Christ the Greatest Hero in Battle

reproaches, nor sought to dismiss him with insults, contempt, or hatred, but still sought to win him over with forbearance, gentleness, mercy, and friendship—to betray Him for the worthless price of 30 pieces of silver original: Silberlinge (15 thalers) The thaler was a standard silver coin used throughout German-speaking lands from the 16th to the 19th century; the author provides this conversion to help his contemporary audience grasp the smallness of the bribe. How such examples must humble us! — and at the same time outrage us against that accursed vice Laster: a habitual or repeated sin that corrupts character and moral standing, which suffocates all gentle feelings, blunts all moral sense, and terribly hardens the heart against all natural impulses of humanity! How can one still hesitate for a moment to swear irreconcilable hatred to vice and to abhor it in the highest degree? However, the unfortunate person who is thereby shamed, degraded, and made inhuman is to be pitied and deserves our compassion. For this is how the Deity Gottheit: a common Enlightenment-era term for God, emphasizing His divine nature and sovereign character Himself acts. He cannot hate the human being as His creature, but He can indeed hate the vice within the person. Jesus acted no differently toward Judas, and we must admire Him in this divine greatness all the more, the more intimately vice intertwines itself with the whole person, giving him the appearance