Prayer, meditation, Anfechtung.
…tentatio, Anfechtung. This is the touchstone which teaches you not only to know and understand, but also to experience how right, how true,
how sweet,
how lovely,
how mighty,
how comforting God’s Word is, wisdom beyond all wisdom.
Thus you see how David, in the Psalm mentioned, complains so often about all kinds of enemies, arrogant princes or tyrants, false spirits and factions, whom he must tolerate because he meditates, that is, because he is occupied with God’s Word (as has been said) in all manner of ways. For as soon as God’s Word takes root and grows in you, the devil will harry you, and will make a real doctor of you, and by his assaults will teach you to seek and love God’s Word. I myself (if you will permit me, mere mouse-dirt, to be mingled with pepper) am deeply indebted to my papists that through the devil’s raging they have beaten, oppressed, and distressed me so much. That is to say, they have made a fairly good theologian of me, which I would not have become otherwise. And I heartily grant them what they have won in return for making this of me, honor, victory, and triumph, for that’s the way they wanted it. –Martin Luther
posted by Wartburg | Friday, February 10, 2006
6 Comments:
Question,
What does he mean by:
"And I heartily grant them what they have won in return for making this of me, honor, victory, and triumph, for that’s the way they wanted it"
???
Hi Cheryl,
Greetings today. I just take the last sentence with all else that has been said. The greater the enemy, the greater the boast in GOD, in CHRIST.
Tertullian compares the church in his time to a mowed field; the more frequently it is cut, the more it grows.
The blood of the martyrs was always the seed of the church.
"God has made the very schemes which his enemies contrived, in order to hinder, become the most effectual means to propagate his gospel."George Whitefield (1714-1770)
"If it were not for persecution, I should not understand the scripture." Martin Luther
What did the devil get by persecuting the martyrs in Queen Mary's time? Was not the grace of God exceedingly glorified in their support? What did he get by persecuting the good old Puritans? Did it not prove the peopling of New-England?
Hi,
It sounds like he is saying that they wanted him to be granted honor, victory, and triumph
????
That may be "the way they wanted this" but not according to "the way"...
hmmm.
i'll have to think about that :)
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