Christmas - Why as a baby?

Recently I heard a radio evangelist address the question of why Jesus was born as a baby. He said that it was so that we could relate to Him. He said that everyone can relate to a baby. They are cute. They are tender. They are helpless. They are . . .

While it is true that we all can relate to babies, having been babies ourselves, and finding them to be lovable and adorable and all that, is this really why Jesus came to us as a baby? Certainly it is true that we can relate to the babe born in Bethlehem. But is this the real reason that He came to us as a baby to be our Savior?

The Book of Hebrews makes a similar observation, but from a very different perspective.

     Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:13-16)

This observation is that since Jesus was born as one of us, as our flesh and blood brother, having been born just as each of us are and having endured all that we endure throughout our growing years and adulthood, we therefore can look to Him as our true high priest who has taken into account absolutely every need that we possibly can have. He carried all of our sin and all of our sorrow and all of our burden. There is nothing left that we must face on our own. We can be absolutely certain that the payment has been made in full and that our redemption leaves nothing for us to do for ourselves. And so, yes, we can relate to Him fully in every need and in every trouble and in every time of doubt and fear and hurt. But this is entirely different than relating to the cuteness of babies.

Quite the opposite of the notion of being able to relate to Him as a baby is the reality. His being born as a baby is actually a cause of offense and stumbling. His weakness and helplessness are a cause for rejecting Him as the Chief Cornerstone and the Savior of all. At least this is the case from the standpoint of human emotions and reasoning. Our human reasoning does not behold the King of glory and omnipotence, but rather turns to the emotional and sentimental desire to hold the baby and make him feel safe. Trusting in this babe as the Redeemer and Savior of mankind can only occur through the faith that God generates in us to make us believers.

So why then as a baby? Well, as Hebrews declares, so that He could be our true high priest and offer the perfect sacrifice for our redemption. He had to be born as one of us. He could not come to us as the Son of God apart from truly being the Son of Man. He had to come as both. He had to be born of woman so as to be our true brother. He had to be born of the virgin so that His Father would be God. He had to come as a baby because this is how salvation comes.

He had to come as our salvation in the very way that we receive salvation. He had to be born or generated from above. He had to come as a baby born of woman in which the choice and decision was not His own according to His humanity. According to His human nature, there was no action taken on His part, not even the act of believing.

This is exactly how the Scriptures teach that salvation comes to us as individuals. The birth of Jesus as a baby teaches us that we do not become children of God by anything whatsoever that we do. We are babes born from above purely by the will and action of our merciful God. He generates us through water and Spirit. He nurtures us with the pure milk of His Word that our mother, the Church, feeds us as we nestle in her bosom. Furthermore we are nurtured with His body and blood in the blessed Sacrament to be made full partakers of His Holy Communion and to be brought into the maturity of the unity of the one true faith.

Surely this explanation can be given more fully and completely with many textual references, but this is in short why Jesus came to us as a baby.

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Beyond Anorexia

Over the years I have had many conversations with sufferers of anorexia. I shared with a friend that I know of some who have suffered from anorexia in the past, and my friend asked how a person can “get over anorexia.”

From what I have learned, “getting over one’s anorexia” is not really an accurate way of viewing the situation. This is why I have chosen “Beyond Anorexia” for the title of this post.

One of the statements made by someone suffering the influences of anorexia is: “You cannot understand.” This statement is often made very adamantly and sometimes even angrily.

I share this because I believe that this is a small indicator regarding what anorexia is. I hope that the importance of this becomes evident as this article progresses.

For the record, those who say this are right in saying that I cannot understand. The mindset and perspective are foreign to me, at least mostly. Having said that, in my observance of the human condition on account of sin and the change in perspective that sinfulness causes, I believe that anorexia is merely one way among many that people react to what they don’t understand about themselves and don’t like about the broken condition in which they find themselves.

The Mayo Clinic gives the following definition of anorexia, which can be viewed with additional information here.

Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that causes people to obsess about their weight and the food they eat. People with anorexia nervosa attempt to maintain a weight that's far below normal for their age and height. To prevent weight gain or to continue losing weight, people with anorexia nervosa may starve themselves or exercise excessively.

Anorexia (an-oh-REK-see-uh) nervosa isn't really about food. It's an unhealthy way to try to cope with emotional problems. When you have anorexia nervosa, you often equate thinness with self-worth.

Anorexia nervosa can be difficult to overcome. But with treatment, you can gain a better sense of who you are, return to healthier eating habits and reverse some of anorexia's serious complications.

It is true that I cannot understand. No one really understands fully. This is true of the person suffering with anorexia, too.

Over the years I have attempted to learn about this issue in conversations with sufferers of anorexia, and especially with past sufferers. Such attempts usually prove to be entrance into turbulent waters. One of the responses that I often received in earlier attempts was: “Why do you have to keep analyzing me?”

This is how it feels to a person who is being asked about emotional issues. We usually do not like to be asked to attempt to explain what we do not really understand ourselves, especially if we already feel troubled by these things. Examining such things can feel uncomfortable and even painful.

However, in our relationships, those with us in these relationships are affected along with us in our struggles. This is especially true in a marital relationship. The wife belongs to the husband and the husband belongs to the wife. The two have been made to be one, and what affects one affects the other. This is true regarding lifestyle and eating habits and planning of meals and choices of restaurants and timing of schedules, in short, in everything. But health matters impact our spouses, too. Being overweight affects one’s body and health and thereby affects one’s spouse. Anorexia has affects upon one’s body and health, sometimes permanently, and thereby affects one’s spouse, too. Alcohol abuse, drug dependency, sexual addiction and pornographic addiction, sexual aversion, these also are examples of issues that affect both spouses.

Other family members are affected as well. Fellow workers, friends, even neighbors are affected in various ways and to various degrees. We often do not even realize how our own issues impact others.

We generally don’t like for others to address “our issues.” In fact, we often deny that “our issues” are issues.

Anorexia, like other struggles, involves various factors. What one person experiences may not be exactly the same as with someone else who struggles with the complexities of anorexia. However, in conversations with people who face this struggle I have observed that there are similarities, strong similarities.

Moreover, in conversations with people with other struggles, I have learned that there are similarities with all of our struggles. We all face the same basic issues, but we do not all react to them in the same ways.

For example, I have sometimes heard obese people, and especially obese women, say that they use their weight as a protective barrier. Some obese women, in particular, have shared that having experienced heartache with men and especially with sexual advances from men, that they chose to make themselves less sexually attractive through weight gain. In this way they controlled the way that men view them and thereby gain a sense of security and control over their lives. For them, their overweight condition gives them the freedom to interact with men without fear of having to fend off sexual advances.

Seeking control in our lives is a very big issue for all of us. Adam fell prey to this when the serpent tempted him to doubt God’s goodness and justness so that Adam sought to gain more control for himself through gaining the knowledge of evil in addition to good. As a result, we all have had control issues ever since. Thus we seek to gain control in our lives through many different approaches.

This seems to be at least one aspect of the person with anorexic tendencies. For whatever reason, the anorexic person feels the need to gain control, and the person determines that control over what is eaten gives the person at least one area in life that he or she now controls. It is delusional to think this, but it is common to us all. Very quickly this false sense of control overtakes the person’s thinking so that the illusion of control now controls the person.

One perspective in connection with anorexia is that one may view fat as bad. When fat is perceived as something bad, then it must be avoided. Since fat is an essential part of our bodies in the proper proportion, this is a dangerous false view. Since women’s bodies are designed with a need for more fatty tissue than men’s bodies, this is an even more dangerous false perspective for women.

Fat can be viewed as bad for a variety of reasons. Fat can have detrimental affects upon one’s health. Fat can make clothes feel too tight. Fat can be unsightly and unattractive.

And so, anorexia, like many other struggles in people’s lives, often is an issue of self-perception.

This extends to how a person perceives the perceptions by others as well. In fact, how one thinks that others view the person largely influences how that person perceives oneself. This can be very powerful. This becomes immensely powerful when one has been hurt or betrayed by a close friend or family member. Girls and young women seem to be especially vulnerable to such hurts when a close female friend is the one who causes the hurt, especially when rejection is the cause.

How does a person move beyond these things? How does one who has used limitation of food as a control mechanism move beyond this dependency? How does one who may even seek to punish oneself through limiting the enjoyment of eating move beyond this?

Often, in an attempt to find a solution to such an issue, one compulsion is substituted for another. Sometimes a person will realize the debilitating effects and affects of a compulsion and will substitute something less harmful or limiting. People do this in many ways, including substituting Twelve Step Programs and accountability partners. Often another compulsion or addiction or control factor is substituted. Something less undesirable is substituted for the more undesirable habit or addiction.

What about those who feel a need to punish oneself? This is not at all uncommon. Sometimes control is not the real issue. Sometimes a person has such a view of oneself that the person acts against oneself in an attempt to escape the way that self is perceived. Such self punishment can reach horrific extremes. Self denial of this type is powerfully destructive.

How does one move beyond this?

We don’t have the strength to move beyond this. This is why people substitute one thing for another. This is why people live their entire lives feeling trapped and depressed and hopeless.

Isabelle Caro is an example of this. Her interview with CBS News can be viewed here. Before viewing this, please be aware that what is displayed is appalling. The video shows her emaciated body, and may be offensive.

This video interview shows how powerless this poor woman was to combat this condition that enslaved her. November 17, at 28 years of age, Isabelle died, as reported by the New York Times at Isabelle Caro, Anorexic Model, Dies at 28.

Is there hope then? Is there a way beyond anorexia?

Yes, there is a way beyond anorexia and beyond all of the ways in which we all are enslaved by sin and its consequences.

We very much need to have our self-view or our self-perception restored to what is healthy and wholesome. This cannot be achieved by changing one’s lifestyle or by altering one’s behavior. This cannot be achieved through therapy. It cannot be achieved through drugs. It cannot be achieved through Twelve Step programs.

What then is the way beyond the things that are too big for us to overcome? How can we regain a healthy understanding and perspective?

The answer is found in understanding why we have such problems in the first place. We have been cut off from the original source of life. This has happened through the delusion of free will. When the serpent challenged the goodness of God, suggesting that God’s good and gracious declarations were lacking, Adam imagined that God’s goodness was not sufficient and he chose to do better for himself. But this choice was a choice to be cut off from what God had ordained and established. It was a choice to replace the image of God with a new image, an image that was corrupt and evil. This is the condition that we have inherited.

The answer, the cure, the way beyond this, is redemption and regeneration. God has ordained the means by which this is worked for us. He has ordained Baptism as “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” St. Paul explains this more fully, saying:

      For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)

In the first sentence the apostle portrays not only how we are, but also how we perceive ourselves. We try to find ways not to see, to deny what looks back at us from the mirror, to pretend that what we know about ourselves and what others react to concerning us is not real, but we cannot hide. Adam and his wife made aprons from fig leaves and hid from the presence of the Lord, but they were nevertheless ashamed. They could not hide from their own consciences. Neither can we. Neither can we cover up the truth.

But God manifested His kindness and love with the promise of the Savior, who was born into the world in the fullness of time, to redeem us. So that we may receive the benefits of this redemption, He ordained Baptism for our washing and regeneration as those whom He has justified and renewed.

On the day of Pentecost, St. Peter told those who realized their need for the Lord’s help and salvation that the means by which God would incorporate them into His kingdom of grace was through Baptism. Here is the account:

     Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:38-47)

In this account Luke not only records the promise, but also records the result. There were many thousands of people in that crowd. Of those, three thousand were baptized. These people experienced what God promised. They were changed from the inside out. They no longer perceived themselves as they did before. Now they knew themselves to be God’s beloved children. Now they knew themselves as holy people, declared to be holy by God Himself.

St. Peter explains this further in his epistle.

     For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto evenw baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:18-22)

St. Peter informs us that Baptism saves us. He says that it purifies our conscience, washing away the corrupt thoughts and ways that we have in us and replacing them with pure thoughts that God gives to us in connection with the promise that Christ’s substitutionary suffering has justified us and restored us so that we may approach God with a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is how we get beyond our selves and what we do not like about ourselves. This is how we receive a new and healthy perception of ourselves so that we may live free and happy and blessed lives.

Through this God restores us to the knowledge that we do not need to be in control. When we depend upon Him and trust His goodness, when we live as His beloved children who receive our daily bread and all that we need for both body and soul from His gracious hand, the things that previously ruled our hearts and minds no longer have any power over us. Through this we live in the promise that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. God’s peace becomes our guardian. God’s love is our hope and becomes our new perspective. When we hear how God loves us in Christ, we begin to learn truly to love ourselves.


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An additional comfort from the Holy Scriptures that directs us to the freedom of knowing and living as God’s beloved children:

Romans 8:26-39.

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Preachers and Morality continued . . . again

To read the previous two posts and comments side by side in additional windows, click on these links: Preachers and Morality and Preachers and Morality continued . . . .

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Dear Nick,

It is good that you recognize the importance of the subject. Because you impress me as one who is sincere, I am responding to you as one who is sincere.

At first I struggled to know your perspective and why you are pursuing this fallacious argument. I did not at first grasp why you pressed upon me the argument against “alien righteousness” when I did not use this terminology. I think I understand the reason now. For the concept of alien righteousness permeates the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, and therefore it permeates my theology, whether or not I use the terms themselves. You are, in fact, attacking and denying the chief article of Christian faith, the article of salvation by grace through faith, through your attempt to discredit alien righteousness, which is clearly articulated throughout the Scriptures as the righteousness of God that supplants our unrighteousness through the faith that the Holy Spirit works through the power of the Gospel.

You have attempted to use one word, logizomai, and a partial definition and use of the word as set forth by a skewed lexicon, to avoid the doctrine of God’s righteousness that is from outside of ourselves, imputed to us through faith worked by the Holy Spirit, as that which justifies, sanctifies, enlightens, saves and preserves those whom God saves. The lexicon that you have chosen claims to use Thayer’s and the large Kittel for its sources. Yet the final statement is not in either, at least not that I found. Neither is it in BAGD. All three of these recognized resources demonstrate a much broader usage of the word, logizomai, than that final statement that you quoted.

You mention 40 occurrences of the word in the Scriptures. But you ignore the context, especially of the ones that you do not quote. One passage is enough to demonstrate the fallacy of your argument.

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:13-14)

You have argued:

The lexicon states this term first and foremost refers to the actual status of something. So if Abraham’s faith is “logizomai as righteousness,” it must be an actually righteous act of faith, otherwise (as the Lexicon says) “I am deceiving myself.” This seems to rule out any notion of an alien righteousness, and instead points to a local/inherent righteousness.

In Romans 5:13-14 St. Paul uses logizomai to teach that the imputation of sin is not made where the Law is not residing or being. Thus the imputation is taught as not being dependent upon the sinful act, but upon the gift of the Law which imputes the sin to us so that we may be brought to recognize our need for the righteousness of God that is from beyond our grasp or doing. According to our own imputation, according to our own logizomai, we do not account for our sin and our unrighteousness, our total corruption that makes sinners of us even from our conception, as Psalm 51 clearly teaches.

Thus, in Romans 5 St. Paul uses logizomai exactly the way that you say that it is not used.

But the larger point is that it is entirely fallacious to rule out by means of one word what the Scriptures plainly teach. That is why at first I did not deal fully with the word, logizomai, but rather gave other Scriptures that teach what you deny.

In my original post I directed the attention to the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, in accord with St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 2. I also referred to preaching “Christ our righteousness.”

The following are passages of the Scriptures that teach this:

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE Lord OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:6)

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. (Jeremiah 51:10)

O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. (Daniel 9:16-19)

You argue:

So when the text plainly says “faith is logizomai as righteousness,” I must read that as ‘faith is reckoned as a truly righteous act’, and that is precisely how Paul explains that phrase in 4:18-22. That despite the doubts that could be raised in Abraham’s heart, his faith grew strong and convinced and “that is why his faith was credited as righteousness” (v4:22).

But St. Paul does not say that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Here is what St. Paul writes:

     And being fully persuaded, because what He has promised He powerful is also to make, through which also was credited to him into righteousness.

“Being fully persuaded” = plerophoretheis, which is an aorist, passive, participle. For this discussion the points of emphasis are that it is aorist, or past tense, and especially that it is passive, meaning that it was worked on him from beyond, that is, his conviction or persuasion or belief was alien to him. It was worked by God, who gave the promise and with the promise also made the faith or persuasion, which overpowered Abraham’s unbelief, so that God’s action was credited to Abraham into righteousness. This also is critical to right understanding. St. Paul does not actually say “as righteousness” but “into righteousness.” This is the same manner as with Baptism, especially as St. Paul refers to it in Titus 3.


Additionally, the following Scriptural passages highlight the fact that the righteousness which is credited to us is God’s righteousness (with emphasis added to certain pertinent portions):

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just. What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
(Romans 3:1-28)

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 5:1-21)

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(Romans 10:1-10)

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
(1 Corinthians 1:27-31)

We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
(Galatians 2:15-21)

Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
(Philippians 1:11)

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
(Philippians 3:7-11)

Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
(2 Peter 1:1-4)

The Old Adam rises up in indignation against this doctrine. Our sinful nature despises the acceptance of the teaching that we are truly “dead in sins” and must be “quickened together with Christ” and that we are truly “saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” and that we are truly and entirely from beginning to end in every aspect “his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2) Our sinful nature despises the notion that all that we are in Christ Jesus, all that is holy, all that is righteous, is God’s work and nothing that we logizomai as our own. That the good works that are manifested in our lives are God’s works, prepared beforehand, and that we merely walk in His good works being worked in us and for us, this is truly alien to our sinful and corrupted reason. But for all of our resistance to it, this is the way of grace, and grace is from God alone. When the Holy Spirit convicts us fully, as He did with Abraham, then we live confident of God’s power and mercy and love, and we live without the burdens that we and sin would place upon us. When we logizomai in accord with how God logizomais, then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding does indeed guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

Preachers and Morality continued . . .

In the previous post, posted below, Preachers and Morality, Nick at NICK'S CATHOLIC BLOG commented with a rebuttal. He argues using a very narrow use of the word logizomai in connection with righteousness and works that are accounted to the believer. Since his comment is somewhat extensive, and my response includes links to Scriptural references, I am posting them below. Nick’s commentary is sincere and kindly. It is quoted in lavender with my response following.

This is a very worthy topic, worth serious consideration and study.

To read the original post either scroll downward or to view it in another window click on the link Preachers and Morality.


Nick said:

In my study on this topic of imputed righteousness, the Greek term “logizomai” is the English term for “reckon/impute/credit/etc,” (all terms are basically equivalently used) and when I look up that term in a popular lexicon here is what it is defined as:

—————-
QUOTE: “This word deals with reality. If I “logizomai” or reckon that my bank book has $25 in it, it has $25 in it. Otherwise I am deceiving myself. This word refers to facts not suppositions.”
http://tinyurl.com/r92dch
—————-

The lexicon states this term first and foremost refers to the actual status of something. So if Abraham’s faith is “logizomai as righteousness,” it must be an actually righteous act of faith, otherwise (as the Lexicon says) “I am deceiving myself.” This seems to rule out any notion of an alien righteousness, and instead points to a local/inherent righteousness.

The Lexicon gives other examples where “logizomai” appears, here are some examples:
——————-
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude [logizomai] that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Rom 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted [logizomai] as a gift but as his due.

Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon [logizomai] ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 8:18 For I reckon [logizomai] that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
——————-

Notice in these examples that “logizomai” means to consider the actual truth of an object. In 3:28 Paul ‘reckons’ faith saves while the Law does not, this is a fact, the Law never saves. In 4:4 the worker’s wages are ‘reckoned’ as a debt because the boss is in debt to the worker, not giving a gift to him. In 6:11 the Christian is ‘reckoned’ dead to sin because he is in fact dead to sin. In 8:18 Paul ‘reckons’ the present sufferings as having no comparison to Heavenly glory, and that is true because nothing compares to Heavenly glory.

To use logizomai in the “alien status” way would mean in: (1) 3:28 faith doesn’t really save apart from works, but we are going to go ahead and say it does; (2) 4:4 the boss gives payment to the worker as a gift rather than obligation/debt; (3) 6:11 that we are not really dead to sin but are going to say we are; (4) 8:18 the present sufferings are comparable to Heaven’s glory.
This cannot be right.

So when the text plainly says “faith is logizomai as righteousness,” I must read that as ‘faith is reckoned as a truly righteous act’, and that is precisely how Paul explains that phrase in 4:18-22. That despite the doubts that could be raised in Abraham’s heart, his faith grew strong and convinced and “that is why his faith was credited as righteousness” (v4:22). This is also confirmed by noting the only other time “credited as righteousness” appears in Scripture, Psalm 106:30-31, where Phinehas’ righteous action was reckoned as such. This is confirmed even more when one compares another similar passage, Hebrews 11:4, where by faith Abel was commended as righteous.

Nick,

Thanks for taking the time to comment and for sharing your efforts on this subject.

I checked your quote at Bible Study Tools, which is at the very end of the reference and appears to be arbitrarily inserted by this group. I could not find anything like it in Thayer’s Lexicon nor in Kittel. Perhaps you would like to study this word further in these and also in BAGD. You’ll find that logizomai is a very comprehensive word.

Regardless, let’s take the $25.00 in the bank book analogy as legitimate, (by the way, just because you have recorded something in your bank book does not necessarily mean that it is actually in the account). Let’s go with this analogy, only let’s go with the money actually being in the account and not merely in our bank book. The question is not one of whether or not the accounting is correct. The question is regarding first, by whose accounting is it accounted as present, and secondly, by whose deposit it is present.

This is the point that you are choosing to ignore. The righteousness with which Abraham and St. Paul and I are credited or reckoned is God’s own righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. The works whereby this righteousness is reckoned are Christ’s works, God’s works enacted by Christ. The imputation or reckoning is God’s reckoning on account of the faith that He, the Holy Spirit, works in me through the Word, Jesus, connected with the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper. The very faith on account of which I am reckoned as righteous is mine not as my own work but as faith that God has worked in me. Here is a sampling of Scriptures that state this: Ephesians 2, Galatians 2:16-21, Galatians 3:22, and Philippians 3:4-12 .

The very faith by which we are accounted as righteous is accounted to us. It is ours only as that which God has given to us and worked within us, not as something which we have attained to by our own reason and strength nor as something that we have produced within ourselves. “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4. Whatever I hold up to God of my own doing is not upright, or as St. Paul declared, dog crap, skubalon. Only in accord with the righteousness of Jesus through the faith of Jesus given to me in Baptism am I and my life accounted as righteous.

Far from being a loss, this is great news. For this sets me free from the struggle and strife of trying to be righteous. Rather than striving to be righteous, by faith I then hear and believe the declaration of God that I am righteous, for Christ’s sake, and I thereby live by faith. Faith takes the work and the struggle out of life, for it is not I who live but Christ who lives in me. Truly His grace is sufficient for me.

Preachers and Morality

This evening my wife rented a movie entitled: Confessions of a SHOPAHOLIC. Like many comedies of this type it has a sort of morality that is presented. It contrasts, quite effectively, a young woman’s life of lies to the freedom of living honestly. The moral of the story includes the fact that belief in the worship of mammon as liberation is a terrible delusion. It also includes that facing one’s limitations and faults honestly is a beginning to freedom.

As I watched the plot of this movie unfold my mind turned to a saying of Luther regarding the teaching of morality. As I remembered it, he said that the teachers of the world are better at teaching morality than the teachers of the Gospel.

My cursory search this evening did not uncover this quotation, leading me to think that I may have remembered it incorrectly. I did find this quotation from Luther in volume 54 of the American Edition of Luther’s Works: Table Talk No. 3490: High Recommendation of Aesop’s Fables Between October 27 and December 4, 1536.

     Luther praised the fables of Aesop highly:

     “They are worthy of translation and of being put into a proper order and arrangement. It is not a book that was written by one man only, but it was diligently assembled by many men in different centuries. It would be very useful therefore if somebody would translate the book well and put it into proper order. The important fables that are pithy, smack of antiquity, and are useful to the commonwealth ought to be gathered into a first book; then those that are more elegant ought to be placed apart in a second book, and the rest ought to be reserved for a third.”

     “It is a result of God’s providence that the writings of Cato and Aesop have remained in the schools, for both are significant books. Cato contains the most useful sayings and precepts. Aesop contains the most delightful stories and descriptions. Moral teachings, if offered to young people, will contribute much to their edification. In short, next to the Bible the writings of Cato and Aesop are in my opinion the best, better than the mangled utterances of all the philosophers and jurists, just as Donatus is the best grammarian.”

While I understand Luther’s point, I do not fully agree. In fact, if pressed I find that I disagree on the following principal observation, which this evening’s ponderings solidified:

     Preachers of the Gospel do not preach morality and obedience to the Law. Rather, they preach justification and sanctification and the obedience that comes through the repentance worked by the Holy Spirit unto faith.

Preaching of morality is foreign to the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel is the wonderful declaration of God’s love to us in Christ Jesus. The Gospel is the preaching of Christ crucified. The Gospel is the preaching of the new life that God works through Baptism and continually renews through the Lord’s Supper of His Holy Communion. The preaching of the Gospel is the preaching of walking in spirit by faith.

This is the opposite of what is preached and taught by sinful humanity who grasps after the glimmer of self-aggrandizement in search of works-righteousness.

St. Paul writes to the Galatians: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)

Further contemplation on this matter led me this evening to this conclusion in this connection:

     If works and obedience of the Law could justify, then Christ would not have stood condemned and would not have died. Yet it was His perfect obedience and His perfect doing of the works of the will of God as proclaimed in the Law that brought Him to bear our condemnation and the curse of the death owed to sin.

No, the preaching and teaching of morality are works of the unbelieving world, whose preachers seek to make better people through knowledge of right and wrong and better or worse. The preaching and teaching of morality is the preaching of self-improvement and self-help.

This truly has no place in the Church of Christ. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the Gospel. The Gospel is the preaching of the new life that is received in accompaniment with the gift of the Holy Spirit in the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3, Acts 2, 1 Peter 3:21). The life to which the Holy Spirit calls us is a childlike dependency upon the holiness of God won for us through the merits of Christ. It is the freedom to walk without fear of condemnation purely on account of God’s declaration of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us through faith.

Thus, as a preacher of the Gospel, I have no desire to preach the morality that leads people to strive to become better neighbors and citizens and people. My desire is to preach the Gospel that leads people to know and rely upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified for their forgiveness, justification, sanctification, reconciliation to God and to all. My desire is to preach Christ as our righteousness, into whom we are incorporated through Baptism and kept everlastingly through the Holy Supper of His Body and Blood. This is the way of grace, mercy, and peace. This is the way of freedom and joy without end. Through this preaching people hear that the grace of Christ truly is sufficient for them, and in this knowledge their struggles turn to everlasting rejoicing and thanksgiving. Yes, I will leave the preaching of the bondage of morality to the unbelievers and continue myself in the preaching of the love of God in Christ Jesus.

The Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation. The appointed texts for the day teach marvelously the fullness of what the incarnation means. The more that a person grows in understanding this amazing mystery, the more one comes to appreciate the Athanasian Creed. This creed is commonly used on Trinity Sunday, but it is a marvelous explanation of the necessity and the wonder of the Lord’s birth.

The Athanasian Creed begins the last portion with these powerful words:

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The creed continues with an in depth explanation, very carefully bringing forth the reason for the incarnation and the importance of what the Scriptures teach. Yet the authors of the creed were also very careful not to say more than what the Scriptures declare, without speculating on those things that the Scriptures leave undeclared. It truly is a marvelous creed.

The texts for the Nativity of our Lord, Christmas Day, are wonderfully explained by this creed, and thus it is utilized as part of the sermon this year. The sermon, “In the Majesty of the Name of the Lord His God,” is available in text and audio here.

Growing and Declining in Faith

In today’s “Faith & Values” section of the Wichita Eagle the following question was presented to Billy Graham along with his answer. It is a regular feature included in the paper.

The question is a very common question, one that every “person of faith” encounters. The Reverend Graham’s answer is quite typical, and it falls far short for reasons that will be presented later in this post. First the question and the Reverend Graham’s answer:

MY ANSWER/BILLY GRAHAM

DEAR REV. GRAHAM: A year ago I accepted Jesus into my life, and for a time I really felt He was with me. But now I find myself wondering sometimes if God even exists. Why has this happened? Is the devil trying to turn me away from God? --Q.S.

DEAR Q.S.: The devil will always try to turn us away from God; after all, this is the main thing he wants to accomplish in our lives. And one way he does this is by probing for our weak spots and trying to take advantage of them.

But don't blame everything on the devil; he doesn't deserve all the credit! The real problem, I suspect, is that after you gave your life to Jesus you thought this was the end, and it was all you needed to do. You knew your sins were forgiven.

But afterward you never did anything to strengthen yourself spiritually -- and over time you became spiritually weak. In order to survive and grow, you need spiritual food and warmth -- the "food" of the Bible and prayer, and the "warmth" of fellowship with other believers. If these were missing, your spiritual life inevitably suffered.

God has not abandoned you; He loves you and yearns for you to grow stronger in your faith. Confess your weakness to Him, and then take time each day to be alone with God in His Word and in prayer. In addition, ask Him to lead you to a church where Christ is central, and where you can grow in your faith.

The Q&A is also available here.

This question is a very common question. I doubt whether any Christian has lived in this world without facing this challenging question. It is a very disconcerting question. If left without the true answer to this question a person will despair of all hope of everlasting life or will spend a lifetime groping after what cannot be found.

Sadly, the answer given by the Reverend Graham falls short.

It falls short for a reason. That reason is actually given in the title chosen for this regularly offered column in the daily paper.

Did you catch the reason in the title?

The title is: MY ANSWER/BILLY GRAHAM.

This is the reason that the hurting individual is troubled by this dreadful question in the first place. The answer that is needed is not a pastor’s answer. The answer that is needed is not a church body’s answer. The answer that is needed is not the Reverend Graham’s answer.

God’s answer is the one that is needed.

The Reverend Graham’s answer sounds very solid to a undiscerning heart. It sounds very Biblical and godly and Christian. His answer to the hurting and troubled person is: “. . . you never did anything to strengthen yourself spiritually -- and over time you became spiritually weak.”

This is a typical response from those who count themselves as spiritual and “more spiritual” than others. This is the response that people typically expect and even seek to hear.

But is this really the answer? Upon whom does this answer direct the individual to depend?

Consider the rest of the Reverend Graham’s answer:

In order to survive and grow, you need spiritual food and warmth -- the "food" of the Bible and prayer, and the "warmth" of fellowship with other believers. If these were missing, your spiritual life inevitably suffered.

To the undiscerning heart this sounds like a very helpful answer. But upon whom does this answer direct the person to depend?

First and foremost this answer directs the person to depend on self. It directs the person to what actions the person takes to strengthen self.

Is this what the Scriptures teach?

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:37-40)

Is the “food” by which one’s spirit is fed the “Bible and prayer”?

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:28-35)

The food or bread of life is not the Bible and it is not prayer. Jesus, the Christ, is the bread of life by which the spirit is regenerated and kept alive.

The Bible does not have the power to impart faith. The Bible is the written record that declares the Word. JESUS is the Word.

The question presented by Q.S. betrays the cause of the doubts and fears and pains that this dear soul is experiencing. Q.S. says, “A year ago I accepted Jesus into my life, . . .”

This is a lie. This person is hurting because of a major misunderstanding regarding the way of faith.

No one accepts Jesus into his life.

Jesus comes into the person’s life and then that person acknowledges the presence of the Savior and rejoices in this knowledge..

This sounds trivial until a person understands the fullness of the distinction.

The Scriptures teach that kingdom of God does not come by observation. The Scriptures teach that faith does not come by an act of the human will. The Scriptures teach that a person receives Jesus and is thereby given the power or authority to be born as a son of God.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

This reception Jesus calls a rebirth or regeneration when He explains to Nicodemus the way of life in John chapter 3. He tells the confused preacher and teacher of Israel that no one can even perceive or see the kingdom of God unless that person be regenerated. Then He further explains that no one can enter into the kingdom of God unless that person be regenerated by water and the Spirit.

St. Paul writes to Pastor Titus:

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)

Again the apostle writes to the saints in Ephesus:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

By these we learn that faith is not a work that is done by ourselves but a work that God works in us. It is by the hearing of the Word that the Holy Spirit comes to us and works the miracle of faith in us. This faith is a gift of God. He gives it freely. By this faith He regenerates us. Jesus Christ, the Word, is the one through whom the Holy Spirit is given. The Holy Spirit creates faith in us and that faith changes us from unbelievers to believers.

This is truly good news to anyone who has doubts and fears about the strength of his faith. Our faith is weak on account of it being counted as our own. According to our own faith, we do not truly trust God to be merciful and forgiving. According to our own faith we are full of doubt and fear and weakness.

But according to the faith of Jesus, the faith by which He came to the world and lived without sin and then took our sin in His own body to die on the cross and be buried, according to this faith, which is preached in accord with the pure Gospel and administered in the pure Sacraments, no doubt or fear or weakness remains. This is the faith that God works. It is everlasting and it cannot fail. It is a done deed. Therefore we may rely upon it without doubt or fear, and then no weakness of faith remains.

It is essential that we know where this faith lives. It lives in the body of Christ, which is the pure and holy Church that abides in His words and works. The Lord Jesus established His Church of the New Testament in His blood. He commanded that His Gospel be preached without compromise so that all doubts would be dispersed. He commanded that disciples be made through the means of the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, that is, Baptism. He commanded that these regenerated saint/sinners be kept in His grace, mercy, and peace through the Holy Communion of His body and blood.

The Bread of Life is Jesus. The warmth that we need flows from being connected with His body through Baptism and the Holy Communion. This “warmth” is not the sense of comradery or fellowship that people often mistake for the holy koinonia. This warmth is the life that is in Christ’s blood, poured out for the forgiveness of many. This warmth is the life that is received through Baptism and renewed through the Holy Communion.

Contrary to what the Reverend Graham and most Christians imagine, Christ is not the center of life and faith for the Church. Christ is the life and faith of the Church.

When this is understood, people no longer seek to make Christ the center of their lives. Rather, they live in Christ, trusting that He is their life and their all. With this understanding, doubts and fears are washed away, for then the person no longer looks to his own faith for hope and peace and assurance, but simply lives by the faith that God gives. The person simply trusts that Jesus really is the answer, and having received Jesus through the faith that the Holy Spirit works, that person continues in the great Eucharist or Thanksgiving, partaking of the Bread of Life and being strengthened and renewed in His blood of life.

The answer really is this wonderfully simple.