"The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am as it were in wedlock. It is my Katherine."
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
The Priesthood
"I will let every man decide for himself the difference between the outward priesthood of dazzling character and the internal, spiritual priesthood . The first is confined to a very few individuals; the second, Christians commonly share. One was ordained of men, independently of the Word of God; the other was established through the Word, irrespective of human devices. In that, the skin is be-smeared with material oil ; in this, the heart is internally anointed with the Holy Spirit . That applauds and extols its works; this proclaims and magnifies the grace of God, and his glory.
That does not offer up the body with its lusts, but rather fosters the evil desires of the flesh; this sacrifices the body and mortifies its lusts. The former permits the offering up to itself of gold and property, of honor, of idleness and pleasure , and of all manner of lust on earth ; the latter foregoes these things and accepts only the reverse of homage. That again sacrifices Christ in its awful perversions; this, satisfied with the atonement once made by Christ , offers up itself with him and in him, by making similar sacrifices.
In fact, the two priesthoods accord about as well as Christ and Barabbas, as light and darkness , as God and the world. As little as smearing and shaving were factors in Christ’s priesthood , so little will they thus procure for anyone the Christian priesthood . Yet Christ , with all his Christians, is priest . 'Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek .' Ps 110,4. The Christian priesthood will not admit of appointment.
The priest is not made. He must be born a priest ; must inherit his office. I refer to the new birth — the birth of water and the Spirit. Thus all Christians become priests, children of God and co-heirs with Christ the Most High Priest ."
from "Complete Sermons of Martin Luther", Vol IV, copyright 2000, pp. 8-9.
That does not offer up the body with its lusts, but rather fosters the evil desires of the flesh; this sacrifices the body and mortifies its lusts. The former permits the offering up to itself of gold and property, of honor, of idleness and pleasure , and of all manner of lust on earth ; the latter foregoes these things and accepts only the reverse of homage. That again sacrifices Christ in its awful perversions; this, satisfied with the atonement once made by Christ , offers up itself with him and in him, by making similar sacrifices.
In fact, the two priesthoods accord about as well as Christ and Barabbas, as light and darkness , as God and the world. As little as smearing and shaving were factors in Christ’s priesthood , so little will they thus procure for anyone the Christian priesthood . Yet Christ , with all his Christians, is priest . 'Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek .' Ps 110,4. The Christian priesthood will not admit of appointment.
The priest is not made. He must be born a priest ; must inherit his office. I refer to the new birth — the birth of water and the Spirit. Thus all Christians become priests, children of God and co-heirs with Christ the Most High Priest ."
from "Complete Sermons of Martin Luther", Vol IV, copyright 2000, pp. 8-9.
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