New Lutheran Quote of the Day

Whatever we do that is acceptable to God we do "in Christ." What we do by our own native powers is only to resist the impulse and to handicap the operation of the Holy Spirit - to quench the Spirit. Yet the good that we do, even though we do it in Christ, we do. It is our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, our oblation of service, our offering of faith. But because the impulse and the power comes from Christ, because He works both the will and the deed within us, it is still Christ who is the ultimate Priest, the One who is really offering the sacrifice of perfect obedience in deed and in suffering to heavenly Father. To deny this or to minimize this, is to deny the biblical doctrine of the unity of the Head and the Body, of the Bride and the Bridegroom. -- Arthur Carl Piepkorn, *The Church* p. 241, 242