A William Stringfellow quote:
Many men do not believe. Many men hate the Cross because it means a salvation not of their own choosing or making, but rather of God’s grace and his mercy. Men hate the cross because it means a salvation which is unearned, undeserved, unmerited. Men would much prefer God to punish them than to forgive them because that would mean that God is dependent upon men and needed their obedience to be their God. Then God would be in fact no different from an idol of race, nation, family, or whatever, and a man would feel justified either by his obedience to the idol or by the punishment of his disobedience.
(”The Scandal of Palm Sunday,” Free in Obedience [Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2006], p. 33.)
4 comments:
Just a thought:
Some men believe. Some men hate the cross because it represents the murder of the innocent. They understand that God does not depend on them or on the cross but all must depend on Him. They accept God's Grace and Mercy, without which they have no hope. And that Mercy is dependent on nothing that is earthly. No man. No cross. No prophet. God alone. Undeserved, though they never cease striving to attain it and never should. If God were dependent upon man to save man and needed to be obedient to man then God would be in fact no different from an idol of race, nation, family, or whatever, and a man would feel justified either by his obedience to the idol or by the punishment of his disobedience. But man cannot justify himself and cannot stand as just in the presence of the most High even if he be a perfect man.
Thinking about your thought!
“Some men believe… so to the devils!
Belief will not save a man. No man. No cross. No prophet. God alone saves men. And God alone reveals the Way of that salvation. Salvation is a gift of God alone. Salvation is not a prize; it cannot be won, merited or deserved. God is Holy Other! God alone gives Himself as the only way to salvation. That’s the good news! God is the life of the Gospel. He does not need mankind. God does what God pleases, when God pleases. Only those to whom God has revealed this gospel know God! Others may know about God. “But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him (like hating the cross because it represents the murder of the innocent); and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the lord that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2.14-16).
Enjoy!
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless. James 2:20 What the devils lack is not the belief but the deeds.
Neither faith nor deeds will save the foolish devils! For that matter, salvation is not the object of either faith or deeds. At least, it shouldn’t be. Saving faith is inextricably interwoven with saving works and will never be fully comprehended (even by James) divorced from its right object. After all “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph 2.10).
Enjoy!
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