Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Entrusted To Him Who Judges Justly

"Without entrusting oneself to the God who judges justly, it will hardly be possible to follow the crucified Messiah and refuse to retaliate when abused. The certainty of God's just judgment at the end of history is the presupposition for the renunciation of violence in the middle of it."
- Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, page 302.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

1 comment:

Chris Brauns said...

This principle is so foundational when dealing with unrepentant offenders.

From prison, before being murdered, Bonhoeffer wrote to a friend,

". . . it is only when God’s wrath and vengeance are hanging as grim realities over the heads of one’s enemies that something of what it means to love and forgive them can touch our hearts."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a letter to Eberhard Bethge