Martin Luther

An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism

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[Ps. 139:1, 2+] 2. Because He is holy, and hates everything that is evil. [Lev. 19:2] 3. Because He is just, and will punish every sin. [Ps. 5:4]

      How. As Christians, our fear of God should be a child-like and not a slavish fear. Child-like fear is fear mingled with love. We should refrain from evil not simply from fear of punishment, but from fear of offending the God whom we love. [Rom. 8:15+] "Slavish fear Is afraid God will come; child-like fear is afraid He will go away."

      2. WE SHOULD LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS, "with all our heart, and with all our mind and with all our soul." [Matt. 22:37] Our first aim and our highest delight should always be to do God's will. [I John 5:3+] We should be far more anxious to please Him than to please ourselves or any of our fellow-men. We should love Him far more than we love any one else [Matt. 10:37+] (parents, brothers, sisters, friends, etc.), or any earthly objects [I John 2:15+] (money, pleasure, business and the like).

      Why. We should love God above all things 1. Because He is most worthy of our love. [Ps. 73:25, 26+] 2. Because He first loved us, [I John 4:19+, I John 4:9+] and gave His Son to die for us. 3. Because our highest happiness is found in loving Him.

      How we should show our Love. We should show that we love God above all things 1. By leading a godly life. [II John 6] 2. By loving the things of God, especially the Church and the Gospel. [John 8:47] 3. By loving our fellow-men for His sake. [I John 4:20+]

      3. WE SHOULD TRUST IN GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS. We should rely with all our heart upon His love and care, [Prov. 3:5+] placing our chief dependence on Him, and not on our own wisdom, skill, or strength, or upon men, money etc.

      Why. We should trust in God with all our heart because 1. He loves us. [Rom. 8:32] 2. He knows all our wants. [Matt. 6:32] 3. He knows what is best for us. 4. He is able to do all things. 5. He has promised to care for us. [Heb. 13:5, Isa. 54:10, Isa. 41:10]

      How we should show our Trust. If we trust in God above all things we will show that trust, 1. By freedom from unbelieving care and worry. [Matt. 6:25, I Pet. 5:7+] 2. By reliance upon God's help and protection at all times. [Ps. 33:18, 19] 3. By committing the entire ordering of our lives to Him. [Ps. 37:5+]

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      1

      Luther says that three things are necessary for every one who would be saved. Like a sick person, 1. He must know what his sickness is. 2. He must know where the medicine is which will cure him. 3. He must desire and seek the medicine, and have it brought to him. Our sickness (sin) is revealed to us by the T

1

Luther says that three things are necessary for every one who would be saved. Like a sick person, 1. He must know what his sickness is. 2. He must know where the medicine is which will cure him. 3. He must desire and seek the medicine, and have it brought to him. Our sickness (sin) is revealed to us by the Ten Commandments. The medicine (God's grace) is made known to us in the Creed. We seek and ask for it in the Lord's Prayer. It is brought to us in the Sacraments.

2

The Ten Commandments are not numbered in the Bible. A two-fold numbering is found among Christians. The first is that which is given in our Catechism, and which is accepted by the majority of Christians, The other numbering makes two commandments of our first (the second being the command not to make any images), and joins our ninth and tenth into one. This makes a difference in the numbering of all the commandments except the first.

3

When God gave the commandments to Israel, He forbade them to make any graven images or likenesses. God being a Spirit, the making of an image of God would at that period necessarily have resulted in idolatry. But since Christ has come in the flesh and was visible among men, we are permitted to make pictures and images of Him. Luther preached very forcibly against those persons who, during his absence from Wittenberg, destroyed the pictures and images in the churches. He said that we make a picture of Christ in our heart whenever we think of Him, and put pictures of Him in the Bible and other books; and that therefore it is not wrong to place pictures or images of Him in our churches, so long as we do not worship them.

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