God’s Spirit and his fruit – holy hypocrites have not once known nor yet tasted how sweet they are
This is Paul’s order: that good works grow out of the Spirit, the Spirit comes by faith, and faith comes by hearing the word of God, when the glad tidings and promises that God has made to us in Christ are preached truly, and received in the ground of the heart.
Of this – God’s Spirit and his fruit – our holy hypocrites have not once known, nor yet tasted how sweet they are, though they invent many good works out of their own imagination, in order to be justified thereby.
In their works there is not one crumb of true faith, or spiritual love, or of inward joy, peace or quietness of conscience, seeing they do not have the word of God for them, that such works please God. But they are even the rotten fruit of a rotten tree.
— William Tyndale, speaking about Romans 5 in his Prologue to the Book of Romans.
Ps Jeff Crippen talks about holy hypocrites and what it means to love your enemies in his sermon The Law Is Spiritual.
He is preaching on Matt 5:38-43 but he also brings in 2 Tim 3:1-5; Psalm 139, 1 Cor 5:11-13 and 1 Corinthians 13.
I urge all our readers to listen to this sermon. It is a tour de force.
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William Tyndale’s Prologue to Romans is given on pp 248-59 of the October Testament. The October Testament is Ruth Magnusson Davis’s gentle updating of the NT of the 1537 Matthew Bible.
You can also read William Tyndale’s Prologue to Romans gently updated into modern English by Ruth M Davis here: Prologue to Romans
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- Posted in: Christianity
- Tagged: Corinthians, false Christians, Gospel, hope, Jeff Crippen, Matthew, Pharisees biblical/modern, Psalms, Romans, Ruth Magnusson Davis, sermons, Timothy
A Cry For Justice 
This sermon was very helpful in explaining how Jesus wants us to deal with the complicated relationships we find ourselves in during these last days. God gives us a new heart to love, yet He wants us to be wise in how we deal with false prophets and Pharisees.
Thank you, Pastor Jeff, for sharing these truths in order to help us navigate through these waters.
Good message, which was my ‘church gathering’ this morning (rather than a brick and mortar church)…because of the very points made in the sermon. After decades of being a believer in the visible church, it wasn’t until Pastor Crippen’s and Barbara’s (Scriptural) teachings about the large number of unregenerate people in the pews and leadership, and the active presence of evil in the ‘c’hurch, that things started to “click.” No wonder I never fully felt plugged in with the majority there. It’s because the Spirit truly indwells me and there was a constant, underlying tension with those who SAID they were Christ’s but actually aren’t.
I also like the point about the Beatitudes & Sermon on the Mount NOT being intended as a legalistic formula for holy living, but rather a description of the outward signs of the heart of a truly regenerate person. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for posting. A most interesting preacher!
William Tyndale’s prologues are sweet food for the Christian soul!