The Lutheran Reformation sprang from the Scriptures and drew its doctrine from the Scriptures. But many who read the Scriptures came away from them with different interpretations. What was the right interpretation? Luther had toppled the papacy, but would each Christian with a Bible in essence become his or her own pope, interpreting Scripture in his or her own way, with each interpretation real for the interpreter, even if for no one else? This is a question as pertinent today as in Flacius' time. How can we truly understand the Sacred Scriptures? Thankfully, the Scriptures themselves provide the answer. In this pioneering work of biblical hermeneutics, Flacius provides the reader with a reliable way to know, not what the Scriptures mean for him or her, but what the Scriptures actually and objectively mean, as Scripture interprets itself.

Written by Johann Gerhard as a young man, the author delves deeply into the truth and paradox of Christian faith and life. Each devotion a powerful journey into the revelation of God to the human race, Johann Gerhard's meditations immerse the reader in Christ, bringing him or her through trial to glory, through anguish to peace, through doubt to certainty, through confession to absolution, through cross to resurrection. This classic work of Lutheran spirituality reminds us all that the Word of God is living and breathing, changing not only how we think or live, but even who we are.