Gerhard and Walther

Christ holds us dear because He hath bought us at so dear a price; He holds us dear because He feeds our souls with so dear and precious food; He holds us dear because we are members of His body, of His flesh. This is the only sovereign remedy for all the diseases of our souls; here is the only efficacious remedy for mortality; for what sin is so heinous but the sacred flesh of God may expiate it? What sin is so great but it may be healed by the life-giving flesh of Christ?—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XIX

Luther wanted to be certain of the grace of God and salvation but he did not know how to obtain them…. Then, by the reading of the Bible, which had come into his hands by God’s miraculous providence, it gradually came clear to him that a person, according to the Gospel, should be righteous before God and saved, not by his own works, but by the faith given him by God. His righteousness and salvation depended, not upon his worthiness, but only on grace; not on his righteousness, but on an alien righteousness; not by his work and suffering, but by the work and suffering of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of sinners.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, pp. 843, 844.