The Fruits of Faith
The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
1 CORINTHIANS 4:20
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The Fruits of Faith
[Faith in the resurrection and fruits of faith] should not remain only in words. Christ's aim is not that we would hear and speak of them, but that we would feel them in our lives. How does it help if we preach much about life to a dead man, if he does not become alive from it? Or about righteousness to a sinner, if he still remains in sin? Or about truth to an erring sectarian, if he does not desist from his error and darkness? So also it is not only useless but also harmful and damnable to hear about the glorious and blessed comfort of the resurrection if the heart never experiences it, but all that remains is the sound in the ears or the foam on the tongue, and nothing more follows from it than does among those who have never heard about it.
From the Church Postil, sermon for Easter Wednesday on Colossians 3:1-7 (Luther's Works 77:103)
1 CORINTHIANS 4:20
+
The Fruits of Faith
[Faith in the resurrection and fruits of faith] should not remain only in words. Christ's aim is not that we would hear and speak of them, but that we would feel them in our lives. How does it help if we preach much about life to a dead man, if he does not become alive from it? Or about righteousness to a sinner, if he still remains in sin? Or about truth to an erring sectarian, if he does not desist from his error and darkness? So also it is not only useless but also harmful and damnable to hear about the glorious and blessed comfort of the resurrection if the heart never experiences it, but all that remains is the sound in the ears or the foam on the tongue, and nothing more follows from it than does among those who have never heard about it.
From the Church Postil, sermon for Easter Wednesday on Colossians 3:1-7 (Luther's Works 77:103)
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