Thus although the message of the Gospel is universal, only those who believe in Christ become active sharers of the goods promised and offered in the Gospel; serious contrition comes before this faith and its handmaid is good works. Thus they who are influenced by no feeling and hatred of sin but go on in sin securely and yet still have the conviction that the Gospel promises belong to them commit a kind of sacrilege. About these someone might, and not without merit, declare that the Gospel is preached as a witness against them. This is a very shameful abuse of the Gospel in these last times of the world. Alas! This attitude is so strong that almost all hope for a remedy has been removed, although all Scripture declares the Gospel message pertains only to those who experience true repentance, who grieve steadfastly over their sins, and seek anxiously to be freed from them “Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:12 and Mark 2:17. Luke 5:31). “The poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matt. 11:5) “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Thus John the Baptist, Christ, and the apostles always gave the message of repentance before they preached the Gospel. Christ does not enter into people’s hearts through the grace of the Gospel unless John first prepares the way for Him through repentance. God does not pour out the oil of His mercy except into a contrite vessel.+HRC
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Antinomians have always been and always will be with us...
I'm currently working on editing the translation of Gerhard's locus On the Gospel. Here is a fantastic quotation regarding the relationship between repentance and the Gospel. And here is a link to the schedule of upcoming volumes and how to order them at 30% off the cover price.
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Absolutely splendid stuff. And thank you, mightily, for the kind sharing.
ReplyDeleteHospitals are built for the ailing; but if the ailing hallucinate that all is well, or believe that the south-of-the-border cantina doling out the laetrile is the answer, of what benefit is the hospital?
Those with schizophrenia may take their medicine, to all appearances; but many are convinced as to its worthlessness, or deem it unnecessary, and so they "cheek" it. They eventually spit it out, when unobserved.
Similarly, the Lord Medicine of Immortality does nothing for the unrepentant cheeky.
In the Markan and Lucan passage cited by Gerhard, Christ says His arms are exclusively for the sick, and He means it ... and so came the invited lame, the blind, the mute, and the despised of society (despised for cause, actually, whether the shunned leper or the shunned little thief named Zaccheus). But these people all knew they had a problem, regretted such very deeply and thence avidly sought Jesus the Christ for a healing turn ... to the point of a desperate clinging to the hem of His garment (Mk 14:36). And it worked, Mark says, it worked to perfection.
I suspect the well and the sophisticated never thought of stooping to Jesus' hem.
If you were sick in the land of Gennesaret, however, you stooped. If you were righteous, you didn't. If Jesus weren't actually Present in Person or in heart, there'd be no need to stoop to a cognition. The spiritual hospitals of today are really no different, when it comes to the behaviors inside them.
In medical hospitals, today, patients generally don't party or sip lattes. They're disconsolate, anxious about what ails and poisons them, and troubled in both body and spirit. The spiritual hospitals today, all too often, are pretty different.
Your (unworthy) servant,
Herr Doktor, S.S.P.