nt let us suppose that you could fulfill the Law
in the spirit of the first commandment of God: "Thou shalt love the
Lord, thy God, with all thy heart." It would do you no good. A person
simply is not justified by the works of the Law.

The works of the Law, according to Paul, include the whole Law,
judicial, ceremonial, moral. Now, if the performance of the moral law
cannot justify, how can circumcision justify, when circumcision is part
of the ceremonial law?

The demands of the Law may be fulfilled before and after justification.
There were many excellent men among the pagans of old, men who never
heard of justification. They lived moral lives. But that fact did not
justify them. Peter, Paul, all Christians, live up to the Law. But that
fact does not justify them. "For I know nothing by myself," says Paul,
"yet am I not hereby justified." (I Cor. 4:4.)

The nefarious opinion of the papists, which attributes the merit of
grace and the remission of sins to works, must here be emphatically
rejected. The papists say that a good work performed before grace has
been obtained, is able to secure grace for a person, because it is no
more than right that God should reward a good deed. When grace has
already been obtained, any good work deserves everlasting life as a due
payment and reward for merit. For the first, God is no debtor, they
say; but because God is good and just, it is no more than right (they
say) that He should reward a good work by granting grace for the
service. But when grace has already been obtained, they continue, God
is in the position of a debtor, and is in duty bound to reward a good
work with the gift of eternal life. This is the wicked teaching of the
papacy.

Now, if I could perform any work acceptable to God and deserving of
grace, and once having obtained grace my good works would continue to
earn for me the right and reward of eternal life, why should I stand in
need of the grace of God and the suffering and death of Christ? Christ
would be of no benefit to me. Christ's mercy would be of no use to me.

This shows how little insight the pope and the whole of his religious
coterie have into spiritual matters, and how little they concern
themselves with the spiritual health of their forlorn flocks. They
cannot believe that the flesh is unable to think, speak, or do anything
except against God. If they could see evil rooted in the nature of man,
they would never entertain such silly dreams about man's merit or
worthiness.

With Paul we absolutely deny the possibility of self merit. God never
yet gave to any person grace and everlasting life as a reward for
merit. The opinions of the papists are the intellectual pipe-dreams of
idle pates, that serve no other purpose but to draw men away from the
true worship of God. The papacy is founded upon hallucinations.

The true way of salvation is this. First, a person must realize that he
is a sinner, the kind of a sinner who is congenitally unable to do any
good thing. "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." Those who seek to
earn the grace of God by their own efforts are trying to please God
with sins. They mock God, and provoke His anger. The first step on the
way to salvation is to repent.

The second part is this. God sent His only-begotten Son into the world
that we may live through His merit. He was crucified and killed for us.
By sacrificing His Son for us God revealed Himself to us as a merciful
Father who donates remission of sins, righteousness, and life
everlasting for Christ's sake. God hands out His gifts freely unto all
men. That is the praise and glory of His mercy.

The scholastics explain the way of salvation in this manner. When a
person happens to perform a good deed, God accepts it and as a reward
for the good deed God pours charity into that person. They call it
"charity infused." This charity is supposed to remain in the heart.
They get wild when they are told that this quality of the heart cannot
justify a person.

They also claim that we are able to love God by our own natural
strength, to love God above all things, at least to the extent that we
deserve grace. And, say the scholastics, because God is not satisfied
with a literal performance of the Law, but expects us to fulfill the
Law according to the mind of the Lawgiver, therefore we must obtain
from above a quality above nature, a quality which they call "formal
righteousness."

We say, faith apprehends Jesus Christ. Christian faith is not an
inactive quality in the heart. If it is true faith it will surely take
Christ for its object. Christ, apprehended by faith and dwelling in the
heart, constitutes Christian righteousness, for which God gives eternal
life.

In contrast to the doting dreams of the scholastics, we teach this:
First a person must learn to know himself from the Law. With the
prophet he will then confess: "All have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God." And, "there is none that doeth good, no, not one." And,
"against thee, thee only, have I sinned."

Having been humbled by the Law, and having been brought to a right
estimate of himself, a man will repent. He finds out that he is so
depraved, that no strength, no works, no merits of his own will ever
deliver him from his guilt. He will then understand the meaning of
Paul's words: "I am sold under sin"; and "they are all under sin."

At this state a person begins to lament: "Who is going to help me?" In
due time comes the Word of the Gospel, and says: "Son, thy sins are
forgiven thee. Believe in Jesus Christ who was crucified for your sins.
Remember, your sins have been imposed upon Christ."

In this way are we delivered from sin. In this way are we justified and
made heirs of everlasting life.

In order to have faith you must paint a true portrait of Christ. The
scholastics caricature Christ into a judge and tormentor. But Christ is
no law giver. He is the Lifegiver. He is the Forgiver of sins. You must
believe that Christ might have atoned for the sins of the world with
one single drop of His blood. Instead, He shed His blood abundantly in
order that He might give abundant satisfaction for our sins.

Here let me say, that these three things, faith, Christ, and imputation
of righteousness, are to be joined together. Faith takes hold of
Christ. God accounts this faith for righteousness.

This imputation of righteousness we need very much, because we are far
from perfect. As long as we have this body, sin will dwell in our
flesh. Then, too, we sometimes drive away the Holy Spirit; we fall into
sin, like Peter, David, and other holy men. Nevertheless we may always
take recourse to this fact, "that our sins are covered," and that "God
will not lay them to our charge." Sin is not held against us for
Christ's sake. Where Christ and faith are lacking, there is no
remission or covering of sins, but only condemnation.

After we have taught faith in Christ, we teach good works. "Since you
have found Christ by faith," we say, "begin now to work and do well.
Love God and your neighbor. Call upon God, give thanks unto Him, praise
Him, confess Him. These are good works. Let them flow from a cheerful
heart, because you have remission of sin in Christ."

When crosses and afflictions come our way, we bear them patiently. "For
Christ's yoke is easy, and His burden is light." When sin has been
pardoned, and the conscience has been eased of its dreadful load, a
Christian can endure all things in Christ.

To give a short definition of a Christian: A Christian is not somebody
who chalks(sp) sin, because of his faith in Christ. This doctrine
brings comfort to consciences in serious trouble. When a person is a
Christian he is above law and sin. When the Law accuses him, and sin
wants to drive the wits out of him, a Christian looks to Christ. A
Christian is free. He has no master except Christ. A Christian is
greater than the whole world.

VERSE 16. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified.

The true way of becoming a Christian is to be justified by faith in
Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the Law.

We know that we must also teach good works, but they must be taught in
their proper turn, when the discussion is concerning works and not the
article of justification.

Here the question arises by what means are we justified? We answer with
Paul, "By faith only in Christ are we pronounced righteous, and not by
works." Not that we reject good works. Far from it. But we will not
allow ourselves to be removed from the anchorage of our salvation.

The Law is a good thing. But when the discussion is about
justification, then is no time to drag in the Law. When we discuss
justification we ought to speak of Christ and the benefits He has
brought us.

Christ is no sheriff. He is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world." (John 1:29.)

VERSE 16. That we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by
the works of the Law.

We do not mean to say that the Law is bad. Only it is not able to
justify us. To be at peace with God, we have need of a far better
mediator than Moses or the Law. We must know that we are nothing. We
must understand that we are merely beneficiaries and recipients of the
treasures of Christ.

So far, the words of Paul were addressed to Peter. Now Paul turns to
the Galatians and makes this summary statement:

VERSE 16. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

By the term "flesh" Paul does not understand manifest vices. Such sins
he usually calls by their proper names, as adultery, fornication, etc.
By "flesh" Paul understands what Jesus meant in the third chapter of
John, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh". (John 3:6.) "Flesh"
here means the whole nature of man, inclusive of reason and instincts.
"This flesh," says Paul, "is not justified by the works of the law."

The papists do not believe this. They say, "A person who performs this
good deed or that, deserves the forgiveness of his sins. A person who
joins this or that holy order, has the promise of everlasting life."

To me it is a miracle that the Church, so long surrounded by vicious
sects, has been able to survive at all. God must have been able to call
a few who in their failure to discover any good in themselves to cite
against the wrath and judgment of God, simply took to the suffering and
death of Christ, and were saved by this simple faith.

Nevertheless God has punished the contempt of the Gospel and of Christ
on the part of the papists, by turning them over to a reprobate state
of mind in which they reject the Gospel, and receive with gusto the
abominable rules, ordinances, and traditions of men in preference to
the Word of God, until they went so far as to forbid marriage. God
punished them justly, because they blasphemed the only Son of God.

This is, then, our general conclusion: "By the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified."

VERSE 17. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves
also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God
forbid.

Either we are not justified by Christ, or we are not justified by the
Law. The fact is, we are justified by Christ. Hence, we are not
justified by the Law. If we observe the Law in order to be justified,
or after having been justified by Christ, we think we must further be
justified by the Law, we convert Christ into a legislator and a
minister of sin.

"What are these false apostles doing?" Paul cries. "They are turning
Law into grace, and grace into Law. They are changing Moses into
Christ, and Christ into Moses. By teaching that besides Christ and His
righteousness the performance of the Law is necessary unto salvation,
they put the Law in the place of Christ, they attribute to the Law the
power to save, a power that belongs to Christ only."

The papists quote the words of Christ: "If thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments." (Matt. 19:17.) With His own words they deny
Christ and abolish faith in Him. Christ is made to lose His good name,
His office, and His glory, and is demoted to the status of a law
enforcer, reproving, terrifying, and chasing poor sinners around.

The proper office of Christ is to raise the sinner, and extricate him
from his sins.

Papists and Anabaptists deride us because we so earnestly require
faith. "Faith," they say, "makes men reckless." What do these
law-workers know about faith, when they are so busy calling people back
from baptism, from faith, from the promises of Christ to the Law?

With their doctrine these lying sects of perdition deface the benefits
of Christ to this day. They rob Christ of His glory as the Justifier of
mankind and cast Him into the role of a minister of sin. They are like
the false apostles. There is not a single one among them who knows the
difference between law and grace.

We can tell the difference. We do not here and now argue whether we
ought to do good works, or whether the Law is any good, or whether the
Law ought to be kept at all. We will discuss these questions some other
time. We are now concerned with justification. Our opponents refuse to
make this distinction. All they can do is to bellow that good works
ought to be done. We know that. We know that good works ought to be
done, but we will talk about that when the proper time comes. Now we
are dealing with justification, and here good works should not be so
much as mentioned.

Paul's argument has often comforted me. He argues: "If we who have been
justified by Christ are counted unrighteous, why seek justification in
Christ at all? If we are justified by the Law, tell me, what has Christ
achieved by His death, by His preaching, by His victory over sin and
death? Either we are justified by Christ, or we are made worse sinners
by Him."

The Sacred Scriptures, particularly those of the New Testament, make
frequent mention of faith in Christ. "Whosoever believeth in him is
saved, shall not perish, shall have everlasting life, is not judged,"
etc. In open contradiction to the Scriptures, our opponents misquote,
"He that believeth in Christ is condemned, because he has faith without
works." Our opponents turn everything topsy-turvy. They make Christ
over into a murderer, and Moses into a savior. Is not this horrible
blasphemy?

VERSE 17. Is therefore Christ the minister of sin?

This is Hebrew phraseology, also used by Paul in II Corinthians,
chapter 3. There Paul speaks of two ministers: The minister of the
letter, and the minister of the spirit; the minister of the Law, and
the minister of grace; the minister of death, and the minister of life.
"Moses," says Paul, "is the minister of the Law, of sin, wrath, death,
and condemnation."

Whoever teaches that good works are indispensable unto salvation, that
to gain heaven a person must suffer afflictions and follow the example
of Christ and of the saints, is a minister of the Law, of sin, wrath,
and of death, for the conscience knows how impossible it is for a
person to fulfill the Law. Why, the Law makes trouble even for those
who have the Holy Spirit. What will not the Law do in the case of the
wicked who do not even have the Holy Spirit?

The Law requires perfect obedience. It condemns all who do not
accomplish the will of God. But show me a person who is able to render
perfect obedience. The Law cannot justify. It can only condemn
according to the passage: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in
all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."

Paul has good reason for calling the minister of the Law the minister
of sin, for the Law reveals our sinfulness. The realization of sin in
turn frightens the heart and drives it to despair. Therefore a