The following devotions are written and shared weekly by Pastor Steve Harmon in conjunction with our study of Martin Luther:
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By Faith Alone: Week Sixty-nine: Day One
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luther talks about mystery today. He talks about the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In speaking about the Trinity, he also speaks about the mystery of Jesus’ nature – that God and man are joined together in the same person.
Luther begins with this from John 1:1 – “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He goes on to write:
“The following illustration is overly simplistic, but it makes the birth of the Son of God a little easier to understand. As a human son receives his body and his very being from his father, so the Son of God, born of the Father, receives his divine essence and nature from the eternal Father. But this or any other illustration can never adequately describe how the divine majesty can be given to another, as when the Father gives his entire divine essence to the Son. A human father can’t give his entire being to his son. This is where the comparison breaks down.
However, as far as the divine being is concerned, all of God’s divine essence and nature passes into the Son. Yet the Son, who remains in the divine being together with the Father, is one God together with the Father. Likewise, the Holy Spirit has the same divine nature and majesty as the Father and the Son.
You must simply believe this. No matter how clever, sharp, or intelligent a person may be, the human mind will never be able to fully comprehend it. If human wisdom were able to grasp this, then God wouldn’t have needed to reveal it from heaven or announce it through Holy Scripture. So you should say, ‘Even though I can’t completely comprehend it, I believe and confess that there is one eternal God, who is also three distinct persons. Holy Scripture is God’s Word and says that this is the way it is. I will live by what it says.’”
By Faith Alone: Week Sixty-nine: Day Two
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today Luther focuses on the Word of God – both His Word written and spoken as well as THE Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. He begins with this from John 1:1-3 – “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was already with God in the beginning. Everything came into existence through him.” Luther goes on to write:
“John wrote about the majesty and divine nature of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in a profound way. John said that Christ, in his divine essence, is the Word of the eternal Father. If the Word existed from the beginning before anything was created, then it must follow that this Word is God. We can easily draw this conclusion: Whatever had its existence before the creation of the world must be God because only the Creator can exist separate from creation. Everything that exists is either Creator or creation – either God or creature. Through John, the Holy Spirit stated that ‘In the beginning the Word already existed’ and ‘Everything came into existence through him.’ For this reason, we can never think of the Word as something created. The Word is eternal. No one can deny or disprove the conclusion that this Word is God.
This passage establishes that Christ is God. On the basis of this fact, we believe and know with certainty that Mary gave birth to our Lord and Savior and that he is true and natural God, born in eternity by the Father. This is why he can’t be considered an angel. Instead, he is the Lord and Creator of angels and of all other creatures, as Paul states, ‘He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible’ (Colossians 1:16).
Now, we know that Holy Scripture is God’s Word and will last forever (1 Peter 1:25). Scripture clearly states that the Word existed in the beginning before anything was created and that the Word made everything. So, it follows that believers can’t hold any other opinion or come to any other conclusion: The Word was not created or made, but already existed from eternity.”
By Faith Alone: Week Sixty-nine: Day Three
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luther continues to talk about the divinity of Christ – about His nature as true God. He begins with this from John 1:3 – “Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.” He goes on to write:
“This passage is a clear, concise statement about Christ’s divinity. John included all creatures when he said that everything was made by the Word. Whoever uses the term everything hasn’t left anything out. In other words, John was asserting that the Word existed before all creatures and that the Word was a coworker with the Father. He was an equal Creator of everything along with the Father.
Everything that exists has been made through the word. The Word is the Creator of all creatures. There is no difference between the Word and the Father regarding the divine essence. The Word is the true God because he shares the divine essence with God the Father. The Word existed in the beginning and was with God. He demonstrated this when he created the universe. He made heaven and earth, angels, ad all creatures. Christ declared, ‘My Father is working right now, and so am I’ (John 5:17). So this passage clearly asserts that he is the coequal Creator. ‘Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him’ (John 1:3). ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible’ (Colossians 1:15-16). ‘God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one though whom God made the universe’ (Hebrews 1:2).
This passage affirms that the Father create everything through his Son. This keeps us from having doubts about who the Son is. We can know and believe that our dear Lord and Savior, born of the virgin Mary, is also the real, true, natural God and Creator together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.”
By Faith Alone: Week Sixty-nine: Day Four
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luther continues to talk about the mystery that is Jesus Christ – the mystery of God and man being joined together in one person. He begins with this from John 1:14 – “The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory.” He goes on to write:
“The Word became human. We can never fully grasp this teaching concerning our salvation and eternal life using human reason. Nevertheless, we must believe it, and we must cling tightly to what Scripture says about it. The Bible says that Christ, our Lord, is true and natural God, and true and natural man. The Bible says that in his divine essence and nature Christ is coequal with the Father. The heretics have cast doubts on both the divine essence nature and the human nature of Christ. During the lifetime of the apostles some heretics claimed that Christ was not God. Centuries later, others claimed that Christ was not human. Some of our contemporaries teach similar things. They claim that because he was conceived solely by the Holy Spirit, Christ could not have been a human being like we are. He could not have had the same kind of body that we do. They insist that because he was a man from heaven, his body must have been from heaven too.
That’s why I urgently warn believers to beware of religious splinter groups. If Christ isn’t true and natural God, born in eternity of the Father, and if he isn’t the Creator of all creatures, then we are doomed. What good is Christ’s suffering and death to us if he was only a human like you and me? If he were just a human, he couldn’t’ have overpowered the devil, death, or sin. He would’ve been too weak for them and would’ve never been able to help us. We must have a Savior who is true God and Lord over sin, death, hell, and the devil. Christ is eternal in nature, lacks nothing in his being, and is perfect in every way.”
By Faith Alone: Week Sixty-nine: Day Five
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today Luther speaks about the necessity of faith and its response to the works of God. Without faith, we miss seeing the hand of God at work and so would not praise Him for the glorious things that He has done. Luther begins with part of Mary’s song from Luke 1:46-47 – “My soul praises the Lord’s greatness! My spirit finds its joy in God, my Savior, because he has looked favorably on me, his humble servant.” He writes:
“Mary praised God for his power, knowledge, and desire to perform many amazing and great works. This song of praise strengthens our faith, comforts those who are humble, and terrifies all the powerful people on earth. She didn’t sing it for herself alone. She wanted all of us to sing this song with her.
The great works God has done won’t comfort you unless you believe that God is capable of doing them. More importantly, you must believe that God is willing to do them. However, believing that he is willing to do them for others but not for you is inadequate, too. If you only believe this much, you will put yourself beyond the reach of what God wants to do for you. This is what people who don’t fear God do, as well as what people with weak faith do. Those with weak faith have lost hope in God and, because of their hardships, have fallen into despair.
Believing that God is willing to help other people but unwilling to help you shows that your faith is dead. It’s like believing in a fairy tale. You shouldn’t waver or have any doubts about God’s intentions toward you. You must train yourself to firmly believe that he is able to do great things for you and is willing to do them. This kind of faith is alive and real. I will spread throughout every aspect of your life and transform you. If you are powerful, it will make you afraid. If you are humble, it will give you comfort. The more powerful you are, the more afraid you will be. The more humble you are, the more comfort you will receive.”
