Brunner: knowledge and responsibility

Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Meditation:
    ... you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.
    —Romans 2:21-23 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Since becoming a disciple of Christ, Paul knows that all mere orthodoxy, all mere knowledge concerning God’s will, is not only nothing but less than nothing. The more knowledge, the more obligation. The maintaining of revealed doctrine becomes blasphemy if it is not borne out by the corresponding testimony of the life. He who is always appealing to the Word of God without his life and conduct corresponding to this knowledge of God, dishonours God’s name, making Him an object of mockery and hatred. It is just those who know so well how to talk about God who make His name hateful among men, because their lives darken the picture of God and turn it into a caricature. The Lord is judged by the life of His servants; this is the truer, the more zealously they appeal to Him.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Letter to the Romans, Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1959, p. 22-23 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 2:21-24; Ps. 50:16; 74:22; Matt. 23:3; Luke 11:46; Tit. 2:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am ashamed that I fall so far below what You have taught me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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