Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: 1st Chronicles 4:5-5:17 Acts 25:1-27 Proverbs 18:19

“Taught by God”

“And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
[Matthew 16:17]

God is hidden in the flesh, so that no man can recognize Him unless He has been enlightened by God’s spiritual grace. Hence, blessed Peter, who had been thus converted and said: “you are Christ, the Son of the living God,” heard Him say: “blessed are you, Simon, Bar-Jona. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven” {Matthew 16:6-7}. Therefore, no one can be converted to God unless he has first been converted to Christ, as He says “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6] Consequently, the prophet, who sees that many, indeed almost all of his people could go astray and be turned from Christ, prays that they might be converted. And that only happens through the knowledge of Christ – God incarnate.