The Pure, Clear Word
Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony . . .. And many more believed because of His word.
JOHN 4:39, 41
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The Pure, Clear Word
If only God would grant that my interpretation and that of all teachers perish and that every Christian himself would take for himself the pure Scripture and the clear Word of God! You can see from my babbling how immeasurably different God's Word is from human words, and how no man with all his words is able sufficiently to attain to and elucidate a single Word of God. It is an infinite Word that must be grasped and contemplated with a quiet spirit, as the psalmist says, "I will hear what God Himself speaks in me" (Psalm 85:8). No one but such a quiet, contemplating spirit grasps it. Whoever could arrive at this without glosses and interpretations would have no need of my glosses and those of other men; indeed, they would only be in his way. Therefore, go in, go in, dear Christians, and let my interpretation and that of other teachers be only a scaffold for the true building, so that we may grasp and taste the pure, clear Word of God and remain there, for there alone God dwells in Zion. Amen.
From the conclusion of the 1522 and 1525 editions of the Church Postil (Luther's Works 76:137 n. 134)
JOHN 4:39, 41
+
The Pure, Clear Word
If only God would grant that my interpretation and that of all teachers perish and that every Christian himself would take for himself the pure Scripture and the clear Word of God! You can see from my babbling how immeasurably different God's Word is from human words, and how no man with all his words is able sufficiently to attain to and elucidate a single Word of God. It is an infinite Word that must be grasped and contemplated with a quiet spirit, as the psalmist says, "I will hear what God Himself speaks in me" (Psalm 85:8). No one but such a quiet, contemplating spirit grasps it. Whoever could arrive at this without glosses and interpretations would have no need of my glosses and those of other men; indeed, they would only be in his way. Therefore, go in, go in, dear Christians, and let my interpretation and that of other teachers be only a scaffold for the true building, so that we may grasp and taste the pure, clear Word of God and remain there, for there alone God dwells in Zion. Amen.
From the conclusion of the 1522 and 1525 editions of the Church Postil (Luther's Works 76:137 n. 134)
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