Mar
27
2010
Putting off the form of God
“If we do not freely desire to put off that form of God and take on the form of a servant, let us be compelled to do so against our will. In this regard consider the story in Luke 7, where Simon the leper, pretending to be in the form of God and perching on his own righteousness, was arrogantly judging and despising Mary Magdalene, seeing in her the form of a servant. But see how Christ immediately stripped him of that form of righteousness and then clothed him with the form of sin by saying, ‘You gave me no kiss. . . . You did not anoint my head.’ How great were the sins that Simon did not see! Nor did he think himself disfigured by such a loathsome form as he had.”
Martin Luther, in “Two Kinds of Righteousness,” in Luther’s Works, Volume 31 (Philadelphia, 1957), page 303.