“Therefore the promises of the Law are conditional. They do not promise life freely; they promise it to those who keep the Law. Therefore they leave consciences in doubt, because no one keeps the Law. But the promises of the new covenant do not have any condition attached; they do not demand anything of us; they do not depend on our worthiness as a condition. Instead, they bring and grant us forgiveness of sins, grace, righteousness, and eternal life freely, for Christ’s sake.”
-Martin Luther’s Greater Commentary on Galatians, LW 26:437
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4 responses to “The Limitation of the Law/ The Superiority of Christ’s Promise”
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The "unconditional" quality of the new covenant, as described in this quotation from Luther, while correctly described, fails to take into account the provisions of Matthew 25, and the description of the Judgment given in the parable of the sheep and the goats. The "gift" of eternal life is given to all as a result of the Incarnation of the Son of God, and His resurrection from the dead. Similarly, sins are forgiven to those who ask, and righteousness is imputed to those who follow our Lord, without consideration of worthiness, for no one of us can ever be worthy. But it is misleading, and possibly dangerous to one's salvation, to suggest that nothing is required of us, when clearly, we are commanded to love one another, as the disciples were told at the Last Supper in the Gospel according to St. John; and the forms of this love are set forth in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, as mentioned above.
Father McCuen, I have always understood it as there are no "but" clauses when it comes to the grace of God. You say it given to all or is free, but then insert a "but" clause. Matthew 25 is not to be read as even believers are casted as goats because of their deeds.
The same shepherd who does the separation also says earlier in chapter 12, verse 30: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." Also notice the separation takes place before the any mentioning of deeds being done. Whether a person has been for the Good Shepherd or against Him is documented by his deeds insofar that the deeds are done as one who is with Him or against Him. In faith and in baptism we are brought into the fold as being "with Him." Since baptism is a gift of God this is not something that we can do on our own. Nor is this something we willfully consent to. Baptism is a means of grace given by God. We are then marked by God as being part of Christ's death and resurrection. You can see this bc the Good Shepherd says, "Come you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." To be blessed is to get something we don't deserve, right? And an inheritance is nothing we own, rather it is a gift. Furthermore the inheritance is said to have been prepared before the creation of the world for those who are "with Him."
What we clearly have here are Good works which are evidence of our faith. It points to the fruit of the Spirit. But again this should not be stressed as something we do or we have to do. Rather it is something we get to do. In terms of our salvation the Gospel is the free gift/Good News for all who hear it. There cannot be a conditional "but" clause put on that. On Judgment Day here Jesus is rattling off good works not for salvation, but evidence as the result one is already a child of God. Again, the Good Shepherd separates before rattling off works. Even our good works are not of ourselves, because they were prepared by God beforehand (2 Ephesians 2:10).
So instead of putting stumbling blocs on the Gospel, Luther here is proclaiming that the Gospel is the free gift of salvation. To start bringing up what we have to do is Law, and we cannot be saved by the Law. The Gospel has us look outward toward the cross of Christ as our salvation. As soon as we say "but" we look inward to see what we have to do to sustain this. That's not the whole pure Gospel.
If the law doesn't end in Christ (and in our faith in Christ), then the law is eternal and must forever be kept for salvation. Paul said it himself in Galatians (3:10-12).
The Gospel must be something completely different than the law-it must end the law to begin something new in the world.
The totality of Christ's work in the world. He came to make everything new-not reformed, not cleaned up, not re-dedicated. Only something new and holy can finally produce good works-only a good tree can produce good fruit Jesus said.
The command to love one another from John comes from Jesus' final words to them-they are to love each other as they have been loved by the Son-only from faith can love spring up. That is what salvation finally is-to know that we are known.
Dear Father McCuen,
First, Christ's incarnation didn't really do a thing for us, nor did his resurrection. What saves us is Christ Crucified, which is why Paul emphasized the cross so much. Why did you leave that out? That is where our sins are atoned for, His blood shed on the cross. To be sure the cross would be meaningless, and the resurrection impossible without the incarnation, and we would have no reason to believe that our sins were atoned for on the cross without the resurrection, but the cross is where the work was done. The gift of eternal life is given to us all as a result of Christ's satisfaction for our sin on the Cross.
Leaving the cross out, or ignoring it leads to the same legalism you are espousing here.
Second, love is required, but then again that is law. Every time we sin we fail to love. Every time we sin we betray Christ as Peter did when Christ was being tried. Problem is we can't love. We can't demand love. The law can tell us to love, but it can not give us the power to love. Only after we have known the love of Christ given to us with his death on the cross, the blood shed, can we come close to loving. And then loving is something that comes about as a result of it being planted in us by the Holy Spirit. We do not love to be saved, we do not love because the law demands it of us, but "we love because he first loved us." As Lutheran doctrine is ever clear to tell us over and over again in our beloved confessions, good works follow faith, flow from faith, they are not done because of the law. If we only love because it is required of us, than it is really not love at all.