Saturday after Ad te levavi, the First Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 5, 2020 by under
Scripture: Romans 1:16-20 (NKJV)
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Devotion
God has revealed Himself to mankind in two places: nature and the Scriptures. That which we learn from nature we call the “natural knowledge of God,” because we can learn it by observing the design of God’s creation. That which we learn from the Scriptures we call the “revealed knowledge of God,” because we cannot know these things about God unless He teaches us about Himself in His Word.
The natural knowledge of God is very limited. Man can know, in some sense, that God exists, that He is almighty, and that there is a judgement for sin. But God’s mercy, His love, and His plan of salvation are completely unknowable through nature, as St. Paul says elsewhere: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him” (1 Cor. 2:14). Also, the Formula of Concord confesses, “The knowledge of God derived from the Gospel is far different from that which is taught and learned from the Law, because even the heathen had to a certain extent, from the natural law, a knowledge of God, although they neither knew Him aright nor glorified Him” (FC-SD II:22).
Therefore, God gave us His Word so that we would know Him according to His Gospel. This Advent, the Church gives thanks for the coming of the Christ, who is the Word made flesh. He has revealed God to us, and especially revealed His salvation through faith in Christ.
Prayer: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
