Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.

Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.

Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.

Amen.

She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.

(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)


681 posted on 10/11/2014 7:49:00 AM PDT by narses ( For the Son of man shall come ... and then will he render to every man according to his works.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 679 | View Replies ]


To: narses
(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)

Not a Lutheran.
683 posted on 10/11/2014 7:52:26 AM PDT by Resettozero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 681 | View Replies ]

To: narses

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.

Refrain:
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, “Let them come to Me.”

Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live.

Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.

Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.


711 posted on 10/11/2014 8:44:51 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 681 | View Replies ]

To: narses
Your rendering is a cut and paste of a frequently but incompletely cited writing of Luther.  The theme of the complete work is not at all what your quote suggests. Indeed, Luther recognizes that the Magnificat is a distinctly evangelical hymn, and though he still was still encumbered with a few fragments of Rome's long and profound distortion of Mary, he nevertheless was clear on the evangelical message of  God's amazing grace:

**********************************************************
From :  http://www.godrules.net/library/luther/NEW1luther_c5.htm

...

As the wood had no other merit or worthiness than that it was suited to be made into a cross and was appointed by God for that purpose, even so her sole worthiness to become the Mother of God lay in her being fit and appointed for it; so that it might be pure grace and not a reward, that we might not take away from God’s grace, worship and honor by ascribing too great things to her. For it is better to take away too much from her than from the grace of God. Indeed, we cannot take away too much from her, since she was created out of nothing, like all other creatures. But we can easily take away too much from grace, which is a perilous thing to do and not well pleasing to her. It is necessary also to keep within bounds and not make too much of calling her “Queen of heaven,” which is a true enough name and yet does not make her a goddess, who could grant gifts or render aid, as some suppose, that pray and flee to her rather than to God. She gives nothing, God gives all, as we see in the words that follow, — “ He that is mighty.” Verily, in these words she takes away all might and power from every creature and bestows them on God alone. What great boldness and robbery on the part of so young and tender a maiden!

 She dares, by this one word, to make all the strong feeble, all the mighty weak, all the wise foolish, all the famous despised, and God alone the possessor of all strength, wisdom and glory. For this is the meaning of the phrase, “He that is mighty.” There is none that does anything, but as St. Paul says in Ephesians 1:11, “God worketh all in all,” and all creatures’ works are God’s works. Even as we confess in the Creed, “I believe in God the Father, the Almighty.” He is almighty because it is His power alone that works in all and through all and over all. Thus St. Anna, the mother of Samuel, sings in 1 Samuel 2:9, “By strength shall no man prevail.” And St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God.” This is a most important article of faith, including many things; it utterly puts down all pride, arrogance, blasphemy, fame, and false trust, and exalts God alone. It points out the reason why God alone is to be exalted, — because He does all things. That is easily said, but hard to believe and to translate into life. For they who carry it out in their lives are most peaceable, composed and simple hearted folk, who lay no claim to anything, well knowing it is not theirs but God’s.
...

The “great things” are nothing less than that she became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child. She herself is unable to find a name for this work, it is too exceeding great; all she can do is break out in the fervent cry, [sic] are great things,” impossible to describe or define. Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her or to her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, or grass in the fields, or stars in the sky, or sand by the sea. F265 It needs to be pondered in the heart, what it means to be the Mother of God.

**********************************************************

Modern Protestants avoid "Mother of God," because it no longer has the Christological import for which it was used at Chalcedon, and the recent spurious Marian dogmas coming after Luther's time have made that even worse.  To resolve this we resort to the Greek term Chalcedon used, theotokos, as rightly meaning "God-bearer," which is acceptable in ecumenical scope, without the schismatic attributions attached to it by Rome, because it puts the focus on the deity of Christ, where it belongs, and avoids false attribution of quasi-deity to Mary.  Also, Luther is too comfortable with expressions such as "Queen of Heaven," yet he does rightly shift our focus from her to the God of grace who blessed her so much.

Which mixed bag of truth and error is another reason why it is error to say that Protestants as a class are blind followers of Luther. We are not. Luther is still too Catholic for the simplicity of faith depicted in Scripture.  He is not to be too much blamed for this.  We are all products of our own times, as was he. That he came out as far as he did, and did so much to bring the Gospel to so many who had never heard it, is still a blessing and a work of God for which we all should be grateful.

Peace,

SR

728 posted on 10/11/2014 9:04:44 AM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 681 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson