Emphasis Preaching Journal

The text is all about faith. But we make too much of faith, according to Martin Luther. Faith is a small thing in his view, "nothing else than a clinging to the word of God" (Luther's Works, Vol. 29, p. 230). The strength of one's faith does not matter: "It is, of course, true that I and you do not hold and believe the saving truth so firmly as Saint Peter does. Yet we have one and the same treasure... Two persons may hold a purse full of money: one with a weak hand, the other with a strong hand. Whether the hand is strong or weak, please God, it neither increases nor decreases the contents of the purse" (What Luther Says, p. 487).

Faith is just the "empty hand" that holds Christ. It's what's in the hand of faith (Christ) that makes it valuable. Don't mistake the gift for the purse it's in.