Back to chapter
← Belgic Confession of Faith
22 The Righteousness of Faith 23 The Justification of Sinners 24 The Sanctification of Sinners 25 The Fulfillment of the Law 26 The Intercession of Christ

Belgic Confession of Faith · Article 24

The Sanctification of Sinners

Previous Section Next Section

Türkçe

Bu gerçek imanın, Tanrı’nın Kelâmı’nı işitmek ve Kutsal Ruh’un işi aracılığıyla insanda meydana geldiğine; insanı yeniden doğurduğuna, onu “yeni bir insan” yaptığına; ona “yeni yaşamı” yaşattığına ve onu günahın köleliğinden özgür kıldığına inanırız. Bu nedenle aklayan bu iman, insanı dindar ve kutsal bir yaşam sürmeye karşı soğutmaz; tam tersine, bu iman onların içinde öyle etkin olur ki, bu iman olmadan insanlar Tanrı sevgisinden ötürü değil—yalnızca kendilerini sevdikleri için ve mahkûm edilme korkusuyla işler yaparlar.

Bu nedenle bu kutsal imanın insanda meyvesiz olması imkânsızdır; çünkü burada söz konusu olan boş bir iman değil, Kutsal Yazı’nın “sevgiyle işleyen iman” dediği imandır; bu iman insanı Tanrı’nın Kelâmı’nda buyurduğu işleri yapmaya sevk eder. Bu işler, imanın iyi kökünden çıktıkları için iyidirler ve Tanrı’nın gözünde kabul edilirler; çünkü hepsi O’nun lütfuyla kutsanmıştır. Yine de bu işler aklanmamıza hiçbir katkıda bulunmaz; çünkü iyi işler yapmadan önce bile Mesih’e imanla aklanmışızdır. Aksi hâlde bu işler gerçekten iyi olamazdı—tıpkı iyi bir ağaç olmadan iyi meyve olamayacağı gibi. Bu nedenle iyi işler yaparız; ancak bunları bir hak kazanmak için yapmayız—hangi hakkı kazanabiliriz ki? Tam tersine, yaptığımız her iyi iş için Tanrı’ya borçluyuz; çünkü istemeyi de yapmayı da bizde etkin kılan Tanrı’nın kendisidir. Bu yüzden şu söz aklımızda olmalıdır: “Size verilen buyrukların hepsini yerine getirdikten sonra, ‘Biz değersiz kullarız; yalnızca yapmamız gerekeni yaptık’ deyin.” Bununla birlikte Tanrı’nın iyi işleri ödüllendirdiğini inkâr etmeyiz; ancak biliriz ki Tanrı bu ödüllendirmede kendi armağanlarını lütfuyla taçlandırır. Ayrıca biz iyi işler yapsak bile kurtuluşumuzu bu işlere dayandırmayız; çünkü yaptığımız hiçbir iş bedenimizin lekesinden tamamen arınmış değildir ve cezayı hak eder. Diyelim ki tek bir iyi iş gösterebilsek bile, tek bir günahın hatırlanması Tanrı’nın o işi reddetmesi için yeterlidir. Eğer kurtuluşumuz Kurtarıcımızın çektiği acının ve ölümünün liyakati üzerine dayanmıyor olsaydı, vicdanlarımız sürekli kuşku içinde kalır, bir o yana bir bu yana savrulur ve derin bir sıkıntıyla işkence görürdü.

English

We believe that this true faith, produced in us by the hearing of God's Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates us and makes us new creatures, (2 Cor. 5:17) causing us to live a new life (Rom. 6:4) and freeing us from the slavery of sin. Therefore, far from making people cold toward living in a pious and holy way, this justifying faith, quite to the contrary, so works within them that apart from it they will never do a thing out of love for God but only out of love for themselves and fear of being condemned. So then, it is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being, seeing that we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls "faith working through love," (Gal. 5:6) which moves people to do by themselves the works that God has commanded in the Word. These works, proceeding from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable to God, since they are all sanctified by God's grace. Yet they do not count toward our justification- for by faith in Christ we are justified, even before we do good works. Otherwise they could not be good, any more than the fruit of a tree could be good if the tree is not good in the first place. So then, we do good works, but not for merit- for what would we merit? Rather, we are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not God to us, since God "is at work in [us], enabling [us] both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13) - thus keeping in mind what is written: "When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.'" (Luke 17:10) Yet we do not wish to deny that God rewards good works- but it is by grace that God crowns these gifts. Moreover, although we do good works we do not base our salvation on them; for we cannot do any work that is not defiled by our flesh and also worthy of punishment. And even if we could point to one, memory of a single sin is enough for God to reject that work. So we would always be in doubt, tossed back and forth without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be tormented constantly if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior.

We believe that this true faith, produced in us by the hearing of God's Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates us and makes us new creatures, (2 Cor. 5:17) causing us to live a new life (Rom. 6:4) and freeing us from the slavery of sin. Therefore, far from making people cold toward living in a pious and holy way, this justifying faith, quite to the contrary, so works within them that apart from it they will never do a thing out of love for God but only out of love for themselves and fear of being condemned. So then, it is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being, seeing that we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls "faith working through love," (Gal. 5:6) which moves people to do by themselves the works that God has commanded in the Word. These works, proceeding from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable to God, since they are all sanctified by God's grace. Yet they do not count toward our justification- for by faith in Christ we are justified, even before we do good works. Otherwise they could not be good, any more than the fruit of a tree could be good if the tree is not good in the first place. So then, we do good works, but not for merit- for what would we merit? Rather, we are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not God to us, since God "is at work in [us], enabling [us] both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13) - thus keeping in mind what is written: "When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.'" (Luke 17:10) Yet we do not wish to deny that God rewards good works- but it is by grace that God crowns these gifts. Moreover, although we do good works we do not base our salvation on them; for we cannot do any work that is not defiled by our flesh and also worthy of punishment. And even if we could point to one, memory of a single sin is enough for God to reject that work. So we would always be in doubt, tossed back and forth without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be tormented constantly if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior.

Highlight:
Remove?

Personalize your reading

Create an account to take notes, follow reading plans, and highlight important passages.

Create Account Log In
← Article 23 Article 25 →

Share:

X / Twitter WhatsApp

Font Size

Width

Theme