nature is pure beneficence. He demands nothing for himself, but gives gifts to men which they should pass on to their neighbors. For our gifts to God we can demand no credit. They are his. Nor does God ask them of us. He wants nothing but thanks for his gifts, for by giving thanks we confess him as the merciful Giver of every temporal and spiritual gift.24 We also acknowledge that they were given to us that we might serve our brother in need. Thus in Luther’s idea of God, faith in the Creator, ethics,