Friday, July 23, 2010

Jesus' Questions

If we speculate and try to get into the secret recesses of Jesus' mind. we can imagine a thought process that went something like this: Oh, you have kept all the commandments since you were a child. Well, let's see. What is the first commandment? Oh, yes, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Let's see how you do with that one.

RC Sproul, The Holiness of God, p. 122

Luke 18:18-20

A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good - except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and your mother.' "

Luther's Practices

In consequence the most frightful insecurity beset him. Panic invaded his spirit. The conscience became so disquieted as to start and tremble at the stirring of a windblown leaf. The horror of nightmare gripped the soul, the dread of one waking in the dusk to look into the eyes of him who has come to take his life. The heavenly champions all withdrew; the fiend beckoned with leering summons to the impotent soul. These were the torments which Luther repeatedly testified were far worse than any physical ailment that he had ever endured.

Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, NAL., 1978

Forgive

"Look here," he said, "if you expect Christ to forgive you, come in with something to forgive - parricide, blasphemy, adultery - instead of all these peccadilloes ... Man, God is not angry with you. You are angry with God. Don't you know that God commands you to hope?"

Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, NAL., 1978

Luther's Practices

I was a good monk, and I kept the rule of my order so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery it was I. All my brothers in the monastery who knew me will bear me out. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading, and other work.

Roland Bainton, Here I Stand, NAL., 1978