03 June 2010

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Oh, what kind of hot and inexpressibly great fire must burn in God's heart toward us Christians that He resolved before we were born - even from eternity - to choose us. This is a love that is higher than the heavens, wider than the earth, deeper than the ocean, as long as eternity. -- C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 480.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this the same God about Whom Starck says in an earlier posting, “(O Spirit of Grace) Pray with me whenever I pray, and give my feeble words and sighs power to move the heart of my Father in heaven, to touch His heart, to procure His help.”?

In a still earlier posting, C.F.W. Walther writes, “As soon as the Holy Ghost enters into the heart of an individual, he becomes smaller and more modest…. He is insignificant in his own eyes, but he recognizes how great is the love of God - the patience of the Father, the redemption of Christ, and the comfort of the Holy Ghost.”

Are Walther and Starck saying different things? If so, is it significant? Although Scripture clearly teaches that both our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit “make intercession for us,” I find it difficult to understand this as two Persons of the Most Holy Trinity trying to convince the third to do something He does not want to.

Peace and Joy!
George A. Marquart

William Weedon said...

Dear George,

The same one! They're not saying different things, for you can find them both saying the "different" things at different points - each upholding the full truths of the Scriptural revelation. For surely it is taught in Scripture that we have two Advocates with the Father - our Lord and the Holy Spirit - and the glory of their pleading to the Father is that it is always the Father's will for which they plead - and that will is invariably mercy on us poor sinners.

Anonymous said...

My point was that Starck clearly seems less sure of God's love for him than Walther.

Peace and Joy!
George A. Marquart

Mrs.Bomberger said...

An aside... my old Latin teacher, Bernie Fenic, gave a us a Latin snippit to illustrate use of pronouns. I wrote it in the margin of my Wheelock's...

"Cor Jesu flagrans amore nostri"

'The heart of Jesus burns with love of us.'

I love that language!
Brenda Bomberger