The sermons of early Christianity that have come down to the present day reveal that the favourite homiletical form for the early preachers was the highlighting of contrasts or parallelisms. The parallelism that rang out boldly from the mouths of the homilists contrasted, above all, the Hebrew Scriptures — part of which is what we call the Old Testament — with the Scriptures of Christ’s disciples and followers, which we know as the New Testament. This was, of course, done in order to distance themselves from Judaism. Otherwise the Christ event (the incarnate Son of God, who died and rose again for the sins of humanity) would have no meaning. Christianity would be merely one of the offshoots of Judaism, with yet another teacher named Jesus of Nazareth. Such a style of parallelism, contrasting the Old Testament with the New, most likely arose for the purposes of self-identification of the new religious movement that was Christianity — in order to understand and emphasize what sets us apart, and to announce ourselves in the arena of the surrounding religions. Martin Luther, in initiating the tradition of the Lutheran confession of faith, also employed powerful parallelisms. The best-known parallelisms are these: that we are saved by faith and not by works, that the foundation of our salvation is in Scripture alone and nowhere else, and that our Saviour is Christ alone and no other. The Pentecost sermon by Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811–1887), in my opinion, reveals the beauty and depth of the Lutheran tradition, as well as wonderfully reflecting the contrasts.
The text of the sermon:
My friends, on this day of Pentecost we only now begin, in comparison with all the other festivals, to celebrate the true feast of blessing. At Christmas and Easter we hear about how God the Father and the Son have opened the springs of blessing for all people, but at Pentecost — about how these springs finally gush forth, thanks to the working of the Holy Spirit [..].
Christmas and Easter are celebrations of the miraculous obtaining of the treasure of salvation, but Pentecost is a feast in honour of its distribution, a feast at which the harvest gathered through hard labour is celebrated. [..] 91
The glory of the New Testament Pentecost revelation is superior to that of the Old Testament [revelation], and its very event is divided into three parts:
1. The Old Testament Pentecost [Passover] revelation proclaimed what a person must do, but the New Testament [revelation] — what God has done for his sake.
2. The Old Testament [revelation] made people sinners before God; the New Testament revelation made them justified before God.
3. The Old Testament revelation killed people; the New Testament revelation made people alive. [..] 92
The Old Testament Passover revelation is this: „You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and your neighbour as yourself,” but the New Testament Pentecost revelation is this: „God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. God is love, and whoever abides in love,” that is, in God’s love toward Him, „abides in God, and God in him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us and sent His Son as the price of redemption for our sins.” The Old Testament Passover says: „Keep all My commandments, statutes and judgments, for I am the Lord.” But the New Testament revelation says: „What the law was unable to do, God did, and sent His Son.”
The Old Testament Passover revelation said: „Do this, and you shall live.” But the New Testament revelation says: „Life appeared. And this is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” The Old Testament revelation says: „You must be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy,” but the New Testament revelation says the opposite: „I sanctify Myself for their sake, that they too may be truly made holy.”
The Old Testament Passover revelation demands that a person become and be like God, but the New Testament revelation proclaims that God has become like a human being — yes, that God Himself became a human, like him in all ways, only without sin. 93
My friends, and yet, what good would it do us if today’s sermon were only about God’s mighty deeds, but we knew of these mighty deeds only from sermons preached to us at festivals and at other times, if it were still preached and demanded of us that we earn our salvation by works? But we are so blessed! The glory of the New Testament Passover revelation, which is superior to the Old Testament revelation, further includes this: that the Old Testament Passover made people sinners, but the New Testament makes people justified before God.
Truly, my friends, the Old Testament Passover did nevertheless reveal to man the way to God’s righteousness and thereby to blessedness. But it is equally clear that, even if this way guides the person who walks it and is determined to reach the destination, there is nevertheless no one who would walk it to the end. Even if the law also promises eternal life, it still promises it only to one who fulfils its commands in thoughts, words and deeds, and, on the other hand, it proclaims God’s wrath, death and damnation upon all those who transgress it. „Cursed is everyone who does not fulfil all the words of this law and does not act according to it. And let all the people say: Amen,” thus rings a dreadful excerpt from the Old Testament Passover revelation of that time to fallen man. And in it every nation hears and sees that God does not jest in His proclamation, but is in earnest in His holiness, for from the mountain on which the lawgiver declares the law, smoke rises as from a fiery furnace as God loudly proclaims His laws, and the mountain trembles to its foundations, lightning strikes above it and thunder roars, a heart-rending sound is heard, like the sound of the trumpet on the day of judgment. That is far from giving anyone the possibility of being justified before God by the Old Testament Passover revelation, for there God Himself declared all people to be sinners.
So woe to us humans, if there were no other Passover revelation! But glory be to God for ever! The Passover of the Old Testament law has been replaced by the new, the Passover of the Gospel, and this has happened today. [..] 94
The miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the holy apostles was the last glorious Word of God for the sanctification of fallen humanity. Just as Christ had once already obtained all the riches of salvation and filled with it the storehouse of the congregation, so also at that time the distribution of these riches began. The Son of God Himself, by His holy, substitutionary work and suffering, fully fulfilled in the place of humanity God’s law that had been revealed on Mount Sinai — so now the Holy Spirit poured out upon the Lord’s disciples, that they might proclaim to all the world freedom from the curse of sin and the coming of the Lord’s year of grace. The price for the people who were in the prison of sins has been paid. Now is the time when all the prisoners must hear: „Go! You are free! Christ has already paid all the debts for all who were indebted to God, down to the last penny.” [..]
Here, my friends, the Old Testament Passover revelation was entirely opposite to the New Testament. The former revealed a fearsome law; the present one revealed a comforting Gospel. The former was a public and official condemnation of all people; the latter is a public and official acceptance of all people. The former — a mirror of God’s wrath over all people; the latter — a mirror of divine grace for all. The former opened hell to all people; the latter opened heaven. From the smoking Sinai people hear: „Woe to you, you are a sinner!” But from Mount Zion a sweet voice rings out: „Blessed are you, for you are righteous!” In short — on the day of Pentecost all the graces and all the joys of Christmas and Easter merge into one mighty sea of grace and joy. [..] 95
And yet, my friends, only hypocrites long only for the comfort that would lift their spirit. But rightly formed Christians can truly rejoice when they not only obtain comfort in regard to their sins, but also the power to live a new, godly life. Comfort for sins without the power to become free from sins is like an unpalatable dish without seasoning, without salt. But we are blessed, because in our Pentecost joy there is also this seasoning, this salt. The glory of the New Testament Pentecost revelation, which is superior to the Old Testament, lies finally in this: that the Old Testament revelation killed the person, but the New Testament revelation brought him back to life. [..]
Therefore, my friends, if we had only the Old Testament Passover revelation, we humans would already be lost. For in vain does God call from Mount Sinai: „You shall! You shall!” This „you shall” is not able to be transformed in the hearts of the hearers into the rejoicing „Lord, we want to!”. Rather, like thunder and lightning from heaven, this „you shall” casts a person to the ground ten times over, throws him into death and despair and wrings from him the answer: „Lord, I cannot and will not be able to!” Oh, and the New Testament Pentecost revelation, the revelation of the Gospel, has such a very different power! This revelation has not only the power to comfort a person who is terrified because of his sins; this revelation transforms his heart and fills it with love toward God and neighbour, makes the person into one who desires to do joyfully what is God’s will, and to suffer for its sake. Instead of imposing the law and saying „you shall,” it writes the law with living letters of fire upon the person’s heart, so that his heart may say: „Lord, I want to and I can — yes, I can do all things through the power of Him who makes me strong, in Christ.” „For,” says Paul, „the letter,” that is, the law, „kills, but the Spirit,” that is, the Gospel, „gives life.” [..]
So now, my friends, I have introduced to you a greater revelation than the Old Testament revelation — the revelation of the New Testament Pentecost event. Oh, that all of you might now experience this glory in your hearts! For Christmas and Easter give nothing to a person if in his heart they are not transformed into Pentecost. So now, to this end, may the Father and the Son, with their Holy Spirit, help us. Amen.
Source: Walther, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm. Treasury of C. F. W. Walther. Vol. 3. Festival sermons and prayers from the season of Pentecost. Trans. and edited from German by Joel R. Baseley.Dearborn, MI: Mark V Publications, 2008.
Translation: Aļesja Lavrinovič
Proofreading: Milda Klampe