Monday of Trinity VI - Devotion in semi-Exile

Lection for Monday after Trinity VI 
1 Samuel 3:1-21      Acts 16:1-22

It is my hope and prayer that you are enjoying this excursion into Luther’s Large Catechism. Today we continue the “first part” on the Ten Commandments, specifically, the “The Conclusion of the Ten Commandments.”

OK, read what Luther says.

          [First Part:] The Ten Commandments

          Conclusion of the Ten Commandments

311 Here, then, we have the Ten Commandments, a summary of divine teaching on what we are to do to make our whole life pleasing to God. They are the true fountain from which all good works must  spring, the true channel through which all good works must flow. Apart from these Ten Commandments no deed, no conduct can be good or pleasing to God, no matter how great or precious it may be in the eyes of the world.

312 Let us see, now, how our great saints can boast of their spiritual orders and the great, difficult works which they have fashioned while they neglect these commandments as if they were too insignificant or had been fulfilled long ago.

313 It seems to me that we shall have our hands full to keep these commandments, practicing gentleness, patience, love toward enemies, chastity, kindness, etc., and all that these virtues involve. But such works are not important or impressive in the eyes of the world. They are not unusual and pompous, restricted to special times, places, rites, and ceremonies, but are common, everyday domestic duties of one neighbor toward another, with no show about them. 314 On the other hand, those other works captivate all eyes and ears. Aided by great pomp, splendor, and magnificent buildings, they are so adorned that everything gleams and glitters. There is burning of incense, singing and ringing of bells, lighting of tapers and candles until nothing else can be seen or heard. For when a priest stands in a gold-embroidered chasuble or a layman remains on his knees a whole day in church, this is considered a precious work that cannot be sufficiently extolled. But when a poor girl tends a little child, or faithfully does what she is told, that is regarded as nothing. Otherwise, why should monks and nuns go into cloisters?

315 Just think, is it not a devilish presumption on the part of those desperate saints to dare to find a higher and better way of life than the Ten Commandments teach? They pretend, as we have said, that this is a simple life for the ordinary man, whereas theirs is for the saints and the perfect. 316 They fail to see, these miserable, blind people, that no man can achieve so much as to keep one of the Ten Commandments as it ought to be kept. Both the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer must help us, as we shall hear. Through them we must seek and pray for help and receive it continually. Therefore all their boasting amounts to as much as if I boasted, “Of course, I haven’t a single groschen to pay, but I promise to pay ten gulden.”

317 All this I say and repeat in order that men may get rid of the pernicious abuse which has become so deeply rooted and still clings to every man, and that all classes of men on earth may accustom themselves to look only to these precepts and heed them. It will be a long time before men produce a doctrine or social order equal to that of the Ten Commandments, for they are beyond human power to fulfill. Anyone who does fulfill them is a heavenly, angelic man, far above all holiness on earth. 318 Just concentrate upon them and test yourself thoroughly, do your very best, and you will surely find so much to do that you will neither seek nor pay attention to any other works or other kind of holiness.

319 Let this suffice concerning the first part, both for instruction and for admonition. In conclusion, however, we must repeat the text which we have already treated above in connection with the First Commandment in order to show how much effort God requires us to devote to learning how to teach and practice the Ten Commandments.

320 “I the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; but to those who love me and keep my commandments, I show mercy unto a thousand generations.”

321 Although primarily attached to the First Commandment, as we heard above, this appendix was intended to apply to all the commandments, and all of them as a whole ought to be referred and directed to it. For this reason I said that we should keep it before the young and insist that they learn and remember it so that we may see why we are constrained and compelled to keep these Ten Commandments. This appendix ought to be regarded as attached to each individual commandment, penetrating and pervading them all.

322 Now, as we said before, these words contain both a wrathful threat and a friendly promise, not only to terrify and warn us but also to attract and allure us. These words, therefore, ought to be received and esteemed as a serious matter to God because he himself here declares how important the commandments are to him and how strictly he will watch over them, fearfully and terribly punishing all who despise and transgress his commandments; and again, how richly he will reward, bless, and bestow all good things on those who prize them and gladly act and live in accordance with them. 323 Thus he demands that all our actions proceed from a heart that fears and regards God alone and, because of this fear, avoids all that is contrary to his will, lest he be moved to wrath; and, conversely, trusts him alone and for his sake does all that he asks of us, because he shows himself a kind father and offers us every grace and blessing.

324 This is exactly the meaning and right interpretation of the first and chief commandment, from which all the others proceed. This word, “You shall have no other gods,” means simply, “You shall fear, love, and trust me as your one true God.” Wherever a man’s heart has such an attitude toward God, he has fulfilled this commandment and all the others. On the one hand, whoever fears and loves anything else in heaven and on earth will keep neither this nor any other. 325 Thus the entire Scriptures have proclaimed and presented this commandment everywhere, emphasizing these two things, fear of God and trust in God. The prophet David particularly teaches it throughout the Psalter, as when he says, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his mercy” (Ps. 147:11). He seems to explain the whole commandment in one verse, as if to say, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who have no other gods.”

326 Thus the First Commandment is to illuminate and impart its splendor to all the others. In order that this may be constantly repeated and never forgotten, therefore, you must let these concluding words run through all the commandments, like the clasp or the hoop of a wreath that binds the end to the beginning and holds everything together. For example, in the Second Commandment we are told to fear God and not take his name in vain by cursing, lying, deceiving, and other kinds of corruption and wickedness, but to use his name properly by calling upon him in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, which spring from that love and trust which the First Commandment requires. Similarly, this fear, love, and trust should impel us not to despise his Word, but learn it, hear it gladly, keep it holy, and honor it.

327 So, through the following commandments which concern our neighbor, everything proceeds from the force of the First Commandment: We are to honor father and mother, masters, and all in authority, being submissive and obedient to them not on their own account but for God’s sake. For you dare not respect or fear father or mother wrongly, doing or omitting to do things simply in order to please them. Rather, ask what God wants of you and what he will quite surely demand of you. If you omit that, you have an angry judge; otherwise, you have a gracious father.

328 Again, you are to do your neighbor no harm, injury, or violence, nor in any way molest him, either in his person, his wife, his property, his honor or rights, as these things are commanded in that order, even though you have the opportunity and occasion to do so and no man may reprove you. On the contrary, you should do good to all men, help them and promote their interests, however and whenever you can, purely out of love to God and in order to please him, in the confidence that he will abundantly reward you for all you do. 329 Thus you see how the First Commandment is the chief source and fountainhead from which all the others proceed; again, to it they all return and upon it they depend, so that end and beginning are all linked and bound together.

330 It is useful and necessary always to teach, admonish, and remind young people of all this so that they may be brought up, not only with blows and compulsion, like cattle, but in the fear and reverence of God. These are not trifles of men but the commandments of the most high God, who watches over them with great earnestness, who vents his wrath upon those who despise them, and, on the contrary, abundantly rewards those who keep them. Where men consider this and take it to heart, there will arise a spontaneous impulse and desire gladly to do God’s will. 331 Therefore it is not without reason that the Old Testament commands men to write the Ten Commandments on every wall and corner, and even on their garments. Not that we are to have them there merely for a display, as the Jews did, but we are to keep them incessantly before our eyes and constantly in our memory, and practice them in all our works and ways. 332 Everyone is to make them his daily habit in all circumstances, in all his affairs and dealings, as if they were written everywhere he looks, and even wherever he goes or wherever he stands. Thus, both for himself at home, and abroad among his neighbors, he will find occasion enough to practice the Ten Commandments, and no one need search far for them.

333 From all this it is obvious once again how highly these Ten Commandments are to be exalted and extolled above all orders, commands, and works which are taught and practiced apart from them. Here we can fling out the challenge: Let all wise men and saints step forward and produce, if they can, any work like that which God in these commandments so earnestly requires and enjoins under threat of his greatest wrath and punishment, while at the same time he adds such glorious promises that he will shower us with all good things and blessings. Therefore we should prize and value them above all other teachings as the greatest treasure God has given.