Thoughts on Christian Preaching

 

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

A lot of pulpits in American churches have been replaced with the stage, the riser, and the lectern. Regardless of whether or not the pastor speaks from behind a traditional pulpit, or walks around in a cloud of smoke-machine vapor, a lot of different things happen in that place from which he addresses the assembled gathering (which I will collectively refer to as the pulpit). Theological essays on fine points of theology are read. Political rallies are led. Self-help lectures are spoken. People claiming to hear the voice of God speak dubious prophecies, and utter gibberish as though it were the miraculous gift of tongues.

Theological essays are fine. If I didn’t think so, I would stop writing them. Speeches urging Christian men to do their civic duty are important. Men must all, from time to time, be reminded that the things we claim to believe are connected to the world in which we live; and we ought to conduct ourselves in the world according to those beliefs. That means refusing to offer the pinch of incense to Caesar, even on pain of death. It also means peacefully but firmly resisting when secular society urges, or tries to force us to do and affirm things which are contrary to Christian teaching. Speeches of such a political and social nature, in my opinion, should not happen in the pulpit. They should happen at the gatherings outside of worship: the men’s group, the women’s group, the coffee hour after church, the Sunday school, the confirmation class, the youth gathering, and the gathering of friends and family in and outside of the home. As Christians, we should want to spend a lot of time talking with each other about how God’s Law applies to us, and to what we say and do. Our pastors should want to encourage us to do this, and to guide us in it.

Needless to say, the false prophesying of modern-day prophets has no place either inside or outside of the pulpit.

What should be happening when the pastor ascends the pulpit on Sunday morning? The pastor’s job is to make disciples of Jesus by baptizing and teaching. He should, therefore, proclaim the Gospel. That seems too simple. The people in church have already heard that and believe, right? These people sitting in the pew need life-application, don't they? If we don't think we need to be called to repentance we are wrong. If we think we don't need to hear the preaching of sin and grace in Christ we should, to borrow from Luther, touch our bodies to see if we still have flesh and blood, and then believe what scripture says of them. 

Or, we might think, as I did for a long time, that the pastor should engage in a verse-by-verse, word-for-word exegesis of the appointed Biblical text for the day. If you want that, go to his Bible study. If he doesn’t do that at his Bible study, encourage him to.

We might want our pastor to organize our congregation into a community activist group that publicly protests injustices. We might want him to tell us what to think about various political issues, and to tell us which politicians to support to save western civilization. If you want that, go to a political rally. Don't be too surprised, though, when the movement, the party, or the politician lets you down. This type of thinking suggests that we are not relying on Christ and His power to save us, but rather the power of the government. I suppose the Lutheran way to say this might be that we are violating the First Commandment, since we would seem to be not fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things.

The Bible tells us not to trust man’s power to save, because he hasn’t any. It tells us that this world is the domain of the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan. Here in this present world, the Bible tells us, the Christian has no continuing city. We look toward that which is to come. That is the reason we can be so bold as to refuse to worship Caesar even when his henchman has the knife at our throat. He may kill us, but Jesus has already made us alive in Him. We will awaken on the day of resurrection and enter into the new and perfect creation to live there forever with Christ.

That is not to say that we should completely abandon the world and the society in which we live. If that were so we should retreat to the monasteries and shut ourselves away as Christians have tired in the past. I am simply saying that we should keep two things in mind. First, the world in which we live is passing away and we are looking forward to the new world which is to supplant it. Second, the purpose of we Christians gathering together - or as we Lutherans might say, gathering together around Word and Sacrament - is not the same as any of those other types of gatherings mentioned previously. The purpose of the gathering we call church is to receive God’s gifts that were won for us by Christ’s death and resurrection. Those gifts are the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. God gives them to us, primarily, in two ways. One way is through the preaching of His Word. The other way is through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which we call sacraments. In a way, preaching and administering the sacraments are the same thing, because they are both ways that God delivers His Word to us and creates faith in us. Right now, however, I want to focus on Christian preaching.

The main purpose of Christian preaching is to deliver to men the thing which God uses to make Christians. That is God’s Word. In Christian preaching, the preacher is to proclaim the two great teachings of God’s Word: Law and Gospel. The Law tells man what he must do for God, how he cannot do it, and the condemnation he deserves. The Gospel tells man what God has done for him; how while we were God’s enemies Christ died to redeem the world. In Christian preaching the preacher proclaims that, becoming man in the person of Jesus, God suffered and died on the cross to bear the guilt of our sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Such Christian preaching brings men to faith. It crushes men under the weight of God’s Law. It shows men their sin and makes them sorry for their sins. It delivers to those so brought to repentance the promise that, for the sake of Jesus those sins have been removed; it tells them that this is true not only for them individually, but also for the whole world (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2, 1951).

Through the preaching of the Gospel, God the Holy Spirit creates faith in men’s hearts. The Gospel is the mechanism by which God tells us what He has done for us in spite of the fact that we did not deserve it: that at just the right time, while we were still God’s enemies, Christ was born according to the scriptures, died as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and rose again for our justification. He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3, 1953).

The reason that church is different from, for example, a formal presentation of some theological points in a lecture hall is this: the preacher isn’t trying to convince the people listening to him to believe in Jesus. He is simply discharging his duty to proclaim the message he has been given. No one can be convinced into the Christian faith by rational arguments alone. The natural man cannot receive the spiritual things or know them (1 Cor. 2:14; 1:23). It is the Holy Spirit who will prove the truth of Law and Gospel to those who hear. The man who hears God’s Law and is crushed by it into contrition does not need proof that what the Law says about mankind, and about himself individually, is true. He knows his sin when it is exposed. When he hears the Gospel proclamation of how Christ died to take away that sin, he will rejoice without the aid of scientific demonstration, or apologetic explanation of why the Gospel is true. He will be happy to be out from under the weight of condemnation and death (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 1, 1950).

That isn’t to say, however, that the only place from which the Gospel can be heard is the pulpit. The Holy Spirit works how He wants to, when and where it pleases Him. He may very well use the Gospel spoken in that theological lecture, or in that conversation with colleagues in the lunchroom, to cause someone listening to come to faith. The same thing goes for all the other gatherings where Christians are present. All Christians are, in fact, called to preach the Gospel. Every person who confesses Christ is member of the priesthood of all believers. Every Christian is called to preach and teach those in whose midst he finds himself according to his various vocations (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3, 1953).

The general call of the Christian to preach the Gospel, however, is different from the call to the public ministry. The call to the public ministry, that is, to serve as a pastor in a Christian congregation, is one to preach and teach in the gathering of Christians of a specific place and time (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3, 1953). This is not a matter to be taken lightly for either the congregation, or the pastor who is called. He will be, as James writes, held to a higher standard on Judgment Day. So, where Christians are gathered together they are to choose men to administer God’s word and sacraments to them according to the guidelines set forth in Holy Scripture. This is because God is a God of order, and not of disorder (Ap AC XIV). The man whom they call is to proclaim God’s Word boldly, and in its purity, and to administer the sacraments rightly according to Christ’s institution.

Finally, Christian preaching should proclaim the hope of glory. This is nothing other than proclaiming Law and Gospel, but from the angle of Christ’s return. Preaching the coming of Christ’s kingdom of glory was something the Apostles did from the beginning. The eyes of the early Christians were constantly directed upwards in anticipation of Christ’s return. Christian preaching should give the Christian comfort in the midst of suffering by reminding him of the fulfillment of the promise of the resurrection, and of eternal life with Jesus and all the saints in the restored creation (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2, 1952).

The more purely and boldly preachers proclaim the Gospel, the more the Holy Spirit will do His own work of making Christians. Those saints who are regularly fed with Jesus’ body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, and by hearing their faithful pastors preach, will be sustained and grow in the faith by the miraculous power of God. Indeed, as Paul wrote, how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? They will then go out into the world to be salt and light. They won’t be able to help it. Their good works will just proceed forth from them as apples proceed forth from an apple tree. They will be bold to say, as Peter and John did, we must obey God rather than men, when confronted with ridicule and persecution. If, however, our pastors give us essays, pop psychology, seminars on positive thinking, mystical gibberish, and lies, we will begin to believe in those things instead of Jesus. ###

Works Cited

Pieper, Francis. 1950. Christian Dogmatics, vol. 1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Pieper, Francis. 1951. Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Pieper, Francis. 1953. Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Four Fishermen Called as Disciples

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him (Matthew 4:18-22)

This verse can be deceptive. Upon first reading, it seems like Jesus just shows up among these fishermen and they just leave, without very much persuasion at all. This isn’t quite accurate. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were followers of John the Baptist. They knew that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world from John the Baptist. When Jesus comes to call these men into His service, they jump at the opportunity. They leave the vocation into which they had been called, by which they had been providing for their families and doing good works for their neighbors, to enter full-time service to the Lord.

Jesus will make these fishermen fishers of men. But why choose fishermen? These men were certainly not educated men; they were working men. Based on how they react to the things Jesus says and does later, we know that their understanding of Holy Scripture was faulty. Even the scribes, Pharisees, and teachers of the Law understood the prophecies pointed to Jesus; Herod’s religious authorities knew where to look for the birth of the Messiah. They just didn’t believe. Christ chooses these men to enter His service, not because they were rich, educated, or pious, but because He is gracious. He will make them fishers of men. They do not start out that way. The words that St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians come to mind: For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”[1]

Jesus will teach these men, along with the other Apostles, how to fish for men. It doesn’t take as much skill on the fisher’s part as we might expect. While in modern times, we think of fishing with a rod and reel, it was done with a net in ancient times. A round net, weighted on the edges, was cast from a boat into shallow water. Whatever was beneath it as it billowed toward the bottom like a parachute was caught. In order for the net to work it had to spread out properly. In order for it to spread out properly, it had to be thrown properly. Before one could be a successful fisherman, one needed to learn the proper way to cast the net. The net is the means by which fish are caught.

Jesus chooses these men to become His Apostles. They will be taught over the next three years of Jesus earthly ministry how to cast Christ’s net – to proclaim Law and Gospel. They will not be taught how to persuade fish to bite a lure at the end of a line. They are being taught to cast a net. The power of conversion is not in the fisherman, but in his net, the Word of God. There is no other power in the whole world that can bring sinners into Christ’s kingdom.[2] Our pastors cast God’s net each week when they proclaim God’s Holy Word, when they baptize, when they feed us Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. And, though we seek to avoid being caught in God’s net because of our sinfulness, He is persistent. He is patient. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.[3] All the time Christ delays His return means more time for His fishers of men to continue casting His net. Let us not despise preaching and His word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.

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[1] 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

[2] Albrecht, G. Jerome., and Michael J. Albrecht. Matthew. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1996. P. 58

[3] 2 Peter 3:9

Addressing the Areopagus

Areopagus Sermon, by Rafael, 1515.

Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter” (Acts 17:29-32).

Read Acts 17:16-34 here.

Paul demonstrates here what he means when he writes to the Corinthians that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Paul spends his time in Athens talking to the philosophers and thinkers, preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus. God works through His preached word. He wants all men to be savers and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So, He brings the means of grace to the people of Athens through Paul.

The Areopagus today.

The Athens in which Paul was preaching looks a lot like the society and culture in which we live today. We may not speak Greek or wear togas, but those types of things are only superficial. Paul looked around at Athens and saw a city filled with idolatry. We too are indeed very religious. We don’t worship statues of the gods of Olympus, but we are the same type of idolaters as the ancient Athenians nevertheless. We, like them, and like all of mankind since the Fall don’t fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We are curved inward on ourselves. We have made ourselves our god, the object of our worship. The Greeks carved images out of stone to represent their gods, but they all suspiciously had the characteristics of men. Those gods were proud, they were jealous, they were vain and capricious. They blessed you when you pleased them, and they punished you when you offended them, generally speaking. They understood quid pro quo.

Today, we may not have giant statues of Zeus in the center of our towns, but we don’t need them. We do just fine worshipping ourselves without the formal paganism. The worship of self is characterized by man feeling some vague need for redemption, and trying to assuage that feeling by some outward act or work. We spend our days sacrificing to the idol of self our time, our talent, and our treasure, to borrow the language of Christian stewardship. We don’t sacrifice animals to the gods, but we do sacrifice just about everything else to try and please the god of ourselves.

Paul’s preaching of the law, however, shows us what is really important. God, the true God, is not far from us. We are so curved inward on ourselves that we can’t see Him. And, as Paul said, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Some mocked Paul, when they earn him speak of the resurrection of the dead, just as they do today. Their sinful minds remain hostile to God; they cannot understand the spiritual things because they are stiff-necked, and always resist the working of the Holy Spirit.

But Christ comes to us in His Word and Sacraments. Through His word, He works repentance for our sins and faith in His promise of redemption in us. Through faith in Christ, He makes us sons of God and heirs of the promise. Through baptism, the washing of regeneration through water and the word, Christ clothes us with Himself and joins us to His death and resurrection. Let us be among those who, upon hearing the Gospel, wanted to hear more, who joined Paul, who believed, and who grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Paul Ministering in Corinth

Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

Paul preaches Christ in Thessalonica. His opponents gather a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attack the house of a man named Jason, where Paul was staying. At the end of the affair it is Jason, Paul, and the other brethren who are arrested and must post bond. Paul preaches Christ in Berea. The reception is a little better there; but when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. Paul preaches Christ in Athens. He wasn’t physically attacked by an angry mob but, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, some were converted, and some said they wanted to hear more. Paul departed from among them.

In Corinth, the scene appears set to play out as it did in the other places. Paul preaches Christ in Corinth. He was compelled by the Spirit to do so, Scripture says, and he testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” This time, however, the risen Jesus tells Paul not to be afraid. He should keep speaking, “...for I am with you, and no one will attack or hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” And Paul does, for a year and a half. And the Jews bring Paul to the judgment seat of proconsul Gallio. They hope Gallio will assume Paul is advocating illegal religion and acting treasonously by telling people to pledge their allegiance to a king other than Caesar. They charge Paul with persuading men to worship God contrary to the law. Gallio wants no part of this religious dispute. He tells them to handle it amongst themselves and clears the court. Paul is saved; the one who takes the beating is Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue. The church steadily grows and becomes more firmly established through the bold proclamation of Christ crucified for our sins and risen from the dead; God the Holy Spirit, working as He wills, makes Christians in the face of ferocious opposition through His means of the external word of God.

Paul wasn’t surprised or disheartened when he was mocked, beaten, stoned, and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. Scripture tells us he was compelled to preach by the Holy Spirit. He knew what the reaction would be. We also should know what the reaction of the pagan world will be to us as well. Jesus, the Word made flesh, came to His own and His own did not receive Him. Jesus taught His disciples that He was sending them out as sheep among wolves; that they would be delivered up to councils; that they would be scourged; that they would be brought before kings and governors for His sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. Jesus’ disciples, we included, will be hated by all for His name’s sake; but he who endures to the end will be saved.[1] The world hates us because it hated Jesus before us, and no student is above his master. They hate us because of the message we proclaim: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day; that by His atoning sacrifice, Jesus purchased and won me from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood, and by His innocent suffering and death. This message is foolishness to those who are perishing. The carnal mind cannot understand spiritual things.

Being dead in our transgression, we must be made alive by the working of God, through water and the Word. Being dead we must be born from above by water and the spirit. And even though the world may mock us, reject us, and even react violently toward us, we continue to bring them the Gospel, the message of the cross. It isn’t through the elegant turning of a phrase that God makes Christians out of non-Christians, as we see from Paul’s example; Christians are made through the preaching of the Gospel. We must not be afraid to boldly proclaim that Gospel to those around us, according to our vocation. It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.[2]

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[1] Matthew 10:16-26

[2] Romans 1:16

The Plot to Kill Jesus - Jesus Predicts His Death

Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people” (Matthew 26:1-5).

Whenever we hear Jesus predict His own death, and see the disciples’ utter failure to understand or believe what Jesus is telling them, we tend to react incredulously. What was their problem? Were they not paying attention? Were they just stupid? Modern man has an arrogant tendency to look down on those of previous generations. We tend to characterize those who came before us as ignorant. After all, we have televisions, smart phones, and computers. We do this in religious matters as well. We look down our nose at the disciples. We think to ourselves, “If I had been there with Jesus, I would’ve believed.” How could these idiots possibly doubt Jesus’ words after what they witnessed? They saw Him heal the sick, cast out demons, miraculously feed the multitudes, walk on water, and even raise the dead. If we saw all that, savvy and well-educated modern sophisticates that we are, we certainly would’ve believed.

But it isn’t true. Miracles don’t make believers, the Holy Spirit working through the Word does. If people won’t believe the words of Moses and the Prophets, they won’t believe even if someone rises from the dead.[1] The Jews who plotted to kill Jesus saw many of His miracles. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees did not marvel that Lazarus was again alive; they said, “If we let Him alone like this everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”[2] They, too, thought Jesus’ miracles would make converts. It didn’t work on them, though. The multitudes who ate multiplied loaves and fishes soon after deserted Jesus when he taught them the hard saying that, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.[3]

The teaching of Scripture cannot be stated any more clearly and concisely than in the explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed from Luther’s Small Catechism: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.[4]

The problem with the disciples wasn’t that they needed to be convinced to believe in Jesus. They needed to be converted. This is what was happening to them over the course of their time with Jesus. The Holy Spirit worked to create faith in them as He willed. Christ tells them plainly: You don’t have faith even as big as a mustard seed. They protest, of course. They even vow to die with Jesus, when he tells them that they will all abandon him, as foretold in Holy Scripture. Their self-image will be shattered upon Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion, when the shepherd is smitten, and the sheep are scattered. Peter must be restored by Christ.[5] The disciples on the road to Emmaus must have their eyes opened to Jesus.[6] Jesus must open understanding of the Scriptures to the disciples.[7] He is the key.

Christ worked their conversion - and ours - from beginning to end. We can be certain that as we now believe in Him, no one can pluck us out of His hand. This is why we, following St. Paul’s example, endeavor to know nothing but Christ crucified among those with whom God has surrounded us in our vocation. It is through hearing the message of Christ that men are born again - not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.[8] This is why it is important that we do not despise preaching and God’s Word. It is the means through which sinners receive repentance, faith, and forgiveness of sins, won for mankind by the death and resurrection of Christ.

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[1] Luke 16:27-31

[2] John 11:45-48

[3] John 6:53

[4] Luther, Martin. "The Small Catechism." The Small Catechism - Book of Concord. Accessed March 14, 2018. http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php#creed.

[5] John 21:15-19

[6] Luke 24:13-35

[7] Luke 24:44-49

[8] Romans 10:17; John 1:12-13

Luther's Sermon for the First Sunday After Trinity

In a sermon on 1 John 4, Luther addresses those pastors and people who wrongly imagine that they can preach and listen only to the Gospel apart from the rebuke and admonition of the Law:

YOU have often heard and are now hearing the complaint, which is universal in all the world, that when human beings hear the preaching of faith about the remission of sins, they embrace it, because it is a delightful preaching: God has sent His Son for you. But when it is said that you must adorn your faith to the praise of God, and sins are rebuked, no one wants to hear anything more.

In towns everywhere, people distinguish among preachers. “This one is a fine preacher, who talks about grace and mercy; and what is even finer, he does not scold anyone or frighten people.” That is the way people commonly talk and act. If he does rebuke [sins], they undertake to have him removed. Therefore, many [of these preachers] have returned to us.

When you are scolded as a usurer, adulterer, or whatever kind of swine you are, or [it is said] that a peasant, a townsman, or a nobleman is godless, no one will suffer that. “But if I am a usurer, adulterer, swindler, and [the preacher] does not scold me, ah, what a pious man he is!”

[Are you] really righteous because I [do not] rebuke your vices? Then let the devil be [your] preacher. If I see peasants, townsmen, noblemen and do not chastise them, then I will go to the devil along with you. For [God says in] Ezekiel 3 [:18]: “I will require [their] blood at your [hands],” and they themselves will go to the devil. You shall give an account of yourself. I will not be responsible for that in the hour of death or of judgment. Rather, I shall declare what is contrary to the commandment, and then if you do not obey, you do it at your own peril.

. . . Surely an upright [Christian] gladly hears an admonition to faith, not to be greedy or a usurer, and he amends himself. I would want a brother to admonish me when I go astray. But they refuse to tolerate anyone who rebukes them [even] in general. When I say that usurers belong to the devil, why do you cry out? It is because you yourself are guilty. If you want to know which dog has been struck, it is the one who cries out.8 Therefore, you are accusing yourself, if you grumble, and are defaming yourself. As Cicero says, when vices are rebuked in general terms, whoever becomes angry at it shows himself to be guilty.

Whoever cannot bear it when unbelief is rebuked along with the fruits of unbelief, he is most certainly the dog who has been struck. But this is the purpose for which they want to misuse the Gospel: that they may do whatever they want, and the preachers should confirm it and so be cast down to hell along with them, or else we should nullify the Gospel and the ministry [of the Word], etc., [saying,] “Oh, it is all the same; do whatever you want and you will be saved!”

The Word must be unbound [cf. 2 Tim. 2:9]. It must be freely preached. Human nature has been corrupted by unbelief, which brings its fruits along with it. Therefore, sins must be rebuked, as in the Ten Commandments, etc. If you don’t want to listen to God, then don’t!

Luther, Martin. “Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity, 1 John 4:16–21.” Luther’s Works: Sermons V. Ed. & trans. by Christopher Boyd Brown. Vol. 58. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2010, pp. 234–235.