Sermon Tone Analysis

__________________________________________________________________

Theologia Germanica

a thought by thought paraphrase by Rev. Benjamin Fecher

Lent 2014

__________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER I

In reality there is that which is perfect and complete, and that which is imperfect and partial.

The imperfect and partial will be done away with when the perfect and complete comes.

St Paul says, “ ...when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.”

It is important to know what “the partial” (and imperfect) consists of, and what “the complete” (and perfect) consists of.

“The Complete” and Perfect is a Being, God, who has comprehended and included all things in God’s own self and in God’s Substance.

There is no true Substance without God nor in addition to God.

Indeed, all things have their substance only in God.

God is the very Substance of all things and although in God’s own self God is unchangeable and immoveable, God changes and moves everything else.

But the partial, the imperfect, is that which has as its source the Complete and Perfect and it springs forth from the Complete and Perfect like brightness and visible appearance flows out from the energy of the sun or from a candle, so that it looks, at least to some degree, like an object.

The partial and imperfect things are creatures and as created things they are distinguished from the Complete and Perfect, which is their source.

Likewise, the Complete and Perfect is none of these partial, imperfect things.

Partial, imperfect things can be comprehended, known, and expressed, but the Complete and Perfect cannot be comprehended, known or expressed by any creature in its creatureliness.

Therefore we cannot finally name the Complete and Perfect, since naming consists of conceiving, knowing, apprehending and expressing.

“ ...When the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.”

But when does the Complete come?

I say, when, as much as possible, it is known, felt and tasted in and by the soul.

The fact that it is not readily apparent to us is not due to any lack or imperfection in the Complete.

It is due entirely to our lack.

For example, the sun lights up the world, but the blind person cannot see it.

It is not the fault of the sun, but of the eyes of the blind person.

The intended purpose of the sun is not to hide its brightness, but to illumine and heat the earth.

God, the Highest Good, who intends that the sun shines to bless all on the earth, wills even more not to hide God’s Own Self from any soul prepared to receive God.

Such a soul is attracted not by created things, but is attracted to God.

For to the exact degree that we are unattached to created things we are able to be attached to the Creator.

No more.

No less.

Just like, in order to concentrate on what I see, my eyes must be focused and my attention free from distractions.

Any place that heat and light enters in, darkness and cold disappear.

Someone might say, “This seems like a contradiction.

The Complete and Perfect cannot be known or apprehended by any creature, yet the soul is a creature.

So how can the Complete and Perfect be known by the soul?” Answer: we claim that it cannot be known by the soul as a creature.

It is impossible for creatures according to their creature-nature and qualities.

The creature-nature is that which causes the creature to say “I” and “Myself”.

In order for the Complete and Perfect to be known, the indwelling creature-nature, creature-qualities, the I, the Self, and so on, must be lost and done away with.

This is what St Paul means by saying, “ “ ...when the complete comes,” (that is, when the Complete and Perfect is known) then, “the partial” (the creature-nature, qualities, the I, the Self, the Mine) will be valued as useless and counted as nothing.

As long as we invest energy and value into these things, hang on to them with love, joy, pleasure or desire, the Complete and Perfect remains unknown to us.

Someone might also say, “This also seems like a contradiction.

On the one hand, you say there is no true Substance without God, or in addition to God; but on the other hand you say something flows out from God (the Complete and Perfect).

Isn’t that which flows out from the Complete and Perfect a thing along side the Complete and Perfect?”

Answer: There is no true Substance without God and all things have their substance only in God, the Complete and Perfect.

What flows out of the Complete and Perfect is not a thing in its own right, but is a thing entirely contingent for its substance upon its source.

CHAPTER 2

What sin is and how we must not attribute any good thing to ourselves, because all good belongs only to the true Good.

Scripture, the Faith, and the Truth all agree that Sin is only this: that a creature turns away from the unchangeable and gives itself over to the changeable.

It turns away from the Complete and Perfect toward that which is “partial” and imperfect.

Usually it turns to its own self.

This is precisely how a creature goes astray, by claiming for itself anything truly good, like Life, Knowledge, or Power.

The straying creature thinks or believes that it consists of, possess or generates of itself that which is truly good.

This is what the devil did.

The devil’s fall was that he claimed something of value for himself as if something, in any degree at all, was due to him, as an I, a Me, or a Mine.

And this sad situation has not changed.

Chapter 3

How the fall of all humankind must be amended in the same way Adam’s was.

Adam’s fall was just like the devil’s.

People say Adam fell and was lost because he ate the apple.

I say it was because of his claiming something for his own, because of his I, Me, Mine and the like.

If he had claimed nothing for his own, but had eaten seven apples he would not have fallen.

But as soon as he claimed entitlement, claimed something his own, he fell.

In this case he would have fallen even if he had never touched an apple.

Adam’s fall is so serious that all humankind together could never have amended it or brought him back from going astray, and yet I, myself, have fallen a hundred times more often, more deeply, and have gone astray a hundred times further then Adam.

How can my fall be amended?

It must be healed exactly like Adam’s was.

Who brought Adam’s healing about and in what way was it brought about?

Pay close attention: no human being could do it without God, and God refused to do it without human participation.

So, God took onto GodSelf human nature and human personhood and was made human.

And human personhood was made divine.

This is how healing was brought about for Adam and the same thing must happen for my healing.

I cannot do the work without God and God will not do it without my participation.

If the healing is to take place in me God must be made human by taking into GodSelf all that is in me, everything that has to do with me, so that there is nothing left in me that strives against God or hinders God’s work in any way.

If, in this way, God made divine every person in the world or every person that has ever been in the world, but God did not do this work in me, my fall and my alienation would never be healed or overcome.

I can only be healed when it happens in me.

I can do nothing to prompt or to bring about this healing and restoration.

I can simply yield to God so that God can do everything that needs to be done in me, and for my part, I can simply accept God, God’s work, and God’s divine will to be done.

But I do not yield to God and accept God’s work to be done in me.

Instead, I credit myself to be my own.

I say, “I”, “Me”, and “Mine”.

In this way I hinder God’s work in me so that my fall and alienation remain unhealed.

It all comes from my insistence that I have some degree of personal autonomy.

CHAPTER 4

Here is how a person falls and alienates herself by dishonoring God when she claims that any truly good thing originates in herself.

God says, “I will not give my glory to another.”

In other words, praise, honor and glory belong to God alone.

But if I think that I have any claim on anything truly good, if I think I am to some degree truly good, or if I have the power to know or bring about something truly good, or if I, in any way, consider that some thing of true value is my own or some credit is due me, then I am grabbing some degree of honor and glory for myself.

And then I do two evil things at once: First, I fall and alienate myself, as mentioned above: Second, I violate God’s honor, by trying to take as my own what belongs only to God.

For anything and everything that warrants being called good belongs to the True, Eternal Goodness, that is, to God alone.

Anyone who credits it to herself is fundamentally wrong and therefore against God.

CHAPTER 5

Here is how we are to understand it when we hear that we should become devoid of things like will, wisdom, desire, and knowledge.

People say that we ought to be without will, wisdom, love, desire and so on, but this cannot mean that there is no human knowledge or that human persons are not to love God, or desire, praise or honor God.

That would be a terrible loss of humanity.

It would turn humans into beasts and make them like brutes that have no capacity to reason.

What it means instead is that human knowledge should be so clear and perfect that the person readily acknowledges that he neither has any goodness nor can claim any goodness through action.

The person cannot claim to be the source or author of any knowledge, wisdom, or art.

The person’s will, love, and good works do not originate from the person’s self nor do they come from any created thing.

Instead, all these are of the eternal God and spring from the eternal God.

This is what Christ means when he says, “...apart from me you can do nothing.”