V. 1. O you Galatians without understanding.
As befits an apostle in his affliction, Paul burns with a completely spiritual zeal and fierce emotion, and in his discussion and refutation he also includes exhortations and speeches of punishment, according to the rule he gave in 2 Tim. 4, 2: "Preach the word, stop, whether in season or out of season, punish, threaten, exhort. This misleads a careless reader into thinking that Paul is not teaching in the right way or in good order. He does not do this in the manner of orators, but in spirit he keeps the most beautiful order.
(2) Now that he has disputed and demonstrated by two very strong reasons that Christian righteousness does not come from the law but from faith in Christ, and at the same time refuted the teaching of the false apostles, in the midst of this discussion he now addresses the Galatians and chastises them, "O you foolish or senseless Galatians, as if to say, 'Alas! where are you?
1) Erlanger: spiritualissima instead of: spirituatissimo.
have you come to, you poor Galatians? I taught you the truth of the gospel most carefully and you also accepted it from me with great zeal and diligence. How is it, then, that you fell away from it so soon? Who has bewitched you?
(3) It seems that he scolds the Galatians very harshly, saying that they are unintelligent, bewitched and disobedient to the truth. But whether he did this out of great zeal or out of mercy, I will not argue; both may be true. A carnal man would judge it to be an insult rather than a godly rebuke. Did Paul, then, set an evil example and show himself to be vituperative against the churches in Galatia, saying that they were foolish, bewitched etc.? No; for it is proper for an apostle, preacher, or teacher, out of Christian zeal, to scold harshly the people over whom he presides, and such scolding is paternal and holy. In the same way, parents, out of paternal and maternal love, are accustomed to call their son a fool or a boy, and their daughter a little hurdle.
but would not tolerate it if someone else wanted to do it. Sometimes a teacher scolds his pupil severely, calls him an ass, stabs him with rods; the latter bears it with equanimity, but would not put up with it in such a way if any of his comrades or fellow pupils did the same. Likewise, the authorities rebuke, chastise and punish, and this discipline is not only good but also very necessary, and without it nothing, neither in peace nor in war, can be carried out in the right way. Therefore, if the authorities in the church, in the world regiment or in the household do not rebuke and punish when it is necessary, then they are ineffective and useless, and will never administer their office properly.
(4) Therefore, cries and anger are as necessary in all classes as any other virtue. But this should be done in moderation and not out of spite, but out of fatherly love and Christian zeal; that is, it must not be a childish or feminine anger that seeks only revenge, but which desires only to remedy the defect, as a father does not chastise his son for the sake of seeking revenge and cooling his temper, but that the son may be improved by this chastisement. And this is good wrath, which is called "zeal" in Scripture. For if I chastise a brother or a subordinate in this way, I do not seek his destruction but his best.
Therefore it is possible that Paul here either scolds the Galatians out of mere zeal, not to destroy them, but to bring them back on the right path and to save them, or out of mercy and an emotion of compassion, as it were after the manner of a complainer who is sorry that the Galatians are so miserably deceived, as if he wanted to say: I am sorry that it is so bad with you etc.
(6) In this way we also rebuke people who are in misery, not to insult them or to make them feel their misery, but because we have compassion for them and would like them to be rebuke. I say this so that no one will blaspheme Paul, as if he had reviled the churches of God against the commandment of the Gospel.
7. In the same way, Christ chides the Pharisees, calling them serpents, vipers, children of the devil etc.
8. but these are reproaches of the Holy Spirit, they are reproaches of a father, of a mother, of a faithful friend, as it is also said in Proverbs [Cap. 27, 6. according to the Vulgate]: "The wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy." Hence it is that the same word of reproach, when it comes from the mouth of a father, is a very great boon, but when it goes from the mouth of a comrade or an enemy, the highest disgrace. If two people do the same thing, it is praised in one and blamed in the other. If Christ or Paul scolds, it is a very great virtue and is praised, but if a philosopher or a private person does it, it is a very great fault and is disgraceful. Thus the same work and word is a good deed in the mouth of Paul, and a bad deed in the mouth of another.
9 But there is an emphasis on the word "Galatians", because he does not call them brothers, as he usually does, but by their people's name. But it seems to have been the fault peculiar to this people that they were "unintelligent," like the folk fault of the Cretans, that they liked to lie, as if he wanted to say: What is said of you and what you are called, that is what you are and remain in truth, namely, unintelligent Galatians, and this you now prove precisely in this matter of the Gospel, where you should be most intelligible, but you do not leave your kind.
In the same way, we distinguish the nations according to their faults. Each nation has its particular faults. The Germans are novelty-seekers, the Welsh are presumptuous etc. So by the way Paul scolds them here, he reminds the Galatians of their natural condition.
(11) By the way, we are reminded here that in the churches and in Christians there still remain the natural infirmities that they have according to the flesh. Grace does not change the godly in such a way that it immediately makes them new and perfect in all things, but there still remain in the godly remnants of the old natural infirmities.
Affliction. For example, a person who is naturally inclined to anger, when converted to Christ, becomes milder by grace, and the Holy Spirit moves his heart so that he becomes gentler, but the infirmity itself in his flesh is not completely eradicated. Thus, even hard people, when they are converted to the faith, do not completely lose this hardness, but the remnants of this hardness remain in them. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures and the Gospels, which concern the same truth, are treated by different characters (ingeniis) in different ways. One is milder and gentler in teaching, another harder. Thus the Holy Spirit is poured into different instruments, but he does not eradicate the infirmities of nature all at once, but cleanses from this clinging sin throughout life, not only in the Galatians, but in all men in all nations.
(12) Therefore, although the Galatians were already enlightened and believing, and had received the Holy Spirit through the preaching of faith, this infirmity remained in them, and this tinder of unwiseness, which easily caught fire from the flame of false doctrine. Therefore, let no one trust in himself, and not think that now that he has received grace, he is completely cleansed from his old errors. Many things are swept out, but especially the head of the serpent, that is, the unbelief and the lack of knowledge of God, is cut off and trampled underfoot, but its [the serpent's] scaly body and the remnants of sin remain in us.
(13) Therefore, let no one presume that, having accepted the faith, he can immediately be completely transformed into a new man; on the contrary, even after he has become a Christian, he will retain some of the old defects. For we have not yet died, but still live in the flesh, which, because it is not yet pure, "lusteth against the Spirit," Gal. 5:17.; and Rom. 7:14. it is said, "I am carnal, sold under sin," and [v. 23.] "I see another law in my members. "etc. Therefore, the natural faults that were there before faith remain even after one is
But now they must be subject to the spirit that rules over them, so that they do not rule; however, this does not happen without a difficult struggle. Christ alone has this honor and the name that he is pure in all things. 1 Petr. 2:22: "Whosoever hath committed no sin, there is no deceit found in his mouth."
Who has bewitched you not to obey the truth?
(14) Now here you have another glory of this excellent righteousness of the law and of our own righteousness, namely, that it makes us despisers of the truth, that it bewitches us so that we do not obey but rebel against the truth.
Of physical and spiritual enchantment.
15) By calling the Galatians "unintelligent" and "enchanted", Paul compares them to children who are most harmed by sorcery, as if to say, "You are just like children, on whom sorceresses, witches, and fiends, with their witchcraft, by the play of Satan, are pleased to work their sorcery easily.
(16) In the fifth chapter [v. 20] he lists among the works of the flesh also sorcery 1) to which also the means of magic belong as a special kind, whereby it is sufficiently testified that sorcery exists and that it is possible. Then it cannot be denied that the devil lives, even rules, in the whole world. 2) So sorcery and magic are works of the devil, by which he not only harms people, but, if God allows it, sometimes even kills them. In addition, we are all subject to the devil in body and goods, and are guests in the world, lesser prince and god.
1) Exactly according to the words should have been translated: "the preparation of magic means (veneficium = ®"p- μακεία), a special kind of sorcery" (kaseini). But because Luther translated Gal. 5, 20. veneficia with "sorcery", we were forced to the translation given in the text. ,
2) The Folgmde (from here to § 21 at the end) is used by Aurifaber for s 38 of the 24th chapter of the Tischreden. Here and there, something is omitted, some things are added, even several times. This section is omitted in our edition of the Table Talks.
he is. Therefore, the bread we eat, the drink we drink, the clothes we wear, even the air and everything by which we live in the flesh is under his dominion. Therefore, he can harm the children through his sorceresses, either with heart potion, or he can make them blind, or steal, or take away a child altogether, and put himself in the cradle instead of the child taken away. I have heard that there was a child in Saxony who was suckled by five wives and yet could not be satisfied. And there are many such examples.
(17) But sorcery is nothing else than a cunning artifice and deception of the devil, who, as it is said, can restore to health a limb which he has corrupted in a child or an old man by his deceptions. But in such a way he makes healthy, for example, that he restores an eye or another damaged limb, not that it was really injured, but that he deceives the senses, both of those whom he has bewitched and of others who see the bewitched, in such a way that they cannot think that it is a deception, but would swear that it is a real injury. But because he removes the injury in his own time, it is clear that it was only a deception, but not a real injury, because a real injury cannot be removed or healed.
18 You will find an excellent example of this in the "Life Descriptions of the Fathers", not to mention the "metamorphoses" of the poets. To St. Macarius, who lived in the desert, came the parents of a virgin. They thought they had lost her, but in such a way that they thought she had been transformed into a cow, for they could see no other form in her than that of a cow. When they brought their daughter to St. Macarius, they asked him to pray to God for her, so that she would regain her human form. When Macarius heard this, he said: I see a virgin, not a cow. He had spiritual eyes, therefore Satan could not deceive him with his dazzling work, as he did the parents and the daughter, whose eyes the evil spirit had so deceived that they were
They swore that it was in truth as it appeared to them in their enchantment before their eyes. But when St. Macarius prayed for the Virgin, not that she might regain her human form, for she had never lost it, but that God might take away from her this deception of the devil, the eyes of the parents and the daughter were opened, and they recognized that everything they had thought to be a real event had been only a game of the devil.
(19) Such is the cunning and power of Satan to deceive the senses, and what is to be wondered at, since even through a glass the sensory perception and the color change? Therefore, he can easily deceive a man by his dazzling work so that he thinks he sees something he does not see, he hears a voice, a thunderclap, a flute or trombone sound he does not hear. Thus the soldiers of Julius Caesar thought that they heard someone playing on a flute and blowing on a trombone etc. Suetonius mentions this in his description of Caesar's life 1). He says: A man of extraordinary size and beautiful figure suddenly appeared sitting nearby and played on a flute. Since now beside the shepherds also very many soldiers and some trumpeters from their camps had run to hear him, he tore away his trumpet from one, jumped to the river, blew with tremendous breath the signal for the fight (classicum) and went to the other bank etc. So Satan can ape all senses extraordinarily, so that you want to swear that you see, hear or touch something, which you do not see etc.
20 But not only in this crude way, but also in a more subtle and therefore much more dangerous way he makes people nonsensical, and there he is primarily a thousandfold artist. And therefore Paul comes from the enchantment of the senses to the enchantment of the spirit. But by this spiritual enchantment the old serpent does not catch and deceive the senses, but the minds of men with false and ungodly opinions, which he, since
1) Suetonius, de vita Caesarum, lib. I, cap. 32.2.
The fact that he can really do this is sufficiently demonstrated today by the fanatics and the blasphemous spirits. That he can really achieve this, however, is sufficiently demonstrated today by the enthusiasts, the Anabaptists, and the blasphemous spirits who attack the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. He has so enchanted their hearts with his deceitfulness that they take lies, error and frightening darkness for the certain truth and the brightest light, and do not let themselves be dissuaded from these dreams by any admonitions or sayings of Scripture, because they are firmly convinced that they alone are wise and have the right understanding of divine things; all other people, however, are blind. So they do quite the same as the parents of the virgin, who, because they were caught by the deception of Satan, were so firmly convinced that they would have sworn that their daughter was not a man but a cow, and could believe nothing less than that this was a deception and delusion of the devil. For all their senses bore witness to it; the eyes saw the form of a cow, the ears heard the cow's roar. etc. Therefore, they thought that one should not argue against the judgment that all men had to make in this matter (sensum communem).
21 This example of Macarius shows that in the case of bodily enchantment one must argue against what is generally accepted according to outward perception (contra sensum communem). Much more must one do the same with spiritual bewitchment, where the devil brings about what he does outwardly for the senses with figures and colors, inwardly with probable opinions and doctrinal points (objectis doctrinae), by which, as I have said, he makes the hearts of men so nonsensical that they would swear that their quite futile and godless dreams are the quite certain truth. In this way he has bewitched Münzer, Zwingli and others in our time, by whom again others have been bewitched in great numbers.
Furthermore, this sorcerer has such a great desire to harm that he does not only have this secure...
1) This and the next following paragraph form § 39 of the 24th chapter of Aurifaber's Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks this is omitted.
He not only deceives the noble and arrogant spirits with his deceptive work, but also tries to dissuade those from right understanding by his deceptions, who stand godly and right in God's word and the Christian religion. He often attacks me so fiercely and overwhelms me with sad thoughts that he completely obscures Christ and almost takes him away from me. In short, there is no one among us who is not often bewitched by false opinions, that is, who does not fear, trust, or be joyful when he should not fear, trust, or be joyful; there is no one who does not sometimes have other thoughts about God, about Christ, about faith, about his profession, about his Christianity, etc., than he should have.
(23) Therefore let us learn rightly the deceit and cunning of this sorcerer, lest he find us safe and snoring, and deceive us with his wiles. He cannot harm our ministry by his sorcery, but he is with us in spirit, going about day and night, seeking how he may devour each one in particular, and if he does not find us sober and armed with spiritual weapons, that is, with the word of God and faith, he devours us. [1 Petr. 5, 8. Eph. 6, 14-17.]
2Therefore Satan starts one battle after another against us, and this is very useful for us, that he attacks and exercises us with his cunning attacks, because in this way he makes us firm in the doctrine and strengthens the faith in us. We have often suffered a defeat in this battle, and this still happens to us, but we do not perish, because Christ has always won the victory and triumphs through us.
(25) Therefore we draw a firm hope that we shall be victors over the devil also henceforth through Christ, and this hope gives us a firm consolation, so that we can stand up in all temptations: Behold, Satan also hath before challenged us, and by his deceit hath tempted us to unbelief, contempt of God, despair, etc. and yet hath wrought nothing; therefore he shall
2) Aurifaber used the following four paragraphs for the "Tischrede", chapter 24, §§ 45 and 46. In our edition of the Table Talks, they are omitted.
will not be able to do anything in the future. He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world; Christ is the stronger one who overcame, overcomes, and will [also henceforth] overcome that strong one in us. But the devil sometimes overcomes us in the flesh, so that we ourselves may wish to experience in this way the power of the stronger against that strong, and to speak with Paul [2 Cor. 12:10.], "When I am weak, then am I strong."
(26) Therefore let no one think that the Galatians alone were bewitched by Satan, but let each one think that he also could have been bewitched and that he can still be bewitched by him. No one among us is so strong that he could resist him, especially if he tries to do so with his own powers. "Job was bad and right, God-fearing, and shunned evil" [Job 1:1] and "there was not his like in the land" [Cap. 2:3], but what was he able to do against the devil when God withdrew His hand from him? Did not this holy man fall terribly?
Therefore, this sorcerer was not only powerful with the Galatians, but he always deals with them, that although he cannot do this with all men, he deceives many by his false pretenses, "for he is a liar and a father of lies" [John 8:44]. And certainly, as I have said, by this art of his, he even nowadays makes the swarming spirits nonsensical, rules in them, and makes them so unbending and hard that no anvil can be so hard. They do not allow themselves to be instructed, do not listen to any reason (rationem), do not allow any scripture to be valid, but are only concerned with how they would like to escape the scriptural passages brought against them with the glosses invented and lied out of their heads and defend their dreams brought into the scripture, which is a clear sign that they are caught by the devil's sorcery.
Who charmed you?
28 Here he excuses the Galatians and puts the blame on the false apostles, as if to say: I see that ye fell not of your own free will, nor of malice; but the devil hath among you, my children, the
They sent you sorcerers, the false apostles. They have so bewitched you with the doctrine of the law that you now think differently of Christ than before you heard the gospel preached by me. But we strive to break the spell with which the false apostles have bewitched you through our exhortations and letters to you, so that those who are trapped among you by this spell may be set free again through us.
(29) Thus, we too must work today with the word of God against the fanatical opinions of the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians, so that we may free the people captured by them and bring them back to the pure doctrine of faith and keep them in it. And this work of ours is not in vain, for we have set many of those who had bewitched them right again and freed them from this bewitchment of theirs, from which they would never have been able to break free with their own strength if they had not been rebuked by us and brought back on the right path by the word of God.
1For just as it is impossible for a man to wriggle out of the enchantment of the senses (for the parents could not see in their daughter any other form than that of a cow until Macarius prayed for her 2)), so it is also impossible for those who are enchanted by the spirit to free themselves by their own powers; but they can only be freed if others help them, whose minds are not caught by this enchantment.
For the power of Satan's deception is so great in those who are thus deceived that they boast and swear that they have the very certain truth; so much is lacking that they should confess that they are in error. And even if we shower and convict some of them, especially the originators of the sects, with sayings of the Scriptures, we do nothing, because they immediately have their glosses ready, with which they distort the Scriptures. Therefore they do not correct themselves by
1) The following (from here to § 32 inet.) forms in the old editions of the Table Talks the paragraphs 47 and 48 of the 24th chapter. In our edition of the Table Talks, these sections are omitted.
2) Instead of preeutionera the Wittenberger has: prueäieutionera.
our exhortations, but only harden more.
I would never have believed, if I had not learned by experience today, that the power of the devil is so great that he is able to give lies such a great appearance of truth, but also, what is even more frightening, that when he wants to torture the afflicted consciences to death through excessive sadness, he knows how to disguise himself so actually and completely in the form of Christ that it is impossible for the challenged to recognize this. Therefore, many who do not know this fall into despair and lay hands on themselves. For they are so blinded by the devil that they are firmly convinced that it is a certain truth that they are not being tempted and accused by the devil, but by Christ himself.
The same thing happened in the year of the Lord 1527 to the wicked man, Doctor Kraus 1) at Halle, who said: I have denied Christ, therefore he now stands before the Father and accuses me. He had so firmly imagined this thought, caught in the devil's deception, that he could not be dissuaded by any exhortation or consolation, nor by any divine promise. And so he despaired and killed himself miserably.
This was nothing but a lie and enchantment of the devil and, to put it briefly, a fanatical description of a strange Christ, of which the Scriptures know absolutely nothing. For the Scriptures do not portray Christ as a judge, tempter, and accuser, but as a reconciler, advocate, comforter, savior, and mercy seat.
1) Doctor Krause (so Luther writes the name in his letter to the Christians at Lalle, Walch, St. Louis edition, Vol. X, 2219, and Tischreden, Cap. 24, ZI5. ibiä. Vol. XXII, 715) cut his neck on All Saints' Day 1527. On Dec. 10, Luther wrote about it to Jonas: "Kfrause^s died of eight wounds, but only one was fatal." (Cf. De Wette, vol. Ill, 243. Walch, old ed., vol. XVII, 2708, translates: "he has been executed by eight wounds.") De Wette's assumption that the sudden death mentioned in the letter to Gabriel Zwilling of March 7, 1528 (Walch, old ed. vol. XXI, 1093) is the same one discussed in the letter to the Christians at Halle (De Wette, vol. Ill, p. 305, note) is erroneous, because the "chaplain of the nuns" at Halle died suddenly on Ash Wednesday <26 Feb.) 1528.
But because this [Kraus] was bewitched by the devil, he could not see this at that time, and therefore, contrary to the Scriptures, declared this to be certain truth: Christ accuses you before the Father, he does not stand for you, but against you, therefore you are condemned. And this challenge is not a human one, but a devilish one, which that sorcerer imprints with all his might into the heart of the challenged. With us, who have the opposite opinion, this is considered a shameful and obvious lie and deception of the devil, but with those who are charmed in this way, it is considered the most certain truth, so that there can be no more certain.
(35) Since the devil, as an artist of thousands, where it is necessary to do harm, can stamp such a blatant and shameless lie on the heart that you would swear a thousand oaths that it is the very certain truth, we must not be hopeful, but walk in fear and humility, calling upon Christ the Lord, that he will not let us fall into temptation.
(36) Secure people who, after hearing the gospel once or twice, think that they have received the spirit in the highest degree (decimas spiritus hausisse), finally begin to do so, because they do not fear God, do not thank Him, but think that they can not only hold and defend the doctrine of godliness excellently, but are also able to stand up to the devil in a battle, no matter how fierce. Such people are then quite a ready people (idonea instrumentau) for the devil, whom he can charm and plunge into despair.
2But do not say, "I am perfect, I cannot fall," but humble yourself and fear, lest you, who stand today, fall tomorrow. I am a doctor of theology and have now preached Christ for a number of years and fought against the devil in fine false teachers, but I have well experienced how much this has troubled me.
38 I cannot drive Satan away like this,
2) Aurifaber used the following two paragraphs for Cap. 24, § 49 of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
I cannot grasp Christ as the Scripture holds him out to me, but the devil keeps trying to force a false Christ upon me. But thanks be to God, who keeps us in his word, in faith and in prayer, so that we know that we must walk in humility and fear of God, and not be presumptuous in our wisdom, righteousness, learning and steadfastness, but in the power of Christ, who is mighty when we are weak, and through us weak is always victorious and triumphant; to whom be glory forever and ever, amen.
(39) Therefore, enchantment is nothing else but nonsense caused by the devil, who forms a false opinion against Christ in the heart; and he is enchanted who is caught in such an opinion. Therefore, people who believe that they can be justified by the works of the law or by the fulfillment of human statutes are bewitched. For this opinion is contrary to faith and Christ.
40 Paul uses this so spiteful word "bewitched" to show his contempt and hatred against the false apostles, who so vehemently insisted on the teaching of the law and works of the law, as if he wanted to say: What (the heck) is this satanic enchantment? For as by the bodily enchantment the senses are corrupted, so by the spiritual enchantment the hearts are corrupted.
That you do not obey the truth?
41 Initially, the Galatians had heard the truth and obeyed it. Therefore, when he says, "Who bewitched you?" he indicates that now that they have been bewitched by the false apostles, they have fallen away from the truth they obeyed before and have forsaken it. But this reads far more harshly, that he says they do not believe the truth. For with these words he indicates that they are bewitched and that he wants to remove the spell from them, and yet they do not want to recognize or accept this benefit. For it is certain that he did not bring them all back to the truth from the error of the false apostles, but the spell remained with many. That is why he uses strong words: "Who has bewitched you?
as if he wanted to say: You have become nonsensical, and the spell has caught you so that you cannot obey the truth. You cannot obey the truth, as if he wanted to say: I fear that it is over with many of you who will never return to the truth etc.
(42) Here again you hear another glory of the righteousness of the law or of one's own righteousness, namely, that it so enchants men that they cannot obey the truth. The apostles and the fathers of the first church often mention this. 1 John 5:16: "It is a sin unto death; for this I say not that any man ask." Likewise Hebr. 6, 4-6: "For it is impossible that those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, where they fall away, should again be renewed to repentance" etc. These words read at first sight as if a novatus had spoken them. But the apostles had to speak this way for the sake of the heretics (but they did not mean to say that the fallen ones could not return to the community of believers through repentance, as the Novatians did), and also we have to speak this way today because of the authors and teachers of errors and sects, because such people never return to the truth.
(43) Some do turn back, but only those who are under a lesser spell, not even the leaders and the authors of this spell. For these must retain the title that Paul gives them here, namely, that they neither want to hear the truth nor suffer it, but rather are only concerned with how they might resist the truth, likewise how they might escape the grounds of proof and the scriptural passages that are brought against them. For they are caught and convinced that they have the very certain truth and a very pure understanding of the Scriptures. But he who has such a conviction does not listen, much less yield to others. So also I do not want to hear anything that is contrary to my teaching, for I am certain and convinced by the Spirit of Christ that my teaching of Christian righteousness is true and certain.
To whom Christ Jesus was painted before the eyes.
44 It is very hard that he had said that they were so bewitched that they did not obey the truth, but it is much harder that he adds that Christ Jesus was painted before their eyes in such a way that they could have grasped him with their hands, and yet they still did not want to obey the truth. Thus he refers them to their own experience, as if to say: You are so bewitched, entranced and captivated by the erroneous opinions of the false apostles that you do not obey the truth, and it is of no use that with the greatest diligence and effort I have described Christ JEsum to you and painted him before your eyes; [you are so bewitched that] he is [now] crucified among you.
With these words, he refers back to the above-mentioned reasons, where he had stated that Christ is a sinner among those who want to be justified by the law, that such people throw away the grace of God, and that Christ died for them in vain. When he was present with them, he had fiercely pursued these reasons and explained them in detail, as if a painter were painting Christ Jesus, the crucified one, before their eyes. Now that he is absent, he recalls this to their memory by saying: "Which Christ Jesus was painted before the eyes," etc., as if he wanted to say: "No painter can paint Christ so actually with colors as I have painted him before you through my sermon, and yet you still remain in your enchantment.
That he is now crucified among you.
What have I painted for you? Christ himself. How? That he is crucified among you. Here he certainly uses very harsh words. Above he said that those who seek to attain righteousness from the law throw away the grace of God, likewise that Christ died for them in vain. But here he adds that such people even crucify Christ, who lived and reigned in them before, as if he wanted to say: Now you have not only thrown away the grace of God, not only has Christ died in vain for you, but in the most shameful way among you, you have also been crucified.
crucifies. The epistle to the Hebrews Cap. 6, 6. also speaks in this way: "They crucify even the Son of God to themselves and hold Him up to ridicule" etc.
47. One should be truly frightened when he only hears the name monk, plate, cap, (religious) rule mentioned (how much also the papists worship these abominations and boast that they are the highest worship and holiness, as also we could not think otherwise of them before the gospel was revealed, for we were brought up in the statutes of men, which obscured Christ and made Him all vain to us), hearing that Paul here says that even those who seek to be justified by the divine law are not only deniers and murderers, but also the most wicked crucifiers of Christ. But are those crucifiers of Christ who seek to attain righteousness through righteousness and the works of the law, beloved, what are those who seek to attain blessedness and eternal life through the filth of human righteousness and the doctrines of devils?
But who would have ever believed or understood that it would be such a terrible and atrocious outrage if someone became a clergyman (for that is what they call it), that is, if he became a mass priest, a monk or a nun? Certainly no one. Yes, they themselves have taught that monasticism is a new baptism. But what could be said that is more frightening than that the kingdom of the papists is a kingdom of those who spit on Christ, the Son of God, and crucify him anew? For Christ, who was once crucified and resurrected, they crucify anew in themselves, in the church or in the hearts of the faithful, spit upon Him by blasphemies, reproaches and insults, pierce Him with their false opinions, so that He dies in them most miserably, and in his place they put a very beautiful spell, by which men become senseless, so that they do not acknowledge Christ as their Justifier, Reconciler and Savior, but consider him a sin-servant, accuser, judge and corrupter, who must be reconciled by our works and merits.
49. and from this opinion the
This is the most ungodly and pernicious doctrine in the entire papacy: If you want to serve God, earn forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and help others to attain blessedness, enter a monastery, vow obedience, chastity, poverty etc. Caught and puffed up by this false idea of holiness, the monks dreamed that they alone were in a state and life of perfection, that the other Christians led a common life, that is, they did not do such works that they were not obliged to do (opera indebita), as chastity, poverty, obedience etc., but were only baptized and kept the ten commandments, but they [the monks], in addition to this, which they had in common with the other Christians, also kept superfluous good works (opera supererogationis) and the counsels of Christ etc. Therefore, they hoped that they would also have a special merit and a place in heaven among the greatest saints, far above the rest of the common people of Christians.
(50) This was indeed a terrible delusion of the devil, by which he had made almost all men senseless, and the holier one wanted to be considered, the more he was caught in this enchantment, that is, in this pernicious opinion of his own righteousness. Therefore, we could in no way recognize that Christ was a mediator and savior, but we considered him to be a severe judge who had to be reconciled by our works. This was nothing other than blaspheming Christ to the utmost and, as Paul said above, throwing away the grace of God, letting Christ die in vain, and that he not only be killed by us, but be crucified anew in the most terrible way. And this is actually what Christ [Matth. 24, 15] refers to from the prophet Daniel [Cap. 9, 26. f.], that the abomination stands in the holy place.
(51) Therefore, every monk and every one who deals with his own righteousness (justitiarius), seeking to obtain forgiveness of sins and righteousness by his own works or sufferings, is such a man who again crucifies Christ, who lives and reigns, not in Christ's own person, but in his own heart and in the hearts of others, and
All those who enter the monasteries with the intention (nomine) that they want to become righteous by keeping the rule of the order, go into the dens of robbers of those who crucify Christ again.
(52) Paul uses very weighty and terrible words here to dissuade the Galatians from the teaching of the false apostles and to set them straight, as if he wanted to say: Consider what you have done; you have crucified Christ anew, and this I show you so clearly and paint it before your eyes that you can see and grasp it, because you want to be justified by the law. But if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ is a servant of sin and died in vain. If this is true, then it certainly follows that he is crucified again among you.
And he does not add this word "among you" in vain, because Christ in his person can no longer be crucified or die in this place, Rom. 6:9, but among us. Namely, if we throw away pure doctrine, grace, faith, forgiveness of sins without all our merit, and seek to be justified by works of our own choosing or even by the works commanded in the law, then Christ is crucified among us. This false and ungodly opinion that one wants to attain righteousness from the law or works is nothing else, as I have said above in many words, but a deception and enchantment of the devil, by which men are made so senseless that they do not recognize the good deed of Christ at all and do nothing with their whole life but not only deny the Lord, who bought them with his blood and in whose name they were baptized, but also crucify him anew in themselves.
Therefore, let everyone who is serious about godliness flee from this Babylon as quickly as possible and be terrified when he hears the name "Pabstdom" mentioned. For the ungodliness and the abomination of it is so great that no one can talk it out with words, and this abomination can only be seen with spiritual eyes.
55 Paul emphasizes these two reasons for proof most carefully and sharpens them.
First, that they are so captivated and bewitched by the devil that they do not hear the truth, even when it is painted most clearly before their eyes; second, that they crucify Christ anew among themselves. These words seem to be uttered simply and without any sublime ornamentation, but they are so great that they far surpass all human eloquence. Therefore, only through the Holy Spirit can it be seen how terribly wicked he acts who wants to be justified by the righteousness of the law or by his own righteousness, namely, that he, as Paul says here, is bewitched by the devil, disobeys the truth and crucifies Christ anew. Is this not a beautiful praise of the righteousness of the law or of one's own righteousness?
The apostle is therefore inflamed with a very fierce zeal and attacks the trust in righteousness, even if it should be based on the keeping of the law of God, with frightening words, and condemns this opinion and imprints this brand on it, so that it crucifies the Son of God anew etc. Since this is something extremely dangerous, it cannot be accused enough, nor can it be condemned enough, because Lucifer's fall, an irreparable damage, results from it. That is why Paul uses such terrible words against it that he does not even spare the law of God, which he attacks so sharply that it almost seems as if he wants to reject and condemn it. But he does this out of the highest necessity that forces him to do so, for otherwise he would not have been able to resist the false apostles and defend the righteousness of faith against them. Although the law is holy, just and good, it must be presented (induere) as if it were the person of a hypocrite who wants to become just by works. Now he penetrates them with a reason of proof taken from experience, which they could not deny, and says:
V. 2. This I will learn from you alone: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the preaching of faith?
57 He speaks these words from an indignant mind. He says: If I do nothing
If I had anything else to say against you, I could refer to your own experience, as if he wanted to say: Well, answer me, your disciple (for you have become learned so soon that you are already my teachers and masters), did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the preaching of the gospel? By this evidence he so convicted them that they could say nothing against it, for clear and evident experience testified against them that they had received the Spirit not from the works of the law, but through the preaching of the gospel.
Here again I remind you that Paul does not only speak of the ceremonial law, but of the whole law. His proof is based on the fact that he makes a complete distinction (a sufficienti divisione). If he spoke only of the ceremonial law, it would not be a sufficient difference. It is therefore a double sentence (dilemma), which consists of two parts, one of which must necessarily be true, the other false, namely: You have received the Spirit either through the law or through the preaching of faith. If from the law, then not from the preaching of faith; if from the preaching of faith, then not from the law. There is no third (medium) here. For everything that is not the Holy Spirit or the preaching of faith is law. But we are now dealing with the matter of justification. But there is no other way to justification than these two: either the word of the gospel or the law.
(59) Therefore, "law" is taken here in a very general way as being quite different and separate from the gospel. Not only is the ceremonial law distinct from the gospel, but also the law of the ten commandments. So Paul is talking about the whole law as a whole.
60 Paul therefore gives his proof by the complete difference [between law and gospel] in this way: he says: Tell me, whether you have received the Holy Spirit through the law or through the preaching of the gospel? To this answer. Ye cannot say, By the law: for as long as ye were under the law, and of the law, ye received the Holy Ghost.
works, you have never received the Holy Spirit. You have taught and heard the Law of Moses every Sabbath, but it has never been known or seen that any teacher or disciple has been given the Holy Spirit through the teaching of the Law. Then you have not only taught and heard the Law, but you have also striven with great zeal and effort to prove it by works. You should have received the Holy Spirit in the fullest measure if it was given through the law, since you were not only teachers and disciples, but also doers of the law; and yet you cannot show that this ever happened.
(61) But as soon as the preaching of the faith or the gospel came to you, immediately, before you did any work or brought forth any fruit of the gospel, you received the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the faith alone. For as Lucas testifies in the Acts of the Apostles [Cap. 10, 44.], while Peter and Paul were still preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on those who were listening to the word through this preaching alone, and through it they also received various gifts, so that they spoke with new tongues etc.
(62) Therefore it is evident that the Holy Spirit was given to you through the preaching of the faith alone, before you did any good work or brought forth any fruit of the gospel. On the other hand, the law, even if you kept it, never brought you the Holy Spirit, much less if you heard it alone. Therefore, not only the hearing of the law, but also the effort and zeal with which you have endeavored to fulfill the law by deed is in vain.
(63) No matter how hard a person tries, that is, even if he is zealous for God and tries with great effort to be saved by the law, and toils day and night with the righteousness of the law, he still works and labors in vain. "For those who do not know the righteousness that is before God, and seek to establish their own righteousness," as Paul says elsewhere [Rom. 10:3], "are not subject to the righteousness that is before God."
Likewise [Rom. 9, 31.]: "Israel, which was inferior to the law of righteousness, has not come over to the law of righteousness" etc.
But Paul is speaking here of how the Holy Spirit manifested Himself in the first (primitive) church. For the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers in a visible form, and by this he gave a certain testimony that he was present at the preaching of the apostles, also testifying that those who heard the word of faith from the apostles were counted righteous by God, otherwise he would not have descended upon them.
What the book of Acts is about.
(65) Careful attention must be paid to this very strong argument, which is emphasized throughout the Acts of the Apostles; for this book was written for the purpose of confirming this argument. For this whole book is about nothing else than that it teaches that the Holy Spirit is not given through the law, but through the preaching of the gospel. For when Peter preached, the Holy Spirit immediately fell upon those who heard the word, and in one day three thousand people who heard Peter's preaching believed and received the gift of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:38, 41. 2, 38. 41. In the same way Cornelius did not receive the Holy Spirit through the alms he gave, but when Peter opened his mouth and was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on all who listened to the word with Cornelius, Apost. 10, 44. 10, 44. These are obvious proofs from experience and God's works, which cannot be deceiving.
In the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles (vv. 1 ff.), Lucas writes of Paul: "When he and Barnabas had preached the gospel among the Gentiles and returned to Jerusalem, he resisted and attacked the Pharisees and the disciples of the apostles because they insisted on circumcision and the keeping of the law as necessary for salvation. Lucas says that he silenced them by telling them what he and Barnabas had done among the Gentiles, to such an extent that the whole church was appalled by this story, especially since they heard that God had done something to the Gentiles through the Pharisees.
she had performed so many and such great signs and wonders among the Gentiles. And since those who were zealous for the law wondered greatly how it was possible that the uncircumcised Gentiles, who kept neither the law nor its works, nor had the righteousness of the law, could nevertheless come to this grace, that they might be justified and receive the Holy Spirit, just as the circumcised Jews did etc., Paul and Barnabas asserted nothing but the obvious fact (experientiam). And those who were convicted could not argue against it. In the same way, the proconsul Paul Sergius and all the cities, countries and kingdoms to which the apostles preached became believers without law and works, only through the preaching of the faith.
67: In short, nothing else is said in the whole book of Acts than that both Jews and Gentiles, both righteous and sinners, are justified by faith in Christ alone, without law and works. This is shown both by the sermons of the apostles, Peter and Paul, Stephen, Philip and others, and by the examples of the Gentiles and the Jews. For just as God gave the Holy Spirit through the Gospel to the Gentiles who lived without the Law, so He also gave the Holy Spirit to the Jews not through the Law, not through the services and sacrifices commanded by the Law, but through the preaching of faith alone. But if the law could have justified, and the righteousness of the law had been necessary for salvation, then surely the Holy Spirit would not have been given to the Gentiles who had not kept the law. But public experience testified that without the law the Spirit was given to them, and this was seen by the apostles, Peter, Paul, Barnabas and others. So it is not the law that justifies, but only faith in Christ, which the gospel preaches.
(68) This must be remembered for the sake of the adversaries who do not heed what is written in the book of Acts. I also read this book in the past, but I did not understand anything in it. Therefore, if you read in the book of Acts or anywhere else in
If you hear or read the word "Gentiles" in Scripture, you should know that this is not to be taken from the natural nature (naturaliter) [of the Gentiles^, but in a theological way (theologice), namely, for the people who are not under the law like the Jews (as it says above Cap. 2, 15: "We are Jews by nature" etc.), but without law. Therefore, when it is said that the Gentiles are justified, it is nothing else than that men who do not do the law and its works, who are not circumcised, who do not sacrifice etc., are justified and receive the Holy Spirit. By what? Not by the law and its works, for they do not have the law, but in vain, in that nothing at all precedes but the preaching of the gospel alone.
(69) So Cornelius and his friends, whom he had called to him, do nothing, neither do they look at the previous works, and yet they all receive the Holy Spirit, as many as are with them. Only Peter speaks; they sit there and do nothing; they do not think about the law, much less do it; they do not sacrifice, do not seek to obtain circumcision, but only pay attention to what Peter speaks. He brought the Holy Spirit into their hearts through his preaching, even visibly. For they spoke with tongues and praised God.
70 But someone wants to make this sophistical objection: Who knows whether it was the Holy Spirit? Let it be mocked, but surely the Holy Spirit, who bears witness in this way, does not lie, but shows that he considers the Gentiles righteous, and that he justifies them by nothing else than the word of the Gospel or the preaching of faith in Christ alone.
71 And in the Acts of the Apostles we can see how much the Jews were amazed at this unheard-of event. For when the believers of the circumcision, who had come with Peter to Caesarea, saw that in the house of Cornelius the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles, they were astonished. Likewise those who were at Jerusalem confronted Peter, saying that he had gone in to the uncircumcised.
and had eaten with them. But when they had heard Peter tell them what had happened to Cornelius, they were astonished and praised God, saying, "God has given blessedness to the Gentiles.
This word and the rumor that God also gives salvation to the Gentiles was at first not only unbearable even to the believing Jews, but also an extremely great annoyance, which they could not easily get over. For they had this privilege before all peoples, that they were the people of God. To them belonged the adoption, the glory, the service of God etc., Rom. 9, 4. Then they labored with great effort to attain righteousness from the law, working all day long, bearing the burden and heat of the day [Matth. 20, 12.]. Moreover, they also had promises for keeping the law. Therefore they could not but murmur against the Gentiles, saying, Behold, the Gentiles come quickly, without heat and burden, having the same righteousness and the Holy Ghost without labor, which we could not obtain by our labor, by the heat and burden of the day. They worked, but only for one hour, and were more refreshed than wearied by this work. Why did God afflict us with the law if it was not useful for righteousness? To us, who have long been burdened with the yoke of the law, He now prefers the Gentiles. For we, who are God's people, have been afflicted all day long, but those who are not God's people, who also do not have the law and have never done anything good, are put on a par with us.
For this reason, this council of the apostles at Jerusalem had to be held out of great necessity, so that the minds of the Jews would be calmed; although they believed in Christ, this opinion was still very firm in their hearts: one must keep the law of Moses. Peter contrasts this with his experience and says: "If God has given the same gifts to the Gentiles as He has to us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could resist God? Likewise [Cap. 15, 8-10.]: "God, the heart-denouncer, testified about the
Gentiles, and gave them the Holy Spirit, as he did us, making no distinction between us and them, and purifying their hearts by faith. Why then do you tempt God by putting the yoke on the disciples' halves, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?" etc.
With these words Peter overturns the whole law as if he wanted to say: We do not want to keep the law, because we are not able to, "but by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, just as they also" [Apost. 15, 11]. So Peter is dealing with this matter, that God has given the same grace to the Gentiles as to the Jews, as if he wanted to say: When I preached to Cornelius, I learned by my own experience that the Holy Spirit is given to the Gentiles without the Law, only through the preaching of faith, therefore one should in no way burden them with the Law. Furthermore, since it is evident that neither we nor our fathers were able to fulfill the law, you also must abandon the opinion that righteousness and salvation can be obtained through the law. And this the Jews, who had become believers, did little by little, but the unbelievers were all the more offended by this preaching, until at last they were completely hardened.
Praise of the book of Acts.
In the Acts of the Apostles you can find the explanation (glossam), the experience and the sermons of the apostles, as well as examples for this reason of proof against this very stubbornly held opinion of righteousness from the law. And for this reason we should have this book all the more gladly and read it all the more diligently, because it contains exceedingly solid testimonies, which give us a certain comfort and can raise us up against the papists, our Jews, whose abominations and false pretenses (larvas) we fight and condemn by our teaching, so that we may glorify Christ's benefits and His glory. Although they have nothing solid to oppose us with (for the Jews could reproach the apostles that they had not heard the law and the whole service of God), they have no reason to oppose us.
(Even if they had not received the law of God), they try to defend their godless human statutes and abominations with no less stubbornness than the Jews defended their law given to them by God, insisting most of all that they sit in the episcopate, that they have the power to govern the communities. They do this so that they may make us servants again and try to deny us that we are justified not by faith alone, but by faith that has gained its right form through love. But we hold up the book of Acts to them, that they may read the same, and consider well what things are reported therein, and they will find that this is the brief epitome and content of this book, that we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone, without any works, that the Holy Spirit is given only through the preaching of faith to the word of the gospel, not to the word or work of the law.
(76) Therefore we teach thus: If you, O man, are fast, give alms, honor parents, obey the authorities, be subject to your lord, etc. you still do not become righteous. This word of the law does not justify, "You shall honor your father and mother," nor any other, if you hear it or do it. What then? When one hears the voice of the bridegroom, when one hears the preaching of faith, this heard preaching justifies. Why? Because it brings with it the Holy Spirit, who makes righteous.
From this we can sufficiently understand the difference between the law and the gospel. The law never brings the Holy Spirit, so it does not justify, because it only teaches what we should do. But the gospel brings the Holy Spirit, because it teaches what we are to receive. Therefore the law and the gospel are two quite opposite doctrines. Whoever says that righteousness is attained through the law is fighting against the gospel. For Moses with his law is a driver who demands that we do works and give, in short, he demands of us. The gospel, on the other hand, does not demand, but gives freely, and commands that we accept what is offered with outstretched hands. But it is
The difference between demanding and giving, receiving and giving, is so great that one is the opposite of the other, and both cannot take place at the same time. For what is given I receive, but what I give I do not receive, but give to another. Thus, if the gospel is a gift and offers a gift, it follows that it demands nothing. On the other hand, the law does not give anything, but demands from us the impossible etc.
From Cornelius, Apost. 10.
78 Here the opponents hold up the example of Cornelius (of whom also the Magister Sententiarum and Erasmus 1) disputes in his Diatribe). Cornelius, they say, was, as Lucas testifies, a good, just, God-fearing man, who gave many alms to the people and always prayed to God [Apost. 10, 2. 31.]. So he deserved in equity (de congruo) to have his sins forgiven and the Holy Spirit sent to him.
79 I answer: Cornelius was a Gentile, the adversaries cannot deny this. For Peter's words in Acts, Cap. 10, 28, clearly testify to this when he says: "You know how it is not fitting for a Jewish man to go in to a Gentile. So he was a Gentile, was not circumcised, did not keep the law, yes, did not even think about it, because it was none of his business, and yet he is justified and receives the Holy Spirit. And this ground of proof, as I have said [§65], is specially emphasized throughout the whole book of Acts, namely, that the law does not contribute to righteousness.
80 Therefore, this will suffice to defend the article of justification, that Cornelius was a Gentile, not circumcised, and did not keep the law. Therefore, he was not justified by the law, but by the preaching of faith. So God justifies without the law, and it follows that the law does nothing for righteousness. Otherwise, God would have given the Holy Spirit only to the Jews, who were
1) Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. 18, 1659.
had the law and kept it, not to the Gentiles who did not have it, much less keep it. But the opposite happened: the Holy Spirit was given to those who did not have the Law. Therefore, public experience testifies that the Holy Spirit was given to people who did not keep the law. So righteousness does not come from the law. In this way, the objection of the opponents who do not understand the right way of justification is resolved.
81 Here the opponents raise another objection and say: It may be that Cornelius was a Gentile and did not receive the Holy Spirit through the law, but it is likely, since the text clearly says that he was righteous, God-fearing, and gave alms, etc. that he deserved to receive the Holy Spirit.
82 I answer, Cornelius was righteous and holy in the Old Testament because of his faith in the Christ who was to come, just as all the fathers, prophets and godly kings were righteous because they had received the Holy Spirit secretly because of their faith in the Christ who was to come. But the sophists make no distinction between faith in the Christ who is to come and faith in the Christ who has already appeared. Therefore, Cornelius would not have been condemned if he had died before Christ was revealed, because he had the faith of the fathers, who were saved only through faith in the Christ who was to come, Apost. 15, 11. 15, 11. So he remained a Gentile, uncircumcised, without law, but he served the same God as the fathers, through faith in the Messiah who was to come. But because Messiah had now come, it had to be made known to him through the apostle Peter that he should no longer wait for him, but that he had already come.
(83) And it is very necessary to know this article about faith in the Christ who is yet to be revealed and in the Christ who has already been revealed (so that I may also remind you of this incidentally). For now that Christ is revealed, we cannot be saved by believing in Christ who is yet to come, but must believe that he has already come.
He said that he had fulfilled everything and had done away with the law. Therefore Cornelius had to be brought to the new faith that Christ had already come, while he had previously believed that he was yet to come. Thus one faith gives way to another, "by faith into faith", Rom. 1, 17.
For this reason, the sophists err when, in order to establish their doctrine of works of merit (opere congrui), they say that Cornelius obtained the grace and gift 1) of the Holy Spirit through the works that he performed by natural forces according to reason and the moral law. For being righteous and godly etc. are virtues (affectus) that are not found in a pagan or natural man, but in a spiritual man who already has faith. For if he did not believe in God and did not fear God, he would not have hoped to obtain anything from Him through his prayer. Therefore Cornelius is praised by Lucas first because of his righteousness and fear of God, and only then because of his works and alms. The adversaries do not pay attention to this, but only tear out this little piece and hold stiffly to the fact that he gave alms to the poor, because this seems to be useful for them to support their doctrine of merit according to equity (merito congrui).
But one must first praise the person or the tree, and then the works and fruits. Cornelius is a good tree; because he is righteous and God-fearing, therefore he bears good fruit, gives alms, calls upon God, and these fruits please God because of faith. Therefore the angel praises Cornelius because of his faith in Christ who is to come, and leads him from faith in the one who is to come to faith in the Christ who has already appeared, saying [Apost. 10, 5. 6.]: "Let Simon demand, and he will tell you what you should do" etc. Just as Cornelius was without law before Christ was revealed to him, so after Christ was revealed to him he did not accept the law, circumcision etc. and just as he did not keep the law before.
1) Jenaer: missionem. In contrast, in the original edition and in the Wittenberg incorrect: remissionem.
he did not keep it afterwards either. This reason of proof is therefore exceedingly certain: Cornelius became righteous without the law, therefore the law does not justify.
Naaman the Syrian.
Likewise, Naaman the Syrian was undoubtedly a good and godly man [2 Kings 5:1 ff] and had a right opinion of God. And although he was a Gentile and did not belong to the kingdom of Moses, which was then in bloom, nevertheless his flesh is cleansed, the God of Israel is revealed to him, and the Holy Spirit is given to him. For thus he says [2 Kings 5:15], "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth, save in Israel." He does nothing, he does not keep the law, he does not let himself be circumcised, but only asks that as much earth be given to him as two mules could carry [v. 17].
(87) After this it is evident that faith was not idle in him. For thus he says to the prophet Elisha [2 Kings 5:17, 18], "Thy servant will no more sacrifice unto other gods, nor offer burnt offerings, but unto the Lord; that the Lord may be gracious unto thy servant, where I worship in the house of Rimon, when my lord goeth into the house of Rimon to worship there, that he may lean upon my hand." To him the prophet answers, "Go in peace." Thus he is justified. When a Jew hears this, he wants to burst with anger and says, "Should a Gentile who has not kept the law be justified and made equal with us who are circumcised?
The Gentiles found righteousness without law, since the regiment of Moses still existed.
Thus, long before, when the kingdom of Moses still existed and flourished, God indicated that He would make men righteous without law, as He surely made righteous many kings in Egypt, in Babylon, as well as Job and other nations of the East. Also the very great city of Nineveh is declared righteous and receives from God the promise of salvation that it shall not be destroyed. By what?
Not because this city heard and did the law, but because it believed the word of God, which the prophet Jonah preached. For this are the words of the prophet [Jonah 3:5]: "Then the people of Nineveh believed in God, and preached fasting, and put on sackcloth," that is, they repented.
89 The adversaries leap over this "they believed," and yet all power is attached to this word. You did not read in the prophet Jonah: "And the people of Nineveh received the law of Moses, and were circumcised, and offered sacrifices, and did the works of the law; but when they believed, they repented in sackcloth and ashes.
90 This happened before Christ appeared, although there was still faith in the Christ who was to come. If, then, the Gentiles, having been justified without the law, secretly received the Holy Spirit while the law was still in force, why should the law now be required for the attainment of righteousness, which has been done away with now that Christ has appeared?
91. This, then, is an exceedingly firm ground of proof, taken from the experience of the Galatians, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost?" etc. For they are forced to confess that before Paul's preaching they had heard nothing of the Holy Spirit, but since he preached the gospel they had received the Spirit.
92 We must confess the same today, convicted by the testimony of our own conscience, that the Spirit is not given through the law, but through the preaching of faith. For before in the papacy many tried with the greatest effort to keep the law, the statutes or decrees of the fathers, and the traditiones of the pope; and indeed with great and manifold exertions in watching, fasting, praying, etc., they so worked and corrupted their bodies that they were no longer fit for any work, and thereby accomplished nothing but that they miserably tortured themselves. They were never able to attain a calm conscience and peace in Christ, but constantly doubted God's gracious disposition (de voluntate) toward them.
Now that the gospel teaches that the law and works do not justify, but faith in Christ does, there follows a certain knowledge and understanding [of God's gracious attitude toward us], a completely happy conscience and a completely correct judgment about all circumstances and matters in life. Now a believer can say with certainty that the papacy with all its orders and statutes is godless, which he could not do before. For there was such a great blindness in the world that we thought that the works which men had devised, not only without but also against God's commandment, were far better than the works which, according to God's command, the authorities do, or a householder, or a schoolteacher, a child, a servant etc.
We should have truly recognized from the word of God that the orders of the papists, which alone they called holy, were ungodly, since there is absolutely no command of God or testimony of them in the holy Scriptures, whereas the other orders, which have God's word and command, are holy and appointed by God. But at that time we were immersed in such terrifying darkness that we could not make a correct judgment about any matter at all. But now that the light of the Gospel shines, we can have a certain and infallible judgment about all states in the world. From God's words we make the certain judgment that the servant class, which is the lowest in the eyes of the world, is much more highly esteemed in the eyes of God than all the orders of monks, for God approves, praises and adorns the servant class by His word; this does not happen to the monk class.
95 Therefore, this reason for proof, which is taken from experience, should also apply to us. For although in the papacy one did this work and the other another, and indeed many and difficult works, they could never be certain of God's gracious disposition toward them, but were always in doubt, could never come to the knowledge of their God, nor to the knowledge of their calling, never felt the testimony of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. But now that the truth of the gospel is shining
If they do not know the truth, they will be taught all these things with the utmost certainty through the preaching of the faith alone.
(96) It is not for nothing that I say so much about this, for it seems to be very poorly spoken of (exiliter sonat) when it is said that the Holy Spirit is given to us through the preaching of faith alone, and that nothing else is demanded of us except that we renounce all our doings and hear only the gospel. The human heart does not understand and believe that such a great treasure, namely the Holy Spirit, is given by the preaching of faith alone, but concludes thus: The forgiveness of sins, deliverance from sin and death, the gift of the Holy Spirit, righteousness and eternal life are something exceedingly great, therefore you must also do something great to obtain these priceless gifts. The devil reinforces this opinion and magnifies it in the heart. Therefore, when reason hears, "You can do nothing to obtain forgiveness of sins. Therefore, when reason hears, "You can do nothing to obtain forgiveness of sins, but only hear God's word," it immediately objects and says, "Oh, you make forgiveness of sins etc. too small and contemptible. Thus the greatness of the gift causes us not to accept it, and because so great a treasure is offered in vain, therefore it is despised.
97. But we must learn this by all means, that through the preaching of faith alone, the forgiveness of sins, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are given to us freely, regardless of even our exceedingly great sins and our indebtedness (demeritis), and must not look at it, We must not look at how great what is given to us is and how unworthy we are, otherwise the greatness of the treasure and our unworthiness would deter us, but we must think that it pleases God to give this unspeakable good freely, and that to us who are unworthy, as Christ says, Luc. 12, 32: "Fear not, little host, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom", he says. To whom? To you unworthy ones, who are a small herd. So if I am small, and the thing that is given is great, yes, exceedingly great, I must think that he who gives is also great.
and alone be great. When he offers and wants to give, I do not look at my sin and unworthiness, but at the fatherly will of him who gives against me, and I accept the exceedingly great gift with joy and am glad and grateful for the unspeakable gift, which was given in vain, through the preaching of faith, and that to an unworthy one.
Here again foolish reason is angry and reproves us, saying, "That you teach that men need do nothing at all to obtain this immeasurable good, but hear the word, seems to be the greatest contempt for grace, and to make men sure, sluggish, and sleepy, so that they let down their hands and want to do nothing at all good. Therefore it is not good to preach this, nor is it true, but men must be kept from working, from becoming sour, and from pursuing righteousness, and then they will also obtain this gift.
The Pelagians once reproached the Christians for this very thing, but listen to what Paul says here: "It is not from your work and effort, not from the works of the law, but from the preaching of the faith that you have received the Holy Spirit. Yes, listen to what Christ Himself answered to Martha, who was much concerned and troubled, and who was distressed that her sister Mary sat at JEsu's feet listening to His discourse, but left her to minister alone. "Martha, Martha," he said, "you have many worries and troubles, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her" [Luc. 10, 39. ff.]. Therefore, one becomes a Christian, not by doing works, but by hearing [the Word].
(100) Therefore, whoever desires to attain righteousness, let him first of all make it his business to hear the gospel. When he has heard and grasped it, let him be glad and give thanks to God, and then let him practice the good works commanded by the law, so that the law and the works follow the preaching of faith. Then he will surely be able to walk in the light, which is Christ, and surely works he will be able to do.
choose and do things that are not hypocritical but truly good, which he can know are pleasing to God and commanded by Him, and despise all pretended (larvas), self-chosen works.
The adversaries think that faith, through which one receives the Spirit, is a trivial thing, without any importance, but how difficult and high this thing is, I and all those who, like me, seriously concern themselves with it, experience. It is soon said that one receives the Spirit only through the preaching of faith, but this is not so easily heard, grasped, believed and retained as one speaks of it. Therefore, when you hear from me that Christ, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed for your sins, see that you also hear this rightly. Paul significantly called it "the preaching of faith" (not "the word of faith", although this differs little from it), that is, such a word, which you, hearing it, believe, so that the word is not only a word spoken by me (vox mea), but is also heard by you and enters your heart and is believed by you; then it is in truth the preaching of faith, through which you receive the Holy Spirit. When thou hast received the Holy Spirit, thou shalt also kill thy flesh.
The godly experience how much they would like to hold on to the preached word with full faith and tear the (false opinion of the law and their own righteousness from their hearts, but they feel the struggle (luctam) in the flesh, which opposes the spirit with all its might. Because the reason and the flesh want to cooperate badly. The "one must be circumcised and keep the law" [Apost. 15, 1. Cf. Gal. 5, 3.] cannot be completely brought out of us, but it remains in the hearts of all the godly. That is why believers have a constant struggle with the preaching of faith and the works of the law, because the conscience always grumbles against it and thinks: this is too easy a way, that only from the preaching of the word righteousness, the Holy Spirit and eternal life are promised.
But try earnestly, and you will find out how easy it is to accept the word of faith.
to hear him. Although he who gives is great, then he gives great things gladly and simply [Rom. 12, 8.] and does not impose them on anyone [Jac. 1, 5.], but you make it difficult for yourself to take hold of it (tua capacitas difficilis est), and your faith is weak and causes you a struggle, so that you cannot accept the offered gift. But let your conscience murmur against it, and let this "you must" come up again and again, but just wait for a while and stand firm until you overcome this "you must". Thus, as faith grows, that delusion of righteousness from the law will gradually diminish more and more; but this cannot happen without great struggle.
V. 3. 4. Are you so foolish? You began in the spirit, will you now complete it in the flesh? Have you suffered so much in vain?
(104) After Paul has brought this reason to bear (absoluto), namely, that the Spirit is not given by the works of the law, but by the preaching of faith, he now begins to exhort and deter them by setting before them a twofold danger or harm. The first is, "Are ye so foolish that ye should come to an end in the flesh, though ye began in the spirit?" The second, "Have ye then suffered so much in vain?" And this is according to the art of speech, that is, to dissuade people by presenting dangers and harm, and again to persuade them by presenting what is useful, honorable, and easy. So he says, "You began in the spirit," that is, your worship of God (religio) was beautifully begun and well ordered, as he also says afterwards [Cap. 5:7], "You walked finely. "etc. But what happens? Now you want it to end with you in the flesh, yes, you have already come to the end in the flesh.
Here Paul opposes "spirit" and "flesh". He calls here) as I have already reminded above, "flesh", not the pleasure, animal passions or sensual desires (appetitum sensitivum), because here he does not deal with the pleasure or other lusts of the flesh, but with the forgiveness of the flesh.
of sin, of the justification of the conscience, of the attainment of righteousness that is valid before God, of deliverance from the law, from sin and from death, and yet he says here that because they have fallen away from the Spirit, they now accomplish in the flesh. Therefore, "flesh" is nothing other than righteousness, the wisdom of the flesh, and the thoughts of reason, which strives to be justified by the law. So Paul calls "flesh" everything that is best and most excellent in man, that is, the highest wisdom of reason and the righteousness of the law itself.
(106) And this passage must be heeded for the sake of the papist blasphemers, who pervert it against us, saying that we began under the papacy in the spirit, but now it comes to an end in the flesh, because we have taken wives. As if it were a life in the spirit, that one lived in celibacy or had no wife, but in the meantime the spiritual life was not hindered, if someone was not content with one whore, but had several. They are people without understanding, who do not understand what is spirit or flesh. "Spirit" is everything that is worked in us by the Holy Spirit, "flesh" is everything that takes place in us according to the flesh, without the Spirit. Therefore all the works of Christians, as, loving one's wife, rearing children, ruling one's house, honoring one's parents, obeying the authorities etc., which those regard as worldly and fleshly works, are fruits of the Spirit. The blind people make no distinction between the things that are good creatures of God and the vices.
(107) Here it should also be noted that Paul says that the Galatians began in the spirit. There he should have added in active form: Now you consummate (consummatis) in the flesh; but this he does not do, but in a passive form he says: "You are made an end (consummamini) in the flesh." The righteousness of the law, which Paul here calls the flesh, does not justify, but rather those who, having received the Spirit through the preaching of the faith, fall away from it, are made an end of by it, that is, they are finished (finiunter) and completely destroyed.
judges. Therefore, while those who teach that the law must be kept with the intention that men may be justified thereby want to counsel the consciences, they do them the greatest harm; while they want to make them just, they lead them into condemnation.
But Paul always attacks the false apostles in passing (oblique). For they insisted on the law, saying: "Faith in Christ alone does not take away sin, does not satisfy God's wrath, does not justify; therefore, if you want to obtain those benefits, you must not only believe in Christ, but at the same time keep the law, be circumcised, observe the holidays, sacrifice etc. If you do this, you will be free from sin, from God's wrath etc. Paul, on the other hand, says: "By this very thing you stir up unrighteousness, provoke the wrath of God, heap sin upon sin, fall from grace and cast it away, quench the Spirit and come to an end in the flesh with your disciples. This is the first danger by which he dissuades the Galatians, namely, that they [see to it that they] do not lose the Spirit in seeking to be justified by the law, and spoil the best beginning by an exceedingly evil end.
Have you suffered so much in vain?
The second danger or pity is this: "Have you suffered so much in vain?"as if he wanted to say: Consider not only how beautifully you began, and how miserably you have lost the good beginning and the best begun course; likewise, that you have not only fallen away from the firstfruits and fruits of the Spirit, into the service of sin and death, and into the sad and miserable bondage of the law; but behold also this, that ye have suffered many things for the gospel's and Christ's sake, that they have robbed you of your goods, blasphemed you, and reviled you, that ye have been in danger of life and limb etc. life. Everything was going well with you: you taught rightly, you lived holy, and you suffered all kinds of hardships with constancy for the sake of the name of Christ. But now doctrine and faith
There, both doing and suffering, both the spirit and the fruit of the spirit in you.
(110) From this it is sufficiently evident what harm the righteousness of the law or one's own righteousness entails, namely, that those who trust in it suddenly lose incomprehensibly great goods (etc.). Furthermore, it is something very lamentable that someone so quickly and easily loses such great glory and the firm trust of the conscience in God, and likewise that he endures such multiple and severe suffering and danger to goods, to wife and children, to life and limb, and yet suffers all this in vain and in vain.
He would have written about the righteousness of the law or his own righteousness and would have gone on almost ad infinitum if he had wanted to explain this in all its parts, what the spirit was in which they began, then what, how great and how much the sufferings were that they endured for the sake of Christ. But this cannot be sufficiently presented by any oratory, because these are the greatest things Paul is talking about here, namely God's glory, victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, righteousness and eternal life; and on the other hand sin, despair, eternal death and hell.
(112) And yet, we lose those priceless gifts in a moment, and suffer these terrible plagues, which never end, through the instigation of false teachers, when they lead us astray from the truth of the gospel to false doctrine, and they do this not only with easy effort, but also put on a great pretense of godliness.
Is it different for free.
This is an improvement (correctio) by which he softens the previous rebuke, which was somewhat harsh; and he does this as an apostle, so that he does not frighten the Galatians too much. He does punish them, but in such a way that he nevertheless always puts oil in the wounds.
1) It must be read with the Wittenberg nos, "uos" in the Jena one is a misprint instead of: nos. The Erlangen one has: vos.
so that he does not drive them into despair. Therefore he says: "Is it otherwise in vain", as if he wanted to say: I have not yet given up all hope in you. But if, setting aside the spirit, you would complete in the flesh in this way, that is, follow the righteousness of the law as you began, then you should know that all your stirring and confidence in God is vain, and all your sufferings are in vain. I must, however, speak somewhat harshly to you, make the matter very great and rebuke you severely, especially since the greatness of this matter requires it, so that you do not think that nothing or little is at stake if you reject Paul's teaching and hear and accept another. But I do not cut off all hope from you, if you only want to get back on your feet, for one must not throw away unclean, sick and grinchy children, but care for them more diligently and nurture them more carefully than the healthy ones.
Thus, Paul, as an experienced physician, puts almost all the blame on the false apostles who caused this pernicious disease. On the other hand, he treats the Galatians mildly in order to heal them through this gentleness. Therefore, following Paul's example, we too should so punish the weak, so care for them and heal their sickness, that we also comfort them at the same time, so that they do not despair when they are treated too harshly by us.
V. 5. He then that giveth you the Spirit, and doeth such works among you, doth he it by the works of the law, or by the preaching of faith?
This reason of proof, which is taken from the experience of the Galatians, pleases the apostle so much that after he had scolded and deterred them by the twofold harm, he now repeats it, and that with an addition, saying, "Who now giveth you the Spirit," etc. that is, not only have you received the Spirit from the preaching of the faith, but all that you have in knowledge and works you have from the preaching of the faith, as if he were saying, "You have received the Spirit from the preaching of the faith.
1) Wittenberger: ?auto instead of: xaulo.
wanted: That was not enough that God had given you the Spirit once, but the same God has always given and multiplied the gifts of the Spirit, so that the Spirit, once you had received it, always increased and was strong in you.
From this it is clear that the Galatians performed miracles or at least exquisite works (virtutes), that is, fruits of faith, which the true disciples of the Gospel are wont to bring, for in another place the apostle says, "the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power. But "power" is not only to speak of the kingdom of God, but also to show by deed that God is powerful in us through His Spirit. Thus he says of himself, above Cap. 2, 8: "He who was strong with Petro among the Jews was also strong with me among the Gentiles.
Therefore, when a preacher preaches in such a way that the word does not remain without fruit, but is powerful in the listeners, that is, when faith, hope, love, patience etc. follow, God gives the Spirit and works glorious deeds in the listeners. In a similar way, Paul says here that God has given the Spirit to the Galatians and has done deeds among them, as if he wanted to say: God not only worked through my preaching that you became believers, but that you also lived holy and brought forth many fruits of faith and endured hardships. Likewise, by the same power of the Spirit, you were changed from stingy, adulterous, angry, impatient, hostile people etc. to those who are generous, chaste, gentle, patient, and love their neighbor. Therefore he gives them Cap. 4, 14. 15. the testimony that they received him as an angel of God, yes, as Jesus Christ, and that they loved him so much that they would have been willing to tear out their eyes etc.
But to love one's neighbor so fiercely that one is ready to give money, goods, eyes, life, and everything for his good, and also to patiently endure all adversities, these are surely powers of the Holy Spirit. And these powers, he says, you have received and had before those false teachers came to you, you have had them.
not from the law, but from God, who gave you the Spirit and increased it daily, so that the gospel had its most blessed course among you, with teaching, faith, work and suffering. Since you know this well, convicted by the testimony of your own conscience, how is it that you no longer do the same deeds as before? That is, that you do not teach rightly, do not believe godly, do not live righteously, do not do good works, do not suffer evil patiently? Who has so changed you that you no longer love me as before? Now you would no longer receive Paul as an angel of God, no longer as Christ Jesus; you would no longer pluck out your eyes and give them to me. How is it, I say, that you no longer strive for me with such fervent love, but now prefer to me the false apostles who seduce you so miserably?
119 This is how it is with us today. When the preaching of the Gospel began, there were very many who liked our teaching exceedingly, and who were well-meaning and reverent toward us, and the preaching of the Gospel was followed by powers and fruits of faith. What happens? Suddenly swarming spirits arise, which in a short time overthrow what we had built up in long years and with much sour labor, and also make the hearts of those who before loved us dearly and received our teaching with thanksgiving so hostile to us that now nothing is more hated by them than our name. But the devil is the author of this evil, who works in his members the opposite forces, which fight against the powers of the Holy Spirit.
120 The apostle says: "Dear Galatians, your own experience should have taught you that these great deeds did not come from the works of the law. For just as you did not have them before the preaching of the faith, so you do not have them now that the false apostles rule among you.
121 We can say the same thing today to those who boast that they are evangelical and free from the tyranny of the pope: "Have you overcome the tyranny of the pope and attained freedom in Christ through the spirits of the swarms, or through us, who are the
Have they preached faith in Christ? If they want to confess the truth here, they must say: Certainly through the preaching of faith. And it is true that when our preaching began, the doctrine of faith had a very happy course. Indulgences, purgatory, vows, masses and similar abominations were abolished, which led to the downfall of the whole papacy. No one could justly condemn us. For the doctrine was pure, straightened many consciences and comforted them, which had long been oppressed by human statutes under the papacy, which was a real tyranny and torture chamber of consciences. Therefore, many thanked God that they had been snatched out of these snares and tortures of the conscience by the Gospel, which by God's grace we first preached at that time.
But when the spirits arose who, by denying the bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, by desecrating baptism, by destroying the images, and by abolishing all ceremonies, wanted to bring the papacy completely down at once and thus obscure our glory, they immediately began to blaspheme our doctrine. For the accusation was generally raised that the followers [of our doctrine] were divided among themselves. This angered a great many and turned them away from the truth, and it aroused the hope among the papists that we would perish with our doctrine in a very short time, because it would be at odds with itself, and that they would soon regain their strength and, through this cause, regain their old prestige and dignity.
Therefore, just as the false apostles claimed and strongly insisted that the Galatians, who were already justified by faith in Christ, had to be circumcised and had the Law of Moses if they wanted to be free from sins and God's wrath and obtain the Holy Spirit, and just by doing so only burdened them the more with sins, because sins are not taken away by the Law, nor is the Holy Spirit given by it, but the Law only causes wrath [Rom. 4, 15] and instills terror: so today the zealots, who are in favor of the salvation of all
(catholicae) Church and eradicate the papacy all at once and bury it completely by abolishing the ceremonies, destroying the images and fighting against the sacraments, did not help the Church with these very things, but rather harmed it; they did not overthrow the papacy, but strengthened it even more.
124. But if, as they had begun, they had taught in harmony with us, diligently insisting on the article of justification, that we are justified neither by the righteousness of the law, nor by our own righteousness, but by faith alone in Christ alone, then truly this few articles, as it had already begun, would have gradually put down the papacy with its brotherhoods, indulgences, orders, relics, [false] services, invocation of the saints, purgatory, masses, vigils, vows, and other such innumerable abominations. But those left the preaching of faith and Christian righteousness and attacked the matter differently, to great harm to the pure doctrine and to the churches. Therefore they were like those who, as the German proverb says, "fish before the fish". For they chased away the fish, which the net already wanted to enclose, by trying to seize them with their hands.
That is why the papacy is shaken and falls nowadays, not by the storming of the red spirits, but by the preaching of the article of justification, which has not only weakened the kingdom of the Antichrist, but has also preserved and defended us against his power, and if we had not had this protection, the red spirits would have perished long ago, and we with them. And yet they do not recognize this benefit at all, so that instead of loving us, as the Psalm says, they blaspheme us and persecute us with extremely hostile hearts.
(126) But the article of justification, which is the only safeguard, not only against all power and cunning of men, but also against the gates of hell, is this, that by faith alone in Christ alone, without works, we are declared righteous and saved. If this is the true way of becoming righteous
(as it certainly is, or the whole Scripture would have to be dissolved), then it follows immediately that we are not declared righteous by monasticism, nor by vows, nor by masses, nor by any works. Then, without any outward cause, without rebellion, without any human power, without any attack against the sacraments, the Pabstacy will be overthrown by the Spirit alone, and this victory will not be brought about by us, but by Christ, whose benefits we preach and praise.
What I am about to say is also borne out by experience. For at the time when the papacy first began to incline and fall, the pagans did nothing at all, nor were they able to do so, but remained silent. On the other hand, we taught nothing and insisted on nothing but the article of justification, which at that time alone damaged the reputation of the pope and destroyed his empire. But when the spirits of the mob saw that the papacy was falling and tilting, and the fish were gathered around the net, they wanted to take away our glory by overthrowing the papacy at once and completely eradicating it, and to seize all the fish that were gathered in front of the net with their hands; but they lost their effort, for they did not catch them, but only scared them away.
(128) Therefore, just as the false apostles brought righteousness to the Galatians by their teaching of keeping the law, so also have the pagans overthrown the papacy by their storming. Images and other abuses in the church would have fallen of their own accord if they had taught the article of justification diligently and purely. But they were driven by vain honor, for they would have liked to hear it said of them that they had overthrown the papacy. Therefore they left the article of justification undone and caused that storm by which they also almost suppressed us and strengthened the papists in their abominations. This is what happens to our nobility when we seek our own glory and not that of God.
129. neither the pope nor the devil fears such storms and outward terrors (larvas), but the doctrine of faith, which is
that Christ alone is the victor over sin, death and the devil is terrible to him. For this destroys his kingdom and, as I have said, it preserves and defends us against all the gates of hell, and if we did not lean on this anchor, we would inevitably have to worship the pope again, and there would be no way or means to resist him. For if I wanted to unite myself with the spirits of the rotten, my conscience would be unsafe, because they would set themselves against the pope without any right, seeking their own honor, not God's. Therefore, if I did not use other weapons, I would have to worship the pope again, and there would be no way or means to resist him. Therefore, if I were not armed with other weapons than they, I would not dare to attack the papacy, much less presume to destroy it.
130 But they say: The pope is the antichrist. Quite so; but he again says that he has the office of teaching, that he has the power to administer the sacraments, to bind and loose, and that he possesses this power rightly, because it was handed over to him by the apostles as an inheritance. Therefore, he is not pushed out of his seat by this external storming, but by the preaching of the faith, in this way: Dear pope, I will kiss your feet and acknowledge you as the supreme bishop, if you will worship my Christ and allow us to have forgiveness of sins and eternal life through his death and resurrection, not by keeping your statutes. If thou wilt yield in this, I will not take away thy crown and power; but if not, I will continually cry out that thou art the Antichrist, and testify that all thy worship and spiritual states are not only a denial of God, but also the highest blasphemy and idolatry.
(131) The spirits of the pagans do not do this, but only seek to wrest his crown and power from him by external force; therefore, their efforts are in vain. One must do this [that one bears witness against him] above all things, so that the pope's ungodliness and abominations come to light, with which he has deceived the whole world under the appearance of holiness and spirituality (religionis) etc. If I do this, I would like to see what he will keep afterwards. For I
have taken away his core and leave him the shells. On the other hand, they take away his shells and leave him the core.
In short, just as from the works of the law the deeds have not been done, so from these outward works, to which the pagans insist, nothing comes in the church but turmoil, greater confusion, and hindrance of the Holy Spirit, which experience testifies. For by destroying the images and arguing against the sacraments, they have not overthrown the pope, but only made him more hopeful. By the Spirit, however, he was cast down and is still cast down today, that is, by the preaching of faith, which testifies that Christ was given for our sins. Then the righteousness and the bondage of the laws of the pope must fall away.
In the meantime, however, I have often pleaded and still plead that I would gladly suffer the pope's statutes if he would only allow them to be free and not bind consciences to believe that they would be justified if they kept them, but would be damned if they did not. But this he does not do. For if he did not bind consciences to his statutes, what power would he have? That is why he is most careful to keep the consciences entangled and captive by his laws. That is where these speeches come from: You cannot be blessed if you do not obey the Roman See. Hence come these lightnings and thunderings in the bulls: Whoever should be presumptuous and dare to do something contrary to this, let him know that he will incur the wrath of the Almighty God etc.
134 He absolutely denies blessedness to all who do not obey his laws. On the other hand, he promises eternal life to those who keep them. Thus he drives us into the net of the righteousness of works, as if no one could be righteous and saved if he did not keep his laws. In short, he does not mention faith in a single word, but teaches only what is his. But if he were to allow all his laws to serve nothing for the attainment of righteousness before God, then we would be willing to give him many things in return.
but then his empire would fall by itself.
For if he were to lose the power to save and to condemn, then the pope would be nothing more than a mere idol. In short, the righteousness of the heart knows nothing of any law, not only of the pope, but also of Moses, for true righteousness comes not from the works of the law, but from the preaching of faith, which is followed by the deeds and fruits of the Spirit.
V. 6: Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Up to this point, Paul has based his proof on experience, and has made great use of this reason for proof, which is taken from experience. He says: "You believed, and since you believed, you performed miracles and many glorious deeds, and also suffered [many] evils, which are all powers and effects, not of the law, but of the Holy Spirit. The Galatians had to confess this because they could not deny what they saw with their eyes and perceived with their senses. Therefore, it is an exceedingly powerful and clear reason for proof, taken from the experience or effects on the Galatians themselves. 1)
Now he adds the example of Abraham and cites testimonies of the Scriptures. The first passage is from the 15th chapter [v. 6] of the first book of Moses: "Abraham believed God" etc. He acts this saying here very powerfully, as also in the letter to the Romans Cap. 4, 2. 3. He says: "If Abraham has been justified by the works of the law, he has righteousness and glory, not before God, but before men, because before God he has only sin and wrath. But before God he is righteous not because he has done works, but because he has believed. For the Scripture says: "Abraham believed God, and this was counted to him for righteousness."
138. Paul even explains this saying there
1) Here now follows in Menius a longer elaboration, which in the old edition of Walch takes up two whole columns, that "Paulo is to do everything to establish the main article of faith well", of which nothing is found in the Latin.
He acts in a glorious way, as he is worthy of it, and acts widely. He says [Rom. 4, 19-24]: "Abraham was not weak in faith, nor did he look at his own body, which was already dead, because he was almost a hundred years old, nor at the dead body of Sarah. For he did not doubt the promise of God through unbelief, but grew strong in faith and gave glory to God, and knew in all certainty that what God promises, he can also do. That is why it is counted as righteousness for him. This is not written for his sake alone, that it is counted to him, but also for our sake" etc.
By these words: "Abraham believed God," Paul makes faith in God the highest service of God, the greatest compliance, the highest obedience, the most pleasing sacrifice. Now let him who is a good orator carry on this saying, and he will see that faith is an almighty thing, and that its power is immeasurable and infinite. For it gives glory to GOtte, which is the greatest thing that can be given. But "to give glory to GOtte" is to believe Him, to hold Him to be true, wise, just, merciful, almighty, in short, to recognize that He is the author and giver of all good.
Reason does not do this, but faith. It completes (consummates) the Godhead, and is, that I say so, the creator of the Godhead, not as far as the essence (substantia) of God is concerned, but in us. For without faith, God loses in us His glory, wisdom, justice, truth, mercy, etc., in short, nothing of His majesty and divinity is left to God where faith is not. God also demands nothing more from man than that he give him his honor and divinity, that is, that he not consider him an idol, but God, who takes care of us, hears us, has mercy on us, helps us etc. If this is granted to him, he has his divinity whole and unharmed, that is, he has everything that a believing heart can give him. Therefore, he who can give this honor to God has the highest wisdom, the highest righteousness, the highest worship, the most pleasing sacrifice. From this you can understand how great a righteousness faith is.
and again, how great a sin unbelief is.
Therefore, anyone who believes the word of God, as Abraham did, is righteous before God, because he has the faith that gives glory to God, that is, he gives to God what is due to him (this is also how the [worldly] laws describe a righteous person). For faith speaks thus: Dear GOt, I believe you what you speak. But what does GOtt speak? Impossible things, lies, foolish, low (infirma), unrational, abominable, heretical and diabolical things, if you consult reason. For what is more ridiculous, foolish and impossible than for God to say to Abraham that he will conceive a son from the barren and already dead body of Sarah?
In this way, God, when he holds up articles of faith to us, always holds up to us things that are utterly impossible and inconsistent, if one wants to judge according to reason. It certainly seems ridiculous and inconsistent to reason that the body and blood of Christ are presented to us in the Lord's Supper, that baptism is a bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, that the dead will rise on the last day, that Christ, the Son of God, is conceived, carried in the womb of the Virgin, and born, that he suffers the most shameful death on the cross, rises again, now sits at the right hand of the Father, and has all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore Paul calls the gospel of Christ crucified a word of the cross and a foolish sermon, which the Jews consider an annoying, but the Gentiles a foolish doctrine etc. [1 Cor. 1, 22. f.]. Therefore reason does not understand that hearing and believing God's word is the highest service of God, but holds that what they themselves choose and do (as they call it) in good opinion and out of their own devotion is pleasing to God. Therefore, when God speaks, she judges that his word is heresy and the devil's word, because it seems (apparet) to her that it is unrighteous etc.
Faith, on the other hand, puts an end to reason and kills this beast, which the whole world and all creatures cannot kill. This is how Abraham killed his reason.
killed by faith in God's word, through which he was promised the seed from the barren and already dead Sarah. Of course, reason in Abraham did not immediately agree with this word, but certainly fought against faith in him, and considered it ridiculous, tasteless and impossible that Sarah, who was already not only a ninety-year-old, but also barren by nature, should bear a son. Faith had this fight with reason in Abraham, but faith kept the victory in him, and reason, the most bitter and pernicious enemy of God, was strangled and destroyed (sacrificavit).
(144) So also all believers go with Abraham into the darkness of faith, killing reason and saying: You, reason, are foolish, you do not understand what God is, therefore do not speak against me, but be silent, do not judge, but hear the word of God, and believe. Thus, through faith, the godly strangle this beast, which is greater than the world, and thereby show God the most pleasing sacrifice and service.
And compared to this sacrifice and worship of the godly, all the worship of all pagans and all the works of all monks and works saints are nothing at all. For by this sacrifice, as I have said, they first kill reason, the greatest and most insurmountable enemy of God; for reason despises God, denies His wisdom, justice, power, truth, mercy, majesty and divinity. Then they give GOtte his glory by the same sacrifice, that is, they believe that he is just, good, faithful, true etc., they believe that he is able to do everything, that all his words are holy, true, living, powerful etc., which is GOtte's most pleasing service. Therefore, no greater, better, or more pleasing worship or service can be rendered to GOtte in the world than faith.
On the other hand, the faithless saints of works do a lot, they fast, pray, and put on their own crosses. But because they think they can appease God's wrath and earn mercy through these things, they do not give God His glory. That is, they do not believe that God is merciful and true and that He fulfills His promises, but they believe Him to be
an angry judge who must be reconciled with works, and in this way they despise God, accuse Him of lying in all His promises, deny Christ and all His benefits: in short, they push God from His throne and put themselves in His place. For they neglect and despise God's word and choose services and works that God has not commanded. They let themselves dream that God is pleased with them and hope that they will receive a reward from Him. Therefore, they do not kill their reason, the bitterest enemy of God, but make it alive and take away God's majesty and divinity and attach it to their works.
Therefore faith alone gives glory to God, as Paul, Rom. 4:20 ff., testifies of Abraham: "Abraham," he says, "grew strong in faith and gave glory to God, and knew in all certainty that what God promised he was able to do. Therefore it is counted to him for righteousness."
Christian righteousness stands in the faith of the heart and in the imputation of God.
This sentence: "It is counted to him for righteousness", from the 15th chapter of the first book of Moses [v. 6], he adds not without cause. For Christian righteousness stands in two things, namely, the faith of the heart and the imputation of God. Faith is indeed the essential (formalis) righteousness, and yet it is not sufficient, because after we have come to faith, the remnants of sin in the flesh still cling to us. This sacrifice of faith began in Abraham, but is not completed until death; therefore the other part of righteousness must be added, which makes it perfect, namely, divine imputation. Faith does not give God substantially (formally) enough, because it is imperfect; indeed, there is hardly a speck of faith in us that begins to give God his divinity. We have received the firstfruits of the Spirit, but not yet the fullness of the Spirit.
Then reason is not completely killed in this life, which is evident from the fact that in us there are still evil desires, anger, impatience, and
other fruits of the flesh and unbelief are left. Likewise, even the more perfect saints do not have full and constant joy in God, but are sometimes of one mind, sometimes of another, sometimes sad, sometimes happy, as the Scriptures testify of the prophets and apostles; but such faults are not imputed to them for the sake of faith in Christ, otherwise no man would be blessed.
150 So we conclude from these words, "And it is reckoned unto him for righteousness," that righteousness indeed begins by faith, and that by it we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, but because faith is weak, it [righteousness] is not made perfect without the imputation of God. Therefore faith begins righteousness, and imputation makes it perfect until the day of Christ.
The Sophists also argue about imputation when they say that God accepts man for the sake of works (de acceptatione operis), but they do this without and against Scripture, because they draw it only to the works. They do not pay attention to the impurity and inner corruption of the heart, such as unbelief, doubt, contempt and hatred of God, which are the main beasts, the sources and causes of all evils. They look only at the outward and gross vices and iniquities, which are the little books that flow from those sources. Therefore, they attribute to the works that God accepts the person (acceptationem), because God accepts the works, not out of debt (ex debito), but according to equity (ex congruo).
On the other hand, we exclude all works and attack the heads of that beast called reason, which is the main source of all evil. For reason does not fear God, does not love God, does not trust God, but surely despises Him, is not moved by His threats nor by His promises, does not delight in His words and deeds, but murmurs against God, is angry with Him, judges and hates God, in short, it is God's enemy, Rom. 8:7, which does not give Him His glory. If this pestilence, reason, were killed, the outward and gross sins would be nothing.
153. therefore, above all, we must
First of all, we must strive to kill unbelief, contempt and hatred of God, grumbling against God's judgment, against God's wrath and all His words and works through faith, and then we will kill reason. For it cannot be killed by anything other than faith, which trusts in God and gives Him glory, regardless of the fact that it speaks what seems to reason to be foolish, inconsistent and impossible, also regardless of the fact that God creates a completely different image of Himself than reason can approve (judicare) or grasp, namely thus: Not because of your observance of the law, not because of your works or merits, but because of your faith in my only begotten Son JEsum Christum, who was born for your sins, suffered [for them], was crucified and died, I will accept you and declare you righteous, and what sin is left in you I will not impute to you. Therefore, unless reason is put to death, and all the worships and services of God in the wide world, which have been devised by men to bring about righteousness before God, are condemned, the righteousness of faith has no place.
When reason hears this, it immediately becomes angry, nonsensical, and shows its enmity toward God, saying, "Are good works nothing? Have I labored in vain, bearing the burden and heat of the day? Hence comes this rebellion of the heathen, the nations, the kings and the princes against the Lord and His Christ [Ps. 2:1, 2]. The world does not want and cannot suffer its wisdom, righteousness, worship and services to be punished and condemned; the pope with his own does not want to be regarded as having erred, much less does he suffer to be condemned etc.
Therefore, those who study the Scriptures should learn from this saying, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness," to describe Christian righteousness actually and clearly, so that it is trust in the Son of God, or the trust of the heart in God through Christ. After that, they should also add the [other] part, in order to describe [righteousness].
(To make the righteousness complete). 1) This trust is counted as righteousness for Christ's sake. For (as I have said [§148]) these two things make Christian righteousness perfect, namely, faith in the heart, which is a gift given by God, and essentially (formaliter) believing in Christ; according to which God counts this imperfect faith toward perfect righteousness for the sake of Christ, in whom I have begun to believe.
For the sake of this faith that takes hold of Christ, God does not see that I doubt His gracious will toward me, does not see the distrust, the sadness of spirit and other sins that I still have. For as long as I live in the flesh, sin is truly in me. But because I am sheltered under the shadow of Christ's wings, like a little chick under the wings of the hen [Matth. 23, 37.Because I am protected under the shadow of Christ's wings, like a chick under the wings of a hen [Matth. 23, 37.], and live safely under the vast heaven of forgiveness of sins, which is stretched out over me, God covers and forgives what is left of sin in me, that is, because of the faith with which I have begun to take hold of Christ, He counts imperfect righteousness to me as perfect righteousness, but not sin as sin, although it is truly sin.
Thus we live under the veil of Christ's flesh [Heb. 10:20], which is our pillar of cloud by day and our pillar of fire by night, so that God may not see our sin. And though we see them and feel the terrors of conscience because of them, yet we are preserved by taking refuge in Christ, our Mediator and Reconciler, through whom we have been made whole. For as in him are all things, so also through him we have all things, who also completes all things in us. When we believe this, God overlooks the remnants of sin that still cling to our flesh and wants them to be covered as if they were not. . He says: "Because you believe in my Son, your sins, even though you have them, shall be forgiven you, until
1) tanquam differentiam - as a whole (cf. Walch, St. L. Ausg., vol. XIX, 428).
that you may become completely free of them through death.
This teaching of Christian righteousness, which the sophists do not understand, nor can they understand, the Christians should learn to understand most diligently. But they should not think that they can learn it all at once. Therefore they should take the trouble to read and reread Paul's writings often and with the greatest care, and compare the first with the last, yes, the whole of Paul with himself, and then they will find that the matter is such that Christian righteousness consists in these two things, namely, faith, which gives glory to God, and the imputation of God. For faith, as I said, is weak, therefore God's imputation must be added, that God will not impute what is left of sin, that he will not punish it or condemn us for it, but will cover it and forgive it as if it were nothing, not for our sake, not because of our worthiness or works, but solely for the sake of Christ in whom we believe.
Thus, a Christian man is both a righteous man and a sinner, a friend and an enemy of God. These contraries (contraria) the sophists do not allow, indeed, none of them, because they do not accept (tenent) the right way of justification. Hence, they forced people to do good works until they were completely sinless, and by doing so, they caused many who tried with all their might to achieve this, to become completely righteous in essence (formaliter), and yet could not attain it, to fall into madness, and even countless numbers of those who held this ungodly doctrine fell into despair at the hour of their death. This would also have happened to me if Christ had not graciously looked upon me and delivered me from this error.
On the other hand, we teach and comfort a sorrowful sinner in this way: Dear brother, it is impossible for you to become so righteous in this life that you should feel no sin at all, and that your body should be bright and without spot as the sun, but
because you still have wrinkles and stains, and yet you are holy. But you say: How can I be holy, since I have and feel sin? That you recognize and feel your sin is good, thank God, but do not despair. That is a step towards health, when a sick person recognizes and confesses his illness. But how can I be freed from sin? Run to Christ, the physician who heals the brokenhearted [Ps. 147:3] and makes sinners blessed. Do not follow the judgment of reason, which reproaches you that he is angry with sinners, but kill reason and believe in him. If thou believest, thou art righteous, because thou givest him glory that he is almighty, merciful, true, etc., thou givest God justice (justificas) and praise, in short, thou impute to him his deity and all. Whatever sin remains with you is not imputed, but forgiven you for the sake of Christ, in whom you believe, who is completely righteous according to his nature (formaliter), whose righteousness is yours, but your sin is his.
161 From this we see that every Christian is a true priest, because he first sacrifices and chokes his reason and carnal mind, and then also gives glory to God for being just, truthful, patient, merciful and compassionate, and this is the daily morning and evening sacrifice in the new covenant: the evening sacrifice to kill reason, the morning sacrifice to praise God. This is how a Christian daily and constantly deals with and practices this twofold sacrifice, and no one can sufficiently praise the value and worthiness of the Christian sacrifice.
162 Thus, as we have said, Christian righteousness is that which God imputes as righteousness or to righteousness because of faith in Christ or for Christ's sake. When the sophists hear this wonderful description, which is unknown to reason, they ridicule it, because they imagine that righteousness is a quality (qualitatem) that was first infused and then spread to all members. They cannot get rid of the thoughts of reason, which pretends that a right knowing (judicium) and a right willing is justice.
Therefore this unspeakable gift is higher than all reason, that God regards and acknowledges as righteous without any works the one who by faith alone takes hold of His Son, who was sent into the world for us, born, suffered, and was crucified etc.
The matter is easy as far as the words are concerned, namely, that righteousness is not essentially (formaliter) in us, as Aristotle disputes, but apart from us, in the grace and imputation of God alone, and that nothing of the essence (formae) or of righteousness is in us except that weak faith or the firstfruits of faith, that we have begun to take hold of Christ, yet truly sin remains in us. But it is not a joke, but a serious and exceedingly great thing, because Christ, who is given to us, and whom we take hold of in faith, has not done a small thing for us, nor played a game, but, as Paul said above [Cap. 2:20, 3:13], "He loved us, and gave himself for us; he became a curse for us. "etc. But it is not a useless playing with thoughts (speculatio) that Christ is offered for my sins and becomes a curse for me, so that I may be snatched out of eternal death. Therefore, if one takes hold of this Son and believes in Him from the heart (which is God's gift), then it comes about that God imputes this faith, even though it is imperfect, for a perfect righteousness.
And here we are in a completely different world, where reason has nothing to do (extra rationem), where there is no debate about what we should do, by what kind of works we can earn grace and forgiveness of sins, but here we are in divine theology, where we hear this gospel that Christ died for us, and that we who believe this are counted righteous, although nevertheless sins remain in us, and great sins at that.
166 In the Gospel of John, Christ also describes the righteousness of faith and says: "He himself, the Father, loves you. Why does he love you? Not because you have been Pharisees, blameless in the righteousness of the law, not because you are circumcised, do good works, fast etc.
detn, because I have chosen you from the world, and you have done nothing but "that you loved me and believed that I came forth from the Father. This gift (hoc objectum), namely "I", which the Father has sent into the world, has pleased you, and because you have grasped this gift, therefore the Father loves you and you please him.
And yet, elsewhere he calls them evil and asks them to ask for forgiveness of sins. This virtually (ex diametro) contradicts each other, that a Christian is righteous and loved by God, and that he is nevertheless a sinner at the same time. For God cannot deny his nature, that is, he cannot but hate sin and sinners, and this he necessarily does, for otherwise he would be unjust and love sin. How, then, can these two contradictory things be true at the same time? I have sin and am worthy that God be angry with me and hate me, and the Father loves me? Here nothing else can mediate (intercedit) than Christ alone. He says: The Father loves you, not because you are worthy of love, but because you have loved me and believed that I came from him.
Thus a Christian remains in right humility by feeling sin in truth and acknowledging that he is worthy of God's wrath and judgment and eternal death for this reason, so that he is humbled in this life. At the same time, however, he remains in a right holy pride, by which he turns to Christ and through him [Christ] aligns himself against this feeling of divine wrath and judgment, and believes that not only what is left of sin is not imputed to him, but also that he is loved by the Father, not for his own sake, but for the sake of Christ, whom he loves.
From this it is evident how faith without works justifies, and how the imputation of righteousness is nevertheless necessary. The sins remain in us, which God hates exceedingly. Therefore, for their sake, we must have the imputation of righteousness, which is given to us because of Christ, who was given to us and taken by us in faith.
In the meantime, as long as we live, we are carried and nurtured in the bosom of divine mercy and longsuffering, until the sinful body is taken away and we are raised as new men on the last day. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness will dwell [2 Pet. 3:13]. In the meantime, sin and the ungodly dwell under this heaven, and even the godly have sin. Hence it is that Paul, Rom. 7, complains about the sin that still remains in the saints, and yet Cap. 8, 1, says that "there is nothing damnable in those who are in Christ Jesus". Who then can reconcile these highly contradictory things, that sin should not be found in us, that he who is worthy of condemnation should not be condemned, that he who is rejected should not be rejected, that he who is worthy of wrath and eternal death should not be punished? The one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ, as Paul says: "There is therefore nothing condemnable in those who are in Christ Jesus."
V. 7. Now therefore ye know that they which are of faith are the children of Abraham.
This is a general statement and the main action of Paul against the Jews, that the believers celebrate Abraham's children, not those who are born of his flesh and blood. He emphasizes this point of contention (disputationem) here and in the letter to the Romans, cap. 4 and 9, because this was the highest defiance and glory of the Jews: We are the seed and children of Abraham, who was circumcised and kept the law; therefore, if we want to be true children of Abraham, we must do as our father etc. It was indeed a great glory and dignity that they were Abraham's seed, for no one can deny that God spoke for the seed of Abraham and of the seed of Abraham. But this privilege was of no use to the unbelieving Jews, which is why Paul also fiercely argues against this reason of theirs, and wrests from the Jews their highest defiance, which he, as a chosen instrument of Christ, could do before others.
For if we had to argue against the Jews from the beginning without Paul, we would perhaps accomplish very little against them.
Now Paul argues against this defiance of the Jews, who boasted arrogantly, in such a way: We are the seed of Abraham. Quite right. Abraham was circumcised and kept the law; we do the same. I admit that. What next? Do you want to be righteous and blessed because of that? That cannot be fine.
Yes, let us go to the patriarch Abraham himself and see in what way he was justified and saved. Certainly not because of his glorious virtues and holy works, not because he left his father's country, fine friendship and fine father's house, not because he received circumcision and kept the law, not because he wanted to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command, on whom the promise was based that he should have descendants, but because he believed God. Therefore, he was justified by nothing other than faith.
Therefore, if you want to be justified by the Law, your father Abraham should have been justified much more by the Law. But he could not have been justified, nor received forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit, if it had not been by faith. Since this is true according to the testimony of Scripture, why do you argue in favor of the law and circumcision, claiming that you can attain righteousness and salvation through them, since even Abraham, who is your father, origin and head, of whom you boast, was justified and saved through faith alone, without both law and circumcision? What can be said against this ground of proof?
Therefore Paul concludes with this saying: "Those who are of faith are Abraham's children"; the procreation of flesh and blood or the bodily seed does not make them Abraham's children in the sight of God, as if he wanted to say: "No one who is descended from this Abraham, the servant of God, whom God chose and who became righteous through faith, is considered a child in the sight of God for the sake of a fine fleshly birth, but rather a child of Abraham.
But children must be given to him in the sight of God, of such a nature as he himself, the Father, had. But he is a father of faith, and that he began to be righteous and pleasing to God was not because he was able to beget children, not because he had circumcision and the law, but because he believed God. Therefore, whoever wants to be a child of the believing Abraham must also believe, otherwise he is not a child of the chosen Abraham, accepted and justified by grace, but only of the child-producing Abraham, who is nothing other than a man conceived in sins, born and constitutus under sin, without forgiveness of sins, without faith, without the Holy Spirit, like another man, therefore condemned. Of this kind also are the children born of him according to the flesh, who bring nothing with them from their father but flesh and blood, sin and death, and so are likewise condemned. So this glory: We are Abraham's seed, is void and useless.
This reason is explained by Paul, Rom. 9, 7. ff, with two examples from Scripture. The first is of Ishmael and Isaac, both of whom were Abraham's seed and natural children, and yet Ishmael (who was as much born of Abraham as Isaac, yea, would have been the firstborn if fleshly procreation granted a privilege and made children of Abraham) is excluded, and the Scripture says [Gen. 21:12.], "In Isaac shall the seed be called unto thee." The second is of Esau and Jacob. Since they were still in their mother's womb and had done neither good nor evil, it was said [Gen. 25, 23. Rom. 9, 12. f.], "The greater shall serve the lesser. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." So it is evident that "those who are of faith are Abraham's children.
177 But someone might object, as the Jews do and as some clever people do nowadays, that the word "faith" means "truth" in Hebrew, therefore we wrongly put such emphasis on it. Furthermore, the passage from the 15th chapter of the first book of Moses (v. 5. 6.) speaks of a physical thing, namely of the promise of descendants, therefore Paul twisted it badly and said
They claim that the faith in Christ is not the only reason for this, but that it is simply to be understood from the faith of Abraham, in which he believed that he would have a seed, as God had promised him. And with this they want to show that the scriptures and proofs cited by Paul prove nothing.
178 They can also raise their quibbles about the passage that Paul cites from the prophet Habakkuk [Cap. 2, 4], which speaks of the faith that everything that the prophet saw (visionis) shall be fulfilled, not only of the faith in Christ, of which Paul cites it. In the same way, they could deal with the whole 11th chapter of the letter to the Hebrews, which deals with faith and examples of faith. Such spirits, stingy of vain honor, seek to gain praise and prestige in these things, as if they were wise and learned, when they least ought to be. But we will answer their quibbles briefly for the sake of the simple.
To the first objection I answer thus: faith is nothing other than the truth of the heart, that is, the right thinking (cogitationem) of the heart about God. But only faith thinks right and thinks right of God, not reason. But then man thinks rightly of God when he believes His word. But if, apart from the word of God, he wants to measure and believe in God according to his reason, then he does not have the truth concerning God; therefore, he can neither think nor judge rightly of Him. For example, if a monk imagines that his cap, plate and vows are pleasing to God, and that He accepts these things and gives him grace and eternal life in return, then he does not have right thoughts of God, but lying and ungodly ones.
Therefore, the truth is just the faith that judges rightly of God, namely, that God does not look upon our works and righteousness as impure, but that He will have mercy on us, look upon us graciously, accept us, justify us, and make us blessed, if we believe in the Son whom He sent to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. These are the right thoughts of God, and there is nothing at all wrong with them.
than faith itself. With my reason I cannot grasp it, nor can I be sure that I am accepted by grace for Christ's sake, but I hear that this is proclaimed through the gospel, and I grasp it by faith.
181 To the second objection I answer: Paul correctly cites the passage Genesis 15:6 about faith in Christ, because with every faith there must be trust in God that He is merciful. This includes faith in the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake. For it is impossible that the conscience could expect anything good from God if it is not first certain that God is merciful to it for Christ's sake. Therefore all promises are to be referred to the first promise of Christ, Gen. 3, 15: "The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head" etc. This is also how the prophets understood and interpreted it. Therefore, the faith of the fathers in the Old Testament and our faith now in the New Testament are one and the same, although other and different objects (objecta) are always added, which Peter Apost. 15, 10. 11. testifies, when he says: "Neither our fathers nor we were able to bear this yoke, but we believe to be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as they also were." And Paul says 1 Cor. 10:4: "Our fathers drank all the same spiritual drink: but they drank of the spiritual rock which followed with them, which was Christ." And Christ himself says this of Abraham, John 8:56, saying, "Abraham your father was glad that he should see my day, and he saw it, and rejoiced."
But the faith of the fathers was in Christ who was to come, just as our faith is now in him who has come. Abraham was justified in his time by faith in the Christ who was to come. If he lived today, he would be justified by faith in the one who has now appeared and is now, as I said above [§ 82] of Cornelius, who at first believed in Christ who was to come, but after being taught by Peter he believed that he had already come etc. Therefore, the difference of time does not change faith, not the Holy Spirit, not the
gifts. For in relation to Christ, the same will and the same thoughts have always been, are still, and will be the same in the future, as with the fathers in the past, so with those who now live, and with the children who will live after us. So also we still have a future Christ and believe in him, just as the fathers of the Old Testament did. For we expect him to come in glory at the last day to judge the living and the dead, of whom we now believe that he came to save us. Therefore, no one resents Paul's citing this passage in this way, but only these tasteless brawlers (cavillatores).
(183) But we must not in any way revert back to the future Christ (ad futurum Christum redire), except if we expect him to be our Savior at the last day, who will deliver us from all evil. For if we did that, we would believe that Christ had not yet been revealed, but had yet to be revealed, and so we would deny Christ and all his benefits, deny the Holy Spirit and make God a liar, and would in fact testify that he had not yet fulfilled what he had promised, as the Jews do.
184 Therefore, as I have said, Paul correctly applies the passage from the first book of Moses, which speaks of the faith of Abraham, to the faith of Christ, because all the past promises were included in the promise of Christ who was to come. Therefore we both, Abraham and the other fathers, as well as we, are justified by faith in Christ, they by faith in the one who is to come, we by faith in the one who is now. For we are now dealing with the nature and manner of justification, which is the same on both sides, whether Christ has already come or is yet to come. So it is enough that Paul proves that the law does not justify, but only faith, whether this is directed to the one who is to come or to the present Christ. Christ is also today to some against-
present, others future. For the believers he is present, or he has come to them; for the unbelievers he has not yet come, nor does he benefit them. But when they hear the gospel and believe, he becomes present to them and makes them righteous and blessed.
V. 7. Now therefore ye know that they which are of faith are the children of Abraham.
185 As if he wanted to say: Since everything is now excluded, reason, law, works, descent (generatione) from the fathers, you see from this example of Abraham and the bright testimony of Scripture that those are Abraham's children who are of faith, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. For it was not by the law, but by righteousness through faith, that the promise was made to Abraham that he should be the heir of the world, that is, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, and that he should be called a father of many nations. And lest the Jews should falsely interpret this word "nations" to mean themselves alone, the Scripture has resisted this by saying, not simply [Gen. 17:5], a father of nations, but, "I have made thee a father of many nations." Therefore Abraham is not only the father of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.
From this it is evident that the children of Abraham are not children according to the flesh, since he is not a father of the Gentiles according to the flesh, but children according to faith, as Paul declares Rom. 4:17: "I have made you a father of many Gentiles in the sight of God, whom you have believed. Therefore Paul makes a twofold (duos) Abraham, one who begets children, the other who believes. Abraham has children and is a father of many Gentiles. Where? Before God, where he believes, not before the world, where he begets children. For there he is a child of Adam, a sinner, or, if he is many, a man who deals with the righteousness of the law (operator), who lives according to reason, that is, according to human ways, but this is nothing compared to Abraham, who believes. So this example of Abraham understands at the same time the teaching of the Holy Scripture itself, which says that we are counted righteous by faith. Therefore this reason for proof is twofold
very firmly, both because of the example of Abraham and because of the prestige (auetoritatem) of Scripture.
V. 8. But the Scriptures have seen before that God justifies the Gentiles through faith.
187 This belongs to the previous reason of proof, as if he wanted to say: You Jews boast too highly of the law and praise Moses beyond all measure with wonderful exaltations of praise, that God spoke to him in the bush etc., as at least the Jews boast against us with great arrogance and say (what I have heard more than once): You Christians have the apostles, the pope, bishops etc., we Jews have the patriarchs, the prophets, yes, we have God Himself, who spoke to us in the bush, on Mount Sinai, where He gave us the Law, in the Temple etc. Bring also such glory and such glorious testimony for yourselves against us etc. To this Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, replies: This boasting and bragging of yours is of no avail, for the Scriptures forestalled it, and foreknew long before the law, that the Gentiles should not obtain righteousness by the law, but by the blessing of the seed of Abraham, which (as Paul afterwards [v. 17.] says) was promised to him four hundred and thirty years before the law was given. And this promise of blessing, which was given to Abraham, could not be weakened nor annulled (antiquare) by the law, which was given so many years later, but it remained firm and will remain forever (perpetuo). What can the Jews say to this?
This reason, which is taken from a very specific time, is very strong. The promise of blessing was given to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the people of Israel received the Law. For to Abraham it was said [Gen. 22, 18.): Because you believed God and gave Him glory, therefore you shall become the father of many Gentiles [Rom. 4, 17. 20.]. Abraham is made a father of many nations by the promise of God, and the inheritance of the world is laid on his children before the law. What boasts
Do you then, O Galatians, obtain forgiveness of sins, become children, and receive the inheritance by the law, which followed the promise only after a long time, namely four hundred and thirty years afterward?
In baptism is the promise of blessedness: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Now, if someone were to say here (as the enthusiasts do nowadays) that the child is not given righteousness and blessedness as soon as he is baptized, by trying to nullify the promise in this way, that it should only apply when the person has come to the use of reason and can now do good works; and by his good works he obtains what is held out in the promise; likewise, baptism is not a signum of God's gracious disposition toward us, but only an external notam, which makes a distinction between believers and unbelievers etc.Such a one would completely deny the blessedness of baptism and attribute it to works. So did the false apostles and their disciples in all things. They praised the law and its glory most highly, but they ignored and despised the promise given to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the law, not wanting to recognize that Abraham, whom they boasted of as the father of all their people, since he was still uncircumcised and lived so many centuries before the law, was justified by nothing other than faith alone, as the Scriptures, Genesis 15:6, clearly show. 15:6, testifies most clearly: "Abraham believed the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness." Later, since he had already been counted righteous by faith, the Scripture mentions circumcision Cap. 17, 10. by saying: "This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you" etc.
190 With this evidence Paul convicts the false apostles in the strongest possible way, and clearly shows that Abraham was justified by faith, without circumcision and before it, four hundred and thirty years before the law. Quite the
He treats the same reason in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans [v. 5. 9. 10. 11.], namely, that righteousness was imputed to Abraham before circumcision, and that while he was still in the foreskin he was righteous, that is, much more before the law.
191 Paul says, "The Scriptures have foreknown and foreknown your boasting and bragging about the righteousness of the law and works. When? Before circumcision and before the law, because the law was not given until four hundred and thirty years after the promise, since Abraham was not only justified without the law and before the law, but was also dead and buried [before the law]; and his righteousness flourished without the law, not only until the law, but it will also flourish until the end of the world. If therefore the father of the whole Jewish people became righteous without the law and before the law, much more will the children attain righteousness in the same way as the father. So righteousness comes from faith, and not through the law.
Therefore it proclaims to Abraham: In you all the Gentiles shall be blessed.
192) Over these glorious and exceedingly precious sayings: "Abraham believed God," etc., "I have made you the father of many nations," and similar ones, which praise faith to the highest degree and contain promises of spiritual things, the Jews not only walk about carelessly, but also raise quibbles about them and turn them into their foolish and ungodly glosses. For they are blinded and obdurate, so they do not see that these passages deal with faith against God and with righteousness before God. With the same perversity they also pervert this beautiful saying of the spiritual blessing [Gen. 22, 18]: "In you all nations shall be blessed", because they say that "to bless" is as much as to praise, to wish for good and to be glorious before the world etc. In this way they say: blessed is the Jew, who is born of the seed of Abraham, blessed is the fellow Jew (proselytum), who worships the God of the Jews, and joins them.
joined to it. So they think that the blessing is nothing else than praise and glory in this world, that someone can boast that he is from the tribe and lineage of Abraham. But this is to pervert the sayings of Scripture, not to interpret them.
193 Paul describes and presents us with these words: "Abraham believed God" the faithful, righteous Abraham, who has the promise and is spiritual, who is not in error and the old flesh, who was not born of Adam but of the Holy Spirit. And of this Abraham, renewed by faith and born again by the Holy Spirit, the Scripture speaks, proclaiming that he shall be the father of many nations, likewise that all nations shall be given to him for an inheritance, saying, "In thee shall all nations be blessed."
194. This is supported by Paul from the Scripture, which says, Gen. 15, 6: "Abraham believed the Lord" etc. Consequently, the Scripture ascribes righteousness to Abraham only because he stands in faith, and speaks of such an Abraham as he is before God. Therefore, by such sayings of Scripture, a new Abraham is painted before our eyes, quite apart from his marital status, marriage bed, and fleshly procreation, and he is portrayed as he is before God, namely, as a believer who is justified by faith, and to whom God, because he believes, promises: "You shall become a father of many nations" and: "In you all nations shall be blessed." Of this Paul says that the Scriptures foreknew it and cast down all glory and boasting of the law to the Jews, because the Gentiles were given to Abraham for an inheritance, not by the law and by circumcision, but long before, through the righteousness of faith alone.
195. Therefore the boast of the Jews is null and void, that they want to be called blessed because they are the seed and children of Abraham. Before the world it is a great privilege and a glorious glory to be Abraham's seed, Rom. 9, 4. f., but not equally before God. That is why the Jews pervert this passage of blessing in an ungodly way, since they only refer to the bodily blessing.
The Bible obviously speaks of the spiritual blessing before God, and it cannot and must not be understood otherwise. This, then, is the opinion of the saying, "In thee shall all the Gentiles be blessed." In what "thee"? In "thee," believing Abraham, or in thy faith, or in the future Christ (thy seed), in whom thou believest, I say, shall all the Gentiles be blessed; that is, all the Gentiles shall be thy blessed children, as thou art blessed, as it is written [Gen. 15:5.], "So shall thy seed be."
It follows that Abraham's blessing and faith is the same as ours, that Abraham's Christ is the same as ours, that Christ died for Abraham's sins as well as ours, as John 8:56 says: "Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. So it is all the same. Therefore, the Jews must in no way be allowed to weaken and pervert the word "blessing." They look at the Scriptures through the cover, therefore they do not pay attention to what or whereof is dealt with in the promises made to the fathers. But it is precisely to this that we must pay the most attention, and then we will see that God spoke to the patriarch Abraham, not of the law or of what he should do, but of what he should believe, that is, that God spoke to him of the promises made in faith. What does Abraham do? He believes these promises. What does God do to Abraham who believes? He counts faith to him as righteousness and adds several promises [Gen. 15, 1.]: "I am your shield", [Gen. 12, 3.:] "In you all generations on earth shall be blessed", [Gen. 17, 4.:] "You shall become a father of many nations", [Gen. 15, 5.:] "So shall your seed become." These reasons are insurmountable, and no one can break them off (cavillari), if one only pays careful and serious attention to the sayings of the Scriptures.
V. 9. So now those who are of faith will be blessed with the believing Abraham.
197 The emphasis is on the words: "with the believing Abraham", and everything depends on the same. Because he makes open-
He makes a distinction between Abraham and Abraham by making two out of one person, as if to say: The one is the Abraham who deals with works, the other is the believing Abraham. We have nothing to do with the one who does works. For [Rom. 4:2], "If Abraham is justified by works, he has glory, but not before God." The Jews may always boast of Abraham, who begets children, who does works, who is circumcised and has the law. We boast of the believing Abraham, of whom the Scripture says that he received the blessing of righteousness through his faith, not only for himself, but that this blessing should also pass on to all who believe like him, and so the world is promised to the believing Abraham [as an heir]. So the whole world is blessed, that is, it receives the imputation of righteousness, if it believes like Abraham.
Therefore the blessing is nothing else than the promise of the gospel, and "that all the Gentiles should be blessed" is that all the Gentiles should hear the blessing, or that the spiritual blessing, that is, the divine promise through the gospel should be preached and spread among all the Gentiles. And from this passage the prophets, through their spiritual understanding, have drawn many prophecies, 1) as, Ps. 2:8: "Cry unto me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the end of the wager for thine own possession"; and Ps. 19:5: "Their cord goeth forth into all the earth, and their speech unto the end of the wager." In short, all the prophecies of Christ's kingdom and of the spread of the gospel throughout the Wett flowed from this passage: "In you shall be blessed. "etc. Therefore, "that the Gentiles may be blessed" means that righteousness is given to them and they are counted righteous, not by the law, but by the preaching of faith, because Abraham was not justified in any other way than by hearing the word of promise, blessing and grace. Therefore, just as Abraham received the imputation of righteousness through the preaching of faith, so Abraham received the imputation of righteousness through the preaching of faith.
1) Instead of citing the following scriptural passages, Menius breaks off here briefly: "which would be much too long to steel here".
It happened to all the Gentiles, and it is still happening. For the preaching of one and the same God went first to Abraham, and then to all the Gentiles.
From this we see that "blessing" is nothing else than, as I said, preaching and teaching the word of the gospel, confessing Christ and spreading the knowledge of him among all nations, and this is the priestly office and the daily sacrifice of the church in the New Testament, which distributes this blessing by preaching, administering the sacraments, absolving, comforting and acting on the word of grace, which Abraham had and which was his blessing. Believing this, he received the blessing. In the same way, we are blessed when we believe the same.
But this blessing is a glory, not before the race, but before God. For we hear that our sins are forgiven, and that we are accepted by God in grace, and that God is our Father, we His children, whom He does not want to anger, but to free from sin, death and all evil, and to give us righteousness, life and eternal bliss.
Of this blessing, as I have said, the prophets preach everywhere, who did not regard the promises given to the fathers coldly, as the godless Jews and today's sophists and enthusiasts do, but read and considered them with the utmost diligence, and drew from them all that they prophesied about Christ and his kingdom. Thus the prophecy Hosea, Cap. 13, 14: "I will save them from death. Death, I will be a poison to you," etc., and similar ones in other prophets, all flowed from these promises, in which God promised the fathers that the serpent's head would be crushed and that blessings would come upon all the Gentiles.
Furthermore, if the Gentiles are blessed, that is, if they are counted righteous before God, then it follows that they are free from sin and death and are partakers of righteousness, blessedness and eternal life, not because of their works, but because of faith in Christ. Therefore the passage Genesis 12:3 says: "In you shall be blessed
all generations on earth", as I have said, not of a blessing with the mouth, but of such a blessing as to impute righteousness, which is valid before God and redeems from the curse of sin and from all that sin entails.
This blessing is only received through faith, for the text clearly says: "Abraham believed God" etc. [Therefore, it is a purely spiritual blessing and deserves to be called a blessing that is valid before God, even though it is blasphemed by the world, as it cannot refrain from doing. This, then, is a mighty saying, that those who are of faith have a share in this promise of blessing that happened to Abraham who believed. And so Paul anticipates the reasoning of the Jews, by virtue of which they boast of Abraham, who begets children, does works, and is righteous before men, not of Abraham, who believes.
(204) Just as the Jews take their glory from Abraham, who dealt in works, so the pope holds Christ up to us only because of the works he does, or the example of Christ. He says: Whoever wants to live godly must walk as Christ walked, as he himself said John 13:15: "An example have I given you, that ye should do as I have done unto you." We do not deny that the godly should follow Christ's example and do good works, but this does not make them righteous before God. Paul is not discussing here what we should do, but in what way we will be justified. Christ must be held up to us, just as he dies for our sins and rises again for the sake of our righteousness; and he must be grasped by faith as a gift, not as an example.
Reason does not understand this. Hence it comes about that, just as the Jews follow Abraham, provided he does works, not in that he believes, so the papists and all those who deal with their own righteousness (justitiarii) look at Christ and seize him, not as the one who justifies, but as the one who does works (operantem); and by this they only get further and further from
Christ, of righteousness and salvation. Just as the Jews, who were saved, had to follow the faithful Abraham, so we, if we want to be free from sins and saved, must take hold of Christ in faith as our justifier and savior, just as Abraham also took hold of Him and obtained blessing through Him.
206. It was indeed a great glory that Abraham received circumcision at God's command, that he was adorned with exceedingly great virtues, that he obeyed God in all things, as it is also a great praise and a fine loving behavior (felicitas), to follow the example of Christ, which he gave in his works, as to love one's neighbor, to do good to those who offend, to pray for one's enemies, and to bear patiently the ingratitude of those who repay good with evil. But this serves nothing for the attainment of righteousness before God. Abraham's glorious good works (benefacta) did not help him to be declared righteous before God, so imitating Christ's example does not make us righteous before God. For for us to be righteous before God requires a far more precious treasure than human righteousness or righteousness from the law. Here we must have Christ to bless us and make us blessed, just as Abraham had him as a blessing-giver and blessedness-maker. How? Not by works, but by faith.
(207) Therefore, just as the believing Abraham is something quite different from the one who does works, so also the blessing and redeeming Christ is something quite different from the one who does works, or, to put it this way, from the one who sets an example (exemplaris). But here Paul deals with the redeeming Christ and with the believing Abraham, not with Christ as an example and with Abraham as far as he does works. Therefore he adds meaningfully and with great emphasis: "Those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.
Therefore, the believing Abraham must be separated from the one who does works as far as heaven and earth. The believer is completely a divine man, a child of God, the heir of the earth, the overcomer of the
world, sin, death, the devil etc. Therefore, he cannot be praised enough. We do not want to leave this faithful Abraham hidden in the grave, as he is hidden from the Jews, but we want to praise him and fill heaven and earth with his name, so that before this faithful Abraham we see nothing at all of the Abraham who does works. For if we speak of the believing Abraham, we are in heaven, but if we then do the same works that Abraham did, insofar as he did works (Abraham operans) that were human and earthly, not divine and heavenly (except insofar as they were given to him by God), then we have our walk among men on earth. Therefore the believing Abraham fills heaven and earth. So every Christian fills heaven and earth with his faith, so that he shall see nothing apart from it.
209 From this word: "they are blessed" Paul takes another reason for proof, which flows from the opposite (a contrario). For the Scriptures are full of contrasts, and a man who deals with the Scriptures in the right way (ingeniosi hominis est) must pay attention to the contrasts in them and by them explain their sayings, as here the word "blessing" immediately causes one to consider the opposite, namely, the curse. 1) For since the Scripture says that all nations are blessed in faith or in the believing Abraham, it follows with necessity that all, both Jews and Gentiles, are cursed apart from faith or apart from the believing Abraham. Since the promise was made to Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed, it follows that the blessing cannot be expected anywhere else than in the promise made to Abraham and now proclaimed to the whole world through the gospel. What therefore is outside of it is accursed, and this Paul teaches exceedingly clearly, saying:
1) The following and the greater part of the next paragraph is used by Aurifaber for K 76 of the 12th chapter of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
V. 10 For those who deal with the works of the law are under the curse.
Here you see that the curse is a kind of flood of sin that sweeps away everything that is outside of Abraham, that is, outside of the faith and the promise of blessing given to Abraham. But if even the law, which was given by God's command through Moses, subjects to the curse those who are under the law, the laws or statutes invented by human reason will do this much more. Therefore, whoever wants to escape the curse, let him take hold of the promise of blessing or the faith of Abraham, or he will remain under the curse. It follows from this saying: "In you shall be blessed" etc. that all nations before, under and after Abraham will be cursed and remain under the curse forever, if they are not blessed in the faith of Abraham, to whom the promise of blessing through his seed was given, which was to be spread throughout the whole world.
It is very useful to know this, for it serves to comfort the conscience, and also to teach us to distinguish the righteousness of faith from the righteousness of the flesh or civil righteousness. For Paul is dealing here with a theological and spiritual doctrine before God, not with a worldly matter; (this I say,^j lest an unskillful man make the objection (cavilletur) that he curses and condemns the worldly laws and those who administer a magisterial office. Jerome labors here, but says nothing to the point, and the sophists here are more mute than the fish. Therefore, readers must be reminded that here we are not dealing with civil laws, customs, and worldly affairs, which are God's order and good things, approved and praised by Scripture elsewhere, but with spiritual righteousness, by which we are justified before God and called God's children in the kingdom of heaven. In short, nothing is said here about this life in the flesh, but about the eternal life, where no blessing is to be hoped for, nor righteousness to be sought through the law or human statutes or anything else that is called in this life.
The only way it can be, is through the promise of blessing that was given to Abraham.
Therefore, the civil laws and ordinances should remain in their domain (ordine) and in their place. Even if a householder or a magistrate gives the best and most beautiful laws, they still cannot free you from the curse before God. The kingdom of Babylon, which was instituted by God and given to the kings, had very good laws, and all the peoples were commanded to obey them, but this obedience to the laws did not make them free from the curse of the divine law. So we also obey the imperial laws, but this does not make us righteous before God, for here we are dealing with a different matter.
It is not in vain that I insist so diligently on this distinction and sharpen it, for it is very useful to hold it fast, although few observe and hold it. Moreover, it is easy to mix up heavenly and worldly justice. In worldly righteousness, one must look to laws and works, but in spiritual, divine and heavenly righteousness, all laws and works must be put out of sight, and one must look only to the promise and blessing of Abraham, which gives us Christ, the giver of blessings, the giver of grace, and the Savior, so that spiritual righteousness, without law and works, may look solely at the grace and blessings offered to us through Christ, as promised to Abraham and believed by him.
From this it is easy to see that this ground of proof is very strong. For if the blessing can be hoped for and received through Christ alone, then it necessarily follows by inference (a contrario) that it is not received through the law, because before the law and without the law the blessing was given to the believing Abraham. But with the same faith with which he believed in the future Christ that he would be a giver of blessing (benedictorem), we believe in the present Christ, and thus by faith we become a giver of blessing.
Just as Abraham was justified by faith. Therefore, those who are under the law are not blessed, but remain subject to the curse.
215 The pope and the bishops cannot and will not believe this, nor will they suffer it, but it behooves us not to remain silent. For we must confess the truth and say that the papacy is cursed, that the emperor's laws and rights are cursed, because, as Paul says, everything is cursed that is apart from the promise and apart from the faith of Abraham. When the adversaries hear this, they pervert our words and slander us as if we taught that no honor should be paid to the authorities, but stirred up sedition against the emperor, condemned all laws, dissolved the secular government (respublicas) and destroyed it etc.
But they do us great injustice, for we make a distinction between the bodily and the spiritual blessing, and say that the emperor is blessed with a bodily blessing; for to have a kingdom, laws, civil orders, to possess a wife, children, a house, and fields, is a blessing, for these are all good creatures, given by God. But through this bodily blessing, which is temporal and has an end, we are not freed from the eternal curse. Therefore we do not condemn the laws, nor are we rebellious against the emperor, but teach that one should obey him, fear him, prove honor and submission to him (adorandum), but in a civil way (civiliter). But where we as theologians (theologice) speak of the blessing, we constantly say with Paul that everything that is apart from the promise and faith of Abraham is cursed and remains under the heavenly and eternal curse. For there we must wait for another life after this present life, and another blessing after this bodily.
In short, we say that all corporeal things are good creatures of God. Therefore, to have a wife, children and property, to have laws, worldly orders and ceremonies, these are divine blessings in their place, that is, they are temporal blessings.
The blessings that belong to this life. But the works saints of all times, the Jews, Papists, Rotten etc. confuse this and mix it up, because they do not distinguish between bodily and spiritual blessings. Therefore they say: We have the law, it is good, holy and righteous, so we are made righteous by it. Who denies that the law is good etc.? But it is also a law of curse, sin, wrath and death.
Therefore, make a distinction here between the physical and the spiritual blessing, and say: God has a twofold blessing, a physical one for this life, and a spiritual one for eternal life. Therefore we say that goods, having children etc. is a blessing, but in its place (gradu), that is, for the present life.
It is not enough for eternal life that we have bodily blessings, for these are most abundantly bestowed upon the wicked; it is not enough that we have civil and legal righteousness, for this is also most abundant among the wicked. God scatters these gifts of his freely throughout the world, over the evil and the good, as he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous [Matth. 5, 45], for he is "rich above all" [Rom. 10, 12], and it is a small thing to him that he throws all created things under the feet of the wicked. Rom. 8:20: "The creature is subject to vanity without its will." Therefore, those who have only these bodily blessings are not God's children, blessed before God spiritually, like Abraham, but they are under the curse, as Paul says: "Those who deal in the works of the law are under the curse."
220 Paul could have used a general expression and said: Everything that is apart from faith is under the curse. He does not do this, but takes what is best apart from faith, the greatest and most beautiful of the bodily blessings of the world, namely the law of God. This law, he says, is indeed holy and given by God, yet it does nothing other than subject all men to the curse and keep them under the curse. If
but the divine law subjects men to the curse, the lesser laws and blessings do this much more, and in order that one may understand correctly and clearly what Paul means when he says: to be under the curse, he proves and explains this with a testimony of the Scriptures, saying:
For it is written: Cursed be every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
With this testimony, which is taken from the fifth book of Moses, Cap. 27, 26, Paul wants to prove that all who are under the law or the works of the law are cursed, or under the curse, that is, under sin, the wrath of God, eternal death and all evil. For he speaks, as I said above, not of a physical or temporal curse, but of a spiritual and eternal curse, which must necessarily be a curse of eternal death and hell.
222 And this is a strange proof, because Paul proves the affirmative saying (affirmativam), namely: "Those who deal with the works of the law are under the curse" by this negative sentence (negativam), which he borrowed from Moses: "Cursed be everyone who does not remain in all this" etc. These two sayings of Paul and Moses are completely contrary to each other. Paul says: Whoever does the works of the law is cursed; Moses says: Whoever does not do the works of the law is cursed.
Now how can these be brought into agreement with each other, or, what is even more, how can the one saying be proven by the other? Dear, what kind of proof would it be if I wanted to prove this saying: If you keep the commandments of God, you will enter into life, by this one: If you do not keep the commandments of God, you will enter into life? Am I not proving something by the very opposite? Truly a beautiful proof! and yet this proof of Paul is completely similar to it. No one understands this passage unless he has a righteous grasp of the article of justification. Jerome takes enough trouble, but leaves this passage unexplained.
There is no doubt that Paul has explained this saying in more detail to the Galatians, otherwise the Galatians would not have understood what Paul meant by it, since he only touches on it here in passing and briefly. But because they had heard it interpreted by Paul before, they are reminded of it now, and they immediately remember it again.
(225) These two sayings do not conflict with each other, but are in complete agreement. For we also teach in the same way: "Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be righteous," Rom. 2:13, and again: "Those who deal with the works of the law are under the curse. For the article of justification says, "All that is apart from the faith of Abraham is accursed. And yet "righteousness, required by the law, must be fulfilled in us," Rom. 8:4. This seems to a man who does not understand the doctrine of faith to be most strongly opposed to one another, and not at all different from this quite inconsistent saying: If you fulfill the law, you do not fulfill it; if you do not fulfill it, you fulfill it.
226 Therefore, one must first of all look at what kind of matter Paul is dealing with here, what he is dealing with and how he looks at Moses. But, as I have often said, he is dealing with a spiritual matter that has nothing to do with the world regiment and all laws, and he looks at Moses with different eyes than the hypocrites and the false apostles do, and interprets the law spiritually. Therefore all power lies in the word "do". But to do the law is not merely to do it outwardly, but to do it rightly and perfectly.
227 There are, then, two kinds of law: one is that which deals with the works of the law, against which Paul acts and fights in this whole epistle; the other is that of faith, of which we shall speak shortly. But to be of the law, or to deal with the works of the law, and to be of faith, these are completely opposite things, as the devil and God, sin and righteousness, death and life are opposite. For of the law are those who by the
Those who want to be justified by the law are those who rely on faith to be justified by mercy for Christ's sake alone. He who says that righteousness is of faith curses and condemns the righteousness of works. On the other hand, he who says that righteousness is of the law condemns and curses the righteousness of faith. So they are directly opposed to each other.
He who observes this easily recognizes that doing the law is not merely outwardly, as the hypocrites dream, but in spirit, that is, that one does in truth and perfectly what is commanded in the law. But where will we find such a one who does the law in such a way? Let him be provided for us, and let us praise him. Then our opponents immediately answer [Rom. 2:13], "Those who do the law will be righteous." Quite well, but first let us determine who these are who do it. They are called the one who does the work of the law and thus becomes righteous through the preceding works. This is not what Paul means by doing the law, for, as I have said, these are two opposite things, dealing with the works of the law and being of faith. Therefore, to be justified by the works of the law is to deny the righteousness of faith.
Therefore, by doing the law, the saints of works deny the righteousness of faith, and sin against the first, second and third commandments and against the whole law, because God commanded 1) that one should serve Him in faith and in fear of Him. On the other hand, without faith and against faith, they make righteousness out of works. So just by doing the law, they do most against the law and sin most grievously and most grievously, for they deny God's righteousness, mercy, and promises, deny Christ with all His benefits, and set up in their hearts a mere fiction and idol of the law, but not the righteousness of the law which they do not understand, much less
1) Jenaer and Erlanger: praecipit instead of: praecepit.
do. Therefore it is inevitable that by doing the law they not only do not do it, but also sin and deny the divine majesty in all its promises. The law is certainly not given for this.
Therefore, those who do not understand the law abuse it, and as Paul says in Romans 10:3: "They do not know the righteousness that is before God, and seek to establish their own righteousness, and so are not subject to the righteousness that is before God. For they are blind and do not recognize what is to be had from faith and from the promises. That is why they enter into the holy Scriptures completely without any judgment, and take hold of only one part of them, namely the law. They think they can fulfill this with works. But this is a mere dream, an enchantment and deception of the heart, and that righteousness of the law which they think they are fulfilling is in truth nothing but idolatry and blasphemy against God. Therefore, they must necessarily remain under the curse.
Therefore it is impossible that we should fulfill the law in this way, as they dream, much less that we should be justified by it. This is testified first of all by the law itself, which has the completely opposite effect. For it increases sin, incurs wrath, accuses, terrifies, and condemns; how, then, should it make just? Secondly, the promise also proves the same, for it was said to Abraham, "In thee shall all the Gentiles be blessed." Therefore the blessing is nowhere else but in the promise made to Abraham; if you are outside of it, you are and remain under the curse. But if you are under the curse, you do not fulfill the law, because you are under sin, the devil, and eternal death, for all these certainly follow the curse.
In short, if righteousness came through the Law, God's promise would be in vain, and in vain He poured out His blessing. Therefore, because God knew that we cannot do the law, He foresaw this long before the law, and promised the promise to Abraham, saying, "In
to thee shall all nations be blessed," etc., and thus testified that all nations were to obtain the blessing not by the law but by the promise given to Abraham. Therefore those are cursed who despise the promise, and take the law for the sake of it, that they may be justified by it.
Therefore, "to do the law" is first of all (primum) to believe, and thus to fulfill the law through faith. We must first receive the Holy Spirit, by whom enlightened and renewed we begin to do the Law, that is, to love God and neighbor. The Holy Spirit, however, is not received through the Law (for those who are under the Law, says Paul, are under the curse), but through the preaching of faith, that is, through the promise. We must be blessed with Abraham, and through his faith in the promise. Therefore, first of all, one must hear the promise that holds out Christ and brings him to those who believe; when he is taken in faith, the Holy Spirit is given for his sake. Then God and one's neighbor are loved, good works are done, one takes up one's cross. This is doing the law in truth; otherwise the law remains unfulfilled for eternity.
234 Therefore, if you want to describe clearly what it means to do the law, it is nothing other than to believe in Jesus Christ and, having received the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, to do the works contained in the law. And in no other way can the law be done by us, because the Scripture says that apart from the promise there is no blessing, not even in the law. Therefore, it is impossible for the law to be kept without the promise. There must be the blessing, which is the preaching of Christ promised to Abraham, that through him the race should be blessed. Otherwise we will never do the law.
Therefore, you cannot find a man in the whole world who, apart from the promise of the Gospel, would have this title: a doer of the Law. Therefore, the expression (terminus) "doer of the law" is a fictitious one, which no one understands who is not outside the Law.
and is above the law in the blessing and faith of Abraham, so that a right doer of the law is the one who has received the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ, and begins to love God and to do good to his neighbor, so that the doing includes at the same time the faith that brings about (facit) the tree; when this has come about (qua facta), then fruits grow. For first the tree must be there, then fruits follow. For the fruits do not make the tree, but the tree brings forth the fruits.
236 Thus faith first creates (facit) the person who then does works. Therefore, if a man will do the law without faith, it is called bringing forth fruit without a tree, out of wood and clay; but this is not making fruit, but mere mirages. But when the tree is set, that is, the person or doer, who comes (fit) from faith in Christ, then the works follow. For the doer must be there before the deeds, not the deeds before the doer.
Therefore he is called a doer, not of the works which he has done, but of those which he is yet to do, for Christians are not justified by doing what is right (justa), but, having already been justified by faith in Christ, they do right (justa) works. The other, namely, that someone becomes a doer through deeds, belongs to the worldly life (est politicum), since someone, as Aristotle says, becomes a lute-player by playing the lute often. But in theology, doers do not arise from works, but from persons already prepared (factis) by faith become people who do works. Paul speaks of such people in Rom. 2, 13, when he says: "Those who do the law become righteous", that is, they are counted as righteous.
238 Yes, even the sophists themselves must confess, and they also teach in this way, that a moral work which is done outwardly is hypocritical if it is not done out of a sincere heart, good will and right guidance of reason. And that is why the saying arose among the Germans: The cap
covers many a rogue. For an ungodly man, even the most wicked, can pretend to do the same works that a godly man does by faith. Judas did the same works as the other apostles. What is lacking in the works of Judas, since he does the same things that the other apostles do? Then a sophist answers from his moral philosophy: Although he does the same works that the others do, yet his works, because his person was rejected and what his reason gave him (dictamen) was wrong, are hypocritical and not right works like those of the other apostles, however similar they look to them in outward appearance.
Therefore they themselves must admit that in worldly and external things works do not justify unless there is a righteous heart, good opinion and good will. How much more must they admit this in theology, where above all there must be the knowledge of God and faith that purifies the heart.
240 They walk in the works and righteousness of the law, as Judas did in the works of the apostles, but they do not understand what they say or what they establish. And although Paul everywhere says in clear words that the law does not justify, but only causes wrath, indicates sin, reveals the wrath and judgment of God, and threatens eternal death, they do not see this when they read it, much less understand it. Therefore, they are not worthy to be called hypocrites, but they are larvae and ghosts, and completely bewitched, dreaming that they are righteous by the works of the law. Therefore, as I said, "doers of the law," as they describe it, is a fictitious expression and a monstrosity that does not exist anywhere in reality.
1Therefore, when Paul proves this passage, "Those who deal with the works of the law are under the curse," by this saying of Moses, "Cursed be everyone," etc., he is not proving his case by something that is just contrary to it, as it seems at first sight, but his proof is entirely
1) The following two paragraphs have been added by Menius and otherwise modified.
right and in the best way. For Moses has the same opinion and claims the same as Paul, saying: "Cursed be everyone who does not do it" etc. But no one does it. Therefore all those do not do the law who deal with the works of the law. But if they do not, they are under the curse.
242 But since there are two kinds of offenders of the law, as I have said, right and hypocritical, the right must be separated from the hypocritical. The right ones are those who are a good tree by faith before they bear fruit, and the wrongdoers before they do works. Moses also speaks of these, and if they are not of this nature, they are under the curse. But all hypocrites are not of this kind, for they think that they will bring about righteousness by their works, and by them make the person righteous. For they think thus: We sinners and unrighteous want to become righteous. How? By works. Therefore they act just like a foolish master builder who strives to make the foundation out of the roof and the tree out of the fruit. For since they seek to be justified by works, they want to make a valley out of the works, which is contrary to Moses, who subjects such an offender to the curse in the same way as Paul.
Therefore, those who undertake to fulfill the law not only do not keep it, but also, as I have said, deny the first commandment, the divine promises, the promised blessing of Abraham, deny the faith, and seek to bless themselves with their own works, that is, to make righteous, to free from sin and death, to overcome the devil, and to seize heaven by force: that is, to deny God outright and put themselves in God's place. For all these are works of the divine majesty alone, not of a creature, neither of an angel nor of a man.
Therefore, Paul could easily predict from the first commandment that there would be abominations that would be introduced into the church by the Antichrist. For those who teach that apart from the worship of the first commandment, which is fear, faith and love toward God, another worship is necessary for salvation,
They are Antichristi and take the place of God. That such people would come was also foretold by Christ, Matth. 24, 5. where he says: "Many will come in my name, saying: I am Christ.
Thus, today we can also say, as with [great] ease, so also with [complete] certainty: Whoever, outside of faith, stabs righteousness by works, denies God and makes himself God, for he thinks this way: If I will do this work, I will be righteous, I will be a victor over sin, death, the devil, God's wrath and hell, and I will obtain eternal life. What, I pray you, is this but presuming the work that is God's alone, and pretending to be God? Therefore, we can easily prophesy, and certainly judge of all those who are outside the faith, that they are not only idolaters, but idols themselves, who deny God and put themselves in God's place. For the same reason Peter also prophesied, when he says [2 Petr. 2, 1.]: "There will be false teachers among you, who will deny the Lord who bought them" etc.
In the Old Testament, too, all prophecies against idolaters flowed from the first commandment. For all godless kings and prophets did nothing else with the unbelieving people than what the pope and all hypocrites always do. For after the first commandment and the worship ordered by God had been set aside, and the promise of the seed of Abraham, the future giver of blessings to all nations, had fallen into contempt, they instituted a godless worship without and against God's word, saying: If this service is observed, we praise and serve God who brought us out of Egypt land. So Jeroboam made two golden calves and said [1 Kings 12:28.], "Behold, there are your gods, O Israel, who have brought you out of Egypt land." This he said of the true GOtte who had redeemed Israel, and yet they, he and all the people, were idolaters because they served GOt differently than He had commanded in the first commandment.
247. for they looked only at the work [which they were doing,] and thought that if this was
they would be righteous before God; but that would mean denying the very God of whom they preached with their mouths that He had brought them out of Egypt. Of such idolaters Paul says [Tit. 1, 16.]: "They say they know God, but with their works they deny it."
For this reason, all hypocrites and idolaters undertake to do the works that actually belong to the Godhead, and which belong to Christ alone. They do not say with their mouths: I am God; I am Christ; but in so doing they do indeed arrogate to themselves the deity and office of Christ. Therefore they say with their mouths: I am Christ, I am a savior, not only for myself but also for others. This is what the monks not only taught, but also persuaded the whole world of, namely, that by their hypocritical holiness they could not only make themselves righteous, but also others to whom they would communicate the same, while Christ's own office alone is to make a sinner righteous. Thus the pope, by spreading his divinity over the whole world, completely denied and suppressed the ministry and divinity of Christ.
It is of great use to remember and consider this, for it serves to judge all Christian doctrine and human life; it serves to fortify consciences, to understand all prophecies and sayings of the Scriptures, and to judge all things rightly. For whoever holds on to this can make the certain judgment that the pope is the antichrist, because he teaches a completely different worship than the first tablet presents; he can certainly understand what it is to deny God, to deny Christ, and what Christ means when he says [Matth. 24, 5.j: "Many will come under my name and say, 'I am Christ'"; what it is, "to be an abominable man against God, and to exalt himself above all that is called God or worship"; what it is, the Antichrist "sits in the temple of God and pretends to be God" [2 Thess. 2, 4]; what it is [Matth. 24, 15], "the abomination stands in the holy place" etc.
250 All these evils come from the fact that the cursed hypocrisy is not supported by the divine
She does not want to be given the right form by God the Creator, does not want to be a mere suffering material, but wants to work in an active way what she should let God work through suffering and should accept from Him. Therefore, she makes herself the creator and justifier through her works, and despises the blessing promised and given to Abraham and his faithful children.
251 Thus every hypocrite is at the same time the substance [which is worked] and the workmaster [who works it] (although this is contrary to philosophy, because one and the same object cannot act against itself); the substance he is because he is a sinner; the workmaster because he puts on a cap or chooses some other work by which he hopes to earn grace and to make himself and others blessed; thus he is at the same time the creature and the creator.
Therefore, no one can say in words what a terrible and cursed thing it is to seek righteousness apart from the blessings of the law and works. For it is the abomination that stands in the holy place, denying God and substituting the creature for the Creator.
Therefore, the doers of the law are not the hypocrites who outwardly do the law, but the believers who, having received the Holy Spirit, fulfill the law, that is, love God and their neighbor, so that a doer of the law is not the one who becomes a doer through works, but the one who becomes a doer through the person who is already prepared through faith. For in theology those who have become righteous do righteous acts, but not also in philosophy, where those who do righteous acts become righteous. Therefore, after we have been justified by faith, we do good works, by which, as it is said in 2 Peter 1:10, our calling and election are established and become more certain day by day.
254 But because we have only the firstfruits of the Spirit, but not yet the fullness (decimas), and there still remain remnants of sin in us, we do not fully fulfill the law.
common. But this is not imputed to us who believe in Christ, who promised to Abraham and blessed us. Meanwhile, for Christ's sake, we are nurtured and cared for in the bosom of divine patience. We are the wounded man who fell among the murderers, to whom the Samaritan bandaged his wounds, poured in oil and wine, then lifted him up on his animal, led him to the inn and nursed him. But when he departed, he commanded him to the innkeeper, saying, "Tend him well." In the meantime, we are being cared for in a hospital, as it were, until the Lord lays His hand on us a second time, as Isaiah says, so that He may save us [Isa. 46:4].
Therefore the saying of Moses, "Cursed be every man that abideth not in all these things," etc. does not argue against Paul, who declares those to be cursed who deal in the works of the law. For Moses wants to have such a doer, who fulfills the law completely. But where shall we get him? Nowhere [do we find such a one]. Moses himself confesses that he is not such a one, because he says in Ex 34, 7 that no man is innocent before God, and David [Ps 143, 2]: "Do not go into judgment with your servant" 2c, and Paul Rom 7, 15: "I do not do what I want" etc. Therefore Moses, together with Paul, drives us with necessity to Christ, through whom we become offenders of the law and [in whom we are] not guilty of any transgression. In what way? First, through the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of righteousness for the sake of faith in Christ, then through the gift and the Holy Spirit, who gives birth to a new life in us, new impulses, etc. so that we also fulfill the law in its essence (formaliter). But what is not fulfilled is forgiven for Christ's sake. Then also what is left of sin is not imputed.
Thus Moses agrees with Paul and has the same opinion, saying, "Cursed be everyone," etc. because he denies that they do the law, since they want to make themselves righteous by their works, and concludes with Paul that they are under the curse. Therefore, Moses demands righteous doers who are of faith, just as Paul condemns those who are of faith.
who are not true doers, that is, who are not of faith. So there is nothing to prevent Moses from speaking in a negative way (negative), but Paul in an affirmative way (affirmative), if one only explains correctly what is meant by "do". So both sayings are right, namely: that all those are cursed who do not remain in all this etc., and: that those are cursed who deal with the works of the law.
Answer from the interjections,
which the adversaries raise against the doctrine and righteousness of the faith.
257 Since this passage gives occasion to do so, it is necessary to speak of the objections which the adversaries raise against the doctrine of faith, which is this: that we are justified by faith alone. There are many passages in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments that deal with works and rewards, on which the adversaries rely, and think that through them they can violently overthrow the doctrine of faith that we teach and defend. Therefore, we must be prepared not only to teach our own, but also to answer the objections of the adversaries.
(258) The Sophists, and all who do not hold to the article of justification, know no other righteousness than temporal and legal, which are also known to some extent to the heathen. Therefore they tear out of moral philosophy and law the words "do," "work," and the like, and transfer them to theology, wherein they not only do wrong, but also act quite ungodly. For philosophy and theology must be carefully kept apart.
The Sophists themselves confess and teach that in nature there must be existence (esse) rather than action (operari), for a tree is in nature rather than fruit. Likewise, in philosophy, they admit that a work is not morally good unless there is first a right state of reason and a good will. So they put right reason and good will earlier than good will.
than the work, thus making the person morally (moraliter) just before the work happens. On the other hand, in theology, where this should happen before anything else (so stupid are the donkeys), they reverse this in the most perverse way and put the work rather than the righteous reason etc.
Therefore, "to do" is something quite different in nature than in philosophy, and again something different in theology. In nature, first there must be the tree, then the fruit. In moral philosophy, "doing" requires a good will and a reason that is rightly constituted in relation to the action (operandi), and this is where the philosophers stop. Therefore, the theologians say that moral philosophy does not have God as its object and as its final purpose, because Aristotle, or a Sadducee, or a civic good man, calls it a rightly constituted reason, and a good will, when he seeks the common benefit of the state, peaceful life and respectability.
261 A philosopher or a legislator does not go higher; he does not intend to obtain forgiveness of sins and eternal life through righteous reason etc. like a sophist or a monk. Therefore, a pagan philosopher is far better than such a hypocrite, for he remains within his bounds and has only an honorable life and public tranquility in mind, but does not mix the human and the divine. On the other hand, a sophist imagines that God looks at his good opinion and his works, and therefore mixes the human and the divine, defiles the name of God, and draws this imagination from moral philosophy, only that he abuses it worse than a pagan etc.
For this reason, in theology we must come much higher with the word "do" than in nature and philosophy, so that it becomes something entirely new. For just as that which is taken out of the domain of nature and transferred to the domain of morality becomes something else, so much more does that which is transferred from philosophy and law to the domain of theology become something else, so that here it has a completely new meaning and also requires a right reason and good will, not in a moral sense,
but in a theological way, that is, that I recognize and believe through the word of the Gospel that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to redeem us from sin and death. There "to do" is something entirely new, unknown to reason, to philosophers, to teachers of the law, and to all men, for it is a wisdom hidden in mystery etc. Therefore, in theology, a work has faith as its necessary precondition.
263 When the adversaries hold up to you passages of Scripture that deal with the law and works, and insist on the words "work" and "do," you should answer that these are theological words that do not belong to the realm of nature or morals. If they are used in the field of nature or morals, they are understood according to their way, but if they are used in theology, they imply a just reason and a good will, of which human reason cannot comprehend anything.
For this reason, "doing" in theology must always be understood in terms of believing doing, so that believing doing is a different area (circulus) and, as it were, a new realm (quite different) from moral doing. Therefore, when we theologians speak of doing, we must necessarily speak of believing doing, because in theology we have no justified reason and no good will apart from faith.
This rule is beautifully observed in the 11th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. There many and various works of the saints are enumerated from the holy scriptures, as, from David, who killed the lion and the bear and slew Goliath. There, a sophistical ass in bad taste looks only at the outward appearance of the work, like the cow at a new Thor. But this work must be regarded in such a way that you first pay attention to how the person of David was before he did this work, namely in such a way that his heart trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, as the text [1 Sam. 17, 37.] clearly says: "The Lord, who delivered me from the lion and the bear, he will also deliver me from this Philistine." After that [v. 45-47.]: "You
You come to me with sword, spear and shield; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the testimony of Israel, which you have heard. This day the Lord will deliver thee into mine hand, that I may smite thee, and take away thy head from thee," etc., "for the Lord helpeth not by sword nor by spear," etc. So you see that he was righteous and pleasing to God, strong and steadfast in faith, before he did this work. Therefore, David's "doing" is not natural or moral, but faithful.
Thus, the same epistle [Heb 11:4] says of Abel that he offered a better sacrifice in faith than Cain. When the sophists come upon this passage, as it is read in the first book of Moses (where it is simply described that both Cain and Abel offered sacrifices, and that the Lord graciously looked upon Abel and his sacrifice), they immediately seize upon these words: "They offered sacrifices, and the Lord graciously looked upon the sacrifice of Abel," and cry out: There you hear and see that God graciously looked upon the sacrifices, so the works make righteous. Thus the unclean swine think that righteousness is only something brought about by a moral act (rem moralem), looking only at the shell of the work, not at the heart of the one who does the work, whereas even in philosophy they must look not at the mere work, but at the good will of the one who does the work. Here, however, they only cling to the words: "they brought sacrifices", "the Lord looked upon the sacrifices", but do not see that the text in the first book of Moses clearly says that the Lord first graciously looked upon the person of Abel, which pleased Him for the sake of faith, and then upon his sacrifices.
Therefore, in theology we speak of the works, sacrifices, gifts and presents that are done in faith (fidelibus), that is, that were offered and done in faith, as the epistle to the Hebrews interprets it, saying: "By faith Abel made a greater sacrifice," [v. 5, "By faith Enoch was taken away," [v. 8,] "By faith Abraham was obedient," etc. So you have a rule from the 11th chapter to the Hebrews, how to answer simple-mindedly to the objections raised by the adversaries.
concerning the law and the works, namely: This work has this one or that one done in faith; and thus you solve all their objections.
From this it is evident that in theology a work is of no value without faith, but that faith must precede it before you can do works. For "without faith it is impossible to please God, but he who wants to come to God must believe" [Heb. 11:6]. Therefore, the author of the letter to the Hebrews says that Abel's sacrifice was better because he believed. Therefore, the work or sacrifice of Abel was of faith (fidele). On the other hand, Cain, because he was godless and a hypocrite, had no faith in grace, but only presumption in his own righteousness, therefore his work, by which he sought to please God, was a hypocritical and unbelieving one. Therefore, the adversaries themselves must admit that in all the works of the saints faith is presupposed, for the sake of which the works are pleasing. Thus, in theology, there is a new action, different from the moral one.
269 Then we also make a distinction between faith in this way, that faith is sometimes taken without a work, sometimes with a work. For just as a craftsman speaks of his material in various ways, and a gardener speaks of a tree, sometimes as it is without fruit (nuda), sometimes as it bears fruit, so also the Holy Spirit in Scripture speaks of faith in various ways, soon (that I say so) of faith in and for itself and without relation to other things (de fide abstracta vel absoluta), soon of faith as it comes into appearance, has to do with other things, or has become flesh (de fide concreta, composita seu incarnata). Faith is then in and of itself, or without relation to other things, when Scripture speaks in and of itself (absolute) of justification or of the justified, as may be seen in the epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians.
270 But when Scripture speaks of rewards and works, it speaks of faith as it relates to other things, coming into manifestation or
became flesh. Of this faith we will cite several examples, as [Gal. 5:6:] "Faith worketh by love"; [Luc. 10:28:] "Do this, and thou shalt live"; [Matt. 19:17:] "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments"; [Gal. 3:12:] "He that doeth it shall live by it"; [Ps. 34:15:] "Forsake evil, and do good" etc. In these and similar passages (which are innumerable in the Scriptures), where the word "do" is mentioned, the Scriptures always speak of faithful doing; so that when they say, "Do this, and thou shalt live," they intend it to be understood in this way: First of all, be careful that you are a believer and have right reason and good will, that is, faith in Christ; if you have this, you may do good works.
What is it to be wondered at, then, if this faith that has become flesh, that is, the faith that does works, as Abel's faith was, or the faithful works are promised merits and rewards? Why then should not the Scriptures speak of faith in such different ways, since they also speak of Christ as God and man in such different ways, namely, sometimes of the whole person, sometimes of his two natures in particular, either the divine or the human? When it speaks of the natures in particular, it speaks of Christ in and for himself (absolute). But when it speaks of the divine nature, which is united with the human nature into one person, it speaks of Christ in his relation to humanity and of him who became flesh (de Christo composito et incarnat).
Among the scholastic theologians, the rule of communication of attributes (de communicatione idiomatum) is quite common, in that the attributes that belong to the divinity of Christ are attached to His humanity, as can be seen everywhere in Scripture. Luc. 2, 11. 13. 14. the angel calls the child born of the virgin Mary the Savior of men and the Lord, both of angels and men, and Cap. 1, 35. "Son of God". Therefore I can say with complete truth: This child, who lies in the manger and in the womb of the virgin, created heaven and earth, he is the HErr of the angels. Here I speak indeed of a
But "man" in this sentence is a completely new word, and stands, as the Sophists themselves confess, for "Godhead"; that is, this God, who became man, created all things. Creation is indeed attributed to the Godhead alone, because mankind cannot create, and yet it is correctly said: Man created, because the Godhead, which alone creates, is united with mankind in the flesh, and therefore mankind participates with the Godhead in the same qualities. Therefore one says rightly and godly: This man Jesus has led Israel out of Egypt, he has defeated Pharaoh and has done all miracles from the beginning of the world etc.
Therefore, when the Scripture says: "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments of God," "Do this, and you will live," etc. one must first see what kind of halls and doings it is talking about. For in these and similar passages, as I have said, she speaks of the faith that appears, not of faith in itself; of faith that has to do with objects, not of mere or simple faith, and the opinion of this passage: "Do this, and thou shalt live" is this: You will live because of this believing doing, or: This doing will give you life only because of faith. In this way, justification is attributed to faith alone, as the creation of the Godhead, and yet, as is rightly said: Jesus, the Son of Mary, created all things, so also justification is attached to faith made flesh or to faithful action. Therefore, it is in no way necessary to hold with the sophists and hypocrites that works justify in and of themselves, and that merits and rewards are promised to moral actions, but only to works that proceed from faith.
274 Therefore let us design the Holy Spirit to speak in the Scriptures either of faith itself, of mere, simple faith, or of that which is manifest, which has to do with other things, which became flesh; all that is added to works is added to faith. For the works need not be moral (mo-
352 Lri. 6ai. 1, 384-386. Explanation of Galatians 3, 10, W. VIII, 2132-2136. 353
raliter), but in a theological way and according to faith.
In theology, faith should always be the divinity of works and should permeate works as the divinity permeates humanity in Christ. He who touches the fire in a red-hot iron touches the iron. He who has touched the skin of Christ has truly touched God. Therefore, faith is all in all (factotum that I say so) in works. Abraham is called faithful because faith so permeates the whole Abraham that when I look at him doing works, I see nothing of the carnal or working Abraham, but only of the faithful Abraham's works.
I do this so diligently in order to present the doctrine of faith clearly, but also so that we may be able to answer correctly and easily the objections of the adversaries who mix philosophy and theology together and make theological works out of moral ones. A theological work is a believing work; so also a man in theology (homo theologicus) is a believing man, likewise his reason of a right nature; the good will, taken theologically, is the believing reason and the believing will, so that faith is the Godhead in all things, in the work, in the person, and in the members, as the only cause of justification, which is then also attached to the object with which we have to do, because of the source from which this action proceeds (tribuitur materiae propter formam), that is, the: Works because of faith. Eternal and infinite power is attributed to the man Christ not because of his humanity, but because of his divinity. For the Godhead alone created all things without all cooperation of mankind. Thus mankind also did not overcome sin or death, but the rod, which was hidden under the little worm, over which the devil fell, overcame and devoured the devil, who wanted to devour the little worm. So mankind alone could not have done anything here, but the divinity, which was connected with mankind, did it alone, and mankind for the sake of divinity. Thus, only the
Believe and do all things, and yet the same is added to works, but for the sake of faith.
So these words "do" and "work" are to be taken in a threefold way: in the external essence (substantialiter) or in the field of nature; in a moral way; and in a theological way (the Sophists also invented certain neutral works, which they said were neither good nor evil). In the external essence (substantiis) or nature, and in the field of morals, these words are taken, as I have said, according to their nature and in their natural meaning. In theology, however, these become entirely new words and acquire a new meaning. Therefore, all hypocrites, who want to be justified by the law and have false opinions about God, belong to the moral action; Paul disputes against them here. For they have a doings that flow from a right reason and a good will, which is only moral or human. Therefore their works are only in the realm of morality or rather of reason. On the other hand, the works of the godly are theological, which include faith.
278 Therefore, when you read in the Scriptures about the fathers, the prophets and the kings, that they worked righteousness, raised the dead, conquered kingdoms, etc. then you should remember that such and similar sayings are to be interpreted according to the new and theological grammar, as the letter to the Hebrews [Cap. 11, 33. ff.] interprets it, namely in this way: By faith they wrought righteousness, by faith they raised the dead, by faith they conquered kings and kingdoms, so that faith incorporates and informs.
279 And this the adversaries, if they are otherwise in their senses, cannot deny, nor have they anything to say or object to. They can of course cry out that Scripture often speaks of doing and working, but we constantly reply that it speaks of believing. For reason must first be enlightened by faith before it can do works; but when one has the right opinion and knowledge of God, as it were as a
right reason, then also the work comes into life (incarnatur) and is incorporated into faith, so that everything that is attached to faith can then also be attached to the works, but only for the sake of faith.
280 It is therefore very useful that those who study theology learn to distinguish between right and wrong, moral and theological. For those who do this will easily be able to explain all the passages that seem to establish the righteousness of works. But the right action, as I have said, is the believing or theological action, which he who seeks to attain righteousness from works does not have.
Therefore, everyone who deals with the works of the law (legis operator) and every moral saint is cursed, because he goes against God in presumption of his own righteousness, wanting to be justified by human will and human reason, and in this way does not fulfill the law by fulfilling it. This is what Paul calls "being under the works of the law", that is, that the hypocrites do the law, and yet by their "doing" they do not do it, because they understand doing according to the moral expression (grammaticam), which does not apply in theology. They do many works, but out of their own presumption without righteous reason and without good will as required by theology, that is, without knowledge of God and faith, like the Pharisee, Luc. 18, 11, 12, and Paul before his conversion. Therefore they are blind and err and remain under the curse.
Therefore, I remind you again that the sayings which the adversaries bring up from the Scriptures about works and rewards are always to be interpreted in a theological way by the right theological explanation (by definition). As, when this saying from Daniel is held up to us, Cap. 4, 24: "Loose yourself from your sins by doing good to the poor," one must immediately consult the grammar, not the moral, but the theological one. This will show that this unburdening is not a moral, but a believing one, that is
means that it includes faith. For a work in the holy scriptures also presupposes good will and righteous reason, not the moral, but the theological, which is faith. In this way you can easily shut up the sophists. For they themselves must admit, because they teach thus from Aristotle, that every good work must flow from free choice. If this is true in philosophy, then much more in theology, before a work, the good will and the right reason must be there through faith. And this is the opinion of all imperative words, likewise of all words that teach the law, as the epistle to the Hebrews Cap. 11, 4 clearly states: "Through faith Abel made a greater sacrifice" etc.
Nevertheless, although this solution would not be sufficient, although it is quite certain, this is still the main argument, and the main attention of Christians should be directed against all challenges and objections, not only of the adversaries, but also of the devil himself, so that they seize the head, namely Christ. Then, even if the sophists are more perspicacious than I am, and so overwhelm and trick me with their arguments for works against faith that I could not wriggle out of it altogether (although this is impossible for them), I would rather give glory to Christ alone and believe in him than be moved by all the passages of Scripture which they might bring up against the doctrine of faith to establish righteousness by works.
Therefore, they must be answered simply like this: Here is Christ, there are the testimonies of the Scriptures concerning the law and works. But Christ is the Lord over the Scriptures and over all works; the same is also the Lord over heaven and earth, over the Sabbath, temple, righteousness, life, wrath, sin, death, and over everything, and of this Paul, his apostle, preaches that he has become sin and a curse for me. So I hear that in no other way could I be done away with sin, death and my curse than through his death and blood. Therefore, I conclude with the utmost certainty
and most certain, that Christ himself in his body had to overcome my sin, death and curse, not the works of the law or my works.
But reason, as it is by nature, must also applaud this and say that Christ is not a work of the law or my work, that his blood and death is not circumcision, the observance of legal customs, much less a cap, a shorn plate, fasting, vows, that his victory, which he gave me, is not a Carthusian monk. Therefore, if he himself is the ransom for my redemption, if he himself has become sin and a curse to justify and bless me, I ask nothing of all the sayings of the Scriptures, though you raise up a thousand for righteousness by works against righteousness by faith, and cry out that the Scriptures contend against themselves: I have the author and Lord of the Scriptures, on whose side I will rather stand than believe thee; though it is impossible that the Scriptures should be at variance with themselves; this can only take place among the senseless and hardened hypocrites. But with the godly and prudent it bears witness to their Lord. Therefore, see how you reconcile the passages of Scripture that you say are at odds with each other; I remain with the author of Scripture.
286. Therefore, if anyone is not sufficiently equipped to reconcile or account for such passages of Scripture concerning works, and yet has to listen to the vehement speeches of the adversaries, who insist mightily on such passages, simply give this answer: Thou dost (urges) fall upon the servant, that is, the Scriptures, and that not upon the whole Scriptures, nor upon their principal part, but only upon some sayings concerning works; this servant I leave to thee; but I lean upon the Lord, who is the King of the Scriptures, who has become my merit and my ransom for the attainment of righteousness and salvation. I hold on to him and cling to him and leave you the works that you have never done. Neither the devil nor any saint of works can snatch this responsibility from you or overthrow it. Then you are also safe from
God. For the heart remains firmly set on the goal, which is Christ, who was crucified and became a curse, not for his sake but for ours, as the text [Gal. 3:13] reads, "He became a curse for us." Press upon this passage, and hold it up against all sayings concerning the law and works, and say, Satan, hearest thou not this? Then he must depart, because he knows that Christ is his Lord.
V. 11. But that by the law no one is justified before God is evident, for the just shall live by faith.
This is another reason taken from the testimony of the prophet Habakkuk [Cap. 2, 4], and it is a very weighty and clear saying that Paul opposes all sayings about the laws and works, as if he wanted to say so: What need is there of long disputing? Here I bring an exceedingly clear testimony of the prophet, from whom no one can take anything away: "The righteous will live by his faith." If he will live by faith, he will not live by the law, for the law is not of faith; and Paul here takes the word "faith" in an exclusive way and in opposition [to law and works] (exclusive et per contrarium.) ).
The sophists, as they are ready to distort the Scriptures, make the subtle remarks about this passage: The righteous man lives by faith, but by faith that works (efficaci), that does works, or that has attained its right form through love (formica). The righteous lives by faith, of course, but by faith that works (efficaci), that does works, or that has attained its proper form through love (formata caritate). But if faith does not have such form (informis), it does not justify. They have invented this gloss, and by it they do violence to the words of the prophet.
If by the rightly formed faith they understood the true and theological, or as Paul says, the uncolored faith, which God calls faith, then this gloss of theirs should not be repugnant to me. For then this faith would not be set differently from love, but against the vain opinion of faith; just as we also make a distinction between the fictitious and the true faith. An er-
Dense faith is that which hears of God, of Christ, and of all the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption, and has grasped these things which it has heard, and knows how to speak most beautifully of them; and yet it remains only a mere delusion and a vain hearing, which leaves in the heart only a sound of the Gospel, of which it prattles much; but in truth it is not faith, because it neither renews nor changes the heart, does not produce a new man, but leaves him in his former opinion and change. And this faith is very pernicious, and it would be better not to have it; and a moral world-wise man is better than such a hypocrite who has this faith.
Therefore, if they distinguished the rightly formed faith (fidem formatam) in contrast to the false or invented faith, this distinction of theirs would not be annoying to me. But they speak of the faith that is rightly formed by love, and make a twofold faith, the unformed and the rightly formed ((informem et formatam). This quite harmful and devilish gloss I have to detest most vehemently. For they say: Although there is the infused faith, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and the acquired (acquisita) faith, which we ourselves produce through many acts of faith, yet each of these two is unformed (informis) and receives its right form through love.
Thus, faith without love, as they dream, is, as it were, a painting and a beautiful thing to look at in the dark, which can be seen only when the light that is, love, is added. And in this way, love is the essence (forma) of faith, and faith is the mere substance (materia) on which love works. This means to prefer love to faith and to attribute righteousness not to faith but to love, because that for the sake of which something has a special nature, has itself this nature in a higher degree. Therefore, they do not attribute anything at all to faith, since they attribute righteousness to faith only for the sake of love.
292. then say the trafficers of the evan
The Holy Spirit of Christ, that even the infused faith, which is not obtained by preaching or by any other operation, but which the Holy Spirit creates in man, can exist in mortal sin, and that even the very worst of boys can have it. Therefore he is idle and useless if he is alone, although he does miracles. Thus they take away the office of faith altogether and attach it to love, so that faith is of no value at all unless that which gives it its proper nature (forma) is added, that is, love. Thus, according to this harmful fiction of the sophists, that wretched virtue, faith, will be a kind of unshaped mass (chaos), without works, without efficacy, without life, but only a suffering substance.
All this is blasphemous against God and devilish, completely obscuring and overturning the doctrine of faith, subtracting from the mediator Christ and from the faith that takes hold of him. For if love is the essence (lorma) of faith, as they fool, then I must also immediately assume that love is the main and greatest part of the Christian religion, and so I lose Christ, his blood, his wounds and all his benefits, and remain attached to love and show love, and come into moral action like the pope, a pagan philosopher or a Turk.
But the Holy Spirit, who gives mouth and speech to all men, also knows how to speak. He could well have said, as the sophists fool in an ungodly manner, "The just shall live by the righteous faith. But with good deliberation he has omitted this, and says simply, "The just shall live by his faith." Therefore let the sophists go to the executioner with their impious and pernicious gloss. We want to keep and praise this faith that God has called "faith," that is, the true and certain faith that does not doubt God, nor the divine promises, nor the forgiveness of sins through Christ, so that we can remain secure and confident in the one who matters (objecto), Christ, and keep in mind the suffering and blood of the Mediator and all his benefits. But only the faith that believes in Christ
stum, is the only way to keep these things from coming out of our faces. Therefore, we must reject this pernicious gloss and understand this passage from faith alone. And Paul himself shows this by disputing against faith formed by love (fidem formatam) as follows:
V. 12. But the law is not of faith.
The Sophists say: The righteous lives, if the faith has been formed rightly by love; Paul, however, says: "The law is not of faith. But what is the law? Is it not also a commandment of love? Yes, the law commands nothing but love, as the text itself says [Deut. 6:5], "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart"; likewise [Ex. 20:6], "I do mercy to many thousands that love me"; likewise [Matt. 22:40], "In these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." If therefore the law, which enjoins love (caritatem), contends against faith, consequently love is also not of faith. Thus Paul refutes quite clearly the fictitious gloss of the sophists about faith being made right, and speaks of faith alone, setting aside the law. But where the law is removed, love and everything that is of the law is also removed, and only faith remains, which makes righteous and alive.
So Paul takes from an exceedingly clear testimony of the prophet the reason of proof that in the sight of God no one is granted justification and life except the one who believes, who obtains righteousness and life without the law and without love through faith. This is the reason: because the law is not of faith, that is, the law is not faith, nor anything of faith, because it does not believe; neither are the works of the law faith, therefore faith is something distinct from the law, as the promise is something distinct from the law. For the promise is taken, not by doing works, but by believing.
Just as in philosophy the essence and the accidental quality (substantia et accidens) are distinguished from one another by the first division, so also in theology the promise and the law, and consequently also faith and works, are distinguished from one another as far as heaven is from earth.
It is therefore impossible for faith to be of the law, since faith alone is attached to the promise, alone receives and knows God, and has to deal with receiving good from God. On the other hand, the law and the works have to deal with the fact that they demand, 1) do, and give to God, as Abel, by sacrificing, gives to God, but also, by believing, receives from God.
So Paul concludes very strongly from the saying of the prophet Habakkuk that the righteous man lives by faith, and faith alone, because the law has nothing to do with faith. For the law is not a promise, but faith clings to the promise and is based on it. So as law and promise differ, so also works and faith. Therefore, the gloss of the sophists is ungodly and false, since it connects the law with faith, yes, erases faith and puts the law in the place of faith.
But Paul constantly speaks of those who want to do the law in a moral, but not in a theological way. But everything that is said about good theological works is attributed to faith alone.
But the person who does it will live through it.
I understand this part of the saying (particulam) to be said ironically, but I do not want to deny that it can also be interpreted in a moral way (moraliter), because those who do the law as moral people (moraliter), that is, without faith, should live by it, that is, should not be punished, but should receive bodily rewards through it. But I take this passage quite generally like this
1) exiMnäo is missing in the Jenaer and in the Erlanger.
362 Lri. Kai. II, 6-8. interpretations on the epistle to the Galatians. W. VIII, 2ISI-2IS4. 363
Christ's saying (Luc. 10, 28.]: "Do this and you will live", that it is a kind of irony or mockery: Yes, just do it!
But Paul wants to show here what exactly and actually is the righteousness of the law and that of the gospel. The righteousness of the law is: to do the law, according to this word: "The man who does it" etc. The righteousness of faith is: to believe, according to this word: "The righteous shall live by his faith." That is why the law requires us to perform GOtte. But faith does not demand works from us, or that we should perform anything for God, but that we, as people who believe the promise of God, should receive from Him. Therefore, the office of the law, where it comes highest, is to do works; the office of faith, to assent to the promises, because faith is a belief in the promise; a work is a work of the law.
Thus Paul dwells at length on the word "do" in order to show clearly which is the righteousness 1) of the law and which is that of faith; he contrasts the promise and the law, faith and works. He says that nothing else follows from the law than doing; faith, however, is something completely opposite, namely, it agrees with the promise.
304 Therefore these four pieces must be distinguished from each other in the most complete way. For just as the law, so also the promise has its proper office. To the law belongs "to do," to the promise "to believe. So far, then, as the law and the promise, so far are doing and believing distinguished, even though you wanted to understand doing in a theological way. For Paul is dealing with something different here. He insists here on the distinction between doing and believing, in order to separate love from faith, and to explain that only faith justifies, because the law, whether it is done in a moral or theological way or not at all, does not contribute at all to justification, since the law is only directed to "doing", but faith is not of this kind, but something completely different, which is required beforehand,
1) Here the Wittenberg has erroneously: fiducia instead of: justitia.
before the law can happen; if that is present beforehand, then a beautiful union (incarnatio) [of faith and action] can take place.
(305) Therefore faith justifies forever and makes alive, and yet it does not remain alone, that is, idle; not that it should not remain alone on its scale and in its office, because it justifies forever alone, but it takes on flesh (incarnatur) and becomes man, that is, it is not and does not remain idle or without love.
Thus Christ, according to the Godhead, is a divine and eternal being (substantia) or nature without beginning; but mankind is the nature that was created in time. These two natures in Christ are unmingled and unmixed, and what is peculiar to each must be understood differently from the other. It is proper to humanity that it began in time; it is proper to divinity that it is eternal, without beginning; and yet these two come together, and divinity, which has no beginning, is incorporated into humanity, which has a beginning. How, then, I must distinguish between humanity and Deity, and speak: Mankind is not the Godhead, and yet man is GOOD, so I distinguish here: Faith is not the law, and yet faith does works. So faith and works come together in a union (in composito), and yet each has and retains its nature and proper office. There you have [the reason] why Paul cites this passage here, namely, in order to distinguish faith from love in the broadest sense.
Therefore, let us continue (pereant) with the sophists with their accursed gloss, and let us condemn this word "the formed faith" (fides formata), and let us constantly say that these words: the formed faith, the unformed faith, the acquired faith (fides formata, informis, acquisita) etc. are the devil's monstrosities, which have been brought up to corrupt doctrine and the Christian faith, to blaspheme and trample on Christ, and to establish the righteousness of works. This is what we want to say (I say), so that we may have the true and right faith.
can be obtained without the works. Works must follow faith, but faith must not be works, nor works faith; the boundaries and the realm of the law, or of works and faith, should not be mixed together, but both should be distinguished from each other in the most proper way.
Therefore, if we believe, we live simply by faith in Christ, who is without sin, who, to put it briefly, is our covering, our mercy seat, and our forgiveness of sins. On the other hand, if we do the law, we do works, but we do not have righteousness and life. For the purpose of the law is not to justify and make alive, but to signify sin and to kill. The law does say: "The man who does these things will live by them"; but where is such a man who does the law, that is, who loves God with all his heart etc. and his neighbor as himself? So no one does the law, no matter how hard he tries to do it; but by doing it he does not do it, so he remains under the curse. But faith does not "do," but believes in Christ, who justifies. Therefore a man lives not for his doing, but for his faith. The believer, however, does the law; but what he does not do is given to him for Christ's sake through the forgiveness of sins, and whatever sin remains is not imputed to him.
So Paul compares the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith in this passage and Romans 10:4, 5, by saying, "The man who does it will live by it," as if to say, "It would be good if we did the law, but because no one does it, we must flee to Christ, who is the end of the law; he who believes in Him is righteous. He was put under the law so that he might redeem us who were under the law [Gal. 4:5]. If we believe in him, we receive the Holy Spirit and begin to do the law. But what we do not do is not counted to us because of faith in Christ. In the life to come, however, we will no longer need faith, because we will no longer see God through a mirror in a
We will not see the dark words as we do now, but face to face, that is, there will be the clarity of eternal glory, in which we will see God as He is. There will then be a right and perfect knowledge and love towards God, a right reason and good will, not a moral or theological one, but a heavenly, divine and eternal one. Meanwhile, in this life we await in the spirit through faith the righteousness that must be hoped for. On the other hand, those who seek forgiveness of sins through the law, not through Christ, never do the law, but remain under the curse.
So Paul calls only those righteous who are justified without the law by the promise or by faith in the promise. Therefore, "doing the law" is a fictitious thing that means nothing apart from faith. Therefore, those who deal with the works of the law, and want to be counted as doing the law, do not do it, because the apostle simply concludes that all who deal with the works of the law are under the curse, under which they would not be if they did the law.
It is true that the man who does it will live, that is, he will be blessed; but such a man is nowhere to be found. But since the custom of the law is twofold, civil and spiritual, whoever wishes may understand this saying in a civil way: "He who does it will live by it," that is, if a man obeys the authorities outwardly and in the worldly regiment, he will escape punishment and death. The worldly authorities have no right over him to subject him to punishments or to kill him, but let him live unpunished. This is the worldly custom of the law, which serves to keep the rough people in check.
But Paul is not dealing with this usage here, but treats this passage in a theological way. Therefore, a condition is necessarily included, as if he said: If men could do the law, they would be blessed. But where are they? Therefore, there are no doers of the law, when
they are not first justified by faith, before the law and without the law.
Therefore Paul, when he curses and condemns those who deal with the works of the law, does not speak of those who are justified by faith, but of those who seek to be justified by works without faith in Christ. I say this for the sake of not following the conceit of St. Jerome, who, deceived by Origen, understood nothing at all in Paul, but regarded him as a civil teacher of the law. Therefore he concludes thus: The holy patriarchs, prophets and kings were circumcised and sacrificed, thus they observed the law. But it would be ungodly to say that they are and remain under the curse, so not all who do the works of the law are under the curse. Thus he falls upon Paul's writings without any judgment and makes no distinction between the right doers of the law, who are justified by faith, and the doers of works, who seek to be justified by the law without faith.
But Paul does not act here against those who are justified by faith and are true doers, because they are not people "who deal in the works of the law," but against those who not only do not keep the law, but also sin against it. For the law commands that we fear, love and serve God in faith; this they do not do, but choose new services and works which God has not commanded, by which God is not reconciled, but only more irritated, according to the words [Matt. 15:9]: "In vain do they serve me, because they teach such doctrines as are nothing but the commandments of men." They are therefore unrighteous, robbers of God and idolaters, who above all others sin exceedingly grievously against the first commandment. Then they also have evil lusts, wrath and other exceedingly great passions. In short, there is nothing good about them, except that they are outwardly righteous in appearance and want to be respected for doing the law.
1) 315. Thus we, too, who have gone through the
1) Here Menius has again inserted a whole paragraph of which there is nothing in the Latin.
We are justified by faith, like the patriarchs, prophets, and all the saints, not by "the works of the law," as far as justification is concerned. But as long as we are in the flesh and still have the remnants of sin in us, we are under the law (but not under the curse, because what is left of sin is not imputed to us for the sake of Christ in whom we believe). For the flesh is under the law of God, and the evil desire that still remains in us not only does not fulfill the law, but also sins against it, even contends against us and takes us captive and makes us slaves, Rom. 7:23.
316. But if in the saints the Law is not fulfilled, but many things are done contrary to the Law, since they still have evil air, and remnants of sin and many yeasts remain, which prevent them 2) from fully fearing and loving God, from calling upon Him with certain confidence, not praising God enough and not holding His word in due honor (venerentur), how much more is this true in a person who is not yet justified by faith and turned away from God, who with all his heart neglects, despises and hates God's word and work!
317 You see that Paul is speaking of those who want to fulfill the law and attain righteousness before they have received faith, but not of the fathers and saints, as Jerome imagines, who have already been justified by faith.
V. 13. But Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law when he became a curse for us (for it is written: Cursed be every man that hangeth on the tree etc.).
318 Here Jerome and the sophists who followed him again toil very hard, and they grind down this passage, which is exceedingly consoling, most miserably, and, as they think, out of a godly zeal, they anxiously take care that they do not allow this dishonor to be done to Christ, that he should be called a curse or a malediction. In this way they make this
2) Instead of 60 in the Erlanger is to be read with the Wittenberger and Jena eos.
They have therefore said, no less maliciously (sceleste) than ungodly, that this passage of Scripture argues against itself in Paul, which it does not do in its original place.
This is what they try to prove: The saying of Moses (they say), which Paul cites here, does not speak of Christ. Furthermore, Moses does not add the general word "everyone" that Paul has. On the other hand, Paul omits the word "of God" which is in Moses. Finally, it is quite obvious that Moses is speaking of an evildoer or a murderer who deserved the cross with his evil deeds, as the Scriptures in the 5th book of Moses Cap. 21, 22 clearly testifies. Therefore, they ask how this saying can be applied to Christ, that he is a cursed of God, hung on a wood, since he is not an evildoer or a murderer, but righteous and holy.
320 This might move inexperienced people who think that the sophists not only spoke these things astutely, but also in a godly opinion, thereby defending the honor of Christ and admonishing Christians of godly minds not to think that Christ has become a curse in an ungodly way: (religious) minds that they should not think in an ungodly way that Christ has become a curse. Therefore, we must see what Paul's intention and opinion was.
321 Paul has well fortified his words and spoken them clearly. But here again a difference must be made, as Paul's words sufficiently indicate. For he does not say that Christ became a curse for himself, but "for us". So the emphasis is on the word "for us". For Christ, as far as his person is concerned, is innocent, and therefore should not have been hanged on the wood. But because according to the law every murderer should be hanged, Christ also had to be hanged according to the law of Moses, because he had taken upon himself the person of a sinner and murderer, and not of one, but of all sinners and murderers. For we are sinners and murderers, and therefore guilty of death and eternal damnation. But Christ took all our sins upon himself and died for them on the cross. Therefore he had to be an evil
and, as Isaiah, Cap. 53, 12, says, "will be counted among the evildoers.
1All the prophets saw this in their minds, that Christ would be the greatest of all evildoers, murderers, adulterers, thieves, robbers of God, blasphemers, whose like never existed in the world. Because he is the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, he is now no longer an innocent person and without sins, no longer the Son of God, born of the virgin, but a sinner who has and bears the sin of Paul, who was a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man; of Peter, who denied Christ; of David, who was an adulterer and murderer, and made the Gentiles blaspheme the name of the Lord [2 Sam. 12:14] In short, He who took upon Himself all the sins of all men and bore them in His body, not because He Himself committed them, but because He took upon His body the sins we have committed, that He might be sufficient for them in His own blood.
For this reason, the general law of Moses also includes him, although he is innocent in his own person, because it finds him among sinners and murderers, just as the authorities consider him guilty and punish him whom they seize among murderers, although he has never committed anything evil or worthy of death. Christ, however, was not only found among sinners, but he also voluntarily and according to the will of the Father wanted to be the companion2 of sinners, and took upon himself the flesh and blood of those who are sinners and murderers and laden with all sins. Since the law found him among the murderers, it condemned him as a murderer and put him to death.
324 This knowledge of Christ and this most sweet consolation, that Christ has become a curse for us, so that he may save us from the curse, is the most important thing.
1) This and the two following paragraphs find (in the translation of Menius) used by Aurifaber for § 41 of the 7th chapter of the Tischreden. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
2) Latin: 806iu8. In the Wittenberg edition, due to a printing error, "Geisel" is written instead of: "Gesel". This error has passed into all other German editions. Aurifaber, however, expands this expression in the Tischreden I. e. and writes: "der Sünder Geißel und selbschüldiger Bürge und Pfand."
The sophists deprive us of the salvation of the law by separating Christ from sins and sinners and presenting him to us only as an example to be followed. In this way they not only make Christ useless to us, but also present him as a judge and tyrant who is angry about sins and condemns sinners. We, however, must include (involvere) Christ under the curse and recognize that just as he is wrapped (involutum) in our flesh and blood, so also our sins, our curse, our death and all our evil are on him.
325. But someone wants to say: It is very unrighteous and disgraceful to call the Son of God a sinner and a curse. I answer: If you deny that he is a sinner and a curse, deny also that he suffered, was crucified and died. It is no less unreasonable to say that the Son of God (as our faith confesses and prays) was crucified, endured the penalties of sin and death, than to call him a sinner or a cursed man. But if it is not unreasonable to confess and believe that Christ was crucified among murderers, neither can it be unreasonable to say that he was a cursed man and a sinner above all sinners.
Surely these are not empty words in Paul: "Christ became a curse for us" [Gal. 3:13]. "God made Christ, who knew of no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become in Him the righteousness that is before God." 2 Cor. 5, 21.
In the same way, John the Baptist calls him "the Lamb of God who bears the sins of the world. True, he is innocent because he is the unblemished and blameless (incontaminatus) Lamb of God, but because he bears the sins of the world, his innocence is burdened with the sins and guilt of the whole world. All the sins that I, you, and all of us have done and will do in the future are Christ's own sins, just as if he had done them himself. In short, our sin must become Christ's own sin, or we must be lost for eternity.
This right knowledge of Christ, which Paul and the prophets taught very clearly, has been obscured by the godless sophists.
Isaiah in the 53rd chapter speaks of Christ. He says [v. 6.]:. "God cast on him all our sin." We must not empty these words, but let them remain in their proper meaning. For God is not joking with the words of the prophet, but is speaking seriously and out of great love, namely, that this Lamb of God, Christ, should bear the sin of us all. But what does bear mean? The sophists answer: to be punished. Very well. But why is Christ punished? Is it not because he has sin and bears it? But that Christ has sin, the Holy Spirit also testifies in the 40th Psalm, v. 13: "My sins have taken hold of me, that I cannot see; they are more than hairs of my head." And Ps. 41:5: "I said, Lord, be merciful unto me, heal my soul: for against thee have I sinned." And Ps. 69, 6. "God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my debts are not hid from thee." In these Psalms the Holy Spirit speaks in the person of Christ and testifies in revealed words that He has sins. But these testimonies of the Psalms are not words of the innocent, but of the suffering Christ, who took it upon himself to stand in the person of all sinners, and therefore he became guilty of the sins of the whole world.
Therefore, Christ was not only crucified and died, but through the love of God, sin was also laid on Him. But after sin was laid upon him, the law came and said, "Every sinner must die. Therefore, if you, Christ, want to be a guarantor, to be guilty and to bear the punishment for sinners, you must also bear the sin and the curse. Paul therefore quite rightly cites the general law from Moses of Christ [Deut. 21, 23]: "Everyone who hangs on the wood is cursed by God"; Christ hung on the wood, therefore Christ is cursed by God.
331 And this is the highest comfort of the godly, that Christ should put on mine, thine, and all the world's sin, and wrap himself in it, and that we should see that he bears all our sins, seeing that, when he is thus regarded, he easily removes the sophists' rapturous opinions of justification by works. For they dream
A faith formed by love and claiming that through it sins are taken away and men are justified, which is nothing other than pulling Christ completely out of sins and winding him up and making him innocent, while we ourselves are weighed down and overwhelmed with our own sins and do not want to see them in Christ but in ourselves; this is in truth taking Christ away and making him useless.
For if it is true that we take away sins by works of the law and by love, Christ does not take them away. But if he is the Lamb of God, predestined from eternity to take away the sins of the world, and then voluntarily wrapped himself in our sins in such a way that he became a curse for us, then it necessarily follows that we cannot become righteous and take away sins through love. For God did not put our sins on us, but on His Son Christ, so that we, having the punishment on Him, would have peace, and we would be healed by His wounds [Is. 53, 5]. Therefore they cannot be taken away by us, and all Scripture testifies to this, and we also confess and pray it in the Christian faith when we say: I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who suffered, was crucified and died for us.
333. From this it is evident that the teaching of the Gospel, the most lovely teaching of all, and which is so exceedingly full of the richest consolation, does not preach of our works or of the works of the law, but of the incomprehensible and inexpressible mercy and love of God toward us unworthy and lost people, namely, that the merciful Father, seeing that we were oppressed by the curse of the law and held so low that even with our powers we could never have delivered ourselves from it, sent his only begotten Son into the world, and laid on him all the sins of all men, saying: You shall be Peter who denied; Paul who persecuted, blasphemed and did violence; David who broke marriage; the sinner who ate the apple in paradise; the thief on the cross: in short, you shall be the person who did all the sins of all men.
so remember to pay and provide enough for them.
334 Then cometh the law, saying, I find him to be a sinner, and such a one as hath taken upon him the sins of all men, and moreover I see no sin but of him alone; therefore let him die upon the cross: and so it assaileth him, and putteth him to death.
Since this has happened, the whole world has been cleansed of all sins and atoned for, and thus also freed from death and all evil. Now that sin and death have been taken away by this one man, God could see nothing else in the whole world, especially if it believed, but pure purity and righteousness, and even though some remnants of sin remained, God would not see them before that sun, 1) Christ.
336 Thus we must magnify the article of Christian righteousness against the righteousness of law and works, though there is no language or eloquence that can properly comprehend it, much less explain its greatness.
Therefore, the reason Paul gives here is exceedingly powerful, and the highest of all against all righteousness of the law. For it contains this insurmountable and irrefutable contradiction: If the sins of the whole world are on this One Man Jesus Christ, then they are not out of the world; but if they are not on Him, then they are still in the world. Likewise, if Christ Himself has become guilty of all the sins we have all committed, then we are absolved of all sins, but not by us, by our works or merits, but by Him. But if he is innocent and does not bear our sins, we bear them and will die in them and be condemned. But thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
But now let us see how in this person two completely opposite things come together. It is not only my sins, yours and the past, present and future sins of the whole world that attack him and seek to condemn him, as they do.
1) Wittenberger: solo instead of: solo.
But because in this very person, who is the highest, greatest and only sinner, there is also eternal and unconquerable righteousness, these two fight with each other, the highest, greatest, only sin and the highest, greatest and only righteousness. Here, one of the two must necessarily give way and be overcome, since they run against each other with the highest impetuosity and collide.
So the sin of the whole world throws itself with the highest impetuosity and rage on justice. What happens? Justice is eternal, immortal and invincible. Sin is also an exceedingly powerful and cruel tyrant who rules and reigns over the whole earth and makes all men prisoners and slaves. In short, sin is a very great and mighty god, who rules over the whole human race, all the learned, the holy, the mighty, the wise and the unwise. Mighty, wise, and unlearned etc. cast out (exhaurit). This one, I say, runs against Christ and wants to devour him like all others. But he does not see that he is a person of unconquerable and eternal righteousness. Therefore, sin must of necessity be overcome and killed in this duel, and righteousness must be victorious and live. Thus, in Christ, all sin is conquered, killed and buried, and righteousness remains victor and ruler forever.
Thus death, which is the almighty ruler of the whole world, which kills kings, princes, and all men, fights against life with all its might, in order to defeat and devour it; and of course, that which it strives for, it also accomplishes. But because life is immortal, it, having been defeated, emerges victorious, defeats and kills death. The church sings beautifully about this wonderful duel:
Death and life have quarreled at the same time in Christ. Death overcame life. But life retained victory at hand, so that now death lies slain, life reigns eternally in God. 1)
1) Thus these verses are found in Menius. Latin: Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando. Dux vitae mortuus regnat vivus.
Therefore, through Christ death has been overcome and taken away in the whole world, so that now there is only a painted death, which, having lost its sting, cannot harm those who believe in Christ, since he has become the death of death, as Hosea sings: "Death, I will be a poison to you.
342. The curse, which is God's wrath on the whole world, has the same struggle against the blessing, that is, against the eternal grace and mercy of God in Christ. So the curse fights with the blessing, and wants to condemn it and make it completely null and void, but it cannot. For the blessing is divine and eternal, therefore the curse must give way to it. For if the blessing in Christ could be overcome, God Himself would be defeated. But this is impossible. Therefore Christ, the divine power, overcomes righteousness, blessing, grace and life, and destroys those monsters, sin, death and the curse, without weapons and battles, in his body and through himself, as Paul likes to speak, saying [Col. 2, 15.]: "He has stripped the principalities and the mighty, and made a triumph of them through himself", so that they can no longer harm the believers etc.
343 And this circumstance, that he does it "by himself," makes this duel exceedingly wonderful and glorious. For it shows that these great things (namely, that the curse, sin, and death are destroyed, and blessing, righteousness, and life take their place) must be accomplished in this one person of Christ, and that thus through him the whole creature is changed. Therefore, when you look at this person, you see that sin, death, the wrath of God, hell, the devil and all evil have been overcome and killed.
344 Therefore, if Christ reigns in the hearts of believers by his grace, there is no sin, no death, no curse. But where Christ is not recognized, these remain. Therefore, all those who do not believe lack this benefit and victory. For, as John says [1 Ep. 5, 4], "our faith is the victory." This is the main article of the Christian doctrine, which the Sophists completely undercut.
and which is nowadays darkened anew by the enthusiasts.
345 And here you see how necessary it is to believe and confess the article of the divinity of Christ. When Arius denied this, he necessarily had to deny the article of salvation as well. For to overcome the sin of the world by oneself, the death, the curse and the wrath of God, is not the work of any creature, but of the divine power. Therefore, he who overcame this by himself must be truly and by nature God. For this exceedingly great power (sin, death, the curse), which prevails in the world and in all creatures, must be opposed by another, higher power, which cannot be found or be anywhere else than in God.
346 Therefore, to put away sin, to destroy death, to take away the curse by himself, and to give righteousness, to bring life to light, to give blessing, that is, to make those things void and to create these things: these are works of divine power alone. But because the Scriptures ascribe all these things to Christ, therefore he himself is the life, the righteousness, and the blessing, who is by nature and essentially God. Therefore, those who deny the divinity of Christ eventually lose all Christianity and become completely pagans and Turks.
347 Therefore, as I often remind you, the doctrine of justification must be diligently learned. For in it are comprehended all the other articles of our faith, and if it is right with that, it is right with all the others. Therefore, when we teach that men are justified by Christ, that Christ is the victor over sin, death and the eternal curse, we also testify that he is God by nature.
From this it is sufficiently clear how frightfully blind and godless the papists have been, that they have taught that those terrible and exceedingly powerful tyrants (sin, death, curse), which sweep away the whole human race, must be overcome, not by the righteousness that comes from the divine law (which, however, if it is
(For if a man, who is also righteous, good and holy, can do nothing but be cursed), but by the righteousness of human works, such as fasting, pilgrimages, rosaries, vows etc. Who, I pray thee, has ever been found, who, having put on this armor, could have conquered sin, death etc.? Paul describes in the letter to the Ephesians Cap. 6, 11. ff. a completely different armor, which one should use against these extremely cruel beasts.
349. Namely, just because the blind and the leaders of the blind have thrown us defenseless without the armor of God before this invincible and omnipotent tyrant, they have not only handed us over to him to devour us, but have also made us ten times greater and worse sinners than murderers and harlots are. For it belongs to the divine power alone to destroy sin, to destroy death, to establish righteousness and to give life. This divine power they ascribed to our works, saying: If you do this or that work, you will overcome sin, death and the wrath of God, and so in truth they put us in God's place and made us, so to speak, truly and essentially God. And by this the papists have shown that under the name of Christians they have been seven times worse idolaters than the pagans. For what has happened to them is what happens to the sow that rolls in the fire again after the flood, and, as Christ says [Luc. 11, 24-26.]: When a man has fallen away from the faith, the evil spirit returns to the house from which it was driven out, and takes seven other spirits to itself, which are worse than itself, and dwells there, and afterwards becomes worse with the same man than before.
350 We should therefore receive with thanksgiving and certain confidence this most lovely and comforting doctrine, which teaches that Christ, who has become a curse for us (that is, a sinner subject to the wrath of God), takes on our person and puts our sins from his shoulders, saying: I have committed the sins that all men are guilty of.
let. Therefore he became in truth a curse according to the law, not for himself, but, as Paul says, "for us". For if he had not taken upon himself my sin, your sin, and the sin of all the world, the law would have had no right to him, since it only condemns sinners and keeps them under the curse. Therefore, he could not have become a cursed man, nor die, since the cause of the curse and death is the sin from which he was free. But because he had taken our sins upon himself, not forced, but voluntarily, he had to bear the punishment and wrath of God, not for his person, which was righteous and [for sin] invincible, therefore that person could not become guilty, but for our person.
Thus, for our good, he changed with us and took our sinful person and gave us his innocent and victorious person. Clothed and clothed with this, we are freed from the curse of the law, because Christ himself willingly became a curse for us.
352. He says: I am blessed for my person, both according to humanity and according to the Godhead, and have no need of any thing at all, but I will express myself (exinanibo) [Phil. 2, 7.]), will take your garment and your form (larvam), that is, human nature, and will walk in it and suffer death to deliver you from death. And therefore, since he bore the sin of the whole world in our likeness, he was seized, suffered, was crucified, died, and became a curse for us. But because he was a divine and eternal person, it was impossible that death could have held him. Therefore, on the third day he rose again from death and now lives forever, and in him no sin, no death, and our likeness is found any more, but only righteousness, life and eternal blessing.
We must look at this image and grasp it with firm faith. Whoever does this has this innocence and this victory of Christ, however great a sinner he may be. But this image cannot be grasped by love, which is in our will (voluntate dilectionis), but only by reason, which is enlightened by faith.
So we are justified by faith alone, because faith alone takes hold of this victory of Christ. Now if you believe this, you have it. If you believe that sin, death and the curse have been taken away, they have been taken away, because Christ has conquered and taken them away in himself and wants us to believe that, just as in his person there is no longer any form of the sinner, no longer any trace of death, so also in our person there is no longer anything of this, since he has accomplished everything for us. etc.
354 Therefore, if sin frightens you, if death terrifies you, think that it is a vain specter and deception of the devil, as it certainly is. For indeed there is no more sin, no more curse, no more death, no more devil, because Christ has overcome and done away with all these things.
355 Therefore, the victory of Christ is quite certain, and there is no lack in this matter, since it is certainly true, but the lack is due to our unbelief. For it is difficult for reason to believe such priceless goods. Then there is also the devil and the spirits, who only deal with this one thing, that they darken and take away this teaching from us, the one with fine poisonous arrows, the other with their perverse and godless teaching. And mainly for the sake of this article, which we so diligently pursue, we endure the hatred and persecution of Satan and the world. For Satan feels how powerful this article is and how great benefits it creates.
356. But that, since Christ now reigns, there is indeed no more sin, no more death, no more curse, we also confess daily in the Apostles' Creed, when we say: "I believe in a holy church," which is nothing at all different from saying: I believe that there is no sin, no death in the church, because those who believe in Christ are not sinners, not guilty of death, but absolutely holy and righteous, masters of sin and death, and people who live forever. But this only faith sees, because we say, "I believe a holy church." But if you consult your reason and your eyes, you will judge quite differently. For you see
many things about the godly that annoy you; you see how they sometimes fall, sin, are weak in faith, how they still have anger, envy and other evil inclinations about them. From this you want to conclude: So the church is not holy. But I deny the inference. If I look at my person or that of my neighbor, the same will never be holy. But if I look at Christ, who sanctifies and purifies the church, it is completely holy. For he has borne the sins of the whole world.
For according to Paul's theology, there is no more sin in the world, no more death, no more curse, but out of Christ, who is the Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world, who became a curse that He might deliver us from the curse.
According to worldly wisdom and reason, sin, death and curse are nowhere else than in the world, in the flesh or in sinners. For a sophistical theologian cannot speak of sin in any other way than a pagan philosopher, namely thus: The quality is attached to the essence or the object; just as therefore the color is attached to the wall, so sin is attached to the world, the flesh or the conscience. Therefore it must be eradicated by the opposite motus, namely by love.
True theology teaches that there is no longer any sin in the world, because Christ, on whom the Father cast the sins of the whole world (Is 53:6), overcame them in his body, eradicated them and killed them. He died once to sin, but having been raised from the dead, he dies no more [Rom. 6:9]. Therefore, wherever there is faith in Christ, sin has in truth been taken away, died and been buried. But where there is no faith in Christ, sin remains. Although there are still remnants of sin in the saints, because they do not believe perfectly, etc. they are dead, because they are not imputed for the sake of faith in Christ.
1) 360. So this is the highest and ge-
1) This and the following paragraphs are written by Aurifaber (in an extremely free revision of the Ueber
This is the most important reason for Paul's insistence against righteousness by works: Not the law, not the works redeem from the eternal curse, but Christ. Therefore, for God's sake, dear Christian reader, I ask you to distinguish Christ from the law, and to pay careful attention to what and how Paul speaks. He says: Necessarily all are under the curse who do not do the law; but no one does it, so the first sentence is true, that all men are under the curse. Then he adds the second sentence: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law when he became a curse for us, so the law and works do not redeem us from the curse, but rather subject us to the curse, so love, of which the Sophists say that it gives faith its proper form (informare), not only does not redeem us from the curse, but only pushes us and brings us more into it.
As Christ is something different from the law and the works of the law, so also the redemption of Christ is something far different from my merit from the works of the law, because Christ himself had to redeem us from the curse of the law. Therefore, all remain under the curse who do not take hold of Christ in faith. For even the sophists are not so foolish as to say that Christ is our work or love. For Christ is something far different than a work that we do. No pope, however great he may be, will dare to say that the alms he gives to a poor man, the obedience a monk pays, is Christ. For Christ is God and man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary etc. But of this Paul says that he became a curse for us, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law. So the law, works, love, vows etc. do not redeem us, but push us deeper into it and only weigh us down more with the curse. Thus, the more we have been occupied with works, the less we are able to recognize and grasp Christ.
362. But Christ is seized, not by setting Menius) is used for the last part of § 40 of the 7th chapter of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
the law, not by works, but by reason or intellect enlightened by faith, and this grasping of Christ by faith is actually the contemplative life (of which the sophists prate much, but they know not what they speak), and this contemplation (speculatio) by which Christ is grasped, is not the foolish conceit of the sophists and the monks who 'deal with wonderful things that are too high for them, but is the theological, believing and divine contemplation of the serpent hung on the pole, that is, of Christ hanging on the cross for my, your and the whole world's sins. It is therefore evident that faith alone justifies.
363 But after we have been justified by faith, we go out into the active (activam) life. In this way, the Sophists could have properly distinguished between the contemplative and the active life, if they had called the former the gospel and the latter the law, that is, if they had taught that the contemplative life must be enclosed in God's word and guided by it, and that nothing must be considered in it but the word of the gospel, but that the active life must flow from the law, which the Christian does not grasp, but practices in works of love toward his neighbor.
Here, then, is a clear text that all men, even the apostles and prophets and patriarchs, would have remained under the curse if Christ had not opposed sin, death, the curse of the law, the wrath and judgment of God, and overcome them in his body (for these cruel monsters could not be overcome by any human power). Now Christ is not the law, he is not a work of the law, he is not a deed produced by human will (actus elicitus), but he is a person who is true God and true man, who took sin, the condemnation of the law and death upon himself, not for himself, but "for us". Therefore, the whole emphasis lies on the word: "for us".
Therefore, we do not have to think of Christ as an innocent and private person.
(as the Sophists and almost all the Fathers, Jerome and others have done), which is holy and righteous only in itself. 1) It is true that Christ is an entirely pure person, but one must not stop there. For you do not yet have Christ, even if you know that he is God and man, but only then do you have him in truth, when you believe that this completely pure and innocent person is given to you by the Father, so that he might be your high priest and savior, yes, your servant, who, having stripped himself of his innocence and holiness and taken your sinful person, should bear your sin, death and curse and become a sacrifice and curse for you, thus freeing you from the curse of the law.
So you see how Paul, with a completely apostolic spirit, has dealt with this extremely weighty evidence of the blessing and the curse, in that he not only subjects Christ Himself to the curse, but also says that He has become a curse. Thus, in the second letter to the Corinthians, Cap. 5, 21, he calls him sin, since he says: "God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us" etc. Although these sayings could properly be interpreted thus: Christ became a curse, that is, a sacrifice for the curse; he was made sin, that is, a sacrifice for sin etc., yet I like it better if the proper meaning of the words is preserved for the sake of greater emphasis. For when a sinner in truth comes to self-knowledge, he feels that he is a sinner not only in so far as sin is perceptible in him outwardly (concretive) or clings to him (adjective), but also in so far as it is present in him in himself (abstractive) and existing for himself (substantive), that is, it seems to him that he is not only burdened with misfortune, but that he is misfortune itself, not only a sinner and a cursed man, but sin and the curse itself, just as in Latin, when we want to express in a particularly strong way that someone is a wicked man
1) What now follows in this paragraph is used by Aurifaber for the beginning of § 40 of the 7th chapter of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
(scelestum), say: He is wickedness (scelus) itself. For it is an exceedingly great thing to bear sin, the wrath of God, the curse and death. Therefore, the man who sincerely feels these things, as Christ truly felt them for the whole human race, becomes wholly sin, death, curse etc.
So Paul acts this passage in a quite apostolic spirit, because no sophist, no teacher of the law, no Jew, no fanatic, nor anyone else speaks like this. For who could have dared to quote this passage from Moses [Deut. 21, 23. Gal. 3, 13.]: "Cursed is everyone who hangs on wood" etc. and to interpret it to Christ? In the same way as Paul drew this saying: "Cursed is everyone" etc. to Christ, so we can summarize not only the whole 27th chapter of the 5th book of Moses, but also all the curses of the Mosaic law and point them to Christ. For as Christ is innocent in this general law for his person, so also in all others; and as he is guilty in this general law, having become a curse for us, and having been hanged on the cross as a wicked, blasphemous man, a murderer of fathers, a traitor etc., so also he is guilty in all other laws. For all the curses of the law were brought together and laid upon him, and therefore he bore them and took them upon his body for us. Therefore he was not only a cursed man, but also became a curse for us.
368 This means to interpret the Scriptures in a truly apostolic way. For a man without the Holy Spirit cannot speak in this way, namely, that he should sum up the whole law in one word (namely, "Christ became a curse for us") and lay it all at once on Christ, and on the other hand sum up all the promises of Scripture and say that they are all fulfilled at once in Christ. Therefore, this reason for proof is an apostolic and exceedingly firm one, which is not taken from one passage of the law, but from all the laws altogether, and Paul also firmly insists on it.
From this you can see with what diligence Paul had read the Scriptures and how much he had read them.
from which he carefully considered every single word of this passage: "Through your seed all nations on earth shall be blessed" [Gen. 22:18]. First he makes the conclusion from the word "bless": The blessing shall come upon all nations, therefore all nations are under the curse, also the Jews who have the law, and brings a testimony of Scripture by which he proves that the Jews are under the curse who are under the law [Deut. 27, 26; Gal. 3, 10]: "Cursed be every one that continueth not in all these things.
Then he emphasizes the word "all Gentiles," from which he concludes that the blessing belongs not only to the Jews, but also to all peoples of the whole earth. But since it also belongs to all Gentiles, it is 1) impossible for it to be obtained through the law of Moses, since no other people had this law but the Jews. And even though they had the law, they received so little blessing from it that the more they strove to do the same, the more they were subjected to the curse of the law. Therefore, it must be another righteousness, far surpassing the righteousness of the law, by which the blessing is obtained, not only for the Jews, but also for all peoples in the whole world.
Finally he explains the word "in your seed" in this way, that a man should be born from the seed of Abraham, namely Christ, through whom the blessing should come over all Gentiles. Now, since Christ was to bless all the Gentiles whom he found cursed, he had to take the curse away from them. But he could not remove it by the law, because the curse is only increased by it. So what did he do? He joined the cursed, took on their flesh and blood, and thus placed himself as a mediator between God and man and said: "Although I am flesh and blood, and live among the cursed, I am the blessed one, through whom all men shall be blessed. And so he united in one personGod and mankind, joined us cursed ones and became a curse for us, and brought his blessing into our sin, death, and death.
1) Instead of fit in the Erlanger is to be read with the Wittenberger and the Jenaer sit.
and curse hidden, who condemned and killed him. But because he was the Son of God, he could not be held by those; he defeated them and made a triumph of them; and all that adhered to the flesh, which he had assumed for our sake, he took with him. Therefore, all who cling to this flesh are blessed, delivered from the curse, that is, from sin and death.
1Those who do not understand this good deed of Christ, of which the gospel actually preaches, nor know any other righteousness than that of the law, are angry when they hear that the works of the law are not necessary for salvation, but that salvation is granted to men by only hearing and believing that the Son of God has taken our flesh and joined the cursed, in order to bless all nations. For they understand nothing of all this, or at least understand it only carnally. For they are taken in by other thoughts and fanciful imaginings. Therefore they are only dark speeches. Yes, it is impossible for us, who have the firstfruits of the spirit, to fully understand and believe this, because it most strongly contradicts human reason.
In short, all evil would have fallen upon us, as it will fall upon the wicked for eternity. But Christ became guilty for us of all laws, curses, sins and all our misfortunes, came as our mediator, took care of us who are miserable and lost sinners, took upon himself and carried all our misfortunes, which would have oppressed and plagued us for eternity. The same fell upon him once and for a little while, and came upon his head like a flood, as the prophet laments in the 88th Psalm, v. 8. and 17. in the person of Christ 2), saying, "Thy wrath oppresseth me, and presseth me with all thy floods"; likewise, "Thy wrath passeth over me, thy terror oppresseth me." In this way, freed from these eternal terrors and plagues, we become eternal through Christ.
1) This paragraph is missing in the translation of Menius.
2) In the following, the text of the Wittenberg has become disorganized by displacement of the lines.
and enjoy unspeakable peace and bliss, if only we believe this.
These are the adorable mysteries of the Scriptures and the true secret doctrine (cabala), which Moses also indicated somewhat obscurely in some places, which the prophets and apostles understood and handed down from hand to hand to their descendants. The saints of the Old Testament rejoiced more over it when it was still future than we rejoice over it now that it has appeared.
3We recognize that the knowledge of Christ and the righteousness of faith is a tremendous treasure, but we do not derive from it such complete joy of the Spirit as the prophets and apostles had.
For this reason they, and especially Paul, have so abundantly acted and so often inculcated the article of justification. For this is the true office of the apostles, that they praise Christ's glory and good deeds, and by this means they instruct and comfort the afflicted consciences. 4)
V. 14: That the blessing of Abraham might come among the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.
377 Paul always has this passage in mind: "Through your seed" etc., because the blessing promised to Abraham could not come among the Gentiles except through Abraham's seed, Christ, and in this way: He had to become a curse, so that the promise made to Abraham, "Through thy seed shall all the Gentiles be blessed," would be so fulfilled.
378 Therefore, what is promised here could not happen in any other way than that Jesus Christ would become a curse and unite with the cursed Gentiles and thus remove the curse from them and bring them righteousness and life through His blessing.
But you must remember, as I also reminded you above, that the word "blessing" is not a vain word, as the Jews dream, who interpret the word "blessing" as a verbal or written greeting,
3) From here to the end of the following paragraph is missing in Menius.
4) Here Menius has inserted a longer section of 21 columns (4 paragraphs), of which the Latin text offers nothing.
but Paul deals here with sin and righteousness, with death and life before God. So he speaks of inestimable and incomprehensible things when he says: "That the blessing of Abraham might come among the Gentiles in Christ Jesus" etc.
380. Moreover, you see what merits, by which we merit according to equity or according to dignity (merita congrui et condigni), we bring forth, and by what consecration we obtain this blessing. This is the preparation, that is, the merit according to equity and dignity, these are the works by which this righteousness is brought about, that Christ Jesus has become a curse for us. For we do not know God and are His enemies, we are dead in sins and cursed, so our merit is nothing at all. For what should a cursed sinner deserve, who does not know God, who is dead in sins, guilty of God's wrath and judgment? If the pope put someone under the ban, whatever he did was cursed. How much more does he who is cursed in the sight of God, as we all are before he knows Christ, do nothing but cursed things (maledicta).
Therefore the only way to escape this curse is to believe and say with certain confidence: You, Christ, are my sin and my curse, or rather: I am your sin, your curse, your death, your wrath, your hell; whereas you are my righteousness, my blessing, my life, my grace from God, my heaven. For the text clearly says, "Christ became a curse for us." Therefore we are the cause that he became a curse, yes, we are his curse.
382 Although this mighty and exceedingly comforting saying is not sufficient for the blind and hardened Jews, it is sufficient for us who have been baptized and have accepted this teaching, and it proves most strongly that we have been blessed, that is, justified and made alive, through the curse, sin and death of Christ.
383. as long as sin, death, and the curse remain in us, sin terrifies, death kills, and the curse condemns us; but as soon as they are put on Christ, they will
these our ills his own, and the good he has becomes ours.
Therefore, let us learn to cast away from us, in every trial, sin, death, the curse, and all the evil that oppresses us, upon Christ, and to receive righteousness, life, and blessing from him. For He indeed bears all our misfortunes, since God the Father, as Isaiah says [Cap. 53:6], cast all our sins upon Him. And he gladly took it upon himself, for he was not guilty, but that in it he might do the will of the Father, by which we are sanctified for eternity.
This is the inexpressible and infinite mercy of God, which Paul would like to pour out with overflowing and exceedingly rich abundance of words. But this deep abyss and the burning zeal of divine love towards us cannot be grasped by the human heart, much less expressed in words. Yes, even the greatness of divine mercy causes that one not only hardly believes, but also behaves incredulously towards it. For I not only hear that the Almighty God, the Creator of all things, is good and merciful, but that this supreme Majesty has been so concerned for me, a lost sinner, who was a child of wrath and eternal death, that He did not spare His own Son, but gave him up to the most shameful death, that he, hanging on the cross between murderers, became sin and curse for me, a sinful and cursed man, so that I might become a blessed one, that is, a righteous one, a child and heir of God. Who can sufficiently praise this goodness of God? Even all the angels are unable to do so.
Therefore, the teaching of the Gospel speaks of far different things than any worldly, philosophical or Mosaic book, namely of ineffable and completely divine gifts, which go beyond all understanding of men and angels, yes, are higher than everything.
And so we received the promised spirit through faith.
387. "The promise of the spirit" (promissionem Spiritus) is a Hebrew way
that is, "the promised spirit". But "the spirit" is the freedom from the law, from sin, from death, curse, hell, wrath and judgment of God etc. There is no merit, which we obtained according to equity or by our worthiness (nostrum meritum congrui aut condigni), but the promise is given by grace and the gift is imparted to us through the seed of Abraham, that we are free from all evil and obtain all good. And this freedom and gift of the Holy Spirit we receive through no other merit than through faith. For this alone takes hold of the promise, as Paul here clearly says: "That we might receive the promised Spirit" not by works, but "through faith."
388 And this is an exceedingly sweet and truly apostolic doctrine, which proclaims that what "many prophets and kings desired to see and hear" etc. was fulfilled and now given to us. [Luc. 10, 24.], and such passages as this are gathered from various sayings of the prophets, who foresaw long before in the spirit that all things should be changed, restored, and ruled by this man, Christ.
Therefore, the Jews, who had the Law of God, still expected Christ. No prophet or ruler of God's people gave a new law, but Elijah, Samuel, David and all the others remained under the law of Moses, did not establish a new Decalogue, not a new kingdom and priesthood, because this new change of kingdom, priesthood, law and worship was reserved for this One, of whom Moses had proclaimed long before [Deut. 18, 15]: "The Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me for you, from you and from your brothers, and you shall obey him", as if he wanted to say, to him alone and to no one else.
This was well understood by the fathers, because no one could teach anything greater and more exalted than Moses himself, who had given the highest laws of the highest and greatest things, as the holy ten commandments are, especially the first commandment [2 Mos. 20, 2. f.]: "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods." [Deut. 6, 5.]: "You
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart" etc.
The law of love towards God also includes the angels, therefore it is the source of all divine wisdom etc. And yet another teacher had to come, namely Christ, who was to bring and teach something far greater and better than these supreme laws, namely grace and forgiveness of sins.
392 So this text is an extremely powerful one, because Paul pours out the whole thing at once with this very short word: "So that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Therefore, because he could not go any further, for he was not able to say anything greater or more sublime, he broke off here and stopped there. 1)
V. 15 Dear brothers, I will speak in a human way. Do not despise a man's testament when it is confirmed, and do nothing to it.
After the most important and powerful reason, Paul adds another one, taken from the likeness of a human testament, which seems to be only oratorical and too weak for an apostle to use to confirm this great thing.
For in great difficult matters we must rather confirm human things by divine, not divine by human. Hence also Cicero says about Homer: He transfers human things to the gods; I would rather he transferred divine things to us. And it is certainly true that these grounds are the weakest of all when we infer from human things to divine, as Scotus is wont to do. Man, he says, can love God above all things; because he loves himself above all things, he can rather love God in this way, because the greater a good is, the more lovable it is; and from this he concludes that a man of purely natural powers can fulfill this highest commandment without difficulty: "Thou shalt love God thy Lord with all thy heart.
1) Menius has spun out the last three paragraphs in his translation to such an extent that they take up two and a half columns.
392 Di-I. Kai. II, 41-43. Explanation of the Epistle to the Galatians 3, 15. W. VIII, 2212-2216. . 393
zem Herzen" etc. For, he says, man can love even an exceedingly small good above all things, yes, even his life, which of all things is dearest to him, he offers for sale for a miserable and small 1) sum of money, so he can do this much more for God's sake.
You have often heard from me that the world order and the household are divine orders, because God has ordered and confirmed them like the sun, the moon and other creatures. Therefore, a reason for proof, which is taken from the order or creatures of God, is powerful, if it is only used properly. Thus the prophets very often used parables of the creatures, as they called Christ the sun, the church the moon, the teachers stars. Similarly, there are innumerable other parables in the prophets of trees, thorns, flowers and fruits of the earth. The New Testament is also full of such. And therefore, where there is a divine order in the creature, a reason of proof can very well be taken from it and transferred to divine things.
396. so Christ Matth. 7, 11. leads his proof, by concluding from human things to divine, when he says: "If you, who are bad, can still give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!Likewise Paul says that one must be obedient to men, so much more to God [Eph. 6, 1. 5. ff.], and Jeremiah says in the 35th chapter, v. 16: "The Rechabites obeyed their father, how much more should you obey me! But this is ordained of God, that the fathers should give [good gifts] to the children, that the children should be obedient to the parents. Therefore, such proofs are good if they are taken from the divine order. But if they are taken from the human depraved inclinations (affectibus), they are bad and of no use at all. Such is the proof of Scotus: I love a lesser good, consequently I love a greater one more. There I deny the conclusion', because my loving is not a divine
1) Instead of rasUleara in the Erlanger is to be read with the Wittenberg and Jena rnoälcnrn.
order, but a devilish perversity. It should be that since I love myself or another creature, I should love God my Creator more; but it does not happen, because the love with which I love myself is sinful and against God.
I say this so that no one will make the sophistical objection that the proof from human things to divine ones is not valid. Now I do not dispute whether this is a rhetorical or a dialectical reason for proof, but only say this, that it is a sufficiently solid reason for proof when we deduce from human things to divine ones, provided that we base these deductions only on what God has ordered, as in the present trade.
For the civil law, which is a divine order, contains [this provision^ that one may not shake (infirmari) a man's will. As long as the testator is still alive, it is not yet confirmed; but if he has died, one may not change it. This is not said of what is often done (de facto), but of what should be done according to law (de jure), that is, what should be done, and what would happen if one behaved in the right way, because it is right that a will should not be changed; indeed, the laws command that the last will should be kept in the most respectful way. This is one of the things that are kept inviolable among men (unum inter sacra humana).
399 Thus Paul gives his proof of the custom that is kept in a human testament. How is it that men are obeyed, but God is not obeyed? Secular and civil ordinances of wills and other things are scrupulously kept. Nothing is changed, nothing is added, nothing is taken away. But the testament of God, that is, the divine promise of spiritual blessings, that is, of heavenly and eternal things, which the whole world should not only receive with the greatest gratitude and open arms, but also worship, must suffer to be changed and added to.
This serves to persuade them, since in this way he takes his proof from the examples and laws of men. Therefore he says, "I will speak after the manner of men," that is, I will give you a human likeness, as if to say: In wills and other human things, what the law commands is carried out and kept. For when a man makes a will and bequeaths his goods to his heirs and dies, the will is confirmed and made immutable by the death of the testator, so that nothing can be added to it or taken away from it, according to all laws. Therefore, the last will and testament is considered by legal scholars as much as a law, and sensible people keep it conscientiously. If, then, I say, a man's will is kept with such fidelity that nothing is added to it or taken away from it, truly with much greater fidelity should the will of God be kept, which he promised and gave to Abraham and his seed. For in Christ it was confirmed when he died, and after his death the letter of the testament was opened, that is, the blessing promised to Abraham was preached among all the nations scattered throughout the world. This was the last will of the testator, God, which was confirmed by the death of Christ.
(401) Therefore no one may change it or add to it, as the teachers of the law and of human statutes do. For they say, Unless you are circumcised, keep the law, do many works, and suffer, you cannot be saved. This is not the last will or testament of God. For he did not say to Abraham, If thou do this or that, thou shalt obtain the blessing, or, The circumcised and those who keep the law shall obtain it, but, In thy seed, etc. as if to say: Out of pure mercy I promise you Christ, who shall come from your seed, who shall bring blessing to all the Gentiles oppressed by sin and death, that is, who shall deliver all nations from the eternal curse, that is, from sin and death, who accept this promise in faith: "In your seed" etc.
402 Therefore, just as the false apostles once were
siel, as today all papists and works saints are transgressors and destroyers, not of a human testament, for they are prevented from doing so by law, but of the testament of God, whom they do not fear, even though he is a consuming fire. For this is the way of all hypocrites, that they keep human things conscientiously, but certainly despise and violate what is of God. But these sacrilegious despisers and destroyers of God's testament will have to suffer a terrible judgment in their time. This is therefore a sufficiently solid reason for proof, which is taken from divine order.
V. 16. Now the promise is made to Abraham and his seed. He does not say: through the seed, as through many, but as through one, through your seed, which is Christ.
Here Paul calls the promises of God, which were promised to Abraham by Christ as the future giver of salvation over all nations, with a new name "testament", and the promise is also nothing other than a testament, which has not yet been opened, but is still sealed. A will, however, is not a law, but a gift. For the heirs do not expect laws, compulsion or any kind of burden from the will, but the inheritance.
404 First, then, he explains the words, then he applies the simile and emphasizes the word "seed". Abraham, he says, was not given laws, but a testament was made for him and given to him, that is, the promises of spiritual blessings were made to him; thus something was promised and given to him. Therefore, if the testament of a man is kept, why not rather of God, whose mere likeness (allegoria) and image (larva) is a human testament? Likewise, if we keep the signs, why not rather the things signified by them?
405 Now the promises were not made to Abraham through all the Jews or through many seeds, but through One, who is Christ. The Jews do not accept this interpretation of Paul. Because they invent here a confusion (enallagen) of the
Numerus and say that the singular is taken for the plural. But we accept the opinion of Paul, who does not press the word "seed" in vain, and interprets that this seed is Christ, and that in a truly apostolic spirit. The Jews may deny this, but we have many and very strong grounds of proof which are sufficient, namely, those which Paul has adduced above. These they cannot deny, and they [these reasons] also confirm this. That [be sufficient] of the similitude and figurative speech taken from a divine order, that is, from a man's testament. Now he interprets it and applies it.
V. 17. But I say of this, that the testament, which was confirmed of God beforehand unto Christ, shall not be revoked, that the promise by the law should cease, which was given four hundred and thirty years after.
Here the Jews could have objected: God was not content to give Abraham the promises, but after 430 years He also gave the Law. So God distrusted His promises and did not believe that they could justify; therefore He added something better, namely the Law, so that, since it came as a better successor, they would not be idle, but, keeping the Law, would be justified by it. So the law, which followed the promise, took it away. The Jews seek many such excuses.
407 Paul removes this objection in a beautiful and striking way. The law, he says, which was given more than 430 years later than the promise made to Abraham: "In your seed" etc., could not cancel the promise. For this promise is the testament of God, which was confirmed by God Himself so many years before the law on Christ. But what God has once promised and confirmed, He does not revoke or limit, but it remains unchangeable (ratum) before Him for eternity.
408 Why then is the law added? It was given to the descendants of Abraham so many centuries later, but not so that they might receive blessings through it.
Since the office of the law is to cast under the curse, not that it should bless, but that there should be a peculiar people on earth, having the word and testimony of Christ, out of whom also Christ should be born according to the flesh, and that the people, preserved and determined under the law, should groan for deliverance through Christ, the promised seed of Abraham, who alone should and could bless, that is, make all nations free from sin and death. Then also the ceremonies, which were commanded in the law, were a model for Christ (adumbrabant). Therefore, the promise was not taken away by the law or by the ceremonies, but rather confirmed by them, as it were, as a seal, until the letter of the testament (the promise) was opened and made known to all the Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel.
But let us let the law and the promise fight with each other, and let us see which of the two is stronger, namely, whether the promise takes away the law, or the law takes away the promise. If the law detracts from the promise, then it follows that with our works we make God a liar and nullify His promise, because if the law makes righteous, frees from sin and death, and consequently our works and human powers fulfill the law, then the promise made to Abraham is also in vain and completely useless, and consequently God is a liar and speaks vain things. For what else does it mean if someone has promised something and does not want to keep his promise or cancel it, but that he is a liar and a useless talker?
But it is impossible that the law should make God a liar, and that our works should nullify His promise. Rather, it must be unchanging and firm (for God does not promise in vain). Even though we could keep and fulfill the law, and even if we ourselves wanted to admit that all people were as holy as the angels (which is impossible), so that they would have no need of the promise at all, it is absolutely necessary to hold to the fact that it is quite certain and firm, for otherwise God would be unjustified.
He was found negligent (vanus) or lying, because he either made the promise in vain or did not want to or could not keep his promise. Therefore, as the promise is before the law, so it is exceedingly more glorious.
411. And God was quite right in giving the promise so long before the law, with the express intention that it could not be said that righteousness was given through the law and not through the promise. For if he had intended that we should be justified by the law, he would have given the law 430 years before the promise, or at least at the same time as the promise. But now he is completely silent about the law at first, and only after 430 years he gives it. Meanwhile he talks about his promises during this whole time. So the blessing and the giving of righteousness before the law came through the promise. The promise therefore far surpasses the law, and so the law does not cancel the promise, but faith in the promise, through which the faithful were saved even before the revelation of Christ, which is now preached through the gospel among all the peoples of the earth, cancels the law so that it can no longer increase sin, frighten sinners and plunge them into despair who take hold of the promise in faith.
412 There is a great emphasis or rather a mockery (ironia) in the fact that he expresses the number 430 years so exactly, as if he wanted to say: If you can count, count on your fingers how much time there is between the promise and the law. Abraham certainly received the promise a long time before the law, because the law was given to the people of Israel 430 years later, and this reason, which was taken from a certain time, is very strong.
413. But he does not speak here of the law in general, but only of the written law, as if he wanted to say: God could not look at the worship and works of the law and give righteousness to those who did them, because the law was not yet in existence, which commands worship, demands works and promises life to those who do them,
who do it. "Whosoever man doeth them," saith he [Deut. 18:5], "he shall live thereby." And no matter how much the law promises this, it still does not follow that we obtain the promises of it, because it clearly says, "Whichever man doeth the same." etc. But it is well known that no one fulfills them. Furthermore, Paul says that the law cannot take away the promise. Therefore, the promise made to Abraham 430 years before the law remains unchanged.
414 In order that this matter may be the better understood, I will illustrate it by a simile. If a rich man, not out of compulsion but out of good will, accepted a person unknown to him, to whom he owed nothing everywhere, in the place of a child and made him heir to all his goods, but then, after a few years, after this benefit had been granted, a law was laid down for him to do this or that, he could not say that he had earned the benefit by his works, since he had received it for free out of pure grace so many years before, having asked for nothing. So also God could not look at the works and merits that preceded righteousness, because the promise and the gift of the Holy Spirit was there 430 years before the law. Paul emphasizes this by mocking the Galatians (per ironiam).
It is evident from this that Abraham did not attain righteousness before God through the Law, because the Law was not yet present. But if the law was not there, then neither were there works nor merit. What was there? Nothing but the mere promise of God. Abraham believed it, and this was counted to him as righteousness. In the same way that the father attained righteousness, his children also attain it.
416 So also we say today: Our sins were expiated by the death of Christ fifteen hundred years ago, when there was no order, no laws prescribing how to do penance (canon poenitentiae), no merits according to equity and dignity. Therefore, we cannot eradicate them only now by our works and merits.
417 Thus Paul gathers from all sides
solid grounds of proof from parables, from certain times and persons, which no reasonable man can dispute. Let us therefore fortify our consciences with such proofs, for it is of great use in times of challenge to have them well thought out, for they lead us from law and works to promise and faith, from wrath to grace, from sins to righteousness, from death to life.
Therefore, as I often point out, 1) these two pieces, the law and the promise, must be most carefully distinguished, because in time, place, persons, and in short, in all circumstances, they are as far apart from each other as heaven and earth, as the beginning and end of the world. Although they are very close to each other, because they are united in one man or in one soul, they must remain extremely far apart in heart (in affectu) and according to their office, namely, as the law should have its rule over the flesh, so the promise, on the other hand, should rule in a loving way in the conscience.
419. If in this way you assign to each his certain place, you will surely walk in the midst of the heaven of promise and on the earth of the law, in the spirit in the paradise of grace and peace, in the flesh on the earth of works and suffering. Then even the afflictions that the flesh must bear will not be heavy, because of the sweetness of the promise, which delights the heart in a wonderful way. But if you mix these two and bring the law into the conscience and the promise of freedom into the flesh, then a confusion arises, as it was under the papacy, so that you do not know what is law, what is promise, what is sin, what is righteousness.
Therefore, if you want to rightly divide the word of truth, you should distinguish the two as far as possible, the promise and the law, in the heart and in the whole life. 2) For Paul did not emphasize this reason of proof so carefully in vain. For
1) Cf. cap. 2, §§ 137, 237, 239.
2) vitarn, which the Wittenberg and the Jena offer, is missing in the Erlanger.
In the spirit he foresaw that this evil would occur in the church, that the word GO1tes would be mixed, that is, that the promise would be mixed with the law and thus the whole promise would be lost; for when the promise is mixed with the law, it becomes a mere law.
421. Therefore, you must get used to distinguish the law and the promise, even according to the time, so that when the law comes and accuses the conscience, you can say: Madam Law, thou comest not in due season, but too soon; wait yet 430 years, when these shall have passed, and then thou mayest come. But if you come then, you will come too late, because the promise has preceded you by 430 years, which I agree with and am gladly satisfied with. Therefore I have nothing to do with you, I do not hear you, because I now live with the believing Abraham or rather according to the already appeared Christ, who is my righteousness, who has taken away and abolished the law. So Christ should always be in the heart's mind as a kind of summary of all the reasons for faith against the righteousness of the flesh, the law, works and merits.
422 So far I have given almost all the reasons, the most powerful ones, that Paul uses in this epistle to confirm the doctrine of justification, among which the most important and powerful is the one that he emphasizes especially here and in the letter to the Romans, namely, the reason of the promise made to Abraham and the other fathers, whose words he considers most carefully. Furthermore, he also deals with times and persons, likewise he emphasizes the word "seed" and explains that the same is Christ. Finally, he also shows by contrast what the law does, namely, that it concludes under the curse. And so he fortifies and defends the article of Christian righteousness with the strongest grounds of proof.
423. On the other hand, he overturns the arguments of the false apostles, which they have used to defend righteousness from the law, and he judges them against themselves, that is, where they claim that righteousness and life are obtained through the law, he shows that the law is not a law.
Paul, that it only brings about curses and death. You insist, he says, that the law is necessary for salvation; have you not read that it says [Deut. 18:5], "Whosoever shall do them shall live by them"? But who does it? No one. Therefore all who deal with the works of the law are under the curse. And elsewhere [1 Cor. 15:56] it is said, "The sting of death is sin, but the power of sin is the law." Now follows the conclusion of these reasons of proof.
V. 18 For if the inheritance were acquired by law, it would not be given by promise.
424 Thus it is said in Romans 4:14: "For where they that are of the law are heirs, faith is nothing, and the promise is abolished." It cannot be otherwise, for this difference is quite clear, that the law is something quite different from the promise; indeed, natural reason, blind as it is, must admit that to promise is something different from to require, to give something different from to receive. The law demands our works, the promise of the seed offers us God's spiritual and eternal benefits, and that free of charge, for the sake of Christ.
425 So it is from the promise, not from the law, that we obtain the inheritance or blessing, because the promise says: "Through your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Therefore, he who has the law does not have enough, because he does not yet have the blessing, without which he must remain under the curse. Therefore, the law cannot justify, because the blessing is not added to it. Then, if the inheritance came from the law, God would be found to be a liar, and the promise would be taken away. Likewise, if the law could obtain the blessing, why would God make the promise from it: "In your seed" etc.? Why would He not rather have said: Do this and you will receive the blessing, or: You can earn eternal life by doing the law? This reason for proof is based on the fact that the opposite is impossible (ex contrariis est). The inheritance is given by the promise, not by the law.
But God gave it freely to Abraham through the promise.
Here it cannot be denied that God, before the law, gave Abraham the blessing or inheritance through the promise, that is, the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, blessedness, eternal life, so that we would be children and heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, because He clearly says in the first book of Moses: "Through your seed shall all nations be blessed. There the blessing has been bestowed without all regard to law and works. For God preceded with the giving of the inheritance before Moses was born or any man thought of the law. What then do you boast that righteousness is obtained through the law, since your father Abraham was given righteousness, life and blessedness without the law and before the law, even before those who could keep the law? Whom this does not move is blind and hardened. But I have above diligently and abundantly dealt with the reason of the promise, therefore I will now run through it only above.
So far, the main part of this epistle has been treated. Now Paul will show the custom and the office of the law, using parables of the disciplinarian and the young heir, as well as the image of the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael etc.; finally, he gives commands concerning a right conduct (de moribus). In this last part of the epistle, Paul proceeds more in an oratorical manner than that he teaches (plus rhetoricatur quam docet).
V. 19. What is the law for?
If we teach that man is justified without law and works, this question necessarily follows: If the law does not justify, for what purpose is the law given? Likewise: Why does God press and burden us with the law if it does not make alive? What is the need for us to be so severely afflicted and martyred with it, when those who have worked only one hour are made like us who have borne the burden and heat of the day? When grace comes, which preaches the gospel, this great murmur immediately arises.
without which the Gospel cannot be preached.
The Jews had this opinion that they would be justified if they kept the law. Therefore, when they heard that the gospel was preached of Christ, who came into the world not to save the righteous but sinners, and that these should enter the kingdom of heaven before them, they became extremely indignant and complained that for so many centuries they had borne the heavy yoke of the law with great trouble and labor, and that they had been most miserably martyred and oppressed by the tyranny of the law, without any benefit, even to their greatest harm; On the other hand, grace is granted to the idolatrous Gentiles without any labor or complaint.
430 Our papists grumble today and say: What has it availed us that we have lived twenty, thirty, forty years in monasticism, that we have vowed chastity, poverty, obedience, that we have kept our times of prayer (legisse horas canonicas), said mass, martyred the body with fasting, prayers, scourging etc., if a husband, a wife, a prince, a mayor, a teacher, a student, if a day laborer or a servant who carries sacks, if a maid who sweeps the house, are not only equal to us but also better and more worthy than we are?
431 Therefore this is a difficult question, by which reason is resolved, nor can it solve it, but it is very vexed with it. For reason understands to some extent the righteousness of the law, which it also teaches and insists upon, and it imagines that those are righteous who carry it out, but it does not understand the office and purpose of the law. Therefore, when it hears this new saying of Paul, which is unknown to the world, that the law was given for the sake of sin, it judges that Paul abolishes the law because he says that we are not justified by it; indeed, he blasphemously acts against God, who gave the law, because he says that it was given for the sake of sins. Let us therefore live like the Gentiles who do not have the Law, yes, let us sin and remain in sin, so that the
grace becomes all the more powerful. Likewise: Let us do evil that good may come of it. This happened to the apostle Paul, and the same happens to us today. For when the mob hears from the Gospel that we are given righteousness by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, without law and works, they conclude in the same way as the Jews did at that time, "If the law does not make us righteous, let us do no more good works.
What shall we do now? The fact that it is so evil is certainly a great plague for us, but we cannot prevent it. When Christ preached, he heard that he was a blasphemer and a rebel, that is, that he deceived the people by his teaching and made them rebel against Caesar. The same happened to Paul and all the apostles. What wonder is it that today the world accuses us in the same way? Of course, it may blaspheme and persecute us, but for this reason we must not be silent, but speak freely, so that the afflicted consciences may be torn from the devil's snares, and we must not see to it that the godless and foolish mob abuses our teaching, that it cannot be helped (sanari), whether it has the law or not, but rather we must see to it that the wretched consciences are advised, so that they do not get lost with the great multitude. If we were silent, consciences everywhere would have no consolation, who are so imprisoned and entangled by laws and human statutes that they cannot wriggle out in any way.
433 Just as Paul, when he saw that some opposed his teaching and others sought carnal freedom and became angry, consoled himself in this way that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, sent to preach the faith of God's elect, and that he tolerated everything for the sake of the elect, so that they too might attain salvation, so we also do everything today for the sake of the elect, whom we know will be helped by our teaching.
434 But to the dogs and sows, some of whom persecute the doctrine, others our freedom, which we have in Christ, with
I am so much as a fool that I would not speak a word in my whole life for their sake. I would rather that our sows were still under the tyranny of the pope with our adversaries, the dogs, than that the holy name of God should be so blasphemed for their sake.
435 Therefore, no matter how much, not only the unintelligent rabble, but also those who consider themselves very wise, may conclude in this way: If the law does not justify, it is useless; nevertheless, this is not true. For just as this conclusion is no good: Money does not justify, therefore it is useless; eyes do not justify, therefore they must be plucked out; hands do not justify, therefore they must be cut off: so neither does this conclusion: The law does not justify, therefore it is useless. One must attach to every thing its proper office and custom. In this way we do not destroy or condemn the law by saying that it does not justify, but we answer this question, "What then is the law for?" in a different way from the adversaries, who in their wrong opinion attribute to the law an office and a custom which it does not have.
436 Against this abuse and the fancied office of the law we contend, and answer with Paul, that the law justifieth not; but in this we do not affirm that the law is useless, as those immediately conclude, If the law justifieth not, it is given in vain. No, for it has its own office and custom, but not that which the adversaries impute to it, namely, that it should make men righteous. Yes, it accuses, frightens and condemns them. We say with Paul that the law is good when it is used rightly, that is, when it is used as a law. If I describe the law rightly according to the explanation (definitione) that belongs to it, and keep it in its office and use, it is something very good. But if I place it in a different usage, and attach to it what need not be attached to it, I pervert not only the law, but also the whole theology.
437 Thus Paul acts here against the corrupt hypocrites, to whom this word of Paul: "The law is for sins.
came," was quite intolerable. For they think that the office of the law is to do justice; and this is the general opinion of human reason among all the sophists and the whole world, that justice is brought about by the works of the law: this pernicious delusion reason does not allow to be taken away in any way, because it does not understand the justice of faith.
438 Hence it is that the papists speak not so foolishly as ungodly: The Church has the Law of God, the traditions of the Fathers, the decisions of the Councils; if it lives by them, it is holy. No one will persuade these people that by keeping these things they only provoke the wrath of God, but do not please Him. In short, every worksaint imagines that he can appease the wrath of God through his self-chosen worship and through the spiritual state (voluntaria religione) he has adopted according to his own will etc.
Therefore, the delusion that one can attain righteousness by one's own works (opinio justitiae) is the mud pit from which all misfortune arises, and the greatest sin in the world. For gross sins and vices can be recognized, and therefore they can be corrected or at least prevented by the punishment of the authorities; but this sin (every man's delusion of his own righteousness) not only does not want to be sin, but also pretends to be the highest godliness and righteousness. Therefore this corruption is the highest and greatest rule of the devil on the whole earth, in truth the serpent's head, and the rope with which the devil catches and holds all men captive, for all by nature think that the law justifies.
440 In order to show the true office and the right use of the law and to remove the false delusion about it from the people, Paul answers this objection: "What is the purpose of the law if it does not make righteous? in this way: It is not given that it should make righteous, but:
It has come to this for the sake of sins.
As the things themselves are different, so also the custom of the things is different.
Therefore one should not mix the customs with each other, otherwise a confusion of things will occur. [Deut. 22:5, "A woman shall not wear a man's apparel, neither shall a man put on a woman's apparel." A man shall do the works of a man, a woman those of a woman. Each shall do that which his profession and office require. Pastors and preachers shall teach the word of God purely. The authorities shall govern the subjects, who shall be obedient to the authorities etc. Likewise, every creature shall serve in its order and place. The sun shall shine by day, the moon and the stars by night; the sea shall yield fish, the earth fruit, the woods game, wood etc. Thus the law shall not arrogate to itself a foreign office or custom, namely, that it justifies, but shall leave this to grace alone, to promise, to faith.
1442. What then is the office of the law? It has to do with sins (transgressio), or, as he says elsewhere [Rom. 5, 20.]: "The law came in beside, that sin might become more powerful." Truly, a beautiful post! He says: "The law came in for sins, that is, over the promises, and after them it was added, "until the seed should come, Christ, to whom the promise was made."
Of the twofold use of the law.
2Here one must know that there is a twofold custom of the law. One is the civil custom. For God has ordained the civil, yes, all laws, in order to ward off sin. So every law is given to prevent sins. If it resists sins, does it not justify them? Not at all. For if I do not kill, if I do not commit adultery, if I do not steal, if I abstain from other sins, I do not do it willingly.
1) This paragraph is used by Aurifaber for § 4 of the 12th chapter of the Table Talks, in the translation of Menius. In our edition of the Table Talks, it is omitted.
2) § 443, § 444 and the beginning of ? 445 are used by Aurifaber (in the translation of Menius) for the first part of § 5 of the 7th chapter of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
or out of love for virtue, but because I fear prison, the sword and the executioner. This prevents me from sinning, just as bonds and fetters prevent a lion or bear from devouring everything in its path.
444 Thus the restraint of sins is not justice, but rather a sign of unrighteousness. For just as a fetter is put on a raging and untamed beast so that it cannot rage against everything that comes in its way, so the law restrains the senseless and raging man so that he does not sin according to his desires. This constraint shows sufficiently that those who need it (as all who are apart from Christ) are not righteous, but rather ungodly and angry people who must be kept in check with the bonds and prisons of the law so that they do not sin. So the law does not justify.
445 Therefore, the first thing to know about the laws and the first thing to use them for is to keep the wicked in check. For the devil rules in the whole world and drives people to all kinds of shameful deeds. That is why God has established authorities, parents, teachers, laws, bonds and all civil orders, so that, if they can do nothing else, they may at least bind the hands of the devil, so that he cannot rage in his own people as he pleases. Just as, therefore, bands and fetters must be put on possessed people, in whom the devil reigns mightily, so that they do not injure anyone, so for the whole world, which is possessed by the devil and is carried away head over heels into all deeds of shame, the authorities are there with their bands and fetters, that is, with their laws, and bind them hand and foot, so that they do not fall head over heels into all kinds of shame and vice. If she does not let herself be restrained in this way, the death penalty is carried out on her. This civil coercion is extremely necessary and instituted by God, both for the sake of public peace and to preserve all things, but especially so that the course of the Gospel is not hindered by unrest and rebellion of violent people.
446 Paul does not speak of this civil custom here. It is very necessary, but it does not make one righteous. For just as a possessed man is not free and sane because his hands and feet are bound, so also the world, no matter how much it may be restrained by the law from outward deeds of shame, is not just because of this, but remains godless. Yes, this constraint shows that the world is godless, that it is raging and driven by its prince, the devil, otherwise it would not be necessary for it to be held in check by laws so that it does not sin.
1The other custom of the Law is a theological or spiritual one, which consists (as Paul says) in multiplying sins, that is, revealing to man his sin, his blindness, his misery, his godlessness, his ignorance of God, his hatred and contempt for God, that he deserves death, hell, judgment and wrath from God. The 7th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans deals with this custom very well; however, it is completely unknown to hypocrites and sophists, as well as to all people who are under the delusion that they can attain righteousness through the law or through themselves.
448. But in order for God to tame and overcome this monster and this raging beast (the delusion of one's own righteousness or spirituality), which by nature makes people puffed up and proud, so that they think they please God for its sake, he had to send a Hercules, who attacked this monster with full force, threw him down and finished him off, that is, he had to give the law on Mount Sinai with such great pomp and such a frightening outward appearance that all the people were terrified, 2 Mos. 19, 18. 20, 18.
449. As this custom of the law is the true and principal one, so it is also very useful and exceedingly necessary. For if a man is not a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, and keeps himself outwardly pure from sins, as that Pharisee [Luc. 18, 11.]
1) This and the two following paragraphs were used by Aurifaber for § 5 of the 12th chapter of the Table Talks, in the translation of Menius. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
would swear (because he is possessed by the devil) that he is righteous; therefore, he is delusional about [his own] righteousness and is presumptuous about his good works and merits. By no other art can God soften and humble such a man, that he may know his misery and damnation, than by the law. For this is the hammer of death, the thunder of hell and the lightning of divine wrath, which crushes the hardened and unreasonable hypocrites.
450. Therefore, the proper and right custom of the Law is to terrify (as on Mount Sinai) by lightning, thunder, and the sound of a trumpet, to strike down and crush by a thunderclap this beast, which is called the delusion of [one's] righteousness. Therefore, God says through the prophet Jeremiah [Cap. 23, 29.], "My word is a hammer that shatters rocks." For as long as the delusion of one's own righteousness remains in man, there also remains an immeasurable pride, presumption, certainty, hatred of God, contempt for grace and mercy, ignorance regarding the promises and Christ. It does not enter the heart, nor does it taste the sermon of the forgiveness of sins in vain for the sake of Christ, because an immense rock and diamond wall, namely the delusion of one's own righteousness, stands against it, by which the heart is surrounded.
Just as the delusion of one's own righteousness is a great and terrifying monster, a rebellious, obstinate and exceedingly stubborn beast, so God, in order to put it down and crush it, requires a tremendous and strong hammer, namely the law. This is then in its proper office and custom, when it so accuses and denounces sin: Behold, you have transgressed all the commandments of God, etc., and so frightens the conscience that it feels in truth that God is offended and angry, and that it is guilty of eternal death. Then the heart feels the unbearable burden of the law and is crushed to the point of despair, so that it wishes for death from too much fear, or thinks of killing itself.
452 Therefore the law is the hammer, the fire, the wind, and the great mighty earthquake that breaks rocks and smashes mountains.
that is, the hardened and arrogant hypocrites. The prophet Elijah could not bear these terrors of the law, which are signified by these things, and he covered his head with his mantle, 11 Kings 19:11-13. But when this storm ceased, which he witnessed, there came a quiet, gentle whirlwind in which the Lord was. But the storm with fire, tempest wind and earthquake had to precede before the Lord Himself followed in the quiet gentle soughing.
This custom of the Law was modeled on that terrible sight and splendor with which God gave the Law from Mount Sinai. It was the greatest sanctity among the people of Israel who had come out of Egypt. We (they boasted) are the people of God; everything that the Lord our God has spoken, we will do. Then Moses sanctified the people, commanded that they wash their clothes, abstain from their wives, and prepare themselves for the third day. Then every one was exceedingly holy. On the third day Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God at the foot of the mountain, so that they might hear the voice of the Lord. What happened? When the children of Israel saw the terrifying sight of the mountain, how it smokes and burns, the black clouds and the flashing lightnings in the thickest darkness, and heard how the sound of the trumpets gradually increased and echoed longer and longer, likewise when they heard the thunder and saw the lightnings, they retreated in fright and stood afar off and said to Moses: We will gladly do anything, only may the Lord not speak to us, lest we die and this very great fire devour us. Teach us, and we will hear. What, I pray thee, is the use here of purity, of white garments, of abstaining from women, of holiness? Nothing at all. No one could bear this presence of God in His majesty and glory, but all went back frightened and horrified, as if the devil were driving them. For God is a consuming fire, before whose face no flesh can stand.
454 This office has therefore actually the divine law, which it had at that time on the mountain.
1) In the Vulgate: "3 Reg." - "3" is missing in the Erlanger.
Sinai, when it was first given, and washed, righteous, cleansed and chaste people heard it, and yet it brought these saints to the realization of their misery, to despair and death. At that time there was no purity, but the awareness (sensus) of their impurity, unworthiness, sin, judgment and wrath of God was so great that they fled away from God and could not hear His voice. "What is all flesh," they said [Deut. 5:26], "that it may hear the voice of the living God, and remain alive?" [V. 24. 25.:] "Today we have seen that when God speaks to man, man cannot bear it." Now they speak much differently than shortly before, when they said: "We are God's holy people, whom the Lord has chosen as his own above all peoples on earth. We will do everything the Lord has said.
This is how it is with all saints of works who, drunk with the delusion of their own righteousness when they are not challenged, think that they are very much loved by God, that God sees their vows, fasts, prayers and self-chosen works, for which He will give them a special crown in heaven. But when suddenly thunder, lightning, fire and the hammer that breaks the rocks come, that is, when the Law of God reveals sin, shows the wrath and judgment of God, then the same thing happens to them as happened to the Jews who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai.
2I exhort all lovers of godliness, especially those who will one day be the teachers of others, to learn diligently from Paul's writings, that they may rightly know the right and proper usage of the law, which (I fear) after our times will again be obscured and altogether suppressed. For since we are still alive and display with the greatest diligence the office and custom of both the law and the gospel, there are very few even among those who want to be considered godly, and with us
2) The following § paragraphs are for the most part (with some omissions) used by Aurifaber for § 5 of the twelfth chapter of the Table Talks (according to the translation of Menius). In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
confess the gospel, who have this rightly in mind. What do you think will happen when we get there?
In the meantime, I will say nothing of the Anabaptists, the new Arians, and the spirits who blaspheme against the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, who likewise do not know this, no matter how much they speak differently with their mouths, just as the Papists do. For they have already fallen back from the pure teaching of the Gospel to the laws, and therefore they do not teach Christ. They boast and swear that they seek nothing but the glory of God and the blessedness of the brethren, and that they teach the word of God purely, but in fact they falsify it and turn it to a meaning that is not in it, so that it must say to them what they dream. That is why they teach their dreams under the name of Christ, and only laws and ceremonies under the name of the gospel. Thus, they are and always remain the same as they were, that is, monks, laborers, teachers of law and ceremonies, only that they think up new names and works.
458 Therefore it is not a small thing to hold righteously to what is the law, what is its custom, and what is its office. But because we teach this with the greatest diligence and most faithfully, we testify by deed that we do not reject the law and works, as the adversaries falsely accuse us, but we fortify the law most strongly, and require its works, and say that the law is good and useful, but [only] in its [proper] use, namely, first, to control civil transgressions, and second, to reveal and make greater spiritual transgressions.
Therefore the law is also a light that shines, showing not the grace of God, not righteousness and life, but sin, death, wrath and the judgment of God. For just as on Mount Sinai the thunder, the lightning, the dark cloud, the smoking and burning mountain, and all that terrifying sight, did not make the children of Israel joyful nor revive them, but terrified them, made them almost lifeless, and showed how, with all their holiness and purity, the
The law, when it is in its rightful function, does nothing but reveal sin, cause wrath, accuse people and frighten them so that they are not far away from despair. This is the actual custom of the law, which has its end here and does not have to go further.
The gospel, on the other hand, is a light that enlightens, gives life, comforts and reassures fearful minds. For it shows that God is merciful to sinners and those who are not worthy of it, for Christ's sake, if they believe that through his death they are freed from the curse, that is, from sin and eternal death, and that through his victory they are given the blessing, that is, grace, forgiveness of sins, righteousness and eternal life. By thus distinguishing the law from the gospel, we ascribe to each its proper custom and office. 1) Of this difference of the Law and the Gospel one reads nothing in the books of the monks, of the teachers of papal law, of the school theologians, not even in those of the ancient Fathers. Augustine knew and indicated this difference in part, but Jerome and others did not know anything about it.
In short, for many centuries there has been complete silence about this in all schools and churches, so that one must wonder about it, and this circumstance has put consciences in very great danger. For if the gospel is not clearly distinguished from the law, Christian doctrine cannot be preserved unadulterated. On the other hand, if this distinction is rightly recognized, then the right way to be justified is also recognized, and then it is easy to distinguish faith from works, Christ from Moses and all worldly laws. For apart from Christ, everything is an office of death for vengeance on the wicked. Paul therefore answers this question thus:
1) The section from here to the end of the following paragraph is used by Aurifaber (according to the translation of Menius) for the second half of § 34 of the 12th chapter of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks it is omitted.
The law came to this for the sake of sins.
That is, so that sins would be greater and would be recognized and seen all the better, and indeed this is what happens. For when sin is revealed to a man through the law, death, wrath and judgment of God, hell etc., it is impossible for him not to become impatient, not to grumble, to hate God and His will. For he cannot suffer the judgment of God, that he should die and be damned, and yet he cannot escape. Because of this, he inevitably comes to hate God and blaspheme Him.
Before, except for the challenge, he was a great saint, serving and praising God, bowing his knees and giving thanks like the Pharisee Luc. 18. But now that sin and death are revealed, he wanted there to be no God. Therefore the law causes one to hate God supremely, and this does not only mean that through the law one sees and recognizes sin, but also that through this manifestation [of sin] sin is increased, inflamed, ignited and made great. Therefore Paul says Rom. 7, 13: "Sin, that it might appear as it is sin, it hath wrought death for me through good, that sin might be exceedingly found by the commandment." There he deals very extensively with this effect of the law.
464 To this question, "If the law does not justify, what does it serve?" Paul gives this answer: "Although it does not justify, the law is very useful and necessary. First, in civil usage it keeps the carnally-minded and crude people in check. Secondly, it shows man what he is like; that he is a sinner, therefore guilty of death and worthy of eternal wrath. What is the purpose of this humiliation, the smashing and crushing with this hammer, namely the law? It serves that grace may have access to us. Thus, the law is a servant and a preparator (praeparatrix) for grace. For God is a God of the humble, the wretched, the afflicted, the oppressed, the despairing, and of those who have become nothing at all, and His fine consecration is that He exalts the lowly, the hungry, and the unhappy.
He feeds the hungry, enlightens the blind, comforts the miserable and the afflicted, justifies sinners, gives life to the dead, and saves the desperate and the damned etc. For he is the almighty creator who makes everything out of nothing.
But the most harmful corruption, the delusion of his own righteousness, does not let him come to this work that lies in his nature (naturale) and is peculiar to him, because he does not want to be a sinner, not unclean, wretched and damned, but righteous, holy etc. Therefore, God must use this hammer, namely the law, which breaks, shatters, crushes and makes this beast with its futile trust, wisdom, justice, power etc. completely and utterly nothing, so that it finally learns through its misfortune that it is lost and damned. And there, when the conscience is so terrified by the law, the doctrine of the gospel and of grace has a place, which restores and comforts, saying that Christ came into the world, not to break the bruised reed, not to quench the smoldering wick [Isa. 42:3], but to preach the gospel to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to preach a remission to the captives etc. [Isa. 61, 1.]
But here it takes work and effort for a man who is so frightened and crushed by the law to be able to stand up again and say: Now I am sufficiently crushed and afflicted; the time of the law has made me miserable enough and afflicted me. Now it is time for grace, and to hear Christ, from whose mouth the sermons of grace flow. Now it is time to look not at the smoking and burning Mount Sinai, but at Mount Moria, where is the dwelling place, the temple and the mercy seat of God, namely Christ, who is the King of righteousness and peace. There I will hear what the Lord will speak to me; but he speaks of peace to his people.
But so great is the foolishness of the human heart that in this battle of conscience, when the law has done its work and exercised its right use, it not only fails to grasp the doctrine of grace, which most certainly promises and accepts the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake, but it also fails to grasp the doctrine of the Lord.
but seeks even more laws by which he wants to create advice for himself. He says: If I live longer, I will improve my life, do this or that. Likewise: I will go to a monastery, live in the most miserable way, be content with water and bread, go barefoot etc. If you do not do the opposite here, that is, if you do not relegate Moses with his law to the safe and hardened, and in this fear and terror take hold of Christ, who suffered, was crucified and died for your sins, then your salvation is completely lost.
468 Thus the law with its office (which is only incidental, not its actual work [per accidens]) also serves for justification, in that it does not make righteous, but it urges toward the promise of grace, and makes it sweet and desirable. Therefore we do not dismiss the law, but show its proper function and use, namely, that it is a very useful servant that leads to Christ. Therefore, after the law has humbled you, frightened you and completely crushed you, so that you are now extremely close to despair, see to it that you know how to use the law properly, because its office and custom is not only to show sin and the wrath of God, but also to drive you to Christ. This use of the law is indicated only by the Holy Spirit in the Gospel, where He testifies that God is with those who are brokenhearted etc.
469 Therefore, when thou art bruised with this hammer, use not this bruisedness in a wrong way, that thou mayest burden thyself with more laws, but hear Christ saying [Matt. 11:28], "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." If the law so urges you, when all your affairs are in despair, to seek help and comfort in Christ, then it is in its right use, and serves through the gospel for the attainment of righteousness; and this is the best and most perfect use of the law.
Therefore, Paul begins here to treat the law from a new point of view (novo capite) and describes what it is, having therefore been given the opportunity.
that he had said that the law does not make righteous. For when reason hears this, it immediately concludes: So God gave it in vain. It was therefore necessary to ask, to describe and to answer correctly what the law was and how it was to be understood, so that it would not be taken more broadly or more narrowly than it should be. He says: "In order to attain righteousness, no law is absolutely necessary.
Therefore, when one has to deal with righteousness, life, and eternal salvation, one must put the law completely out of sight, as if it had never been or would never be, but were absolutely nothing, for in the business of justification no one can put the law far enough out of sight and look only at the promise. That is why I said that the law and the promise must be separated from each other as far as possible in the heart, because in the matter itself they are very closely connected.
Until the seed comes to whom the promise has been made.
472 Paul does not make the law perpetual, but says that it is given and added to the promises for the sake of sins, namely, civilly, to keep them in check, but especially theologically, to reveal them and make them greater, and this also not forever, but only for a time. Here one must pay attention to the determination of "when" 1) namely, how long the rule or tyranny of the law should last, which reveals sin and shows us what we are like and makes the wrath of God known to us. Those who seriously feel this would suddenly perish if they did not receive comfort. Therefore, if the time of the law were not shortened, no man would be saved. Therefore, the law must be given a time and measure beyond which it may not reign.
How long, then, shall the dominion of the law last? Until the seed comes,
1) Latin: praedicamentum quando, which could have been translated by "category of time". About "categories" compare Walch, St. Louis edition, volume XVIII, 1132, note.
namely the one of whom it is written: "Through your seed all nations shall be blessed" [Gen. 22:18.fi So long shall the tyranny of the law last, until the fullness of time and that seed of blessing come, not that the law itself brings the seed or gives righteousness, but that in civil life it keeps wild men in check and keeps them as in a prison, but in spiritual life (theologice) it keeps the innocent, humble and terrifies and forces those who are thus humiliated 1) and broken to desire that blessed seed.
474 The time, how long the law should last, can be understood both according to the letter and spiritually. According to the letter, the law lasted until the time of grace. "The law and the prophets (says Christ [Matth. 11, 13. 12.]) prophesied until John. From the days of John until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and those who do violence snatch it to themselves." At this time Christ was baptized and began to preach, where also according to the letter the law and the whole Mosaic service ceased. Spiritually, the law should not reign in the conscience longer than the time predestined for this blessed seed. So when the law has shown me sin, frightened me and revealed the wrath and judgment of God, so that I begin to blanch, to despair etc., then the law has its prescribed measure, time and end, so that it should cease to exercise its tyranny, because it has then completed its office; it has sufficiently shown and frightened the wrath of God. Here it must be said: desist, law, you have sufficiently terrified and crushed, all your curses have come upon me, your terror has afflicted me [Ps. 88, 8.fi Likewise: O Lord, turn not thy face in anger from thy servant; alas, I beseech thee, chasten me not in thy wrath etc. [Ps. 6:2.]
475. When this fear and such lamentations come, then is the time and hour of the blessed seed. Let the law therefore depart, which, though to reveal the sins, and to make them manifest
1) In the Wittenberg: inhumiliatos instead of: humiliatos.
but only until the seed comes; when the seed is present, the law shall cease to reveal sins and to terrify, and shall give dominion to another, namely, to the blessed seed, that is, to Christ, who has blessed lips, with which he does not accuse, terrify etc., but speaks of far better things than the law, namely, grace, peace, forgiveness of sins, victory over sin, death etc., which were obtained by his death and resurrection, and are given to those who believe.
So Paul shows with these words: "Until the seed comes, to whom the promise was made", how long the law should last according to the letter and spiritually. According to the letter, it ceased when that blessed seed took our flesh, came into the world, gave the Holy Spirit, and wrote a new law in the hearts etc. The spiritual duration of the law, however, does not cease at once, but hangs exceedingly tenaciously in the conscience. Therefore, it is very difficult for a person who is plagued by the theological custom of the law to see the end of the law, because in this terror and feeling of sin, the mind cannot grasp the hope that God is merciful, that He wants to forgive sins for the sake of Christ, but rather judges that God is angry with sinners, that He accuses and condemns them. If faith is not added to this, which in turn can help, or, according to Christ's words [Matth. 18, 20]: "Where two or three are gathered," etc., there is a brother who comforts with the word of God the one who is so downcast and crushed by the law, then despair and death follow.
This is why it is very bad for a man, especially a challenged one, to be alone. "Woe to him who is alone! If he falls, there is no one to help him up," says Ecclesiastes [Cap. 4:10]. Therefore, those who have instituted monasticism or the solitary life have given countless people cause to despair. If someone, in order to pray, would withdraw for a day or two from the intercourse with people (as we read of Christ, that he sometimes went alone on a mountain), then he would be in despair.
and spent the night in prayer), there would have been no danger. But the fact that they have forced people into constant loneliness is the devil's fault. For when a man is challenged and alone, he cannot counsel himself, not even in the slightest affliction.
And is provided by the angels, by the hand of the Mediator.
This is a small digression, which Paul neither explains nor carries out, but only touches upon in passing and passes over. For he soon returns to the matter of which he is speaking, namely, at the words [v. 21.], "How? is then the law contrary to God's promises?" But this is the cause of the digression: it occurred to him that in this also there was a difference between the law and the gospel, that the law, which had been added to the promises, differed from the gospel not only in time, but also as to the author (auctore) or the effecting cause. . For the law was given through the angels, Hebr. 2, 2, but the gospel through the Lord Himself. Therefore the gospel surpasses the law, because the law is the word of servants, but the gospel of the Lord.
479 Therefore, in order to diminish the law, but to exalt the gospel, he says that the law was a doctrine that lasted only a very short time (for it lasted only until the fulfillment of the promise, that is, until the blessed seed that fulfilled the promise), but the gospel was eternal. For all believers have had it from the beginning of the world and have been saved by it. The law is therefore far inferior to the gospel because it was given by the servants, the angels, and only lasted a short time, but the gospel was given by the Lord Himself, Hebr. 1, 2. and as eternal because it was promised before the times of the world, Tit. 1, 2.
480 Then the preaching of the Law is not only by the angels, who are servants, but also by another servant who is inferior to the angels, namely a man, that is (as he says here), "by the hand of the mediator", that is, Moses. Christ
but is not a servant, but the Lord Himself. He is not a mediator between God and men according to the law, like Moses, but he is the mediator of a better testament [Hebr. 12, 24].
481 The law was thus given through the angels, as servants, because on Mount Sinai Moses and the people heard God speak, that is, the angels who spoke in the person of God. Therefore Stephen says in the 7th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles [v. 53]: "You received the law through the business of angels," that is, through the angels who were busy giving it, "and you did not keep it." Likewise, the text of Exodus 3:2 clearly states that an angel appeared to Moses in the fiery flame and spoke to him from the bush. The Latin text is corrupted because it does not have the word "angel" but "Lord", and because of ignorance of the Hebrew language, this passage has become the cause of the dispute whether the Lord himself spoke to Moses or an angel.
Thus Paul indicates that Christ is the mediator of a far better testament than Moses, and alludes to the history of the proclamation of the law in the 2nd book of Moses, in which it is said that Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God and placed them at the bottom of the mountain. There was a sad and frightening sight, the whole mountain was burning etc. When the people saw this, they began to tremble, for they thought that they would suddenly perish in this great storm. Because they could not bear the law, which sounded terrifyingly from Mount Sinai (for this terrible voice of the law would have killed the people), they said to the mediator Moses [5 Mos. 5, 27.]: "Come near, and hear all that the Lord says, but you speak with us" etc., and Moses himself says [v. 5.]: "I stood between God and you" and was the mediator. From this it is quite clear that Moses was appointed mediator between the people and the voice 1) of the law.
483. Paul now wants to indicate by this history that it is impossible that through
1) Io<M<znt6ra is to be referred to legern, not to meäiatorem.
the law could obtain righteousness, as if he wanted to say: How could the law justify, since the whole Israelite people, since they were sanctified etc., likewise Moses himself, the mediator between God and the people, was terrified and trembled at the voice of the law, as the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 12, 21.] says? Here was nothing but terror and trembling. But what kind of righteousness and holiness is this, if one cannot stand the law, yes, cannot hear it nor wants to, but flees and hates it, and hates it in such a way that one hates nothing more in the whole world? as this history testifies quite clearly that the people, just at the hour when they heard the law, harbored a greater hatred against nothing than against the law, and that they had rather wished for death than to hear the law.
484 When sin has been thus revealed by the rays which the law casts into the heart, nothing is more detestable and intolerable to man than the law. For then he would rather choose death than have to endure these terrors of the law even for a very short time, which is a sure sign that the law does not justify. For if it did justify, men would certainly love it, delight in it, and take it up willingly rather than unwillingly. But where is this willing reception? Nowhere; neither with Moses nor with the whole people; because all fled frightened and trembling. But that from which one flees, one does not love, but has an aversion against it, one is not delighted by it, but hates it to the utmost. Therefore, this flight indicates that the human heart has an unlimited hatred against the law and consequently also against God Himself, the author of the law, and if there were no other reason to prove that righteousness could not be obtained from the law, then this one history would be sufficient, which Paul indicates in the shortest possible way with these words: "By the hand of the mediator", as if he wanted to say: Do you not remember that your fathers could not even hear the law, so that they needed the mediator, Moses? And since he was appointed as mediator, so much was lacking in their love for the law that they were even in need of it, together with
The people of Egypt, who had been their mediator (as the epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 12, 20. 21.] testifies), showed their disgust by a terrifying flight, and if they had been able to, they would have returned to Egypt through an iron mountain. But the way was barred to them, so that they could not escape to any side. Therefore they said to Moses [Ex. 20:19, Deut. 5:25], "Speak thou with us, for if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we must die." So if they cannot hear the law. Dear, how should they do it?
Therefore, since the people of the law had to have a mediator by necessity, it follows quite irrefutably that the law did not make them righteous. What did it do? That which Paul says [Rom. 5:20]: "The law came in beside, that sin might be made mightier." So the law was the light and the sun that sent its rays into the hearts of the children of Israel, by which they were terrified, and such anger against God and fear of God was instilled in them that they felt an abhorrence of the law and of its author, which is the most grievous sin. Would you then say that such people were righteous? Certainly not. For righteous are those who hear the law, take hold of it with all their heart's desire, and delight in it. But the history of the giving of the law testifies that all people in the whole world, however holy they may be (especially since these people, who were purified and sanctified, could not hear the law), have an aversion to the law, detest and flee it, and wish it were not there. So it is impossible for people to become righteous by it, but it has the completely opposite effect.
486 Although Paul, as I have said [§478], only touches on this piece in passing, does not go into it further, nor does he elaborate on it, a diligent and attentive reader will recognize without effort that he is speaking covertly 1) of both mediators, Moses and Christ, and that he is comparing them with one another, as we will show soon after. If
1) Wittenberger: reete instead of: teate.
If he had wanted to treat and carry out this matter in detail, this few pieces would have been sufficient to give him ample material for writing a new epistle. The history of the proclamation of the law in the 2nd book of Moses, chap. 19 and 20, would offer material for a large book, if one would read it even above unbiased (sine affectu), although it seems to be very paltry to those who do not know the true office of the law and its custom, if one compares it with other sacred histories.
From this it is evident that if the whole world had stood at Mount Sinai like the Israelite people, it would also have been terrified and would have fled from the law. Thus, the whole world is opposed to the law and hates it bitterly. But the law is holy, just and good and a right presentation (rectitudo) of the divine will. How, then, can he be righteous who not only abhors and flees the law, but is also God's enemy, who is the author of the law. And yet the flesh cannot do otherwise, as Paul testifies in Romans 8:7: "To be carnally minded is enmity against God, since it is not subject to the law, for neither is it able to be." Therefore, it is the greatest foolishness to hate God and His law in such a way that we cannot even hear it, and yet claim that we are justified by it.
Therefore, the sophists are blind and understand nothing at all about this trade. They look only at the outward appearance of the law and think that it is satisfied with civil good conduct (moribus), and that those are righteous before God who do it outwardly, but they do not see its true and spiritual effect, which is not that it makes righteous and satisfies consciences, but that it increases sin, frightens and incites wrath.
Since they do not know this, they conclude that man has a good will and right reason with regard to the Law of God. But whether this is true, ask (consule) the people of the Law with their mediator, who heard the Law on Mount Sinai. Ask also David about it, who, as often as he complains in the Psalms that he has been deprived of God's
He is terrified by the greatness of his sin, the wrath and the judgment of God, this unconquerable tyrant, does not oppose his sacrifices, not even the law, but only the mercy of God, which is bestowed upon him by grace. Therefore, the law does not justify.
490. If the law agreed with my inclinations, that is, if it approved my hypocrisy and my own honor, if it approved my delusion and my trust in my own righteousness, if it allowed that without the mercy of God and faith in Christ alone I could become righteous before God through His help (as the whole world naturally judges the law); then, if it said that God could be influenced (flecti) and overcome by works, and become guilty of giving a reward to those who do them, that I could thus, without needing God, be a god to myself, who could earn grace by my works and, with the exclusion of Christ's salvation, make myself blessed by my merits, if, I say, the law were thus at my will, then it would be pleasant, sweet and pleasing to me. Reason can flatter itself so excellently. But this would last only so long, until the law would come to its actual custom and office. Then it would become obvious that reason cannot bear the rays of the law, then some Moses would have to come and become a mediator, and yet without any benefit, as I will soon say.
491. Here belongs the passage 2 Cor. 3. 7. ff. about the hidden face of Moses, where Paul shows from the history in the 2nd book of Moses, Cap. 34, 29. ff., that the children of Israel not only did not know the right and theological custom of the law, but also could not bear it. First, because they could not look upon the end of the law, Paul says [v. 13.], for the sake of the covering which Moses had put before his face. Secondly, they could not look at the uncovered face of Moses either, because of the clarity of his face. For when Moses wished to speak to them, he covered his face with a blanket, without which they could not bear his speech, that is, they could not even
They could not have heard their mediator Moses, if he did not use another mediator, namely the cover. How could they have heard God's voice or the voice of an angel, since they could not hear the voice of Moses, who was their mediator, unless he covered his face?
492. Therefore, if the blessed seed does not come and direct and comfort the one who has heard the Law, then he will surely be lost in despair in disgust against the Law, in hatred and blasphemy against God, and from day to day he will sin angrier against God; for the deeper the fear and consternation of conscience that the Law produces is ingrained and the longer it lasts, the more the hatred and blasphemy against God grows.
Moreover, this history teaches what the power of free will is. The people are frightened and tremble; where is free will here, where is good will and right reason? What is the value of free will among those who are sanctified and purified? It does not know how to help itself, it darkens reason and turns away good will, it does not accept the Lord who comes to Mount Sinai with thunder, lightning and fire, does not greet him and does not seize him with joy. He cannot hear the voice of the Lord, but says against it, "The Lord speak not unto us, lest we die" [Ex. 20:19.]. So we see what power free will has in the children of Israel, who, even though they are sanctified, will not or cannot even hear a syllable or a letter of the law. Therefore, the boast that is made of free will is a mere pretense etc.
V. 20: But a mediator is not a mediator of one.
Here he compares these two mediators with each other, indeed only casually and in wonderful shortness, but nevertheless in such a way that he does enough for the attentive reader who immediately understands (since the word mediator is a general one) that he speaks in general of a mediator, not of Moses alone. "A mediator."
1) Instead of äktsstationk in the Wittenberg has the Jena and the Erlangen äktsstinutionk.
he says, "is not a mediator of one," but this word necessarily comprehends two parties, namely an insulted and an insulter, one of whom needs intercession (intercessione), the other not. Therefore, a mediator is not a mediator of one, but between two, and that between such two parties who disagree with each other.
Thus, according to the general explanation, Moses is a mediator, because he acts as a mediator between the law and the people, who cannot stand the theological custom of the law. Therefore, a new face of the law must be prepared and its voice changed, that is, the theological voice of the law or the living law in the heart [of the people] must put on a larva and become such through the human voice of Moses that it can be endured and heard.
But when the law is thus fulfilled, it no longer speaks in its majesty, but through the mouth of Moses. In this way it no longer executes its office, that is, it does not instill terror in the consciences, and therefore men then do not understand it at all, but become by it only safe, snoring and presumptuous hypocrites. And yet one of both must happen, namely, that the law is either out of its custom, with the cover, but then, as I said, it makes hypocrites, or that it is in its custom, without cover, then it kills, because the human heart cannot suffer the law in its right custom, without cover.
Therefore, if you want to see the end of the law without a covering, you must either take hold of the blessed seed in faith (that is, you must look beyond the end of the law to Christ, who is the fulfillment of the law, who says to you, "The law has frightened you enough; be of good cheer, my son, your sins are forgiven you," of which I will say more soon), or you must certainly have Moses as your mediator with his covering.
498 Hence it is that Paul uses this general saying and says: "A mediator is not a mediator of one. For it was not possible that Moses alone should have been God's mediator, because God is not a mediator of one.
He is not only the people's mediator, but also the mediator between God and the people, who were not at ease with God. For this is the office of a mediator, that he reconcile the offended part with the one who has offended. But Moses, as I have said, is only such a mediator who changes the voice of the law and makes it so that it is bearable to hear it, but he does not give the power to fulfill the law. In short, he is a mediator through the cover (velaminis), therefore he does not give power over the law, but only covers it. Therefore his disciples, as far as he is a mediator through the cover (mediator velaminis), must necessarily remain hypocrites.
499 But what do you think would have happened if the law had been given without Moses, either before or after Moses, and there had been no mediator, and yet the people could neither have escaped nor had a mediator? In this case, the people would either have had to die suddenly from too much terror, or, if they were to remain unharmed, another mediator would have had to come, who would have had to mediate between the law and the people in such a way that, while the people remained unharmed, the law would also have remained in its power, and the people would have come to an agreement with the law. In the meantime Moses comes and becomes a mediator, makes a larva and hangs the ceiling, but he cannot take away the terror of the law from the conscience.
Therefore, when Moses and his cover are taken away, when man feels the wrath and judgment of God in death or in distress of conscience because of his sin, which is revealed and increased by the law, then, lest he despair, a mediator must come who will say: You, sinner, shall nevertheless remain, that is, you shall not die, even though the law and its wrath remain.
501 This mediator is Jesus Christ, who does not change the voice of the law, as Moses does, nor cover it with a blanket, nor make me see the law no more, but opposes the wrath of the law, takes it away, and satisfies the law in his body by himself, and then by the gospel.
says to me: "The law threatens you with the wrath of God and eternal death, but do not be dismayed and flee, but stand still; I will stand in your place and do enough for you according to the law.
This is a far different mediator than Moses, who mediates between the angry God and the sinner. Here the mediation of Moses is of no use, because he has already disappeared and has aligned his office with his blanket.
But there, a desperate sinner or a dying man and the offended and angry God meet head-on. Therefore, a mediator other than Moses must come to satisfy the law, take away its wrath and reconcile this lost sinner, who is guilty of eternal death, with the angry God.
Paul remembers this mediator only in passing, since he says: "A mediator is not a mediator of one", because the name of a mediator actually denotes the one who acts as a mediator between an insulted and an insulter. We are the offenders, God with His law is the offended, and the offense is such that God cannot forgive it, nor are we able to do enough for it. Therefore, between God, who is unanimous in Himself, and us, there is the greatest disagreement. Moreover, God cannot revoke His law, but wants it to be kept, and we, who have transgressed the law of God, cannot flee from the presence of God. So Christ placed Himself as mediator between these two, which are completely different and separated from each other by an infinite and eternal gulf, and reconciled them to each other etc. In what way? "He hath," as Paul elsewhere [Col. 2:14, 15] says, "cut off the handwriting that was against us, which was made by statutes (that is, the law), and was contrary to us; and hath put it out of the way, and nailed it to the cross; and hath taken off principalities and powers, and made a public display of them, and made a triumph of them by himself." Therefore, he is not the mediator of one, but of two, who were in strongest disagreement with each other.
505 Here also is a mighty and strong passage to refute the righteousness of the law, and to instruct us that in the matter of justification the law must be set aside altogether (longissime). Likewise, even the word "mediator" also gives a sufficiently strong reason for proving that the law does not justify, for otherwise what need is there of a mediator? Since human nature cannot hear the law, it is evident that it is much less able to do so, and to agree with the law. So the law does not justify.
This is, as I often and almost to the point of exasperation inculcate, the right doctrine of the law, which every Christian should strive to learn with the utmost diligence, that he may know how to describe clearly and actually what the law is, what its custom and its mode (modus) is, what power it has, what its time is and what its purpose is, namely, that it has just the opposite effect than all men think, to whom this quite pernicious delusion of the law clings by nature, that they think it makes righteous. That is why I am afraid that when we are there, this teaching will again be obscured. For the world must be filled with terrible darkness and error before the last day.
Therefore, let him who can grasp it grasp it that the law in Christian theology and in its proper use does not justify, but has just the opposite effect. For it shows us ourselves, it holds out to us that God is angry with us, it reveals anger, terrifies us, and not only reveals sin, but also makes it exceedingly great, so that where before there was only a small sin, it becomes great through the shining of the law, so that man begins to hate and flee the law and with a determined (perfecto) hatred to abhor God who gave the law. This certainly does not mean to be justified by the law, which even reason must admit, but to sin against the law twofold; first, that you not only have an aversion to the law, so that you cannot hear it, but do against it, yes, that you, secondly, also hate it in such a way that you wish it would be done away with, yes, even God Himself, who gave it, is hated by you.
However, he is good in the highest degree.
What greater blasphemy can there be, what more terrible sin, than to hate God, to have an aversion to the Law and not to hear it, which is very good and holy? For history [Ex. 19, 20.] testifies clearly that the people of Israel refused to hear the best law, the most holy and, according to its essence, most sweet words (namely, "I am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt" etc. "Thou shalt have no other gods"; "Who do I mercy to many thousands" etc. "Honor thy father etc., that it may go well with thee, and that thou mayest live long upon the earth" etc.), and that it needed a mediator. This highest, most perfect and divine wisdom and the most beautiful, best and sweetest teaching they cannot stand. They say: "Let not the Lord speak with us, lest we die. Speak thou with us" etc.
It is a marvelous, truly marvelous thing that you cannot hear your highest and sweetest good, namely, that you have a God, and that is a merciful God, who wants to exercise mercy on you in many thousand ways, that you cannot hear what serves as your defense: "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. For with these words God fences in your life, your wife and all that you have, as it were with a wall, and fortifies it against all violence and attacks of evil men etc.
The Law, then, does nothing but enlighten the conscience with its light about sin, death, judgment, hatred and the wrath of God. Before the law comes, I am safe, I do not feel sin; but when the law comes, I am shown sin, death, hell. This certainly does not mean to become righteous, but to become guilty, to be set up as an enemy of God, to be condemned to death and hell. So the main purpose of the law in theology is that it does not make people better, but worse, that is, it shows them sin, so that they may be humbled, terrified and crushed by the knowledge of sin, and thus seek grace and the blessed
Seed desire bear. This is the short epitome of the reason of proof that Paul took from the word "mediator" in his digression.
But God is united.
God offends no one, therefore he needs no mediator; but we offend God, therefore we need a mediator, not Moses, but Christ, who speaks for our good etc. - This is how far the digression goes [cf. § 478], now Paul returns to the matter at hand.
V. 21. How is the law contrary to God's promises?
Above [v. 11] Paul said that the law does not justify. Should we therefore do away with it? No, because it also has its use. Which one? It brings people to self-knowledge, shows and increases sin etc. Here another question immediately arises. If the law only makes people worse by showing them sin, does it not conflict with God's promises, and does God not seem to be irritated and offended by the law, so that he cannot keep and fulfill his promises? We Jews have thought just the opposite, namely that we are kept and determined by the law in an outward discipline, so that God, moved by it, hastened the fulfillment of the promise, and so that through this discipline we earned the promise.
513. Paul answers: "No; yes, on the contrary, if you look at the law, the promise is only hindered more. For human reason offends God, who makes the promise, since it does not want to hear his good and holy law. For it says: "Do not let the Lord speak to us" etc. Should God then keep His promises to these people who not only do not receive the law and its discipline, but hate and flee from the bottom of their hearts? Here, then, as I have said, this question immediately arises: Does not the law seem to hinder God's promises? Paul touches on this question even casually and passes over it, but he answers it shortly by saying:
Let that be far away!
514 Why then? First, because God did not give the promise for the sake of our worthiness, merit or good works, but out of pure abundant:: and everlasting goodness and mercy. He does not say to Abraham, Because thou hast kept the law, therefore in thee shall all nations be blessed; but because he was yet uncircumcised, and had not the law, and was yet an idolater (as Joshua 24:2. is written), he says to him [Gen. 12:1.], Go out of thy father's country etc. [Cap. 15, 1.:] "I am your shield" etc. Likewise [Cap. 22, 18.]: "Through your seed" etc. These promises are completely unconditional (absolutae), which God promises to Abraham for free, without any condition or consideration of previous or subsequent works or merits.
515 This is very much against the Jews, who think that the divine promises are hindered by their sins. God, says Paul, does not postpone His promises because of our sins, nor does He hasten them because of our righteousness and merits; He does not consider either of them. Therefore, even though we become more angry and hate God more because of the law, God is not moved by it to postpone His promise, because it is not based on our worthiness and righteousness, but on His goodness and mercy.
Therefore, it is a mere fiction when the Jews say: Messiah does not come because our sins echo his coming; as if God becomes unjust for the sake of our sins or a liar for the sake of our lies. He remains always just and true, may we be sinners or righteous. Thus, His truth alone is the reason why He keeps and fulfills His promise.
517. Then, although the law reveals and increases sin, it is not contrary to the promises of God; rather, it is for them. For if it does its work rightly and perfectly and achieves its purpose, it humbles man and prepares him (if he only uses the law rightly) to desire and seek grace. For only then, when man is shown his sin through the law
If he sees that the law is not only good but also blasphemous, he sees in truth the ungodliness and enmity of the human heart against the law and God, the author of the law. Then he seriously feels that he not only does not love the supremely good God with His completely holy law, but also hates and blasphemes Him. Here he must confess that there is absolutely nothing good in him, and when he has been so crushed and humiliated by the law, he recognizes that he is in truth wretched and damned. So when the law forces him to acknowledge his wickedness in such a way and to confess his sin from the heart, it has finished its work and its time is over, the time of grace has come, so that the blessed seed can come, so that it can again straighten out the man who has been frightened and crushed by the law and comfort him with the gospel.
518. In this way, the Law is not contrary to the promises of God, because, first, the promise is not based on the Law, but on God's truth; second, because the Law humbles in the best and highest use, and by humbling, causes men to sigh, desire, and seek the hand of the Mediator, whose grace and mercy make it very sweet (as it is said in the 109th Psalm, v. 21: "Thy grace is my consolation"), and makes His gift delicious and inexpressible, and so enables us to receive Christ. Psalm, v. 21: "Thy grace is my consolation") and makes his gift delicious and inexpressible, and thus enables us to receive Christ (Christi capaces reddit). For sweet things do not taste good to him who has not tasted bitter things. Hunger is the best cook. Just as a dry land thirsts for rain, so the law makes frightened hearts thirst for Christ. Christ tastes this most delightfully; there is joy, comfort and life. Only then will Christ and His good deeds be truly recognized.
519 This use of the law is therefore very good, that it may be so well used as to make humble and thirsty after Christ. For he wants to have thirsty souls, which he beckons to him in the most delightful way, saying [Matth. 11, 28]: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Therefore he gladly waters and moistens this arid land. He pours not fine waters upon a fat, sated, and
not thirsty land. His goods are priceless, therefore he gives them only to the needy, preaches the gospel to the poor, waters the thirsty. "Whosoever thirsteth (saith he Joh. 7, 37.), let him come unto me, and drink." "He heals the brokenhearted" etc. [Ps. 147, 3.], that is, those who are afflicted and martyred by the law he comforts and makes blessed. Therefore, the law is not against the promises of God.
But if there were a law that could give life, then righteousness would truly come from the law.
1With these words Paul shows that no law can make alive, but only kill. So my works, which I do not only according to the laws of the priest or human statutes, but also according to the law of God, do not make me righteous before God, but present me as a sinner; they do not propitiate the wrath of God, but provoke it; they do not obtain righteousness, but take it away; they do not make me alive, but kill me. Therefore, since he says, "If a law were given," etc., he teaches in the clearest terms that not even the divine law can make alive, but has just the opposite effect.
521 Although these words of Paul are quite clear, they are completely obscure and unknown to the papists. For if they understood them, they would not praise so much the free will, the human powers, the keeping of the (evangelical) counsels, the super-long works etc. But lest it be publicly seen that they are ungodly men and heathen, who brazenly deny the words of the apostle of Christ, they constantly seek to nullify with this exceedingly pernicious gloss such passages in Paul as speak of the law which bespeaks sin and incurs wrath, that is, of the holy ten commandments.
1) This paragraph is used by Aurifaber (in the translation of Menius) for § 33 of the 12th chapter of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks it is omitted.
2) Thus Luther calls the opera supererogationis in the interpretation of the 8th chapter of John, in our edition vol. VIII, 182, § 123, and in the interpretation of the 16th chapter of John, ibid. col. 635, § 59.
Paul is talking about the ceremonial law, not the moral law.
522 But Paul speaks actually and clearly, since he says: "If a law would be given" etc., and does not exclude any law at all. Therefore, the gloss of the sophists is useless. For the ceremonial laws were commanded by God and kept just as strictly as the moral laws; the Jews kept circumcision just as conscientiously as the Sabbath. Therefore the apostle speaks of the whole law.
523 These words of Paul are sung and read in all churches, and yet they are taught and lived in the opposite way. Paul says that no law is given to make alive. On the other hand, the Sophists teach the exact opposite and claim that many and innumerable laws are given to make alive. Although they do not say this in clear words, this is in fact their opinion, and this testifies brightly enough to their monasticism, to the innumerable human laws, statutes, and ceremonies, to the works and merits according to equity and dignity (congrui et condigni), and to countless other ungodly services which they have established. These alone they preached after the gospel had been suppressed, promising for certain that those who held such services would obtain grace, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. This, I say, cannot be denied, for their books still exist, which bear quite certain witness to this.
(524) On the other hand, we teach with Paul that no law, whether human or divine, makes righteousness and life, and therefore we distinguish the law from righteousness as far as death from life, hell from heaven. And to this doctrine we are moved by this clear passage of Paul: 1) The law was not given to make righteous, alive and blessed, but rather to condemn, kill and destroy, contrary to the opinion of all men.
1) What now follows up to the end of § 526 is used by Aurifaber (excerpted from the translation of Menius) for the first half of § 34 of the 12th chapter of the Table Talks. In our edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
Those who by nature judge that the law was given to obtain righteousness, life and salvation.
525 This actual difference between the offices of the Law and the Gospel keeps the entire pure theology in its proper use, also makes the faithful judges over all classes (vitae genera), over all laws and doctrines (dogmata) of all men, and also gives them the ability to test all spirits.
The papists, on the other hand, because they have completely mixed and confused the doctrine of the Law and the Gospel, cannot teach anything certain, neither of faith nor of works, neither of classes nor of the difference of spirits. The same is the case today with the spirits of the swarms etc.
527 After these refutations and proofs Paul teaches in detail and beautifully that the law is nothing else, if one has its right, and indeed the best use in mind, than a kind of child education (paedagogiam) to righteousness. For it humbles men and makes them able to receive the righteousness of Christ when it does its proper work, that is, when it makes them guilty, terrifies them, brings them to the knowledge of sin, wrath, death, hell. For when this has happened, the delusion of their own righteousness and holiness fades away, and Christ with his benefits begins to become sweet. Therefore, the law is not against the promises of God, but rather for them. It does not fulfill the promise, nor does it bring righteousness, but it humbles us by its office and custom, and thus makes us thirsty for the grace and benefits of Christ, and able to receive them.
Therefore he says: If there were any law that could bring righteousness and through it life, since no one can obtain life unless he is first righteous, then righteousness would truly come from the law; likewise, if there were any state, work, order, or service that could bring about the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and life, then these would truly make one righteous and alive. But this is impossible, because:
V. 22. The Scriptures have decreed it all under sin.
Where? First of all, in the promises of Christ, such as Genesis 3:15: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," and Genesis 22:18: "Through your seed," etc. Therefore, wherever in the Scriptures the promise of Christ is made to the fathers, the blessing is promised, that is, righteousness, blessedness and eternal life. So by the contrast (per contrarium) it is proved that those who are to be blessed are subject to the curse, that is, to sin and eternal death; otherwise why would it be necessary to promise the blessing?
530] Secondly, the Scriptures, especially through the law itself, resolve men under sin and the curse, since its true function is to reveal sin, to cause wrath etc., which we have indicated throughout the epistle, but especially from this saying of Paul [Gal. 3, 10]: "Those who deal with the works of the law are under the curse"; likewise from the saying that Paul quoted from the 5th book of Moses, Cap. 27, 26: "Cursed be every one that continueth not in all these things. "etc. For these sayings, in no uncertain terms, bring under the sin and the curse not only those who publicly sin against the law or do not do it outwardly, but also those who are under the law and strive with all their might to keep the law, as the Jews did, of which I have spoken above.
531 This passage much more concludes under sin all monks, hermits, Carthusians with their most holy (as they dream, because they pretend that if someone had taken his religious vows only a short time before and then died, he would immediately fly to heaven) vows and services. For here you hear most clearly that Scripture concludes everything under sin. So neither the vow nor the highest spirituality (religio) of a Carthusian is a righteousness, but everything is condemned. By what? By the scripture. Which scripture? First, by this promise: "The seed of the woman," etc. "In thee shall be blessed" etc., and similar passages; then also by the whole law, whose proper office is that it cast under sin etc. So do not trample monks,
no Carthusians, no Celestines, the head of the serpent, but they remain trampled under the head of the serpent, that is, under the power of the devil. But who believes this?
1In short, everything that is outside of Christ and his promises is decided under sin without exception, whether it be divine or human law, ceremonial or moral law. For "the Scriptures have decreed all things under sin"; but he who says "all things" excludes nothing. So we conclude with Paul that all worldly ordinances (politiae) and laws of all Gentiles, however good and necessary they are, that all divine services and human holiness (religiones) without faith in Christ are and remain under sin, under death and eternal damnation, unless, as soon follows, the promise follows through faith in Christ Jesus. This has been discussed in more detail above.
533 Therefore this sentence is true: faith alone justifies, which the adversaries cannot suffer in any way, because Paul concludes here most strongly that the law does not make alive, because it was not given for this purpose. If this does not make righteous and alive, then works make much less righteous. For this is what Paul wants to infer when he says that the law does not make alive, namely, that works do not make alive either, for it says more strongly: The law does not make alive than: Works do not make alive.
534 If therefore the law, though it be fulfilled (though it be impossible that it should be fulfilled), justifieth not, much less do the works themselves. So faith alone justifies, without works. For Paul does not suffer this addition: faith with works justifies, but he speaks Rom. 3, 20. and above Cap. 2, 16. in a negative way by saying: "By the works of the law no flesh is justified", and here: "The law was not given to make alive."
1) This paragraph and § 534 are used by Aurifaber (in the translation of Menius) for the second half of § 75 of the 12th chapter of the Table Talks. In our general edition of the Table Talks, this section is omitted.
That the promise might come through faith in Jesus Christ.
535 Above he said that the Scripture had decided everything under sin. For eternity? No, but until the promise comes. The promise, however, is the inheritance itself, or the blessing promised to Abraham, that is, deliverance from the law, sin, death and the devil, and the bestowal of grace, righteousness, blessedness and eternal life. That promise, he says, is obtained by no merit, no law, no works, but is given. To whom? To those who believe. In whom? In Jesus Christ, who is the blessed seed that redeemed those who believe from the curse, so that they might receive the blessing.
These words are not obscure, but exceedingly clear. However, one must take care to pay diligent attention to them, and we must consider their meaning and power (pondus) carefully. For if all things are determined under sin, it follows that all nations are cursed and lack the glory they should have in God [Rom. 3:23], likewise that they are under God's wrath and the devil's dominion, and that no one can be delivered from it by anything else but faith in Christ. Paul, therefore, with these words most strongly contends against the enthusiastic opinions which the sophists and all works saints have of the righteousness of the law and of works, since he says: "That the promise might come through faith in JESUS Christ, given to them that believe."
(537) How to answer the sayings concerning works and wages, I have indicated above in sufficient detail, and the matter does not require us to speak of works now, because we have not here taken the trade of works before us, but of justification, namely, that it is not obtained by the law or by works, since everything is under sin and the curse, but by faith in Christ.
But where it is not a matter of justification, no one can praise highly enough the good works that God has commanded. For who can estimate the benefit and fruit of even one work that a Christian does?
by faith and in faith, praise enough ? For it is more precious than heaven and earth. Therefore, the whole world in this life cannot give the due reward even for such a good work, nor does the world have the grace to appreciate the good works of the godly, much less to reward them, because it does not see them, or if it sees them, it judges that they are not good works, but the worst evil deeds, and seeks to eliminate (exturbate) those who do such works as the most harmful pest for the human race.
539 Thus Christ, the Savior of the world, was put to the most ignominious death on the cross for his exceedingly great and unspeakable good deeds. Similarly, the apostles, who brought to the world the word of grace and eternal life, became a curse of the world and a sacrifice of the people. Truly a worthy reward that the world has paid for such great good deeds.
540. But the works that are done apart from faith, however holy they may appear to be, are under sin and the curse; therefore, far from those who do them deserving grace, righteousness, and eternal life, they rather heap sin upon sin. In this way the pope does works, the man of sin and the child of perdition, and all who follow him. In this way, all works saints and heretics who have fallen from the faith do their works.
V. 23: But before faith came.
541 He continues to make clear the usefulness and necessity of the law. Above [v. 19] he said that it came about for the sake of sins, not as if this was the main intention of God, that he only gave the law to bring death and condemnation, as he also says in Rom. 7, 13: "Has that which is good become death to me? Be it far from me!" For the law is a word that shows life and leads to it; therefore it is not given for death alone. But this is its main use and purpose, that it reveals death, so that on
In this way, the nature and magnitude of sin is made known. But it does not reveal death in such a way that it delights in it, or seeks nothing else than to kill us, but for the sake of it, so that the frightened and humbled people fear God; and this is also clearly indicated by the text 2 Mos. 20, 20, where Moses says: "Do not be afraid, for God has come to tempt you, and that His fear may be before your eyes, so that you do not sin.
The function of the law is therefore only to kill, but in such a way that God can make alive. Therefore, the law is not given to death per se, but because man is arrogant and dreams that he is wise, just and holy, it is necessary that he be humbled by the law, so that this beast, the delusion of his own righteousness, may be killed; if it is not killed, man cannot live.
Thus, although the law kills, God uses this effect of the law, that is, this death, for a good use, namely for life. For since God saw that this general destruction of the entire human race (orbis terrarum) could not otherwise be resisted, and that the delusion of one's own righteousness or hypocrisy and the trust in one's own holiness could not otherwise be put to an end (conteri), he wanted this delusion to be killed by the law, but not in such a way that man would remain eternally in death, but that man, after the delusion has been killed, would again align himself, and he would also hear this voice over the law: "Fear not!" I did not give the law and kill you with it so that you would remain in death, but so that you would fear me and live. For presumption, which is based on good works and one's own righteousness, does not allow one to fear God. But where there is no fear of God, there can be no thirst for grace and life.
544. therefore God must have a strong hammer to break the rocks, and a fire that burns to the midst of heaven [Deut. 4:11] to turn the mountains, that is, to bring down that stubborn and unruly (obstipam) beast, presumption.
to smite, so that man, having been reduced to nothing by this smashing, may despair of his powers, his righteousness and his works, and be terrified before God, and in such terror thirst for mercy and forgiveness of sins.
But before faith came, we were kept and shut up under the law.
545 That is, before the time of the gospel and grace came, this was the ministry of the law, that we should be shut up and kept under it, as in a prison.
This is a very beautiful and extremely appropriate simile, which shows what the law accomplishes and how righteous it makes people. Therefore, it must be considered very carefully. No thief, murderer, robber, etc., who is a prisoner, loves the fetters and the hideous dungeon in which he is kept bound. Yes, if he could, he would destroy the dungeon together with the iron bands and turn it to ashes. In the dungeon he abstains from wrongdoing, but not out of good will or love of justice, but because the dungeon hinders him. And now that he is imprisoned, he does not detest and hate his sin and thievery (yes, he is heartily sorry that he is not free and cannot steal), but he hates his prison; if he could go out of it, he would steal as before.
The law keeps people civil and spiritual (theologice).
The law and justice from the law also have such an effect (vis), which forces us to be outwardly good, since it threatens the transgressors with corporal and life punishment. We obey the law out of fear of punishment, but unwillingly and with the greatest reluctance. But what kind of righteousness is it when you are forced to refrain from doing evil out of fear of punishment? Therefore, this righteousness of works is really nothing other than loving sin, hating righteousness, abhorring God with His law, and worshipping the highest wickedness. For as much as a thief may keep his dungeon
If we love the law and hate theft, we will gladly obey it and do what it commands and refrain from doing what it forbids.
In the meantime, the law has this benefit, however ungodly the hearts may remain, that it first of all keeps thieves, murderers and publicly ungodly people in check to some extent, externally and civilly. For if these did not have the admittedly small faith that sin in the world would be punished with the wheel, the cross, the sword, and after this life with eternal death and hell, then no authority, no householder or disciplinarian (paedagogus) could restrain the rage of men with any force, with any laws or bonds. But by the threats of the law, which instill terror in the minds, the wicked are deterred to some extent, so that they do not suddenly plunge into all kinds of outrages. In the meantime, they would rather have no law, no punishment, no hell, and even no God. If God had no hell and did not punish the wicked, then everyone would love and praise Him. But because He punishes the wicked, and all are wicked, therefore, if they are closed under the law, they must, and it cannot be otherwise, hate God and blaspheme to the utmost.
Secondly, the law closes people not only in a civil but also in a spiritual way, that is, the law is also a spiritual dungeon and in truth a hell, because when it reveals sin, threatens death and the eternal wrath of God, man cannot escape, nor can he find comfort. For it is not in the power of man to shake off this terrible horror which the law brings about, or any other sadness of heart. Hence come the miserable words and lamentations of the saints everywhere in the Psalms [Ps. 6:6.), "Who will thank thee in hell?" etc. For man is then locked in the dungeon, from which he cannot come out, nor does he see how he can be released from these bonds, that is, freed from this terror.
550 Thus the law is a civil and a spiritual prison. For first, in its civil use, it hinders and shuts up the wicked, so that they cannot without fear
(praecipites) can commit all deeds of shame according to their desires. Secondly, it shows us spiritually the sin, frightens and humbles us, so that we, thus frightened, recognize our misery and our damnation. And this is the right and proper use of the law, only it should not last permanently, because this locking up and keeping under the law should not last longer than until the future faith; when that has come, then this spiritual imprisonment should cease.
Here we see again that the law and the gospel, which are widely separated from each other, and are more separated from each other than such things as are totally contradictory (contradictoria, e.g. fire and water etc.), are very close to each other in heart 1). Such Paul indicates by saying, "We were kept under the law, and shut up unto the faith to come." Therefore it is not enough that we are shut up under the law, for if nothing else followed we would have to despair, die in our sins etc., but Paul adds that we are shut up and kept under restraint under the disciplinarian (the law), not for eternity, but unto Christ, who is the end of the law.
Therefore, this being terrified, this humiliation and being kept under the law should not last forever, but only until the future faith, that is, for our salvation and for our good, so that when we are terrified by the law, grace, the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from the law, sin, death etc. may become sweet to us, all of which cannot be received by works, but is taken by faith alone etc.
553 Whoever then knows how to combine these things, which are utterly opposed to each other, in the challenge, that is, whoever then, when he is frightened to the utmost by the law, knows that the end of the law and the beginning of grace or of the faith to come are present, uses the law rightly.
554. all the wicked understand this art
1) This statement seems to contradict what was said at the end of § 471. However, the contradiction is only apparent and must be put right according to § 553, but especially according to § 558. Compare also § 420.
not. Cain did not know about it when he, locked in the dungeon of the Law, felt his sin seriously. At first he was outside the prison, that is, he felt no terror, even since he had already committed the fratricide, but he pretended tremendously and thought that even God Himself knew nothing about it. He said [Gen. 4:9], "Shall I be my brother's keeper?" But when he heard the word, "What have you done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the earth," etc. then began he to feel this prison earnestly. What was he doing here? He remained locked in the dungeon, he did not connect the gospel with the law, but said [v. 13]: "My sin is greater than this, that it may be forgiven me." He looked at the prison alone, but did not pay attention to the fact that the sin was revealed to him for his own sake, so that he might seek mercy from God. Therefore, he despaired and said that he had no God. He did not believe that he was closed to grace and faith, but was under the law.
555 But these words, "to be kept and shut up under the law," are not idle words, which serve only for mental games or school quarrels (speculabilia seu sophistica), but true and serious ones. For this prison or dungeon means right and spiritual terror, by which the conscience is so closed that it cannot find a place in the whole world where it would like to be safe. Indeed, as long as this terror lasts, the conscience feels such great fear that it thinks that heaven and earth, even if they were ten times larger, are narrower than a mouse hole. Then man is completely stripped of all wisdom, abandoned by all powers, all justice, counsel and help. For the conscience is an exceedingly tender thing, therefore, when it is thus closed up by the dungeon of the law, there is nowhere open for it to escape, but it seems to it that this distress is continually increased ad infinitum. For then he feels the wrath of God, which is infinite, whose hand he cannot escape, as the 139th Psalm, v. 7, says: "Where shall I go before thy spirit?" etc.
556) Just as the lock-up or the dungeon is a plague of the body in civil terms,
by which the shut-in is deprived of the use of his body, so spiritually the dungeon is the anguish and anguish of the heart, by which the shut-in is deprived of peace in the conscience and tranquility in the heart, yet not forever, as reason judges when it feels this dungeon, but to the future faith. Therefore, a mind that is closed under the law must be comforted in this way: Dear brother, you are indeed shut up, but you should know that this does not happen so that you are kept shut up in this dungeon forever, because it is written that we are shut up to the faith to come. Thou shalt not therefore be afflicted with this prison unto thy destruction, but that thou mayest be refreshed through the seed wherein the blessing is given; thou shalt be put to death by the law, that thou mayest be made alive by Christ.
Therefore do not despair like Cain, Saul and Judas, who, being shut up in this prison, added nothing else, but remained in this prison, and therefore despaired. You must keep yourself in this terror of conscience differently from them, namely, that you know that it has happened to you for the best that you are thus shut up and put to shame; [do not despair] but see to it that you use this prison rightly, namely, on the future faith. For God does not want you to be put in fear so that you remain in this fear; He does not want to kill you so that you remain in death. He says through the prophet Ezekiel [Cap. 33, 11]: "I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner," etc., but He wants you to fall into fear, so that you may be humbled and realize that you are in need of God's mercy and Christ's good deeds.
Therefore this custody under the law must not be eternal, but only last until faith, as also this exceedingly lovely saying in the 147th Psalm [v. 11] teaches: "The Lord is pleased with those who fear him," that is, who are decided under this custody of the law, but he immediately adds: "Who wait for his goodness. These two oppose each other-\
These two things must therefore be connected, even though they are quite different in substance. For what is more contrary to each other than to fear and detest the wrath of God and yet hope in his goodness? The one is hell, the other heaven, and yet they must be closely connected in the heart. It is very easy to bring them together in thought (speculative), but to bring them together in practice (practical) is the most difficult thing that I have often experienced. The papists and the founders of sects know nothing at all about this. Therefore, when they hear or read Paul's words, they are completely dark and incomprehensible to them, and when the law shows them sin, accuses them and frightens them, they find neither advice nor help, but despair like Cain and Saul.
559 Since the law, as I have said, is our tormentor and prisoner, it is certain that we do not love it, but hate it intensely. Therefore, whoever says he loves the law is lying and does not know what he is saying. For a thief or robber who loved his dungeon and bonds would be senseless and mad. But since the law, as I have said, shuts us up, it is certain that we are its bitterest enemies. In short, we love 1) the law and its righteousness as much as a murderer loves the dungeon. How then should we be justified by the law?
Closed to the faith that was to be revealed.
This is what Paul says about the time of fulfillment when Christ came. But apply this not only to that time, but also to your heart; for what happened historically and at the time when Christ came and abolished the law and brought freedom and eternal life to light, this happens especially (privately) daily in a spiritual way in every Christian, in whom the time of the law and the time of grace are found alternately. For the Christian has a body in the members of which, as Paul says, sin is at war (militat). By sin, however, I do not understand only that which is put into action by the deed, but the root and the tree with its fruits,
1) Wittenberger: amans instead of: amamus.
as the Scripture is wont to speak of sin. It not only attaches itself to the flesh of those who are Christians and baptized, but also contends with them and takes the flesh captive; even if it does not cause them to consent to sin or to put it into practice, it nevertheless makes strong attempts and provokes them.
For although a Christian does not fall into such gross sins as murder, adultery, theft etc., he is not free from impatience, grumbling, hatred, blasphemy etc. against God. These sins are completely unknown to human reason. These sins force a man, even against his will, to detest the law, they force him to flee from the face of God, they force him to hate and blaspheme against God. For just as in a young body lust is strong, in a man the desire for honor and wealth, in old age avarice, so in a holy man impatience, grumbling, hatred and blasphemy against God are strong. There are many examples of this everywhere in the Psalms, Job, Jeremiah and in all of Scripture. That is why Paul, in describing this spiritual battle, uses very emphatic and significant words, namely: to contend, to resist and to take captive.
562 Thus, in a Christian, both the time of the law and the time of grace are in the heart. 2) The time of the law is when the law drives me, troubles me, makes me sad, and brings me to the knowledge of sin and increases it. Then the law is in its right use, which a Christian feels continuously as long as he lives. Thus Paul was given a stake in the flesh, namely Satan's angel, who beat him with fists. He would have liked to have joy in his conscience, a happy heart and the bliss (gustum) of eternal life at every moment, and would also have liked to be free of all fear of the heart, and therefore wished that this temptation would be taken away from him. But this does not happen, but he must hear from the Lord [2 Cor. 12:9.], "Be satisfied with my grace, for my power is mighty in the weak."
Every Christian experiences the same struggle. There are many hours in which I struggle with God.
2) Wittenberger: "Leetu instead of: aMetu.
and impatiently resist Him. I dislike the wrath and judgment of God. On the other hand, he dislikes my impatience, my grumbling, etc. and this is the time of the law, under which the Christian, according to the flesh, is always. For the flesh lusteth continually against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; but in the one more, in the other less.
The time of grace is when the heart is restored by the promise of God's mercy through grace, and says [Ps. 42:6]: "Why do you grieve, my soul, and are so troubled within me? Seest thou then nothing but the law, sin, terror, sorrow, despair, death, hell, and the devil? Is there not also grace, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, comfort, joy, peace, life, heaven, Christ, God? Stop, my soul, being restless within me. What is the law, sin and all evil in comparison? Hope in God, who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him to die on the Cross for your sins.
565 This then is to be shut up under the law according to the flesh, not for ever, but unto Christ to come. Therefore, if thou art terrified by the law, say, Woman law, thou art not alone, neither art thou all; but apart from thee there is something greater and better, namely, grace, faith, blessing etc. These do not accuse, frighten or condemn me, but comfort me, tell me to take care of everything good, and promise me certain victory and blessedness in Christ. Therefore, there is no reason for me to despair.
He who understands this art well would rightly be called a theologian. The enthusiasts of today, who constantly boast of the spirit, and their disciples think that they can do this very well. I and my kind, however, have hardly the first rudiments of this art, but are diligent students in the school where this art is learned. One learns, but as long as the flesh and sin remain, this cannot be learned.
567 Thus a Christian is divided between two times. If he is flesh, he is under the law; if he is spirit, he is under the law.
Grace. The flesh is always affected by evil desire, avarice, ambition, arrogance etc.; it is affected by ignorance and contempt of God, impatience, grumbling and anger against God, that he hinders our plans and noble deeds, that he does not punish the wicked and despisers immediately etc. Such sins cling to the flesh of the saints. Therefore, if you look to nothing but the flesh, you will remain continually under the time of the law. But these days must be shortened, otherwise no flesh would be saved. The end of the law must be prescribed, since it must cease. Therefore the time of the law is not eternal, but has an end, which is Christ. But the time of grace is eternal, because Christ, having died once, dies no more. etc. [He is eternal, therefore also the time of grace is eternal.
568 We do not have to run drowsily over such wonderful sayings in Paul's writings, as the papists and the masters of the rot are wont to do. For they contain words of life that wonderfully comfort and strengthen the afflicted conscience, and those who hold them righteously can judge correctly what is faith, what is right and what is wrong fear, likewise they can judge everything that men do according to their own inclination, and are able to distinguish all spirits. The fear of God is something holy and delicious, but it should not be eternal. It must always be there in every Christian, because there is always sin in him, but it must not be fine alone, otherwise it is the fear of Cain, Saul and Judas, that is, a servile fear that leads to despair.
Therefore, a Christian, believing in the word of grace, must overcome fear, turn away his eyes from the time of the law and look only to Christ and the faith to come. Then fear becomes sweet, and is mixed with heavenly potion (nectare), so that man begins not only to fear God, but also to love Him. Otherwise, if man only looks at the law and sin, without faith, he cannot cast out fear, but will finally despair.
570 Thus Paul beautifully distinguishes the time of the law and the time of grace. Also
Let us learn to distinguish the time of the two properly, not with words, but from the heart, which is the most difficult thing. For although these two are very far from each other in the matter, yet they are very closely connected in one and the same heart. For nothing is more closely connected than fear and confidence, law and gospel, sin and grace. For they are so connected with each other that one consumes the other. Therefore, no mathematical connection can be found that is similar to this.
From the passage [v. 19]: "What then is the law for?" Paul began to speak of the law, as well as of the use and abuse of the law, and thus had the occasion to claim that righteousness is granted to those who believe through grace and the promise, not through the law. This bargain brought about the question, "What then is the law for?" For when reason hears that righteousness or blessing is obtained through grace and the promise, it immediately concludes, "So the law is of no use.
572 Therefore the doctrine of the law must be diligently considered as to what and how we are to think of the law, lest we either reject it altogether, as the enthusiasts did, who in 1525, when they stirred up the peasant revolt, said that evangelical liberty made men free from all laws; or lest we attribute to it the power that it can make righteous. For both sin against the law; on the right, those who want to be justified by the law, on the left, those who want to be entirely free from the law. We must therefore take the middle road, so that we neither reject the law altogether, nor attach to it more than is due.
What I have often said above about the twofold use of the law, the secular and the spiritual, shows sufficiently that the law is not given to the righteous, but, as Paul teaches elsewhere [1 Tim. 1:9], to the unrighteous. Now there are two kinds of unrighteous, namely, those who desire to be righteous and those who do not. Those who do not desire to be righteous are made unrighteous by the civil custom of the law.
law are kept in check. For they must be bound with the bands of the laws, just as cruel and wild beasts are bound with cords and chains. This custom never ends; Paul is not talking about it here. But those who desire to be justified are afflicted for a time by the spiritual custom of the law. For this custom does not last forever, as the civil one does, but is foreseen for the faith to come, and has its end when Christ comes.
From this it is quite clear that all the sayings in which Paul speaks of the spiritual use of the law must be understood by those who desire to be justified, not by those who have already been justified. For the justified, if they remain in Christ, are far outside all laws and above them. Therefore the law must be laid down for those who desire to be justified, only so that they may be kept under it until the righteousness of faith comes, not that they should attain this righteousness through the law, for that would be to abuse the law, but not to use it rightly; but so that, frightened and humbled by the law, they may take refuge in Christ, who is the end of the law, for the righteousness of all those who believe in him.
575 Therefore, first of all, all sanctimonious workers and hypocrites, who dream that men are justified by the law, abuse the law. For this custom does not drive and penetrate to the future faith, but makes full, sure and arrogant hypocrites, who boast and are presumptuous because of the righteousness and works of the law, and hinders the righteousness of faith.
Secondly, the law is abused by those who want to completely disassociate the Christians from the law, as the enthusiasts did and therefore aroused the peasants' revolt. And nowadays many of our people do the same, who, redeemed from the tyranny of the papacy by the teaching of the Gospel, dream that Christian freedom is a carnal licentiousness to do anything. These, as Peter says [1 Ep. 2, 16], make spiritual liberty the cover of wickedness, so that today the name
God and the gospel of Christ is blasphemed everywhere, and therefore they will have to suffer the deserved punishment of their godlessness.
Thirdly, those who feel the terror of the law, but do not realize that it should last only until Christ, also abuse it. With these, abuse is the cause of despair, as with hypocrites it is the cause of pride and presumption.
578 On the other hand, the right use of the law cannot be considered sufficiently exquisite, because the conscience, which is closed under the law, does not despair, but, instructed by the Holy Spirit, wisely thinks in the midst of terror: I am indeed closed under the law, but not forever; indeed, this closure will be for my good. In what way? That I, thus shut up, desire the hand of the helper and seek it etc.
579 In this way the law is as it were a driver that drives the hungry to Christ, that he may fill them with his goods. Therefore, the true function of the law is to make us guilty, to humiliate us, to kill us, to lead us to hell, and to take everything from us, but with the intention that we may be justified, exalted, made alive, led to heaven, and obtain everything. Therefore, do not merely kill, but kill to life.
V. 24. So the law has been our disciplinarian on Christ.
Again, he connects in his heart the law and the gospel, which are separated in the widest sense, since he says: "The law is our disciplinarian on Christ. But this simile of the disciplinarian is also an excellent one, therefore it must be considered carefully.
Although a disciplinarian is very useful and necessary to educate and teach children, provide me with only one child, or one student, who loves his disciplinarian. Did the Jews love their Moses very much and gladly do what he commanded? Their love and obedience for Moses was such that, as history testifies, they were happy to punish him at any hour.
nigt would have. Therefore, it is impossible for a disciple to love his disciplinarian. For how could he love him by whom he is kept in prison, that is, by whom he is not permitted to do what he would like to do? And if he sins (admittit) something against his orders, he is immediately scolded and chastised, and must also take the rod and kiss it. O, a splendid justice of the pupil, that he obeys the harsh and hard disciplinarian, that he kisses the rod! But he does not even do this willingly and gladly; if the disciplinarian is not there, he breaks the rod or throws it into the fire, and if he had power over the disciplinarian, he would not let himself be prodded by him with rods, but would order that he be prodded with rods. And yet a child is in great need of a disciplinarian to instruct him and discipline him. Otherwise, without this discipline, instruction and good habituation, the child would perish.
582 Thus a child is given a disciplinarian to instruct and guard it, and to keep it imprisoned, as it were, in a dungeon. For what purpose and for how long? Is it so that this harsh and spiteful rule of the disciplinarian and the bondage of the child will last forever? Not at all, but until the predetermined time, so that this obedience, imprisonment and discipline may serve the child for the best, so that he may become heir and king in his time. For it is not the Father's will that his son should be forever subject to the disciplinarian and be struck with rods by him, but that through his instruction and discipline he should become fit to take up his inheritance.
So the law is nothing else, Paul says, but a disciplinarian, not forever, but for Christ, as he also said above in other words [v. 19]: "The law came for sins, until the seed should come" etc. Likewise [v. 22.], "The scripture hath decreed it all under sin, that the promise might come" etc. Likewise [v. 23.], "We were kept under the law, and shut up unto the faith that should be revealed." Therefore the law is not a disciplinarian par excellence, but upon Christ. For what kind of a disciplinarian should it be, who only afflicted a child, and
and the same taught nothing? Such disciplinarians existed before that time, when the schools were really a dungeon and a hell, and the schoolmasters were tyrants and carnifices. They were constantly pushing the children; they learned with a lot of work and untiring diligence, but very few had any benefit from it. The law is not such a disciplinarian, for it not only frightens and torments, as an unteachable and foolish disciplinarian only prods and teaches the children nothing, but it drives them to Christ with its blows, as a good disciplinarian beats, teaches, and trains the children in reading and writing, with the intention that they come to know good sciences and other respectable things and later do with pleasure what they did unwillingly before, when they were forced under the disciplinarian.
With this beautiful parable Paul shows the right use of the law, namely, that it does not make the hypocrites righteous, because they remain in presumption and security apart from Christ, and again, that it does not leave the frightened in death and condemnation when they use the law in this way, as Paul teaches, but drives them to Christ. But those who in such fear persist in their pusillanimity and do not take hold of Christ in faith must finally despair.
585 Thus Paul clearly depicts the true custom of the law through this image (allegoria) of the disciplinarian. For just as he chides, drives and saddens children, not with the intention that this discipline should last forever, but that it should cease when the children have been properly brought up and instructed, and so that they may later enjoy freedom and paternal goods happily and freely without the restraint of the disciplinarian: so let those who are frightened and crushed by the law know that this fright and crushing will not be forever, but that they will thereby be prepared for the future Christ and spiritual freedom etc.
That we might be justified by faith.
586 The law is a disciplinarian, not that it drives to another lawgiver who requires good works, but to Christ,
who justifies and saves, so that we may be justified by faith in him, not by works. But when man feels the power of the law, he does not understand and believe it. That is why he tends to say, "I have lived condemned, for I have transgressed all the commandments of God, and therefore I am guilty of eternal death. If God would add a few more years to my life, or at least a few more months, I would amend my life and then live holy.
Man makes an abuse of the right use of the law, and, putting Christ out of sight, he looks around for another lawgiver. For reason, when seized in this terror and fear, dares to promise God the fulfillment of all the works of the whole law. And therefore so many sects of monks have arisen, so many services have been instituted, so many works have been devised to merit grace and forgiveness of sins, and those who devised this have been of the opinion that the law is not a disciplinarian on Christ, but on a new law or on Christ as the lawgiver, not on Christ as the end of the law.
588 But the right use of the law is, that I may know that by the law I am brought to the knowledge of sin, and am humbled, that I may come to Christ, and be justified by faith. Now faith is not a law nor a work, but the certain confidence that takes hold of Christ, who is the end of the law, Rom. 10:4. In what way? Not that he abolishes the old law and brings a new one, or is a judge who must be reconciled by works, as the papists taught, but "he is the end of the law, he who believes in him is righteous," the law cannot accuse him etc. This is the power and right custom of the law. Therefore it is good, holy, useful and necessary, if only it is used rightly.
589. But the hypocrites abuse the law first, who ascribe to it the power to make righteous; then also those who despair, who do not know that the law is a disciplinarian of Christ, that is, do not know that the law humiliates, not to our destruction, but to salvation.
For God strikes that He may heal, He kills that He may make alive etc.
But Paul, as I have reminded you above, speaks of those who are to be justified, not of those who are already justified. Therefore, if you want to deal with the law, you must take such a person before you as the one with whom the law has to do (materiam legis), namely a sinner and ungodly man, whom the law does not make righteous, but puts sin before his eyes, breaks him down and brings him to self-knowledge, shows him hell, the wrath and the judgment of God. This is the actual office of the law.
591 Then follows the custom of this office, that the sinner may know that the law reveals the sins and does not humble him, so that he may despair, but that it may drive him to the Savior and Comforter Christ by its accusation and crushing. When this happens, he is no longer under the disciplinarian, and this custom is very necessary; for since the whole world is under sin, this service of the law is necessary, that it reveal sin, otherwise without it no one could attain to righteousness, as we have said in detail above.
592 But what does the law accomplish for those who are justified by Christ? Paul answers with these words, which are, as it were, a kind of addition:
V. 25. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the disciplinarian.
That is, we are free from the law, from the dungeon, and from our disciplinarian, for he no longer terrifies and torments us after faith is revealed.
594 Paul is speaking here of the faith that was preached through Christ at the appointed time. For Christ, having assumed human nature, came once at the appointed time, abolished the law with all its effects, and by his death freed all those who take hold of his benefits in faith from sin and eternal death. So when you look at Christ and what he has accomplished, there is no longer any law. For since he came at the predestined time, he actually did right.
(verissime) the whole law is abolished. But since the law is abolished, we are no longer kept under its tyranny, but live safely and joyfully under Christ, who now reigns in us with his Spirit in a loving way. But where the Lord is, there is liberty [2 Cor. 3:17].
Therefore, if we could fully grasp Christ, who has abolished the law and reconciled us sinners to the Father through his death, this disciplinarian would have no right over us. But the law in our members contradicts the law in our minds, so that we cannot grasp Christ perfectly. The defect, therefore, is not in Christ, but in us, who have not yet put off the flesh, to which sin clings as long as we live. Thus, as far as we are concerned, we are partly free from the law and partly under the law. We serve, with Paul, "with the mind the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin", Rom. 7, 25.
It follows that we are completely free from the law according to conscience. Therefore, the disciplinarian does not have to rule in it, that is, he does not have to be burdensome to it with his terrors, threats and imprisonment, and as much as it may try to do so, the conscience is not troubled by it, because it has Christ, the crucified, before its eyes, who has taken away from the conscience everything that the law has to do with (omnia officia legis), Col. 2:14: "And has blotted out the handwriting that was against us, which was by statutes" etc. Just as a virgin knows nothing of a man, so the conscience must not only know nothing of the law, but must even be completely dead to it, and again the law to the conscience. This is not by works or any righteousness of the law, but by faith which takes hold of Christ.
597 In fact, sin still clings to the flesh, which continually accuses and troubles the conscience. Thus, as far as the flesh remains, the law also remains a disciplinarian, which continually frightens and saddens the conscience by denouncing sin and threatening death.
598. But it is always raised up again by the daily coming (adventu) of Christ, who, as he once came into the world at the appointed time to redeem us from the exceedingly hard rule of our disciplinarian, so comes to us daily in a spiritual way, having to do with it, that we may grow in faith and in the knowledge of Him, so that the conscience may more perfectly grasp Christ from day to day, and that from day to day the law of the flesh and of sin, the fear of death, and all the evils which the law brings with it, may be more and more diminished. For as long as we live in the flesh, which is not without sin, the law returns again and again and does its work, in some more, in others less, depending on whether they have weak or strong faith, but not to destruction but to salvation. For this is what the law accomplishes (exercitium) in the saints, the daily slaying of the flesh, of reason and of our powers, and the renewing of our minds, Eph. 4:23.
So we receive the firstfruits of the spirit, the leaven is hidden in the dough, but the dough is not yet leavened, but has only begun to ferment. When I look at the leaven, I see nothing but mere leaven; but when I look at the whole dough, it is not yet mere leaven. That is, when I look at Christ, I am completely holy and pure, knowing nothing of the law, for Christ is my leaven. But when I look at my flesh, I feel avarice, unchastity, anger, arrogance, fear of death, sadness, terror, hatred, grumbling and impatience against God. If these are present, Christ is not present, or if he is present, he is only weakly present. Here a disciplinarian is still needed, who will train and afflict the strong ass, the flesh, so that through this discipline the sins will be diminished and the way prepared for Christ. For Christ, as he once came in time bodily, abolished the whole law, took away sin, death and hell.
1) Here, the Jena and Erlangen editions have: psrteetiuk 86 Otiri8tum. We have erased the 86 with the Wittenberg.
destroyed. Thus, he comes to us in a spiritual way without ceasing and constantly eradicates and kills these things in us.
600. I say this so that you will know how to answer when they say to you: Christ came into the world, and all at once took away all our sins by cleansing us with his blood: why then do we hear the gospel, what need is there of absolution and the sacrament? It is true that if you look at Christ, the law and sin are indeed taken away. But Christ has not yet come to you, or if he has come, there are still remnants of sin in you, you are not yet completely leavened. For where there is still evil desire, sadness of spirit, fear of death, etc. there is still law and sin, Christ is not yet there in truth; when he comes, he casts out fear and sadness and brings peace and security of conscience. Therefore, as far as I take hold of Christ in faith, so far is the law removed from me. But my flesh, the world and the devil do not allow faith to be perfect. I would like the little light of faith in my heart to be spread through the whole body and all the members. But this does not happen, it is not spread out immediately, but only the beginning is made that it is spread out. In the meantime, our comfort is that since we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we have begun to be leavened, but we will be leavened completely when this sinful body is dissolved and we are raised anew with Christ.
Although Christ is yesterday and today, and the same also for eternity [Heb. 13:8], and although Adam and all the blessed before Christ had the gospel and faith, yet Christ came only once at the predetermined time, also faith came only once, when the apostles preached the gospel throughout the whole world. Then Christ also comes daily in a spiritual way, faith also comes daily through the word of the Gospel. When faith is present, the disciplinarian with his sad and burdensome ministry must leave. But Christ comes in a spiritual way, when we are more and more
and understand more and more what is given to us by him, and we grow in grace and in his knowledge, 2 Petr. 3, 18.
V. 26. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ.
Paul, as an exceedingly good teacher of faith, always has these words in his mouth: "through faith", "in faith", "from the faith that is in Christ Jesus" etc. He does not say, You are children of God because you are circumcised, have heard the law and done its works, as the Jews dreamed and the false apostles taught, but, "By faith in Christ JEsum." The law (much less human statutes) does not make children of God, it cannot beget a new being or cause a new birth, but it sets before us the old birth, by which we are born into the devil's kingdom, and thus prepares us for the new birth, which takes place through faith in Christ JEsum, not through the law, as Paul testifies most clearly: "Ye are all the children of God through faith" etc., as if he wanted to say: Although you were afflicted, humiliated and killed by the law, it did not make you righteous, did not make you children of God, but faith. Which faith? Faith in Christ. So faith in Christ makes God's children, not the law. The same is testified by the Gospel of St. John, Cap. 1, 12: "He has given them power to become children of God who believe in His name.
I leave it to the speakers to elaborate and exalt this passage of the unspeakable grace and glory that we have in Christ, namely, that we poor sinners, who are by nature children of wrath, attain to this glory, that believing in Christ we become children and heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, and lords of heaven and earth; although no tongue, neither that of man nor of angel, can praise this glory highly enough.
For as many of you as have been baptized have put on Christ.
604. "Put on Christ" can be understood in two ways, according to the Law and according to the Gospel. According to the law, as Rom.
13, 14: "Draw on the Lord Jesus Christ," that is, follow the example and virtues of Christ, do and suffer what he himself did and suffered. So also 1 Pet. 2:21: "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his footsteps." But we see that in Christ there is the highest patience, gentleness, love, and an admirable moderation in all things. We are to put on this adornment of Christ, that is, to follow these virtues of his. In this way we should also follow other saints.
605. But to put on Christ in an evangelical way is not by discipleship, but by a new birth and creation, that is, to be clothed with Christ Himself, that is, with His innocence, righteousness, wisdom, power, salvation, life, Spirit etc. We are clothed with Adam's robe of skins, which is a robe of death (mortalis tunica) and a garment of sin, that is, we are all subject to sin and sold under it. In us is a frightful blindness, ignorance concerning God, contempt and hatred of God. Then we are full of evil lust, impurity, avarice etc. This clothing, that is, this depraved and sinful nature, which Paul used to call the old man, we have inherited through the birth (propagatione) of Adam. This must be taken off together with its works, Eph. 4, 22. Col. 3, 9. so that we become children of God from Adam's children.
606 This is not done by a change of garment, not by any laws or works, but by the regeneration and renewal that takes place in baptism, as Paul says: "As many of you as were baptized have put on Christ"; likewise Titus 3:5: "According to his mercy he made us blessed by the bath of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit". For in those who are baptized, besides being born again and renewed by the Holy Spirit in baptism to heavenly righteousness and eternal life, there also arises a new light and a new flame, new and godly dispositions, fear of God, confidence in God, hope in God, and a new spirit.
etc., a new will arises. This is what it really means to attract Christ in a true and evangelical way.
Therefore, in baptism, not the garment of righteousness of the law or of our works is given, but Christ becomes our garment. He is not a law, not a lawgiver, not a work, but a divine and ineffable gift, which the Father gave us, that he might be our justifier, quickener, and redeemer. Therefore, to put on Christ in an evangelical way is not to put on the law and works, but to put on the inestimable gift, namely the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, peace, comfort, joy in the Holy Spirit, salvation, life and Christ Himself.
speak disgracefully and ungodly of it. Paul, on the other hand, adorns baptism with glorious names, calling it a bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5; and here he says that all who are baptized have put on Christ, as if to say: Ye have not received by baptism a mere outward sign (tesseram), by which ye are received into the number of Christians, as in our time many enthusiasts have held, who have made of baptism only an outward sign, that is, a short-lived and empty sign; but he says, "As many as are baptized of you have put on Christ," that is, ye are taken out of the law, and put into a new birth, which was effected in baptism. Therefore you are no longer under the law, but in a new garment, that is, you are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
So Paul teaches that baptism is not a sign, but a garment of Christ, even that Christ himself is our garment. Therefore, baptism is the most powerful and effective.
But if we have put on Christ as the garment of our righteousness and our blessedness, we shall also put on Christ as the garment of discipleship. I have dealt with this more fully elsewhere, so I will touch on it only briefly now.
V. 28. Here is neither Jew nor Greek, here is neither bond nor free, here is neither male nor female.
Here one can name even more names of persons and offices, which are ordered by God, than, here is no authority nor subject, here is no teacher nor hearer, here is no disciplinarian nor pupil, here is no woman nor maidservant, because in Christ Jesus all ranks, even those that God has ordered, are nothing. Man, woman, servant, free man, Jew, Gentile, king, subject etc. are indeed good creatures of God, but in Christ, that is, in the matter of salvation they are nothing with all their wisdom, righteousness, worship, power.
Therefore, with these words, "There is no Jew here," etc. Paul most strongly abolishes the law. For here, where a new man is made in baptism, and Christ is put on, there is neither Jew nor Greek etc. But here the apostle speaks of a Jew, not as a naturalist speaks of it (physice), according to the natural essence (substantiam), but he calls the one Jew who is a disciple of Moses, subject to the laws, who is circumcised and keeps with the greatest diligence the divine service commanded in the law. He says, "Where Christ is put on, there is no longer a Jew, there is no longer circumcision, there is no longer worship in the temple, there are no longer laws which the Jews keep. For Christ has done away with all the laws of the scriptures of Moses in the whole world.
Therefore, a conscience that believes in Christ must be so sure that the law, with its terrors and threats, has been done away with, that it does not know at all whether there ever was a Moses, a law, or a Jew, because Christ and Moses do not agree with each other in any way. Moses comes with the law, various works and services, but Christ comes without law at all, without works, giving grace, righteousness etc. Joh. 1, 17: "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
614 Further, when he says, "There is no Greek here," he also rejects and condemns the wisdom and righteousness of the Gentiles. For among the Gentiles there were great and exceedingly excellent
Men: Xenophon, Themistocles, Marcus Fabius, Attilius Regulus, Cicero, Pomponius Atticus and many others, who, gifted with excellent and truly heroic virtues, have governed the states in the best way and have executed many things in the most excellent way for the good of the commonwealth etc. And yet all these, with their wisdom, power, exceedingly honorable deeds, glorious virtues, laws, righteousness, worship and religion (for we need not imagine that the pagans were entirely despisers of honorableness and religion, for all pagans at all times, scattered throughout the world, have had their laws, worship and religions, without which the human race cannot possibly be governed), these, I say, with all this their adornment, are nothing before God. Therefore, everything that belongs to the righteousness of the household and world regiment and the righteousness before God (divinae) (as the righteousness of the Law was), with the highest obedience, the best handling of the law and the greatest holiness, is absolutely nothing before God. What then? The garment of Christ, which we put on in baptism.
615. In such a way, a servant may perform his office with great care, be obedient to his master, serve faithfully, a suitor may in a praiseworthy manner preside over the state or the household and govern it, likewise everything that a man may do as a man, by taking a wife, presides over the household, obeys the authorities, behaves honorably toward everyone, as is proper when an honorable woman lives chastely, obeys her husband, takes care of the house diligently, brings up her children well (which are certainly highly praiseworthy and delicious gifts and works), yet all this serves nothing for righteousness before God. In short, all the laws, ceremonies, worship, righteousness and works that exist in the whole world, even among the Jews, who before others had their kingdom and priesthood instituted and ordered by God, with their laws, worship and worship practices: yet all this does not take away sins, does not deliver from death, does not make one blessed.
616 Therefore your false apostles deceive you.
stel, dear Galatians, since they teach that the law is necessary for salvation, and in this way snatch you away from the exceedingly great glory of your new birth and childship, and put you back into the old birth and the completely miserable bondage of the law, by making you from completely free children of God into servants of the law, since they want to distinguish the persons according to the law.
Of course, according to the law there is also a difference of persons before the world, and there it must be fine, but not so before God, where all men are equal. [Rom. 3, 23: "They are all sinners and lack the glory they should have in God." Therefore, before God, Jews, Gentiles and all the world must be silent. Although God has many orders, laws, statuses, and services in the world, these do not serve to merit grace and to attain eternal life. As many as are therefore justified, they are not justified because of the keeping of any human or divine law, but because of Christ, who has done away with all laws altogether. The gospel holds him up to us as the only propitiator of God's wrath, who accomplished this through his own blood and is our Savior. If one does not believe in him, he will not be saved: a Jew not by the law, a monk not by his order, a pagan not by his wisdom, the authorities or a lord not by right conduct (justitiam) in the world or house government, a servant and a maid not by their obedience etc.
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
These are very delicious and comprehensive words. In the world and according to the flesh there is a very great difference and inequality of persons, and this must be most carefully maintained. For if a woman were to be a man, a son a father, a disciple a teacher, a servant a lord, a subject a ruler, a great disorder and confusion of all ranks and things would result. In Christ, on the other hand, there is no law, no distinction of persons; there is not Jew, Greek, etc., but they are all one. For there is [Eph. 4, 4-6.] "One body and one Spirit, just as we were called to be one and the same.
Hope of our profession", one and the same gospel, "One faith, One baptism, One God and Father of all", One Christ, the Lord over all. The same Christ that Peter, Paul and all the saints have, we also have, I, you and all believers, the same also all baptized children have. So the conscience knows nothing of the law, but has only Christ before its eyes. That is why Paul always adds: "in Christ Jesus". If this is taken away from our eyes, then our salvation has been lost.
619. Nowadays, the enthusiasts speak of faith in Christ in the manner of the sophists, dreaming that it is a quality that belongs to the heart without Christ being present. This is a pernicious error. But Christ must be placed before your eyes in such a way that you see nothing at all apart from him, and believe that nothing is closer to you and more closely associated with you than he is. For he does not sit idly in heaven, but is present with us all the time, working and living in us, as is said above in Cap. 2, 20: "I live, yet now not I, but Christ lives in me," etc., and here: "Ye have put on Christ." Therefore, faith is a completely unchanging reputation (intutus), which looks to nothing else than Christ, the conqueror of sin and death and the giver of righteousness, blessedness and eternal life. Therefore, Paul presents Jesus Christ to us in his epistles almost in every verse and powerfully drives the teaching of him alone. But he presents him to us through the word, because he cannot be grasped in any other way than through faith in the word.
This is beautifully illustrated by the bronze serpent, which is an image of Christ. Moses commanded the Jews, who were bitten by the fiery serpents in the desert, to do nothing else than to look at this bronze serpent with unblinking eyes. Those who did this were healed only by the constant (fixa) sight of the serpent. The others, however, who did not obey the voice of Moses by looking at their wounds and not at the serpent, died. Thus, if I am to receive consolation in the battle of conscience or in mortal distress, I must receive nothing else at all.
take hold of the one Christ in faith and say: I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who suffered, was crucified and died for me, etc. In whose wounds and death I see my sin, in his resurrection the victory over sin, death and the devil, likewise righteousness and eternal life. Apart from him I will neither hear nor see anything. This is the right Christian faith and the right faith in Christ, through which we become members of his body, of his flesh and legs. So we live, weave and are in him.
For this reason, the speculative play on the faith of the enthusiasts, who dream that Christ is only in a spiritual way, that is, in that we have thoughts of him (speculative), but in reality and truth (realiter) he is in heaven, is a vain and ungodly play on thoughts (speculatio). Christ and faith must be absolutely connected with each other; we must be in heaven (versari) and Christ must be in us, live and work. He lives and works in us not only in our thoughts (speculative), but in fact and truth, completely present and exceedingly powerful.
V. 29. But if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
That is, if you believe and are baptized into Christ, if you believe (I say) that he is the promised seed of Abraham, who brought blessing to all nations, then you are Abraham's children, not by nature, but adopted children. For the Scripture gives him not only children according to the flesh, but also adopted children and children according to the promise, and says beforehand that these shall obtain the inheritance, but those shall be cast out of the house. Thus Paul, by a brief word, transfers all the glory of Lebanon, that is, of the Jewish people, to the wilderness, that is, to the Gentiles.
This passage contains an exceedingly rich consolation, namely that the Gentiles are to be Abraham's children and consequently also God's children. But they are Abraham's children, not by fleshly procreation, but by promise. So the kingdom of heaven, which belongs to
Life and eternal inheritance to the Gentiles, and this was indicated by the Scriptures long before, when they say [Gen. 17:4, Rom. 4:17]: "I have made thee the father of many nations," and likewise [Gen. 22:18]: "Through thy seed shall all nations be blessed." Because we Gentiles thus believe, and by faith accept the blessing promised to Abraham and given through Christ, therefore the Scriptures call us Abraham's children and heirs, not according to the flesh, but according to the promise. Thus the promise: "Through your seed" also belongs to all Gentiles, and Christ also belongs to us according to this promise.
624 The promise was made to the Jews alone, not to us Gentiles, as the 147th Psalm, v. 19, 20, says: "He shows Jacob the way.
his word. He does not do this to a Gentile" etc. But that which is promised has come upon us through faith, by which alone the promise of God is grasped. Although it has not been promised to us, it has been promised about us. For we are called by name in the promise: "Through your seed" etc. For the promise clearly shows that Abraham will not only be the father of the Jewish people, but of many nations, and that he will be the heir, not only of one kingdom, but of the whole world, Rom. 4:13.
625 Thus the glory of the whole kingdom of Christ is transferred to us. Therefore, in the heart and conscience of a Christian, all the laws are completely abolished, but they remain outwardly in the flesh, as mentioned above in detail.