Martin Luther's Large Catechism, translated by Bente and DauLuther, Martin
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Martin Luther's Large Catechism, translated by Bente and Dau
Luther, Martin
Lutheran Church -- Catechisms -- English
Therefore, this article ought to humble and terrify us all, if we
believed it. For we sin daily with eyes, ears, hands, body and soul,
money and possessions, and with everything we have, especially those
who even fight against the Word of God. Yet Christians have this
advantage, that they acknowledge themselves in duty bound to serve God
for all these things, and to be obedient to Him [which the world knows
not how to do].
We ought, therefore, daily to practice this article, impress it upon
our mind, and to remember it in all that meets our eyes, and in all
good that falls to our lot, and wherever we escape from calamity or
danger, that it is God who gives and does all these things, that
therein we sense and see His paternal heart and His transcendent love
toward us. Thereby the heart would be warmed and kindled to be
thankful, and to employ all such good things to the honor and praise of
God.
Thus we have most briefly presented the meaning of this article, as
much as is at first necessary for the most simple to learn, both as to
what we have and receive from God, and what we owe in return, which is
a most excellent knowledge, but a far greater treasure. For here we see
how the Father has given Himself to us, together with all creatures,
and has most richly provided for us in this life, besides that He has
overwhelmed us with unspeakable, eternal treasures by His Son and the
Holy Ghost, as we shall hear.
Article II.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He
rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the
right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to
judge the quick and the dead.
Here we learn to know the Second Person of the Godhead, so that we see
what we have from God over and above the temporal goods
aforementioned; namely, how He has completely poured forth Himself and
withheld nothing from us that He has not given us. Now, this article is
very rich and broad; but in order to expound it also briefly and in a
childlike way, we shall take up one word and sum up in that the entire
article, namely (as we have said), that we may here learn how we have
been redeemed; and we shall base this on these words: In Jesus Christ,
our Lord.
If now you are asked, What do you believe in the Second Article of
Jesus Christ? answer briefly: I believe that Jesus Christ, true Son of
God, has become my Lord. But what is it to become Lord? It is this,
that He has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and all
evil. For before I had no Lord nor King, but was captive under the
power of the devil, condemned to death, enmeshed in sin and blindness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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