The Law Shuts Men Under Sin Two Ways, Civilly and Spiritually

Such is the force of the law and the righteousness that comes of the law, compelling us to be outwardly good when it threatens death or any other punishment to the transgressors of it. Here we obey the law indeed, but for fear of punishment: that is, unwillingly and with great indignation. But what righteousness is this, when we abstain from doing evil for fear of punishment? Therefore, this righteousness of works is indeed nothing else, but to love sin and to hate righteousness, to detest God with his law, and to love and reverence that which is most horrible and abominable? For look how heartily the thief loves the prison and hates his theft: so gladly do we obey the law in accomplishing that which it commands, and avoiding that which it forbids.

Notwithstanding, this fruit and this profit the law brings, although men's hearts remain never so wicked, that first outwardly and civilly after a sort it restrains thieves, murderers, and other malefactors. For if they did not see and understand, that sin is punished in this life by imprisonment, by the gallows, by the sword and such like, and after this life with eternal damnation and hell fire: no magistrate should be able to bridle the fury and rage of men by any laws, bonds or chains. But the threatenings of the law strike a terror into the hearts of the wicked, whereby they are bridled after a sort, that they run not headlong, as otherwise they would do, into all kinds of wickedness. Notwithstanding they would rather that there were no law, no punishment, no hell, and finally no God. If God had no hell, or did not punish the wicked, he should be loved and praised of all men. But because he punishes the wicked, and all are wicked: therefore in as much as they are shut under the law, they can do no otherwise but mortally hate and blaspheme God.

Furthermore, the law shuts men under sin, not only civilly, but also spiritually: that is to say, the law is also a spiritual prison, and a very hell. For when it reveals sin, threatens death, and the eternal wrath of God, a man cannot avoid it, nor find any comfort. For it is not in the power of man to shake off these horrible terrors which the law stirs up in the conscience, or any other anguish or bitterness of spirit. From this come these lamentable complaints of the Saints, which are everywhere in the Psalms: "In hell who shall confess you?" etc. For then is a man shut up in prison: out of which he cannot escape, nor sees how he may be delivered out of these bonds, that is to say, these horrible terrors.

Thus the law is a prison both civilly and spiritually. For first it restrains and shuts up the wicked, that they run not headlong according to their own lust, into all kinds of mischief. Again, it shows to us spiritually our sin, terrifies and humbles us, that when we are so terrified and humbled, we may learn to know our own misery and condemnation. And this is the true and the proper use of the law, so that it be not perpetual. For this shutting and holding under the law, must endure no longer, but until faith come: and when faith comes, then must this spiritual prison have its end.

Here again we see, that, although the law and the Gospel be separate far asunder, yet as touching the inward affections, they are very nearly joined the one to the other. This Paul shows when he says: "We were kept under the law, and shut up to the faith which should be revealed to us." Therefore it is not enough that we are shut under the law: for if nothing else should follow, we should be driven to desperation and die in our sins. But Paul adds moreover, that we are shut up and kept under a schoolmaster (which is the law): not forever, but to bring us to Christ who is the end of the law. Therefore this terrifying, this humbling and this shutting up must not always continue: but only until faith be revealed: that is, it shall so long continue as shall be for our profit and our salvation: so that when we are cast down and humbled by the law, then grace, remission of sins, deliverance from the law, sin and death may become sweet to us: which are not obtained by works, but are received by faith alone.

He which in time of temptation can join these two things together so repugnant and contrary: that is to say, which when he is thoroughly terrified and cast down by the law, does know that the end of the law, and the beginning of grace or of faith which is to be revealed, is now come, uses the law rightly. All the wicked are utterly ignorant of this knowledge and this cunning. Cain knew it not when he was shut up in the prison of the law: that is, he felt no terror, although he had now killed his brother: but dissembled the matter craftily, and thought that God was ignorant of it. "Am I my brother's keeper," says he? But when he heard this word: "What have you done? Behold the voice of the blood of your brother cries to me from the earth," he began to feel this prison indeed. What did he then? He remained still shut up in prison. He joined not the Gospel with the law, but said: "My punishment is greater than I can bear." He only respected the prison, not considering that his sin was revealed to him to this end, that he should flee to God for mercy and pardon. Therefore he despaired and denied God. He believed not that he was shut up to this end, that grace and faith might be revealed to him: but only that he should still remain in the prison of the law.

These words: to be kept under, and to be shut up, are not vain and unprofitable, but true and of great importance. This keeping under and this prison signifies the true and spiritual terrors, whereby the conscience is so shut up, that in the wide world it can find no place where it may be in safety. Indeed as long as these terrors endure, the conscience feels such anguish and sorrow, that it thinks heaven and earth, indeed if they were ten times more wide and large than they are, to be straighter and narrower than a mouse hole. Here is a man utterly destitute of all wisdom, strength, righteousness, counsel and succor. For the conscience is a marvelous tender thing, and therefore when it is so shut up under the prison of the law, it sees no way how to get out: and this straitness seems daily so to increase, as though it would never have an end. For then does it feel the wrath of God which is infinite and inestimable, whose hand he can not escape, as Psalm 139 witnesses: Whether shall I flee from your presence? etc.

Like as therefore this worldly prison or shutting up is a bodily affliction, and he that is so shut up can have no use of his body: even so the trouble and anguish of mind is a spiritual prison, and he that is shut up in this prison can not enjoy the quietness of heart and peace of conscience. And yet is it not so for ever (as reason judges when it feels this prison): but until Faith be revealed. The poor conscience therefore must be raised up and comforted after this sort: Brother, you are indeed shut up: but persuade yourself that this is not done to the end that you should remain in this prison for ever. For it is written, that we are shut up to the Faith that shall be revealed. You are afflicted then in this prison, not to your destruction, but that you may be refreshed by the blessed Seed. You are killed by the law, that through Christ you may be quickened again and restored to life. Despair not therefore, as Cain, Saul, and Judas did, who being thus shut up, looked no further but to their dark prison, and there still remained: therefore they despaired. But you must take another way in these terrors of conscience than they did: that is, you must know that it is well done, and good for you to be so shut up, confounded, and brought to nothing. Use therefore this shutting up rightly and as you should do: that is, to the end that when the law has done its office, Faith may be revealed. For God does not therefore afflict you, that you should still remain in this affliction. He will not kill you that you should abide in death. I will not the death (says he by the Prophet) of a sinner. etc. But he will afflict you that so you may be humbled, and know that you have need of mercy, and the benefit of Christ.

This holding in prison then under the law, must not always endure, but must only continue to the coming or revealing of Faith: which this sweet verse of Psalm 147 does teach us: The Lord delights in those that fear him: that is to say, which are in prison under the law. But by and by after he adds: and in those that attend upon his mercy. Therefore we must join these two things together, which are indeed as contrary the one to the other as may be. For what can be more contrary than to hate and abhor the wrath of God: and again to trust in his goodness and mercy? The one is hell, the other is heaven, and yet they must be nearly joined together in the heart. By speculation and naked knowledge a man may easily join them together: but by experience and inward practice so to do, of all things it is the hardest: which I myself have often proved by my own experience. Of this matter the Papists and Sectaries know nothing at all. Therefore these words of Paul are to them obscure and altogether unknown: And when the law reveals to them their sin, accuses and terrifies them, they can find no counsel, no rest, no help or succor: but fall to desperation, as Cain and Saul did.

Seeing the law therefore (as is said) is our tormentor and our prison, certain it is that we can not love it, but hate it. He therefore that says he loves the law, is a liar, and knows not what he says. A thief and a robber should show himself to be stark mad that would love the prison, the fetters and chains. Seeing then the law shuts us up and holds us in prison, it can not be but we must needs be extreme enemies to the law. To conclude, so well we love the law and the righteousness thereof, as a murderer loves the dark prison, the strait bonds and irons. How then should the law justify us?

Verse 23. And shut up under the faith which should after be revealed.

This Paul speaks in respect of the fullness of the time when Christ came. But we must apply it, not only to that time, but also to the inward man. For that which is done as a history and according to the time when Christ came, abolishing the law and bringing liberty and eternal life to light, is always done spiritually in every Christian: in whom is found continually, sometimes the time of the law, and sometimes the time of grace. For the Christian man has a body in whose members (as Paul says in another place) sin dwells and wars. Now, I understand sin to be, not only the deed or the work, but also the root and the tree, together with the fruits, as the Scripture uses to speak of sin. Which is yet not only rooted in the baptized flesh of every Christian, but also is at deadly war within it and holds it captive: if not to give consent to it, or to accomplish the work, yet does it force him mightily to it. For although a Christian man does not fall into outward and gross sins, as murder, adultery, theft, and such like: yet is he not free from impatience, murmuring, hating and blaspheming of God: which sins to reason and the carnal man, are altogether unknown. These sins constrain him, indeed sore against his will, to detest the law: they compel him to flee from the presence of God, they compel him to hate and blaspheme God. For as carnal lust is strong in a young man, in a man of full age the desire and love of glory, and in an old man covetousness: even so in a holy and a faithful man impatience, murmuring, hatred, and blasphemy against God do mightily prevail. Examples of this there are many in the Psalms, in Job, in Jeremiah, and throughout the whole Scripture. Paul therefore describing and setting forth this spiritual warfare, uses very vehement words and fit for the purpose, as of fighting, rebelling, holding, and leading captive, etc.

Both these times then (of the law and the Gospel I mean) are in a Christian, as touching the affections and inward man. The time of the law is when the law exercises me, torments me with heaviness of heart, oppresses me, brings me to the knowledge of sin, and increases the same. Here the law is in its true use and perfect work: which a Christian oftentimes feels as long as he lives. So there was given to Paul a thorn in the flesh, (that is) the angel of Satan to buffet him. He would gladly have felt every moment the joy of conscience, the laughter of the heart, and the sweet taste of eternal life. Again, he would gladly have been delivered from all trouble and anguish of spirit, and therefore he desired that this temptation might be taken from him. Notwithstanding this was not done, but the Lord said to him: My grace is sufficient for you: For my power is made perfect through weakness. This battle does every Christian feel. To speak of myself, there are many hours in which I chide and contend with God, and impatiently resist him. The wrath and judgment of God displeases me: and again, my impatience, my murmuring, and such like sins do displease him. And this is the time of the law, under which a Christian man continually lives as touching the flesh. For the flesh lusts continually against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: but in some more, and in some less.

The time of grace is when the heart is raised up again by the promise of the free mercy of God, and says: Why are you heavy O my soul, and why do you trouble me? Do you see nothing but the law, sin, terror, heaviness, desperation, death, hell and the Devil? Is there not also grace, remission of sins, righteousness, consolation, joy, peace, life, heaven, Christ and God? Trouble me no more, O my soul. What is the law, what is sin, what are all evils in comparison of these things? Trust in God, who has not spared his own dear son, but has given him to the death of the cross for your sins. This is then to be shut up under the law after the flesh: not forever, but till Christ be revealed. Therefore when you are beaten down, tormented and afflicted by the law, then say: Lady law, You are not alone, neither are you all things: but besides you there are yet other things much greater and better than you are, namely grace, faith, and blessing. This grace, this faith and this blessing do not accuse me, terrify me, condemn me: but they comfort me, they bid me trust in the Lord, and promise to me victory and salvation in Christ. There is no cause therefore why I should despair.

He that is skillful in this art and this cunning, may indeed be called a right Divine. The fantastical spirits and their disciples at this day, which continually brag of the spirit, do persuade themselves that they are very expert and cunning in it. But I and such as I am have scarcely learned the first principles of it. It is learned indeed, but so long as the flesh and sin do endure, it can never be perfectly learned, and as it should be. So then a Christian is divided into two times. In that he is flesh, he is under the law: In that he is spirit he is under grace. Concupiscence, covetousness, ambition and pride do always cleave to the flesh: also ignorance, contempt of God, impatience, murmuring and grudging against God, because he hinders and breaks off our counsels, our devices and enterprises, and because he does not speedily punish such as are wicked, rebellious, and contemptuous persons, etc. Such kind of sins are rooted in the flesh of the faithful. Therefore if you behold nothing but the flesh, you shall abide always under the time of the law. But these days must be shortened, or else no flesh should be saved. The law must have its time appointed wherein it must have its end. The time of the law therefore is not perpetual, but has its end, which end is Jesus Christ. But the time of grace is eternal. For Christ being once dead, dies no more. He is eternal: therefore the time of grace is also eternal.

We may not lightly pass over such notable sentences as these which are in Paul, as the Papists and Sectaries are wont to do. For they contain words of life, which do wonderfully comfort and confirm afflicted consciences: And they which know and understand them well, can judge of faith: they can discern a true fear from a false fear: they can judge of all inward affections of the heart, and discern all spirits. The fear of God is a holy and a precious thing, but it must not always continue. Indeed it ought to be always in a Christian, because sin is always in him: but it must not be alone: for then is it the fear of Cain, Saul and Judas, that is to say, a servile and a desperate fear. A Christian therefore must vanquish fear by faith in the word of grace: he must turn away his eyes from the time of the law, and look to Christ and to faith which is to be revealed. Here begins fear to be sweet to us, and makes us to delight in God. For if a man does only behold the law and sin, setting faith aside, he shall never be able to put away fear, but shall at length fall to desperation.

Thus does Paul very well distinguish the time of the law and grace. Let us also learn rightly to distinguish the time of them both, not in words, but in the inward affections: which is a very hard matter. For although these two things are separate far asunder, yet are they most nearly joined together in one heart. Nothing is joined more nearly together than fear and trust, than the law and the Gospel, than sin and grace. For they are so united together, that the one is swallowed up of the other. Therefore there is no conjunction like to this.

At this place: Therefore then serves the law? Paul begins to dispute of the law: also of the use and the abuse thereof, taking occasion of that which before he had affirmed, that the faithful do obtain righteousness by grace only and by the promise, and not by the law. Upon that disputation rose this question: Therefore then serves the law? For reason hearing that righteousness or the blessing is obtained by grace and by the promise, by and by infers: Then the law profits nothing. Therefore the doctrine of the law must be diligently considered, that we may know what and how we ought to judge thereof, lest that either we reject the same altogether, as the fantastical spirits do, (which in the year a thousand five hundred twenty and five, stirring up the rural people to sedition, said, that the liberty of the Gospel gives freedom to all men from all manner of laws): or else lest we should attribute the force of justification to the law. For both sorts do offend against the law: the one on the right hand, which will be justified by the law, and the other on the left hand which will be clean delivered from the law. We must therefore keep the highway, so that we neither reject the law, nor attribute more to it than we ought to do.

That which I have before so often repeated concerning both the uses of the law, namely, the civil and the spiritual use, do sufficiently declare that the law is not given for the righteous: but (as Paul says in another place) for the unrighteous and rebellious. Now, of the unrighteous there are two sorts, that is to say, they which are to be justified, and they which are not to be justified. They that are not to be justified must be bridled by the civil use of the law: for they must be bound with the bonds of the law, as savage and untamed beasts are bound with cords and chains. This use of the law has no end: and of this Paul here speaks nothing. But they that are to be justified, are exercised with this spiritual use of the law for a time: for it does not always continue, as the civil use of the law does: but it looks to faith which is to be revealed, and when Christ comes it shall have its end. Hereby we may plainly see that all the sentences wherein Paul treats of the spiritual use of the law, must be understood of those which are to be justified, and not of those which are justified already. For they which are justified already, in as much as they abide in Christ, are far above all law. The law then must be laid upon those that are to be justified, that they may be shut up in the prison thereof, until the righteousness of faith come: not that they obtain this righteousness through the law (for that were not to use the law rightly, but to abuse it): but that when they are cast down and humbled by the law, they should fly to Christ, who is the end of the law to righteousness, to everyone that believes (Romans 10:4).

Now, first they which abuse the law, are all the Justiciaries and hypocrites which dream that men are justified by the law. For that use of the law does not exercise and drive a man to faith which is to be revealed, but it makes full, careless, and arrogant hypocrites, swelling and presuming of the righteousness of the law, and hinders the righteousness of faith. Secondly, they abuse the law which will utterly exempt a Christian man from the law, as the brainsick Anabaptists went about to do: which was the occasion that they raised up that sedition of the rural people. Of this sort there are very many also at this day which profess the Gospel with us: who being delivered from the tyranny of the Pope by the doctrine of the Gospel, do dream that the Christian liberty is a dissolute and a carnal liberty to do whatever they like. These (as Peter says (1 Peter 2:16)) have the liberty of the spirit as a cloak of maliciousness, through which the name of God and the Gospel of Christ is slandered everywhere, and therefore they shall once suffer worthy punishment for this their ungodliness. Thirdly, such do also abuse the law, who feeling the terrors thereof, do not understand that such terrors ought no longer to continue, but to Christ. This abuse in them is the cause that they fall to desperation: as in the hypocrites it is the cause of arrogance and presumption.

Contrariwise, the true use of the law can never be esteemed and magnified as it is worthy: namely, that when the conscience shut up under the law, despairs not, but being instructed by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit concludes with itself after this sort: I am indeed shut up as a prisoner under the law, but not forever: indeed this shutting up shall turn to my great profit. How so? Because that I being thus shut up, shall be driven to sigh and seek the hand of a helper, etc. After this manner the law is as an enforcer, which by compulsion brings the hungry to Christ, that he may satisfy them with his good things. Therefore the true office of the law is to show to us our sins, to make us guilty, to humble us, to kill us, and to bring us down to hell, and finally to take from us all help, all succor, all comfort: but yet altogether to this end, that we may be justified, exalted, quickened to life, carried up into heaven, and obtain all good things. Therefore it does not only kill, but it kills that we may live.

Verse. 24. Therefore the law was our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

Here again he joins the law and the Gospel together, (which are separate so far asunder) as touching the affections and inward man, when he says: The law is a Schoolmaster to Christ. This similitude also of the Schoolmaster is worthy to be noted. Although a Schoolmaster be very profitable and necessary to instruct and to bring up children, yet show me one child or scholar which loves his master. We may easily conjecture what affection the Jews bore to their Moses, and how zealously they performed that which he commanded. Indeed such was their love and obedience towards him, that every hour (as the Story testifies) they would with all their hearts have stoned him to death. It is not possible therefore that the scholar should love his master. For how can he love him which keeps him in prison, that is to say, which suffers him not to do that which gladly he would? And if he does anything against his commandment, by and by he is rebuked and chastised, indeed and is constrained moreover to kiss the rod when he is beaten. Is not this (I pray you) a goodly righteousness and obedience of the scholar, that he obeys his master so severely threatening and so sharply correcting him, and kisses the rod? But does he this with a good will? As soon as his master has turned his back, he breaks the rod or casts it into the fire. And if he had any power over his master, he would not suffer himself to be beaten of his master: but rather he would beat him. And yet notwithstanding the Schoolmaster is very necessary for the child to instruct and to chastise him: otherwise the child without this discipline, instruction, and good education should be utterly lost.

The Schoolmaster therefore is appointed for the child to teach him, to bring him up, and to keep him as it were in prison. But to what end, or how long? Is it to the end, that this strict and sharp dealing of the Schoolmaster should always continue? or that the child should remain in continual bondage? Not so, but only for a time, that this obedience, this prison and correction might turn to the profit of the child, that in time he might be heir and Prince. For it is not the father's will, that his son should be always subject to the Schoolmaster, and always beaten with rods: but that by this instruction and discipline he may be made able and fit to be his father's successor.

Even so the law (says Paul) is nothing else but a Schoolmaster: not forever, but until it has brought us to Christ: as in other words he said also before. The law was given for transgressions until the blessed seed should come. Also, the scripture has shut all under sin, etc. Again: we were kept under and shut up to faith which should after be revealed. Therefore the law is not only a Schoolmaster, but it is a Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. For what a Schoolmaster were he which would always torment and beat the child, and teach him nothing at all? And yet such Schoolmasters there were in time past: when schools were nothing else but a prison and a very hell, the Schoolmasters cruel tyrants and very butchers. The children were always beaten: they learned with continual pain and toil, and yet few of them came to any proof. The law is not such a Schoolmaster. For it does not only terrify and torment (as the foolish Schoolmaster beats his scholars and teaches them nothing): but with his rods he drives us to Christ: like as a good Schoolmaster instructs and exercises his scholars in reading and writing, to the end they may come to the knowledge of good letters and other profitable things, that afterwards they may have a delight in doing of that, which before when they were constrained to that, they did against their wills.

By this goodly similitude Paul shows what is the true use of the law, namely, that it justifies not hypocrites, for they remain without Christ in their presumption and security: And contrariwise that it leaves not in death and damnation those that are of a contrite heart (so that they use it as Paul teaches): but drives them to Christ. But they which in these terrors continue still in their weakness, and do not apprehend Christ by faith, do fall at length into desperation. Paul therefore in this allegory of the Schoolmaster, most lively expresses the true use of the law. For like as the Schoolmaster reproves his scholars, he grieves them and makes them heavy, and yet not to the end that this bondage should always continue, but that it should cease when the children are well brought up and instructed accordingly, and that afterwards without any constraint of the Schoolmaster they should cheerfully enjoy their liberty and their father's goods: even so they which are vexed and oppressed with the law, do know that these terrors and vexations shall not always continue: but that thereby they are prepared to come to Christ which is to be revealed, and to receive the liberty of the spirit, etc.

Verse. 24. That we may be made righteous by faith.

The law is not a schoolmaster to bring us to another lawgiver who requires good works, but to Christ our Justifier and Savior, that by faith in him we might be justified, and not by works. But when a man feels the force and strength of the law, he does not understand nor believe this. Therefore he says: I have lived wickedly: for I have transgressed all the commandments of God, and therefore I am guilty of eternal death. If God would prolong my life certain years, or at least certain months, I would amend my life, and live holily hereafter. Here, of the true use of the law he makes an abuse. Reason being overtaken in these terrors and straits, is bold to promise to God the fulfilling of all the works of the whole law. And from this came so many sects and swarms of monks and religious hypocrites, so many ceremonies, and so many works, devised to deserve grace and remission of sins. And they which devised these things, thought that the law was a schoolmaster to lead them, not to Christ, but to a new law, or to Christ as a lawgiver, and not as one that has abolished the law.

But the true use of the law is to teach me that I am brought to the knowledge of my sin and humbled, that so I may come to Christ and may be justified by faith. But faith is neither law nor work, but an assured confidence which apprehends Christ, who is the end of the law (Romans 10:4). And how? Not that he has abolished the old law and given a new: or that he is a judge who must be pacified by works, as the Papists have taught: but he is the end of the law to all those that believe: that is to say, every one that believes in him is righteous, and the law shall never accuse him. The law then is good, holy, and just, so that a man use it as he should do. Now, they that abuse the law, are first the hypocrites who attribute to the law a power to justify: and secondly they which do despair, not knowing that the law is a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ: that is to say, that the law humbles them, not to their destruction, but to their salvation: for God wounds that he may heal again: he kills that he may quicken again.

Now, Paul (as before I have said) speaks of those that are to be justified, and not of those which are justified already. Therefore when you go about to reason as concerning the law, you must take the matter of the law, or that upon which the law works, namely the sinner and the wicked person, whom the law justifies not, but sets sin before his eyes, casts him down, and brings him to the knowledge of himself: it shows to him hell, the wrath and the judgment of God. This is indeed the proper office of the law. Then follows the use of this office: to wit, that the sinner may know that the law does not reveal to him his sin and thus humbles him, to the end he should despair: but that by this accusing and bruising it may drive him to Christ the Savior and comforter. When this is done, he is no longer under the schoolmaster. And this use is very necessary. For seeing the whole world is overwhelmed with sin, it has need of this ministry of the law, that sin may be revealed: otherwise no man should ever attain to righteousness, as before we have largely declared. But what works the law in them which are already justified by Christ? Paul answers by these words: which are as it were an addition to that which goes before.

Verse 25. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster.

That is to say: we are free from the law, from the prison, and from our schoolmaster: for when faith is revealed, the law terrifies and torments us no more. Paul here speaks of faith as it was preached and published to the world by Christ in a certain time before appointed. For Christ taking upon him our flesh, came once into the world: he abolished the law with all his effects, and delivered from eternal death all those which receive his benefit by faith. If therefore you look to Christ and that which he has done, there is now no law. For he coming in the time appointed, took away the law. Now, since the law is gone, we are not kept under the tyranny thereof any more: but we live in joy and safety under Christ, who now sweetly reigns in us by his spirit. Now, where the Lord reigns, there is liberty. Therefore, if we could perfectly apprehend Christ who has abolished the law by his death, and has reconciled us to his father, that schoolmaster should have no power over us at all. But the law of the members rebelling against the law of the mind, lets us so that we cannot perfectly lay hold upon Christ. The lack therefore is not in Christ, but in us, which have not yet put off this flesh, to which sin continually cleaves as long as we live. Therefore, as touching ourselves, we are partly free from the law, and partly under the law. According to the spirit, we serve with Paul the law of God: but according to the flesh the law of sin (Romans 7).

From this it follows, that as touching the conscience we are fully delivered from the law, and therefore that schoolmaster must not rule in the conscience, that is, he must not afflict the conscience with his terrors, threatenings and captivity. And although it goes about to vex and to trouble the conscience never so much, yet she is not moved therewith. For she has Christ crucified before her eyes, who has removed out of the conscience all the offices of the law: putting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, etc. (Colossians 2). Therefore, even as a virgin knows no man: so the conscience must not only be ignorant of the law, but also it must be utterly dead to the law, and the law likewise to the conscience. This is not done by any works, or by the righteousness of the law, but by faith which apprehends and lays hold upon Christ. Notwithstanding, sin cleaves still in the flesh as touching the effect thereof, which oftentimes accuses and troubles the conscience. So long then as the flesh does remain, so long this schoolmaster the law does also remain, which many times terrifies the conscience, and makes it heavy by revealing of sin and threatening of death. Yet it is raised up again by the daily coming of Christ: who as he came once into the world at the time before appointed, to redeem us from the hard and sharp servitude of our schoolmaster: even so he comes daily to us spiritually, to the end that we may increase in faith and in the knowledge of him, that the conscience may apprehend him more fully and perfectly from day to day, and that the law of the flesh and of sin, with the terror of death and all evils that the law brings with it, may daily be diminished in us more and more. As long then as we live in the flesh, which is not without sin, the law often returns and does its office, in one more and in another less, as their faith is strong or weak: and yet not to their destruction, but to their salvation. For this is the exercise of the law in the saints: namely the continual mortification of the flesh, of reason, and of our own strength, and the daily renewing of our inward man, as it is said in (2 Corinthians 4).

We receive then the first fruits of the spirit: the leaven is hidden in the mass of the dough: but all the dough is not yet leavened: no, it is yet but only begun to be leavened. If I behold the leaven, I see nothing else but pure leaven. But if I behold the whole mass, I see that it is not all pure leaven: That is to say, If I behold Christ, I am altogether pure and holy, knowing nothing at all of the law: for Christ is my leaven. But if I behold my own flesh, I feel in myself covetousness, lust, anger, pride and arrogance: also the fear of death, heaviness, hatred, murmuring, and impatience against God. The more these sins are in me, the more is Christ absent from me: or if he be present, he is felt but a little. Here we have need of a schoolmaster to exercise and vex this strong ass the flesh, that by this exercise sins may be diminished and a way prepared to Christ. For as Christ came once bodily at the time appointed, abolished the whole law, vanquished sin, destroyed death and hell: even so he comes spiritually without ceasing, and daily quenches and kills these sins in us.

This I say that you may be able to answer, if any shall thus object: Christ came into the world, and at once took away all our sins, and cleansed us by his blood: what need we then to hear the Gospel, or to receive the sacraments? True it is that insomuch as you behold Christ, the law and sin are quite abolished. But Christ is not yet come to you: or if he be come, yet notwithstanding there are remnants of sin in you: you are not yet thoroughly leavened. For where concupiscence, heaviness of spirit, and fear of death is, there is yet also the law and sin. Christ is not yet thoroughly come: but when he comes indeed, he drives away fear and heaviness, and brings peace and quietness of conscience. So far forth then as I do apprehend Christ by faith, so much is the law abolished to me. But my flesh, the world, and the Devil hinder faith in me, that it cannot be perfect. Right gladly I would that that little light of faith which is in my heart, were spread throughout all my body and all the members thereof: but it is not done: it is not immediately spread, but only begins to be spread. In the mean season this is our consolation, that we having the first fruits of the spirit, do now begin to be leavened: But we shall be thoroughly leavened when this body of sin is dissolved, and we shall rise new creatures wholly together with Christ.

Although then that Christ be one and the same yesterday, today, and shall be forever, and although that all the faithful which were before Christ had the Gospel and faith: yet notwithstanding Christ came once in the time before determined. Faith also came once when the Apostles preached and published the Gospel throughout the world. Moreover, Christ comes also spiritually every day. Faith likewise comes daily by the word of the Gospel. Now, when faith is come, the schoolmaster is constrained to give place with his heavy and grievous office. Christ comes also spiritually when we still more and more know and understand those things which by him are given to us, and increase in grace and in the knowledge of him (2 Peter 3).

Verse 26. For you are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul, as a true and an excellent teacher of faith, has always these words in his mouth: By faith, In faith, Of faith which is in Christ Jesus. He says not: you are the children of God because you are circumcised, because you have heard the law and have done the works of it (as the Jews do imagine, and the false apostles teach): but by faith in Jesus Christ. The law then makes us not the children of God, and much less men's traditions. It cannot beget us into a new nature or a new birth: but it sets before us that old birth whereby we were born to the kingdom of the Devil: and so it prepares us to a new birth which is by faith in Jesus Christ and not by the law, as Paul plainly witnesses: For you are all the children of God by faith, etc. As if he said: Although you be tormented, humbled, and killed by the law, yet has not the law made you righteous, or made you the children of God: this is the work of faith alone. What faith? Faith in Christ. Faith therefore in Christ makes us the children of God, and not the law. The same thing witnesses also John in the first chapter (John 1): He gave power to as many as believed in him, to be the children of God. What tongue either of men or angels can sufficiently extol and magnify the great mercy of God toward us, that we which are miserable sinners and by nature the children of wrath, should be called to this grace and glory, to be made the children and heirs of God, fellow heirs with the Son of God, and lords over heaven and earth, and that by the only means of our faith which is in Christ Jesus?

Verse 27. For all you that are baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

To put on Christ is taken two kinds of ways, according to the law, and according to the gospel. According to the law, as it is said in Romans 13: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ: that is, follow the example and virtues of Christ. Do that which he did, and suffer that which he suffered. And in 1 Peter 2: Christ has suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. Now, we see in Christ a singular patience, an inestimable mildness and love, and a wonderful modesty in all things. This goodly apparel we must put on, that is to say, follow these virtues.

But the putting on of Christ according to the Gospel, consists not in imitation, but in a new birth and a new creation: that is to say, in putting on Christ's innocence, his righteousness, his wisdom, his power, his saving health, his life and his spirit. We are clothed with the leather coat of Adam, which is a mortal garment, and a garment of sin: that is to say, we are all subject to sin, all sold under sin. There is in us horrible blindness, ignorance, contempt and hatred of God: moreover, evil concupiscence, uncleanness, covetousness, etc. This garment, that is to say, this corrupt and sinful nature we received from Adam: which Paul is wont to call the old man. This old man must be put off with all his works (Ephesians 4; Colossians 1), that of the children of Adam we may be made the children of God. This is not done by changing of a garment, or by any laws or works, but by a new birth, and by the renewing of the inward man, which is done in baptism, as Paul says: All you that are baptized, have put on Christ. Also: According to his mercy has he saved us by the washing of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3). For besides that they which are baptized, are regenerate and renewed by the Holy Spirit to a heavenly righteousness and to eternal life, there rises in them also a new light and a new flame: there rise in them new and holy affections, as the fear of God, true faith and assured hope, etc. There begins in them also a new will. And this is to put on Christ truly and according to the Gospel.

Therefore the righteousness of the law or of our own works is not given to us in baptism: but Christ himself is our garment. Now, Christ is no law, no lawgiver, no work: but a divine and an inestimable gift, whom God has given to us that he might be our justifier, our Savior and our redeemer. Therefore, to be appareled with Christ according to the Gospel, is not to be appareled with the law nor with works: but with an incomparable gift: that is to say, with remission of sins, righteousness, peace, consolation, joy of spirit, salvation, life, and Christ himself.

This is diligently to be noted because of the vain and fantastical spirits, which go about to deface the majesty of baptism, and speak wickedly of it. Paul on the contrary commends and sets it forth with honorable titles, calling it the washing of the new birth, the renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3). And here also he says, that all they which are baptized, have put on Christ. As if he said: You are carried out of the law into a new birth which is wrought in baptism. Therefore you are not now any longer under the law, but you are clothed with a new garment: namely, with the righteousness of Christ. Therefore baptism is a thing of great force and efficacy. Now, when we are appareled with Christ, as with the robe of righteousness and our salvation, then we must put on Christ also as the apparel of imitation and example. These things I have handled more largely in another place, therefore I here briefly pass them over.

Verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Here might be added moreover many more names of persons and offices which are ordained of God, as these: There is neither magistrate nor subject, neither teacher nor hearer, neither schoolmaster nor scholar, neither master nor servant, neither mistress nor maid, etc.: for in Christ Jesus all states, yea even such as are ordained of God, are nothing. Indeed the male, the female, the bond, the free, the Jew, the Gentile, the prince, the subject are the good creatures of God: but in Christ, that is, in the matter of salvation they are nothing, with all their wisdom, righteousness, religion, and power.

Therefore, with these words: There is neither Jew, etc. Paul mightily abolishes the law. For here, that is, when a man is renewed by baptism, and has put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, etc. The Apostle speaks not here of the Jew according to his nature and substance: but he calls him a Jew which is the disciple of Moses, is subject to the law, is circumcised, and with all his endeavor keeps the ceremonies commanded in the law. Where Christ is put on (says he) there is neither Jew, nor circumcision, nor ceremony of the law any more: for Christ has abolished all the laws of Moses that ever were. Therefore the conscience believing in Christ, must be so surely persuaded that the law is abolished, with all its terrors and threats, that it should be utterly ignorant whether there were ever any Moses, any law, or any Jew. For Christ and Moses can in no wise agree. Moses came with the law, with many works and with many ceremonies: but Christ came without any law, without any exacting of works, giving grace and righteousness, etc. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

Moreover, when he says: Nor Greek, he rejects also and condemns the wisdom and righteousness of the Gentiles. For among the Gentiles there were many notable men, as Xenophon, Themistocles, Marcus Fabius, Attilius Regulus, Cicero, Pomponius Atticus and many other, which being endowed with singular virtues, governed commonwealths excellently, and did many worthy acts for the preservation of it: and yet all these were nothing before God, with their wisdom, their power, their notable acts, their excellent virtues, laws, religions and ceremonies. For we must not think that the Gentiles did despise all honesty and religion. Indeed all nations of all ages dispersed throughout the world had their laws, religions, and ceremonies, without the which it is not possible that mankind should be governed. All righteousness therefore concerning either the government of families, or commonwealths, or divine matters (as was the righteousness of the law) with all the obedience, execution and holiness of it, be it never so perfect, is nothing worth before God. What then? The garment of Christ which we put on in baptism.

So, if the servant does his duty, obeys his master, serves in his vocation never so diligently and faithfully: if he that is at liberty is in authority and governs the commonwealth, or guides his own family honestly and with praise: if the man does that pertains to the man in marrying a wife, in governing his family, in obeying the magistrate, in behaving himself decently toward all men: if the woman lives chastely, obeys her husband, sees well to her household, brings up her children godly (which are indeed excellent gifts and holy works) yet are all these nothing in comparison of that righteousness which is before God. To be brief, all the laws, ceremonies, religions, righteousness and works in the whole world, yes of the Jews themselves, which were the first that had the kingdom and priesthood ordained and appointed of God, with their holy laws, religions, ceremonies, and worships, all these (I say) take not away sin, deliver not from death, nor purchase life.

Therefore your false Apostles do subtly seduce you (O you Galatians) when they teach you that the law is necessary to salvation: and by this means they spoil you of that excellent glory of your new birth and your adoption, and call you back to your old birth and to the most miserable servitude of the law, making you of the free children of God bond children of the law, while they will have a difference of persons according to the law. Indeed there is a difference of persons in the law and in the world, and there it ought to be: but not before God. All have sinned, and are destitute of the glory of God. Let the Jews therefore, the Gentiles, and the whole world keep silence in the presence of God. God has indeed many ordinances, laws, degrees and kinds of life, but all these help nothing to deserve grace, and to obtain eternal life. So many as are justified therefore, are justified, not by the observation of man's law or God's law, but by Christ alone, who has abolished all laws. Him does the Gospel set forth to us for a pacifier of God's wrath by the shedding of his own blood, and a Savior: And without faith in him, neither shall the Jew be saved by the law, nor the monk by his order, nor the Greek by his wisdom, nor the magistrate or master by his upright government, nor the servant by his obedience.

Verse 28. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

These are excellent words. In the world and according to the flesh there is a great difference and inequality of persons: and the same must be diligently observed. For if the woman would be the man, if the son would be the father, the servant would be the master, the subject would be the magistrate, there should be nothing else but a confusion of all states and of all things. Contrariwise, in Christ there is no law, no difference of persons, there is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one. For there is one body, one spirit, one hope of vocation: There is but one Gospel, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, one Christ and Lord of all. We have the same Christ, I, you and all the faithful, which Peter, Paul, and all the Saints had. Here therefore the conscience knows nothing of the law, but has Christ only before her eyes. Therefore Paul is always accustomed to add this clause: In Christ Jesus. Who, if he be taken out of our sight, then comes terror.

The Popish school divines dream that faith is a quality cleaving in the heart, without Christ. This is a devilish error. But Christ should be so set forth, that you should see nothing besides him, and should think that nothing can be more near to you, or more presently within your heart than he is. For he sits not idly in heaven: but is present with us, working and living in us, as he says before in chapter 2: I live: yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And here likewise: You have put on Christ. Faith therefore is a certain steadfast beholding, which looks upon nothing else but Christ the conqueror of sin and death, and the giver of righteousness, salvation and eternal life. This is the cause that Paul names and sets forth Jesus Christ so often in his epistles, yes almost in every verse. But he sets him forth by the word: for otherwise he can not be comprehended than by the word.

This was notably and lively represented by the brazen Serpent, which is a figure of Christ. Moses commanded the Jews which were stung by Serpents in the desert, to do nothing else but steadfastly behold the brazen Serpent, and not to turn away their eyes. They that did so, were healed only by that steadfast and constant beholding of the Serpent. But contrariwise, they died which obeyed not the commandment of Moses, but looked upon their wounds, and not upon the Serpent. So if I would find comfort when my conscience is afflicted, or when I am at the point of death, I must do nothing but apprehend Christ by faith, and say: I believe in Jesus Christ the son of God, who suffered, was crucified, and died for me, etc.: in whose wounds and in whose death I see my sin, and in his resurrection victory over sin, death, and the Devil, also righteousness and eternal life. Besides him I see nothing, I hear nothing. This is true faith concerning Christ and in Christ. Whereby we are made members of his body, flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones. In him therefore we live, we move, and we have our being. Christ and our faith must be thoroughly joined together. We must be in heaven, and Christ must live and work in us. Now, he lives and works in us, not by speculation and naked knowledge, but in deed and by a true and substantial presence.

Verse 29. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs by promise.

That is to say: If you believe and be baptized into Christ, if you believe (I say) that he is that promised seed of Abraham which brought the blessing to all the Gentiles, then are you the children of Abraham, not by nature, but by adoption. For the Scripture attributes to it, not only the children of the flesh, but also of adoption and of the promise, and foreshows that they shall receive the inheritance, and the other shall be cast out of the house. So Paul in few words translates the whole glory of Libanus, that is to say, of the nation of the Jews, to the desert, that is, to the Gentiles. And this place comprehends a singular consolation: to wit, that the Gentiles are the children of Abraham, and consequently the people of God. But they are the children of Abraham, not by carnal generation, but by the promise. The kingdom of heaven then, life, and the eternal inheritance belongs to the Gentiles. And this the Scripture signified long before when it says: I have made you a Father of many nations. Again: In your seed shall all nations be blessed. Now therefore because we which are Gentiles do believe, and by faith do receive the blessing promised to Abraham and exhibited by Christ, therefore the Scripture calls us the children and heirs of Abraham, not after the flesh, but after the promise. So that promise: In your seed, etc. belongs also to all the Gentiles, and according to this promise Christ is become ours.

In deed the promise was made only to the Jews, and not to us that are Gentiles. (Psalm 147) He shows his word to Jacob, etc. He has not dealt so with every nation, etc. Notwithstanding, that which was promised comes to us by faith, by the which only we apprehend the promise of God. Albeit then that the promise be not made to us, yet is it made as touching us and for us: for we are named in the promise: In your seed shall all nations be blessed. For the promise shows plainly that Abraham should be the father, not only of the Jewish nation, but of many nations, and that he should be the heir, not of one kingdom, but of all the world (Romans 4). Therefore all laws are utterly abolished in the heart and conscience of a Christian: notwithstanding they remain without still in the flesh. And hereof we have spoken largely before.

This is the power of the law and law-based righteousness: it compels outward good behavior by threatening death or other punishment to those who transgress it. We obey the law, but only out of fear of punishment — unwillingly and with great resentment. But what kind of righteousness is it when we refrain from evil only because we fear punishment? Law-based righteousness is nothing more than loving sin and hating righteousness — despising God and His law while loving and clinging to what is most horrible and abominable. We obey the law about as gladly as a thief loves his prison and hates his theft.

Yet the law does bring one fruit and benefit — even when people's hearts remain utterly wicked: it outwardly and civilly restrains thieves, murderers, and other criminals to some degree. For if people did not see and understand that sin is punished in this life by imprisonment, the gallows, the sword, and similar means — and after this life by eternal damnation and hellfire — no magistrate could hold back the rage and violence of people through laws, chains, or restraints. The threats of the law strike fear into the hearts of the wicked and hold them in check to some extent, preventing them from rushing into every kind of wickedness as they otherwise would. Yet they would prefer that there were no law, no punishment, no hell, and ultimately no God. If God had no hell and did not punish the wicked, He would be loved and praised by everyone. But because He punishes the wicked — and all people are wicked — those who are shut under the law cannot help but hate and blaspheme God with deep hostility.

Furthermore, the law shuts people under sin not only outwardly in the civil sense, but also spiritually — the law is a spiritual prison and a kind of hell. When it reveals sin, threatens death, and shows the eternal wrath of God, a person cannot escape or find any comfort. It is not within human power to shake off the horrible terrors the law stirs up in the conscience, or any other spiritual anguish and bitterness. From this come those sorrowful cries of the saints found throughout the Psalms: 'In Sheol who will give You thanks?' and similar laments. For a person is then shut up in a prison from which he cannot escape and sees no way to be freed from these chains — these terrifying torments.

So the law is a prison in both the civil and the spiritual sense. First it restrains and holds in check the wicked, keeping them from rushing unrestrained into every kind of evil. Second, it spiritually shows us our sin, terrifies and humbles us, so that when we have been terrified and humbled, we may come to know our own misery and condemnation. This is the true and proper use of the law — but it is not meant to be permanent. For this being held and shut under the law must last no longer than until faith comes. When faith comes, this spiritual prison must come to an end.

Here again we see that though the law and the Gospel are very far apart in their nature, they are nevertheless very closely linked in the inner experience of a person. Paul shows this when he says: 'We were kept under the law and shut up to the faith which was to be revealed.' It is not enough simply to be shut under the law — if nothing further followed, we would be driven to despair and die in our sins. But Paul adds that we are shut up and held under a schoolmaster — the law — not forever, but to bring us to Christ, who is the end of the law. This terrifying, humbling, and imprisoning must not continue forever, but only until faith is revealed — that is, it continues for as long as is useful and necessary for our salvation, so that when we have been cast down and humbled by the law, grace, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from the law, sin, and death may become sweet to us — things not obtained by works but received by faith alone.

The person who can, in the moment of trial, join together these two opposing things — who, when thoroughly terrified and cast down by the law, knows that the end of the law and the beginning of grace and faith to be revealed has now arrived — that person is using the law rightly. All the wicked are completely ignorant of this understanding. Cain did not know it when he was shut up in the prison of the law. He felt no terror even after killing his brother — he covered up what he had done craftily, thinking God did not know. 'Am I my brother's keeper?' he said. But when he heard the words: 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground,' he began to truly feel the prison. What did he do then? He remained shut up in prison. He did not join the Gospel to the law but said: 'My punishment is too great to bear.' He only saw the prison and did not consider that his sin was being revealed to him so that he would flee to God for mercy and forgiveness. Therefore he despaired and turned away from God. He did not believe he was shut up so that grace and faith might be revealed to him — he believed only that he would remain in the prison of the law forever.

The words 'being kept' and 'shut up' are not empty or insignificant — they are true and carry great weight. This being kept and this prison describe the true spiritual terrors, where the conscience is so shut in that in the wide world it can find no place of safety. As long as these terrors last, the conscience feels such anguish and sorrow that heaven and earth — even if they were ten times larger than they are — seem narrower than a mouse hole. The person is utterly stripped of wisdom, strength, righteousness, counsel, and help of any kind. The conscience is an extraordinarily tender thing, and when it is shut up in the prison of the law, it sees no way out. The confinement seems to grow tighter day by day, as if it will never end. For the person feels the wrath of God — which is infinite and immeasurable — and cannot escape His hand, as Psalm 139 witnesses: 'Where can I flee from Your presence?'

Just as a worldly prison is a physical affliction — the one imprisoned cannot freely use his body — so the anguish and trouble of the mind is a spiritual prison, and the person shut up in it cannot enjoy peace of heart or rest of conscience. Yet it is not permanent — even though reason, in the midst of feeling this prison, believes it will last forever. It lasts only until faith is revealed. The poor conscience must therefore be lifted up and comforted like this: 'Brother, you are indeed shut in — but believe that this is not meant to keep you imprisoned forever. For it is written that we are shut up until the faith that will be revealed. You are suffering in this prison not for your destruction, but so that you may be refreshed by the blessed Seed. You are being killed by the law so that through Christ you may be made alive again.' Do not despair as Cain, Saul, and Judas did — they were shut up, looked no further than their dark prison, and stayed there, and so they despaired. You must take a different path in these terrors of conscience. Know that it is good and right that you are so shut in, confused, and brought to nothing. Use this being shut in rightly — that is, in the way it is meant: so that when the law has done its work, faith may be revealed. For God does not afflict you so that you remain forever in the affliction. He does not kill you so that you stay in death. 'I do not desire the death of a sinner,' He says through the prophet. He afflicts you so that you may be humbled and come to know that you need mercy and the gift of Christ.

This being held in prison under the law must not last forever — it is meant to continue only until faith comes and is revealed. Psalm 147 teaches this beautifully: 'The Lord delights in those who fear Him' — that is, those who are in the prison of the law. And immediately after it adds: 'and in those who wait for His mercy.' We must therefore hold these two things together, though they are as opposite to each other as anything can be. What could be more opposite than dreading the wrath of God, and trusting in His goodness and mercy? One is hell, the other is heaven — and yet they must be closely joined in the heart. In theory and in pure knowledge, a person can combine them fairly easily. But to do so in lived experience and in inner practice — that is the hardest thing of all, as I have often proved by my own experience. The papists and the sectarians know nothing of this. Therefore Paul's words are dark and entirely unknown to them. When the law reveals their sin, accuses them, and terrifies them, they can find no counsel, no rest, no help or refuge — and fall into despair, as Cain and Saul did.

Since the law is, as has been said, our tormentor and our prison, it is certain that we cannot love it — we hate it. Anyone who claims to love the law is a liar who does not know what he is saying. A thief or robber who said he loved the prison, the chains, and the shackles would show himself to be utterly mad. Since the law shuts us in and holds us in prison, we necessarily become its enemies. In short, we love the law and its righteousness about as much as a murderer loves the dark prison, the tight bonds, and the irons. How then could the law justify us?

Verse 23. And shut up under the faith which was later to be revealed.

Paul says this with the fullness of time in view — when Christ came. But we must apply it not only to that historical moment, but also to the inner life of every person. For what happened historically and in terms of time — when Christ came, abolished the law, and brought freedom and eternal life to light — happens spiritually in every Christian. In the Christian there is always at one time or another the time of the law, and at another time the time of grace. A Christian has a body in whose members — as Paul says elsewhere — sin dwells and wages war. By sin I mean not just the act or deed, but the root and the tree along with its fruit, in the way Scripture speaks of sin. This sin is not only rooted in the baptized flesh of every Christian, but it wages deadly war within it and holds it captive — not necessarily causing it to give consent or carry out the act, but forcefully pressing toward it. For although a Christian does not fall into outward and gross sins like murder, adultery, and theft, he is not free from impatience, grumbling, and hatred and blasphemy against God — sins entirely unknown to natural reason and the unspiritual mind. These sins compel him, deeply against his will, to loathe the law, to flee from God's presence, to hate and blaspheme God. Just as sexual desire is strong in a young man, the love of glory in a man in his prime, and greed in an old man — so in a holy and faithful person, impatience, grumbling, hatred, and blasphemy against God are powerfully active. There are many examples of this in the Psalms, in Job, in Jeremiah, and throughout all Scripture. Paul, in describing and expressing this spiritual warfare, uses very intense and fitting language — words like fighting, rebelling, holding captive, and so on.

Both of these times — the time of the law and the time of the Gospel — are present in a Christian, with regard to the inner life. The time of the law is when the law troubles me, torments me with heaviness of heart, oppresses me, brings me to knowledge of sin, and increases that sin. This is the law in its true use and perfect work — and a Christian frequently experiences this as long as he lives. So Paul was given a thorn in the flesh — a messenger of Satan to torment him. He would gladly have felt the joy of conscience, the gladness of heart, and the sweet taste of eternal life at every moment. He would gladly have been freed from all trouble and anguish of spirit, and therefore begged that this temptation be taken away from him. Yet it was not removed, and the Lord said to him: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.' Every Christian feels this battle. To speak for myself: there are many hours when I argue and contend with God and resist Him with impatience. God's wrath and judgment displease me, and my impatience, grumbling, and similar sins displease Him. This is the time of the law, under which a Christian lives as long as he lives in the flesh. For the flesh continually desires against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh — but more in some people and less in others.

The time of grace is when the heart is lifted up again by the promise of God's free mercy and says: 'Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you troubled? Do you see nothing but the law, sin, terror, heaviness, despair, death, hell, and the devil? Is there not also grace, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, comfort, joy, peace, life, heaven, Christ, and God? Trouble me no more, O my soul. What is the law, what is sin, what are all evils, in comparison to these things? Trust in God, who did not spare His own dear Son but gave Him to death on the cross for your sins.' This is being shut under the law in the flesh — not forever, but until Christ is revealed. Therefore when you are beaten down, tormented, and crushed by the law, say: 'Lady law, you are not alone, and you are not everything. Besides you there are far greater and better things — grace, faith, and blessing. These do not accuse me, terrify me, or condemn me. They comfort me, they call me to trust in the Lord, and they promise me victory and salvation in Christ. There is no reason, therefore, for me to despair.'

The person who is skilled in this art can rightly be called a true theologian. The enthusiastic spirits today and their followers — who constantly boast of the Spirit — think themselves highly experienced in it. But I and those like me have barely learned the first principles of it. It is indeed something that can be learned, but as long as the flesh and sin remain, it can never be perfectly learned. A Christian therefore lives in two times. Insofar as he is flesh, he is under the law. Insofar as he is spirit, he is under grace. Sinful desire, greed, ambition, and pride continually cling to the flesh — along with ignorance, contempt of God, impatience, grumbling, and resentment against God when He interrupts and breaks off our plans and projects, or when He does not promptly punish the wicked and defiant. Such sins are rooted in the flesh of the faithful. Therefore if you look only at the flesh, you will always be in the time of the law. But these days must be shortened, or no flesh would be saved. The law must have its appointed time, and that time must come to an end. The time of the law, therefore, is not permanent — it has an end, and that end is Jesus Christ. But the time of grace is eternal. For Christ, having once died, dies no more. He is eternal, and therefore the time of grace is also eternal.

We must not pass lightly over such significant statements as these in Paul, as the papists and sectarians do. They contain words of life that wonderfully comfort and strengthen afflicted consciences. Those who know and understand them well can judge rightly about faith — they can distinguish true fear from false fear, discern all the inner movements of the heart, and judge all kinds of spirits. The fear of God is a holy and precious thing, but it must not always continue alone. It should always be present in a Christian, because sin is always present in him. But it must not stand alone — for then it is the fear of Cain, Saul, and Judas: a slavish and despairing fear. A Christian must therefore overcome fear through faith in the word of grace. He must turn his eyes away from the time of the law and look to Christ and to the faith that is to be revealed. At that point the fear of God begins to become sweet and causes us to delight in God. For if a person looks only at the law and sin — setting faith aside — he will never be able to put away fear, and will eventually fall into despair.

In this way Paul carefully distinguishes the time of the law and the time of grace. Let us also learn to distinguish them rightly — not merely in words, but in lived inner experience, which is a very difficult thing. For although these two things are vastly different in nature, they are most closely joined together in one heart. Nothing is more tightly bound together than fear and trust, the law and the Gospel, sin and grace. They are so united that one is swallowed up by the other. There is no other combination like it.

At the question 'Why then the law?' Paul begins to discuss the law — its use and its misuse — taking his starting point from what he had already established: that the faithful receive righteousness by grace alone and by the promise, not by the law. That discussion raised the question: why then the law? For when reason hears that righteousness and the blessing are received through grace and the promise, it immediately concludes: then the law is useless. We must therefore consider the teaching about the law carefully, so that we know what to make of it and how to judge it rightly. We must not reject the law altogether, as the enthusiastic spirits did — those who in 1525, stirring up the peasants to rebellion, claimed that the freedom of the Gospel releases everyone from every kind of law. Nor must we attribute to the law the power of justification. Both groups err against the law: the one on the right who wants to be justified by it, and the one on the left who wants to be completely free from it. We must keep the middle road — neither rejecting the law nor attributing more to it than we should.

What I have so often repeated about the two uses of the law — the civil and the spiritual — makes it sufficiently clear that the law is not given for the righteous, but as Paul says elsewhere, for the unrighteous and rebellious. Now among the unrighteous there are two kinds: those who are to be justified, and those who are not. Those who are not to be justified must be held in check by the civil use of the law — they must be bound by the law as wild and untamed animals are bound with ropes and chains. This civil use of the law has no end, and Paul says nothing about it here. Those who are to be justified are exercised by the spiritual use of the law for a time — for the spiritual use does not continue indefinitely as the civil use does. It looks toward the faith that is to be revealed, and when Christ comes it reaches its end. From this we can plainly see that all of Paul's statements about the spiritual use of the law apply to those who are yet to be justified, not to those already justified. For those already justified, insofar as they remain in Christ, are far above all law. The law must therefore be placed on those who are to be justified, to shut them up in its prison until the righteousness of faith comes. Not so they obtain righteousness through the law — that would be a misuse — but so that when they are cast down and humbled by the law, they flee to Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4).

Now there are three groups who misuse the law. First, all the hypocrites and those who seek justification through works, who imagine that people are justified by the law. This use does not exercise a person or drive him to faith in Christ — it produces instead a complacent, careless, and arrogant hypocrite who swells with pride over law-keeping and blocks the righteousness of faith. Second, those who would exempt the Christian entirely from the law — as the reckless Anabaptists tried to do, which is what led them to stir up the peasant rebellion. There are many of this kind today among those who profess the Gospel with us. Having been freed from the Pope's tyranny through the teaching of the Gospel, they imagine that Christian freedom means the freedom to live however they wish in a loose and carnal way. These, as Peter says (1 Peter 2:16), use the freedom of the Spirit as a cover for wickedness, through which the name of God and the Gospel of Christ is slandered everywhere. They will in due time suffer deserved punishment for their ungodliness. Third, those who misuse the law are those who, feeling its terrors, do not understand that those terrors are meant to point them to Christ and come to an end there. This misuse causes them to fall into despair — just as the first misuse produces arrogance and presumption in hypocrites.

By contrast, the true use of the law can never be sufficiently valued and praised — when the conscience, shut up under the law, does not despair, but being taught by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit concludes within itself: 'I am indeed shut in as a prisoner under the law, but not forever. This being shut in will turn to my great profit.' How so? Because being shut in this way, I will be driven to sigh and seek the help of One who can rescue me. In this way the law acts as a kind of enforcer that compels the hungry to come to Christ, so that He may satisfy them with His good things. The true function of the law is therefore to show us our sins, make us guilty, humble us, kill us, bring us down to the depths, and strip away all our help, comfort, and support — but all of this for a single purpose: that we may be justified, lifted up, made alive, carried up to heaven, and receive every good thing. Therefore the law does not merely kill — it kills so that we may live.

Verse 24. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ.

Here Paul again joins together the law and the Gospel — which are so far apart in nature — as they relate to the inner life and the affections, when he says: 'The law is a tutor to Christ.' The illustration of the tutor or schoolmaster is worth considering carefully. Although a schoolmaster is very useful and necessary for instructing and raising up children, show me one child who loves his teacher. We can easily guess what feeling the Jews had toward their Moses, and how eagerly they carried out what he commanded. Indeed such was their love and obedience toward him that at every hour — as the accounts show — they would gladly have stoned him to death. It is not possible for the student to love his teacher. How could he love one who keeps him confined — who does not allow him to do what he would gladly do? And if he does anything against the teacher's command, he is immediately rebuked and punished, and is even made to kiss the rod after being beaten. Is this not a fine kind of righteousness and obedience — obeying the master who threatens so sternly and corrects so sharply, and kissing the rod? But does the student do this willingly? The moment the master's back is turned, he breaks the rod or throws it in the fire. And if he had any power over his master, he would not put up with being beaten — he would beat the master instead. And yet the schoolmaster is very necessary for the child — to instruct and discipline him. Without this discipline, instruction, and training, the child would be utterly lost.

The schoolmaster is appointed to teach the child, to raise him up, and to keep him in a kind of confinement. But to what end, and for how long? Is it so that this strict and harsh treatment should continue forever? Or so the child should remain in bondage permanently? Not at all — only for a time, so that this obedience, this confinement, and this discipline might benefit the child, and in time he might become an heir and a prince. For it is not the father's will that his son should always be subject to the schoolmaster, always beaten with rods — but that through this instruction and discipline he may be made fit and ready to be his father's heir.

In the same way, Paul says, the law is nothing but a schoolmaster — not a permanent one, but one who serves until it has brought us to Christ, as he also said earlier in other words: the law was added on account of transgressions until the blessed Seed would come; and, Scripture has shut all under sin; and, we were kept and shut up until the faith that was to be revealed. The law is therefore not only a schoolmaster but a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. For what kind of schoolmaster would only torment and beat a child and never actually teach him anything? Yet such schoolmasters existed in earlier times, when schools were nothing but prisons and true hells, and schoolmasters were cruel tyrants and butchers. Children were beaten constantly, they learned through endless pain and toil, and few of them came to anything. The law is not that kind of schoolmaster. It does not merely terrify and torment — as the foolish schoolmaster beats his students and teaches them nothing. With its rods it drives us to Christ, just as a good schoolmaster drills and exercises his students in reading and writing so that they come to love learning and knowledge — and afterward take delight in doing freely what they were earlier compelled to do against their will.

Through this striking illustration, Paul shows the true use of the law: it does not justify hypocrites — they remain without Christ, in their pride and false security. On the other hand, it does not leave those who are truly contrite in death and condemnation — if they use the law as Paul teaches. It drives them to Christ. Those who, in the midst of these terrors, remain stuck in their weakness and do not lay hold on Christ by faith, eventually fall into despair. Paul therefore, through this picture of the schoolmaster, vividly expresses the true use of the law. Just as the schoolmaster rebukes and troubles his students and makes them unhappy — yet not so that this bondage continues forever, but so that it ends once the children are well trained and instructed, and they can afterward freely enjoy their freedom and their father's inheritance without the schoolmaster driving them — so those who are troubled and burdened by the law know that these terrors and troubles will not continue forever. They are being prepared to come to Christ who is to be revealed and to receive the freedom of the Spirit.

Verse 24. That we may be justified by faith.

The law is not a schoolmaster to bring us to another lawgiver who demands good works, but to Christ our Justifier and Savior — so that by faith in Him we might be justified, not by works. But when a person feels the force and pressure of the law, he does not understand or believe this. Instead he says: 'I have lived wickedly — I have transgressed all the commandments of God and am therefore guilty of eternal death. If God would give me a few more years, or at least a few months, I would reform my life and live holily from now on.' Here he turns the true use of the law into a misuse. Reason, overtaken by these terrors and pressures, boldly promises God that it will fulfill all the works of the whole law. From this came so many sects and swarms of monks and religious hypocrites, so many ceremonies and self-devised works to earn grace and forgiveness of sins. Those who devised such things thought the law was a schoolmaster to lead them not to Christ but to a new law — or to Christ as a new lawgiver, rather than as the one who has abolished the law.

But the true use of the law is to bring me to a knowledge of my sin, to humble me, so that I come to Christ and am justified by faith. Faith is neither law nor work, but a firm confidence that lays hold on Christ, who is the end of the law (Romans 10:4). And how? Not by abolishing the old law and giving a new one, and not by being a judge who must be satisfied by works, as the papists taught. He is the end of the law for everyone who believes — that is, everyone who believes in Him is righteous, and the law will never accuse that person. The law is therefore good, holy, and just — when it is used rightly. Those who misuse it are, first, the hypocrites who attribute to the law the power to justify; and second, those who despair — not knowing that the law is a schoolmaster to lead people to Christ, that is, that it humbles them not for their destruction but for their salvation. For God wounds in order to heal, and kills in order to give life.

Now, as I have said, Paul speaks here of those who are yet to be justified, not of those already justified. Therefore when you reason about the law, you must identify the proper subject on which the law operates — the sinner and the wicked person. The law does not justify that person; it sets sin before his eyes, casts him down, brings him to self-knowledge, shows him hell, and reveals the wrath and judgment of God. This is the law's proper function. Then follows the proper purpose of this function: the sinner must understand that the law does not reveal his sin and humble him so that he should despair, but so that by this accusing and breaking it may drive him to Christ, his Savior and Comforter. When that has happened, he is no longer under the schoolmaster. This function is very necessary. Since the whole world is overwhelmed by sin, it needs the ministry of the law to expose sin — otherwise no one would ever attain righteousness, as we have explained at length. But what does the law accomplish in those already justified by Christ? Paul answers this in what follows — which amounts to a kind of addition to what he has already said.

Verse 25. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

That is: we are free from the law, from the prison, and from the schoolmaster — for when faith is revealed, the law terrifies and torments us no more. Paul is speaking here of faith as it was proclaimed and published to the world by Christ at the appointed time. For Christ, taking on our flesh, came once into the world, abolished the law with all its effects, and delivered from eternal death all who receive His gift by faith. If you look to Christ and to what He has done, there is now no law. For He, coming at the appointed time, removed the law. Since the law is gone, we are no longer held under its tyranny — we live in joy and safety under Christ, who now sweetly reigns in us by His Spirit. Where the Lord reigns, there is liberty. Therefore, if we could perfectly take hold of Christ — who has abolished the law by His death and reconciled us to His Father — that schoolmaster would have no power over us at all. But the law of the flesh, rebelling against the law of the mind, prevents us from laying hold on Christ perfectly. The lack is not in Christ but in us, who have not yet put off this flesh, to which sin continually clings as long as we live. Therefore, as far as we ourselves are concerned, we are partly free from the law and partly under it. In spirit we serve, with Paul, the law of God; but in the flesh, the law of sin (Romans 7).

From this it follows that as far as the conscience is concerned, we are fully delivered from the law, and the schoolmaster must not rule in the conscience — that is, he must not afflict the conscience with his terrors, threats, and confinement. And even when he tries to disturb and trouble the conscience, it is not moved. For the conscience has Christ crucified before its eyes, who has removed from the conscience all the functions of the law — 'canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands' (Colossians 2:14). Therefore, just as a virgin has no knowledge of a man, the conscience must not only be ignorant of the law, but utterly dead to it — and the law likewise dead to the conscience. This is accomplished not by works or by law-righteousness, but by faith, which lays hold on Christ. Yet sin still clings to the flesh in its effects, and this frequently accuses and troubles the conscience. As long as the flesh remains, the schoolmaster also remains, and many times he terrifies the conscience and weighs it down by exposing sin and threatening death. Yet the conscience is lifted up again by the daily coming of Christ — who, just as He came once into the world at the appointed time to redeem us from the hard and sharp bondage of the schoolmaster, so He comes to us daily in spirit, so that we may grow in faith and in the knowledge of Him, the conscience may take hold of Him more fully day by day, and the law of the flesh and of sin — with the terror of death and all the evils the law brings — may daily diminish in us. As long as we live in the flesh, which is not without sin, the law often returns and does its work — more in one person and less in another, according to the strength or weakness of their faith. Yet this is not for their destruction but for their salvation. For this is the exercise of the law in the saints: the continual putting to death of the flesh, of reason, and of our own strength — and the daily renewing of the inward person, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4.

We receive the first fruits of the Spirit; the yeast is hidden in the mass of dough, but the whole mass is not yet leavened — it has only begun to leaven. If I look at the yeast alone, I see nothing but pure yeast. But if I look at the whole mass, I see it is not yet all pure yeast. That is to say: if I look at Christ, I am altogether pure and holy and know nothing of the law, for Christ is my yeast. But if I look at my own flesh, I feel in myself greed, lust, anger, pride, and arrogance — along with the fear of death, heaviness, hatred, grumbling, and impatience toward God. The more these sins are present in me, the more Christ is absent from me — or if He is present, He is felt only faintly. Here we need the schoolmaster to discipline and press this stubborn beast, the flesh, so that through this exercise sins may be diminished and a way prepared for Christ. For just as Christ came once bodily at the appointed time, abolished the whole law, conquered sin, destroyed death and hell — so He comes spiritually without ceasing, daily quenching and killing these sins in us.

I say this so you can answer if someone objects: 'Christ came into the world and at once took away all our sins and cleansed us by His blood — what need do we have then of the Gospel or the sacraments?' It is true that insofar as you look at Christ, the law and sin are fully abolished. But Christ has not yet fully come to you — or if He has come, there are still remnants of sin in you. You are not yet completely leavened. For where sinful desire, heaviness of spirit, and fear of death remain, so too do the law and sin. Christ has not yet fully come. But when He truly comes, He drives away fear and heaviness and brings peace and quietness of conscience. So far as I lay hold on Christ by faith, so far is the law abolished for me. But my flesh, the world, and the devil hinder faith in me and keep it from being perfect. I would gladly have that small light of faith in my heart spread through my whole body and all its members — but it does not happen all at once. It only begins to spread. In the meantime this is our consolation: we who have the first fruits of the Spirit are already beginning to be leavened. We will be thoroughly leavened when this body of sin is dissolved and we rise as entirely new creatures together with Christ.

Although Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever — and all the faithful before His coming had the Gospel and faith — nevertheless Christ came once at the appointed time. Faith also came once, when the apostles preached and proclaimed the Gospel throughout the world. And yet Christ also comes spiritually every day. Faith likewise comes daily through the word of the Gospel. When faith comes, the schoolmaster must give way with his heavy and burdensome work. Christ also comes spiritually when we increasingly come to know and understand what He has given us, and grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him (2 Peter 3:18).

Verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul, as a true and excellent teacher of faith, always has these words in his mouth: by faith, in faith, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. He does not say: you are children of God because you are circumcised, because you have heard the law and done its works — as the Jews imagine and the false apostles teach. He says: by faith in Jesus Christ. The law does not make us children of God, and human traditions even less so. The law cannot bring us to a new nature or a new birth. It sets before us that old birth by which we were born into the kingdom of the devil — and in doing so it prepares us for a new birth, which comes through faith in Jesus Christ and not through the law, as Paul plainly declares: 'For you are all children of God through faith.' It is as if he said: Although you were tormented, humbled, and killed by the law, the law did not make you righteous or make you children of God — that is the work of faith alone. What faith? Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ therefore makes us children of God, not the law. John testifies to the same thing in his first chapter (John 1:12): 'To all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God.' What tongue — of men or of angels — can adequately praise and magnify the great mercy of God toward us, that we who are miserable sinners and by nature children of wrath should be called to this grace and glory: to become children and heirs of God, co-heirs with the Son of God, and lords over heaven and earth — and that through the one means of faith in Christ Jesus?

Verse 27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

'Putting on Christ' is used in two ways: one according to the law, and one according to the Gospel. According to the law, as in Romans 13: 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ' — that is, follow His example and virtues. Do what He did; endure what He endured. And as 1 Peter 2:21 says: 'Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.' We see in Christ extraordinary patience, immeasurable gentleness and love, and remarkable humility in all things. This beautiful clothing we must put on — that is, we must follow these virtues.

But putting on Christ according to the Gospel consists not in imitation but in a new birth and a new creation — that is, in putting on Christ's innocence, His righteousness, His wisdom, His power, His healing, His life, and His Spirit. We are clothed with the garment of Adam — a mortal garment, a garment of sin. That is to say: we are all subject to sin, all sold under sin. In us there is horrible blindness, ignorance, contempt and hatred of God — along with evil desire, impurity, greed, and more. This garment — this corrupt and sinful nature — we received from Adam. Paul commonly calls it the old man. This old man must be put off, along with all his works (Ephesians 4; Colossians 3), so that from being children of Adam we may become children of God. This is not done by changing clothes, or by any laws or works, but by a new birth and the renewal of the inward person — which happens in baptism, as Paul says: 'All of you who were baptized have put on Christ.' And: 'He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit' (Titus 3:5). Beyond being regenerated and renewed by the Holy Spirit to heavenly righteousness and eternal life, those who are baptized also experience a new light and a new flame rising within them — new and holy movements of the heart, such as the fear of God, true faith, and firm hope. A new will also begins in them. This is what it truly means to put on Christ according to the Gospel.

Therefore what is given to us in baptism is not the righteousness of the law or of our own works — Christ Himself is our garment. Now Christ is no law, no lawgiver, no work, but a divine and immeasurable gift — given to us by God to be our justifier, our Savior, and our Redeemer. Therefore to be clothed with Christ according to the Gospel is not to be clothed with the law or with works, but with an incomparable gift — that is, with forgiveness of sins, righteousness, peace, comfort, joy of spirit, salvation, life, and Christ Himself.

This must be noted carefully because of the vain and enthusiastic spirits who try to strip baptism of its majesty and speak wickedly of it. Paul, by contrast, commends and honors it with great titles, calling it 'the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit' (Titus 3:5). And here he says that all who are baptized have put on Christ. It is as if he said: You have been transferred out of the law into a new birth wrought in baptism. Therefore you are no longer under the law — you are clothed with a new garment, the righteousness of Christ. Baptism is therefore a matter of great power and significance. Now, once we have been clothed with Christ as the robe of righteousness and salvation, we must also put on Christ as the pattern and example of imitation. I have treated these things more fully elsewhere, so I will pass over them briefly here.

Verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Here many more categories of persons and offices ordained by God could be added — magistrate and subject, teacher and student, schoolmaster and pupil, master and servant, mistress and maid, and so on. For in Christ Jesus, all such stations — even those ordained by God — count for nothing. Male, female, slave, free, Jew, Gentile, prince, subject — all are good creatures of God. But in Christ, that is, in the matter of salvation, they count for nothing, along with all their wisdom, righteousness, religion, and power.

With the words 'There is neither Jew,' and so on, Paul powerfully abolishes the law. For here — that is, when a person is renewed by baptism and has put on Christ — there is neither Jew nor Greek. The apostle is not speaking here of a Jew in terms of his natural identity, but he calls a person a Jew who is a disciple of Moses, is subject to the law, is circumcised, and strives with all his effort to keep the ceremonies the law commands. 'Where Christ is put on,' he says, 'there is no longer Jew, no circumcision, no ceremony of the law' — for Christ has abolished all the laws of Moses. Therefore the conscience that believes in Christ must be so firmly persuaded that the law is abolished — with all its terrors and threats — that it should be as though Moses, the law, and the Jews had never existed. For Christ and Moses cannot be reconciled. Moses came with the law, with many works and many ceremonies. Christ came without any law, without demanding works, giving grace and righteousness freely. For 'the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ' (John 1:17).

When he says 'nor Greek,' he also rejects and condemns the wisdom and righteousness of the Gentiles. Among the Gentiles there were many outstanding men — Xenophon, Themistocles, Marcus Fabius, Attilius Regulus, Cicero, Pomponius Atticus, and many others — who were endowed with remarkable virtues, governed their communities with excellence, and performed great deeds for the public good. And yet all these were nothing before God, with all their wisdom, power, distinguished acts, excellent virtues, laws, religious practices, and ceremonies. We must not think the Gentiles despised all decency and religion. Indeed all nations of all ages, scattered throughout the world, had their laws, religions, and ceremonies — without which it is impossible for human society to function. All righteousness relating to family life, civil governance, or religious matters — however perfect — counts for nothing before God. What does count? The garment of Christ put on in baptism.

So a servant who faithfully does his duty and obeys his master with great diligence; a free person in authority who governs the community or his own household honestly and with praise; a man who fulfills what belongs to manhood — marrying, managing his household, obeying the authorities, conducting himself decently with everyone; a woman who lives chastely, obeys her husband, runs her household well, and raises her children in godliness — all these are indeed excellent gifts and holy works. And yet all of them count for nothing in comparison to the righteousness that stands before God. In short: all the laws, ceremonies, religious practices, righteousness, and works in the entire world — yes, even those of the Jews, who were the first to receive the kingdom and priesthood ordained and established by God, with their holy laws, religious practices, ceremonies, and worship — none of these take away sin, deliver from death, or obtain life.

Therefore your false apostles are cleverly deceiving you, O Galatians, when they teach that the law is necessary for salvation. By this they rob you of the excellent glory of your new birth and your adoption as children, and call you back to your old birth and the most miserable bondage of the law. They make you, free children of God, into bound children of the law — insisting on a distinction of persons based on the law. There is indeed a difference between persons under the law and in the world, and rightly so — but not before God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Therefore let the Jews, the Gentiles, and the whole world be silent before God. God has indeed established many ordinances, laws, conditions, and ways of life — but none of these help to earn grace or obtain eternal life. Those who are justified are justified not by keeping human or divine law, but by Christ alone, who has abolished all laws. The Gospel presents Him to us as the one who appeased God's wrath by the shedding of His own blood, and as Savior. Without faith in Him, the Jew will not be saved by the law, the monk by his order, the Greek by his wisdom, the magistrate or master by his upright governing, or the servant by his obedience.

Verse 28. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

These are excellent words. In the world and according to the flesh there is great difference and inequality among persons — and this must be carefully maintained. For if women would be men, if sons would be fathers, if servants would be masters, if subjects would be rulers, there would be nothing but chaos and disorder in every sphere of life. But in Christ there is no law, no distinction of persons — there is neither Jew nor Greek. All are one. There is one body, one Spirit, one hope to which we are called, one Gospel, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, one Christ and Lord of all. The same Christ belongs to me, to you, and to all the faithful — the same Christ that Peter, Paul, and all the saints had. Here therefore the conscience knows nothing of the law but has Christ alone before its eyes. This is why Paul always adds the phrase 'in Christ Jesus' — for if Christ is taken from our sight, terror follows.

The Scholastics imagine that faith is a quality residing in the heart apart from Christ. This is a devilish error. Christ must be set before you so that you see nothing besides Him, and believe that nothing can be nearer to you or more present in your heart than He is. For He does not sit idle in heaven — He is present with us, working and living in us, as He said in chapter 2: 'I live; yet it is no longer I, but Christ lives in me.' And here again: 'You have put on Christ.' Faith is therefore a steadfast looking that fixes its gaze on nothing but Christ — the conqueror of sin and death, the giver of righteousness, salvation, and eternal life. This is why Paul names and proclaims Jesus Christ so frequently in his letters — in almost every verse. He sets Him forth through the word, for there is no other way to grasp Him except through the word.

This was vividly illustrated by the bronze serpent, which is a figure of Christ. Moses commanded the Israelites who had been bitten by serpents in the wilderness to do nothing but fix their gaze steadfastly on the bronze serpent and not look away. Those who did so were healed by that steady, unwavering gaze alone. But those who disobeyed Moses and looked at their wounds rather than the serpent died. In the same way, when my conscience is afflicted or when I am near death, I must do nothing but take hold of Christ by faith and say: 'I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who suffered, was crucified, and died for me — in whose wounds and death I see my sin, and in His resurrection I see victory over sin, death, and the devil, along with righteousness and eternal life.' Beyond Him I see nothing, I hear nothing. This is true faith, concerning Christ and in Christ, by which we are made members of His body, flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bones. In Him we live, move, and have our being. Christ and our faith must be thoroughly united. We must be in heaven, and Christ must live and work in us. He lives and works in us not as a mere idea or bare knowledge, but in truth and by a real and substantial presence.

Verse 29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.

That is: if you believe and are baptized into Christ — if you believe, I say, that He is the promised seed of Abraham who brought the blessing to all the Gentiles — then you are children of Abraham, not by nature but by adoption. For Scripture assigns the inheritance not only to children of the flesh but also to children of adoption and promise, and shows beforehand that they will receive the inheritance while the others will be cast out of the house. So in a few words Paul transfers the whole glory of Lebanon — that is, of the Jewish nation — to the desert, that is, to the Gentiles. This passage contains a singular comfort: the Gentiles are children of Abraham and therefore the people of God. But they are children of Abraham not by physical descent but by the promise. The kingdom of heaven, life, and the eternal inheritance therefore belong to the Gentiles. This Scripture signified long before when it said: 'I have made you a father of many nations.' And: 'In your seed all nations shall be blessed.' Because we who are Gentiles believe, and by faith receive the blessing promised to Abraham and fulfilled by Christ, Scripture calls us the children and heirs of Abraham — not according to the flesh but according to the promise. The promise 'In your seed' therefore belongs to all the Gentiles as well, and according to this promise Christ has become ours.

The promise was indeed made to the Jews alone, not to us Gentiles — as Psalm 147 says: 'He declares His word to Jacob; He has not dealt so with any nation.' Yet what was promised comes to us through faith, by which alone we receive God's promise. Although the promise was not formally made to us, it was made with us in view and for us — for we are named in the promise: 'In your seed all nations shall be blessed.' For the promise plainly shows that Abraham would be the father not only of the Jewish nation but of many nations, and that he would be the heir not of one kingdom but of the whole world (Romans 4). Therefore all laws are completely abolished in the heart and conscience of a Christian — yet they remain present outwardly in the flesh. We have spoken at length about this before.