BIBLE BITS: Exodus 12-14

When the Lord had sent plagues against the Egyptians, he made a distinction between Egypt and Israel after the third plague.  This was to show that the plagues were not random acts of nature.  God's people were special and set apart from the rest of the world.  God was not impressed with the superpower status of Egypt.  He was disgusted that they worshiped made up gods rather than pay heed to his words.  The plagues were a judgment upon Egypt--both for their mistreatment of God's people and against their false gods.  

After the Israelites left Egypt, the Egyptians regretted letting their free labor go.  So, Pharaoh and his army chased them down.  Israel was pinned between the Red Sea and the most formidable army on the face of the earth.  Perhaps you can appreciate the panic of the Israelites when they saw their predicament.  On the other hand, how quickly they had forgotten the Lord's favor and mercy in regard to the plagues which had just taken place in the previous weeks.

The Lord's mercy upon Israel continued.  Exodus 14 records how God protected the people of Israel from the Egyptians: "Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night" (Exodus 14:19-20).

It was not a different God who stood between Israel and Egypt, a gracious God and a wrathful God.  It was the same God.  What was the difference?  The people of Israel lived under God's favor and the people of Egypt were outside the covenant.  So, Israel received the light from the Lord and Egypt remained in darkness.

So it is today.  Those who believe and are baptized are under God's favor.  Those who do not believe stand condemned.  It is not that there is a different God; God is unchanging.  God's favor comes only through Jesus Christ.  Only those who believe in Christ benefit from his saving work and receive God's favor.

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #16)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God be just.

            Who do you root for in the cricket leagues in India?

            If you are the average American, you don’t care.  You are not for any team, and you are not against any team.  You are ignorant of all teams and have zero rooting interest in it.  You could not be on more neutral ground.

            It does not work this way with God.  Many people believe that they are neither for God nor against him.  They are not for God because they don’t go to church.  They are not against him because they don’t seek the destruction of the church.  They don’t care.

            But there is no middle ground or neutral territory with God.  You are either in the kingdom of God or you are not.  You either love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength or you don’t.  You either have no other gods, or you do.  You either serve the Lord and give in glory in all you do, or you don’t.  And if God is not guiding your will, then Satan is.  It is either holiness or sin.  There is no middle ground on this.

            As much as we would like to think that we have a free will and can do whatever we want, we don’t.  Even when we want to stop sinning, we still do.  Our will is ruled by sin and Satan.  If we were ruled by God, we could be perfect.  But we are not, and we cannot change it.  Something from Luther on our lack of free will and God’s justice in exposing us as sinners.

            “The truth is rather as Christ puts it: 'He that is not with me is against me' (Matt. 12.30).  He does not say: he that is not with Me is not against Me either, but is in an intermediate position!  For if God is in us, Satan is out of us, and then it is present with us to will only good.  But if God is not in us, Satan is, and then it is present with us to will only evil.  Neither God nor Satan permits there to be in us mere willing in the abstract; but, as you rightly said, we have lost our freedom and are forced to serve sin—that is, we will sin and evil, we speak sin and evil, we do sin and evil.” (page 147)

            If God condemns, it is because he is just.  God does not condemn innocent bystanders who have not made up their minds about him.  All are sinners.  All commit sins.  They cannot change what they are, and so they are rightly condemned as they are.  God is just in this.

            But God is also gracious in this: He saves some.  If you are on God’s side and if you desire to serve and honor God, then understand that it is God who has acted to convert you, to create in you a clean heart, and to renew in you a right spirit.  You did not become a Christian on your own volition, and you do not remain eager to do good through your own volition.  It is God who has saved you and who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose.  So, even as a Christian, you do not have a free will.  You have a will which is guided by the Holy Spirit.  You have a will which is directed by God’s word.  You do not stand on your own and you do not remain in neutral territory.  You are with the Lord because he has brought you to himself.

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #15)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God be true and clear.

            Christians are often confused or grieved that there are so many denominations in Christendom.  Different denominations have resulted from different teachings.  Why the different teachings?  You have probably heard the claim: “Oh, it’s all a matter of interpretation.”  While this is supposed to answer the issue in a concise manner, it also allows for the idea (and probably intends to promote the idea) that all these different interpretations are valid, even when they conflict! 

            “It's all just a matter of interpretation.”  Is it really?  Is God’s word so vague that there are multiple ways to understand the very same verses of Scripture?  Is God’s word so murky that it can proclaim different messages?  Is the Bible so obscure that we really can’t know what God has to say, or is God so non-committal in his word that he leaves it up to us to find what we are looking for?

            St. Peter wrote of the Bible: “We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place…” (2 Peter 1:19)  If God’s word is murky, how can we call it a shining lamp?  If the Bible is so obscure, how can anything be enlightened or confirmed by it?

            Granted, there are many interpretations of the Scriptures, and many teachings among the denominations conflict with each other.  The problem, however, is not that the Bible is obscure or that God’s message is murky.  The problem is that man, who exalts his reason above God’s word and desires to make God’s word more agreeable or sensible to him, explains what God meant to say so that it matches what man wishes he had said.  This is to darken God’s counsel.  This is to fail to pay attention to what God has said, to ignore the shining lamp, and to prefer the darkness.

            God’s word is clear.  Rather than expend energy in interpreting what it means, we read it to let God speak for himself.  God speaks plainly enough.  The Bible’s truth enlightens our hearts and minds.  Here is something from Luther who chastises Erasmus about his statement that the Bible is obscure and then declares the clarity and truth of God’s word.

            “Against you particularly, I would say of the whole Scripture that I do not allow any part of it to be called obscure.  There stands within it the statement which we quoted from Peter, that the word of God is to us a lamp shining in a dark place.  If part of the lamp does not shine, then it is a part of the dark place rather than of the lamp!  When he enlightened us, Christ did not intend that part of His Word should be left obscure to us, for He commands us to mark the Word; and this command is pointless if the Word is not clear.” (page 129)

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #14)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God be higher than you.
            We all like to think that we have free will.  Americans especially like to claim it, with our zeal for our own personal rights and privileges.  In fact, Americans are finding it harder to think that we have privileges.  We insist on rights, as if nothing is a favor or a benefit.  We are entitled to everything that we have, want, say, and do.
            But before God, we do not have free will.  Only God has free will--total freedom to do what he wants with no one to influence or thwart his plans.  We do not have this.  We are subject to the will of God no matter how much we think otherwise.
            There is one sense in which it is true that we we have free will.  That is in regard to earthly things, or as Luther describes it, "what is below."  We are free to eat whatever we want for breakfast--cold cereal, scrambled eggs, fruit smoothie, or to skip breakfast altogether.  No one forces us to make our choice in this matter.  Likewise, we get to go where we choose when we leave the house.  We usually go to fulfill our obligations.  But if you chose to point the car to Florida's Gulf Coast and to drive there instead of to work, no one would stop you.  Perhaps the only thing that does is money and the consequences of failing to show up at your job.
            In regard to spiritual matters, however--what Luther calls "what is above"--we do not have free will.  No matter how hard we try, we cannot keep God's Commandments.  We fall short.  Now, we may want to follow those Commandments, but that is because God has instilled in us that faith and that new will.  And since that new will comes from God making us a new creation, it is still not a free will.  God had to convert us, and God continues to work in us through his word to will and to act according to his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). 
            Anyone who insist that he is working apart from God still does not have a free will.  He also has one who guides him in his rejection of God's influence.  Here, the man does the will of the devil who urges him on in his stubborn rebellion against God and his will.  This does not mean that the one guided by the devil does only what is criminal.  It means that all he wills and does he wills and does apart from God, and therefore he cannot please God no matter how much he believes he does.  You cannot reject the First Commandment and still please God.
            So, in regard to worldly things, we have the freedom to handle the things that perish and fade.  But in regard to spiritual things, we have no free will at all.  We are guided either by God or the devil.  There is no middle ground on this.  We are either in the kingdom of God or we are not.  There is no "free space" in the middle.  Here is something from Luther on the use of the term "free will."


            “We may still in good faith teach people to use it [note: the term “free-will”] to credit man with 'free-will' in respect, not of what is above him, but of what is below him.  That is to say, man should realise that in regard to his money and possessions he has a right to use them, to do or to leave undone, according to his own 'free-will'—though that very 'free-will' is overruled by the free-will of God alone, according to His own pleasure.  However, with regard to God, and in all that bears on salvation or damnation, he has no 'free-will', but is a captive, prisoner and bondslave, either to the will of God, or to the will of Satan.” (page 107)

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #13)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God be gracious.


            Why do people do bad things?  Because they are sinners.  We are not sinners because we sin.  We sin because we are sinners.  When we commit sins, we are only acting according to our nature.  Although God acts through us (he has to, or we would not remain alive), God does not commit the sin.  God acts in us and we move according to our sinful condition.  The fault lies not with God, but with sinful mankind.  This is what Luther refers to as “necessity” or “immutability.”  God does not compel us to sin; we do it on our own.

            If this sinful condition and the resultant sinful actions are to change, then God must be the one at work to make the change.  We do not have the free will to change ourselves.  We are, by nature, hostile to God.  That is our nature.  And since we are naturally opposed to God, his word, and his will, we cannot automatically change our will into what it is not.  This is God’s work upon us and in us.  Only when God changes our nature and will are we agreeable to God, his word, and his will. 

God’s grace is what changes us.  If we harden ourselves in rebellion and resist God’s grace, then we chafe all the more under what God has decreed to be good.  Although we may appear to do good, our nature does not do it out of “necessity” but under “compulsion.”  If we desire to do what is good and strive to carry it out, it is only because God has graciously worked in us to change our nature and our will.  Let God be gracious and credit him for the good that we do.  Here is something from Luther on works done “of necessity” by sinners who are incapable of changing their own nature.

            “I said 'of necessity'; I did not say 'of compulsion'; I meant, by a necessity, not of compulsion, but of what they call immutability.  That is to say: a man without the Spirit of God does not do evil against his will, under pressure, as though he were taken by the scruff of the neck and dragged into it, like a thief or footpad being dragged off against his will to punishment; but he does it spontaneously and voluntarily.  And this willingness or volition is something which he cannot in his own strength eliminate, restrain or alter.  He goes on willing and desiring to do evil; and if external pressure forces him to act otherwise, nevertheless his will within remains averse to so doing and chafes under such constraint and opposition.  But it would not thus chafe were it being changed, and were it yielding to constraint willingly.  This is what we mean by necessity of immutability: that the will cannot change itself, nor give itself another bent but, rather, is the more provoked to crave the more it is opposed, as its chafing proves; for this would not occur, were it free or had 'free-will.'” (pages 102-103)

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #12)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God be revealed only in his word.


            Most people are religious.  Most people believe in some kind of god.  But most people also craft God into their own image, or into their own imagination of what is right and just.

            We believe what we see.  We are convinced of what we feel.  We craft our beliefs according to what we experience.  In worldly matters, this makes sense.  Oranges are sweet; if they aren’t they are bad.  Trustworthy people are honest; if they lie to us, we don’t trust them anymore.  People should be honored for their noble deeds; people should be reprimanded or punished for wicked deeds.  These things make sense to us, and we order our world according to them.

            But in regard to God, things don’t always work as we think they should.  It seems that God rewards some for their wicked deeds and lets them go unpunished.  It seems that God does not care about people who are sick and suffering and dying.  It seems that if God is loving, he would see to it that all go to heaven.  So, what we see, feel, and experience tells us that God is unjust, uncaring, and unloving.

            Faith which trusts what we see, feel, and experience is not faith in God at all.  Faith in God is based on what God tells us.  God reveals who he is, what he desires, and what he does.  Faith trusts in that even when what we see, feel, and experience insists that it cannot be true.  God, however, is not found in our senses; he is found in his word.  That is the only place we can know God.  And while our senses and emotions change constantly, God remains who he is at all times.  That is why faith has a firm foundation and trusts that God is good and merciful even when God seems cruel … or even hateful.

            Something from Luther on letting God be revealed in his word and trusting in that alone.

            “Faith's object is things not seen.  That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden.  Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense and experience.  Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell. … Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath unrighteousness.  Now, the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, through of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation, and seems (in Erasmus' words) 'to delight in the torments of poor wretches and to be a fitter object for hate than for love.'  If I could by any means understand how this same God, who makes such a show of wrath and unrighteousness, can yet be merciful and just, there would be no need for faith.  But as it is, the impossibility of understanding makes room for the exercise of faith when these things are preached and published; just as, when God kills, faith in life is exercised in death.” (page 101)

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #11)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God be gracious.


            One of the arguments Erasmus made about man’s free will and his ability to either come to God or to do the works God desires is that there must be something in those who are saved which sets them apart from those who are not.  Erasmus argued that this distinction is found in man’s free will.  Man uses his free will either to do the works God desires or to rebel against him.  It seems sensible.  Those who are saved are worthy; those who perish deserved it because of their willful rebellion.

            This may seem sensible, but it is not scriptural.  We are all dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1).  We are all, by nature, hostile to God (Romans 8:7) and his enemies (Romans 5:10).  We cannot make the move toward God.  In the same token, we cannot even do the works God wants to see in us.  Rather, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)  So, God creates the faith in us.  God works that faith in us to want to do good works.  And God works those good works in us and through us.  It is all God’s working from beginning to end.

            St. Augustine once commented that God makes willing ones out of the unwilling.  It is not man whose will does these things; it is God who converts our will and continues to work in us.  This is all about God’s grace, that salvation is God’s work through and through.  Luther urges us to let God be gracious in every part of our salvation.  Here is something from Luther on our sinful impotence and God’s gracious, life-giving work:

            “'Who' (you say) 'will try and reform his life?'  I reply, Nobody!  Nobody can!  God has no time for your practitioners of self-reformation, for they are hypocrites.  The elect, who fear God, will be reformed by the Holy Spirit; the rest will perish unreformed.  Note that Augustine does not say that a reward awaits nobody's works, or everybody's works, but some men's works.  So there will be some who reform their lives.

            “'Who will believe' (you say) 'that God loves him?'  I reply, Nobody!  nobody can!  But the elect shall believe it; and the rest shall perish without believing it, raging and blaspheming, as you describe them.  So there will be some who believe it.

            “You say that a flood-gate of iniquity is opened by our doctrines.  So be it.  Ungodly men are part of that evil leprosy aforementioned, which we must endure.  Nevertheless, these are the very doctrines which throw open to the elect, who fear God, a gateway to righteousness, an entrance into heaven, and a road to God!” (page 99)

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #10)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God be pure.


            Some have abandoned Christianity on the charge that all the wars in the world have been over religion.  While it is true that some Christians have done horrible things in the name of Christianity, they were certainly not done by the command of Jesus.  He has told us to put the sword away.  The only sword Jesus gives us the wield is the sword of the Spirit, that is preaching the word of God.  As for the Christians who have done horrible things in the name of Jesus, we call their actions for what they are—acts of wickedness.  We call such people to repent of their actions.  If they refuse, we excommunicate them and tell them that their sins cling to them.  Christians do not call anything good just because the name of Jesus was attached to it.  We call things good which God’s word defines as good.

            But the charge that all the wars of the world have been over religions is grossly overstated.  It is just an excuse to despise Jesus and his Church while attempting to sound noble while doing so.  But since people want to seem noble, they feel the need to find excuses for despising God and his word.  Jesus tells us why this happens: “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20) 

            Only God is pure.  His word tells us what is good.  It also shows that we are not.  In an effort to defend ourselves, we can decide that God asks too much and that we know better.  But God is good, and only God is good.  His word is pure, and it shows us that we are not.  Rather than rebel, it is right to repent.  Rather than tell God to conform to our will, it is right to conform ourselves to his.  Only God is pure.  But man still rebels against his purity, further increasing their own sins.  Here is something from Luther on letting God be pure:

            “Yet now that the gospel is come, men start blaming the world's wickedness on it!—when  the truth is, rather, that the good Gospel brings the world's wickedness to light; for without the gospel the world dwelt in its own darkness.  So do the uneducated blame education for the fact that, as education spreads, their own ignorance becomes apparent.  Such are the thanks we return for the word of life and salvation!” (page 94)

Something from ... Luther's "The Bondage of the Will" (Entry #9)

INTRODUCTORY NOTES:  During the life of Martin Luther, Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus, was urged by Roman Catholic Church leaders to challenge Luther’s teachings and to condemn him.  Although Erasmus would rather have kept the peace in the Church, Erasmus was finally goaded into attacking Luther.  Erasmus intended to defend the official Roman Catholic teaching that God’s grace was needed to do the works by which man could then merit additional grace.  Luther’s response to Erasmus is known as The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio).  Although Luther had published a myriad of writings in his career, he did not consider them worth preserving.  Luther regarded The Bondage of the Will as a rare exception to that rule.  In it, Luther writes at length that “free will” in spiritual matters is a lie, and that, if man actually has free will, then God loses such attributes as grace, omnipotence, and even his right to be God.

            The quotations from Luther in this blog post come from The Bondage of the Will translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Johnston, Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. © 1957.

            The following are thoughts concerning Luther’s arguments, urging us to LET GOD BE GOD.  Something from Luther’s The Bondage of the Will.

LET GOD BE GOD: Let God speak for himself.

            Jesus had warned that his teaching would result in division, in fact, in bitter opposition.   “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)

            Erasmus desired peace within the church.  He longed for a church that was free from strife, division, and hostility.  Who wouldn't?  That is still the desire of Christians today.  No one rejoices in a fractured church.  But, as is the case now, so it was then.  The way man wants to achieve this peace is to cast God's word aside wherever it creates divisions among men.  People argue that it is more important to be kind than to be right.  Love is championed above doctrine—as if these were opponents!

            Luther chided Erasmus for his desire for peace.  He recognized that peace could be achieved, but only by silencing God's word.  Temporal peace could certainly be gained ... at the cost of eternal peace.  The conflict which came from opposing teachings could be put down if it was agreed to be silent on the issue—that is, to refuse to confess God's word on the issue so that it would become a non-issue.  But what Christian would agree to give up confessing God's word?  What would be commendable about attaining peace among men by having God keep silent?  

            Something from Luther who insisted on letting God speak for himself.  And if an outbreak of bitterness, anger, and even bloodshed should result, so be it.  These are momentary troubles.  Let God's word, which alone is eternal, be heard.

            “These things, I say, being temporal, may be endured with less harm than inveterate evil ways, which will inevitably ruin all souls that are not changed by the Word of God.  If the Word were removed, eternal good, God, Christ, and the Spirit, would be removed with it.  How much better, then, is it to lose the world than to lose God, the world's Creator, who can create countless worlds afresh, and is better than infinite worlds!  For what are temporal things besides eternal?  We should, therefore, endure this leprous outbreak of temporal evils, rather than keep the world at peace and free from these upheavals; for the price of that peace would be the blood and ruin of all souls, who would then be destroyed and damned for ever!  For the whole world is not of value enough to redeem a single soul.” (pages 92-93)