Interesting items from the Interwebs, from all over the world.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 30, 2017
The Reformation - 500 years
We are living in a unique time. We are alive during the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 thesis to the door at Wittenberg in 1517. Much has been written about this and will continue to be. Many others have done such a better job that I will leave it to them for the details. I have posted links to books and articles on this blog, and I encourage you to read these.
All that embrace reformed theology have Luther to thank for this act and wake up call. It began a way of thought that continues to this day. We all still have much to learn and by God's grace he will continue to open our hearts to learning and growing in sanctification to His glory. - T.M.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Friday, October 27, 2017
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Monday, October 23, 2017
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Luther
Justification 27
In Romans 1:17 Paul writes, "For in it [the gospel] the righ-
teousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written,
'The righteous shall live by faith.'" Luther could not understand
how the righteousness or justice of God could be gospel—good
news. It seemed to offer only the threat of judgment. Not only
does the law condemn us, but so does the gospel! "For in the
gospel a righteousness of God is revealed." But Luther began to
see the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel not simply
as a quality of God—his impartial justice by which he judges
sinners. Instead he saw it as a gift from God. The righteous-
ness of God is the righteousness he gives to us so that we may
be righteousness before him. The righteousness of God is not
an attribute of God that stands over and against humankind,
judging us on the basis of merit. It is the gift of God by which
God declares us righteous even though we are not in ourselves
righteous. Luther says:
[Paul] says that they are all sinners, unable to glory in God.
They must, however, be justified through faith in Christ,
who has merited this for us by his blood and has become
for us a mercy seat [compare Ex. 25:17; Lev. 16:14–15;
1 John 2:2] in the presence of God, who forgives us all our
previous sins. In so doing, God proves that it is his justice
alone, which he gives through faith, that helps us, the jus-
tice which was at the appointed time revealed through the
Gospel and, previous to that, was witnessed to by the Law
and the Prophets.4
This first step in Luther's thought was from a troubled con-
science, created by medieval theology, to a rediscovery of the
view of Augustine—and Augustine's view of sin. Luther came
4. Martin Luther, "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans," trans. Brother An-
drew Thornton OSB, accessed October 9, 2015, www.ccel.org/ccel/luther/prefacetoromans
(emphasis added); also available at www.yale.edu/adhoc/etexts/luther_preface.html.
