The chief article and foundation of the gospel is that before you take Christ as an example, you accept and recognize him as a gift, as a present that God has given you and that is your own. This means that when you see or hear of Christ doing or suffering something, you do not doubt that Christ himself, with his deeds and suffering, belongs to you....
If you pause here and let him do you good, that is, if you believe that he benefits and helps you, then you really have it. Then Christ is yours, presented to you as a gift.
After that it is necessary that you turn this into an example and deal with your neighbor in the very same way, be given also to him as a gift and an example.
I recently was asked to suggest a starting place for getting into Martin Luther. The Freedom of the Christian is brilliant, but the same thing is said more concisely and as beautifully in his "A Brief Instruction on What to Look For and Expect in the Gospels". It only takes 5min to read, but if you take it in and absorb it then it could change your life.
Ah, you beat me to the punch. I was going to post this myself once I'd re-edited my old "Who is Jesus?" video (it's far too slow-paced).
ReplyDeleteLove this stuff. Christ as *gift* to be *received*.
Amen
Sorry Glen. I think you can still post it. It deserves posting over and over, and about 100x more people will read it on your blog.
ReplyDeleteYou really should read the Kelly Kapic book if you love this.
Or, in a much more prosaic form, Kolb and Aland's Genius of Martin Luther's Theology which focuses on the two kinds of righteousness in Luther's theology.
I'll look forward to your re-edited video. I hope it goes viral too!