Next year (2023) is the 500th anniversary of this immensely popular and important sermon series, first preached in Advent in 1523.
Once the Reformation in Germany had taken hold under Luther, based in particular on his re-discovery of the theology of Paul (Romans and Galatians), further south in Basel, Switzerland, Oecolampadius' serial exposition of 1John likewise tackled, among other things, the doctrine of justification by faith, and strongly confirmed it, while at the same time affirming the fact that good works testify to the genuineness of a living faith and offer us reassurance that we truly have the Word of God abiding in us.
In Sermon One of this series, which was enthusiastically received by the Wittenberg theologians, when Oecolampadius introduces the human author John as the author of the Gospel and the Epistle, he refers to the latter, this epistle as, "itself the purest gospel." This is super-essential material, the stuff of confirmation, a short course in Christian basics, and here it is, finally translated into English for the first time as of 2017, for just such a time as this.
Why not soak in this sermon series with your congregation in its 500th year, the series that reconnected preaching to the patristic tradition of lectio continua expository preaching, after 1000 years of drift? [Let me know if you want to buy in bulk for your Sunday school, adult Bible study, pastor's reading group, confirmation, or new member's classes, and we can work something out.]
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