Never Without Christ
Via Franz Pieper, “What is Christianity?”
Giovanni Bellini, "Agony in the Garden" (1465)
The fact is this: God is known, apprehended and perceived as a gracious Father only in Christ, never without Christ. the Jews also wanted to call God their Father, although they rejected Jesus as their Savior. Like Professor Harnack, they refused to allow Christ’s person and work a place in the Gospel. But our Lord reproved them: “If ye believe not that I am He,” your Savior and Sin-offering, “ye shall die in your sins,” John 8:24. No creature can give a stricken conscience peace and rest; that is God’s work, not man’s; for if man is to enjoy peace of soul, the Holy Spirit must inscribe in his heart the verdict of pardon in place of the sentence of condemnation. The Holy Ghost however, is the Spirit who glorifies Christ, John 16:24; and He glorifies Him as “the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29. But as He thus glorifies Christ in the heart of the believer, He cancels the decree of condemnation, which burdens the conscience, and substitutes for it the verdict of forgiveness, together with the assurance that he has a gracious God. Proponents of work-righteousness who identify Christianity with morality may for a while put consciences to sleep, but they can never appease them. They are not heralds of peace, but tormentors pf mankind. Luther, in his explanation of Is. 52:7, brands all advocates of work-righteousness such as the papists and Harnack, “doleful night-owls,” whose ululation awakens fear. But of the messengers who bring to men the glad news of Christ Crucified he says: “Beautiful are their feet; for they bear with them the most joyful tidings for stricken consciences, as all whose consciences were once in peril know full well.” (St. L. Ed., VI. 611) With reference to is. 40:2, Luther remarks: “Forgiveness of sins is not secured by man’s endeavor nor by his teaching and obeying the Law, but consists positively solely in a gracious remission of them. To this truth we must firmly hold; for if our conscience. terrified by our sin and the judgment of God, feel the Law [i.e., the condemnation of the Law], we dare not take refuge in our own efforts and works, since sin cannot be removed by our good deeds… A higher power, a mightier force, ir required to overcome sin. The distressed soul must therefore first be taught to cast away all trust in its own merits and then to cling to the promise: “her iniquity is pardoned.” [Is. 40:2] and cast itself upon Christ, who, to redeem us from the curse of sin, was made a curse for us; indeed who suffered crucifixion for us in order that through His victory over sin we might live a righteous life of faith as dear children, reconciled to the Father through the blood of His Son and justified by faith in Him. That is our doctrine and we know that it is well able to comfort all troubled consciences.” (VI 473 f.) To calm men’s consciences we must cling to this doctrine and reject all errors of those who, like Professor Harnack, teach salvation by work-righteousness.
