The Logic of Love

"For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves" (Galatians)

From Martin Luther's lectures on Galatians:

We are all equal, and we are all nothing. Why, then, does one man puff himself up against another, and why do we not help one another? Furthermore, if there is anything in us, it is not our own; it is a gift of God. But if it is a gift of God, then it is entirely a debt one owes to love, that is to the law of Christ. And if it is a debt owed to love, then I must serve others with it, not myself. Thus my learning is not my own; it belongs to the unlearned and is the debt I owe them... Thus my wisdom belongs to the foolish, my power to the oppressed. Thus my wealth belongs to the poor, my righteousness to the sinners. For these are the forms of God of which we must empty ourselves in order that the forms of a servant may be in us.

This is a worthy meditation in preparation for preaching on Luke 6 this coming Sunday. It synthesizes the Beatitudes, Galatians, and the Christ hymn in exemplary fashion. It is a wonder.