#108 The Anabaptist Vision - Part 1

#108 The Anabaptist Vision - Part 1

Harold S. Bender’s The Anabaptist Vision1 offers a clear and influential introduction to the core ideals of early Anabaptism. Written in 1944, the essay defines the movement around three central themes: obeying and following Christ, the voluntary believers’ church, and an ethic of love and nonresistance. What makes Bender’s work especially effective is how directly he contrasts these ideas with other Protestant traditions. While Reformers like Luther emphasized faith and doctrine, Bender shows that Anabaptists stressed visible obedience and a transformed life as the true expression of faith. Because of this clear structure and direct comparison, The Anabaptist Vision stands out as a concise and thorough explanation of Anabaptist beliefs, making their distinct identity within the Reformation easy to understand. The Anabaptist Vision part 1, by Harold S. Bender The Anabaptist contribution to religious liberty; persecution and martyrdom > Judged by the reception it met at the hands of those in power, both in Church > Anabaptist movement was one of the most tragic in the history of Christianity; > but, judged by the principles, which were put into play by the men who bore > this reproachful nickname, it must be pronounced one of the most momentous and > significant undertakings in man's eventful religious struggle after the truth. > It gathered up the gains of earlier movements, it is the spiritual soil out of > which all nonconformist sects have sprung, and it is the first plain > announcement in modern history of a programme for a new type of Christian > society which the modern world, especially in America and England, has been > slowly realizing — an absolutely free and independent religious society, and a > State in which every man counts as a man, and has his share in shaping both > Church and State." These words of Rufus M. Jones2 constitute one of the best characterizations of Anabaptism and its contribution to our modern Christian culture to be found in the English language. They were brave words when they were written thirty-five years ago, but they have been abundantly verified by a generation of Anabaptist research since that time.3 There can be no question but that the great principles of freedom of conscience, separation of church and state, and voluntarism in religion, so basic in American Protestantism and so essential to democracy, ultimately are derived from the Anabaptists of the Reformation period, who for the first time clearly enunciated them and challenged the Christian world to follow them in practice. The line of descent through the centuries since that time may not always be clear, and may have passed through other intermediate movements and groups, but the debt to original Anabaptism is unquestioned. The sixteenth-century reformers understood the Anabaptist position on this point all too well, and deliberately rejected it. The best witness is Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli's successor in Zurich, whose active life-span covers the first fifty years of the history of the Swiss Anabaptists and who knew them so well that he published two extensive treatises against them in 1531 and 1561. According to Bullinger, the Swiss Brethren taught that: > One cannot and should not use force to compel anyone to accept the faith, for > faith is a free gift of God. It is wrong to compel anyone by force or coercion > to embrace the faith, or to put to death anyone for the sake of his erring > faith. It is an error that in the church any sword other than that of the > divine Word should be used. The secular kingdom should be separated from the > church, and no secular ruler should exercise authority in the church. The Lord > has commanded simply to preach the Gospel, not to compel anyone by force to > accept it. The true church of Christ has the characteristic that it suffers > and endures persecution but does not inflict persecution upon anyone.4 Bullinger reports these ideas, not in commendation but in condemnation urging the need of rigid suppression. He attempts a point by point refutation of the Anabaptist teaching, closing with the assertion that to put to death Anabaptists is a necessary and commendable service. But great as is the Anabaptist contribution to the development of religious liberty, this concept not only does not exhaust but actually fails to define the true essence of Anabaptism. In the last analysis freedom of religion is a purely formal concept, barren of content; it says nothing about the faith or the way of life of those who advocate it, nor does it reveal their goals or program of action. And Anabaptism had not only clearly defined goals but also an action program of definiteness and power. In fact the more intimately one becomes acquainted with this group the more one becomes conscious of the great vision that shaped their course in history and for which they gladly gave their lives. Before describing this vision it is well to note its attractiveness to the masses of Christians of the sixteenth century. Sebastian Franck, himself an opponent, wrote in 1531, scarcely seven years after the rise of the movement in Zurich: > The Anabaptists spread so rapidly that their teaching soon covered the land as > it were. They soon gained a large following, and baptized thousands, drawing > to themselves many sincere souls who had a zeal for God. . . . They increased > so rapidly that the world feared an uprising by them though I have learned > that this fear had no justification whatsoever.5 In the same year Bullinger wrote that "the people were running after them as though they were living saints."6 Another contemporary writer asserts that "Anabaptism spread with such speed that there was reason to fear that the majority of the common people would unite with this sect."7 Zwingli was so frightened by the power of the movement that he complained that the struggle with the Catholic party was "but child's play" compared to the conflict with the Anabaptists.8 The dreadful severity of the persecution of the Anabaptist movement in the years 1527-60 not only in Switzerland, South Germany, and Thuringia, but in all the Austrian lands as well as in the Low Countries, testifies to the power of the movement and the desperate haste with which Catholic, Lutheran, and Zwinglian authorities alike strove to throttle it before it should be too late. The notorious decree issued in 1529 by the Diet of Spires (the same diet which protested the restriction of evangelical liberties) summarily passed the sentence of death upon all Anabaptists, ordering that "every Anabaptist and rebaptized person of either sex should be put to death by fire, sword, or some other way."9 Repeatedly in subsequent sessions of the imperial diet this decree was reinvoked and intensified; and as late as 1551 the Diet of Augsburg issued a decree ordering that judges and jurors who had scruples against pronouncing the death sentence on Anabaptists be removed from office and punished by heavy fines and imprisonment. The authorities had great difficulty in executing their program of suppression, for they soon discovered that the Anabaptists feared neither torture nor death, and gladly sealed their faith with their blood. In fact the joyful testimony of the Anabaptist martyrs was a great stimulus to new recruits, for it stirred the imagination of the populace as nothing else could have done. Finding, therefore, that the customary method of individual trials and sentences was proving totally inadequate to stem the tide, the authorities resorted to the desperate expedient of sending out through the land companies of armed executioners and mounted soldiers to hunt down the Anabaptists and kill them on the spot singly or en masse without trial or sentence. The most atrocious application of this policy was made in Swabia where the original 400 special police of 1528 sent against the Anabaptists proved too small a force and had to be increased to 1,000. An imperial provost marshal, Berthold Aichele, served as chief administrator of this bloody program in Swabia and other regions until he finally broke down in terror and dismay, and after an execution at Brixen lifted his hands to heaven and swore a solemn oath never again to put to death an Anabaptist, which vow he kept.10 The Count of Alzey in the Palatinate, after 350 Anabaptists had been executed there, was heard to exclaim, "What shall I do, the more I kill, the greater becomes their number!" The extensive persecution and martyrdom of the Anabaptists testify not only of the great extent of the movement but also of the power of the vision that burned within them. This is most effectively presented in a moving account written in 1542 and taken from the ancient Hutterian chronicle where it is found at the close of a report of 2,173 brethren and sisters who gave their lives for their faith.11 > No human being was able to take away out of their hearts what they had > experienced, such zealous lovers of God were they. The fire of God burned > within them. They would die the bitterest death, yea, they would die ten > deaths rather than forsake the divine truth which they had espoused…. > > > They had drunk of the waters which had flowed from God's sanctuary, yea, the > water of life. They realized that God helped them to bear the cross and to > overcome the bitterness of death. The fire of God burned within them. Their > tent they had pitched not here upon earth, but in eternity, and of their faith > they had a foundation and assurance. Their faith blossomed as a lily, their > loyalty as a rose, their piety and sincerity as the flower of the garden of > God. The angel of the Lord battled for them that they could not be deprived of > the helmet of salvation. Therefore they bore all torture and agony without > fear. The things of this world they counted in their holy mind only as > shadows, having the assurance of greater things. They were so drawn unto God > that they knew nothing, sought nothing, desired nothing, loved nothing but God > alone. Therefore they had more patience in their suffering than their enemies > in tormenting them. > > > . . . The persecutors thought they could dampen and extinguish the fire of > God. But the prisoners sang in their prisons and rejoiced so that the enemies > outside became much more fearful than the prisoners and did not know what to > do with them. . . . > > > Many were talked to in wonderful ways, often day and night. They were argued > with, with great cunning and cleverness, with many sweet and smooth words, by > monks and priests, by doctors of theology, with much false testimony, with > threats and scolding and mockery, yea, with lies and grievous slander against > the brotherhood, but none of these things moved them or made them falter. > > > From the shedding of such innocent blood arose Christians everywhere, brothers > all, for all this persecution did not take place without fruit. Perhaps this interpretation of the Anabaptist spirit should be discounted as too glowing, coming as it does from the group itself, but certainly it is nearer to the truth than the typical harsh nineteenth-century interpretation of the movement which is well represented by the opening sentence of Ursula, the notable historical novel on the Anabaptists published in 1878 by the Swiss Gottfried Keller, next to Goethe perhaps the greatest of all writers in the German language: > Times of religious change are like times when the mountains open up; for then > not only do all the marvelous creatures of the human spirit come forth, the > great golden dragons, magic beings and crystal spirits, but there also come to > light all the hateful vermin of humanity, the host of rats and mice and > pestiferous creation, and so it was at the time of the Reformation in the > northeast part of Switzerland. 12 FOOTNOTES 1 Reprinted from The Mennonite Quarterly Review 18 (April 1944) XIII, 67-88, with slight revisions. That version had in turn been reprinted (with slight revisions) from Church History (March 1944), 3-24. The essay is available in booklet form from Herald Press, 616 Walnut Ave., Scottdale, Pa. 15683-1999. 2 Rufus M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion (London, 1909) 369. Professor Walter Köhler of Heidelberg has recently expressed a similar evaluation, asserting that the historical significance of the Anabaptists "erschöpft sich nicht in dem Duldermut, der Arbeitstreue, dem kulturellen Fleiss…. Nein, die Mennoniten dürfen ohne Überhebung einen Platz in der Weltgeschichte beanspruchen als Bahnbrecher der modernen Weltanschauung mit ihrer Glaubens- und Gewissensfreiheit." 3 The results of this research are best found in: Mennonitisches Lexikon, edited by Christian Hege and Christian Neff (Frankfurt a. M. and Weierhof [Pfalz], Germany 1913 ff.), now at the letter "N"; Ernst Correll, Das Schweizerische Täufermennonitentum: Ein Soziologischer Bericht (Tübingen, 1925); Mennonite Quarterly Review (published at Goshen, Indiana, since 1927); Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter (published at Weierhof [Palatinate] since 1936); R. J. Smithson, The Anabaptists, Their Contribution to Our Protestant Heritage (London, 1935); John Horsch, Mennonites in Europe (Scottdale, Pa., 1942); C. Henry Smith, The Story of the Mennonites (Berne, Indiana, 1941); L. von Muralt, Glaube und Lehre der Schweizerschen Wiedertäufer in der Reformationszeit (Zurich, 1938). Cf. also: Wilhelm Pauck "The Historiography of the German Reformation During the Past Twenty Years; IV. Research in the History of the Anabaptists," Church History (December 1940) IX, 335-364; Harold S. Bender, "Recent Progress in Research in Anabaptist History," Mennonite Quarterly Review (January 1934) VIII, 3-17. Only three volumes of the great source publication, Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer (Leipzig, 1930 ff.), published by the Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, have yet appeared. 4 Quoted in translation by John Horsch, Mennonites in Europe, 325, from Bullinger's Der Wiedertäufferen Ursprung, etc., Zurich, 1560. 5 Horsch, 293, from Sebastian Frank's Chronica, Zeitbuch und Geschichtbibel (Strassburg, 1531). 6 Heinrich Bullinger, Von dem unverschampten fräfel … der selvsgesandten Widertouffern (Zurich, 1531), folio 2v. 7 F. Roth, Augsburgs Reformationsgeschichte (Munich, 1901), I, 230. 8 Letter of Zwingli to Vadian, May 28, 1525, Huldreich Zwinglis Sämtliche Werke, ed. Egli, Finsler, Köhler, et al. (Leipzig, 1914) VII, 332. 9 The full official text of the decree may be found in Aller des Heiligen Roemischen Reichs gehaltene Reichstage, Abschiede und Satzungen (Mainz, 1666), 210, 211. It is also edited by Ludwig Keller in Monatshefte der Comenius Gesellschaft (Berlin, 1900), IX, 55-57, and by Bossert in "Die Reichsgesetze über die Wiedertäufer" in Quellen zur Geschichte der Wiedertäufer, 1. Band Herzogtum Württemberg (Leipzig, 1930), 1º-10º. See the excellent discussion of Anabaptist persecution by John Horsch in "The Persecution of the Evangelical Anabaptists," Mennonite Quarterly Review (January 1938), XII, 3-26. 10 Geschicht-Buch der Hutterischen Brüder, edited by Rudolf Wolkan (Macleod [Alberta] and Vienna, 1923), 142, 181. 11 Ibid., 182-187. The following quotation is composed of extracts selected from this account without regard to the original order, chiefly from 186, 187. 12 Gottfried Keller's Werke, ed. by Max Nussberger (Leipzig, n. d.) VI, 309. See Elizabeth Horsch Bender, "The Portrayal of the Swiss Anabaptists in Gottfried Keller's Ursula," Mennonite Quarterly Review [July, 1943] XVII, 136-150.

#107 Letter from Siberian exile

The Russian "Spiritual Christians" in the late 1600s were small, dissenting lay movements that broke from the official Russian Orthodox Church. They stressed the inner work of the Holy Spirit, personal conversion, and reading the Bible in the vernacular, rather than relying solely on priests and liturgy. Some groups adopted strict moral discipline, communal mutual aid, and a strong sense of separation from “the world” and from the state church. A wool merchant from Tambov, Ilaryon Pobirokhin, became a leader among the Spirit Christians in the late 1600s. He read much and kept his large family in order. Before his death in Siberian exile he wrote: Be serious minded. Trust in God. Love God with all your heart. Actively work for the good of his holy congregation. Show respect and obey all his commandments. Follow the path of virtue. Shun enslaving habits. Be perceptive. Do everything in light of what comes after death. Do not allow opportunities to do good escape you. Think carefully before setting out to do anything new, and make no decisions in a hurry. Be prompt in meeting your obligations. Do not believe everything you hear. Do not tell others everything you know, but only what is necessary. If you are not sure about something, do not affirm it nor deny it. Investigate, so you may be discreet. Be temperate. Do not eat unless you are hungry. Do not drink unless you thirst, and that only in small quantities. Avoid drunkenness like you would avoid hell. Intemperance leads to sickness. Sickness brings death. Those who abstain from the unnecessary live in health and wellbeing. Do not be arrogant, but meek. Keep more to silence than to much conversation. When someone is speaking, listen. When someone talks to you, pay attention. When someone gives you orders, carry them out. Do not boast. Do not be stubborn, quarrelsome or vain. Be friendly to all but flatter none. Be fair. Do not desire what belongs to others. Do not steal but work hard to produce everything you may need. In poverty ask for help. When it is given, accept it and be thankful. But return the things you borrow, and whatever you promise, fulfill. Be courageous, and always ready to work. Leave off idleness and laziness. If you wish to start a project, count the cost in advance then stick to it without giving up. Do not lose heart in adversity. Do not let prosperity corrupt you. Be thrifty. Take note of what happens to those who do not persevere: they come to misfortune and sorrow. The faint-hearted sigh, lament, and wail, over things the patient forbear without murmuring. Be generous and kind to all. Give to the one who asks of you. As long as you have anything left, help the poor. If someone has hurt you, forgive him. If you have hurt anyone, seek reconciliation. Do not hold grudges. Forgive the sinner. Let peacemakers do their work. If you love your fellowmen, you will be loved in return. Greet those you meet. Return the greeting of those who greet you. Answer those who ask questions. Give advice to those who want it. Comfort the sorrowful. Do not envy. Wish everyone well. Serve everyone to the extent of your ability. If you only do good to others your friends will love you and your enemies will not be able to hate you with reason. Always speak the truth. Do this and it will go well with you. Glory to God!

#106 The Wisdom of Sirach - Chapter 5

From The Wisdom of Sirach, the Apocrypha [/0095-background-on-the-books-of-the-apocrypha/] Set not thy heart upon thy goods; and say not, I have enough for my life. Follow not thine own mind and thy strength, to walk in the ways of thy heart: And say not, Who shall controul me for my works? for the Lord will surely revenge thy pride. Say not, I have sinned, and what harm hath happened unto me? for the Lord is longsuffering, he will in no wise let thee go. Concerning propitiation, be not without fear to add sin unto sin: And say not His mercy is great; he will be pacified for the multitude of my sins: for mercy and wrath come from him, and his indignation resteth upon sinners. Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord, and put not off from day to day: for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth, and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed, and perish in the day of vengeance. Set not thine heart upon goods unjustly gotten, for they shall not profit thee in the day of calamity. Winnow not with every wind, and go not into every way: for so doth the sinner that hath a double tongue. Be stedfast in thy understanding; and let thy word be the same. Be swift to hear; and let thy life be sincere; and with patience give answer. If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbour; if not, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. Honour and shame is in talk: and the tongue of man is his fall. Be not called a whisperer, and lie not in wait with thy tongue: for a foul shame is upon the thief, and an evil condemnation upon the double tongue. Be not ignorant of any thing in a great matter or a small.

#105 Our spiritual scope of vision

From Meditations on the Gospel of Luke, by Samuel Froehlich > Luke 20:39-44 Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast > well said. And after that they durst not ask him any question at all. And he > said unto them, How say they that Christ is David's son? And David himself > saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right > hand, Till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore calleth him > Lord, how is he then his son? Where did David find these Words of God, the Father, to His Son as the Son of Man when He said, “Sit thou on my right hand,” (Psalm 110:1) since it is written, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? … (I Corinthians 2:16). Paul answers the question this way, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God (I Corinthians 2:10). These deep things of God are His hidden secrets and will, and there is no better organ in our present state than the spiritual eye that is called faith for perceiving and knowing His hidden secrets and will. For faith is actually an open eye to see the secrets of God, and those who cannot believe are blind. The concept of faith, however, is limited in its view. The believer has a horizon or a spiritual scope of vision, and we cannot possibly see and know beyond what God chooses to reveal to us of His secrets. It would be like dizzily walking at the edge of the abyss to know His secrets. Our knowledge, our understanding, and our prophesying are still incomplete. We are still as little children. Of course, we clearly see the scope of what has been revealed to us, but we know as little about what is beyond that as a person who has never been out of his room or of his village could imagine about what is beyond his familiar horizon. However, our spiritual scope of vision and whether we see more or less also depends upon our position. On a hill, a person sees farther than in a valley or in a room. How much we see particularly depends on our faithfulness or unfaithfulness in making use of our spiritual vision and whether we are diligent or lazy or whether we are zealous or careless in asking, seeking, and knocking. Laziness in spiritual things is our chief enemy when it comes to progressing in understanding (Hebrews 5:11, etc., Matthew 11:25, etc., I Corinthians 13:9, etc., Philippians 1:9, Luke 24:25, etc.). The more humble and genuine a person is, the more God will reveal to him. That is why we do not find the same degree of understanding even among believers, and this is why David was also deemed worthy to be a prophet of God. (The explanation in I Samuel 9:9 regarding seers and prophets fits here.) Of course, the spiritual man has senses to perceive spiritual things other than the eye of faith. It is also said: “The Lord God hath opened mine ear…” (Isaiah 50:5), “…taste and see that the Lord is good…” (Psalm 34:8), “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment” (that is, in feeling and experience) (Philippians 1:9). “The Spirit of the Lord shall ... make him of quick understanding1 in the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:2 and 3). Now, the Father spoke to the Son (which was whispered in David’s ear so that it would be preached from the housetops), “Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool…,” (Matthew 22:44). 1 The word “understanding” in Isaiah 11:3 could also be translated as “to smell,” and therefore Froehlich includes it here. We cannot understand this about Christ since He is God’s Son and was in eternal glory with the Father, and He created the worlds out of nothing by His Word. For what Christ is in His divinity and oneness with the Father is beyond our present scope of vision. We have only heard of it and believe it, but we do not understand it yet. This, however, is what is necessary to understand about Christ: that He became the Son of Man, that He took our sinful nature on Himself (flesh and blood), He cleansed our sins through Himself, and thus healed and glorified human nature again by uniting it with His divine nature. That is why His exultation to the right hand of God is attributed to His merit and His obedience. In His human nature as a servant of God, He earned back that eternal glory that He had previously had with the Father, and which He had left by becoming a man. He earned that glory back in order to share it with those who would obey Him (John 17, Philippians 2). He was not simply made a god as the Socinianists say as though He had not been anything before becoming a man and as though He had only had His beginning upon earth as we. An expression applies to Him that applies to no person or angel but is also attributed to the Holy Spirit (Who is God too). This saying is that He went out from the Father and came into the world to purify, sanctify, redeem, and glorify our human nature by His obedience unto death on the cross. The Spirit of the Only Begotten of the Father lived in the man, Jesus of Nazareth. As soon as He (as a child) was aware of Himself, He also knew that He had come from the Father and that He had been with the Father previously. We have no awareness that we existed before our birth. But by our new birth from above, we enter into a relationship with the Father similar to what Christ had with Him upon earth. We know that the Spirit we receive is the Spirit of the Son that goes out from the Father, and that is how we become conscious of coming from the Father (Hebrews 2). We receive the divine nature in addition to our purified human nature (Romans 8). Indeed, as reborn children of God, we must do our part to earn the glory in Christ’s discipleship as Christ had to, by our obedience to the will of God in working and suffering. We owe our share in salvation to Him alone because of His obedience unto death on the cross. But if we are not faithful, if we do not suffer with Him, if we do not overcome the world and the devil, if we do not endure with Him to the end, we cannot be exalted to glory with Him either although He died for us. Indeed, even if we have been able to make a beginning (Hebrews 3 and 4), we might still miss the mark and be lost. It is certain from the Scriptures, and it remains steadfast as an eternal truth of God that those that are to reach that world and the resurrection from the dead must be found worthy of it. We must merit it, and this holds true even if all men would say “no” to it. But of course, the old man does not do this. However, the new man who has been renewed does so (II Corinthians 5). I am not in error when I assume that those who do not understand this plain truth (that we must become qualified to share eternal life), but who instead deny it, are the foolish virgins (Matthew 25) who take their lamps but who take no oil in their vessels. They do believe in Christ and think that they will and must be saved as poor sinners by His merit alone. However, it does not cross their minds that they themselves must also earn their part in that glory by their obedience. Indeed, they consider that to be a very wrong, erroneous doctrine. At the end, however, they will come to the wise virgins and say to them, “Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out” (Matthew 25:8). And the wise virgins will answer them, “We have only enough for ourselves. We do not have any extra for you.” At the end, everyone must bear his own burden. None of the saints have a super-abundance of things that they have accomplished with which they could supply the lack of others. What is written in James 2 applies with full force and with full truth. > Hebrews 5:11-12 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, > seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, > ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the > oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong > meat. > Matthew 11:25-26 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, > Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and > prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed > good in thy sight. > I Corinthians 13:9-10 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when > that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. > Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more > in knowledge and in all judgment; > Luke 24:25-26 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe > all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these > things, and to enter into his glory? > I Samuel 9:9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he > spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet > was beforetime called a Seer.) > John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may > be one, even as we are one: > Philippians 2:4-5 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on > the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: > Hebrews 2:10-11 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are > all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their > salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they > who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call > them brethren, > Romans 8:9-11 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that > the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, > he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; > but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that > raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the > dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. > Hebrews 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of > unbelief, in departing from the living God. > Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering > into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. > II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: > old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. > James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

#104 The Works of Grace

From Meditations on the Epistle to the Romans, by Samuel Froehlich By the doctrine of justification of the sinner by faith alone, the judgment of condemnation is upon the proud Pharisee who wants to be justified by the works of the law. However, there is great comfort for the poor sinner in it because he does not have to bring anything with him for his justification except a broken heart, a broken spirit, and faith in Christ, the Crucified. Nevertheless, this faith and justification by faith do not extend to all of the life that comes afterwards, and the works of grace (of the new divine nature) are not rejected like the works of the law. These new works are just as required for salvation as the old works are inadequate for justification. He who has received Christ, the image of God, that Adam lost can and must be minded and walk as Christ was upon earth. That is not a difficult art. However, he who does not have Christ in him by the Holy Spirit is not a child of God and consequently is not an heir of God by Christ, the inheritance cannot be earned legally. Instead, it depends on the adoptions of sons, which results from the new birth and must then be shown by new obedience under the law of the Spirit or liberty. Then it must be shown whether the man of God who has been pardoned and set up again from Adam's fall will do better than Adam did, for the children of God, in whom the image of God has been renewed by Christ, are tested just like Adam. They can do all things by Christ who indwells them. That is why those who do not have Christ in their spirit say it is impossible to live like Jesus Christ was. However, man's last justification before God certainly takes place by works and not faith alone."