Five Minutes a Day with Luther Thursday, July 29, 2010
Bible Passage:1 Peter 3:19-20
in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
* * *
Thus St. Peter brings us into the Scriptures, that we may study therein; and gives us an illustration out of them, from the ark of Noah, and interprets this same figure. For it is good to have one bring forward illustrations from such figures, as St. Paul also does when he is speaking, in Galatians 4, of the two sons of Abraham, and the two women; and Christ, in John 5, of the serpent which Moses had erected in the wilderness. Such comparisons, when well drawn, are excellent; therefore St. Peter introduces this one here, that we may be able to comprehend faith under a pleasing image. But he would also tell us, that as it happened when Noah was preparing the ark, so it takes place now. Just as Noah took refuge in the ark which swam upon the waters, so it is to be recognized that you must also be saved in baptism. Just as that water swallowed up all that was living then, of man and beast, so baptism also swallows up all that is of the flesh and corrupt nature, and makes spiritual men. But we rest in the ark, which refers to the Lord Christ, or the Christian Church, or the Gospel that Christ preached, or the body of Christ, on which we rest by faith, and are saved as was Noah, in the ark. You can also see how the image summarizes in brief what belongs to faith and to the cross, to life and death. Where there are only those that follow Christ, there is such a Christian Church, where all that springs from Adam, and whatever is evil, is removed.
This flood, to cleanse sin's leprosy,
Mere earthly water cannot be;
But water and God's gracious Word
Conjoined, this saving bath afford.
-- Cuda.
aka Pastor Robin Fish Lutheran to the core -- and just a little beyond.
Welcome
