Dodd: Christian righteousness

Sunday, April 28, 2019
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
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 modelled upon the same type of character. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973), The Meaning of Paul for Today, London: Swarthmore, 1920, reprint, Fount Paperbacks, 1978, p. 112 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 3:20-21; Ps. 55:22; 2 Cor. 3:5; Phil. 2:13; Col. 1:20; 1 Thes. 2:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, all good works are Your creation. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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