2 Tim. 3:14-17 (ESV)
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
What you have learned and firmly believed. Is it possible? Many today are lulled into a shaky faith. They believe as posted earlier this week that they can’t know truth. Even Christians have this concept, “well, no one can be completely right.” You may be closer to right than another, but you are never right, according to many. This is just awful. Christ is the truth, God is a God of truth. He does not breath lies. We can and should know truth, even as we believe it firmly. Without this it matters not if scripture is inerrant, or infallible. So many give us Lutheran’s lip service in agreeing with us that it is inerrant, and infallible. But then they deny that it is good for anything! They deny that they can thereby know truth. They do not believe that scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness, unless they get that righteousness confused with following the law. That is always the default. They don’t believe what Christ says about the sacraments, and the gospel becomes about living the righteous life of pagans, nothing more than following the law, being obedient to Christ. I don’t advocate disobedience to the law, yet there is no righteousness found there. The Law works hand in hand with sin and death. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:56-57 (ESV)
There is no life in trying to live an obedience to the law, though that is not a bad thing either. There is just no life there. The life, the righteousness, is the victory God gives us through our Lord Jesus Christ, believing in Him, and believing Him. We can know this, and knowing this, we should teach, reproof, correct, and train in righteousness. Train people to fall back on Christ, not the law.
4 comments:
Another winner, Bror!
The law demands. Christ gives.
That said, I love the law. It keeps me out of hot water and it kills my Old Adam.
Christ is the far better deal. He gives life, authentic life...everlasting life.
- Steve (the antinomian)
Hello, Bror.
I agree with Steve.
When you grow up semi-pietist ("pietis", who actually call themselves that, not as a derogatory term :) ), you learn to take the Bible very seriously. In our circles everything was very conservative. Of course, babies were baptized and nobody said the bread and wine just symbolized anything. In fact, you were the last bastion of believing the Bible as true, so it seemed. So maybe call us "biblicists".
When you figure out that maybe some technical things are wrong in the Bible, that can really shake a "biblicist" and then when you learn about all the literary aspects of the books, you kind of wonder again. Your outlook has to change. But how to what. In school, I learned about the "incarnational understanding", which I like. God's word is spoken, written by the human being in his time by his voice.
In response to the ELCA vote, Dr. Kettner wrote:
"For more than two hundred years much of Christendom has come to reject the previously universal recognition of the Bible as the Word of God written. By using methods of scriptural interpretation which see the Bible as a human book, a record of human response to the idea of God, rather than as God’s declaration of Himself, His nature, and His activities to the world, parts of the church on earth now look at Scripture with what is called a “hermeneutic [biblical interpretation] of suspicion” rather than the traditional hermeneutic of trust."
"hermeneutic of trust" is a new way of putting it, for me.
Brigitte,
I think I like that too, A Hermeneutic of Trust. Trust the Bible to be true in what it says in matters of doctrine and life.
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