Gerhard and Walther

The Church is the bride of Christ, and so is every godly soul; let it take heed then not to cling to Satan in an unholy union.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXIII

The fact that even those who believe in Holy Scripture err in articles of faith is not because God’s Word is unclear and misleading, but simply because those believers too often follow their reason, their conceit, their heart, their prejudices, or the authority of man instead of the clear Word of God.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 894.

*Note this is the final post in this particular series. Next week, the first week in Advent, we return to wisdom from Dr. Luther, based mainly on the delightful Day by Day We Magnify Thee. My copy is a little the worse for wear, but wouldn’t trade it for anything. I bought it with money given on my confirmation in 1974:

Gerhard and Walther

Contemplate, O devout soul, the exalted dignity of the Church, and render due thanks to Almighty God. Great indeed are the benefits which God bestows upon us in and through the Church.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations XXIII.

The most frightening thing about this complete transformation of the Christian faith in our day concerns the role of the teacher. It is the total defection from the most supreme principle in all of Christianity: that Holy Scripture is the Word of the great God.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 893.

Gerhard and Walther

The holy Church of God sustains the relations of mother, virgin, bride. She is mother because she daily bears spiritual sons to God. She is as a chaste virgin, because she keeps herself pure from all unholy alliances with the devil and the world. She is bride, because Christ hath betrothed her to Himself by an eternal covenant, and hath given her the pledge of the Spirit.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXIII

There is a great difference between being convinced of something and carrying it in the heart, and regarding something as true and practicing it in life.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 887.

Gerhard and Walther

No man will have God as his Father in heaven who refuses to have the Church for his mother upon the earth.—Johann Gerhard (quoting St. Cyprian), Sacred Meditation XXIII

Christ wants to cover our sins, but He also wants to take them away. He wants to clothe us with His righteousness, but He also wants to take shape in us, to be the High Priest who reconciles us with God, and to be the King who rules over us and in us. He suffered and died to atone for our sins, but He also rose and ascended into heaven that He might live in us and we in Him and so we might walk a new life.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 888.

Gerhard and Walther

It was appropriate that He [the Holy Ghost] should come like unto wind, since He proceeds from the Father and the Son by an eternal breath.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations XXII

There once was a time when Christ was almost completely silenced in Christendom. This was the time before the Reformation. Mary and the so-called saints had almost entirely displaced Christ from Christianity and occupied His place. There is no longer such a silence about Christ.—C. F .W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 882.

Gerhard and Walther

He [the Holy Ghost] unites us to Christ through faith; He makes God one with us through love; He joins us to our neighbor in Christian affection….As the Holy Spirit united the divine and human natures in Christ by His own overshadowing power, so also by the outpouring of His gracious gifts upon us He unites us to God and God to us.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXII

The person who has not yet learned to know God as his Father in Christ will find it impossible to joyfully endure many, great, and lengthy sufferings and afflictions. But how completely different it is with those who vividly recognize that God is their dear Father and they are His dear children!—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 881. 

Gerhard and Walther

What wonder is it that the Holy Spirit is sent from heaven to sanctify us, when the Son of God had already been sent to redeem us? All the bitter suffering of Christ would have been of no avail, if the glad tidings of the gospel were not made known in the world; for of what advantage is a hidden treasure? Thus our most merciful heavenly Father has not only prepared a great benefit in the passion of His Son, Jesus Christ, but desired to offer to the whole world, and make effective, that grace by the gift of the Holy Spirit.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXII

In Christ, the secrets of all eternity and the will of God’s own heart have been revealed to men.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 879.

Gerhard and Walther

Christ is our glorious head; we are the members of His body; rejoice thou and shout for joy, O faithful soul, in the ascension to heaven of thy Head. The glory of the head is the glory also of the members. Where our flesh reigns, there let us believe that we too shall reign.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXI

On the Last Day, when the play of the earthly life of humanity will be concluded, the enemies of God will clearly recognize with terror (but the elect with rejoicing) that nothing happened outside God’s will, that everything good and evil had served Him, and that He has led everything to a glorious and blessed end. How confident, then, can a believing Christian be!—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 875.

Gerhard and Walther

 Ah, in what awful anguish I saw Thee upon Mount Calvary, and now in what glory I behold Thee upon Mount Olivet! There Thou didst suffer alone; here Thou art attended by a vast multitude of the angelic hosts; there Thou didst ascend to the cross, here Thou dost ascend in a cloud to heaven; there Thou wast crucified between two thieves, here Thou dost exult among angelic choirs; there Thou wast nailed to the cross as a condemned criminal, here free from all condemnation, Thou art the deliverer of those condemned to eternal death; there Thou didst bleed and die, here Thou dost rejoice and triumph.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXI

But the true faith, to which the Holy Scripture attributes salvation, is something completely different. This faith has such great power that the person who carries it in his heart is completely changed by it. He becomes a new person, who leads a truly pious life. True faith works what nothing else in the world can work in a person.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 873.

Gerhard and Walther

As we journey here as pilgrims, the Lord is present with us, but in another and invisible form; in our home in the heavenly fatherland above we shall know Him, for we shall see Him as He is.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXI

There are, however, more subtle enemies of the cross who present a better appearance… They do this by continually preaching about repentance, conversion, being born again, and sanctification, but they do not have mercy on the poor sinner and they do not want to give any comfort to those who can say nothing of themselves but that they are poor, lost sinners. They do this by describing faith and justification and pardon of a person in such a way that the Gospel appears to show how he himself must earn grace and climb to heaven under an unbearable yoke.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, pp. 863, 864.

Gerhard and Walther

Christ, our treasure, is in heaven; let us then set our affections upon heavenly things, or meditate upon those things that are above.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XXI

Let us then in faith embrace the cross of our Savior, and let nothing tear us away from it. Although death may come and the world may perish, the anchor of the cross will not break.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 866.

Gerhard and Walther

O let us greatly fear to come to that solemn marriage supper of the Lamb clad in the miserable and filthy garment of our own works; but clothe Thou us, O Lord, lest in that day we be found naked!—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XX

Who can measure the treasures the Church, through God, possesses? Who can calculate the value of its worth?—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 857.

Gerhard and Walther

Thus, this Holy Supper will transform our souls; this most divine sacrament will make us divine men, until finally we shall enter upon the fullness of the blessedness that is to come, filled with all the fullness of God, and wholly like Him.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XX

What man has built can be broken down by man. But no person can demolish the foundation of the Church, for its Master Builder is the eternal God Himself. God permits hellish powers of this age to destroy even the best works of people until the Last Day. However, they cannot destroy the work of the Church, for the high above the seat of the powerless spirits of darkness reigns an almighty and true Love, who has decreed that even the gates of hell will not overcome God’s Church on earth.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 855.

Gerhard and Walther

The apostle tells us in one word what constitutes true preparation: “Let a man examine himself,” he says, “and so let him eat of that bread” (1 Cor. xi.28). But as every holy examination must be made according to the rule of Holy Scripture, so it is in this case, which Paul requires. Let us consider then, first of all, our human weakness and imperfection.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XX

But whoever is at peace with God through faith is already now blessed in God and already enjoying the peace that surpasses all understanding, a peace this world cannot give to anyone. His heart is full of comfort and hope. And when he dies, God will open to him the mansions of eternal peace and let him enter to perfect glory and blessedness forever.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, pp. 853, 854.

Gerhard and Walther

This Holy Supper is no common meal, nor is it the banquet of an earthly king; but here we have placed before us the holy mystery of the body and blood of Christ, in which we are to participate. Certainly then a worthy preparation is needful, that we may not, unworthily eating of it, find death instead of life, and receive judgment instead of mercy.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XX

Although our government is installed by the majority of the people and is accountable to them, it is still God’s order and God’s servant, into whose hands He Himself has given the sword of protection and the scales of justice.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 851.

Gerhard and Walther

The holy flesh of God, which the angelic hosts adore in the unity of the divine nature, before which the archangels bow in lowly reverence, and before which the principalities and powers in heaven tremble and stand in awe, is become the spiritual nourishment of our souls.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XIX

This doctrine is the certain, true, and precious teaching that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to make sinners righteous and to save them. Every sinner who, from his heart, believes in this Son and Savior is declared righteous and saved. This doctrine distinguishes Christianity from every other religion. It alone makes a person a Christian.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 845.

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.

Gerhard and Walther

So, in this Holy Supper we have the true tree of life again set before us, that sweet tree, whose leaves are for medicine and whose fruit is for salvation; aye, its sweetness is such as to destroy the bitterness of all afflictions, and even of death itself.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations XIX

Certainly each person must pursue holiness, without which, Scripture says, no one will see the Lord. He begins by despairing of all his will and ability and by believing in the crucified One. The order of salvation is not that a person is first holy, and then saved; rather, he is first saved and then made holy.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 841, 42. 

Gerhard and Walther

Great indeed is the honor put upon our bodies, inasmuch as they are the dwelling places of our souls redeemed and fed by the body of Christ and are temples of the Holy Ghost and the abodes of the adorable Trinity. It cannot be that they should ever remain in the grave, since they are nourished with the body and blood of our Lord.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XVIII

But since the time of grace ends forever with a person’s death, it is the height of insanity for him to postpone concern about the salvation of his soul and seeking God’s grace.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 835.

Gerhard and Walther

Marvelous is the goodness of our Saviour, that He not only assumed our nature in His incarnation, and carried it with Him to His throne of heavenly glory, but that He also gives us His own body and blood to nourish our souls unto eternal life.—Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditation XVIII

And ever since God reconciled Himself to fallen mankind and redeemed it, the devil and his angels have been striving, day and night, to deceive me and to drive them away from that reconciliation and redemption.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 829.