Jennifer Bales

"If you are justified, you will do good works." Correct. "Do good works so that you remained justified." Wrong. One flows out of the other. It is the work of the Spirit. You can't reverse-engineer sanctification. Streams don't flow uphill.

Anglicans believe that Scripture is not only God’s word written, but its purpose and power is to lead us to know and love the one who loved us first: “That we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.” The Bible is not a rulebook or a catalogue of good examples to emulate, but primarily the overarching story of God’s saving grace in Jesus. Reformation Anglicans join the English reformers in recognizing that God’s word speaks in two ways: law and gospel. Law is that portion of Scripture that commands, prescribes, and exposes our guilt. The law is God’s moral measure and his requirement of perfection. It’s seen in words like “should,” “ought,” ‘you must” and “you shall.” But the law has no power in itself to fulfill what it demands (a scale can tell you that you need to lose ten pounds, but it can’t lose it for you). The law is wonderful: holy, righteous and good (Romans 7:12), but it begs for a solution outs

“Picture a twelve-year old boy growing up in a healthy, loving family. As he matures, through no fault of his parents he finds himself trying to figure out how to really assure himself a place in the family. One week he tries to create a new birth certificate for himself. The next week he determines to spend all his extra time scrubbing the kitchen clean. The following week he determines to do all he can to imitate his dad. One day his parents question his strange behavior. “I’m just doing all I can to secure my place in the family, guys!” How would his father respond? “Calm yourself, my dear son! There’s nothing you could possibly do to earn your place among us. You are our son. Period. You didn’t do anything at the start to get into our family, and you can’t do anything now to get out of our family. Live your life knowing your sonship is settled and irreversible.” ~ Gentle and Lowly, pg 182

Gospel Gal: Rest in the Righteousness of Christ~Joy Dudley : Like lighting one small candle to supplement the sun, is adding man's weak merit to what our Lord has done; For He the books of heaven ...