Locus 9 — Good Works
How Can Good Works prayed and he looked to God for guidance in his trou bles. Here the inner worship distinguishes the true church from the common multitude of humanity. Cicero lived an honorable life, he was well-deserving among the whole race of mankind for his role in governing the republic, indeed he even understood that there was a god, one definite eternal mind which was the cause of good, as Plato had defined him. And those graven im ages which the public worshiped had nothing of the divine about them. And yet, later on, the mind of Cicero was overwhelmed with doubt about providence, be cause he did not know the promises of God, and he doubted that he and others were heard or helped when they prayed, especially in times of calamities in which they felt that they were deserted by an angry god. The same was the case with Saul.
Be Performed?
I have often said that we must not indulge in the idle human notion that we can govern our outward be havior by human diligence and human powers and that God demands this kind of diligence, as it is written, "The Law is given for the unjust," 1 Tim. 1 [:9]; or "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit," Eph. 4[:30], But the inner obe dience cannot be bequn without knowing the Gospel and without the Holy Spirit. For, in the first place, love for God cannot exist before the hearing of the Gospel regarding forgiveness. The mind which does not know reconciliation either despises God or flees from His wrath. Therefore love cannot be begun unless one first hears the voice of the Gospel of reconciliation. These points are very clear. Therefore, in order that love may arise, faith must precede, that is, trust in God's mercy of which we have been speaking. And we also must understand that when our terrified minds are guided by faith, then at the same time the Holy Spirit is given who arouses in our hearts new desires which are in harmony with the law of God. And in this way, in Gal. 3[:14], Paul teaches that the Holy Spirit is given, "that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith," and Zechariah describes this forgiveness and these chief works of the Holy Spirit in these beautiful words [in 12:10], "I will pour out the Spirit of grace and suppli cation upon the house of David." He calls Him the "Spirit of grace" because He testifies in our hearts that God is favorable toward us, that is, He moves our hearts so that they assent to His promise and we know that we have been received by God. Then when we know the mercy of God, we invoke Him, love Him, and subject ourselves to Him. Therefore He calls Him "the Spirit of supplication," and he includes as the main aspects of our worship the universal sources of our obedience, namely, faith and supplication.
Therefore there is a difference between Cicero and Jeremiah. Jeremiah served his country, but faith enlightened this work. Jeremiah was assured that he was pleasing to God, and that his prayers were heard, and that he was under God's protection, even if he saw a great mountain of calamities threatening him—his fa therland destroyed, his fellow citizens scattered, many things which had been preserved by the clear blessing of God now cast off by Him, his own people engaged in bloody slaughters among themselves, and finally his own death. When Cicero saw such things befalling him, they overwhelmed him in darkness and unending doubt. The human mind cannot without faith know any thing other than that which is said by Lucan:
"Is nothing certain but the uncertain wandering of chance which goes this way and that, and do the affairs of mortals have an ending?"
But Jeremiah overcomes such doubts and with great constancy believes that he is pleasing to God and in this faith he seeks and awaits the happy outcome of His guidance which would follow after 70 years.
Christ gives us a precept concerning this inner worship when He says in John 4[:24], "They who truly worship the Father will worship Him in Spirit and in truth," that is, with truly spiritual motives, fear, repen tance, faith, prayer, and things of this kind. Paul calls this kind of worship "our reasonable service," Rom.
Thus, from this passage we draw our teaching and our encouragement. We should also remember that in this passage we have been commanded to per form this worship in order that we may believe in God and call upon Him. Therefore the Holy Spirit is driven out and grieved when faith has died and our prayer life upset through lapses of an evil conscience.
12[:1], that is, the mind understands God and recog nizes the wrath of God, and on the other hand sustains itself by faith, and faith even beholds the Son of God and acknowledges that we for the sake of Christ the Mediator have been accepted by God. In regard to this inner worship, Isaiah in 66[:2] attacks the hypocrites who think that worship is the outward obedience and the observance of the ceremonies of the temple, say
After the fall of the human race a great weakness came upon us, and the traps of the devil, who strives in hatred toward God against the human race and is eager to increase his own position against God through his stubborness, shamelessness, blasphemies, drives mankind into various kinds of sins because of man's weakened nature. He arouses depraved thoughts which in turn devise opinions contrary to the Word of God. He scatters the church and involves the kindgoms of the world in unjust wars. He drives the church from places where it is well received in order that he may divide and destroy it. Thus he caused Cain to burn in malice and hatred against his brother and thus inflicted ing, "Thus says the Lord, 'To whom shall I look? I shall regard the man who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My Word.' " Likewise, in Ps. 50[:15],
He admonishes the superstition of external worship and demands the worship in the heart and true invocation,
"Call upon Me in the day of trouble."
not only murder upon Abel but auguish upon his par ents, yet God upheld them. These examples of the most tragic calamities occur daily among the race of men.
What a wretched end there has been for the majority of mankind, Saul, Jonathan, Hector, Priam, Achilles,
Ajax, Pompey, Caesar, and countless more! Finally, we know the complaints about ill fortune, the sudden ru ination of good fortune. You do not know what this very night will bring. And suddenly, by accident, all the things which we value shall vanish away.
Turks. For in every prayer faith at the very outset as sures itself of two things, namely, that you believe in this eternal God and invoke Him who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified for us and raised again. And in the second place, faith is certain that for the sake of this Mediator God truly accepts and hears your prayers. The godly should note this care fully, for this prayer makes a tremendous difference between the church and the heathen who are fighting against the Gospel.
The teaching concerning the second question must always be kept before us so that we may know with certainty that the Son of God is our helper and defender, as Paul also says when he tells us that He was with the people in the wilderness, 1 Cor. 10; and also that we may know with certainty that the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask for Him, as it is written in Therefore, although the entire human race lives in constant perils, yet the church is attacked much more furiously, for the devil opposes it even more vigorously, as is said at the very beginning of Genesis, ''The ser pent shall wound His heel," Gen. 3[:15]. With what sav agery he has moved about in the church after the Mohammedan fury came upon us 90 years qgb! What ruin of the churches followed! What else can be imag ined except that in a brief time the rest of Europe will be overcome by the Turks!
Eph. 4[:8], "He ascended on high and gave gifts to men." And He rules in such a way that He can give His gifts, righteousness, life, good counsel, governance, successes, and other good things. In order that we may believe this concerning God's help, we must strengthen ourselves with the testimonies of the Gospel and drive away the darkness from our human minds which imag ine that God is idle and unconcerned about individuals, in the same way that Homer imagined that Jupiter, when they looked for him in heaven, was away at a banquet in Ethiopia [Iliad, 1.423], These odd sugges tions indicated what kind of thoughts men have about God, and I have cited them in order to refute them and to kindle the true knowledge of God, His wrath and His mercy.
Therefore, since the condition of things clearly shows that the devil is loose and prowling around laying traps for us, and since the weakness of human nature is manifest, shall we oppose the aid that is shown us in the Gospel? God forbid!
The Son of God promises that He will be with us and will destroy the savagery of the devil. Thus John says, 1 John 3[:8], "For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil," sin, death, blasphemies, and the destructiveness which the devil creates. Thus Adam and Eve were saved in their struggle when they kept their eyes on the promise and sustained themselves by their faith and sought from God another offspring through whom the true doc trine might be propagated. The Son of God protected them against the devil and by the Holy Spirit He raised
How Do Good Works Please God? up their downcast minds. Thus Jacob says of the Son of God, "May the angel who has rescued me out of all my troubles bless these boys," Gen. 48[:16], for it is the proper work of the Son of God to bless and to free from all evils, from the wrath of God, from eternal death, and from the other punishments which accompany the wrath of God. In Isaiah 7[:14] Christ is called Emman uel, that is, God with us, because He is with us with all
His riches. He keeps watch over us and drives away the devil.
It is evident that godly minds are tormented and also hopeful that their obedience may be pleasing to God, but in this terrible weakness of ours they see that our obedience is crippled, impeded, imperfect, corrupt, as Paul says in Rom. 7[:15]. Therefore godly minds ask how they may please God.
Hypocrites judge this matter one way, and anx ious and troubled minds another. The hypocrites think that they do satisfy the Law, that they are righteous, that is, that they have been accepted by God because of their own worthiness or their fulfillment of the Law, as the Pharisee says in Luke 18:9-12. There are al ways people like this who admire their own virtues, who give long tributes to their own wisdom and righteous ness, especially in secondary matters which are showy, which they think they can govern by their own ideas and which they choose to accept as the divinely given fruits of their own virtues and diligence, since things are peaceful. Therefore they tout themselves above others because of their wisdom and righteousness, as Nebuchadnezzar did, who after some important things had happened, said, Dan. 4[:30], "This is Babylon, that Furthermore, He pours His Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who pray for Him. Thus in John 14[: 18],
"I will not leave you comfortless." Again, [w. 14, 1617], "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it....
And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Comforter... the Spirit of truth." We will truly find this help, if we stand against the corrupt maneuvers and traps of the devil and in these struggles pray to God with trust in His Son, our Mediator, just as He has spe cifically said, "If you ask anything in My name ...
For there must be a difference between the true prayer of the people of God and the prayers of the Jews or
is, the kingdom established by my strength." Likewise Saul believed that the kingdom of Israel had been es tablished by his power, although he should have known that both this power and the successes were blessings from God, and that he could not have accomplished or ruled over such things by himself, and that he must serve God in fear lest he be deserted by Him. But he became even more confident because of these suc cesses and took unto himself the privilege of attacking other people, killing priests, etc. This is the picture which many hypocrites project, and there are not a few who are like this, self-confident, pleased with them selves because of their gifts, applauding their own wis dom, minimizing the divine doctrine, and from this exalted position ridiculing the Gospel by trickery, fraud, and power, oppressing that part of the teaching to which they are opposed, covering up valuable books because they are boasting that they are contending for the glory of God and for the truth, that they are the most steadfast pillars of the church, members of the people of God, because they are fighting for the established order and its power which has been accepted for a very long time.
The priests who opposed the apostles were like this and we ourselves see the same kind, many of them, in recent years, such as Vicelius and others. But others are troubled. They recognize their weakness and they are struggling with despair, as Peter when he was cast down, cried, "Depart from me, O Lord ..." Luke 5[:8].
Therefore at this point we must do both: we must attack arrogance and show true consolation to those who are troubled. these proud hypocrites do not understand these secret sins. The monks even teach that these doubts con cerning providence, the wrath of God, His mercy, our wicked desires, unless there is consent to them, are not sins; and they are not arguing about terminology but about the substance of the matter itself. They deny that these wicked things are in conflict with the law of God. This extenuation is false and demeaning toward the law of God. It brings only darkness over the doctrine of grace and the righteousness of faith and confirms the false idea that the regenerate can satisfy the law of God.
Therefore, in order that this arrogance may be brought under control, I shall cite testimonies which show that the regenerate, in this life, do not satisfy the law of God and that sin remains in this mortal nature of ours. Ps. 143:2, "Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight shall no living person be justified"; 1 John 1:8, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us"; Ps.
19:12-13, "Who can understand his sins? Cleanse me from hidden faults and spare Your servant from the sins of others"; Rom. 7:23, "I see another law at work in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin which is in my members." Now, although the sophists get around this passage and say that there has been a shift in the word
"sin," and that here the word refers to "the punishment of sin," the tendency to sin which has come from the fall of our first parents, yet Paul himself refutes this sophistry in his definition of sin itself, when he says that it is an evil in our members which is at war with the law of God.
But first of all we must establish this point: Al though in the regenerate there must be a beginning of obedience and the righteousness of a good con science, yet sins still remain in them, that is to say, the disease which is born in us, the doubts, the ignorance of many things; or in other words, that they do not fear
God as they ought nor burn with love toward Him as the Law demands. There are also many actual sins, many fires of illicit love, hatred, lust, vindictiveness, jeal ousy, hatred, and greed. Many fall in their calling. There are examples of manifest neglect, frightful complaints against God in times of adversity; often human refuges are sought under the cover of honorable behavior, while at the same time the individuals are acting out of de fiance of God. We often witness people taking on re ligious duties which are neither necessary nor in keeping with their calling, confidence in one's own wis dom or power, as when Josiah provoked an unnec essary war against the Egyptians.
Furthermore, we have discussed in regard to this article whether the wickedness which remains in our nature is something which is in conflict with the law of God. Human judgment excuses this corruption, but Paul uses very graphic words to describe this terrible thing. He says that the corruption is at war in his mem bers, that it is viciously contending against the law of his mind, confirming his carnal security or his righteous ness which is at odds with God, filling his mind with pride in his own virtues and arrogance, kindling lusts, hatred, desire for revenge, and urging him to seek for bidden help; and finally it takes him captive, because it overthrows the antagonisms of his mind by fears and brings him to the point of despair, so that he flees from God. These are not unimportant evils, as human phi losophy believes, but they harshly torment the saints, just as Moses became weak and cast down with sud den uncertainty and doubt at the episode at the rock,
Ex. 17:4, and just as David fell into sin when he com manded the census of the people, or as his human pride was overly puffed up, so that he might demonstrate that his kingdom had increased, or that by human wis dom and without the command of God he was going to make a new ordering in the kingdom.
Finally, the mountains of sin which cling to the regenerate are far greater than can be comprehended by the judgment of any man. Thus we must not think that the statement, "Who can understand his sins?" of Ps. 19[:12], is a matter of little importance. It would take too long to list all the kinds of sin which remain in the saints, but Paul summarizes the matter in Romans 7 when he speaks of his inner conflict with all sins. But In Matt. 6:12 Christ teaches the saints to pray,
"Forgive us our trespasses." Therefore through our whole life there are sins present in us for which we need to ask forgiveness. He teaches the same thing when He says, Luke 17:10, "When you do all the things which have been commanded, then say, 'We are un profitable servants.' " Note also 1 Cor. 4:4, "I am con scious of nothing against myself, yet I am not thereby justified," which teaches us that there is need for the in a wicked way has mixed philsophy in with the doctrine of the Gospel.
In 1 Cor. 1:31, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord," that is, we cannot be glorified or exalted because we are without sin, but we glory in the Lord, that is to say, in the Lord who promises us mercy. Just as it is said in another place, "God has imprisoned all under sin that He might have mercy on all," Rom. 11:32.
Likewise Rom. 3:9, "We have said that all are under sin." At a later point in v. 19 the assertion is added,
"... that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God." He often repeats this concept of universality, so that there should be no doubt that He is accusing all. Therefore we should acknowl edge our own weakness and confess that also in the regenerate there are sins, such as the depravity of our nature and the many sinful desires; and we must stand in shame in the knowledge of the wrath of God against these evils and grieve that there is still in us so much righteousness of a good conscience, but yet it says that this still is not the thing on account of which I am certain that I have the remission of sins and that I am reconciled with God; but rather God accepts me for the sake of His Son the Mediator by faith. Ps. 103:3, "If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who would stand?" By this statement the psalmist is recognizing that sin is present and he does not try to excuse it; but acknowl edges that the wrath of God is so great that it could not be borne unless God forgives it by His immeasur able mercy for the sake of His Son. For human nature cannot endure the wrath of God and the punishments which it rightly deserves, as Hezekiah confesses, "As a lion He will break my bones," Is. 38:13; and Job in ch. 9 says that no one can resist the wrath of God. hostility toward the will of God; and there must increase in us true repentance. The admission of our own weak ness will counteract our pride, make us subject to God, encourage us to fear God, to implore His mercy and seek His help.
Therefore, although sins are present with us and the godly to some degree recognize the wrath of God, yet they believe that they are pleasing to God because of His promised mercy, and they sustain themselves with this comfort, as Ps. 33:20 ff. says, "My soul sus tains itself in His Word ... my soul hopes in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy"; Ps. 32:5-6, "I said I will confess against myself my transgression unto the Lord, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin; for this shall every one who is holy pray unto You." He clearly says that the saints seek the remission of sins. Ex. 34:7
(Vlg.), "No man of himself is innocent before You," that is, even if a person cannot be condemned or convicted by human judgment, yet You can accuse him. Dan. 9:79, 18-19, "To You, Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us confusion," that is, we acknowledge that You are righteous and that we are punished justly. "To You be long, Lord our God, mercy.... Therefore we do not pray to You because of our righteousness but because of Your great mercies. ... Hear us for the Lord's sake," that is, for the sake of the promised Mediator. This passage is a very clear testimony to the general con sensus of the prophets and apostles. Indeed, Daniel teaches the same thing for which Paul so copiously contends, when he says that we understand that the nature of man is wicked and does not satisfy the Law, but that we are accepted by God through His mercy for the sake of the promised Lord. For Daniel specifically adds the words, "for the sake of the Lord," v. 19. We should compare testimonies like this with Paul in order that we may see that there is one ongoing belief by the universal church of God, the patriarchs, the prophets,
Christ, and the apostles, and we must cling to this con sensus and not depart from it, even if the disturbance caused by some recent monks creates a division which But after our pride has been put under attack, pious minds must still learn about faith, lest they fall into despair. We must teach how our beginning obe dience may be pleasing to God. In this locus we shall always join together these three points:
First, the regenerate person must be assured that he is reconciled with God by faith for the sake of the Son of God, as is often said, that our person is accepted by God for the sake of His Son, by faith, freely.
Second, the regenerate person must recognize that in this life sin and weakness still remain in those who have been born again, and he must truly lament that he still has this darkness, corruption, disorder, and wicked desires against the law of God.
Third, he must also be assured that obedience and the righteousness of a good conscience must be begun, and that this is far from the perfection of the Law, and yet in the case of those who have been rec onciled, it is pleasing to God for the sake of His Son the Mediator who presents our prayers and our worship before the Father and overlooks our weakness. Thus for the sake of Christ a person is first reconciled, then his works are accepted, and his faith sheds light on both of these points. Therefore Peter says in 1 Peter
2:5, "Offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
We must think about these three points every day in regard to our works. For we must not dream that God is not concerned about our works, for He really does care. He demands obedience and with horrible pen alties, both temporal and eternal, He punishes the evil behavior which is contrary to good conscience. There fore it is necessary to possess the good righteousness of a good conscience and to know how it pleases God.
For a doubting and corrupted conscience cannot call upon God. We must carefully inculcate these teachings in our minds. For faith struggles in these exercises, and true knowledge of God and spiritual renewal increase in these struggles. obedience to the Law, then we shall add testimonies which clearly tell us that the works of the saints or their beginning obedience are pleasing to God. From these passages we surely are aroused to a zeal for well doing, and at the same time we instruct ourselves in regard tolhe immeasurable mercy of God who not only approves of our defective obedience but even adorns
Faith is trained in good works in two ways. First, it determines that its obedience is pleasing to God, as I have said above. Then it also seeks aid, as David understood, when he realized that his rule was being hindered and endangered; but he believed that his la bors were pleasing to God because of the promise of God's mercy. Then he sought God's help and labored in the defense of his people and in controlling the con duct of his citizens as best he could. There is no doubt that this is a worthwhile instruction for godly minds, which, although they are anxious to obey God, yet they recognize the darkness of their nature, and their various sins, and they are so sorry for them that they almost fall into despair. But what sweeter comfort can be given them than these words of Paul in Rom. 8:1, "There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus ..."? That is, even though the regenerate are not without sin, yet God has received them and pro nounced the believers righteous for the sake of His Son. it with honor and rewards. For we should take a look at ourselves and realize what a rare thing an outstand ing virtue is. There arp certain pictures of this kind of virtue in men, but they are weak and fleeting and can never satisfy the law of God which requires far greater light and order in the nature of man than is there, and yet these pictures or attempts are received by God, as the passage says, for the sake of His Son who earnestly intercedes for us. Likewise, in Rom. 10:10 it says, "With the heart we believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." When God demands confession He wills that our whole life be a confession. Therefore our whole life must be directed to honoring God, to showing what we profess, and to adorning the Gospel, as the passage says, "Let your light shine," Matt. 5:16. For example, that a prince may show what he believes, he calls upon God in times of danger to show that he is rendering obedience; that he may serve God, he destroys ungodly religions, that the banners of his confession may fly far and wide. In the same way, let each of us in our calling have the signs of our confessions. Let the scholar show his belief, let him call upon God in every turn of his life which is so filled with dangers, let him refute all ungodly ideas and in governing his desires, let him demonstrate that he is rendering such great obedience in order that he may serve God and adorn the Gospel. The life of man is so intertwined with others that both in our life and con versation our confession must shine forth in all of our duties.
In so doing He also accepts their obedience for the sake of His Son.
In Col. 1:28 it says, "You are presented perfect in Christ Jesus," that is, even if the regenerate do not yet fulfill the Law, yet they are righteous and pleasing to God for the sake of His Son. Here we should confess and celebrate the fulness of the mercy of God, that in those who have been reconciled, this obedience which is incomplete, imperfect, unclean, and corrupted by many wicked desires, is still accepted by God, not in deed because of the worth of our virtues but because of the Son of God, Rom. 6:14, "You are not under the Law but under grace." At this point the question is asked: Does our obedience please God when it does not satisfy the Law? Paul replies that it does please
Him because "we are not under the Law," that is, we are not condemned by the Law; but we are under grace, that is, we have been reconciled or accepted into grace,
Rom. 8:34, "Who will condemn us? It is Christ who died for us and rose again, who is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us," that is, the saints are pleasing to God because of the intercession of Christ. Rom.
3:31, "We establish the Law through faith." This is a very brief statement, but it teaches exactly what we are saying, that obedience cannot be begun in us, nor does it please God unless faith is added which determines that the person and the beginning obedience are both pleasing to God for the sake of the Mediator. Thus, says Paul, "We establish the Law," we do not minimize obedience, but we insist upon it and we reassert it; and in order that it might be retained, we teach how this obedience can be rendered and how it can please God.
But why does it say, "Confession is made unto salvation"? The answer is brief: Even if we are righ teous for the sake of Christ, that is, even if we have been received unto eternal life, yet it is necessary that this newness follow. He wills this to be present when he says, "Confession is made unto salvation." Note also 2 Cor. 5:2-3, "Desiring to be clothed upon, if being so clothed, we not be found naked," that is, it is nec essary in this life that conversion take place and that the renewal begin at the same time. This conversion began in the robber on the cross. He was repentant.
He recognized that he was being punished by God justly; and then by faith he acknowledged his Savior and begged salvation from Him. Thus he heard the clear absolution and the announcement and the prom ise of eternal life. Furthermore, in order that he might give a sign of his confession, he refuted his fellow criminal who was cursing Christ.
This memorable example of these important mat ters serves as instruction to us that God is so concerned about His church that He raises up witnesses to His
Now, after we have said how this obedience may please God, which we all recognize is far from a perfect
teaching, even when she has been deserted by her great leaders. The apostles in their consternation were struck dumb, and scarcely a spark of faith remained among these enormous storms of doubt. At this point,
God produces new witnesses and warns men by the unexpected eclipse, the earthquake, and the resurrec tion of some dead people, so that no one should think that this is some ordinary punishment or that they were forgotten by God, and this thief is raised up who is made an apostle to speak for a moment from the cross and affirm that this is the Messiah, the giver of eternal life.
Then this story particularly teaches us that this is truly the meaning of the Gospel, that we are accepted by faith for the sake of the Son of God, even if we do not supply the necessary merits. Likewise, it teaches us regarding the nature of faith that it is not merely the knowledge of the facts, but a trust which seeks eternal life from the Son. When this flame has been kindled, he shows us that this is something far different from human reason. The sight of these torn and dying bodies does not frighten the thief from determining to entrust his life and to believe that those who flee to this Lord will have eternal salvation. But the others who despise this Lord, he realizes, will be in eternal torment. Be cause he believes that God is favorable toward him, he subjects himself to Him and loves Him. He under stands that he is not being punished by some accident, but he gives thanks to God because he has been called to the knowledge of God and of his Lord. He wants to obey God even in enduring this punishment, he is not angry at the judgment of God, he realizes that the hu man race is being punished by God under this mountain of troubles because of sin and not as the philosophers think that we encounter death and other calamities only sins and bring additional shame upon Christ, even while
He is offering them deliverance.
I have cited this example because it teaches us about several points and also shows that in a true con version there is the beginning of the new obedience which also demonstrates itself in many upright actions, which, as I have said, are pleasing to God. Thus in Rom. 14:17, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Spirit." He who serves God in these respects is pleas ing to Him and has the approval of his fellow men. Heb.
13:2 ff., "Be not forgetful of kindness and generosity ... which are pleasing to God." Of Noah it is said in Gen. 8:20 ff., "God smelled a sweet odor," that is, He was pleased with the sacrifice of Noah, his prayer, his thanksgiving, his praise, and his teaching. There is a wonderful figure of speech in the word "to smell an odor," which is derived from the ancient ritual whereby through the sacrifices a sweet smell was said to be offered to God when the burnt offerings were made.
This was a special testimony that the people were pleasing to Him and accepted by Him. Furthermore, in a general way the sacrifices were compared to sweet smells, and incense was added, because in all of their works there was supposed to be an odor, that is, the message from God was to be spread far and wide as a sweet-smelling fragrance, that is, the sacrifices were part of the act of celebrating and honoring God, so that other people might be invited by this good teaching and these good examples.
Why Are Good Works to Be Done?
There are many reasons: necessity, worthiness, and rewards. First, necessity is of different kinds. There is the necessity of command, the necessity of debt, the necessity of retaining faith, and the necessity of avoid ing punishment. For although it is one thing to speak of compulsion, yet there does remain in force the eter nal ordering of the immutable God that the creature shall render obedience to the will of God. This immut able ordering is the necessity of command and the ne cessity of debt, as Paul says in Rom. 8:6, "We are under obligation to God, not to the flesh." And Christ says in John 13:34, "This is My command that you love one another," cf. 1 Thess. 4:3, 8. as accidents, and thus we must understand the wrath of God and seek deliverance. Therefore, in regard to his suffering, he perceives that we must be willing to obey God in bearing our afflictions. The thief is in structed in this conversion in regard to sin, the wrath of God, his punishment, the remission of his sins, and his righteousness, in order that he may understand that the wisdom of the saints is something far different from the wisdom of the Pharisees or of human reason. For in their afflictions the godly learn, as it says in Ps.
119:71, "It is good for me that You have humbled me, that I might learn Your righteousness." Finally, the thief came to his confession, in which he proclaimed that this is the Messiah, nor was he frightened by the spec tacle of the punishments, but rather he condemned the other thief who with poisonous sarcasm has excoriated the punishment of Christ and condemned Him for being on the cross, just as the world arrogantly spurns Christ
There is the necessity for retaining our faith, be cause the Holy Spirit is driven out and grieved when we permit sins against conscience. Thus it clearly says in 1 John 3:7-8, "Let no one deceive you; he who com mits sin is of the devil." And Rom. 8:13, "If you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live; if you live according to the flesh, you shall die." That faith is cut off through sinful works is witnessed by this statement of Paul in 1 Tim. 5:8, "If a person does not provide for his own, especially those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Fur and His church because of their weakness. We must carefully examine this illustration of mockery. For just as this man ridiculed in the midst of death and subjected
Christ to further shame, so the ungodly, even in the midst of their furious ravings, do not realize their own
ther, faith cannot be present in those who indulge in depraved lusts and do not repent, for it is written, Is.
66:1-2, "Where does the Lord dwell? In a contrite spirit and one which trembles at My words." Likewise, when faith brings peace to our conscience, it cannot at the same time be present in a person who intends to retain his sin, because faith condemns this conscience. Thus
Paul says, Rom. 14:23, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." and that of others. But the blind mind of man does not perceive the greatness of sin or the wrath of God. In deed, it is not even sufficiently affected by present pun ishments, as in the case of the unrepentant thief who in the midst of his calamity was still mocking and de riding Christ.
Furthermore, the godly must learn, as has been said, to recognize the wrath of God in the enormous number of calamities which befall mankind and they must learn also to avoid the wiles of the devil, who little by little, one step after the other, coerces man and weaves the long thread of many miseries, so that finally he may force man to despair, as it is written, "The devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour," 1 Peter 5:8.
, The next cause is worthiness. Here again I cau tion you that we must not attribute any worthiness to our virtues, as if because of them a person has the remission of sins, or because of them he is satisfying the law of God, or as if they are the price of eternal life.
Thus David drove out his faith and the Holy Spirit when he laid hands on another man's wife, and he troubled the Holy Spirit in several ways, first in his own heart by which he was urged on to his adultery, and then in many of the saints, to some of whom his offense brought sorrow, and to others an occasion for mischief.
The same was the case with those poor women who were violated by Absalom and his soldiers, 2 Sam.
16:21 ff.
The necessity of avoiding punishment ought to move our minds, since we see the whole history of the world filled with the saddest events which surely are the punishments for sins. But so great is the blindness of men that they think all these things happen only by accident. This insanity must be removed. We must un derstand that all these sad events of mankind are truly punishments, both for the first fall and for other sins.
As Ps. 38:2 ff. says, "Because of his sins You crush man." Indeed, since all present things are of short du ration, present punishments do not correspond to the eternal wrath of God, but are witnesses to the judgment to come. God warns us to wait for another judgment in which we are not dealing with transitory and passing matters, but with matters of eternity. We must also keep this judgment in mind and instruct ourselves concerning this judgment, as often as we witness present pun ishments.
But faith must shine forth and fully understand that we are pleasing to God because of the Son of God, as we have said above. But afterwards, after conversion, also for the sake of this Mediator, our worship is pleasing to God who does not will that the whole human race perish. Therefore He wills that there be the church in which He is confessed, invoked, worshiped, whose obedience He accepts for the sake of His Son; and He calls those works "sacrifices" by which God judges that He is treated with honor. Thus Peter says, 1 Peter 2:5,
"Offer up spiritual sacrifices." This is the worthiness of one's vocation, not his person, as when a magistrate or apostle must stress and consider the importance of his own work, that these are very significant things, through which God rules our lives and gives eternal life.
Therefore he will do everything in his power to be gov erned and aided by God, and for this reason.
Further, we must resist this intellectualized cav iling by which the blessings which come from fear of punishment are held up for criticism. The answer is simple for the godly who know that there are many causes and reasons for the same action. They know that we must do the right thing for the sake of God rather than because of the punishments. But they also know that God wills that His will and His wrath be ac knowledged in the punishments we undergo, and that He wills that we fear present punishments as well as future ones. All punishments are very obvious; often sins are punished by sins and many people are impli cated in sins and calamities. Often one person is guilty of all these evils, as in the case of the fall of David.
What a terrible crime he committed, what hopeless ness, blasphemy, and sadness he brought on all!
Thus when any member of the church believes that it is the highest calling of all that he be a member of the people of God, he will pray to God for himself and for others; he will offer sacrifices, that is, every kind of good works which has been commanded by God.
This worthiness of our calling must be understood and considered in this context: You must know that your study of Scripture and the uprightness of your life are truly very important matters and pertain to the glory of your calling and the need of others. Therefore God demands and approves this, as we have said, and gov erns and aids it. Therefore you shall perform the duties of your station with eagerness.
Rewards The worship of idols was permitted by Solomon, and this was the cause of the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. This invasion of idolatry brought religious con troversy and unending wars. God wants us to consider these examples in order that we may fear His wrath and have a reason for concern for our own salvation
In order that we may have certainty concerning the remission of our sins and our reconciliation, rewards are given to us freely for the sake of the Son of God and they must be received by faith. For they would be uncertain matters if they depended on the condition of
concern to God. This error conflicts with the second exercise of faith, for God demands this diligence on the part of man in order that He may will this activity of ours to be governed by His Word, as is the case with our other virtues. You must be diligent, but in keeping with the precepts of God; you must work, but not in per forming useless and unnecessary things, but you shall devote yourself to things which are necessary and use ful for the church and for the poor. In the third place, you would be less generous if you thought that God will not compensate and that your own loved ones will be in want. This hesitancy is in direct opposition to the third exercise of faith. Therefore, in order that faith may be kept in trim and grow, God has set forth many dif ferent kinds of works and He has added promises of aid and reward, so that there may be an opportunity for prayer on our part. For how will you look for eternal salvation from God if you do not look for a piece of bread from Him? Therefore we must fight against this lack of trust on our part and do the works which have been commanded; and even though they may be dif ficult, we must arouse thereby our faith and our prayer; we must also look to the rewards and be concerned about the universal church, the government, and our salvation. For the sake of these goals we must be more diligent in our calling, in controlling our morals, etc. our merits. But in those who have been reconciled, after conversion, their good works, since they are pleasing by faith for the sake of the Mediator, as we have said, do merit spiritual and physical rewards in this life and after this life, as the parable of the talents in Matthew
25 clearly shows, v. 29, "To him who has shall be given ..and in 1 Tim. 4:8, "Godliness ... has promise of this present life and of the life to come"; cf. Mark 10:30;
Matt. 10:42; Luke 6:38; Ex. 20:12; Is. 33:16; 58:10-11.
Finally Scripture is full of promises of this kind con cerning both spiritual and physical rewards; for in this life there is need for both. Individuals cannot keep their faith without practicing it; and without these spiritual gifts the true teaching cannot shine brightly nor the church and good government be preserved. Also, since
God wills that in this life His doctrine be proclaimed, He gives a certain protection to those who tedch and those who learn, and He preserves His church in a wondrous way, just as He preserved the ship in which Paul was being carried to Rome. Thus He promises blessings also for this present life. Although the church has been terribly tormented, yet there is always a rem nant of the godly, just as victory comes even though many are killed on the battle line.
Therefore we must learn that there is a need for both kinds of good works and that the rewards have not been promised by God in vain, but there is the need for constant practicing of our faith, that it may grow and that we may labor more diligently even though we are undeserving of the rewards.
All of these points are depicted in the example of the widow of Zarephath and Elijah, 1 Kings 17. Elijah knew that he had been called by God to teach the people and that until God wanted him to carry out his ministry, he would not lack something to eat. With this confidence he sought and awaited his food and he went to the widow, and although he was worn out with his labors, yet commanded that food be brought to him.
The widow told him of her poverty. At this point the prophet added the promise. The woman believed the word of the prophet that the God of Israel was truly the Creator and Savior, that He gives good gifts, that He would supply food for the future. Therefore, although she saw that this would take away food from herself and her son, because there was another mouth to feed, yet she fed the prophet first. Rewards followed this faith and this work. The family was fed for a long time, and it was without doubt by the blessing of God. Their home became a meeting place for the church where the prophet taught the whole area. Affliction followed this great glory. The son died. But new rewards followed again and the son was raised to life. By this example the woman was strengthened in her faith and the teach ing of Elijah was spread far and wide. Therefore, un derstand how many great and good works this first duty which the woman performed in feeding the prophet pro duced and consider the mountain of rewards she re ceived. For not only was the family fed, but it was instructed by the prophet concerning the true worship of God and eternal life and in many ways it was pro tected against the devil. The son was raised from the dead and became a disciple of the prophet, and he
Further, faith is exercised in three different ways.
First, when something else is going to be requested, faith always from the very beginning will think about the remission of sins, as David, when he could not seek victory unless he knew that he was pleasing to God.
Second, faith knows that good things do not hap pen by mere accident, as when the ungodly in Paul's ship imagined that the ship had been saved by an ac cident. But faith knows with certainty that we are cared for by God, defended and aided by Him, and that the promises have been given concerning His blessings in order that the Epicurean opinion, which believes that good and evil happen only by accident, may be thrust out of our minds. But we should learn that God truly gives good gifts and we must seek them from Him.
Third, faith is busily engaged in seeking aid and reward so that he who gives alms may also enjoy his own possessions and see that there will be something for his family, and if God has not taken care of them, faith seeks and awaits help and reward. In order that we may better understand these matters, we should look at the antithesis and examine our own sins. There fore you may be less diligent in good works if you think that you are laboring in vain because you are displeas ing to God. This figment of the imagination is in conflict with the first exercise of faith.You may be less liberal in the second exercise, if you think that these matters have been relegated to human diligence and are of no
6:9-10, "Do not make any mistake: neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers... shall inherit the kingdom of God." Here Paul mentions by name, v. 11, that al though some of them had previously been guilty of such vices, now they had mended their ways. He commands them that they must keep a good conscience and he bears witness that they shall perish if they continue in their previous iniquities. doubtlessly utilized his services for the church later on.
Even small insignificant works are adorned with re wards far greater than is owed. It is necessary that all the saints should confess with Jacob in Gen. 32:10, "I am not worthy of the least of Your mercies."
But although it is necessary that there be a be ginning of the new life, as Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:2-3,
"We desire to be clothed upon with new clothing, so that we not be found naked," yet our heart must always recognize what the psalmist says, Ps. 143:2, "In Your sight shall no flesh be justified"; Ps. 19:12, "Who can understand his sins?" Our heart must know that our virtues are not the price of our eternal life, but that this is certainly given for the sake of the Mediator, as Paul says in Eph. 2:8, "The gift of God is eternal life." Christ says in John 6:40,"This is the will of the Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him has eternal life." The pious mind in true repentance must meditate upon this statement and with certainty await eternal life for the sake of the Mediator. Nor can faith rely on two things, the Mediator and our merits, as an experienced conscience can easily judge.
Rom. 8:13, "If you live by the flesh, you shall die, but if through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live." Here Paul is dealing with this difference. Many inner evils do remain in the regen erate, that is, a kind of darkness and corruption which is born in us. For although there is a beginning of light and a beginning of obedience, and although faith still does shine forth as a small spark in this thick darkness which is valiantly struggling with doubts and fighting against them, yet the fear of God, trust, and love are not as great as they should be. Then there are many wicked desires, such as admiration for ourselves and self-confidence, and different kinds of emotions, the flames of lust, a burning unrighteous anger and de ception, such as were found in Miriam and Aaron against Moses. Finally, many sins still remain in the saints, sins of omission, as they are called, that is, ne glect of our duty and mistakes in the home, the gov ernment and the church, which nevertheless are not done in violation of conscience on the part of the godly, who do demonstrate faith and show as great diligence as they can. But because the saints fight against their evil desires and believe that for the sake of the Son of God their weaknesses are forgiven, therefore they do remain in grace and keep their faith and the Holy Spirit.
This is Paul's meaning when he says, "If you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live."
What Is the Difference among Sins?
Although we have said that sins remain in the regenerate, it is still necessary that we deal with the difference among sins. For it is a certainty that those who fall into sins which are against conscience do not remain in grace, do not keep their faith, their righteous ness, or the Holy Spirit; and faith cannot stand with evil intentions in the face of conscience, that is, faith which is confidence in our acceptance by God. For these de sires are absolutely opposed to one another, and true prayer cannot exist with a bad conscience which flees from God, as it says in 1 John 3:21, "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God."
This is a very unusual emphasis when he says, "Through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh." He is calling us to a bitter contest, he wants us to fight against our evil desires, and to do this by the Spirit, that is, with the true desires, the fear and faith which have been kindled by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God; it must consider how great a thing the wrath of God is, it must remember the examples of those who have fallen, such as Saul and others who were not restored to grace. Our mind must understand that countless sins and offenses flow even from one lapse. Again it must believe also that our obedience is pleasing to God and it must seek aid and guidance, as it is written, "Without Me you can do nothing," John
15:5. Likewise, "Ask and it shall be given to you," Matt.
7:7. "How much more shall your heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him," Luke 11:13. And as it says so often in the psalms: "Help me and I shall be saved"; and again, "Do with Your servant according to Your mercy and teach me Your righteousness"; Ps.
51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," that is, a heart which rightly believes that it has been purified by God through faith. And "renew a right spirit within me,"
Therefore we must retain the rule that it is nec essary in those who have been reconciled that there be this righteousness of a good conscience, as it says in 1 Tim. 1:5, "The sum of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, of a good conscience, and of gen uine faith."
In the same chapter it says in v. 18-19, "Fight the good fight having faith and a good conscience."
2 Cor. 1:12, "This is our boast, the testimony of our conscience." 1 Peter 3:16, "... having a good con science."
But many passages testify that those who allow themselves to sin against conscience are cut off from grace and drive out faith and the Holy Spirit, and be come guilty of the wrath of God and eternal punish ments. For example, Gal. 5:19-21, "The works of the flesh are manifest: adultery, fornication, uncleanness
... idolatry ... they who do such things shall not pos sess the kingdom of God." He is speaking of manifest works which are done against our conscience. 1 Cor.
that is, a spirit which is strong and does not doubt that a renewal has taken place "within me." Verse 11, "Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your
Holy Spirit from me," that is, the Spirit who guides all my actions. Verse 12, "Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with Your free Spirit," that is, give me a willing spirit which does not flee from conflict and dangers and "strengthen me." us to contend against the raging wickedness which bat tles against us, lest we fall from the grace which has been given to us. It is not necessary at this point to bring in the arguments concerning predestination, but rather we must simply form our judgments on the basis of the will of God which has been clearly found in the Word of God.
The Arguments of the Adversaries Thus Joseph repelled the illicit approaches of his master's wife; thus Jonathan strengthened himself against burning jealousy against David. Thus David kept himself in check from killing Saul and thus he sus tained himself from being shattered by despair when he was driven into exile. Thus Paul teaches in Rom.
6:12, "Let sin not reign in your mortal body," and this seems to be taken from the word in Gen. 4:7, "Sin is lying at the door, and it desires you, but you,must rule over it." For the word "to rule" does not mean some thing idle and cowardly, but it refers to the power of the Holy Spirit and the diligence of our will. Joseph saw the commandment of God and the punishments attendant upon it, the scandals and the other destructive involve ments which would follow, and he rejected her sinful advances. He sought divine guidance and added to it his own determination. He ruled his eyes that they not wander lustfully, he controlled his loneliness and the opportunities which were offered him lest he be caught in the devil's snares. Godly people must learn to un derstand this precaution and to practice it, realizing that there is good reason for the statement, "You must rule over it ... let not sin reign." When sin takes control it brings with it all kinds of troubles and the wrath of God and eternal death. On the other hand, when sin does not reign over us, the godly keep the righteousness and faith which have been given to them, and thus Paul can say, "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you shall live."
We teach plainly and clearly that there must be in man the knowledge of the articles of faith; likewise, that there must be contrition, good intention, and the beginning of love. Our adversaries contend against these points which we, however, confess must exist in man himself. And we say that faith must also be added, that is, confidence in the mercy of God, that for the sake of the Son of God we have remission of sins, but not because of our virtues. The adversaries, on the other hand, say this must be a matter of doubt and they add that you will have remission of sins when you are worthy, that is, because of your own virtues. They also devise the notion that men can satisfy the law of God.
But since we retain all the things which they de mand, and want to add the faith which attributes His honor to Christ and which gives sure comfort to terrified minds, we certainly are not teaching anything ridicu lous. Yet without cause they so savagely attack the concept that has been set forth in our churches re garding justification, which undoubtedly is the very es sence of the Gospel and the consensus of the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and all godly people in all ages who have brought light to this subject. All peo ple have believed that there must be in us repentance and that good works must follow, but yet that the re mission of sins is given for the sake of the Mediator and not because of our own worthiness and that we please God for the sake of the Mediator and that this takes place by faith, that is, by trust they call upon the mercy of God, do not flee from Him and do not rage against Him. Therefore Paul often uses the particle
"freely." Likewise Peter says in Acts 10:43, "To Him all the prophets give testimony, that through His name all who believe in Him receive the remission of sins."
This consensus is the true witness of the church, and the experience of all the pious support this viewpoint.
For our minds cannot without this comfort find rest in true contrition, or in the midst of real terrors. For when these things are absolutely certain, no sane person in the church can contradict them.
I have mentioned which sins remain in the re generate, namely, certain inner evils against which they must contend. But when we permit sins which are against conscience, then the Holy Spirit is driven out and grieved, grace is lost and faith destroyed, that is, the confidence in the mercy of God. Paul is trying to say this when he says in Rom. 8:13, "If you live ac cording to the flesh, you shall die," that is, if you obey the wicked desires of the flesh, you will be guilty of the wrath of God and eternal death. In the same chapter he says, v. 14, "Those who are led by the Holy Spirit, they are the sons of God." But those who go against conscience, drive out and grieve the Holy Spirit and therefore cease to be the sons of God, as also the passages cited above testify, such as 1 Cor. 6:9, "Do not be deceived; fornicators ... shall not inherit the kingdom." Also John says in his First Epistle, 3:8, "He who commits sin is of the devil, that is, he is already a captive of the devil, guilty of the wrath of God and eter nal punishment, driven by the devil into many more sins. These terribly tragic statements should encourage
But the monks have written otherwise because they did not distinguish between Law and Gospel and spoke of justification in the philosophic way. Particularly they cited the thinking of Plato and Aristotle, that Achilles was a brave man because he had strength and a certain divine power; and thus they said that Paul was a righteous man because of his virtues and the
divine power, but they say nothing about the Mediator, the promises, the Gospel, of faith or trust in the Me diator; indeed, they command us to be in doubt about our reconciliation, that is, they command us to destroy the Gospel and the promise and to bury Christ. There fore, as often as the argument about this subject comes into our minds, we should direct our eyes to this point:
When it is actually and correctly said that repentance is necessary, and yet that we for the sake of the Son of God have remission, that we please God and that our prayers are heard, then we must attribute to the Son of God His honor; and in this faith or confidence
II It is impossible for knowledge alone to make a person just. Faith is the only knowledge: Therefore it is impossible to be made righteous by faith alone.
I shall first reply to the minor premise.
Theiword "faith" does not mean only knowledge, such as the devil possesses, of which James says,
"The devils believe and tremble," James 2:19; but the word "faith" signifies knowledge in the mind and an assent to the promise concerning Christ, and in the will a trust by which the will desires and receives the offered mercy and rests in it. As when Cicero heard that safety had been promised to him by Caesar, knowledge fol lowed in his mind and trust in his will by which he de sired and received the offered kindness, and he remained content in this promise. Therefore faith is not only a knowledge but that trust, as we have said, by which the promise is laid hold upon; as the fourth chap ter of Romans clearly testifies that faith is understood as that which accepts the promise which must be un derstood as trust in the mercy which has been given.
But this argument also arises out of the imagination of our reason which always seeks some virtue of our own by which we should recognize that we are righteous, although in this situation it should not be said that we are righteous by faith, because the virtue in us is, in one way or another, such that we would have to con clude that there must be'some virtue in us. But for this reason we say that we are justified by faith because faith lays hold on the promise and makes us understand that we have reconciliation for the sake of the Mediator. in the promised mercy of God, I will call upon Him, as it is said, "Whatsoever you ask the Father in My name," that is, in trust in the Son, John 16:23; and again,
"Through Him we have access to the Father," Rom.
5:2. And in order that there may be more eager instruc tors to refute the arguments of the adversaries, I shall cite and explain in order the principal points.
I The word "righteousness" means obedience ac cording to all the commandments: Faith of which we are speaking is properly not the work of all the com mandments: Therefore we are not justified by faith.
I reply to the major premise this way:
The major premise is true, in regard to the righ teousness of the Law, for the righteousness of the Law is properly obedience according to all the precepts. But because this corrupt nature does not satisfy the Law, therefore another thing has been revealed and given, which is our acceptance for the sake of the Son of God which is followed by the giving of the Holy Spirit. There fore the word "righteousness" in the major premise means one thing and in the conclusion it means an other. When Paul says in Rom. 3:28 that we "are jus tified by faith," he understands that by faith we obtain the remission of sins or the acceptance by God for the sake of the Mediator, freely, as he says in Rom. 4:3,
"His faith was counted to him for righteousness." This explanation clearly shows that our position is not de stroyed by this argument. Therefore we must carefully consider the sources. Many arguments have been de veloped by our adversaries by the judgment of reason or the Law, dealing with discipline, on which the eyes of all have been fixed, as Paul says, "Seeking to es tablish the Law of righteousness, they did not arrive at righteousness," Rom. 10:3, nor did they distinguish be tween Law and Gospel, nor notice that the Gospel in this question is not speaking of civil life but of recon ciliation before God. These mysteries must be distin guished from our normal civil life in society. Therefore those who are careful students must dispel the dark ness and the clouds, that is, the confusion of the Law and Gospel and the confusion of civil righteousness with reconciliation before God; and they must pay at tention to the question which is under discussion.
Thus we must refute this argument that faith means trust: In trust there is love: Therefore we are righteous by love. I agree that in trust there is love and that there must be both this virtue and many others, but when we say that we are righteous by trust, this must not be understood to mean that we receive wor thiness because of this virtue rather than through God's mercy for the sake of the Mediator, which must be laid hold on by faith. Therefore we make this correlative statement: Through mercy for the sake of the Son of God we have been reconciled to God, and it is nec essary that this be received or estalished by faith, so that the will may find its rest in the propitiation which has been set forth.
Moreover the pious reader should understand how absurd and unworthy it is not to distinguish the faith of devils from that faith in which the church calls upon God, by which she approaches God and gains peace, as it says in Rom. 5:1-2. Likewise Rom. 10:11,
"He who believes in Him shall not be ashamed"; Gal.
2:20, "I live by the faith in the Son of God." No one can fail to see how absurd a notion it would be if a person should believe regarding such passages that faith means nothing else tfian the kind of knowledge the devil has. For the knowledge of devils runs away from God, does not call upon Him nor draw near to Him. Thus the
statement of James 2:19 that "the devils believe and tremble" is not to be confused with Paul's position. Paul is speaking of one kind of faith and James of another.
And it is easy for a sane man to understand that the faith of the church which calls upon God is not like the faith of the devil who flees from Him.
Christ. For when it is said that through grace we have the remission of sins, you must understand this to mean that because of the virtues which have been given to us we have the remission of sins, a statement which clearly overturns the entire position of Paul and takes all true comfort from our consciences. For we must not look at our own qualities when we are troubled over the remission of our sins, but we must flee to our Me diator. In this struggle our hearts are also aided by the Holy Spirit, as Paul says, "He has given us the Spirit in whom we cry, 'Abba Father,' " Rom. 8:15, and He teaches us that the Holy Spirit is given to us in such a desire of faith, Gal. 3:14, "That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Therefore with this acceptance is joined the giving of the Holy Spirit, and yet it does not follow that we have reconciliation through these new virtues.
Ill "He who does not love remains in death." There fore it is impossible to say that a person is righteous by faith alone.
I agree with the above if you understand that faith must not be alone. But it does not follow from this that love is the cause for the remission of sins, just as it is necessary to add patience to faith, but it does not follow that our patience is a cause of our remission of sins.
The exclusive particle does not exclude our virtues from being present, but it does exclude them as being the cause of our reconciliation, and this exclusionary idea does mean that the merit of Christ alone is the cause of our reconciliation. And we must also understand that it is necessary to remove our human imaginings from the righteousness of the Law which arises out of love for God. If human nature were without sin, it could truly love God, but because it is covered over with sin, it must first receive the remission of sins, and love cannot be kindled unless the remission of sins has been rec ognized and laid hold upon. And those who think that this can be received without the struggle of faith are thinking too weakly regarding the remission of sins.
VI It is impossible for us to know the will of God toward us: To believe that we are in grace is to affirm something regarding the will of God toward us: There fore we seem to be affirming something impossible when we say that we must believe that we are in grace.
I reply:
The major premise is true regarding the will which has not been revealed through the Word of God. But it is certain in the Gospel that the Son of God has de clared from the bosom of the eternal Father the com mand that we should affirm that God is favorable toward us for the sake of the Mediator. But the human mind, pressed down by the darkness of its nature, thinks un der the rule of work-righteousness that that man is in sane who affirms that he has a God who is favorable toward him. As over against these imaginings you should know that this is the Word which is given us in the Gospel, that the Son of God has been sent, and the promise given that we should believe in Him and affirm this fact.
IV We are righteous by faith: Faith is a work: There fore we are righteous because of our works.
I reply to the major premise this way:
The major premise must be understood in a cor relative sense: that is, we are righteous by faith, that is, through mercy for the sake of Christ we are righ teous, not because faith is a virtue which merits the remission of sins by its own worthiness. But we must concede the expression which is added, that faith is a work. For it is a work, just as love, patience, and chas tity. And just as these are weak and faltering, so faith is very uncertain and is upset by many doubts. There fore we do not say that we are righteous by faith in the sense that this is a worthiness of such great power that it merits remission, but in the sense that there must be some instrument in us by which we lay hold upon our
Mediator who intercedes for us, and on account of whom the eternal Father is favorable toward us.
But you say that the condition of the fulfillment of the Law has been added. I reply: Although repentance is necessary, yet the remission of sins does not depend on our worthiness, but is sure because of Christ. David after his fall repented and determined that he had truly been received back into grace upon hearing these words, "The Lord has put away your sin." The admin istration of the Gospel brings the same word to indi viduals who are repenting, and the commandment is immutable that we must believe in the Son of God.
"Hear Him," Matt. 17:5. Therefore, although this state ment seems absurd to the human mind, yet we should oppose the imaginings of our reason with the promise and command of God, so that we truly learn to call upon Him. For where this faith, which believes that we are received by God and heard by Him for the sake of our
Mediator, is not present, then there is no worship.
Therefore the doctrine which commands us to doubt is a heathen doctrine which takes away true worship.
V We are righteous by grace: Grace is the love which is poured into the heart: Therefore we are righ teous by infused love.
We must reply to the minor premise.
"Grace" in the proper sense of the word means free mercy or the free acceptance of us for the sake of
completely in opposition to the law of God, and even when they are good they do not satisfy the law of God.
For there remains in the saints a great weakness, even when there is no blemish in a person's outward obe dience and there are many outstanding virtues present, as in Isaiah and other men. Yet there remain many inner evils, doubts in our prayer, many wicked drives, false confidence, and lack of trust. Likewise there are the specters which the devil raises to oppose us, to hinder our prayers, things which Paul calls "the fiery darts of the devil," Eph. 6:16,*by which even those who excel
VII No one is pleasing to God unless he has new attitudes which have arisen from the Holy Spirit: No one can affirm that he has these attitudes because they can be virtues similar to those which come from human reason: Therefore no one can affirm that he pleases
God.
The minor premise must be denied.
For although we must not make a determination regarding our reconciliation on the basis of our own attitudes but on the basis of the sure promise of God, yet when our heart is guided by faith in its fears and repentance, new spiritual desires truly are created by which in our prayers we cry, "Abba Father," and yet our trust fixes its eyes on the Mediator and not on our renewal. I always add this other point also so that our will does not persevere in its desires contrary to con science. For this reason John says in 1 John 3:21-22,
"If our heart not condemn us, we have'confidence in God that whatever we ask we shall receive from Him." in goodness are injured, so that they prefer to die rather than admit their wounds, as Paul complains in 2 Co rinthians 12 about the thorn in the flesh which he had received from the devil; or note his vyords in Romans
7, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" In these miseries the godly recognize their own weakness and see that they do not satisfy the law of God, that they are never without sin; and in this humiliation they take refuge in the One who has made propitiation. The hypocrites know noth ing of such struggles for they dream that outward be havior is the fulfillment of the Law.
VIII The theological virtues, faith, hope, and love, are separate and distinct: If "faith" means "confidence," then it is the same as hope: Therefore the distinction of these virtues is lost.
X Sin is hatred of God: Therefore righteousness is love of God.
I reply:
We confess that these virtues must always be joined together, and when we say that a man is justified
We must agree with the entire argument, but we also have to consider at the same time that these con trary points are not completely parallel. For our love is weak and still hindered by many spots and blemishes and, as I have said above, "the fiery darts of the devil" come upon us which also hinder our worship, as hap pened to Moses at the rock. Therefore our love does not satisfy the law of God, nor does it please God be cause of its own perfection, but our love pleases Him because of the Mediator, as said above. by faith, we have already said above that this is to be understood in a correlative sense. It does not mean that we are righteous because of the worthiness of this virtue, but because of the Mediator. Therefore, just as faith differs from the other virtues because it is that which lays hold on and applies the promise to us, like wise it differs because it wills to receive the reconcili ation which is present. But hope looks forward to the future deliverance. If we keep this in mind that we are saying that through the Mediator remission of sins is given to us, as all the godly certainly confess, then the explanation is easy and the way of avoiding these tricky points of casuistry is easy. If they include among the theological virtues that there is a need not only for knowledge, such as the devil himself has, but also faith by which we draw near to God and call upon Him in prayer, we, however, do not draw near in true sorrows if we judge that we must forever remain in doubt. For this doubt puts us to flight and creates hatred toward
God, as it says in Romans 7 in regard to the sins which take place through the Law.
Therefore, when they say that love is righteous ness and therefore we are righteous by our love, the answer has to be this: This is the case if the expression
"we are righteous" means that we have virtue, which, as the philosophers say, validates the consequences; but if the term means receiving the remission of sins, then it does not validate the consequences. For the term "righteousness" cannot be understood in the first statement as referring to something which merits the remission of sins, but as referring to a virtue, as if I should say: to pay a merchant is righteousness: there fore he who pays a merchant is righteous. Such lines of argumentation can be easily evaluated by thinking people.
IX XI Evil works merit eternal punishments: Therefore good works merit eternal life. The consequences seem to be valid because the points are contrary.
Righteousness is in the will: Faith is not in the will: Therefore we are not justified by faith.
The same pojnt has been dealt with above by merely changing a few words, yet I am stating the case in this form in order that the learned may give the matter
I reply:
The consequences would be valid, if the contrary points were completely comparable. Many things are
says, "The devils believe." Therefore James is not in conflict with Paul but is speaking about something else and refuting the error of those who imagine that they are righteous on account of their profession of the dog mas, as this opinion can easily take over the minds of inexperienced men. In the same way the Jews imag ined that they were righteous on account of their profes sion of their doctrine and their ceremonies. It is necessary to refute this error. careful thought. First, we must deny the minor premise.
For "faith" means to assent to the promise of God which is in the intellect, and with this assent there must of necessity be joined trust in our will which wills to receive the promise of reconciliation and rests in the Mediator who has been shown to us. For unless at the same time we will to receive and do receive the promise of reconciliation, flight and shame remain with us, and peace and quiet in our conscience and heart do not remain. Therefore by the term "faith" we embrace the Gospel and will to receive the promise which is offered.
Nor does this refutation conflict with Paul, when James adds, "A man is justified by works," for he is speaking of the righteousness or works which Paul also proclaims with great emphasis as being necessary; but he denies that remission of sins is given on account of this righteousness. Therefore the word "to justify" should not be understood as being the equivalent of reconciliation, but as we have often said elsewhere, it means "to be approved." A man is justified by his works, that is, he has a righteousness of works which is approved and which pleases God. That obedience is necessary in the reconciled and how it is pleasing to God has been said above. The person is not righteous or pleasing or accepted if he lacks this obedience and if sins against conscience remain. Therefore the state ment that a man is obliged to have the righteousness of works must be confessed by us. But in the meantime the hearer must also learn some other things, namely that he does not receive the remission of sins because of his works, or that they are pleasing to God, for they do not satisfy His law, but they are pleasing only for the sake of the Mediator. It is clear that he must add these points.
Now, although this idea is displeasing to our ad versaries who are contending sharply that by the term
"faith" is understood nothing except the kind of knowl edge that devils have, yet it is impossible for such knowledge to be in agreement with the statement,
"Having been justified by faith we have peape'" Rom.
5:1, or "He who believes in Him shall not be put to shame," Rom. 9:33.
Next, I want to give this warning again, which has been stated over and over again: The righteousness which is in us is in the will. But "to be justified" in this context means to obtain from God the remission of sins and acceptance unto eternal life. These things come to us for the sake of the Mediator who sits at the right hand of the eternal Father, but yet these blessings must be received by faith. And at the same time the Holy
Spirit is given who begins in us new light and new vir tues by which we subject ourselves to God and by which there is begun in us eternal life, as Christ says,
John 17:3, "This is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and that the Jesus whom You have sent is the Christ."
Thus it is very apparent that James is not dis puting about the entire matter but has spoken about only one aspect; he is demanding the righteousness of works and refuting those who imagine that they are righteous merely on the basis of their profession. But with regard to reconciliation and how our imperfect obe dience is pleasing to God—of this he does not speak at this point, but above in ch. 1:18 he alludes to this matter a little when he says, "Of His own will God begot us with the Word of truth, that we should be the first fruits of his creatures."
Some people imagine that we must be in a state of doubt concerning our reconciliation, and they say that a man is righteous by reason of his own virtues, but this is a heathen notion and they do not draw near to God in trust in the Mediator, since God does not want to be worshiped and is not willing to hear in any other way than by those who invoke Him through trust in the Mediator.
XII James 2:24, "You see, therefore, that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."
XIII 1 Cor. 13:2, "If I have all faith, but do not have love, I am nothing."
I reply without any sophistry:
It is evident that "faith" in this passage in James refers to the knowledge of the historical facts such as the damned also possess. For he says, v. 19, "The devils believe and tremble." Furthermore it must be confessed, and we do clearly confess, that a man is not righteous by this knowledge. But Paul, when he is speaking of faith, understands confidence in God's mercy which relies on the Mediator and for His sake receives reconciliation. Therefore we must understand
"faith" in one sense in Paul, when he says in Rom.
10:10, "With the heart man believes unto righteous ness," and in another way in James 2:19, where he
The reply to this is straightforward, easy, and clear: I grant the entire point. For we clearly affirm that love must be present, but it does not follow from this that we receive reconciliation on account of our love, and that our love is pleasing to God on the grounds that it satisfies the Law. Indeed, love cannot exist un less faith precedes it, and it is by faith that we receive remission of sins and learn to recognize God's mercy and to determine that we have been accepted by God and are heard by Him. Thus love is kindled and the will subjects itself to God. But this love and subjection are
pel or according to the spirit which the Gospel adds.
You cannot begin to love without a knowledge of Christ and without the Holy Spirit. Nor does our obedience please God because it satisfies the Law, but on account of the Mediator, and yet this beginning is necessary, as Paul says, "We are clothed with our heavenly body, and thus'are not found naked," 1 Cor. 5:3. Likewise
Christ says in Matt. 5:20, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." The Pharisees were teaching outward discfpline. But the voice of the Gospel which speaks of repentance adds more; the righteous ness of the godly must abound and exceed in these six areas: repentance, faith, renewal of spirit, true wor ship, advancing in our calling, and contending against the devil. For this new light is the beginning of eternal life which is and will be the kind of life, the kind of wisdom and righteousness which the Law demands, that is, a full knowledge of God and pure love for Him.
Therefore it is said in Jer. 31:33, "I will put My law into their hearts," that is, I will kindle true light and obedi ence unto salvation, which will be for them eternal wis dom and righteousness. still weak and still stained by many blemishes. Thus it is a far different thing that Christ has made propitiation and on account of Him a person determines that he has sure and certain reconciliation. We look to Him and not to our own qualities.
Thus both points are true: Love must be present and yet a person must have reconciliation on account of the Son of God. We can use this simple response to avoid longer quarells when we see them coming. For here it is customary also to debate other points, such as, that "faith" means the gift of performing miracles, or that "love" means only the love for our neighbor. But I am omitting these ideas, since they are already suf ficiently clear.
XIV Matt. 19:17, "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." Therefore it is possible to satisfy the Law and our obedience merits eternal life.
I reply:
Our adversaries have established their errors by the use of this passage that man can satisfy the law of God and that the wickedness which is born with us is not an evil which is in conflict with the law of God, and that because of our fulfillment of the law the price of our eternal life has been paid. These errors have arisen because they did not distinguish the Law from the Gos pel. The Law requires complete obedience, and it prom ises life on the condition of complete obedience, as it has been said,"This do and you shall live," Gal. 3:12.
But it is evident that no one satisfies the law of God, as Paul clearly testifies in Romans 7 and 8. Therefore we must compare the passages under discussion here with other statements which properly apply to the Gos pel. Rom. 6:23, "The gift of God is eternal life through Christ." And John 6:40, "This is the will of Him who sent Me that everyone who believes in the Son shall have eternal life." This is a different voice from the statements of the Law which are to be interpreted out of the Gospel. For although there is a difference, yet the law is not abolished, but as Paul says, "We estab lish the Law through faith," Rom. 3:31. For although our weak nature does not satisfy the law of God, yet God wills for the sake of His Son to receive us and to make us heirs of eternal life, and this takes place through faith. And when we are received, then the new light and the new obedience do begin which are in agreement with the law of God. And although this be ginning does not satisfy the law of God, yet it is pleasing to Him for the sake of the Mediator, as said above.
Thus it is obligatory that the commandments of God be observed, and to this same point Paul says in Romans
3, "We establish the Law through faith," that is, when we are by faith grafted into Christ, our obedience is pleasing to Him and our love toward God is begun.
XV Forgive and it will be forgiven you, Matt. 6:14:
Therefore our forgiving spirit merits remission of sins.
I reply: This statement preaches of repentance, like many in the prophets: Is. 1:17-18, "Cease doing evil ... though your sins be as scarlet, you shall be whiter than snow"; 58:7-8, "Break your bread to the hungry ... and the glory of the Lord will gather around you." These and similar statements contain two parts:
One is the word of command ordering us to change our ways and the other is the promise of the remission of sins. And now in regard to the promise we must listen to the Gospel. Isaiah does not say that we should cease doing evil things and remission will be given you be cause of your virtues. Indeed, in another passage he clearly says of Christ, "Truly He has borne our griefs,"
Is. 53:4.
Thus in this statement, "Forgive and it shall be forgiven you," the first part is a commandment. The second part contains the promise; but it is not added that because of your forgiving spirit your sins are re mitted to you. But rather if this condition must be added, then the promise is rendered uncertain as one can eas ily understand. Thus, when we have heard the promise, then our mind should look at the teaching regarding the remission of sins which has been promised freely for the sake of Christ. It means that this work is required, namely our forgiving spirit, that just as our other works are pleasing to God, as said above, not because there is then no evil in our mind, but because the pious mind fights against evil desires and hatreds because of the commandment of God and for the sake of harmony in the church, and it knows that this behavior is pleasing to God because of Christ.
Therefore to all the words of the Law add the Gospel. "If you want to enter into life, keep the com mandments," that is, according to the voice of the Gos
Almost the same idea is found in Dan. 4:27, "Free yourself from sins by righteousness and alms for the poor, and there will be a cleansing of your iniquities."
The whole speech preaches repentance in which the first part demands a changing of ways and does not speak only of alms but of a complete conversion: "Free yourself from sins through righteousness," that is, be come righteous, acknowledge the true God who has revealed Himself in His Word which He has given to His people Israel and promised remission of sins for the sake of the coming Lord. Then as a result your governing also becomes righteous; you should be dil igent in your justice, prohibit evils, punish the delin quent, defend the upright, do not be cruel to the church and the people of God. And finally all duties of a fair and beneficial government are included, then he says,
"give alms to the poor," that is, give benefits to the poor. This first part is the voice of the Law which com mands concerning the conversion of the king.
XVI The greatest virtue justifies most greatly: Love is the greatest virtue: Therefore, love justifies most greatly.
I reply: The major premise concerning the righ teousness of the L aw is true, that is, if we fulfill the Law satisfactorily, we would be righteous on account of our virtues, and the greatest virtue would contribute the most, so that we can truly say of Christ that He was righteous particularly because of His perfect love. But because we do not satisfy the Law, we are accepted before God on account of the Mediator and not on ac count of our own worthiness or our own qualities.
Therefore the major premise is not valid in regard to our reconciliation. The greatest virtue reconciles most greatly; indeed, only the Mediator reconciles. It is the greatest virtue of all to burn with love for God, but even the regenerate and those who have advanced far scarcely believe that the smallest spark has been kin dled in them since in their own minds faith struggles with doubt and the devil is upsetting their worship by various false ideas; so that in our heart the love for God still languishes, as we can sense in our prayers in which our heart either believes that it is negligent or even flees
God, and wicked desires and love of pleasure, glory, and our own life rush in upon us.
The second part, "There will be a cleansing of your iniquities," is a promise which must be received by faith. Therefore when He makes the promise, He also requires faith by which we believe that God makes
His promise through mercy, not because of our wor thiness. Nor was this some fleeting instruction, for when the king inquired how Daniel knew the will of God and from whence he could affirm with certainty that sins were truly remitted, Daniel without the slightest hesitance explained the promise which had been given by God regarding the future liberation and also in regard to eternal life, and he showed that this promise also pertained to the gentiles. Therefore he did not com mand certain ceremonies in order that he might thereby signify that reconciliation is given not on account of the Law but on account of the promise.
Therefore, although love for God must exist in us, yet we acknowledge the enormous weakness in us and we know that our person has been received by God, heard by Him, and is righteous, that is, our person has been reckoned as accepted by God on account of the Mediator by faith. Thus it is one thing to speak of reconciliation and God's mercy toward us; it is another to arrogate these virtues to ourselves. For there is no question that love is the greatest of all virtues, and the Law requires it as the highest virtue, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart...But where
Therefore, although this account in Daniel is brief, yet the promise of remission itself instructs the godly reader regarding the universal promise of reconciliation and eternal life. And the thoughtful reader will under stand that the account in Daniel is in agreement with the Gospel. The first part deals with the precepts con cerning the amending of one's life and the later part is the promise which must be received by faith, by which we are assured that we have been received by God's mercy. These points are clear and sure for pious people and are entirely free of sophistry. Nor am I using this story to support the notion that good works merit the remission of present sins, even if it is true that Daniel was not talking only of the remission of the penalties but first of the remission of guilt. But Scripture often speaks of the remission of present penalties, for ex ample, "alms deliver from death," Tobit 4:11 and 12:9, that is, our alms-giving merits that we are not pressed down by dangers. Honoring your father also brings about a placating of your sin, that is, insofar as it per tains to present punishment, if you will be kind toward your parents, teachers, rulers of the church, God will also mitigate your punishments. is this burning flame of love? Scarcely a spark shines in the saints and it is retained with difficulty. If we con sider these points, we will understand more clearly why it has to be said that we are justified by faith. Now if a person wishes to compare these virtues and to consider the individual definitions of each, there is some value to be gained from this. The first virtue is faith, which is to know the Word of God and to assent to the promise of grace. There is also trust, by which for the sake of Christ we determine that God is favorable toward us, so that we may rest in confidence. Therefore knowl edge lays hold on the promise, and trust quiets our heart for the sake of the Mediator. Then follows love.
For it is necessary that the knowledge of God's mercy comes first, since the heart truly senses the wrath of God and again by faith recognizes that God is favorable toward us for the sake of Christ. By this light the dark ness of Epicureanism and the Academicians is driven away and our mind, aided by the Holy Spirit, determines that God really is concerned about us and that we are
received by Him. Thus the heart begins to submit to God and love toward God begins. But in this life the kind of flames are not burning which we owe to God, but there is a certain degree of beginning obedience by which the heart does subject itself to God and re joices in knowing and obeying Him. As it says in the canticle in Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and happiness or good will among men." Thus John, in order to show in some way what our love toward God should be, says in 1 John 5:3,
"This is the love of God, that we keep His command ments." To these virtues we add, in the third place, hope which is properly the expectation of the coming deliverance promised by God. Hope differs from faith in two ways. The first is a noteworthy and significant difference. Faith lays hold on the promise and applies the Mediator to us. Hope is not like this, but awaits the future outcome. From this we can easily understand why it is not proper to say that we are justified by hope, because it is not the purpose of hope to demonstrate or apply the Mediator as when we say we are justified by faith. The second difference is this: Faith receives the present benefit, the present reconciliation without which there can be no calling upon God. Hope expects in advance the future events which have been promised by God. has the outward appearance of works, Christ still gives in this passage praise for their love, a love which the hypocrites had taken for themselves by arrogating to themselves the righteousness of the Law. But Christ transfers this honor to this poor woman: the righteous ness of the Law is pleasing here where there is the true knowledge of Christ. And in this congregation there is true worship, that is to say, repentance, faith, true call ing upon God, love, kissing Christ's feet and washing them, that is, adorning and defending the ministry of the Gospel and the necessary zeal for the church, en during dangers in confession and labors, and hatred in teaching. On the other hand, the hypocrites are without repentance or the fear of God because they think that they are righteous by their own behavior or their own ceremonies. Then they are also without faith, because they either trust in their own righteousness or remain in doubt. They are without love because love for God and true worship cannot exist unless there first be a knowledge of remission of sins. They do not honor the Gospel but try either to destroy or repress it. In this passage Christ sets before the godly His comfort, he sharply refutes the Pharisee and takes away from him all praise for his righteousness in order that He may show that He defends His church against the unfair judgments of the congregation of hypocrites.
But if this idea of the twofold absolution does not please you, then use another illustration. The idea of synecdoche has been suggested. Her many sins were forgiven her because she had been converted. State ments such as this occur in many places and yet the synecdoche must be explained. Although it is neces sary that the many aspects of conversion do come to gether at one and the same time—contrition, faith, love or good intention—yet remission of sins is not given because of our worthiness but through mercy which is grasped by faith. This explanation is taken from Paul in his contentions for the term "freely, by faith for the sake of Christ."
XVII "Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven her because she loved much," Luke 7:47: Therefore remission of sins takes place on account of love.
I reply: There is a twofold absolution. One is pri vate, directed to the conscience which is struggling with the wrath of God. In this absolution we must understand that remission is received by faith and not on account of our virtues. Thus Christ says, "Your faith has saved you," Luke 7:50. Our faith does not rely upon our love but only on the mercy which has been promised, as is evident. Nor can love exist unless remission be re ceived. The second kind of absolution is public, before the church. This takes place on account of good works which are testimonies of a person's conversion, as when Christ here explains to the Pharisee why He had received the woman, namely because there were ev ident testimonies to her conversion.
XVIII Eternal life is called a reward: Therefore it is owed to us because of our works.
My reply is very brief: Eternal life is a reward because it brings blessings even if it is given for another reason, namely for the sake of Christ. Just as an in heritance is a reward for a son, even if it comes to him for another reason. This reply is brief and simple and it satisfies the objection of our adversaries who are exaggerating the word "reward" out of all proportion and are drawing some ridiculous conclusions from it, such as placing works and reward either in the realm of the marketplace, or making the price and the reward equal. Thus they come up with the notion of equalizing our obedience with our eternal life, and speak of the obedience of the merit of our worthiness (meritum de condigno); they imagine that men can satisfy the Law and they mix it all up with works of supererogation. And This entire account is a picture of the church.
There are always two congregations. The one is hyp ocritical, puffed up by the authority which has been given to it and its reputation for righteousness, because it seems to be carefully observing the doctrine of dis cipline and the Law. And although this congregation does not cling to the Gospel, yet because it holds gov ernance of the church, therefore Christ sat at its table, that is, he used its platform as a place to preach. The second congregation is the one which hears the Gos pel, truly repents, and with true faith calls upon God, recognizes the Son as the Mediator, and proclaims the Gospel. To this congregation, although the other group
in regard to faith which does not look to our worthiness but to the Mediator and which receives the remission of sins and the inheritance of eternal life for the sake of Christ—of this they say nothing. Indeed, they teach the very opposite when they say that hope is the ex pectation of eternal life which comes from our own mer its. Finally, the word "merit" has created many arguments, and Bernard, when he could not solve this problem, finally said, "It is sufficient to know regarding the word 'merit' that merit does not suffice." Thus the knowledge of his own infirmity compelled him to take refuge in Christ. obligation for good works are much more serious than this. Besides, we must maintain the difference in the promises. The promise of reconciliation and eternal life is a free promise; while the promises belonging to the Law are additions made for the sake of good works, such as the promise, "He who gives a cup of water shall not lose his reward," Matt. 10:42. Thus, even though good works do not merit reconciliation and are not the price of eternal life (for reconciliation must pre cede these things in order that our obedience may please God), yet they do merit some rewards, as we have said.
Further, what has been said regarding sluggish ness must be refuted by raising the danger of doubting.
If we must be in doubt regarding eternal life, as the teaching of these points regarding merits leads us to believe, then doubt will even more weaken our zeal for doing good. But I am passing over this point. There is a great darkness upon the human mind and a horrible weakness. Very few people understand what it is to serve God. But the pious have some degree of light.
They thank God who has received us to Himself for the sake of His Son and that for the sake of the Mediator
He has given His approval to this weak and corrupted obedience of ours and adorned it with rewards and aroused us to the exercises of faith and good works.
For in these exercises these questions can easily be judged.
Therefore our explanation of this matter is simple.
We say that it is necessary for salvation that there be repentance, faith, the beginning of obedience or love; and yet because there is still in our flesh a great dark ness and weakness which conflicts with the law of God, we must acknowledge what David says, "In'Your sight shall no flesh be justified," Ps. 143:2. We must flee to Christ and determine that eternal life is given to those who repent and believe for His sake. As He Himself says, "This is the will of the Father, that everyone who believes in the Son shall have eternal life," John 6:40.
It is insanity to imagine that it is possible for the re generate to satisfy the law of God and that they are thus without sin. Therefore, in order that our hope of eternal life may remain strong, we should know that it is given to those who repent and believe for the sake of Christ.
I have discussed this entire controversy regard ing justification or reconciliation. And although many people oppose this position, yet it is the task of the godly mind to see what really is at issue so that the matter can most easily be judged, that the church of all ages may be alerted, and the experience of the saints carefully considered. We say that repentance is necessary, and we add that people must believe that the remission of sins is freely given for the sake of the Son of God, not on account of our own worthiness.
Likewise the mind must not fall prey to doubt but in faith conquer doubt. Further we are saying that it is nec essary that there be the beginning of obedience, but that this does not satisfy the law of God, but is pleasing to Him in the reconciled for the sake of the Mediator;
Meanwhile, however, because God does receive our obedience, even though our good works do not merit the remission of sins and the inheritance of eternal life, yet they do merit other rewards both physical and spiritual in this life and in the future, as Christ says,
"Great will be your reward in heaven," Matt. 5:12.
These things which I have said satisfy the wise and pious consciences.
This reply is also true: The statements, "The re ward will be eternal life," Matt. 5:12, and "It shall be rendered to each according to his works," 2 Cor. 5:10, are statements of Law which speak of righteousness as well as of our own worthiness. And yet the faith which receives reconciliation determines that we are not pleasing to God because of anything else or because of our virtues, because no one satisfies the Law, and in this weakness of our nature many sins still remain.
It is necessary to add an explanation from the Gospel which causes us to understand that merit is a com pensation, but we must not understand that reconcili ation is given on account of our worthiness, and that our beginning obedience is not pleasing to God in itself, but it is pleasing for the sake of the Mediator in those who have been reconciled. The compensation for good works only comes after this reconciliation. and indeed sins do remain in the regenerate, but yet we are to distinguish sins which are contrary to con science from those which remain in the saints. For we are saying that grace is lost when the law of God is violated against conscience. Not only are these ideas correct, but in fact they are in agreement with the con sensus of all the saints from the very beginning.
Think of David when he was accused by Nathan.
Here David acknowledges the wrath of God and is truly ashamed and grieves. Again, when he hears the Gos pel, "The Lord has taken away your sin," he is governed by this word and does not think that he has the remis sion of his sin because of his virtues. But he believes the word and understands concerning the promises which have been given to the fathers, he struggles with But we must destroy the argument which some make that men will become slack and lazy toward well doing if we take away from them the idea of merit. I have said above that the reasons for the necessity and
which are constant and irrefutable, in agreement with the consensus of the saints of all ages. Nor will it be difficult to refute the arguments which are used against them, if we keep these points before us and use them in our daily prayers. For there can be no true prayer unless we understand the doctrine of faith. For we must draw near'to God in trust in the Mediator, Rom. 5:1,
"Through Him we have access ..and Heb. 4:14 ff., "Having such a hitjh priest, let us draw near with confidence." his doubt and conquers in faith. What happens then?
Does he later come to the conclusion that he is satis fying the law of God? Indeed he recognizes that his weakness is far removed from the perfection of God's law. He therefore says, "In Your sight shall no flesh be justified," Ps. 143:2, and he knows that still through mercy this righteousness of a good conscience is pleasing to God in those who have been reconciled, as he says, "Those who love Your law have great peace,"
Ps. 119:165.
Our minds must carefully note these statements
Locus 10 The Difference between the Old and New Covenants There is one ongoing church of God which has existed from the creation of man and the giving of the promise after the fall of Adam down to the present day, but the spreading of the teaching of the church has taken place in different places and under different kinds of government. It is profitable to consider in a chro nological order the history and the testimonies in which God has revealed Himself from the very beginning and showed His wrath against sin and has declared His mercy to those who have turned to Him. Fpr »in order that we might know that the doctrine of the church is the only, the first, and the true doctrine, God in His special blessing willed that from the beginning this on going history should be put in writing and preserved, and to this book which was written through the work of the patriarchs and the prophets, He has added testi monies, along with the demonstrations of the great mir acles, in order that we might understand whence and how the doctrine of the church has been spread abroad from the beginning of time. But later on the religions of the heathen arose, which here and there in an ungodly manner developed new gods and new forms of wor ship, when they had departed from the original teach ing. Nor did the Greeks and other writers, who were of their religious persuasion, know the true God, but daily dreamed up horrible licentiousness, sometimes dealing with Bacchus and other times with Diana. of grace, which is properly called the Gospel. This dis tinction is a light to the entire Scripture and was taught even before Moses.
The Law is the knowledge planted in the mind of man in the creation, teaching that there is one God, the Creator of things, and that we must worship Him and render Him obedience in keeping with the difference between what is honorable and what is shameful and subject to punishment, which God Himself has im pressed on the mind. For the image of God was in man and this image was the sure and certain knowledge of God and the knowledge of the Law, and in his will there was a turning to God. But although after the Fall the will was turned away from God and the knowledge in his mind was darkened, yet there did remain a knowl edge that there is an eternal and immutable judgment of God against sin which testifies that God is angry with sin.
But after the Fall the promise of reconciliation is not the knowledge which has been inserted into our nature, but it is a voice brought from the hidden bosom of the Father which was previously unknown to all crea tures, by which voice God testifies that He does receive men into His grace, that He will destroy sin and death, and that He will restore righteousness and life for the sake of the coming Seed of the woman. The procla mation of His birth began in paradise. The voice of the Law is the accusation against our disobedience. But the promise was this: "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent." After this came the patriarchs, such as Adam, Seth, Enoch, and others who, by a legitimate call of God, exercised the priest hood and spread the true doctrine.
Thus we should understand that it is a great blessing of God that He has given to His church a cer tain Book, and He preserves it for us and gathers His church around it. Finally, the church is the people who embrace this Book, hear, learn, and retain as their own its teachings in their worship life and in the governing of their morals. Therefore where this Book is rejected, the church of God is not present, as is the case among the Mohammedans; or where its teachings have been suppressed or false interpretations set forth, as has happened among heretics. Therefore we must read and meditate upon this Book so that its teachings may be retained, as we are often commanded regarding the study of it, e.g., 1 Tim. 4:13, "Devote yourself to read ing"; Col. 3:16, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." The Holy Spirit testifies that it is His will that the doctrine and the divine testimonies be put in writing, e.g., Ps. 102:18, "This shall be written for the gener ations to come, and the people who shall be created shall praise the Lord."
The Law which prohibits murder is expressly pro claimed in the preachment to Cain and later in the word repeated to Noah. The Law which prohibits vagrant lusts is sanctified in paradise and later the testimony is given concerning the judgment of God in the Flood and the destruction of Sodom. Likewise the promise be comes increasingly clearer, as when it is said to Abra ham, "In your seed shall all the nations be blessed,"
Gen. 22:18.
Therefore what do we properly call the old cov enant and the new covenant? For it has always been necessary to proclaim both the Law and the Gospel, and the voice of each has been the ongoing ministry in the church. I reply: The old covenant in the most proper sense is the promulgation of the Law, or the pact by which the people of Israel were bound to the Law and to this form of civil life for this purpose, that in this civil arrangement the promise of the coming Mes
Therefore we should love and cultivate the stud ies of this divinely given Book. First, we should know its substance and that there are two kinds of teaching contained in the entire Book, the Law and the promise