Dodd: Christian righteousness

April 19, 2009
    Commemoration of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012

Meditation:
    Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
    -- Romans 3:20,21 (NIV)

Quotation:
    The higher faiths call their followers to strenuous moral effort. Such effort is likely to be arduous and painful in proportion to the height of the ideal, desperate in proportion to the sensitiveness of the conscience. A morbid scrupulousness besets the morally serious soul. It is anxious and troubled, afraid of evil, haunted by the memory of failure. The best of the Pharisees tended in this direction, and no less the best of the Stoics. And so little has Christianity been understood that the popular idea of a serious Christian is modeled upon the same type of character. (Continued tomorrow)
    ... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973), The Meaning of Paul for Today [1920], p. 112 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, all good works are Your creation.

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