Johannes Brenz's Introduction to Holy Scripture
Just as Luther translated the Bible into German so that it could be heard, read, and understood by all Christians, so too has our tradition left behind commentaries, sermons, and hymns on all the books of the Bible. One of my main interests is to make these many resources for learning and studying the Scriptures available. The first resource I’m bringing to you is a brief overview of the books of the Bible written by Johannes Brenz (1499–1570). Brenz was one of the most prolific reformers, publishing sermons and commentaries on almost all the books of the Bible. I recently finished translating Brenz’s introduction to this work for the weekly devotional, which is included below, and now we are moving into his brief summaries of each book of the Bible.
A Short Summary and Overview of the Entire Holy Scriptures, Namely the Books of the Old and New Testaments
The books of the Old Testament teach us that the God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that is, the Hebrews, worshiped, is alone the true God, and that He is almighty and eternal, that on account of His goodness, He created heaven, earth, and all that is in them through His Word, that all things come from Him, without whom no one is justified or shown mercy, who works all things according to His will, to whom no one may say, “Why has He created this or that?” or “Why has He acted in this way or that way?”
Moreover, this God also created the first man, Adam, according to His image and likeness, and appointed him as the lord of all created things on earth. This Adam, through the envy, cunning, and deception of the devil, when he became disobedient to the command of his creator, brought and introduced sin into the world by his own sin and transgression, which is so great and weighty that all of us who are born of him according to the flesh are now by behavior and nature children of wrath, and are therefore subjected to death, eternal damnation, the yoke of tyranny, and the power of the devil.
But it is further shown that the blessed seed, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior, was promised by God the Father to Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and the other fathers. This seed was to redeem from sins and the power of the devil all those who, through true, living faith, would lay hold of this promise and place their trust in Jesus Christ, in the good and certain hope that they would be given redemption by Him and through Him alone.
This promise is often repeated in the books of the Old Testament. Meanwhile, because men, on account of their nature, are so presumptuous, proud, and perverse that they do not readily acknowledge themselves as sinners, as those who need the help of the promised Savior, it was further shown, as the fathers awaited this salvation and redemption which was promised, how the Law, written upon stone tablets, was given by God through Moses so that the sin and wickedness of the human heart might be recognized and that men would become more eager for the coming of Christ, who would redeem them from their sins. The burnt offerings and other offerings were not able to achieve such redemption, for they were only a shadow and a type of the proper and true offering of Christ, through which the sin of all people was to be blotted out and taken away.
But in the books of the New Testament, we are now taught that this promised Christ (who is God over all, praised forever), who was portrayed, prefigured, and signified through sacrifice in the books of the Old Testament, was sent when the time determined by the Father had finally come, at a time when all sin had become rampant. Now, He was not sent and did not become man on account of any human merit or good work, for all were sinners. Rather, God, as true and faithful, demonstrated the lavish richness of His grace, which He promised, and He saved us according to His grace.
Therefore, it is most certainly and clearly proven and demonstrated in the New Testament that Jesus Christ came, the true Lamb of God and the proper sacrifice for the sin of the world, that He desired to set us at peace with God the Father and to reconcile us with Him (for He is our peace), so that He might cleanse us from our sins by His blood and redeem us from the devil’s power and servitude by virtue of our sin, for we have served him by sinning, and that we are therefore received as God’s children through Him and have become His fellow heirs.
That we may also recognize this lofty, excellent, and great work and grace of God shown to us, God gives us His Holy Spirit, whose fruit and gift is faith in God and in His Son Christ. For without the Holy Spirit, by whom we are sealed, we could not believe that God the Father has sent the Messiah and Redeemer, nor that Jesus is the Christ. For thus says St. Paul, “No one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” The same Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children, and pours out into our hearts the love which Paul describes to the Corinthians. Moreover, He imparts to us the hope (which is a certain expectation of eternal life), for He is also the pledge of the same, and He grants us other spiritual gifts, of which Paul speaks to the Galatians. Through this trust and faith in Christ, which is active in love and demonstrates and manifests itself by works of love, which also drives men to do what is good, we become righteous, pious, and holy; that is, God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who has also become our Father, through Christ our Brother), reckons us as pious, righteous, and holy, and this through His grace, in that He does not impute our sins unto us for damnation.
Finally, Christ Himself came for this reason, that through Him we might be redeemed and cleansed from our sins, and that we would now live according to His will and exercise ourselves in proper good works, to mortify and deny the sinful flesh, and freely serve Him alone in righteousness and holiness our whole life that through good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them, we might thus prove ourselves to have been called to such grace. Indeed, whoever does not possess these good works, whoever does not exercise himself in these, shows thereby that he does not have such faith in Christ as He requires of us.
To this Christ, we must come, and cleave to Him with joyful hearts and follow after Him. For He is our teacher, our Master, meek and lowly in heart. He is the true image from whom one must learn how to properly live. Moreover, He is our Bishop and High Priest, the only Mediator between God and man, who now sits at the right hand of God the Father, who has become our Advocate, who represents us and prays for us. Without any doubt, He will certainly obtain that which we ask of Him or of the Father in His name, if only we ask in prayer with true faith, and entrust to Him to do that which He promised us.
Therefore, we should not at all doubt whether we have sinned, but rather, with proper repentance (to which He exhorts us at the beginning of His preaching) and true, sincere trust, we approach this Mercy Seat and believe with certainty that we will receive mercy, for He came for this very purpose, that through His grace, He might save poor, repentant sinners.
This, then, is Jesus Christ, who (when the man of sin, namely the Antichrist, is destroyed and killed by the breath of His mouth) shall sit in His majesty and glory to judge the living and the dead, and He shall give to each one in his body according to how he walked, whether good or evil, etc. (2 Cor 5). And He will say to those who shall stand at His right and who have waited for eternal good things, “Come, you who have been blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the beginning of the world.” But to those who shall stand at His left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” Then it will be the end, when He shall hand the kingdom over to God the Father.
So that we might recognize and understand all of this, the Bible, which is Holy Scripture, has been given to us by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit, that is, so that we may know that there is only one true God, and Him whom He sent, Jesus Christ, and that through knowledge and faith we have eternal life in His name. No one can lay any other foundation than this, as Paul wishes that he who preaches any other faith or salvation than through this Jesus Christ be accursed, even if it were an angel from heaven. For from Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things, to whom, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and forever, Amen.
Johannes Brenz, Kurtzer Begriff und Inhalt der gantzen Heiligen Schrifft (1552)
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Law and Gospel (c. 1529)
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