"For God so loved..." (John 3:16).
In 1532 Luther gave, at home, a little sermon on John 3:16-21. It contains the following paragraph. Lutherans speak of "Law and Gospel." Rather than define those terms here, I'll let Luther do it by example. I am not aware of a better example than this. Prepare yourself: the Law is strong. But the Gospel is even stronger - indeed, incomprehensible.
"[Law:] It would have been more than enough for God to wish the world "good morning." So He goes beyond this and loves the world, the disgraceful offspring. It is just about the most utterly hostile and ill-disposed contradiction. And in truth, that is what the world is: a pigsty of unabashedly evil people, who abuse all God's creation in the most brazen way possible, blaspheme God, and provoke Him to His face. [Gospel:] These selfsame shameless people God loves. That is a love which transcends all love. This is truly a good God, and His love must be a great, incomprehensible fire, greater by far than the fire which Moses saw in the bush, indeed greater by far than the fire of hell. Who would despair, seeing God is so disposed toward the world? It is too high and beyond my ability to elaborate on it, or to draw out the abundant riches that it truly contains."
