Mail Archive of the old Santa Clara Valley Lutheran Parish

Subject: Re: Daily devotions by and for SCVLP Pastors

Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:54:16 -0700 (PDT)

From: David Bonde <dkbonde@gmail.com>

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Subject: Re: Daily devotions by and for SCVLP Pastors
From: David Bonde <dkbonde@gmail.com>
To: SCVLP <scvlp@googlegroups.com>
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Here is the translation (and context) from the English Edition of
Luther's Works Vol 32, pp 24-25.

The sub-title of the work is:

Defense and Explanation of All the Articles of Dr. Martin Luther which
were Unjustly Condemned by the Roman Bull

And this comes in the second article:

THE SECOND ARTICLE
He who denies that after baptism sin remains in every child tramples
upon Christ and St. Paul.12

...

The second parable is written in Matt. 13[:33]. It tells of the leaven
which the woman mixes in three measures of meal until it is thoroughly
leavened. The new leaven is the faith and grace of the Spirit. It does
not leaven the whole lump at once but gently, and gradually, we become
like this new leaven and eventually, a bread of God. This life,
therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not
health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but
exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The
process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not
the goal but it is the right road. At present, everything does not
gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.

To bring the matter to a conclusion, the Lord=92s Prayer alone is enough
to show that all of us are still sinners, for all the saints must also
pray, =93Hallowed be thy name, thy will be done, thy kingdom come,=94 etc.
Here they actually confess that they do not now adequately hallow
God=92s name; nevertheless they could not even offer this prayer if the
Spirit had not already begun to hallow this name. Thus they confess
that they do not yet fulfil the will of God and yet they could not
pray this petition had they not already begun to fulfil it. For those
who have not made a beginning care nothing about the name and will of
God, pray for nothing, and show no interest. Nor can it be said that
in these petitions the saints pray only over their past sins and not
their present and remaining sins. For there is a special Petition in
the Lord=92s Prayer that deals with past sins which says, =93Forgive us
our debts as we forgive our debtors.=94 These other Petitions, however,
obviously refer to the other sins which are now present. For this
reason, they ask that in the future God=92s name be honored, the divine
will be obeyed, and the kingdom of God be attained. These are the
prayers of men who are still partly in the kingdom of the devil,
partly disobedient, and partly guilty of dishonoring the name of God.


On Jul 21, 12:51 pm, "Pastor Jim Friedrich" <pastor...@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
> Bea, I have long had this Luther quote but never knew where in Luther's w=
orks it came from.  It sounds so contemporary.  Do you know if it's a prett=
y accurate translation of the German or is it more of a paraphrase?
>
> Thanks for using it.
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Bea Chun
>   To: scvlp@googlegroups.com
>   Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 12:57 PM
>   Subject: Daily devotions by and for SCVLP Pastors
>
>   The 18th of each month is my assigned day for devotions. Here they are,
>   Bea
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----
>
>   "This life is therefore,
>   not righteousness,
>   but growth in righteousness,
>   not health, but healing,
>   not being, but becoming,
>   not rest, but exercise.
>   We are not yet what we shall be,
>   but we are growing toward it,
>   the process is not yet finished
>   but it is going on,
>   this is not the end,
>   but it is the road.
>   All does not yet gleam in glory,
>   but all is being purified."
>
>   From Luther's "Defense and Explanation of All the Articles" (1521),
>
>   discussion of Second Article