The Gospel Seminar

"Luther Quotations": #12


"Luther Quotations"

The most pressing issue in the church today is the systemic lack of understanding concerning the true gospel of Christ. This is true of church leadership as well as the average congregant. For that reason, much of "TGS Blog"in the next couple of years, Lord willing, will be quotations from one of the men who most deeply understood and wrote about that gospel, Martin Luther. Brief commentary from myself will occasionally accompany these quotations from Luther.
The reason for a two year plan to quote the great reformer is because the gospel is very, very difficult to get "rooted and established" (Ephesians 3) in our hearts. I have found that only by the repetitive hammering of the gospel into my mind and heart day after day, month after month,and year after year am I able to "know" the gospel intimately and be able to "rely" on it for power for daily living
(I John 4; 16)

Quotations from Luther will be from 2 sources; 1) from The Crossway Classic Commentary, and 2) from the IBook "Christian Classics; Works of Martin Luther"
Occasionally I may interject a word or phrase into Luther's quotations. My additions will look like (THIS).
This material is to be read devotionally and hopefully leading the reader to spend time worshipping Christ at the end of each blog for His beauty and the beauty of His gospel


"Luther Quotation": #12

"But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace..." (1: 15)


Luther supports Paul and thus continues on the theme of the gospel as based solely on grace and not your personal merit or effort:

"Thus Paul removes all thought of MERIT and gives glory to God alone. This (scripture) is like saying, 'All these gifts, both small and great, both spiritual and physical, that God intended to give me, and all the good things that at any time in my life I would do, God himself had already arranged when I was still in my mothers womb, where I could neither wish (MERIT), think (MERIT), nor do any good thing (MERIT)...And in order to make very plain the unutterable and inestimable greatness of his mercy (NO MERIT) to me, he soley by grace (NO MERIT) forgave my abominable and infinite sins ...' "


You must obliterate any sense of merit in the sight of God and, instead, trust Christ completely and alone to make you acceptable to God at the point of your conversion and at every point subsequent to your conversion.
This is the gospel.