[AI translation] In the course of a series of commentaries on the letter to the Romans, this passage followed for this day. In this passage, which is now read, and which contains rather abstract explanations, we are dealing with a question which is the most fundamental problem of every believer. It is the question of the relationship with God. The question of what is our actual relationship with God? In general, a person can relate to God in one of two ways: positively or negatively. A negative attitude means that one can be indifferent towards God, one can be hostile, but it is not worth talking about that here, because those who are here now are certainly here because they are at least trying to have a positive attitude towards God. Positive attitudes can also take many forms. It is not at all indifferent what this positive attitude is, because it can also be right or wrong. The Apostle Paul is not at all of the opinion expressed in a German proverb: "Lass einen jeden nach seiner Fasson selig werden!" Let each man be saved in his own individual way! The Apostle Paul is not so generous, but insists almost fanatically that there is only one way and one way of relating to God. Let us now try to examine this!It is possible to relate to God positively in a pagan way. And it is worth saying a few words about this, because I know from experience that many Christians still have a certain pagan element in their faith today. What this pagan attitude means is that I believe in a power that is above me and above the world. Call it fate, or destiny, or natural law, or even God. I know, or at least suspect, that it has power over me, that it can give life or take it away, that its will is inscrutable, that it is not advisable to oppose it. I have sought to win His favour by courteous attendance at church and flattering prayer, and I have even sought to secure His favour for myself by giving to certain causes. Now then, this is the attitude of the superstitious fear of paganism. One never knows when one will be smiled upon or angered by this mysterious god. Have I really succeeded in pleasing him or not, what can I expect from him, reward or punishment? This pagan element, this pagan thought, this fear-based attitude, is still very much in the beliefs of many people today.
But not only that. But even more so, in the faith of very many Christian people, is the so-called Jewish way of relating to God. And in fact the apostle Paul, in the letter we are reading, is fighting against this. In fact, he constantly fights against it in his other letters. The essence of this Jewish way of relating to God is that by obeying God's laws as fully as possible, man seeks to be justified, to become righteous in God's eyes. Many religious people to this day still believe that in some way I have to serve God, earn God's favour for myself. I know His law that He has set before me in the Ten Commandments. So I must avoid what He forbids, do what He says, and as far as possible not clash with His will. I must try to fulfil all religious and moral requirements, to strive to rise as high as possible on the path of common decency and honesty, so that when the time comes for me to give account, I can say: I have not killed, stolen, cheated or hurt, I have been a righteous man all my life. The main thing is to be righteous, and then everything will be all right. Here, you see, one does not relate to God on the basis of fear, as the pagan believers do, but on the basis of one's own merits. So, by religious and moral fervour, he seeks, as it were, to earn for himself the favour of God. The question may arise here as to why this is wrong, why the apostle is fighting against it, since, after all, if one is truly zealous in living according to God's will, this can only be honourable - or not? Notice that the apostle Paul says nothing bad about his Jewish contemporaries of his day. He is not accusing them of some moral wickedness that would stand in the way of their salvation. He is saying that they have a zeal for God, that they are holy before God, that they love their religion, and that their zeal to keep God's law is truly honourable. But! Beware, people, for in this way God's good pleasure cannot be obtained!
This is not the way to salvation, for two reasons. One reason is what is written here, which is thus. So: he who will obey the will of God, this way is undoubtedly the way of salvation, but it is an impassable way for man. There has only ever been one One in this world who could walk this way, that is, who could do the will of God perfectly and without remainder. That one and only One: Jesus! And that if anyone would be saved by his works, by keeping the works of the law, he should live as Jesus lived. But who can do that? And who can completely empty himself of everything and renounce everything in order to live completely for God and for the good of men? To keep oneself pure from all sin, even from sinful thoughts, for a lifetime? Who could die for his enemies, who could love as Jesus loved? I am sure you have already experienced: the more I try to live according to God's will - that is, to put into practice, to keep, to obey God's law, his commandments - the more I realize how incapable I am of doing so. The more I realise how unstable my relationship with God is, and that every new sin I commit makes it worse, and that every new command and every new prohibition of God is an accusation against me and separates me even more from God. So the path of the works of the law is not upward, but downward, ultimately to utter despair. If I am truly honest with myself, my separation from God becomes clearer and clearer.
But this is not the only reason why this path is impassable and wrong. But it is also wrong to try to relate to God in some way on our own merits, because there is an unheard of arrogance in that. Namely, the pride of man's attachment to his own righteousness, his own goodness. The same arrogance that the builders of the Tower of Babel had at the time, that man thinks: 'I'll do it! I'll do it myself! Out of my own goodness, out of my own honesty, out of my own integrity, I will build the stairway through which I will enter heaven. It is the arrogance of God and me being equal partners. I give to God what He desires of me, and He gives to me what He owes me. In this arrogance of religious zeal, of religious blind zeal, man fails to realize that God's greatest gift to man is not His law, but Jesus! In fact, the whole law, all the revealed will of God, is for us only so that, as a mirror, we may become more and more aware of our own lostness, our separation from God, and be forced to cling to the saving hand of God, which is offered to us, as to Jesus, the lifebelt that drowns us. That is why the apostle says, "the end of the law is Christ, the righteousness of all believers." (v. 4) The end of this journey, therefore, where this journey leads, is not heaven, but Christ. It ends there, it leads there, it forces me to cling to Jesus. So the whole law is really to make man realize at last that he cannot relate to God either on the basis of the fear of the law or on his own merits, but on the basis of the grace alone that Jesus' life, death and resurrection means to sinful man.
Look, if we humans were able to obey God's commandments, what need would there have been for Jesus to come among us and live and die here as He lived and died? His pure and perfect life without sin is not only an example for us - but let someone try to imitate Him and live as He lived - but much more than that: it is the full and complete fulfilment of God's law for us. So, for this very reason, it was a life of merit for us. He earned for us the good pleasure of God, and His death and resurrection is not a majestic Divina Commedia, a wonderful Divine play, but precisely a redemptive death and resurrection. He suffered the punishment for sin that we deserved - again, in our place. So the person of the crucified and risen Jesus is indeed the saving hand of God reaching down from heaven to take hold of us, the almost visible love of God forgiving our sins, the fatherly arm of God reaching out to embrace us. It is almost as if the person of Jesus means, as if God is saying to us through the person of Jesus: come, man, just as you are, leave the rest to me, I will do the rest. You do not need to fear me! Should you fear the One who loves you so much? You do not want to earn and deserve my goodness, my kindness towards you! Do not deserve what is already yours for the merit of Jesus!
So, brothers and sisters, let us not seek to please God, because we cannot please God, no matter how much we zealously seek to please God. The prodigal son, in his tattered rags and his starving misery, could not be a very pleasing sight indeed. But the father's arms embraced him as he came. And when he was home, his father dressed him. The new dress, the clean festive dress, was given to her by the father. So what do I need to be saved? Nothing special, really. No special ascetic spiritual exercises, no philosophy, no speculation, no mystical self-torture or any kind of meritorious zeal and effort. What is needed is something that the apostle says is close to me, accessible to all of us, something that a child can do as well as a scholar. Simply to believe in the grace that the person of Jesus has for sinful man. This faith frees me at once from all effort, from all self-torture, from all self-righteousness, simply from myself. As the apostle says here in verse 9: "For if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." So what is required for salvation? Nothing else but to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Savior. Nothing else!
Why does the apostle say that if you believe, you should confess it with your mouth? Because, brethren, by uttering with the mouth, what the heart believes is as it were made real. By uttering with the mouth, what you are, in whom your heart believes, becomes something that takes shape, something that becomes alive. Have you ever truly said out loud, with heartfelt faith, Jesus, my God, my Savior? The apostle says: everyone who calls on the name of God in this way will be saved. So: to believe in God's grace for Jesus' sake - that is the only right way to relate to God, that is, to relate to God by grace.
Yes, but how does one come to faith? Such faith? The apostle also answers this question, because here the apostle answers every question that is raised, as if he were arguing with someone. He says: "Therefore faith is by hearing" (v.17). Faith does not come about by having this spiritual ability - because we don't have this spiritual ability - but simply by God creating faith in us through His Word. Let me give you an example: the other day I was visiting a dying, elderly widow. Two very serious old sins were troubling her soul, because, as she said, she felt that she would soon have to appear before God. She confessed it frankly. I then gave him two verses from the Bible very, very emphatically. "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) And that whoever believes in Jesus, even if he dies, lives. Still with a sad heart, the woman said. I answered her: I do not say it, do not believe me! "How dare I say such a thing to someone at such a deadly serious moment? I am only interpreting what the Lord Jesus himself says. And then the woman's face brightened and she said: "Now I truly believe, now I stand before God in peace.
So, Brothers and Sisters, faith comes from hearing the Word of God. What He says we can believe, we can put our whole life on it, because He has put His whole life on every word. And that if He says that through faith in Him there is life for all of us here on earth and in eternity, then it is deadly true. It is truer than that we are here now. And all His words and all His promises are that true. You can believe it, you can count on it.
But if by grace, freely, for the merit of Jesus, by faith, there is salvation for us all, then should man not now strive to do what is good, what is right, to keep the law of God? But yes! Let him strive very hard, but let him not think that he has satisfied God! Yes, the believer in Christ does strive, he strives very much, but not because he fears God, and not because he wants to gain merit with God, but because he has received grace. And now, out of gratitude, he gives his whole life to God, and in this way he wants to repay him for that grace.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, have we already made clear to ourselves on what basis we relate to God? I said at the beginning that this is the most fundamental question of every believer. I would not like to die without this question being clarified in the hearts of all of us.
Based on fear, like the pagan believers?
Or on our own merits, like Jewish believers?
Or on the basis of grace, as believers in the Saviour Jesus?
Perhaps this is not a practical enough question, but it really is, because this is where the whole Christian life begins! All other zeal is human effort. Grace alone belongs to God! It is Christ's liberating, life-giving power and authority for us. How did the apostle say here, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (verse 9):
Thou art grace, heavenly good,
Who blotteth out all sin,
Let it be a healing river
Cleanse me within.
You are a fountain of life, pulsating,
A precious place to plunge,
Oh, buoy me up and
Lift me to eternity.
(Canticle 300, verse 4)
Amen
Date: 5 April 1970.
Lesson
Róm 10