Tuesday 4 October 2005

Quote of the day

“But we must learn that forgiveness of sins, Christ and the Holy Spirit are freely given to us only by the hearing of faith preached, in spite of our horrible sins and demerits.... A person therefore is made a Christian not by working, but by hearing.”

—Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians (1535); on Gal. 3:2.

4 Comments:

existentialist said...

Thanks for this short quote. I am not a Lutheran although Craig thought I was one. Can you tell me what characterizes a Lutheran? I do not know much about Lutheran himself. We are reading Galatians in the EO church.

Ben Myers said...

Hi Olympiada. The most important aspect of Lutheran theology is the emphasis on "justification by faith". The Augsburg Confession (an early Lutheran confession) defines justification like this: "people cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith."

And alongside this, Lutheran theology is especially characterised by a distinction between "law" and "gospel".

For more information, you could read Luther's Small Catechism or the Augsburg Confession (both available here http://www.creeds.net/#lutheran).

Anonymous said...

Hey I myself is Deaf since 3 yrs old...when a Preacher gave his sermon..therefore I also received from Christ and Holy Spirit too since I go church to listen through interpreter...no matter I
cannot hear but still my heart still hear from HIM!!! as long as
I understood what he meant about his points of firgiveness...I do forgive my ex husband who abandoned me after 30 years of our marriage. However inside my heart still hurt for so long and keep me
vague about my life ahead..but I
do keep reading good books written by many saints/authors that keep me stand higher to honor HIM....
We all are make mistakes even Pope,
Princes, Kings,or more higher person who is intellegent have it too...so just be faithfully toward
GOD/Jesus only...with good work toward poorest of the poor...thanks

Ben Myers said...

Thanks, Mugga — great to hear from you. And I really appreciate your point about "hearing" God's word through an interpreter.

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