Forde: Begin Anew Each Day

As I continue to understand where Gerhard Forde is coming from, I'm discovering that he had a regrettably one-sided view of atonement that brings a helpful emphasis on the death and resurrection dimension to atonement while unhelpfully dismissing the payment of debt/satisfaction dimension. I also wonder if he misunderstood Luther himself at a few points; but that's a judgment I'm not yet competent to make.

Anyway, back to the point of this post: this guy has lots of wonderful things to say. Just got in the mail his Where God Meets Man: Luther's Down-to-Earth Approach to the Gospel and this week I'll be putting up two or three rejoicing-prompting statements the book. Here's one.

In this life the Old Adam is still with us and is all too much alive. That is why the faith Luther spoke of had to be renewed every day. . . .

[T]he voice is sure to sound anew in countless subtle ways. . . . A theologian of the cross knows that the only way to deal with such problems is, as Luther said, to go every day to the cross, and begin again. . . . Faith in the gospel has to be renewed each day. Yesterday's faith tends to slip into mere theory. The voice of the law sounds again. Each day we must hear anew that Christ is the end of the law and the gift of new life. (p. 40)

Amen.