Capon: to raise the dead

Sunday, March 2, 2025
    Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Meditation:
    By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
    —1 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus came to raise the dead. Not to repair the repairable, correct the correctable, or improve the improvable. Just to raise the dead, and nobody but the dead. Nothing is all he needs for anything.
    ... Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), The Foolishness of Preaching, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997, p. 25 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 6:14; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2; Luke 14:14; John 5:21,25,28-29; 6:40,54; Rom. 6:4; 8:11; Eph. 5:13-14; 1 Thess. 4:14-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I was dead, and through Your grace and power now I live. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Theologia Germanica: God desires no revenge

Saturday, March 1, 2025
    Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
Meditation:
    Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
    —Luke 23:34 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God, in a man who is made “partaker of His nature,” desireth and taketh no revenge for all the wrong that is or can be done unto Him. This we see in Christ when He saith: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
    ... Theologia Germanica [1518], Anonymous, ascribed to Johannes de Francfordia, (1380?-1440) & Susanna Winkworth, tr., published anonymously by Martin Luther, ch. XXXIII (see the book)
    See also Luke 23:34; Ex. 34:6-7; Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27-28; Rom. 12:14; 1 Pet. 3:9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a forgiving spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Scofield: seeking the lost

Friday, February 28, 2025
Meditation:
    So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
    —Romans 11:5-6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Grace is not looking for good men whom it may approve, for it is not grace but mere justice to approve goodness. But it is looking for condemned, guilty, speechless and helpless men whom it may save through faith, then sanctify and glorify.
    ... C. I. Scofield (1843-1921), “The Grace of God”, in The Fundamentals: The Famous Sourcebook of Foundational Biblical Truths, ed. R. A. Torrey, Kregel Academic, 1990, p. 402 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 11:5-6; Ps. 41:4; 147:3; Matt. 9:12; Mark 2:17; Luke 19:10; Rom. 4:4-5; 7:12; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Rev. 3:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I seek You because I am without excuse. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Herbert: What Adam had

Thursday, February 27, 2025
    Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633
Meditation:
    For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
    —Colossians 3:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
What Adam had, and forfeited for all,
Christ keepeth now, who cannot fail or fall.
    ... George Herbert (1593-1633), The Poetical Works of George Herbert, New York: D. Appleton, 1857, p. 182 (see the book)
    See also Col. 3:3; Matt. 11:25; Rom. 5:12-14; 1 Cor. 2:14-15; 15:22,45-49; Col. 2:2-3; 1 John 3:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, in You is my trust. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Grou: purely personal faith

Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Meditation:
    For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
    —Romans 1:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “The just shall live by faith.” St. Paul is not speaking here of our dogmatic faith, but of that which is purely personal, and which specially concerns God’s Providence over the souls He leads. Such souls He inspires with perfect trust in His Word and promise, and then He tries the strength of that trust, by various searching tests, through which it is their part to remain steadfast, undoubting.
    ... Jean Nicolas Grou (1731-1803), The Hidden Life of the Soul, London: Rivingtons, 1870, p. 149 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 1:17; Job 13:15; Hab. 2:4; Acts 7:59; Rom. 4:18; Phil. 3:20-21; 2 Tim. 1:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people rest in You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: the scandal

Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Meditation:
    This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
    —1 John 4:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When we as Christians say that only by an intervention of God, by His creating a new situation, can communion with God be established, we recognize that a breach between God and man does exist.
    That is why historical revelation is the great scandal or stumbling block for natural men. Man, filled with his self-love and self-pride, does not want to be uncovered, because he does not want his pride to be infringed upon. To acknowledge historical revelation means to acknowledge that the truth is not in us, that the right relation to God cannot be established from our side; that the breach between God and us is of such a nature that we can do nothing about it.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 22 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:2-3; Pr. 16:18; Isa. 2:11-17; Obad. 1:3-4; Matt. 9:35-36; 20:25-28; 23:5-12; Mark 10:42-45; Rom. 3:10-11; 8:7-9; 12:3,16; Eph. 2:1-3
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have revealed Yourself in Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: the impiety of the pious

Monday, February 24, 2025
Meditation:
No one who practices deceit
    will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
    will stand in my presence.
    —Psalm 101:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The pious community permits no one to be a sinner. Hence all have to conceal their sins from themselves and from the community. We are not allowed to be sinners. Many Christians would be unimaginably horrified if a real sinner were suddenly to turn up among the pious. So we remain alone with our sin, trapped in lies and hypocrisy, for we are in fact sinners.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 108 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 101:7; Isa. 7:12; Matt. 23:5-6; 27:24; Luke 20:21-25; John 15:6; 18:28; Acts 5:1-10; Rom. 16:17-18; Gal. 6:3; 1 Pet. 5:8
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, tear the veil away that hides our sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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