HC1320

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HC1320

• Luthers Theology III

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Romans 41-6 NRS What then are we to say was
gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the
flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works,
he has something to boast about, but not before
God. 3 For what does the scripture say? "Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness." 4 Now to one who works, wages
are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.
5 But to one who without works trusts him who
justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as
righteousness. 6 So also David speaks of the
blessedness of those to whom God reckons
righteousness apart from works
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Simul iustus et peccator
But it is by the mercy of God that this evil,
though it remains, is not reckoned to those who
fervently call upon him to set them free. . .It
is as with a sick man who believes his physician
as he assures him that he will most certainly get
well. In the meantime, he obeys his orders. .
.Can one say that this sick man is healthy? No
but he is at the same time both sick and healthy.
. . Now can we say that he is perfectly
righteous? No but he is at the same time both a
sinner and righteous, a sinner in fact but
righteous by virtue of the reckoning and the
certain promise of God that he will redeem him
from sin in order, in the end, to make him
perfectly sound and whole. W. Pauck, ed.,
Lectures on Romans, p. 127 (lectures from
1515-1516)
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1 Peter 211-12 11 Beloved, I urge you as
aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of
the flesh that wage war against the soul. 12
Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles,
so that, though they malign you as evildoers,
they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God
when he comes to judge.
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But he who studies Scripture properly must grasp
a distinction, for the prophets occasionally
speak of saints as though they were pure in every
respect, and on the other hand, they speak of
them as still having evil lust and as contending
with sin. Those people cannot adjust themselves
to these two facts. Therefore you must understand
it to mean that Christians are divided into two
parts the inner being which is faith, and the
outer being, which is the flesh. Now when one
looks at the Christian according to faith, he is
pure and completely clean for the Word of God
finds no uncleanness in him. And when it enters
the heart so that the heart clings to it, it must
also make the heart completely clean. Therefore
all things are perfect in faith. Accordingly we
are kings and priest, and Gods people. . .But
since faith is in the flesh and we are still
dwelling on earth, we sometimes feel evil
inclinations, such as impatience, fear of death,
etc. all these are still weaknesses of the old
man, for faith has not yet completely permeated
him and still does not have full power over the
flesh. LW, 30, 68 (Lectures on the Catholic
Epistles, 1527)
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The believers. . .always have trials enough they
must wage war constantly. Those who are without
faith and the Spirit doe not feel this or they
fall behind, run away, and follow evil
lust. LW , 30, 70
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Marriage
O what a truly noble, important, and blessed
condition the estate of marriage is if it is
properly regarded! O what a truly pitiable,
horrible, and dangerous condition it is if it is
not properly regarded! LW 44,13-14
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Genesis 127-28 27 So God created humankind in
his image, in the image of God he created them
male and female he created them. 28 God blessed
them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it and
have dominion over the fish of the sea and over
the birds of the air and over every living thing
that moves upon the earth." Genesis 218, 22-24
18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that
the man should be alone I will make him a helper
as his partner." 22 And the rib that the LORD
God had taken from the man he made into a woman
and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man
said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh
of my flesh this one shall be called Woman, for
out of Man this one was taken." 24 Therefore a
man leaves his father and his mother and clings
to his wife, and they become one flesh.
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Genesis 316 16 To the woman he said, "I will
greatly increase your pangs in childbearing in
pain you shall bring forth children, yet your
desire shall be for your husband, and he shall
rule over you."
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For it is not a matter of free choice or decision
but a natural and necessary thing, that whatever
is a man must have a woman and whatever is a
woman must have a man. For this word which God
speaks, Be fruitful and multiply, is not a
command. It is more than a command, namely, a
divine ordinance. . .which it is not our
prerogative to hinder or ignore. Rather, it is
just as necessary as the fact that I am a man,
and more necessary , than sleeping and waking,
eating and drinking, and emptying the bowels and
the bladder. It is a nature and disposition just
as innate as the organs involved in it.
Therefore, just as God does not command anyone to
be a man or a woman but creates them the way they
have to be, so he does not command them to
multiply but creates them so that they have to
multiply. And wherever men try to resist this, it
remains irresistible nonetheless and goes its way
through fornication, adultery, and secret sins,
for this is a matter of nature and not of
choice. LW, 45, 18
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Now there are three kinds of love false love,
natural love, and married love. False love is
that which seeks its own, as a man loves, money,
possessions, honor, and women taken outside of
marriage and against Gods command. Natural love
is that between father and child, brother and
sister, friend and relative, and similar
relationships. But over and above all these is
married love, that is, a brides love, which
glows like a fire and desires nothing but the
husband. She says, It is you I want, not what is
yours I want neither your silver nor our gold. I
want neither. I want you in your entirety or not
at all. All other kinds of love seek something
other than the loved one this kind wants only to
have the beloveds own self completely. LW,
44, 9
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But with non-Christians, with which the world is
filled, you cannot move forward or backward
without the sharp edge of the temporal sword. And
what use would it be if we Christians set up a
lot of law decisions, as long as the world is not
subject to us and we have no authority over
it? LW, 46, 265
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The greatest good in married life, that which
makes all suffering and labor worthwhile, is that
God grants offspring and commands that they be
brought up to worship and serve him. In all the
world this is the noblest and most precious work,
because to God there can be nothing dearer that
the salvation of souls. Now since we are all duty
bound to suffer death, if need be, that we might
bring a single soul to God, you can see how rich
the estate of marriage is in good works. God has
entrusted to its bosom souls begotten of its own
body, on whom it can lavish all manner of
Christian works. Most certainly father and mother
are apostles bishops, and priests to their
children, for it is they who make them acquainted
with the gospel. In short, there is no greater or
nobler authority on earth than that of parents
over their children, for this authority is both
spiritual and temporal. LW, 45, 46
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(No Transcript)
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To those who really want to be Christians, we
would give this advice. The two partners should
be admonished and urged to stay together. If the
guilty party is humbled and reformed, the
innocent party should. . .be reconciled. . .and
forgive. . .in Christian love. LW, 21, 96
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Vocation

• Genesis 317-19 17 And to the man he said,
  "Because you have listened to the voice of your
  wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I
  commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed
  is the ground because of you in toil you shall
  eat of it all the days of your life 18 thorns
  and thistles it shall bring forth for you and
  you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the
  sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you
  return to the ground, for out of it you were
  taken you are dust, and to dust you shall
  return."

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If. . .Adam had remained in the state of
innocence, he would have tilled the earth and
planted little plots of aromatic herbs, not only
without inconvenience but, as it were, in play
and with the greatest delight. The children that
were born would not have needed their mothers
milk for so long a time. Perhaps they would have
stood on their feet immediately, as we see in the
case of chicks, and would have sought their food
without any effort on the part of their parents.
You can see how much trouble there is at the
beginning of life nowadays. LW, 1, 102
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Psalm 1281-6 NRS ltA Song of Ascents.gt Happy is
everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his
ways. 2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of
your hands you shall be happy, and it shall go
well with you. 3 Your wife will be like a
fruitful vine within your house your children
will be like olive shoots around your table. 4
Thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.
5 The LORD bless you from Zion. May you see the
prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your
life. 6 May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel!
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God could easily give you grain and fruit without
your plowing and planting. But He does not want
to do so. Neither does he want your plowing and
planting alone to give you grain and fruit but
you are to plow and plant and then ask his
blessing and pray Now let God take over now
grant grain and fruit dear Lord! Our plowing and
planting will not do it. It is thy gift. this is
what we do when we teach children to fast and
pray and hang up their stockings that the Christ
Child or St. Nicholas may bring them presents.
But if they do not pray, they will get nothing or
only a switch and horse apples. What else is all
our work to Godwhether in the fields, in the
garden, in the city, in the house, in war, or in
governmentbut just such a childs performance,
by which He wants to give His gifts in the
fields, at home, and everywhere else? These are
the masks of God, behind which he wants to remain
concealed and do all things. LW, 14, 114
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Many a one thinks that he has God and everything
in abundance when he has money and possessions
he trusts in them and boasts of them with such
firmness and assurance as to care for no one. Lo,
such a man also has a god, Mammon by name, i.e.,
money and possessions, on which he sets all his
heart, and which is also the most common idol on
earth. He who has money and possessions feels
secure, and is joyful and undismayed as though he
were sitting in the midst of Paradise. LC I,
5-7
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Now the whole creation is a face or mask of God.
But here we need the wisdom that distinguishes
God from His mask. The world does not have this
wisdom. Therefore it cannot distinguish God from
His mask. . . Thus the magistrate, the emperor,
the king, the prince, the consul, the teacher,
the preacher, the pupil, the father, the mother,
the children, the master, the servantall these
are social positions or external masks. God wants
us to respect and acknowledge them as His
creatures, which are a necessity for this life.
But he does not want us to attribute divinity to
them, that is, to fear and respect them in such a
way that we trust them and forget Him. LW,
26, 95
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Matthew 712 12 "In everything do to others as
you would have them do to you for this is the
law and the prophets.
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If you are a manual laborer, you find that the
Bible has been put into your workshop, into your
hand, into your heart. It teaches and preaches
how you should treat your neighbor. Just look at
your toolsat your needle or thimble, your beer
barrel, your goods, your scales or yardstick or
measureand you will read this statement
inscribed on them. Everywhere you look it stares
at you. Nothing that you handle every day is so
tiny that it does not continually tell you this,
if you will only listen. Indeed, there is no
shortage of preaching. You have as many preachers
as you have transactions, goods, tools, and other
equipment in your house and home. All this is
continually crying out to you Friend, use me in
your relations with your neighbor just as you
would want your neighbor to use his property in
his relations with you. LW 21, 237