On This Foundation
"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
JOHN 20:29
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On This Foundation
Faith, which is given by God's grace to the ungodly and by which they are justified, is the substance, foundation, fountain, source, chief, and the firstborn of all spiritual graces, gifts, virtues, merits, and works. "No other foundation can anyone lay" (1 Corinthians 3:11). Of this fountain the Lord says, John 4:13-14: "If anyone will drink of the water that I shall give him, it will become in him a spring of living water welling up to eternal life." Faith is the prerequisite before everything. If one has faith, all other things gush forth from it, like water from the rock and stone. And this is said in Psalm 1:1-3, that the blessed man is a tree planted by the running waters, namely, because his will is in the law of the Lord. But his will is not in the Law except through the grace of faith. Otherwise it will be his unwillingness and hatred in the law of the Lord. But Christ grants this willingness. Therefore, "blessed is the man Whose strength is in Thee and whose help is from Thee, namely, of grace."
From First Lectures on the Psalms (Luther's Works 11:146)
JOHN 20:29
+
On This Foundation
Faith, which is given by God's grace to the ungodly and by which they are justified, is the substance, foundation, fountain, source, chief, and the firstborn of all spiritual graces, gifts, virtues, merits, and works. "No other foundation can anyone lay" (1 Corinthians 3:11). Of this fountain the Lord says, John 4:13-14: "If anyone will drink of the water that I shall give him, it will become in him a spring of living water welling up to eternal life." Faith is the prerequisite before everything. If one has faith, all other things gush forth from it, like water from the rock and stone. And this is said in Psalm 1:1-3, that the blessed man is a tree planted by the running waters, namely, because his will is in the law of the Lord. But his will is not in the Law except through the grace of faith. Otherwise it will be his unwillingness and hatred in the law of the Lord. But Christ grants this willingness. Therefore, "blessed is the man Whose strength is in Thee and whose help is from Thee, namely, of grace."
From First Lectures on the Psalms (Luther's Works 11:146)
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