"They have the form of godliness but deny the power thereof" (2 Tim. 3:5). Because men call themselves Christians and yet do not act as Christians, Christ is denied, mocked, despised, insulted, beaten, crucified, cut off, and killed as the Epistle to Hebrews 6:6 states that some men crucify and mock the Son of God again. The holy prophet Daniel foresaw that-in the last days Christ would be cut off (Dan. 9:26). This prophecy was fulfilled at the crucifixion in Jerusalem when the Jews cried: Crucify him, crucify him. Indeed, Christ is daily crucified and cut off with the result that one is hardly able to see him, that is, his holy noble life any longer. Where Christ’s life is not, Christ is not, even if one speaks many words concerning faith and doctrine. What is Christian faith without a Christian life? A tree without fruits, as the Apostle Jude calls the false apostle (Jude 12). One finds the whole world filled with these now. Therefore the Lord says in Luke 18:8: When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Johann Arndt

The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 9:12–13: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” In this the Lord tells us that he calls the sinner but [he calls him] to repentance. It follows, therefore, that no one can come to the Lord without true repentance and conversion from sins and without true faith. Repentance is nothing other than to die through true regret and sorrow for sins and to receive forgiveness of sins through faith, and to live righteously in Christ. True, divine regret must precede repentance. By it, the heart is broken and the flesh is crucified. The Epistle to the Hebrews (6:1) calls this repentance of dead works, that is, the leaving of works that bring about death. If these are not left, Christ with all his merits is of no use to a man. Christ our Lord placed himself before us as a physician and his holy blood as the precious, sanctifying medicine for sins.

Johann Arndt

‘For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.’ Psalm 72:12

We begin life in a needy state. We are full of needs in our infancy and cannot help ourselves. We continue throughout life in a needy state. The very breath in our nostrils has to be the gift of God’s goodness; ‘in him we live, and move, and have our being’. As we grow old our needs become even more apparent.

C. H. Spurgeon

"When the Gentiles do what the law requires, they show that the law is written on their hearts" (Rom. 2:14–15). When God, the Lord, created man according to his image in perfect righteousness and holiness and adorned and beautified him with great divine virtues and gifts, brought him forth as a perfect, beautiful masterpiece, as a high, noble work and piece of art, he planted three chief properties in the human conscience so deeply that they were never able to be rooted out, indeed, not even in eternity. First, he gave a natural testimony that there is a God, second, that there is a final judgment (Rom. 2:15), and third, the law of nature or natural righteousness by which honor and shame might be distinguished and joy and sorrow might be discovered.

Johann Arndt

"Lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (Lk. 17:21). Since everything is based on the rebirth and renewal of man, God included everything that must occur spiritually in man in faith in the external Scriptures, and in them described the whole new man. Since God’s Word is the seed of God in us, it must bring forth spiritual fruit and it must do so through faith in the manner taught and testified externally in the Scriptures or it is a dead seed and a dead birth. What the Scripture teaches I must experience for my comfort in spirit and faith.

Johann Arndt

"He who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God" (1 John 5:1). Faith is a deep assent and unhesitating trust in God’s grace promised in Christ and in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It is ignited by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Through this faith we receive forgiveness of sins, in no other way than through pure grace without any of our own merits (Eph. 2:8) but only by the merits of Christ.

Johann Arndt

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal. 5:24). Repentance or true conversion is a work of God the Holy Spirit, by which man understands his sins and the wrath of God against sins from the law. Out of this are awakened in his heart repentance and sorrow. From the Gospel, however, he understands God’s grace and through faith he receives forgiveness for his sins in Christ. Through this repentance, the mortification and crucifixion of the flesh and all fleshly lusts and the evil qualities of the heart and the life-giving power of the spirit comes. By it, Adam and all his evil die in us through true sorrow and Christ lives in us through faith (Gal. 2:20). The two things are tied together. The new life and the renewal of the spirit follow upon the mortification of the flesh. When the old man dies the new comes to life and when the new comes to life the old dies (2 Cor. 4:16 … Col. 3:5 … Rom. 6:11 …).

Johann Arndt

There is a twofold birth of a Christian man: the carnal, sinful, damnable, and accursed birth that comes from Adam, by which the seeds of the serpent, the image of Satan, and the earthly bestial quality of man is continued, and the spiritual, holy, blessed, gracious, new birth that comes out of Christ, by which the seed of God and the heavenly, godly man is perpetuated in a spiritual manner. As a result, each Christian man has two birth lines in himself, the fleshly line of Adam and the spiritual line of Christ, which comes out of grace. Just as Adam’s old birth is in us, so also must Christ’s new birth be in us. This is the new and the old man, the old and the new birth, the old and the new Adam, the earthly and the heavenly image, the old and the new Jerusalem, flesh and spirit, Adam and Christ in us, the internal and the external man.

Johann Arndt