Defending the Chief Doctrine

Turn to the book of Philippians
and to chapter 3, which is where we’ll begin our journey this
morning. I’m going to read the passage
in its entirety, at least through verse 11. But as I’ve already
said, we are not going to make it anywhere near that far this
morning. If you would, let’s begin in
verse 2. We’ll carry through to verse
11. Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision. For we are the true circumcision
who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus
and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might
have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to
put confidence in the flesh, I far more. circumcised the eighth
day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, the
Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to Zeal,
a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is
in the law found blameless. But whatever things were gained
to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things
to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and may be found
in Him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law,
but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which
comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and
the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death, in order that I may attain to
the resurrection from the dead.” And with those great hymns and
songs this morning, we were introduced to that great theme, and we’ll
get there. In fact, if anything, you’ll
have to hold me back from going ahead and preaching that great
theme that Paul ends up there talking about. That great theme
of justification by faith. But we’ll get there in time. There have been some great exchanges
throughout the history of the church. But perhaps one of the
more fascinating interchanges between great figures of the
history of the church. One of the greatest is that between
Luther and a man named Erasmus. We know Luther. Most of us don’t
know that much about Erasmus. Luther wrote a great treatise
called The Bondage of the Will. That, in essence, was a response
to a diatribe that Erasmus had written. Erasmus was a leading Christian
humanist. Those two words don’t glue together
so well in our modern day and age. But he was a humanist. He
was seeking to reform the Catholic Church. Both he and Luther were
of the Catholic Church, which was the church at that point
in the period of history. But Erasmus was seeking to reform
the church by way of scholarship. One put it this way. In short,
what Erasmus sought to do, pardon me, what Erasmus sought was the
reformation of customs, the practice of decency and moderation, an
inner devotion shaped by learning and meditation, and a church
that encouraged these things. Erasmus wanted to do is largely
what has already taken place in the church of our day and
to make was to make it more user friendly, a nicer church, a kinder,
gentler version of the church is what Erasmus wanted. Erasmus
was seeking that kind of reformation in the church, and that didn’t
square well with Mr. Luther when Luther wrote his great treatise,
The Bondage of the Will. He actually thanked Erasmus for
not raising, as he called them, petty theological issues. He
thanked Erasmus for going to the heart of the matter and tinkering
with what he called the chief doctrine. He wrote to him and
he said, I thank you, Erasmus, that you haven’t bothered me
with mere trifles. On another occasion, speaking
of that same great doctrine, Luther wrote these things. He
said, this is the only article that had to suffer a constant
persecution by the devil and the world. Other articles, and
what he means by that is other elements of doctrine, other doctrines
of the church. Other articles were also assailed,
but none of them has occasioned as much bloodshed and martyrdom
as this one. When this article arises, the
devil is mad and furious. The world is full of flaming
anger and burning madness. All histories show that all heresies
and errors arose when this article fell. For everything depends
and rests on this one. This is the article of supreme
importance, so that whatever errors in the other surely does
not have this one right either.” In other words, he said, everything
touches this doctrine. And if you’re off in a little
part on another doctrine, ultimately you’ll be off on this one. Even
if he holds to the others, but does not have this one, all is
in vain anyway. What Luther was talking about
as that chief article was the doctrine of justification by
faith. That’s what he was defending. That, in essence, is what would
become the touchstone of the Reformation. The main point of
the Reformation is by what is the sinner justified? How do
we gain salvation? Are we justified by works? Or are we justified by God, by
faith? The Roman Catholic system was
a system of works. That’s what Martin Luther was
steeped in. That was, as I said, the church
in that day and age. What Erasmus was seeking to do
is tinker with some of the surface issues. What Luther did was go
to the heart of the matter Essentially, Luther saw that works righteousness
that the Roman Catholic system produced, and he went after that
very thing. One records that Roman Catholicism
teaches that salvation depends ultimately upon ourselves, upon
what we do, that one can earn salvation by obedience to the
laws of the church. While Roman Catholicism teaches
that Christ died for our sins, it also teaches that His sacrifice
was not sufficient. That our sufferings must be added
to to make it effective. Romanism is a complicated system
of salvation by works. It offers salvation on the installment
plan and then sees to it that the poor sinner is always behind
in his payments. The whole system and plan calls
for merit and money from the cradle to the grave and even
beyond. The chief article by which the
church stands or falls is the doctrine of justification by
faith. And I wanted to take some time
this morning to introduce that little backdrop to you. Because
from time to time, whenever I mention Roman Catholicism, people think
that I’m picking on it just as my former or background religion. People think that I’m just getting
old and cantankerous and picking on this church. As I said, it may be very well
and justly concluded that the entire Reformation hinged on
this very point. The doctrine of justification
by faith. Some of you from time to time,
either by the website or the little trifold brochure that
we have, have reviewed those solas of the Reformation that
we put back there. That document was compiled by
evangelicals. The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
years ago, we saw it and thought it was such a good document.
We got permission from them to reprint it. And in that you will
essentially find the argument that produced the Reformation,
the Solas of the Reformation, Sola Gratia by grace alone, by
faith alone. God’s glory alone. All of them
are encapsulated in that little document. But it is written from
a modern day perspective. It’s looking at the church in
the modern day and critiquing what is taking place. If you
have it or if you are able to either go to the website and
look at it, or we may even have copies back there still. Article
4 is this. Article 4 is sola fide, by faith
alone. And it is entitled, this modern
day critique, it is entitled, The Erosion of the Chief Article. And it reads like this, Justification
is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.
This is the article by which the church stands or falls. Today, however, the article is
ignored, distorted or sometimes even denied by leaders and scholars
and pastors who claim to be evangelical. Goes on to say that theological
convictions are frequently divorced from the work of the ministry.
that a marketing orientation in many churches takes this even
further, erasing the distinction between the biblical word and
the world, robbing Christ’s cross of its offense, reducing Christian
faith to the principles and methods which bring success to secular
corporations. And what they end up doing is
point us back again to the doctrines of the Great Reformation, and
to the doctrine of sola fide, faith alone. And in it, the article
concludes with this simple statement. We reaffirm that justification
is by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. In justification, Christ’s righteousness
is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s
perfect justice. We can’t work our way to heaven.
We can’t earn God’s favor by our good deeds or merits. It
is purely God’s doing by grace alone. We deny it goes on. We deny that justification rests
on any merit to be found on us or upon the grounds of an infusion
of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming
to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized
as a legitimate church. So if you think I’m old, and
I am, I’m in good company with my cantankerous view of the Roman
Catholic Church. And you know what? I’m in good
company too with the Apostle Paul. Because essentially, that’s
the same thing that he warns here in this great text. That
starts in verse 2, carries forth to 11 and beyond, but starts
with a severe warning of error. Probably, I can’t think of any
that are more severe than this one. When he speaks of error,
there are others that parallel this great warning, but none
that eclipse it. This threefold warning that we
are to beware. It has the idea, that word does,
of constantly observing with a view to utterly avoiding and
abstaining. Because there was a very real
menace in the church. And Paul wanted his church to
know how grave this error was. The trouble identified here,
and we’ll get there in time, if you read between the lines
or even just heard the word read, you understand who the troublemakers
were. It was the Judaizers. And it’s
the same class referred to over and over again here in the opening
verses. It is one kind of false teacher
that is in view, but it’s portrayed, this class is, from three different
angles. The concern for Paul was that
there was a distortion of the Christian gospel, a denial of
the sufficiency of the work of Christ. And it’s not unlike,
as we saw, what the Roman Catholic Church did on their end of the
Reformation, as we’ll see shortly. Three different designations
for the same hostile, troublesome party. If you look at those,
those three clauses describe their character, their activity
and even their creed as one person described it. It is clear just
from these few verses. that Paul had become very concerned
and disturbed by news that he had received out of Philippi. We know that Philippi was a joyful
congregation, a good, solid congregation. There was no serious or grave
doctrinal error to which Paul is addressing. But the danger was there. The
clouds are gathering. And it was entirely possible
that Paul had just gotten fresh news, perhaps fresh enough that
Paul extended this very letter. Paul received information that
perhaps a fresh outbreak of this teaching was running rampant
in the church of Philippi or about to, and he wanted to warn
them of the gravity of the situation, of what was at stake. And that’s
why I said he uses these three clauses that in most circles
would be considered just flat unkind in our day and age to
say these things to or about anyone. But Paul doesn’t mince
words. He can’t afford to mince words
because the very gospel is at stake. Go back to verse 2 if you would.
Where Paul begins defending the chief doctrine. He says that
there is grave error in adding to the work of Jesus Christ.
And that first of all, if you look at the passage, those whom
malign justification by faith, which is what he will advance
throughout this passage. Those who malign justification
by faith are first and foremost mangy.” He calls them dogs. Let me give you a little background. Because in our modern day, we
think of little Fido sitting at home, wagging his little tail,
happy, nuzzling up next to us, waiting for a bone. That’s what
we think of when we think of dog. But in the Mideast, the term
was, and even is to this day, a term of contempt. Not only for the Jews, but even
for the Gentiles, the dog was an unclean animal according to
the Levitical law. One said, the habits of a dog
suggest the ideas of uncleanness, impudence, disgusting impurity
of life. It’s half-wild condition in eastern
towns makes it a simile for an outcast. In Scripture, the dog
appears in connections almost always either of contempt or
dread.” Listen to this one. 1 Kings. You know that context. 1 Kings 21. It was these creatures
that ate evil Jezebel. Psalm 22.16, when Christ David, they’re writing the psalm
speaking of Christ on the cross. He uses that epithet, that term
dogs. He says, dogs have surrounded
me. And the image was clear. These
were wild animals, vicious animals, scavengers that even would consume,
in the case of Jezebel, a dead body. that for us is so valued. You know, our man’s best friend,
affectionate little Fido, isn’t exactly the friend and
companion in the Middle East. He’s an object of utter contempt. Listen to some of the descriptions.
The dogs here were the mangy, flea bitten, vicious, starved
scavengers. They were wild, masterless animals
prowling in the evening, feeding on garbage, devouring garbage
and savage as generally as they were greedy. You know, come to
think of it, fleabitten, vicious, scavengers. It doesn’t help that
I found my dog sleeping on our couch today for me to put them
in this category and to understand this much better. The herds of dogs, said another,
which prowl about eastern cities without a home, without an owner,
which mine may soon suffer the same fate, without a home, without
an owner, feeding on refuse and filth of the streets, quarreling
among themselves, attacking the passerby.” One added this, “‘The dogs,’ he observed,
are the only animals that make a noise just for the sake of
making it.” Don’t yappers just drive you crazy? I don’t dislike
little dogs. I just don’t like yappers. And
so, dog became a very common term of reproach. To call someone
a dog was the worst thing that you could call them. It was a
term of reproach and contempt and hatred. Gentiles were termed
dogs by the Jews. In biblical times, Jews referred
to all Gentiles contemptuously as dogs. suggesting that idea of impurity,
applying it to all foreigners, to all heathen worship, a very
common epithet used against the Gentiles. But what Paul does
is take this term and turn it around and put it on the Judaizers,
the very people that use this label on everyone else. Paul
takes it and puts it on them. The Judaizers were teachers within
the church, very active in Rome. They had dogged Paul’s steps
at nearly every step of the way on his missionary journeys. They
were Pharisee-like so-called Christians. They wanted to come
into the Christian church to a degree they ascribed to Christ. But they wanted to add to Christ
this rite of circumcision, as we’ll talk about in a moment. Paul warns the Philippians to
beware of those who call others dogs when in reality are dogs
themselves. That’s basically what he says. These Judaizers were, as I said,
of the Pharisaic family. desirous of greed and power and
money and wealth. And they just wanted to run now
the Christian church and to draw away people, converts after their
own and to kind of reform them after their own ideas. And Paul
says, don’t stand for it for a minute. Don’t put up with this. These are dogs. These are not
to be followed. They’re not to be heeded. Paul has those malicious people,
the Judaizers, in full view here when he calls them dogs. It’s
not unkind. It’s not unapostolic for him
to do this. It’s very much a part of his
calling. And what he’s doing here, as
I said, among all the warnings of Scripture, this being one
of the most severe that Paul ever utters. Beware of the dogs.” The book of Galatians, you’re
probably very familiar with it. I want to have you turn there,
turn back a couple of books to the book of Galatians. I just
want to take a course, pick up a few verses just to see the
degree of anger that Paul had in his
defense of the doctrine of justification by faith is over against the
doctrine, call it what it is, of justification by works. Look at Galatians 1, verse 6. I am amazed. This isn’t good
amazement. This was utter shock, repulsive
shock. I am amazed that you are so quickly
deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a
different Gospel. From time to time, people, this
is what always happens after I mention Catholicism. People
will come up to me and say, well, don’t you think that Roman Catholics
can be saved? Yes, I think they can be. I don’t
think the great portion of them are because they’re so be clouded
by all the foolishness and garbage and heresy that the Roman church
is fomented over the years. It is a different gospel, and
that’s exactly what Paul said of the Judaizers message. It is
a different gospel, which is really not another there. Only
there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel
of Christ. Look at chapter three, verse
one. You foolish Galatians. I mean, can you can you even
in our modern interpretive reading of that?
Can we even say it as strongly as Paul did? As strongly as it
must have come off that first time that it was read? You foolish
Galatians! I mean, can you imagine such
a thing being written to you? Christian church? By the great
Apostle Paul, you foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? before
whose eyes was Jesus Christ publicly portrayed as crucified? Paul’s utterly shocked that they
could abandon the great truths of the faith. Look at chapter
5. Same great theme there in view.
In the church of Galatia, verse 1, it was for freedom that Christ
set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject
again to a yoke of slavery. Don’t take up the law of works
and think that now you can work your way by adhering to this
doctrine. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that
if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit
to you. Do you hear that? This isn’t
just hyperbole in Paul’s mind. Paul says that there are two
Gospels. Only one is the real one and
the other is a false Gospel. And it’s offering to you this
law to which you must submit. And if you don’t, you cannot
be saved. Paul calls that foolishness.
Bewitchery, if you will. Look at Galatians 6. In fact, duck back one chapter. I mean, this is just so graphic,
I won’t even comment upon it. But he’s so vehemently against
this idea, this doctrine that was threatening the very gospel,
the chief doctrine of justification by faith, that in chapter 5,
verse 12, look what he says, I wish that those who were troubling
you would even mutilate themselves. I wish the knife would slip,
is what he says. Galatians chapter 6. Those who
desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you
to be circumcised so that they will not be persecuted for the
cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised
do not even keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised
so that they may boast in your flesh. It was empty. It was nothing. It meant nothing. Those who had dogged Paul all
along on his missionary journeys, summed up in Acts 15.1 by this
one statement. Some men came down from Judea,
began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according
to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. That was their theme.
That was their argument. And for that, Paul calls them
dogs. If this is what you’re advancing,
if this is the doctrine you’re teaching, then you are a dog.
You are the lowest of low to strike at the heart of the gospel
itself in justification by faith when Christ has accomplished
everything on the cross. You’re a dog. One said it this way, they speak
of themselves as God’s children. They boast of eating at God’s
table. They reproach us as dogs, as foul and unclean, as outcasts
from the covenant, because we do not observe the washing of
cups and platters. I reverse the image. We are the
children. For we, the banquet of the spiritual
feast which God has spread before us, they are the dogs, for they
greedily devour the garbage of cardinal ordinances, the very
refuse of God’s table.” What Paul does here is pin on them
the name that they flung about and pin on everyone else. Paul
says if they’re going to bring and advance this vile doctrine,
they are Nothing less than those wild beasts that run around eating
the garbage in the streets. They’re dogs. I told you it was
strong language. And some of us might even repel
from such language in this day and age. Where everybody’s supposed to
be loving and tolerant of one another and cultivate diversity. But one said truth and love are
not mutually exclusive. Believers are called to both
as well as discernment. Scripture teaches that salvation
is by grace alone, through faith alone, and those who teach otherwise
are very much ravenous, savage wolves. They’re dogs. Secondly, Considering the grave error of
adding to the work of Jesus Christ, those who malign the doctrine
of justification by faith are not only mangy, they’re malicious.
Look at the passage again. Beware of the dogs. Beware of
the evil workers. This is, if possible, even stronger
language than before. So, if you were offended that
he called them dogs, Prepare yourself. It’s the same people in view
just regarded on the side of not only their activity, but
the quality, the moral quality of it. These were proselytizers. They were going about not just
suggesting things. They eagerly believed these things
and they were actively trying to get people onto their side. They were hucksters. Jesus used
strong language to challenge the Pharisees. Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel around on sea and
land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make
him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. That’s the same
spirit that Paul uses in his denunciation of these Judaizers. That’s exactly what they were
like. They went about everywhere. They dogged Paul everywhere he
went to try and siphon off of him some of those believers in
the church. Paul called them in 2 Corinthians
11, 13, deceitful workers. false apostles, disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ. They are the very thing that
he uses there is the angels who, pardon me, disguise themselves
as angels of light. They were active in their mischief. These were no passive. These
were not just, you know, thinkers, philosophers, People who wanted
to go to Bible study and talk about what they think Scripture
means, always a dangerous element in and of themselves. Paul constantly advanced not
only the right and pure gospel, but also those who advanced it.
In 2 Corinthians 2.17, he said, we are not like many. There were all kinds of these
people out there. We are not like many peddling the word of
God. But as from sincerity, as from
God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. We’re not like
these people, evil workers. They were those that actively
and actually worked against the gospel of grace. Their message
was contrary to the message of Paul and the message of Scripture.
They were workers. They were the word means laborers. And so often it is laborers in
the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s how the word is
used in the New Testament. But in reality, they were wicked.
They were aiming to subvert the truth, not establish the truth. One observed that the well-known
Jewish zeal and activity characterized this dangerous party in the church. And the results of this activity
were as bad as that of the Pharisees who compassed sea and land to
make a single convert. They were evil workers because
they were working against God.” As I said, the word workers here
is applied in many places. in the New Testament to laborers
who worked in fields and vineyards, ultimately transferred to those
who labored in the church on behalf of the gospel, in the
duty and service of Christ himself. But when they are labeled evil
workers, They are immediately seen as base and malicious. They were set on evil, said one. Theirs was no inoperative speculation. They were not mere opinionists,
but they were restless agitators. They were not dreamy theorists,
but busy workers, earnest and tireless in support and propagation
of their earth. And you will find these people
not just in the Catholic Church. Most of the people that you meet
in the Catholic Church don’t. They’re not, you know, advancing
this great idea. They don’t even know what they
believe. But I’ll tell you, in the case
of Mormons and JWs and some of the others, They are evil workers. Anyone who puts on a collar in
the Catholic Church, I put them in the same exact camp. Evil
workers. They are combating the very work
of God. That term, evil workers, as I
said, is used to denote the zeal, the effort that they put into
it, the labor that were all directed towards distorting and perverting
the pure doctrine of justification by faith. It was destructive work. Here
they’re supposed to be building up the church and they are whittling
away at the very foundation. Literally, adulterating the very
Word of God. Instead of helping, they were
hurting it. And in that, they were malicious. Thirdly, Paul is addressing the grave
error of adding to the work of Jesus Christ. Those who malign
justification by faith are not only mangy and malicious, they
are mutilated. That’s what he says. Look at verse two again. Beware of the dogs. Beware of
the evil workers. Beware of the false circumcision.
It’s not two words in the Greek. It’s one. And it’s not the word
for circumcision. It’s a different word. It’s in a very
real sense, a word that Paul uses in a completely different
sense here. Let’s back up and I’ll tell you
what the word is in a minute. Let’s back up and just talk very
briefly about circumcision and what it was. The operation performed
on the male. It was an external right, R-I-T-E,
that should have been an outward sign of internal change as was
designed and desired by God. It was a religious act and observance.
It was instituted in Genesis 17, the Abrahamic covenant. During
the wilderness journey, that circumcision fell into disuse.
Ultimately, the nation, even though it bore the punishment
of their disobedience in the wilderness wanderings, was regarded
as under some temporary rejection by God and therefore was ultimately
prohibited from using the sign of the covenant. Joshua was the
one that commanded to reinstate the practice on everyone who
was born in the wilderness. One characterized it in these
terms, circumcision has always been essential to the Jewish
people since it is the distinguishing mark of God’s covenant with their
forefather. The forefather, Abraham, so closely
did they identify with circumcision that they referred to the fellow
Jew as the circumcision. and to all Gentiles as the uncircumcised. In obedience to God’s command,
every Jewish boy was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth.
But eventually, this rite of circumcision became the pride
of Israel. And they began to look with contempt
on everyone around them as they called themselves the true and
everyone else the false. And by Paul’s day, circumcision
had become a mere outward ritual that was completely devoid of
its intended spiritual significance. The Jewish people observed all
these outward ceremonies, but their hearts had become so completely
detached from God that this right that originally was so meaningful
had become, in God’s eyes, meaningless. And so this error becomes propagated
on the Christian church and the Jewish legalists who denied the
gospel of grace ultimately began to teach that circumcision and
keeping the law of Moses was necessary for salvation. If you have time later, you do
have time. I don’t. Acts 15, Acts 15 is
where this whole issue is dealt with. Acts 15 is that verse I
read just a moment ago. Acts 15. Some men came down from
Judea, began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according
to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And the Jerusalem council
met and they dealt with this issue once and for all. And they
said no. To do so would be error. To do
so would be to add works to the work of Christ and would undermine
and obliterate the gospel of justification by faith. Salvation
is by grace alone through faith alone. So what Paul does is use
another little verb here, not the word for circumcision, but
the word that essentially we translate as concision. It was
a word that was used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the
Hebrew Scriptures, and it often was used of mutilations that
were forbidden by the Mosaic law that were so often practiced
in heathen rituals, pagan rituals. The Greek word that Paul uses
is a play on the Greek word for circumcision. He says they can’t
even call it by that name. It’s so far away from what God
originally intended that it can’t even really be called circumcision.
And he doesn’t even play that game. Paul characterizes these
Judaizers as merely mutilated. That’s all they are. They mutilated
the message of the gospel by adding to God’s grace, the law
and their own spiritual lives and their converts were mutilated
as well. One spoke of it in these terms. He said, by this harsh word,
he condemns the Judaists’ rigid zeal for bodily circumcision.
In light of the Gospel, to demand circumcision as a saving ordinance
was to demand a near maltreatment of the body no better than that
of the Baal priests who went about mutilating others. Just mutilating themselves. That’s
all they’re doing. in their attempt to mutilate
the great doctrine of justification by faith. It’s empty. It’s void. It can’t even truly
be called circumcision. And Paul refuses to do so. And you say, well, you know,
Pastor, I really haven’t run into this
a whole lot recently. I know that. Puritan, several hundred years
ago, said the spirit of these false teachers has always been
active in the church, though the particular form against which
Paul was called on to contend has long since passed away. The
Judaizers long since passed away, but the spirit is active. Those
who would add works to faith are still prevalent. They’re
still there. They still press us from all
angles to succumb and to submit to their view of salvation. Let me put it in perspective
for you. In the middle of the 16th century,
said one, the Roman Catholic Church responded to Luther’s
writings by convening a little meeting called the Council of
Trent. At this council, Rome not only went to great pains
to define their own view of justification, but they included 20 pronouncements
on justification, each one beginning with the same formula, if anyone
says. Then they fill out the formula
with specific beliefs that might be expressed At the conclusion
of these canons, these pronouncements, it says, upon him anathema sits. God’s curse. Specifically. One particular
pronouncement reads like this, if anyone says. that justifying
faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits
sin for Christ’s sake alone, or that this confidence alone
is that whereby we are justified, let him be anathema. My friends,
my brothers and sisters in Christ, if you believe that faith alone
in Christ alone is good enough to grant you righteousness by
faith, which we sang about this very morning, you are by the
Catholic Church already accursed. Justification is not by works. The whole world, said one, is
guilty before God. By the works of the law, no flesh
can be justified. So says Scripture. To be justified
by faith, therefore, is to be justified on the ground of our
trust or confidence in God’s provision of the Savior’s sacrifice
on the cross. There is no else. There isn’t
anything else that can be added to it without completely detracting
from it. No wonder Paul called them dogs,
evil workers, and false circumcision. Because they’re attempting to
rob the most glorious doctrine in all the Scriptures. The chief
article. Let’s rejoice in what we possess
regardless of who has considered us accursed. Let’s bow before
Him. Our merciful God, we do humble
ourselves And Lord, while we don’t seek trouble, while we
don’t desire to be hated, we know that the world hated Christ. We know that many in this day
and age would eagerly add to the precious gospel and add to
justification by faith and in their adding destroy it completely. Lord God, we humble ourselves
before you. that You are the One that saved
us. You are the One that set Your
love upon us and gave us that faith, that faith that justifies,
that faith in which grants the possessor of it righteousness,
the very righteousness of Christ. Lord God, we thank You and praise
You for the salvation that we possess because of Christ alone. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen.