Text: Rom 2:17-29
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Sts. Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers. They along with their friend, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, were influential bishops in the fourth century in Asia Minor, what is today Turkey. But they were not, like many bishops today, politicians and administrators; they were true pastors and orthodox theologians. They defended biblical theology against the heresy of the Arians, who believed that Jesus is a creature, not the Creator. They gave pastoral care to people under their authority.
Much of our theology of salvation comes from the pen of St. Paul in his letter to the Romans. And as he continues to write about sin, the apostle shoots down the arguments of those who claim to have salvation apart from Christ, the Creator, who is also our Redeemer.
In this passage, St. Paul takes aim at his fellow Jews, who tended to “rely on the law” and upon “circumcision” – but did so apart from faith. He tells them that the Law will not save them, but rather the Law accuses them: “You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’” And the sacrament of circumcision, apart from faith, did not forgive sin.
St. Paul writes: “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” For circumcision brought a boy or man (and his family) into the church of the Old Testament. But if faith were lacking, if the circumcision were only outward and not inward, that is, not of the heart, then relying on circumcision alone for salvation was foolish. It is as foolish as relying on the Law alone for our salvation, for we all break it.
We Christians have the sacrament of Holy Baptism that brings us into the church of the New Testament. A baptized adult confesses the Apostles Creed and renounces the devil before he is baptized. A baptized infant is asked to confess the creed and to renounce the devil, and his parents and sponsors answer on his behalf. This is why it is important to raise children in the faith and not to simply point to their baptisms alone. For a baptism apart from faith, though it is a real baptism, does not save. It is not the work itself (ex opere operato, as the theologians say), but rather it is the work and the faith, the water and the Word, that make Holy Baptism effective.
Christians can be just as legalistic about their salvation as Jews. Boasting about one’s father or grandfather who was a pastor or elder, or about one’s great-grandparents who founded the congregation has no effect on your own Christian faith and life. The only way any of this matters is if they raised you in the faith that is to be believed (fides quae, as the theologians say), and you have faith that believes (fides qua, as the theologians say). Word and Sacrament save us when we receive them by faith – for it is Jesus who saves us by His work on the cross. Faith believes this and grasps this.
Thanks be to God for St. Paul’s writings, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and preserved for us in Holy Scripture. Let us take them to heart and believe them. And thanks be to God for pastors and theologians, like Sts. Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus: men who stand firm for the fides quae, as theologians, and who preach and teach faithfully the fides qua as pastors. Let us hear the Word and receive the Sacraments in faith – believing that Christ, our Lord and God, our Savior and Redeemer, uses them as channels to give us the gift of faith, delivering us from sin, death, and the devil, and covering all our sin with His righteousness. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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