Thursday, October 29, 2009
Ephesians 2:8f For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
PIOUS AND BLESSED THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST
"Naturally if the doctrines of men were used in the same way as food and drink and clothes are used, they would be harmless. No one eats or drinks or clothes himself because he thinks that these things will make him pious and blessed. Such a belief and conviction would be sheer stupidity in the eyes of all. On the contrary, his belief and conviction about piety are based entirely on an unshakable faith in Christ and in this way he will be pious and blessed; such a belief is correct; such a conviction is good. So then, he who fasts, or does good works, or wears the habit of a monk or priest, observes the rule of his religious order, and looks on all these in the same way as he would look on eating and drinking, realizing that all these works do not make him pious, nor wicked if he does not do them, knowing that he is pious by faith alone--such a man fares well and acts rightly and the doctrines of men will harm him as little as eating and drinking and being clothed. But where are they who act in such a fashion? Among a thousand there is hardly one. Usually they say: If I should not attain piety and blessedness by such a life, by religious orders, rules, and works, why should I be engaged in them, like a stupid fool? So it is unthinkable that human doctrine should not lead to the rejection of truth, as Paul says.
"For one of two things must happen: Either these doctrines are despised and cast aside when we hear that they do not make us pious and blessed, or they ensnare and strangle our conscience and belief when we think that they make us pious and must be observed. Then faith must perish and the soul must die, and there is no help or rescue: for faith will not survive, nor allow us to look to anything but itself, nor will it have the conviction that something else, and not faith, is necessary and useful to be pious. Therefore he who has faith cannot obey the laws of men, but he observes them how and when he will, and is completely lord over them. But he who is bound to the laws of men without faith, cannot know faith and forever remains a slave to the doctrines of men and never does a good work, as Paul says in Titus 1[:16]. So we must cling to the pure Scriptures alone which teach nothing but Christ so that we may attain piety through him in faith, and then do all our works in freedom for the benefit of our neighbor . . ."
(Luther's Works, Volume 52, p. 172)
