him do with it as He desires. For if He takes what is His, you are
suffering no injustice.” [SL 7,
767f.] reflection of the Lord’s
Prayer
God: “Who would say that [the heavenly bodies, etc.] are accidental or purely a matter of nature, when the objects fashioned by artisans—such as a round or three-cornered or six-cornered columns—are not accidental but the result of a definite plan and skill?
…Among the
Hebrews the firmament got its name from the expanding [cf. Psalm 104]. [SL 1, 30f.]
Gen. 1:6, Psalm 19:1
God: “A
prisoner is sitting in a deep, dense, and dark dungeon. He can see no light, nor does he know in
which direction East or West lies. But
the situation would be different if a hole were broken through the wall in
order to admit the light… Just so our soul is sitting in the human body as in a
dark prison and knows nothing of God.”
[W 49, 78] Matt. 26:17-28
God: “I
believe that God has created heaven and earth.
The devil believes precisely this.
But it does not help him. So men
venture to appear before God without Christ, the Mediator.
God: “The
wisest and best people among the heathen have also lamented, in the light of
experience, how shamefully they were deceived in their enterprises, although
they had planned them most carefully.”
[SL 12, 691f.] 1 Peter 5:5-11
Gospel: “Those
apostles who most frequently and emphatically stress the fact that faith in
Christ alone justifies are the best evangelists. Therefore
Gospel: “For although we condemn reliance on works and superstition, yet we are not able to eject these entirely from the heart; but they are a sort of disease born into the flesh—a disease which plagues the spirit more severely than any lust plagues the flesh.” [SL 6, 732f.]
Gospel: “If
men accept the Gospel, well and good. If
they do not accept it, I say: Farewell,
fine world! I do not intend to grieve
myself to death because of your attitude.”
[SL 13b, 1475] Luke 2:2-14
Gospel: “Do not jest with God, dear lords! The Jews said: ‘We have no king’ (John 19:15); and the situation became so serious that they are now destined to be without a King forever.” [SL 16, 47f.]
Government: “Hence
all whom we call masters stand in the place of parents and must derive from
them their power and authority to govern.
This is why all of them are also called fathers according to Scripture: in their government they perform the
functions of a father and should possess a paternal heart toward their
people. In the language of the Romans
and others of ancient times, masters and mistresses of a household were called patres
et matres familias, that is, housefathers and housemothers. In the same sense they also called their
national rulers and overlords patres patriae, that is, fathers of the
land at large. Thus they put us—who
would be Christians but do not so call our rulers or at least do not esteem and
honor them as fathers—to great shame.” [SL 10, 56f.]
exposition of the 4th Commandment
April 17
Government: “David
overlooked many things when he was unable to punish without bringing harm upon
others. All rulers must do the same… The
lord or ruler must always look to what will profit the whole mass of his
subjects rather than any one portion.”
[SL 7, 1421] Luke 1:50
Government: “If
temporal power does not administer justice strictly, everyone grabs what he
can. Then follow rebellion, murdering,
warring, ravishing of wife and children, so that no one can live securely. Mr. Everybody is no Christian. The king, the princes, and the lords must use
the sword and remove heads; capital punishment must continue that the others
may be kept in fear, and the pious may hear the Gospel and tend to their work,
and everyone may be orderly and at rest.
The apostles had a great concern for the temporal sword.” [SL 9, 922]
1 Tim. 1:18-20; 2:1-2
Government: “If a prince turns out well, so that he is wise, pious, or a Christian, it is one of the great wonders and one of the most precious tokens of divine grace upon that land. For the usual course is according to the saying in Isaiah 3:4: ‘I will give children to their princes, and babes shall rule over them,’ and in Hosea 13:11… The world is too wicked and does not deserve to have many wise and pious princes. Frogs need storks.” [SL 10, 402]
Government: “If your undertaking is to be considered right, then every man would become judge over another, and neither authority nor government, neither order nor law, would remain in the world, but only murder and bloodshed. For as soon as anyone saw someone wronging him, he would promptly take matters into his own hands and judge and punish the fellow himself.” [SL 16, 52f.]
Grace: “This
grace: the forgiveness of sins for the
sake of the Lord Christ, the covering up of all sins.” [SL 7, 1692]
John 1:17
Grace: “Indeed,
you say, I should gladly believe if I were as St. Peter, St. Paul, and others
who are pious and holy; but I am entirely too great a sinner. Moreover, who knows whether I am elected to
salvation?” … If He had intended to give it (salvation) only to the worthy,
then He would have been obliged to have it preached only to the angels.” [SL 11, 1107f.] John 3:16-21
Grace: “The glory of grace is to be highly praised, and it cannot be praised highly enough. Therefore Paul exclaims: ‘Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.’” (2 Cor. 9:15)
Heathen: “Therefore
whoever wants to learn and become wise in secular government, let him read the
heathen books and writings. They have
truly painted it and portrayed it quite beautifully and generously, with both
verses and pictures, with teachings and examples; and they became the source
for the ancient imperial laws.” [SL 5,
858] Psalm 101:5
Heaven: [on how to get there] “God will not tolerate a cheap exchange market. When something is given, it makes no sense to put forward one’s own merit and say: Thus have I ruled, preached.” [SL 7, 2228f.]
Hell: “Those
put the matter correctly who hold that the punishment of hell will consist in
this that the godless will wish to escape the hand of God but will find it
impossible to do so, as indeed Paul indicated (1 Thes. 5:3).” [SL 5, 750]
Psalm 90:2
Help: “And if
His Word is not enough for you… do not fail to look at the instances in which
God proved Himself to be a Helper by His deeds.” [SL 3, 1801f.] Deut. 7:17-19
Heresy: “For among these heretics no one is a heretic, just as no one is leprous among the lepers; they do not see, these gentle folk, that there are almost as many ways, sects, and parties among them as there are heads and brains, that nothing but the poisonous leprosy of opinion is their master, and that not one of them travels the common way of Christian faith, but everybody fashions his own way to heaven.” [SL 12, 1460f.]
Heresy: “For
the sectaries do not run to the Turks and the Tartars in order to spread new
doctrines among them; but where God has begun to build a church and His
true worship, there the devil at once puts a chapel on the adjoining lot.” [SL 7, 894f.]
Matt. 18:8,9
Heretics: “No
devil, heretic, or sectarian spirit arises who says: I, the devil, or a heretic, am preaching my
own views… Everyone wants to have it said that what he is preaching is God’s
Word.” [SL 8, 28] John 7:16-18