AG2b: 1874, Reconciliation, Redemption of Human Race, "Crown of all Christian Doctrine"

      This continues from Part AG2a (Table of Contents in Part AG1a) in a series presenting Walther's essays to the Western District that supported his theme "That Only Through the Doctrine of the Lutheran Church is All Glory Given to God Alone". — This second part of Walther's 1874 essay is one of his most powerful essays, full of comfort, full of defense for the truth, especially against the "enthusiasts". I have quoted from it previously without providing a completely new translation. — From pp. 43-61:

Notable Quotes:

43: "This doctrine is…the crown of all Christian doctrine and the real triumph of the Christian religion."

43: "the Christian religion, on the other hand, teaches not only how people are to be eternally saved one day, but how they are already saved"

43: "Everything has already been done; you are already redeemed, you are already justified before God, you are already saved; therefore you have nothing to do to redeem yourself first"

44: The papists teach "if one sins after baptism, one must then do enough before God"

44: Formula of Concord: "God has decreed in his purpose and counsel, 1. that the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled to God through Christ"

44: "In Christ my sins have already been atoned for; he has done enough for them as my substitute."

45: "Good works should be done, but not to propitiate God…but out of gratitude to Christ"

45: "the damned in hell will one day have to say: I did not go to hell because I was not saved,…but I was cast out because I did not want to accept the salvation I had received from God's hand"

Walther's great Gospel teaching:

45: "We should not say to people: You are saved on the condition that you believe; but the other way around: Because Christ has redeemed you, you can now believe that you have been saved."

46: "It is therefore terrible when the sects say: I have all this on condition that I do something to bring it about."

46: "God is no longer angry with mankind.…For as I believe God, so He is."

47: "…as Luther also says in the 95 Theses. 'The true treasure of the churches,' it says in the 62nd thesis, 'is the holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.'" [Prof. Cameron MacKenzie argues against Luther's 95 Theses as truly Lutheran yet. He also argues against Walther.]

47: "…they are always there for us, even if we do not believe."

48: The enthusiast "is against the means of grace because he does not believe in grace itself. Yes, says the enthusiast, I cannot believe that God gives such great goods through such small, insignificant means."

49: Enthusiasts (i.e. Methodists, Pentecostals etc.) "confess, for example, that they believe in the triune God; but this article is the greatest mystery to human reason."

49: Enthusiasts "do not ask [one]: What do you believe? — but rather: How do you feel?…they go on with the work until he has a feeling as if Jesus is there."

50: "But this is precisely what they lack, and make repentance the means of reconciliation with God" [As the papists do.]

50: "Whoever, at the hour of death, does not keep to the Word but to the "spirit", has only a phantom, a figment of the imagination, and must go to hell."

51: "according to Scripture, the whole Christ, the God-man, died…If only that which was human in Christ had died, then redemption would not be valid"

52: Calvin "…attributes it only to the unconditional eternal counsel of God that God brings a man to heaven, not to Christ's truly perfect satisfaction."

52: "true Reformed do not believe that Christ is true God and man in one person"

53: "if we could not rely on the word of Christ, 'It is finished,' no Christian could say, 'Christ has done enough for every one of my sins.'…Only in the Lutheran Church is this truth taught."

54: "Christ bore all sins, both original sin and all other sins.…the enthusiasts say, [God has] only done something for the redemption of all people…we still have to do something in addition."

54: "the angels at the birth of the world's Redeemer and Reconciler…: "Glory to God in the highest"!"

55: "the Presbyterians confess: 'No other is redeemed by Christ…except the elect alone.'"

56: "the ungodly doctrine of the Romans concerning the sacrifice of the Mass.…the greatest abomination of papism."

56: The devil "preserves and elevates the Mass so powerfully, namely to remove Christ's sacrifice from the church"

56: The Apology: "We teach that the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross was sufficient for the sin of the whole world"

57: "The Mass is therefore the real hellish core of the antichristian papacy."

58: "How are people converted? By giving God the glory he has given himself in the work of redemption"

58: "No doctrine is therefore so…worthy that the preacher should present it in a more attractive and lovely way, than the doctrine of the redemption of the world through Christ"

59: Listeners of modern preachers are "only beaten up, given rules, punished harshly and given a great goal. So it is no wonder that people are reluctant to go to church."

59: "If…a preacher proclaims Christ Jesus, exalts this man, and makes people rejoice from the heart that they have such a glorious Savior, that is the right man, he is an ambassador in God's stead"

60: "as Luther rightly says: Even when the Lord Jesus proclaims woe, he does so in order to be able to save."

60: "It is also a wonderful, fruitful means of preparation for this if the preacher diligently studies Luther." [Compare to Prof. Cameron MacKenzie's unhelpful comment on Walther and Luther:

"Walther overlooks or explains away what others might see as sinful [in Luther]. We do not do either of these things today. We expect our heroes both to have weaknesses and to make mistakes—and they do. Martin Luther and oh, yes, C.F.W. Walther. But Walther is long gone and so is his whole approach to Martin Luther as hero and infallible teacher."]

Reading MacKenzie's statement is like saying "Read Luther to see if you can find his sinfulness, his weaknesses, his fallibility". Of course MacKenzie's charge that Walther ascribed "infallibility" to Luther's person is false. But Luther's doctrine was Scriptural and therefore infallible.

      Now I present my new English translation with all missing portions, and Walther's emphasis of wording, fully restored, and hyperlinks added for navigation and reference:

Download the text file here (8-1/2 x 11, no highlighting); German text here.

— In the next Part 3a we begin Walther's next essay from 1875 on "The justification of the Sinner".