ADDENDUM
We ourselves shall never be true to ourselves. Our human path is, as such, a
path from one disloyalty to another; and it is the same with the ways of the
gods of this world. They do not keep what they promise. So with them there
is never any real peace and clarity. In God alone is there faithfulness, and
faith is the trust that we may hold to Him, to His promise and to His
guidance. To hold to God is to rely on the fact that God is there for me,
and to live in this certainty. This is the promise God gives us; I am there
for you. But this promise at once means guidance too. I am not left to my
waywardness and my own ideas; but I have His commandment, to which I may
hold in everything, in my entire earthly existence. The Creed is always at
the same time the gospel, God's glad tidings to man, the message of
Immanuel, God with us, to us; and as such it is necessarily also the law.
Gospel and law are not to be separated; they are one, in such a way that the
gospel is the primary thing; that the glad tidings are first in the field
and, as such, include the law. Because God is for us, we may also be for
Him. Because He has given Himself to us we may also in gratitude give Him
the trifle which we have to give. To hold to God thus always means that we
receive everything wholly from God and so are wholly active for Him.
The man of few words speaks volumes. As an aside, I almost never openly disagree with either Lance or Terry. Two very different individuals for whom I hold in high regard. If they speak in terms that are not of my choice, I actually take time to see if there is anyway I can agree with them. Lance, in the above, says "Gospel and law are not to be separated ......" In my writings there is a lot of separation between the two. Study time. Terry recently asked for some clarification on "repentance." He does not know this until now, but I committed myself to a word study that took perhaps 10 hours. I changed my view somewhat, as a result of his questioning.
Slade, remember my saying that you never know if your words are having an effect or not? Here is a case in point. Bill Taylor's thinking provided an opportunity for great change in my thinking --- while that change was in the defining stage, Bill left the forum. He would have never known how much good he had done except for the recent opportunity found in our meeting while in Colorado.
If we read Lance in the above -- carefully and thoughfully, with a view of understanding his point -- I think we will see some excellent thinking worded in the best of manners.
John
