PATTERN OF SOUND WORDS

Tag: Fourth Sunday of Advent

  • Quotes from the Lutheran Church Fathers for John 1:19–28

    John 1:20 – He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

    “John persisted in his calling and faithfully carried out the task to which God had appointed him; he bore witness to Christ the Lord and directed the people away from himself to Christ. The Jews should have paid heed to his testimony, taken it to heart, and realized that John was bearing witness to Christ and not to himself, especially since he declared unequivocally (John 1:20): “I am not the Christ [we shall return to these words later], but I have been sent to witness to Him. I am shouting and proclaiming that He is the Light and the Life of man, full of grace and truth.” John was commissioned to point to this Christ and to lead all mankind to Him, so that he might induce all who were dead in sin and sitting in darkness and the shadow of death (Luke 1:79) to come to Him, to believe in Him, to be animated and illumined by Him, and thus to become partakers of His grace and truth. For this was the purpose of Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection, that all believers in Him might be justified and saved.”

    (Martin Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of St. John, AE 22:126)

    John 1:21 – And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

    “[The question arises:] In what sense does this same [John the] Baptist deny that he is a prophet (John 1:21), even though he was considered as and honored with the title “prophet,” not only by his father Zechariah (Luke 1:76) but also by all the people of Israel (Matthew 14:5; Mark 11:32)? We respond: Some people take the question of the messengers from Jerusalem as referring to the outstanding prophet promised in Deuteronomy 18:18. However, because they had already asked John if he was the Christ, the question of whether he was that great prophet would have been repeated uselessly. You see, it could be said only about the Messiah that He was that outstanding prophet who had promised through Moses, unless we wanted to say that those messengers and the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem had completely erred from the true meaning of this prophecy, something that anyone who notices their stupidity and blindness would easily believe. Some respond by saying that John denied that he was a prophet because Christ said he was greater and more excellent than the prophets. Some claim that when John denies that he is a prophet, he was regarding the fact that he is not one of the prophets of the Old Testament, about whom it was said in Matthew 11:13, “For all the prophets prophesied until John.” Some claim that the messengers asked and John replied about Elisha, who himself had ordered Naaman to be dipped in the waters. Some thing that John denied that he was a prophet because of his humility, even though he truly was a prophet. Some people suspect that John refused to accept the honor of prophet because he was not undertaking a duty of the political office, which the prophets in the Old Testament used.

    But it is more simple to respond that John adjusted his response to the question of the messengers. They were asking him if he was a prophet, that is, if he was one of those ancient prophets, long dead already, who had been recalled to life through a Pythagorean transmigration of souls. You see, Elias Levita testifies in Thisbi that the Jewish leaders at that time had embraced the idea of the transmigration of souls, something we also conclude from the words of Herod (Matthew 14:1; Mark 6:14), where he makes this judgment about Christ: “John the Baptist has risen from the dead. That is why these powers are at work in Him.” However, the sense of the question is revealed especially from what comes before it. They are asking whether he is a prophet in the same sense as they ask whether he is Elijah. But they are asking if he is Elijah in this sense: Is he that Elijah, the Tishbite, who was carried into heaven by a fiery chariot and whose return in his own person they were awaiting, according to the misunderstood prophecy in Malachi 4:5? Therefore they are also asking him if he is a prophet in this sense: Is he one of the ancient prophets recalled to life by a divine miracle? This we conclude very clearly form the words of Luke 9:7–8, “Now Herod the tetrarch heard all that Christ was doing, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by the others that one of the ancient prophets had risen.” Therefore John had first denied that he was Elijah in that sense in which the messengers had asked if he was Elijah in his own person, even though the angel (Luke 1:17) and Christ Himself (Matthew 11:14) call him “Elijah” in a different sense: because he went ahead of that Messiah in the spirit and power of Elijah. In the same way, he denies that he is a prophet in that sense in which the messengers had asked him if he was a prophet, that is, one of the ancient prophets brought back to life, even though in a different sense he truly was a prophet: a herald of repentance and righteousness, the forerunner of the Messiah, a minister of the New Testament, etc.”

    (Johann Gerhard, Theological Commonplaces XXVI/1, pgs. 30–31)

    John 1:23 – He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (Isaiah 40:3)

    “This is an answer which no learned, wise, and holy man can endure, and John must literally be possessed of the devil and be a heretic. Only sinners and fools think him a holy, godly man; give way to his crying; and make room for the Lord, removing the obstacles from His way. The others, however, throw logs, stones, and dirt in His way; they even kill both the forerunner and the Lord Himself for daring to say such things to them. Why? John tells them to prepare the way of the Lord. That is to say, they do not have the Lord nor His way in them. What do they have then? Where the Lord is not, nor His way, there must be man’s own way, the devil, and all that is evil.”

    (Martin Luther, Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, AE 75:178)

    “Is it not a wrong and strange way of speaking when [John] says, “I am the voice of one crying”? How can a man be a voice? He ought to have said, “I am one crying with a voice”! But that is speaking according to the manner of the Scriptures. God told Moses: Aaron “shall be your mouth” (Exodus 4[:16]); that is, he will speak for you. Job says, “I was an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame” (John 29[:15]). Similarly, we say in German about a miser that gold is in his heart, and money in his life.

    So here “I am the voice of one crying” means: “I am one who cries and have received my name from my work. Just as Aaron is called a mouth because of his eloquence, I am a voice because of my crying.” And that which in Hebrew reads “the voice of one crying” would be translated into Latin and German as a “a crying voice.” In the same way, Paul speaks of “the poor of the saints” instead of “the poor saints” (Romans 15[:26]), and of the “mystery of godliness” instead of “the godly mystery” (1 Timothy 3[:16]). Just as when I say “the language of the Germans,” I would say better “the German language.” So here “a voice of one crying” means “a crying voice.” The Hebrew tongue speaks this way much more.”

    (Martin Luther, Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, AE 75:180–81)

    “The ministry of the Word is that of God Himself, which he Himself wants to carry out through ordained means and instruments in His church… as John the Baptizer says in John 1:23, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” which Luther renders thus: Ich bin eine Stimme eines Rufers (I am a voice of a crier), in order to indicate that it is another who is crying through John.”

    (Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologici, Vol. 8, pg. 1314)

    “In Exodus 4:14–16, it is recorded that when God the Lord wanted to send Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt through him, that He assigned his brother Aaron for him…

    In this account, Moses is a prototype of our Lord Christ; Aaron, however, is a prototype for John the Baptist. For just as Moses and Aaron were the two most prominent men in the Old Testament, so also Christ and John are the most prominent in the New Testament.

    Just as Moses was sent to rescue the nation of Israel from Egypt and to give them the Law, so also Christ was sent by the Father “to give His life as an ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28); and to bring forth from the bosom of the Father the teaching of the Gospel (John 1:18)…

    Like Aaron, who was born from the tribe of Levi, who went out with joy to meet his brother Moses and spoke to the people all that the Lord, through Moses, commanded him to say, as well as giving testimony that Moses truly had been sent by God as a physical savior; so also in the same manner John—who was also born from the tribe of Levi—went out with great joy to meet his cousin, Christ; and, as he heard the voice of the Bridegroom, he greatly rejoiced over it (John 3:29). By the command of God, he also spoke to the people and testified about Christ that He was the only Mediator and Savior, the true Light and the Little Lamb of God who bears the sins of the world (John 1:29).”

    (Johann Gerhard, Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in Postilla, Vol. 1, pgs. 36–37)

    “The fact that John says here he is a voice of a preacher and baptizes with water, he thereby teaches us that he and other preachers of God the Lord make available their voices and their hands for preaching and for administration of the holy Sacraments. it is God the Lord, however, who is speaking through them, admonishing, and administering the holy Sacraments. “For God exhorts through us,” as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 and again in 2 Corinthians 13:3, “Christ is speaking through me.” … That’s why we should not look at the person of the preacher but rather at God’s working and power. “So, it is neither he who sows, nor he who waters some, but rather God the Lord who provides the growth and thriving success” (1 Corinthians 2:7).

    (Johann Gerhard, Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in Postilla, Vol. 1, pgs. 40–41)

    “The sound of trumpets beautifully expresses the condition and office of the ministry. You see, they should “lift up their voices like trumpets and declare to the people their transgressions” (Isaiah 58:1). The trumpet gives off no sound by itself; rather, someone must blow into it. So also ministers speak by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 10:20). They are “the voices of one crying” (John 1:23). The trumpet presents a very clear tone, which people can hear from a distance. So also the sound of truth resounds a very long way.”

    (Johann Gerhard, Theological Commonplaces XXVI/1, pg. 48)

  • Notes and Useful Applications for John 1:19–28 from Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877)

    The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the historic Holy Gospel of the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Memento Nostri), John 1:29–28, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.

    II. Several testimonies of John concerning Christ. (v. 15–34)

    Annotated Texts

    19. And * this is the (exceptional, and most noteworthy, before other sermons and confessions concerning Christ) testimony of John, when the Jews (the entire high court, or the great council of the Jewish people, 2 Chronicles 19:8) sent from Jerusalem (several from their midst, namely) priests and Levites (those whose office it was to preserve the divine doctrine and to instruct the people concerning the true knowledge of God and the Messiah, Malachi 2:7), that they might ask him, “Who are you?” (What is the nature of your person and office? And by what authority do you teach and baptize? And are you perhaps the promised Messiah, long awaited by our people, who will deliver us from Roman yoke?)

    * John 5:33

    20. And he confessed, and did not deny; and he confessed (He spoke the pure truth freely and openly, and said), * “I am not the Christ (the Messiah, whom you consider and hold me to be, Luke 3:15; John 5:35; Acts 13:25).

    * John 3:28

    21. And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” (the Tishbite, who was taken up to heaven with fiery horses and chariots, 2 Kings 2:11, and who, according to the prophecy of the prophet Malachi, as it is understood by our forefathers, will come again in his own person before the Messiah appears? Malachi 4:5) He said, “I am not.” (with regard to the person of Elijah, according to which He will remain in heaven eternally; however, with regard to the likeness and equality with Elijah, then John the Baptist was precisely that same Elijah of whom the prophet Malachi speaks in the place mentioned, as the Lord Christ Himself later explains, Matthew 11:14; 17:11). “Are you * a prophet?” (A man of God raised up and sent by Him in a special manner, to proclaim to the people of Israel either liberation from the Roman power, or something else that is important?) And he answered, “No.”1

    * Deuteronomy 18:15; Matthew 16:14

    1 † That [St. John the Baptist] was not a basic prophet, but indeed more than a prophet, Christ Himself testifies (see Matthew 11:9).

    22. Then they said to him, “What (and who) are you then? (Tell us plainly) so that we may give an answer (can give a thorough report) to those who have sent us (v. 19). What do you say concerning yourself (and what do you claim to be)?

    23. He said, * “I am a voice of one (calling or) preaching in the wilderness (I have been sent by God for this, that I should call out and preach here in the wilderness outside of the city, and that I should speak to the people and admonish them earnestly and zealously to repentance): ‘Straighten (o you children of men who want to be redeemed from eternal death and be eternally blessed, make plain and even) the way of the Lord (prepare yourselves, that you may receive the Messiah in true faith, and that He may come to you and dwell with you in grace),’ as the prophet Isaiah had said (concerning this my office long ago).

    * Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3 (Luke 3:4)

    24. And those who were sent, they were of the Pharisees (concerning this order among the Jews, see Matthew 3:7).

    25. And they asked him and said to him, “Why then do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet?” (Baptizing or sprinkling men with water of purification belongs to the Messiah, as such has been prophesied of Him, Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:1. Because you, according to your own statement, are neither the Messiah, nor even Elijah, or a prophet; why then do you undertake to baptize people in such great quantities and at the same time say that this is done for the purification of sins and for forgiveness of sins, Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3)

    26. John answered them and said, * “I baptize (as a servant) with water (as has been commanded me by God, v. 33, for the forgiveness of sins, which the Lord Himself works through me, as His unworthy servant or servants baptism, as a salvific means and instrument); but He (the same Lord whom I prepare serve and prepare the way for) is walking1 in the midst of you (has already begun to carry out His teaching office among you), whom you do not know (yet are not wanting to receive as the true Messiah, this is the One will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16).

    * Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7–8; Luke 3:16 (Acts 1:15, 11:16)

    1 Greek: “standing (already) in the midst of you” [μέσος ὑμῶν ἕστηκεν]

    27. This * is He who will come after me, who was before me (v. 15), so that I am not worthy that I should loose his shoe straps (that I might be His least servant, because He is not only true man, but rather also true God and the only-begotten Son of God).

    * John 3:26 (Acts 13:25)

    28. These things (this exceptional testimony and confession of John concerning Christ) happened at Bethabara (Luther: “or, Beth-bara, Judges 7:24,” whose name means so much as a place of passing over, because one could go over the Jordan at that place), beyond the Jordan, * where John was baptizing (because at that same place there were always many people coming and going).

    * John 10:40

    Useful Applications

    [There are no useful applications listed for v. 19–28.]

    II. DOCTRINE: That Christ (according to His office) is the Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world, that is, He is our propitiatory sacrifice before God, through whose merit we obtain forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith, as the sacrificial lambs were types during the time of the Old Testament. (v. 29)

  • Notes and Useful Applications for Philippians 4:4–7 from Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877)

    The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Epistle Reading of the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Memento Nostri), Philippians 4:4–7, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.

    I. Several admonitions which partly concern particular persons and partly are directed toward godliness in general. (v. 1–9)

    Annotated Text

    4. Rejoice * in the Lord (Christ, who has done so much good for you) always (in both good and bad circumstances), and once more I say (I repeat it once again), Rejoice!

    * Philippians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 13:11 (1 Thessalonians 5:16)

    5. Let your * forbearance (good faith and equity) be known to all men (be friendly and peaceable toward all men, be they friend or foe; also yield your own right at times for the sake of the preservation of peace and unity, Matthew 5:5, 9, 25). † The Lord is near (The judge is at the door, James 5:9, to procure justice for you).

    * Titus 3:2

    † 1 Corinthians 10:11 (1 Corinthians 16:22; Hebrews 10:25; 1 Peter 4:7)

    6. * Be worried about nothing (do not hang on to mistrustful and unnecessary worries); but rather in all things (in good and bad circumstances) † let your requests be made known before God in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (pray in firm trust in God and thank Him for all His benefits).

    * Matthew 6:25, 31ff.

    † Psalm 145:18 (Psalm 55:23; 1 Peter 5:7; James 5:13; Colossians 3:17)

    7. And * the peace of God (by which God the Father is graciously deposed toward you, in which you stand firmly by virtue of the reconciliation which had been accomplished and obtained for you), which is higher than all reason (whose worth no human reason can grasp), will guard1 (and, as it were, will bastion) your hearts and minds (in all temptations and tribulations) in Christ Jesus (by whom God has granted you all things, Romans 8:32, so that you can remain steadfast with him)!

    * John 14:27 (Colossians 3:15)

    1 Greek: “And” (in this way) “the peace of God will guard” (as with a garrison) [καὶ ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ θεοῦ… φρουρήσει]

    Useful Applications

    [There are no useful applications for v. 4–7.]

  • Notes and Useful Applications for Deuteronomy 18:15–19 from Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877)

    The following is my translation of the notes and useful applications for the Old Testament Reading of the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Memento Nostri), Deuteronomy 18:15–19, as they are found in Das Weimarische Bibelwerk (1877). Square brackets indicate my own notes and additions. For the useful applications, I recommend the reader see this very helpful article by Dr. Benjamin T. G. Mayes.

    III. A prophecy concerning the great prophet (Christ). (v. 15–19)

    Annotated Text

    15. A * Prophet, like me (and even much higher, indeed, the most excellent and highest Prophet)1 will the Lord, your God, raise up (bring forth) for you, from you and your brothers (namely, the promised Messiah, true God and man), † to Him shall you listen (receive Him with true faith and follow Him. Luther: “Here another kind of preaching is clearly promised other than the preaching of Moses, which cannot be the Law which was sufficiently given through Moses; therefore, it must be the Gospel. And this Prophet is no one other than Jesus Christ Himself, who has brought such a new preaching on earth”).

    * John 6:14; Acts 3:22, 7:37

    † Psalm 2:12

    1 † Through whom God, and through whose mediatorial office (indeed, a better reconciliation office), will establish a New Covenant, Jeremiah 31:31ff., as He had established [the Old Covenant] through my mediation (cf. Deuteronomy 18:18, 34:10). But concerning the Law of the Messiah, see Isaiah 2:2, 42:4, and 61:1ff.

    16. Just as you then1 requested * of the Lord your God at Horeb (with the giving of the Law), on the day of (public general) assembly (of the Israelite people around the mountain), and said, ‘I will no longer hear the voice of the Lord, my God,’ and I will see no more the great fire (that burned on the mountain), that I not die (from terror and anxiety, but rather Moses shall recite the Word of the Lord to us).’

    * Exodus 20:19; Hebrews 12:19 (Deuteronomy 9:10)

    1 Hebrew: “indeed,” as you spoke of it previously, v. 17, so will it happen. (I will no longer speak with them such a terrifying manner, but rather in a loving manner.)

    17. And the Lord said to me, “They have * spoken well (for without a Mediator there is no dealing with Me).”

    * Deuteronomy 5:28

    18. I will raise up for them a * Prophet like you (of such nature and such reputation, and of such glorious, indeed, far greater gifts and deeds) from their brothers (the Jewish people), and I will put My words ** in His mouth, and He1 shall speak all things to them which I have commanded to Him (He shall indicate My thinking to the people).

    * John 1:45

    † Hebrews 3:2ff, 12:24

    ** John 7:16, 8:26, 40

    1 * He Himself, who is the Lord your God, v. 14, and not more in the fire, but rather in a friendly manner (see Isaiah 52:6; cf. Zephaniah 3:9; John 1:18; Matthew 17:5; etc.).

    19. And whoever will not * hear My words, which He will speak in My name (but rather wantonly despise them and cast them to the wind), I will demand1 it of Him (I will attend to him with temporal and eternal punishment).”

    * Matthew 17:5 (John 12:48)

    1 † How? See Malachi 4:6. This is what is called the ban, which one still sees with one the eyes placed upon the Jews and the land of Israel on account of this dreadful misdeed (cf. Deuteronomy 32:43).

    Useful Applications

    III. CORRECTION: To receive the Word of the Great Prophet, Christ, willingly and follow Him in faithful obedience. (v. 15–19)