Friday, June 17, 2011
1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE TREASURE
Neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe in him and take him as our Lord, unless these were first offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel by the Holy Spirit. The work is finished and completed, Christ has acquired and won the treasure for us by his sufferings, death, and resurrection, etc.
But if the work remained hidden and no one knew of it, it would have been all in vain, all lost. In order that his treasure might not be buried but put to use and enjoyed God has caused the Word to be published and proclaimed, in which he has given the Holy Spirit to offer and apply to us this treasure of salvation … For where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit to create call, and gather the Christian church, and outside it no one can come to the Lord Christ.
-- from Martin Luther's Large Catechism
