What Difference There Is Between Faith and Hope

Here arises a question: what difference there is between faith and hope. The Sophisters and Schoolmen have labored very much in this matter, but they could never show any certainty. Indeed, to us who labor in the holy Scriptures with much diligence, and also with more fullness and power of spirit (be it spoken without any boast), it is hard to find any difference. For there is so great an affinity between faith and hope that the one cannot be separated from the other. Nevertheless there is a difference between them, which is gathered from their several offices, diversity of working, and their ends.

First, they differ in respect of their subject, that is, of the ground in which they rest. For faith rests in the understanding, and hope rests in the will. But in very deed they cannot be separated, the one having respect to the other, as the two Cherubim of the Mercy Seat, which could not be divided.

Secondly, they differ in respect of their office, that is, of their working. For faith tells what is to be done; it teaches, prescribes, and directs, and it is a knowledge. Hope is an exhortation which stirs up the mind so that it may be strong, bold, and courageous: that it may suffer and endure adversity, and in the midst thereof wait for better things.

Thirdly, they differ as touching their object, that is, the special matter to which they look. For faith has for its object the truth, teaching us to hold firmly to it, and looks to the word and promise of the thing that is promised. Hope has for its object the goodness of God, and looks to the thing which is promised in the word, that is, to such matters as faith teaches us to hope for.

Fourthly, they differ in order: for faith is the beginning of life before all tribulation (Hebrews 11). But hope comes afterward, proceeding from tribulations (Romans 5).

Fifthly, they differ by the diversity of working. For faith is a teacher and a judge, fighting against errors and heresies, judging spirits and doctrines. But hope is as it were the General or Captain of the field, fighting against tribulation, the cross, impatience, heaviness of spirit, weakness, desperation, and blasphemy, and it waits for good things even in the midst of all evils.

Therefore, when I am instructed by faith in the word of God and lay hold of Christ, believing in him with my whole heart, then I am righteous by this knowledge. When I am so justified by faith or by this knowledge, the Devil, the father of lies, comes immediately and labors to extinguish my faith by wiles and subtleties: that is to say, by lies, errors, and heresies. Moreover, because he is a murderer, he also seeks to oppress it by violence. Here hope, wrestling, lays hold on the thing revealed by faith, and overcomes the Devil who wars against faith. After this victory follows peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So that in very deed faith and hope can scarcely be distinguished one from the other, and yet there is a certain difference between them. And that it may be the better perceived, I will set out the matter by a similitude.

In civil government, prudence and fortitude differ, and yet these two virtues are so joined together that they cannot easily be severed. Now, fortitude is a constancy of mind which is not discouraged in adversity, but endures valiantly and waits for better things. But if fortitude is not guided by prudence, it is merely temerity and rashness. On the other side, if fortitude is not joined with prudence, that prudence is but vain and unprofitable. Therefore, as in policy prudence is vain without fortitude, even so in divinity faith without hope is nothing. For hope endures adversity and is constant in it, and in the end overcomes all evils. And on the other side, as fortitude without prudence is rashness, even so hope without faith is a presumption in spirit and a tempting of God. For it has no knowledge of Christ and of the truth which faith teaches, and therefore it is but blind rashness and arrogance. Therefore a godly man, above all things, must have a right understanding instructed by faith, according to which the mind may be guided in afflictions, so that it may hope for those good things which faith has revealed and taught.

To be brief, faith is conceived by teaching, for thereby the mind is instructed what the truth is. Hope is conceived by exhortation, for by exhortation hope is stirred up in afflictions, which confirms him who is already justified by faith, so that he may not be overcome by adversities but may be able to resist them more strongly. Nevertheless, if the spark of faith should not give light to the will, it could not be persuaded to lay hold on hope. We have faith then, whereby we are taught, understand, and know the heavenly wisdom, apprehend Christ, and continue in his grace. But as soon as we lay hold on Christ by faith and confess him, forthwith our enemies — the world, the flesh, and the Devil — rise up against us, hating and persecuting us most cruelly both in body and spirit. Therefore we who believe and are justified by faith in spirit wait for the hope of our righteousness. And we wait through patience, for we see and feel the flat contrary. For the world with his prince the Devil assails us mightily both within and without. Moreover, sin still remains in us, which drives us into heaviness. Nevertheless we do not give over for all this, but raise up our mind strongly through faith, which lightens, teaches, and guides it. And thus we abide firm and constant, and overcome all adversities through him who has loved us, until our righteousness which we believe and wait for is revealed. By faith therefore we began, by hope we continue, and by revelation we shall obtain the whole. In the meantime, while we live here, because we believe we teach the word and publish the knowledge of Christ to others. Thus doing, we suffer persecution (according to this text: 'I believed and therefore did I speak, and I was sorely troubled') with patience, being strengthened and encouraged through hope. The Scripture exhorts us with most sweet and comfortable promises taught and revealed to us by faith (Romans 15), so that through patience and comfort of the Scripture we may have hope. And thus does hope spring up and increase in us.

Paul therefore, not without cause, joins patience in tribulations and hope together in chapters 5 and 8 of Romans, and in other places also: for by them hope is stirred up. But Faith (as also I have shown before) goes before hope: for it is the beginning of life, and begins before all tribulation: for it learns Christ, and apprehends him without the cross. Notwithstanding, the knowledge of Christ cannot be long without the cross, without troubles and conflicts. In this case the mind must be stirred up to a fortitude of spirit (for hope is nothing else but a spiritual fortitude, as Faith is nothing else but a spiritual prudence), which consists in suffering, according to this saying: That through patience, etc. These three things then dwell together in the faithful: Faith which teaches the truth, and defends from errors: Hope which endures and overcomes all adversities, as well bodily as spiritual: and Charity which works all good things, as it follows in the text. And so is a man entire and perfect in this life, as well within as without, until the righteousness be revealed which he waits for: and this shall be a perfect and an everlasting righteousness.

Moreover this place contains both a singular doctrine and consolation. As touching the doctrine it shows that we are made righteous, not by the works, sacrifices or ceremonies of Moses' law, much less by the works and traditions of men, but by Christ alone. Whatever is in us besides him, is of the flesh and not of the spirit. Whatever then the world counts to be good and holy without Christ, is nothing else but sin, error, and flesh. Therefore circumcision, and the observation of the law: also the works, religions and vows of the Monks and of all such as trust in their own righteousness, are altogether carnal. But we (says Paul) are far above all these things in the spirit and inward man: for we possess Christ by Faith, and in the midst of our afflictions through hope we wait for that righteousness which we possess already by Faith.

The comfort is this: that in serious conflicts and terrors, where the feeling of sin, heaviness of [reconstructed: spirit], desperation and such like, is very strong (for they enter deeply into the heart and mightily assail it) you must not follow your own feeling. For if you do, you will say: I feel the horrible terrors of the law and the tyranny of sin, not only rebelling against me, but also subduing and leading me captive, and I feel no comfort or righteousness at all. Therefore I am a sinner and not righteous. If I be a sinner, then am I guilty of everlasting death. But against this feeling you must wrestle, and say: Although I feel myself utterly overwhelmed and swallowed up with sin, and my heart tells me that God is offended and angry with me, yet in very deed it is not true, but that my own sense and feeling so judges. The word of God (which in these terrors I ought to follow, and not my own sense) teaches a far other thing: namely that God is near to them that are of a troubled heart, and saves them that are of a humble spirit. Also, he despises not a humble and a contrite heart. Moreover, Paul shows here, that they that are justified in spirit by Faith, do not yet feel the hope of righteousness, but wait still for it.

Therefore when the law accuses and sin terrifies you, and you feel nothing but the wrath and judgment of God, despair not for all that, but take to yourself the armor of God, the shield of Faith, the helmet of hope, and the sword of the spirit, and try how good and how valiant a warrior you are. Lay hold of Christ by Faith, who is the Lord of the law and sin, and of all things else which accompany them. Believing in him you are justified: which thing reason and the feeling of your own heart when you are tempted, do not tell you, but the word of God. Moreover, in the midst of these conflicts and terrors which often return and exercise you, wait patiently through hope for righteousness, which you have now by Faith, although it be yet but begun and imperfect, until it be revealed and made perfect in the kingdom of heaven.

But you will say: I feel not myself to have any righteousness, or at least I feel it but very little. You must not feel, but believe that you have righteousness. And unless you believe that you are righteous, you do great injury to Christ, who has cleansed you by the washing of water through the word, who also died upon the cross, condemned sin and killed death, that through him you might obtain righteousness and everlasting life. These things you cannot deny (unless you will openly show yourself to be wicked, and blasphemous against God, and utterly to despise God, all his promises, Jesus Christ with all his benefits): and so consequently you cannot deny but that you are righteous.

Let us learn therefore in great and horrible terrors, when our conscience feels nothing but sin, and judges that God is angry with us, and that Christ has turned his face from us, not to follow the sense and feeling of our own heart, but to stick to the word of God, which says that God is not angry, but looks to the afflicted, to such as are troubled in spirit, and tremble at his word: and that Christ turns not himself away from such as labor and are heavy laden, but refreshes and comforts them. This place therefore teaches plainly, that the law and works bring to us no righteousness or comfort at all, but this does the Holy Spirit only in the Faith of Christ, who raises up hope in terrors and tribulations, which endures and overcomes all adversities. Very few there be that know how weak and feeble Faith and hope are under the cross, and in the conflict. For it seems that they are but as smoking flax, which is ready by and by to be put out with a vehement wind. But the faithful, who believe in the midst of these assaults and terrors, hoping against hope: that is to say, fighting through Faith in the promise as touching Christ, against the feeling of sin and of the wrath of God: do afterwards find by experience, that this spark of Faith being very little (as it appears to natural reason: for reason can scarcely feel it) is as a mighty fire, and swallows up all our sins and all terrors.

There is nothing more dear or precious in all the world to the true children of God, than this doctrine. For they that understand this doctrine, do know that of which all the world is ignorant: namely that sin, death and all other miseries, afflictions and calamities, as well corporal as spiritual, do turn to the benefit and profit of the elect. Moreover, they know that God is then most near to them, when he seems to be farthest off, and that he is then a most merciful and loving Savior, when he seems to be most angry, to afflict, and to destroy. Also they know that they have an everlasting righteousness, which they wait for through hope, as a certain and sure possession laid up for them in heaven, even when they feel the horrible terrors of sin and death. Moreover that they are then lords of all things, when they are most destitute of all things, according to that saying: having nothing, and yet possessing all things. This, says the Scripture, is to conceive comfort through hope. But this cunning is not learned without great and often temptations.

Verse 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, neither uncircumcision, but faith which works by love.

That is to say, faith which is not feigned nor hypocritical, but true and lively. This is that faith which exercises and requires good works through love. It is as much to say as: He that will be a true Christian indeed, or one of Christ's kingdom, must be a true believer. Now, he believes not truly if works of charity follow not his faith. So on both hands, as well on the right hand as on the left, he shuts hypocrites out of Christ's kingdom. On the left hand he shuts out the Jews, and all such as will work their own salvation, saying: In Christ neither circumcision, that is to say: no works, no service, no worshipping, no kind of life in the world, but faith without any trust in works or merits avails before God. On the right hand he shuts out all slothful and idle persons, which say: if faith justifies without works, then let us work nothing, but let us only believe and do what we list. Not so, you enemies of grace. Paul says otherwise. And although it be true that only faith justifies, yet he speaks here of faith in another respect, that is to say, that after it has justified, it is not idle, but occupied and exercised in working through love. Paul therefore in this place sets forth the whole life of a Christian man, namely, that inwardly it consists in faith toward God, and outwardly in charity and good works toward our neighbor. So that a man is a perfect Christian inwardly through faith before God, who has no need of our works, and outwardly before men, to whom our faith profits nothing, but our charity or our works. Therefore when we have heard or understood of this form of Christian life: to wit, that it is faith and charity (as I have said), it is not yet declared what faith or what charity is: for this is another question. For as touching faith or the inward nature, force, and use of faith, he has spoken before. Where he showed that it is our righteousness, or rather our justification before God. Here he joins it with charity and works, that is to say, he speaks of the external office thereof, which is to stir us up to do good works, and to bring forth in us the fruits of charity to the profit of our neighbor.

Verse 7. You did run well: who did hinder you, that you did not obey the truth?

These are plain words. Paul affirms that he teaches them the truth, and the selfsame thing that he taught them before, and that they ran well so long as they obeyed the truth, that is, they believed and lived rightly: but now they did not so since they were misled by the false apostles. Moreover he uses here a new kind of speech in calling the Christian life a course or a race. For among the Hebrews, to run or to walk signifies as much as to live or to be conversant. The teachers do run when they teach purely, and the hearers or learners do run when they receive the word with joy, and when the fruits of the spirit do follow. Which thing was done as long as Paul was present, as he witnessed before in the third and fourth chapter. And here he says: You did run well: that is to say, all things went forward well and happily among you, you lived very well, you went on the right way to everlasting life, which the word of God promised you, etc.

These words: You did run well, contain in them a singular comfort. This temptation oftentimes exercises the godly, that their life seems to them to be rather a certain slow creeping, than a running. But if they abide in sound doctrine and walk in the spirit, let this nothing trouble them, though their doings seem to go slowly forward, or rather to creep. God judges far otherwise. For that which seems to us to be very slow and scarcely to creep, runs swiftly in God's sight. Again, that which is to us nothing else but sorrow, mourning and death, is before God, joy, mirth and true happiness. Therefore Christ says: Blessed are you that mourn and weep for you shall receive comfort: you shall laugh, etc. All things shall turn to the best to them which believe in the Son of God, be it sorrow; or be it death itself. Therefore they be true runners indeed, and whatever they do, it runs well and goes happily forward by the furtherance of God's spirit, which can not skill of slow proceedings.

Verse 7. Who did hinder you that you did not obey the truth?

They are hindered in this course who fall away from faith and grace to the law and works: as it happened to the Galatians being misled and seduced by the false apostles, whom he covertly reprehends with these words: who did hinder you that you did not obey the truth? In like manner he said before in the third Chapter: who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth? And here Paul shows by the way, that men are so strongly bewitched with false doctrine, that they embrace lies and heresies in the stead of the truth and spiritual doctrine. And on the other side they say and swear that the sound doctrine which before they loved, is erroneous, and that their error is sound doctrine, maintaining and defending the same with all their power. Even so the false apostles brought the Galatians, which ran well at the beginning, into this opinion, to believe that they erred and went very slowly forward when Paul was their teacher. But afterward they being seduced by the false apostles and falling clean away from the truth, were so strongly bewitched with their false persuasion, that they thought themselves to be in a happy state, and that they ran very well. The same happens at this day to such as are seduced by the Sectaries and fantastical spirits. Therefore I am accustomed to say, that falling in doctrine comes not of man, but of the Devil, and is most perilous: to wit, even from the high heaven to the bottom of hell: for they that continue in error, are so far from acknowledging their sin, that they maintain the same to be high righteousness. Therefore it is impossible for them to obtain pardon.

Verse 8. It is not the persuasion of him that calls you.

This is a great consolation and a singular doctrine, whereby Paul shows how the false persuasions of such as are deceived by wicked teachers, may be rooted out of their hearts. The false apostles were jolly fellows, and in outward appearance far surpassing Paul both in learning and in godliness. The Galatians being deceived with this goodly show, supposed that when they heard them, they heard Christ himself, and therefore they judged their persuasion to be of Christ. Contrariwise Paul shows that this persuasion and doctrine was not of Christ, who had called them in grace, but of the Devil: and by this means he won many of them from this false persuasion. Likewise we at this day revoke many from error that were seduced, when we show that their opinions are fantastical, wicked, and full of blasphemies.

Again, this consolation belongs to all those that are afflicted, which through temptation conceive a false opinion of Christ. For the Devil is a wonderfully crafty persuader, and knows how to amplify the least sin, indeed a very trifle, in such sort that he which is tempted shall think it to be a most heinous and horrible crime, and worthy of eternal damnation. Here the troubled conscience must be comforted and raised up in such sort as Paul raised up the Galatians: to wit, that this thought or persuasion comes not of Christ, for as much as it fights against the word of the Gospel, which paints out Christ, not as an accuser, a cruel exactor, etc. but as a meek, humble-hearted, and a merciful Savior and comforter.

But if Satan overthrow this (for he is a cunning workman, and will leave no way untried) and lay against you the word and example of Christ in this wise: True it is that Christ is meek, gentle and merciful, but to those which are holy and righteous. Contrariwise, to the sinners he threatens wrath and destruction (Luke 13). Also he pronounces that the unbelievers are damned already (John 3). Moreover, Christ worked many good works: he suffered also many evils, and commands us to follow his example. But your life is neither according to Christ's word nor his example: for you are a sinner, and there is no faith in you: indeed you have done no good at all, and therefore those sentences which set forth Christ as a severe judge, belong to you, and not those comfortable sentences which show him to be a loving and a merciful Savior, etc. Here let him that is tempted comfort himself after this manner.

The Scripture sets out Christ to us two manner of ways: First as a gift. If I take hold of him in this sort, I can want nothing. For in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: he, with all that is in him, is made to me of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Therefore although I have committed both many and grievous sins: yet notwithstanding if I believe in him, they shall all be swallowed up by his righteousness. Secondly, the Scripture sets him forth as an example to be followed. Notwithstanding I will not suffer this Christ (I mean as he is an example) to be set before me, but only in the time of joy and gladness when I am out of temptation (where I can scarcely follow the thousand part of his example) that I may have him as a mirror to behold and view how much is yet wanting in me, that I become not secure and careless. But in the time of tribulation I will not hear nor admit Christ, but as a gift, who dying for my sins, has bestowed upon me his righteousness, and has done and accomplished that for me, which was wanting in my life: for he is the end and fulfilling of the law to righteousness to every one that believes.

It is good to know these things, not only to the end that every one of us may have a sure and a certain remedy in the time of temptation, whereby we may eschew that venom of desperation, with which Satan thinks to poison us: but also to the end we may be able to resist the furious sectaries and Schismatics of our time. For the Anabaptists count nothing more glorious in their whole doctrine, than that they so severely urge the example of Christ and the cross: especially seeing the sentences are manifest wherein Christ commends the cross to his disciples. We must learn therefore how we may withstand this Satan, transforming himself into the likeness of an Angel. Which we shall do if we make a difference between Christ set forth to us sometimes as a gift, and sometimes as an example. The preaching of him both ways has its convenient time, which if it be not observed, the preaching of salvation may so be turned into poison. Christ therefore must be set forth to those which are already cast down and bruised through the heavy burden and weight of their sins, as a Savior and a gift, and not as an example or a lawgiver. But to those that are secure and obstinate, he must be set forth as an example. Also the hard sentences of the Scripture, and the horrible examples of the wrath of God must be laid before them: as of the drowning of the whole world, of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and such other like, that they may repent. Let every Christian therefore when he is terrified and afflicted, learn to cast away the false persuasion which he has conceived of Christ, and let him say: O cursed Satan, why do you now dispute with me of doing and working, seeing I am terrified and afflicted for my sins already? Nay rather, seeing I now labor and am heavy laden, I will not hearken to you who are an accuser and a destroyer, but to Christ the Savior of mankind, who says that he came into the world to save sinners, to comfort such as are in terror, anguish and desperation, and to preach deliverance to the captives, etc. This is the true Christ, and there is none other but he. I can seek examples of holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul and other Saints. But they cannot forgive my sins, they cannot deliver me from the power of the Devil and from death, they cannot save me and give me everlasting life. For these things belong to Christ alone, whom God the Father has sealed: therefore I will not hear you nor acknowledge you for my teacher, O Satan, but Christ, of whom the Father has said: This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear him. Let us learn in this way to comfort ourselves through faith in temptation, and in the persuasion of false doctrine: else the Devil will either seduce us by his ministers, or else kill us with his fiery darts.

Verse 9. A little leaven does leaven the whole lump.

This whole Epistle sufficiently witnesses how Paul was grieved with the fall of the Galatians, and how often he beat into their heads (sometimes chiding and sometimes entreating them) the exceeding great and horrible enormities that should ensue upon this their fall, unless they repented. This fatherly and apostolic care and admonition of Paul moved some of them nothing at all: for many of them acknowledged Paul no more for their teacher, but preferred the false apostles far above him: of whom they thought themselves to have received the true doctrine, and not of Paul. Moreover the false apostles, no doubt, slandered Paul among the Galatians, saying that he was an obstinate and a contentious fellow, which for a light matter would break the unity of the churches, and for no other cause but that he alone would be counted wise and be magnified of them. Through this false accusation they made Paul very odious to many.

Some other which had not yet utterly forsaken his doctrine, thought that there was no danger in dissenting a little from him in the doctrine of justification and faith. Therefore, when they heard that Paul made so heinous a matter of that which seemed to them to be but light and of small importance, then they marveled, and thus they thought with themselves: Be it so that we have [reconstructed: swerved] something from the doctrine of Paul, and that there has been some fault in us: yet that being but a small matter, he ought to wink at it, or at least not so vehemently to amplify it, lest by the occasion thereof the concord of the churches should be broken. To which he answers with this sentence: A little leaven leavens, [or makes sour] the whole lump of dough. And this is a caution or an admonition which Paul stands much upon. And we also ought greatly to esteem the same at this day. For our adversaries in like manner object against us that we are contentious, obstinate, and intractable in defending our doctrine, and even in matters of no great importance. But these are the crafty tricks of the Devil, whereby he goes about utterly to overthrow our doctrine. To this we answer therefore with Paul, that a little leaven makes sour the whole lump.

In philosophy a small fault in the beginning is a great and a foul fault in the end. So in divinity one little error overthrows the whole doctrine. Therefore we must separate life and doctrine far asunder. The doctrine is not ours, but God's, whose ministers only we are called: therefore we may not change or diminish one tittle thereof. The life is ours: therefore as touching that, we are ready to do, to suffer, to forgive, etc., whatever our adversaries shall require of us, so that faith and doctrine may remain sound and uncorrupt: of which we say always with Paul: A little leaven leavens, etc.

A small mote in the eye hurts the eye. And our Savior Christ says: The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single, then is your whole body light: but if your eye be evil, then your body is dark (Luke 11:34). Again, if your body shall have no part dark, then shall all be light (Luke 11:36). By this allegory Christ signifies, that the eye, that is to say, the doctrine ought to be most simple, clear and sincere, having in it no darkness, no cloud. And James the Apostle says: He that fails in one point is guilty of all (James 2:10). This place therefore makes very much for us against these cavilers which say that we break charity, to the great hurt and damage of the churches. But we protest that we desire nothing more than to be at unity with all men: so that they leave to us the doctrine of faith entire and uncorrupt: to which all things ought to give place, be it charity, an Apostle, or an angel from heaven.

Let us suffer them therefore to extol charity and concord as much as they please: but on the other side let us magnify the majesty of the word and faith. Charity may be neglected in time and place without any danger: but so can not the word and faith be. Charity suffers all things, gives place to all men. Contrariwise, faith suffers nothing, gives place to no man. Charity in giving place, in believing, in giving and forgiving is oftentimes deceived, and yet notwithstanding being so deceived, it suffers no loss which is to be called true loss indeed: that is to say, it loses not Christ: therefore it is not offended, but continues still constant in well doing, yes even towards the ungrateful and unworthy. Contrariwise in the matter of faith and salvation, when men teach lies and errors under the color of the truth and seduce many, here has charity no place: for here we lose not any benefit bestowed upon the ungrateful, but we lose the word, faith, Christ, and everlasting life. Let it not move us therefore that they urge so much the keeping of charity and concord: for whoever loves not God and his word, it is no matter what or how much he loves.

Paul therefore, by this sentence admonishes, as well teachers as hearers, to take heed that they esteem not the doctrine of faith as a light matter, with which they may dally at their pleasure. It is as a bright sunbeam coming down from heaven, which lightens, directs and guides us. Now, just as the world with all the wisdom and power thereof is not able to stop or turn away the beams of the sun coming down from heaven directly to the earth: even so can there nothing be added to the doctrine of faith, or taken from it: for that is an utter defacing and overthrowing of the whole.

Verse 10. I have trust in you through the Lord.

As if he would say: I have taught, admonished, and reproved you enough, so that you would hearken to me. Notwithstanding I hope well of you in the Lord. Here rises a question, whether Paul does well when he says he has a good hope or trust of the Galatians, seeing the holy Scripture forbids any trust to be put in men. Both faith and charity have their trust and belief, but after diverse sorts by reason of the diversity of their objects. Faith trusts in God, and therefore it can not be deceived: charity believes man and therefore it is often deceived. Now, this faith that springs of charity is so necessary to this present life, that without it life can not continue in the world. For if one man should not believe and trust another, what life should we live upon earth? The true Christians do sooner believe and give credit through charity, than the children of this world do. For faith towards men is a fruit of the spirit, or of christian faith in the godly. Hereupon Paul had a trust of the Galatians, yes though they were fallen from his doctrine: but yet through the Lord. As if he should say: I trust to you so far as the Lord is in you, and you in him: that is to say, so far as you abide in the truth. From which if you fall away, seduced by the ministers of Satan, I will not trust to you any more. Thus it is lawful for the godly to trust and believe men.

Verse 10. That you will be none otherwise minded.

To wit, concerning doctrine and faith, than I have taught you, and you have learned of me: that is to say, I have a good hope and trust of you, that you will not receive any other doctrine which shall be contrary to mine.

Verse 10. But he that troubles you shall bear his condemnation, whatever he be.

By this sentence Paul, as it were a judge sitting upon the judgment seat, condemns the false apostles, calling them by a very odious name, troublers of the Galatians: whom they esteemed to be very godly men, and far better teachers than Paul. And withal he goes about to terrify the Galatians with this horrible sentence: whereby he so boldly condemns the false apostles, to the end that they should flee their false doctrine as a most dangerous plague. As if he should say: What do you mean to give ear to those pestilent fellows, which teach you not, but only trouble you. The doctrine that they deliver to you is nothing else but a trouble to your consciences. Therefore however great they be, they shall bear their condemnation.

Now, a man may understand by these words: Whoever he be, that the false apostles in outward appearance were very good and holy men. And perhaps there was among them some notable disciple of the Apostles of great name and authority. For it is not without cause that he uses such vehement and pithy words. He speaks after the same manner also in the first chapter, saying: If we or an Angel from heaven preach to you otherwise than we have preached to you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8). And it is not to be doubted but that many were offended with this vehemence of the Apostle, thinking thus with themselves: Why does Paul break charity? Why is he so obstinate in so small a matter? Why does he so rashly pronounce sentence of eternal damnation against those that are ministers as well as he? He passes nothing of all this: but proceeds on still, and boldly curses and condemns all those that pervert the doctrine of faith, be they never so highly esteemed, seem they never so holy and learned.

Therefore (as I give often warning) we must diligently discern between doctrine and life. Doctrine is heaven, life is the earth. In life is sin, error, uncleanness and misery, mingled with vinegar, as the proverb says. There let charity wink, forbear, be beguiled, believe, hope, and suffer all things: there let forgiveness of sins prevail as much as may be, so that sin and error be not defended and maintained. But in doctrine, just as there is no error, so it has no need of pardon. Therefore there is no comparison between doctrine and life. One little point of doctrine is of more value than heaven and earth: and therefore we cannot abide to have the least jot of it corrupted. But we can very well wink at the offenses and errors of life. For we also daily err in life and conversation, indeed all the saints err: and this they earnestly confess in the Lord's Prayer, and in the Creed. But our doctrine, blessed be God, is pure: we have all the articles of our Faith grounded upon the holy Scripture. Those the Devil would gladly corrupt and overthrow. Therefore he assails us so craftily with this fine argument, that we ought not to break charity and the unity of the churches.

Verse 11. And brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the slander of the cross abolished.

Paul, laboring by all means possible to call the Galatians back again, reasons now by his own example. I have procured to myself (says he) the hatred and persecution of the priests and elders, and of my whole nation, because I take away righteousness from circumcision: which if I would attribute to it, the Jews would not only cease to persecute me, but also would love and highly commend me. But now, because I preach the Gospel of Christ and the righteousness of faith, abolishing the law and circumcision, therefore I suffer persecution. On the contrary, the false apostles, to avoid the cross, and this deadly hatred of the Jewish nation, preach circumcision: and by this means they obtain and retain the favor of the Jews: as he says in the 6th chapter following: They compel you to be circumcised, etc. Moreover, they would gladly bring it to pass that there should be no dissension, but peace and concord between the Gentiles and the Jews. But that is impossible to be done without the loss of the doctrine of faith, which is the doctrine of the cross and full of offenses. Therefore when he says: If I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the slander of the cross abolished: he means that it were a great absurdity and inconvenience if the offense of the cross should cease. After the same manner he speaks in 1 Corinthians 1: Christ sent me to preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. As if he said: I would not that the offense and cross of Christ should be abolished.

Here may some man say: The Christians then are mad men to cast themselves into danger of their own accord: for what do they else by preaching and confessing the truth, but procure to themselves the hatred and enmity of the whole world, and raise offenses? This (says Paul) does nothing at all offend or trouble me, but makes me more bold, and causes me to hope well of the happy success and increase of the church, which flourishes and grows under the cross: for it behooves that Christ the head and spouse of the Church should reign in the midst of all his enemies (Psalm 110). On the contrary part, when the cross is abolished, and the rage of tyrants and heretics ceases on the one side, and offenses on the other side, and all things are in peace, the Devil keeping the entry of the house: this is a sure token that the pure doctrine of God's word is taken away.

Bernard, considering this thing, says that the Church is then in best state, when Satan assails it on every side, as well by subtle sleights as by violence: and on the contrary, that it is then in worst case when it is most at ease. And he alleges very well and to that purpose that sentence of Hezekiah in his song: Behold, for felicity I had bitter grief, applying it to the church living in ease and quietness. Therefore Paul takes it for a most certain sign that it is not the Gospel, if it be preached in peace. On the contrary, the world takes it for a most certain sign that the Gospel is heretical and seditious doctrine, because it sees great uproars, tumults, offenses and sects, and such like to follow the preaching of it. Thus God sometimes shows himself in the likeness of the Devil, and the Devil likewise shows himself in the likeness of God: and God will be known under the likeness of the Devil, and will have the Devil known under the likeness of God.

The cross immediately follows the doctrine of the word, according to that saying in Psalm 116: I believed and therefore have I spoken: and I was greatly troubled. Now, the cross of the Christians is persecution with reproach and ignominy, and without any compassion, and therefore it is very offensive. First they suffer as the vilest people in the world: and so did the Prophet Isaiah foretell even of Christ himself (Isaiah 53:12): He was reputed among the wicked. Moreover, murderers and thieves have their punishments qualified, and men have compassion on them. Here is no offense or slander joined with the punishment. On the contrary, just as the world judges the Christians to be of all other men the most pestilent and pernicious, so does it think that no torments are sufficient to punish them for their heinous offenses. Neither is it moved with any compassion towards them, but puts them to the most opprobrious and shameful kinds of death that can be. And it thinks that it gains hereby a double benefit. For first it imagines that it does high service to God in killing them: secondly that the common peace and tranquility is restored and established by taking away such noxious plagues. Therefore the death and cross of the faithful is full of offenses. But let not this reproachful dealing (says Paul) and the continuance of Christ's cross and the offense of it move you: but rather let it confirm you. For as long as the cross endures, it shall go well with the Gospel.

In like manner Christ also comforts his disciples in the 5th of Matthew: Blessed are you (says he) when men revile you and persecute you, and shall falsely say all manner of evil against you for my name's sake. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven: For so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you. The church cannot suffer this rejoicing to be wrested from her. Therefore I would not wish to be at concord with the Pope, the bishops, the princes and the Sectaries, unless they would consent to our doctrine. For such concord were a certain token that we had lost the true doctrine. To be short, as long as the church teaches the Gospel, it must suffer persecution. For the Gospel sets forth the mercy and glory of God: It discloses the malice and sleights of the Devil, painting him out in his right colors, and plucking from him the counterfeit visor of God's Majesty, by which he deceives the whole world: that is to say, it shows that all worshippings, religious orders invented by men, and traditions concerning single life, meats, and such other things, by which men think to deserve forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, are wicked things and devilish doctrine. There is nothing then that more stirs up the Devil, than the preaching of the Gospel. For that plucks from him the dissembled visor of God, and betrays him to be as he is indeed, that is to say, the Devil and not God. Therefore it cannot be, but that as long as the Gospel flourishes, the cross and the offense thereof must needs follow it, or else truly the Devil is not rightly touched, but slenderly tickled. But if he be rightly hit indeed, he rests not, but begins horribly to rage, and to raise up troubles everywhere.

If Christians then will hold the word of life, let them not be afraid or offended when they see that the Devil is broken loose and rages everywhere, that all the world is in an uproar, that tyrants exercise their cruelty, and heresies spring up: but let them assure themselves, that these are signs, not of terror, but of joy, as Christ himself expounds them, saying: Rejoice and be glad, etc. God forbid therefore that the offense of the cross should be taken away. Which thing should come to pass if we should preach that which the Prince of this world and his members would gladly hear, that is to say, the righteousness of works. Then should we have a gentle Devil, a favorable world, a gracious Pope, and merciful Princes. But because we set forth the benefits and glory of Christ, they persecute and spoil us both of our goods and lives.

Verse 12. Would to God they were cut off that disquiet you.

Is this the part of an Apostle, not only to denounce the false apostles to be troublers, to condemn them and to deliver them to Satan, but also to wish that they might be utterly rooted out and perish? And what is this else but plain cursing? Paul (as I suppose) alludes here to circumcision. As if he would say: They compel you to cut off the foreskin of your flesh: but I would that they themselves might be utterly cut off by the root.

Here rises a question: whether it be lawful for Christians to curse? Why not? However, not always, nor for every cause. But when the matter is come to this point, that God's word must be evil spoken of and his doctrine blasphemed, and so consequently God himself, then must we turn this sentence and say: Blessed be God and his word, and whatever is without God and his word, accursed be it: indeed though it be an Apostle or an angel from heaven. So he said before in the first chapter: Although we or an angel from heaven preach otherwise to you, than that which we have preached, let him be accursed.

Hereby it may appear how great a matter Paul made of a little leaven, which for the same durst curse the false apostles, who in outward appearance were men of great authority and holiness. Let us not therefore make little account of the leaven of doctrine: For although it be never so little, yet if it be neglected, it will be the cause that little by little the truth and our salvation shall be lost, and God himself be denied. For when the word is corrupted, and God denied and blasphemed (which must needs follow if the word be corrupted) there remains no hope of salvation. But for our parts, if we be cursed, railed upon and slain, there is yet one that can raise us up again, and deliver us from the curse, death and hell.

Therefore let us learn to advance and extol the Majesty and authority of God's word. For it is no small trifle (as brain-sick heads surmise at this day): but every title thereof is greater than heaven and earth. Therefore in this respect we have no regard of Christian charity or concord, but we sit as it were on the judgment seat, that is to say: we curse and condemn all men, which in the least point deface or corrupt the Majesty of God's word: For a little leaven makes sour the whole lump. But if they leave us God's word entire and sound, we are not only ready to keep charity and peace with them: but also we offer ourselves to be their servants, and to do for them whatever we are able: If not, let them perish and be cast down into hell: and not only they, but even the whole world also: so that God and his pure word do remain. For as long as he remains, life, salvation, and the faithful shall also remain.

Paul therefore does well in cursing those troublers of the Galatians, and in pronouncing sentence against them, namely, that they are accursed with all that they teach and do: and in wishing that they might be cut off, especially that they might be rooted out of the church of God, that is, that God should not govern nor prosper their doctrine nor their doings. And this malediction proceeds from the Holy Ghost. As Peter also in Acts 8 curses Simon the Sorcerer: Your money and you perish together. And the holy Scripture often uses cursing, against such troublers of men's consciences, and chiefly in the Psalms: as Psalm 55: Let death come upon them: let them go quickly into the pit of corruption. Also, Let sinners be turned down into hell, and all they that forget God.

Up to this point Paul has fortified the place of justification with strong and mighty arguments. Moreover, to the end he might omit nothing, here and there he has intermingled chidings, praisings, exhortations, threats, and such like. In the end he also adds his own example, namely that he suffers persecution for this doctrine, thereby admonishing all the faithful not to be offended nor dismayed when they shall see such uproars, sects, and offenses raised up in the time of the Gospel — but rather to rejoice and be glad. For the more the world rages against the Gospel, the more the Gospel prospers and goes happily forward.

This consolation ought at this day to encourage us, for it is certain that the world hates and persecutes us for no other cause but that we profess the truth of the Gospel. It does not accuse us for theft, murder, whoredom, and such like, but it detests and abhors us because we teach Christ faithfully and purely, and give not over the defense of the truth. Therefore we may be out of all doubt that this our doctrine is holy and of God, because the world hates it so bitterly — for otherwise there is no doctrine so wicked, so foolish, and pernicious, which the world does not gladly admit, embrace, and defend, and moreover it reverently entertains, cherishes, and flatters the professors thereof, and does all that may be done for them. Only the true doctrine of the Gospel, life and salvation, and the ministers thereof, it utterly abhors, and works all the spite that may be devised against them. It is therefore an evident token that the world is so cruelly bent against us for no other thing but only because it hates the word. Therefore when our adversaries charge us that there rises nothing of this doctrine but wars, seditions, offenses, sects, and other such infinite enormities, let us answer: Blessed be that day in which we may see these things. But the whole world is in an uproar. And well done — for if the world were not so troubled, if the Devil did not rage and stir up such broils, we should not have the pure doctrine of the Gospel, which cannot be preached but that these broils and turmoils must needs follow. Therefore that which you count to be a great evil, we take to be a special happiness.

A question arises here: what is the difference between faith and hope? The scholastic theologians spent great effort on this question but never arrived at a clear answer. Even for us who labor carefully and with greater fullness of Spirit in the holy Scriptures — without any boasting — it is difficult to find a clear distinction. The relationship between faith and hope is so close that the two cannot be separated from each other. Yet there is a difference between them, which can be drawn from their different functions, their different ways of working, and their different aims.

First, they differ in their subject — the ground in which each rests. Faith rests in the understanding; hope rests in the will. In reality, however, they cannot be separated — each has regard to the other, like the two cherubim of the mercy seat, which could never be divided from each other.

Second, they differ in their function — the way each works. Faith tells us what is to be done; it teaches, prescribes, and directs — it is a form of knowledge. Hope is more like an exhortation — it stirs up the mind to be strong, bold, and courageous, to endure adversity, and to wait for better things even in the middle of hardship.

Third, they differ in their object — the specific focus of each. Faith has truth as its object; it teaches us to hold firmly to the word and promise concerning the thing that is promised. Hope has God's goodness as its object; it looks to the thing itself that is promised in the word — to those things which faith has taught us to hope for.

Fourth, they differ in order: faith is the beginning of life before all tribulation (Hebrews 11), while hope comes afterward, proceeding out of tribulations (Romans 5).

Fifth, they differ in how they work. Faith is a teacher and a judge — it fights against errors and heresies, testing spirits and doctrines. Hope is something like the commanding general in battle — it fights against tribulation, the cross, impatience, heaviness of spirit, weakness, despair, and blasphemy, and waits for good things even in the midst of all evils.

So when I am instructed by faith in the word of God and lay hold of Christ, believing in Him with my whole heart, I am righteous through this knowledge. Once I am justified by faith through this knowledge, the devil — the father of lies — immediately moves to extinguish my faith through his tricks and cunning, that is, through lies, errors, and heresies. And because he is also a murderer, he seeks to crush it through outright violence. Here hope, fighting and wrestling, lays hold of what faith has revealed and overcomes the devil as he attacks faith. After this victory come peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. In this way, faith and hope are so close together that they can hardly be told apart — yet a real difference between them exists. To make this clearer, I will illustrate with an analogy.

In civil government, prudence and courage are distinct virtues, yet they are so intertwined that they cannot easily be separated. Courage is the constancy of mind that does not fall apart under adversity but endures steadfastly and waits for better things. But courage without prudence to guide it is nothing but recklessness. Equally, prudence without courage to sustain it is empty and worthless. Just as prudence in civil affairs is useless without courage, so in the spiritual life faith without hope is nothing. Hope endures adversity, holds steady in it, and in the end overcomes all evils. And just as courage without prudence degenerates into rashness, so hope without faith becomes a kind of spiritual presumption — a tempting of God. Without the knowledge of Christ and truth that faith provides, hope has nothing to stand on — it is merely blind rashness and arrogance. A godly person must therefore above all have a sound understanding shaped by faith, so that the mind can be guided through afflictions and learn to hope for those good things which faith has revealed.

In short: faith is born from teaching, because teaching instructs the mind in what is true. Hope is born from encouragement, because encouragement stirs up hope in the midst of affliction — strengthening the one already justified by faith so that he is not overcome by hardship but is able to resist it more powerfully. Without faith's spark of light, however, the will cannot be persuaded to lay hold of hope. Faith teaches us, helps us understand and know heavenly wisdom, enables us to grasp Christ, and keeps us in His grace. But the moment we lay hold of Christ by faith and confess Him, our enemies — the world, the flesh, and the devil — rise up against us and pursue us with fierce hatred, attacking us in body and spirit. We who believe and are justified by faith therefore wait in the Spirit for the hope of our righteousness. We wait with patience, because what we see and feel is the exact opposite — the world and its ruler the devil assail us forcefully, both inwardly and outwardly. Sin still remains in us as well, dragging us down into grief. Yet we do not give up. We lift our minds powerfully through faith, which gives light, teaches, and guides. In this way we remain firm and steady, and we overcome all adversity through Him who has loved us — until the righteousness we believe and wait for is fully revealed. By faith we begin, by hope we continue, and by revelation we will receive the whole. In the meantime, while we live here, we teach the word because we believe — publishing the knowledge of Christ to others. In doing so we suffer persecution — as the Scripture says, 'I believed, and therefore I spoke, and I was greatly afflicted' — with patience, strengthened and encouraged through hope. Scripture comforts us with the sweetest and most reassuring promises, revealed and taught to us by faith (Romans 15), so that through patience and the encouragement of Scripture we may have hope. And so hope grows and increases in us.

Paul therefore joins patience in tribulations and hope together — not without reason — in Romans 5 and 8 and elsewhere, because tribulations are what stir hope up. Faith, as I have noted before, comes before hope — it is the beginning of life and precedes all tribulation, for it comes to know Christ and lays hold of Him before the cross arrives. Yet the knowledge of Christ cannot long remain without the cross, without troubles and conflicts. In those struggles, the mind must be stirred up to spiritual courage — for hope is nothing other than spiritual courage, just as faith is nothing other than spiritual wisdom — and that courage consists in patient endurance, as Scripture says: 'through patience...' Three things therefore dwell together in the faithful: faith, which teaches the truth and guards against error; hope, which endures and overcomes all adversity, both physical and spiritual; and love, which works all good things, as the text that follows makes clear. In this way a person is whole and complete in this life — both inwardly and outwardly — until the righteousness he is waiting for is revealed: a perfect and eternal righteousness.

This passage also contains both remarkable doctrine and remarkable comfort. On the doctrinal side, it shows that we are made righteous not by the works, sacrifices, or ceremonies of Moses's law — much less by the works and traditions of men — but by Christ alone. Everything in us apart from Him is of the flesh, not of the Spirit. Whatever the world counts as good and holy without Christ is nothing but sin, error, and flesh. Circumcision and the observance of the law, along with the works, religious practices, and vows of monks and all who trust in their own righteousness, are therefore entirely fleshly. But we, says Paul, stand in an entirely different place — in the Spirit and in the inner person — for we possess Christ by faith, and in the midst of our afflictions we wait through hope for the righteousness we already hold by faith.

The comfort is this: in serious conflicts and terrors — when the felt weight of sin, heaviness of spirit, and despair are overwhelming, pressing deep into the heart and attacking it powerfully — you must not follow your own feelings. If you do, you will say: I feel the horrible terror of the law and the tyranny of sin — not merely resisting me but overwhelming and enslaving me — and I feel no comfort or righteousness at all. Therefore I am a sinner, not a righteous person. And if I am a sinner, I am liable to eternal death. But you must wrestle against that feeling and say: although I feel utterly crushed and swallowed up by sin, and my heart tells me that God is offended and angry with me — in truth it is not so. My own sense and feeling are lying to me. The word of God — which in these terrors I must follow rather than my own feelings — teaches something altogether different: namely, that God is near to those whose hearts are broken, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. He does not despise a humble and contrite heart. And Paul makes clear here that those who are justified in the Spirit by faith do not yet feel the hope of righteousness — they are still waiting for it.

So when the law accuses you, sin terrifies you, and you feel nothing but God's wrath and judgment — do not despair. Take up the armor of God: the shield of faith, the helmet of hope, the sword of the Spirit, and prove what kind of soldier you are. Lay hold of Christ by faith — He who is Lord over the law, over sin, and over everything that comes with them. By believing in Him you are justified — not because reason tells you so or because your heart feels it when you are tempted, but because the word of God says so. And in the midst of these conflicts and terrors, which often return to test you, wait patiently through hope for the righteousness you already have by faith — even though it is as yet only begun and incomplete — until it is fully revealed and perfected in the kingdom of heaven.

But you will say: I don't feel any righteousness in myself — or if I do, I barely feel it. You must not feel, but believe that you have righteousness. And unless you believe that you are righteous, you do great injury to Christ — who has cleansed you by the washing of water through the word, who died on the cross, condemned sin, and destroyed death, so that through Him you might obtain righteousness and eternal life. You cannot deny these things — unless you openly choose to be wicked, to blaspheme God, and to despise God along with all His promises and Jesus Christ and all His benefits. And if you cannot deny them, then you cannot deny that you are righteous.

Let us therefore learn this: in the midst of great and terrible terrors, when our conscience feels nothing but sin and concludes that God is angry with us and Christ has turned His face away — we must not follow the sense and feeling of our own heart, but cling to the word of God. That word says God is not angry but looks with compassion on the afflicted, on those who are troubled in spirit and tremble at His word — and that Christ does not turn away from those who are weary and burdened, but refreshes and comforts them. This passage therefore teaches plainly that the law and works bring us no righteousness or comfort at all — that is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, through faith in Christ, who raises up hope in terrors and tribulations, and through hope endures and overcomes all adversity. Very few people know how weak and fragile faith and hope are under the cross, in the heat of conflict — they seem like smoldering flax ready to be snuffed out by a strong wind. But those who believe in the midst of these attacks and terrors, hoping against hope — fighting through faith in the promise concerning Christ, against the felt weight of sin and God's wrath — discover afterward through experience that this tiny spark of faith (which seems barely perceptible to natural reason) is like a mighty fire that swallows up all our sins and all our terrors.

There is nothing more precious to the true children of God than this teaching. Those who understand it know something the whole world is ignorant of: that sin, death, and every other misery, affliction, and calamity — whether physical or spiritual — work for the benefit and advantage of the elect. They also know that God is most near to them precisely when He seems farthest away, and that He is most merciful and loving precisely when He seems most angry, as though He were afflicting and destroying them. They know that they have an eternal righteousness that they are waiting for through hope as a secure and certain possession stored up for them in heaven — even when they are in the grip of sin's most terrible terrors. And they know that they are lords of all things precisely when they seem most stripped of everything, as the saying goes: 'having nothing, yet possessing all things.' This, Scripture says, is what it means to find comfort through hope. But this wisdom is not learned without many great and repeated temptations.

Verse 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

That is to say: faith that is not false or hypocritical, but genuine and alive. This is the faith that actively expresses itself and produces good works through love. In other words: anyone who wants to be a true Christian and belong to Christ's kingdom must be a true believer. But a person does not truly believe if works of love do not follow from his faith. So Paul shuts out hypocrites from both sides — right and left alike. On the left he shuts out the Jews and all who seek to earn their own salvation, saying: in Christ, circumcision means nothing — no works, no religious service, no form of worship, no way of life in the world, but only faith without any trust in works or merits counts before God. On the right he shuts out all the careless and passive people who say: if faith justifies without works, let us do nothing — let us only believe and live however we like. No — Paul says something different entirely. Although it is true that faith alone justifies, Paul is speaking of faith in a different respect here: after it has justified, faith is not idle but active and busy, working through love. Paul in this passage therefore lays out the whole life of a Christian: inwardly it consists in faith toward God, and outwardly in love and good works toward one's neighbor. So a person is a perfect Christian inwardly through faith before God — who has no need of our works — and outwardly before people, to whom our faith is of no direct benefit but our love and works are. When we understand that the shape of Christian life is faith and love, however, we still have not said what faith or love actually is — that is a further question. As for faith — its inner nature, power, and purpose — Paul has spoken about this earlier, showing that it is our righteousness, or more precisely our justification before God. Here he joins faith with love and works — speaking now of faith's outward function, which is to move us to do good works and to bear the fruits of love for the benefit of our neighbor.

Verse 7. You were running well. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?

These are straightforward words. Paul affirms that he is teaching them the truth — the same truth he taught them before — and that they were running well as long as they obeyed it, meaning they believed and lived rightly. But now they were no longer doing so, having been led astray by the false apostles. He also uses a fresh way of speaking here, calling the Christian life a race or course. Among the Hebrews, 'to run' or 'to walk' means to live or to conduct oneself. Teachers run when they teach with purity, and listeners or students run when they receive the word with joy and the fruits of the Spirit follow. This is what happened while Paul was among them, as he testified in chapters 3 and 4. Here he says: 'You were running well' — meaning everything was going forward well and happily among you, you were living rightly, you were on the right path toward the eternal life promised you by God's word.

The words 'you were running well' carry within them a singular comfort. A temptation that frequently troubles godly people is the feeling that their life looks more like a slow crawl than a run. But if they remain in sound doctrine and walk in the Spirit, they should not be troubled if their progress seems slow or barely moving. God judges it very differently. What seems to us like barely crawling is, in God's sight, running swiftly. What seems to us like nothing but sorrow, grief, and death is before God joy, gladness, and true happiness. This is why Christ says: 'Blessed are you who mourn and weep, for you will be comforted — you will laugh.' Everything will turn out for the best for those who believe in the Son of God — whether it is sorrow or even death itself. They are therefore true runners indeed, and whatever they do, it moves well and advances happily by the working of God's Spirit, who knows nothing of slow progress.

Verse 7. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?

Those who fall from faith and grace back into the law and works are the ones who are hindered in this race — as happened to the Galatians when they were misled and seduced by the false apostles, whom Paul indirectly rebukes with these words: 'Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?' Similarly, back in chapter 3, he said: 'Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?' Paul shows in passing that people can be so powerfully bewitched by false doctrine that they embrace lies and heresies in place of truth and sound spiritual teaching. At the same time, they insist that the sound doctrine they once loved is in error, while their error is the sound doctrine — and they defend it with everything they have. This is exactly what the false apostles did to the Galatians, who had started out running well: they brought them to believe that they had been in error and making no progress under Paul. But afterward, having been seduced by the false apostles and fallen completely from the truth, they were so thoroughly convinced by the false persuasion that they thought they were in a good state and running very well. The same thing happens today to those who are led astray by sectarians and fanatical spirits. This is why I often say that falling away in doctrine does not come from human weakness but from the devil, and it is the most dangerous of falls — from the heights of heaven to the bottom of hell. Those who persist in error are so far from recognizing their sin that they hold it to be the highest righteousness. It is therefore impossible for them to obtain forgiveness.

Verse 8. This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.

This is a great comfort and a remarkable teaching, showing how false persuasions rooted in hearts by wicked teachers can be dislodged. The false apostles were impressive figures who outwardly appeared to surpass Paul in both learning and godliness. The Galatians, taken in by this show, believed that when they heard them they were hearing Christ Himself, and so they concluded that this persuasion was from Christ. Paul, by contrast, demonstrates that this teaching and persuasion did not come from Christ — the One who had called them in grace — but from the devil. In this way he drew many of them away from the false persuasion. In the same way, we today can bring back many who have been seduced from error, when we show them that their opinions are fantastical, wicked, and full of blasphemy.

This comfort also applies to all who are afflicted and who, through temptation, have formed a false opinion of Christ. For the devil is a wonderfully skilled persuader who knows how to magnify the smallest sin — indeed even a trivial thing — until the person under temptation believes it to be an enormous and horrifying crime worthy of eternal damnation. The troubled conscience in that moment must be comforted and lifted up in the same way Paul lifted up the Galatians: by showing that this thought and persuasion does not come from Christ — because it contradicts the Gospel's word, which presents Christ not as an accuser or a harsh taskmaster but as a gentle, humble-hearted, merciful Savior and comforter.

But if Satan outmaneuvers this — for he is a cunning craftsman who will try every approach — and brings Christ's own words and example against you like this: 'Yes, Christ is gentle and merciful — but to those who are holy and righteous. To sinners He threatens wrath and destruction (Luke 13). He also declares that unbelievers are condemned already (John 3). Moreover, Christ did many good works and suffered many evils, and He commands us to follow His example. But your life matches neither His word nor His example — you are a sinner, there is no faith in you, you have done nothing good — and therefore the words that present Him as a severe judge apply to you, not the comforting words that present Him as a loving and merciful Savior...' When the devil attacks this way, the person under temptation must comfort himself as follows.

Scripture presents Christ to us in two ways. First, as a gift. When I receive Him in this way, I lack nothing — for all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, and He has been made for me by God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So even though I have committed many and grievous sins, if I believe in Him, they are all swallowed up by His righteousness. Second, Scripture presents Him as an example to be followed. But I will not accept Christ as an example — except in times of joy and peace, when I am free from temptation (where I can scarcely imitate even a thousandth part of what He did), so that I may use Him as a mirror to see clearly how much I still lack, and not become careless and self-satisfied. In times of tribulation, I will not receive Christ in any other way than as a gift — as the One who died for my sins, gave me His righteousness, and accomplished for me what was lacking in my own life. For He is the end and fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

It is important to know these things — not only so that each of us may have a reliable remedy in times of temptation, enabling us to escape the poison of despair with which Satan seeks to kill us, but also so that we can resist the furious sectarians and schismatics of our day. The Anabaptists consider nothing more central to their whole teaching than pressing the example of Christ and the cross with great severity — especially given the clear passages in which Christ commends the cross to His disciples. We must learn therefore how to resist Satan when he disguises himself as an angel of light. We do this by distinguishing between Christ set before us as a gift and Christ set before us as an example. Each way of presenting Christ has its proper time and occasion — if that is not observed, the very preaching of salvation can be turned into poison. Christ must therefore be presented to those who are already crushed and broken under the weight of their sins as a Savior and a gift, not as an example or a lawgiver. But to those who are complacent and hardened, He must be set forth as an example. In their case, the harsh passages of Scripture must also be laid before them — the terrible examples of God's wrath, such as the flood that drowned the whole world and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah — so that they may repent. Let every Christian, then, when he is terrified and afflicted, learn to reject the false impression of Christ that temptation has created, and say: 'Accursed Satan, why do you argue with me about doing and working, when I am already terrified and crushed under the weight of my sins?' 'Since I am weary and burdened, I will not listen to you — an accuser and destroyer — but to Christ the Savior of all people, who says He came into the world to save sinners, to comfort those in terror, anguish, and despair, and to proclaim release to the captives.' This is the true Christ, and there is no other. I can look to Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints for examples of holy living. But they cannot forgive my sins, they cannot deliver me from the power of the devil and from death, they cannot save me and give me eternal life. These things belong to Christ alone — the One whom God the Father has sealed — and so I will not listen to you or accept you as my teacher, O Satan, but only to Christ, of whom the Father said: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased — listen to Him.' Let us learn to comfort ourselves through faith in this way, in temptation and in the face of false doctrine — otherwise the devil will either seduce us through his ministers or kill us with his fiery arrows.

Verse 9. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

This entire letter bears witness to how deeply Paul was grieved by the Galatians' fall, and how repeatedly he hammered home — sometimes with sharp rebuke, sometimes with tender appeal — the enormous and serious consequences that would follow from their fall if they did not repent. This fatherly and apostolic concern of Paul's moved some of them not at all — many of them no longer acknowledged Paul as their teacher, preferring the false apostles far above him, from whom they believed they had received true doctrine rather than from Paul. The false apostles had no doubt also been slandering Paul among the Galatians, calling him a stubborn and argumentative person who would break the unity of the churches over a trivial matter — for no reason other than to be the only one considered wise and to receive their admiration. Through this slander they made Paul deeply offensive to many of them.

Others, who had not yet completely abandoned his teaching, thought there was no real danger in differing from him slightly on the doctrine of justification and faith. So when they heard Paul treating as a serious matter what seemed to them small and insignificant, they were puzzled and thought to themselves: even if we have drifted somewhat from Paul's teaching and there has been some fault in us, it is only a small thing — he should overlook it, or at least not magnify it so forcefully, lest the unity of the churches be broken because of it. To this Paul responds with the saying: 'A little leaven leavens — or sours — the whole lump of dough.' This is a warning Paul presses with great insistence. We also ought to take it very seriously today, for our opponents make the same charge against us — that we are quarrelsome, stubborn, and inflexible in defending our doctrine even in matters they consider minor. But these are the devil's clever tricks, by which he works to destroy our doctrine completely. We therefore answer with Paul: a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

In philosophy it is said that a small error at the beginning becomes a large and ugly error in the end. In the same way, in theology a single small error overturns the whole teaching. We must therefore sharply separate life from doctrine. The doctrine is not ours — it is God's, and we are only called to be His servants. Therefore we may not change or diminish a single word of it. Our life, however, is our own — and regarding that, we are ready to do, to suffer, to forgive whatever our opponents may require of us, as long as faith and doctrine remain sound and uncorrupted. On that we always say with Paul: a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

A tiny speck in the eye injures the eye. Our Savior Christ says: 'The lamp of the body is the eye: when your eye is clear, your whole body is full of light; but when your eye is bad, your body is full of darkness' (Luke 11:34). And again: 'If your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illuminated' (Luke 11:36). By this analogy Christ teaches that the eye — that is, doctrine — must be perfectly simple, clear, and pure, without any darkness or cloudiness. The apostle James says the same: 'Whoever fails in one point has become guilty of all' (James 2:10). This passage therefore strongly supports us against those critics who accuse us of destroying charity to the great harm and damage of the churches. We declare openly that we desire nothing more than to be at peace with everyone — so long as they leave to us the doctrine of faith whole and uncorrupted, to which everything must yield: love, an apostle, or even an angel from heaven.

Let them therefore praise love and harmony as much as they like — but on our side let us hold the majesty of the word and faith in the highest honor. Love can be set aside in certain times and places without real harm — but the word and faith cannot. Love bears all things, yields to everyone. Faith, by contrast, bears nothing and yields to no one. In yielding, in believing, in giving and forgiving, love is often deceived — yet even when deceived, it suffers no loss that counts as true loss: it does not lose Christ. And so it is not offended, but continues steadfastly doing good even toward the ungrateful and unworthy. In the matter of faith and salvation, however — when people teach lies and errors under the guise of truth and lead many astray — love has no place there. In that case we are not simply losing a gift given to the ungrateful; we are losing the word, faith, Christ, and eternal life. Let us not therefore be moved by their insistence on maintaining love and harmony — for whoever does not love God and His word, it does not matter how much or what else he loves.

Paul therefore uses this saying to warn both teachers and hearers not to treat the doctrine of faith as something trivial, to be tinkered with as they please. It is like a brilliant ray of sunlight coming down from heaven, giving light, direction, and guidance. Just as all the world's wisdom and power cannot stop or deflect the rays of the sun streaming down from heaven to earth, so nothing may be added to the doctrine of faith or taken from it — for any such change completely disfigures and destroys the whole.

Verse 10. I have confidence in you in the Lord.

It is as if he said: I have taught, warned, and corrected you enough so that you will hear me — and yet I have good hope of you in the Lord. A question arises here: does Paul do right to say he has good hope and confidence in the Galatians, given that Scripture forbids us to put our trust in human beings? Both faith and love involve a kind of trust and belief, but they differ because they have different objects. Faith trusts in God and therefore cannot be deceived; love trusts in people and therefore is often deceived. Yet this trust that flows from love is so necessary to life that without it no human society can function. For if no one trusted or believed anyone else, how would we live together on earth? True Christians in fact trust others more readily through love than worldly people do — because trust toward other people is a fruit of the Spirit, or of Christian faith, in the godly. This is why Paul had confidence in the Galatians, even though they had fallen from his teaching — but he qualified it: 'in the Lord.' As if to say: I trust you to the extent that the Lord is in you and you are in Him — that is, to the extent that you remain in the truth. If you fall away from it, seduced by the devil's ministers, I will no longer trust you. This is the proper way for the godly to trust and believe in other people.

Verse 10. That you will take no other view.

Meaning: concerning doctrine and faith — that you will hold no different view from what I have taught you and you received from me. In other words: I have every hope and confidence that you will not accept any teaching that contradicts mine.

Verse 10. But the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

With this verdict Paul, sitting as a judge on the bench, condemns the false apostles, calling them by a sharp and damning name: troublers of the Galatians — men the Galatians considered very godly and far better teachers than Paul. At the same time he tries to alarm the Galatians with this terrible sentence, boldly condemning the false apostles so that the Galatians will flee their false teaching as they would a deadly plague. It is as if he said: Why do you listen to these destructive men who are not teaching you but only troubling you? The doctrine they hand you is nothing but a burden on your consciences. Therefore, however important they may appear, they will bear their condemnation.

From the words 'whoever he is,' a person can gather that the false apostles were men of very impressive outward appearance and seeming holiness. There was perhaps even among them a well-known disciple of the apostles with great authority and reputation. Paul does not use such forceful and pointed language without reason. He speaks the same way in chapter 1: 'Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached, let him be accursed' (Galatians 1:8). And without doubt many were offended by the apostle's vehemence, thinking to themselves: Why is Paul breaking unity? Why is he so obstinate over such a small matter? Why does he so rashly pronounce eternal condemnation on those who are fellow ministers? Paul pays no attention to any of this — he presses on, boldly cursing and condemning all who corrupt the doctrine of faith, however highly they may be regarded, however holy and learned they appear.

We must therefore — as I warn often — carefully distinguish between doctrine and life. Doctrine is heaven; life is the earth. In life, sin, error, uncleanness, and misery are mingled together like vinegar, as the proverb says. In the realm of life, let love overlook, forbear, be deceived, believe, hope, and endure all things — let forgiveness of sins be practiced as fully as possible, so long as sin and error are not defended and upheld. But in doctrine there is no room for error, and therefore no need for pardon. There is simply no comparison between doctrine and life. A single small point of doctrine is worth more than heaven and earth — and for that reason we cannot tolerate even the slightest corruption of it. But we can very well overlook the offenses and failures of daily life. We all err in daily conduct — even all the saints do — and they freely confess this in the Lord's Prayer and in the Creed. But our doctrine, God be praised, is pure — all our articles of faith are grounded in holy Scripture. The devil would gladly corrupt and overthrow them, and so he attacks us with this clever argument: that we ought not to break charity and the unity of the churches.

Verse 11. But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.

Paul, working by every possible means to draw the Galatians back, now argues from his own example. I have brought on myself, he says, the hatred and persecution of the priests, the elders, and my entire nation — because I deny righteousness to circumcision. If I were to grant it that righteousness, the Jews would not only stop persecuting me but would love me and praise me highly. But because I preach the Gospel of Christ and the righteousness of faith, abolishing the law and circumcision, I suffer persecution. The false apostles, by contrast, preach circumcision precisely to avoid the cross and to escape the deadly hatred of the Jewish nation — and in doing so they keep and maintain the favor of the Jews. As he says in chapter 6: 'They compel you to be circumcised.' Moreover, they wanted to achieve peace and harmony between the Gentiles and the Jews. But that is impossible without sacrificing the doctrine of faith, which is the doctrine of the cross and is full of offense. So when Paul says, 'If I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished,' he means that it would be a serious problem if the offense of the cross were to cease. He speaks the same way in 1 Corinthians 1: 'Christ sent me not to preach the Gospel with clever words, lest the cross of Christ be made of no effect.' As if to say: I would not want the offense and cross of Christ to be taken away.

Someone might object here: then Christians are madmen — deliberately throwing themselves into danger, doing nothing by preaching and confessing the truth except drawing the hatred and hostility of the whole world upon themselves and stirring up endless offense. Paul's answer is that this does not trouble or discourage him at all — on the contrary, it makes him bolder and gives him confidence for the Gospel's happy success and growth, since the church flourishes and grows precisely under the cross. For it is fitting that Christ, the head and husband of the church, should reign in the midst of all His enemies (Psalm 110). On the other hand, when the cross is removed and the fury of tyrants and heretics ceases, when offenses quiet down and everything seems peaceful and the devil quietly holds the door — that is the surest sign that the pure doctrine of God's word has been taken away.

Bernard, reflecting on this, says that the church is in its best condition precisely when Satan assails it from every side — both through subtle tricks and through open violence — and that it is in its worst condition when it is most at ease. He aptly applies to the complacent church that saying of Hezekiah in his song: 'Behold, for my welfare I had great bitterness.' Paul therefore takes it as the surest sign that it is not the true Gospel if it is being preached in peace. The world, by contrast, takes it as the surest sign that the Gospel is heretical and dangerous doctrine, because it sees great upheaval, turmoil, offense, and sects following in its wake. And so God sometimes shows Himself in the likeness of the devil, and the devil shows himself in the likeness of God — and God will be known through the appearance of the devil, and the devil will be known through the appearance of God.

The cross follows immediately upon the preaching of the word, according to the saying in Psalm 116: 'I believed and therefore I spoke, and I was greatly troubled.' The cross of Christians is persecution with shame and disgrace, and without any compassion — which makes it deeply offensive. First, Christians suffer as though they were the worst people in the world — as the prophet Isaiah foretold even of Christ Himself (Isaiah 53:12): 'He was numbered with transgressors.' Beyond that, even murderers and thieves have their punishments administered with some measure of restraint, and people feel some compassion for them — and in their case there is no particular shame or disgrace attached to the punishment. With Christians it is the opposite: the world judges them to be the most dangerous and harmful of all people, and concludes that no punishment is severe enough for their offenses. It feels no compassion for them, but puts them to death in the most shameful and disgraceful ways it can devise. And it imagines it is gaining a double benefit by doing so — first, that it is rendering God high service by killing them; second, that public peace and order are being restored by removing such plagues. The death and cross of the faithful is therefore deeply full of offense. But do not let this shameful treatment, the ongoing cross of Christ, and its offense discourage you, says Paul — rather, let it confirm you. For as long as the cross endures, the Gospel will prosper.

Christ likewise comforts His disciples in Matthew 5: 'Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven — for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.' The church cannot allow this joy to be taken from her. For this reason, I would not want to be in harmony with the Pope, the bishops, the princes, or the sectarians — unless they were willing to agree to our doctrine. Such harmony would be a certain sign that we had lost the true doctrine. To put it plainly: as long as the church preaches the Gospel, it must suffer persecution. For the Gospel proclaims the mercy and glory of God — and it exposes the devil's malice and schemes, revealing him for what he really is and stripping from him the false disguise of divine majesty by which he deceives the whole world. It shows that all forms of worship, religious orders, and traditions invented by men — regarding celibacy, foods, and similar things — through which people hope to earn forgiveness of sins and eternal life, are wicked and diabolical. Nothing stirs up the devil more than the preaching of the Gospel, for it tears from him his disguise as God and exposes him for what he truly is — the devil, not God. It is therefore inevitable that as long as the Gospel flourishes, the cross and its offense must follow — unless the devil is being barely grazed rather than truly hit. But when he is truly struck, he does not rest — he rages horribly and stirs up trouble everywhere.

If Christians, then, want to hold onto the word of life, let them not be afraid or discouraged when they see the devil break loose and rage everywhere — the whole world in an uproar, tyrants exercising their cruelty, and heresies springing up. Let them assure themselves that these are signs not of terror but of joy, as Christ Himself explains: 'Rejoice and be glad.' God forbid, then, that the offense of the cross should be removed. That would happen if we were to preach what the ruler of this world and his servants want to hear — the righteousness of works. Then we would have a tame devil, a friendly world, a gracious Pope, and merciful princes. But because we proclaim the benefits and glory of Christ, they persecute us and strip us of both our possessions and our lives.

Verse 12. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.

Is it appropriate for an apostle not only to denounce the false apostles as troublers, to condemn them and hand them over to Satan, but also to wish that they might be completely rooted out and perish? Is this not outright cursing? Paul, I believe, is playing on circumcision here. It is as if he said: they force you to cut away the foreskin of your flesh — but I wish they themselves would be cut away entirely by the root.

A question arises: is it lawful for Christians to curse? Why not — though not always and not for every reason. But when it reaches the point where God's word is being slandered and His doctrine blasphemed, and therefore God Himself is being dishonored, then we must take this position and say: 'Blessed be God and His word — and let everything that is against God and His word be accursed, even if it is an apostle or an angel from heaven.' As he said in chapter 1: 'Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we preached, let him be accursed.'

This shows how seriously Paul took even a little leaven — seriously enough to curse the false apostles who in outward appearance were men of great standing and holiness. We must therefore not treat the leaven of false doctrine as a small matter. However tiny it may be, if left unchecked it will gradually cause truth and salvation to be lost, and God Himself to be denied. For when the word is corrupted — and God must then be denied and blasphemed, which inevitably follows from a corrupted word — there is no hope of salvation left. If we ourselves are cursed, mocked, and killed, there is still One who can raise us up again and deliver us from the curse, from death, and from hell.

Let us therefore learn to honor and magnify the authority of God's word. It is no trivial thing, as some confused minds today imagine — every syllable of it is greater than heaven and earth. Therefore in this matter we give no consideration to Christian charity or harmony — we take the seat of judgment, so to speak, and curse and condemn everyone who in the slightest way disfigures or corrupts the majesty of God's word. For a little leaven leavens the whole lump. But if they leave God's word to us whole and sound, we are not only willing to maintain charity and peace with them — we offer ourselves as their servants and will do whatever we are able for them. If not, let them perish and sink into hell — and not only them, but the whole world — so long as God and His pure word remain. For as long as He remains, life, salvation, and the faithful will also remain.

Paul therefore does right in cursing those who trouble the Galatians, and in pronouncing sentence against them: that they are accursed along with everything they teach and do, and that he wishes them cut off — especially rooted out of the church of God, meaning he wishes that God would not guide or prosper their teaching or their deeds. This curse proceeds from the Holy Spirit. Peter likewise curses Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8: 'Your money perish with you.' Holy Scripture uses such cursing frequently against those who torment consciences, especially in the Psalms — as in Psalm 55: 'Let death come deceptively upon them; let them go down alive to the pit.' And again: 'Let the wicked be turned into hell, and all the nations who forget God.'

Up to this point Paul has fortified the teaching of justification with strong and powerful arguments. Beyond that, in order to leave nothing out, he has woven in throughout: sharp rebukes, words of praise, earnest appeals, warnings, and similar things. At the end he also adds his own example — that he suffers persecution for this doctrine — thereby warning all the faithful not to be offended or dismayed when they see such upheavals, sects, and offenses arising in the time of the Gospel. Rather, let them rejoice and be glad — for the more fiercely the world rages against the Gospel, the more the Gospel prospers and advances.

This comfort ought to encourage us today as well, for it is certain that the world hates and persecutes us for no other reason than that we confess the truth of the Gospel. It does not charge us with theft, murder, sexual immorality, or anything like that — it detests and abhors us because we faithfully and purely teach Christ and will not abandon the defense of truth. We can therefore be completely confident that our doctrine is holy and from God — because the world hates it so bitterly. There is no doctrine, however wicked, foolish, or harmful, that the world will not gladly accept, embrace, and defend, even honoring and flattering those who teach it and doing everything possible for them. The only teaching it utterly abhors and works every possible harm against is the true Gospel of life and salvation — and its teachers. It is therefore clear proof that the world's fierce hatred of us is for no other reason than its hatred of the word. When our opponents therefore charge that nothing comes from this doctrine but wars, rebellions, offenses, sects, and endless other evils, let us answer: blessed be the day when we see these things. The whole world is in an uproar — and good. For if the world were not so disturbed, if the devil did not rage and stir up such turmoil, we would not have the pure doctrine of the Gospel, which cannot be preached without these conflicts and upheavals following. What you count as a great evil, we count as a special blessing.