至高上帝，威嚴之王，成了血肉之身
理智必須俯首鞠躬，承認自己的盲目。她想要爬上天堂，去尋求神聖，但卻看不到這受造物就是造物主。
就是上帝在肉身顯現，
被聖靈稱義，
被天使看見，
被傳於外邦，
被世人信服，
被接在榮耀裏。
理性在極力地抵擋這真理。喔！這是多麼滑稽的事啊！獨一真神，至上的威儀，會成為肉身。人類和他的創造主在其中聯合，成為一體。
我們的理智想要藉著一些「智慧的想法」高昇入天堂，要在上帝的威儀中尋求上帝，要探究上帝在那高處治理萬有。但是，這真理奪走了這些想法。真理要我們的理智專注在其他地方。因此，我可以從世界的各個角落跑到伯利恆，到馬棚和食槽那裡，在那嬰孩躺臥之處，或者去到童貞女的膝上。是的，這真理高過理智。
不要搜索你夠不到的地方。他已經來到我的眼前，使我可以看到那在母親腿上的嬰孩。他並沒有異於常人的特性、樣式、和行為。人心也猜不到這受造物就是造物主。
聰明人在哪裡呢？誰又可以想到呢？理智必須俯首鞠躬，承認自己的盲目。她想要爬上天堂，去尋求神聖，但卻看不到這躺在她眼前之物。——馬丁路德（1533年講道）（AE 37:42f）
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.
Oh what a ridiculous thing, that the one true God, the supreme Majesty, should be made flesh; that here they should be joined, the human being and its maker, in one person. Reason opposes this with all its might.
Here, then, those wise thoughts with which our reason soars up toward heaven to seek out God in his own majesty and to probe how he reigns there on high are taken from us. The goal is fixed elsewhere, so that I should run from all the corners of the world to Bethlehem, to that stable and that manger where the babe lies, or to the Virgin’s lap. Yes, that takes precedence over reason.
Do not search what is too high for you. But here it comes down before my eyes, so that I can see the babe there in his mother’s lap. There lies a human being who was born like any other child, and lives like any other child, and shows no other nature, manner, and work than any other human being, so that no heart could guess that the creature is the Creator. Where, then, are all the wise? Who could ever have conceived this or thought it out? Reason must bow, and must confess her blindness in that she wants to climb to heaven to fathom the Divine, while she cannot see what lies before her eyes. (Sermons from the year 1533) (WA 37:42f)
English text is taken from Day by Day We Magnify You, Revised Edition, Augsburg Books, 2008, p.36, ISBN #9780806680149
“Gerard van Honthorst 001” by Gerard van Honthorst – The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerard_van_Honthorst_001.jpg#/media/File:Gerard_van_Honthorst_001.jpg
