Theology

In a Form Which Is Strange to Us

‘Thus we must be very much on our guard that we do not sometime become […]

Simeon Zahl / 7.2.10

‘Thus we must be very much on our guard that we do not sometime become set in our minds, that we do not resist Christ and refuse to believe in Him, not realizing when, where, how, and through whom He is speaking to us. And almost always it is the case that He speaks to us in the place, the time, the manner, and through the person that we do not think He should. As He Himself says, “The wind blows where it wills (not where we will or think), and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes” (John 3:8). For He is near us and in us, but always in a form which is strange to us, not in the appearance of glory but in humility and gentleness, so that He is not thought to be who He really is.‘

– Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans, Luther’s Works 25, pp. 242-43