Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.
Martin LutherRead
This is the good and happy news, that Christ has paid for our sin, and through His suffering has redeemed us from eternal death. It is His kingdom and His ministry, to preach the Gospel to the poor; that is His purpose. For to the great and holy He cannot come. They do not wish to be counted sinners, and therefore do not need His Gospel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the redemptive power of Christ's sacrifice and His mission to reach the marginalized.
In this quote, Martin Luther expresses the core tenet of Christian belief that Jesus Christ's suffering and sacrifice serve as a means of redemption for humanity's sins, particularly those of the poor and downtrodden. He emphasizes that the Gospel is not meant for the proud or self-righteous who do not see themselves as sinners, but rather for those who recognize their need for salvation and hope.
Themes
RedemptionGospelSufferingSalvationFaith
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about compassion and humility, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of helping those in need.
More from Martin Luther
All quotes →Now if I believe in God's Son and remember that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before. Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, as I reflect that he is Lord over all things. ...God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
Martin LutherRead
It is the part of a Christian to take care of his own body for the very purpose that, by its soundness and wellbeing, he may be enabled to labour, and to acquire and preserve property, for the aid of those who are in want, that thus the stronger member may serve the weaker member, and we may be children of God, and busy for one another, bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfiling the law of Christ.
Martin LutherRead
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.
Martin LutherRead
We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.
Martin LutherRead
In a mouse we admire God's creation and craft work. The same may be said about flies.
Martin LutherRead
Similar quotes
I am not unaware of the saying that more tears have been shed over wishes granted than wishes denied.
Aung San Suu KyiRead
I discovered that the study of past philosophers is of little use unless our own reality enters into it. Our reality alone allows the thinker's questions to become comprehensible.
Karl JaspersRead
I don't like the word 'strong,' because a strong character is never an interesting character. A character is made interesting by their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses.
Helen MirrenRead
The very spot where grew the bread that formed my bones, I see. How strange, old field, on thee to tread, and feel I'm part of thee.
Abraham LincolnRead
Thus we build on the ice, thus we write on the waves of the sea; the waves roaring pass away, the ice melts, and away goes our palace, like our thoughts.
Johann Gottfried HerderRead
The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings.
Audre LordeRead