Faith, then,… does what? (What Luther Says)

      I have had occasion to again take up the (mostly) wonderful 1959 book from CPH What Luther Says, and have reviewed again this work of editor Ewald Plass.  Although Plass in another work from 1946 (This Is Luther) inexplicably gave far too much credence to modern psychology, yet in this later work he put together a massive compilation of excerpts from Luther's writings on 183 topics. Before the American Edition of Luther's Works, there was What Luther Says.  But what really makes this work stand out is how Plass lets the real Luther come through.  Yet even more than this, Plass also made Luther's teaching his own when he stated (p. 705):

“FAITH, then, in no sense makes, it merely takes, 

the forgiveness, 

which is a finished fact even before its apprehension by the individual.” 

– Ewald Plass

That is essentially restating the teaching of the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification, or Objective Justification., or Christian teaching. Would to God that today's LC-MS teachers could speak like Plass (and Luther). 

Prof. Ewald M. Plass,
editor of What Luther Says
(1667 pgs, only $42.82 - free ship - Amazon)

When I noticed the price on Amazon of only $42.82, I was amazed at how low the price was.  This book is actually 3 large books combined into one massive book – 1667 pages!  One shortcoming is that there is no Index of words. Another shortcoming, pointed out by some comments on Amazon, is that the latest edition did not update the references to the American Edition of Luther's Works.  All references are only to Weimar, Erlangen, or St. Louis editions.  If I get the time, I may tackle that shortcoming to some extent (with the help of Steve Born's cross-reference - here).  —  I may continue with more choice excerpts from this massive book between other larger projects.  Especially the topics of “Bible” and “Justification” are worth the price and establish the real Luther, THE Reformer.  Yes, I would say by reading this book you can go Back To Luther.