…he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:15
“Dr. Reymond, what does that mean, exactly?,” asked a classmate in seminary about today’s verse. It was the kind of question Dr. Reymond answered with unflinching clarity a thousand times about the most complex and controversial mysteries of the Faith. He knew things. He knew many things, and he was not shy about telling us, but that question stumped him. “Well, brother,” he replied, “I don’t know, but I sure don’t want it to happen to me.” Then again, maybe he did know, at least the part that mattered.
And, despite our age’s fetish for the faux humility of self-serving ignorance, there are answers. Make it your business to know them…
For all his brilliance and its corresponding, shall we say, confidence, Dr. Reymond knew enough theology to fear the God he knew loved him. The Church has called you to know things, too. Make it your business to study Scriptures, learn the Creeds, and teach others. Your people come to public service and your private study searching for answers. And, despite our age’s fetish for the faux humility of self-serving ignorance, there are answers. Make it your business to know them and explain God’s Word to others. But the smartest teachers know enough to know when the best answer is the fear of the Lord.
