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Jesus is right. Our piety is full of hypocrisy. John Calvin spoke of this hypocrisy in terms of our wanting credit for our goodness: "But, as hypocrisy is always ambitious, we need not wonder that it is blind" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVI/1, p. 312). Saint Augustine made a similar point: "[We are] a people curious to know of other's lives, but slow to correct our own" (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, p. 142).
But as we come to be humbled by these insights, God forgives us, Martin Luther contends: "This is a description or definition of God that is full of comfort: that in his true form God is a God who loves the afflicted, has mercy of the humbled, forgives the fallen, and revives the drooping. How can any more pleasant picture be painted of God?" (Luther's Works, Vol. 12, p. 406).
But as we come to be humbled by these insights, God forgives us, Martin Luther contends: "This is a description or definition of God that is full of comfort: that in his true form God is a God who loves the afflicted, has mercy of the humbled, forgives the fallen, and revives the drooping. How can any more pleasant picture be painted of God?" (Luther's Works, Vol. 12, p. 406).
