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The Story of the Birth of Jesus; and the Angels' Song (part 2)

© Dr. Martin Luther, Th.D., Reformer, sinner and child of God

71. Concerning the good will St. Paul says: 1 Cor. 10, 33, "Even as I also please all men in all things." How does he do that? If you are content and satisfied with every thing, you will in turn please everybody. It is a short rule: If you will please no one, be pleased with no one; if you will please every one, be pleased with every one; in so far, however, that you do not violate God's Word, for in that case all pleasing and displeasing ceases. But what may be omitted without doing violence to God's Word, may be omitted, that you may please every one and at the same time be faithful to God, then you have this good will of which the angels sing.

72. From this song we may learn what kind of creatures the angels are. Don't consider what the great masters of art dream about them, here they are all painted in such a manner that their heart and their own thoughts may be recognized. In the first place, in that they joyfully sing, ascribing the glory to God, they show how full of his light and fire they are, not praising themselves, but recognizing that all things belong to God alone, so that with great earnestness they ascribe the glory to him to whom it belongs. Therefore if you would think of a humble, pure, obedient and joyful heart, praising God, think of the angels. This is their first step, that by which they serve God.

73. The second is their love to us as has been shown. Here you see what great and gracious friends we have in them, that they favor us no less than themselves; rejoice in our welfare quite as much as they do in their own, so much so that in this song they give us a most comforting inducement to regard them as the best of friends. In this way you rightly understand the angels, not according to their being, which the masters of art attempt fearlessly to portray, but according to their inner heart, spirit and sense, that though I know not what they are, I know what their chief desire and constant work is; by this you look into their heart. This is enough concerning this Gospel. What is meant by Mary, Joseph, Nazareth will be explained in Luke 1.

The Armor of this Gospel.

74. In this Gospel is the foundation of the article of our faith when we say: "I believe in Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary." Although the same article is founded on different passages of Scripture, yet on none so clearly as on this one. St. Mark says no more than that Christ has a mother, the same is also the case with St. John, neither saying any thing of his birth. St. Matthew says he is born of Mary in Bethlehem, but lets it remain at that, without gloriously proclaiming the virginity of Mary, as we will hear in due time. But Luke describes it clearly and diligently.