19 May 2011

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 serving, 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 His 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. -- A. C. Piepkorn, *The Church* p. 241,242.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A.C. Piepkorn was one LCMS's great
theologians of the 20th century.
Concordia Seminary St. Louis had
one of the most articulate professors
in Dr. Piepkorn.

Anonymous said...

As seminarians when we celebrated
the Eucharist on campus in the
auditorium, Prof. Piepkorn always
walked to the altar with his head
bowed and his hands folded and held
upward at his chest. He was a very
humble and reverent example to us.