Saturday, October 31, 2020
Like Light From A Fire
"And, like as the flame burneth the wood without the help of the light, and yet the flame cannot be without the light; so is it assuredly true that faith alone consumeth and burneth away sin, without the help of works, and yet that the same faith cannot be without good works….Whereupon it cometh that the holy Scripture promiseth the Christian everlasting life for his good works; because good works are the fruits and testimonies of lively faith, and proceed of it, as light proceedeth from a flame of fire" (The Benefit Of Christ's Death, 61-62, 64)
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Kind of reminds me of a Luther quote:
ReplyDelete//Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God's grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.//
-Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans by Martin Luther
https://www.ccel.org/l/luther/romans/pref_romans.html
[[[bold added by me-AP]]]
Ask God to work faith in you, otherwise you will remain eternally without faith...
ReplyDeleteThis has always puzzled me when considering the monergism/synergism debate and the ordo salutis.
One would think that in order to ask for God to work something such as saving faith in you, one would already need to be regenerated. But then why the need to ask for faith to be worked in oneself, when it seems to already have been "worked"? See Mark 9:24.