Distinction By Christ
Frank
Christ caused Paul to write Romans 1:17
as the verse that Christ would use
over 1400 years later
to bring back the real Gospel
to enable the Protestant Reformation
so that people could again be saved:
For therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith:
as it is written,
The just shall live by faith.
(Romans 1:17 KJV)
Christ drove Luther day and night
to understand the phrase in the verse,
the righteousness of God,
that is revealed in the Gospel.
Christ enabled him to see
that the explanation for the phrase
was the sentence that followed it:
The just shall live by faith.
(Table Talk, WA TR 5:5553)
But not until Christ by the Holy Spirit
gave sudden insight to Luther, did he
then see the distinction made by Christ
between law and Gospel: Luther was
able to see that the term just, meaning
righteous, in that sentence, was not
referring to the righteousness of those
who seek to be righteous by law thru
repentance and works but rather
the righteousness of those who are
righteous thru faith in Christ to regard
his own righteousness as theirs for them.
(by the Spirit: Table Talk, WA TR 3:3232;
Gospel distinct: Table Talk, WA TR 5:5518)
Thus Christ gave the Scriptural Gospel
to enable the Protestant Reformation:
Christ reckons his own righteousness
to us when he gives us faith to trust him
to be our Righteous Substitute for salvation.
(Romans 1:16-17, Romans 3:21-26,
Romans 4-5, 2 Corinthians 5:19-21,
Preface to Luther's Latin Works)
But today the real Gospel is hardly heard anymore.
Relatively few even know that Christ not us is
the righteousness required for salvation.
The distinction that Christ made between
law and Gospel is hardly made anymore:
Repentance (surrender, commitment) is
once again being trusted in for salvation,
rather than being done as distinct from
the faith alone in Christ alone required.
Thus the real Gospel that saves has
almost once again been driven
from the face of the earth,
and that just before the return of Christ.
--
http://roines.home.mindspring.com
((( s.r.c.b-s is a moderated group. All posts are approved by a moderator. )))
((( Read http://srcbs.org for details about this group BEFORE you post. )))