A fruitful tree does not produce fruit because someone ordered it to grow fruit but because, as long as there is still some life in it and it is not dried up, it cannot help but produce fruit spontaneously. Faith is like that tree. If it fails to bring forth fruit, it is obviously withered. In the same way, the sun does not need to be told to shine. It will continue shining until the Last Day—without anyone commanding it to do so. Faith is like the sun.
C.F.W. Walther, Law and Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible,
(trans. Christian C. Tiews; St Louis: Concordia, 2010), 231
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