Christian Life and Witness - Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf Princeton Theological Monograph Series

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them. He had a sense of the systemic character of sin and therefore knew that it is not enough for individual sinners to be justified and saved. God calls forth a new community to live a different way by different forms and to stand over against the “system of sin” as a witness to the presence and grace of God. He unhesitatingly used feminine language for God, specifically for the Holy Spirit. He tried to move beyond trapping God in human categories while recognizing that such forms are the only ones we can use to speak of God.

      Of special note, too, is his work for renewal among Christians and his lifelong commitment to evangelism and mission. His commitment to mission was a commitment to do all for the Savior and to call all people into the eschatological community of Jesus. He did not do this because he thought people would be otherwise damned. He did it so that they could know the joy of life in Christ, lived toward resurrection from the dead and the redemption of all things. His commitment was so total that by the time of his death he was broke. All of his great wealth and resources he gave to the mission; every last penny. There are tremendous resources in his thought and in his life for a Christian Church in the twenty-first century that is uncertain, increasingly marginalized, and tempted to abandon discipleship and theology for the sake of making itself attractive. Zinzendorf did not think a good set of management principles would bring about the renewal of life that can be brought only by the living Lord, Jesus Christ.

      Finally, the golden thread one can trace through the whole course of his life is his passion for the Savior. His passionate attachment to Jesus never grew dim. It informed everything he did and said. It shines like a nova on every page of these speeches.

      The translation that follows is based upon the text contained in Volume I of the Olms edition of the Hauptschriften edited by Erich Beyreuther and Gerhard Meyer. This text was an edition of the Speeches revised by Zinzendorf and published by Gottfried Clemens in 1758. The full title of the 1758 edition was Des Ordinarii Fratrum Berlinische Reden, nach dem vollständigen und von ihm selbst eigenhändig revidirten Exemplar. In the eighteenth century there were two English translations of the Speeches and John Wesley published a selection from them. The biblical references are part of the original published text. They may or may not come from Zinzendorf. He did oversee the publication of these speeches, but an editor may have added the references. Zinzendorf always spoke extemporaneously and thus, when he quoted Scripture or any other source, he quoted from memory. I did not use any modern English translation of the Bible for Scripture quotations, but followed Zinzendorf’s own iteration of the text.

      Zinzendorf’s Preface

      I have seen several conceptions of my speeches from good minds, which they no doubt meant really in a Christian way; but it was their words, not mine, and their ideas, not mine, which therefore I have thrown away, not because I held them to be lesser than my own, but rather because first of all they are simply not mine. There are whole speeches in their complete connection that have gone around Berlin under my name, and it struck me that the text, the theme, and the words were simply fabricated.

      To be sure, I have endured this with patience, but the circumstances have shown me the necessity to lay before the eyes of everyone at least the basic concepts of all my speeches, apart from which I have spoken nothing essential. Whoever understands a little what they read, sees likewise that I deal with only four matters.

      The first is: The essential, one and only, eternal God who became human.

      The second: The true, essential, natural and pure humanity of the God of heaven.

      The third: That the one way to salvation for all people is that, for the sake of the merit of the slaughtered Lamb, they receive grace and the forgiveness of all their sins and remain his own poor and wretched people in time and eternity.

      The fourth: That it is no wonder that to all to whom sin is rightly well known, and who receive permission to sin no more, to give up sin and lead a godly life; that it is only the application of the costly privilege that Jesus expensively purchased for us with his blood, and which no one will relinquish, whose head stands in the right place.

      I have sought to place [these four things] in such a light, with the conciseness of the truth in itself, through the simplicity of the recitation, that I believe no person who takes the Bible as God’s Word and has as well grasped the most common ideas by thinking and speaking can deny [these four things].

      The reason I repeated these four things so often in my speeches was that I didn’t have the same listeners every time and I wanted to say something [about these four matters] to each one. But now, the reason [for this publication], is, as I said above, that I wanted to have my speeches as they [actually] were.

      With the exception of these discourses over the [second] article, I rarely had texts [to explain]. The first saying [in most cases] was more a beginning of my speech than [an announcement] that I wanted to exegete for my listeners once again the same places of Scripture, after so many explanations of it have been heard and read. When I hear a word from God, then the thoughts or words that belong to it follow all by themselves. It is just like a full barrel when someone takes the cork out of its side. Ah, my Savior, if only I would have the pleasure, that my readers might experience what I experience, and that their hearts might burn when they read a word about Jesus in these pages!

      There is only one thing more I can say.

      I am verbally attacked in the world in a wholly unusual way. I regard even the least of such sufferings as an honor; since I do not doubt that it goes with me as it did with Ephraim, who was innocently imprisoned for the sake of a murderer, because he had once killed a cow out of foolishness.

      I know well that I encounter nothing unfavorable in words or deeds that I have not otherwise earned many times over in relation to my Savior and to my neighbor. That is why I certainly lament the injury, [but] I do not complain. [Rather] in spite of that I wish that my readers would not be disturbed by my reputation, [and would] let these truths of the cross work in their hearts. I can have that ambition rightly that some [will see beyond my reputation], because I do it myself: I read the sermons of Bileam with great edification. With any presentation I do not even once examine the person, but rather the grounds. I do not even believe my most trusted friends without grounds, and I believe dutifully from the heart all truths that come from the mouth of an opponent.

      So then, dear reader, may you be a little prepared for the useful application of these pages. May my dear Savior be so friendly to you all that you must feel ashamed. It happens that way to me every day, because I may not lift up my eyes toward him. He is the most gracious Lord of the entire world. I am a sinner, [and this experience] happens to me when I become inwardly aware of the nearness of his presence, but because of that I want to beg him not to go (Luke 5:8), but rather to stay (Luke 24:29).

      Marienborn [Germany]

      26 August 1738

      In these speeches Count Zinzendorf offers reflections on the main point, the heart of Christian faith, by explicating this passage from Luther’s Small Catechism.

      The First Speech (23 February 1738)

      I Believe

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