Becoming a Community of Disciples

Chapter 6: Spiritual Teachings – Virtues and Discipline

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as it can be done, aware that not without peril does one carry out the work of God negligently (Jer 48:10). 4 But if his relatives or even his parents should come out against the faith, then he should remember what the Lord says: 5 There is no one who has left house or brothers or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who shall not receive a hundredfold in this present time and in the world to come eternal life (Mark 10:29–30; Luke 13:26). 6 He must however protest to and denounce those who deny what belongs to him, and resist and take action on behalf of the faith, 7 since they incur a sin of sacrilege (cf. Rom 2:22), according to the commandment of the Lord who says If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault and so on (Matt 18:15). 8 But the sanction of piety forbids us to bring these matters to trial before the secular judges through that saying of the Apostle: Does any of you, having a grievance against another dare to go to court before the unrighteous instead of before the saints? (1 Cor 6:1), 9 and again: it is already an utter defeat for you, that you have litigation among yourselves at all (1 Cor 6:7). Necessity of Self-Control (RBas §8) Q: Is it necessary that one who would give himself to the life of piety and religion also practice self-control (cf. Gal 5:22)? R: 1 That in all things self-control is necessary is clear, first, from the fact that the apostle Paul counts self-control among the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22–23), 2 and second, he indicates that it is by this means that his ministry