December 27, 2022

Marcus Friedrich Wendelin (1584–1652) on the Love of God

English translation by Steven Dilday:
THESIS XXIII: The Love of God is that whereby He delights Himself in that of which He approves, and desires good for it, and unites it to Himself.

EXPLANATION: I. Scripture attributes Love to God, John 3:16, God so loved the world; and verse 35, the Father loveth the Son; Romans 5:8, God commendeth His love toward us, etc.; 1 John 4:8, God is love.

II. A distinction in the divine love into natural and voluntary, which is related by some, is to be observed.

That is natural, whereby God necessarily loves Himself, and the Persons of the most holy Trinity one another. Thus the Father is said to love the Son, John 5:20. Nevertheless, this love is also in some manner voluntary, although it is manifestly necessary: because, with respect to order, it follows knowledge and has regard to ethical perfection. But, what things are merely natural, do not presuppose knowledge.

That is called voluntary in a special manner, wherewith God freely pursues His creatures: and it is either universal or special.

That is universal, whereby God in some manner loves all creatures: according to that saying in Wisdom of Solomon 11:24, thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made.[5] The same is proven by reason: For, to love is to will good to anyone. But God wills some good to all creatures. Hence Christ in Matthew 5:45, He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. Now, evil men, whom God hates, He nevertheless loves, not with respect to their evil, but with respect to nature, which is not effaced by sin. Whence that saying of Augustine, book 1 ad Simplicianum, question 2, God does not hate Esau as man, but Esau as sinner.

There is a special love, because God unequally loves these and those creatures, with respect to the unequal good that He wills to them. Thus He loves irrational creatures in one degree, rational creatures in another: and among rational creatures, the man Christ in one degree, the remaining mere men in another: and among these, the elect and pious in one degree, and the reprobate and impious in another. Hence Augustine in tractate 110 on John, God loves all the things that He has made, and among those He loves rational creatures more, and among them those that are members of His only begotten even more: and much more the only begotten Himself.
Marci-Friderici Wendelini, Christianæ Theologiæ libri II […] (Hanoviæ: Typis Wechelianis, sumptibus Clementis Schleichii, & Petri de Zetter, 1634), 78–79; Lib. I, Cap. I, Thes. XXIII. Also in Christianæ theologiæ libri duo […] (Amstelodami: Joannem Janssonivm, 1657), 81; Lib. I, Cap. I, Thes. XXIII. Translation by Steven Dilday.

Latin (1634 edition):



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October 31, 2022

Ezekiel Hopkins (1634–1690) on the Saveability of All Men by the All-Sufficient Death of Christ

None of you are excluded from a possibility of being saved. The Covenant of Grace runs in most large and comprehensive terms: Whosoever believeth shall obtain eternal life. The death of Christ and his blood is a most sovereign medicine, applicable, not only to all maladies, but to all men, if they will believe. Though it is true, that none shall be saved but the elect; yet is it true also, that a possibility of salvation extends farther than election. Election gives the infallibility of salvation, as reprobation doth the infallibility of damnation: but, yet, as there is a possibility for those, that shall infallibly be saved, to perish if they do not believe; so is it possible for those, that shall infallibly perish, to be saved if they will believe.

The possibility of salvation, therefore, stands, not upon election, but upon Two other grounds.

(1st) The Meritorious and All-sufficient Procurement of Christ.

Whereby he hath procured salvation for all the world, and for all in the world, upon condition of their faith; for that must still be taken in: for, were it not so, how could we preach remission of sins in his name to every creature, were not his death applicable to all? then, though some should believe, yet, for want of a sacrifice offered up and a price paid down for them, they should not be saved, though they should believe. How then is it, that we seriously call all men to repent and believe, that their sins may be pardoned and their souls saved? certainly, unless the death of Christ hath procured salvation for all men upon condition of faith and repentance, such calls would be false in us, and vain to them: for so, we should promise salvation upon believing, to those, to whom, though they should believe, salvation should be denied, because they want a covenant made with them, and a surety to undertake for them. Therefore, I say, Christ’s procurement is general so far, that whoever believes shall receive the benefit of his death.

(2dly) As the death of Christ is applicable to all for salvation if they believe, so Faith, that alone applies this death, is attainable by you all, if you be not wanting to yourselves.

None of you are under an impossibility of believing; and, therefore, not under an impossibility of salvation. Though it be certain, that some shall infallibly persevere in infidelity; yet there is no one, that hears the sound of the Gospel and the outward call of God in his word, but may believe and obey, if he be not wanting to himself. Neither is this doctrine Arminianism; nor is it prejudicial to the efficacious grace of God, whereby the will is powerfully swayed to faith and obedience: for the converting grace of God is not given to make men capable to believe and to be converted, but it is given to make them actually believing and actually converting. The most wicked man that is, without the converting grace of God, is capable to be converted even in his state of unregeneracy; and converting grace gives not any new power to enable us to be converted, but it gives us an actual conversion. Some shall never believe, and why? not because they are under an impossibility, but because they will not believe: it is not because they cannot, but because they will not; unless we would so gratify their sloth, as to call their obstinacy an impossibility. It is true they are obstinate, and that obstinacy can never be cured without efficacious grace; but yet that obstinacy is not properly called an impossibility.

Since, then, salvation is a thing possible, why do you not labour for it, that your souls may be eternally happy? Christ hath the key of David, and he openeth, and no man shutteth, and he hath opened the everlasting gate to you all, and bids you all enter and take possession. There stand no grim guards to keep out you, or you. You cannot complain that you are excluded by a forcible decree: no; you shut the doors upon yourselves, and refuse to enter.
Ezekiel Hopkins, “Practical Christianity, Recommended, Urged, and Encouraged, in Working out Our Own Salvation (Phil. 2:12, 13),” in The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Ezekiel Hopkins, D.D., ed. Josiah Pratt, 4 vols. (London: C. Whittingham, 1809), 3:184–86.

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October 6, 2022

John Mayer’s (1583–1664) Explanation of the Redemption of All Mankind in the Catechism

Quest. What doest thou chiefly learn out of these articles of thy Faith?

Answ. First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me and all the world. Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind. Thirdly, in God the Holy ghost, who hath sanctified me, and all the elect people of God.

Explain. In this, one thing must be warily understood, viz. How Jesus Christ the Son of God, may be said to have redeemed all mankind: otherwise, every man’s estate shall seem good enough, sith by him all are redeemed. Understand it therefore, as other like phrases in the Scriptures, as that to the Romans: As by the offense of one, the fault came on all men to condemnation: so by the justifying of one, the benefit abounded towards all, to the justification of life, &c. By which statement is meant, That all men which attain to the Justification of life, are made partakers of this benefit, by no other means, either in Heaven, or in Earth, within themselves, the observation of the Law; or without them, the merits of others, holy men, or Angels; but only by the righteousness of Christ. So according to Saint Augustine’s [Aug. de predest. Sanct. lib. 174.8] like exposition of another Scripture-phrase tending hereto: Christ may be called the Redeemer of all mankind: not because all are actually redeemed by him; but because no man is redeemed by any other but Christ only.

When we say, he redeemed all Mankind, the meaning is, he is the only Redeemer of all men, who attain this great benefit of redemption and salvation, by no other, according to that memorable saying, There is none other name given under Heaven, whereby to be saved, but the name of Jesus [Acts 4:11]. Such as like better of the distinction (viz. He redeemed all men, that is, in regard of the sufficiency of that he did, and suffered; but not of the efficacy thereof) may follow it if they please: For the passion of Christ was suitable to his person, his person of infinite excellency could not be so abated, without infinite merit, accruing by such humiliation: his dying was more than equivalent to all the world’s perishing everlastingly in Hell. Whereupon in giving himself a ransom for sinful man, he is rightly said to have redeemed all mankind, for so much as he paid the full price of an universal redemption: And this is the same in sense with that saying of John, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. John 1.29. Wicked men and unbelievers are not hereby secured; but more justly and deeply damned, as treading under foot the Son of God, and profaning his blood.
John Mayer, The English Catechisme Explained. Or, A Commentarie on the Short Catechisme set forth in the Booke of Common Prayer […] (London: Printed by Aug. Mathewes for Iohn Marriot, 1623), 20–21. Also in John Mayer, The English Catechism Explained […], 4th ed. (London: Printed by Aug. Mathewes for Iohn Grismand, and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Gun in Ivy lane, 1630), 20–21. [some spelling changes made.]

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September 25, 2022

Miscellaneous Quotes from Martin Luther (1483–1546) Related to the Love of God and the Death of Christ for the Sins of the Whole World and Human Race

Select Works:

Volume 4:
This is therefore a new prophecy never heard of any one before. For here, the one Christ alone casts away the general punishment of the whole human race, contained in Gen. 3 “And unto dust shalt thou return:” nor does the scripture, which consigns all men to dust, ever say any such thing of any one but Christ. He alone, by a new and glorious MICHTAM, bears this sweet and all-gladdening news,—that his flesh should not return to dust, but should, in peace, die with the fullest expectation.
Martin Luther, Select Works of Martin Luther: An Offering to the Church of God in “The Last Days,” trans. Henry Cole, vol. IV (London: T. Bensley, 1826), 142; Psalm 16:9.
Thus does the Holy Spirit [in Psalm 2:12] include in this one expression the whole world with all its wisdom, righteousness, merits, worship, adoration, and affliction, and makes all to consist in kissing the Son. If, says he, ye kiss the Son, well! but if not, ye shall perish under wrath. For the Son will at length be angry. He now offers you an opportunity of kissing him. He has a singular love for the human race, for he came down and took our flesh upon him, not that he might judge or condemn us, but that he might kiss us, and shew us the love with which he embraces us: if, therefore, ye do not kiss him, no religion, no righteousness, no wisdom shall save you: but ye shall surely remain under wrath and there perish. But the world regards not these threats; they think that the reverse will be the case; they hope in the mercy of God through their own works and righteousness: but in vain, for the whole is settled, “He that believeth not shall be damned.”
Martin Luther, Select Works of Martin Luther: An Offering to the Church of God in “The Last Days,” trans. Henry Cole, vol. IV (London: T. Bensley, 1826), 550.
All men being condemned by the law, it was necessary that an atonement should be made, in order that we might be justified; and therefore God, through his infinite mercy and goodness, sent his Son Jesus Christ, to suffer and die for us; that the justice of the Father being satisfied, we might obtain salvation through his merits. He, having fulfilled the whole law, suffered the ignominious death of crucifixion; after which he rose and ascended up to heaven, where he still remaineth, making continual intercession for us, as for those that cannot obtain salvation by their own righteousness.
Martin Luther, “Sermon XI: 1 Timothy, Chap. 1 Verses 5, 6, and 7,” in A Selection of the Most Celebrated Sermons of Martin Luther (New York: S. & D. A. Forbes, 1830), 161–162.

Luther’s Works:

Volume 12:
For what is there in Christ that is not full of consolation, lovable, and delightful? When you see Him hanging on the cross, dripping with blood, and when you refer these things, according to His own words, to the will of God, will not this make the name of God sweet instead of horrible? Not only will you fear no evil from God, who sends His own Son for this purpose; but will you not also be filled with a sure hope of His mercy and love toward you and the whole human race?
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 12: Selected Psalms I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 12 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 50.
In this way the Holy Spirit with one word [in Psalm 2:12] gathers up the whole world with all its wisdom, righteousness, merits, services, adorations, and chastisements, and transposes it all into the Sons kiss. “If you kiss the Son, good. If not, you will perish in the way. For it will come to pass,” He says, “that the Son will at last be angry. Now He offers you a kiss so that He may receive your kiss in turn. Truly He embraces the whole human race with extraordinary love. For He comes in our flesh not to judge or condemn, but in order to kiss us and show us the love with which He surrounds us. If, then, you will not kiss Him in return, no religion, no righteousness, no wisdom will save you. You will simply remain under His wrath and perish in His anger.” But the world is not concerned with these threats. It imagines that things will turn out quite differently. It hopes for God’s grace through its own works and righteousness. Certainly the judgment is definite: “He who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 12: Selected Psalms I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 12 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 89–90; Psalm 2:12. And keep in mind that Luther said these types of things knowing full well that “counterfeit saints claim God’s love [of complacency] though they are under [His] hate [of abomination].” See Luther’s Works, Vol. 12: Selected Psalms I (Saint Louis: CPH, 1999), 355; Psalm 51:6.

Volume 22:  
It is true, the evangelist might have said: “The Word became man.” However, he adapts himself to Scriptural parlance and says: “He became flesh.” He does so to point out its weakness and its mortality. For Christ took on the human nature, which was mortal and subject to the terrible wrath and judgment of God because of the sins of the human race. And this anger was felt by the weak and mortal flesh of Christ.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 22: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1–4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 22 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 111.

Volume 24:
Who can define with words what the world is, or who can conceive of it with his thoughts? What else can we say about the world than that it is a mass of people possessed of a hundred thousand devils, since it hates not only us poor sinners, who really serve it gratis with life and limb, but hates the Lord Himself still more, who died and shed His blood for its redemption? What are we compared with Him? For even though we preach to the world and do for it all that is good, we are not the ones who died for it; we are only the ones who proclaim, and glory in, the fact that Christ did this. Therefore it is an unspeakable and diabolical blasphemy to hate, and be enemies of, Christ. Yet we see this daily. Otherwise no human heart would believe that it goes on.

Therefore Christ had good reason to say to His apostles and preachers when He sent them out to preach (Matt. 10:14): “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.” Undoubtedly He spoke these words in great anger. Not only should the disciples not take as much as a heller from these people, but they should not even leave a speck of dust on their shoes and not give it back to them, just as they should not be worthy of having Him take anything from them. And then (v. 15) Christ adds words of terrible judgment: “Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” But is it not an altogether fair judgment when one lets the dear Man offer all His grace and kindness absolutely free and bring it to the door, and then mocks, reviles, and reproaches Him so blasphemously and shows Him only hatred and hostility?

These words are spoken for the purpose of comforting the apostles and all who preach Christ and should be of help to the world, lest they be taken aback by this treatment, become angry, and say in their hearts, as Christ says here: “If they had not hated Christ first, then they would not hate me either; but since they hate Him who died for them, it is not surprising that they hate me. What am I compared with this Lord? There is a twofold reason why I must expect to encounter this: first, I have surely merited this for my person as a sinner; secondly, because I am a servant of the Lord, to whom the world is hostile. And since He Himself has to endure such hostility, I cannot expect to fare any better.” Still the world shall not have the satisfaction of seeing us take so much as a fleck of dust from it. Let the world scorn and sneer today. The day will come when it discovers what its fate and what ours will be. No one owes us an accounting, but on that day the world will hear an unbearable sentence.
Martin Luther, “Dr. Martin Luther’s Exposition of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Chapters of the Gospel of St. John (Sermons delivered in the years 1537 and 1538),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, 55 vols. (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 24:269; John 15:17–18.
Here not only the unbelief implanted in human nature since Adam is meant; but it is clear that the refusal to believe in Christ is spoken of, namely, the refusal to acknowledge our sin and to seek and obtain grace through Christ when the Gospel of Christ is preached. For when Christ appeared, His suffering and death did away before God with the sin of Adam and of the whole human race—namely, the former unbelief and disobedience—and He erected a new heaven of grace and forgiveness, so that this sin inherited from Adam will no longer keep us under the wrath and condemnation of God if we believe in this Savior. From now on, therefore, he who is damned dare no longer complain about Adam and his sin inherited from Adam; for this Seed of a woman, who was to crush the serpent’s head according to God’s promise (Gen. 3:15), has now come, paid for this sin, and removed the condemnation. But such a person must accuse himself, because he did not accept and believe in this Christ, who crushed the devil’s head and destroyed sin.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 24: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 14–16, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 24 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 343–44.

Volume 26: 
All these things happen, not through the Law or works but through Christ the crucified, on whose shoulders lie all the evils of the human race—the Law, sin, death, the devil, and hell—all of which die in Him, because by His death He kills them. But we must accept this blessing of Christ with a firm faith. For just as what is offered to us is neither the Law nor any of its works but Christ alone, so what is required of us is nothing but faith, which takes hold of Christ and believes that my sin and death are damned and abolished in the sin and death of Christ.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1–4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 26 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 160.

Volume 27:  
Another interpretation is an affirmative one, namely, that he who receives circumcision is also obligated to keep the whole Law. For he who accepts Moses in one point is obliged to accept him in all points. He who observes one part of the Law as a matter of necessity must observe all the other parts of it. Nor does it help if you want to say that circumcision is necessary, but that the remaining laws of Moses are not. The same principle by which you are obliged to receive circumcision obliges you to accept the whole Law. Now to observe the whole Law is tantamount to pointing out in fact that the Christ has not yet come. If this is true, then all the Jewish ceremonies and laws about foods, places, and seasons must be observed; and we must still look for the Christ, who is to make the kingdom and priesthood of the Jews obsolete and is to establish a new kingdom throughout the world. But all Scripture testifies, and the facts themselves show, that Christ has already come, has redeemed the human race by His death, has abrogated the Law and has fulfilled what all the prophets predicted about Him. Therefore He abolished the Law and granted grace and truth (John 1:17). Accordingly, the Law does not justify; neither do its works. It is faith in the Christ who has already come that justifies.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 27: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 5-6; 1519, Chapters 1–6, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 27 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 15.

Volume 33:  
It is characteristic of this apostle [John] to use this word “world” to mean precisely the whole race of men. … John too speaks of the world antithetically, so that “world” means everything that has not been taken out of the world into the Spirit
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 33: Career of the Reformer III, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 33 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 277.
[St. John: Free Choice Is of “the World,” “the Flesh”; Grace Is of Christ, by Faith. The Two Are Opposites]22

Let us now come to John, who is also an eloquent and powerful devastator of free choice. At the very outset, he represents free choice as so blind that it cannot even see the truth, let alone be able to strive toward it. For he says: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness does not comprehend it” [John 1:5]; and shortly afterward: “He was in the world, and the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not” [vv. 10 f.]. What do you think he means by “world”? Will you exempt any man from this description unless he has been recreated by the Holy Spirit? It is characteristic of this apostle to use this word “world” to mean precisely the whole race of men. Hence, whatever he says about the world applies also to free choice as the most excellent thing in man. Thus according to this apostle, the world does not know the light of truth [v. 10], the world hates Christ and those who are his [John 15:18 f.], the world neither knows nor sees the Holy Spirit [John 14:17], the whole world is in the power of the evil one [1 John 5:19], all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life [1 John 2:16]. “You,” he says, “are of the world” [John 8:23]. “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil” [John 7:7]. All these and many similar passages proclaim the glories of free choice, that principal part of the world and that which governs it under the overlordship of Satan.

For John too speaks of the world antithetically, so that “world” means everything that has not been taken out of the world into the Spirit, as Christ says to the apostles: “I took you out of the world and appointed you,” etc. [John 15:16, 19]. If now there were any in the world who by the powers of free choice were endeavoring toward the good (which should be the case if free choice were able to do anything), John ought surely to have limited the word out of respect for these people, so as not to implicate them, by using a general term, in all the evils of which he accuses the world. As he does not do this, it is evident that he makes free choice guilty of all the charges brought against the world, since whatever the world does, it does by the power of free choice, or in other words, by means of reason and will, which are its most notable components.
__________
22 WA 18, 776–783.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 33: Career of the Reformer III, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 33 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 277–78.

Volume 42:  
Our Lord and Savior Jesus has left us a commandment which applies equally to all Christians, namely, that we are to render humanitarian services, or rather (as the Scriptures call them), the works of mercy [Luke 6:36], to those who are afflicted and in a state of calamity, and that we are to visit the sick, try to free the captives, and do similar things for our neighbor so that the evils of the present may be somewhat lessened. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself gave us the brightest example of this commandment when, because of his infinite love for the race of men, he descended from the bosom of the Father into our misery and our prison, that is, into our flesh and our most wretched life, and took upon himself the penalty for our sins so that we might be saved, as he says in Isaiah 43 [:24], “You have burdened me with your sins, and you have wearied me with your iniquities.”
Martin Luther, “Fourteen Consolations,” in Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, 55 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 42:121–22.

Volume 46:  
This is how the children of God look at things, for God himself spares the whole human race for the sake of one man, whose name is Jesus Christ; if he were to look at men alone, he would have nothing but wrath. The preaching office and temporal authority of course cannot do this; they cannot ignore or shut their eyes to evil. For they must punish the bad, one with the word, the other with the sword. In saying all this I am speaking to individual Christians. I am saying that they should learn to distinguish between God’s work and men’s wickedness. In all of God’s offices and estates there are many wicked men; but the estate itself is good and remains good no matter how much men misuse it. You find many bad women, many false servants, many unfaithful maids, many despicable officials and counselors; nevertheless, the estates themselves—wife, servant, maid, and all the offices—are God’s institution, work, and ordinance. The sun remains good, even though everyone misuses it, one to rob and another to kill, one to do this kind of evil and another that. And who could do any evil at all if he did not have the sun to light his way, the earth to hold him up and nourish him, and the air to keep him alive—in short, God himself to sustain him? The saying remains true, “The whole creation was subjected to futility, but not of its own will” (Romans 8 [:20]).
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 46: The Christian in Society III, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 46 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 248.

Volume 51:
A question. If it is true that Lazarus and the other dead persons must be understood as signifying sin, how does this accord with the Gospel when the evangelist says in the speech of Martha, “Lord, he whom you love is ill” and “See how he loved him”? [John 11:3, 36]. Is it not true that Christ does not love the sinner but rather the truth, as the Scriptures says, “You love righteousness and hate wickedness” [Ps. 45:7] and “In my sight the sinner is scorned”? [cf. Ps. 5:5]. The answer is this: My dear man, [comfort yourself with this saying,] “I came not for the sake of the righteous, but to make righteous what is unrighteous and sinful and to lead the sinners to repentance” [cf. Matt. 9:13].

The whole human race was worthy of hatred, and yet Christ loved us. For if he had not loved us, he would not have descended from heaven. For the prophet says in the psalm: “There is none that does good,” except one; “they have all become corrupt and sinners” [cf. Ps. 14:3] except Christ alone. So Christ loves the sinner at the command of the Father, who sent Him for our comfort. So the Father wills that we should look to Christ’s humanity and love him in return, but yet in such a way as to remember that he did all this at the bidding of Father’s supreme good pleasure. Otherwise it is terrifying to think of Christ. For to the Father is ascribed power, to the Son, wisdom, and to the Holy Spirit goodness, which we can never attain and of which we must despair.

But when we know and consider that Christ came down from heaven and loved sinners in obedience to the Father, then there springs up in us a bold approach to and firm hope in Christ. We learn that Christ is the real epistle, the golden book, in which we read and learn how he always kept before him the will of the Father. So Christ is the “access to the Father” [Eph. 2:18] as St. Paul says. And John too bears witness that Christ said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” [John 14:6]. “I am also the door” [John 10:7] and “no one comes to the Father, but by me” [John 14:6]. Now we see that there is no shorter way to the Father except that we love Christ, hope and trust in him, boldly look to him for everything good, learn to know and praise him. For then it will be impossible that we should have a miserable, frightened, dejected conscience; in Christ it will be heartened and refreshed. But the Scriptures say concerning the sinners: “The wicked shall perish and be driven away like dust” [cf. Ps. 1:4, 6]. Therefore the sinners flee and know not where to go; for when the conscience does not hope and trust in God it cowers and trembles before the purity and righteousness of God. It can have no sweet assurance; it flees and still has nowhere to go unless it finds and catches hold of Christ, the true door and anchor. Yes, this is the way that all Christians should learn. But we go plunging on, taking hold in our own name, with our understanding and reason, and do not see or ever take to heart how kindly, sweetly, and lovingly Christ has dealt with people. For the Father commanded him to do so. This tastes sweet to the faithful soul and it gives all the glory, praise, and honor to the Father through the Son, Christ Jesus. So God has nothing but the best and he offers it to us, weeds us, sustains us, and cares for us through his Son. That’s the way our hearts are changed to follow Christ.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Sermons I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 51 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 45–47.
Sermon on Cross and Suffering, Preached at Coburg the Saturday before Easter, Based on the Passion History, April 16, 1530

A Harmony of Matthew 27; Luke 23, and John 19

This sermon was preached on the day after Luther’s arrival at Feste Coburg where he stayed during the Diet of Augsburg at which the Augsburg Confession was presented. Among the congregation in the chapel of the castle were the Elector John, Count Albrecht of Mansfeld, Melanchthon, Justus Jonas, Veit Dietrich, John Agricola, and some thirty retainers of the Elector. Notes for the sermon were taken down by Veit Dietrich, who prepared the printed version of 1530, but the notes themselves were incorporated in Georg Rörer’s collection. Another transcript by Stoltz is also extant.

Text in German; WA 32, 28–39.

Dear friends, you know that it is customary in this season to preach on the Passion, so I have no doubt that you have heard many times what kind of passion and suffering it was. You have also heard why it was that God the Father ordained it, namely, that through it he wanted to help, not the person for Christ, for Christ had no need at all for this suffering; but we and the whole human race needed this suffering. Thus it was a gift which was given and presented to us out of pure grace and mercy. But we shall not deal with these points now, for I have often spoken of them on other occasions.

WA D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe (Weimar, 1883– ).
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Sermons I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 51 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 197–98.

Volume 54:  
No. 5071: “He Hardens the Heart of Whomever He Wills”
Between June 11 and 19, 1540


Somebody asked [Martin Luther], “Is the hardening of the heart in the Scriptures88 to be taken literally or figuratively?”

The doctor replied, “Literally, but not actively, because God doesn’t do anything that’s bad. Yet his omnipotence does everything, and as he finds man, so he acts on him. Pharaoh was by nature wicked; God acted on him, and Pharaoh continued to be wicked.89 His heart was hardened because God didn’t hinder Pharaoh’s ungodly plans by his Spirit and grace. Why God didn’t hinder them is not for us to ask. This ‘why’ destroys many souls when they search after that which is too high for us. God says, ‘Why I am doing this you do not know, but ponder my Word, believe in Christ, pray, and I will make everything turn out well.’ If God should be asked at the last judgment, ‘Why did you permit Adam to fall?’ and he answered, ‘In order that my goodness toward the human race might be understood when I gave my Son for man’s salvation,’ we would say, ‘Let the whole human race fall again in order that thy glory may become known! Because thou hast accomplished so much through Adam’s fall we do not understand thy ways.’ “There is a threefold light: that of reason, that of grace, and that of glory.”
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88 Cf. Rom. 9:18.
89 Cf. Exod. 7:13.

Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 54: Table Talk, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 54 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 385–86. On Luther’s view, God permitted Adam to all in order that He might display His goodness toward the human race in giving His Son for the whole human race’s salvation.

Volume 58:  
So, then, John was sent to bring people to the Baptism of repentance. But his office was appointed chiefly and especially to testify to Christ and to baptize Him. [John]’s proper and true title, therefore, is “the baptizer of the Lord Christ.” For if Christ had not been baptized with us, indeed, for our sakes, then we are lost. But now because the Lord God has laid the sins of all men upon Him, so that He must bear them and make satisfaction for them, He comes to John and has Himself baptized by him for the benefit of you, of me, and of all the world, in order to cleanse us from sins and to make us righteous and blessed.

Thus He also sacrifices Himself on the cross, becoming a sinner and a curse [Gal. 3:13]. And yet He alone is the blessed Seed [Gen. 3:15] through whom the whole world is blessed [Gen. 22:18], that is, through whom it must be redeemed from sin and death. But He hangs on the cross between two evildoers, is reckoned as their equal, and there dies a shameful death. He does that for the benefit of the whole human race, to redeem it from the eternal curse. Therefore, He is both the greatest and only sinner on earth, for He bears the sins of the whole world, and also the only righteous and holy One, since no one is made righteous and holy before God except through Him.

John himself testifies concerning Him: “Behold, the Lamb of God” [John 1:29]—who must be holy, pure, and innocent indeed. But what else does he say about Him? “Who bears the sin of the world” [John 1:29]. If He bears the world’s sin, He must of course be a sinner, indeed, a sinner alone, because the Holy Spirit is not joking when He says through the prophet: “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” [Isa. 53:6], and through John: “Behold, the Lamb of God who bears the sins of the world” [John 1:29]. Now, whoever believes that his own sins and the sins of all the world are laid on our dear Lord and that it was on account of this that He was baptized, was nailed to the cross, and there poured out His precious blood for us so that He, as the sole bearer of sins and the propitiator, might cleanse us from our sins and justify and save us—[whoever believes that] has the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and Christ’s Baptism, cross, and blood become his own. For inasmuch as He is pure and innocent in Himself, He could have easily been spared it and been neither baptized nor crucified. But He did so to serve the whole human race. Whoever believes this possesses it.
Martin Luther, “First Sermon at the Baptism of Bernard of Anhalt Matthew 3:1–17,” in Luther’s Works: Sermons V, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown, trans. Jon Steffen Bruss, vol. 58 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2010), 45–46.
[Paul] says that we are already saved. For since sin and death have been taken away, God is kind and loving toward humanity and reveals Himself out of pure mercy; thus death is already gone and the Savior of the human race is present in kindness and says, “I give you everything out of pure mercy, not because of your works of righteousness.” We do not yet see these divine blessings; rather, we possess them in hope. If we receive this Savior with our hearts and believe in Him, then sin and death are gone, and heaven is opened. What has He gotten in return? How has He saved me? He is my Savior, not because of my works but because of His mercy.
Martin Luther, “Afternoon Sermon for the First Sunday after Epiphany, Titus 3:4–8,” in Luther’s Works: Sermons V, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown, trans. James Langebartels, vol. 58 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2010), 394.
For there it was made known and revealed by God Himself that a woman should bear a son, who would be called her own (the woman’s) Seed, so that the woman therefore would be a natural human being and the child her natural son, except that He would be the offspring of the woman alone, that is, not begotten from or through a man. He would have power and authority to trample the head (that is, the power) of the serpent (the devil, who through Adam and Eve brought the whole human race under his power, into death and eternal damnation) and thereby redeem the human race from sin, the wrath of God, and eternal death. That would certainly have to be a special person: not simply someone greater than an ordinary human being born of man and woman but also someone greater than an angel, because the devil, whose head He is supposed to trample, is himself of the highest angelic nature.

It is as if God were with these words clearly saying: “I will make Him be a natural man, born of a woman, yet not conceived from a man in the natural or common human manner. He will not only have a human nature like you, Adam and Eve”—for then He could not have authority to trample the serpent underfoot, just as they, even before the fall, though they were created without sin, did not have power and authority to do so—“but He shall be both natural man and true God, as the one who is the Lord over the devil and all his power, and He Himself shall accomplish the work of obliterating the devil, death, sin, and hell, which is a work that lies in the power of the divine Majesty alone.” Nevertheless, He must be a different person from the one who speaks these things and makes the promise of a person who will be the woman’s Seed and trample the serpent, and yet He must be of the same divine essence and of the same eternal God, since there is no more than one God. Therefore, He must be the eternal Son of God.

And so this article concerning Christ has been preached and believed, from the beginning of the world on, by all the holy patriarchs and prophets: that Christ would be both true man, as the promised Seed of the woman, and also true God and Lord over all creatures, over sin, the devil, and death, as the one who would accomplish the work of atonement and redemption of the human race from the eternal wrath and condemnation of God that came over us according to the righteous judgment of God, and who would destroy the work of the devil. As St. John says, the Son of God Himself had to appear in order to destroy the work of the devil [1 John 3:8], that is, to free us from our eternal bonds under God’s wrath and from hell.
Martin Luther, “Sermon on the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Matthew 8 [:23–27],” in Luther’s Works: Sermons V, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown, trans. Adam Francisco, vol. 58 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2010), 416–17.

Volume 61:  
Fourth, he [Luther] spoke about which one is the true Christian Church, for which Christ had died, shed His blood, redeemed, and purchased them, namely, that it was not the desperate evildoers, the bishops and clerics in the papacy, who are burdened with arrogance, greed, tyranny, gluttony, and ⟨all⟩ other vices, and who consorted with whores; Christ did not purchase such people with His precious, worthy blood, etc.
Martin Luther, “Against Johann Agricola of Eisleben (1540/1549),” in Luther’s Works: Theological and Polemical Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes and Christopher Boyd Brown, trans. Gerhard P. Maag, vol. 61 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2021), 383–84; Report on [Martin] Luther’s Sermon at the Consecration of Nicolaus Von Amsdorf as Bishop of Naumburg, January 20, 1542. I am listing this quote as potential evidence for a limited view. Calvin’s comment to Heshusius sound similar. However, I think Luther is speaking to application. In other words, such wicked people show that they are not effectually redeemed or purchased by Christ.

Volume 73:  
[Response of Theodor] Fabricius: What is contained in the psalm—“You have forsaken Me” [Ps. 22:1]—is, in the Hebrew: “You have made Him lack divinity for a little while” [Ps. 8:5]. It does not mean that Christ stopped being true God, but that in the agony of death He did not sense His divinity [WA 39/2:281–82] on account of the mass of sins which He bore for the human race.

WA D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. 73 volumes in 85. Weimar: H. Böhlau, 1883–.
Martin Luther, “Disputation on the Invocation of God and on Repentance (Doctoral Disputation for Theodor Fabricius and Stanislaus Rapagelanus) Theses by Philip Melanchthon (May 23, 1544),” in Luther’s Works: Disputations II, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown and Benjamin T. G. Mayes, trans. Eric G. Phillips and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 73 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2020), 450.
[Response of Georg] Major:91 He could [have done otherwise], but He did not will it, nor did it please [Him to do so]. Consequently, because man had fallen, He willed to redeem the human race through a man also, that the righteousness of God might be satisfied.
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91 The attribution may be in error since the argument seems to be directed against Faber’s theses. It may, however, take Major’s Thesis 3 (see the following argument) as its point of departure.
Martin Luther, “Disputation on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son, and on the Law (Doctoral Disputation for Georg Major and Johann Faber) (December 12, 1544),” in Luther’s Works: Disputations II, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown and Benjamin T. G. Mayes, trans. Eric G. Phillips, vol. 73 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2020), 486.
Argument 24

Against the Same [Thesis 8 of Georg Major]

8. Nevertheless, at the same time, this Unity is a Trinity, or the Divinity of three distinct persons.
[The expression] “God with us” is often used. Therefore, [Christ] is God only nominally,122 and not essentially.
I prove the consequent: Because Christ is called “Lord” everywhere in the prophets, as when it is said, “Immanuel has been born to us” [cf. Isa. 7:14].123
[Response of Georg] Major: I respond that when [Isaiah] says, “God with us,” he does not understand it nominally, but essentially. For he is saying that it will come to pass that Christ shall in our midst be made the sacrifice for the human race. And as Christ was at that time, so He is, and He shall be for eternity.
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122 nuncupative
123 “Immanuel” means “God with us” (see Matt. 1:23). The argument seems to be that if Christ is called by a name (as in Isa. 7:14: “You will call His name Immanuel”), then it is only a name rather than a description of essence.
Martin Luther, “Disputation on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son, and on the Law (Doctoral Disputation for Georg Major and Johann Faber) (December 12, 1544),” in Luther’s Works: Disputations II, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown and Benjamin T. G. Mayes, trans. Eric G. Phillips, vol. 73, Luther’s Works (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2020), 490.
[WA 39/2:308–9][Response of Georg] Major: I respond that He is subjected according to the human nature, in order that He might make satisfaction for the sins of the human race. According to the divine essence, however, He is not subjected, for by it He is equal to the Father. For whatever [attributes] are in the essence of the Father are understood to be in the Son as well, and they differ only in this: that the Son has been begotten, and the Father has not been begotten.

WA D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. 73 volumes in 85. Weimar: H. Böhlau, 1883–.
Martin Luther, “Disputation on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son, and on the Law (Doctoral Disputation for Georg Major and Johann Faber) (December 12, 1544),” in Luther’s Works: Disputations II, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown and Benjamin T. G. Mayes, trans. Eric G. Phillips, vol. 73 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2020), 493.

Volume 77:  
What heart would not cheerfully expect all good from Him when He shows such love that He sent His dear Son to the evil, damnable people (that is, the whole world, which is all people), who never did anything good, but every hour acted against His Commandments?
Martin Luther, “Gospel for Pentecost Monday (John 3:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 77 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2014), 371.
The Giver, who is so great and mighty, the Creator of all creatures, not only says, “Good morning,” or kindly smiles at us, but loves us—and loves us so heartily that He gives us not only a beggar’s portion of perishable goods but also His highest, dearest treasure, His Son, who is also Lord of heaven and earth.
Martin Luther, “Gospel for Pentecost Monday,” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 77 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2014), 374.
38. “Yes,” you say, “I would gladly believe if I were like St. Peter, Paul, and others who are righteous and holy, but I am too great a sinner. Who knows whether I am elect?” Answer: Look at the words! Look at how and about whom He is speaking: “God so loved the world” and “so that all who believe in Him” [John 3:16]. Now, “the world” does not mean only St. Peter and Paul, but the entire human race together, and here no one is excluded. God’s Son was given for all, all are to believe this, and all who believe will not be lost, etc. Look at yourself in the face,10 or look in your bosom,11 to see whether or not you are also a human being (that is, a part of the world) and in the number which the word “all” includes, as well as others. If I and you do not accept this, then these words must also have been spoken falsely and in vain.

39. This was surely not preached—much less given and granted—to cows and geese. Therefore, beware of excluding yourself by permitting thoughts such as: “Who knows whether it has also been given to me?” That would be calling God a liar in His Word. Rather, make a cross before yourself and repeat these words: “Even if I am not St. Peter or Paul, I am still a part of the world. If He had wanted to give it only to the worthy, then He would have had to send this preaching only to the angels, who are pure and without sin. Yes, He would even have had to withhold it from St. Peter, David, and Paul, for they were sinners as well as I am. No matter who I am, I know that God’s Word is true, and if I do not accept it, then, on top of all other sins, I am also committing this one, that I regard God’s Word and truth as lies and am slandering them.”
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10 Greiff dich doch selbs bey der Nasen, literally, “Get hold of your own nose.” The saying means: “Know yourself” (cf. DWB, s.v. “Nase” I.5.c).
11 Again, the saying means “Know yourself.” It is explained in Wander 1:519, “Busen” no. 7.

Martin Luther, “Gospel for Pentecost Monday,” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 77 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2014), 375–76.

Volume 78:  
6. “Well,” says St. John, “if the world can hate God Himself for this benefit, dear friends, do not be surprised when the same thing happens to you. What does it mean when I show my love and lay down my body and life in order to confirm this teaching and help my neighbor? It is a poor, beggarly, filthy, and stinking love compared to the fact that Christ dies for me to redeem me from eternal death! If God with His supreme, unfathomable love cannot get the world to be thankful to Him, why be surprised if the world dislikes you for your kindness? Why would you be angry and rant about ingratitude? You yourself are part of the world for whom God’s Son had to die. Even if you die for them, it is still nothing compared to the fact that God did not spare His own Son for their sake, but let Him be executed and killed by their own hands” [Rom. 8:32].
Martin Luther, “Epistle for the Second Sunday after Trinity (1 John 3:13–18),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 70. Note that the “world” (i.e., all unbelievers) that hates God and believers, is unthankful, and was even involved in executing and killing God’s own Son, is the same “world” (Luther said) for whom God gave His Son to die. Clearly that includes the non-elect.
25. Now, as the apostles preached according to the command of Christ, so we also must do, saying that all people are conceived and born in sin and are by nature children of wrath and condemned because of it [Eph. 2:3]; they cannot obtain the forgiveness of sins or be saved through themselves nor through any other creature’s help, advice, work, merit, etc. This is what it means to rebuke, judge, and condemn everyone. We do this not of our own arbitrary whim, not because we take pleasure in reprimanding people as sinners and godless, but because of Christ’s order and command. However, we do not leave it there, but cheer and comfort again those we have rebuked, and tell them that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners [1 Tim. 1:15], so that everyone who believes in Him does not perish but is saved [John 3:16].
Martin Luther, “Gospel for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Luke 6:36–42),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 179–80.
58. Therefore, we must listen only to God’s Word about this. God’s Word reveals and shows us what God the Father’s will is. First, [His will is] that He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to make peace with God for our sins by His death, and through His blood to cleanse and save us without our merit, etc. He sends this proclamation to everyone through the Gospel and requires you to believe and accept it. Christ also Himself says this with clear words: “The will of Him who sent Me is that whoever sees the Son and believes in Him has eternal life” [John 6:40].
Martin Luther, “Gospel for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Matthew 7:15–23),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 300.
19. So this means (I say) that God—if we want to look at Him in the works that He does also bodily and temporally—is nothing other than pure, inexpressible love, greater and more than anyone can ever imagine. The most shameful thing is that the world pays no attention to this and does not thank Him for it, even though it sees every hour so many innumerable blessings of God before its eyes. With their ingratitude, every day they honestly deserve that God would not let the sun shine on them for one moment nor let even a straw grow out of the ground nor even grant them life. Just for this reason He does not stop loving without ceasing nor doing good also externally and bodily—not to mention what He does when it comes to spiritual benefits, when He is pouring out not sun and moon nor heaven and earth, but His own heart and His dearest Son, that He even makes Him shed His blood and die the most shameful death of all for us shameful, wicked, unthankful people. How can we say anything but that God is nothing except a fathomless depth of eternal love and, again, that love is nothing else than only God? Therefore, whoever has love must also have God and be full of Him.
Martin Luther, “Several Beautiful Sermons on 1 John, on Love (1 John 4:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 372–73.
66. However, on that day this will become obvious before God and all creatures, when He says to them: “I have given you heaven and earth, sun and moon, and all benefits. Moreover, I have caused my Gospel to be preached to deliver you from your sins and misery, and so offered all grace and eternal life free of charge. But how have you acted toward it? Like desperate, wicked devil’s fruit, you have wanted to recognize and accept no kindness or grace, but have struggled and raged against it most vehemently.” Similarly, all saints will then stand there and also testify and say against them and about them: “We have served you with our body and life and have faithfully and sincerely helped you to blessedness and all benefits. You cannot deny that we have done it out of fully genuine love, just as the genuine love of God is and does.” If it were not genuinely perfect, divine love, then we would certainly act differently toward the matter and say, as the world usually says to each other: “I let you have hellfire and all misfortune so that I could do you more good.” Why would we need to take on ourselves to no purpose all people’s hatred and hostility, contempt, danger, and misfortune? We could certainly have been spared this if we wanted to seek our own and also give the world a dismissal and say to it: “If you are such a precious herb, then may the devil love you!”
Martin Luther, “Several Beautiful Sermons on 1 John, on Love (1 John 4:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 392–93.
Now, it happens that God must suffer from all the world for His inexpressible love, since they give Him nothing but ingratitude for His love, despise His words and works, and in addition slander and persecute them. How many are there who thank Him even once for a benefit or would for His sake give up a halfpenny, when God gives them all kinds of goods most richly? They live as if this were their right and even privilege to use His gifts according to their own caprice. Now, because we see that this is what happens to God Himself and His love in the world, we can resign ourselves to the fact that we will not have it better, and not be surprised or angry if something unusual or extraordinary happens to us, but rather cheerfully be confident and boast all the more boldly when we can boast and be confident. Yet our love and patience and all we can do are still not the same as what divine love and patience must suffer from the world.
Martin Luther, “Several Beautiful Sermons on 1 John, on Love (1 John 4:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 391.
He gives all His creatures into the hands of the evil tyrants and villains and covers them with all good things, and yet He earns from them nothing more than a fine “thank You,” namely, that without ceasing they slander and defame Him for it. In the same way His Son lets Himself be nailed to the cross, carries our sin around His neck, and dies for the whole world, so that they can live and be redeemed and liberated from their sins and the devil’s power. But they do not want to hear or tolerate any such preaching. They slander and persecute His preachers and Christians, and set up all kinds of false worship and their own holiness to spite and grieve Him. That is the way the dear, faithful Savior must be repaid!
Martin Luther, “Several Beautiful Sermons on 1 John, on Love (1 John 4:16–21),” in Luther’s Works, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 78 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2015), 394.
All people are under sin and damnation, so that nothing else could help them except that God had to give His Son for the world and establish a different preaching through which grace and reconciliation are proclaimed to us.
Martin Luther, “Epistle for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (2 Corinthians 3:4–11),” in Luther’s Works: Church Postil V, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 79 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2016), 24.
Because it is impossible for our nature to keep the Law, Christ came, stepped between the Father and us, and prayed for us: “Dear Father, be gracious to them and forgive their sins. I will take their sins onto Myself and bear them. I love You from My whole heart, and in addition the entire human race, which I demonstrate by shedding My blood for them. In this way I have fulfilled the Law for their advantage, so that they can have the benefit of My fulfilling the Law and through this come to grace.”
Martin Luther, “Gospel for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Matthew 22:34–46),” in Luther’s Works: Church Postil V, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 79 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2016), 174.

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Martin Luther (1483–1546) on John 1:29

Behold, the Lamb of God!

This is an excellent and splendid testimony of John regarding the introduction of the new rule and kingdom of Christ. It is a powerful statement. The words are clear and lucid; they tell us what one should think of Christ. John’s earlier words (John 1:17), “The Law was given through Moses,” can hardly be called praise of Moses. But in this passage John virtually chides him, as if he were saying: “You Jews sacrifice a lamb every Passover, as Moses commanded you. In addition you butcher two lambs daily, which are sacrificed and burned each morning and evening. It is a lamb, to be sure. But you Jews make such a display of it, you praise these sacrifices and boast of them so much, that you eclipse the glory of God, push God into the background, and deprive Him of His honor. Compare the true Lamb with the lamb which the Law of Moses commands you to butcher and eat.128 One is a lamb procured from shepherds. The other, however, is an entirely different Lamb; it is the Lamb of God. For It has been ordained to bear on Its back the sins of the world. Compared with this Lamb, all the lambs you butcher in the temple, roast, and eat count for nothing.

“The paschal lamb of the Law was, indeed, splendid child’s play, as well as a ceremony instituted to remind you of the true Lamb of God. But you exaggerate its significance and assume that such butchering and sacrificing were done to remove your sins. Don’t give way to that illusion! Your lambs will never accomplish that. Only the Son of God will. Those lambs in the Law were merely to be the people’s toys, to remind them of the true Paschal Lamb, which was to be sacrificed at some future time.” But they had nothing but contempt for all this and supposed that a lamb slaughtered at Passover sufficed. Therefore John, as it were, juxtaposes Moses’ lamb and Christ, the true Lamb. The Law was not to extend beyond Christ. John wishes to say: “Your lamb was taken from men, as Moses commanded in the Law of God (Ex. 12:3–5). But this is God’s Lamb. The Easter lamb is a Lamb from God, not a lamb selected from the wethers. The lamb of the Law was a shepherds lamb or a man’s lamb.” John wants to say: “This is the true Lamb, which takes away the sin of the people. With your other lambs, sacrificed on the Passover festival, you did try to remove your sin; but you never succeeded. In this Lamb, born of a virgin, you will. It is not a natural lamb or wether referred to in the Law, and yet It is a lamb.” For God prescribed that it was to be a Lamb that should be sacrificed and roasted on the cross for our sins. In other respects He was a man like all other human beings; but God made Him a Lamb which should bear the sins of all the world.

This is an extraordinarily free and comforting sermon on Christ, our Savior. Neither our thoughts nor our words can do the subject full justice, but in the life beyond it will redound to our eternal joy and bliss that the Son of God abased Himself so and burdened Himself with my sins. Yes, He assumes not only my sins but also those of the whole world, from Adam down to the very last mortal. These sins He takes upon Himself; for these He is willing to suffer and die that our sins may be expunged and we may attain eternal life and blessedness. But who can ever give adequate thought or expression to this theme? The entire world with all its holiness, rectitude, power, and glory is under the dominion of sin and completely discredited before God. Anyone who wishes to be saved must know that all his sins have been placed on the back of this Lamb! Therefore John points this Lamb out to his disciples, saying: “Do you want to know where the sins of the world are placed for forgiveness? Then don’t resort to the Law of Moses or betake yourselves to the devil; there, to be sure, you will find sins, but sins to terrify you and damn you. But if you really want to find a place where the sins of the world are exterminated and deleted, then cast your gaze upon the cross. The Lord placed all our sins on the back of this Lamb. As the prophet Isaiah declares (53:6): ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way,’ the one hither, the other yon. One sought God in this manner, another in a different way; there were countless modes of looking for God.”

And as it happens when one loses the right way, and, for instance, turns in the wrong direction at a crossroad, one false decision leads to a hundred others. Thus the one chose the rule of St. Francis for help, the other the order of St. Benedict. And pope and Turk, each according to his own judgment, fabricated his own means of penance for sin. But it is written: “They have all gone astray.” But now, which is the right way, the way that guards against going astray? The farther one strays from the right road, the more confused one grows. Isaiah says that the right way is this: “God placed all our sins upon Him and smote Him for the sins of the people; when we all went astray, God put all our sins on the back of His Lamb, and upon no other. He ordained the Lamb to bear the sins of the entire world.”

Therefore a Christian must cling simply to this verse and let no one rob him of it. For there is no other comfort either in heaven or on earth to fortify us against all attacks and temptations, especially in the agony of death.129 And whoever believes that this Lamb bears the sins of all the world must regard pope and Turk as the Antichrist.130 For the pope has taught that the Christian must be concerned with bearing his own sin, atoning for it with alms and the like. This is his shameless lie even to the present day. But if what he teaches is true, then I, not Christ, am yoked and burdened with my sin. And then I would necessarily be lost and damned. But Christ does bear the sin—not only mine and yours or that of any other individual, or only of one kingdom or country, but the sin of the entire world. And you, too, are a part of the world.

John’s memory has been cherished, to be sure. In the papacy many murals depict St. John. Pictures of him and of the Lamb were carved in wood and stone or fashioned in gold and silver. Once annually his day was celebrated.131 His fingers were painted pointing to the Lamb. But all of this was external and never took possession of the heart. No one understood the true significance of the painting and the figure. The papists are still blind, foolish, and absurd. They have paintings and carvings and sculptures of St. John, and they prize portrait and statue; but their doctrine and their life run counter to all this. For they call upon St. Francis or Benedict, St. Catherine or Barbara, and other saints for aid. Is this not blindness? Were we not foolish and mad? Not only did we have the doctrine informing us that this is the Lamb which bears the sin of the world, but we also viewed the picture of St. John pointing his finger at Christ and carrying Christ on his left arm.132 We celebrated great festivals commemorating all this. And yet our vision was faulty; we did not understand its meaning, nor did we know why John was showing us the Lamb.

This is the basis of all Christian doctrine. Whoever believes it, is a Christian; whoever does not, is no Christian, and will get what he has coming to him. The statement is clear enough: “This is the Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world.” Moreover, this text is the Word of God, not our word. Nor is it our invention that the Lamb was sacrificed by God and that, in obedience to the Father, this Lamb took upon Himself the sin of the whole world. But the world refuses to believe this; it does not want to concede the honor to this dear Lamb that our salvation depends entirely on His bearing our sin. The world insists on playing a role in this too. But the more it aspires to do in atonement for sin, the worse it fares. For there is no atoner but this Lamb; God recognizes no other. Would it not be reasonable and right to take these words into our hearts that we might become aware of our sin?

Now note here that the Law of Moses, indeed, apprises you of your sin and tells you how you should obey God and man. It also informs me that I am hostile to God, that I blaspheme Him, and that I do not regulate my life properly according to the precepts of the Ten Commandments. In brief, the Law shows me what I am; it reveals sin and burdens me with it. This is its proper function. Then I become frightened and would like to be rid of it. But the Law says: “I cannot aid you in this.” Then we run to the saints, and we invoke the assistance of the Virgin Mary,133 saying: “Intercede for me before your Son; show Him your breasts!” Another calls on St. Christopher, although he never existed on this earth.134 Another hies himself to St. Barbara for her intercession. Others enter monastic orders, thereby aspiring to becoming holy themselves and their own saviors. Indeed, each one of us beholds his sins and promises to mend his sinful life from day to day, saying: “O Christ, grant me a respite and stay the time of my death, and I shall become pious and atone for my sin!” But is this not a hideous and terrible blindness? Sin is at your throat; it drives you and lies heavy on you. Reason knows of no other counsel and advice. As soon as reason sees that it has sinned, it declares: “I will reform and become pious!” But now St. John intervenes and declares that the entire world is polluted with sin. He shows us through the Law that we are saddled with this sin, and that we must not let it rest where the Law has deposited it, namely, in our bosom. For if sin remains there, you are damned and doomed. At the same time you are too feeble to remove it; you cannot overcome sin.

In view of this, St. John, by his testimony or sermon, shows us Another upon whom God the Father has laid our sins, namely, Christ the Lord. The Law lays them upon me, but God takes them from me and lays them upon this Lamb. There they fit very well, far better than on me. God wishes to say to us: “I see how the sin oppresses you. You would have to collapse under its heavy burden. But I shall relieve and rid you of the load—when the Law convicts you of, and condemns you for, your sin—and from sheer mercy I shall place the weight of your sin on this Lamb, which will bear them.”

May you ever cherish and treasure this thought. Christ is made a servant of sin, yea, a bearer of sin, and the lowliest and most despised person. He destroys all sin by Himself and says: “I came not to be served but to serve” (Matt. 20:28). There is no greater bondage than that of sin; and there is no greater service than that displayed by the Son of God, who becomes the servant of all, no matter how poor, wretched, or despised they may be, and bears their sins. It would be spectacular and amazing, prompting all the world to open ears and eyes, mouth and nose in uncomprehending wonderment, if some king’s son were to appear in a beggar’s home to nurse him in his illness, wash off his filth, and do everything else the beggar would have to do. Would this not be profound humility? Any spectator or any beneficiary of this honor would feel impelled to admit that he had seen or experienced something unusual and extraordinary, something magnificent. But what is a king or an emperor compared with the Son of God? Furthermore, what is a beggar’s filth or stench compared with the filth of sin which is ours by nature, stinking a hundred thousand times worse and looking infinitely more repulsive to God than any foul matter found in a hospital? And yet the love of the Son of God for us is of such magnitude that the greater the filth and stench of our sins, the more He befriends us, the more He cleanses us, relieving us of all our misery and of the burden of all our sins and placing them upon His own back. All the holiness of the monks stinks in comparison with this service of Christ, the fact that the beloved Lamb, the great Man, yes, the Son of the Exalted Majesty, descends from heaven to serve me.

Such benefactions of God might well provoke us to love and to laud God and to celebrate this service in song and sermon and speech. It should also induce us to die willingly and to remain cheerful in all suffering. For how amazing it is that the Son of God becomes my servant, that He humbles Himself so, that He cumbers Himself with my misery and sin, yes, with the sin and the death of the entire world! He says to me: “You are no longer a sinner, but I am. I am your substitute. You have not sinned, but I have. The entire world is in sin. However, you are not in sin; but I am. All your sins are to rest on Me and not on you.” No one can comprehend this. In yonder life our eyes will feast forever on this love of God. And who would not gladly die for Christ’s sake? The Son of Man performs the basest and filthiest work. He does not don some beggar’s torn garment or old trousers, nor does He wash us as a mother washes a child; but He bears our sin, death, and hell, our misery of body and soul. Whenever the devil declares: “You are a sinner!” Christ interposes: “I will reverse the order; I will be a sinner, and you are to go scotfree.” Who can thank our God enough for this mercy?

Whoever can confidently believe that the sins of the world, also his own, were laid on Christ’s shoulders will not easily be deceived and deluded by the schismatic spirits, who are in the habit of quoting us verses that deal with good works and alms and give the impression that good work wipe out sins and acquire salvation. A Christian can refute any passages which the factious spirits may adduce about good works. This cardinal text still remains intact. It reads that I cannot bear my sin or render satisfaction for it, but that God has chosen a sacrifice which was slaughtered, roasted on the cross, and eaten. Upon this Lamb all sins were laid. A Christian will not permit himself to be cut adrift from this, nor will he be led away from a proper understanding of the Gospel. Let them teach or preach what they choose in the world. He will adhere to the plain and true faith and clear words, namely: “If I had been able to earn anything for myself, then it would not have been necessary for God’s Son to die for me.” John declares that it is solely the Lamb that bears the sin of the whole world; otherwise it would surely not be done at all. I, too, will find refuge in Him. You may do whatever you please!

The Law, to be sure, can command to do this and that; it can also prescribe rules of conduct for life. It says: “Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his goods, his honor; do not kill; do not commit adultery, etc.; give alms.” And it is laudable and good to comply with these Commandments. By doing so we abstain from outward sin in the world. But it is futile to try to expunge sin before God through the Law. The one thing that is effective in this respect is spoken of here: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” And in Is. 53:6 we read: “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” And again (Is. 53:8): “The Lord will strike Him for the transgression of my people.” Everything centers in Christ. Therefore a Christian must adhere to this verse with simplicity of heart and not let anyone rob him of it. Then he will be aware of the blindness of all heathen, of the papists, and of the godless, who themselves want to render satisfaction with pilgrimages and with good works. They make much of these and console themselves with purgatory. But they are blind. For Holy Scripture declares that the sin of the world does not lie on the world, or St. John’s sin on St. John, or St. Peter’s on Peter; for they are unable to bear it. The sin of the world lies on Christ, the Lamb of God. He steps forth and becomes a vile sinner, yea, sin itself (2 Cor. 5:21), just as if He Himself had committed all the sin of the world from its beginning to its end. This is to be the Lamb’s office, mission, and function.

And now if Holy Scripture contains verses which seem to intimate that one should atone for sin through good works, you should apply these to the inferior realm of domestic affairs or of temporal government; enjoin them upon fathers and mothers, and do not use them in an attempt to prove that good works could present satisfaction for your sins before God. Good works leave sins unborne and unpaid; the Lamb bears them all. Therefore ask yourself if it was not just of God to be angry with us and to punish us because we had strayed into the ranks of the pope’s and the Turk’s schismatic spirits. For the Lamb Itself preaches to us: “Behold, how I bear your sins!” However, no one will accept it. If we believed and accepted it, no one would be damned. What more is the Lamb to do? He says: “You are all condemned, but I will take your sins upon Myself. I have become the whole world. I have incorporated all people since Adam into My person.” Thus He wants to give us righteousness in exchange for the sins we have received from Adam. And I should reply: “I will believe that my dear, dear Lord,135 the Lamb of God, has taken all sins upon Himself.” Still the world will not believe and accept this. If it did, no one would be lost.

We learn that we have all been hurled into sin by the devil and that the Lamb alone extricates us. Refusal to believe this is not Christ’s fault; it is mine. If I do not believe this, I am doomed. It is for me to say simply that the Lamb of God has borne the sin of the world. I have been earnestly commanded to believe and to confess this, and then also to die in this faith.

You may say: “Who knows whether Christ also bore my sin? I have no doubt that He bore the sin of St. Peter, St. Paul, and other saints; these were pious people. Oh, that I were like St. Peter or St. Paul!” Don’t you hear what St. John says in our text: “This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”? And you cannot deny that you are also part of this world, for you were born of man and woman. You are not a cow or a pig. It follows that your sins must be included, as well as the sins of St. Peter or St. Paul. And just as you are unable to expiate your sins, so they have been unable to expiate theirs. There are no exceptions here. Therefore do not yield to your own thoughts, but cling to the words which guarantee you and all believers forgiveness of sin through the Lamb. Don’t you hear? There is nothing missing from the Lamb. He bears all the sins of the world from its inception; this implies that He also bears yours, and offers you grace.

If someone does not partake of and enjoy such grace and mercy, he has none to blame but himself and his refusal to believe and accept it. He says to himself: “This does not pertain to you, but only to St. Peter and St. Paul. I must become a monk, invoke the saints, and go on pilgrimages.” Go to the devil if you refuse to believe these words! For if you are in the world and your sins form a part of the sins of the world, then the text applies to you. All that the words “sin,” “world,” and “the sin of the world from its beginning until its end” denote—all this rests solely on the Lamb of God. And since you are an integral part of this world and remain in this world, the benefits mentioned in the text will, of course, also accrue to you.

It is extremely important that we know where our sins have been disposed of. The Law deposits them on our conscience and shoves them into our bosom. But God takes them from us and places them on the shoulders of the Lamb. If sin rested on me and on the world, we would be lost; for it is too strong and burdensome. God says: “I know that your sin is unbearable for you; therefore behold, I will lay it upon My Lamb and relieve you of it. Believe this! If you do, you are delivered of sin.” There are only two abodes for sin: it either resides with you, weighing you down; or it lies on Christ, the Lamb of God. If it is loaded on your back, you are lost; but if it rests on Christ, you are free and saved. Now make your choice! According to the Law, to be sure, sin should remain on you; but by grace sin was cast on Christ, the Lamb. Lacking this grace, we should be doomed in an accounting with God.

These are clear, plain, and powerful words, strengthened by that splendid and beautiful portrait of St. John pointing to the Lamb with his finger. I was always fond of such pictures; for instance, the one on which the Paschal Lamb is depicted carrying a little banner, or the picture of the crucifixion.136 But in the papacy we never understood their true significance. This is the message they really wanted to convey: “Behold, man! According to Law and justice, your sins should rest on you. But the Lamb which I exhibit here bears your sins by grace. This sin has been placed on the Lamb. Now you are holy, righteous, and free of sin; you have been saved for the sake of the Lamb. Therefore you have to know that you are not bearing your own sin. For then you would be lost; the Law would condemn and execute you. But behold, God has delivered you from your sins and has placed them on the Lamb. And thus you are saved, not for your own sake but for His.”137
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128 In order to keep the flow of direct discourse in this sentence we have changed it from the third to the second person.
129 The italics here are in the original.
130 It is noteworthy that in this passage, as in many others, Luther identifies both the pope and the Turk as the Antichrist; his term here is Endechrist (cf. Luther’s Works, 13, p. 190, note 51).
131 Luther is probably referring to the fact that John the Baptist is the only saint besides the Virgin Mary whose birthday is in the church’s calendar. The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on June 24 (cf. p. 129, note 95), and his martyrdom on August 29.
132 For a representative example of the portrayals of John the Baptist in the art of the fifteenth century cf. the figure copied from the east window of Great Malvern Priory Church, Worcestershire, England, in G. MeN. Rushforth, Medieval Christian Imagery (Oxford, 1936), p. 88, Figure 27.
133 Cf. p. 146, note 106.
134 Luther had expressed his skepticism regarding St. Christopher as early as his The Ten Commandments Preached to the People of Wittenberg of 1518 (Weimar, I, 413, 414).
135 The German word here is Herrichen.
136 The Paschal Lamb is depicted this way in the window referred to on p. 433, note 132.
137 This is the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth sermon, dated “the Saturday after St. Elizabeth s day,” November 24, 1537.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 22: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1–4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 22 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 161–170.
THE SINS OF THE WORLD LIE ON CHRIST. MARTIN LUTHER: Therefore, Christians must adhere to this verse [i.e., John 1:29] with simplicity of heart and not let anyone rob them of it. Then they will be aware of the blindness of all heathen, of the papists, and of the godless, who themselves want to render satisfaction with pilgrimages and with good works. They make much of these and console themselves with purgatory. But they are blind. For holy Scripture declares that the sin of the world does not lie on the world, or St. John’s sin on St. John, or St. Peter’s on Peter; for they are unable to bear it. The sin of the world lies on Christ, the Lamb of God. He steps forth and becomes a vile sinner, yea, sin itself, just as if he himself had committed all the sin of the world from its beginning to its end. This is to be the Lamb’s office, mission, and function. TWELFTH SERMON ON JOHN.57
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57 LW 22:168* (WA 46:682).
Timothy George and Scott M. Manetsch, eds., 2 Corinthians: New Testament, vol. IXb, Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022), 170–71.
So by means of this doctrine concerning the governing part of man, man will come to be exalted above Christ and the devil, or in other words, he will become Lord of lords and God of gods. What has now happened to that “probable opinion” which said that free choice could will nothing good? Yet here she contends that it is the principal part, and a sound and virtuous part, which does not even need Christ, but can do more than God himself and the devil can. I say this to let you see again how very perilous it is to venture into divine and sacred subjects without the Spirit of God and in the temerity of human reason. If Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world [John 1:29], then it follows that the whole world is subject to sin, damnation, and the devil, and the distinction between principal and nonprincipal parts is of no use at all. For “world” means men, who savor of worldly things in all their parts.
Martin Luther, “The Bondage of the Will,” in Luther’s Works, Vol. 33: Career of the Reformer III, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 33 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 228.

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September 23, 2022

Philip Doddridge (1702–1751) on 1 Timothy 2:4

d Will have all men to be saved.] It is far from being my design, in any of these notes, to enter deep into controversy, but I must confess I have never been satisfied with that interpretation which explains all men here, merely as signifying some of all sorts and ranks of men; since I fear it might also be said on the principles of those who are fondest of this gloss, that he also wills all men to be condemned. On the other hand, if many are not saved, it is certain the words must be taken with some limitation, which the following clause, he wills their coming to the knowledge of the truth, must also prove. The meaning, therefore, seems to be, that God has made sufficient provision for the salvation of all, and that it is to be considered as the general declaration of his will, that all who know the truth themselves should publish it to all around them, so far as their influence can extend.
Philip Doddridge, The Family Expositor: Or, A Paraphrase and Version of the New Testament with Critical Notes and a Practical Improvement of Each Section (London : Printed for W. Baynes, 1825), 904.

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