that some [will see beyond my reputation], because I do it myself: I read the sermons of Bileam with great edification. With any presentation I do not even once examine the person, but rather the grounds. I do not even believe my most trusted friends without grounds, and I believe dutifully from the heart all truths that come from the mouth of an opponent.
So then, dear reader, may you be a little prepared for the useful application of these pages. May my dear Savior be so friendly to you all that you must feel ashamed. It happens that way to me every day, because I may not lift up my eyes toward him. He is the most gracious Lord of the entire world. I am a sinner, [and this experience] happens to me when I become inwardly aware of the nearness of his presence, but because of that I want to beg him not to go (Luke 5:8), but rather to stay (Luke 24:29).
Marienborn [Germany]
26 August 1738
In these speeches Count Zinzendorf offers reflections on the main point, the heart of Christian faith, by explicating this passage from Luther’s Small Catechism.
“I believe that Jesus Christ, who is truly God begotten of the Father from eternity and also truly human born in time of the virgin Mary, is my Lord; that he redeemed me, a lost and condemned human being; that he purchased and won me from all sin, from death, and from the dominion of the devil, not with gold or silver but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and dying so that I might belong to him, live under him in his kingdom and serve him in eternal righteousness, blamelessness, and blessedness; likewise that he rose from the dead, lives and reigns in eternity. This is most certainly true.”1
1. Martin Luther, in Tappert, Book of Concord, 345.
The First Speech (23 February 1738)
I Believe
“You believe that there is one God. You do well in that. The devils believe too, and tremble” (James 2:19). This is a clear proof that it is not enough for salvation to believe that there exists only one God. “Therefore, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, in order that all who believe in him should not be lost but rather have eternal life” (John 3:19). And the Gospel exists for this purpose, “that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that you might have life through faith in his name” (John 20:31).1
Our faith is distinguished from that of the devils in this way. We believe in the name of the One called “Jesus” because he will save his people, he will deliver his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). One must come to know the name properly.
The Lord foresaw that people would think belief in God to be sufficient for salvation, therefore he countered: “Believe in me” (John 14:1). Whether we suppose there is a God or not is not up to us. We believe by nature. Certainly there are many who wish deep in their hearts that there were no God (Psalm 14:1), so that they could sin more freely. But deep down they cannot believe there is none. The highest peaks of reason can neither remove the idea from the depths of the self, nor hinder and dampen the recognition of the great Supreme Being. The foundation is laid too deeply in nature and in the heart. That people know there is a God is manifest in them, since God revealed it to them.2 Since the Enemy of souls cannot now prevent people from taking notice of God (he must even do it himself), he gladly persuades them that he has saving faith. One might admit as valid that there is one God and feel fear at his name because he can punish, chastise, afflict, and damn. As a result one does not sin with such abandon anymore, and this produces worldly people who are honorable and upright. But few people know and believe anything substantial about Christ. One need not reach beyond the bounds of Christendom to see this. Many so-called Christians believe the same thing that the nations who follow Muhammad’s teaching believe, the same thing that the Jews believe: in only one God. (Jews exclude Jesus. Muslims omit his true nature although they think of him with deep reverence.) These so-called Christians name the glorious name of Jesus in all manner of circumstances, and allow themselves to be named after him, only somewhat more superficially. Jesus, the great Jesus, whom all the angels of God shall worship, before whom every knee on earth shall bow and all authorities lay their crowns in the dust. To be sure the name appears on people’s lips when it is the custom in a country or city, since this, too, has its fashion. But it is always rare when a person whose reason, reputation, property, or talent sets them only a little above the vulgar mob mentions the Savior often. Most hold that nothing more is necessary to being an honest and upright person than to be respectful before God. But when things have sunk so low in a country or city that key people, the very people upon whom others depend, are ashamed of the Savior and of his teaching, then one can reckon that it will soon come out according to the expression of the prophet Daniel, that Christ is no more (cf. Daniel 9:26).
For a misfortune has already gained ground in Christendom: one has dealings only with God and has very little to do with Christ, as if he had never been upon the earth and did not stand on almost every page of the Bible, or as if he really had little significance and one could believe, live, and be saved without him. That is why people regard the sayings of the Savior as trivial, that is, as fitting for the inferior schools but too coarse and improper for the wise and great people. Many who concern themselves with the Savior think and speak of him in a completely cold-minded way. Others who are considered the best and most pious among Christians believe one must require more seriousness about the knowledge of God than is customary. Since he can drag one to judgment one must honor God, fear God, and stop offending him with sin, and instead love and serve him because of his countless blessings. If others freely sin during the day, these people keep away from evil out of fear and respect. But Christ with his name and merit is unknown, and I believe if people were not sometimes terrified or did not sometimes feel pain, it would be a long time before the name “Jesus” passed their lips. It is necessary for us to take this matter rightly to heart and grasp it in our deepest selves and rightly concern ourselves with Christ: who he is according to his Person, Offices, and Status, and not only experience the power of it for ourselves but confess him before everyone and neglect no opportunity to make his name known to others. And this is the chief task of all the witnesses of Jesus, who have perceived and known him, that they always paint the Savior—who is so unknown—before the eyes of the whole world, and especially before so-called Christendom. Because even if they say: “One must know him, one must have him in one’s heart, one must not let him be taken from one,” you can rest assured, the so-called Christian world does not know him (John 16:3).
One does not begin by first worrying about how one can leave sin behind and become pious, but rather how one can get to know Jesus as one’s own Savior, since the former will follow all by itself, after the Son has once made one free; since he alone can free from sin, he alone can help and counsel in matters for which no human counsel is adequate. We cannot deny that we have sin in us (I John 1:8), and that we carry it upon ourselves until we go to our graves. For this reason the body is dead because of sin (Romans 8:10), and decomposition befalls it. The reality of sin’s malignant poison is so firmly fixed in nature and in the whole mass of humanity that the healthiest thing for them is to go into their graves and be reduced to absolute worthlessness, then the Savior can make something better out of them.*
But even though we carry this body of death, among children of God sin is a banished, crucified, and condemned thing, viewed as a malefactor and prisoner, which does not have to re-appear automatically and inevitably, if only the soul is no longer treacherous, nor friendly with sin. The old self has received its judgment: it is bound to be killed and negated on the cross of Christ (Romans 6:6). “For this purpose the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8), to dissolve the structure and principle of sin and tear it asunder in order that it might not come to desire, deed, and death among believers, and instead the sinful corruption
