he will know that, just as this Word nourishes him as the Bread of Heaven, so too, as the word of absolution, it purifies and absolves him. He needs this assurance because he can never measure up to the immense demands made of him. God will always have to supply the substance, the greater part; He will always have to support him in his inability, his failure, and overlook his penchant for slipping back; He will look at man’s feeble goodness in the light of the Son’s perfect goodness. This, then, is the state of the redeemed in this world. It is meant to spur him on to simple gratitude to his
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