4. The two sources of knowledge of the actually existing religions.
Just as there are, in terms of content, only two essentially different religions, the religion of the Law or of one's own works and the religion of the Gospel or of faith in Christ, so there are also only two different sources of knowledge (principia cognoscendi) from which the actually existing religions are drawn. The religion of the law in its various forms outside and inside the external
56) 1 Tim. 6:3ff.<w:t>57) Quenstedt, I, 57.
58) Cf. the quotation from Anselm's Cur Deus Homo, II, note 1050.
59) Quote from Abälard's exposition of the Letter to the Romans, II, note 1005.
60) R. Seeberg also rightly points out that Anselm and Abelard move on the same rationalistic ground. Both place ratio next to fides. Dogmengesch. II, 41 f.
61) Detailed exposition under the section "More detailed description of modern theories of reconciliation" II, 429 ff.
20 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 19-20]
Christianity people have from themselves. It is of human origin, man-made religion. The scripture points to this human origin of the multiform religion of the law very emphatically. What the Scripture says about this, we summarize here again in a little further elaboration under the following three points: First, even after the fall, men still have a knowledge of the divine law. They know of God's righteousness, τό δικαίωμα του θεοϋ έπιγνόντες.62) The work required by the divine law, even if they do not have the law revealed in Scripture, stands written in their hearts, νόμον μη έχοντες εαυτοις είσιν νόμος, οιτινες ενδείκνυνται τό έργον του νόμου γραπτόν έν ταΐς καρδίαις αυτών,63) Secondly, they have an evil conscience because of their transgressions of the divine law. They "know that they who do such things"—namely, the previously mentioned pagan sins—"are guilty of death," τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιγνόντες ὅτι οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντες ἄξιοι θανάτου εἰσίν.64) Hence, thirdly, by moral endeavors, and by services and sacrifices devised by them, they think they ought to and can propitiate God, even if they have to write on the altar, "To the unknown God," άγνώστφ θεφ.65) It should be noted again the words of The Apology: Haec opinio legis (that grace may be obtained by works) haeret naturaliter in animis hominum, neque excuti potest, nisi quum divinitus docemur, gerner: Sic de omnibus operibus iudicat mundus, quod sint propitiatio, qua placatur Deus.66) The apostle Paul explicitly calls the religion of the law the religion of the flesh when he calls out to the Galatians, insofar as they wanted to be justified by the law, "begun in the Spirit (πνεύματί), are ye now made perfect by the flesh (σαρκί)?"67) Luther remarks on this in his commentary on Galatians:68) “Here Paul contrasts 'spirit'
62) Rom. 1:32. God's δικαίωμα here is God's legal statute, legal determination. Cf. Stöckhardt on this passage. [Ed. — Epistle to the Romans, p. 66 f.; Schade/Stalke p. 73 f.] . Also Meyer and Philippi z. St.
63) Rom. 2:15. The Apology, p. 87, 7 [Trigl. 121, 7 🔗]: Humana ratio naturaliter intelligit aliquo modo legem, habet enim idem iudicium scriptum in mente.
64) Rom. 1:32. Stöckhardt on this passage. [Ed. — see page 67 5th line down; pg . Schade/Stahlke p. 73]: "To think with Hofmann here of the death penalty to be executed by the authorities is quite out of the way." Philippi on this passag. points to the pagan Hades doctrine with its rebuke and judges: "It is accordingly θάνατος in our place probably to be interpreted from the mors aeterna."
65) Acts 17:23.<w:t>66) M. 134, 144 [Trigl., 197, 144 🔗]; 123, 91. [Trigl. 179, 91 🔗 ]
67) Gal. 3:3.<w:t xml:space="preserve">68) St. L. IX. 288 f. Erl. Gal. I. 313.
21 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 20-21]
and 'flesh' with each other. Here, as I have already reminded you, he does not call 'flesh' lust, animal passions or sensual desires; for here he does not speak of lust or other lusts of the flesh, but of the forgiveness of sins, 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. … Therefore (here) flesh is nothing but righteousness, the wisdom of the flesh, and the thoughts of reason, which endeavors to be justified by the law.” Thus, on the basis of Scripture, it is certain that any religion that somehow seeks to turn God's grace to man through human performance is not wisdom from God, but wisdom from below, in short, "man-made."
The religion of the gospel, on the other hand, which has as its content that the Son of God became man, reconciled men to God by his work, so that men now without works of their own (χωρίς έργων νόμου), by faith in Christ's work, are saved — this religion did not originate in the human heart,έπϊ καρδίαν ανθρώπου ούκ άνέβη, but was hidden from eternity in God's heart and has become known in time only through God's revelation in the Word. The Christian religion of grace is, in the strict sense of the Word of God, God's wisdom, σοφία θεοϋ. Even the elite of mankind, the supreme ones of this world, have not come up with the idea that without man's own works, for the sake of Christ crucified, God forgives man's sin.69) In short, the Christian religion of grace is in no sense a human invention, but "God-made" and has its only source of knowledge (principium cognoscendi) in God's Word of revelation, which now the Church possesses until the Last Day in the written Word of the Apostles and Prophets.70) It therefore stands that all doctrines, even within external Christianity, by which the attainment of God's grace is made dependent on human works and "moral achievements" to various extents and under various names (Pelagianism, Semipelagianism, Synergism), are of human origin. They do not belong to the realm of divine religion revealed in the Word of God, but to the realm of man-made
69) 1 Cor. 2:6 ff. <w:t>70) Rom. 16:25. 26; Eph. 2:20; 1 Jn. 1:4.
22 ><w:t xml:space="preserve"> The nature and concept of theology. [English ed. 21-22]
religions. If they had always been marketed by their representatives under their correct predicate, "man-made," the Christian church would have been saved from much confusion, strife, and factionalism.
If we still ask since when the religion of the gospel of grace became known in the world, it must be said that it was revealed immediately after the Fall of man in the promise of the woman's seed that was to crush the serpent's head.71) That all the Old Testament prophets also in unisono taught the religion of the gospel, and that all the children of God at the time of the Old Testament believed it unanimitor, Peter testifies: "Of this (Jesus) all the prophets testify, that through his name all who believe in him should receive forgiveness of sins."72) Likewise Paul says of the righteousness which χωρίς νόμου obtains through faith in Christ: μαρτνρονμένη υπό τον νόμου και τών προφητών, Rom. 3. He brings historical proof of this in the 4th chapter of Romans. Luther's expositions about the duality of the religious sources of knowledge run through all his writings.73)