Autonomy

Monday, August 6, 2007

Reading through Future Grace I find it absolutely wonderful how Piper opens up the idols preventing future grace ("all-satisfying admiration" [p97]) particularly pride.

Every turning from God--for anything--presumes a kind of autonomy or independence that is in essence of pride. Turning from God assumes that one knows better than God. Thus pride lies at the root of every turning from God. It is the root of every act of distrust toward God. Or, more accurately, pride is not so much the root as it is the essence of unbelief, and its remedy is faith in future grace ("all-satisfying admiration").... In Jeremiah 9:23 God says, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches". In those three phrases God names his great competitors for the boast of the human heart. [p87]

In the next few days I'll be digging deeper into each of those.