LENT - WEEK 5 - WEDNESDAY

“Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” John 8:51

Jesus really spoils things for His enemies when He not only offers a good and stout defense of His doctrine but ascribes such might to it that it holds full sway over the devil, death, and sin, imparting eternal life and preserving men therein.

See here how divine wisdom and human reason come into conflict! How can any man comprehend that a word spoken physically from a human mouth can save from death eternally?

But away with blindness! We want to deal with this beautiful passage. He speaks here not concerning the word of the Law but concerning the word of the Gospel, which is a discourse concerning Christ who died for our sins. God did not want to impart Christ to the world in any other way but by including Him in His Word and thus spreading Him out and setting Him forth. Otherwise, Christ would have remained completely isolated by Himself and would never have become known. And thus, He would have died for Himself alone.

Because the Word portrays Christ for us, it portrays for us Him who conquered sin, death, and the devil. Hence, anyone who grasps and holds the Word, grasps and holds Christ, and through the Word he also becomes freed from death eternally. Thus, it is a Word of life. It is true that he who keeps this Word will never see death eternally.

SL.XI.570,8
AE 76,411

PRAYER: Thanks and praise be to You, O God, for the riches of Your grace and mercy revealed to us in Your holy Gospel, culminating in the assurance of eternal life and salvation in and through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.