7 August 2024
The enemies referred to here are enemies of the cause of God, who lay
hands on us for the sake of God. It is therefore nowhere a matter of personal
conflict. … therefore he must dismiss from his own mind all thought of personal
revenge. …The prayer for the vengeance of God is the prayer for the execution
of his righteousness in the judgment of sin. … I myself, with my sin, belong
under this judgment. I have no right to want to hinder this judgment. … God’s
vengeance did not strike sinners, but the one sinless man who stood in the
sinner’s place, namelt God’s own Son. … that was the end of all phony thoughts
about the love of God which do not take sin seriously. … Only in the cross of
Jesus Christ is the love of God to be found. Thus the imprecatory psalm leads
to the cross of Jesus and to the love of God which forgives enemies. I cannot
forgive the enemies of God out of my own resources. Only the crucified Christ
can do that, and I through him. … I leave the vengeance to God and ask him to
execute his righteousness to all his enemies… ”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Imprecatory Psalm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment