Epistle Sermons, Vol. 2: Epiphany, Easter and PentecostLuther, Martin
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Epistle Sermons, Vol. 2: Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost
Luther, Martin
Bible. Epistles -- Commentaries; Sermons
27. Fourteenth, love "hopeth all things." Love despairs of no man,
however wicked he may be. It hopes for the best. As implied here, love
says, "We must, indeed, hope for better things." It is plain from this
that Paul is not alluding to hope in God. Love is a virtue
particularly representing devotion to a neighbor; his welfare is its
goal in thought and deed. Like its faith, the hope entertained by love
is frequently misplaced, but it never gives up. Love rejects no man;
it despairs of no cause. But the proud speedily despair of men
generally, rejecting them as of no account.
28. Fifteenth, love "endureth all things." It endures whatever harm
befalls, whatever injury it suffers; it endures when its faith and
hope in men have been misplaced; endures when it sustains damage to
body, property or honor. It knows that no harm has been done since it
has a rich God. False teachers, however, bear with nothing, least of
all with perfidy and the violation of plighted faith.
29. Sixteenth, love never faileth; that means, it abides forever, also
in the life to come. It never gives up, never permits itself to be
hindered or defeated by the wickedness or ingratitude of men, as do
worldly individuals and false saints, who, immediately on perceiving
contempt or ingratitude, draw back, unwilling to do further good to
any, and, rendering themselves quite inhuman, become perfect
misanthropes like Timon in his reputation among the Greeks. Love does
not so. It permits not itself to be made wicked by the wickedness of
men, nor to be hindered in well-doing. It continues to do good
everywhere, teaching and admonishing, aiding and serving,
notwithstanding its services and benefits must be rewarded, not by
good, but by evil. Love remains constant and immovable; it continues,
it endures, in this earthly life and also in the life to come. The
apostle adds, "Whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away;
whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be
knowledge, it shall be done away." Love he commends above all other
endowments, as a gift that can never pass, even in the life to come.
Those other gifts, the boast of the false apostles, are bestowed only
for this present life, to serve in the administering of the
ministerial office. Prophecy, tongues, knowledge, all must cease; for
in yonder life each individual will himself perceive perfectly and
there will be no need for one to teach another. Likewise, all
differences, all inequalities, shall be no more. No knowledge and no
diversity of gifts is necessary; God himself will be all in every
soul. 1 Cor 15, 28.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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