Very God of Very God

 

Very God of Very God

Comments on Galatians with an ear to Luther’s commentary

Scripture Text: Galatians 1:1-5 and 1 Corinthians 1:23-24

Series: Comments on Galatians

Today's Scripture Jigsaw

Why is it so important to believe that the Christ is “very God of very God” as the old creed states. There are many reasons but the one that Paul and Martin emphasize is that only God is able to create grace and peace. For Paul, these two gifts of God are critical for fallen humanity. We need peace to live with ourselves, let alone live with God. We let God and ourselves down so often that, without peace, we would eventually lose heart altogether. That kind of peace is only generated by grace. We do not speak here of someone who is able to steel himself and press on after every increasing failure because he wants to be religious. We are thinking of the person who has fallen into despair over their sins and cannot go on. Only when this desperate person receives grace from God can she press on. Grace provides peace and space in her soul for a loving God. Before, her soul was possessed only with thoughts of self or worse, of an angry God.

Only God provides this gracious peace. It does not come through the church, or the apostles, or a pope, or a priest, or pastor, or any other agent of God—including a less than divine son as Arians insist even today. Nor does peace come from your devotional life or your good works. Grace and peace come from God alone. 

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