Fiat:
Now, if you are more satisfied with a cold and etherized version of faith that the well groomed sons and daughters of Luther and Calvin have draped themselves with as they set sail on their cruiseship of self-righteousness, then go for it buddy. But it is a faith that is tied up in reason and the work of man, not of grace. I, on the other hand, will spend my time in Jesus’s Church, the Bark of Peter that saves sinners, loving Jesus with my fellow brothers and sisters like the sinning woman in Luke.
Ah, so you disagree even with Christ when He said to the weeping woman that her sins
have been forgiven, and this on the
basis of faith. It seems then you are like Simon the Pharisee, believing that abiding in the traditions of your religion will actually save you. Simon took Christ’s words to the woman quite offensively, as you do mine.
I do agree with you, though, that the true faith is tied up in reason, but I do not agree with you that reasonable faith is based on the work of man, but instead the
finished work of Another, Jesus Christ the righteous (the cross). The cross is very reasonable, “
the Just died for the unjust.” God does not present to mankind an unreasonable message of salvation. But one must lay aside all vestiges of self-righteousness, knowing that He can present nothing to God on his own behalf. He must come to the cross completely empty-handed, having the attitude of Paul, considering that all that he had once viewed, religiously, as worthy to be nothing but rubbish, in order that he may gain Christ instead, and may be found
in Him, not having a righteousness of his own, derived even from the holy Law (commandments) of which he was born under, “but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the
basis of faith” (Phil. 3:1-9).
He calls the true believers in Philippi those who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, putting no confidence in the flesh. But rest in what God has done for them through the Son.
Now let’s get back to that woman, Fiat. Did Jesus say her, “Your sins will be forgiven,” or “Your sins have been forgiven?” And did He say to her, “Now go and do penance,” or did He say, based on He declaring to her (and to Simon and his religious cronies) that her sins “
have been forgiven” to now “
go in peace?” A peace based on the FACT that He’d declared her sins forgiven.
Compare this now to the message of Paul, who took the gospel message (good-news message) of Jesus Christ to the whole Gentile world
“
Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you” (Acts 13:38).
Fiat, Simon the self-righteous Pharisee grumbled at the words of Christ spoken to the woman who left in peace knowing that He had declared her sins forgiven (based on her faith alone). The former is the disgruntled response of the religious to the words of Christ, the latter of the “faith-full” (full of faith). Yes, the woman is a model of repentance, turning from unbelieving to believing, and that sins are
declared forgiven through the Son, in whom the forgiven have set their faith.
Blessing,
Bene
.
