Gerhard Ebeling
Advent Preaching Seminar 2010
Good Shepherd Institute
Concordia Theological Seminary
Gerhard Ebeling
• Born on July 6, 1912 in Berlin
• Died on October 1, 2001 in Zurich
Ebeling
• Attended the Predigerseminar at Finkenwalde
as a student of Bonhoeffer.
• Deep involvement in the Confessing Church.
• Luther scholar, New Testament exegete, and
systematic theologian with a focus on
hermeneutics.
• Preacher
Theology and Proclamation
• “Theology is necessary in order to make
preaching as hard for the preacher as it has to
be” –Gerhard Ebeling, Thesis 7 in “Discussion
Theses for a Course of Introductory Lectures on
the Study of Theology” in Word and Faith, 424
Advent Sermon Series on the Lord’s Prayer
On Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer in Today’s
World by Gerhard Ebeling (Fortress Press,
1966)
Ebeling: “Hallowed be Thy Name”
• Ebeling ties the first petition to Advent: “The decisive
thing is waiting on God” (21)
• This puts the one who prays in the position of a beggar.
• Christian praying gives priority to God’s Word: “…we
must pray to God on behalf of God; that he would take
up his own cause, that he would appear, that he would
reveal himself, that he would arise as God, that he would
in very truth become God” (24)
• God hallows His name by taking on our humanity and
coming to us as the child of Mary.
Liturgical Material for Midweek Advent
Service: “Hallowed be Thy Name”
• Reading: Luke 19:28-38
• Psalm 138
• Hymns:
“Once He Came in Blessing”-333 LSB
“O Lord, How Shall I Meet You”-334 LSB
“The Night Will Soon Be Ending”-337 LSB
“Hark the Glad Sound”-349 LSB
“Comfort, Comfort Ye My People”-347 LSB
Ebeling: “Thy Kingdom Come”
• “Prayer is turning to God….Prayer is turning to
the future” (29)
• “Each petition of the Our Father is such a cry for
a future, a crying out for God’s future because
there threatens to be no future for man” (30)
• “Each of the petitions can be understood only as
a cry from the depths” (30-31)
• This is not a prayer for an absent kingdom but a
kingdom that is present now in Christ Jesus (33)
Ebeling” Thy Kingdom Come”-cont
• The old man is called “old” for the very reason
that he is now antiquated, subject to the past .
He has no more time (37).
• The new man is called “new” because his future
is God’s future. He has time (37)
• The kingdom is received by faith alone that
suffers God to come. Ebeling cites Luke 1:38.
• We pray this petition in the certainty of the Lord
who is the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 21:4-6) (38).
Liturgical Material for Midweek Advent
Service: “Thy Kingdom Come”
• Reading: Luke 17:20-30
• Psalm 25
• Hymns:
“Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers”- 515 LSB
“The Advent of Our King”-331 LSB
“Savior of the Nations, Come”-332 LSB
“O Bride of Christ, Rejoice”-335 LSB
“Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”-338 LSB
“Lift Up Your Heads”-339 LSB
“Prepare the Royal Highway”-343 LSB
“The King Shall Come” -348 LSB
Ebeling: “Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is
in Heaven”
• This is not a prayer that turns its back on the world but
rather one imploring God’s will to be done in the world
(39).
• “Faith lives in surrender to the God-world-event” (41) that
is to the coming of Jesus who was crucified to fulfill
God’s will to save us.
• Atheists, religious fanatics, and legalists all misread this
petition.
• In this petition we pray against all that opposes God’s
will revealed in Christ. Also note Ebeling’s discussion of
the distinction between God’s “hidden” will and His
“revealed” will (49).
Liturgical Material for Midweek Advent
Service: “Thy Will be Done…”
• Reading: John 6:35-40
• Psalm 143
• Hymns:
“Creator of the Stars of Night”-351 LSB
“Jesus Came, the Heavens Adoring”-353 LSB”
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”-357 LSB
“I Lie, O Lord, within Your Care”-885 LSB
“Come, Thou Precious Ransom, Come”-350 LSB