in our image,” that is, beings who are perfectly pure and completely without blemish.
Then he made a man and a woman and gave them dominion over all the work of his hands, except the tree of life and of the knowledge of good and evil. Regarding this tree, he said, “When you eat of it you shall die.” But the human beings whom God had made for his praise soon turned away and forgot their Creator’s command and all the good things he had given them. They exchanged obedience for disobedience and ate of the forbidden fruit. This caused them to fall, and their descendants also, for the wrath of God came over them. As a result the earth, too, came under a curse, and as a punishment bore thistles and thorns where they had hoped for good. God had expected goodness and obedience from them, but they had been disobedient and caused thistles and thorns to grow. Therefore eternal death and damnation came over them and all their descendants, and it became impossible for any of them to attain what the one man, Adam, had lost – that is, God’s favor and grace; for the wrath of God had come upon them and they lay in the power of death under sin, as under a heavy load that none of them could lift. Only the one eternally powerful God, against whom they had sinned, could do so through his dearly beloved Son.
But God in his very great wrath over us could not restrain and hide his love. This was impossible, for he himself is love. So he had to show himself and make himself known, and extend love to the human race, and after the curse give comfort once more through his promise. In order that man might have comfort and hope, he said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between your seed and the woman’s seed, and her seed will crush your head.” This seed is Christ our Savior, who crushed the serpent’s head, that is, robbed the devil of his power and dominion.
What great love that is! God comforts us, his greatest enemies, with such a glorious and wonderful promise to free us from death (which we had willfully deserved) and give us everlasting life freely, without our earning or deserving it. So loving is his compassion! Like a spring that overflows, his mercy flows over all who desire it, calling them to this grace and saying, “Everyone who is thirsty, come to the water, and those of you who have no money, come buy wine and milk without price!” Who has ever shown anyone such love as the ruler of all has shown, even to those who despised him? He still cares daily for them, and gives them food and drink, clothing, and all they need, also strength of body. Truly, what can we have that we did not receive from him? And what could we achieve that was not done by God beforehand and given us? Yet who is thanked less for a gift than the One from whom everything comes, the One who cares for us as a mother does for the child at her breast, and wants nothing evil to befall us, but wants to save us from it all, if only we listen to his voice? For as a bird cares for its young, he watches over us to help us, saying, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will hear you and help you.” He is a faithful God who soon forgets all our transgressions and favors us with his noblest gifts.
God’s love is seen in that he did not spare his dearly beloved only Son, but sent him into the world and gave him up to death as atonement for our sin. What great love that is! He makes his only Son whom he loves alive again in us who were dead, and leads us to his kingdom. What more should he have done than he has already done, or what more should he have shown us than he has already shown? God wants to give us everything with him. But not only that; he has already given himself to us to be our Father and accepted us as his children by freely forgiving our sins. We have not repaid him for this, nor does he want any recompense except that we believe in his name and in Jesus Christ his Son, whom he sent to be the Savior of the world.
THE LOVE OF CHRIST
CHRIST JESUS, the eternal Word of God Most High, was with the Father before the creation of the world and made all things together with his Father. As it is written, “Before the world was, I was, and rejoiced in his presence continually, and when he prepared all things I helped him, for through him all things are made, and nothing was made without him.” Everything that has been made, however, has being and remains in him and through him will once more be perfected. He came from above to what was his own, but they did not receive him; but to those who received him he gave the power to become children of God. What great love that is! Christ Jesus, the eternal Father’s Son, left the glory beside the Father which he had had before the world was made and came into the world in the form of a servant, endured poverty, temptation, and suffering to set us free from the yoke of misery and servitude. The lord of all lords and king of all kings became poor for our sake that we might become rich in him. We see the love of Christ in that he gave his life for us and suffered death to free us, who were guilty of death. For it is written, “No one has greater love than to give his life for his friend, and you are my friends, if you do all that I command you. I lay down my life in order to receive it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down myself.” Christ had such love for us that he gave his life and suffered the most humiliating death, namely death on the cross. Thus he became a curse for our sakes, for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree.”
How could he have a greater love than this: he suffered so much poverty and misery, and shed his blood in death and so broke down the middle wall of partition and wiped out all that was written against us. He made a sure path to the Father for us and earned for us the Father’s favor. See how he spared no effort but did all that was necessary for our blessedness simply so that we might find joy with God and that he might cast off the heavy load that had lain upon us. We could rid ourselves of this in no other way than through him, since Satan had bound us so tightly with his ropes and stood like an armed man, keeping us in his power until the appointed time of grace came to us from God, when he sent the strong hero, Jesus Christ our Lord, against whom no one can prevail. He took away Satan’s power, burst the chain and the prison that held us, and forced Satan to obey him. He redeemed us, his people, in order that we might cleave to him alone and serve him with all our hearts.
Now, all who recognize the love of God the Father and of his dearly beloved Son, and take to heart the great grace that has come to us through him, will truly set their hearts to serve him, obey his commandments, and delight in them by day and night; they will treasure and love the testimony of their God, and have no fear of what may happen to them as a result. They will let nothing hinder them in this or turn them aside: as it is written, “What can separate us from the love of God – can tribulation or death, hunger or thirst, heat or frost, fire, water, or sword? As it is written, we are killed all day long and are counted as sheep for slaughter, but in all this we more than overcome for the sake of him who loved us.” Such people, however, will watch carefully over their witness to the Lord, and will hold unhindered to God’s will against their own will, which they give to die with Christ. They strangle and kill it, so that their whole will is changed and renewed, and they become a new creation in Christ. They put on Christ and truly surrender themselves to God. Just as previously they surrendered to sin, obeying it and serving it, and going from one sin to the next, now, after having recognized God, they give themselves and their bodies to God as weapons of righteousness that they may be holy. Now they no longer live, but Christ lives in them and brings to perfection everything in them that is pleasing to God, so that they may praise God with an honest heart. For the true praise of God is to keep his testimony and love his name wholeheartedly.
LET US LOVE GOD
LET US LOVE GOD; for he loved us first and sent his Son into the world, through whom he has made us holy and sanctified us to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to him through Jesus Christ. This is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. But whoever says he loves God and does not keep his commandments is a liar. In such a person there is no truth, for whoever loves God remains in God and God in him. We recognize that we remain in God and he in us if we keep his commandments.
The chief of all God’s commandments is, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. You must cleave to him, serve him, and love him with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength.” So to love God is the fulfillment of all his commands, and to love him with all my powers is to honor him with
