We wish you, kind sir and dear friend in Christ, the favor and peace of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Two of your letters, the one to His Imperial Majesty, the other to the mendicant orders, came to my attention and were read by me with great joy. I thank my God for the favor and gift of the knowledge of Christian truth bestowed on you and in addition for your delight and active love for it. Moreover, one certainly senses that your words well forth from the bottom of an ardent heart, giving proof that the word of God does not just dwell lightly on your tongue or flit past your ears, as is true of many, but that it resides earnestly and enduringly in your heart. You have been so imbued with it that it has made you ready and bold to extol and to confess it, not only with your lips, but with your deeds and in writing, before and against all the world, and, above all, before exalted and clever minds. But the unusual measure of such a gift cannot be duly esteemed by any other than by him who is endowed with the Spirit that reveals what has been given us and teaches us to interpret spiritual truths spiritually, as St. Paul says in I Corinthians 2 [:14], “The unspiritual man does not perceive this.” (Luther’s Works, v.43, p.61)
Picture: At the top of the etching is a hovering dove with the words, “Spirit of God is yours/for you.” [All of the pictures for this year’s posts are from an etching entitled “Augsburg Confession” by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) and found in the Royal Collection Trust.]