If you are not clean on the inside, your outside will never be clean, despite regular religious washings. Outward ceremonies do not cleanse the person who is unclean within.
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We must hear God's promised with some common sense, which would inform us that giving from the heart means one expects to gain nothing from the gift.
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Passages, when considered in context, frequently produce their own interpretation. This is the simplest way that Scripture may interpret Scripture.
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Our works are not good works, as they do not please God unless they are done in faith. They are not good works, no matter how fine they may seem to us.
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Because Christ is the once-for-all sacrifice for sin, those living under the New Covenant are to offer sacrifices of praise to God.
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The Father sent his Son into the world to save sinners from sin and death. When people have faith in his sacrifice for their sin, they are saved, justified, reborn.
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The great mystery of the ages has been revealed in Jesus Christ who has redeemed all people from sin and death through faith in his atoning work.
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The promise of forgiveness is bound to repentance. They are inseparable. “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.”
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The greatest idolatry is when the “conscience ... seeks help, comfort, and salvation in its own works and presumes to wrest heaven from God.
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Our religious, old man wants to know what good deed he still lacks so that he may earn eternal life, as he will always sense he lacks some fine deed.
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The preaching of the law must have its rightful place among us. The law sets necessary boundaries in society so that we may enjoy a measure of order and civility.
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You may work all day and night, trying to prove yourself worthy to God, only to discover at the break of day that you do not believe he finds you worthy.
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Consider this teaching from the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive, and you will be forgiven. The first part in this doctrine demands amendment of life and good works, while the second part adds the promise.
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Nowhere does the gospel require works or the earning of God’s freely-given grace. How could it be considered grace if it had to be earned?
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When we come to our senses and trust in God through Christ, our sins will be forgiven and forgotten. There will be healing for our offenses.
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Even the prophets of old required faith because faith conveys the promises of God, for faith has us trust in the one making the promise.
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The law makes us aware of when we fail to keep God’s ways, and creates in us a need of forgiveness. However, the law does not meet this need.
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Our sin-debt should cost us our lives but God forgives us and makes us new persons. He now expects his new people to live like citizens of his kingdom.
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God commands us by the prophets to do good yet makes it clear that righteousness does not come from the works worked, but from the Lord himself.
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"It is evident that we are not justified by the law. Why would there be need of Christ or the gospel if the preaching of the law alone would be sufficient?"
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Those justified through faith in Christ are expected to act righteously, but are not forgiven of their sins because they act in accordance with God’s will.
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Any keeping of the law requires God’s help. Before we can ever keep the law in a way that God finds acceptable, we must have faith in Christ.
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We must first be accepted by God for Christ's sake. Works will not make God favorable toward us if he was not already gracious to us for the sake of Christ.
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Trees do not bear fruit because they have somehow decided to do so. They produce fruit because they were created for that purpose.
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Every good gift comes from the Father, even new birth in Christ. Salvation is a gift. Forgiveness of sins and justification are not things that can be earned.
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Chrysostom said it well: “As faith without works is dead, so are works without faith dead.” Good works flow from true and living faith.
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Propitiation means appeasement of God. The argument the Lutherans were making is simply this: Christ alone is the satisfaction for our sins.
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Faith that believes Christ is the satisfaction for sin will both save and produce good fruit. This is the substance of the Epistle of James.
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As we rejoice with thankfulness that God has covered our own sins. Just so, we ought to pray daily, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
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Think of how often the smallest spark of some perceived offense in a congregation is fanned into flame by someone who chooses to make the matter personal.
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