“If they had merits,
these were not enough…” (35)
Canto Four describes
Limbo, where the souls are not in torment or bliss. Many of these souls are those
of great minds and poets. These were men like Socrates, Plato, and Homer.
Virgil himself resides there. These are men that history remembers. They are
still read with high esteem. Even with all these merits, they reside in Hell.
Nothing that they accomplished in their lives was enough to earn their way into
Heaven. This reminds me of when Paul discusses all of the reasons he could have
been confident in the things he had accomplished. Yet, he counts all of his
works “as loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7). He knew that there
was nothing he could do to earn his salvation. Faith in Christ is the only way.
The men that were esteemed from a worldly perspective lacked the faith in the
One that could save them. This is such a good reminder that we cannot earn our
salvation and must rely totally on Christ to atone for our sins.
I commented on Dallas and Wendy's posts.
I commented on Dallas and Wendy's posts.
This is a good reminder that even those we consider the greatest have nothing unless they have Christ. It also shows that salvation is about surrender. We must do nothing but trust Christ and repent of sin to be saved.
ReplyDeleteI second what Dallas said. No matter how hard we try, nothing we do on this material earth will earn us a spot in Heaven except for confiding in the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, when reading this I did not pick up on the fact that these men resided in hell. But, that makes so much sense. Paul teaches us that works do nothing for us, even when it seems like it should, works do nothing. These great poets, though smart and wise, believed in works. Wow, that kinda beautiful of Dante to put that in there.
ReplyDeleteI did not really struggle with this, though I did struggle with the baptism being essential to Heaven. I understand good men, though non-believers, still deserve Hell. What I do not understand is how someone can say an infant goes to Hell for not being baptized.
ReplyDelete