John 6:28-29 Then said they to him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?… That is a very instructive anecdote which St. Simon relates respecting the last hours of the profligate Louis XIV. "One day," he says, "the king, recovering from loss of consciousness, asked his confessor, Pere Tellier, to give him absolution for all his sins. Pere Tellier asked him if he suffered much. 'No,' replied the king, 'that's what troubles me. I should like to suffer more, for the expiation of my sins?'" Here was a poor mortal who had spent his days in carnality and transgression of the pure law of God. He is conscious of guilt, and feels the need of its atonement. And now, upon the very edge of eternity and brink of doom, he proposes to make his own atonement, to be his own redeemer and save his own soul, by offering up to the eternal Nemesis that was racking his conscience a few hours of finite suffering, instead of betaking himself to the infinite passion and agony of Calvary. This is a "work"; and, alas I a dead work, as St. Paul so often denominates it. (Prof. Shedd.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?WEB: They said therefore to him, "What must we do, that we may work the works of God?" |
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