Verses (in Scripture) I Never Saw

One of the more commonly shared experiences of Protestant converts to the Catholic Church is the discovery of verses “we never saw.” Even after years of studying, preaching, and teaching the Bible, sometimes from cover to cover, all of a sudden a verse “we never saw” appears as if by magic and becomes an “Aha!” mind-opening, life-altering messenger of spiritual “doom”! Sometimes it’s just recognizing an alternate, clearer meaning of a familiar verse, but often, as with some of the verses mentioned below, it literally seems as if some Catholic had snuck in during the night and somehow put that verse there in the text!

The list of these surprise verses is endless, depending especially on a convert’s former religious tradition, but the following are a few key verses that turned my heart toward home. This article is a reprint from the topic I covered on the July 31, 2006 broadcast of The Journey Home on EWTN.

1. Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Ever since my adult re-awakening (read “born-again experience”) at age 21, this Proverb has been my “life verse.” It rang true as a guide for all aspects of my life and ministry, but then during my nine years as a Presbyterian minister, I became desperately frustrated by the confusion of Protestantism. I loved Jesus and believed that the Word of God was the one trustworthy, infallible rule of faith. But so did lots of the non-Presbyterian ministers and laymen I knew: Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Congregationalists, etc., etc., etc . . . The problem was that we all came up with different conclusions, sometimes radically different, from the same verses. How does one “trust in the Lord with all your heart”? How can you make sure your not “leaning on your own understanding”? We all had different opinions and lists of requirements. A verse I had always trusted suddenly became nebulous, immeasurable, and unreachable.

2. 1 Timothy 3: 14-15
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

Scott Hahn pulled this one on me. “So, Marc, what is the pillar and foundation of truth?” I answered, “The Bible, of course.” “Oh yeah? But what does the Bible say?” “What do you mean?” When he told me to look up this verse, I suspected nothing. I had taught and preached through First Timothy many times. But when I read this verse, it was as if it had suddenly appeared from nowhere, and my jaw dropped. The Church!? Not the Bible? This alone sent my mind and essentially my whole life reeling; the question of which Church was one I was not ready to broach.

3. 2 Timothy 3:14-17
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Verses 16-17 were the texts I and others had always turned to buttress our belief in sola Scriptura, so to this I quickly turned my attention. Among many things, three important things became very clear, for the first time: (1) when Paul used the term “scripture” in this verse, he could only have meant when we call the Old Testament. The New Testament canon would not be established for another 300 years! (2) “All” scripture does not mean “only” scripture nor specifically what we have in our modern bibles. And (3), the emphasis in the context of this verse (vereses 14-15) is the trustworthiness of the oral tradition Timothy had received from his mother and others—not sola Scriptura!

4. 2 Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.

This was another “too-hot-to-handle” verse Scott threw in my lap. The traditions (Dare I say, traditions) that these early Christian were to hold fast to were not just the written letters and Gospels that would eventually make up the New Testament, but the oral tradition. And even more significant, the context of Paul’s letters indicates that his normal, preferred way of passing along “what he had received” was orally; his written letters were an accidental, sometimes unplanned add-on, dealing with immediate problems—leaving unsaid so much of what they had learned through oral teaching.

5. Matthew 16:13-19
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesare’a Philip’pi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Eli’jah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

There is so much to discuss in this verse, so much I never saw. I always knew that Catholics used this to argue Petrine authority but I wasn’t convinced. To the naively ignorant, the English words “Peter” and “rock” are so different that it’s obvious that Jesus was referring to the faith Simon Peter received as a gift from the Father. For the more informed seminary educated Bible students, like myself, I knew that behind the English was the Greek, where one discovered that Peter is the translation of petros, meaning little pebble, and rock is the translation of petra, large boulder. Again an obvious disconnect, so so for years I believed and taught specifically against Petrine authority. Then, through the reading of Karl Keating’s wonderful book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, I realized the implications of something I knew all along: behind the Greek was the Aramaic which Jesus originally spoke, in which the word for Peter and rock are identical—kepha. Once I saw that Jesus had said essentially “You are kepha and on this kepha I will build my Church,” I knew I was in trouble.

6. Revelation 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"

For years, as a Calvinist preacher, I recited this verse in every funeral graveside service. I believed and taught sola fide and discounting any place for works in the process of our salvation. But then, after my last funeral service as a minister, a family member of the deceased cornered me. He asked, with a tremble in his voice, “What did you mean that Bill’s deeds follow him?” I don’t remember my response, but this was the first time I became aware of what I had been saying. This began a long study on what the New Testament and then the Early Church Fathers taught about the mysterious but necessary synergistic connection between our faith and our works.

7. Romans 10:14-15
But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent?

I had always used these verses to defend the central importance of preaching and why I, therefore, had given up my engineering career for seminary and the great privilege of becoming a preacher of the Gospel! And I was never bothered by the last phrase about the need of being “sent,” because I could point to my ordination where a cackle of local ministers, elders, deacons, and laymen laid their hands on my sweaty head to send me forth in the Name of Jesus. But then, first through my reading of the history and writings of the Early Church Fathers and second through my re-reading of the scriptural context of Paul’s letters, I realized that Paul emphasized the necessity of being “sent” because the occasion of his letters was to combat the negative, heretical influences of self-appointed false teachers. I had never thought of myself as a false teacher, but by what authority did those people send me forth? Who sent them? In this I realized the importance of Apostolic [those who have been sent] succession.

8. John 15:4 and 6:56
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
The book of the Bible I most preached on was the Gospel of John and my most preached on section John 15, the analogy of the vine and the branches. I bombarded my congregations with the need to “abide” or “remain” in Christ. But what does this mean? I always had an answer, but when I saw “for the first time” the only verse where Jesus himself defines clearly what we must do to abide in Him, I was floored. “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.” This led me to study a boatload of verses in John 6 “I had never seen before,” and in the end, when it came accepting Jesus at His word on the Eucharist, I had only one answer: “Where else can we go? Only you have the words of life.”

9. Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

I don’t know if I purposely avoided this or just blindly missed it, but for the first 40-years of my life I never saw this verse. And to be honest, when I finally saw it, I still didn’t know what to do with it. Nothing in my Lutheran, Congregationalist, or Presbyterian backgrounds helped me understand how I or anyone could rejoice in suffering, and especially why anything was needed to complete the suffering of Christ: nothing was lacking! Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection were sufficient and complete! To say anything less was to attack the omnipotent completeness of God’s sovereign grace. But then again, this was the apostle Paul speaking in inerrant, infallible Scripture. And we were to imitate him as he imitated Jesus. It took a reading of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical on the meaning of suffering to open my eyes to the beautiful mystery of redemptive suffering.

10. Luke 1:46-49
“And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.’”

Finally the hardest hurdle for so many Protestant converts to get over: our Blessed Mother Mary. For most of my life, the only place Mary came into the picture was at Christmas—and dare I say, as a statue! But I never referred to her as “blessed.” Yet Scripture says all generations will call her blessed. Why wasn’t I? This led me to see other verses for the first time, including John 17 where from the cross Jesus giave his mother into the keeping of John, rather than any supposed siblings, and by grace I began, in imitation of my Lord and Savior and eternal brother Jesus, to recognize her, too, as my loving Mother.

You wrote:

“You are mixing two separate subjects. People suffer. Yes. Is it punishment for sin. For non-believers, yes. For believers, no. “ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.””

All the world’s suffering directly or indirectly comes as a result of sin. Romans 8:20-22.

“Punishment is not a part of discipline. A horse who shies is not guilty of sin.”

Punishment is a part of discipline. Ask any parent. Pssst! God. is. our. Father.

“When your church talks about transferring merit to another to cancel out temporal punishment, it is using an accounting system of good and evil.”

No. It is relying on God’s mercy. God works in mysterious ways. 1 Cor. 7:14.

“Good deeds are a positive deposit. Bad deeds must be covered by the good deeds, so they are like a withdrawal.”

Who teaches that? Not the Catholic Church. I suggest, if you are determined to oppose the truth, you at least know what it is first.

“But Jesus taught that God doesn’t do an accounting system. To break one law is to break all. To obey a law does no good, unless you are born again. If you are born again, you do not fall under condemnation any more.”

And yet - according to God Himself - we show our love for Him by keeping His commandments.

“More like horses, although what we do with children doesn’t remove any guilt from sin for them.”

More like children. We become God’s adopted children, not his wagon team. Christ willingly became a man, not a horse.

“Discipline is not about guilt. I discipline a child (had 3, now frequently care for a granddaughter) who doesn’t know they are doing wrong. Someone who doesn’t know they are doing wrong isn’t guilty of anything. They haven’t ‘sinned’ against me. However, their behavior may still be unacceptable, and require discipline to teach them it is wrong.”

God punished Adam and Eve. God punished Israel...and that’s how He disciplined her.

“A few years ago, I might have written some of the same stuff you are writing now, from a Protestant perspective. The last few years of trying to train dogs and horses has led me to do a lot of reading and thinking about discipline vs. punishment. And to a certain extent, we are talking past each other.”

Yes, we are talking past one another. I am talking about God and man. You are talking about horses and dogs. You are using barnyard animals as your prism to see God and His teachings with.

“Punishment CAN be used to mean the unpleasant results that teach a child, dog or horse that obeying a rule is better. It can also mean the penalty for sin or crime. Used in the first sense, God does punish his children and we do punish ours and I do punish my horses & dogs.”

Horses and dogs. God and people. All the same to you?

“However, if it is punishment to requite guilt, then it doesn’t need to be timely or to teach better behavior. A man who steals or kills will be punished when caught. If it takes 40 years, the guilt remains and so will the punishment.”

(sigh)

“Discipline uses ‘punishment’ differently, since it is meant to teach. If it isn’t done immediately, it doesn’t happen. I can’t teach someone a year later.”

I can. I have. God’s lessons sometimes took decades to unfold with Israel.

“When God punishes a child of His, He does it to teach, not to cancel out our guilt.”

Why do you keep making up this caricature and passing it off as if that is Catholic teaching? You have done this two or three times. Can’t you debate what we actually believe? Wouldn’t that be a more honest debate.

“Our guilt for sin was paid in full at Calvary. It was once for all, and perfected us forever - so far as guilt goes.”

No, it did not perfect us forever in one moment. No one you encounter is perfected. They still sin. If they were perfected, they would sin.

“I find the difference important for horses, dogs - AND my youngest daughter and granddaughter. Punishment for a crime focuses me on how to make them unhappy, and that they are ‘bad’. Discipline, using ‘pressure’, as a lot of trainers now put it, focuses me on teaching. It focuses me on what they CAN BE, rather than making me think they are bad. The difference is huge in my attitude and the results I see.”

God punishes us. To deny that punishment exists by playing word games with “pressure” is nonsense. To assume we are now perfect - when we clearly are not - is also nonsense.

“I only wish I had tried teaching horses as a young man. Perhaps I would have done a better job of raising my oldest kids, although they have proven to be fairly forgiving of my faults as a father. In particular, I find our Arabian mare Mia is teaching me more about being a father and man than I am teaching her about being ridden past wind chimes and strange garbage cans.”

Horses. Dogs. God became man for none of them. God died for none of them. God will save none of them.

“You write - without animosity, I’m sure, “Your horse is an irrational beast. There’s no point to punishing something that was made to be shod and ridden, or eaten and made into glue. It’s a horse. They don’t think. They can’t sin.””

Exactly. Horses are for our use. We can ride them. We can eat them if need be. We can make them into glue. They’re just horses. They have no role to play in God’s plan of salvation and have no rational soul.

“If you could meet Mia (and to a lesser extent, Trooper and Lilly), you would find you are wrong.”

No. I would not find I am wrong. I might think Mia is a beautiful and majestic animal. She would still be an irrational beast. With the right sauce she might taste good too. She might make a fine adhesive too. She’s a horse. No matter how much someone loves an animal, it’s still just an animal. Pets are wonderful and I’ve had many, but they’re just animals. They could all do some impressive things, but none of them were rational creatures.

“Mia is teaching me a lot, and my family has noticed the difference!”

Lovely. Mia may be teaching you all sorts of circus tricks, but she isn’t teaching you anything about orthodox theology or scripture. My teacher is God and His Church. I would prefer Christ and His Church to a horse anyday.

“All the world’s suffering directly or indirectly comes as a result of sin. Romans 8:20-22.”

Yes. And now we have been forgiven those sins, if we have repented and believed.

“No, it did not perfect us forever in one moment. No one you encounter is perfected.”

God says you are wrong. “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

“Punishment is a part of discipline. Ask any parent...To deny that punishment exists by playing word games with “pressure” is nonsense.”

I’m parent and grandparent. If you are punishing your kids instead of disciplining them, you are making an error. There is a difference, and it is sad that you don’t see it.

“No. I would not find I am wrong. I might think Mia is a beautiful and majestic animal. She would still be an irrational beast. With the right sauce she might taste good too. She might make a fine adhesive too. She’s a horse. No matter how much someone loves an animal, it’s still just an animal. Pets are wonderful and I’ve had many, but they’re just animals. They could all do some impressive things, but none of them were rational creatures.”

Once again, I pity someone so blind. Only a total fool would think animals like horses and dogs are irrational beasts.

“Mia may be teaching you all sorts of circus tricks, but she isn’t teaching you anything about orthodox theology or scripture. My teacher is God and His Church. I would prefer Christ and His Church to a horse anyday.”

More pity for you. Your teacher may be the Catholic Church, but it isn’t God. You wouldn’t recognize His voice. You haven’t learned to listen.

I fully understand your analogy. We ARE like horses or any other animal when it come to understanding God at his level.

James Dobson gave an example one time that when his son was 2 or 3 years old, he had a very bad ear infection. Mrs. Dobson had taken him to the doctor and he tried to apply a treatment to his ear. It was so painful that the boy screamed, cried and squirmed so hard, the doctor could not do the procedure. He was getting aggravated at the mom for not keeping the child still and she was trying her hardest. She finally had to call Dr. Dobson to come over and help.

He said when he got there, he held his son in his arms and laid him on the table. The child started the screaming and squirming again as soon as the pediatrician came near, but Dobson held him down firmly as the doctor continued to work. He said in the midst of everything he was able to see his son’s face in a mirror and the look he was giving him broke his heart. His son seemed to be thinking, “I thought you loved me. How could you let this mean man do this to me? Why are you letting him hurt me?”

He said his heart was broken because there was no way to explain to such a small child that this was for his good, that the pain would be healed and that he really did love him and would give his life for him.

He said it made him think about how our heavenly Father allows pain and sufferring in our lives and it grieves him that we cannot see past the pain to glorious purpose of his plans.

God has permitted a lot of sufferring in my life and at first I was angry and confused. As time went by after much prayer for healing, I came to the point in my understanding that if this was God’s will for me, he would use it for his glory. Through the years, I have seen how he has done exactly that.

“Punishment” means getting even, revenge, paying the penalty for the crime. Jesus Christ bore all our punishment for sins on the cross. He paid the penalty in full. Discipline, on the other hand, is completely different. Do you punish children when they misbehave or do you discipline them? I hope it’s the latter because no loving parent “gets even with” their child. They instead lead and guide the child to right behavior. Discipline is not always pleasant but “it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness.”

Hebrews 12:6-20 (King James Version)

6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

I have no idea why Protestant anti-Catholics make stuff up out of thin air when they argue with Catholics, but it seems to happen all the time.

You wrote:

“I am quite aware of the “lens” being used to view life. My suffering serves an entirely different purpose than as a supplement to Christ’s finished work on the cross - as if it could!”

I’ll come back to that in a second.

“All of creation suffers as a result of this fallen world under sin. You insult God to propose that his chastisement/discipline of his children is no different than that experienced by the world in general.”

Okay, now, where did I suggest that? EVER? Search through the whole thread, each and every post, and you’ll see I actually said the exact opposite. Our suffering has a purpose which the suffering of non-Christians cannot have ...... which brings me back to your first post. Read this from St. Paul:

Colossians 1:24:
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church”

Our suffering has a purpose. I never said otherwise.

I guess I need to say this again, go ahead and debate what we actually believe, but don’t make something up and claim we believe it or said it when we never did.

You wrote:

“Where did you suggest that? Hmmm...how about when you said:”

What I wrote in no way said this: “You insult God to propose that his chastisement/discipline of his children is no different than that experienced by the world in general.’

I NEVER, EVER, ANYWHERE said anything remotely like what you claimed. Rather than just admit the truth, you wrote:

“I guess it could be semantics,”

SEMANTICS?! You’re claiming I am insulting God and then fall completely flat on your face when I demand you back up your claim. Integrity and honesty matter. Don’t accuse me of saying something I have never EVER said.

“...but whenever I see the word “punishment” as it relates to “sin”, I think “punishment for sin”, and that does NOT gybe with Scripture which clearly states, repeatedly, that Jesus bore the punishment for our sins.”

What you think jibes with scripture is one thing. Making up things people never said is another. Don’t confuse the two. It isn’t that hard.

“That is why salvation is a gift offered by God through his grace by faith. The entire dynamic is changed regarding the purpose of suffering in a Christian’s life.”

Yes, it is. And suffering STILL happens.

“BTW..please try not to lump everyone who doesn’t agree with the Catholic dogma into the pigeon-hole of “Protestant anti-Catholic”...it doesn’t always fit. Thanks.”

When people make up things I never said, what am I to think?

“”My suffering serves an entirely different purpose than as a supplement to Christ’s finished work on the cross””

That should concern you ,dear friend

Scripture says that we partake in the sufferings of Christ,and suffering that is not united with suffering of Christ is to “suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a railer, or a coveter of other men’s things.”

12 Dearly beloved, think not strange the burning heat which is to try you, as if some new thing happened to you; 13 But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed: for that which is of the honour, glory, and power of God, and that which is his Spirit, resteth upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a railer, or a coveter of other men’s things.1 peter 4:12-15

The Scriptures are quite clear on persecution and suffering being what’s expected if we follow the will of God

1 Peter 3:16-17 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

1 John 3:13 Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you.

I was being sarcastic when I used the term “faith filled” about the Pharisees because they held themselves up to the Jews and the most faithful to God and knowldable about Scripture. They were accepted by the Jews as being the most full of faith.

As far as actions go, Christ told the us that “unless your justice abound more than the scribes and pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:20) Your JUSTICE (fair actions), not faith.

Just another passage stressing action is required along with faith. Now add in the fact that the Pharisees knew Jesus was taunting their “great faith” because it was devoid of loving action: In Matt 21:45 we are told that the Pharisees knew that Christ’s parables were directed at them. Remember that many of the parables are showing the deep value God places on loving, faith-filled action.

And don’t forget Matt 5:16 because it says to “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Matt 16:27 says “the Son of man shall come in the gory of his Father with his angels; and then will he render to every man according to his WORKS.”

And John 3:19 says..”because light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light; for their WORKS were evil.” Again, works (actions) seem to be a key component in judgment and salvation.

Do you want more? John 3:20-21 says “For every one that doth evil hateth the light and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved. Be he that DOTH truth [not believe the truth but DOTH the truth] cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest because they are done in God.”

There are so many more! See John 5:36, John 7:3, John 8:39 where Christ says if you want to be the children of Abraham you must do the WORKS of Abraham. And on and on and on.

Passage after passage all extolling the importance of faith lived in works. Add them all up for yourself and see what the Spirit is trying to tell us through out the whole New Testament.

Why the "hair-trigger" offense button? Sorry you don't like me using the words "insult God", but that is what one does when one contradicts God's word. Do you deny you said suffering is a punishment for sin? Do you deny you said:

We still suffer in this life and it is because of sin. Yes, God disciplines us. And discipline requires punishment and suffering.?

I, in no way, made up what you said. I copied it verbatim. The "semantics" part I added attempted to give you an "out" in case we were really meaning the same thing just not using the same words, but I guess, that's out the door.

Do you actually think "we" (children of God) receive suffering as a "punishment" for our sins? That is the jist of my entire argument. Romans 6:23 says,

For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The payment, wages, of sin is death - not suffering. Jesus Christ paid the wages of sin with his death on the cross. His resurrection from the dead proves the payment has been accepted once and for all. All the suffering of the entire world, past, present or future cannot begin to pay the price of sin. The offense of sin is against God - not the universe - and only God can forgive the offense of sin. Only God can grant total absolution from the penalty of sin - death. I don't know how much clearer to say it.

If you believe in the gift of salvation by grace through faith, then you can't also believe that we must continue to suffer punishment FOR our sin. Suffering in a Christian's life serves an entirely different purpose.

No Reformer denies that we are expected to live out our faith. What we deny is that our works justify us.

Matthew 5 is not about working hard enough to be approved for Heaven, except in the sense of showing us that NO ONE can do so. The point of Matthew 5 is not, “Yes, we can”, but “God save us, we are sinners!”

The Pharisees DID keep the law, better than anyone else - but it was external, so it did them no good.

What is the work required of us?

28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” - John 6

What was the WORK of Abraham?

“5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” - Genesis 15

If you say our works justify us, you are wrong. If you say our works confirm our faith to others, the fruit revealing the tree, then you are correct.

As Martin Luther put it, “But to fulfill the law means to do its work eagerly, lovingly and freely, without the constraint of the law; it means to live well and in a manner pleasing to God, as though there were no law or punishment. It is the Holy Spirit, however, who puts such eagerness of unconstained love into the heart, as Paul says in chapter 5. But the Spirit is given only in, with, and through faith in Jesus Christ, as Paul says in his introduction. So, too, faith comes only through the word of God, the Gospel, that preaches Christ: how he is both Son of God and man, how he died and rose for our sake. Paul says all this in chapters 3, 4 and 10.

That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law; faith it is that brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ. The Spirit, in turn, renders the heart glad and free, as the law demands. Then good works proceed from faith itself...

...Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn’t ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn’t do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn’t know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works.

Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God’s grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire.”

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead ( since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4

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