John 20:10-23.
Now in the evening of the same Sabbath, when the disciples were gathered together, and the doors were shut, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them: Peace be with you! And when he had said this, he showed them his hands, and his side. Then the disciples were glad to see the Lord. Then said Jesus unto them again: Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
1. in these two pieces, that Christ shows his disciples his hands and feet, and gives them peace; secondly, that he says to them, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you. To whom ye remit sin" etc., the Christian life is described to us.
2 The laws do not make the conscience pious, but only help to an outward respectability and piety. But God does many other things. First, through the law he shows us what we are like inside and out, when he says: "You shall not have other gods. From these commandments man recognizes, as it were from a mirror, in what he is lacking; and even if he does not realize it at once, he will realize it in his death. There is
**Called Quasimodogeniti. - Held in Borne. D. Red.
some who seek to fulfill these commandments only with outward works; secondly, those who truly fulfill them think in their hearts, what does it mean to have no other gods? certainly so much as to rely on God in all things. Isa. 2, 8: "They worshipped the works of their hands that they had made"; Rom. 2, 21: "You preach that one should not steal", outwardly in the works, you do such inwardly in your heart when you worship a foreign god. God thus makes pious in a different way than the princes of the world. For God judges according to his law, but the princes according to their power.
3. one can forbid the performance of the evil desire, as no less lewd speeches; but he cannot prevent the heart etc. Therefore I should know that I am not freed from the same evil air. Thus Paul laments (Rom. 7, 23.): "I find another law" etc. Therefore everyone must necessarily confess that he cannot keep the law. What then shall we do with our conscience when it is thus challenged? What will you do? For the law condemns us. Paul speaks of this (Rom. 4:15): "The law works wrath" in the spirit of the law.
know the wrath of God, the eternal death. "The sting of death is sin, but the power of sin is the law", because in death man will feel the power of sin through the law. (1 Cor. 15, 56.) Because the law says: If you have not fulfilled the law, you are condemned. Because the law says, "God has forbidden this under the penalty of eternal damnation," sin is followed by the sting of death, namely, eternal death. The apostles, who were still in sin, feared this; therefore Christ preached peace to them. Thus it is said in Ps. 23:4, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil"; and Ps. 4:9, "I rest and sleep in peace."
(4) Whosoever therefore by the law knoweth that he is wicked, let him seek a physician. For Paul clearly says that it is sin that the evil desire does not die. The yoke of the law is always against me, and I know my sin. "Behold, I am begotten of sinful seed," etc., Ps. 51:7. What then shall we do, when we know that by the law we are thus resolved under sin?
5 Similarly, "And Christ came and stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you. For this is why God sent His Son, that He might redeem you from the law. For Jesus is a Savior who redeems you from the law, from sin and death, and sets you free. But it behooves you to believe in him and to trust in him. And only say this with confidence: Even though I have not fulfilled the law, I know this much from the gospel, that Christ has given me all that he has, and has fulfilled the law in my stead; for no deceit has been found in his mouth. He is the Lamb of God. He himself has been given to me. Thus Paul says (Rom. 8, 32.), "He hath given us all things in the Son." "A child is born to us, a son is given to us." (Isa. 9, 6. 7.) And so I will believe. The Spirit of Christ is given at the same time. This is also followed by the love of the Father, so that you can say: Now I see how loving God the Father is towards me. Then also follows the contempt of all outward works. For hereupon you will give Christ alone
trust and adhere to God. From this follows the love in return, because he first loved us. Here he shows how it is now possible for you to fulfill all commandments voluntarily, namely because you love your heavenly Father and do not like to offend him. Paul says of this in 1 Cor. 15:55: "Death is swallowed up in victory," that is, in the victory of Christ, so that we now no longer respect death. No one, then, can make men godly unless he preaches the gospel alone, that Christ is your Savior and has done everything for you according to the will of the Father etc. This is followed by the love of the Father.
6 Now follows: "He showed them his hands and his feet, and they rejoiced," that is, the disciples who had previously been terrified by the law. But when Christ came in the midst of them, announcing to them first of all peace and that Christ would save them, they rejoiced with all their hearts. It is the same with the man who hears the gospel. So the gospel says, "Peace be with you." As if to say, "You are indeed troubled by the law, by sin, by fear, by death; but you shall have peace, for all that is mine shall be yours. Therefore he shows them his hands and feet, as if he wanted to say: All my works and desires are yours. So here nothing is lacking but that you believe, inasmuch as you have God as you believe Him. Thus Paul says Rom. 1, 17: "Faith and the gospel are one righteousness. Faith alone fulfills the law, and not outward works, because faith gives the life-giving Spirit etc. Therefore, faith is righteousness etc. Thus to the Romans Cap. 1, 16. it says: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is a power of God to save all who believe in it." First, faith in Christ makes you blessed by a divine power, and delivers you from eternal death. Second, the righteousness that is before God is preached in the gospel that Christ gave you, not of works, but of faith. Third, "The righteous lives by faith" (Hab. 2:4); whoever believes in Christ will live even if he dies.