Nothing & Everything
Via The Righteousness of Faith According to Luther” (pg. 35-6)
People who love God with the self-serving loving of concupiscentia spiritualis are horrified at the thought of predestination. They think it is cruel and inhuman that God has mercy on those upon whom he chooses to have mercy and rejects those he chooses to reject. “Then the ‘prudence of the flesh’ says: ‘It is harsh and wretched that God should seek his glory in my misery.’ Note how the voice of the flesh is always saying: ‘my.’ Get rid of this ‘my’ and rather say, ‘Glory to Thee, O Lord!’ and then you will be saved. In another place Luther says: “To love God for the purpose of eternal salvation and eternal peace or for reasons of avoiding hell is not to love God for his own sake, but for the sake of one’s self. True blessedness is to seek God’s Will and God’s Honor in all things and to wish for nothing for one’s self – either here or in the here-after. The power of faith that gives God justice and bows to his will stands here at its most difficult, but most complete test. For the kind of love of God that accepts everything from his hand – even if it be damnation – is the love of a friend or a son (amor filialis et amicitiae). It is not a natural kind of love, nor is it a love that represents the highest order of natural love, but rather this is a love that comes only from the Holy Spirit.
