Subject: Have you ever read a book by a Catholic? |
Bible Note: Tim, What constitutes the "obedience of faith" that opens and closes Romans? "Of" indicates that obedience is an integral component "of" faith, not some separate entity, and obedience is not a passive quality. Paul and James compliment one another, they do not contradict. They are both using Abraham as the example of obedient saving faith that was more than a passive virtue. God does not call us to passivity and his grace and faith are not passive gifts, they are transforming and dynamic. Paul himself uses the example of the children of Hagar and Sarah to demonstrate the difference between the obedience of faith and obedience under the law. We are children of God and our obedience is different from the servile obedience of slave children and has a different motivation and a different reward, even though it is a reward for a gift that is exercised. Emmaus |