Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Romans 8,1-2.10-11. Pentecost

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Romans 8,1-2.10-11. Pentecost

Romans 8,1-2.10-11 3122

Pfingstsonntag 44

Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz and Apostle to the Germans, Martyr 755

5. Juni 2022

1. ℣ The Spirit of Yahweh filleth the world Hallelujah!

℟ Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. (Wisdom 1,7).

O Holy Spirit, teach us to know the Father and Jesus Christ His Son, so that we may full of faith to understand You, the Holy Trinity. Amen. (Komm, Gott Schoepfer, Heiliger Geist Martin Luther 1524 elkg 477,6 2021).

2. »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, then the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.«

3. On that first Pentecost following Jesus’ resurrection, the apostles told the Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem: »In the last days God declares: I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord Shall be saved« (Acts 2,17.21).

4. When the Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost, 2 things occurred: 1. Those who heard the apostles preaching were cut to the heart (Acts 2,37), and 2. They were baptized (Acts 2,41).

5. Why were these Jews cut to the heart? The apostles had told them that they were guilty of crucifying and killing Jesus by the hands of lawless men (Acts 2,23). The innocent blood of Jesus was on their hands, but God the Father has made this Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2,26). The guilt of their sin convicted these Jews. They realized they had not only condemned an innocent man but also their long-awaited Messiah. They realized they deserved Divine punishment for their heinous actions.

6. The Holy Spirit had convicted their consciences with the law, and Peter exhorted them to repent of their sin. 3000 of them did and then they were baptized.

7. Why did these 3000 get baptized? Peter writes in his epistle: >Baptism now saves you as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ< (1. Peter 3,21). And this is why Paul writes: >There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.< Furthermore, the Holy Spirit now dwells in us, and this indwelling occurred at our Baptism. Paul links together Jesus and the Holy Spirit, resurrection, righteousness and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us.

8. In his explanation to the Creed, Luther writes in his Small Catechism: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlighten me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps her with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

10. Then in the Large Catechism, Luther writes: For neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe on Him, and obtain Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. The work is done and accomplished; for Christ has acquired and gained the treasure for us by His suffering, death, resurrection, etc. But if the work remained concealed so that no one knew of it, then it would be in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore, might not lie buried, but be appropriated and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy Spirit to bring this treasure home and appropriate it to us. Therefore sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain of ourselves (Of the Creed, Article III, 38-39).

11. Of this sanctified Christian life, Franz Pieper writes: In short, insofar as Christians walk in the face of the Last Day, their lives take on the right form, as it were, of their own accord. Both individual Christians and preachers in particular should not forget this. It is true that Scripture also directs the gaze of Christians to a blessed death. But primarily and ultimately every Christian life should be oriented by the view of the return of Christ. (Christliche Dogmatik Bd. III, 105; cph © 1920).

12. Spirit of love, within us move:

Spirit of truth, in pow’r come down!

So shall they hear and find and prove

Christ is their life, their joy, their crown (“How Shall They Hear,” Who Have Not Heard, Timothy Dudley-Smith, b. 1926 lsb 831,5)

This is most certainly true.

13. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

14. Let us pray. O Almighty God, send forth Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, so that He may govern and guide us according to Your will, comfort us in all our temptations and afflictions, defend us from all error and lead us into all truth, so that we may be steadfast in the faith, increase in love and in all good works and in the end, obtain eternal life. Amen. (Brunswick-Luneburg 1564, Common Service Book # 2; Stratman 45).

[1] Kurz, insofern die Christen im Angesichte des Juengsten Tages wandeln, nimmt ihr Leben gleichsam von selbst die rechte Gestalt an. Dies sollen sowohl die einzelnen Christen als auch insonderheit die Prediger nicht vergessen. Zwar richtet die Schrift den Blickder Christen auch auf einen seligen Tod. Aber vornehmlich und letzlich soll jedes Christenleben durch den Blick auf die Wiederkunft Christi orientiert sein.

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 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Romans 8,1-2.10-11. Pentecost

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