Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Galatians 5,16-24. Trinity XIV

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Galatians 5,16-24. Trinity XIV

Galatians 5,16-24 4824

14. Trinitatis. Trinity xiv 61

Joshua 1399-1289 bc at 110

Aegidius aka Giles the Hermit, Abbot at Septimania (Visigoths), Languedoc, France ✠ 710

1. September 2024

1. ℣O God, our Protector, look upon the face of Your Christ:

℟ For one day in Your courts is better than a thousand (Psalm 83,10-11a vul lxx).

Protector noster aspice Deus et respice in faciem christi tui: quia melior est dies una in atriis tuis super milia. lxx

Clipeus noster vide Deus et adtende faciem christi tui: quoniam melior est dies in atriis tuis super milia. mas

O God, plenteous in mercy,we know from Your Holy Word that faith alone saves, and that without faith, no one is acceptable to You. Kindle in our spirits the light of faith so that we can rightly know You, the one true God, as You have revealed Yourself in Your Word, that we may with our hearts believe Your revealed Word, and with firm confidence and unwavering trust may receive the promises of Your grace and forgiveness of sins which Christ has won for us. Amen. (Stark 274; English 209).

2. »But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, wrath, rivalries, sedition, heresies, envy,drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the reign of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.«

3. Augustine wrote in his magnum opus: „In occulto autem mali esse coeperunt ut in aperiam inoboedientiam laberentur. Non enim ad malum opus perveniretur nisi praecessisset voluntas mala. Porro, malae voluntatis initium quae1 potuit esse nisi superbia? Initium enim omnis peccati superbia est. Quid est autem superbia nisi perversae celsitudinis appetitus? The first human beings began to be evil in secret, and this enabled them to fall into open disobedience. For the evil act could not have been arrived at unless an evil will had preceded it. Furthermore, what but pride can have been the beginning of an evil will? Pride is the beginning of all sin [Ecclesiasticus 10,13a]. Moreover, what is pride but a craving for perverse elevation?“ (City of God XIV,13 334-35. Harvard University Press © 2024) Augustine is referring to the Apocrypha: »ότι άρχή ύπερηψανίας άμαρτία, καί ό κρατων αύτης έζομβρήσει βόέλυγμα. For the beginning of pride is sin, and those who cling to it will bring down abomination« (Ecclesiasticus 10,13a). Solomon wisely counsels: »Pride goeth before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall« (Proverbs 16,18).

4. Paul rightly diagnosis the human condition.: »None is righteous, no not one; none is good, no, not one« (Romans 3,10.12). We do not see world history as one that is making continual progress (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 103). The cure for proud vices is not an excess of virtues with the goal of tipping the scale in favor of more virtues than vices. The law of God does show us what virtues God desires from us, and that same law also accuses us. The law said what it meant and meant what it said, it damns everyone of us 100% (Harrison).

5. The gospel is the prescription to cure vices. The gospel promises what it gives and gives what it promises, it saves everyone us so that we shall live. Humility is the opposite of pride. Christ humbled Himself when He became human in the Incarnation, and His ultimate act of humility was in taking up the cross to redeem all humanity that is fallen through pride. Humility is the cure for fallen humanity turned in upon itself with pride (McInerney 105).

6. „Christ appeared among mortal sinners as the immortal Righteous One, mortal like humanity, righteous like God. Because the wages of righteousness are life and peace (Romans 6,23), being united with God by His righteousness He made void the death of justified sinners, a death which it was His will to share in common with [us]“ (Augustine Confessions X,xliii,68). The Humble Christ redeems proud humanity.

7. »We who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and..« Just bears the fruit of sanctification, the chief of which is love as the other virtues flow from it. Faith bears the good works that Paul lists in Galatians 5.

8. The exalted Christ humbles himself so as to overcome the ravages that lie in the wake of vices by bringing the virtues of love, grace and mercy to those shipwrecked by their own vices and the world’s. Christ exhorts us to follow His path: »Shine your light before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven« (Matthew 5,16). May the Holy Spirit so sustain in us faith in Christ and produce in us the fruit of His Spirit so that by the power of the gospel our faith is active in virtues and we shine as the light of the world.

9. Even as the world fades away

with its pride and splendor,

no honor or goods remain,

which we so greatly adore:

we will at death

in the earth buried deep:

wherein we sleep,

until awakened by God’s breath.

(Von Gott will ich nicht lassen elkg 630,6 2021 Ludwig Helmbold 1563, Nuernberg 1569).

This is most certainly true.

12. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, keep us each day in our bodies, as well as in our souls; let no accident befall us or ours; and whatever temptation crosses our path, may we be enabled to look upward and take courage, proving under every trial of faith that we are indeed faithful disciples and good soldiers of the Lord Jesus. Amen. (Trinity XIV, 2^nd Vespers Collect. The Daily Office).

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Galatians 5,16-24. Trinity XIV

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