I'm going link-happy at the moment. Here's another one, from Gordo this time, a fascinating insight into Luther's response when he saw a vision.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
So how was the vision 'a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you'? I guess it wasn't necessary for Luther as he already had the Bible texts, but how was it contrary to the gospel? Sorry for being slow but I don't get it!
I think because he thought it undermined the sufficiency of the Bible as God's revelation, as if we needed visions of Christ as well as God's words about him - as he says, he was resolved "to hold solely by God's Word, and not to give credit to any visions or revelations ... for Christ appeared to us in his Word, and in a meaner and more humble form [in word rather than images? I'm not sure what he means here] I know no other Christ than he who was crucified, and who in his Word is pictured and presented unto me".
I was reflecting on Luther's words while walking this morning, and thought it's not that God can't send visions - he can do anything, and communicate with us any way he chooses - but that we must not come to depend in practice on visions rather than on God's word as the source of guidance and revelation. We must also test every vision or word by the measure of God's Word (1 Thess. 5:19-22; John 4:1).
Why don't you go to this link at Gordo's website and ask him your question? He might have some other ideas!
2 comments:
So how was the vision 'a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you'? I guess it wasn't necessary for Luther as he already had the Bible texts, but how was it contrary to the gospel? Sorry for being slow but I don't get it!
Cathy
I think because he thought it undermined the sufficiency of the Bible as God's revelation, as if we needed visions of Christ as well as God's words about him - as he says, he was resolved "to hold solely by God's Word, and not to give credit to any visions or revelations ... for Christ appeared to us in his Word, and in a meaner and more humble form [in word rather than images? I'm not sure what he means here] I know no other Christ than he who was crucified, and who in his Word is pictured and presented unto me".
I was reflecting on Luther's words while walking this morning, and thought it's not that God can't send visions - he can do anything, and communicate with us any way he chooses - but that we must not come to depend in practice on visions rather than on God's word as the source of guidance and revelation. We must also test every vision or word by the measure of God's Word (1 Thess. 5:19-22; John 4:1).
Why don't you go to this link at Gordo's website and ask him your question? He might have some other ideas!
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