Five Minutes a Day with Luther - 05-01-2017

[Five Minutes with Luther]

FIVE MINUTES A DAY WITH LUTHER

** Now available in book form: http://lcmssermons.com/about5mins.php **


May 1

Gal 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith.

* * *

Paul here knits up the matter with a notable conclusion, saying:
You wish to be justified by the Law, by circumcision, and by
works; but we do not seek to be justified by these means, lest
Christ should be made utterly unprofitable unto us, and we
become obligated to perform the whole Law, and so finally fall
away from grace. Instead, we wait in spirit through faith for
the hope of righteousness. Here he does not only say, as he
often does, 'We are justified by faith', but he adds, We wait
for the hope of righteousness. Hope, after the manner of
Scripture, is taken in two ways: for the thing that is hoped
for, and for the 'hoping' within him who hopes. So hope in this
place may also be taken in two ways. First, the thing that is
hoped for, the righteousness for which we hope, which shall
certainly be revealed in such time as it pleases the Lord to
give it. Secondly, the hoping within us that hopes for this
righteousness. Our righteousness is not yet revealed, but hangs
in hope. For as long as we live here, sin remains in our flesh;
there is also a law in our flesh and members, rebelling against
the law of the mind, and leading us captive into the services of
sin. Now when the affections of the flesh rage and reign, and we
on the other side wrestle against the same through the Spirit,
then is there a place for hope. We hope for perfect
righteousness, but we are not yet perfectly righteous in and of
ourselves. It remains a goal then that we be perfectly righteous
in and of ourselves, and this is that for which we hope.

When I shall launch to worlds unseen,
O may I then be found in Him,
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.

---
Cuda.
aka Pastor Robin Fish
To be Lutheran is to be Christian -- and Vice Versa!

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