Posted on 06/26/2006 5:59:17 PM PDT by sionnsar
Bill S. kindly referred me to the sermon Lazarus and Dives by Fr. Robert Hart of the Continuum blog. This sermon, based on 1 John 4:7-21 and Luke 16:19-31, is well worth reading for its most Biblical emphasis on the fact that a saving faith will inevitably produce good works as its fruit:
The story about Lazarus and the Rich Man is not about the end that awaits unbelievers, but about the difference between living faith and dead faith. It highlights the kind of faith which cannot bring forth any fruit, because it has, to borrow words from the Book of Revelation, left its first love. The terrifying end of torment in Hell is the condition in which the Rich Man (Dives if you prefer) finds himself, even with his own kind of faith. Our Protestant friends have been taught since the days of Martin Luther that man is saved by faith alone (or sola fide). And, in all fairness, an emphasis on faith is an important balance to many from our ranks who speak of baptism as if it were the end all and be all of life in Christ. In all fairness to Luther, it is right to speak of the importance of faith as opposed to such human inventions as the corruption of Indulgences which had so upset him. In his early days he preached a sermon about faith, in which he made it clear that faith cannot exist by itself; that true faith creates love which produces good works. Very Pauline, very sound. But, in time he came to reject the Epistle of James as, to use his words, "an epistle of straw." For, James is the only one in scripture to refer to faith alone. However, in doing so, James does not support the view that we are saved by faith alone, for what he said was "Even so faith, if hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:17)." And he tells us that this kind of faith- "faith alone"- cannot save us.I think most Reformed Christians realize this, and when they speak of sola fide they are not speaking of a faith that is simply mere intellectual assent to a set of propositions (though this would be included in a saving faith); they do mean the living faith of which Fr. Hart speaks. But there are those teachers and churches out there that would argue that the mere intellectual assent alone is enough--or that repentance and turning from sin is not necessary. Fr. Hart's paragraph here is a worthy and effective antidote for such:
The power of sin, when that sin is cherished and pampered, can harden the heart just as it did that of Pharaoh in the time of Moses. When we understand this, it begins to make sense why Christ said one day, after working miracles in the presence of a large crowd, that no sign would be given to their generation. How strange indeed, when we read of the many powerful and visible signs that these very people had just seen. A heart given to sin so hardens itself that no sign is sign enough. You may recall from the Gospel of Matthew that the priests who knew that Christ had risen from the dead paid the Roman guards to make up an alternative story. If that seems strange, I can only say that, contrary to popular belief, seeing is not believing. We know the words of Christ to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." It is also true that there are those who do see and yet believe not. For, ultimately, faith has more to do with repentance than with being convinced of a fact.May God grant all of us the saving faith of which Fr. Hart speaks in this fine sermon.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Bump to read later
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