appeasement, and mediation. This someone needed to bear the damna-
tion that justice required; and no one could bear this except God’s only
Son. After this was accomplished, access opened up to God the Father on
account of the Son, for we say, ‘Father, have mercy on us on account of
your Son.’”
He added, “I continue, as always, to perceive this point of view as in
accord with reason and Scripture. How else could God the Father be
approached except through our faith in the Son’s merit?”
[ 2 ] As I heard this, I felt astounded that he would say it accords with
reason and Scripture when in reality it goes against reason and Scripture.
In fact, I candidly told him so.
With sudden anger he countered, “How can you say that?”
So I opened my mind to him and said, “Surely it goes against reason
to think that God the Father lapsed from an attitude of grace toward the
human race, rejected us, and cut off communication with us. Isn’t divine
grace an attribute of the divine essence? If so, then to lapse from an atti-
tude of grace would be to lapse from the divine essence, and lapsing from
the divine essence would mean that God wouldn’t be God anymore. Can
God be alienated from himself? Believe me, as grace on God’s part is infi-
nite, it is also eternal. (We are capable, of course, of losing God’s grace if
we don’t accept it.) If grace were to leave God, that would be the end of
all heaven and the whole human race. That is why grace on God’s part
goes on forever, a grace not only toward angels and people but also
toward devils in hell. Since what I have said accords with reason, how can
you say our only access to God the Father is through faith in the merit of
his Son, when there is perpetual access through grace?
[ 3 ] “And why do you speak of access to God the Father on account of
the Son? Why not throughthe Son? Isn’t the Son the Mediator and Sav-
ior? Why wouldn’t you go to the Mediator and Savior himself? He is
both God and human. Does anyone on earth go straight to some czar,
monarch, or member of the royal family? You need a liaison to introduce
you. The Lord came into the world to introduce us to the Father. There
is no access except through the Lord. The access is perpetual when you
go directly to the Lord himself, since he is in the Father and the Father is
in him. Search in Scripture now and you’ll see that this accords with it,
while your way to the Father goes against Scripture as it also goes against
reason. I’ll also tell you that it is outrageous to climb up to God the
Father instead of going through the One who is close to the Father’s
heart and who alone is with him. Haven’t you read John 14 : 6 ?”
singke
(singke)
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