Experiencing the Spirit's Witness
by C.F.W. WaltherIn his Church Postil (St. L. Ed. XII, 239 f.) commenting on the words: "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father" (Gal 4:6), Luther, spite of the fact that he endeavored never to rely on changeable and delusive feelings, writes as follows: "At this point every one is to ascertain by self-examination whether he feels the Holy Spirit in his heart and experiences His speaking. {Mark you: the text says that the Spirit cries, "Abba, Father."} For St Paul in this passage says that in every heart in which the Spirit dwells He cries 'Abba, Father.' Likewise, in Rom. 8:15 he says: 'Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.' This crying is felt when one's conscience, without wavering and questioning, conceives a staunch boldness to be quite certain, not only that his sins have been forgiven, but also that he is a child of God, assured of his salvation, and may with a cheerful and assured heart and with all confidence call God his dear Father and cry to Him. Of these things he must be more certain than of his very life and must be ready to suffer every kind of death, and hell in addition, rather than allow this assurance to be taken from him by yielding to doubt..."
As to the witness of the Spirit, Paul does not say that it is being borne in a general way, but "with our spirit." Accordingly our spirit must spiritually hear the witness of the Spirit, and that is the "feeling" of which we speak; it is the witness of the Spirit within us. It is strange that a Christian beginning to doubt will hear a voice telling him: "Christ has died for you spite of your sins. You need not become despondent nor yield to despair; you are numbered with the redeemed of the Lord, and your destination is heaven. Be of good cheer!" Coming spontaneously, this voice, which we cannot produce at pleasure, is the witness of the Holy Spirit. It comes to us especially at a time of spiritual tribulation. You do not need a witness every day, but when you are being accused, you go in search of one. The same happens in our spiritual life: when a poor Christian is in very great distress, the Holy Spirit calls to him, Do not despair.
C.F. W. Walther: The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel (St. Louis: CPH, 1929), pp. 197 & 200. (Emphasis added)