"It is wrong to suppose that there is so to speak a Word
on the one hand and a Church on the other, and that it is the task of the preacher
to take that Word into his hands and move it so as to bring it into the Church
and apply it to the Church's needs. On the contrary, the Word moves of its own
accord, and all the preacher has to do is to assist that movement and try to
put no obstacles in its path. The Word comes forth to take men to itself; the
apostles knew that and it was the burden of their message....Now the burden of
their testimony was simply this - the Word of God had become flesh, it had come
to take sinners to itself, to forgive and to sanctify. It is this same Word
which now makes its entry into the Church. This Word makes flesh, this Word
which already bears the whole human race, can no longer exist without the humanity
it has assumed. Furthermore, when this Word comes, the Holy Spirit comes,
showing to Christians, both individually and corporately, the gifts of the
incarnate Christ to man. He produces faith in his hearers, that they may discern
in the preaching the entry of Jesus Christ."
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