#31 Not Mere Historical Knowledge, But an Entrusting of The Office of Preaching

These are most precious words, by which Christ invests the disciples with the office of preaching, making arrangements for the application of the glorious results of His sufferings and resurrection. For if this great occurrence had not been preached in its various bearings, if it had remained a mere historical event, it would have been of no avail for us. This we learn from the condition of the Papists. They are acquainted with the event and its record as well as we, but they do not preach it as Christ directs; hence their mere historical knowledge of it benefits them no more than if it were the story of Dietrich of Bern, which one hears and learns; they have simply the recollection of the occurrence. It is therefore absolutely necessary to make a proper use of the narrative of Christ’s sufferings and resurrection. How to do this we learn from the words of the Lord Himself when He says: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” And how the Father sent Christ was described long ago by the prophet Isaiah in the 61. chapter, where it reads: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” With such instructions Christ was sent, and now declares that in no other way will He send His disciples. He entrusts to them the office of preaching, that it may remain in force even to the end of time, and He orders them to preach just as He preached while in the flesh. This command then, and this mission to preach, has reference only to the doctrine to be taught; the disciples are instructed to preach no other doctrine than that which Christ Himself proclaimed.  (Luther’s House Postil, First Sunday after Easter John 20:19-31, Volume 2, p. 515)