"In the tenth place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when faith is required as a condition of justification and salvation, as if a person were righteous in the sight of God and saved, not only by faith, but also on account of his faith, for the sake of his faith, and in view of his faith." Thesis 14, C. F. W. Walther.
Quick quiz. When Jesus died on the cross, whose sins did He take away? You'll find the answer to this after the first paragraph here, but I encourage you to think about how you would answer that right now before reading on.
One essential question that we face in life is a simple one that is not simple to answer. What is faith? In a simple way, faith is merely believing something. I believe that, when I put my key in the ignition and turn it, my car will start. I believe that, when I twist my key in the door, the lock with either lock or unlock, depending on how I twist it. I also believe that the door will stay locked or unlocked once my key is removed. That is demonstrating faith in both my key and in my lock.
So, looking at the answer to our quiz, it's actually very widespread. Jesus died and took away the sins of the whole world. Every person who has ever been conceived in this world has had their sin removed by Jesus, carried to the cross, and crucified with Him. The removal of our sin (which separated us from God) is completely outside of us. We contribute in no way to the removal of our sin.
In that way, the removal of our sin is similar to my door lock example, though not exactly. A better illustration might be that my wife uses her key to lock the door. I have done nothing to make it happen, but I believe that the door is locked and will remain locked. In a similar way, Jesus died and removed my sin. I have done nothing. I have not given it to Him. I have not demanded that He take it. I have not put it on Him myself. Jesus did the whole work.
That's where this thesis enters in. Jesus did the whole work. My belief that Jesus did the work in no way means that I am now contributing to the work. It's kind of like what yesterday's post was about. I cannot make myself believe, and in that same way, my belief does not mean that I am now contributing to God's work in Jesus. The work is fully Jesus' work. I simply believe that He did it for me.
When we start talking about faith, it becomes tempting to make faith about something we do. We tell others to believe, rather than simply sharing what they should believe in with them. We talk of strengthening our faith, but our faith is strengthened the more we dive into God's Word and see just how deep a hole Jesus rescued us from. We believe more firmly as we hear God's promises more firmly, not by simply telling ourselves to believe more.
In the end, faith is merely the thing that receives the message of Good News. It doesn't grab it for itself. It doesn't figure out the Good News. It simply hears the Good News and says, "Yes, this is Good News for me."
Quick quiz. When Jesus died on the cross, whose sins did He take away? You'll find the answer to this after the first paragraph here, but I encourage you to think about how you would answer that right now before reading on.
One essential question that we face in life is a simple one that is not simple to answer. What is faith? In a simple way, faith is merely believing something. I believe that, when I put my key in the ignition and turn it, my car will start. I believe that, when I twist my key in the door, the lock with either lock or unlock, depending on how I twist it. I also believe that the door will stay locked or unlocked once my key is removed. That is demonstrating faith in both my key and in my lock.
So, looking at the answer to our quiz, it's actually very widespread. Jesus died and took away the sins of the whole world. Every person who has ever been conceived in this world has had their sin removed by Jesus, carried to the cross, and crucified with Him. The removal of our sin (which separated us from God) is completely outside of us. We contribute in no way to the removal of our sin.
In that way, the removal of our sin is similar to my door lock example, though not exactly. A better illustration might be that my wife uses her key to lock the door. I have done nothing to make it happen, but I believe that the door is locked and will remain locked. In a similar way, Jesus died and removed my sin. I have done nothing. I have not given it to Him. I have not demanded that He take it. I have not put it on Him myself. Jesus did the whole work.
That's where this thesis enters in. Jesus did the whole work. My belief that Jesus did the work in no way means that I am now contributing to the work. It's kind of like what yesterday's post was about. I cannot make myself believe, and in that same way, my belief does not mean that I am now contributing to God's work in Jesus. The work is fully Jesus' work. I simply believe that He did it for me.
When we start talking about faith, it becomes tempting to make faith about something we do. We tell others to believe, rather than simply sharing what they should believe in with them. We talk of strengthening our faith, but our faith is strengthened the more we dive into God's Word and see just how deep a hole Jesus rescued us from. We believe more firmly as we hear God's promises more firmly, not by simply telling ourselves to believe more.
In the end, faith is merely the thing that receives the message of Good News. It doesn't grab it for itself. It doesn't figure out the Good News. It simply hears the Good News and says, "Yes, this is Good News for me."
No comments:
Post a Comment