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Can you keep all of God's law of love perfectly?  No.  I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor. It is obvious that the confession of the catechism: "No. I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor " will face opposition.  That there is much that falls short in our love for God and the neighbor will likely not meet any resistance.  That we have given to God and men what is theirs and in that sense have practiced righteousness, only a few superficial persons would maintain.  Something completely different, however, is the question of whether we could even properly speak of hating,  or at least of being inclined by nature to hate.  When we consider Scripture there can be no doubt that this confession is possible, as we read: the sinful mind is hostile to God (Rom.8:7). Nevertheless, there may well be difficulties also among us when we focus on the Holy Spirit’s work in all men, believers and unbelievers.  Is there only a conquerin...

There is a love for ourselves in which we rob ourselves of God –  a sinful self-indulgence, which can express itself in the spiritual as well as in the physical dimension of our life.  There is a satisfaction with ourselves in personal pride, but also and most detestably in a so-called spiritual pride,  such as when a person boasts of his knowledge of and relationship with God.  The equilibrium of our lives then lies within our own self.  Almost unnoticed at times, we then slip from resting in God to finding such rest in ourselves. Then we are, as far as our spiritual side is concerned, not in God’s service and we do not love ourselves for God’s sake.  In fact, we do not see that also as to the spiritual side of us we must be entirely from God and through God and to God.  That wrong self-love also can show up in the physical part of our existence.  We can misuse our body in many different ways,  not only as pride in bodily strength and a boas...

According to God's law, our love has its norm in God’s love.  God’s love for us however is love for His own sake.  Also in God’s love for us He seeks Himself, even as in all things He reveals Himself.  Thus, God’s love for us is the norm of our love for Him.  God’s love for us does however include our salvation,  and in this way God’s love is indeed a norm for us.  The law of God does command us to have a certain self-love,  yet God must always be first in the intent of our love. With that love of God for Himself we must measure our love for Him. Love for God for God’s sake ought to be the dominating factor in our life.  Without that supreme motive all in our life is vain.  Not only must there be love for God but also in order to be pure, He needs to be our objective in the first place.  We may never lose sight of God, even as God never forgets Himself.  Therefore, it needs to be a love that takes hold of us completely:  and th...

When the law is the law of God's love, faith is presumed in its commandments.  This surely can be seen in the preface of the law, I am the LORD your God.  It is only by faith that He is known as our God.  In the same manner the summary of the law states, you shall love the LORD your God.  The fact is that no love for God is possible except when we know Him as our God, since we can love Him only in His love.  When He is not made known to us in His love, we can only flee from Him.  Only by faith is He revealed to us in His love.  Thus in the requirement of the law faith is presumed.  The law is the law of love, but behind its requirement is the demand to have faith. However, that does not take away that God places the command to love Him before all people.  But He also comes to all people with the demand to have faith. That pagans cannot come to faith because they do not have the Word revelation, is their fault.  In the beginning God gave ...

What does the God’s law require of us?  Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,  and with all your soul,  and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment. The law as it is confessed here is the law of the LORD, the God of the covenant.  The preface of the law states, I am the LORD your God,  and in the summary of the law we read, You shall love the LORD your God.  The law is the covenant law.  We need to enter more fully yet into the idea that the law is the law of the covenant, since that is also decisive for the knowledge of sin. Everyone has at least some notion of the law when in certain actions one’s conscience bothers him.  Yet, what meaning does this twinge of conscience have for the true knowledge of sin, as it is meant here?  Again, we cannot draw a straight line from one to the other, when the accusation of the conscience does not, of its ow...

From where do you know your sins and misery?  From the law of God. The knowledge of misery is a knowing by faith  or as we might also call it: a faith knowledge.  We come to know this in the relationship of faith in Jesus Christ, and without that relationship it does not exist.  With that we are assured that there is no knowledge of misery,  in the sense that it is meant here,  without the knowledge of redemption.  Faith focuses on the whole of God’s Word and can never accept one aspect of the truth of God without the other.  We can never submit in faith to the judgment of God without that same faith taking hold of the gospel of redemption.  God’s Word and faith are certainly distinct, but faith from its very beginning embraces God’s entire revelation in its various dimensions,  even if it is only in embryo.  Therefore, we cannot possibly address the matter of our misery except in terms of the knowledge of faith.  Without faith...

What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort of belonging to Jesus?  First, how great my sins and misery are;  Second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery;  Third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.  In order to live and die in the joy and comfort of belonging to Jesus,  I need to confess three characteristics.  I have to be displeased with myself. This is one virtue.  I must have faith in deliverance. That is another.  Moreover, I must also know that I have a serious intention of living a grateful life.  In my confession I echo and repeat God’s Word.  The Word of God tells me that I am completely sinful, and that I am being overpowered by that Word, so that I no longer can or want to contradict it.  God’s Word also teaches me that I must be displeased with myself; and thus I make confession of the Word of God that has conquered me.  Romans 3:9,10   What the...