500 years of Protestant reform
To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Return to the Gospel will present weekly articles and biographies of several reformers: Girolamo Zachi (January), Theodore Beza (February), Thomas Cranmer (March), Guilherme Farrel (April), William Tyndale (May), Martin Bucer (June), John Knox (July), Ulrico Zuonglio (hay), Joo Calvino (set)
- There is nothing left for the whole world.
- But rather to go to ruin (Romans 3:19).
- But God.
- Not only being very righteous.
- But also very merciful.
- According to his infinite wisdom.
- Has eternally established a way of converting.
- All evils in his great glory: for the greatest manifestation of his infinite goodness (Romans 3:21-25).
- Those whom he has chosen eternally to be glorified in his salvation (Romans 8.
- 29.
- 9.
- 23).
- And.
- On the other hand.
- He has made man’s sin a manifestation of his sovereign power and anger.
- Through the just condemnation of the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22; Exodus 9.
- 6).
As Augustine says: “If all were saved, the wages of sin demanded by justice would be hidden. If no one was saved, no one could see what grace gives. “
This unique and exclusive path is the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God with all that emanates from him, which was gradually promised from Adam to John the Baptist, announced and preached by patriarchs and prophets, and also represented in various ways under the law (Genesis 3. 15, 12. 3, 18. 18, 22. 18; Deuteronomy 18. 15-18; 2 Samuel 7. 12; Romans 1. 2-3; etc. ) Thus, the Son is fully contained in the books of the Old Testament, so that the men of that time were saved by faith in the coming of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, there has never been and will never be a single covenant of salvation between God and men (Hebrews 13. 8; Romans 3. 25; 1 Timothy 2. 5-6; 1 Corinthians 10. 1-11, 1. 7-10, see the complete epistle to the Hebrews). The substance of this covenant is Jesus Christ. But, under the circumstances, there are two Testaments or “Pactos”. We have its authentic titles and content, which we call “Sacred Scripture” and “Word of God”. Is that your name? And the other one?New? (Jeremiah 31:31-32; Hebrews 8. 6). The second is much better than the first, because the first announced Jesus Christ, but with him from afar and hidden under the shadows and figures that disappeared at his coming; in itself is the sun of righteousness (John 4:23-24).
It was necessary for the Ombudsman of this covenant and reconciliation to be a man of truth, but without any stain of original sin or another, for the following reasons: First, as God is very righteous and man is the object of his wrath, for the cause of natural corruption (Timothy 2. 5; John 1. 14; Romans 1. 3; Galatians 4. 4; Romans 8. 2-4; 1 Corinthians 1. 30), in order to reconcile men with God, it was necessary that there be a real man in whom the ruins caused by this corruption were fully restored.
Second, man is ordained to do all the righteousness that God demands of him to be glorified (Matthew 3. 15; Romans 5. 18; 2 Corinthians 5. 21), so there had to be a man who did all that was right to please God.
Third, all men are covered by an infinite number of sins, inside and out; therefore, they are subject to the curse of God (Romans 3:23-26; Isaiah 53: 11; etc. ) So there had to be a man who fully satisfied God’s righteousness in order to pacify it.
Finally, no corrupt man could, in any case, begin to carry out any of these actions: first, he would need a Redeemer for himself (Romans 8. 2; 2 Corinthians 5. 21; Hebrews 4. 15; 1 Peter 2. 22, 3. 18; 1 John 2. 1- It would take much for himself before he could redeem others, or be able to do something pleasing or satisfying to God (Romans 14:23, Hebrews 11:6). Therefore, the Ombudsman and Redeemer of men had to be a true man in body and soul, and yet be completely pure and free from all sin.
This same Ombudsman had to be the true God and not just a man (John 1:14; etc. ); at least for the following reasons:
First, if I were not true God, I would not be a Savior at all, but would need a Savior (Isaiah 43. 11; Osseas 13. 4; Jeremiah 17. 5-8).
Secondly, it is necessary, from the righteousness of God, to have a relationship between crime and its punishment. The crime is infinite, because it is committed against someone whose majesty is infinite. Therefore, here is a need for infinite satisfaction; for the same reason, whoever executed him as a true man had to be so infinite, that is, true God.
Third, being the wrath of infinite God, no human or angelic force was known that could bear such weight without being crushed (John 14. 10, 12, 31, 16, 32; 2 Corinthians 5. 19). Sin, the world, and death, united to God’s wrath, had to be not only a perfect man, but also a true God.
Finally, to better show this incomprehensible goodness, God did not want His grace to be like our crime; he wanted, where sin was abundant, grace was abundant (Romans 5:15-21). Therefore, although the first Adam, the author of our sin, was created in the image of God, he was earthly, because his fragility was evident (1 Corinthians 15:45-47). On the contrary, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, for whom we are saved, although he is a true and perfect man, is nevertheless the Lord of heaven, that is, the true God. For in essence the fulness of the Deity dwells in it (Colossus 2:9). If Adam’s disobedience brought us down, the righteousness of Jesus Christ gives us more security than before. We are waiting for the life acquired by Jesus Christ, which is better than the life we lost in Adam; just as Jesus Christ defeats Adam.
Therefore, we confess that in order to fulfill the covenant promised to the former fathers and foretold by the mouth of the prophets (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1,31,35,55,70), the true, unique and eternal Son of God the Father (Romans 1. 3; John 17. 5; 16. 28; Philippians 2. 6-7) took the form of a servant, at the time appointed by the Father, conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit and without any human operation (Matthew 1. 20; Luke 1. 28,35 took human nature with all its weaknesses except sin (Hebrews 4. 15, 5. 2).
We confess that, from the moment of this conception, the person of the Son was inseparably linked to human nature (Matthew 1. 20; Luke 1. 31,32,35,42,43) There are no two Sons of God, no two Jesus Christ. , but one is strictly the Son of God, Jesus Christ. At all times, the properties of each of the two natures remain intact and distinct. For the divinity separated from humanity, or humanity separated from divinity or one confused with the other, it would not benefit us.
Jesus Christ is therefore the true God and true man (Matthew 1:21-23; Luke 1. 35). It has a true human soul and a true human body formed by the substance of the Virgin Mary and the power of the Holy Spirit. Here matter was conceived and born of this virgin Mary, virgin, I say, before and after birth, and all this was done for our redemption.