Sect. 7. — Believers freed from the commanding and condemning Power of the Covenant of Works.
Sect. 7. — Believers freed from the commanding and condemning Power of the Covenant of Works.
Neo. But, sir, I am not satisfied concerning the point you touched before. And therefore, I ask you to proceed to show me how far I am delivered from the law, as it is the Covenant of Works.
Evan. Truly, as it is the Covenant of Works, you are wholly and altogether delivered and set free from it. You are dead to it, and it is dead to you. And if it is dead to you, then it can do you neither good nor hurt; and if you are dead to it, you can expect neither good nor hurt from it.
Consider, man, I beg you, as I said before, that you are now under another covenant; namely, the Covenant of Grace. And you cannot be under two covenants at once, either wholly or partly. Therefore, just as before you believed that you were wholly under the Covenant of Works (as Adam left both you and all his posterity after his fall), so also since you believed, you have been wholly under the Covenant of Grace. Assure yourself then, that no minister, or preacher of God’s word has any warrant to say to you now, “Either do this and that duty which is contained in the law, and avoid this and that sin which is forbidden in the law, and God will justify you and save your soul; or else do not do it, and he will condemn you and damn you.” No, no, you are now set free from both the commanding and the condemning power of the Covenant of Works. So that I will say to you, as the apostle says to the believing Hebrews (Heb. 12.18, 22, 24), “You have not come to Mount Sinai which might be touched, and that burned with fire; nor to blackness, and darkness, and tempest; but you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God: and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant.” So that (to speak with holy reverence) God cannot, by virtue of the Covenant of Works, either require any obedience from you, nor punish you for any disobedience — no, by virtue of that covenant, he cannot so much as threaten you, or give you an angry word, or show you an angry look. For indeed he can see no sin in you as a transgression of that covenant. For as the apostle says, “Where there is no law, there is no transgression,” Rom. 4.15. And therefore, though hereafter you transgress through frailty any of the Ten Commandments, you do not thereby transgress the Covenant of Works. There is no such covenant now between God and you.
And therefore, though hereafter you hear a voice such as this, “If you would be saved, keep the commandments;” or “Cursed is every one that does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” — even if you hear the voice of thunder and a fearful noise; even if you see blackness and darkness, and feel a great tempest; that is to say, even if you hear us preachers, according to our commission in Isa. 58.1, “lifting up our voice like a trumpet” in threatening hell and damnation to sinners and transgressors of the law — though these are the words of God, you are not to think they are spoken to you. No, no; the apostle assures you that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8.1. Believe it: God never threatens eternal death after he has given eternal life to a man.
No, the truth is, God never speaks to a believer apart from Christ; and in Christ he does not speak a word under the terms of the Covenant of Works. And if the law itself were to presume to come into your conscience and say, “You have transgressed in this and that, and broken me; therefore you owe so much this and so much that to divine justice, which must be satisfied or else I will arrest you;” — then you answer and say, “Law! Let it be known that I am now married to Christ, and so I am under cover. Therefore if you charge me with any debt, you must enter your action against my husband, Christ; for the wife is not sueable at law, but only the husband. The truth is, through him I am dead to you, law! And you are dead to me. Therefore Justice has nothing to do with me, for it judges according to the law.”
And if the law replies and says, “Yes, but good works must be done and the commandments must be kept, if you would obtain salvation;” — then you answer and say, “I am already saved before you in earnest; and therefore I have no need of your presence. For in Christ I have all things at once; nor do I need anything more that is necessary to salvation. He is my righteousness, my treasure, and my work. I confess, law, that I am neither godly nor righteous; yet this I am sure of: that he is godly and righteous for me. And to tell the truth, law! I am now with him in the bride-chamber, where it makes no difference what I am, or what I have done; but only what Christ, my sweet husband, is, and has done, and does for me. Therefore, law, quit arguing with me; for by faith ‘I apprehend him who has apprehended me,’ and put me into his bosom. Therefore I will be bold to ask Moses with his tablets, and all the lawyers with their books, and all men with their works, to hold their peace and give way. And so I say to you, O law! Be gone.” And if it will not be gone, then thrust it out by force, says Luther.
And if sin tries to take hold of you, as David said his sins did to him, Psalm 40.12; then say to it, “Your strength, O sin, is the law,” 1Cor. 15.56, and the law is dead to me. So that, “O sin, your strength is gone; and therefore be sure that you will never be able to prevail against me, or do me any hurt at all.”
And if Satan takes you by the throat, and violently drags you before God’s judgment-seat, then call to your husband, Christ, and say, “Lord, I suffer violence. Answer for me, and help me.” And by his help you shall be enabled to plead for yourself in this way: God the Father! I am your Son Christ’s. You gave me to him, and you have given him “all power, both in heaven and in earth, and have committed all judgment to him.” Therefore I will stand to his judgment. He says that he “did not come not to judge the world, but to save it;” therefore he will save me, according to his office. And if the jury should bring in their verdict that they have found you guilty, then speak to the Judge and say, If anyone must be condemned for my transgressions, it must be Christ, and not I. for even though I have committed them, yet he has undertaken and bound himself to answer for them, and he does that by the consent and good-will of God his Father. And indeed, he has fully satisfied [the Father] for them.
And if death creeps up on you, and attempts to devour you, then say, “Your sting, O death! is sin; and Christ my husband has fully vanquished sin, and so he has deprived you of your sting. And therefore I do not fear any hurt that you, O death! can do to me.” And thus you may triumph with the apostle, saying, “Thanks be to God, who has given me the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Cor. 15.56, 57.
Thus I have declared to you how Christ, in the fulness of time, performed what God purposed before all time, and promised in time, with regard to helping and delivering fallen mankind.
And so I have also done with the “Law of Faith.”