New Lutheran Quote of the Day

To common sense it may well seem that one must choose between the whole church and the whole truth. The more people are to be included, the more the truth will have to be diluted to what they hold in common. On the other hand, the more truth is salvaged, the more people will have to be defined out of the church. But this inverse proportion is deceiving. AC VII defies the illusion by keeping the whole church firmly anchored in the whole truth. That is, of course, biblical. Since there is one God, one truth, and one faith, and since faith is in every case the work and gift of the Holy Spirit, it follows that the Holy Spirit works the same faith in all believers. To the extent we are Christians at all, we are true Christians. Whatever is in us above, beyond, or against the one faith does not come from the Spirit, and is therefore not faith but a mere conceit of the flesh.—Prof. Kurt Marquart, The Church, p. 68.