LESSON: JOHN 14:23-31

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2

On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples of Christ were all together in one place, the Holy Spirit came upon them and filled them. Before this joyful event, they sat in deep gloom, fear, and sorrow. The Spirit gave them cloven tongues of fire, enkindled them so that they became bold, preached freely in groups, and were afraid of nothing.

From all this, you see quite clearly that it is not the office of the Holy Spirit to write books or to set up laws but to abolish all this in the interests of freedom. The Holy Spirit is a God who does His writing in the heart, making it burn. He supplies a man with new courage so that he becomes joyful before God and begins to love Him and then serves his fellowman with a joyful heart.

To set forth the Holy Spirit in this light is to preach the Holy Spirit correctly. Do not believe anyone who sets forth the Spirit in a different light. If the Spirit comes in this way, you see that He annuls the letter of the Law and wants to free men from sins and the Law. Indeed, He wants to make it quite clear that we have no further use of the Law and that He rules inwardly in our hearts without the Law.

SL 11:1023 (14)

PRAYER: Renew our spirits by Your Holy Spirit, heavenly Father, and draw our hearts to Yourself in Him. Let us not serve You as slaves, with a spirit of bondage, but with freedom and gladness as Your true sons, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

Editor’s note: No American Edition (AE) equivalent for today’s sermon excerpt exists at the time of this publication. For an alternate English translation of this sermon, see Lenker, Church Postil—Gospels, 3:272-287.