Something You Could Not Have Guessed

 

One of the greatest college football games ever played took place on November 23, 1984. Boston College vs. Miami at the Orange Bowl. It went back and forth the whole way, and finally came down to one legendary play, a 65 yard Hail Mary pass from Doug Flutie to Gerald Phelan for a 47-45 Boston College victory.

What followed was a scene of total chaos and sheer pandemonium. No one could believe what had just happened. People were running wildly all over the field. Players were experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Reporters were trying to process and make sense of what they had just witnessed. 

Brent Musburger, the lead announcer for CBS, didn't see who caught the winning touchdown. No one in the booth could figure out who caught it either. They had to have someone in the production truck tell them that it was Gerald Phelan. Not even Doug Flutie saw who caught his game winning pass. He knew someone must have caught it because all of his teammates were jumping up and down like crazy. Only later in the locker room did Flutie find out that it was his best friend and roommate, Gerald Phelan. 

You won't hear stories like this right after an epic game or monumental event occurs. These are the kinds of stories that get passed on later as people try to figure out what actually happened. In the immediate aftermath there is all of the motion, emotion, and commotion of the moment. No one is quite sure what is going on or what to make of it. It takes time for the personal stories and individual accounts to surface and take shape.

The same goes for the resurrection appearances of Jesus in the Gospels. At first blush, the details seem chaotic, confusing, perhaps even contradictory. There are worried women, multiple Marys, disbelieving disciples, fearful followers. Jesus is appearing and disappearing, showing up on the road, walking through walls. Where are they now? In Galilee? In Judea? What's going on?!  

Let’s take a step back and think for a minute. If this is indeed the central event in all of human history, if the cross and empty tomb stand at the very crux of the cosmos, if the Risen Christ is ushering in a new kingdom and a new creation, then maybe we shouldn't be surprised to see some earth-shaking and mind-blowing things taking place. Maybe we should actually expect some strange and supernatural events to occur. Also, if the stories had a vanilla quality about them and all sounded exactly the same, the whole thing would reek of collusion. The truth is, each Gospel writer had their own unique perspective based upon eyewitness accounts of the people who were there and experienced it firsthand.

No, the Easter stories don't always fit nicely into our 21st century way of thinking and understanding. But if we read the Gospel accounts carefully, we begin to realize that the story of the resurrection has a real ring of truth to it, an air of authenticity, a vibrant veracity.

CS Lewis famously wrote in Mere Christianity, "Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion that you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that odd twist about it that real things have." 

God has a funny way of taking our expectations and presuppositions and turning them on their head. His  mysterious ways always seem to turn the things of this world upside down and inside out. Like Miami's defense before that famous “Hail Mary” pass. They didn't think little Doug Flutie could throw the football that far. They were wrong. Just like the devil and the powers of darkness. They didn't think Jesus had the power to rise from the dead. They were wrong. And the rest is history. 

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared also to me. (1 Cor. 15)

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Lord Of All

 

The mausoleum of Caesar Augustus in Rome has recently been reopened to the public after many years of neglect. This place of the dead, located north of the old city along the Tiber River, is back on the tourist map and alive with activity once again.

Augustus, whose real name was Gaius Octavius (or Octavion), was a man of great ambition. This is evidenced by the fact that he began designing his own mausoleum even before he was named the emperor! It is the largest cylindrical tomb in the world, originally crowned with a large bronze statue of the great leader, and surrounded by pillars and a plaque listing all of his accomplishments.  

Octavion's career began after the betrayal and murder of his famous great-uncle Julius Caesar by Brutus on March 15th (the Ides of March) in 44 BC. At the time, a comet appeared that was so bright it could be seen in the vicinity of Rome for an entire week. Most interpreted this cosmic event as proof that Caesar was a god. Octavian soon proclaimed his adopted father to be divine, and later titled himself to be a "son of god" when he became emperor in 27 BC. He would later change his name to Augustus, a title of ultimate majesty and divinity. The cult of emperor worship became firmly established under his reign, complete with inscriptions like, “Emperor Augustus Caesar, God and Lord”.

In a sense, Augustus did the kinds of things only gods can do. He brought peace to the empire through the "Pax Romana". He instilled unity out of the great diversity around the region. He established laws to ward off the chaos of warring hordes, and built roads to connect peoples and regions. No wonder the birthday of Augustus was hailed as a euangelion, a proclamation of good news. The emperor was the kyrios after all, the lord of the world, the one who claimed the allegiance and loyalty of subjects throughout the empire. When he would come in person to pay a visit to a colony or province, the word for his royal presence was parousia.

In the New Testament, a new kind of gospel message was introduced, the euangelion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the kyrios of the whole world. The mission of his apostolos was to bring the whole world, all nations, under the authority of this universal God and Lord. This euangelion was announced to all people, the good report of God’s forgiveness and salvation for all subjects in the kingdom who believe, whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, rich or poor, slave or free.

In this gospel message of the death and resurrection of the Son of God on behalf of sinners, the justice and mercy of the one true God is on full display, with the promise that in his parousia on the last day, all things in heaven and on earth will finally be revealed once and for all. Ultimately, there is only one Lord of the Universe, and he does not share power. If Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. 

The so-called god and lord Caesar Augustus died in 14 AD, on the 19th day of the 8th month. But the true Son of God and Lord of all, Jesus Christ, died and rose again from the dead in 33 AD, now risen and living, ruling and reigning over all things. Augustus may have been the “first citizen” (princeps civitatis), but Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and the firstborn of the dead, the “Living One.” 

The last words of Augustus were, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.” The last words of Jesus before his ascension were, "I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." 

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."  (Col. 1:15-20)

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Names of God

 

There is a lot of time, attention, and consideration given to the naming of a child. Why? Because names are important to us. Before my wife and I named our children, there were a whole host of names in the running for us to consider. There were male names, female names, family names, names suggested by friends. It was all a bit overwhelming. But we got through it somehow and have been blessed with three children in our family.

When our youngest was born, we named him Benjamin Joseph after the two youngest sons of Jacob and Rachel in the book of Genesis. Like most people, he’s had a number of nicknames over the years that define and describe him, who he is, what he does, what he is all about. His friends and close family members often use these names, but most people simply know him as Ben. 

Names are important to us and to God. There are a lot of names for God in the Bible. It may seem a bit overkill at first, but all of these names in Scripture are significant because they define and describe who God is, what he does, and what he is all about. They give us insight into his nature, person, and character.

Elohim is the first and most basic name used for God in the Old Testament. It’s merely the Hebrew word for “god,” but the way it is used in Scripture is typically in terms of Creator God or Almighty God. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1). Elohim is the One who was there at the beginning and who brought all things into existence. It’s interesting to note that Elohim is a plural noun that operates in a singular way. How can this Elohim God exist in plurality and operate in singularity? Could it be one God in three persons, perhaps?

Yahweh is God’s name, and the name for God used most often in the Bible. It first shows up in Genesis 2 when it comes time to talk about the crown of God’s creation, man and woman, Adam and Eve. The name Yahweh always shows up at important times in salvation history and in the story of God’s people. When God appears to Moses through the burning bush, he says of himself, “I AM WHO I AM ... Tell them I AM has sent me to you” (Ex 3:14). Yahweh always has been, is now, and always will be. He is always in the present to deliver and to save his people.

Adonai is the name for God that means “Lord.” Psalm 97 says that “God is the Lord over all the earth.” God is not only Elohim the creator, but also Adonai, the lord and ruler of all things. Adonai became the standard name for God used among the Jews, who considered God’s personal name of Yahweh too holy to be written or uttered.  

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angel Gabriel told Joseph what his name would be. “You are to give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 2). In Hebrew, Jesus’ name is Y’shua, or Joshua, which means “Yahweh saves.” Jesus is Yahweh incarnate, Yahweh in the flesh, sent from heaven to earth to save his people from their sins. From the womb to the tomb, from the cradle to the grave, Jesus’ name defines and describes who he is and what he is all about. 

At the end of his earthly ministry, before his ascension, Jesus finally reveals God’s true nature as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28). The God of the Bible is the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all things. Three in one and one in three, the holy and blessed Trinity. 

Names are important to us and to God. By the time this article is published, my son Ben and his wife Laura will be welcoming their first child into the world, a son. He will be given a name and will surely have plenty of nicknames along the way. But the most important name he will have is the one placed on him in the sanctuary and at the font, where through water and the word, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, he will be named a child of God.

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Prince of Peace

Peace is hard to come by these days. It seems to be in short supply. We seem to be more familiar with anxiety and despair than we are with peace and joy this year.

Sometimes the frustration we are experiencing can boil over as we raise our fist to the sky and cry out to God like the prophet Isaiah, “Why don’t you tear open the heavens and come down here! Come down and help get us out of this mess that we’re in! Come down and take out covid! Come down and bring a vaccine! Come down and bring peace on earth, goodwill to men! Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake with your presence!”

It’s easy for us to relate to this first part of Isaiah 64. It was easy for the Israelites to focus on it as well. Why? Because God actually did perform the awesome deeds Isaiah describes. The ground really did quake and shake, and the mountains really did tremble before his presence. The children of Israel saw God’s mighty acts for themselves when he worked miracles before Pharaoh through his servant Moses, and when he brought them out of the land of Egypt during the Exodus with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When God gave his people the law at the holy mountain of Sinai, there was fire and smoke and shaking and quaking. The people had witnessed and experienced God’s power and might in days of old, but now it seemed like he had all but forgotten them. There was no rest - and no peace - for the weary. 

Let’s go back to the way the ministry of Moses began. He had been living in exile as a shepherd in the wilderness when God showed up at Mt. Sinai to give him a plan and a purpose. God spoke to Moses by way of a burning bush that was on fire but not consumed. This was not a condemning fire of judgment, but a refining, sanctifying fire of mercy. It wasn’t just a plan and a purpose that God provided for Moses - it was his presence and his peace. “I AM has sent me to you.”

Later Elijah would be in much the same position before the Lord on Mt. Sinai. He had been on the run from evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel after he had defeated the prophets of Baal. He was having a pity party for himself because after all he had done for God and his people Israel, he felt like he was the only one left who feared God. And then, in the cleft of the rock, there was an earthquake, a mighty wind, and a great fire. But the presence of God wasn’t in any of those things. No, God’s presence came in a holy hush, a gentle whisper, a still small voice. God came to him to give him what he needed most: his presence and his peace. 

As we stumble through this crazy covid year, we may have some of the same feelings as Isaiah, Moses, and Elijah. Where are you God? Why don’t you care? Where are all of the other believers? Am I the only one left? Sometimes the peace that passes understanding is pretty hard to understand.    

And yet, amid our anxiety and despair, the passage from Isaiah 64 ends with these wonderful words of hope. “Oh Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay, you are the potter, we are all the work of your hand.” He is still our Father, and we are still his dear children. He is still in control, even though the world seems to be falling apart all around us. He is gently forming us and molding us into what he has created us to be. And in the refining fire of the kiln, through the trials and tribulations of this world, we are strengthened and cemented in our faith. 

The good news for us today is that the words of the prophet have been fulfilled. Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, and all the Old Testament saints finally had their prayers answered. God the Father remembered his promise long ago by sending the long-awaited Messiah, his one and only Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. 

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6).

He came down from heaven to earth to be born as a baby in Bethlehem, to live a perfect life and die a sacrificial death on the cross for us and for our salvation. As he did so, the Scriptures say that the curtain in the temple was torn in two, rent asunder from top to bottom, for no longer was there any barrier to separate God from his people.

“For he himself is our peace, who has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile us to God through the cross. He came and preached peace to those who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him, we have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Eph 2:14-18).

After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to the disciples in the upper room. He greeted them with one word, shalom, which means peace, of course. But when the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the very Prince of Peace, says shalom to you on Easter Sunday afternoon, it means so much more. 

“I am here now. All is well. Don’t be afraid. Everything is going to be okay. Behold, I am making all things new.” 

Christian peace is not the absence of problems, but it is the presence of God amid our pain and sorrows. Thanks be to God that Jesus has come to bring his presence and his peace to all people.

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faithful in the fire

 

The end of the church year is a funny thing. It’s the time of year when you’re not quite sure whether you’re at the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end, especially in a year like this one. I think we can all agree that the phrase “hindsight is 20/20” will have a whole new meaning from now on.

This is also the time of year (even in good times) when melancholy, depression, and despair can set in. As we see the years go by and the season’s pass, it can become easy for us to see our lives as just an exercise in futility. Just the same ol’ same ol’. Nothing lasts, nothing matters, nothing seems worthwhile. Like the poet who wrote that “nothing gold can stay.” Or the philosopher who said that life is just a bad joke. Or Shakespeare’s Macbeth, who said that life is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, that signifies nothing.

So what’s the answer? Where do we go to find meaning and purpose and significance for our lives? The Bible. The Scriptures. God’s Holy Word to us and for us: this is where we flee for comfort and hope in times such as these, as we are reminded that there is a plan and a purpose because there is a God. We may be lost and lonely at times - but God’s Word reminds us that we are never alone.

Just look at the lives of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Those were their Hebrew names anyway. Most people know them by their Babylonian names from the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

These three young men were captives in Babylon along with Daniel in the 6th century BC, and the authorities told them that they had better get with the program. The King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had built a huge statue (probably of himself) that was over 100 feet tall and commanded everyone in the kingdom to bow down and worship it. That included all of the Jewish exiles from the land of Israel who were there living in captivity at the time. They were all supposed to bow down and worship this thing. And if you didn’t? Well, let’s just say it wouldn’t end well.

Typically at this point in the story, we are told of the courage and faithfulness that the three young Israelites displayed in the face of imminent danger and threat of death. But if we go back one chapter to Daniel 2, we find the real source of their strength. 

“Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: ‘Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, and have made known what we asked of you” (Dan. 2:17-23).

The young men were praying to Yahweh, the God of Israel, for divine deliverance, not merely because they believed him to be the one true God, but because he had proven himself faithful to his people in the past. He was the One who had made a promise to Abraham and his descendants, the One who had brought the children of Israel out of Egypt through his servant Moses, and the One who led his people into the promised land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. Even when foreign enemies came in to ravage the land and take the people away as captives, God was still with his people and faithful to his promise.  

That’s why, when Nebuchadnezzar threatened to fry them alive in the fiery furnace, they were able to give such a bold and brave answer. “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve can deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:16-18).

Although theirs is an impressive show of faith, the display of God’s faithfulness to them is far greater. After all, faith is only as strong as the object in which it is placed. Fortunately for them, the object in this case is very great indeed, so great that not even the heavens above can hold him, let alone a temple or an idol made by human hands. And yet, in mercy, he deigns to dwell with his people, to deliver and to save.

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isa. 43.)

King Nebuchadnezzar’s anger finally boiled over, so he turned up the ovens and had the three men thrown into the flaming furnace. As the king looked on, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Did we not cast three men into the fire? Look, I see four men in the furnace, unbound, unharmed, and the fourth one looks like a son of god!” 

How good to know that wherever two or three are gathered in God’s name, there is always a fourth! And who is he? Nebuchadnezzar calls him a son of god. Daniel and Ezekiel call him the son of man. But it’s the same person. This son of God and son of man is none other than the second person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ himself. 

This is a preview and foreshadowing of the greatest act of faithfulness and deliverance in history, when 500 some years later, this God/Man went through the fires of hell for us and for all on an old rugged cross atop a rocky hill outside of Jerusalem. In the midst of his torment he cried out, “Eli Eli lama sabachthani! My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And when it was all over, he uttered one word, “Tetelestai.” It is finished, the debt is paid, and it’s paid in full. 

Because Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross in our place, we can rest assured that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Because Jesus was abandoned and alone - we never will be.  

“I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28).

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Who Am I?

 

"Who Am I" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Who am I? They often tell me

I stepped from my cells confinement

Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,

Like a squire from his country house.

Who am I? They often tell me

I used to speak to my warders

Freely and friendly and clearly,

As though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me

I bore the days of misfortune

Equably, smilingly, proudly,

like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which other men tell of?

Or am I only what I myself know of myself?

Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,

Struggling for breath, as if hands were compressing my throat,

Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,

Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,

Tossing in expectations of great events,

Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,

Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,

Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I? This or the Other?

Am I one person today and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,

And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?

Or is something within me still like a beaten army

Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine!

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righteous freedom

No matter what he tried, he couldn’t do it. Whether it was fasting, praying, confessing, self-flagellating - nothing seemed to help. He just couldn’t attain the righteousness of God on his own. Instead of feeling closer to God, it seemed like he kept getting further away. Even worse, it almost felt like God had become his enemy.

As a monk in the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, Martin Luther zealously sought the righteousness of God. “If ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery, it was I”. He would later realize that the righteousness of God is not something that man must strive to attain, but a gift that is to be received. God had already brought down to him what he was trying so hard to reach up and grasp.

When Luther finally came to the end of himself, he found Christ’s righteousness right there waiting for him. When he turned to his mentor Staupitz for counsel on the matter, he was told to cling to Christ and recite the verse from Psalm 119, “I am yours Lord, save me.”   

When God made a promise to Abraham in Genesis 15 that he would have a son, Moses wrote that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” What did Abraham have? He didn’t seem to have much of anything. He was an old man married to a barren woman. He was a wandering Aramean from the pagan land of Ur. He didn’t have a house, a land, a church, or a Bible. All he had was God’s promise. It doesn’t seem like much, but as it turns out, it was more than enough. In fact, it was more than he would ever need.    

Both the Old and New Testaments reveal to us that God saves his people by grace through faith in his promise. The Old Testament saints were saved as they looked forward in faith and believed in the promise of the coming Messiah. New Testament believers are saved by faith as we look back and believe in the Messiah who has come. God declares a person righteous in his sight by faith in his Son, or as Luther put it, a simple “trust of the heart.” We receive that faith by the power of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, the word and the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper).

The two most important things to God in the Old Testament, justice and righteousness, are fulfilled in the person and work of his son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world. By the passive righteousness of his sacrificial death on the cross for us, we are justified, forgiven, and set free. And by the active righteousness of his holy life in our place, we are given his purity and holiness as a royal robe of righteousness to stand blameless before God the Father in heaven. 

Is it any wonder that when Luther discovered this stunning truth as he studied the book of Romans in the cloister tower, that he felt as if the gates of heaven had finally been opened to him?  

I meditated night and day on those words until at last, by the mercy of God, I paid attention to their context: “The righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written: ‘The righteous person lives by faith.’” I began to understand that in this verse the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous person lives by a gift of God, that is by faith. I began to understand that this verse means that the righteousness of God is revealed through the Gospel, but it is a passive righteousness, i.e. that by which the merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written: ‘The righteous person lives by faith.’ All at once I felt that I had been born again and entered into the gates of paradise itself. Immediately I saw the whole of Scripture in a different light. I ran through the Scriptures from memory and found that other terms had similar meanings; the work of God, that is, what God works in us; the power of God, by which he makes us powerful; the wisdom of God, by which he makes us wise; the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God. I exalted this sweetest word, ‘the righteousness of God,’ with as much love as before I had hated it with hate. This phrase of Paul was for me the very gate of paradise. (Luther’s Works 34)

The gates of paradise are opened up to us today as well. By our baptism and belief in Jesus, through his dying on the cross and rising from the grave, we are now offered free forgiveness and full salvation by our gracious God. We not only experience God’s tender mercy by not getting what we truly deserve (death and hell), we are also the recipients of his amazing grace by getting the riches that we don’t deserve (eternal life, heaven).  

Our debt of sin and guilt is fully paid for on behalf of Christ, and our account is actually credited with his perfect righteousness. His purity, piety, and perfection become our own. We now stand holy and blameless before our Heavenly Father as his own dear children, and we are set free to serve our neighbor in love. Luther writes in his explanation of the Third Article of the Creed, “that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.”

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith” (Rom 1:16-17).

“If the Son set you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

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