Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22 2nd Corinthians 6:1-13 Proverbs 22:15

“The Lofty and the Lowly”

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved,
it is the power of God.”
[1st Corinthians 1:18]

St. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 2:1-2; “and I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” It is the sublime Apostle who was so exceedingly enlightened, and yet he knows of nothing more glorious and precious to extol against the false prophets and nothing loftier to preach than the poor, crucified God? When, then, are those haughty spirits doing when they seek after great revelations and think that one must ascend up much higher and soar in spirit? For the devil also delights in sublime thoughts. He is able to make a mask in the heart as if he were God, and to disguise himself in sheer splendor and majesty, as he did when he appeared to Christ in Matthew 4:8. In summary, so far as great wisdom, holiness, and majesty are concerned, he is the world’s master and god … he is still unable to change his nature; he always seeks to be honored in majesty in the place of God. You seek to anger him and drive him away – cling to the crucified Christ.