18 December 2008
Old Lutheran Quote of the Day
God's Advent call, "Prepare the way of the Lord," admonishes us poor sinners and makes us desire to celebrate the joyful season of Christmas. Not the one who is full, but only the one who is tormented by hunger and thirst can rejoice from his heart when food and drink are offered to him. Not the one who is well, but only the one who painfully feels his sickness can rejoice from the heart when he is assured that he will soon be well. Not the one who is free, but only the one who knows he is a prisoner can rejoice from the heart when his freedom is announced. Not the one who is rich, but only the one who is oppressed and frightened by his debts can rejoice from his heart when he hears that those debts have been paid. In the same way, only the one who vividly recognized that he is a poor, lost sinner can rejoice from his heart when he hears that the Savior of sinners is here. -- C. F. W. Walther, *God Grant It!* pp. 48, 49
I am never a CF Walther fan. He is too much of the fundamental camp.
ReplyDeleteReally! I dearly love him. He's been a good teacher for me for so many years. I don't think of him as of the stature of Chemnitz or such, but he's a man of prayer and he teaches me much about humble submission to the Lord's Word.
ReplyDeleteIf I might make two general comments about Walther.
ReplyDeleteWalther's great strength as a theologian is that he ends up moving away from Pietism towards orthodoxy, and as such has a wonderful love of the writings of the Lutheran Orthodox fathers - and does an excellent job of bring them to and using them in an American context.
Walther's great weakness as a theologian is that he came to Orthodoxy out of Pietism, so that on occasion he will be a touch too much of a Pietist for my taste. It can linger and pop out at times.
The quote of this post, though, is fantastic and true. If you think you are just a little sinner, you will only think you need a little Savior, in fact, maybe you'll just need a nudge in the right direction.