01 September 2021

Gerhard and Walther

So, even though I say that we in the New Testament are not bound to the ceremonial part of this commandment, there still continues to remain the moral part, namely, that in every week we should engage in worship on one or more days. We are to refrain from household work and worldly business, assemble together in the church to hear God’s Word, and fulfill all that pertains to the hallowing of the Sabbath. This part of the commandment about the hallowing of a day of festival is also binding on us in the New Testament.—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis III:390. 

What is Christ saying here, both to the lawyer in our text and to us today? He is saying that only the person who never grows tired of loving carries in his heart the perfect, true love for his neighbor, which avails before God. But where is such a person?…Only one was able—Jesus Christ.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 690. 

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