No Calvinistic preacher has ever produced a Postil, — the term derived from post illa (sc. verba), meaning “after those words,” i.e. the sermon spoken after reading the words of the text. Among the sermon books of all time Luther’s Postil stands in the front rank. Great is the number of other Postils. All of them expound the anciently chosen texts. Often they were called Sermons for the Church Year; many of them bore specific and beautiful titles. All these preachers knew only one form of preaching, namely the expository, which sticks to the text and unfolds to the hearers the saving contents of the text.
“The need of a more adequate exegetical-homiletical treatment of the ancient gospel and epistle selections has long been felt. The manager of the Lutheran Book Concern has commissioned the writer of these lines to meet this need.” — R.C.H. Lenski
https://www.lutheranlibrary.org/525-lenski-gospel-selections-ancient-church/
nice one Glen
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DeleteExcellent meaning of Postil by Lenski. The old Lutheran Book Concern of Columbus, Ohio was very blessed to have had such a great man in Prof. R.C.H. Lenski. Exegetically, even today he opens the text that produces great sermons (postils), for those who desire to hear them.