Matth. 22, 1-14.
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a king that made a marriage for his son: and he sent forth his servants to call the guests to the marriage: and they would not come. Again he sent out other servants, saying, Tell the guests, Behold, my supper is prepared, my oxen and my fatlings are slain, and all things are ready; come to the marriage. But they despised this and went away, one to his field, the other to his handiwork. And some of them took his servants, and mocked them, and slew them. When the king heard this, he was angry and sent out his armies and killed these murderers and set their city on fire. Then he said to his servants: The wedding is ready, but the guests are not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and invite to the marriage such as ye shall find. And the servants went out into the streets, and gathered together whom they found, both evil and good. And the tables were all filled. Then the king went in to see the guests, and saw a man there who had no wedding garment on, and said to him, "Friend, how did you come in and have no wedding garment on? But he fell silent. Then said the king unto his servants, Bind his hands and his feet, and cast him out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth: for many are called, but few are chosen.
(1) He paints the image of the churches and of the Word of God in the world. First of all, in the Jewish people, where he distinguishes two kinds of disciples of the word, namely: because some of those who were called to the wedding despised the word and, directed to their gain, stayed at home; but some persecuted the word and killed the ministers. But vengeance was taken, namely, desolation. And this is what happened to the Jews: Jerusalem was finally destroyed, where both the despisers and the persecutors were destroyed. This happened as an example to all the Gentiles: because they also first despised and persecuted, they perished afterwards; as, Rome, Greece etc. And this example continues and will continue to this day. And this example continues and will also happen today to our tyrants and despisers. Blessed is he who fears the Lord and honors his word, though such a bird is rare on earth.
*) Cf. Erl. A. oxx. var. arg. VII, 429 s^. D. Red.
2. secondly, because the contempt of the word of God will also be with the Gentiles, who are gathered from the fences and the ways, that is, from the idolatrous peoples, who were without law. For of the former he says that they had a city, that is, that they were a people established and ordered according to the laws. But of the latter he says that they were without service, without God, without word, by the ways and fences. Therefore he says: "Good and evil", until the tables have been filled etc., that is, until the end of the world. Then the King, the Judge, Christ, will go in and will separate the hypocrite from the believers etc.
3. from this passage we are first taught this, that in the church there are always wicked men, that is, hypocrites, both in the public ministry and in particular; and that they cannot all be known and distinguished except by Christ Himself at the last day; and that therefore the church is not to be judged.
according to outward appearance, because even the most hidden hypocrites are to be found in it. And this article is necessary to know, lest the church be condemned for the sake of the wicked, or it be demanded that there be no wicked or sinner in it at all. This error has been the source and cause of much misfortune and has greatly disrupted the church. For although the manifestly wicked and shameful are not to be tolerated, who will judge the secretly wicked? But to mix and blend this difference of the manifestly and secretly wicked is to confuse the church and the marriage of the Son.
4. secondly, we learn from this passage that in the future of Christ, an outward and bodily separation of the pious and the ungodly is not to be expected, just as the synagogue has been separated from the church in a bodily way etc. For Christ willed that the synagogue also be bodily separated from the church in every way, that is, by the sacraments, word, customs, and all manner of outward signs. But the heretics are not separated in this way until that day, because they participate in the same sacraments, words, and customs etc. This serves against today's and many heretics who want to tear the church apart and separate it also physically from the heretics. But the text says that he who has no wedding garment remains at the wedding until the king himself enters.
(5) After these articles is the question of the wedding garment, what is to be understood by it? We say that it is the garment of Christ, of which Paul speaks (Gal. 3:27): "As many of you as were baptized put on Christ"; that is, faith is this garment, by which we put on the righteousness of Christ, which is valid before God. Others say that this garment is love, not faith. These we let go in their mind, and say: If they can put on this garment, we will agree with them. But they themselves do not know that this is not possible, so they will never teach it. For at the wedding one must bring the dress of the bridegroom, not one's own and common dress. We must walk in his color: the righteousness of Christ adorns us, not our works.
6 Therefore the punishment of the hypocrites is not temporal but eternal; it is not a bodily but a spiritual separation, namely, the outer darkness, that is, eternal damnation. For the inner darkness is faith in this life, that is, the ignorance of reason and the captivity of the understanding to the obedience of faith. But then the condemnation will be external, that is, a separation from the eternal light absolutely and without hope, because hands and feet will be bound, so that they can neither earn nor be freed.