God’s Word Above Me, My Feelings, and Everything Else

27 August 2010 by Wes Bredenhof

Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God,

Naught else is worth believing!

Though all my heart should feel condemned
For lack of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose Word cannot be broken!

I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word
Till soul and body sever;
For, though all things shall pass away,
His Word shall stand forever!

—Martin Luther (1483–1546)

(reposted from Yinkahdinay, 09.10.06)

2 responses to “God’s Word Above Me, My Feelings, and Everything Else”

  1. Sola Fide, Can It Work?

    Many protestant sects teach that all that is needed for salvation of their souls is Faith Only…

    Sola Fide, saved by faith alone.

    All they need is to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savoir and no matter what they do after; they are assured they will go straight to heaven.

    Jesus Christ paid the price for all sins, past, present, and future. Jesus Christ took the test for us all and gave each of us a grade of 100%.

    Now doesn’t that sound good? Just think, you can do anything you want for the rest of your life and your irrevocable ticket to heaven was paid for with the blood of Christ almost 2000 years ago. What a gift! What a great blessing! What nonsense!!!

    Continue>>>

    • Michael,

      Thank you for stopping by. I agree that the version of sola fide you presented is nonsense. It’s really too bad that so many Protestants have departed from the teachings of Scripture that were recovered in the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Reformation Protestantism (I’m leaving out the Anabaptists, because I don’t believe they fit there) teaches that true faith must produce the fruits of love and thankfulness to God with an obedient life ordered according to the law of God. We leave human works entirely out of the roots of our salvation, but we teach their necessity with regards to the fruits. We believe this is taught in the Bible in places like Romans 6:13; Romans 12:1,2; 1 Peter 2:5-10. It’s found in our confessional standards (which we believe are faithful summaries of biblical teaching). For example, this is from Belgic Confession article 24:

      “We believe that this true faith, worked in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the operation of the Holy Spirit,1 regenerates him and makes him a new man.2 It makes him live a new life and frees him from the slavery of sin.3 Therefore it is not true that this justifying faith makes man indifferent to living a good and holy life.4 On the contrary, without it no one would ever do anything out of love for God,5 but only out of self-love or fear of being condemned. It is therefore impossible for this holy faith to be inactive in man, for we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls “faith expressing itself through love” (Gal 5:6). This faith induces man to apply himself to those works which God has commanded in His Word. These works, proceeding from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of God, since they are all sanctified by His grace. Nevertheless, they do not count toward our justification. For through faith in Christ we are justified, even before we do any good works.6 Otherwise they could not be good any more than the fruit of a tree can be good unless the tree itself is good.7

      Therefore we do good works, but not for merit. For what could we merit? We are indebted to God, rather than He to us, for the good works we do,8 since it is “He who works in [us], to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Phil 2:13). Let us keep in mind what is written: “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10).” Meanwhile we do not deny that God rewards good works,9 but it is by His grace that He crowns His gifts.

      Furthermore, although we do good works, we do not base our salvation on them. We cannot do a single work that is not defiled by our flesh and does not deserve punishment.10 Even if we could show one good work, the remembrance of one sin is enough to make God reject it.11 We would then always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be constantly tormented, if they did not rely on the merit of the death and passion of our Saviour.12″

      * 1 Acts 16:14; Rom 10:17; 1 Cor 12:3.
      * 2 Ezek 36:26, 27; Jn 1:12, 13; Jn 3:5; Eph 2:4-6; Tit 3:5; 1 Pet 1:23.
      * 3 Jn 5:24; Jn 8:36; Rom 6:4-6; 1 Jn 3:9.
      * 4 Gal 5:22; Tit 2:12.
      * 5 Jn 15:5; Rom 14:23; 1 Tim 1:5; Heb 11:4, 6.
      * 6 Rom 4:5.
      * 7 Mt 7:17.
      * 8 1 Cor 1:30, 31; 1 Cor 4:7; Eph 2:10.
      * 9 Rom 2:6, 7; 1 Cor 3:14; 2 Jn 8; Rev 2:23.
      * 10 Rom 7:21.
      * 11 Jas 2:10.
      * 12 Hab 2:4; Mt 11:28; Rom 10:11.

      I would encourage you to explore Reformation Protestantism further. It might surprise you.

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