The Fourth Chapter

Verse 1. This I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. Verse 2. But is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the Father.

You see with what vehement affection Paul goes about to call back the Galatians, and what strong arguments he uses in debating that matter, gathering similitudes of experience, of the example of Abraham, of the testimonies of the Scripture, and of the time: so that often times he seems to renew the whole matter again. For before he had in a manner finished the disputation concerning justification, concluding that a man is justified before God by faith only and alone. But because he calls also to remembrance this political example of the little heir, he brings the same also for the confirmation of his matter. Thus trying every way, he lies in wait with a certain holy subtlety to take the Galatians unawares. For the ignorant people are sooner persuaded with similitudes and examples, than with deep and subtle disputations. They will rather behold an image well painted than a book well written. Paul therefore now, after that he has brought the similitude of a man's testament, of the prison, and of the schoolmaster, uses also this similitude of an heir (which is familiar and well known to all men) to move and to persuade them. And surely it is a very profitable thing to be furnished with similitudes and examples: which not only Paul, but also the Prophets, and Christ himself also did often use.

You see (says he) that it is ordained by the civil laws, that an heir, albeit he be the Lord of all his father's goods, differs not from a servant. Indeed he has an assured hope of the inheritance: but before he comes to his years, his tutors hold him in subjection, like as the schoolmaster does his scholar. They commit not to him the ordering of his own goods, but constrain him to serve, so that he is kept and maintained with his own goods like a servant. Therefore so long as this bondage endures, that is, so long as he is under tutors and governors, he differs nothing from a servant. And this subjection and servitude is very profitable for him: for otherwise through folly he would soon waste all his goods. This captivity endures not always, but has a certain time limited and appointed by the father wherein it must end.

Verse 3. So also we, as long as we were children, were in bondage under the rudiments of the world.

In like manner when we were little children we were heirs, having the promise of the inheritance to come, which should be given to us by the seed of Abraham, that is to say, by Christ, in whom all nations should be blessed. But because the fullness of time was not yet come, Moses our tutor, governor and schoolmaster came, holding us in captivity with our hands bound, so that we could bear no rule, nor possess our inheritance. In the meantime notwithstanding, like as an heir is nourished and maintained in hope of liberty to come: even so Moses did nourish us with the hope of the promise to be revealed in the time appointed: to wit, when Christ should come, who by his coming should put an end to the time of the law, and begin the time of grace.

Now the time of the law ends two manner of ways: First (as I said) by the coming of Christ in the flesh at the time appointed of his Father. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman and made under the law, that he might redeem them which were under the law, etc. He entered into the holy sanctuary once through his blood, and obtained eternal redemption for us. Moreover, the same Christ who came once in the time appointed, comes also to us daily and hourly in spirit. Indeed once with his own blood he redeemed and sanctified all: but because we are not yet perfectly pure (for the remnants of sin do yet cling in our flesh, which strives against the spirit) therefore daily he comes to us spiritually and continually more and more accomplishes the appointed time of his Father, abrogating and abolishing the law.

So he came also in spirit to the fathers of the Old Testament before he appeared in flesh. They had Christ in spirit. They believed in Christ who should be revealed, as we believe in Christ who is now revealed, and were saved by him as we are, according to that saying: Jesus Christ is one yesterday, and today, and shall be the same forever. Yesterday, before the time of his coming in the flesh. Today, when he was revealed in the time before appointed. Now and forever he is one and the same Christ: for even by him only and alone all the faithful which either have been, are, or shall be, are delivered from the law, justified and saved.

In like manner we also (says he) when we were children, served under the rudiments of the world, that is to say: the law had dominion over us, oppressed us and kept us in a strict bondage, as servants and captives. For first it restrained carnal and rebellious persons that they should not run headlong into all kinds of vice. For the law threatens punishment to transgressors, which if they feared not, there is no mischief which they would not commit: And over those whom the law so bridles, it rules and reigns. Again, it did accuse us, terrify us, kill us, and condemn us spiritually and before God: and this was the principal dominion that the law had over us. Therefore like as an heir is subject to his tutors, is beaten, and is compelled to obey their laws and diligently to execute their commandments: even so men's consciences, before Christ comes, are oppressed with the sharp servitude of the law: that is to say, they are accused, terrified, and condemned of the law. But this dominion, or rather this tyranny of the law is not continual, but must only endure until the time of grace. Therefore the office of the law is to reprove and to increase sins, but not to righteousness: to kill, but not to life, For the law is a schoolmaster to Christ. Like as therefore the tutors do handle the heir being yet a child, strictly and hardly, rule him and command him as a servant, and he again is constrained to be subject to them: even so the law accuses us, humbles us, and brings us into bondage, that we may be the servants of sin, death, and of the wrath of God, which is indeed a most miserable kind of bondage. But as the power of the tutors, and the subjection and bondage of the little heir is not continual, but only endures to the time appointed of the Father, which being ended, he needs not to be governed by his tutors, nor remains under their subjection any more, but with liberty enjoys the inheritance: even so the law has dominion over us, and we are constrained to be servants and captives under his government, but not forever. For this clause which follows must be added: until the appointed time of the Father. For Christ which was promised, came and redeemed us which were oppressed with the tyranny of the law.

Contrariwise, the coming of Christ profits not the careless hypocrites, the wicked contemners of God, nor the desperate which think that nothing else remains but the terrors of the law which they [illegible] the rudiments of the world. So the Emperors' laws be rudiments of the world: for they treat of worldly matters: that is to say, of things concerning this present life, as of goods, possessions, inheritances, murders, adulteries, robberies, etc. Of which speaks also the second table of the commandments. As for the Pope's Canon laws, and Decretals, which forbid marriage and meats, those Paul in another place calls the doctrines of Devils: which are also rudiments of the world, but that they do most wickedly bind men's consciences to the observation of outward things, contrary to the word of God and faith.

Therefore the law of Moses gives nothing but worldly things, that is to say, it does but only show civilly and spiritually the evils that be in the world. Notwithstanding, if it be in its true use, it drives the conscience by its terrors to seek and thirst after the promise of God, and to look to Christ. But that you may so do, you have need of the aid and assistance of the Holy Spirit, which may say in your heart: It is not the will of God, that after the law has done its office in you, you should only be terrified and killed: but that when you are brought by the law to the knowledge of your misery and damnation, you should not despair but believe in Christ: who is the end of the law to righteousness, to everyone that believes. Here is no worldly thing done, but here all worldly matters and all laws cease, and heavenly things begin now to appear. Therefore so long as we be under the rudiments of the world: that is to say, under the law, which gives not only righteousness and peace of conscience, but reveals and increases sins and engenders wrath, we be servants, thrall and subject to the law, although we have the promise of the blessing to come. Indeed the law says: You shall love the Lord your God: but that I may be able so to do, or to apprehend Christ, this can not the law give.

I speak not this to the end that the law should be despised, neither does Paul so mean, but it ought to be had in great estimation. But because Paul is here in the matter of justification, it was necessary that he should speak of the law as of a thing very contemptible and odious. For justification is a far other manner of thing than the law is. We can not speak basely and contemptuously enough of the law when we are in this matter. When the conscience therefore is in the conflict, then should she think upon nothing, know nothing at all but Christ only and alone. Then should she remove the law utterly out of her sight, and embrace nothing but the promise concerning Christ. To say this, it is an easy matter: but in time of temptation when the conscience wrestles in the presence of God, to do it indeed, of all things it is the hardest: to wit, that when the law accuses you, terrifies you, reveals to you your sin, threatens to you the wrath of God and eternal death, that then (I say) you should have such strength of faith in Christ as if there had never been any law or any sin, but only Christ, mere grace, and redemption: or that you should then be able to say: O law, I will not hear you, for you have a stammering and a slow tongue: moreover, the fullness of time is now come, and therefore I am free, and will not suffer your tyranny any longer. Here a man may see how hard a matter it is to separate the law from grace: Again, how divine and heavenly a thing it is to hope here even against hope, and how true this proposition of Paul is, that we are justified by faith alone.

Learn here therefore, to speak of the law as contemptuously as you can in the matter of Justification, by the example of the Apostle, which calls the law the rudiments of the world, pernicious traditions, the strength of sin, the ministry of death, etc. For if you suffer the law to bear rule in your conscience when you stand before God wrestling against sin and death, then is the law indeed nothing else but a sink of all evils, heresies and blasphemies: for it does nothing but increase sin, accuse and terrify the conscience, threaten death, and set forth God as an angry judge, which rejects and condemns sinners. Here therefore, if you be wise, banish this stuttering and stammering Moses far from you, with his law, and in any wise let not his terrors and threats move you. Here let him be utterly suspected to you as a heretic, as an excommunicated and condemned person, worse than the Pope and the Devil himself, and therefore not to be heard or obeyed in any case.

But out of the matter of Justification we ought with Paul to think reverently of the law, to commend it highly, to call it holy, righteous, good, spiritual and divine. Out of the case of conscience we should make a God of it, but in the case of conscience it is a very devil. For in the least temptation that can be, it is not able to raise up and to comfort the conscience: but it does clean contrary: it terrifies it, oppresses it with heaviness, and plucks it from the assurance of righteousness, of life, and of all goodness. Hereupon Paul a little after, calls it weak and beggarly rudiments. Therefore let us not suffer the law in any case to bear rule in our conscience, especially seeing it cost Christ so great a price to deliver the conscience from the tyranny of the law. For he was made a Curse for us, that he might deliver us from the Curse of the law. Let the godly learn therefore that the law and Christ are two contrary things, whereof the one cannot abide the other. For when Christ is present, the law may in no case rule, but must depart out of the conscience, and leave the bed (which is so strait that it cannot hold two, as Isaiah says) and give place only to Christ. Let him only reign in righteousness, in peace, in joy and life, that the conscience may sleep and repose itself joyfully in Christ without any feeling of the law, sin, and death.

Paul here on purpose uses this figurative speech, Elements of the world: whereby (as I said) he does much abase and diminish the glory and authority of the law, to stir us up. For he that reads Paul attentively, when he hears that he calls the law the ministry of death, the letter that kills, etc., by and by he thinks thus with himself: why does he give such odious, and (as it appears to reason) blasphemous terms to the law, which is a divine doctrine revealed from heaven? To this Paul answers, that the law is both holy, just, and good: and also the ministry of sin and death, but in diverse respects. Before Christ it is holy: after Christ it is death. Therefore when Christ is come, we ought to know nothing at all of the law, unless it be in this respect, that it has power and dominion over the flesh, to bridle it and to keep it under. Here is a conflict between the law and the flesh (to whom the yoke of the law is hard and grievous) as long as we live.

Only Paul among all the Apostles, calls the law the rudiments of the world, weak and beggarly elements, the strength of sin, the letter that kills, etc. The other Apostles spoke not so of the law. Whoever then will be a right scholar in Christ's school, let him mark diligently this manner of speech used of the Apostle. Christ calls him an elect vessel, and therefore gave to him an exquisite utterance, and a singular kind of speech above all the rest of the Apostles, that he as an elect vessel might faithfully lay the foundations of the article of Justification, and clearly set forth the same.

Verse 4. But after the fullness of time was come, God sent his son, made (or born) of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them which were under the law.

That is to say, after that the time of the law was fulfilled, and that Christ was revealed, and had delivered us from the law, and that the promise was published among all nations, etc.

Mark here diligently how Paul defines Christ. Christ (says he) is the son of God and of a woman, which for us sinners was made under the law, to redeem us that were under the law. In these words he comprehends both the person of Christ and the office of Christ. His person consists of his divine and human nature. This he shows plainly when he says: God sent his own son born of a woman. Christ therefore is very God and very man. His office he sets out in these words: Being made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, etc.

And it seems that Paul here, as it were in reproach, calls the virgin Mary but only a woman: which thing was not well taken even of some of the ancient doctors, who would that he should rather have called her a virgin, than a woman. But Paul treats in this epistle of the most high and principal matter of all, namely, of the Gospel, of Faith, of Christian righteousness: also, what the person of Christ is, what is his office, what he has taken upon him and done for our cause, and what benefits he has brought to us wretched sinners. Therefore the excellence of so high and so wonderful a matter was the cause that he had no regard to her virginity. It was enough for him to set forth and preach the inestimable mercy of God, which would that his son should be born of that sex. Therefore he makes no mention of the dignity of the sex, but only of the sex. And in that he names the sex, he signifies that Christ was made true and very man of womankind. As if he said: He was born, not of man and woman, but only of womankind. Therefore when he names but only the womankind, saying: made of a woman, it is as if he should have said, made of a virgin. John the Evangelist, when he thus sets forth the Word, that it was in the beginning, and was made flesh, speaks not one word of his mother.

Furthermore, this place also witnesses that Christ, when the time of the law was accomplished, did abolish the same, and so brought liberty to those that were oppressed with it, but made no new law after or besides that old law of Moses. Therefore the Monks and Popish Schoolmen do no less err and blaspheme Christ, in that they imagine that he has given a new law besides the law of Moses, than do the Turks who vaunt of their Mahomet as of a new lawgiver after Christ, and better than Christ. Christ then came not to abolish the old law, that he might make a new, but (as Paul here says) he was sent of his Father into the world, to redeem those which were kept in thralldom under the law. These words paint out Christ lively and truly: they do not attribute to him the office to make any new law, but to redeem them which were under the law. And Christ himself says: I judge no man. And in another place: I came not to judge the world, but that the world should be saved by me: That is to say, I came not to bring any law, nor to judge men according to the same, as Moses and other lawgivers, but I have a higher and a better office. The law killed you, and I again do judge, condemn and kill the law, and so I deliver you from the tyranny thereof.

We that are old men, which have been so nursed up in this pernicious doctrine of the Papists, that it has taken deep root even in our bones and marrow, have conceived an opinion quite contrary to that which Paul here teaches. For although we confessed with our mouth that Christ redeemed us from the tyranny of the law, yet in very deed in our heart we thought him to be a lawgiver, a tyrant and a judge, more terrible than Moses himself. And this perverse opinion we cannot yet at this day in so great light of the truth, utterly reject: so strongly are those things rooted in our hearts which we learn in our youth. But you who are yet young, and are not infected with this pernicious opinion, may learn Christ purely with less difficulty than we that are old can remove out of our minds these blasphemous imaginations which we have conceived of him. Notwithstanding, you have not utterly escaped the deceits of the Devil. For although you are not as yet infected with this cursed opinion, that Christ is a lawgiver, yet you have in you the root from which it springs, that is, you have the flesh, reason, and the corruption of nature, which can judge no otherwise of Christ, but that he is a lawgiver. Therefore you must endeavor with all your power to learn so to know and to apprehend Christ, as Paul has set him forth in this place. But if besides this natural corruption, there come also corrupt and wicked teachers (of whom the world is full) they will increase this corruption of nature, and so shall the evil be doubled: that is to say, evil instruction will increase and confirm the pernicious error of blind reason, which naturally judges Christ to be a lawgiver, and prints that error so mightily in our minds, that without great travail and difficulty it can never be abolished.

Therefore it is very profitable for us to have always before our eyes this sweet and comfortable sentence and such like, which set out Christ truly and lively, that in our whole life, in all dangers, in the confession of our Faith before tyrants, and in the hour of death we may boldly and with a sure confidence say: O law, you have no power over me, and therefore you do accuse and condemn me in vain. For I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, whom the Father sent into the world to redeem us miserable sinners oppressed with the tyranny of the law. He gave his life and shed his blood for me. Therefore feeling your terrors and threatenings, O law, I plunge my conscience in the wounds, blood, death, resurrection and victory of my Savior Christ. Besides him I will see nothing, I will hear nothing. This Faith is our victory, whereby we overcome the terrors of the law, sin, death and all evils, and yet not without great conflicts. And here do you children of God, who are daily exercised with grievous temptations, wrestle and sweat indeed. For oftentimes it comes into their minds that Christ will accuse them and plead against them: that he will require an account of their former life, and that he will condemn them. They cannot assure themselves that he is sent of his Father to redeem us from the tyranny and oppression of the law. And where does this come from? They have not yet fully put off the flesh, which rebels against the spirit. Therefore the terrors of the law, the fear of death, and such like sorrowful and heavy sights do oftentimes return, which hinder our Faith that it cannot apprehend the benefit of Christ (who has redeemed us from the bondage of the law) with such assurance as it should do.

But how or by what means has Christ redeemed us? This was the manner of our redemption: He was made under the law. Christ when he came found us all captives under governors and tutors, that is to say, shut up and held in prison under the law. What does he then? Although he is Lord of the law, and therefore the law has no authority or power over him (for he is the Son of God) yet of his own accord he makes himself subject to the law. Here the law executes upon him all the jurisdiction which it had over us. It accuses and terrifies us also: it makes us subject to sin, death, the wrath of God, and with its sentence condemns us. And [reconstructed: this it] does by good right: for we are all sinners, and by nature the children of wrath. Contrariwise, Christ did no sin, neither was there any guile found in his mouth: therefore he was not subject to the law. Yet notwithstanding the law was no less cruel against this innocent, righteous and blessed Lamb, than it was against us cursed and damned sinners: indeed much more rigorous. For it accused him as a blasphemer and a seditious person: it made him guilty before God of the sins of the whole world: it so terrified and oppressed him with heaviness and anguish of spirit, that he sweated blood, and briefly, it condemned him to death, indeed even to the death of the cross.

This was indeed a wonderful combat, where the law being a creature, gives such an assault to his creator, and against all right and equity practices his whole tyranny upon the Son of God which it exercised upon us the children of wrath. Now therefore, because the law did so horribly and so cursedly sinned against his God, it is accused and arraigned. There Christ says: O law, you mighty Queen and cruel Regent of all mankind, what have I done, that you have accused me, terrified me, and condemned me who am innocent? Here the law, which had before condemned and killed all men, when it has nothing with which to defend or purge itself, is again so condemned and vanquished, that it loses his whole right, not only over Christ (whom it so cruelly handled and killed) but also over all them that believe in him. For to those Christ says: Come to me all you that labor under the yoke of the law. I could have overcome the law by my absolute power, without my own suffering: for I am Lord of the law, and therefore it has no right over me. But I have made myself subject to the law for your cause who were under the law, taking your flesh upon me: that is to say, of my inestimable love I humbled and yielded myself to the same prison, tyranny and bondage of the law, under which you served as captives and bondslaves, I suffered the law to have dominion over me who was his Lord, to terrify me, to make me thrall and captive to sin, death and the wrath of God: which it ought not to have done. Therefore I have vanquished the law by double right and authority: First as the Son of God and Lord of the law: Secondly in your person: which is as much as if you had overcome the law yourselves: for my victory is yours.

After this manner Paul speaks everywhere of this marvelous combat between Christ and the law. And to make the matter more delectable and more apparent, he is wont to set forth the law by a figure called prosopopoeia, as a certain mighty person which had condemned and killed Christ: whom Christ again overcoming death, had conquered, condemned and killed. (Ephesians 2) Killing enmity in himself. And again, chapter 4, out of Psalm 68: You are gone up on high, you have led captivity captive, etc. He uses the same figure also in his Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians and Colossians. By sin he condemned sin, etc. Christ therefore by this his victory, banished the law out of our conscience, so that now it can no more confound us in the sight of God, drive us to desperation, or condemn us. Indeed it ceases not still to reveal our sin, to accuse and to terrify us: but the conscience taking hold of this word of the Apostle: Christ has redeemed us from the law, is raised up by faith, and conceives great comfort. Moreover it triumphs over the law with a certain holy pride, saying: I care not for your terrors and threatenings. For you have crucified the Son of God, and this you have done most unjustly: therefore the sin that you have committed against him, cannot be forgiven. You have lost your right and sovereignty, and now forever you are not only overcome, condemned and slain to Christ, but also to me believing in him, to whom he has freely given this victory. So the law is dead to us forever, so that we abide in Christ. Thanks be therefore to God, which has given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

These things do also confirm this doctrine, that we are justified by faith only. For when this combat was fought between Christ and the law, none of our works or deserts came between, but only Christ was found, who putting upon him our person, made himself subject to the law, and in perfect innocence suffered all tyranny. Therefore the law, as a thief and a cursed murderer of the Son of God, loses all his right, and deserves to be condemned in such sort, that wherever Christ is, or is once named, there it is compelled to avoid and flee away, no otherwise than the Devil (as the Papists imagine) flees from the cross. Therefore if we believe, we are delivered from the law through Christ, who has triumphed over it by himself. Therefore this glorious triumph purchased to us by Christ, is not gotten by any works, but only by Faith: therefore Faith only justifies.

These words then: Christ was made under the law, etc. as they are pithy and import a certain vehemence, so are they diligently to be weighed and considered. For they declare that the Son of God being made under the law, did not only perform one or two works of the law, that is to say, he was not only circumcised, or presented in the temple, or went up to Jerusalem with other at the times appointed, or only lived civilly under the law, but he suffered all the tyranny of the law. For the law being in his principal use and full power, set upon Christ, and so horribly assailed him, that he felt such anguish and terror, as no man upon the earth had ever felt the like. This his bloody sweat does sufficiently witness: also his comfort by the Angel, that mighty prayer which he made in the garden, and briefly: that lamentable complaint upon the cross: O my God why have you forsaken me? These things he suffered to redeem those which were under the law, that is to say, in heaviness of spirit, in anguish and terror, and ready to despair, which were oppressed with the heavy burden of their sins, as indeed we are all oppressed. For as touching the flesh we sin daily against all the commandments of God. But Paul gives us good comfort when he says: God sent his Son, etc.

So Christ, a divine and human person, begotten of God without beginning, and born of the virgin in the time appointed, came not to make a law, but to feel and suffer the terrors of the law with all extremity, and to overcome the same, that so he might utterly abolish the law. He was not made a teacher of the law, but an obedient disciple to the law, that by this his obedience he might redeem them which were under the law. This is clean contrary to the doctrine of the Papists, who have made Christ a lawgiver, yes, much more severe and rigorous than Moses. Paul teaches here clean contrary, to wit, that God humbled his Son under the law: that is to say, constrained him to bear the judgment and curse of the law, sin, death, etc. For Moses the minister of the law, sin, wrath and death, apprehended, bound, condemned and killed Christ: and all this he suffered. Therefore Christ stands as a mere patient, and not as an agent, in respect of the law. He is not then a lawgiver, or a judge after the law, but in that he made himself subject to the law, bearing the condemnation of the law, he delivered us from the curse thereof.

Now, whereas Christ in the Gospel gives commandments, and teaches the law, or rather expounds it, this pertains not to the doctrine of justification, but of good works. Moreover, it is not the proper office of Christ (for the which he came principally into the world) to teach the law, but an accidental or a by-office: like as it was to heal the weak, to raise up the dead, etc. These are indeed excellent and divine works: but yet not the very proper and principal works of Christ. For the Prophets also taught the law, and wrought miracles. But Christ is God and man, who fighting against the law, suffered the uttermost cruelty and tyranny thereof. And in that he suffered the tyranny of the law, he vanquished it in himself: And afterward being raised up again from death, he condemned and utterly abolished the law which was our deadly enemy, so that it cannot condemn and kill the faithful any more. Therefore the true and proper office of Christ is to wrestle with the law, with the sin and the death of the whole world, and so to wrestle that he must suffer and abide all these things, and by suffering them in himself, conquer and abolish them, and by this means deliver the faithful from the law and from all evils. Therefore to teach the law and to work miracles, are particular benefits of Christ, for the which he came not principally into the world. For the Prophets, and especially the Apostles did greater miracles than Christ did (John 14).

Seeing then that Christ has overcome the law in his own person, it follows necessarily that he is naturally God. For there is none else whether he be man or angel, which is above the law, but only God. But Christ is above the law, for he has vanquished it: therefore he is the Son of God, and naturally God. If you lay hold upon Christ in such sort as Paul here paints him out, you cannot err nor be confounded. Moreover, you shall easily judge of all kinds of life, of the religions and ceremonies of the whole world. But if this true picture of Christ be defaced, or in any wise darkened, then follows a confusion of all things. For the natural man cannot judge of the law of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). Here fails the cunning of the Philosophers, of the Canonists, and of all men. For the law has power and dominion over man. Therefore the law judges man, and not man the law: only the Christian has a true and a certain judgment of the law. And how? That it does not justify. Therefore then is the law made, if it does not justify? Righteousness before God which is received by faith alone, is not the final cause why the righteous do obey the law, but the peace of the world, thankfulness toward God, and good example of life, by which others be provoked to believe the Gospel. The Pope has so confounded and mingled the ceremonial law, the moral law, and faith together, that he has at length preferred the ceremonial law before the moral law, and the moral law before faith.

Verse 5. That we might receive the adoption of the sons.

Paul sets forth and amplifies very largely this place of Genesis 22: In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. A little before he called this blessing of the seed of Abraham, righteousness, life, the promise of the Spirit, deliverance from the law, the testament, etc. Here he calls it the adoption and inheritance of everlasting life. All these this word blessing does comprehend. For when the curse (which is sin, death, etc.) is abolished, then in the stead thereof succeeds the blessing, that is, righteousness, life, and all good things.

But by what merit have we received this blessing, that is to say, this adoption and inheritance of everlasting life? By none at all. For what can men deserve that are shut under sin, subject to the curse of the law, and worthy of everlasting death? We have then received this blessing freely and being utterly unworthy thereof, but yet not without merit. What merit is that? Not ours, but the merit of Jesus Christ the Son of God, who being made under the law, not for himself but for us (as Paul said before, that he was made a curse for us) redeemed us which were under the law. Therefore we have received this adoption by the only redemption of Jesus Christ the Son of God, which is our rich and everlasting merit, whether it be of congruence or worthiness, going before grace or coming after. And with this free adoption we have also received the Holy Spirit, which God has sent into our hearts, crying Abba Father, as follows.

Verse 6. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts.

The Holy Spirit is sent two manner of ways. In the primitive church he was sent in a manifest and visible appearance. So he came upon Christ at Jordan, in the likeness of a Dove: and in the likeness of fire upon the Apostles and other believers. And this was the first sending of the Holy Spirit: which was necessary in the primitive church, for it was expedient that it should be established by manifest miracles because of the unbelievers, as Paul witnesses (1 Corinthians 14:22). Strange tongues (says he) be for a sign and a token, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. But after that the Church was gathered together and confirmed with those miracles, it was not necessary that this visible sending of the Holy Spirit should continue any longer.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is sent by the word into the hearts of the believers, as here it is said: God sent the Spirit of his Son, etc. This sending is without any visible appearance: that is, when by the hearing of the external word, we receive an inward fervency and light, whereby we are changed and become new creatures: whereby also we receive a new judgment, a new feeling, and a new moving. This change and this new judgment is no work of reason, or of the power of man, but is the gift and operation of the Holy Spirit, which comes with the word preached, which purifies our hearts by faith, and brings forth in us spiritual motions. Therefore there is a great difference between us and those which with force and subtlety persecute the doctrine of the gospel. For we by the grace of God can certainly judge by the word, of the will of God toward us: also of all laws and doctrines, of our own life and of the life of others. Contrariwise, the Papists and Sectaries cannot certainly judge of anything: for they corrupt, they persecute and blaspheme the word. Now, without the word a man can give no certain judgment of anything.

And although it appears not before the world, that we are renewed in spirit and have the Holy Spirit, yet notwithstanding our judgment, our speech and our confession do declare sufficiently that the Holy Spirit with his gifts is in us. For before we could judge rightly of nothing. We spoke not as now we do. We confessed not that all our works were sin and damnable, that Christ was our only merit both before grace and after, as now we do in the true knowledge and light of the gospel. Therefore let this trouble us nothing at all, that the world (whose works we testify to be evil) judges us to be most pernicious heretics and seditious persons, destroyers of religion, and troublers of the common peace, possessed of the Devil speaking in us and governing all our actions. Against this perverse and wicked judgment of the world, let this testimony of our conscience be sufficient, whereby we assuredly know that it is the gift of God, that we do not only believe in Jesus Christ, but that we also openly preach and confess him before the world. As we believe with our heart, so do we speak with our mouth, according to the saying of the Psalm: I believed and therefore have I spoken.

Moreover, we exercise ourselves in the fear of God, and avoid sin as much as we may. If we sin, we sin not of purpose, but of ignorance, and we are sorry for it. We may slip, for the Devil lies in wait for us both day and night. Also, the remnants of sin cleave yet fast in our flesh: therefore as touching the flesh we are sinners, even after that we have received the Holy Spirit. And there is no great difference between a Christian and a civil honest man. For the works of a Christian in outward show are but base and simple. He does his duty according to his vocation, he guides his family, he tills the ground, he gives counsel, he aids and succors his neighbor. These works the carnal man does not much esteem, but thinks them to be common to all men, and such as the heathen may also do. For the world understands not the things which are of the Spirit of God, and therefore it judges perversely of the works of the godly. But the monstrous superstition of hypocrites and their will-works they have in great admiration. They count them holy works, and spare no charges in maintaining the same. Contrariwise, the works of the faithful (which although in outward appearance they seem to be but vile and nothing worth, yet are they good works indeed, and accepted of God because they are done in faith, with a cheerful heart, and with obedience and thankfulness toward God), these works, I say, they do not only not acknowledge to be good works, but also they despise and condemn them as most wicked and abominable. The world therefore believes nothing less than that we have the Holy Spirit. Notwithstanding, in the time of tribulation or of the cross, and of the confession of our faith (which is that proper and principal work of those that believe) when we must either forsake wife, children, goods and life, or else deny Christ, then it appears that we make confession of our faith, that we confess Christ and his word by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We ought not therefore to doubt whether the Holy Spirit dwells in us or not: but to be assuredly persuaded that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, as Paul says. For if any man feels in himself a love toward the word of God, and willingly hears, talks, writes and thinks of Christ, let that man know that this is not the work of man's will or reason, but the gift of the Holy Spirit: for it is impossible that these things should be done without the Holy Spirit. Contrariwise, where hatred and contempt of the word is, there the Devil the god of this world reigns, blinding men's hearts, and holding them captive, that the gospel the glory of Christ should not shine to them. Which thing we see at this day in the most part of the common people, which have no love to the word, but presumptuously contemn it as though it pertains nothing at all to them. But whoever does feel any love or desire to the word, let them acknowledge with thankfulness, that this affection is poured into them by the Holy Spirit. For we are not born with this affection and desire, neither can we be taught by any laws how we may obtain it: but this change is plainly and simply the work of the right hand of the Most High. Therefore when we willingly and gladly hear the word preached concerning Christ the Son of God, who for us was made man and became subject to the law, to deliver us from the curse of the law, hell, death and damnation: then let us assure ourselves that God by and with this preaching sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Therefore it is very expedient for the godly to know, that they have the Holy Spirit.

This I say, to confute that pernicious doctrine of the Papists, which taught that no man can certainly know (although his life be never so upright and blameless) whether he be in the favor of God or no. And this sentence commonly received, was a special principle and article of Faith in the whole Papacy, whereby they utterly defaced the doctrine of Faith, tormented men's consciences, banished Christ quite out of the Church, darkened and denied all the benefits of the Holy Ghost, abolished the whole worship of God, set up idolatry, contempt of God, and blasphemy against God in men's hearts. For he that doubts of God's good will towards him, and does not assure himself that he is in the favor of God, this man cannot believe that he has forgiveness of his sins, that God cares for him, or that he shall be saved.

Augustine says very well and godly, that every man sees most certainly his own Faith, if he has Faith. This do they deny. God forbid (say they) that I should assure myself that I am under grace, that I am holy, and that I have the Holy Ghost, indeed although I live godly and do all good works. You which are young, and are not infected with this pernicious opinion (whereupon the whole kingdom of the Pope is grounded) take heed and flee from it as from a most dangerous plague. We that are old men have been trained up in this error even from our youth, and have been so nuzzled therein, that it has taken deep root in our hearts. Therefore it is to us no less labor to unlearn and forget the same, than to learn and lay hold upon true Faith. But we must be assured and out of doubt that we are under grace, that we please God for Christ's sake, and that we have the Holy Ghost: for if any man has not the spirit of Christ, the same is none of his.

Therefore, whether you be a minister of God's word or a magistrate in the commonwealth, you must assuredly think that your office pleases God: but this you can never do unless you have the Holy Ghost. But you will say, I doubt not but that my office pleases God because it is God's ordinance, but I doubt of my own person whether it pleases God or no. Here you must resort to the word of God, which teaches and assures us, that, not only the office of the person, but also the person itself pleases God. For the person is baptized, believes in Christ, is purged in his blood from all his sins, lives in the communion and fellowship of his Church: moreover he does not only love the pure doctrine of the word, but also he is glad and greatly rejoices when he sees it advanced, and the number of the faithful increased. On the contrary he detests the Pope and all sectaries with their wicked doctrine, according to that saying of the Psalm: I hate them that imagine evil things, but your law do I love (Psalm 119:115).

We ought therefore to be surely persuaded, that not only our office, but also our person pleases God: indeed whatever it says, does, or thinks particularly, the same pleases God, not for our own sakes, but for Christ's sake, who was made under the law for us. Now, we are sure that Christ pleases God, that he is holy, etc. For as much then as Christ pleases God and we are in him, we also please God and are holy. And although sin does still remain in our flesh, and we also daily fall and offend, yet grace is more abundant and stronger than sin. The mercy and truth of the Lord reigns over us forever. Therefore sin cannot terrify us and make us doubtful of the grace of God which is in us. For Christ that most mighty giant has quite abolished the law, condemned sin, vanquished death and all evils. So long as he is at the right hand of God, making intercession for us, we cannot doubt of the grace and favor of God towards us.

Moreover, God has also sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, as Paul here says. But Christ is most certain in his spirit that he pleases God, etc.: therefore we also having the same spirit of Christ, must be assured that we are under grace for his sake that is most assured. This I have said concerning the inward testimony, whereby a Christian man's heart ought to be fully persuaded that he is under grace and has the Holy Ghost. Now, the outward signs (as before I have said) are, gladly to hear of Christ, to preach and teach Christ, to render thanks to him, to praise him, to confess him, indeed with the loss of goods and life: moreover, to do our duty according to our vocation as we are able: to do it (I say) in faith, joy, etc.: not to delight in sin, nor to thrust ourselves into another man's vocation, but to attend upon our own, to help our needy brother, to comfort the heavy hearted, etc. By these signs, as by certain effects and consequents, we are fully assured and confirmed, that we are in God's favor. The wicked also do imagine that they have the same signs, but they have nothing less. Hereby we may plainly see that the Pope with his doctrine does nothing else, but trouble and torment men's consciences, and at length drives them to desperation: for he not only teaches, but also commands men to doubt. Therefore, according to the Psalm (Psalm 5:9): There is no truth or certainty in his mouth: and in another place (Psalm 10:7): under his tongue is iniquity and mischief.

Here we may see what great infirmity is yet in the Faith of the godly. For if we could be fully persuaded that we are under grace, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the spirit of Christ, that we are the children of God: then doubtless we should be joyful, and thankful to God for this inestimable gift. But because we feel contrary motions, that is to say, fear, doubtfulness, anguish and heaviness of heart, and such like, therefore we cannot assure ourselves hereof: indeed our conscience judges it a great presumption and pride to claim this glory. Therefore, if we will understand this thing rightly and as we should do, we must put it in practice: for without experience and practice it can never be learned.

Therefore let every man so practice with himself, that his conscience may be fully assured that he is under grace, and that his person and his works do please God. And if he feel in himself any wavering or doubting, let him exercise his faith and wrestle against this doubting, and let him endeavor to attain more certainty, so that he may be able to say: I know that I am accepted, and that I have the Holy Spirit: not for my own worthiness, my work, my merit, but for Christ's sake, who of his inestimable love toward us, made himself thrall and subject to the law, and took away the sins of the world. In him do I believe. If I be a sinner and err, he is righteous and cannot err. Moreover, I gladly hear, read, sing and write of him, and I desire nothing more than that his Gospel may be known to the whole world, and that many may be converted to him.

These things do plainly witness that the Holy Spirit is present with us and in us. For such things are not wrought in the heart by man's strength, nor gotten by his industry, exercise or travail, but are obtained by Christ alone, who first makes us righteous by the knowledge of him in his holy Gospel, and afterward he creates a new heart in us, brings forth new motions, and gives to us that assurance whereby we are persuaded that we please the Father for his sake. Also he gives us a true judgment whereby we prove and try those things which before we knew not, or else altogether despised. It behooves us therefore to wrestle against this doubting, that we may daily overcome it more and more, and attain to a full persuasion and certainty of God's favor toward us, rooting out of our hearts this cursed opinion, that a man ought to doubt of the grace and favor of God: which has infected the whole world. For if we doubt whether we be under grace, and whether we please God for Christ's sake or not, we deny that Christ has redeemed us, we deny simply all his benefits. You that are young men may easily apprehend this pure doctrine of the Gospel, and abandon this pernicious opinion, because you are not yet poisoned therewith.

Verse. 6. Crying: Abba Father.

Paul might have said: God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, calling, Abba Father. Now, he says not so, but, crying, Abba Father, that he might show and set forth the temptation of a Christian, which yet is but weak and weakly believes. In the chapter 8 of Romans he calls this crying an unspeakable groaning. Likewise he says: The Spirit helps our infirmities: For we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with unspeakable groanings, etc.

And this is a singular consolation when he says here, that the Spirit of Christ is sent into our hearts, crying, Abba Father: And again, that he helps our infirmities, making intercession for us with unspeakable groanings. He who could assuredly believe this, should never be overcome with any affliction, were it never so great. But there are many things that hinder this faith in us. First our heart is born in sin: Moreover this evil is naturally grafted in us, that we doubt of the good will of God toward us, and cannot assure ourselves that we please God. Besides all this, the Devil our adversary ranges about with terrible roarings, and says: You are a sinner: therefore God is angry with you, and will destroy you forever. Against these horrible and intolerable roarings, we have nothing whereupon to hold and stay ourselves, but only the word, which sets Christ before us as a conqueror over sin and death, and over all evils. But to cleave fast to the word in this temptation and these terrors of conscience, herein stands all the difficulty. For then Christ appears to no sense. We see him not: the heart feels not his presence or succor in temptation: but rather it seems that Christ is angry with us, and that he forsakes us. Moreover, when a man is tempted and afflicted, he feels the strength of sin and the infirmity of the flesh, he doubts, he feels the fiery darts of the Devil, the terrors of death, the anger and judgment of God. All these things cry out horribly against us, so that we see nothing else but desperation and eternal death. But yet in the midst of these terrors of the law, thunderings of sin, assaults of death, and roarings of the Devil, the holy Spirit (says Paul) cries in our hearts: Abba Father. And this cry surmounts those mighty and horrible cries of the law, sin, death, the Devil, etc.: it pierces the clouds and the heavens, and ascends up to the ears of God.

Paul therefore signifies by these words, that there is yet infirmity in the godly: As he does also in the 8th chapter of Romans when he says: The Spirit helps our infirmities. For as much therefore as the sense and feeling of the contrary is strong in us: that is to say, for as much as we feel more the displeasure of God, than his good will and favor toward us: therefore the Holy Spirit is sent into our hearts, which does not only sigh and make request for us, but mightily cries: Abba Father, and prays for us according to the will of God with tears and unspeakable groanings. And how is this done? When we are in terrors and in the conflict of conscience, indeed we take hold of Christ and believe that he is our Savior: but then do the law and sin terrify and torment us most of all. Moreover the Devil assails us with all his engines and fiery darts, and goes about with all his power to pluck Christ from us, and to take from us all consolations. Here we feel ourselves almost overcome, and at the point of desperation: for then are we that bruised reed and smoking flax which Isaiah speaks of. Nevertheless in the meantime the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities, and makes intercession for us with unspeakable groanings, and certifies our spirits that we are the children of God. Thus the mind is raised up in terrors, it looks to his Savior and high Bishop Jesus Christ, it overcomes the infirmity of the flesh, it conceives comfort again, and says: Abba Father. This groaning which then we scarcely feel, Paul calls a crying and unspeakable groaning, which fills both heaven and earth. Moreover, he calls it the crying and groaning of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit stirs up the same in our hearts when we are weak and oppressed with terror and temptation.

Although then the law, sin and the Devil cry out against us never so much with great and terrible roarings, which seem to fill heaven and earth, and far to exceed this groaning of our heart, yet can they not hurt us. For the more fiercely they assail us, accuse and torment us with their cryings, so much the more do we groan, and in groaning lay hold upon Christ, call upon him with heart and mouth, cleave to him, and believe that he was made under the law, that he might deliver us from the curse of the law, and destroy both sin and death. And thus when we have taken hold of Christ by faith, we cry through him: Abba Father. And this our cry does far surmount the roaring of the law, sin, the Devil, etc.

But so far off is it that we think this groaning which we make in these terrors and in this our weakness, to be a cry, that scarcely we perceive it to be a groaning. For our faith which in temptation thus groans to Christ, is very weak if we consider our own sense and feeling. And this is the cause that we hear not this cry. We have but only the word, which when we apprehend in this conflict, we have a little breathing, and then we groan. Of this groaning some little feeling we have, but the cry we hear not. But he (says Paul) who searches the hearts, knows what is the meaning of the spirit. To this searcher of the hearts, this small and feeble groaning (as it seems to us) is a loud and a mighty cry, and an unspeakable groaning: in comparison of which the great and horrible roarings of the law, of sin, of death, of the devil, and of hell, are nothing, neither can they be once heard. Paul therefore, not without cause, calls this groaning of a godly afflicted heart, a cry, and a groaning of the spirit which can not be expressed. For it fills the whole heaven, so that the angels think they hear nothing else but this cry.

But in us there is a clean contrary feeling. For it seems to us that this our small groaning does not so pierce the clouds that there is nothing else heard in heaven of God and his angels. In fact, we think, and especially during the time of temptation, that the Devil horribly roars against us, that the heavens thunder and the earth trembles, that all will fall upon us, that all creatures threaten our destruction, that hell is open and ready to swallow us up. This feeling is in our heart, these horrible voices and this fearful show we hear and we see. And this is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12: that the strength of Christ is made perfect through our weakness. For then is Christ almighty indeed, then does he truly reign and triumph in us, when we are so weak that we can scarcely groan. But Paul says, that this groaning is in the ears of God, a most mighty cry which fills both heaven and earth.

Christ also in the 18th chapter of Luke in the parable of the wicked judge, calls this groaning of a faithful heart, a cry, yes and such a cry as ceases not day and night to cry to God, where he says: Hear what the unrighteous judge says. Now shall not God avenge his elect, which cry day and night to him, yes though he suffer long for them? Yes I tell you he will avenge them quickly. We at this day in so great persecution and contradiction of the Pope, of tyrants and sectaries which fight against us both on the right hand and on the left, can do nothing else but utter such groanings. And these were our guns and artillery with which we have so many years scattered the counsels and enterprises of our adversaries: by which also we have begun to overthrow the kingdom of Antichrist. They also shall provoke Christ to hasten the day of his glorious coming, wherein he shall abolish all rule, authority and power, and shall put all his enemies under his feet. So be it.

In the 14th chapter of Exodus the Lord speaks to Moses at the red sea, saying: Why do you cry to me? Yet Moses cried not, but trembled and almost despaired, for he was in great trouble. It seemed that infidelity reigned in him, and not faith. For he saw the people of Israel so encompassed and enclosed with the Egyptians' host and with the sea, that there was no way by which they might escape. Here Moses dared not once open his mouth. How then did he cry? We must not judge therefore according to the feeling of our own heart, but according to the word of God, which teaches us that the Holy Ghost is given to those that are afflicted, terrified, and ready to despair, to raise them up and to comfort them, that they be not overcome in their temptations and afflictions, but may overcome them, and yet not without great terrors and troubles.

The Papists dreamed that holy men had the Holy Spirit in such a way that they never had nor felt any temptation. They spoke of the Holy Spirit only by speculation and bare knowledge. But Paul says that the strength of Christ is made perfect through our weakness; also, that the Spirit helps our infirmities and makes intercession for us with unspeakable groanings. Therefore we have the most need of the help and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and indeed he is most ready to help us when we are most weak and nearest to desperation. If any man suffers affliction with a constant and joyful heart, then the Holy Spirit has done his work in him. And indeed he exercises his work especially and properly in those who have suffered great terrors and afflictions, and have, as the Psalm says, approached near to the gates of hell. As I said of Moses, who saw present death in the waters, and on every side wherever he turned his face. He was therefore in extreme anguish and desperation, and, no doubt, he felt in his heart a mighty cry of the Devil against him, saying: All this people shall this day perish, for they can escape no way. And of this great calamity you alone will be found to be the author because you led them out of Egypt. Besides all this, the people cried out against him, saying: Were there no graves in Egypt? You have brought us out that we should die here in the wilderness. Had it not been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than here wretchedly to die in the wilderness? The Holy Spirit was not here in Moses by bare speculation and knowledge only, but truly and effectually, who made intercession for him with an unspeakable groaning, so that he sighed to the Lord and said: O Lord, at your commandment have I led forth this people; help us therefore. This groaning or sighing to God, the scripture calls a crying.

I have prosecuted this matter more at length, that I might plainly show what the office of the Holy Spirit is, and when he especially exercises the same. In temptation therefore we must in no way judge it according to our own sense and feeling, or by the crying of the law, sin, and the Devil, etc. If we then follow our own sense and believe those cryings, we shall think ourselves to be destitute of all help and support of the Holy Spirit, and to be utterly cast away from the presence of God. No, rather let us then remember what Paul says: The Spirit helps our infirmities, etc. Also it cries: Abba Father, that is to say, it utters a certain feeble sighing and groaning of the heart (as it seems to us) which nevertheless before God is a loud cry and an unspeakable groaning. Therefore in the midst of your temptation and infirmity, cleave only to Christ and groan to him: he gives the Holy Spirit who cries Abba Father. And this feeble groaning is a mighty cry in the ears of God, and so fills heaven and earth, that God hears nothing else. And moreover, it drowns the cries of all other things whatever.

You must mark also that Paul says: the Spirit makes intercession for us in our temptation, not with many words or long prayer, but only with a groaning that cannot be expressed. And it cries not aloud with tears, saying: Have mercy on me, O God, etc., but only utters a little sound and a feeble groaning, as: Ah Father. This is but a little word, and yet it comprehends all things. The mouth speaks not, but the affection of the heart speaks after this manner. Although I am oppressed with anguish and terror on every side, and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from your presence, yet I am your child, and you are my Father for Christ's sake: I am beloved because of the beloved. Therefore this little word Father, conceived effectually in the heart, surpasses all the eloquence of Demosthenes, Cicero, and of the most eloquent rhetoricians that ever were in the world. This matter is not expressed with words, but with groanings, which cannot be uttered with any words or eloquence, for no tongue can express them.

I have used many words to declare that a Christian must assure himself that he is in the favor of God, and that he has the crying of the Holy Spirit in his heart. This I have done that we may learn to reject and utterly abandon that devilish opinion of the whole kingdom of the Pope, which taught that a man ought to be uncertain and to stand in doubt of the grace and favor of God toward him. If this opinion is received, then Christ profits nothing. For he who doubts of God's favor toward him must needs doubt also of the promises of God, and so consequently of the will of God, and of the benefits of Christ: namely that he was born, suffered, died, and rose again for us, etc. But there can be no greater blasphemy against God than to deny his promises, to deny God himself, Christ, etc. Therefore it was not only an extreme madness, but a horrible impiety that the monks so earnestly enticed the youth, both men and women, to their monasteries and religious orders (as they called them) as to a most certain state of salvation, and yet, when they had thus done, they bade them doubt of the grace and favor of God toward them.

Moreover, the Pope called all the world to the obedience of the holy Church of Rome, as to a holy state, in which they might undoubtedly attain salvation, and yet after he had brought them under the obedience of his laws, he commanded them to doubt of their salvation. So the kingdom of Antichrist brags and vaunts at first of the holiness of his orders, his rules, and his laws, and assuredly promises everlasting life to such as observe and keep them. But afterwards when these miserable men have long afflicted their bodies with watching, fasting, and such like exercises according to the traditions and ordinances of men, this is all that they gain thereby, that they are uncertain whether this obedience pleases God or not. Thus Satan most horribly dallied in the death of souls through the Pope, and therefore is the Papacy a slaughterhouse of consciences, and the very kingdom of the Devil.

Now, to establish and confirm this pernicious and cursed error, they alleged the saying of Solomon (Ecclesiastes 9). The just and the wise men are in the hands of God: and yet no man knows whether he is worthy of love or of hatred. Some understand this of that hatred which is to come, and some again of that which is present: but neither of them understand Solomon, who in that place means nothing less than that which they dream. Moreover the whole Scripture teaches us especially and above all things that we should not doubt, but assure ourselves and undoubtedly believe that God is merciful, loving and patient: that he is neither a dissembler nor a deceiver, but that he is faithful and true, and keeps his promise: indeed and has performed that he promised, in delivering his only begotten Son to death for our sins, that everyone that believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. Here we cannot doubt, but that God is pleased with us, that he loves us indeed, that the hatred and wrath of God is taken away, seeing he suffered his son to die for us wretched sinners. Although this matter is set out and often repeated throughout the whole Gospel, yet it profited nothing at all. This one saying of Solomon perversely understood, did more prevail (especially among the votaries and hypocrites of the stricter religion) than all the promises and consolations of the whole Scripture: indeed than Christ himself. They abused the Scriptures therefore to their own destruction, and were most justly punished for despising the Scriptures and rejecting the Gospel.

It is expedient for us to know these things: First because the Papists vaunt of their holiness, as if they had never committed any evil. Therefore they must be convinced by their own abominations, with which they have filled the whole world, as their own books do witness, of which there is yet an infinite number: Secondly, that we may be fully certified that we have the pure doctrine of the Gospel: of which certainty the Pope cannot glory. In whose kingdom though all things else were sound and uncorrupt, yet this monstrous doctrine of doubting of God's grace and favor, surpasses all other monsters. And although it is manifest that the enemies of Christ's Gospel teach uncertain things because they command that men's consciences should remain in doubt, yet notwithstanding they condemn and kill us as heretics, because we dissent from them, and teach those things which are certain. And this they do with such devilish rage and cruelty, as if they were most assured of their doctrine.

Let us therefore give thanks to God, that we are delivered from this monstrous doctrine of doubting, and can now assure ourselves that the Holy Spirit cries and brings forth in our hearts unspeakable groanings. And this is our anchor-hold and our foundation. The Gospel commands us to behold, not our own good works, our own perfection: but God the promiser, and Christ the Mediator. Contrariwise, the Pope commands us to look, not to God the promiser, nor to Christ our high Bishop, but to our works and merits. On the one side must needs follow doubting and desperation: but on the other side assurance of God's favor and joy of the Spirit. For we cleave to God who cannot lie. For he says: Behold I deliver my Son to death, that through his blood he may redeem you from your sins and from eternal death. In this case I cannot doubt, unless I will utterly deny God. And this is the reason that our doctrine is most sure and certain, because it carries us out of ourselves, and from the consideration of ourselves, to the end that we should not lean on our own strength, to our own conscience, to our own feeling, our own person and our own works: but to that which is without us, that is to say, the promise and truth of God which cannot deceive us. This the Pope knows not, and therefore he wickedly imagines that no man knows, be he never so just or so wise, whether he is worthy of love or of hatred. But if he is just and wise he knows assuredly that he is beloved of God, or else he is neither just nor wise.

Moreover, this sentence of Solomon speaks nothing at all of the hatred or favor of God towards men, but it is a moral sentence reproving the ingratitude of men. For such is the perverseness and ingratitude of the world, that the better a man deserves, the less thanks he shall have, and oftentimes he that should be his closest friend, shall be his worst enemy. Contrariwise, such as least deserve, shall be most esteemed. So David a holy man and a good King, was cast out of his kingdom. The Prophets, Christ and his Apostles were slain. To conclude, the histories of all nations witness, that many men well deserving of their country, were cast into banishment by their own citizens, and there lived in great misery, and some also shamefully perished in prison. Therefore Solomon in this place speaks not of the conscience having to do with God, and of the favor and judgment of God, but of the judgments and affections of men among themselves. As though he would say: There are many just and wise men, by whom God works much good, and gives peace and quietness to men. But so far are they from acknowledging the same, that oftentimes they repay them again very unfavorably for their well deserving. Therefore although a man does all things never so well, yet he does not know whether by this his diligence and faithfulness he deserves the hatred or favor of men.

So we at this day, when we thought we should have found favor among our countrymen the Germans, for that we preach to them the Gospel of peace, life, and eternal salvation, instead of favor we have found bitter and cruel hatred. Indeed at the first many were greatly delighted with our doctrine, and received it gladly. We supposed that they would have been our friends and brothers, and that with one consent together with us, they would have planted and set forth this doctrine to others. But now we find that they are false brothers and our deadly enemies, which sow and spread abroad errors and false doctrine, and that which we teach well and godly, they pervert and overthrow, stirring up offenses in the churches. Whoever therefore does his duty godly and faithfully, in whatever kind of life he is, and for his well doing receives nothing again but the unkindness and hatred of men, let him not vex and torment himself therefore: but let him say with Christ: They hated me without a cause. Also: For that they should have loved me, they slandered me, but I did pray.

The Pope therefore with this devilish doctrine, whereby he commanded men to doubt of the favor of God towards them, took away God and all his promises out of the Church, buried all the benefits of Christ, and abolished the whole Gospel. These inconveniences do necessarily follow: for men do not lean to the promises of God, but to their own works and merits. Therefore they cannot be assured of the good will of God towards them, but must needs doubt thereof, and so at length despair. No man can understand what God's will is, and what pleases him, but in his word. This word assures us that God cast away all anger and displeasure which he had conceived against us, when he gave his only begotten Son for our sins, etc. Therefore let us utterly abandon this devilish doubting with which the whole Papacy was poisoned, and let us be fully assured that God is merciful to us, that we please him, that he has a care over us, that we have the Holy Spirit which makes intercession for us with such crying and groaning as cannot be expressed.

Now, this is the true crying and groaning indeed, when a man in temptation calls upon God: not as a tyrant, not as an angry judge, not as a tormentor, but as a father, although this groaning be so soft and so secret, that it can scarcely be perceived. For in serious temptations, and in the time of trial where the conscience wrestles with the judgment of God, it is accustomed to call God, not a Father, but an unjust, an angry and cruel tyrant and judge. And this crying which Satan stirs up in the heart, far surpasses the cry of the spirit, and is strongly felt. For then it seems that God has forsaken us, and will cast us down into hell. So the faithful complain oftentimes in the Psalms: I am cast from the presence of God. Also: I am become as a broken vessel, etc. This is not indeed the groaning that cries, Abba Father: but the roaring of God's wrath, which cries strongly, O cruel judge, O cruel tormentor, etc. Here now it is time that you turn away your eyes from the law, from works, and from the sense and feeling of your own conscience, and lay hold by faith of the promise, that is to say, of the word of grace and life, which raises up again the conscience, so that now it begins to groan and say: Although the law accuse me, sin and death terrify me never so much, yet O my God, you promise grace, righteousness and everlasting life through Jesus Christ: And so that promise brings a sighing and a groaning, which cries Abba Father.

Verse. 7. Therefore you are no more a servant, but a son.

This is the shutting up and the conclusion of that which he said before. As if he should say: This being true that we have received the spirit by the Gospel, whereby we cry, Abba Father: then is this decree pronounced in heaven, that there is now no bondage any more, but mere liberty and adoption. And who brings this liberty? Verily this groaning. By what means? The father offers to me by his promise, his grace and his fatherly favor. This remains then, that I should receive this grace. And this is done when I again with this groaning do cry, and with a childlike heart do assent to this name Father. Here then the Father and the Son meet, and the marriage is made up without all pomp and solemnity: that is to say, nothing at all comes between: no law nor work is here required. For what should a man do in these terrors and horrible darkness of temptations? Here is nothing else but the father promising, and calling me his son by Christ, who was made under the law, etc., and I receiving and answering by this groaning, saying: Father. Here then is no exacting, nothing is required, but only that childlike groaning that apprehends a sure hope and trust in tribulation, and says: You promise, and call me your child for Christ's sake, and I again receive this and call you Father. This is indeed to be made children simply and without any works. But these things without experience and practice cannot be understood.

Paul in this place takes this word servant otherwise than he did before in the third chapter, where he says: There is neither bond nor free, etc. Here he calls him a servant of the law, that is subject to the law, as he did a little before: We were in bondage under the rudiments of the world. Therefore to be a servant in this place after Paul, is to be guilty and captive under the law, under the wrath of God and death: to behold God, not as a merciful Father, but as a tormentor, an enemy and a tyrant. This is indeed to be kept in bondage and Babylonian captivity, and to be cruelly tormented therein. For the law delivers not from sin and death, but reveals and increases sin and engenders wrath. This bondage (says Paul) continues no longer: it oppresses us not, nor makes us heavy any more, etc. Paul says: You shall be no more a servant. But the sentence is more general if we say: there shall be no bondage in Christ any more, but mere freedom and adoption. For when faith comes, that bondage ceases, as he said before in the third chapter.

Now, if we by the Spirit of Christ crying in our hearts, Abba Father, are no more servants, but children: then it follows that we are not only delivered from the horrible monsters of the Pope, and all the abominations of men's traditions, but also from all the jurisdiction and power of the law of God. Therefore we ought in no way to suffer the law to reign in our conscience, and much less the Pope with his vain threatenings and terrors. Indeed he roars mightily as a lion (Revelation 10), and threatens to all those that obey not his laws, the wrath and indignation of almighty God and of his blessed Apostles, etc. But here Paul arms and comforts us against these roarings, when he says: You are no more a servant but a son. Take hold of this consolation by faith, and say: O law, your tyranny can have no place in the throne where Christ my Lord sits: there I cannot hear you (much less do I hear your monsters, O Antichrist): for I am free and a son, who must not be subject to any bondage or servile law. Let not Moses therefore with his laws, (much less the Pope) ascend up into the bridechamber there to lie: that is to say, to reign in the conscience: which Christ has delivered from the law, to the end that it should not be subject to any bondage. Let the servants abide with the donkey in the valley: Let none but Isaac ascend up into the Mountain with his father Abraham: that is, let the law have dominion over the body and over the old man: let him be under the law and suffer the burden to be laid upon him: let him suffer himself to be exercised and vexed with the law: let the law limit and prescribe to him what he ought to do, what he ought to suffer, and how he ought to live and to govern himself among men. But let it not defile the bed in which Christ should rest and sleep alone: that is to say, let it not trouble the conscience. For she alone ought to live with Christ her spouse in the kingdom of liberty and adoption.

If then (says he) by the Spirit of Christ you cry: Abba Father, then are you indeed no longer servants, but free men and sons. Therefore you are without the law, without sin, without death: that is to say, you are saved, and you are now quite delivered from all evils. Therefore the adoption brings with it the eternal kingdom, and all that heavenly inheritance. Now, how inestimable the glory of this gift is, man's heart is not able to conceive, and much less to utter. In the meantime we see this but darkly and as it were a far off: We have this little groaning and feeble faith which only rests upon the hearing and the sound of the voice of Christ promising. Therefore we must not measure this thing by reason or by our own feeling, but by the promise of God. Now, because he is infinite, therefore his promise is also infinite, although it seem to be never so much enclosed in these narrow straits, these anguishes I mean. Therefore there is nothing that can now accuse, terrify, or bind the conscience any more. For there is no more servitude, but adoption: which not only brings to us liberty from the law, sin and death, but also the inheritance of everlasting life, as follows.

Verse 7. Now, if you be a son, you are also the heir of God through Christ.

For he that is a son, must be also an heir: for by his birth he is worthy to be an heir. There is no work or merit that brings to him the inheritance, but his birth only. And so in obtaining the inheritance he is a mere patient and not an agent: that is to say, not to beget, not to labor, not to care: but to be born is that which makes him an heir. So we obtain eternal gifts, namely the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, the glory of the resurrection and everlasting life, not as agents but as patients: that is, not by doing but by receiving. Nothing here comes between: but faith alone apprehends the promise offered. Like as therefore a son in the political and household government is made an heir by his only birth: so here faith only makes us sons of God, born of the word, which is the womb of God, in which we are conceived, carried, born, and nourished up, etc. By this birth then we are made new creatures, formed by faith in the word: we are made Christians, children and heirs of God through Jesus Christ. Now, being heirs we are delivered from death, sin and the Devil, and we have righteousness and eternal life.

But this far surpasses all man's capacity, that he calls us heirs: not of some rich and mighty prince, not of the emperor, not of the world: but of God the almighty creator of all things. This our inheritance then (as Paul says in another place) is inestimable. And if a man could comprehend the great excellency of this matter, that he is the son and heir of God, and with a constant faith believe the same, this man would esteem all the power and riches of all the kingdoms of the world but as filthy dung in comparison of his eternal inheritance. He would abhor whatever is high and glorious in the world: indeed, the greater the pomp and glory of the world is, the more would he hate it. To conclude, whatever the world most highly esteems and magnifies, that should be in his eyes most vile and abominable. For what is all the world, with all its power, riches and glory, in comparison of God whose son and heir he is? Furthermore, he would heartily desire with Paul to be loosed and to be with Christ, and nothing could be more welcome to him, than speedy death, which he would embrace as a most joyful peace, knowing that it should be the end of all his miseries, and that through it he should attain to his inheritance, etc. Indeed a man that could perfectly believe this, should not long remain alive, but should be swallowed up immediately with excessive joy.

But the law of the members striving against the law of the mind hinders faith in us, and does not allow it to be perfect. Therefore we have need of the help and comfort of the Holy Spirit, which in our troubles and afflictions may make intercession for us with unspeakable groaning, as before I have said. Sin yet remains in the flesh, which oftentimes oppresses the conscience, and so hinders faith that we cannot with joy perfectly behold and desire those eternal riches which God has given to us through Christ. Paul himself feeling this battle of the flesh against the spirit, cries out: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? He accuses his body, which notwithstanding it behooved him to love, calling it by an odious name, his death. As if he would say: My body does more afflict me, and more grievously vex me than death itself: for it hindered in him also this joy of spirit. He had not always the sweet and joyful thoughts of the heavenly inheritance to come, but he felt oftentimes also great heaviness of spirit, anguish and terrors.

Hereby we may plainly see how hard a matter faith is: which is not easily and quickly apprehended, as certain full and loathing spirits dream, which swallow up at once all that is contained in the holy Scriptures. The great infirmity which is in the saints, and the striving of the flesh against the spirit, do sufficiently witness how feeble faith is in them. For a perfect faith brings immediately a perfect contempt and loathing of this present life. If we could fully assure ourselves, and constantly believe that God is our Father, and we his sons and heirs, then should we utterly despise this world with all the glory, righteousness, wisdom and power, with all the royal scepters and crowns, and with all the riches and pleasures of it. We should not be so careful for this life: we should not be so addicted to the world and worldly things, trusting in them when we have them: lamenting and despairing when we lose them: but we should do all things with great love, humility and patience. But we do the contrary, for the flesh is yet strong, but faith is feeble and the spirit weak. Therefore Paul says very well, that we have here in this life, but only the first fruits of the spirit, and that in the world to come, we shall have the tenths also.

Verse 7. Through Christ.

Paul has Christ always in his mouth, he cannot forget him. For he did well foresee that nothing should be less known in the world (yes, among them which should profess themselves to be Christians) than Christ and his gospel. Therefore he talks of him and sets him before our eyes continually. And as often as he speaks of grace, righteousness, the promise, adoption and inheritance, he is always wont to add: In Christ, or, Through Christ, covertly impugning the law. As if he would say: These things come to us, neither by the law, nor by the works thereof: much less by our own strength, or by the works of men's traditions: but only by Christ.

Verses 8-9. But even then when you knew not God, you did service to them which by nature were no Gods. But now seeing you know God, yes rather are known of God: how turn you again to impotent and beggarly rudiments, to which you will be in bondage again.

This is the conclusion of Paul's disputation. From this place to the end of the epistle he does not much dispute, but only gives precepts as touching manners. Notwithstanding he first reproves the Galatians, being sore displeased that this divine and heavenly doctrine should be so suddenly and so easily removed out of their hearts. As if he would say: You have teachers which will bring you back again into the bondage of the law. This did not I: but by my doctrine I called you out of darkness and of the ignorance of God, into a wonderful light and knowledge of him. I brought you out of bondage, and set you in the freedom of the sons of God, not by preaching to you the works of the law, or the merits of men, but the grace and righteousness of God, and the giving of heavenly and eternal blessings through Christ. Now, seeing this is true, why do you so soon forsake the light and return to darkness? Why do you suffer yourselves so easily to be brought from grace to the law, from freedom to bondage?

Here again we see (as before I have said) that to fall in faith is an easy matter, as the example of the Galatians witnesses. The example of the Anabaptists, Libertines, and such other heretics witnesses the same also at this day. We for our part do set forth the doctrine of faith with continual travail, by preaching, by reading and by writing: we purely and plainly distinguish the gospel from the law, and yet do we little prevail. This comes from the Devil, who goes about by all subtle means to seduce men and to hold them in error: he can abide nothing less than the true knowledge of grace and faith in Christ. Therefore, to the end he may take Christ clean out of sight, he sets before them other shows, with which he so deceives them that by little and little he leads them from faith and the knowledge of grace, to the disputation of the law. When he has brought this about, then is Christ taken away. It is not without cause therefore that Paul speaks so much and so often of Christ, and that he goes about so purely to set forth the doctrine of faith: to which he attributes righteousness only and alone, and takes it from the law, declaring that the law has a clean contrary effect: that is, to engender wrath, to increase sin, etc. For he would gladly persuade us, that we should not suffer Christ to be plucked out of our heart: that the spouse should not suffer her husband to depart out of her arms, but should always embrace him and cleave fast to him, who being present there is no danger: yes, there is the faithful groaning, fatherly good will, adoption and inheritance.

But why does Paul say that the Galatians turned back again to weak and beggarly rudiments or ceremonies, that is to say, to the law, whereas they never had the law: for they were Gentiles (notwithstanding he wrote these things to the Jews also, as afterwards we will declare): or why does he not speak rather after this manner? Once when you knew not God, you did service to them which by nature were no gods: but now, seeing you know God, why do you turn back again, forsaking the true God, to worship idols? Does Paul take it to be all one thing, to fall from the promise to the law, from faith to works: and to do service to gods which by nature are no gods? I answer: Whoever is fallen from the article of justification, is ignorant of God and an idolater. Therefore it is all one thing whether he afterwards turns again to the law, or to the worshipping of idols: it is all one, whether he be called a Monk, a Turk, a Jew or an Anabaptist. For when this article is taken away, there remains nothing else but error, hypocrisy, impiety and idolatry, however much it may seem in outward appearance to be the very truth, the true service of God, and true holiness. Etc.

The reason is, because God will or can be known no otherwise than by Christ, according to that saying of (John 1:18): The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. He is the seed promised to Abraham, in whom God has established all his promises. Therefore Christ is the only means and, as you would say, the glass by which we see God, that is to say, we know his will. For in Christ we see that God is not a cruel exactor or a judge, but a most favorable, loving and merciful Father, who to the end he might bless us, that is to say, deliver us from the law, sin, death and all evils, and might endow us with grace, righteousness and everlasting life, spared not his own Son, but gave him for us all. Etc. This is a true knowledge of God, and a divine persuasion, which deceives us not, but paints out God to us lively.

He that is fallen from this knowledge, must needs conceive this fantasy in his heart: I will set up such a service of God: I will enter into such an order: I will choose this or that work, and so will I serve God, and I doubt not but God will accept this, and reward me with everlasting life for the same. For he is merciful and liberal, giving all good things even to the unworthy and unthankful: much more will he give to me grace and everlasting life for my great and manifold good deeds and merits. This is the highest wisdom, righteousness and religion that reason can judge of: which is common to all nations, to the Papists, Jews, Turks, heretics, etc. They can go no higher than that Pharisee did, of whom mention is made in the Gospel. They have no knowledge of the Christian righteousness, or of the righteousness of faith. For the natural man perceives not the mysteries of God. Also: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. Etc. Therefore there is no difference at all between a Papist, a Jew, a Turk and a heretic. Indeed there is a difference of the persons, the places, rites, religions, works and worshippings: notwithstanding there is all one and the same reason, the same heart, opinion, and cogitation in them all. For the Turk thinks the selfsame thing that the Charterhouse monk does: namely, if I do this or that work, God will be merciful to me: if I do it not, he will be angry. There is no mean between man's working and the knowledge of Christ. If this knowledge be darkened or defaced, it is all one whether you be a Monk, a Turk, a Jew. Etc.

Therefore it is an extreme madness that the Papists and Turks do so strive among themselves about the religion and service of God, contending that both of them have the true religion and true worship of God. And the Monks themselves agree not together. For one of them will be accounted more holy than another for certain foolish outward ceremonies, and yet in their hearts the opinion of them all is so alike, that one egg is not more like to another. For this is the imagination of them all: If I do this work, God will have mercy upon me: if I do it not he will be angry. And therefore every man that revolts from the knowledge of Christ, must needs fall into idolatry, and conceive such an imagination of God as is not agreeable to his nature. As the Charterhouse Monk for the observing of his Rule, the Turk for the keeping of his Quran, has this assurance, that he pleases God and shall receive a reward of him for his labor.

Such a God as after this sort forgives sins and justifies sinners, can nowhere be found, and therefore this is but a vain imagination, a dream, and an idol of the heart. For God has not promised that he will save and justify men for the religions, observations, ceremonies, and ordinances devised by men: indeed God abhors nothing more (as the whole Scripture witnesses) than such willworks, such service, rites and ceremonies: for the which also he overthrows whole kingdoms and empires. Therefore, as many as trust to their own strength and righteousness, do serve a God, but such a God as they themselves have devised, and not the true God indeed. For the true God speaks thus: No righteousness, wisdom, nor religion pleases me, but that only whereby the Father is glorified through the Son. Whoever apprehends this Son, and me, and my promise in him by faith, to him I am a God, to him I am a Father, him do I accept, justify and save. All other abide under wrath, because they worship that thing which by nature is no God.

Whoever forsakes this doctrine must needs fall into the ignorance of God: he does not understand what the true Christian righteousness, wisdom, and service of God is: he is an idolater abiding under the law, sin, death, and the power of the Devil, and all things that he does are accursed and condemned. Therefore the Anabaptist imagining with himself that he pleases God if he be rebaptized, if he forsake his house, wife and children, if he mortify his flesh and suffer much adversity, and at length death itself, yet there is not one drop of the knowledge of Christ in him, but secluding Christ, he dreams altogether of his own works, of the forsaking of his goods, of his affliction and mortification, and now differs nothing from the Turk, Jew, or Papist in spirit or in heart, but only in the outward appearance, works and ceremonies which he has chosen to himself. The same confidence in works have all the Monks and other religious orders: notwithstanding in their apparel and other outward things there is a difference.

There are at this day very many like to these, which notwithstanding would be counted among the true professors and teachers of the Gospel, and as touching the words, they teach that men are delivered from their sins by the death of Christ. But because they teach faith in such sort, that they attribute more to charity than to faith, they highly dishonor Christ and wickedly pervert his word. For they dream that God regards and accepts us for our charity's sake, whereby we being reconciled to God, do love God and our neighbor. If this be true, then have we no need of Christ at all. Such men serve not the true God, but an idol of their own heart, which they themselves have devised. For the true God does not regard or accept us for our charity, virtues, or newness of life, but for Christ's sake, etc.

But they make this objection: Yet notwithstanding the Scripture commands that we should love God with all our heart, etc. It is true. But it follows not, that because God commands us, therefore we do it. If we did love God with all our heart, etc. then, no doubt we should be justified, and live through this obedience, as it is written: He that shall do these things shall live in them. But the Gospel says: You do not these things: therefore you shall not live in them. For this sentence: You shall love the Lord your God, etc. requires a perfect obedience, a perfect fear, trust, and love towards God. These things men neither do nor can perform in this corrupt nature. Therefore this law: You shall love the Lord your God, etc. justifies not, but accuses and condemns all men, according to that saying: The law causes wrath, etc. Contrariwise, Christ is the finishing and accomplishing of the law to righteousness, to everyone that believes. Of this we have spoken largely before.

In like manner the Jew keeping the law with this opinion, that he by this obedience will please God, serves not the true God, but is an idolater, worshiping a dream and an idol of his own heart, which is nowhere to be found. For the God of his fathers, whom he says he worships, promised to Abraham a Seed, through which all nations should be blessed. Therefore God is known and the blessing is given, not by the law, but by the Gospel of Christ. Although Paul speaks these words: Then when you knew not God, you did service, etc. properly and principally to the Galatians, which were Gentiles: yet notwithstanding by the same words he also touches the Jews, who though they had rejected their idols outwardly, yet in their hearts they worshiped them more than did the Gentiles, as it is said (Romans 2): You abhor idols, and commit sacrilege. The Gentiles were not the people of God, they had not his word, and therefore their idolatry was gross. But the idolatrous Jews cloaked their idolatry with the name and word of God (as all justiciaries which seek righteousness by works, are wont to do) and so with this outward show of holiness they deceived many. Therefore idolatry the more holy and spiritual it is, the more hurtful it is.

But how may these two contrary sayings which the apostle here sets down, be reconciled together? You knew not God: and you worshipped God. I answer: All men naturally have this general knowledge, that there is a God, according to the saying (Romans 1): Forasmuch as that which may be known of God, was manifest in them. For God was made manifest to them, in that the invisible things of him did appear by the creation of the world. Moreover the ceremonies and religions which were, and always remained among all nations, sufficiently witness that all men have had a certain general knowledge of God. But whether they had it by nature or by the tradition of their forefathers, I will not here dispute.

But here some will object again: If all men knew God, why then does Paul say, that the Galatians knew not God before the preaching of the Gospel? I answer: There is a double knowledge of God: general and particular. All men have the general knowledge, namely, that there is a God, that he created heaven and earth, that he is just, that he punishes the wicked. But what God thinks of us, what his will is towards us, what he will give and do to the end we may be delivered from sin and death and be saved (which is the true knowledge of God indeed) this they know not. As it may be that I know some man by sight, whom yet indeed I know not thoroughly, because I do not understand what affection he bears towards me. So men know naturally that there is a God, but what his will is, or what is not his will, they do not know. For it is written: There is none that understands God. And in another place: No man has seen God: that is to say, no man has known what is the will of God. Now, what does it avail you if you know that there is a God, and yet are ignorant what is his will towards you? Here some think one thing, and some another. The Jews imagine this to be the will of God, if they worship him according to the rule of Moses' law: the Turk if he observe his Alcoran: the Monk if he keep his order and perform his vows. But all these are deceived, and become vain in their own cogitations, as Paul says (Romans 1:22), not knowing what pleases or displeases God: therefore in stead of the true and natural God, they worship the dreams and imaginations of their own heart.

This is what Paul means when he says: when you knew not God — that is, when you knew not the will of God, you served those which by nature were no gods — that is to say, you served the dreams and imaginations of your own heart, whereby you imagined without the word that God was to be worshipped with this or that work, with this or that rite or ceremony. For upon this proposition, which all men do naturally hold, namely that there is a God, has sprung all idolatry, which without the knowledge of the Divinity could never have come into the world. But because men had this natural knowledge of God, they conceived vain and wicked imaginations of God without and against the word, which they esteemed and maintained as the very truth itself, and so dreamed that God is such a one as by nature he is not. So the Monk imagines him to be such a God as forgives sins, gives grace and everlasting life for the keeping of his rule. This God is nowhere to be found: therefore he serves not the true God, but that which by nature is no God — to wit, the imagination and idol of his own heart — that is to say, his own false and vain opinion of God, which he dreams to be an undoubted truth. Now, reason itself will enforce us to confess that man's opinion is no God. Therefore whoever will worship God without this word serves not the true God (as Paul says) but that which by nature is no God.

Therefore whether you call rudiments here the law of Moses, or else the traditions of the Gentiles (though he speaks here properly and principally of the rudiments of Moses) there is no great difference. For he that falls from grace to the law falls with no less danger than he that falls from grace to idolatry. For without Christ there is nothing else but mere idolatry, an idol and false imagination of God, whether it be called Moses' law, or the Pope's ordinance, or the Turks' Alcoran, etc. Therefore he says with a certain admiration:

Verse 9. But now seeing you know God.

As though he would say: This is a marvelous thing, that you knowing God by the preaching of faith, do so suddenly revolt from the true knowledge of his will (wherein I thought you were so surely established, that I feared nothing less than that you should so easily be overthrown) and do now again, by the instigation of the false Apostles, return to the weak and beggarly ceremonies, which you would serve again afresh. You heard before by my preaching, that this is the will of God, to bless all nations: not by circumcision or by the observation of the law, but by Christ promised to Abraham. They that believe in him shall be blessed with faithful Abraham: they are the sons and heirs of God. Thus (I say) have you known God (Galatians 3:9; Galatians 4:7).

Verse 9. Indeed rather are known of God, etc.

He corrects the sentence going before — "But now seeing you have known God" — or rather turns it after this manner: indeed rather you are known of God. For he feared lest they had lost God utterly. As if he would say: Alas, are you come to this point, that now you know not God, but return again from grace to the law? Yet notwithstanding God knows you. And indeed our knowledge is rather passive than active: that is to say, it consists in this, that we are rather known of God, than that we know him. All our doing, that is, all our endeavor to know and to apprehend God, is to suffer God to work in us. He gives the word: which when we have received by faith given from above, we are new born and made the sons of God. This is then the sense and meaning: You are known of God — that is, you are visited with the word, you are endowed with faith and the Holy Ghost, whereby you are renewed, etc. Therefore even by these words, "You are known of God," he takes away all righteousness from the law, and denies that we attain the knowledge of God through the worthiness of our own works. For no man knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him (Matthew 11:17). Also: He by his knowledge shall justify many, because he shall bear our iniquities (Isaiah 53:11). Therefore our knowledge concerning God consists in suffering and not in doing.

Paul marvels therefore, that seeing they knew God truly by the Gospel, they returned so suddenly back to weak and beggarly rudiments, by the persuasion of the false apostles. As I myself also should greatly marvel if our church (which by the grace of God is godly reformed in pure doctrine and faith) should be seduced and perverted by some fond and frantic head, through the preaching of one or two sermons, that they would not acknowledge me for their pastor any more. Which thing notwithstanding shall one day come to pass, if not while we live, yet when we are dead and gone. For many shall then rise up, which will be masters and teachers: who under a color of true religion shall teach false and perverse doctrine, and shall quickly overthrow all that we in so long time and with so great labor have built. We are not better than the Apostles, who, while they yet lived saw (not without their great grief and sorrow) the subversion of those churches which they themselves had planted through their ministry. Therefore it is no great marvel if we be constrained to behold the like evil at this day in those churches, where sectarians do reign, who hereafter when we are dead, shall possess those churches which we have won and planted by our ministry, and with their poison infect and subvert the same. And yet notwithstanding Christ shall remain and reign to the end of the world, and that marvelously, as he did under the Papacy.

Paul seems to speak very disparagingly of the law, when he calls it rudiments (as he did also before in the beginning of this chapter) and not only rudiments, but weak and beggarly rudiments and ceremonies. Is it not blasphemy to give such odious names to the law of God? The law being in its true use ought to serve the promises and to stand with the promises and grace. But if it fights against them, it is no more the holy law of God, but a false and a devilish doctrine, and does nothing else but drive men to desperation, and therefore must be rejected.

Therefore, when he calls the law weak and beggarly rudiments, he speaks of the law in respect of proud and presumptuous hypocrites which would be justified by it, and not of the law being spiritually understood, which engenders wrath. For the law (as I have often said) being in its own proper use, accuses and condemns a man: and in this respect it is not only a strong and a rich rudiment, but also most mighty and most rich, indeed rather an invincible power and riches: and if here the conscience be compared with the law, then is it most weak and beggarly. For it is so tender a thing, that for a small sin it is so troubled and terrified, that it utterly despairs, unless it be raised up again. Therefore the law in its proper use has more strength and riches, than heaven and earth is able to contain: insomuch that one letter or one tittle of the law is able to kill all mankind, as the history of the law given by Moses (Exodus 19:20) does witness. This is the true and divine use of the law, of which Paul speaks not in this place.

Paul then speaks here of hypocrites, which are fallen from grace, or which have not yet attained to grace. These, abusing the law, seek to be justified by it. They exercise and tire themselves day and night in the works thereof: as Paul witnesses of the Jews (Romans 10). For I bear them record (says he) that they have the zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of the righteousness of God, etc. Such do hope so to be strengthened and enriched by the law, that they may be able to set their power and riches which they have gotten by the righteousness thereof, against the wrath and judgment of God, and so to appease God, and to be saved thereby. In this respect then we may well say that the law is a weak and a beggarly rudiment: that is to say, which can give neither help nor counsel.

And whoever wishes to amplify this matter, may further say, that the law is a weak and a beggarly rudiment, because it makes men more weak and beggarly: Again, because that of itself it has no power or riches whereby it is able to give or to bring righteousness: And moreover, that it is not only weak and beggarly, but even weakness and beggary itself. How then shall it enrich or strengthen those, which were before both weak and beggarly? Therefore to seek to be justified by the law, is as much as if a man being weak and feeble already, would seek some other greater evil whereby he might overcome his weakness and poverty, which notwithstanding would bring to him utter destruction. As if he which has the falling sickness, would seek to join to it the pestilence for a remedy: or if a leper should come to a leper, or a beggar to a beggar, the one to help and to enrich the other.

Paul therefore shows, that they which seek to be justified by the law, have this commodity thereby, that daily they become more and more weak and beggarly. For they be weak and beggarly of themselves: that is to say, they are by nature the children of wrath, subject to death and everlasting damnation: and yet they lay hold upon that which is nothing else but mere weakness and beggary, seeking to be strengthened and enriched thereby. Therefore every one that falls from the promise to the law, from faith to works, does nothing else but lay upon himself such a burden, being weak and feeble already, as he is not able to bear (Acts 15), and in bearing thereof is made ten times more weak, so that at length he is driven to despair, unless Christ come and deliver him.

This thing the Gospel also witnesses, speaking of the woman which was grieved 12 years with a bloody issue, and suffered many things of many physicians, upon whom she had spent all her substance, and yet could not be cured, but the longer she was under their hands, the worse she was. As many therefore as do the works of the law to the end they may be justified thereby, are not only not made righteous, but twice more unrighteous than they were before, that is (as I have said) more weak and beggarly, and more unapt to do any good work. This have I proved to be true both in myself and in many others. I have known many Monks in the papacy which with great zeal have done many great works for the attaining of righteousness and salvation, and yet were they more impatient, more weak, more miserable, more faithless, more fearful, and more ready to despair than any other. The civil magistrates who were ever occupied in great and weighty affairs, were not so impatient, so fearful, so faint-hearted, so superstitious and so faithless as these Justiciaries and Meritmongers were.

Whoever then seeks righteousness by the law, what can he imagine else, but that God being angry, must needs be appeased with works? Now, when he has once conceived this fantasy, he begins to work. But he can never find so many good works as are able to quiet his conscience: but still he desires more. Indeed he finds sins in those works that he has done already. Therefore his conscience can never be certified, but must needs be always in doubt, and thus think with itself: You have not sacrificed as you should do: you have not prayed aright: this you have left undone: this or that sin you have committed. Here the heart trembles and feels itself oppressed with innumerable sins which still increase without end, so that he swerves from righteousness more and more, until at length he falls to desperation. From this it comes that many being at the point of death, have uttered these desperate words: O wretch that I am: I have not kept my order: Where shall I flee from the wrath of Christ, that angry judge? Would to God I had been made a swineherd or the vilest wretch in the whole world.

Thus the monk in the end of his life is more weak, more beggarly, more faithless and fearful than he was at the beginning when he first entered into his order. The reason is, because he would strengthen himself through weakness, and enrich himself through poverty. The law or men's traditions, or the rule of his order should have healed him when he was sick, and enriched him when he was poor: but he has become more feeble and more poor than the tax collectors and harlots. The tax collectors and harlots have not a heap of good works to trust to as the monks have: but although they feel their sins never so much, yet they can say with the tax collector: O Lord be merciful to me a sinner. But contrariwise the monk which has spent all his time in weak and beggarly elements, is confirmed in this opinion: If you keep your rule you shall be saved, etc. With this false persuasion he is so deluded and bewitched, that he cannot apprehend grace, no nor once remember grace. Thus, notwithstanding all the works which either he does or has done, be they never so many and so great, he thinks that he has never done enough, but has still an eye to more works, and so by heaping up of works he goes about to appease the wrath of God and to justify himself, until he be driven to utter desperation. Therefore, whoever falls from faith, and follows the law, is like Aesop's dog, which forgoes the flesh, and snatches at the shadow. Therefore it is impossible that such as seek righteousness and salvation by the law (to which men are naturally inclined) should ever find quietness and peace of conscience: indeed they do nothing else but heap laws upon laws, whereby they torment both themselves and others, and afflict men's consciences so miserably, that through extreme anguish of heart many die before their time. For one law always brings forth ten more, and so they increase without number and without end.

Now, who would have thought that the Galatians, which had learned so sound and so pure a doctrine of such an excellent Apostle and teacher, could be so suddenly led away from the same, and utterly perverted by the false Apostles? It is not without cause that I repeat this so often: that to fall away from the truth of the Gospel is an easy matter. The reason is, because men do not sufficiently consider, no not the very faithful, what an excellent and a precious treasure the true knowledge of Christ is. Therefore they do not labor so diligently and so carefully as they should do, to obtain and to retain the same. Moreover, the greater part of those that hear the word, are exercised with no cross or affliction: they wrestle not against sin, death and the Devil, but live in security without any conflict. Such men, because they are not proved and tried with temptations, and therefore are not armed with the word of God against the subtleties of the Devil, never feel the use and power of the word. Indeed while they are among faithful ministers and preachers, they can follow their words and say as they say, persuading themselves that they perfectly understand the matter of justification. But when they are gone, and wolves in sheep's clothing are come in their place, it happens to them as it did to the Galatians: that is to say, they are suddenly seduced and easily turned back to weak and beggarly rudiments.

Paul has here his peculiar manner of speech, which the other Apostles did not use. For there was none of them besides Paul that gave such names to the law: to wit, that it is a weak and a beggarly rudiment: that is to say, utterly unprofitable to righteousness. And surely I dared not have given such terms to the law, but should have thought it great blasphemy against God, if Paul had not so done before. But of this I have treated more largely before, where I showed when the law is weak and beggarly, and when it is most strong and rich, etc. Now, if the law of God be weak and unprofitable to justification, much more are the laws and decrees of the Pope, weak and unprofitable to justification. Therefore we give sentence against the ordinances, laws and decrees of the Pope with such boldness and assurance as Paul did against the law of God, that they are not only weak and beggarly rudiments, and utterly unprofitable to righteousness, but also execrable, accursed, devilish and damnable: for they blaspheme grace, they overthrow the Gospel, abolish faith, take away Christ, etc.

For as much then as the Pope requires that we should keep his laws as necessary to salvation, he is very Antichrist and the vicar of Satan. And as many as cleave to him, and confirm his abominations and blasphemies, or keep them to this end, that thereby they may merit the forgiveness of their sins, are the servants of Antichrist and of the Devil. Now, such has the doctrine of the Papist church been for a long time, that these laws ought to be kept as necessary to salvation. Thus the Pope sits in the temple of God, vaunting himself to be God: he sets himself against God, and exalts himself above all that is called God or worshipped, etc. And men's consciences more feared and reverenced the laws and ordinances of the Pope, than the word of God and his ordinances. By this means he was made the Lord of heaven, of earth, and of hell, and bore a triple crown upon his head. The Cardinals also and Bishops his creatures, were made kings and princes of the world: and therefore if he did not burden men's consciences with his laws, he could not long maintain his terrible power, his dignity and his riches: but his whole kingdom would quickly fall.

This place which Paul here handles is weighty and of great importance, and therefore the more diligently to be marked: to wit, that they which fall from grace to the law do utterly lose the knowledge of the truth. They see not their own sins: they neither know God nor the Devil, nor themselves: and moreover they do not understand the force and use of the law, although they brag never so much that they keep and observe the same. For without the knowledge of grace, that is to say, without the Gospel of Christ, it is impossible for a man to give this definition of the law, that it is a weak and a beggarly rudiment, and unprofitable to righteousness. But he rather judges quite contrary of the law: to wit, that it is not only necessary to salvation, but also that it strengthens such as are weak, and enriches such as are poor and beggarly: that is to say, that such as obey and observe the same, shall be able to merit righteousness and everlasting salvation. If this opinion remain, the promise of God is denied, Christ is taken away, lying, impiety and idolatry is established. Now, the Pope with all his Bishops, his Schools, and whole Synagogue, taught that his laws are necessary to salvation: therefore he was a teacher of weak and beggarly elements, with which he made the Church of Christ throughout the whole world most weak and beggarly: that is to say, he burdened and miserably tormented the Church with his wicked laws, defacing Christ and burying his Gospel.

Verse 9. To which you will be in bondage again.

This he adds, to declare that he speaks of proud and presumptuous hypocrites, which seek to be justified by the law, as I have showed before. For otherwise he calls the law holy and good. As (1 Timothy 1) we know that the law is good, if it be rightly used: to wit, civilly to bridle evildoers, and spiritually to increase transgressions. But, whoever observes the law to obtain righteousness before God, makes the law which is good, damnable and hurtful to himself. He reproves the Galatians therefore, because they would be in bondage to the law again, which does not take away sin, but increases sin. For while a sinner, being weak and poor of himself, seeks to be justified by the law, he finds nothing in it but weakness and poverty itself. And here two sick and feeble beggars meet together, of whom the one is not able to help and heal the other, but rather molests and troubles the other.

We, as being strong in Christ, will gladly serve the law: not the weak and beggarly, but the mighty and rich law: that is to say, so far forth as it has power and dominion over the body. For then we serve the law but only in our body and outward members, and not in our conscience. But the Pope requires that we should obey his laws with this persuasion, that if we do this or that, we are righteous: if we do it not we are damned. Here the law is more than a weak and beggarly element. For while this bondage of the conscience continues under the law, there can be nothing but mere weakness and poverty. Therefore all the weight of the matter lies in this word, To serve. The meaning therefore of Paul is this, that he would not have the conscience to serve under the law as a captive, but to be free and to have dominion over the law. For the conscience is dead to the law through Christ, and the law again to the conscience: of which we have more largely treated before in the second chapter.

Verse 10. You observe days and months, times and years.

By these words he plainly declares what the false apostles taught, namely the observation of days, months, times, and years. The Jews were commanded to keep holy the Sabbath day, the new Moons, the first and the seventh month, the three appointed times or feasts, namely, the Passover, the feast of weeks, of the Tabernacles, and the year of Jubilee. These ceremonies the Galatians were also constrained by the false apostles to keep as necessary to righteousness. Therefore he says that they, losing the grace and liberty which they had in Christ, were turned back to the serving of weak and beggarly elements. For they were persuaded by the false apostles, that these laws must needs be kept, and by keeping of them they should obtain righteousness: but if they kept them not they should be damned. Contrariwise Paul can in no way suffer that men's consciences should be bound to the law of Moses, but always delivers them from the law. Behold, I Paul (says he a little after in chapter 5) do write to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing (Galatians 5:2). And (Colossians 2:16) let no man judge you in meat or drink, or in a piece of a holy day, or of a new Moon, or Sabbath day, etc. So says our Savior Christ: The kingdom of God comes not with observation of the law (Luke 17:20). Much less then are men's consciences, to be burdened and snared with men's traditions.

Verse 11. I am in fear of you, lest I have bestowed on you labor in vain.

Here Paul shows himself to be greatly troubled through the fall of the Galatians: whom he would more bitterly reprove, but that he fears lest if he should deal with them more sharply, he should not only not make them better, but more offend them and so utterly alienate their minds from him. Therefore in writing he changes and mitigates his words, and as though all the harm redounded to himself, he says: I am in fear of you lest I have bestowed my labor on you in vain: That is to say, it grieves me that I have preached the gospel with so great diligence and faithfulness among you, and see no fruit to come thereof. Notwithstanding, although he show a very loving and a fatherly affection towards them, yet withal he chides them somewhat sharply, but yet covertly. For when he says, that he had labored in vain, that is to say, that he had preached the gospel among them without any fruit, he shows covertly that either they were obstinate unbelievers, or else were fallen from the doctrine of faith. Now, both these, as well unbelievers as backsliders from the doctrine of faith, are sinners, wicked, unrighteous and damned. Such therefore do obey the law in vain, they observe days, months and years in vain. And in these words: I am in fear of you, lest I have bestowed on you labor in vain, is contained a certain secret excommunication. For the Apostle means hereby that the Galatians were secluded and separated from Christ, unless they speedily returned to the sincere and sound doctrine again: yet he pronounced no open sentence against them. For he perceived that he could do no good with overly sharp dealing: therefore he changes his style, and speaks them very fair, saying:

Verse 12. Be you as I: for I am even as you.

Up to this point Paul has been occupied wholly in teaching, and being moved with this great enormity and wicked revolting of the Galatians, he was vehemently incensed against them, and chided them bitterly, calling them fools, bewitched, not believing the truth, crucifiers of Christ, etc. Now, the greater part of his Epistle being finished, he begins to perceive that he had handled them too sharply. Therefore being careful lest he should do more hurt than good through his severity, he shows that this his sharp chiding proceeded of a fatherly affection and a true Apostolical heart: And so he amplifies the matter with sweet and gentle words, to the end that if he had offended any (as no doubt there were many offended) by these sweet and loving words he might win them again.

And here by his own example he admonishes all pastors and ministers, that they ought to bear a fatherly and motherly affection: not toward ravening wolves, but toward the poor sheep, miserably seduced and going astray, patiently bearing with their faults and infirmities, instructing and restoring them with the spirit of meekness: For they cannot be brought into the right way again by any other means: and by overly sharp reproving and rebuking they are provoked to anger, or else to desperation, but not to repentance. And here is to be noted by the way, that such is the nature and fruit of true and sound doctrine, that when it is well taught and well understood, it joins men's hearts together with a singular concord: but when men reject godly and sincere doctrine, and embrace errors, this unity and concord is soon broken. Therefore as soon as you see your brethren seduced by vain and fantastical spirits, to fall from the article of Justification, you shall perceive that by and by they will pursue the faithful with bitter hatred, whom before they most tenderly loved.

This we find to be true at this day in our false brethren and other Sectaries, who at the beginning of the reformation of the gospel, were glad to hear us, and read our books with great zeal and affection. They acknowledged the grace of the Holy Spirit in us, and reverenced us for the same as the ministers of God. Some of them also lived familiarly with us for a time, and behaved themselves very modestly and soberly. But when they were departed from us and perverted by the wicked doctrine of the Sectaries, they showed themselves more bitter enemies to our doctrine and our name than any other. I do much and often marvel why they should conceive such a deadly hatred against us, whom they before so dearly and so tenderly loved: For we offended them not in any thing, nor gave them any occasion to hate us. Indeed they are constrained to confess that we desire nothing more than that the glory of God may be advanced, the benefit of Christ truly known, and the truth of the gospel purely taught: which God has now again in these later days revealed by us to this ungrateful world: which thing should rather provoke them to love us than to hate us. I marvel therefore not without cause, why this change has come. Truly there is no other cause, but that they have gotten to themselves new masters and listened to new teachers, whose poison has so infected them, that now of very friends they are become our mortal enemies. And I see the condition of the Apostles and all other faithful ministers to be such, that their disciples and hearers being once infected with the errors of the false Apostles and heretics, have and do set themselves against them, and become their enemies. There were very few among the Galatians which continued in the sound doctrine of the Apostle: All the rest being seduced by the false apostles, did not acknowledge Paul for their pastor and teacher any more: indeed there was nothing more odious to them than the name and doctrine of Paul. And I fear that this Epistle brought very few of them back again from their error.

If the like case should happen to us: that is to say, if in our absence our Church should be seduced by fantastical heads, and we should write here, not one or two, but many Epistles: we should prevail little or nothing at all. Our men (a few only excepted of the stronger sort) would use themselves no otherwise toward us, than they do at this day which are seduced by the Sectaries: who would sooner worship the Pope, than they would obey our admonitions or approve our doctrine. No man shall persuade them that they, rejecting Christ, do return again to weak and beggarly elements, and to those which by nature are no Gods. They can abide nothing less, than to hear that their teachers by whom they are seduced, are overthrowers of the Gospel of Christ, and troublers of men's consciences. The Lutherans (say they) are not only wise, they alone do not preach Christ, they alone have not the Holy Ghost, the gift of prophecy, and the true understanding of the Scriptures. Our teachers are in nothing inferior to them: indeed in many things they excel them, because they follow the spirit and teach spiritual things. Contrariwise they never yet tasted what true Divinity meant, but stick in the letter, and therefore they teach nothing but the Catechism, Faith, and charity, etc. Therefore, like as to fall in Faith is an easy matter (as I am wont to say) so is it most perilous: to wit, even from the high heaven into the deep pit of hell. It is not such as properly follows the nature of man, as murder, adultery and such like, but devilish and the proper work of the devil. For they which so fall, cannot be easily recovered again, but most commonly they continue perverse and obstinate in their error. Therefore the later end of those men is worse than the beginning: As our Savior Christ witnesses when he says: The unclean spirit being cast out of his house, when he returns he enters in again not alone, but takes to him seven spirits worse than himself, and there dwells, etc.

Paul therefore perceiving through the revelation of the Holy Ghost, that it was to be feared lest the minds of the Galatians, whom of a godly zeal he had called foolish and bewitched, etc., should rather by this sharp chiding be more stirred up against him than amended, (especially since he now knew that the false apostles were among them, who would expound this sharp chiding which proceeded from a fatherly affection to the worst, and would cry out: Now, Paul which some of you so greatly praise, shows what he is, and with what spirit he is led: when he was with you he would seem to be to you a father, but his letters show in his absence that he is a tyrant, etc.) therefore he is so troubled through a godly care and fatherly affection, that he cannot well tell how and what to write to them. For it is a dangerous thing for a man to defend his cause with those which are absent and have now begun to hate him, who also be persuaded by others that his cause is not good. Therefore being in great perplexity, he says a little after: I am troubled and at my wits' end for your cause: that is, I know not what to do, or how to deal with you (Galatians 4:20).

Verse. 12. Be you as I am, for I am as you are.

These words are to be understood, not of doctrine, but of affections. Therefore the meaning is not: Be you as I am: that is to say, think of doctrine as I do: but bear such an affection toward me as I do toward you. As though he would say: Perhaps I have too sharply chidden you, but pardon this my sharpness, and judge not my heart by my words, but my words by the affection of my heart. My words seem rough and my chastisement sharp, but my heart is loving and fatherly. Therefore (O my Galatians) take this my chiding with such a mind as I bear toward you: For the matter required that I should show myself so sharp and severe toward you.

Even so may we also say of ourselves. Our correction is severe, and our manner of writing sharp and vehement: but certainly there is no bitterness in our heart, no envy, no desire of revenge against our adversaries: but there is in us a godly carefulness and sorrow of spirit. We do not so hate the Pope and other erroneous spirits, that we wish any evil to them, or desire their destruction: but rather we desire that they may return again to the right way, and be saved together with us. The Schoolmaster chastises his scholar, not to hurt him, but to reform him. The rod is sharp, but correction is necessary for the child, and the heart of him that corrects, loving and friendly. So the father chastises his son, not to destroy him, but to reform and amend him. Stripes are sharp and grievous to the child, but the father's heart is loving and kind: And unless he loved his child, he would not chastise him, but cast him off, despair of his welfare, and suffer him to perish. This correction therefore which he gives to his child, is a token of a fatherly affection, and is profitable for the child (Hebrews 12:11). Even so, O my Galatians, think you likewise of my dealing toward you: then will you not judge my chiding to be sharp and bitter, but profitable for you. Chastisement for the present time seems not to be joyous, but grievous: but afterward it brings the quiet fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby. Let the same affection therefore be in you toward me, which I have toward you. I bear a loving heart toward you: the same I desire again of you.

Thus he speaks them fair, and with this fair speech he still continues, that he might pacify their minds which were stirred up against him by his sharp chiding. Notwithstanding he revokes not his severe words. Indeed he confesses that they were sharp and bitter: but necessity (says he) compelled me to reprehend you somewhat sharply and severely: but that which I did, proceeded of a sincere and loving heart toward you. The Physician gives a bitter potion to his patient, not to hurt him, but to cure him. If then the bitterness of the medicine which is given to the sick body is not to be imputed to the Physician, but to the medicine and the malady: judge you also in like manner of my severe and sharp reprehension.

Verse. 12. Brethren, I beseech you: you have not hurt me at all.

Is this to beseech the Galatians, when he calls them bewitched, disobedient to the truth, and crucifiers of Christ? It seems rather to be a great rebuke. But contrariwise Paul says, that it is no rebuke but an earnest beseeching: and indeed so is it. And it is as much as if he said: I confess that I have chidden you somewhat bitterly, but take it in good part, and then you will find this my chiding, to be no chiding, but a praying and a beseeching. If a father likewise does sharply correct his son, it is as much as if he said: My son I pray you be a good child. It seems indeed to be a correction, but if you respect the father's heart, it is a gentle and an earnest beseeching.

Verse. 12. You have not hurt me at all.

As if he said: Why should I be angry with you, or of a malicious mind speak evil of you, seeing you have nothing offended me? Why then do you say that we are perverted, that we have forsaken your doctrine, that we are foolish, bewitched? These things witness that we have offended you. He answers: You have not offended me, but yourselves: and therefore I am thus troubled, not for my own cause, but for the love I bear to you. Think not therefore that my chiding did proceed of malice, or any evil affection. For I take God to witness, you have done me no wrong, but contrariwise you have bestowed great benefits on me.

Thus speaking them fair, he prepares their minds to suffer his fatherly chastisements with a childlike affection. And this is to temper wormwood or a bitter potion with honey and sugar, to make it sweet again. So parents speak their children fair when they have well beaten them, giving them apples, pears and other like things, whereby the children know that their parents love them and seek to do them good, however sharp their correction may appear.

Verse. 13. And you know how through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the Gospel to you at the first. And the trial of me which was in my flesh, you despised not, neither abhorred, but you received me as an angel of God, yes, as Christ Jesus.

Now he declares what pleasures he had received of the Galatians. The first benefit (says he) which I esteem greatest of all, was this. When I began first to preach the Gospel among you, and that through infirmity of the flesh and great temptations, my cross did nothing at all offend you. But you showed yourselves so loving, so kind and so friendly towards me, that not only you were not offended with this my infirmity of the flesh, with my temptations and perils with which I was almost overwhelmed: but also you loved me dearly, and received me as an angel of God, yes rather as Jesus Christ himself. This is indeed a great commendation of the Galatians, that they received the Gospel of a man so contemptible and afflicted on every side as Paul was. For where he preached the Gospel among them, both the Jews and Gentiles murmured and raged against him. For all the mighty, wise, religious and learned men, hated, persecuted, and blasphemed Paul. With all this the Galatians were no bit offended, but turning their eyes from the beholding of this infirmity, these temptations and dangers, they did not only hear that poor, despised, wretched and afflicted Paul and acknowledged themselves to be his disciples, but also they received and heard him as an angel of God, yes as Jesus Christ himself. This is a worthy commendation and a singular virtue of the Galatians: and indeed it is such a commendation as he gives to none of all those to whom he wrote, besides these Galatians.

Jerome and certain other of the ancient fathers expound this infirmity of the flesh in Paul, to be some disease of the body, or some temptation of lust. These men lived when the Church was outwardly in a peaceable and prosperous estate without any cross or persecution. For then the Bishops began to increase in riches, estimation and glory in the world. And many also exercised tyranny over the people which were committed to their charge, as the ecclesiastical history witnesses. Few did their duty, and they that would seem to do it, forsaking the doctrine of the Gospel, set forth their own decrees to the people. Now, when the Pastors and Bishops are not exercised in the word of God, but neglect the pure and sincere preaching thereof: they must needs fall into security: for they are not exercised with temptations, with the cross and persecutions, which are accustomed always undoubtedly to follow the pure preaching of the word: therefore it was impossible that they should understand Paul. But we by the grace of God, have sound and sincere doctrine, which also we preach and teach freely, and therefore are compelled to bear the bitter hatred, afflictions and persecutions of the Devil and the world. And if we were not exercised outwardly by tyrants and Sectaries with force and subtlety, and inwardly with terrors and the fiery darts of the Devil, Paul should be as obscure and unknown to us as he was in times past to the whole world, and is yet to the Papists, the Anabaptists and other our adversaries. Therefore the gift of knowledge and interpretation of the Scriptures, and our diligence, with our inward and outward temptations, open to us the meaning of Paul, and the sense of all the holy Scriptures.

Paul therefore calls the infirmity of the flesh, no disease of the body or temptation of lust, but his suffering and affliction which he sustained in his body: so that he sets the same against the virtue and power of the spirit. But lest we should seem to wrest and pervert Paul's words, let us hear himself speaking in (2 Corinthians 12): Very gladly will I rejoice rather in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in anguish for Christ's sake: for when I am weak then am I strong. And in chapter 11: In labors more abundant: in stripes above measure: in prisons more plentiful: in death often. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one: I was three times beaten with rods: I was once stoned: I suffered three times shipwreck. Etc. These afflictions which he suffered in his body he calls the infirmity of the flesh, and not any corporal disease. As though he would say: When I preached the Gospel among you, I was oppressed with sundry temptations and afflictions. I was always in danger both of the Jews, of the Gentiles and also of false brethren. I suffered hunger, and wanted all things. I was as the very filth and [reconstructed: offscouring] of the world. He makes mention of this his infirmity in many places, as in (1 Corinthians 4; 2 Corinthians 4; 6; 11; 12) and in many other.

We see then that Paul calls afflictions the infirmities of the flesh which he suffered in the flesh, like as the other Apostles, the Prophets, and all godly men did: notwithstanding he was mighty in spirit. For the power of Christ was in him, which always reigned and triumphed through him. Which thing he testifies in (2 Corinthians 12) with these words: For when I am weak, then am I strong. Also: I will gladly rejoice in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. And in chapter 2: Thanks be to God which always makes us to triumph in Christ. As though he would say: Indeed the Devil, the Jews and the Gentiles rage cruelly against us: notwithstanding we continue constant and invincible against all their assaults, and will they or not our doctrine prevails and triumphs. This was the strength and power of the spirit in Paul, against which he sets here the infirmity and bondage of the flesh.

Now, this infirmity of the flesh in the godly does wonderfully offend reason. Therefore Paul so highly commends the Galatians, for that they were not offended with this great infirmity, and with this vile and contemptible form of the cross which they saw in him: but received him as an angel, yea as Christ himself. And Christ also arms the faithful against this base and contemptible form of the cross in which he appeared, when he says: Blessed is he that is not offended in me (Matthew 11:6). And surely it is a great matter that they which believe in him do acknowledge him to be the Lord of all, and Savior of the world: whom notwithstanding they hear to have been the most miserable of all others, the last of men, yea a very scorn of men, and a contempt of the world: briefly, despised and hated of all men, and condemned to the death of the cross, and even of his own people, and especially of those that were esteemed the best, the wisest, and holiest of all other. This is a great matter (I say), not to be moved with these great offenses, and to be able, not only to despise them, but also to esteem this poor Christ so spitefully scorned, spit upon, whipped and crucified, more than the riches of all the richest, the strength of all the strongest, the wisdom of all the wisest, the holiness of all the holiest men, with all the crowns and scepters of all the Kings and Princes of the whole world. They therefore are worthily called blessed of Christ, which are not offended in him (Psalm 21:7).

Now, Paul had not only outward temptations (of which I have spoken already) but also inward and spiritual temptations, as Christ had in the garden: such as that was of which he complains in (2 Corinthians 12) that he felt the prick or sting of the flesh, and the angel of Satan which buffeted him. This I say by the way, because the Papists expounded this to be a motion of fleshly lust: but it was a spiritual temptation. And herein is no repugnance that he adds this word Flesh, saying: A prick was given me in my flesh. Yea he calls it of purpose a prick in the flesh. For the Galatians and others which were conversant with Paul, had seen him often in great anguish, terror and heaviness of spirit. Therefore the Apostles had not only bodily, but also spiritual temptations, which also he confesses in (2 Corinthians 7) with these words: Fightings without, and terrors within. And Luke says in the last of the Acts, that Paul when he had long striven in the tempests of the sea, even to heaviness of his spirit, was again refreshed, and grew bold when he saw the brethren that came from Rome to meet him at the market of Appius and three Taverns. Also, in (Philippians 2) he confesses, that God had mercy upon him, in that he restored Epaphroditus so weak and near to death, to health again, lest he should have sorrow upon sorrow (Philippians 2:27). Therefore besides outward temptations, the Apostles also suffered great anguish, heaviness and terrors.

But why says Paul, that he was not despised of the Galatians? It seems that they despised him, when they fell away from his Gospel. Paul expounds himself. When I first preached to you the Gospel (says he) you did not as other people for the most part have done, who being greatly offended through this my infirmity and temptation of the flesh, have despised and rejected me. For man's reason is soon offended with this vile and contemptible form of the cross, and judges those that are so afflicted to be stark mad which will go about to comfort, help and succor others: also, those that boast of their great riches, that is to say, of righteousness, strength, victory over sin, death and all evils: of joy, salvation, and everlasting life, and yet notwithstanding they themselves are needy, weak, heavy-hearted and despised, mistreated, and slain, as very noxious poisons of commonwealths and of religion, and they that kill them think they do high service to God. Therefore, when they promise to others eternal treasures, and they themselves perish so wretchedly before the world, they are laughed to scorn and compelled to hear: Physician cure yourself. And hereof come these complaints which are everywhere in the Psalms: I am a worm and no man. Etc. Again: Depart not from me, for tribulation is at hand, and there is none to help. Etc. [reconstructed: (John 17)] (Luke 4:32) (Psalm 22:6, 15)

This is therefore a great commendation of the Galatians, that they were not offended with this infirmity and temptation of Paul, but received him as an Angel of God, yes as Christ Jesus. It is indeed a great virtue and worthy of great praise to hear the Apostle. But it is a greater, and a true Christian virtue, to give ear to one so miserable, weak and contemptible as Paul was among the Galatians (as here he witnesses of himself) and to receive him as an angel from heaven, and to give him such honor as if he had been Christ Jesus himself: and not to be offended with his afflictions being so great and so many. Therefore, by these words he highly commends the virtue of the Galatians, which he says he will keep in perpetual remembrance, and so much esteems the same, that he desires it may be known to all men. Notwithstanding in setting forth so highly their benefits and praises, he shows covertly how entirely they loved him before the coming of the false apostles, and therewith he moves them to continue as they began, and to embrace him with no less love and reverence than they did before. And hereby it may also appear, that the false apostles had greater authority among the Galatians than Paul himself. For the Galatians being moved with their authority, preferred them far above Paul, whom before they so dearly loved and received as an angel of God, etc.

Verse 15. What was then your felicity?

As if he would say: How happy were you counted: how much were you then praised and commended? The like manner of speech we have in the song of the virgin Mary: All generations shall call me blessed. And these words: What was then your felicity? contain in them a certain vehemence. As if he would say: you were not only blessed, but in all things most blessed and highly commended. Thus he goes about to qualify and mitigate his bitter potion, that is to say, his sharp chiding, fearing lest the Galatians should be offended therewith: especially knowing that the false apostles would slander him and most spitefully interpret his words. For this is the quality and nature of these vipers, that they will slander and maliciously pervert those words which proceed from a simple and sincere heart, and wrest them clean contrary to the true sense and meaning thereof. They are marvelous cunning workmen in this matter, far passing all the wit and eloquence of all the rhetoricians in the world. For they are led with a wicked spirit, which so bewitches them, that they being inflamed with a devilish rage against the faithful, can no otherwise do, but maliciously interpret and wickedly pervert their words and writings. Therefore they are like to the spider, which sucks venom out of sweet and pleasant flowers: and this proceeds not of the flowers, but of their own venomous nature, which turns that into poison which of itself is good and wholesome. Paul therefore by these mild and sweet words goes about to prevent the false apostles, to the end they should have no occasion to slander and pervert his words after this manner: Paul handles you very ungently, he calls you foolish, bewitched, and disobedient to the truth: which is a sure token that he seeks not your salvation, but accounts you as damned and rejected from Christ.

Verse 15. For I bear you record, that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

He praises the Galatians above measure. You did not only entreat me (says he) most courteously and with all reverence, receiving me as an angel of God, etc.: but also if necessity had required, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me: yes, you would have bestowed your lives for me. And indeed the Galatians bestowed their lives for him: For in that they received and maintained Paul (whom the world accounted most execrable and accursed) they turned upon their own heads as receivers and maintainers of Paul, the cruel hatred and indignation of all the Jews and Gentiles.

So also at this day the name of Luther is most odious to the world. He that praises me, sins worse than any idolater, blasphemer, perjurer, whoremonger, adulterer, murderer or thief. It must needs be therefore that the Galatians were well established in the doctrine and faith of Christ, seeing that they with so great danger of their lives, received and maintained Paul who was hated throughout all the world: For else they would never have sustained the cruel hatred of the whole world.

Verse 16. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Here he shows the reason, why he speaks the Galatians so fair. For he suspects that they take him for their enemy, because he had reproved them so sharply. I pray you (says he) set apart these rebukes, and separate them from doctrine, and you shall find that my purpose was not to rebuke you, but to teach you the truth. Indeed I confess that my Epistle is sharp and severe: but by this severity I go about to call you back again to the truth of the Gospel, from which you are fallen, and to keep you in the same: therefore apply this sharpness and this bitter potion, not to your persons, but to your disease: And judge me not to be your enemy in rebuking you so sharply, but rather think that I am your father. For unless I loved you dearly as my children, and knew also that I am beloved of you, I would not have reproved you so sharply.

It is the part of a friend, freely to admonish his friend if he does amiss: and when he is so admonished, if he be wise he is not angry with the other which has so friendly admonished him and told him the truth, but gives him thanks. It is commonly seen in the world that truth brings hatred, and that he is accounted an enemy which speaks the truth. But among friends it is not so: much less among Christians. Seeing therefore I have reprehended you of mere love, to the end you might abide in the truth, you ought not to be offended with me, nor lose the truth or think me your enemy because of my fatherly reprehension. All these things are spoken of Paul, to confirm that which he said before: Be you as I am: You have not hurt me, etc.

Verse 17. They are jealous over you amiss, etc.

He reproves here the flattery of the false apostles. For Satan is wont by his ministers, through wonderful subtlety and crafty sleights to beguile the simple: As Paul says (Romans 16) With fair speech and flattering they deceive the hearts of the simple. For first of all they make great protestations that they seek nothing else but the advancement of God's glory: and moreover that they are moved by the Spirit (because the miserable people are neglected, or else because the truth is not purely taught of others) to teach the infallible truth, that by this means the elect may be delivered from error, and may come to the true light and knowledge of the truth. Moreover, they promise undoubted salvation to those that receive their doctrine. If vigilant and faithful pastors do not withstand these ravening wolves, they will do great harm to the church under this pretense of godliness and under this sheep's clothing. For the Galatians might say: Why do you inveigh so bitterly against our teachers, for that they are jealous over us? For that which they do, they do of zeal and mere love: this ought not to offend you, etc. Indeed (says he) they are jealous over you, but their jealousy is not good.

Here note that zeal or jealousy, properly signifies an angry love, or, as you would say, a godly envy. Elias says: I have been very jealous for the Lord of hosts. After this manner the husband is jealous towards his wife, the father towards his son, the brother towards his brother: that is to say, they love them entirely: yet so that they hate their vices and go about to amend them. Such a zeal the false Apostles pretended to bear towards the Galatians. Paul indeed confesses that they were very zealous towards the Galatians, but their zeal (says he) was not good. Now, by this color and subtle pretense the simple are deceived, when these seducers do make them to believe that they bear a great zeal and affection towards them, and that they are very careful for them. Paul therefore warns us here to put a difference between a good zeal and an evil zeal. Indeed a good zeal is to be commended, but not an evil zeal. I am as zealous over you (says Paul) as they. Now judge you which of our zeals is better, mine or theirs: which is good and godly, which is evil and carnal. Therefore let not their zeal so easily seduce you. For,

Ver. 17. They would exclude you, that you should altogether love them.

As if he said: True it is, that they are very zealous towards you, but by this means they seek that you again should be zealous towards them, and reject me. If their zeal were sincere and godly, then surely they would be content that I also should be beloved of you as well as they. But they hate our doctrine, and therefore their desire is to have it utterly overthrown, and their own preached among you. Now, to that end they might bring this to pass, they go about by this jealousy to pluck your hearts from me, and to make me odious to you: to the end that when you have conceived a hatred against me and my doctrine, and turned your affection and zeal towards them, you should love them only, and receive no other doctrine but theirs. Thus he brings the false apostles into suspicion among the Galatians, showing that by this goodly pretense they go about to deceive them. So our Savior Christ also warns us, saying: Take heed of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15).

Paul suffered the same temptation which we suffer at this day. He was marvelously troubled with this enormity, that after the preaching of his doctrine which was divine and holy, he saw so many sects, commotions, dissipations of common wealths, changes of kingdoms and such other like things to ensue, which were the cause of infinite evils and offenses. He was accused of the Jews to be a pernicious fellow, a mover of sedition in his whole nation, and to be an author of the sect of the Nazarites (Acts 24:5). As if they had said: This is a seditious and a blasphemous fellow: for he preaches such things whereby he not only overthrows the Jewish commonwealth excellently well ordered and established by the laws of God: but also abolishes even the ten commandments, the religion and service of God, and our priesthood and publishes throughout the world the Gospel (as he calls it): from which are sprung infinite evils, seditions, offenses, and sects. He is compelled to hear of the Gentiles also which cried out against him in Philippi, that he was a troubler of their city, and preached ordinances which were not lawful for them to receive (Acts 16:20-21), etc.

Such troubles of common wealths and other calamities, as famine, wars, dissensions and sects, the Jews and Gentiles imputed to the doctrine of Paul and of the other Apostles: and therefore they persecuted them as common plagues, and enemies of the public peace and religion. The Apostles notwithstanding all this did not cease to do their office, but most constantly preached and confessed Christ. For they knew that they should rather obey God than men: and that it was better that the whole world should be troubled and in an uproar, than that Christ should not be preached, or that one soul should be neglected and perish (Acts 5:29).

In the meantime it was (no doubt) a heavy cross to the Apostles to see these offenses: for they were not made of iron. It was a wonderful grief to them that that people for whose sakes Paul wished to be separate from Christ, should perish with all their ornaments. They saw that great tumults and changes of kingdoms should follow their doctrine. And (which was more bitter to them than death itself, but especially to Paul) they saw that even among them there sprang up many sects. It was heavy news to Paul, when he heard that the Corinthians denied the resurrection of the dead: when he heard that the churches which were planted by his ministry were troubled, that the Gospel was overthrown by the false apostles, and that all Asia was revolted from his doctrine, and certain great personages.

But he knew that his doctrine was not the cause of these offenses and sects, and therefore he was not discouraged: he forsook not his vocation, but went forward, knowing that the Gospel which he preached was the power of God to salvation to all that believe, however it seemed to the Jews and Gentiles to be a foolish and offensive doctrine. He knew that they are blessed which are not offended by this word of the cross, whether they be teachers or hearers, as Christ himself says: Blessed is he which is not offended in me. Contrariwise he knew that they were condemned, which judged this doctrine to be foolish and heretical. Therefore he says as Christ said of the Jews and Gentiles which were offended with this doctrine: Let them alone, they are blind, and leaders of the blind.

We also are constrained at this day to hear the same spoken of us, which was said of Paul and the other Apostles: namely, that the doctrine of the Gospel which we profess, is the cause of many and great enormities, as of seditions, wars, sects and innumerable offenses. Indeed they impute to us all the troubles which are at this day. Surely we teach no heresies or wicked doctrine, but we preach the glad tidings concerning Christ, that he is our high Priest and our Redeemer. Moreover, our adversaries are constrained (if they will confess the truth) to grant us this, that we have given no occasion through our doctrine, of seditions, wars, or tumults: but always have taught that honor and reverence must be given to the Magistrate, because God has so commanded. Neither are we the authors of offenses: but in that the wicked are offended, the fault is in themselves and not in us. God has commanded us to preach the doctrine of the Gospel without any respect of offense. But because this doctrine condemns the wicked doctrine and idolatry of our adversaries, they being provoked thereby, breed offenses of themselves, which the Schoolmen called offenses taken, which they said ought not to be avoided, nor can be avoided.

Christ taught the Gospel, having no regard to the offense of the Jews. Suffer them (says he): they are blind, and leaders of the blind. The more the priests forbad the Apostles to preach in the name of Christ, the more the Apostles gave witness that the same Jesus whom they had crucified, is both Lord and Christ: and whoever should call upon him, should be saved: and that there was none other name given to men under heaven through which they could be saved, etc.

Even so we preach Christ at this day, not regarding the clamors of the wicked Papists and all our adversaries: which cry out that our doctrine is seditious and full of blasphemy, that it troubles commonwealths, overthrows religion, and teaches heresies, and briefly that it is the cause of all evils. When Christ and his Apostles preached, the same was said likewise of them. Not long after, the Romans came, and according to their own prophecy, destroyed both the place and the nation. Therefore let the enemies of the Gospel at this day take heed that they be not overwhelmed with these evils, which they prophesy to themselves.

These they make grievous and heinous offenses, that Monks and priests do marry wives, that we eat flesh upon the Fridays, and such like. But this is no offense to them at all, that by their wicked doctrine they seduce and daily destroy innumerable souls, that by their evil examples they offend the weak, that they blaspheme and condemn the Gospel of the glory of the mighty God, and that they persecute and kill those that love the sincerity of doctrine and the word of life: this (I say) is to them no offense, but an obedience, a service and an acceptable sacrifice to God. Let us [reconstructed: suffer] them therefore: For they are blind, and leaders of the blind. He that hurts, let him hurt still, and he that is filthy, let him be more filthy. But we, because we believe, will speak and set forth the wonderful works of the Lord so long as we have breath, and will endure the persecutions of our adversaries until the time that Christ our high Bishop and King shall come from heaven, who we hope will come shortly as a just judge to take vengeance of all those that obey not his Gospel. So be it.

With these offenses which the wicked allege, the godly are nothing moved: For they know that the Devil hates nothing more than the pure doctrine of the Gospel, and therefore he goes about to deface it with innumerable offenses, that by this means he might root it out of men's hearts forever. Before, when nothing else was taught in the church but man's traditions, the Devil did not so rage. For while the strong man kept the house, all that he possessed was in peace: but now when a stronger comes who vanquishes and binds that strong one and spoils his house, then he begins to rage indeed. And this is an infallible token, that the doctrine which we profess is of God. For else (as it is said in Job 40) that Behemoth would lie hid under the trees in the covert of the reed and fens. But now, that he ranges about like a roaring Lion and stirs up such hurly-burlies, it is a manifest token that he feels the power of our preaching.

When Paul says: They are jealous over you, but amiss, he shows by the way who are the authors of sects: namely, those jealous spirits which in all times overthrow the true doctrine, and trouble the public peace. For these being stirred up with a perverse zeal, imagine that they have a certain singular holiness, modesty, patience and doctrine above others, and therefore they think that they are able to provide for the salvation of all men, that they can teach more profound and profitable things, ordain better service and ceremonies than all other teachers besides: whom they despise as nothing in comparison of themselves, and abase their authority, and corrupt those things which they have purely taught. The false apostles had such a wicked and perverse zeal, stirring up sects, not only in Galatia, but also in all the places wherever Paul and the other Apostles had preached: after which sects followed innumerable offenses and marvelous troubles. For the Devil (as Christ says) is a liar and a murderer, and therefore he is accustomed, not only to trouble men's consciences by false doctrine, but also to stir up tumults, seditions and wars.

There are very many in Germany at this day which are possessed with this kind of jealousy: which pretend great religion, modesty, doctrine and patience, and yet in very deed they are ravening wolves: who with their hypocrisy seek nothing else but to discredit us, that the people might esteem, love, and reverence them only, and receive no other doctrine but theirs (Matthew 7:15). Now, because these men have a great opinion of themselves and despise others, it cannot be but that there must needs follow horrible dissensions, sects, divisions and seditions. But what should we do? We cannot remedy this matter: as Paul could not do in his time. Notwithstanding he gained some which obeyed his admonitions. So I hope also that we have called some back from the errors of the sectaries.

Verse 18. But it is a good thing to love earnestly always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

As if he should say: I commend you for this, that you loved me so entirely when I preached the Gospel among you in the infirmity of the flesh. You ought to have borne the same affection toward me now when I am absent, even as if I had never departed from you. For although I be absent in body, yet you have my doctrine, which you ought to retain and maintain, seeing you received the Holy Spirit through it: thinking with yourselves that Paul is always present with you as long as you have his doctrine. I do not therefore reprehend your zeal, but I praise it, and so far I praise it, as it is the zeal of God or of the Spirit, and not of the flesh. Now, the zeal of the Spirit is always good: for it is an earnest affection and motion of the heart to a good thing, and so is not the zeal of the flesh. He commends therefore the zeal of the Galatians, that thereby he may pacify their minds, and that they may patiently suffer his correction. As if he would say: Take my correction in good part: for it proceeds not of an angry but of a sorrowful heart and careful for your salvation. This is a lively example to teach all ministers how to be careful for their sheep, and to try every way, that by chiding, fair speaking or entreating, they may retain them in sound doctrine, and turn them from subtle seducers and false teachers.

Verse 19. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.

All his words are weighty and fitly framed to the purpose, that they may move the hearts of the Galatians, and win their favor and good will again. And these are sweet and loving words, when he calls them his children. When he says: of whom I travail in birth, it is an allegory. For the Apostles are in the stead of parents: as schoolmasters also are in their place and calling. For as the parents beget the bodily form, even so the other beget the form of the mind. Now, the form of a Christian mind is Faith, or the confidence of the heart which lays hold upon Christ and cleaves to him alone and to nothing else. The heart being furnished with this confidence or assurance, namely, that for Christ's sake we are righteous, has the true form of Christ. Now, this form is given by the ministry of the word, as it is said (1 Corinthians 4:15): I have begotten you through the Gospel, that is to say, in spirit, that you might know Christ and believe in him. Also (2 Corinthians 3:3): You are the Epistle of Christ, ministered by us and written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. For the word comes from the mouth of the Apostle or of the minister, and enters into the heart of him that hears it: there the Holy Spirit is present, and imprints the word in the heart, so that it consents to it. Thus every godly teacher is a father, which engenders and forms the true shape of a Christian heart, and that by the ministry of the word.

Moreover, by these words: of whom I travail in birth, he touches the false apostles. As though he would say: I did beget you rightly through the Gospel, but these corrupters have formed a new shape in your heart, not of Christ, but of Moses: so that now your trust is not grounded any more upon Christ, but upon the works of the law. This is not the true form of Christ, but it is another form, and altogether devilish. And he says not: of whom I travail in birth until my form be fashioned in you, but until Christ be formed in you: that is to say, I travail that you may receive again the form and likeness of Christ, and not of Paul. In which words he again reproves the false apostles: for they had abolished the form of Christ in the hearts of the believers, and had devised another form, that is to say, their own: as he says (Galatians 6:13): They would have you circumcised, that they might rejoice in your flesh.

Of this form of Christ he speaks also in the third chapter to the Colossians (Colossians 3:10): Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Paul therefore goes about to repair the form of Christ in the Galatians that was disfigured and corrupted by the false apostles: which is, that they should think, speak and will, as God does, whose thought and will is, that we should obtain remission of our sins and everlasting life by Jesus Christ his only Son, whom he sent into the world to the end he might be the propitiation for our sins, and that we should know that through this his Son he is appeased and become our loving Father. They that believe this are like to God: that is to say, all their thoughts are of God, as the affection of their heart is: they have the same form in their mind which God or Jesus Christ has. This is to be renewed in the Spirit of our mind, and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, as Paul says (Ephesians 4:24).

He says then, that he travails again of the Galatians in birth: notwithstanding in such sort, that the form of the children be not the form of the Apostle: so that the children should not resemble the form of Paul, or of Cephas, etc. but of another Father, that is to say, Christ. I will fashion him (says he) in you, to the end you may be like minded in all things to Christ himself. To be brief: I travail of you in birth: that is to say, I labor carefully to call you back again to your former faith the which you have lost (being deceived by the craft and subtlety of the false apostles) and are returned to the law and works. Therefore I must now again carefully travail to bring you back from the law to the faith of Christ. This he calls to travail in birth, etc.

Verse 20. And I would I were with you now, that I might change my voice, etc.

These are the true cares of an Apostle. It is a common saying, that a letter is a dead messenger: for it can give no more than it has. And no epistle or letter is written so exactly wherein there is not somewhat lacking. For the circumstances are diverse: there is a diversity of times, places, persons, manners and affections: all which no epistle can express. Therefore it moves the reader diversely, making him now sad, now merry, as he himself is disposed. But if any thing be spoken sharply or out of time, the lively voice of a man may expound, mitigate, or correct the same. Therefore the Apostle wishes that he were with them, to the end he might temper and change his voice, as he should see it needful by the qualities of their affections. As, if he should see any of them very much troubled he might so temper his words, that they should not be oppressed thereby, with more heaviness. Contrariwise if he should see others high minded, he might sharply reprove them; lest they should be too secure and careless, and so at length become despisers of God.

Therefore he could not devise how he being absent, should deal with them by letters. As if he should say: If my epistle be too sharp, I fear I shall more offend than amend some of you. Again: if it be too gentle, it will not profit those which are perverse and obstinate: For dead letters and words give no more than they have. Contrariwise the lively voice of a man compared to an epistle, is a queen: For it can add and diminish, it can change itself into all manner of affections, times, places and persons. To be brief, I would gladly convert you by letters, that is to say, call you back from the law to the faith of Jesus Christ: but I fear that I shall not so do by my dead letters. But if I were with you, I could change my voice, I could reprove them bitterly that are obstinate, and comfort the weak with sweet and loving words, as occasion should require.

Verse 20. For I am troubled for you.

That is to say: I am so troubled in my spirit, that I know not how by letters to behave myself toward you. Here is a lively description of the true affections of an Apostle. He omits nothing: he chides the Galatians: he entreats them: he speaks them fair: he highly commends their faith, laboring by all means to bring them back again to the truth of the Gospel, and to deliver them out of the snares of the false apostles. These are vehement words, proceeding from a heart stirred up and inflamed with a hot burning zeal, and therefore ought diligently to be considered.

Verse 21. Tell me, you that will be under the law, do you not hear the law?

Here would Paul have closed up his epistle: for he desired not to write any more, but rather to be present with the Galatians, and to speak to them himself. But he being in great perplexity and very careful for this matter, takes by the way this allegory, which then came into his mind. For the people are greatly delighted with allegories and similitudes, and therefore Christ himself oftentimes uses them. For they are as it were certain pictures which set forth things as if they were painted before the eyes of the simple, and therefore they move and persuade very much, especially the simple and ignorant. First therefore he stirs up the Galatians with words and writings: secondly he paints out the matter itself before their eyes with this goodly allegory.

Now, Paul was a marvelous cunning workman in handling of allegories: for he is accustomed to apply them to the doctrine of faith, to grace and to Christ, and not to the law and the works thereof, as Origen and Jerome do, who are worthily reproved for that they turned the plain sentences of the Scripture, where allegories have no place, into unfit and foolish allegories. Therefore to use allegories it is oftentimes a very dangerous thing. For unless a man has the perfect knowledge of Christian doctrine, he can not use allegories rightly and as he should do.

But why does Paul call the book of Genesis, out of the which he alleges the history of Ishmael and of Isaac, the law, seeing that book contains nothing at all concerning the law: and specially that place which he alleges speaks not of any law, but only contains a plain history of Abraham's two children. Paul is accustomed to call the first book of Moses the law after the manner of the Jews, which although it contain no law besides the law of circumcision, but the principal doctrine thereof is concerning faith, and that the Patriarchs pleased God because of their faith, yet the Jews notwithstanding, only because of the law of circumcision which is there contained, called the book of Genesis the law, as well as the other books of Moses. So did Paul himself also being a Jew. And Christ under the title of the law, comprehends not only the books of Moses, but also the Psalms. John 15: But it is, that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law: They hated me without a cause.

Verse 22-23. For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by a servant, and one by a free woman. But he which was of the servant was born after the flesh: and he which was of the free woman, was born after the spirit.

As if he said: You forsake grace, faith and Christ, and turn back again to the law: you will be under the law, and become wise through it. Therefore I will talk with you of the law. I pray you then, consider the law diligently. You shall find that Abraham had two sons, Ishmael by Hagar, and Isaac by Sarah. They were both the true sons of Abraham. Ishmael was as well the true son of Abraham as Isaac was, for both came of one father, of one flesh, and of one seed. What was then the difference? This makes not the difference (says Paul) that the mother of one was free, and the other bond (albeit it pertains to the allegory): but that Ishmael which was born of the bondwoman, was born after the flesh, that is to say, without the promise and the word of God. But Isaac was not only born of the freewoman, but also according to the promise. What then? Yet was Isaac notwithstanding as well born of the seed of Abraham as Ishmael was. I grant that they were both the children of one father, and yet notwithstanding there is a difference. For although Isaac were born of the flesh, yet the promise went before. None observed this difference but only Paul, which he gathered out of the text of Genesis after this manner.

In that Hagar conceived and brought forth Ishmael, there was no word of God that foretold that this should come to pass: but by the permission of Sarah, Abraham went in to his servant Hagar, whom Sarah being barren had given to wife to Abraham, as is said in the book of Genesis. For Sarah had heard that Abraham by the promise of God, should have seed of his body, and she hoped that she should be the mother of this seed. But when she had waited now for the promise many years with great anguish of spirit, and saw that the matter was so long deferred, she was out of hope. This holy woman therefore gives place for the honor of her husband, and resigns her right to another, that is to say, to her maid. Notwithstanding she suffers not her husband to marry another wife out of his house, but she gives to him in marriage her servant, to the end that she might be built by her. For so says the history (Genesis 16): Now Sarah Abraham's wife bore him no children, and she had a maid an Egyptian, Hagar by name. And Sarah said to Abraham: Behold now the Lord has restrained me from child bearing. I pray you go in to my maid: it may be that I shall be built by her. This was a great humility of Sarah, who so abased herself, and took in good part this temptation and trial of her faith. For thus she thought: God is no liar: that which he has promised to my husband he will surely perform. But perhaps God will not that I shall be the mother of that seed. It shall not grieve me that Hagar should have this honor, to whom let my Lord enter: for I may perhaps be built by her.

Ishmael therefore is born without the word and promise at the only request of Sarah. For there is no word of God which commanded Abraham thus to do, or promised to him a son, but all this is done at adventure: which the words do also declare: It may be (says she) that I shall be built by her. Seeing therefore there was no word of God spoken to Abraham before, as there was when Sarah should bring forth Isaac, but only the word of Sarah: it is evident enough that Ishmael was the son of Abraham after the flesh only, without the word of God: therefore he was born at adventure, and unlooked for as another child is. This Paul observed and diligently considered.

In the 9th chapter to the Romans he prosecutes the same argument which here he repeats and sets forth in an allegory, and concludes strongly, that all the sons of Abraham are not the sons of God. Abraham (says he) has two sorts of children. Some are born of his flesh and blood, but the word and promise of God goes before, as Isaac. Other are born without the promise, as Ishmael. Therefore the children of the flesh (says he) are not the children of God, but the children of the promise, etc. And by this argument he mightily stops the mouths of the proud Jews, which gloried that they were the seed and children of Abraham: as also Christ does in chapter 3 of Matthew, and in chapter 8 of John. As if he said: It follows not: I am the carnal seed of Abraham, therefore I am the child of God. Esau is the natural son, therefore the heir. Or rather (says he) they that will be the children of Abraham, besides their carnal birth, must be also the sons of the promise, and must believe. And they are the true children of Abraham, and consequently of God, who have the promise and believe.

But Ishmael, because he was not promised of God to Abraham, is a son after the flesh only, and not after the promise, and therefore he was born at adventure as other children be. For no mother knows whether she shall have a child or no, or if she perceive herself to be with child, yet she cannot tell whether it shall be a son or a daughter. But Isaac was expressly named (Genesis 17): Sarah your wife (says the angel to Abraham) shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. Here the son and the mother are expressly named. Thus, for this humility of Sarah, because she gave up her right and suffered the contempt of Hagar (Genesis 16), God requited her with this honor, that she should be the mother of the promised son, etc.

Verse 24. The which things are spoken by allegories.

Allegories do not strongly prove and persuade in Divinity, but as certain pictures they beautify and set out the matter. For if Paul had not proved the righteousness of faith against the righteousness of works by strong and pithy arguments, he should have little prevailed by this allegory. But because he had fortified his cause before with invincible arguments taken of experience, of the example of Abraham, the testimonies of the Scripture, and similitudes: now, in the end of his disputation he adds an allegory, to give a beauty to all the rest. For it is a seemly thing sometimes to add an allegory when the foundation is well laid and the matter thoroughly proved. For as painting is an ornament to set forth and garnish a house already built: so is an allegory the light of a matter which is already otherwise proved and confirmed.

Verses 24-25. For these mothers are the two Testaments: the one which is Agar of mount Sinai, which engenders to bondage. (For Agar or Sinai is a mountain in Arabia.)

Abraham is a figure of God, which has two sons, that is to say, two sorts of people are represented by Ishmael and Isaac. These two are born to him by Agar and Sara, which signify the two Testaments, the old and the new. The old is of mount Sinai, begetting to bondage, which is Agar. For the Arabians in their language call Agar the same mountain which the Jews call Sinai (which seems to have that name of brambles and thorns): which also Ptolemy and the Greek commentaries do witness. After the same manner various names are given to many mountains, according to the diversity of nations. So the mount which Moses calls Hermon, of the Sidonians is called Sirion, and of the Amorites Senir.

Now, this serves very well to the purpose, that mount Sinai in the Arabians' language signifies as much as a handmaid: and I think the likeness of this name gave Paul light and occasion to seek out this allegory. Likewise then as Agar the bondmaid brought forth to Abraham a son, and yet not an heir but a servant, so Sinai the allegorical Agar, brought forth to God a son, that is to say, a carnal people. Again, as Ishmael was the true son of Abraham, so the people of Israel had the true God to be their father, which gave them his law, his oracles, religion and true service, and the temple: as it is said in the Psalm (Psalm 147:19): He shows his word to Jacob, his statutes and his judgments to Israel. Notwithstanding this only was the difference: Ishmael was born of a bondmaid after the flesh, that is to say, without the promise, and could not therefore be the heir. So the mystical Agar, that is to say, mount Sinai where the law was given and the old Testament ordained, brought forth to God, who is the great Abraham, a people, but without the promise, that is to say, a carnal and a servile people, and not the heir of God. For the promises as touching Christ the giver of all blessing, and as touching the deliverance from the curse of the law, from sin and death: also as touching the free remission of our sins, of righteousness and everlasting life, are not added to the law, but the law says: He that shall do these things shall live in them.

Therefore the promises of the law are conditional, promising life, not freely, but to such as fulfill the law, and therefore they leave men's consciences in doubt: for no man fulfills the law. But the promises of the new Testament have no such condition joined to them, nor require anything of us, nor depend upon any condition of our worthiness, but bring and give to us freely forgiveness of sins, grace, righteousness and life everlasting for Christ's sake, as I have said more largely in another place.

Therefore the law or the old Testament contains only conditional promises: for it has always such conditions as these are, joined to it: If you hearken to my voice: If you keep my statutes: if you walk in my ways, you shall be my people, etc. The Jews not considering this, laid hold of those conditional promises as if they had been absolute and without all condition: which they supposed that God could never revoke, but must needs keep them. Upon this, when they heard the Prophets foretell the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, of the temple, of the kingdom and priesthood (which could well discern between the corporal promises of the law, and the spiritual promises concerning Christ and his kingdom): they persecuted and killed them as heretics and blasphemers of God: For they saw not the condition that was annexed: If you keep my commandments, it shall go well with you, etc.

Therefore Agar the bondmaid brings forth but a bond servant. Ishmael then is not the heir, although he be the natural son of Abraham, but remains a bondman. What is here lacking? The promise and blessing of the word. So the law given in mount Sinai, which the Arabians call Agar, begets none but servants. For the promise made as concerning Christ, was not annexed to the law. Therefore (O you Galatians) if you, forsaking the promise and faith, fall back to the law and works, you shall always continue servants: that is, you shall never be delivered from sin and death, but you shall always abide under the curse of the law. For Agar engenders not the seed of the promise and heirs, that is to say, the law justifies not: it brings not the adoption and inheritance, but rather it hinders the inheritance, and works wrath.

Verse 25. And it answers to Jerusalem which now is, and she is in bondage with her children.

This is a wonderful allegory. As Paul a little before made Agar of Sinai, so now of Jerusalem he would gladly make Sara: but he dares not, neither can he so do: but is compelled to join Jerusalem with mount Sinai. For he says: The same belongs to Agar, seeing mount Agar reaches even to Jerusalem. And it is true that there be continual mountains reaching from Arabia Petrea, to Cades Bernea of Judea. He says then that this Jerusalem which now is, that is to say, this earthly and temporal Jerusalem is not Sara: but pertains to Agar: for there Agar reigns. For in it is the law begetting to bondage: in it is the worship and ceremonies, the temple, the kingdom, the priesthood: and whatever was ordained in Sinai by the mother which is the law, the same is done in Jerusalem. Therefore I join her with Sinai, and I comprehend both in one word, to wit, Sinai or Agar.

I dared not have been so bold to handle this allegory after this manner, but would rather have called Jerusalem Sara or the new Testament, especially seeing the preaching of the Gospel began in it, the Holy Spirit was there given, and the people of the new Testament were there born: and I would have thought that I had found out a very fit allegory. Therefore it is not for every man to use allegories at his pleasure: for a goodly outward show may soon deceive a man and cause him to err. Who would not think it a very fit thing to call Sinai Agar, and Jerusalem Sara? Indeed Paul makes Jerusalem Sara, but not this corporal Jerusalem, which he simply joins to Agar: but that spiritual and heavenly Jerusalem in which the law reigns not nor the carnal people, as in that Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children, but wherein the promise reigns, wherein is also a spiritual and a free people.

And to the end that the law should be quite abolished, and that whole kingdom which was established in Hagar: the earthly Jerusalem was horribly destroyed, with all her ornaments, the temple, the ceremonies, etc. Now, although the new testament began in it, and so was spread throughout the whole world, notwithstanding it appertains to Hagar: that is to say, it is the city of the law, of the ceremonies and of the priesthood instituted by Moses. Briefly it is engendered of Hagar the bondwoman, and therefore is in bondage with her children, that is to say: it walks in the works of the law, and never attains to the liberty of the spirit, but abides continually under the law, sin, an evil conscience, the wrath and judgment of God, and under the guilt of death and hell. Indeed it has the liberty of the flesh, it has a corporeal kingdom, it has magistrates, riches, and possessions, and such like things: but we speak of the liberty of the spirit, whereby we are dead to the law, to sin and death, and we live and reign in grace, forgiveness of sins, righteousness and everlasting life. This can not the earthly Jerusalem perform, and therefore it abides with Hagar.

Verse 26. But Jerusalem which is above, is free: which is the mother of us all.

That earthly Jerusalem (says he) which is beneath, having the polity and ordinances of the law is Hagar, and is in bondage with her children: that is to say, she is not delivered from the law, sin and death. But Jerusalem, which is above, that is to say, the spiritual Jerusalem, is Sara (albeit Paul adds not the proper name of Sara, but gives her another name, calling her the free woman), that is to say, that true lady and freewoman, which is the mother of us all, begetting us to liberty, and not to bondage as Hagar does.

Now, this heavenly Jerusalem which is above, is the Church, that is to say, the faithful dispersed throughout the whole world: which have one and the same Gospel, one and the same faith in Christ, the same Holy Ghost, and the same sacraments.

Therefore understand not this word [Above] of the triumphant Church (as the Schoolmen do) which is heaven: but of the militant church on earth, as they call it. For the godly are said to have their conversation in heaven (Philippians 3:20), not locally: but in that a Christian believes, in that he lays hold of those inestimable, heavenly and eternal gifts he is in heaven (Ephesians 1:3): "Which has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly things in Christ." We must therefore distinguish the heavenly and spiritual blessing from the earthly. For the earthly blessing is to have a good civil government both in commonwealths and families: to have children, peace, riches, fruits of the earth, and other corporeal commodities. But the heavenly blessing is to be delivered from the law, sin, and death: to be justified and quickened to life: to have peace with God: to have a faithful heart, a joyful conscience, and spiritual consolation: to have the knowledge of Jesus Christ: to have the gift of prophecy and the revelation of the Scriptures: to have the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and to rejoice in God. These are the heavenly blessings which Christ gives to his Church.

Therefore Jerusalem which is above, that is to say, the heavenly Jerusalem is the church which is now in the world: and not the city of the life to come, or the Church triumphant, as the idle and unlearned Monks and the school doctors dreamed, which taught that the Scripture has four senses: the literal sense, the figurative sense, the allegorical sense, and the moral sense, and according to these senses they have foolishly interpreted almost all the words of the Scriptures. As this word Jerusalem literally signified that city which was so named: figuratively a pure conscience: allegorically the church militant: morally the celestial city or the church triumphant. With these trifling and foolish fables, they rent the Scriptures into so many and diverse senses, that simple poor consciences could receive no certain doctrine of anything. But Paul says here that the old and earthly Jerusalem belongs to Hagar, and that it is in bondage with her children, and is utterly abolished. But the new and heavenly Jerusalem, which is a Queen and a freewoman, is appointed of God on earth and not in heaven, to be the mother of us all, of whom we have been engendered, and yet daily are engendered. Therefore it is necessary that this our mother should be on earth among men, as also her generation is. Notwithstanding she engenders by the Holy Ghost, by the ministry of the word and sacraments, and not in the flesh.

This I say to the end that in this matter we should not be carried away with our cogitations into heaven, but that we should know that Paul sets the Jerusalem which is above, against the earthly Jerusalem, not locally but spiritually. For there is a distinction between those things which are spiritual, and those which are corporeal or earthly. The spiritual things are above, the earthly are beneath: so Jerusalem which is above, is distinguished from the carnal and temporal Jerusalem which is beneath, not locally (as I have said) but spiritually. For this spiritual Jerusalem which took her beginning in the corporeal Jerusalem, has not any certain place as has the other in Judea: but it is dispersed throughout the whole world, and may be in Babylon, in Turkey, in Tartary, in Scythia, in Judea, in Italy, in Germany, in the Isles of the sea, in the mountains and valleys, and in all places of the world where men dwell which have the Gospel and believe in Jesus Christ.

Therefore Sara or Jerusalem our free mother, is the Church itself, the spouse of Christ, of whom we all are engendered. This mother engenders free children without ceasing to the end of the world, as long as she exercises the ministry of the word, that is to say, as long as she preaches and publishes the Gospel: for this is truly to engender. Now, she teaches the Gospel after this manner: to wit, that we are delivered from the curse of the law, from sin, death and all other evils through Jesus Christ, and not by the law, neither by works. Therefore Jerusalem which is above, that is to say, the Church, is not subject to the law and works, but she is free and a mother, without the law, sin and death. Now, such a mother as she is, such children she engenders.

This allegory teaches very aptly that the Church should do nothing else but preach and teach the Gospel truly and sincerely, and by this means should beget children. So, we are all fathers and children one to another: For we are begotten one of another. I being begotten by others through the Gospel, do now beget others, which shall also beget others hereafter: and so this begetting shall endure to the end of the world. Now, I speak of the generation, not of Hagar the bondmaid, which begets her bond-servants by the law, but of Sarah the freewoman, who begets heirs without the law, and without man's works or endeavors. For in that Isaac is heir and not Ishmael (albeit notwithstanding that both of them were the natural sons of Abraham) Isaac had the inheritance by the word of promise, namely: Sarah your wife shall bring you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. This did Sarah well understand, and therefore she says: Cast out the bondwoman and her son: And Paul also alleges these words afterwards. Therefore as Isaac has the inheritance of his father only by the promise and by his birth, without the law and without works: even so we are born through the Gospel of that freewoman Sarah, true heirs of the promise. She, that is to say, the church instructs us, nourishes us, and carries us in her womb, in her lap, and in her arms: she forms and fashions us to the image of Christ, until we grow up to a perfect man, etc. So all things are done by the ministry of the word. Therefore the office of the freewoman is to beget children to God her husband without ceasing and without end: that is to say, such children as know that they are justified by faith and not by the law.

Verse 27. For it is written: Rejoice you barren that bear no children: break forth and cry you that do not travail: for the desolate have many more children than she which has a husband.

Paul alleges this place out of Isaiah the Prophet, which is altogether allegorical. It is written (says he) that the mother of many children, and she which has a husband must be sick and die and contrariwise, that the barren and she which has no children, must have abundance of children. After the same manner Hannah sings in her song, out of which Isaiah the Prophet took his prophecy (1 Samuel 2): The bow and the mighty men are broken, and the weak have girded themselves with strength. They that were full are hired forth for bread, and the hungry are no more hired, so that the barren has borne seven: and she that had many children is feeble. A marvelous matter (says he): she that was fruitful shall be made barren, and she that was barren fruitful. Moreover, such as before were strong, full, rich, glorious, righteous and blessed, shall become feeble, hungry, poor, ignominious, sinners, subject to death and damnation: And contrariwise the feeble and hungry, etc. shall be strong and satisfied, etc.

The Apostle shows by this allegory of the Prophet Isaiah, the difference which is between Hagar and Sarah, that is to say, between the synagogue and the church, or between the law and the Gospel. The law being the husband of the fruitful woman, that is to say, of the synagogue, begets very many children. For men of all ages, not only idiots, but also the wisest and best (that is to say, all mankind except the children of the freewoman) do neither see nor know any other righteousness than the righteousness of the law: much less do they know any which is more excellent: Therefore they think themselves righteous if they follow the law and outwardly perform the works thereof.

Now, although these be fruitful, have many disciples, and shine in the righteousness and glorious works of the law: yet notwithstanding they be not free but bond-servants: For they are the children of Hagar, which begets to bondage. Now, if they be servants, they cannot be partakers of the inheritance, but shall be cast out of the house: for servants remain not in the house forever: Indeed, they are already cast out of the kingdom of grace and liberty. For he that believes not, is judged already. They remain therefore under the curse of the law, under sin and death, under the power of the Devil, and under the wrath and judgment of God.

Now, if the moral law itself or the ten commandments of God, can do nothing else but beget servants, that is to say, can not justify, but only terrify, accuse, condemn, and drive men's consciences to desperation: how then (I pray you) shall the laws of men, or the laws of the Pope justify, which are the doctrines of Devils? They therefore that teach and set forth either the traditions of men, or the law of God as necessary to obtain righteousness before God: do nothing else but beget servants. Notwithstanding such teachers are counted the best men: they obtain the favor of the world, and are most fruitful mothers: for they have an infinite number of disciples. For man's reason understands not what faith and true godliness is, and therefore it neglects and despises it, and is naturally addicted to superstition and hypocrisy, that is to say, to the righteousness of works. Now, because this righteousness shines and flourishes every where, therefore it is as a mighty Empress of the whole world. They therefore which teach the righteousness of works by the law, beget many children which outwardly seem to be free, and have a glorious show of excellent virtues, but in conscience they are servants and bondslaves of sin: therefore they are to be cast out of the house and condemned.

Contrariwise Sara the freewoman, that is to say, the true church seems to be barren. For the Gospel which is the word of the cross and affliction, which the Church preaches, shines not so brightly as the doctrine of the law and works, and therefore she has not so many disciples to cleave to her. Moreover, she bears this title, that she forbids good works, makes men secure, idle, and negligent, raises up heresies and seditions, and is the cause of all mischief: and therefore she seems to bring no success or prosperity, but all things seem to be full of barrenness, desolation and desperation. Therefore the wicked are certainly persuaded, that the church with her doctrine can not long endure. The Jews assured themselves that the church which was planted by the Apostles, should shortly be overthrown: the which by an odious name they called a Sect. For thus they speak to Paul in Chapter 28 of the Acts: As concerning this Sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against. In like manner how often (I pray you) have our adversaries been deceived, which sometimes appointed one time, and sometimes another, when we should be certainly destroyed? Christ and his Apostles were oppressed: but after their death the doctrine of the Gospel was further spread abroad than it was during their life. In like manner our adversaries may oppress us at this day but the word of God shall abide forever. However much then the church seems to be barren and forsaken, weak and despised, and outwardly to suffer persecution: and moreover be compelled to hear this reproach, that her doctrine is heretical and seditious: notwithstanding she alone is fruitful before God: she engenders by the ministry of the word an infinite number of children, heirs of righteousness and everlasting life: And although outwardly they suffer persecution, yet in spirit they are most free: who not only are judges over all doctrines and works, but also are most victorious conquerors against the gates of hell.

The Prophet therefore confesses, that the church is in heaviness, for else he would not exhort her to rejoice. He grants that she is barren before the world: For else he would not call her barren and forsaken, having no children: but before God he says she is fruitful, and therefore he bids her rejoice. As though he would say: You are indeed forsaken and barren, and have not the law for your husband, and therefore you have no children. But rejoice: for although you have not the law for your husband, but are forsaken as a virgin that is ready to marry (for he will not call her widow) which should have a husband if she were not forsaken of him, or if he were not slain: you (I say) which are solitary and forsaken of your husband the law, and not subject to the marriage of the law, shall be a mother of innumerable children. Therefore the people or the Church of the new Testament is altogether without the law as touching the conscience, and therefore she seems to be forsaken in the sight of the world. But although she seems to be never so barren without the law and without works, yet notwithstanding she is most fruitful before God, and brings forth an infinite number of children, not in bondage but in freedom. By what means? Not by the law, but by the word and spirit of Jesus Christ which is given by the Gospel, through which she conceives, brings forth and nourishes her children.

Paul therefore plainly shows by this allegory the difference between the law and the Gospel: First when he calls Hagar the old Testament, and Sara the new: Again, when he calls the one a bondmaid, the other a freewoman: Moreover, when he says that the married and fruitful is become barren and cast out of the house with her children. Contrariwise the barren and forsaken is become fruitful, and brings forth an infinite number of children, and those also inheritors. By these differences are resembled the two sorts of people, of faith and of the law I mean. The people of faith have not the law for their husband, they serve not in bondage, they are not born of that mother Jerusalem which now is: but they have the promise, they are free, and are born of free Sara.

He separates therefore the spiritual people of the new Testament from the other people of the law, when he says that the spiritual people are not the children of Hagar the bondmaid, but of Sara the freewoman, which knows nothing of the law. And by this means he places the people of faith far above and without the law. Now, if they be above and without the law, then are they justified by the spiritual birth only, which is nothing else but faith: and not by the law or by the works thereof. Now, as the people of grace, neither have, nor can have the law: so the people of the law neither have nor can have grace: for it is impossible that the law and grace should stand together. Therefore we must be justified by faith, and lose the righteousness of the law: or else be justified by the law, and lose the righteousness of faith. But this is a foul and a lamentable loss, to lose grace and to return to the law. Contrariwise it is a happy and blessed loss, to lose the law, and lay hold of grace.

We therefore (following the example and diligence of Paul) do endeavor as much as is possible, to set forth plainly the difference between the law and the Gospel: which is very easy as touching the words. For who sees not that Hagar is not Sara, and that Sara is not Hagar? Also, that Ishmael is not Isaac, and that he has not that which Isaac has? A man may easily discern these things: but in great terrors and in the agony of death, when the conscience wrestles with the judgment of God, it is the hardest thing of all others to say with a sure and a steadfast hope: I am not the son of Hagar, but of Sara: that is to say, the law belongs nothing to me: For Sara is my mother, who brings forth free children and heirs, and not servants.

Paul then by this testimony of Isaiah has proved that Sarah, that is to say, the church is the true mother which brings forth free children and heirs: contrariwise that Hagar, that is to say, the synagogue engenders many children indeed: but they are servants and must be cast out. Moreover, because this place speaks also of the abolishing of the law and of Christian liberty, it ought to be diligently considered. For as it is the most principal and special article of Christian doctrine, to know that we are justified and saved by Christ, so is it also very necessary to know and understand well the doctrine concerning the abolishment of the law. For it helps very much to confirm our doctrine as touching faith, and to attain sound and certain consolation of conscience, when we are assured that the law is abolished, and especially in great terrors and serious conflicts.

I have often said before, and now I say again (for it cannot be too often repeated), that a Christian laying hold of the benefit of Christ through faith, has no law, but all the law is to him abolished with all its terrors and torments. This place of Isaiah teaches the same thing, and therefore it is very notable and full of comfort, stirring up the barren and forsaken to rejoice, which was counted worthy to be mocked or pitied according to the law. For such as were barren were accursed according to the law: but the Holy Spirit turns this sentence, and pronounces the barren worthy of praise and blessing: and contrariwise the fruitful, and such as bring forth children, accursed, when he says: Rejoice you barren, which bore not: Break forth into joy and rejoice you who are not in labor: For the desolate has many more children than the married wife. However then Sarah, that is to say, the church may seem to be forsaken and barren before the world, not having the righteousness and works of the law: yet notwithstanding she is a most fruitful mother, having an infinite number of children before God, as the prophet witnesses. Contrariwise, although Hagar seem never so fruitful, and to bring forth never so many children, yet notwithstanding she has no issue remaining: for the children of the bondwoman are cast out of the house together with their mother and receive not the inheritance with the children of the freewoman, as Paul says afterwards.

Because therefore we are the children of the freewoman, the law our old husband is abolished (Romans 7): who as long as he had dominion over us, it was impossible for us to bring forth children free in spirit, or knowing grace: but we remained with the other in bondage. True it is, that as long as the law reigns, men are not idle, but they labor greatly, they bear the burden and the heat of the day, they bring forth and engender many children: but as well the fathers as the children are bastards, and do not belong to the free mother: Therefore they are at length cast out of the house and inheritance with Ishmael — they die and are damned. It is impossible therefore that men should attain to the inheritance, that is to say, that they should be justified and saved by the law, although they labor never so much, and be never so fruitful therein. Accursed therefore be that doctrine, life and religion, which endeavors to get righteousness before God by the law or the works thereof. But let us pursue our purpose as touching the abolishment of the law.

The scholastic doctors speaking of the abolishment of the law, say that the judicial and the ceremonial laws are pernicious since the coming of Christ and therefore are abolished: but not the moral law. These blind doctors did not know what they said. But if you will speak of the abolishment of the law, talk of it as it is in its own proper use and office, and as it is spiritually taken, and comprehend with all the whole law, making no distinction at all between the judicial, ceremonial and moral law. For when Paul says, that we are delivered from the curse of the law by Christ, he speaks of the whole law, and principally of the moral law, which only accuses, curses and condemns the conscience: which the other two do not. Therefore we say that the moral law, or the law of the ten commandments has no power to accuse and terrify the conscience, in which Jesus Christ reigns by his grace: for he has abolished the power thereof.

Not that the conscience does not at all feel the terrors of the law (for indeed it feels them): but that they cannot condemn it nor bring it to desperation. For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8). Also: If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8). However then a Christian man be terrified through the law, showing to him his sin, notwithstanding he therefore despairs not: For he believes in Jesus Christ and being baptized in him and cleansed by his blood, he has remission of all his sins. Now, when our sin is pardoned through Christ, who is the Lord of the law (and yet so pardoned that he gave himself for it) the law being a servant has no more power to accuse and condemn us for sin, seeing it is forgiven us and we are now made free inasmuch as the Son has delivered us from bondage: Therefore the law is wholly abolished to them that believe in Christ.

But you will say: I do nothing. True it is that you cannot do anything whereby you may be delivered from the tyranny of the law. But hear this joyful tidings which the Holy Spirit brings to you out of the words of the Prophet: Rejoice you that are barren, etc. As if he would say: Why are you so heavy, since there is no cause why you should so mourn? But I am barren and forsaken, etc. Well: although you be never so barren and forsaken, etc., not having the righteousness of the law, notwithstanding Christ is your righteousness: he was made a curse for you to deliver you from the curse of the law. If you believe in him the law is dead to you. And so much as Christ is greater than the law, so much have you a more excellent righteousness than the righteousness of the law. Moreover, you are fruitful and not barren: for you have many more children than she which has a husband.

There is also another abolishment of the law which is outward: to wit, that the political laws of Moses do not belong to us at all. Therefore we ought not to call them back again, nor superstitiously bind ourselves to them: as some went about to do in times past, being ignorant of this liberty. Now although the Gospel does not make us subject to the Judicial laws of Moses, yet notwithstanding it does not exempt us from the obedience of all civil laws, but makes us subject in this bodily life to the laws of that government wherein we live, that is to say: it commands every one to obey his Magistrate and laws, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake (1 Peter 2; Romans 13). And the Emperor, or any other Prince should not offend if he used some of the Judicial laws of Moses: indeed he might use them freely and without offence. Therefore the Popish Schoolmen are deceived, which dream that the Judicial laws of Moses are pernicious and deadly since the coming of Christ.

Likewise we are not bound to the ceremonies of Moses, much less to the ceremonies of the Pope. But because this bodily life cannot be altogether without ceremonies and rites (for there must needs be some introduction) therefore the Gospel suffers ordinances to be made in the church as touching days, times, places, etc., that the people may know upon what day, in what hour, and in what place to assemble together to hear the word of God. It permits also that lessons and readings should be appointed, as in the schools, especially for the instruction of children and such as are ignorant. These things it permits, to the end that all may be done comely and orderly in the church (1 Corinthians 14), not that they which keep such ordinances, do thereby merit remission of sins. Moreover they may be changed or omitted without sin, so that it be done without offence of the weak.

Now Paul speaks here especially of the abolishment of the moral law: which is diligently to be considered. For he speaks against the righteousness of the law, that he might establish the righteousness of faith, concluding thus: If only grace or faith in Christ justifies, then is the whole law abolished, without any exception. And this he confirms by the testimony of Isaiah, by which he exhorts the barren and forsaken to rejoice: for it seems that she has no child, nor hope ever to have any, that is to say, she has no disciples, no favor nor countenance of the world, because she preaches the word of the cross of Christ crucified, against all the wisdom of the flesh. But you that are barren (says the Prophet) let not this any bit trouble you: indeed rather lift up your voice and rejoice, for she that is forsaken has more children than she that has a husband: that is to say she that is married and has a great number of children shall be made weak, and she that is forsaken shall have many children.

He calls the church barren because her children are not begotten by the law, by works, by any industry or endeavor of man: but by the word of faith in the Spirit of God. Here is nothing else but birth: no working at all. Contrariwise, they that are fruitful, labor and exercise themselves with great toil in bearing and bringing forth. Here is altogether working, and no birth. But because they endeavor to get the right of children and heirs by the righteousness of the law or by their own righteousness, they are servants and never receive the inheritance, no though they tire themselves to death with continual toil. For they go about to obtain that by their own works against the will of God, which God of his mere grace will give to all believers for Christ's sake. The faithful work well also: but they are not thereby made sons and heirs (for this their birth brings to them): but this they do to the end that they being now made children and heirs, might glorify God by their good works, and help their neighbors.

Verse 28. Therefore brethren, we are after the manner of Isaac, children of the promise.

That is to say, we are not children of the flesh, as Ishmael, or as all the fleshly Israel, which gloried that they were the seed of Abraham and the people of God. But Christ answered them (John 8): If you were the sons of Abraham, you would not seek to kill me which speak the truth to you. Also: If God were your Father, then would you love me and receive my word. As if he would say: Brethren born and brought up together in one house, know one another's voice: But you be of your father the Devil, etc. We are not such children (says he) as they are: which remain servants, and at length shall be cast out of the house. But we are children of the promise as Isaac was: that is to say, of grace and of faith, born only of the promise. Concerning this I have spoken sufficiently before in the third chapter treating upon this place: In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Therefore we are pronounced righteous: not by the law, by works, or our own righteousness, but by the mere mercy and grace of God. Paul repeats very often, and diligently sets forth the promise which is received by faith alone: for he knew that it was very necessary so to do.

Up to this point as touching the allegory out of Genesis: to the which Paul annexes the place of Isaiah as an interpretation. Now he applies the history of Ishmael and Isaac, for our example and consolation.

Verse 19. But as then he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so is it now.

This place contains a singular consolation. Whoever are born and live in Christ, and rejoice in this birth and inheritance of God, have Ishmael for their enemy and their persecutor. This we learn at this day by experience: For we see that all the world is full of tumults, persecutions, sects and offenses. Therefore, if we did not arm ourselves with this consolation of Paul and such like, and well understand this article of justification, we should never be able to withstand the violence & subtle sleights of Satan. For who should not be troubled with these cruel persecutions of our adversaries, and with these sects and infinite offenses, which a sort of busy and fantastical spirits stir up at this day? Verily it is no small grief to us, when we are constrained to hear that all things were in peace & tranquility before the Gospel came abroad: but since the preaching & publishing thereof, all things are unquiet & the whole world is in an uproar, so that every one arms himself against another. When a man that is not endued with the spirit of God hears this, by and by he is offended, and judges that the disobedience of subjects against their magistrates, that seditions, wars, plagues & famine, that the overthrowing of commonwealths, kingdoms and countries, that sects, offenses and such other infinite evils do proceed altogether of the doctrine of the Gospel.

Against this great offense we must comfort & arm ourselves with this sweet consolation, that the faithful must bear this name and this title in the world, that they are seditious and schismatics, and the authors of innumerable evils. And hereof it comes that our adversaries think they have a just cause, indeed that they do God high service when they hate, persecute, and kill us. It cannot be then but that Ishmael must persecute Isaac: But Isaac again does not persecute Ishmael. Whoever will not suffer the persecution of Ishmael, let him not profess himself to be a Christian.

But let our adversaries (which so vehemently amplify & exaggerate these evils at this day) tell us what good things ensued the preaching of the Gospel of Christ and his Apostles. Did not the destruction of the kingdom of the Jews follow? Was not the Roman Empire overthrown? Was not the whole world in an uproar. And yet the Gospel was not the cause hereof, which Christ and his Apostles preached for the profit and salvation of men, and not for their destruction. But these things followed through the fault of the people, the nations, the Kings & Princes, who being possessed of the Devil, would not hearken to the word of grace, life, and eternal salvation: but detested and condemned it as a doctrine most pernicious and hurtful to religion & commonwealths. And that this should so come to pass, the Holy Ghost foretold by David when he says (Psalm 2): Why do the heathen rage, and the people murmur in vain. etc.

Such tumults and hurly-burlies we hear and see at this day. The adversaries lay the fault in our doctrine. But the doctrine of grace and peace stirs not up these troubles: but the people, nations, kings, and Princes of the earth (as the Psalm says) rage, murmur, conspire and take counsel, not against us (as they think) nor against our doctrine, which they blaspheme as false and seditious: but against the Lord and his anointed. Therefore all their counsels and practices are and shall be disappointed and brought to nothing: He that dwells in the heaven shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Let them cry out therefore as long as they like, that we raise up these tumults and seditions: notwithstanding this Psalm comforts us, and says, that they themselves are the authors of these troubles. They cannot believe this, & much less can they believe that it is they which murmur, rise up, & take counsel against the Lord & his anointed: in fact rather they think that they maintain the Lord's cause, that they defend his glory, & do him acceptable service in persecuting us: but the Psalm does not lie, and that shall the end declare. Here we do nothing, but only suffer, as our conscience bears us witness in the Holy Ghost. Moreover, the doctrine for the which they raise up such tumults and offenses, is not ours, but it is the doctrine of Christ. This doctrine we cannot deny, nor forsake the defense thereof, seeing Christ says: Whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful nation, of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his glory, and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

He therefore that will preach Christ truly, and confess him to be our righteousness, must be content to hear that he is a pernicious fellow, and that he troubles all things. They which have troubled the world (said the Jews of Paul and Silas, Acts 17) are also come to us, and have done contrary to the decrees of Caesar. And in the 24th of Acts: We have found this pestilent fellow stirring up sedition among all the Jews throughout the whole world, and the author of the Sect of the Nazarites. etc. In like manner also the Gentiles complain in the 16th of Acts: These men trouble our city. So at this day they accuse Luther to be a troubler of the Papacy and of the Roman Empire. If I would keep silence, then all things should be in peace which the strong man possesses, and the Pope would not persecute me any more. But by this means the Gospel of Jesus Christ should be blemished & defaced. If I speak, the Pope is troubled and cruelly rages. Either we must lose the Pope an earthly and mortal man, or else the immortal God, Christ Jesus, life and eternal salvation. Let the Pope perish then, & let God be exalted, let Christ reign and triumph forever.

Christ himself when he foresaw in spirit the great troubles which should follow his preaching, comforted himself after this manner: I came (says he) to send fire upon the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled? In like manner we see at this day that great troubles follow the preaching of the Gospel through the persecution and blasphemy of our adversaries and the ingratitude of the world. This matter so grieves us that oftentimes after the flesh and after the judgment of reason, we think it had been better that the doctrine of the Gospel had not been published, than that after the preaching thereof the public peace should be so troubled? But according to the spirit we say boldly with Christ: I came to send fire upon the earth, and what will I but that it should now be kindled? Now, after that this fire is kindled, there follow forthwith great commotions. For it is not a King or an Emperor that is thus provoked: but the God of this world, which is a most mighty spirit, and the Lord of the whole world. This weak word preaching Christ crucified, sets upon this mighty and terrible adversary. Behemoth feeling the divine power of this word, stirs up all his members, shakes his tail, and makes the depth of the sea to boil like a pot (Job 41). Hereof come all these tumults, all these furious and cruel rages of the world.

Therefore let it not trouble us that our adversaries are offended and cry out that there comes no good by the preaching of the Gospel. They are infidels, they are blind and obstinate, and therefore it is impossible that they should see any fruit of the Gospel. But contrariwise we which believe, do see the inestimable profits and fruits thereof: although outwardly for a time we be oppressed with infinite evils, despised, spoiled, accused, condemned as the outcasts and filthy dung of the whole world, and put to death: and inwardly afflicted with the feeling of our sin, and vexed with Devils. For we live in Christ, in whom and by whom we are made Kings and Lords over sin, death, the flesh, the world, hell, and all evils: In whom and by whom also we tread under our feet that Dragon and Basilisk which is the King of sin and death. How is this done? In faith. For the blessedness which we hope for, is not yet revealed, which in the mean time we wait for in patience, and yet notwithstanding do now assuredly possess the same by faith.

We ought therefore diligently to learn the article of justification: for that only is able to support us against these infinite slanders and offenses, and to comfort us in all our temptations and persecutions. For we see that it cannot otherwise be, but that the world will be offended with the pure doctrine of the Gospel, and continually cry out that no good comes of it: For the natural man understands not those things which are of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2). He only beholds the outward evils, troubles, rebellions, murders, sects, and such other like things. With these sights he is offended and blinded, and finally falls into the contempt and blaspheming of God and his word.

On the contrary part we ought to stay and comfort ourselves in this, that our adversaries do not accuse and condemn us for any manifest wickedness which we have committed, as adultery, murder, theft and such like, but for our doctrine. And what do we teach? That Christ the Son of God by the death of the cross has redeemed us from our sins and from everlasting death. Therefore they do not impugn our life, but our doctrine: yes, the doctrine of Christ, and not ours. Therefore if there be any offense, it is Christ's offense and not ours, and so the fault for which they persecute us, Christ has committed and not we. Now, whether they will condemn Christ, and pluck him out of heaven as a heretic and seditious person for this fault that he is our only justifier and Savior, let them look to that. As for us, we commending this his own cause to himself, are quiet beholders whether of them shall have the victory, Christ or they. Indeed after the flesh it grieves us that these Ishmaelites hate and persecute us so furiously: notwithstanding according to the spirit we glory in these afflictions: both because we know that we suffer them not for our sins, but for Christ's cause, whose benefit and whose glory we set forth: and also because Paul gives us warning beforehand, that Ishmael must mock Isaac and persecute him.

The Jews expound this place, which Paul alleges out of the 21st of Genesis, of Ishmael mocking and persecuting Isaac after this manner: that Ishmael constrained Isaac to commit idolatry. If he did so, yet I believe not that it was any such gross idolatry as the Jews dream of: to wit, that Ishmael made images of clay after the manner of the Gentiles, which he compelled Isaac to worship: For this Abraham would in no wise have suffered. But I think that Ishmael was in outward show a holy man, as Cain was, who also persecuted his brother, and at length killed him: not for any corporal thing, but because he saw that God esteemed him above the other. In like manner Ishmael was outwardly a lover of religion: he sacrificed and exercised himself in well doing. Therefore he mocked his brother Isaac, and would be esteemed a better man than he, for two causes: First for his religion and service of God: Secondly for his civil government and inheritance. And these two things he seemed justly to challenge to himself. For he thought that the kingdom and Priesthood pertained to him by the right of God's law as the firstborn: and therefore he persecuted Isaac spiritually because of religion, and corporally because of his inheritance.

This persecution always remains in the Church, especially when the doctrine of the Gospel flourishes: to wit, that the children of the flesh mock the children of the promise and persecute them. The Papists persecute us at this day, and for no other cause, but for that we teach that righteousness comes by the promise. For it vexes the Papists, that we will not worship their idols, that is to say, that we do not set forth their righteousness, their works and worshipings devised and ordained by men, as available to obtain grace and forgiveness of sins. And for this cause they go about to cast us out of the house, that is to say, they vaunt that they are the Church, the children and people of God, and that the inheritance belongs to them, etc. On the contrary, they excommunicate and banish us as heretics and seditious persons, and if they can, they kill us also: and in so doing they think they do God good service. So, as much as in them lies, they cast us out of this life, and of the life to come. The Anabaptists and such others do hate us deadly because we impugn and detest their errors and heresies which they spread abroad and daily renew in the church: and for this cause they judge us to be far worse than the Papists, and therefore they have conceived a more cruel hatred against us, than against the Papists.

As soon therefore as the word of God is brought to light, the Devil is angry, and uses all his force and subtle sleights to persecute it, and utterly to abolish it. Therefore he can no otherwise do, but raise up infinite sects, horrible offenses, cruel persecutions, and abominable murders. For he is the father of lying and a murderer. He spreads his lies throughout the world by false teachers, and he kills men by tyrants. By these means he possesses both the spiritual and the corporal kingdom: the spiritual by the lying of false teachers (stirring up also without ceasing every one of us particularly by his fiery darts to heresies and wicked opinions): the corporal kingdom by the sword of tyrants. Thus this father of lying and of murder, stirs up persecution on every side, both spiritual and corporal against the children of the free woman. The spiritual persecution which we are at this day constrained to suffer of heretics, is to us most grievous and intolerable because of the infinite offenses and slanders with which the Devil goes about to deface our doctrine. For we are enforced to hear that the heresies and errors of the Anabaptists and other heretics, and all other enormities, do proceed from our doctrine. The corporal persecution, by which tyrants lie in wait for our goods and lives, is more tolerable: for they persecute us not for our sins, but for the testimony of the word of God. Let us learn therefore even by the title which Christ gives to the Devil: to wit, that he is the father of lying and murder (John 8), that when the Gospel flourishes and Christ reigns, then sects of perdition must needs spring up, and murderers, persecuting the Gospel, must rage everywhere. And Paul says: that there must be heresies. He that is ignorant of this, is soon offended, and falling away from the true God and true faith, he returns to his old God and old false faith.

Paul therefore in this place arms the godly beforehand, that they be not offended with those persecutions, sects and offenses, saying: But as then he that was born after the flesh, etc. As if he would say: if we be the children of the promise and born after the spirit, we must surely look to be persecuted of our brother which is born after the flesh: that is to say, not only our enemies which are manifestly wicked, shall persecute us, but also such as at the first were our dear friends, with whom we were familiarly conversant in one house, which received from us the true doctrine of the Gospel, shall become our deadly enemies, and persecute us extremely. For they are brethren after the flesh, and must persecute their brethren which are born after the spirit. So Christ in Psalm 41 complains of Judas: The man of my peace whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up the heel against me. But this is our consolation, that we have not given any occasion to our Ishmaelites to persecute us. The Papists persecute us because we teach the pure and sincere doctrine of the Gospel: which if we would forsake, they would persecute us no more. Moreover, if we would approve the pernicious heresies of the sectarians, they would praise us. But because we detest and abhor the impiety both of the one and the other, therefore do they so spitefully hate and so cruelly persecute us.

But not only Paul (as I have said) arms us against such persecutions and offenses, but Christ himself also most sweetly comforts us in John 15, saying: if you were of the world, the world would love you: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. As if he would say: I am the cause of all these persecutions which you endure: and if you be killed it is I for whose sake you are killed. For if you did not preach my word and confess me, the world would not persecute you. But it goes well with you: for the servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you for my name's sake.

By these words Christ lays all the fault upon himself, and delivers us from all fear. As if he would say: you are not the cause why the world hates and persecutes you, but my name which you preach and confess, is the cause thereof. But be of good comfort: I have overcome the world. This comfort upholds us, so that we doubt nothing but that Christ is strong enough, not only to bear, but also to vanquish all the cruelty of tyrants, and the subtle sleights of heretics. And this he has declared in showing forth his power against the Jews and Romans, whose tyranny and persecutions he suffered for a time: he also suffered the subtleties and crafty practices of heretics, but in time and place he overthrew them all, and remained king and conqueror. Let the Papists then rage as much as they will: let the sectarians slander and corrupt the Gospel of Christ as much as they can: notwithstanding Christ shall reign eternally, and his word shall stand forever, when all his enemies shall be brought to nothing. Moreover, this is a singular consolation, that the persecution of Ishmael against Isaac shall not always continue, but shall endure for a little while, and when that is ended, the sentence shall be pronounced, as follows.

Verse 30. But what says the Scripture? Cast out the servant and her son: for the son of the servant shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

This word of Sarah was very grievous to Abraham: and, no doubt, when he heard this sentence, his fatherly bowels were moved with compassion towards his son Ishmael: for he was born of his flesh. And this the Scripture plainly witnesses, Genesis 21, when it says: And this thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his son. But God confirmed the sentence which Sarah pronounced, saying to Abraham: Let it not be grievous in your sight for the child and for your bondwoman: in all that Sarah shall say to you, hear her voice: for in Isaac shall your seed be called.

The Ishmaelites hear in this place the sentence pronounced against them, which overthrows the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and all such other as persecute the Church of Christ. The very same sentence also shall overthrow the Papists, and as many as trust in their own works, which at this day boast themselves to be the people of God and the Church: which also trust that they shall surely receive the inheritance, and judge us which rest upon the promise of God, not only to be barren and forsaken, but also heretics cast out of the Church, and that it is impossible that we should be sons and heirs. But God overthrows their judgment and pronounces this sentence against them, that because they are the children of the bondwoman, and persecute the children of the freewoman: therefore they shall be cast out of the house, and shall have no inheritance with the children of promise: to whom only the inheritance belongs because they are the children of the freewoman. This sentence is ratified, and can never be revoked: therefore it shall assuredly come to pass that our Ishmaelites shall not only lose the ecclesiastical and politic government which now they have, but also everlasting life. For the Scripture has foretold that the children of the bondwoman shall be cast out of the house, that is to say, out of the kingdom of grace: for they cannot be heirs together with the children of the freewoman.

Now, here is to be noted that the Holy Spirit calls the people of the law and works, as it were in contempt, the child of the bondwoman. As if he said: Why do you vaunt of the righteousness of the law and works, and why do you glory that you are the people and children of God for the same? If you know not of whom you are born, I will tell you. You are born bond-servants of a bondwoman. And what servants? The bond-servants of the law, and consequently of sin, of death, and of everlasting damnation. Now, a servant is no inheritor, but is cast out of the house. Therefore the Pope with all his kingdom, and all other Justiciaries (whatever outward appearance of holiness they have) which hope to obtain grace and salvation by the law, are servants of that bondwoman, and have no inheritance with the children of the freewoman. I speak now, not of the Popes, Cardinals, Bishops and Monks that were manifestly wicked, who have made their bellies their God, and have committed such horrible sins as I will not willingly name: but of the best of them, such I mean as lived holily, and went about through great labor and travail by keeping of their Monkish order, to pacify the wrath of God, and to merit remission of their sins and everlasting life. These hear their sentence here pronounced, that the sons of the bondwoman must be cast out of the house with their mother the bondwoman.

Such sentences diligently considered, make us certain of our doctrine, and confirm us in the righteousness of faith, against the doctrine and righteousness of works, which the world embraces and magnifies, condemning and despising the other. And this troubles and offends weak consciences: which, although they plainly see the impiety, the execrable wickedness, and horrible abominations of the Papists, yet notwithstanding, they are not easily persuaded, that all the multitude which bears the name and title of the church does err, and that there are but few of them which have a sound and right opinion of the doctrine of faith. And if the Papacy had the same holiness and austerity of life which it had in the time of the ancient fathers, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine and others, when the clergy had not yet so evil a name for their simony, excess, abundance of riches, dissolute living, voluptuousness, whoredom, sodomy and such other infinite abominations, but lived after the rules and decrees of the fathers religiously and holily in outward show, and unmarried, what could we do now against the Papacy?

The celibate life which the clergy kept very strictly in the time of the fathers was a goodly thing, and made of men very angels in the sight of the world: and therefore Paul in the second chapter of Colossians calls it the religion of angels. And the Papists sing thus of their virgins: He led an angelical life while he lived in the flesh, and yet lived contrary to the flesh. Moreover, the life which they call the contemplative life (to which the clergy men were then very much given, utterly neglecting all civil and household government) had a goodly show of holiness. Therefore, if that outward show and appearance of the old Papacy remained at this day, we should perhaps do but little against it by our doctrine of faith, seeing we do now so little prevail when (that old show of outward holiness and severe discipline being utterly abolished) there is nothing to be seen but a very sink and puddle of all vices and abominations.

But admit the case that the old discipline and religion of the Papacy were yet remaining: notwithstanding we ought by the example of Paul (who vehemently pursued the false apostles, which outwardly appeared to be very godly and holy men) to fight against the merit-mongers of the Papistical kingdom, and to say: Although you live a celibate life tiring and consuming your bodies with continual travail, and walking in the humility and religion of angels, yet are you servants of the law, of sin and of the Devil, and must be cast out of the house: for you seek righteousness and salvation by your works, and not by Christ.

Therefore we ought not so much to consider the wicked life of the Papists, as their abominable doctrine and hypocrisy, against which we specially fight. Let us suppose then that the religion and discipline of the old Papacy does yet still flourish, and that it is now observed with as much severity and strictness as ever it was: yet must we say notwithstanding: If you have nothing but this holiness and chastity of life to set against the wrath and judgment of God, you are in very deed the sons of the bondwoman, which must be cast out of the kingdom of heaven and be damned.

And now, they themselves do not defend their wicked life: or rather they which are the best and the soundest of them all do detest it: but they fight for the maintenance and defense of the doctrine of Devils, for hypocrisy, and for the righteousness of works. Here they allege the authority of Councils and the examples of holy fathers, whom they affirm to have been the authors of their holy orders and statutes. Therefore we fight not against the manifest wickedness and abominations of the Papacy, but against the greatest holiness and holiest Saints thereof, which think they lead an angelic life, while they dream that they keep not only the commandments of God, but also the counsels of Christ, and do works of supererogation, and such as they are not bound to do. This we say is to labor in vain, except they take hold of that only and alone, which Christ says is only necessary, and choose the good part with Mary, which shall not be taken from them.

This did Bernard, a man so godly, so holy and so chaste, that he is to be commended and preferred above them all. He being once grievously sick, and having no hope of life, put not his trust in his single life wherein he had lived most chastely, nor in his good works and deeds of charity whereof he had done many: but removed them far out of his sight, and receiving the benefit of Christ by faith, he said: *I have lived wickedly. But you, Lord Jesus Christ, by double right do possess the kingdom of heaven: First, because you are the son of God: Secondly, because you have purchased it by your death and passion. The first you keep for yourself by your birthright. The second you give to me, not by the right of my works, but by the right of grace. He set not against the wrath of God his Monkery nor his angelic life: but he took hold of that one thing which was necessary, and so was saved. I think that Jerome, Gregory, and many other fathers were saved after the same sort. And it is not to be doubted but that also in the old Testament many Kings of Israel and other Idolaters were saved in like manner, who at the hour of death, casting away their vain trust which they had in Idols, took hold of the promise of God, which was made to the Seed of Abraham, that is to say, Christ in whom all nations should be blessed. And if there be any of the Papists which shall be saved, they must simply lean, not to their own good deeds and deserving, but to the mercy of God offered to us in Christ, and say with Paul: I have not my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is by faith in Christ (Philippians 3:9).

Verse 31. Then brethren we are not children of the servant, but of the freewoman.

Paul here concludes his allegory of the barren church, and of the fruitful people of the law. We are not (says he) the children of the bondwoman: that is to say, we are not under the law which begets to bondage, that is, which terrifies, accuses and brings to desperation: but we are delivered from it by Christ: Therefore it cannot terrify nor condemn us. Of this we have spoken enough before. Moreover, although the sons of the bondwoman do persecute us never so much for a time, yet this is our comfort, that they shall be compelled to leave the inheritance to us, which belongs to us that are the sons of the freewoman, and shall at length be cast into utter darkness (Matthew 25:29).

Paul therefore by these words [bondwoman and freewoman] took occasion (as we have heard) to reject the righteousness of the law, and to confirm the doctrine of justification. And of purpose he takes hold of this word [freewoman] vehemently urging and amplifying the same, especially in the beginning of the chapter following. Whereupon he takes occasion to reason of Christian liberty: the knowledge whereof is very necessary. For the Pope has in a manner quite overthrown it, and made the Church subject to man's traditions and ceremonies, and to a most miserable and filthy bondage. That liberty which is purchased by Christ, is to us at this day a most strong fort and fortification whereby we defend ourselves against the tyranny of the Pope. Therefore we must diligently consider this doctrine of Christian liberty, as well to confirm the doctrine of justification, as also to raise up and comfort weak consciences against so many troubles and offenses, which our adversaries do impute to the Gospel. Now, Christian liberty is a very spiritual thing, which the carnal man does not understand. Indeed they which have the first fruits of the Spirit, and can talk well thereof, do very hardly retain it in their heart. It seems to reason that it is a matter of small importance. Therefore if the Holy Spirit does not magnify it (Romans 9:23), and add a weight to it, it is contemned.

Verse 1. Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything. Verse 2. But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.

You can see with what intensity Paul works to call the Galatians back, and what strong arguments he uses, drawing on illustrations from experience, from the example of Abraham, from the testimony of Scripture, and from the element of time — so that he sometimes seems to be beginning the whole argument again. He had in effect already finished the discussion of justification, concluding that a person is justified before God by faith alone. But now he brings up the illustration of the young heir, drawn from ordinary civic life, to further confirm his point. By trying every angle, he lays a kind of holy trap for the Galatians. Ordinary people are more readily persuaded by illustrations and examples than by deep and intricate arguments. They would rather look at a vivid picture than read a carefully written book. After having used the illustrations of a human will, the prison, and the schoolmaster, Paul now uses the well-known and familiar example of an heir to move and persuade them. It is indeed very useful to be equipped with illustrations and examples — something not only Paul but also the prophets and Christ Himself did frequently.

Civil law, he says, establishes that an heir — though he is the rightful owner of all his father's goods — is no different in practice from a servant. He does have a firm hope of the inheritance, but until he comes of age, his guardians and managers keep him under their authority just as a schoolmaster does a student. They do not hand over control of his goods to him but require him to serve, so that he is kept and provided for from his own inheritance like a servant. As long as this bondage lasts — that is, as long as he is under guardians and managers — he differs in no way from a servant. And this subjection and service is actually good for him — otherwise, through foolishness, he would soon squander everything. This captivity does not last forever but has a time fixed and appointed by the father when it must end.

Verse 3. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elementary principles of the world.

In the same way, when we were like young children, we were heirs who had the promise of the inheritance to come — the inheritance to be given through the seed of Abraham, that is, through Christ, in whom all nations would be blessed. But because the fullness of time had not yet arrived, Moses our guardian, manager, and schoolmaster came and held us in captivity with our hands bound, so that we could neither govern ourselves nor take possession of our inheritance. In the meantime, however, just as an heir is cared for and maintained with the hope of freedom to come, so Moses nourished us with the hope of the promise to be revealed at the appointed time — when Christ would come and by His coming put an end to the time of the law and begin the time of grace.

The time of the law ends in two ways. First — as I said — by the coming of Christ in the flesh at the time appointed by His Father. 'But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law.' He entered the holy place once for all through His own blood and obtained eternal redemption for us. Furthermore, the same Christ who came once at the appointed time also comes to us daily and every hour in Spirit. He once redeemed and sanctified all through His own blood — but because we are not yet fully pure (since remnants of sin still cling to our flesh, which strives against the Spirit) He also comes to us spiritually every day, continually advancing and more fully accomplishing the appointed time of His Father, removing and abolishing the law.

He came in this same way in Spirit to the fathers of the Old Testament before He appeared in the flesh. They had Christ in Spirit. They believed in Christ who was to be revealed, just as we believe in Christ who has now been revealed, and they were saved through Him just as we are — according to the saying: 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.' Yesterday, before the time of His coming in the flesh. Today, when He was revealed at the appointed time. Now and forever He is one and the same Christ — for through Him alone all the faithful who have ever lived, who now live, or who ever will live are delivered from the law, justified, and saved.

We too, he says, when we were children, served under the elementary principles of the world — that is, the law had dominion over us, oppressed us, and held us in strict bondage as servants and captives. First, it restrained fleshly and rebellious people from rushing headlong into every kind of vice, for the law threatens punishment to transgressors, and without that fear there is no evil they would not commit. Over those whom the law bridles in this way, it rules and reigns. Beyond that, it spiritually accused us, terrified us, killed us, and condemned us before God — and this was the law's chief dominion over us. Just as an heir is subject to his guardians, is disciplined, and is compelled to obey their rules and carry out their orders — so people's consciences, before Christ comes, are crushed under the harsh bondage of the law: accused, terrified, and condemned by it. But this dominion — or rather tyranny — of the law is not permanent. It must last only until the time of grace. The function of the law is therefore to expose and increase sins — not to produce righteousness; to kill — not to give life. For the law is a schoolmaster leading to Christ. Just as guardians handle a young heir strictly and harshly — ruling him and commanding him like a servant, to whom he must submit — so the law accuses us, humbles us, and brings us into bondage as servants of sin, death, and the wrath of God, which is the most miserable kind of slavery imaginable. But just as the power of guardians, and the submission and bondage of a young heir, are not permanent but last only until the time appointed by the father — after which he no longer needs guardians, is no longer under their authority, and freely enjoys the inheritance — so the law has dominion over us and we are compelled to be its servants and captives, but not forever. We must always add this clause: until the appointed time of the Father. For Christ, who was promised, came and redeemed us from the tyranny of the law.

The coming of Christ, on the other hand, is no benefit to careless hypocrites, to those who hold God in contempt, or to those in despair who see nothing ahead of them but the law's terrors. The emperors' civil laws are elementary principles of the world in the sense that they deal with worldly matters — with things concerning this present life, such as property, possessions, inheritances, murder, adultery, and theft. This is also the domain of the second table of the commandments. The Pope's canon laws and decrees — which forbid marriage and certain foods — Paul elsewhere calls doctrines of demons. These too are elementary principles of the world, but they wickedly bind people's consciences to outward observances, contrary to God's word and faith.

The law of Moses therefore gives nothing but worldly things — it only reveals, both outwardly and spiritually, the evils present in the world. Yet if it is in its true use, it drives the conscience through its terrors to seek and thirst after God's promise and to look to Christ. But to do this, you need the help and assistance of the Holy Spirit, who will say in your heart: 'It is not God's will that after the law has done its work in you, you should simply be terrified and destroyed. When the law has brought you to the knowledge of your misery and condemnation, God does not want you to despair but to believe in Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.' Here there is nothing worldly at work — worldly things and all laws cease, and heavenly things begin to appear. Therefore as long as we are under the elementary principles of the world — that is, under the law, which does not give righteousness and peace of conscience but instead exposes and increases sins and produces wrath — we are servants, bound, and subject to the law, even though we have the promise of the blessing to come. The law says: 'You shall love the Lord your God' — but the ability to do this, or to lay hold on Christ, is something the law cannot give.

I say this not to despise the law, and neither does Paul mean it that way — the law is to be held in great honor. But because Paul is here dealing with the subject of justification, it was necessary for him to speak of the law as something utterly contemptible and unfit for this purpose. For justification is something entirely different from what the law can do. We cannot speak too humbly or dismissively of the law when we are in the matter of justification. When the conscience is in the conflict, it should think of nothing, know nothing at all, but Christ alone. It should push the law entirely out of its sight and embrace nothing but the promise concerning Christ. This is easy to say — but in the moment of temptation, when the conscience wrestles in the presence of God, actually doing it is the hardest thing in the world. When the law accuses you, terrifies you, shows you your sin, and threatens the wrath of God and eternal death — to then have such strength of faith in Christ that it is as though there had never been any law or any sin, but only Christ, pure grace, and redemption; to be able to say: 'O law, I will not hear you, for you are slow and stammering in speech; besides, the fullness of time has now come, and therefore I am free and will not endure your tyranny any longer' — this is extraordinary. Here one sees how hard it is to separate the law from grace, how divine and heavenly it is to hope even against hope, and how true Paul's proposition is: we are justified by faith alone.

Learn therefore from the apostle's example to speak of the law as dismissively as you can in the matter of justification. Paul calls the law the elementary principles of the world, dangerous traditions, the power of sin, the ministry of death, and so on. If you allow the law to rule in your conscience when you stand before God wrestling against sin and death, the law becomes nothing but a fountain of all evils, heresies, and blasphemies. It only increases sin, accuses and terrifies the conscience, threatens death, and sets God before you as an angry judge who rejects and condemns sinners. Therefore, in the matter of justification, if you are wise, send this stuttering Moses far away from you with his law, and do not let his terrors and threats move you in any way. Treat him there as a heretic, an excommunicated and condemned person — worse than the Pope and the devil himself — someone not to be heard or obeyed under any circumstances.

Outside the matter of justification, however, we should with Paul think respectfully of the law, commend it highly, and call it holy, righteous, good, spiritual, and divine. Outside the conscience we should honor it as a god — but in the conscience it is a devil itself. For in even the smallest temptation it cannot lift up and comfort the conscience. It does the exact opposite: it terrifies the conscience, weighs it down with heaviness, and tears it away from the assurance of righteousness, life, and all goodness. This is why Paul shortly after calls the law weak and worthless elementary principles. Let us therefore not allow the law in any circumstance to rule in the conscience — especially since Christ paid such a great price to deliver the conscience from the law's tyranny. He was made a curse for us so that He might deliver us from the curse of the law. Let the godly therefore learn that the law and Christ are two opposites that cannot coexist. When Christ is present, the law may under no circumstances rule in the conscience. It must depart and leave the bed — which, as Isaiah says, is too narrow to hold two — and give way to Christ alone. Let Him alone reign in righteousness, peace, joy, and life, so that the conscience may rest and repose joyfully in Christ without any awareness of the law, sin, or death.

Paul deliberately uses the expression 'elementary principles of the world' to greatly diminish and undercut the authority of the law and stir us to attention. For anyone reading Paul carefully, when he hears Paul call the law the ministry of death, the letter that kills, and so on, will immediately think: why does he give such offensive terms — which appear to reason as outright blasphemous — to the law, which is a divine teaching revealed from heaven? Paul answers this by saying the law is both holy, just, and good, and also the ministry of sin and death — but in different respects. Before Christ it is holy; after Christ it is death. Therefore, when Christ has come, we should know nothing of the law except in this one respect: that it has power and dominion over the flesh, to bridle it and keep it in check. Between the law and the flesh — to whom the yoke of the law is hard and burdensome — there is a conflict that lasts as long as we live.

Paul alone among all the apostles calls the law the elementary principles of the world, weak and worthless elements, the power of sin, the letter that kills, and so on. The other apostles did not speak of the law this way. Whoever therefore wishes to be a genuine student in Christ's school should pay careful attention to this manner of speaking used by the apostle. Christ called him a chosen vessel and therefore gave him a uniquely precise and penetrating way of speaking — above all the other apostles — so that he as a chosen vessel might faithfully lay the foundations of the article of justification and set it forth with perfect clarity.

Verse 4. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law.

That is: after the time of the law had run its course, Christ was revealed and delivered us from the law, and the promise was proclaimed among all nations.

Notice carefully how Paul defines Christ. 'Christ,' he says, 'is the Son of God and of a woman, who for us sinners was made under the law, to redeem us who were under the law.' In these words he presents both the person of Christ and the office of Christ. His person consists of His divine and human nature. Paul makes this plain when he says: 'God sent His own Son, born of a woman.' Christ is therefore truly God and truly man. His office is described in these words: 'born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law.'

It may seem that Paul here speaks of the Virgin Mary simply as 'a woman,' which troubled some of the early fathers, who would have preferred he call her a virgin rather than a woman. But Paul is treating in this letter the highest and most important subject of all — the Gospel, faith, Christian righteousness, the person of Christ, His office, what He took upon Himself and did for our sake, and what gifts He brought to us miserable sinners. The greatness and wonder of this subject left him no concern for her virginity as such. It was enough for him to declare and preach the immeasurable mercy of God, who willed that His Son should be born of that sex. He makes no mention of the dignity of her person but only of her sex. By naming the sex, he signifies that Christ became truly and fully human through a woman. As if he said: He was born not of man and woman together, but only of womanhood. Therefore when he says only 'born of a woman,' it is as though he had said 'born of a virgin.' John the Evangelist, when he declares that the Word was in the beginning and was made flesh, says not a single word about His mother.

This passage also confirms that when the time of the law was completed, Christ abolished it and brought liberty to those oppressed by it — but He did not establish any new law in addition to or in place of Moses' old law. The monks and papist theologians blaspheme Christ no less than the Turks who boast of Muhammad as a new lawgiver coming after Christ and surpassing Him. Christ came not to abolish the old law in order to make a new one, but — as Paul says here — He was sent by His Father into the world to redeem those held in bondage under the law. These words portray Christ accurately and clearly — they attribute to Him not the office of making any new law, but of redeeming those under the law. Christ Himself says: 'I judge no one.' And elsewhere: 'I did not come to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Me' — meaning: I came not to bring any law or to judge people by it, as Moses and other lawgivers did. I have a higher and a better office: the law killed you, and I judge, condemn, and destroy the law, and so I deliver you from its tyranny.

We who are older, and who were raised in the harmful teaching of the papists until it took deep root in our very bones, developed an opinion exactly contrary to what Paul teaches here. Though we confessed with our lips that Christ redeemed us from the tyranny of the law, in our hearts we actually thought of Him as a lawgiver, a tyrant, and a judge — more terrifying than Moses himself. Even today, in such great light of truth, we cannot fully root out this perverse opinion — so deeply fixed is what we learned in youth. You who are young, and not yet infected with this harmful error, can learn Christ purely with less difficulty than we older ones who must work to drive out these blasphemous distortions we formed about Him. But you have not entirely escaped the devil's snares. Though you may not yet be infected with the specific error that Christ is a lawgiver, you carry within you the root from which it grows — the flesh, human reason, and corrupt nature, which can judge Christ as nothing other than a lawgiver. You must therefore strive with all your energy to know and understand Christ as Paul has presented Him here. And if, on top of this natural corruption, corrupt and wicked teachers come along — and the world is full of them — they will amplify this corruption of nature and double the evil. Bad instruction will increase and confirm the dangerous error of blind reason, which naturally judges Christ to be a lawgiver, and fixes it so deeply in the mind that it can never be removed without great effort and struggle.

It is therefore very useful for us to always have before our eyes this sweet and comforting statement and others like it — statements that present Christ accurately and clearly — so that throughout our lives, in every danger, in confessing our faith before tyrants, and in the hour of death, we may boldly and with firm confidence say: 'O law, you have no power over me, and therefore you accuse and condemn me in vain. For I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom the Father sent into the world to redeem us miserable sinners oppressed by the tyranny of the law. He gave His life and shed His blood for me. Therefore, feeling your terrors and threats, O law, I plunge my conscience into the wounds, blood, death, resurrection, and victory of my Savior Christ. Besides Him I will see nothing, I will hear nothing.' This faith is our victory, by which we overcome the terrors of the law, sin, death, and all evils — yet not without great struggle. Here, children of God who are daily exercised with serious temptations, you wrestle and sweat in earnest. For often the thought comes to them that Christ will accuse them and argue against them, that He will require an account of their past life and condemn them. They cannot assure themselves that He was sent by the Father to redeem us from the tyranny and oppression of the law. Where does this come from? They have not yet fully put off the flesh, which rebels against the Spirit. Therefore the terrors of the law, the fear of death, and similar grievous and dark thoughts often return, hindering faith from laying hold on Christ's gift — His redemption from the bondage of the law — with the assurance it should.

But how did Christ redeem us? This was how our redemption was accomplished: He was made under the law. When Christ came, He found us all captive under guardians and managers — that is, shut up and imprisoned under the law. What did He do? Although He is Lord of the law, and the law therefore has no authority over Him — for He is the Son of God — He voluntarily subjected Himself to it. Then the law exercised over Him all the jurisdiction it had over us. It accuses and terrifies us, makes us subject to sin, death, and the wrath of God, and by its verdict condemns us. It does this rightly, for we are all sinners, by nature children of wrath. Christ, by contrast, committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth — He was not subject to the law. And yet the law was no less harsh toward this innocent, righteous, and blessed Lamb than it was toward us cursed and condemned sinners — indeed it was far more brutal. It accused Him as a blasphemer and a troublemaker; it charged Him before God with the sins of the whole world; it so terrified and crushed Him with heaviness and anguish of spirit that He sweated blood — and in the end it condemned Him to death, even the death of the cross.

This was an extraordinary battle — the law, a mere creature, launching its full assault on its Creator, and exercising against the Son of God every tyranny it had exercised against us children of wrath — all of it completely unjustly. Because the law so horribly and wickedly sinned against its own God, it stands accused and condemned. There Christ says: 'O law, you mighty queen and cruel ruler of all humanity, what have I done, that you have accused Me, terrified Me, and condemned Me who am innocent?' The law, which had previously condemned and killed all people, now has nothing with which to defend or excuse itself. It is condemned and defeated in turn, losing all its rights — not only over Christ, whom it so cruelly treated and killed, but also over all who believe in Him. For to those Christ says: 'Come to Me, all who are laboring under the yoke of the law. I could have overcome the law by My absolute power and without suffering, for I am Lord of the law and it has no right over Me. But for your sake — you who were under the law — I subjected Myself to that same prison, tyranny, and bondage, taking on your flesh out of immeasurable love. I allowed the law to have dominion over Me, its own Lord, to terrify Me, and to make Me captive to sin, death, and God's wrath — which it had no right to do. Therefore I have conquered the law by a double right: first, as the Son of God and Lord of the law; and second, in your person. This is as if you had overcome the law yourselves, for My victory is yours.'

Paul speaks this way everywhere about this extraordinary battle between Christ and the law. To make the matter more vivid and compelling, he often personifies the law — treating it as a mighty figure that condemned and killed Christ, whom Christ in turn overcame by rising from death, conquered, condemned, and destroyed. In Ephesians 2: 'killing the hostility in Himself.' And in Ephesians 4, from Psalm 68: 'You ascended on high, You led captive a host of captives.' He uses the same device in his letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Colossians: 'He condemned sin through sin.' Through this victory, Christ has banished the law from our conscience so that it can no longer confuse us before God, drive us to despair, or condemn us. It does not stop revealing our sin, accusing us, and terrifying us. But the conscience, taking hold of the apostle's word — 'Christ has redeemed us from the law' — is lifted up by faith and receives great comfort. It even triumphs over the law with a kind of holy boldness, saying: 'I do not fear your terrors and threats. For you crucified the Son of God, and you did it most unjustly. Therefore the sin you committed against Him cannot be forgiven. You have lost your right and sovereignty, and now forever you are not only conquered, condemned, and slain by Christ, but also by me, who believes in Him, to whom He has freely given this victory.' So the law is dead to us forever, as long as we remain in Christ. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

These things also confirm the teaching that we are justified by faith alone. For when this battle was fought between Christ and the law, none of our works or merits came into it — only Christ was there. He took on our person, subjected Himself to the law, and in perfect innocence bore all its tyranny. Therefore the law — as a thief and a condemned murderer of the Son of God — forfeits all its rights and deserves to be condemned in such a way that wherever Christ is present or His name is spoken, the law is compelled to flee, just as the devil, so papists imagine, flees from the cross. Therefore if we believe, we are delivered from the law through Christ, who triumphed over it Himself. This glorious triumph that Christ won for us was not obtained by any works but by faith alone — and therefore faith alone justifies.

The words 'Christ was made under the law' are concise and carry great force — they deserve careful thought. They declare that the Son of God, made under the law, did not merely perform one or two works of the law — He was not only circumcised or presented in the temple, or went up to Jerusalem at the appointed feasts, or lived as an outwardly law-abiding citizen. He endured the full tyranny of the law. For the law, in its primary use and at the peak of its power, turned on Christ and assailed Him so terribly that He experienced anguish and terror unlike anything any person on earth had ever felt. His sweating of blood witnesses to this, as does the angel who strengthened Him, His mighty prayer in the garden, and that sorrowful cry from the cross: 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' He suffered all of this to redeem those who were under the law — those burdened in spirit, in anguish and terror, on the edge of despair, crushed by the heavy weight of their sins, as indeed we all are. For in our flesh we sin daily against all the commandments of God. Paul gives us great comfort when he says: 'God sent His Son.'

Christ — divine and human, eternally begotten of God and born of the virgin at the appointed time — did not come to establish a new law. He came to feel and endure the full terror of the law and to conquer it, so that He might abolish it entirely. He was not made a teacher of the law but an obedient subject to it, so that through His obedience He might redeem those who were under the law. This is the exact opposite of what the papists teach. They have made Christ a lawgiver — far more severe and demanding than Moses. Paul teaches something completely different here: that God humbled His Son under the law, constraining Him to bear the law's verdict and curse, along with sin, death, and everything that goes with them. Moses, as the minister of the law, sin, wrath, and death, seized Christ, bound Him, condemned Him, and killed Him — and Christ endured it all. Christ therefore stands as the one who suffers, not as an agent who acts. In relation to the law, He is the patient, not the authority. He is not a lawgiver or a judge who applies the law. Rather, by making Himself subject to the law and bearing its condemnation, He delivered us from its curse.

Now, when Christ in the Gospel gives commandments and teaches the law — or rather, expounds it — this belongs to the topic of good works, not justification. Furthermore, teaching the law is not Christ's primary office — the purpose for which He came into the world — but a secondary, incidental one, like healing the sick or raising the dead. These are excellent and divine works, but they are not His chief and defining work. The prophets also taught the law and worked miracles. But Christ is both God and man, who fought against the law and endured its utmost cruelty and tyranny. By suffering the law's tyranny, He conquered it within Himself. Then, rising from death, He condemned and completely abolished the law — our deadliest enemy — so that it can no longer condemn and kill those who believe. Therefore Christ's true and proper office is to wrestle with the law, with sin, and with death on behalf of the whole world — to suffer and endure all of these, and by enduring them, to conquer and abolish them, thereby delivering the faithful from the law and from every evil. Teaching the law and working miracles are particular benefits of Christ, but not the reason He principally came into the world. In fact, the prophets and especially the apostles performed greater miracles than Christ did (John 14).

Since Christ has conquered the law in His own person, it necessarily follows that He is God by nature. No one — whether human or angel — stands above the law except God alone. But Christ is above the law, for He has conquered it. Therefore He is the Son of God and truly God by nature. If you take hold of Christ as Paul presents Him here, you cannot go wrong or be put to shame. You will also be able to judge clearly all the various ways of life, religions, and ceremonies found throughout the world. But if this true picture of Christ is obscured or distorted in any way, everything falls into confusion. The natural person cannot judge the things of God's law (1 Corinthians 2:14). At this point, the wisdom of philosophers, canon lawyers, and all human thinkers reaches its limit. The law has power and dominion over people, so the law judges people — people do not judge the law. Only the Christian has a true and certain judgment about the law. And what is that judgment? That the law does not justify. Then why was the law given, if it does not justify? Righteousness before God — which is received by faith alone — is not the final reason why believers obey the law. The reasons are the peace of society, gratitude toward God, and the example of a godly life by which others are drawn to believe the Gospel. The Pope has so thoroughly confused and blended ceremonial law, moral law, and faith together that he has ended up putting the ceremonial law above the moral law, and the moral law above faith.

Verse 5. That we might receive the adoption of sons.

Paul expands at great length on the promise in Genesis 22: 'In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.' Earlier in this letter he called this blessing of Abraham's seed by many names: righteousness, life, the promise of the Spirit, deliverance from the law, the testament, and so on. Here he calls it adoption and the inheritance of eternal life. The single word 'blessing' encompasses all of this. For once the curse — which is sin, death, and everything connected to them — is abolished, blessing takes its place: righteousness, life, and every good thing.

But by what merit have we received this blessing — this adoption and inheritance of eternal life? By none of our own. What can people deserve who are imprisoned under sin, subject to the curse of the law, and worthy of eternal death? We received this blessing freely, though we were completely unworthy of it — yet not without merit. Whose merit was it? Not ours, but the merit of Jesus Christ the Son of God, who was made under the law not for His own sake but for ours (as Paul said earlier, that He was made a curse for us), and so redeemed us who were under the law. We have received this adoption solely through the redemption of Jesus Christ the Son of God — a rich and everlasting merit that is entirely His, whether you speak of merit by fittingness or merit by worthiness, before grace or after it. None of it is ours. Along with this free adoption we have also received the Holy Spirit, whom God has sent into our hearts, crying 'Abba, Father,' as Paul now explains.

Verse 6. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts.

The Holy Spirit is sent in two different ways. In the early church He was sent visibly and openly. He came upon Christ at the Jordan in the form of a dove, and upon the apostles and other believers in the form of fire. This was the first manner of sending the Holy Spirit, and it was necessary for the early church — it was fitting that the church be established through visible miracles because of unbelievers, as Paul witnesses (1 Corinthians 14:22). 'Strange tongues,' he says, 'are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers.' But after the church had been gathered together and confirmed through those miracles, there was no longer any need for this visible sending of the Holy Spirit to continue.

Second, the Holy Spirit is sent through the word into the hearts of believers, as Paul says here: 'God sent the Spirit of His Son.' This sending has no visible form. It happens when, through hearing the external word, we receive an inward warmth and light that changes us and makes us new creatures — giving us a new way of thinking, a new way of feeling, and new spiritual impulses. This change and this new judgment are not the product of human reason or natural ability, but the gift and work of the Holy Spirit. He comes with the preached word, purifies our hearts through faith, and produces spiritual movements within us. There is therefore a great difference between us and those who persecute the Gospel's teaching by force and cunning. We can, by God's grace, judge clearly through the word what God's will toward us is — as well as all laws, all doctrines, and the conduct of our own lives and the lives of others. The papists and the sectarians, by contrast, cannot judge anything with certainty, because they corrupt, persecute, and blaspheme the word. Without the word, no one can give a reliable judgment about anything.

Even though it may not be obvious to the world that we have been renewed in spirit and that we have the Holy Spirit, our judgment, our speech, and our confession make it plain enough that the Holy Spirit and His gifts are in us. Before this, we could judge nothing rightly. We did not speak as we now do. We did not confess, as we now do in the true knowledge and light of the Gospel, that all our works are sin and deserving of condemnation, and that Christ is our only merit — both before grace and after. So let it not trouble us at all that the world — whose works we declare to be evil — judges us to be dangerous heretics and troublemakers, destroyers of religion, disturbers of the peace, and people possessed by the devil. Against this perverse verdict of the world, let the testimony of our own conscience be enough — the sure knowledge that it is God's gift that we not only believe in Jesus Christ but also openly preach and confess Him before the world. As we believe in our hearts, so we speak with our mouths, according to the psalm: 'I believed, and so I spoke.'

Furthermore, we practice the fear of God and avoid sin as much as we are able. When we sin, we do not sin willfully but out of weakness and ignorance, and we are grieved by it. We may stumble, for the devil lies in wait for us day and night. The remnants of sin still cling to our flesh — so in regard to the flesh, we are still sinners even after receiving the Holy Spirit. In outward appearance, there is not a great difference between a Christian and an upright, decent person. A Christian's works are simple and ordinary. He fulfills his calling, provides for his household, works the land, gives counsel, and helps his neighbor. People focused on the flesh do not value these things much. They see them as common to all people, even to pagans. The world does not understand the things of the Spirit of God, and so it judges the works of the godly wrongly. The spectacular religious performances of hypocrites and their self-chosen acts of devotion, on the other hand, draw great admiration. People regard these as holy works and spare no expense in supporting them. The works of the faithful, by contrast — though they appear plain and unremarkable on the outside, yet are truly good and accepted by God because they are done in faith, with a glad heart, in obedience and gratitude toward God — these the world not only refuses to recognize as good but actually despises and condemns as wicked. So the world is the last to believe that we have the Holy Spirit. And yet, in times of suffering, of persecution, or of confessing the faith — when we must either surrender our spouse, children, possessions, and life, or deny Christ — it becomes clear that we confess Christ and His word by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We should not doubt whether the Holy Spirit dwells in us. We should be firmly convinced that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, as Paul says. If anyone finds in himself a love for the word of God — if he gladly hears, speaks, writes, and thinks about Christ — let him know that this is not the work of his own will or reason but the gift of the Holy Spirit. These things are impossible without the Holy Spirit. On the other side, where hatred and contempt for the word exist, there the devil — the god of this age — reigns, blinding people's minds and holding them captive, so that the light of the Gospel and the glory of Christ cannot shine in. We see this today in most ordinary people, who have no love for the word and dismiss it with contempt as though it has nothing to do with them. But whoever does feel any love or longing for the word should gratefully acknowledge that this desire has been poured into them by the Holy Spirit. We are not born with this love, nor can any law teach us how to obtain it. This change is simply and entirely the work of the right hand of the Most High. So when we willingly and gladly hear the word preached about Christ the Son of God — who for our sake became man, was made subject to the law, and delivered us from the curse of the law, from hell, death, and condemnation — we can be confident that through this very preaching, God is sending the Holy Spirit into our hearts. It is therefore very important for believers to know that they have the Holy Spirit.

I say this to refute the destructive teaching of the papists, who claimed that no one can know with certainty — no matter how upright and blameless his life may be — whether he stands in God's favor. This commonly accepted principle was a central article of faith throughout the whole papacy. By it they utterly destroyed the doctrine of faith, tormented people's consciences, drove Christ out of the church, obscured and denied all the benefits of the Holy Spirit, and abolished true worship — filling hearts instead with idolatry, contempt for God, and blasphemy. For the person who doubts God's goodwill toward him and cannot assure himself that he stands in God's favor cannot believe that his sins are forgiven, that God cares for him, or that he will be saved.

Augustine says rightly and wisely that every person who has faith can see with certainty that he has faith. The papists deny this. 'God forbid,' they say, 'that I should assure myself that I am under grace, that I am holy, that I have the Holy Spirit — even if I live a godly life and do all good works.' You who are young and have not yet been infected with this destructive opinion — on which the entire papal kingdom rests — take care and flee from it as you would from a deadly plague. We who are older were trained in this error from our youth and soaked in it so thoroughly that it has taken deep root in our hearts. Unlearning it costs us no less effort than learning and laying hold of true faith does. But we must be certain and confident that we are under grace, that we please God for Christ's sake, and that we have the Holy Spirit — for 'if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.'

Therefore, whether you serve as a minister of God's word or as a civil magistrate, you must be firmly convinced that your office pleases God — and this you can never be unless you have the Holy Spirit. You may say: 'I have no doubt that my office pleases God, since it is God's ordinance — but I do doubt whether my person pleases Him.' At this point you must turn to the word of God, which teaches and assures us that not only a person's office but the person himself pleases God. The person is baptized, believes in Christ, has been cleansed of all sins through His blood, and lives in the fellowship of the church. Beyond that, he not only loves the pure teaching of the word but is genuinely glad and delighted when he sees it advance and the number of believers grow. On the contrary, he hates the Pope and all sectarians with their corrupt teaching — in keeping with the psalm: 'I hate those who devise evil, but I love Your law' (Psalm 119:113, 115).

We should therefore be fully assured that not only our office but our person pleases God — and indeed that everything we say, do, or think pleases God, not for our own sake, but for Christ's sake, who was made under the law for us. We are sure that Christ pleases God and is holy. Since Christ pleases God and we are in Him, we also please God and are holy. And though sin still remains in our flesh and we stumble and fail every day, grace is more abundant and stronger than sin. The mercy and faithfulness of the Lord reigns over us forever. Therefore sin cannot terrify us or make us doubt the grace of God working in us. Christ — that mighty conqueror — has fully abolished the law, condemned sin, and defeated death and every evil. As long as He sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us, we cannot doubt God's grace and favor toward us.

Furthermore, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, as Paul says here. Christ is completely certain in His Spirit that He pleases God. Therefore we, having the same Spirit of Christ, must be assured that we are under grace — because of the One who is most certain. This is what I have said about the inward testimony, by which a Christian's heart should be fully persuaded that he is under grace and has the Holy Spirit. The outward signs, as I mentioned before, are these: gladly hearing about Christ; preaching and teaching Christ; giving Him thanks and praise; confessing Him even at the cost of property and life; faithfully doing our duty in our calling as best we can, doing it in faith and joy; not taking pleasure in sin; not meddling in someone else's calling but attending to our own; helping those in need; comforting the sorrowful. Through these signs, as clear effects and evidence, we are fully assured and confirmed that we stand in God's favor. The wicked also imagine they have these signs, but they have nothing of the kind. This makes plain that the Pope with his teaching does nothing but trouble and torment people's consciences and ultimately drive them to despair — for he not only teaches people to doubt, he commands it. Therefore, as the psalm says (Psalm 5:9): 'There is nothing reliable in what he says,' and in another place (Psalm 10:7): 'Under his tongue is wickedness and harm.'

Here we can see how weak the faith of believers still is. If we could be fully persuaded that we are under grace, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are children of God — then surely we would be joyful and thankful to God for this immeasurable gift. But because we feel contrary things — fear, uncertainty, anguish, and heaviness of heart — we cannot assure ourselves of this. Our conscience even tells us it would be presumptuous and proud to claim this glory. Therefore, if we want to understand this rightly, we must put it into practice — for without experience and practice it can never truly be learned.

Let every person therefore practice so that his conscience becomes fully assured that he stands in God's favor and that his person and works please God. If he feels any wavering or doubt, let him exercise his faith, fight against that doubt, and press toward greater certainty — so that he can say: 'I know I am accepted, and I have the Holy Spirit — not because of my own worthiness, works, or merit, but for Christ's sake, who in His immeasurable love toward us made Himself subject to the law and took away the sins of the world.' 'I believe in Him.' 'If I am a sinner and make mistakes, He is righteous and cannot err.' 'I gladly hear, read, sing, and write about Him, and I desire nothing more than for His Gospel to be known throughout the world and for many to be converted to Him.'

These things plainly show that the Holy Spirit is present with us and in us. Such things are not produced in the heart by human strength, nor are they achieved through diligence, effort, or labor. They come through Christ alone, who first makes us righteous through the knowledge of Him in His holy Gospel, then creates a new heart in us, produces new spiritual movements, and gives us the assurance that we please the Father for His sake. He also gives us true discernment, so that we come to understand and appreciate what we previously did not know or outright despised. We must therefore fight against this doubting, overcoming it more and more each day, and pressing toward a full and settled assurance of God's favor — rooting out from our hearts that cursed notion, which has infected the whole world, that a person ought to remain uncertain about God's grace. For if we doubt whether we are under grace, and whether we please God for Christ's sake, we are in effect denying that Christ has redeemed us and rejecting all His benefits. You who are young can more easily grasp this pure Gospel teaching and leave this destructive error behind, because you have not yet been poisoned by it.

Verse 6. Crying, 'Abba! Father!'

Paul could have said: 'God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, calling Abba Father.' But he does not say that. Instead he says 'crying, Abba Father' — to describe the temptation of the Christian who is still weak and believes only feebly. In Romans 8, Paul calls this crying 'groanings too deep for words.' He writes there: 'The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.'

It is a special comfort that Paul says the Spirit of Christ is sent into our hearts crying 'Abba Father,' and that He helps our weakness by interceding for us with groanings too deep for words. Whoever could truly believe this would never be overcome by any affliction, however great. But many things hinder this faith in us. First, our hearts are born in sin. Beyond that, there is this evil naturally woven into us: we doubt God's goodwill toward us and cannot assure ourselves that we please Him. On top of all this, the devil our enemy prowls about with terrifying roars, saying: 'You are a sinner — therefore God is angry with you and will destroy you forever.' Against these horrible, crushing roars, we have nothing to hold on to and lean upon except the word, which sets Christ before us as the conqueror over sin, death, and every evil. But to hold fast to the word in the midst of these temptations and terrors of conscience — that is where all the difficulty lies. In those moments, Christ appears to no sense at all. We cannot see Him. The heart feels no sense of His presence or help. In fact it seems as if Christ is angry with us and has abandoned us. When a person is tempted and afflicted, he feels the power of sin and the weakness of his flesh. He doubts. He feels the fiery arrows of the devil, the terror of death, and the anger and judgment of God. All of these cry out against him horribly, so that he sees nothing but despair and eternal death. Yet even in the midst of these terrors of the law, the thunderings of sin, the assaults of death, and the roaring of the devil, the Holy Spirit — Paul says — cries in our hearts: 'Abba Father.' And this cry rises above all those mighty and terrible cries of the law, sin, death, and the devil. It pierces the clouds and the heavens and reaches the ears of God.

Paul is showing here that weakness still remains in believers — just as he says in Romans 8: 'The Spirit helps us in our weakness.' Because the feeling of the opposite is so strong in us — we feel God's displeasure more than His goodwill — the Holy Spirit is sent into our hearts. He does not merely sigh and make requests on our behalf; He cries mightily, 'Abba Father,' and prays for us according to God's will with tears and groanings too deep for words. How does this happen? When we are in terror and wrestling in conscience, we do take hold of Christ and believe that He is our Savior — but that is precisely when the law and sin terrify and torment us most. The devil attacks us with all his weapons and fiery arrows, working with all his power to tear Christ away from us and strip away every comfort. We feel ourselves almost overcome and on the edge of despair — for at that moment we are that bruised reed and smoldering wick that Isaiah describes. Yet all the while, the Holy Spirit helps our weakness and intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, assuring our spirits that we are children of God. So the mind, in the midst of terror, looks up to its Savior and High Priest Jesus Christ, overcomes the weakness of the flesh, receives comfort again, and says: 'Abba Father.' This groaning, which we barely notice at the time, Paul calls a crying and unspeakable groaning that fills both heaven and earth. He calls it the crying and groaning of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit stirs it up in our hearts when we are weak and overwhelmed by terror and temptation.

Even when the law, sin, and the devil roar against us with great and terrible cries that seem to fill heaven and earth and far exceed our own faint groaning, they cannot harm us. For the more fiercely they assault, accuse, and torment us with their roaring, the more we groan — and in groaning we take hold of Christ, call upon Him with heart and mouth, cling to Him, and believe that He was made under the law to deliver us from the curse of the law and to destroy both sin and death. When we have taken hold of Christ by faith in this way, we cry through Him: 'Abba Father.' And this cry of ours far surpasses the roaring of the law, sin, the devil, and all the rest.

Yet we are so far from thinking of our groaning in these times of terror and weakness as a cry that we can barely even perceive it as a groan. Our faith, which groans toward Christ in temptation, feels very weak when we judge by our own feelings. This is why we cannot hear this cry ourselves. We have only the word, and when we lay hold of it in the struggle, we catch a little breath — and then we groan. We have a small sense of the groaning, but we cannot hear the cry. Yet He who searches the hearts — Paul says — knows what the Spirit means. To this Searcher of hearts, what seems to us a faint and feeble groaning is a loud and mighty cry, an unspeakable groan — compared to which the terrible roarings of the law, sin, death, the devil, and hell are nothing and cannot even be heard. Paul therefore has good reason to call this groaning of a godly, afflicted heart a cry and an inexpressible groaning of the Spirit. It fills all of heaven, so that the angels hear nothing else.

But in us the feeling is exactly the opposite. It seems to us that our small groaning barely pierces the clouds, and that it is certainly not all that fills heaven before God and the angels. In fact, especially in times of temptation, we think the devil is roaring horribly against us, that thunder shakes the heavens and the earth trembles, that everything is about to crash down on us, that every creature threatens our destruction, and that hell is gaping open to swallow us. These horrible voices and this frightening spectacle are what we hear and see in our hearts. This is what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 12: that Christ's power is made perfect in weakness. For Christ truly reigns and triumphs in us precisely when we are so weak that we can barely groan. Yet Paul says this groaning is, in God's ears, a mighty cry that fills both heaven and earth.

In Luke 18, in the parable of the unjust judge, Christ also calls the groaning of a faithful heart a cry — one that never stops crying to God day and night — where He says: 'Hear what the unrighteous judge says. Will God not then bring justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, even if He delays long over them? I tell you, He will bring justice for them quickly.' We in our day, facing such intense persecution and attack from the Pope, from tyrants, and from sectarians fighting against us on all sides, can do nothing but offer up these groanings. These have been our weapons — the artillery by which we have for so many years scattered the plans and schemes of our enemies, and by which we have begun to tear down the kingdom of Antichrist. They will also move Christ to hasten the day of His glorious return, when He will abolish all rule, authority, and power and place all His enemies under His feet. So be it.

In Exodus 14, as Moses stood at the Red Sea, the Lord said to him: 'Why do you cry to Me?' Yet Moses had not cried out at all — he trembled and was nearly in despair, overwhelmed by the situation. It appeared as though unbelief, not faith, ruled in him. He saw the people of Israel completely hemmed in by the Egyptian army on one side and the sea on the other, with no way of escape. Moses dared not even open his mouth. How then had he cried? We must not judge by the feeling of our own heart, but by the word of God, which teaches us that the Holy Spirit is given to those who are afflicted, terrified, and on the edge of despair — to lift them up and comfort them so that they are not crushed by their temptations but overcome them, though not without great terror and trouble.

The papists imagined that holy men had the Holy Spirit in such a way that they never experienced any temptation. They spoke of the Holy Spirit only in terms of theory and abstract knowledge. But Paul says that Christ's strength is made perfect in weakness, and that the Spirit helps our weakness and intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. We therefore need the help and comfort of the Holy Spirit most when we are weakest and closest to despair — and that is exactly when He is most ready to help. If someone endures affliction with a steady and joyful heart, that is the Holy Spirit doing His work in him. And He works especially and most fully in those who have suffered the most severe terrors and afflictions — those who, as the psalm says, have drawn near to the very gates of hell. Moses is the example I mentioned earlier. He saw nothing ahead but death — in the water and on every side wherever he turned. He was in extreme anguish and despair. Surely he felt in his heart the devil's voice roaring against him: 'All this people will die today — there is no way out. And you are the one who brought them here, by leading them out of Egypt.' On top of all this, the people cried out against him: 'Were there no graves in Egypt? You brought us out here to die in the wilderness! Were we not better off serving the Egyptians than dying out here?' The Holy Spirit was present in Moses not merely in theory, but truly and powerfully, interceding for him with groanings too deep to express — so that Moses sighed to God and said: 'Lord, at Your command I led this people out. Help us now.' This sighing and groaning to God, Scripture calls a cry.

I have gone into this at length so that the office of the Holy Spirit and the times when He especially exercises it would be plain. In temptation, therefore, we must not judge our condition by our own feelings, or by the cries of the law, sin, and the devil. If we follow our feelings and believe those cries, we will think ourselves completely abandoned by the Holy Spirit and utterly rejected by God. Instead, let us remember what Paul says: the Spirit helps our weakness. He cries 'Abba Father' — that is, He produces in us a faint sighing and groaning of the heart that seems weak to us, but before God is a loud cry and an unspeakable groaning. So in the midst of your temptation and weakness, cling to Christ alone and groan toward Him. He gives the Holy Spirit, who cries 'Abba Father.' That faint groaning is a mighty cry in the ears of God, filling heaven and earth so that God hears nothing else. And it drowns out the cries of everything else.

Notice also that Paul says the Spirit intercedes for us in temptation not with many words or long prayers, but only with a groaning that cannot be expressed. It does not cry out loudly with tears, saying 'Have mercy on me, O God,' but only utters a small sound and a faint groaning — something like 'Ah, Father.' This is only a little word, yet it contains everything. The mouth may not speak it, but the heart speaks it this way: 'Although I am pressed down with anguish and terror on every side, and seem to be abandoned and completely cut off from Your presence, yet I am Your child, and You are my Father for Christ's sake. I am loved because of the Beloved.' This little word, 'Father,' felt truly in the heart, surpasses all the eloquence of Demosthenes, Cicero, and every great rhetorician who ever lived. This is not something words can express. It comes through groaning, and no tongue or eloquence can put it into words.

I have spent many words establishing that a Christian must assure himself that he stands in God's favor and that the Holy Spirit is crying in his heart. I have done this so that we may learn to reject and completely abandon that diabolical teaching of the whole papal kingdom — the teaching that a person ought to remain uncertain and doubtful of God's grace and favor. If this opinion is accepted, Christ profits no one. Whoever doubts God's favor must also doubt God's promises, and therefore God's will, and therefore Christ's benefits — His birth, suffering, death, and resurrection for us. But there is no greater blasphemy against God than to deny His promises, to deny God Himself and Christ. It was therefore not only extreme foolishness but a horrible act of wickedness that the monks so eagerly recruited young men and women into their monasteries and religious orders — as though these were certain paths to salvation — and then, once they had them, told them to doubt whether God's grace was truly upon them.

Beyond that, the Pope summoned the whole world to obedience to the holy Church of Rome, promising that in this obedience they would surely attain salvation — and then, once he had brought them under his laws, he commanded them to doubt their salvation. So the kingdom of Antichrist first boasts loudly of the holiness of its orders, rules, and laws, and confidently promises eternal life to those who observe them. But after these miserable people have long punished their bodies with sleepless vigils, fasting, and other practices according to human traditions and rules, the only thing they gain is uncertainty about whether their obedience even pleases God. In this way Satan carried on his most horrible destruction of souls through the Pope — which is why the papacy is a slaughterhouse of consciences and the very kingdom of the devil.

To defend and prop up this destructive error, they cited the saying of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9: 'The righteous and the wise are in God's hand; yet no one knows whether it is love or hatred that awaits them.' Some interpret this as referring to future hatred, some to present hatred — but neither group understands Solomon, who in that passage means nothing of the sort they imagine. In fact, the whole of Scripture teaches us above all things not to doubt, but to be sure and to believe without wavering that God is merciful, loving, and patient — that He is neither evasive nor deceptive, but faithful and true, keeping His promises. Indeed He has fulfilled them, by giving His only begotten Son to death for our sins, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Given this, we cannot doubt that God is pleased with us and that He truly loves us — that the hatred and wrath of God have been removed, since He gave His Son to die for us wretched sinners. Although this truth is laid out and repeated throughout the entire Gospel, it accomplished nothing for them. This one passage from Solomon, misunderstood, carried more weight — especially among the monks and strict religious hypocrites — than all the promises and consolations of the entire Scripture, indeed more than Christ Himself. They abused the Scriptures to their own destruction, and were justly punished for despising the Scriptures and rejecting the Gospel.

We need to know these things for two reasons. First, because the papists boast of their holiness as though they had never done any wrong. They must therefore be confronted with their own abominations, which have filled the whole world — as their own published writings in great number testify. Second, so that we may be fully certain that we hold the pure doctrine of the Gospel — a certainty the Pope cannot claim. In his kingdom, even if everything else were sound and pure, this monstrous teaching of doubting God's grace and favor would outstrip every other error. And even though it is obvious that the enemies of Christ's Gospel teach uncertain things — since they command people's consciences to remain in doubt — they still condemn and kill us as heretics for disagreeing with them and teaching things that are certain. And they do so with such diabolical rage and cruelty, as though they were the most thoroughly convinced of all.

Let us therefore thank God that we are delivered from this monstrous teaching of doubt, and that we can now assure ourselves that the Holy Spirit cries and produces in our hearts groanings too deep for words. This is our anchor and our foundation. The Gospel commands us to look not at our own good works or our own perfection, but at God who makes the promise and at Christ the Mediator. The Pope, by contrast, commands us to look not at God the promiser or at Christ our High Priest, but at our own works and merits. From the one path must follow doubt and despair. From the other follows assurance of God's favor and joy of the Spirit. We hold fast to God, who cannot lie. He says: 'See, I give My Son to death, so that through His blood He may redeem you from your sins and from eternal death.' I cannot doubt this without flatly denying God. This is why our teaching is so certain — it takes us out of ourselves and away from looking at ourselves, so that we do not lean on our own strength, our own conscience, our own feelings, our own person, or our own works, but on what is outside of us: the promise and faithfulness of God, which cannot deceive us. The Pope does not know this, and so he foolishly imagines that no one — however righteous or wise — can know whether he is loved or hated by God. But if a person truly is righteous and wise, he knows with assurance that he is loved by God — otherwise he is neither righteous nor wise.

Furthermore, Solomon's statement says nothing at all about God's hatred or favor toward people. It is a moral observation about human ingratitude. The world is so perverse and ungrateful that the more a person deserves, the less thanks he will receive — and often those who should have been his closest friends become his worst enemies. And those who deserve the least will be most highly regarded. David, a holy man and a good king, was driven from his kingdom. The prophets, Christ, and His apostles were killed. The history of every nation shows that many people who served their country well were banished by their own citizens and lived in great misery, and some died shamefully in prison. Solomon is therefore speaking in this passage not about the conscience's relationship to God, or about God's favor and judgment, but about people's judgments and attitudes toward one another. He is saying, in effect: there are many righteous and wise men through whom God brings great good and gives peace to others. But people are so far from recognizing this that they often respond to such men's faithful service with hostility. Therefore, no matter how well a person does his work, he cannot know whether his diligence and faithfulness will earn him the hatred or the approval of other people.

This is exactly our experience today. When we preached the Gospel of peace, life, and eternal salvation to our fellow Germans, we expected to be welcomed — but instead of favor we received bitter and intense hatred. In the beginning, many were greatly moved by our teaching and received it gladly. We assumed they would become our friends and brothers, and that together we would spread this teaching to others. But instead we have found that they are false brothers and deadly enemies who sow and spread errors and false teaching, and who twist and undermine what we teach rightly and faithfully, stirring up trouble in the churches. Whoever faithfully fulfills his duty in whatever position he holds, and receives nothing but ingratitude and hatred in return, should not torment himself over it. Let him say with Christ: 'They hated Me without cause.' And also: 'In return for my love they opposed me, but I prayed.'

By commanding people to doubt God's favor, the Pope removed God and all His promises from the church, buried all of Christ's benefits, and abolished the entire Gospel. These consequences follow necessarily: when people lean on their own works and merits instead of God's promises, they cannot be assured of His goodwill and must inevitably doubt — and at last despair. No one can understand what God's will is or what pleases Him apart from His word. His word assures us that God set aside all the anger and displeasure He had toward us when He gave His only Son for our sins. Let us therefore completely abandon this diabolical doubting — by which the entire papacy was poisoned — and be fully assured that God is merciful to us, that we please Him, that He cares for us, and that we have the Holy Spirit interceding for us with crying and groaning that cannot be expressed.

True crying and groaning occurs when a person in temptation calls upon God — not as a tyrant, not as an angry judge, not as a torturer, but as a Father — even if that groaning is so soft and hidden that it can barely be detected. In serious temptation, when conscience wrestles with the judgment of God, it tends to call God not a Father but an unjust, angry, and cruel tyrant. This cry — which Satan stirs up in the heart — far overpowers the Spirit's cry and is felt with great force. It seems as though God has abandoned us and will throw us into hell. So believers often cry out in the Psalms: 'I am cut off from before Your eyes.' And: 'I have become like a broken vessel.' This is not the groaning that cries 'Abba Father.' It is the roar of God's wrath, crying: 'O cruel judge! O cruel tormentor!' At that moment it is time to turn your eyes away from the law, from works, and from the feeling of your own conscience, and to take hold by faith of the promise — that is, of the word of grace and life. This word raises the conscience back up, so that it begins to groan and say: 'Though the law accuse me and sin and death terrify me, yet O my God, You have promised grace, righteousness, and eternal life through Jesus Christ.' And so the promise brings forth a sighing and groaning that cries 'Abba Father.'

Verse 7. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son.

This is the conclusion of everything he has said before. It is as if he said: Since we have received the Spirit through the Gospel, by whom we cry 'Abba Father,' then this verdict has been pronounced in heaven: there is no more bondage, but only freedom and adoption. And what brings this freedom? This very groaning. How? The Father offers me through His promise His grace and fatherly favor. All that remains is for me to receive this grace. And this happens when I cry out in return with this groaning, and with a childlike heart respond to the name 'Father.' In that moment Father and Son meet, and the union is made without any formality or ceremony — nothing stands between them. No law is required here, no work. For what can a person do in the midst of terror and the deep darkness of temptation? There is nothing here but the Father promising and calling me His son through Christ, who was made under the law — and I receiving this and answering with a groan: 'Father.' Nothing is demanded, nothing required — only that childlike groaning that takes hold of a sure hope and trust in the midst of trouble, and says: 'You promise and call me Your child for Christ's sake, and I in turn receive this and call You Father.' This truly is what it means to become a child — simply, without any works. But these things cannot be understood without experience and practice.

Paul uses the word 'servant' here differently from how he used it in chapter 3, where he said: 'There is neither slave nor free.' Here he means one who is a servant of the law — that is, one who is subject to the law, as he said just above: 'We were in bondage under the elementary principles of the world.' To be a servant in Paul's sense here means to be guilty and imprisoned under the law, under the wrath of God and death — to see God not as a merciful Father but as a torturer, an enemy, and a tyrant. This is true bondage and captivity, being cruelly tormented in it. For the law does not deliver from sin and death — it reveals and increases sin and produces wrath. This bondage, Paul says, continues no longer. It no longer oppresses us or weighs us down. Paul says: 'You are no longer a servant.' But the statement is even broader: in Christ there is no more bondage of any kind — only freedom and adoption. For when faith comes, that bondage ends, as he said in chapter 3.

Since the Spirit of Christ cries 'Abba Father' in our hearts and we are no longer servants but children, it follows that we are delivered not only from the horrible burdens of the Pope and all the abominations of human tradition, but also from all the jurisdiction and authority of God's law itself. We should therefore not allow the law to reign in our conscience — and still less should we allow the Pope with his empty threats and terrors. He roars mightily like a lion (Revelation 10) and threatens all who do not obey his laws with the wrath and indignation of almighty God and his blessed apostles. But Paul arms and comforts us against these roarings when he says: 'You are no longer a servant but a son.' Take hold of this comfort by faith and say: 'O law, your tyranny has no place in the throne where Christ my Lord sits. I will not hear you there — and still less will I hear you, O Antichrist, with your threats — for I am free and a son, not subject to any bondage or servile law.' Let Moses with his law — and still less the Pope — enter the bridal chamber where Christ alone must rule: that is, let neither of them reign in the conscience, which Christ has delivered from the law so that it should not be subject to any bondage. Let the servants stay in the valley with the donkey. Let only Isaac go up the mountain with his father Abraham. In other words, let the law have dominion over the body and the old man: let him be under the law, bear its burden, be exercised and tested by it, and let the law prescribe what he must do, suffer, and how he should live and conduct himself among people. But let it not defile the bed where Christ alone should rest — that is, let it not trouble the conscience. The conscience alone ought to live with Christ, her husband, in the kingdom of freedom and adoption.

Since you cry 'Abba Father' by the Spirit of Christ, Paul says, you are no longer servants but free people and sons. Therefore you are free from the law, free from sin, free from death — saved, and now completely delivered from every evil. Adoption therefore brings with it the eternal kingdom and the entire heavenly inheritance. How immeasurable the glory of this gift is no human heart can fully grasp, let alone express. For now we see this only dimly, as if from far away. We have only this faint groaning and weak faith, resting on nothing but the sound of Christ's voice promising. We must not measure this by reason or by what we feel, but by God's promise. Because God is infinite, His promise is also infinite — even though it seems at present to be hemmed in on all sides by anguish and narrowness. Therefore nothing can now accuse, terrify, or bind the conscience any further. There is no more servitude, only adoption — which brings not only freedom from the law, sin, and death, but also the inheritance of eternal life, as Paul goes on to say.

Verse 7. And if a son, then an heir through God.

Whoever is a son must also be an heir, for birth itself makes him worthy of the inheritance. No work or merit brings him the inheritance — only his birth does. In receiving the inheritance he is entirely passive, not active: he does not earn it, labor for it, or strive for it — being born is what makes him an heir. In the same way, we receive eternal gifts — the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, the glory of the resurrection, and eternal life — not by acting but by receiving, not by doing but by being given to. Nothing else comes between. Faith alone lays hold of the promise offered. Just as a son in a household becomes an heir by birth alone, so here faith alone makes us children of God — born of the word, which is the womb of God, in which we are conceived, carried, born, and nourished. Through this new birth we become new creatures, formed by faith in the word. We become Christians, children and heirs of God through Jesus Christ. Being heirs, we are delivered from death, sin, and the devil, and we possess righteousness and eternal life.

What surpasses all human understanding is that Paul calls us heirs — not of some powerful prince, not of an emperor, not of the world, but of God, the almighty Creator of all things. This inheritance of ours is, as Paul says elsewhere, beyond all measure of value. If a person could truly grasp how great it is to be the son and heir of God and believe it with steady faith, he would regard all the power and riches of every kingdom in the world as worthless garbage compared to his eternal inheritance. He would despise whatever is considered high and glorious in this world. In fact, the greater the world's pomp and splendor, the more he would loathe it. Whatever the world most prizes and celebrates would appear to him most vile and worthless. For what is the entire world — with all its power, riches, and glory — compared to God, whose son and heir he is? Beyond that, he would long with Paul to depart and be with Christ. Nothing would be more welcome to him than a swift death, which he would embrace like a joyful peace — knowing it would be the end of all his miseries and the doorway into his inheritance. Indeed, a person who could believe this fully would not long remain alive — he would be immediately overwhelmed with an excess of joy.

But the law of the flesh warring against the law of the mind hinders faith in us and does not allow it to be complete. This is why we need the help and comfort of the Holy Spirit, who in our troubles and afflictions intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, as I have already described. Sin still remains in the flesh, and it frequently oppresses the conscience and so weakens faith that we cannot look with joy and desire on the eternal riches God has given us through Christ. Paul himself, feeling this battle of the flesh against the spirit, cries out: 'Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?' He condemns his body — which he was obligated to love — by calling it by that harsh name, 'this body of death.' He means: my body afflicts me and torments me more than death itself, for it blocked even his joy in the Spirit. He did not always have sweet and joyful thoughts about the heavenly inheritance to come — he too often felt great heaviness of spirit, anguish, and terror.

This shows how hard a thing faith is — not something easily and quickly grasped, as certain satisfied and smug spirits imagine who think they can swallow the entire Scripture at once. The great weakness that remains in believers, and the constant struggle of the flesh against the spirit, shows how feeble faith still is in them. For a perfect faith would bring immediate and complete contempt for this present life. If we could fully assure ourselves and steadily believe that God is our Father and we are His sons and heirs, we would utterly despise this world — with all its glory, righteousness, wisdom, power, royal thrones and crowns, riches and pleasures. We would not be so anxious about this life. We would not cling to worldly things, trusting them when we have them and despairing when we lose them. We would do everything with great love, humility, and patience. But we do the opposite — because the flesh is still strong, faith is still feeble, and the spirit still weak. Paul says rightly, therefore, that in this life we have only the firstfruits of the Spirit, and that in the world to come we shall have the full harvest.

Verse 7. Through God.

Paul always has Christ on his lips — he cannot forget Him. He foresaw clearly that nothing would be less known in the world — even among those who call themselves Christians — than Christ and His Gospel. Therefore he constantly talks about Christ and keeps Him before our eyes. Whenever he speaks of grace, righteousness, the promise, adoption, and inheritance, he always adds the phrase 'in Christ' or 'through Christ' — subtly striking against the law. As if to say: these things come to us not through the law or the works of the law, and still less through our own strength or the works of human tradition — but only through Christ.

Verses 8-9. But at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

This is the conclusion of Paul's argument. From this point to the end of the letter, he does not dispute much but gives practical instructions about conduct. But first he rebukes the Galatians, deeply grieved that this divine and heavenly teaching was so quickly and easily driven out of their hearts. It is as if he said: You have teachers who want to drag you back into the bondage of the law. I did not do this. My teaching called you out of darkness and ignorance of God into a wonderful light and knowledge of Him. I brought you out of bondage and set you in the freedom of the sons of God — not by preaching the works of the law or human merit, but by preaching the grace and righteousness of God, and the gift of heavenly and eternal blessings through Christ. Since all this is true — why do you so quickly abandon the light and return to darkness? Why do you allow yourselves to be so easily led from grace back to the law, from freedom back to bondage?

Here we see again, as I noted before, how easy it is to fall in faith — as the example of the Galatians makes plain. The Anabaptists, Libertines, and similar heretics of our own day show the same thing. We for our part proclaim the teaching of faith with constant labor — through preaching, reading, and writing — and we clearly distinguish the Gospel from the law. Yet we make little headway. This comes from the devil, who works by every subtle means to deceive people and hold them in error. He cannot stand the true knowledge of grace and faith in Christ. So, in order to remove Christ from sight entirely, he sets up other attractions that slowly draw people away from faith and from the knowledge of grace toward disputes about the law. Once he has accomplished this, Christ has been taken away. It is not without reason, therefore, that Paul speaks of Christ so much and so often, and works so diligently to set forth the teaching of faith — attributing righteousness to faith alone, taking it away from the law, and declaring that the law produces the exact opposite: wrath and increased sin. Paul's deep desire is that we would not allow Christ to be torn from our hearts — that the bride would not let her husband leave her arms, but would always embrace Him and cling to Him. For where He is present, there is no danger: there is the faithful groaning, the Father's goodwill, adoption, and inheritance.

But why does Paul say the Galatians turned back to weak and worthless elementary principles — that is, to the law — when they had never had the law, since they were Gentiles? Or why does he not simply say: 'Once you did not know God and served false gods — now that you know God, why are you turning back to idol worship?' Does Paul treat falling from the promise to the law — from faith to works — as the same thing as serving gods who are no gods by nature? My answer is this: whoever falls from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater. It therefore makes no difference whether he turns afterward to the law or to the worship of idols. Whether he is called a monk, a Turk, a Jew, or an Anabaptist — it is all the same. For once this article is lost, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, wickedness, and idolatry — no matter how much it may appear on the outside to be truth, true worship of God, and genuine holiness.

The reason is that God cannot be known in any other way than through Christ, as it is written (John 1:18): 'The only begotten Son, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known.' Christ is the promised seed of Abraham, in whom God has established all His promises. Therefore Christ is the only means — you might say the lens — through which we see God and come to know His will. In Christ we see that God is not a harsh taskmaster or an angry judge, but a most gracious, loving, and merciful Father, who — in order to bless us, that is, to deliver us from the law, sin, death, and every evil, and to give us grace, righteousness, and eternal life — did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all. This is true knowledge of God — a conviction from God that does not mislead us but shows us God as He truly is.

Whoever falls from this knowledge will inevitably form this fantasy in his heart: 'I will set up this form of worship. I will join this religious order. I will choose this or that work, and by it I will serve God. And I have no doubt that God will accept it and reward me with eternal life.' 'For He is merciful and generous, giving good things even to the unworthy and ungrateful — how much more will He give me grace and eternal life in return for my many great deeds and merits?' This is the highest wisdom, righteousness, and religion that human reason can conceive of — and it is common to all nations: papists, Jews, Turks, heretics, and all the rest. They cannot rise higher than the Pharisee in the Gospel. They have no knowledge of Christian righteousness or of the righteousness of faith. For the natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. And as Scripture says: 'There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God.' Therefore there is no real difference between a papist, a Jew, a Turk, and a heretic. There are differences of persons, places, rituals, religions, works, and ceremonies — but at the core, the reasoning, the heart, the opinion, and the thinking are all the same. The Turk thinks exactly what the Carthusian monk thinks: if I do this work, God will be merciful to me; if I do not, He will be angry. There is no middle ground between human works-righteousness and the knowledge of Christ. When this knowledge is lost or obscured, it makes no difference whether you are a monk, a Turk, or a Jew.

It is therefore pure foolishness when the papists and Turks quarrel with each other over religion and worship, each insisting they have the true religion and the true service of God. The monks themselves cannot even agree among themselves, each claiming to be holier than another on the basis of trivial external ceremonies — yet in their hearts their thinking is so identical that one egg is no more like another. They all imagine the same thing: if I do this work, God will have mercy on me; if I do not, He will be angry. Therefore every person who turns away from the knowledge of Christ must inevitably fall into idolatry and form an idea of God that does not match who God truly is. The Carthusian monk, by observing his rule, and the Turk, by keeping his Quran, both confidently believe they are pleasing God and will receive a reward from Him for their effort.

A god who forgives sins and justifies sinners in this way is nowhere to be found — this is nothing but an empty fantasy, a dream, and an idol of the heart. God has not promised to save and justify people for the religions, observances, ceremonies, and rules that people devise for themselves. In fact, as all of Scripture testifies, God hates nothing more than such self-chosen acts of devotion, such invented rituals and ceremonies — and for them He has overthrown whole kingdoms and empires. Therefore, all who trust in their own strength and righteousness do worship a god — but a god they themselves have invented, not the true God. The true God speaks this way: 'No righteousness, wisdom, or religion pleases Me except the one by which the Father is glorified through the Son. Whoever takes hold of this Son — and Me, and My promise in Him — by faith, to him I am God, to him I am Father. Him I accept, justify, and save.' 'All others remain under wrath, because they worship what by nature is not God.'

Whoever abandons this teaching must fall into ignorance of God. He does not understand what true Christian righteousness, wisdom, or worship of God is. He is an idolater remaining under the law, sin, death, and the power of the devil — and everything he does is condemned. Take the Anabaptist, who imagines he pleases God by being rebaptized, by abandoning his house, wife, and children, by mortifying his flesh, enduring hardships, and ultimately death itself. Yet there is not a single drop of the knowledge of Christ in him. He sets Christ aside entirely and dreams only of his own works — his renouncing of possessions, his suffering, his mortification. In his heart and spirit he is no different from a Turk, a Jew, or a papist. The only difference is in the outward appearance, works, and ceremonies he has chosen for himself. The same trust in works marks all the monks and other religious orders — though they differ from each other in their dress and external customs.

There are today many people like this who consider themselves genuine professors and teachers of the Gospel, and who say in so many words that people are delivered from their sins by Christ's death. But because they teach faith in a way that places more weight on love than on faith, they greatly dishonor Christ and wickedly distort His word. They imagine that God regards and accepts us on account of our love — the love by which, having been reconciled to God, we love God and our neighbor. If that were true, we would have no need of Christ at all. Such people are not serving the true God but an idol of their own heart that they themselves have fashioned. For the true God does not regard or accept us on account of our love, virtue, or reformed life — but on account of Christ.

They object: But Scripture commands us to love God with all our heart! That is true. But it does not follow that we actually do so just because God commands it. If we did love God with all our heart, then no doubt we would be justified and live through that obedience, as it is written: 'He who does these things shall live by them.' But the Gospel says: you do not do these things — and therefore you will not live by them. For the command 'You shall love the Lord your God' requires perfect obedience, perfect fear, perfect trust, and perfect love toward God. These are things people neither do nor can accomplish in their corrupt nature. Therefore the law 'You shall love the Lord your God' does not justify — it accuses and condemns everyone, as the Scripture says: 'The law produces wrath.' Christ, on the other hand, is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. We have already covered this at length.

Similarly, a Jew who keeps the law with the belief that his obedience will please God is not serving the true God — he is an idolater, worshiping a dream and an idol of his own heart that does not exist. For the God of his fathers — the God he claims to worship — promised Abraham a Seed through whom all nations would be blessed. God is therefore known, and the blessing is given, not through the law but through the Gospel of Christ. Although Paul speaks these words — 'when you did not know God, you served' — directly and primarily to the Galatians, who were Gentiles, his words also reach the Jews, who, though they had outwardly rejected their idols, in their hearts worshiped them more than the Gentiles did, as it says in Romans 2: 'You who abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege?' The Gentiles were not God's people, they had not His word, and so their idolatry was open and obvious. But the idolatrous Jews concealed their idolatry behind the name and word of God — as all those do who seek righteousness through works — and by this outward show of holiness they deceived many. Therefore, the more holy and spiritual an idolatry appears, the more dangerous it is.

But how can these two apparently contradictory statements of the apostle be reconciled: 'You did not know God' and 'you worshiped'? My answer: All people by nature have this general knowledge — that there is a God. As Paul says in Romans 1: 'What may be known of God is plain to them, for God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes have been clearly perceived in the creation of the world.' Furthermore, the religious ceremonies and rituals that have existed among all nations throughout history sufficiently show that all people have had some general awareness of God. Whether this came by nature or by tradition passed down from their ancestors, I will not argue here.

Someone will object: if all people knew God, why does Paul say the Galatians did not know God before the Gospel was preached to them? My answer: there are two kinds of knowledge of God — general and particular. All people have the general knowledge: that there is a God, that He created heaven and earth, that He is just, that He punishes the wicked. But what God thinks of us, what His will toward us is, what He will give and do to deliver us from sin and death and bring us to salvation — this true knowledge of God — they do not have. It is as if I know someone by sight but do not truly know him, because I do not know what he thinks of me. People know naturally that God exists, but they do not know what His will is or is not. Scripture says: 'There is none who understands God.' And elsewhere: 'No one has ever seen God' — meaning, no one has known what God's will is. And what good does it do you to know that God exists while remaining ignorant of what His will is toward you? People imagine many different answers to that question. The Jew imagines it is God's will that he worship according to Moses' law. The Turk, if he follows the Quran. The monk, if he keeps his rule and fulfills his vows. But all of these are deceived and have become futile in their thinking, as Paul says in Romans 1:22 — not knowing what pleases or displeases God, and therefore worshiping not the true and living God but the dreams and fantasies of their own hearts.

This is what Paul means when he says: 'When you did not know God' — that is, when you did not know God's will — 'you served those which by nature are no gods' — that is, you served the dreams and fantasies of your own heart, imagining apart from God's word that He was to be worshiped through this or that work, this or that rite or ceremony. All idolatry grew from this starting point: the natural knowledge that God exists. Without at least that much awareness of the divine, idolatry could never have entered the world. But because people had this natural knowledge of God, they went on to form vain and corrupt ideas about Him, apart from and against His word — ideas they held and defended as certain truth, dreaming of a god who is nothing like the God who actually exists. The monk imagines a god who forgives sins, gives grace, and awards eternal life in exchange for keeping his rule. That god exists nowhere. So the monk does not serve the true God but what is by nature no god — namely, the idol and fantasy of his own heart, the false opinion of God that he mistakes for certain truth. Reason itself forces us to admit that a person's opinion of God is not God. Therefore, whoever worships God without His word does not serve the true God — but, as Paul says, what is by nature no god.

Whether you take 'elementary principles' here to mean the law of Moses or the traditions of the Gentiles — though Paul speaks primarily and directly of Moses' law — the difference is small. For falling from grace to the law is no less dangerous than falling from grace to outright idolatry. Without Christ, there is nothing but pure idolatry — a false and imaginary god — whether the system is called Moses' law, the Pope's decrees, or the Turks' Quran. And so Paul adds these next words with a kind of astonishment:

Verse 9. But now that you have come to know God —

It is as if he said: It is astonishing that you, who have come to know God through the preaching of faith — and whom I thought were so firmly grounded that I never imagined you could be so easily overthrown — have now, under pressure from the false apostles, turned back to the weak and worthless ceremonies, which you wish to serve all over again. You heard from my preaching what God's will is: to bless all nations — not through circumcision or keeping the law, but through Christ, who was promised to Abraham. Those who believe in Him are blessed together with Abraham, who believed. They are sons and heirs of God. This is how you came to know God (Galatians 3:9; Galatians 4:7).

Verse 9. Or rather are known by God —

Paul corrects what he just said — 'But now that you have come to know God' — and turns it around: 'Or rather are known by God.' He does this because he feared they had lost God entirely. It is as if he said: Have you come to this — that you now no longer know God, but are turning from grace back to the law? Yet even so, God still knows you. Our knowledge of God is more passive than active — meaning, it consists more in our being known by God than in our knowing Him. All our efforts to know and find God amount to this: allowing God to work in us. He gives the word. When we receive that word through faith given from above, we are born again and become children of God. So the meaning is: 'You are known by God' — that is, you have been visited with the word, given faith and the Holy Spirit, and renewed by them. With these words — 'you are known by God' — Paul takes away all righteousness from the law and denies that we come to know God through the merit of our own works. For no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Matthew 11:27). And: 'By His knowledge shall My Servant justify many, because He shall bear their iniquities' (Isaiah 53:11). Our knowledge of God, therefore, consists in receiving, not in doing.

Paul is astonished that after truly knowing God through the Gospel, the Galatians could turn back so quickly to weak and worthless elementary principles under the influence of the false apostles. I myself would be deeply astonished if our congregation — which by God's grace has been godly reformed in pure teaching and faith — were seduced and overturned by some unstable and reckless person through one or two sermons, to the point where they no longer recognized me as their pastor. And yet that will indeed happen someday — if not while we are alive, then when we are dead. For many will rise up who will present themselves as teachers and authorities, and under the guise of true religion will teach false and perverse doctrine, quickly pulling down in a short time what we have built with so much labor over so many years. We are no better than the apostles, who — to their deep grief and sorrow — saw with their own eyes the collapse of churches they themselves had planted. It is therefore no great surprise if we are forced to watch the same today in those churches where sectarians reign — who will one day, when we are gone, take possession of the churches we have labored to establish through our ministry, and infect and destroy them with their poison. Yet Christ will remain and reign to the end of the world, and He will do so in remarkable ways — just as He did even under the papacy.

Paul seems to speak very disparagingly of the law when he calls it 'elementary principles' — as he did at the beginning of this chapter — and not just elementary principles, but weak and worthless elementary principles and ceremonies. Is it not blasphemy to apply such offensive terms to the law of God? The law, used rightly, is meant to serve the promises and stand alongside them and grace. But when the law fights against the promises, it is no longer the holy law of God — it has become a false and diabolical teaching that drives people to despair and must be rejected.

When Paul calls the law weak and worthless elementary principles, he is speaking of the law in relation to proud and presumptuous hypocrites who seek to be justified by it — not speaking of the law in its true spiritual use, which produces wrath. For the law in its proper use accuses and condemns people — and in that sense it is not weak or worthless at all, but mighty and rich. It is an invincible power. Compared to the law in this sense, the conscience is what is weak and worthless. The conscience is so tender that even a small sin can so trouble and terrify it that it despairs entirely, unless something raises it up again. Therefore the law in its proper use has more strength and authority than heaven and earth can contain — a single letter or stroke of the law is capable of condemning all of humanity, as the account of the law given through Moses at Sinai demonstrates (Exodus 19-20). That is the true and divine use of the law, which is not what Paul is speaking about here.

Paul is speaking here about hypocrites — people who have never reached grace, or who have fallen away from it. These people abuse the law by seeking to be justified through it. They wear themselves out day and night with the works of the law, as Paul testifies about the Jews in Romans 10: 'I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness...' They hope to be strengthened and enriched by the law to such a degree that they can set the power and wealth they have gained through their own righteousness against the wrath and judgment of God — and so to appease God and be saved. In this sense we can rightly say the law is a weak and worthless elementary principle: it can give neither help nor answers.

And if someone wants to press the point further, he can say that the law is weak and worthless because it actually makes people weaker and poorer — and because the law has no power or riches of its own with which to give or produce righteousness. In fact, it is not merely weak and poor, but is weakness and poverty itself. How then could it possibly strengthen or enrich those who were already weak and poor? To seek justification through the law is like a weak and sick man looking for some greater disease to cure his weakness and poverty — which would only bring about his complete destruction. It would be like someone with epilepsy seeking to cure it by adding the plague on top of it — or like a leper going to another leper, or a beggar to another beggar, each expecting the other to help and enrich him.

Paul shows that those who seek to be justified by the law gain one thing from it: they grow weaker and poorer every day. They are already weak and poor by nature — that is, they are children of wrath, subject to death and eternal condemnation — and yet they reach out and grasp what is nothing but weakness and poverty, hoping to be strengthened and enriched by it. Therefore everyone who turns from the promise to the law, from faith to works, does nothing but heap onto himself — already weak as he is — a burden he cannot carry (Acts 15). And in carrying it he becomes ten times weaker, until he finally falls into despair, unless Christ comes and delivers him.

The Gospel testifies to this in the account of the woman who had suffered a hemorrhage for twelve years, endured much from many physicians, had spent everything she had, and yet was not healed — in fact, the longer she was in their care, the worse she became. Those who do the works of the law in order to be justified by them are not only not made righteous — they are made twice as unrighteous as before, meaning twice as weak and poor, and less able than ever to do any genuine good. I have seen this proved true in myself and in many others. I knew many monks in the papacy who performed great and strenuous works with great zeal in pursuit of righteousness and salvation — yet they were more impatient, weaker, more miserable, more faithless, more fearful, and more prone to despair than anyone else. Civil rulers who were constantly occupied with great and weighty matters of government were not as impatient, fearful, cowardly, superstitious, and faithless as these merit-seekers were.

Whoever seeks righteousness through the law — what can he imagine except that God is angry and must be appeased with works? Once he has formed this idea, he gets to work. But he can never do enough good works to quiet his conscience. He always wants more. He even finds sins in the works he has already done. So his conscience can never find peace but is always uncertain, always saying to itself: 'You have not made the right sacrifice. You have not prayed rightly. You left that undone. You committed this sin or that one.' His heart trembles and feels crushed under countless sins that keep multiplying without end, so that he drifts further and further from righteousness until he finally falls into despair. This is why many people at the point of death have spoken words of desperation: 'O wretch that I am — I have not kept my rule! Where can I flee from Christ, that angry judge? I wish to God I had been made a swineherd or the lowest person on earth.'

And so the monk at the end of his life is weaker, poorer, more faithless, and more fearful than he was at the very beginning when he first entered his order. The reason is that he tried to strengthen himself through weakness and enrich himself through poverty. The law, human tradition, or his monastic rule was supposed to heal him in his sickness and enrich him in his poverty — but it has left him more feeble and destitute than the tax collectors and prostitutes. Tax collectors and prostitutes do not have a pile of good works to trust in the way monks do — but even though they feel their sins acutely, they can still say with the tax collector: 'O Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.' The monk, by contrast, has spent his entire life in weak and worthless elementary principles, and has been stamped with this conviction: 'If you keep your rule, you will be saved.' With this false persuasion he is so thoroughly deceived and bewitched that he cannot grasp grace — he cannot even bring it to mind. And so, no matter how many or how great his works are, he always thinks he has not done enough, always looking to do more — piling up works in an attempt to appease God's wrath and justify himself, until he is driven to complete despair. Whoever turns from faith to follow the law is like the dog in Aesop's fable that drops the meat and snaps at the reflection. It is impossible for those who seek righteousness and salvation through the law — which is humanity's natural tendency — ever to find peace and rest of conscience. They do nothing but heap law upon law, tormenting themselves and others, and afflicting people's consciences so badly that many die before their time from sheer anguish. For one law always gives birth to ten more, and they multiply without number and without end.

Who would have thought that the Galatians, who had received such a sound and pure teaching from such an excellent apostle, could be led away from it so quickly and completely overturned by the false apostles? It is not without reason that I repeat this so often: falling away from the truth of the Gospel is easy. The reason is that people — even believers — do not sufficiently appreciate how excellent and precious the true knowledge of Christ is. So they do not work as diligently and carefully as they should to obtain it and hold on to it. Beyond that, most of those who hear the word are not being tested by any cross or affliction — they are not wrestling with sin, death, and the devil, but living in comfort and security without any real struggle. Because they have not been tested and tried through temptation, and have not therefore armed themselves with God's word against the devil's schemes, they never truly feel the power and usefulness of the word. While they are around faithful ministers and preachers, they can repeat what they hear and say the right things, convincing themselves they fully understand the matter of justification. But when those ministers are gone and wolves in sheep's clothing take their place, the same thing happens to them as happened to the Galatians — they are suddenly deceived and easily turned back to weak and worthless elementary principles.

Paul has a distinctive way of speaking that the other apostles did not use. None of the other apostles called the law what Paul calls it here — a weak and worthless elementary principle, utterly useless for righteousness. Frankly, I would never have dared to use such language about the law and would have considered it serious blasphemy against God, had Paul not done so first. But I have already treated this more thoroughly above, showing when the law is weak and worthless and when it is most powerful and authoritative. Now, if the law of God is weak and useless for justification, the laws and decrees of the Pope are far weaker and more useless still. We therefore condemn the ordinances, laws, and decrees of the Pope with the same boldness and confidence that Paul uses against the law of God — they are not only weak and worthless elementary principles, utterly useless for righteousness, but also execrable, accursed, diabolical, and damnable — for they blaspheme grace, overturn the Gospel, abolish faith, and remove Christ.

Since the Pope requires his laws to be kept as necessary for salvation, he is nothing less than Antichrist and the representative of Satan. All who cling to him, endorse his abominations and blasphemies, or keep his laws in order to merit forgiveness of sins are servants of Antichrist and of the devil. This has been the doctrine of the papal church for a long time — that these laws must be kept as necessary for salvation. So the Pope sits in the temple of God, boasting that he is God. He opposes God and exalts himself above everything that is called God or worshiped. People's consciences feared and revered the Pope's laws and decrees more than the word of God and His ordinances. In this way the Pope made himself lord of heaven, earth, and hell, and wore the triple crown upon his head. His cardinals and bishops — his creatures — were made kings and princes of the world. And this is precisely why he had to burden people's consciences with his laws — if he had not, he could not long have maintained his fearsome power, his dignity, or his wealth. His entire kingdom would have collapsed quickly.

This point Paul is making here is weighty and important, and deserves careful attention: those who fall from grace to the law completely lose the knowledge of the truth. They cannot see their own sins. They know neither God nor the devil nor themselves. And they do not understand the true nature and use of the law — no matter how loudly they boast that they keep and observe it. For without the knowledge of grace — that is, without the Gospel of Christ — it is impossible for anyone to define the law correctly as a weak and worthless elementary principle, useless for righteousness. Instead, he judges the law in the opposite way: not only as necessary for salvation, but as something that strengthens the weak and enriches the poor — meaning that those who obey it will be able to merit righteousness and eternal life. If this opinion stands, God's promise is denied, Christ is taken away, and lying, wickedness, and idolatry are established in their place. The Pope, along with all his bishops, schools, and entire institution, taught that his laws are necessary for salvation. He was therefore a teacher of weak and worthless elementary principles — and with these he made the church of Christ throughout the whole world weak and worthless, burdening and miserably tormenting it with his wicked laws, obscuring Christ and burying His Gospel.

Verse 9. To which you desire to be enslaved all over again.

Paul adds these words to make clear he is speaking of proud and presumptuous hypocrites who seek to be justified by the law, as I explained above. Elsewhere he calls the law holy and good. As he says in 1 Timothy 1: 'We know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully' — meaning, civilly to restrain evildoers, and spiritually to make sin increase. But whoever observes the law in order to gain righteousness before God turns the good law into something damnable and harmful for himself. Paul is therefore rebuking the Galatians because they wanted to be enslaved to the law again — the law that does not remove sin but increases it. For when a sinner — already weak and poor in himself — seeks to be justified by the law, he finds in the law nothing but weakness and poverty. So two sick and feeble beggars meet, and neither can help or heal the other. They can only trouble each other.

We who are strong in Christ are glad to serve the law — not the weak and worthless law, but the mighty and authoritative law — that is, insofar as it has power and authority over the body. In that case we serve the law only in our bodies and outward behavior, and not in our conscience. But the Pope requires that we obey his laws with this conviction: if you do this or that, you are righteous; if you do not, you are damned. Here the law becomes far more than just a weak and worthless element. For as long as the conscience remains enslaved under the law in this way, nothing results but weakness and poverty. Therefore the whole weight of the issue rests on that one word: to serve. Paul's meaning is that he does not want the conscience to serve under the law as a captive — but to be free and to stand above the law. For the conscience is dead to the law through Christ, and the law is dead to the conscience — which we have treated more thoroughly above in chapter 2.

Verse 10. You observe days and months and seasons and years.

These words make clear what the false apostles were teaching — namely, the observance of days, months, seasons, and years. The Jews were commanded to keep the Sabbath, the new moons, the first and seventh months, the three appointed festivals (Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles), and the Year of Jubilee. The false apostles were compelling the Galatians to keep these same ceremonies as necessary for righteousness. Paul says, therefore, that by losing the grace and freedom they had in Christ, they had turned back to serving weak and worthless elementary principles. They had been convinced by the false apostles that these laws had to be kept, and that by keeping them they would obtain righteousness — and that if they did not keep them they would be condemned. Paul, by contrast, will not allow people's consciences to be bound by the law of Moses. He always delivers them from the law. 'Listen,' he writes a little later in chapter 5: 'I, Paul, tell you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you' (Galatians 5:2). And in Colossians 2:16: 'Let no one judge you in food or drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.' Our Savior Christ says the same: 'The kingdom of God is not coming with careful observation' (Luke 17:20). How much less should people's consciences be burdened and trapped by human traditions.

Verse 11. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

Here Paul reveals how deeply troubled he is by the Galatians' fall. He would rebuke them more harshly, but fears that if he presses too hard he will not only fail to help them but will push them further away and lose them entirely. So in his writing he softens his tone, and — as if the damage had fallen on himself — he says: 'I am afraid that I may have labored over you in vain.' He is saying: it grieves me that I preached the Gospel among you with such diligence and faithfulness, and see no fruit from it. Even so, while showing them real fatherly love and affection, he still manages to rebuke them — firmly, but in a concealed way. When he says he may have labored among them in vain — that is, preached without any fruit — he is indirectly showing that they are either stubborn unbelievers or have fallen away from the teaching of faith. Both unbelievers and those who have fallen from the faith are sinners, wicked, unrighteous, and condemned. Such people obey the law in vain. They observe days, months, and years — all in vain. In these words — 'I am afraid that I have labored over you in vain' — there is a kind of hidden excommunication. Paul means that the Galatians are cut off and separated from Christ unless they quickly return to sound and sincere teaching. Yet he does not pronounce an open verdict against them. He could see that harsh dealings would accomplish nothing. So he changes his approach and speaks to them warmly:

Verse 12. Become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

Up to this point Paul has been entirely occupied with teaching, and being deeply stirred by the Galatians' serious and wicked defection, he dealt with them sharply — calling them fools, bewitched, people who do not believe the truth, crucifiers of Christ, and more. Now, with most of the letter completed, he begins to realize he may have been too severe with them. Concerned that his harshness might do more harm than good, he shows that his sharp reproof came from a genuinely fatherly and apostolic heart. He then softens his tone with warm and gentle words, hoping that if he has offended anyone — and no doubt he has offended many — he might win them back through kind and loving speech.

In doing this, he gives all pastors and ministers an example by his own conduct: they ought to bear a fatherly and motherly affection — not toward ravenous wolves, but toward poor sheep who have been led astray and are wandering. They must patiently bear with people's faults and weaknesses, gently instructing and restoring them with a spirit of meekness. There is simply no other way to bring them back. Overly sharp reproof and rebuke provokes anger or despair — not repentance. We should also note in passing that this is the nature and fruit of true and sound teaching: when it is properly taught and truly understood, it joins people's hearts together in remarkable unity. But when people reject sound and godly teaching and embrace error, that unity and harmony breaks down quickly. Therefore, whenever you see your brothers being seduced by vain and fanatical spirits and falling away from the article of justification, you will find that those same people very soon begin to pursue the faithful with bitter hatred — toward the very people they previously loved most.

We see this in our own day among our false brothers and other sectarians. At the beginning of the Gospel's reform, they were glad to hear us and read our books with great zeal and enthusiasm. They recognized the grace of the Holy Spirit in us and honored us as ministers of God. Some of them lived alongside us for a time and conducted themselves very modestly and quietly. But when they left and were corrupted by the false teaching of the sectarians, they became more bitter enemies of our teaching and our name than anyone else. I often wonder deeply why they have developed such deadly hatred toward those they once loved so warmly and tenderly — for we gave them no offense and no cause to hate us. They themselves are forced to admit that we desire nothing more than the glory of God to be advanced, the grace of Christ truly understood, and the truth of the Gospel purely taught — which God has again in these latter days revealed through us to this ungrateful world. This should have moved them to love us, not hate us. I am therefore genuinely puzzled by this change. There is truly no other explanation: they have acquired new masters and listened to new teachers, whose poison has so infected them that former friends have become deadly enemies. And I see this as the common lot of the apostles and all faithful ministers — that their own disciples and hearers, once infected with the errors of false apostles and heretics, turn against them and become their enemies. Very few of the Galatians remained in the sound teaching of the apostle. All the rest, having been seduced by the false apostles, no longer recognized Paul as their pastor and teacher — indeed, nothing was more repugnant to them than Paul's name and doctrine. And I fear that this letter brought very few of them back from their error.

If the same thing happened to us — if in our absence our congregation were seduced by some unstable enthusiast, and we wrote not one or two but many letters — we would accomplish very little. Our people, with only a few of the stronger ones excepted, would treat us no differently from how those seduced by the sectarians treat us today. They would sooner submit to the Pope than heed our warnings or approve our teaching. Nothing will persuade them that in rejecting Christ they are turning back to weak and worthless elementary principles and to what by nature is no god. The last thing they want to hear is that the teachers who have led them astray are destroyers of the Gospel of Christ and troublers of people's consciences. 'The Lutherans,' they say, 'are not the only wise ones — they are not the only ones who preach Christ or have the Holy Spirit, the gift of prophecy, and the true understanding of Scripture. Our teachers are no inferior to them — in fact they surpass them in many ways, because they follow the Spirit and teach spiritual things. The Lutherans, by contrast, have never tasted what true theology means. They are stuck in the letter, and so they teach nothing but the Catechism, faith, and love.' Therefore, as I often say, falling in faith is easy — and it is most dangerous: it is a fall from the heights of heaven into the depths of hell. This is not the kind of fall that belongs naturally to human weakness, like murder or adultery. It is diabolical — the devil's own work. Those who fall this way are rarely recovered. Most continue in their error, stubborn and unrepentant. And the last state of such people is worse than the first, as our Savior Christ says: when the unclean spirit returns to his house, he does not come alone but brings seven other spirits worse than himself, and they dwell there.

Paul, perceiving through the Holy Spirit's revelation that there was real danger — that the Galatians, whom out of godly zeal he had called fools and bewitched, might be further inflamed against him rather than corrected by his sharp words — was caught in a difficult position. He knew the false apostles were now among the Galatians and would take his sharp reproof, which had come from fatherly love, and twist it against him. They would say: 'Now you can see what this Paul you admire so much is really like, and what spirit drives him. When he was with you he played the father, but his letters reveal that in his absence he is a tyrant.' Paul was therefore so troubled by his godly care and fatherly love that he could hardly decide what or how to write to them. It is a difficult thing to defend your cause with people who are absent, who have begun to hate you, and who have been persuaded by others that your cause is wrong. In this state of deep uncertainty he says shortly after: 'I am perplexed about you' — meaning: I do not know what to do or how to deal with you (Galatians 4:20).

Verse 12. Become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

These words are not about doctrine but about disposition. The meaning is not: 'Think about doctrine as I do.' It is: 'Have toward me the same disposition that I have toward you.' It is as if he said: 'Perhaps I have rebuked you too harshly — forgive this sharpness and do not judge my heart by my words, but judge my words by the feeling of my heart.' 'My words may sound rough and my correction harsh, but my heart is loving and fatherly.' 'Therefore, O my Galatians, receive this rebuke in the same spirit in which I speak it — for the situation demanded that I be so firm and severe with you.'

We can say the same of ourselves. Our correction is firm, and our manner of writing sharp and forceful — but there is no bitterness in our hearts, no envy, no desire for revenge against our opponents. There is only godly concern and grief of spirit. We do not hate the Pope and other misguided teachers to the point of wishing them harm or desiring their destruction — on the contrary, we desire that they would return to the right path and be saved alongside us. A teacher disciplines his student not to harm him, but to reform him. The rod is sharp, but correction is necessary for the child, and the heart of the one who corrects is loving and kind. A father disciplines his son not to destroy him but to reform and improve him. The blows are painful to the child, but the father's heart is loving. And if he did not love his child, he would not discipline him at all — he would abandon him, give up on him, and let him ruin himself. Therefore the discipline a father gives his child is a sign of fatherly love, and it is profitable for the child (Hebrews 12:11). 'Think the same way about how I have dealt with you, O my Galatians — then you will not judge my correction as harsh and bitter, but as beneficial.' 'Discipline does not feel joyful for the moment but grievous — yet afterward it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who are trained by it.' Have the same disposition toward me that I have toward you. I hold a loving heart toward you. I ask the same in return.

So he speaks to them kindly, and continues in this kind tone, in hopes of calming hearts that his sharp reproof had stirred up against him. He does not, however, take back his severe words. He admits they were sharp and hard — but he says: necessity compelled me to rebuke you as firmly and severely as I did, and what I did came from a sincere and loving heart. A doctor gives his patient a bitter medicine not to hurt him, but to cure him. If the bitterness of the medicine given to a sick body should not be blamed on the doctor but on the medicine and the disease, then judge my severe and sharp reproof in the same way.

Verse 12. Brothers, I urge you. You have done me no wrong.

Is this really an appeal to the Galatians — calling them bewitched, disobedient to the truth, and crucifiers of Christ? It seems more like a severe rebuke. But Paul insists that it is not a rebuke but an earnest appeal — and indeed it is. It is as if he said: I admit I have spoken to you quite harshly, but take it in a good spirit — and then you will find that this rebuke of mine is not really a rebuke at all, but a pleading and an appeal. If a father corrects his son firmly, it is as much as saying: 'My son, please be a good child.' It looks like discipline, but if you look at the father's heart, it is a tender and earnest plea.

Verse 12. You have done me no wrong.

It is as if he said: Why would I be angry with you, or speak harshly out of any ill will, when you have not wronged me? The Galatians might object: 'Why then do you say we have gone astray, that we have abandoned your teaching, that we are foolish and bewitched? These things suggest that we have offended you.' He answers: You have not offended me — you have offended yourselves. And that is why I am so troubled — not for my own sake, but out of love for you. Do not think therefore that my reproof came from malice or any ill feeling. I call God as my witness: you have done me no wrong. On the contrary, you have shown me great kindness.

By speaking to them this way, he prepares their hearts to receive his fatherly correction with a childlike spirit. This is how to soften a bitter medicine — mix it with honey and sugar to make it palatable. Parents do the same when they have firmly disciplined their children: they follow it with kind words and gifts — an apple, a pear, something sweet — so the children know that their parents love them and want what is good for them, however sharp the correction may have felt.

Verses 13-14. You know that it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the Gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

Paul now describes what kindnesses the Galatians had shown him. The first and greatest of these, he says, was this: when he first came among them to preach the Gospel, in weakness and under great trials, his difficult situation did not put them off at all. They showed themselves so loving, warm, and generous that not only were they not offended by his weakness, his trials, and the dangers that nearly overwhelmed him — they loved him deeply and received him as an angel of God, indeed as Jesus Christ Himself. This is a remarkable commendation of the Galatians — that they received the Gospel from someone as despised and hard-pressed on every side as Paul was. Wherever he preached the Gospel, Jews and Gentiles both murmured and raged against him. All the powerful, wise, religious, and educated people hated, persecuted, and slandered him. Yet none of this put the Galatians off in the least. They looked past his weakness, his trials, and his dangers — not only hearing this poor, despised, and battered Paul, and acknowledging themselves as his disciples, but receiving and honoring him as an angel of God, yes, as Jesus Christ Himself. This is a remarkable testimony and a singular virtue of the Galatians — a commendation Paul gives to none of the other churches to whom he wrote.

Jerome and certain other ancient fathers interpret Paul's 'weakness of the flesh' as some physical illness or a struggle with lust. These men lived in an era when the church enjoyed outward peace and prosperity, free from any cross or persecution. At that time bishops were beginning to accumulate wealth, prestige, and worldly honor. Many of them also exercised tyranny over the people in their care, as church history records. Few did their duty, and those who appeared to do it abandoned the Gospel's teaching and promoted their own decrees. When pastors and bishops are not exercised in the word of God and neglect its pure and sincere proclamation, they inevitably fall into complacency — they are not tested by the temptations, the cross, and persecutions that unfailingly follow the pure preaching of the word. So it was impossible for them to understand Paul. But we, by God's grace, have sound and sincere teaching, which we preach and teach freely — and for this we are compelled to bear the bitter hatred, suffering, and persecution of the devil and the world. If we were not pressed outwardly by tyrants and sectarians with force and cunning, and inwardly by terrors and the devil's fiery arrows, Paul would be as obscure and unknown to us as he was to the whole world in earlier ages, and as he still is to the papists, the Anabaptists, and our other opponents. It is the gift of knowledge and the ability to understand Scripture — combined with our diligence and our inward and outward trials — that opens for us the meaning of Paul and the sense of all of holy Scripture.

Paul therefore calls his 'weakness of the flesh' not a physical disease or temptation to lust, but the suffering and affliction he endured in his body — the opposite of spiritual strength and power. And lest we seem to force Paul's words, let us hear him speak for himself in 2 Corinthians 12: 'Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake — for when I am weak, then I am strong.' And in chapter 11: 'In labors far more, in imprisonments far more frequently, in beatings above measure, in danger of death often. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked.' These bodily afflictions are what he calls the weakness of the flesh — not any physical disease. As if he said: When I preached the Gospel among you, I was pressed down by various trials and afflictions. I was constantly in danger — from the Jews, from the Gentiles, and from false brothers. I suffered hunger and lacked everything. I was treated as the filth and refuse of the world. He refers to this weakness in many places — in 1 Corinthians 4; 2 Corinthians 4, 6, 11, 12, and many others.

We see, then, that Paul calls his bodily afflictions the weakness of the flesh — suffering he endured in the body, as the other apostles, the prophets, and all godly people did — while his spirit was mighty. The power of Christ was in him, always reigning and triumphing through him. He testifies to this in 2 Corinthians 12: 'When I am weak, then I am strong.' And: 'I will gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.' And in chapter 2: 'Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ.' It is as if he said: Yes, the devil, the Jews, and the Gentiles rage against us savagely — yet we stand firm and unconquerable against all their attacks, and our teaching prevails and triumphs whether they like it or not. This was the strength and power of the Spirit in Paul, which he here contrasts with the weakness and bondage of the flesh.

This weakness of the flesh in believers is deeply offensive to human reason. Paul therefore praises the Galatians highly for not being offended by this great weakness and by the lowly and despised form of the cross they saw in him — but instead receiving him as an angel, indeed as Christ Himself. Christ also arms believers against this lowly and despised form in which He appeared, when He says: 'Blessed is the one who does not stumble because of Me' (Matthew 11:6). And truly it is a remarkable thing that those who believe in Him acknowledge Him as the Lord of all and the Savior of the world — the same One who is described as the most wretched of all, last among men, a laughingstock and the scum of the earth, despised and hated by all, condemned to death on a cross, and rejected even by His own people — especially by those who were considered the best, wisest, and holiest of all. It is a remarkable thing not to be shaken by such stumbling blocks — to be able not merely to look past them, but to value this poor Christ, so viciously mocked, spat upon, whipped, and crucified, more than all the wealth of the wealthiest, the strength of the strongest, the wisdom of the wisest, the holiness of the holiest, and all the crowns and scepters of every king and prince in the world. Those who are not offended by Christ are rightly called blessed by Him (Psalm 21:7).

Paul endured not only outward trials — of which I have already spoken — but also inward and spiritual trials, as Christ did in the garden. One of these was what he describes in 2 Corinthians 12: a thorn in the flesh, and an angel of Satan to buffet him. I mention this in passing because the papists interpreted this as a temptation to fleshly lust — but it was a spiritual temptation. There is no contradiction in the fact that he adds the word 'flesh,' saying: 'A thorn was given to me in my flesh.' He deliberately calls it a thorn in the flesh. For the Galatians and others who knew Paul had often seen him in great anguish, terror, and heaviness of spirit. The apostles therefore had not only bodily trials but also spiritual ones, which Paul also acknowledges in 2 Corinthians 7: 'Conflicts on the outside, fears within.' Luke records in the final chapters of Acts that when Paul had long been battered in the storm at sea to the point of spiritual exhaustion, he was refreshed and strengthened when he saw the brothers who had come from Rome to meet him at the Market of Appius and the Three Taverns. And in Philippians 2, Paul acknowledges that God showed him mercy by restoring the sick and nearly-dead Epaphroditus to health, 'so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow' (Philippians 2:27). So besides outward trials, the apostles also suffered great anguish, heaviness, and terror of spirit.

But why does Paul say the Galatians did not despise him? It seems as if they did despise him, since they abandoned his Gospel. Paul is speaking of an earlier time. He is saying: when I first preached the Gospel to you, you did not do what most people did — who, greatly offended by my weakness and bodily trials, despised and rejected me. Human reason is quickly offended by the lowly and despised form of the cross, and judges those who are so afflicted to be out of their minds for daring to comfort, help, and offer hope to others. It is offended by those who boast of great riches — righteousness, strength, victory over sin, death, and every evil, joy, salvation, and eternal life — while they themselves are needy, weak, downcast, despised, mistreated, and killed as dangerous pests to society and religion, their killers believing they are doing God a service. So when they promise eternal treasures to others while they themselves perish so miserably in the world's eyes, they are laughed to scorn and told: 'Physician, heal yourself.' This is the source of those laments that appear throughout the Psalms: 'I am a worm and not a man.' And: 'Do not be far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help' (Psalm 22:6, 11).

It is therefore a great commendation of the Galatians that they were not offended by this weakness and trial of Paul's, but received him as an angel of God — yes, as Christ Jesus Himself. It is indeed a great virtue worthy of high praise to hear the apostle. But it is an even greater and truly Christian virtue to open one's ears and heart to someone as wretched, weak, and despised as Paul was among the Galatians — as he himself testifies here — and to receive him as an angel from heaven and honor him as though he were Christ Jesus Himself, without being put off by so many and so great afflictions. Paul therefore praises the virtue of the Galatians in the highest terms. He says he will keep this in perpetual remembrance, and values it so highly that he wants it known to everyone. Yet in so generously recounting their kindness and praising them, he subtly shows how completely they loved him before the false apostles arrived — and by doing so he urges them to continue as they began, and to embrace him with no less love and reverence than before. This also reveals that the false apostles had gained greater authority among the Galatians than Paul himself had. The Galatians, swayed by the false apostles' authority, had placed them far above Paul — the very Paul they had previously loved so dearly and received as an angel of God.

Verse 15. What then has become of your blessing?

It is as if he said: How blessed were you thought to be! How much were you praised and commended at that time! We have the same expression in the song of the virgin Mary: 'All generations will call me blessed.' These words — 'What then has become of your blessing?' — carry a certain force. It is as if he said: you were not just blessed, but in every way supremely blessed and most highly commended. By this he works to soften and temper his bitter medicine — that is, his sharp reproof — fearing the Galatians might be put off by it, especially knowing that the false apostles would slander him and twist his words with as much spite as possible. For this is the nature and habit of these vipers: they take words that come from a simple and sincere heart and slander them, wresting them completely away from their true meaning. They are remarkably skilled at this — surpassing the cleverness and eloquence of every rhetorician in the world. They are driven by a wicked spirit that so bewitches them that, burning with diabolical rage against believers, they can do nothing other than maliciously twist and wickedly distort what others say and write. They are like spiders that draw poison from sweet and pleasant flowers — not because of the flowers, but because of their own venomous nature, which turns what is good and wholesome into poison. Paul therefore uses these gentle and sweet words to forestall the false apostles, so they could not seize the opportunity to slander him this way: 'Paul treats you harshly — he calls you foolish, bewitched, and disobedient to the truth. This is clear evidence that he is not seeking your salvation but considers you damned and rejected by Christ.'

Verse 15. For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

He praises the Galatians without measure. 'You did not only treat me with the greatest courtesy and reverence,' he says, 'receiving me as an angel of God — but if it had been necessary, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Yes, you would have laid down your lives for me.' And indeed the Galatians did risk their lives for him — for in receiving and supporting Paul, whom the world regarded as utterly reprehensible and cursed, they drew upon their own heads the fierce hatred and hostility of Jews and Gentiles alike.

The same is true in our day. The name of Luther is most repugnant to the world. Whoever praises me commits a worse offense in the world's eyes than any idolater, blasphemer, perjurer, whoremonger, adulterer, murderer, or thief. The Galatians, then, must have been firmly grounded in the teaching and faith of Christ — for they received and supported Paul, who was hated throughout the entire world, at great personal danger. Otherwise they would never have borne the fierce hostility of the whole world.

Verse 16. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Here he explains why he has been speaking to the Galatians in such a gentle tone. He suspects they regard him as an enemy because he rebuked them so sharply. 'I beg you,' he says, 'set these rebukes aside and separate them from the teaching — and you will find that my purpose was not to rebuke you but to teach you the truth.' 'I admit that my letter is sharp and hard — but by this sharpness I am trying to call you back to the truth of the Gospel, from which you have fallen, and to keep you in it. Apply this sharpness and this bitter medicine not to your persons but to your disease. Do not judge me as your enemy because I have rebuked you so firmly — think of me rather as your father.' 'For if I did not love you dearly as my children, and if I did not know that you love me, I would never have rebuked you so forcefully.'

It is the mark of a true friend to freely warn his friend when he is doing something wrong. And when such a warning is given, the wise person is not angry with the friend who spoke the truth to him — he is grateful. It is a common observation in the world that truth breeds hatred and that the one who speaks truth is treated as an enemy. But this is not how it should be among friends — and still less among Christians. Since I have rebuked you out of pure love, so that you might remain in the truth, you should not be offended with me, nor abandon the truth, nor regard me as an enemy because of my fatherly correction. All of this is Paul's way of reinforcing what he said earlier: 'Become as I am. You have done me no wrong.'

Verse 17. They eagerly seek you, but not sincerely.

He is rebuking the flattery of the false apostles. Satan is accustomed to use his ministers to deceive simple people through extraordinary subtlety and cunning — as Paul says in Romans 16: 'Through smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the naive.' First, they make grand declarations that they seek nothing but the advancement of God's glory. They then claim to be moved by the Spirit — because the people are being neglected, or because the truth is not being taught purely by others — to proclaim the certain truth, so that the elect may be freed from error and come to the true light and knowledge. They also promise guaranteed salvation to those who receive their teaching. If vigilant and faithful pastors do not stand against these ravenous wolves, they will do enormous damage to the church under the pretense of godliness, all while wearing sheep's clothing. The Galatians might have asked: 'Why do you speak so harshly against our teachers, just because they care about us? What they do they do out of zeal and genuine love — this should not bother you.' Paul answers: 'Yes, they do pursue you eagerly — but their zeal is not genuine.'

Note here that 'zeal' or 'jealousy' properly means a fierce love — what you might call a godly intensity of feeling. Elijah said: 'I have been very zealous for the Lord of hosts.' In this way a husband is zealous toward his wife, a father toward his son, a brother toward his brother — that is, they love them wholeheartedly, yet they hate their vices and work to correct them. The false apostles claimed to have this kind of zeal toward the Galatians. Paul acknowledges that they were very zealous toward the Galatians — but their zeal, he says, was not genuine. This is the very ploy by which simple people are deceived: seducers convince them that they bear great zeal and affection toward them and are deeply concerned for their wellbeing. Paul therefore warns us here to distinguish between a good zeal and an evil one. A good zeal is praiseworthy — an evil one is not. 'I am as zealous over you as they are,' Paul is saying. 'Now you judge which of our zeals is better — mine or theirs — which is good and godly, and which is evil and self-serving.' Do not let their zeal deceive you so easily. For —

Verse 17. They want to shut you out so that you will seek them.

As if he said: True, they are very zealous toward you — but what they are really after is that you will be zealous toward them in return, and that you will reject me. If their zeal were sincere and godly, they would be content for you to love me as well as them. But they hate our teaching, and their desire is to see it completely overthrown and replaced with their own among you. To accomplish this, they use this show of zeal to pull your hearts away from me and make me repugnant in your eyes — so that once you have developed hatred toward me and my teaching, and turned your affection and zeal toward them, you will love them alone and receive no other teaching but theirs. In this way Paul raises suspicion among the Galatians about the false apostles, showing that this fine-sounding pretense is their means of deception. Our Savior Christ gives us the same warning: 'Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing' (Matthew 7:15).

Paul endured the same trial we face today. He was deeply troubled by the fact that after the preaching of his divinely given teaching, he saw so many sects, uprisings, disruptions of societies, changes in governments, and such like things follow — causing endless harm and offense. He was accused by the Jews of being a dangerous agitator, a stirrer of rebellion throughout the nation, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5). As if they had said: 'This man is a seditious blasphemer — for he preaches things that not only overthrow the Jewish commonwealth, so excellently ordered and established by God's laws, but also abolish the Ten Commandments, true religion and worship of God, and our priesthood — and all this while spreading his so-called Gospel throughout the world, from which endless evils, uprisings, offenses, and sects have sprung.' He also had to endure the cries of the Gentiles in Philippi, who accused him of disturbing their city and preaching customs that were not lawful for them to follow (Acts 16:20-21).

Such public disturbances, along with other calamities like famine, wars, division, and sectarianism, were all blamed by the Jews and Gentiles on the teaching of Paul and the other apostles — so they were persecuted as common plagues and enemies of public peace and religion. Yet despite all this, the apostles never stopped fulfilling their calling — they preached and confessed Christ with unwavering steadiness. For they knew they must obey God rather than people, and that it is better for the whole world to be in an uproar than for Christ not to be preached or for a single soul to be neglected and lost (Acts 5:29).

But these offenses were undoubtedly a heavy cross to the apostles — for they were not made of stone. It caused them extraordinary grief to see the very people for whose sake Paul said he wished to be separated from Christ perishing along with all their heritage. They could see that great upheavals and the collapse of kingdoms would follow in the wake of their teaching. And — what was more bitter to them than death itself, especially to Paul — they saw that even within their own communities many sects were breaking out. It was painful news to Paul when he heard that the Corinthians were denying the resurrection of the dead — when he heard that churches established through his ministry were being disrupted, that the Gospel was being overturned by false apostles, and that all of Asia and some prominent individuals had turned away from his teaching.

But he knew that his teaching was not the cause of these offenses and sects — and so he was not discouraged. He did not abandon his calling but pressed forward, knowing that the Gospel he preached was the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes — however much it appeared to Jews and Gentiles to be a foolish and offensive message. He knew that those who are not offended by the word of the cross are blessed — whether teachers or hearers — as Christ Himself says: 'Blessed is the one who does not stumble because of Me.' On the other hand, he knew that those who judged this teaching to be foolish and heretical were condemned. And so he said of the Jews and Gentiles who were offended by this teaching, as Christ had said before him: 'Leave them alone — they are blind guides of the blind.'

We too are compelled today to hear what was said of Paul and the other apostles: that the Gospel teaching we profess is the cause of great disturbances — of uprisings, wars, sects, and endless offenses. They lay every present trouble at our door. Yet we teach no heresy or wicked doctrine. We preach the good news about Christ — that He is our High Priest and our Redeemer. Furthermore, our opponents are forced to admit — if they are willing to be honest — that our teaching has not caused uprisings, wars, or tumults. We have always taught that honor and obedience must be given to governing authorities, because God commands it. We are not the authors of offenses. If the wicked are offended, the fault lies with them, not with us. God has commanded us to preach the Gospel without regard to who takes offense. But because this teaching condemns the corrupt doctrine and idolatry of our opponents, they take offense at being condemned — and the offenses that result from their own provocation are what the scholars called 'offenses taken,' which they correctly said should not and cannot be avoided.

Christ taught the Gospel without any concern for the offense it caused the Jews. 'Leave them,' He said. 'They are blind leaders of the blind.' The more the priests forbade the apostles to preach in the name of Christ, the more boldly the apostles declared that this same Jesus whom they had crucified is both Lord and Christ — and that whoever calls on His name will be saved, and that there is no other name given to people under heaven by which they can be saved.

We preach Christ in the same way today, without heeding the outcry of the wicked papists and all our other opponents, who shout that our teaching is seditious and blasphemous — that it disturbs societies, overturns religion, spreads heresy, and is the root cause of every evil. When Christ and His apostles preached, the same things were said of them. Not long after, the Romans came and — fulfilling their own prophecy — destroyed both the city and the nation. Let the enemies of the Gospel today therefore take care that they are not crushed under the very evils they are predicting for us.

They call it a grave and terrible offense that monks and priests marry wives, that we eat meat on Fridays, and things like that. But it is no offense to them at all that their corrupt teaching daily seduces and destroys countless souls — that by their evil example they cause the weak to stumble — that they blaspheme and condemn the Gospel of the glory of the mighty God — and that they persecute and kill those who love sound teaching and the word of life. This, to them, is no offense. It is obedience, service, and an acceptable sacrifice to God. Let us leave them then — for they are blind leaders of the blind. 'Let the one who does harm continue to do harm, and let the one who is vile continue in his vileness.' But we, because we believe, will declare the wonderful works of the Lord as long as we have breath, and will endure the persecution of our opponents until Christ our High Priest and King comes from heaven — whom we hope will come soon as a just judge to take vengeance on all who do not obey His Gospel. So be it.

These offenses that the wicked allege do not move believers at all — for they know that the devil hates nothing more than the pure teaching of the Gospel, and therefore works to discredit it with endless offenses in order to root it out of people's hearts entirely. Before, when nothing was taught in the church but human tradition, the devil did not rage like this. While the strong man guarded his house, everything he held was at peace. But when a stronger man comes who overpowers him, binds him, and plunders his house — then the strong man begins to rage. This is an unmistakable sign that the teaching we profess is from God. For otherwise — as it says of Behemoth in Job 40 — he would lie hidden under the trees, sheltered in the reeds and marshes. But now that he roams about like a roaring lion and stirs up such uproar, it is a clear sign that he feels the power of our preaching.

When Paul says 'they are zealous over you but not sincerely,' he reveals in passing who the true authors of sects are: these zealous spirits who in every age overturn true teaching and disturb the peace. Driven by a perverse zeal, they imagine they possess a unique holiness, humility, patience, and insight surpassing all others — and so they believe they alone can care for the salvation of all, that they can teach deeper and more profitable things, and establish better worship and ceremonies than any other teacher. They despise all other teachers as worthless by comparison, undermine their authority, and corrupt what they have purely taught. The false apostles had exactly this wicked and perverse zeal, stirring up sects not only in Galatia but in every place where Paul and the other apostles had preached — and from these sects came endless offenses and extraordinary upheaval. For the devil, as Christ says, is a liar and a murderer — and so he is accustomed not only to trouble people's consciences through false teaching, but also to stir up turmoil, rebellion, and wars.

There are many in Germany today who are possessed by this kind of zeal — who display great shows of religion, humility, learning, and patience, yet in reality are ravenous wolves. Their hypocrisy has one goal: to discredit us so that people will admire, love, and revere them alone and accept no other teaching but theirs (Matthew 7:15). Since these men have such a high opinion of themselves and despise everyone else, terrible divisions, sects, splits, and uprisings inevitably follow. But what can we do? We cannot fix this — any more than Paul could in his day. He did, however, win some who listened to his warnings. So I hope that we too have called some back from the errors of the sectarians.

Verse 18. It is good to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

It is as if he said: I commend you for this — that you loved me so wholeheartedly when I preached the Gospel among you in weakness and frailty. You ought to have kept the same affection toward me now in my absence, just as if I had never left. For even though I am absent in body, you still have my teaching — and you should hold on to it and uphold it, since you received the Holy Spirit through it. Remind yourselves: Paul is always present with us as long as we have his teaching. I am not rebuking your zeal — I praise it, and I praise it to the extent that it is the zeal of God and the Spirit, and not of the flesh. The Spirit's zeal is always good, because it is a sincere and earnest movement of the heart toward what is truly good — unlike the flesh's zeal. He praises the Galatians' zeal in order to calm their spirits so they can receive his correction with a patient heart. It is as if he said: Receive my correction as something meant for your good — it comes not from an angry heart but from a grieving one that is deeply concerned for your salvation. This is a vivid example to teach all ministers how to care for their people, and to try every approach — whether reproof, encouragement, or appeal — to keep them in sound teaching and turn them away from cunning deceivers and false teachers.

Verse 19. My children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!

Every word Paul uses is carefully chosen to move the hearts of the Galatians and win back their goodwill. Calling them 'my children' is tender and warm. When he says 'for whom I am in the anguish of childbirth,' it is a figure of speech. Apostles stand in the place of parents — as schoolmasters also do in their own calling. Just as parents give birth to the physical form, ministers give birth to the form of the mind. The form of a Christian mind is faith — the confident trust of the heart that lays hold of Christ and clings to Him and nothing else. A heart furnished with this confidence — the assurance that for Christ's sake we are righteous — bears the true form of Christ. This form is given through the ministry of the word, as it is written (1 Corinthians 4:15): 'I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel' — meaning, in spirit, so that you would know Christ and believe in Him. And in 2 Corinthians 3:3: 'You are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.' The word goes out from the mouth of the apostle or minister and enters the heart of the hearer — and there the Holy Spirit is present, impressing the word into the heart so that it receives and consents to it. In this way every godly teacher is a father, who brings forth and shapes the true form of a Christian heart through the ministry of the word.

With these words — 'for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth' — he also takes a shot at the false apostles. It is as if he said: I rightly gave birth to you through the Gospel, but these corrupters have fashioned a new form in your hearts — not the form of Christ but the form of Moses. Your trust is no longer anchored in Christ but in the works of the law. This is not the true form of Christ. It is a different form entirely — a diabolical one. He does not say 'until my form is fashioned in you,' but 'until Christ is formed in you' — meaning: I am laboring so that you may receive again the form and likeness of Christ, not of Paul. In these words he once again rebukes the false apostles — for they had destroyed the form of Christ in the hearts of believers and replaced it with their own, as he says in Galatians 6:13: 'They want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh.'

He also speaks of this form of Christ in Colossians 3:10: 'Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.' Paul is working to restore in the Galatians the form of Christ that the false apostles had distorted and destroyed — that is, the shape of thinking, speaking, and willing as God does. God's thought and will is that we receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ His only Son, whom He sent into the world to be the propitiation for our sins, so that we would know that through His Son He has been reconciled to us and become our loving Father. Those who believe this are conformed to God — all their thoughts are shaped by God, as their heart's desire is shaped by Him. They carry in their minds the same form that God and Jesus Christ have. This is what it means to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new self, 'which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth,' as Paul says in Ephesians 4:24.

He says, then, that he is in labor again for the Galatians — yet in such a way that the form taking shape in them is not the form of the apostle himself, not the likeness of Paul or of Cephas, but the likeness of another Father: Christ. 'I will form Him in you,' he says, 'so that you may be like-minded in all things to Christ Himself.' In short: I am in labor for you — meaning: I am working earnestly to call you back to the faith you once had, which you have lost by being deceived through the craftiness of the false apostles, and have turned away from back to the law and to works. I must therefore labor again, carefully, to bring you from the law back to faith in Christ. This is what he calls being in the anguish of childbirth.

Verse 20. I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone.

These are the genuine concerns of an apostle. There is a common saying that a letter is a poor messenger — it can give no more than what is written in it. And no letter, however carefully composed, is without its limitations. Circumstances vary: times, places, people, moods, and situations all differ — and no letter can account for all of these. So a letter affects the reader in different ways — making him sad one moment, hopeful the next, depending on his own state of mind. But if something has been said too sharply or at the wrong moment, a person's living voice can explain, soften, or correct it. The apostle therefore wishes he were with them so he could adjust and modulate his voice as he could see the situation required. If he saw someone deeply troubled, he could temper his words so as not to add to their distress. If he saw others who were proud and complacent, he could rebuke them sharply so they would not become indifferent and begin to despise God.

He simply did not know how, being absent, to handle them rightly by letter. It is as if he said: If my letter is too harsh, I fear I will drive some of you away rather than help you. If it is too gentle, it will do nothing for those who are stubborn and set in their ways — for a written letter can only give what it contains. A living human voice, compared to a letter, is like a queen — it can add and subtract, shift its tone to match every mood, time, place, and person. In short: I wish I could bring you back by letter — call you back from the law to faith in Jesus Christ — but I fear that these dead words on a page will not accomplish it. If I were with you, I could change my tone — rebuking sharply those who are hardened, and comforting the weak with gentle and loving words, as the moment required.

Verse 20. For I am perplexed about you.

That is: I am so troubled in spirit that I do not know how to conduct myself toward you even in a letter. This is a vivid portrait of the true feelings of an apostle. He leaves nothing unused: he rebukes the Galatians, he appeals to them, he speaks tenderly, he praises their faith warmly — working by every means to bring them back to the truth of the Gospel and rescue them from the snares of the false apostles. These are powerful words, coming from a heart stirred and fired with an intense burning zeal — and they deserve careful attention.

Verse 21. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law — do you not listen to the law?

At this point Paul intended to close the letter — he had no desire to write more but wished instead to be present with the Galatians and speak to them in person. But being in great distress and deeply concerned about the situation, he takes up an allegory that came to mind. People are greatly moved by allegories and comparisons — which is why Christ Himself used them so frequently. Allegories are like pictures: they set things out as if painted before the eyes of the listener, and so they move and persuade powerfully — especially simple and untaught people. Paul therefore stirs up the Galatians first with words and argument, and then paints the whole matter before their eyes with this vivid allegory.

Paul was a remarkably skilled craftsman when it came to allegories — he consistently applied them to the teaching of faith, grace, and Christ, and not to the law and its works, as Origen and Jerome did. Those two have been rightly criticized for turning straightforward passages of Scripture — where allegory has no business — into far-fetched and inappropriate allegories. Using allegories is therefore often a dangerous thing. Unless a person has a thorough understanding of Christian teaching, he cannot use allegories rightly.

But why does Paul call the book of Genesis — from which he draws the story of Ishmael and Isaac — 'the law,' when Genesis contains no law as such? The passage he quotes speaks of no law at all — it is simply a historical account of Abraham's two sons. Paul follows the Jewish custom of calling the first book of Moses 'the law,' even though it contains virtually no laws besides the law of circumcision, and its primary teaching is about faith — that the patriarchs pleased God by faith. But because the law of circumcision is in the book, the Jews called Genesis 'the law' along with the other books of Moses. Paul, himself a Jew, followed the same usage. Christ also uses 'the law' to include not only the books of Moses but the Psalms as well, as in John 15: 'But the word must be fulfilled that is written in their Law: They hated Me without cause.'

Verses 22-23. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through the promise.

It is as if he said: You are turning away from grace, faith, and Christ, and going back to the law — you want to be under the law and to find wisdom through it. Very well, then — let me speak to you about the law. Listen carefully to what the law says. You will find that Abraham had two sons: Ishmael by Hagar, and Isaac by Sarah. Both were Abraham's true sons. Ishmael was just as much the true son of Abraham as Isaac was — both came from one father, one flesh, one seed. So what was the difference? The difference, Paul says, is not simply that one mother was a slave and the other free — though that does belong to the allegory. The real difference is that Ishmael, born of the slave woman, was born according to the flesh — that is, without the promise and the word of God. Isaac, by contrast, was born not only of the free woman but also according to the promise. But wait — was Isaac not also born of Abraham's natural seed, just as Ishmael was? Yes, both were children of the same father — and yet there is a difference. For although Isaac was also born of the flesh, the promise came first. Only Paul observed this distinction, which he drew from the text of Genesis in this way.

When Hagar conceived and bore Ishmael, there was no word of God foretelling it. With Sarah's permission, Abraham went to his servant Hagar, whom Sarah — being barren — had given to Abraham as a wife, as the book of Genesis records. Sarah had heard that according to God's promise, Abraham would have a child from his own body, and she hoped to be the mother of that child. But after waiting many long years with great anguish of spirit and seeing the promise still delayed, she lost hope. This holy woman therefore, out of love and honor for her husband, stepped aside and gave up her own right to another — her servant. She did not bring an outside wife into the home. Instead she gave Abraham her own servant in marriage, hoping that she herself might be built up through her. As the record says (Genesis 16): 'Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram: Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my servant. It may be that I shall obtain children by her.' This was a great act of humility on Sarah's part — she humbled herself deeply and accepted this trial and testing of her faith with grace. For she reasoned: God is not a liar. What He promised to my husband He will certainly carry out. But perhaps God does not intend that I should be the mother of that child. It would not grieve me if Hagar were given that honor — let my husband go to her, for perhaps I may be built up through her.

Ishmael was therefore born without any word or promise from God — only at Sarah's request. There is no word of God commanding Abraham to do this, or promising him a son through this means. It was done as a human plan, which Sarah's own words reflect: 'It may be that I shall obtain children by her.' Since no word of God was spoken to Abraham before Ishmael's birth — as there was when Sarah was to bear Isaac — it is clear enough that Ishmael was Abraham's son only by natural descent, without the word of God. He was born by human initiative, unexpectedly, like any other child. This is the distinction Paul observed and drew upon.

In Romans 9, Paul develops the same argument that he here presents in allegorical form, concluding powerfully that not all of Abraham's sons are sons of God. Abraham has two kinds of children, he says. Some are born from his flesh and blood, but the word and promise of God precedes their birth — like Isaac. Others are born without the promise — like Ishmael. Therefore, he says, the children of the flesh are not the children of God — only the children of the promise are. With this argument he firmly silences the proud Jews who boasted of being the seed and children of Abraham — as Christ also does in Matthew 3 and John 8. It does not follow, he is saying, that because I am the natural descendant of Abraham I am therefore a child of God — any more than it follows that Esau, being the natural son, is therefore the heir. Rather, those who wish to be children of Abraham must, beyond their natural birth, also be children of the promise — they must believe. The true children of Abraham — and therefore of God — are those who have the promise and believe it.

Ishmael, because he was not promised by God to Abraham, is a son only by natural descent, not by the promise — and so he was born by natural circumstances, as other children are. No mother knows in advance whether she will have a child, and even when she perceives she is pregnant, she cannot know whether it will be a son or a daughter. But Isaac was named explicitly: the angel said to Abraham (Genesis 17), 'Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.' Both the son and the mother are named explicitly. In this way, God rewarded Sarah's humility — she had stepped aside and endured the contempt of Hagar (Genesis 16) — by honoring her as the mother of the promised son.

Verse 24. Now these things contain an allegory.

Allegories do not prove a point or persuade powerfully in theological argument — they function more like illustrations that beautify and clarify what has already been established. If Paul had not already proven the righteousness of faith against the righteousness of works with strong and compelling arguments, this allegory alone would have accomplished little. But because he had already secured his case with unassailable arguments drawn from experience, from Abraham's example, from the testimony of Scripture, and from analogies, he now adds an allegory at the conclusion of his argument — to adorn everything he has already demonstrated. It is fitting, once a foundation has been firmly laid and a matter thoroughly proven, to add an allegory for beauty and clarity. For just as painting decorates and beautifies a house that has already been built, so an allegory illuminates a matter that has already been proved and established by other means.

Verses 24-25. For these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery — she is Hagar. (Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.)

Abraham represents God, who has two sons — that is, two kinds of people are represented by Ishmael and Isaac. These two are born to him through Hagar and Sarah, who signify the two covenants — the old and the new. The old covenant is from Mount Sinai, producing children for bondage — this is Hagar. The Arabs call by the name 'Hagar' the very mountain the Jews call Sinai — which appears to take its name from thorns and brambles — as Ptolemy and the Greek commentators confirm. Many mountains in this way carry different names depending on the nation that names them. So the mountain Moses calls Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians and Senir by the Amorites.

It is very fitting to this purpose that in the Arabic language, Mount Sinai means something like 'servant girl' — and I think this similarity of meaning gave Paul the opening he needed to develop this allegory. Just as Hagar the slave woman bore Abraham a son who was not an heir but a servant, so Sinai — the allegorical Hagar — bore God a son: that is, a people after the flesh. And just as Ishmael was truly Abraham's son, so the people of Israel had the true God as their Father, who gave them His law, His oracles, true religion and worship, and the temple — as the Psalm says (Psalm 147:19): 'He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His rules to Israel.' But there was this one difference: Ishmael was born of a slave woman by natural descent — that is, without the promise — and could therefore not be the heir. So the allegorical Hagar — that is, Mount Sinai, where the law was given and the old covenant established — bore God (who is the great Abraham) a people, but without the promise: a people after the flesh, in bondage, not heirs of God. For the promises concerning Christ the giver of all blessing, deliverance from the curse of the law, from sin and death, free forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal life — these are not attached to the law. The law only says: 'He who does these things shall live by them.'

The promises of the law are therefore conditional — they offer life not freely but to those who fulfill the law, and so they leave people's consciences in perpetual uncertainty, since no one actually fulfills the law. But the promises of the new covenant carry no such condition attached to them. They require nothing of us and do not depend on any condition of our worthiness. They freely bring and give us forgiveness of sins, grace, righteousness, and eternal life — for Christ's sake — as I have treated more thoroughly elsewhere.

The law, or the old covenant, therefore contains only conditional promises — always with conditions attached such as: 'If you obey My voice, if you keep My statutes, if you walk in My ways, you shall be My people.' The Jews, not grasping this, took hold of those conditional promises as if they were unconditional and absolute — as if God were permanently obligated to keep them regardless of Israel's conduct. So when the prophets foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, the kingdom, and the priesthood — the prophets who rightly distinguished the earthly promises of the law from the spiritual promises concerning Christ and His kingdom — the people persecuted and killed them as heretics and blasphemers. They could not see the condition that was attached: 'If you keep My commandments, it will go well with you.'

The slave woman Hagar therefore brings forth only slaves. Ishmael is not the heir — even though he is Abraham's natural son — but remains a bondman. What is missing? The promise and the blessing of the word. In the same way, the law given on Mount Sinai — which the Arabs call Hagar — produces nothing but servants. For the promise concerning Christ was not attached to the law. Therefore — O Galatians — if you forsake the promise and faith and fall back to the law and works, you will always remain servants. You will never be delivered from sin and death but will stay under the curse of the law forever. For Hagar does not produce children of the promise or heirs — that is, the law does not justify. It does not bring adoption and inheritance. It hinders the inheritance and produces wrath.

Verse 25. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

This is a remarkable allegory. Paul has just made Hagar into Mount Sinai — and now one would expect him to make Sarah into Jerusalem. But he dares not, and cannot. Instead he is compelled to link Jerusalem with Mount Sinai. He says: the same belongs to Hagar — for the mountain of Hagar stretches all the way to Jerusalem. And in fact there is a continuous mountain range running from rocky Arabia to Kadesh Barnea in Judah. He says, then, that this present Jerusalem — this earthly, temporal Jerusalem — is not Sarah. It belongs to Hagar, because Hagar rules there. In it the law reigns, producing bondage. In it are worship and ceremonies, the temple, the kingdom, the priesthood. Everything ordained on Sinai by the mother who is the law is carried out in Jerusalem. 'Therefore I link her with Sinai, and I include both under a single heading — Sinai or Hagar.'

I myself would never have been bold enough to handle this allegory this way. I would rather have called Jerusalem Sarah and the new covenant — especially since the Gospel's proclamation began there, the Holy Spirit was given there, and the people of the new covenant were born there. I would have thought I had found a very fitting allegory. This is why not everyone should use allegories as they please — a plausible outward appearance can easily mislead and cause error. Who would not think it fitting to call Sinai 'Hagar' and Jerusalem 'Sarah'? Paul does make Jerusalem into Sarah — but not this earthly, physical Jerusalem, which he simply classifies alongside Hagar. The Jerusalem he calls Sarah is the spiritual and heavenly one — not the one that is in bondage with its children, not the one where the law and the carnal people reign, but the one where the promise reigns and where a spiritual and free people dwell.

And so that the law and the entire kingdom established in Hagar might be completely abolished, the earthly Jerusalem was destroyed in a catastrophic way — along with all its treasures, the temple, the ceremonies, and everything else. Although the new covenant began in Jerusalem and spread from there throughout the world, that city still belongs to Hagar — that is, it is the city of the law, of the ceremonies, and of the priesthood established by Moses. In short, it was born of Hagar the slave woman, and therefore it remains in bondage with its children. It walks in the works of the law and never attains the freedom of the Spirit, but remains perpetually under the law, under sin, a guilty conscience, the wrath and judgment of God, and the guilt of death and hell. Yes, it has the freedom of the flesh — a physical kingdom, civil rulers, wealth, property, and such things. But we are speaking of the freedom of the Spirit, by which we are dead to the law, to sin and death, and we live and reign in grace, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal life. The earthly Jerusalem cannot provide this — and so it remains with Hagar.

Verse 26. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

That earthly Jerusalem below, he says, with its laws and ordinances, belongs to Hagar and is in bondage with her children — that is, she is not delivered from the law, from sin and death. But the Jerusalem that is above — the spiritual Jerusalem — is Sarah. Paul does not actually use Sarah's name here, but gives her another title, calling her the free woman: that is, the true mistress and freewoman who is the mother of us all, giving birth to children for freedom, not for bondage as Hagar does.

Now, this heavenly Jerusalem that is above is the church — that is, believers scattered throughout the whole world who share one Gospel, one faith in Christ, one Holy Spirit, and the same sacraments.

Do not understand the word 'above' as the schoolmen do, referring to the church triumphant in heaven — but as referring to the church militant here on earth, as it is called. Believers are said to have their citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20) — not in terms of physical location, but because by faith they lay hold of inestimable, heavenly, and eternal gifts, and so they are in heaven (Ephesians 1:3): 'Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.' We must therefore distinguish between heavenly, spiritual blessings and earthly ones. Earthly blessings include good government in communities and households, children, peace, wealth, the fruits of the earth, and other physical goods. Heavenly blessings include: deliverance from the law, sin, and death; justification and being made alive; peace with God; a trusting heart, a joyful conscience, and spiritual consolation; the knowledge of Jesus Christ; the gift of prophecy and the understanding of Scripture; the gifts of the Holy Spirit; and joy in God. These are the heavenly blessings that Christ gives to His church.

Jerusalem that is above — the heavenly Jerusalem — is therefore the church as it now exists in the world, not the city of the life to come or the church triumphant, as the idle and ignorant monks and scholastic theologians imagined. They taught that Scripture has four senses: the literal, the figurative, the allegorical, and the moral — and by these four senses they foolishly interpreted almost every word of Scripture. By this scheme, 'Jerusalem' literally meant the historical city; figuratively, a pure conscience; allegorically, the church militant; and morally, the heavenly city or the church triumphant. With these trivial and childish interpretations they carved the Scriptures into so many different meanings that simple believers could receive no certain teaching from them on anything. But Paul says here plainly that the old, earthly Jerusalem belongs to Hagar, that it is in bondage with its children, and that it is completely abolished. The new and heavenly Jerusalem — which is a queen and a free woman — is placed by God on earth, not in heaven, to be the mother of us all, through whom we have been born and are being born daily. It is therefore necessary that this our mother be here on earth among people, since her children are here as well. Yet she gives birth through the Holy Spirit, through the ministry of the word and sacraments — not through the flesh.

I say this so that in this matter we would not let our thoughts drift off into heaven, but would understand that when Paul sets 'Jerusalem which is above' against the earthly Jerusalem, he means a spiritual distinction, not a geographical one. For there is a distinction between spiritual things and physical or earthly things. Spiritual things are 'above,' earthly things are 'below' — so Jerusalem which is above is distinguished from the physical, temporal Jerusalem which is below, not in terms of location (as I said) but in terms of its spiritual nature. This spiritual Jerusalem, though it had its beginnings in the physical Jerusalem, has no fixed location the way the other did in Judea. It is spread throughout the whole world and may be found in Babylon, in Turkey, in Tartary, in Scythia, in Judea, in Italy, in Germany, in the islands of the sea, in mountains and valleys, and in every place on earth where people have the Gospel and believe in Jesus Christ.

Sarah — or Jerusalem our free mother — is the church itself, the bride of Christ, from whom we are all born. This mother continually gives birth to free children until the end of the world, as long as she carries out the ministry of the word — that is, as long as she preaches and publishes the Gospel. This is what it truly means to give birth. She teaches the Gospel this way: that we are delivered from the curse of the law, from sin, death, and every evil through Jesus Christ — not through the law or through works. Therefore Jerusalem that is above — the church — is not subject to the law and works. She is free and a mother, without law, sin, or death. And such as this mother is, such are the children she brings forth.

This allegory teaches very fittingly that the church's one task is to preach and teach the Gospel truly and sincerely, and through this to give birth to children. In this way we are all fathers and children to one another — for we give birth to one another. I, having been born through the Gospel by others, now give birth to others through it, who will in turn give birth to still others — and so this birthing will continue until the end of the world. I am speaking of the generation, not of Hagar the slave woman, who gives birth to bondservants through the law, but of Sarah the free woman, who gives birth to heirs without the law and without any human works or effort. Isaac is the heir — not Ishmael — even though both were natural sons of Abraham. Isaac received the inheritance through the word of promise: 'Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.' Sarah understood this clearly, and so she said: 'Cast out the slave woman and her son' — which Paul also quotes shortly after. Just as Isaac received his father's inheritance through the promise and through birth alone — without the law and without works — so we are born through the Gospel of that free woman Sarah, as true heirs of the promise. She — that is, the church — instructs us, nourishes us, carries us in her womb, holds us in her arms, and forms us into the image of Christ until we grow up to full maturity. All of this happens through the ministry of the word. Therefore the free woman's office is to give birth to children for God her husband — without ceasing and without end — children who know that they are justified by faith and not by the law.

Verse 27. For it is written: 'Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.'

Paul quotes this passage from Isaiah, which is entirely allegorical. It is written, he says, that the mother of many children — the one with a husband — will waste away and die. And the barren one who has no children will have an abundance of children. Hannah sings in the same vein in her song (1 Samuel 2), which was the source from which Isaiah drew his prophecy: 'The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who had many children is forlorn.' What a remarkable reversal: the fruitful will be made barren, and the barren will be made fruitful. Those who were once strong, full, wealthy, honored, righteous, and blessed will become weak, hungry, poor, disgraced, sinful, and subject to death and condemnation — while those who were weak and hungry will become strong and satisfied.

By this allegory from the prophet Isaiah, Paul illustrates the difference between Hagar and Sarah — between the synagogue and the church, between the law and the Gospel. The law, as the husband of the fruitful woman — that is, of the synagogue — produces very many children. For people of every age and station — not only the uneducated, but the wisest and most accomplished — that is, all of humanity except the children of the free woman — know no righteousness other than the righteousness of the law. They have no knowledge of any righteousness more excellent. So they consider themselves righteous when they follow the law and perform its works outwardly.

Yet even though they are fruitful, have many disciples, and shine in the righteousness and glorious works of the law — they are not free but enslaved. For they are children of Hagar, who gives birth to bondage. Since they are servants, they cannot share in the inheritance — they will be cast out of the house. For servants do not remain in the house forever. In fact, they are already excluded from the kingdom of grace and freedom. For whoever does not believe is already condemned. They remain therefore under the curse of the law, under sin and death, under the power of the devil, and under the wrath and judgment of God.

Now, if even the moral law — the Ten Commandments of God — can produce nothing but servants, that is, cannot justify but only terrify, accuse, condemn, and drive people's consciences to despair — then how, I ask you, could the laws of men or the laws of the Pope possibly justify? These are the doctrines of demons. Those who teach human traditions or even the law of God as necessary for obtaining righteousness before God can produce nothing but servants. And yet such teachers are regarded as the finest of men. They win the world's favor and are considered the most productive mothers — for they have an enormous number of disciples. Human reason does not understand what faith and true godliness are, and so it neglects and despises them. By nature it is drawn to superstition and hypocrisy — that is, to the righteousness of works. And because this works-righteousness is visible and glorious everywhere, it rules like a great empress over the whole world. Those who teach righteousness by works and the law produce many children who appear on the outside to be free — who display an impressive show of virtue — but whose consciences are slaves and bondservants of sin. They are therefore to be cast out of the house and condemned.

Sarah the free woman — that is, the true church — appears, by contrast, to be barren. The Gospel, which is the word of the cross and of affliction, does not shine as brilliantly as the teaching of the law and works — and so the church does not attract nearly as many disciples. Beyond that, she carries the reputation of forbidding good works, making people lazy, careless, and irresponsible, stirring up heresies and uprisings, and being the cause of every kind of evil. So she appears to bear no fruit and to leave nothing behind but barrenness, desolation, and despair. The wicked are thoroughly convinced that the church with her teaching cannot endure long. The Jews assured themselves that the church planted by the apostles would soon be overthrown — calling it by the contemptuous name 'this sect,' as they said to Paul in Acts 28: 'Concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.' And how many times have our opponents predicted our certain destruction — fixing one deadline, then another — and been proven wrong? Christ and His apostles were crushed. Yet after their deaths the Gospel spread further than during their lifetimes. Our opponents may crush us today — but the word of God will abide forever. However barren and forsaken, weak and despised, and outwardly persecuted the church may appear — however much she is compelled to hear the reproach that her teaching is heretical and seditious — she alone is fruitful before God. Through the ministry of the word she gives birth to an infinite number of children, heirs of righteousness and eternal life. Outwardly they suffer persecution, but in spirit they are completely free — not only judges over all doctrines and works, but also victorious conquerors over the gates of hell.

The prophet therefore acknowledges that the church is in distress — otherwise he would not exhort her to rejoice. He grants that she appears barren before the world — otherwise he would not call her barren and forsaken, without children. But before God she is fruitful, and so he calls her to rejoice. It is as if he said: Yes, you are forsaken and barren — you do not have the law as your husband, and so you have no children. But rejoice! For although you do not have the law as your husband — although you are forsaken like a young woman who should be married but has been abandoned (for he does not call her a widow, but one who should have had a husband if he had not left or been taken away) — you who are solitary and forsaken by your husband the law, and not bound in the marriage of the law, will be the mother of countless children. The people and church of the new covenant are completely without the law in their conscience — and so they appear forsaken in the world's eyes. Yet however barren she may seem without the law and without works, she is supremely fruitful before God and brings forth an infinite number of children — not in bondage but in freedom. By what means? Not through the law, but through the word and Spirit of Jesus Christ, given through the Gospel — by which she conceives, bears, and nourishes her children.

Paul therefore makes the difference between the law and the Gospel plain through this allegory — first by calling Hagar the old covenant and Sarah the new, then by calling one a slave and the other a free woman, and then by saying that the married and fruitful woman has become barren and been cast out of the house with her children. The barren and forsaken one, by contrast, has become fruitful and brings forth an infinite number of children — and they are heirs. These contrasts represent the two kinds of people: the people of faith and the people of the law. The people of faith do not have the law as their husband. They do not serve in bondage. They are not born of that Jerusalem which now is. Instead they have the promise, they are free, and they are born of the free woman Sarah.

Paul therefore separates the spiritual people of the new covenant from the people of the law, by saying that the spiritual people are not children of Hagar the slave, but of Sarah the free woman — who has nothing to do with the law. By this he places the people of faith entirely above and outside the law. Now, if they are above and outside the law, then they are justified by spiritual birth alone — which is nothing other than faith — and not by the law or its works. And just as the people of grace neither have nor can have the law, so the people of the law neither have nor can have grace — for the law and grace cannot stand together. We must therefore either be justified by faith and let go of the righteousness of the law, or be justified by the law and let go of the righteousness of faith. But letting go of grace to return to the law is a terrible and grievous loss. Letting go of the law to take hold of grace is a blessed and joyful one.

We therefore, following Paul's example and diligence, work as hard as possible to set out the difference between the law and the Gospel clearly — which is very simple at the level of words. Who cannot see that Hagar is not Sarah and Sarah is not Hagar? That Ishmael is not Isaac and does not have what Isaac has? These distinctions are easy to see. But in the grip of great terror, in the agony of death, when the conscience is wrestling with the judgment of God — it is the hardest thing in the world to say with steady and confident hope: 'I am not the son of Hagar, but of Sarah. The law has no claim on me. For Sarah is my mother, who gives birth to free children and heirs, not to servants.'

By this testimony from Isaiah, Paul has proven that Sarah — that is, the church — is the true mother who gives birth to free children and heirs. Hagar — that is, the synagogue — produces many children indeed, but they are servants and must be cast out. Moreover, since this passage also speaks of the abolishing of the law and of Christian freedom, it deserves careful attention. Just as it is the chief and central article of Christian teaching to know that we are justified and saved by Christ, so it is also vitally important to understand the teaching about the abolishing of the law. It greatly confirms our teaching about faith and helps us attain solid and certain comfort of conscience when we are assured that the law is abolished — especially in the midst of great terror and serious spiritual conflict.

I have said it before and I say it again — for it cannot be said too often: a Christian who lays hold of Christ's gift through faith has no law. The whole law, with all its terrors and torments, is abolished for him. This passage from Isaiah teaches the same thing, and is therefore remarkably comforting — it calls the barren and forsaken woman to rejoice, the very one who according to the law was worthy only of mockery or pity. For under the law, barrenness was a curse. But the Holy Spirit reverses this verdict and pronounces the barren woman worthy of praise and blessing — while the fruitful, the mother of children, is pronounced accursed. This is the force of: 'Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.' However forsaken and barren Sarah — that is, the church — may appear before the world, not possessing the righteousness and works of the law, she is nonetheless a supremely fruitful mother with an infinite number of children before God, as the prophet declares. And however fruitful Hagar may appear, and however many children she may produce, none of them remain. The slave woman's children are cast out of the house together with their mother and do not share in the inheritance with the children of the free woman — as Paul says shortly after.

Since we are children of the free woman, our old husband the law has been abolished (Romans 7). As long as he held dominion over us, it was impossible for us to bring forth children who are free in spirit or who know grace — we remained with the rest in bondage. It is true that while the law reigns, people are not idle. They work hard, they bear the burden and the heat of the day, they bring forth and produce many children. But both fathers and children are illegitimate — they do not belong to the free mother. So they are ultimately cast out of the house and the inheritance with Ishmael. They die and are condemned. It is therefore impossible for people to attain the inheritance — that is, to be justified and saved — through the law, however hard they work or however fruitful they are in it. Cursed therefore be that teaching, life, and religion that seeks to obtain righteousness before God through the law or its works. But let us press on with the subject of the abolishing of the law.

The scholastic theologians, when discussing the abolishing of the law, said that the judicial and ceremonial laws became harmful after Christ's coming and were therefore abolished — but not the moral law. These blind teachers did not know what they were saying. If you are going to speak of the abolishing of the law, speak of the law in its true and proper use and function — as it is understood spiritually — and include the whole law, making no distinction at all between the judicial, ceremonial, and moral law. When Paul says that we are delivered from the curse of the law through Christ, he is speaking of the entire law — and most specifically of the moral law, which alone accuses, curses, and condemns the conscience. The judicial and ceremonial laws do not do this. We therefore say that the moral law — the law of the Ten Commandments — has no power to accuse and terrify the conscience in which Jesus Christ reigns by His grace, for He has destroyed its power.

Not that the conscience does not feel the law's terrors at all — for indeed it does. But those terrors cannot condemn it or bring it to despair. For 'there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:1). And: 'If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed' (John 8:36). So even when a Christian is terrified by the law showing him his sin, he does not despair — for he believes in Jesus Christ, and having been baptized into Him and cleansed by His blood, he has forgiveness of all his sins. When our sin is pardoned through Christ — who is the Lord of the law — and pardoned in such a way that He gave Himself for it — the law, which is a servant, has no more power to accuse and condemn us for sin, because the sin has been forgiven and we have been set free. The Son has delivered us from bondage. Therefore the law is completely abolished for those who believe in Christ.

But you may say: I am doing nothing. True — there is nothing you can do to deliver yourself from the tyranny of the law. But hear this joyful news that the Holy Spirit brings to you from the prophet's words: 'Rejoice, you barren one!' It is as if He said: Why are you so downcast, when there is no reason to mourn? 'But I am barren and forsaken.' Even so — however barren and forsaken you may be, however much you lack the righteousness of the law, Christ is your righteousness. He was made a curse for you to deliver you from the curse of the law. If you believe in Him, the law is dead to you. And as much as Christ is greater than the law, that much more excellent is your righteousness compared to the righteousness of the law. Moreover, you are fruitful and not barren — for you have far more children than the woman who has a husband.

There is also another abolishing of the law that is outward: namely, that the civil laws of Moses do not apply to us at all. We should not revive them or superstitiously bind ourselves to them — as some tried to do in the past, not understanding this freedom. Although the Gospel does not make us subject to Moses' civil laws, it does not exempt us from all civil authority. Rather, it makes us subject in this bodily life to the laws of whatever government we live under — commanding everyone to obey their governing authorities and laws, not only out of fear of punishment but as a matter of conscience (1 Peter 2; Romans 13). An emperor or any other ruler would do nothing wrong by adopting some of Moses' civil laws. He could freely do so without sin. The papal scholastics are therefore mistaken when they teach that Moses' civil laws are harmful and deadly since Christ's coming.

Similarly, we are not bound to Moses' ceremonial laws — and still less to the ceremonies of the Pope. But because physical life cannot function without some structure and ceremony — there must be some order and framework — the Gospel permits ordinances to be made in the church concerning days, times, and places, so that people may know when and where to gather to hear the word of God. It also permits that readings and lessons be appointed — as in schools — especially for the instruction of children and those who are new to the faith. These things are permitted so that everything in the church may be done properly and in order (1 Corinthians 14) — not so that those who observe such arrangements gain forgiveness of sins through them. Furthermore, these arrangements may be changed or set aside without sin, provided it is done without causing offense to those who are weaker in faith.

But Paul is speaking here primarily about the abolishing of the moral law — and this deserves careful attention. He argues against the righteousness of the law in order to establish the righteousness of faith, concluding as follows: if grace alone, or faith in Christ alone, justifies, then the whole law is abolished — without any exception. He confirms this with the testimony from Isaiah, which calls the barren and forsaken woman to rejoice. She appears to have no children and no hope of ever having any — that is, she has no disciples, no favor or standing in the world, because she preaches the word of the cross, Christ crucified, against all the wisdom of the flesh. 'But you who are barren,' the prophet says, 'let none of this trouble you — rather, lift up your voice and rejoice! For the desolate one has far more children than the one who has a husband.' That is: the one who is married and has many children will be brought low, and the forsaken one will have many children.

Paul calls the church barren because her children are not born through the law, through works, or through any human effort or industry — they are born through the word of faith, in the Spirit of God. There is nothing but birth — no working at all. The fruitful woman, by contrast, labors and strains with great toil to bear and bring forth children. There everything is working — no birth. But because they are trying to obtain the rights of children and heirs through the righteousness of the law or their own righteousness, they remain servants and never receive the inheritance — however much they wear themselves out with continual effort. For they are working against God's will, trying by their own efforts to obtain what God desires to give freely to all believers for Christ's sake. Believers also do good works — but these do not make them sons and heirs. Their birth into the family already accomplishes that. Rather, having already been made children and heirs, they do good works to glorify God and to help their neighbors.

Verse 28. And you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

That is: we are not children of the flesh, like Ishmael — or like all fleshly Israel, who boasted that they were Abraham's seed and God's people. But Christ answered them (John 8): 'If you were Abraham's children, you would not be seeking to kill Me, who told you the truth.' And: 'If God were your Father, you would love Me and receive My word.' It is as if He said: Brothers who grew up together in one house know each other's voice — but you are of your father the devil. 'We are not such children,' he says, 'as those who remain servants and will ultimately be cast out of the house.' 'We are children of promise, as Isaac was — that is, children of grace and faith, born solely through the promise.' I have covered this fully in chapter 3 when discussing the passage: 'In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' Therefore we are declared righteous — not by the law, by works, or by our own righteousness, but by the sheer mercy and grace of God. Paul repeats this very often and sets forth the promise received by faith alone with great diligence — for he knew how necessary it was to do so.

That completes the allegory drawn from Genesis, to which Paul attached the passage from Isaiah as an interpretation. Now he applies the history of Ishmael and Isaac as an example and comfort for us.

Verse 29. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is also now.

This passage contains a remarkable consolation. All who are born in Christ, live in Him, and rejoice in their birth and inheritance as children of God will have Ishmael as their enemy and persecutor. We learn this today from experience — we see that the world is filled with turmoil, persecution, sects, and offenses. If we did not arm ourselves with this consolation from Paul and others like it, and did not thoroughly understand the article of justification, we would never be able to stand against the violence and subtle schemes of Satan. For who would not be shaken by the fierce persecution of our opponents, and by the sects and endless offenses stirred up by a swarm of restless and fanatical spirits? It truly grieves us deeply when we are forced to hear that everything was peaceful and quiet before the Gospel came forth — but since it has been preached and published, everything is in chaos and the whole world is in an uproar, with everyone arming himself against everyone else. When a person without the Spirit of God hears this, he is immediately offended and concludes that disobedience of subjects toward their rulers, uprisings, wars, plagues, famines, the collapse of societies and kingdoms, sects, offenses, and every other evil are all the product of the Gospel's teaching.

Against this powerful offense we must comfort and arm ourselves with this sweet consolation: that believers must bear in this world the name and the title of troublemakers and schismatics, and authors of countless evils. This is why our opponents believe they have a just cause — indeed, that they are doing God high service — when they hate, persecute, and kill us. It cannot be otherwise: Ishmael must persecute Isaac. But Isaac does not persecute Ishmael. Whoever is unwilling to endure Ishmael's persecution should not call himself a Christian.

But let our opponents — who so loudly amplify and magnify these evils today — tell us what good followed the preaching of Christ and His apostles. Did not the destruction of the Jewish kingdom follow? Was not the Roman Empire overthrown? Was not the whole world in turmoil? Yet the Gospel was not the cause of any of this — Christ and His apostles preached it for the benefit and salvation of people, not their destruction. These things followed because of the people themselves — nations, kings, and rulers, possessed by the devil, who refused to hear the word of grace, life, and eternal salvation, but detested and condemned it as a doctrine most harmful to religion and society. That this would happen the Holy Spirit foretold through David: 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?' (Psalm 2:1).

We hear and see these same upheavals today. Our opponents blame our teaching. But the teaching of grace and peace does not stir up these troubles. It is the peoples, nations, kings, and rulers of the earth who — as the psalm says — rage, plot, conspire, and make plans, not against us (as they think), not against our teaching that they slander as false and seditious, but against the Lord and His anointed. Therefore all their schemes and plans are and will be frustrated and brought to nothing: 'He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.' Let them shout as long as they like that we are the cause of these upheavals and rebellions. This psalm comforts us by showing that they themselves are the authors of these troubles. They cannot believe this. They certainly cannot believe that they are the ones who rage and rise up and plot against the Lord and His anointed. They think rather that they are defending the Lord's cause, protecting His glory, and doing Him acceptable service by persecuting us. But the psalm does not lie, and the end will make it plain. In all of this we do nothing but suffer — as our conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the teaching for which they stir up all these upheavals and offenses is not ours — it is the teaching of Christ. We cannot deny this teaching or abandon its defense, since Christ says: 'Whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.'

Whoever will preach Christ faithfully and confess Him as our righteousness must be content to be called a dangerous troublemaker who stirs up everything. 'The men who have turned the world upside down,' the Jews said of Paul and Silas in Acts 17, 'have come here also and they act against the decrees of Caesar.' And in Acts 24: 'We have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.' In the same way the Gentiles in Acts 16 complained: 'These men are disturbing our city.' Today they accuse Luther of being a troubler of the papacy and of the Roman Empire. If I kept silent, everything the strong man holds would be at peace, and the Pope would not persecute me anymore. But by my silence the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be dishonored and destroyed. If I speak, the Pope is disturbed and rages cruelly. The choice is: we must lose either the Pope — an earthly and mortal man — or the immortal God, Christ Jesus, life, and eternal salvation. Let the Pope perish then. Let God be exalted. Let Christ reign and triumph forever.

Christ Himself, when He foresaw in spirit the great upheavals that would follow His preaching, comforted Himself this way: 'I came to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!' In the same way, we see today that great troubles follow the preaching of the Gospel — through the persecution and blasphemy of our opponents and the ingratitude of the world. This grieves us so deeply that sometimes, according to the flesh and the judgment of reason, we think it would have been better if the Gospel had never been published, than for such turmoil to have come from its preaching. But according to the Spirit we say boldly with Christ: 'I came to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!' And once that fire is kindled, great upheavals follow immediately. For it is not a king or emperor who has been provoked — it is the god of this world, a most mighty spirit and lord of the entire world. This weak word, preaching Christ crucified, attacks this powerful and terrible enemy. Behemoth, feeling the divine power of this word, rouses all his members, lashes his tail, and makes the depths of the sea boil like a pot (Job 41). From this come all these upheavals — all the furious and savage raging of the world.

So let it not trouble us that our opponents are offended and cry out that the preaching of the Gospel produces nothing good. They are unbelievers — blind and hardened — and so it is impossible for them to see any fruit of the Gospel. We who believe, by contrast, see its immeasurable benefits and fruits — even though outwardly for a time we are crushed by endless evils, despised, plundered, accused, condemned as the refuse and filth of the world, and killed, and inwardly tormented by the awareness of sin and attacked by demons. For we live in Christ, in whom and through whom we are made kings and lords over sin, death, the flesh, the world, hell, and every evil — in whom and through whom we also trample underfoot that dragon and serpent who is the king of sin and death. How does this happen? By faith. The blessedness we hope for is not yet revealed — but in the meantime we wait for it patiently, and even now already possess it surely through faith.

We should therefore study the article of justification diligently — for it alone can sustain us against all these endless slanders and offenses, and comfort us in all our temptations and persecutions. For we see that it cannot be otherwise: the world will inevitably be offended by the pure teaching of the Gospel, and will continually cry out that no good comes from it — because the natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2). He sees only the outward evils — upheavals, rebellions, murders, sects, and things like these. At these sights he takes offense and is blinded, and at last falls into contempt and blasphemy of God and His word.

We, on the other hand, should draw comfort from this: our opponents do not accuse and condemn us for any obvious evil that we have committed — adultery, murder, theft, or anything like that. They condemn us for our teaching. And what do we teach? That Christ the Son of God has redeemed us from our sins and from eternal death through the death of the cross. So they are not attacking our conduct but our teaching — and not our teaching but Christ's. Therefore if there is any offense, the offense is Christ's, not ours — and the fault for which they persecute us belongs to Christ, not to us. Now, whether they choose to condemn Christ and drag Him down from heaven as a heretic and troublemaker, on the grounds that He is our only justifier and Savior — let them answer for that. As for us, we entrust His cause to Himself and wait quietly to see which side will prevail — Christ or they. After the flesh it grieves us that these Ishmaelites hate and persecute us so fiercely. But according to the Spirit we glory in these afflictions — both because we know we suffer them not for our own sins but for Christ's cause, whose grace and glory we proclaim, and because Paul warned us in advance that Ishmael must mock and persecute Isaac.

The Jews interpret the passage from Genesis 21 that Paul cites — about Ishmael mocking and persecuting Isaac — as meaning that Ishmael forced Isaac to commit idolatry. If he did, I do not believe it was the crude kind of idolatry the Jews imagine — as if Ishmael made clay idols in the Gentile fashion and forced Isaac to worship them. Abraham would never have allowed that. I think rather that Ishmael was outwardly a pious man, as Cain was — who also persecuted his brother and eventually killed him, not for any physical offense but because he saw that God valued his brother more than him. Similarly, Ishmael was outwardly a devout man who sacrificed and practiced religion. Therefore he mocked his brother Isaac and claimed superiority over him for two reasons: first, his religious practice and worship of God; and second, his civil standing and claim to the inheritance. These were things he believed he had a rightful claim to. He considered the kingship and priesthood to belong to him by divine right as the firstborn — and so he persecuted Isaac spiritually over religion, and physically over the inheritance.

This persecution never leaves the church — especially when the Gospel's teaching is flourishing: the children of the flesh mock and persecute the children of the promise. The papists persecute us today, and for no other reason than that we teach that righteousness comes through the promise. It infuriates them that we will not honor their idols — that is, that we do not put forward their righteousness, their works and forms of worship invented and ordained by men, as effective for obtaining grace and forgiveness of sins. For this reason they work to cast us out of the house — they boast that they are the church, the children and people of God, and that the inheritance belongs to them. On our side, they excommunicate and banish us as heretics and troublemakers — and when they can, they kill us as well — believing they are doing God acceptable service in all of this. In so doing they try to exclude us both from this life and from the life to come. The Anabaptists and similar groups hate us intensely because we challenge and reject the errors and heresies they spread and daily revive in the church. For this reason they regard us as far worse than the papists, and have developed a more savage hatred toward us than they have toward the papists.

As soon as the word of God comes to light, the devil is enraged and uses all his power and cunning to persecute it and destroy it entirely. He therefore cannot help but stir up endless sects, horrible offenses, cruel persecutions, and abominable murders. For he is the father of lies and a murderer. He spreads his lies throughout the world through false teachers, and he kills people through tyrants. By these means he rules both the spiritual and the physical realm: the spiritual kingdom through the lies of false teachers — also stirring up in each of us personally, without ceasing, heresies and wicked thoughts through his fiery arrows — and the physical kingdom through the sword of tyrants. So this father of lies and murder stirs up persecution on every front — both spiritual and physical — against the children of the free woman. The spiritual persecution we are now forced to endure from heretics is the most grievous and intolerable, because of the endless offenses and slanders by which the devil works to discredit our teaching. We are forced to hear that the heresies of the Anabaptists and other heretics — along with every other kind of trouble — spring from our doctrine. The physical persecution, by which tyrants threaten our property and our lives, is more bearable — for they persecute us not for our sins but for the testimony of God's word. Let us therefore learn from the very title Christ gives to the devil — that he is the father of lies and murder (John 8) — that whenever the Gospel flourishes and Christ reigns, sects of destruction must spring up, and murderers persecuting the Gospel must rage everywhere. Paul says plainly: 'There must be heresies.' Whoever does not know this will soon be offended — and falling away from the true God and true faith, will return to a false god and a false faith.

Paul therefore arms believers in advance in this passage so that they will not be scandalized by these persecutions, sects, and offenses, saying: 'But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit' — It is as if he said: if we are children of the promise and born of the Spirit, we must fully expect to be persecuted by our brother born of the flesh — and not only by our enemies who are openly wicked, but also by those who were once our dear friends, whom we knew well and who received the true Gospel from us. These will become our deadly enemies and persecute us savagely. For they are brothers after the flesh, and they must persecute their brothers born of the Spirit. Christ laments the same thing through Psalm 41 about Judas: 'Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.' But our consolation is this: we have given our Ishmaelites no occasion to persecute us. The papists persecute us because we teach the pure and sincere Gospel — if we would abandon it, they would stop. And if we would approve the destructive heresies of the sectarians, they would praise us. But because we reject and abhor the wickedness of both, they hate us bitterly and persecute us without mercy.

And it is not only Paul who arms us against such persecutions and offenses — Christ Himself also gives us the sweetest comfort in John 15: 'If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.' As if He said: I am the reason for all the persecutions you endure. If you are killed, you are killed for My sake. For if you did not preach My word and confess Me, the world would not persecute you. 'But take heart — a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you, for My name's sake.'

With these words Christ places all the fault on Himself and frees us from all fear. It is as if He said: the reason the world hates and persecutes you is not you — it is My name, which you preach and confess, that is the cause. 'But take courage — I have overcome the world.' This comfort holds us firm, so that we have no doubt that Christ is strong enough not only to endure all the cruelty of tyrants and the cunning of heretics, but to conquer them. He demonstrated this power against the Jews and Romans, whose tyranny and persecutions He endured for a time. He also endured the schemes and plots of heretics — but in His time and way He overthrew them all and remained king and conqueror. So let the papists rage as much as they will. Let the sectarians slander and distort the Gospel of Christ as much as they can. Christ will reign eternally and His word will stand forever — long after all His enemies have been brought to nothing. And there is this additional singular consolation: the persecution of Ishmael against Isaac will not go on forever but will last only a little while — and when it is over, the verdict will be pronounced, as follows.

Verse 30. But what does the Scripture say? 'Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.'

This word from Sarah was very painful to Abraham. When he heard this verdict, his fatherly love for his son Ishmael — who was of his own flesh — was deeply moved. Scripture plainly witnesses this in Genesis 21: 'And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.' But God confirmed the verdict Sarah had pronounced, saying to Abraham: 'Do not be distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.'

In this verdict the Ishmaelites hear the sentence pronounced against them — the sentence that overthrows the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and all others who have persecuted the church of Christ. The same sentence will also overthrow the papists and all who trust in their own works — who today boast that they are God's people and the church, who confidently expect to receive the inheritance, and who judge us, who rest on God's promise, not only as barren and forsaken but as heretics cast out of the church, unfit to be sons and heirs. But God overturns their judgment and pronounces this verdict against them: because they are children of the slave woman and persecute the children of the free woman, they will be cast out of the house and will have no inheritance with the children of the promise — to whom alone the inheritance belongs, as children of the free woman. This verdict is sealed and can never be revoked. It will therefore certainly come to pass that our Ishmaelites will lose not only the ecclesiastical and political authority they currently hold, but also eternal life. For Scripture has declared that the children of the slave woman will be cast out of the house — that is, out of the kingdom of grace — for they cannot be heirs alongside the children of the free woman.

Note here that the Holy Spirit refers to the people of the law and works — almost with contempt — as 'the son of the slave woman.' It is as if He said: Why do you boast about the righteousness of the law and works, and why do you glory in being God's people and children on that basis? If you don't know whose children you are, I will tell you. You are born as slaves, born of a slave woman. And what kind of slaves? Slaves of the law — and therefore slaves of sin, death, and eternal condemnation. A slave is not an heir. A slave is cast out of the house. Therefore the Pope with his whole kingdom, and all others who seek righteousness — regardless of how holy they appear — who hope to obtain grace and salvation by the law, are servants of that slave woman and have no inheritance with the children of the free woman. I am speaking here not of the popes, cardinals, bishops, and monks who were openly wicked — who made their belly their god and committed sins too horrible to name — but of the best of them: those who lived devoutly and who labored hard through their monastic observances to appease God's wrath and merit forgiveness of sins and eternal life. These hear their verdict pronounced here: the sons of the slave woman will be cast out of the house along with their mother.

Sentences like this, carefully considered, give us certainty about our teaching and confirm us in the righteousness of faith over against the doctrine of works-righteousness that the world embraces and exalts, while condemning and despising the other. This troubles and offends weak consciences. Even when they clearly see the wickedness, execrable immorality, and horrible abominations of the papists, they still find it hard to believe that the entire multitude bearing the name and title of the church is wrong, and that only a few of them hold a sound understanding of the teaching of faith. And if the papacy still had the same outward holiness and austerity of life it had in the time of the ancient fathers — Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and others — when the clergy had not yet earned the reputation for simony, excess wealth, dissolute living, sensuality, sexual immorality, sodomy, and countless other abominations, but lived according to the fathers' rules and decrees in outward austerity and celibacy — what would we be able to do against the papacy?

The celibate life that the clergy observed so strictly in the era of the fathers was an impressive thing, and made men appear as virtual angels in the world's eyes — which is why Paul in Colossians 2 calls it the 'religion of angels.' The papists sing of their virgins: 'He lived an angelic life while in the flesh, yet lived contrary to the flesh.' Furthermore, the so-called contemplative life — to which the clergy were then very devoted, completely neglecting civil and family responsibilities — carried a magnificent show of holiness. Therefore, if that outward display and appearance of the old papacy still existed today, our teaching of faith might have made even less headway than it does now — when the old appearance of outward holiness and strict discipline has completely collapsed and nothing remains but a cesspool of every vice and abomination.

But suppose the old discipline and religion of the papacy were still in place. Even so, following Paul's example — who vigorously attacked the false apostles who outwardly appeared to be very devout and holy men — we would still be obligated to fight against the merit-seekers of the papal kingdom and say: 'Although you live a celibate life, wearing your body down with constant labor, walking in the humility and devotion of angels — still you are servants of the law, of sin, and of the devil, and must be cast out of the house. For you seek righteousness and salvation through your works and not through Christ.'

We should therefore focus our attention not so much on the wicked conduct of the papists as on their abominable teaching and hypocrisy — which is what we are primarily fighting against. Let us therefore suppose that the religion and discipline of the old papacy still flourished today, observed as strictly and rigorously as ever. We would still have to say: 'If this holiness and purity of life is all you have to set against the wrath and judgment of God, you are in truth the sons of the slave woman — and you will be cast out of the kingdom of heaven and condemned.'

Now, they themselves no longer defend their wicked conduct — or rather, the best and soundest of them actively deplore it. What they are fighting to maintain and defend is the doctrine of demons: hypocrisy and the righteousness of works. They cite the authority of councils and the examples of holy fathers, whom they claim as the originators of their holy orders and statutes. So we are fighting not against the obvious wickedness and abominations of the papacy, but against its greatest holiness and its holiest saints — those who believe they lead an angelic life, imagining they keep not only God's commandments but also the counsels of Christ, performing works of supererogation that go beyond what they are even obligated to do. We say this is labor in vain, unless they take hold of that one thing alone which Christ says is truly necessary — and choose the good part with Mary, which will never be taken from them.

Bernard did this — a man so devout, so holy, and so chaste that he deserves commendation and honor above all the rest. When he was once gravely ill with no hope of recovery, he did not put his trust in his celibate life, which he had kept with great purity, nor in his many good works and acts of charity. He pushed all of these far from his sight, and receiving Christ's grace by faith, he said: 'I have lived wickedly. But You, Lord Jesus Christ, possess the kingdom of heaven by a double right: first, because You are the Son of God; second, because You purchased it through Your death and suffering. The first You keep for Yourself as Your birthright. The second You give to me — not by the right of my works, but by the right of grace.' He did not set his monastic life or his angelic conduct against the wrath of God. He took hold of the one thing necessary — and was saved. I believe Jerome, Gregory, and many other fathers were saved in the same way. And there is no doubt that in the Old Testament many kings of Israel and other idolaters were saved similarly — men who at the hour of death, throwing aside their vain trust in idols, took hold of God's promise made to the seed of Abraham — that is, Christ, in whom all nations would be blessed. And if any papists are saved, they will be saved not by leaning on their own good deeds and merit, but by leaning simply on God's mercy offered to us in Christ, and saying with Paul: 'I no longer have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ' (Philippians 3:9).

Verse 31. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

Paul here concludes his allegory of the barren church and the fruitful people of the law. 'We are not children of the slave woman,' he says — meaning we are not under the law that produces bondage, that terrifies, accuses, and drives to despair. We have been delivered from it by Christ, and so it cannot terrify or condemn us. This is something we have already covered thoroughly. And even though the sons of the slave woman persecute us for a time, our comfort is this: they will in the end be compelled to give up the inheritance to us — to those who are the sons of the free woman — and will at last be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 25:30).

Paul therefore used these words — 'slave woman' and 'free woman' — as an occasion to reject the righteousness of the law and to confirm the teaching of justification. He deliberately seizes on the word 'free woman,' pressing it hard and drawing out all its force — especially at the opening of the next chapter. From it he takes the opportunity to argue for Christian freedom, the knowledge of which is vitally important. The Pope has very nearly destroyed it, subjecting the church to human traditions and ceremonies and to the most miserable and degrading kind of bondage. The freedom purchased by Christ is for us today a powerful fortress — the stronghold by which we defend ourselves against the tyranny of the Pope. We must therefore carefully consider this teaching of Christian freedom — both to confirm the teaching of justification and to raise up and comfort weak consciences against all the troubles and offenses our opponents charge against the Gospel. Christian freedom is a deeply spiritual thing that the fleshly person cannot understand. Even those who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, and can speak well of it, find it very hard to hold onto it in their hearts. To reason, it seems like a small matter. If the Holy Spirit does not magnify it and give it weight (Romans 9:23), it will be despised.