so. The Epistle to the Hebrews expressly
states: "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice."

In our dealings with God the work is worth nothing without faith, for
"without faith it is impossible to please him." (Hebrews 11:6.) The
sacrifice of Abel was better than the sacrifice of Cain, because Abel
had faith. As to Cain he had no faith or trust in God's grace, but
strutted about in his own fancied worth. When God refused to recognize
Cain's worth, Cain got angry at God and at Abel. The Holy Spirit speaks
of faith in different ways in the Sacred Scriptures. Sometimes He
speaks of faith independently of other matters. When the Scriptures
speak of faith in the absolute or abstract, faith refers to
justification directly. But when the Scripture speaks of rewards and
works it speaks of compound or relative faith. We will furnish some
examples. Galatians 5:6, "Faith which worketh by love." Leviticus 18:5,
"Which if a man do, he shall live in them." Matthew 19:17, "If thou
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Psalm 37:27, "Depart from
evil, and do good." In these and other passages where mention is made
of doing, the Scriptures always speak of a faithful doing, a doing
inspired by faith. "Do this and thou shalt live," means: First have
faith in Christ, and Christ will enable you to do and to live.

In the Word of God all things that are attributed to works are
attributable to faith. Faith is the divinity of works. Faith permeates
all the deeds of the believer, as Christ's divinity permeated His
humanity. Abraham was accounted righteous because faith pervaded his
whole personality and his every action.

When you read how the fathers, prophets, and kings accomplished great
deeds, remember to explain them as the Epistle to the Hebrews accounts
for them: "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions." (Hebrews 11:33.) In
this way will we correctly interpret all those passages that seem to
support the righteousness of works. The Law is truly observed only
through faith. Hence, every "holy," "moral" law-worker is accursed.

Supposing that this explanation will not satisfy the scholastics,
supposing that they should completely wrap me up in their arguments
(they cannot do it), I would rather be wrong and give all credit to
Christ alone. Here is Christ. Paul, Christ's apostle, declares that
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us." (Gal. 3:13.) I hear with my own ears that I cannot be saved
except by the blood and death of Christ. I conclude, therefore, that it
is up to Christ to overcome my sins, and not up to the Law, or my own
efforts. If He is the price of my redemption, if He was made sin for my
justification, I don't give a care if you quote me a thousand Scripture
passages for the righteousness of works against the righteousness of
faith. I have the Author and Lord of the Scriptures on my side. I would
rather believe Him than all that riffraff of "pious" law-workers.

VERSE 11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

The Apostle draws into his argument the testimony of the Prophet
Habakkuk: "The just shall live by his faith." This passage carries much
weight because it eliminates the Law and the deeds of the Law as
factors in the process of our justification.

The scholastics misconstrue this passage by saying: "The just shall
live by faith, if it is a working faith, or a faith formed and
performed by charitable works." Their annotation is a forgery. To speak
of formed or unformed faith, a sort of double faith, is contrary to the
Scriptures. If charitable works can form and perfect faith I am forced
to say eventually that charitable deeds constitute the essential factor
in the Christian religion. Christ and His benefits would be lost to us.

VERSE 12. And the law is not of faith.

In direct opposition to the scholastics Paul declares: "The law is not
of faith." What is this charity the scholastics talk so much about?
Does not the Law command charity? The fact is the Law commands nothing
but charity, as we may gather from the following Scripture passages:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deut. 6:5.) "Strewing mercy unto
thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exodus
20:6.) "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
(Matt. 22:40.) If the law requires charity, charity is part of the Law
and not of faith. Since Christ has displaced the Law which commands
charity, it follows that charity has been abrogated with the Law as a
factor in our justification, and only faith is left.

VERSE 12. But, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

Paul undertakes to explain the difference between the righteousness of
the Law and the righteousness of faith. The righteousness of the Law is
the fulfillment of the Law according to the passage: "The man that
doeth them shall live in them." The righteousness of faith is to
believe the Gospel according to the passage: "The just shall live by
faith." The Law is a statement of debit, the Gospel a statement of
credit. By this distinction Paul explains why charity which is the
commandment of the Law cannot justify, because the Law contributes
nothing to our justification.

Indeed, works do follow after faith, but faith is not therefore a
meritorious work. Faith is a gift. The character and limitations of the
Law must be rigidly maintained.

When we believe in Christ we live by faith. When we believe in the Law
we may be active enough but we have no life. The function of the Law is
not to give life; the function of the Law is to kill. True, the Law
says: "The man that doeth them shall live in them." But where is the
person who can do "them," i.e., love God with all his heart, soul, and
mind, and his neighbor as himself?

Paul has nothing against those who are justified by faith and therefore
are true doers of the Law. He opposes those who think they can fulfill
the Law when in reality they can only sin against the Law by trying to
obtain righteousness by the Law. The Law demands that we fear, love,
and worship God with a true faith. The law-workers fail to do this.
Instead, they invent new modes of worship and new kinds of works which
God never commanded. They provoke His anger according to the passage:
"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men." (Matthew 15:9.) Hence, the law-righteous workers
are downright rebels against God, and idolaters who constantly sin
against the first commandment. In short, they are no good at-all though
outwardly they seem to be extremely solicitous of the honor of God.

We who are justified by faith as the saints of old, may be under the
Law, but we are not under the curse of the Law because sin is not
imputed to us for Christ's sake. If the Law cannot be fulfilled by the
believers, if sin continues to cling to them despite their love for
God, what can you expect of people who are not yet justified by faith,
who are still enemies of God and His Word, like the unbelieving
law-workers? It goes to show how impossible it is for those who have
not been justified by faith to fulfill the Law.

VERSE 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on
a tree.

Jerome and his present-day followers rack their miserable brains over
this comforting passage in an effort to save Christ from the fancied
insult of being called a curse. They say: "This quotation from Moses
does not apply to Christ. Paul is taking liberties with Moses by
generalizing the statements in Deuteronomy 21:23. Moses has 'he that is
hanged.' Paul puts it 'every one that hangeth.' On the other hand, Paul
omits the words 'of God' in his quotation from Moses: 'For he that is
hanged is accursed of God.' Moses speaks of a criminal who is worthy of
death." "How," our opponents ask, "can this passage be applied to the
holy Christ as if He were accursed of God and worthy to be hanged?"
This piece of exegesis may impress the naive as a zealous attempt to
defend the honor and glory of Christ. Let us see what Paul has in mind.

Paul does not say that Christ was made a curse for Himself. The accent
is on the two words "for us." Christ is personally innocent.
Personally, He did not deserve to be hanged for any crime of His own
doing. But because Christ took the place of others who were sinners, He
was hanged like any other transgressor. The Law of Moses leaves no
loopholes. It says that a transgressor should be hanged. Who are the
other sinners? We are. The sentence of death and everlasting damnation
had long been pronounced over us. But Christ took all our sins and died
for them on the Cross. "He was numbered with the transgressors; and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
(Isaiah 53:12.)

All the prophets of old said that Christ should be the greatest
transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, blasphemer that ever was or
ever could be on earth. When He took the sins of the whole world upon
Himself, Christ was no longer an innocent person. He was a sinner
burdened with the sins of a Paul who was a blasphemer; burdened with
the sins of a Peter who denied Christ; burdened with the sins of a
David who committed adultery and murder, and gave the heathen occasion
to laugh at the Lord. In short, Christ was charged with the sins of all
men, that He should pay for them with His own blood. The curse struck
Him. The Law found Him among sinners. He was not only in the company of
sinners. He had gone so far as to invest Himself with the flesh and
blood of sinners. So the Law judged and hanged Him for a sinner.

In separating Christ from us sinners and holding Him up as a holy
exemplar, errorists rob us of our best comfort. They misrepresent Him
as a threatening tyrant who is ready to slaughter us at the slightest
provocation.

I am told that it is preposterous and wicked to call the Son of God a
cursed sinner. I answer: If you deny that He is a condemned sinner, you
are forced to deny that Christ died. It is not less preposterous to
say, the Son of God died, than to say, the Son of God was a sinner.

John the Baptist called Him "the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world." Being the unspotted Lamb of God, Christ was personally
innocent. But because He took the sins of the world His sinlessness was
defiled with the sinfulness of the world. Whatever sins I, you, all of
us have committed or shall commit, they are Christ's sins as if He had
committed them Himself. Our sins have to be Christ's sins or we shall
perish forever.

Isaiah declares of Christ: "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of
us all." We have no right to minimize the force of this declaration.
God does not amuse Himself with words. What a relief for a Christian to
know that Christ is covered all over with my sins, your sins, and the
sins of the whole world.

The papists invented their own doctrine of faith. They say charity
creates and adorns their faith. By stripping Christ of our sins, by
making Him sinless, they cast our sins back at us, and make Christ
absolutely worthless to us. What sort of charity is this? If that is a
sample of their vaunted charity we want none of it.

Our merciful Father in heaven saw how the Law oppressed us and how
impossible it was for us to get out from under the curse of the Law. He
therefore sent His only Son into the world and said to Him: "You are
now Peter, the liar; Paul, the persecutor; David, the adulterer; Adam,
the disobedient; the thief on the cross. You, My Son, must pay the
world's iniquity." The Law growls: "All right. If Your Son is taking
the sin of the world, I see no sins anywhere else but in Him. He shall
die on the Cross." And the Law kills Christ. But we go free.

The argument of the Apostle against the righteousness of the Law is
impregnable. If Christ bears our sins, we do not bear them. But if
Christ is innocent of our sins and does not bear them, we must bear
them, and we shall die in our sins. "But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Let us see how Christ was able to gain the victory over our enemies.
The sins of the whole world, past, present, and future, fastened
themselves upon Christ and condemned Him. But because Christ is God He
had an everlasting and unconquerable righteousness. These two, the sin
of the world and the righteousness of God, met in a death struggle.
Furiously the sin of the world assailed the righteousness of God.
Righteousness is immortal and invincible. On the other hand, sin is a
mighty tyrant who subdues all men. This tyrant pounces on Christ. But
Christ's righteousness is unconquerable. The result is inevitable. Sin
is defeated and righteousness triumphs and reigns forever.

In the same manner was death defeated. Death is emperor of the world.
He strikes down kings, princes, all men. He has an idea to destroy all
life. But Christ has immortal life, and life immortal gained the
victory over death. Through Christ death has lost her sting. Christ is
the Death of death.

The curse of God waged a similar battle with the eternal mercy of God
in Christ. The curse meant to condemn God's mercy. But it could not do
it because the mercy of God is everlasting. The curse had to give way.
If the mercy of God in Christ had lost out, God Himself would have lost
out, which, of course, is impossible.

"Christ," says Paul, "spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show
of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2:15.) They cannot
harm those who hide in Christ. Sin, death, the wrath of God, hell, the
devil are mortified in Christ. Where Christ is near the powers of evil
must keep their distance. St. John says: "And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith." (I John 5:4.)

You may now perceive why it is imperative to believe and confess the
divinity of Christ. To overcome the sin of a whole world, and death,
and the wrath of God was no work for any creature. The power of sin and
death could be broken only by a greater power. God alone could abolish
sin, destroy death, and take away the curse of the Law. God alone could
bring righteousness, life, and mercy to light. In attributing these
achievements to Christ the Scriptures pronounce Christ to be God
forever. The article of justification is indeed fundamental. If we
remain sound in this one article, we remain sound in all the other
articles of the Christian faith. When we teach justification by faith
in Christ we confess at the same time that Christ is God.

I cannot get over the blindness of the Pope's theologians. To imagine
that the mighty forces of sin, death, and the curse can be vanquished
by the righteousness of man's paltry works, by fasting, pilgrimages,
masses, vows, and such gewgaws. These blind leaders of the blind turn
the poor people over to the mercy of sin, death, and the devil. What
chance has a defenseless human creature against these powers of
darkness? They train sinners who are ten times worse than any thief,
whore, murderer. The divine power of God alone can destroy sin and
death, and create righteousness and life.

When we hear that Christ was made a curse for us, let us believe it
with joy and assurance. By faith Christ changes places with us. He gets
our sins, we get His holiness.

By faith alone can we become righteous, for faith invests us with the
sinlessness of Christ. The more fully we believe this, the fuller will
be our joy. If you believe tha