 Chapter 3, Verses 19–20, of Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles to the Galatians. The Apostle now goes to work to explain the Provence and Purpose of the Law. Verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the Law? The question naturally arises. If the Law was not given for righteousness or salvation, why was it given? Why did God give the Law in the first place if it cannot justify a person? The Jews believed if they kept the Law they would be saved. When they heard that the Gospel proclaimed a Christ who had come into the world to save sinners and not the righteous, when they heard that sinners were to enter the kingdom of heaven before the righteous, the Jews were very much put out. They murmured, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us which have borne the burden and heat of the day. Matthew 20.12. They complained that the heathen, who at one time had been worshipers of idols, obtained grace without the drudgery of the Law that was theirs. Today we hear the same complaints. What was the use of our having lived in a cloister twenty, thirty, forty years? What was the sense of having vowed chastity, poverty, obedience? What good are all the masses and canonical hours that we read? What profit is there in fasting, praying, etc.? If any man or woman, any beggar or scour woman, is to be made equal to us or even be considered more acceptable unto God than we. Reason takes offense. At the statement of Paul, the Law was added because of transgressions. People say that Paul abrogated the Law, that he is a radical, that he blasphemed God when he said that. People say, We might as well live like wild people if the Law does not count. Let us abound in sin that grace may abound. Let us do evil that good may come of it. What are we to do? Such scoffing distresses us, but we cannot stop it. Christ himself was accused of being a blasphemer and rebel. Paul and all the other apostles were told the same things. Let the scoffers slander us. Let them spare us not. But we must not on their account keep silent. We must speak frankly in order that afflicted consciousness may find surcease. Neither are we to pay any attention to the foolish and ungodly people for abusing our doctrine. They are the kind that would scoff. Law or no law. Our first consideration must be the comfort of troubled consciences that they may not perish with the multitudes. When he saw that some were offended at his doctrine, while others found in it encouragement to live after the flesh, Paul comforted himself with the thought that it was his duty to preach the Gospel to the elect of God, and that for their sake he must endure all things. Mike Paul, we also do all these things for the sake of God's elect. As for the scoffers and skeptics, I am so disgusted with them that in all my life I would not open my mouth for them once. I wish that they were back there, where they belong, under the iron heel of the pope. People foolish but wise in their conceits jump to the conclusion, If the law does not justify it is good for nothing. How about that? Because money does not justify, would you say that money is good for nothing? Because the eyes do not justify, would you have them taken out? Because the law does not justify, it does not follow that the law is without value. We must find and define the proper purpose of the law. We do not offhand condemn the law because we say it does not justify. We say with Paul that the law is good if it is used properly. Within its proper sphere the law is an excellent thing. But if we ascribe to the law functions for which it was never intended, we pervert not only the law but also the gospel. It is the universal impression that righteousness is obtained through the deeds of the law. This impression is instinctive and therefore doubly dangerous. Gross sins and vices may be recognized or else repressed by the threat of punishment. But this sin, this opinion of man's own righteousness refuses to be classified as sin. It wants to be esteemed as high class religion. Hence it constitutes the mighty influence of the devil over the entire world. In order to point out the true office of the law and thus to stamp out that false impression of the righteousness of the law, Paul answers the question, Wherefore then serveth the law? With the words verse 19 it was added because of transgressions. All things differ. Let everything serve its unique purpose. Let the sun shine by day, the moon and the stars by night. Let the sea furnish fish, the earth, grain, the woods, trees, etc. Let the law also serve its unique purpose. It must not step out of character and take the place of anything else. What is the function of the law? Transgression answers the apostle. The twofold purpose of the law. The law has a twofold purpose. One purpose is civil. God has ordained civil laws to punish crime. Every law is given to restrain sin. Does it not then make men righteous? No. In refraining from murder, adultery, theft, or other sins, I do so under compulsion because I fear the jail, the news, the electric chair. These restrain me as iron bars restrain a lion and a bear. Otherwise they would tear everything to pieces. Such forceful restraint cannot be regarded as righteousness, rather as an indication of unrighteousness. As a wild beast is tied to keep it from running amuck, so the law bridles mad and furious man to keep him from running wild. The need for restraint shows plainly enough that those who need the law are not righteous, but wicked men who are fit to be tied. No, the law does not justify. The first purpose of the law accordingly is to restrain the wicked. The devil gets people into all kinds of scrapes. Therefore God instituted governments, parents, laws, restrictions, and civil ordinances. At least they helped to tie the devil's hands so that he does not rage up and down the earth. This civil restraint by the law is intended by God for the preservation of all things, particularly for the good of the gospel, that it should not be hindered too much by the tumult of the wicked. But Paul is not now treating of this civil use and function of the law. The second purpose of the law is spiritual and divine. Paul describes this spiritual purpose of the law in the words because of transgressions, i.e., to reveal to a person his sin, blindness, misery, his ignorance, hatred, and contempt of God, his death, hell, and condemnation. This is the principal purpose of the law and its most valuable contribution. As long as a person is not a murderer, adulterer, thief, he would swear that he is righteous. How is God going to humble such a person, except by the law? The law is the hammer of death, the thunder of hell, and the lightning of God's wrath to bring down the proud and shameless hypocrites. When the law was instituted on Mount Sinai, it was accompanied by lightning by storms by the sound of trumpets to tear to pieces that monster called self-righteousness. As long as a person thinks he is right, he is going to be incomprehensibly proud and presumptuous. He is going to hate God, despite his grace and mercy, and ignore the promises in Christ. The gospel of the free forgiveness of sins through Christ will never appeal to the self-righteous. This monster of self-righteousness, this stiff-necked beast, needs a big axe, and that is what the law is, a big axe. Accordingly, the proper use and function of the law is to threaten until the conscience is scared stiff. The awful spectacle at Mount Sinai portrayed the proper use of the law. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, a feeling of singular holiness possessed them. They boasted, we are the people of God, all that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. Exodus 19.8 This feeling of holiness was heightened when Moses ordered them to wash their clothes, to refrain from their wives, and to prepare themselves all around. The third day came and Moses led the people out of their tents to the foot of the mountain into the presence of the Lord. What happened? When the children of Israel saw the whole mountain burning and smoking, the black clouds rent by fierce lightning flashing up and down in the inky darkness. When they heard the sound of the trumpet blowing louder and longer, shattered by the roll of thunder, they were so frightened that they begged Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. Exodus 19.8 I ask you, what good did their scrubbing, their snow-white clothes, and their continents do them? No good at all. Not a single one could stand in the presence of the glorious Lord. Stricken by the terror of God, they fled back into their tents as if the devil were after them. The law is meant to produce the same effect today which it produced at Mount Sinai long ago. I want to encourage all who fear God, especially those who intend to become ministers of the gospel, to learn from the apostle the proper use of the law. I fear that after our time the right handling of the law will become a lost art. Even now, although we continually explain the separate functions of the law and the gospel, we have those among us who do not understand how the law should be used. What will it be like when we are dead and gone? We wanted understood that we do not reject the law as our opponents claim. On the contrary, we uphold the law. We say the law is good if it is used for the purposes for which it was designed to check civil transgression and to magnify spiritual transgressions. The law is also a light like the gospel, but instead of revealing the grace of God, righteousness, and life, the law brings sin, death, and the wrath of God to light. This is the business of the law, and here the business of the law ends and should go no further. The business of the gospel, on the other hand, is to quicken, to comfort, to raise the fallen. The gospel carries the news that God, for Christ's sake, is merciful to the most unworthy sinners. If they will only believe that Christ, by his death, has delivered them from sin and everlasting death unto grace, forgiveness, and everlasting life. By keeping in mind the difference between the law and the gospel, we let each perform its special task. Of this difference between the law and the gospel, nothing can be discovered in the writings of the monks or scholastics, nor for that matter in the writings of the ancient fathers. Augustine understood the difference somewhat. Jerome and others knew nothing of it. The silence in the church concerning the difference between the law and the gospel has resulted in untold harm. Unless a sharp distinction is maintained between the purpose and function of the law and the gospel, the Christian doctrine cannot be kept free from error. Verse 19, it was added because of transgressions. In other words, that transgressions might be recognized as such and thus increased. When sin, death, and the wrath of God are revealed to a person by the law, he grows impatient, complains against God, and rebels. Before that he was a very holy man. He worshipped and praised God. He bowed his knees before God and gave thanks like the Pharisee. But now that sin and death are revealed to him by the law, he wishes there were no God. The law inspires hatred of God. Thus sin is not only revealed by the law, sin is actually increased and magnified by the law. The law is a mirror to show a person what he is like, a sinner who is guilty of death and worthy of everlasting punishment. What is this bruising and beating by the hand of the law to accomplish? This that we may find the way to grace. The law is an usher to lead the way to grace. God is the God of the humble, the miserable, the afflicted. It is his nature to exalt the humble, to comfort the sorrowing, to heal the brokenhearted, to justify the sinners, and to save the condemned. The fatuous idea that a person can be holy by himself denies God the pleasure of saving sinners. God must therefore first take the sledgehammer of the law in his fists and smash the beast of self-righteousness and its brood of self-confidence, self-wisdom, self-righteousness, and self-help. When the conscience has been thoroughly frightened by the law, it welcomes the gospel of grace with its message of a Saviour who came into the world not to break the bruised reed, nor to quench the smoking flax, but to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, and to grant forgiveness of sins to all the captives. Man's folly, however, is so prodigious that instead of embracing the message of grace with its guarantee of the forgiveness of sin for Christ's sake, man finds himself more lost to satisfy his conscience. If I live, says he, I will mend my life, I will do this, I will do that. Man, if you don't do the very opposite, if you don't sin, Moses with the law, back to Mount Sinai, and take the hand of Christ, pierced for your sins, you will never be saved. When the law drives you to the point of despair, let it drive you a little further. Let it drive you straight into the arms of Jesus who says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Verse 19 Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. The law is not to have its say indefinitely. We must know how long the law is to put in its licks. If it hammers away too long, no person would and could be saved. The law has a boundary beyond which it must not go. How long ought the law to hold sway? Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. That may be taken literally to mean until the time of the gospel. From the days of John the Baptist says Jesus. Until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John. Matthew 11 12 13 When Christ came, the law and the ceremonies of Moses ceased. Spiritually it means that the law is not to operate on a person after he has been humbled and frightened by the exposure of his sins and the wrath of God. We must then say to the law, Mr. Law lay off him. He has had enough. You scared him good and proper. Now it is the gospel's turn. Now let Christ with his gracious lips talk to him of better things, grace, peace, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. Verse 19 And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. The apostle digresses a little from his immediate theme. Something occurred to him, and he throws it in by the way. It occurred to him that the law differs from the gospel in another respect, in respect to authorship. The law was delivered by the angels, but the gospel by the Lord himself. Hence the gospel is superior to the law, as the word of a Lord is superior to the word of his servant. The law was handed down by a being even inferior to the angels by a middleman named Moses. Paul wants us to understand that Christ is the mediator of a better testament than mediator Moses of the law. Moses led the people out of their tents to meet God, but they ran away. That is how good a mediator Moses was. Paul says, How can the law justify when that whole sanctified people of Israel and even mediator Moses trembled at the voice of God? What kind of righteousness do you call that when people run away from it and hate it the worst way? If the law could justify, people would love the law, but look at the children of Israel running away from it. The fight of the children of Israel from Mount Sinai indicates how people feel about the law. They don't like it. If this were the only argument to prove that salvation is not by the law, this one Bible history would do the work. What kind of righteousness is this law righteousness when at the commencement exercises of the law, Moses and the scrubbed people run away from it so fast that an iron mountain, the Red Sea even could not have stopped them until they were back in Egypt once again. If they could not hear the law, how could they ever hope to perform the law? If all the world had stood at the mountain, all the world would have hated the law and fled from it as the children of Israel did. The whole world is an enemy of the law. How then can anyone be justified by the law when everyone hates the law and its divine author? All this goes to show how little the scholastics know about the law. They do not consider its spiritual effect and purpose, which is not to justify or to pacify afflicted consciences, but to increase sin, to terrify the conscience, and to produce wrath. In their ignorance the papus spout about God's good will and right judgment and man's capacity to perform the law of God. Ask the people of Israel who were present at the presentation of the law on Mount Sinai whether what the scholastics say is true. Ask David, who often complains in the Psalms that he was cast away from God and in Hell, that he was frantic about his sin and sick at the thought of the wrath and judgment of God. No, the law does not justify. Now, a mediator is not a mediator of one. Here the apostle briefly compares the two mediators, Moses and Christ. A mediator says Paul is not a mediator of one. He is necessarily a mediator of two, the offender and the offended. Moses was such a mediator between the law and the people who were offended at the law. They were offended at the law because they did not understand its purpose. That was the veil which Moses put over his face. The people were also offended at the law because they could not look at the bare face of Moses. It's shown with the glory of God. When Moses addressed the people, he had to cover his face with that veil of his. They could not listen to their mediator, Moses, without another mediator, the veil. The law had to change its face and voice. In other words, the law had to be made tolerable to the people. Thus covered the law no longer spoke to the people in its undisguised majesty. It became more tolerable to the conscience. This explains why men failed to understand the law properly, with the result that they become secure and presumptuous hypocrites. One of two things has to be done. Either the law must be covered with a veil, and then it loses its full effectiveness. Or it must be unveiled, and then the full blast of its force kills. Man cannot stand the law without a veil over it. Hence, we are forced either to look beyond the law to Christ, or we go through life as shameless hypocrites and secure sinners. Paul says a mediator is not a mediator of one. Moses could not be a mediator of God only, for God needs no mediator. Again, Moses could not be a mediator of the people only. He was a mediator between God and the people. It is the office of a mediator to conciliate the party that is offended and to placate the party that is the offender. However, Moses' mediation consisted only in changing the tone of the law to make it more tolerable to the people. Moses was merely a mediator of the veil. He could not supply the ability to perform the law. What do you suppose would have happened if the law had been given without a mediator, and the people had been denied the services of a go-between? The people would have perished, or in case they had escaped, they would have required the services of another mediator to preserve them alive and to keep the law in force. Moses came along and he was made the mediator. He covered his face with a veil, but that is as much as he could do. He could not deliver men's consciences from the terror of the law. The sinner needs a better mediator. That better mediator is Jesus Christ. He does not change the voice of the law, nor does he hide the law with a veil. He takes the full blast of the wrath of the law and fulfills its demands most meticulously. Of this better mediator, Paul says, A mediator is not a mediator of one. We are the offending party. God is the party offended. The offense is of such a nature that God cannot pardon it. Neither can we render adequate satisfaction for our offenses. There is discord between God and us. Could not God revoke his law? No. How about running away from God? It cannot be done. It took Christ to come between us and God and to reconcile God to us. How did Christ do it? Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Colossians 2.14 This one word, mediator, is proof enough that the law cannot justify. Otherwise, we should not need a mediator. In Christian theology, the law does not justify. In fact, it has the contrary effect. The law alarms us. It magnifies our sins until we begin to hate the law and its divine author. Would you call this being justified by the law? Can you imagine a more errant outrage than to hate God and to abhor his law? What an excellent law it is. Listen, I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods, showing mercy unto thousands. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land. Exodus 20.2.3.6.12 Are these not excellent laws? Perfect wisdom. Let not God speak with us. Last we die cried the children of Israel. Is it not amazing that a person should refuse to hear things that are good for him? Any person would be glad to hear, I should think, that he has a gracious God who shows mercy unto thousands. Is it not amazing that people hate the law that promotes their safety and welfare? E.G. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. The law can do nothing for us except to arouse the conscience. Before the law comes to me, I feel no sin. But when the law comes, sin, death, and hell are revealed to me. You would not call this being made righteous. You would call it being condemned to death and hellfire. Verse 20. But God is one. God does not offend anybody, therefore he needs no mediator. But we offend God, therefore we need a mediator. And we need a better mediator than Moses. We need Christ. End of Chapter 3, Verses 19-20 of Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. Recording by Bill Mosley, Frelsberg, Texas, USA. Chapter 3, Verses 21-29 of Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Bill Mosley. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. By Martin Luther. Translated by Theodore Grabner. Chapter 3. Verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? Before he digressed, Paul stated that the law does not justify. Shall we then discard the law? No, no. It supplies a certain need. It supplies men with a needed realization of their sinfulness. Now arises another question. If the law does no more than to reveal sin, does it not oppose the promises of God? The Jews believed that by the restraint and discipline of the law, the promises of God would be hastened, in fact, earned by them. Paul answers, not so. On the contrary, if we pay too much attention to the law, the promises of God will be slowed up. How can God fulfill his promises to a people that hates the law? Verse 21. God forbid. The God never said to Abraham, In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast kept the law. When Abraham was still uncircumcised and without the law or any law, indeed, when he was still an idol worshiper, God said to him, Get thee out of thy country, etc. I am thy shield, etc. In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. These are unconditional promises which God freely made to Abraham without respect to works. This is aimed especially at the Jews who think that the promises of God are impeded by their sins. Paul says, The Lord is not slack concerning his promises because of our sins or hastens his promises because of any merit on our part. God's promises are not influenced by our attitudes. They rest in his goodness and mercy. Just because the law increases sin, it does not therefore obstruct the promises of God. The law confirms the promises in that it prepares a person to look for the fulfillment of the promises of God in Christ. The proverb has it that hunger is the best cook. The law makes afflicted consciences hungry for Christ. Christ tastes good to them. Hungry hearts appreciate Christ. Thirsty souls are what Christ wants. He invites them. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Christ's benefits are so precious that he will dispense them only to those who need them and really desire them. Verse 21 For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. The law cannot give life. It kills. The law does not justify a person before God. It increases sin. The law does not secure righteousness. It hinders righteousness. The apostle declares emphatically that the law of itself cannot save. Despite the intelligibility or Paul's statement, our enemies fail to grasp it. Otherwise they would not emphasize free will, natural strength, the works of supererogation, etc. To escape the charge of forgery, they always have their convenient annotation handy, that Paul is referring only to the ceremonial and not to the moral law. But Paul includes all laws, he expressly says, if there had been a law given. There is no law by which righteousness may be obtained, not a single one. Why not? Verse 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin. Where? First in the promises concerning Christ in Genesis 3.15 and in Genesis 22.18 which speak of the seed of the woman and the seed of Abraham. The fact that these promises were made unto the fathers concerning Christ implies that the fathers were subject to the curse of sin and eternal death. Otherwise why the need of promises? Next, holy writ concludes all under sin in this passage from Paul. For as many as or of the works of the law are under the curse. Again in the passage which the apostle quotes from Deuteronomy 2726. Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. This passage clearly submits all men to the curse, not only those who sin openly against the law, but also those who sincerely endeavor to perform the law, inclusive of monks, friars, hermits, etc. The conclusion is inevitable. Faith alone justifies without works. If the law itself cannot justify much less can imperfect performance of the law or the works of the law justify verse 22. That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. The apostle stated before that the scripture hath concluded all under sin. Forever? No, only until the promise should be fulfilled. The promise you will recall is the inheritance itself or the blessing promised to Abraham. Deliverance from the law, sin, death, and the devil and the free gift of grace, righteousness, salvation, and eternal life. This promise, says Paul, is not obtained by any merit, by any law, or by any work. This promise is given to whom? To those who believe. In whom? In Jesus Christ. Verse 23. But before faith came, the apostle proceeds to explain the service which the law is to render. Previously, Paul had said that the law was given to reveal the wrath and death of God upon all sinners. Although the law kills, God brings good out of evil. He uses the law to bring life. God saw that the universal illusion of self-righteousness could not be put down in any other way but by the law. The law dispels all self-illusions. It puts the fear of God in a man. Without this fear there can be no thirst for God's mercy. God accordingly uses the law for a hammer to break up the illusion of self-righteousness that we should despair of our own strength and efforts at self-justification. Verse 23. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up into the faith which should afterwards be revealed. The law is a prison to those who have not yet obtained grace. No prisoner enjoys the confinement. He hates it. If he could, he would smash the prison and find his freedom at all costs. As long as he stays in prison, he refrains from evil deeds. Not because he wants to, but because he has to. The bars and the chains restrain him. He does not regret the crime that put him in jail. On the contrary, he is mighty sore that he cannot rob and kill as before. If he could escape, he would go right back to robbing and killing. The law enforces good behavior, at least outwardly. We obey the law because if we don't, we will be punished. Our obedience is inspired by fear. We obey under duress, and we do it resentfully. Now what kind of righteousness is this when we refrain from evil out of fear of punishment? Hence, the righteousness of the law is at bottom nothing but love of sin and hatred of righteousness. All the same, the law accomplishes this much. That it will outwardly at least and to a certain extent repress vice and crime. But the law is also a spiritual prison, a veritable hell. When the law begins to threaten a person with death and the eternal wrath of God, a man just cannot find any comfort at all. He cannot shake off at will the nightmare of terror which the law stirs up in his conscience. Of this terror of the law, the Psalms furnish many glimpses. The law is a civil and a spiritual prison. And such it should be. For that the law is intended. Only the confinement in the prison of the law must not be unduly prolonged. It must come to an end. The freedom of faith must succeed the imprisonment of the law. Happy the person who knows how to utilize the law so that it serves the purpose of the law. Unbelievers are ignorant of this happy knowledge. When Cain was first shut up in the prison of the law, he felt no pang at the fractured side he had committed. He thought he could pass it off as an incident with a shrug of the shoulder. Am I my brother's keeper? He answered God flippantly. But when he heard the ominous words, what has happened to him? The voice of thy brother's blood cryeth unto me from the ground. Cain began to feel his imprisonment. Did he know how to get out of prison? No. He failed to call the gospel to his aid. He said, My punishment is greater than I can bear. He could only think of the purpose of the law. He said, My punishment is greater than I can bear. He could only think of the prison. He forgot that he was brought face to face with his crime, so that he should hurry to God for mercy and for pardon. Cain remained in the prison of the law and despaired. As a stone prison proves a physical handicap, so the spiritual prison of the law proves a chamber of torture. But this it should only be until faith be revealed. The silly conscience must be educated to this. Talk to your conscience. Say, Sister, you are now in jail all right, but you don't have to stay there forever. It is written that we are shut up into faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Christ will lead you to freedom. Do not despair like Cain, Saul, or Judas. They might have gone free if they had called Christ to their aid. Just take it easy, sister conscience. It's good for you to be locked up for a while. It will teach you to appreciate Christ. How anybody can say that he, by nature, loves the law is beyond me. The law is a prison to be feared and hated. Any unconverted person who says he loves the law is a liar. He does not know what he is talking about. We love the law about as well as a murderer loves his gloomy cell, his straight jacket, and the iron bars in front of him. How, then, can the law justify us? Verse 23 Shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. We know that Paul has reference to the time of Christ coming. It was then that faith and the object of faith were fully revealed. But we may apply the historical fact to our inner life. When Christ came he abolished the law and brought liberty and life to light. This he continues to do in the hearts of the believers. The Christian has a body in whose members, as Paul says, sin dwells and wars. I take sin to mean not only the deed, but root, tree, fruit, and all. A Christian may perhaps not fall into the grossed sins of murder, adultery, theft. But he is not free from impatience, complaints, hatreds, and blasphemy of God. As carnal lust is strong in a young man, in a man of full age the desire for glory, and in an old man covetousness, so impatience, doubt, and hatred of God often prevail in the hearts of sincere Christians. Examples of these sins may be garnered from the Psalms, Job, Jeremiah, and all the sacred scriptures. Accordingly each Christian continues to experience in his heart times of the law and times of the gospel. The times of the law are discernible by heaviness of heart, by a lively sense of sin, and a feeling of despair brought on by the law. These periods of the law will come again and again, as long as we live. To mention my own case, there are many times when I find fault with God and I'm impatient with him. The wrath and the judgment of God displease me. My wrath and impatience displease him. Then is the season of the law, when the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The time of grace returns when the heart is enlivened by the promise of God's mercy. It soliloquizes. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Can you see nothing but loss in death and hell? Is there no grace, no forgiveness, no joy, peace, life, heaven, no Christ, and God? Trouble me no more, my soul. Hope in God, who has not spared his own dear son, but has given him into death for thy sins. When the law carries things too far, say, Mr. Law, you are not the whole show. There are other and better things than you. They tell me to trust in the Lord. There is a time for the law and a time for grace. Let us study to be good timekeepers. It is not easy. Law and grace may be miles apart in essence, but in the heart they are pretty close together. In the heart fear and trust, sin and grace, law and gospel cross paths continually. Whether reason hears that justification before God is obtained by grace alone, it draws the inference that the law is without value. The doctrine of the law must therefore be studied carefully lest we either reject the law altogether or are tempted to attribute to the law a capacity to say. There are three ways in which the law may be abused. First, by the self-righteous hypocrites who fancy that they can be justified by the law. Secondly, by those who claim that Christian liberty exempts a Christian from the observance of the law. These, says Peter, use their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness and bring the name and the gospel of Christ into ill repute. Thirdly, the law is abused by those who do not understand that the law is meant to drive us to Christ. When the law is properly used, its value cannot be too highly appraised. It will take me to Christ every time. Verse 24 Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. This simile of the schoolmaster is striking. Schoolmasters are indispensable, but show me a pupil who loves his schoolmaster. How little love is lost upon them the Jews showed by their attitude toward Moses. They would have been glad to stone Moses to death, Exodus 17-4. You cannot expect anything else. How can a pupil love a teacher who frustrates his desires? And if the pupil disobeys, the schoolmaster whips him and the pupil has to like it and even kiss the rod with which he was beaten. Do you think the schoolboy feels good about it? As soon as the teacher turns his back, the pupil breaks the rod and throws it into the fire. And if he were stronger than the teacher, he would not take the beatings, but beat up the teacher. All the same, teachers are indispensable. Otherwise, the children would grow up without discipline, instruction, and training. But how long are the scolding and the whippings of the schoolmaster to continue? Only for a time until the boy has been trained to be a worthy heir of his father. No father wants his son to be whipped all the time. The discipline is to last until the boy has been trained to be his father's worthy successor. The law is such a schoolmaster, not for always, but until we have been brought to crime. The law is not just another schoolmaster. The law is a specialist to bring us to Christ. What would you think of a schoolmaster who could only torment and beat a child? Yet, of such schoolmasters there were plenty in former times, regular bruisers. The law is not that kind of a schoolmaster. It is not to torment us always. With its lashings, it is only too anxious to drive us to Christ. The law is like the good schoolmaster who trains his children to find pleasure in doing things they formerly detested. Verse 24. That we might be justified by faith. The law is not to teach us another law. When a person feels the full force of the law, he is likely to think, I have transgressed all the commandments of God. I am guilty of eternal death. If God will spare me, I will change and live right from now on. This natural but entirely wrong reaction to the law has bred the many ceremonies and works devised to earn grace and remission of sins. The law means to enlarge my sins, to make me small so that I may be justified by faith in Christ. Faith is neither law nor word, but confidence in Christ who is the end of the law. How so is Christ the end of the law? Not in this way that he replaced the old law with new laws, nor is Christ the end of the law in a way that makes him a hard judge who has to be bribed by works as the papers teach. Christ is the end or finish of the law to all who believe in him. The law can no longer accuse or condemn them. But what does the law accomplish for those who have been justified by Christ? Paul answers this question next. Verse 25 But after that faith has come we are no longer under a schoolmaster. The apostle declares that we are free from the law. Christ fulfilled the law for us. We may live in joy and safety under Christ. The trouble is our flesh will not let us believe in Christ with all our heart. The fault lies not with Christ, but with us. Sin clings to us as long as we live and spoils our happiness in Christ. Hence we are only partly free from the law. With the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7 25 As far as the conscience is concerned it may cheerfully ignore the law. But because sin continues to dwell in the flesh the law waits around to molest our conscience. More and more however Christ increases our faith and in the measure in which our faith is increased sin law and flesh subside. If anybody objects to the gospel and the sacraments on the ground that Christ has taken away our sins once and for always, you will know what to answer. You will answer, indeed Christ has taken away my sins, but my flesh the world and the devil interfere with my faith. The little light of faith in my heart does not shine all over me at once. It is a gradual diffusion. In the meanwhile I console myself with the thought that eventually my flesh will be made perfect in the resurrection. Verse 26 For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Paul as a true apostle of faith always has the word faith on the tip of his tongue. By faith says he, we are the children of God. The law cannot be yet children of God. It cannot regenerate us. It can only remind us of the old birth by which we were born into the kingdom of the devil. The best the law can do for us is to prepare us for a new birth through faith in Christ Jesus. Faith in Christ regenerates us into the children of God. Saint John bears witness to this in his gospel. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1.12 What tongue of man or angel can adequately extol the mercy of God toward us miserable sinners in that he adopted us for his own children and fellow heirs with his son by the simple means of faith in Christ Jesus. Verse 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. To put on Christ may be understood in two ways according to the law and according to the gospel. According to the law as in Romans 13.14 Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ which means to follow the example of Christ. To put on Christ according to the gospel means to clothe oneself with the righteousness wisdom power life and spirit of Christ. By nature we are clad in the garb of Adam. This garb Paul likes to call the old man. Before we can become the children of God this old man must be put off as Paul says. Ephesians 4.29 The garb of Adam must come off like soiled clothes. Of course it is not as simple as changing one's clothes but God makes it simple. He clothes us with the righteousness of Christ by means of baptism. As the apostle says in this verse. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. With this change of garments a new birth a new life stirs in us. New affections toward God spring up in the heart. New determinations affect our will. All this is to put on Christ according to the gospel. Needless to say when we have put on the robe of the righteousness of Christ. We must not forget to put on also the mantle of the imitation of Christ. Verse 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. The list might be extended indefinitely. There is neither preacher nor hearer, neither teacher nor scholar, neither master nor servant, etc. And the matter of salvation rank, learning, righteousness, influence, count for nothing. With this statement Paul deals a death blow to the law. When a person has put on Christ nothing else matters. Whether a person is a Jew, a punctilious and circumcised observer of the law of Moses, or whether a person is a noble and wise Greek does not matter. Circumstances, personal worth, character, achievements have no bearing upon justification. Before God they count for nothing. What counts is that we put on Christ. Whether a servant performs his duties well, whether those who are in authority govern wisely, whether a man marries, provides for his family, and he is an honest citizen, whether a woman is chased, obedient to her husband, and a good mother. All these advantages do not qualify a person for salvation. These virtues are commendable, of course, but they do not count points for justification. All the best laws, ceremonies, religions, and deeds of the world cannot take away sin, guilt, cannot dispatch death, cannot purchase life. There is much disparity among men in the world, but there is no such disparity before God, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3, 23. Let the Jews, let the Greeks, let the whole world keep silent in the presence of God. Those who are justified are justified by Christ. Without faith in Christ, the Jew with his laws, the monk with his holy orders, the Greek with his wisdom, the servant with his obedience, shall perish forever. Verse 28. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. There is much imperity among men in the world, and it is a good thing. If the woman would change places with the man, if the son would change places with the father, the servant with the master, nothing but confusion would result. In Christ, however, all are equal. We all have one and the same gospel, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, one Christ and Savior of all. The Christ of Peter, Paul and all the saints is our Christ. Paul can always be dependent on to add the conditional clause in Christ Jesus. If we lose sight of Christ, we lose out. Verse 29. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. If ye be Christ means, if you believe in Christ, if you believe in Christ, then are you the children of Abraham indeed. Through our faith in Christ Abraham gains paternity over us and over the nations of the earth according to the promise. In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Through faith we belong to Christ and Christ to us. End of Chapter 3 of Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians Recording by Bill Mosley, Krollsburg, Texas, USA Chapter 4 Verses 1-6a of Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Thovo. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther, translated by Theodore Grabner Chapter 4 Verses 1-6a of Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. Verse 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. The apostle had apparently finished his discourse on justification when this illustration of the youthful heir occurred to him. He throws it in for good measure. He knows that plain people are sooner impressed by an apt illustration than by learned discussion. I want to give you another illustration from everyday life, he writes to the Galatians. As long as an heir is under age, he is treated very much like a servant. He is not permitted to order his own affairs. He is kept under constant surveillance. Such discipline is good for him. Otherwise he would waste his inheritance in no time. This discipline, however, is not to last forever. It is to last only until the time appointed of the Father. Verse 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. As children of the law we were treated like servants and prisoners. We were oppressed and condemned by the law. But the tyranny of the law is not to last forever. It is to last only until the time appointed of the Father, until Christ came and redeemed us. Verse 3 Under the elements of the world. By the elements of the world, the apostle does not understand the physical elements, as some have thought. In calling the law the elements of the world, Paul means to say that the law is something material, mundane, earthly. It may restrain evil, but it does not deliver from sin. The law does not justify. It does not bring a person to heaven. I do not obtain eternal life because I do not kill, commit adultery, steal, etc. Such mere outward decency does not constitute Christianity. The heathen observe the same restraints to avoid punishment or to secure the advantages of a good reputation. In the last analysis such restraint is simple hypocrisy. When the law exercises its higher function it accuses and condemns the conscience. All these effects of the law cannot be called divine or heavenly. These effects are elements of the world. In calling the law the elements of the world, Paul refers to the whole law principally to the ceremonial law which dealt with external matters. As meat, drink, dress, places, times, feasts, cleansings, sacrifices, etc. These are mundane matters which cannot save the sinner. Ceremonial laws are like the statutes of governments dealing with purely civil matters as commerce, inheritance, etc. As for the Pope's church laws forbidding marriage and meats, Paul calls them elsewhere the doctrines of devils. You would not call such laws elements of heaven. The law of Moses deals with mundane matters. It holds the mirror to the evil which is in the world. By revealing the evil that is in us it creates a longing in the heart for the better things of God. The law forces us into the arms of Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Romans 1.4 Christ relieves the conscience of the law, and so far as the law impels us to Christ it renders excellent service. I do not mean to give the impression that the law should be despised. Neither does Paul intend to leave that impression. The law ought to be honored, but when it is a matter of justification before God, Paul had to speak disparagingly of the law, because a law has nothing to do with justification. If it thrusts its nose into the business of justification, we must talk harshly to the law to keep it in its place. The conscience ought not to be on speaking terms with the law. The conscience ought to know only Christ. To say this is easy, but in times of trial, when the conscience rises in the presence of God, it is not so easy to do. As such times we are to believe in Christ as if there were no law or sin anywhere, but only Christ. We ought to say to the law, Mr. Law, I do not get you. You stutter so much. I don't think that you have anything to say to me. When it is not a question of salvation or justification with us, we are to think highly of the law and call it holy, just, and good. Romans 7.12 The law is of no comfort to a stricken conscience. Therefore it should not be allowed to rule in our conscience, particularly in view of the fact that Christ paid so great a price to deliver the conscience from the tyranny of the law. Let us understand that the law and Christ are impossible bedfellows. The law must leave the bed of the conscience, which is so narrow that it cannot hold to, as Isaiah says, chapter 28 verse 20. Only Paul among the apostles calls the law the elements of the world, weak and beggarly elements, the strength of sin, the letter that killeth, etc. The other apostles do not speak so slightingly of the law. Those who want to be first-class scholars in the school of Christ want to pick up the language of Paul. Christ called him a chosen vessel and equipped with a facility of expression far above that of the other apostles, that he as the chosen vessel should establish the doctrine of justification in clear-cut words, verses 4 and 5. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. The fullness of the time means when the time of the law was fulfilled and Christ was revealed. Note how Paul explains Christ. Christ, says he, is the Son of God and the Son of a woman. He submitted himself under the law to redeem us who were under the law. In these words the apostle explains the person and office of Christ. His person is divine and human. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. Christ therefore is true God and true man. Christ's office the apostle describes in the words, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. Paul calls the virgin Mary a woman. This has been frequently deplored even by some of the ancient fathers who felt that Paul should have written virgin instead of woman. But Paul is now treating a faith and Christian righteousness of the person and office of Christ, not of the virginity of Mary. The inestimable mercy of God is sufficiently set forth by the fact that his Son was born of a woman. The more general term woman indicates that Christ was born a true man. Paul does not say that Christ was born of man and woman, but only of woman, that he has a virgin in mind is obvious. This passage furthermore declares that Christ's purpose in coming was the abolition of the law, not with the intention of laying down new laws, but to redeem them that were under the law. Christ himself declared, I judge no man. John 8.15 Again, I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. John 12.47 In other words, I came not to bring more laws or to judge men according to the existing law. I have a higher and better office. I came to judge and to condemn the law so that it may no more judge and condemn the world. How did Christ manage to redeem us? He was made under the law. When Christ came, he found us all in prison. What did he do about it? Although he was the Lord of the law, he voluntarily placed himself under the law and permitted it to exercise dominion over him. Indeed, to accuse and to condemn him. When the law takes us into judgment, it has a perfect right to do so. For we are by nature the children of wrath, even as others. John 12.3 Christ, however, did no sin. Neither was Gile found in his mouth. 1 Peter 2.22 Hence, the law had no jurisdiction over him. Yet the law treated this innocent, just and blessed Lamb of God as cruelly as it treated us. It accused him of blasphemy and treason. It made him guilty of the sins of the whole world. It overwhelmed him with such anguish of soul that his sweat was as blood. The law condemned him to the shameful death on the cross. It is truly amazing that the law had the effrontery to turn upon its divine author, and that without a show of fright. For its insolence the law in turn was arraigned before the judgment seat of God and condemned. Christ might have overcome the law by an exercise of his omnipotent authority over the law. Instead, he humbled himself under the law for and together with them that were under the law. He gave the law license to accuse and condemn him. His present mastery over the law was obtained by virtue of his sonship and his substitutionary victory. Thus Christ banished the law from the conscience. It dare no longer banish us from God. For that matter the law continues to reveal sin. It still raises its voice in condemnation, but the conscience finds quick relief in the words of the apostle. Christ has redeemed us from the law. The conscience can now hold its head high and say to the law, you are not so holy yourself. You crucified the Son of God. That was an awful thing for you to do. You have lost your influence forever. The words Christ was made under the law are worth all the attention we can bestow on them. They declare that the Son of God did not only fulfill one or two easy requirements of the law, but that he endured all the tortures of the law. The law brought all its fright to bear upon Christ until he experienced anguish and terror such as nobody else ever experienced. His bloody sweat, his need of angelic comfort, his tremulous prayer in the garden, his lamentation on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Bear eloquent witness to the sting of the law. He suffered to redeem them that were under the law. The Roman conception of Christ as a mere law-giver more stringent than Moses is quite contrary to Paul's teaching. Christ, according to Paul, was not an agent of the law, but a patient of the law. He was not a law-giver, but a law-taker. True enough, Christ also taught and expounded the law, but it was incidental. It was a sideline with him. He did not come into the world for the purpose of teaching the law, as little as it was the purpose of his coming to perform miracles. Teaching the law and performing miracles did not constitute his unique mission to the world. The prophets also taught the law and performed miracles. In fact, according to the promise of Christ, the apostles performed greater miracles than Christ himself, John 14-12. The true purpose of Christ's coming was the abolition of the law, of sin, and of death. If we think of Christ as Paul here depicts him, we shall never go wrong. We shall never be in danger of misconstruing the meaning of the law. We shall understand that the law does not justify. We shall understand why a Christian observes laws, for the peace of the world, out of gratitude to God, and for a good example that others may be attracted to the gospel. Verse 5. That we might receive the adoption of sons. Paul still has for his text, Genesis 22-18, And thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. In the course of his epistle he calls this promise of the blessing righteousness, life, deliverance from the law, the testament, etc. Now he also calls the promise of blessing the adoption of sons, the inheritance of everlasting life. Whatever induced God to adopt us for his children and heirs. What claim can men who are subservient to sin, subject to the curse of the law, and worthy of everlasting death, have on God an eternal life? That God adopted us is due to the merit of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who humbled himself under the law and redeemed us law-ridden sinners. Verse 6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts. In the early church the Holy Spirit was sent forth in visible form. He descended upon Christ in the form of a dove, Matthew 3-16, and in the likeness of fire upon the apostles and other believers. Acts 2-3. This visible outpouring of the Holy Spirit was necessary to the establishment of the early church, as were also the miracles that accompanied the gift of the Holy Ghost. Paul explained the purpose of these miraculous gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 14-22. Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Once the church had been established and properly advertised by these miracles, the visible appearance of the Holy Ghost ceased. Next, the Holy Ghost is sent forth into the hearts of the believers as here stated, God sent the spirit of his son into your hearts. This sending is accomplished by the preaching of the Gospel through which the Holy Spirit inspires us with fervor and light, with new judgment, new desires, and new motives. This happy innovation is not a derivative of reason or personal development, but solely the gift and operation of the Holy Ghost. This renewal by the Holy Spirit may not be conspicuous to the world, but it is patent to us by our better judgment, our improved speech, and our unashamed confession of Christ. Formerly we did not confess Christ to be our only merit, as we do now in the light of the Gospel. Why then should we feel bad if the world looks upon us as ravagers of religion and insurgents against constitutive authority? We confess Christ and our conscience approves of it, then too we live in the fear of God. If we sin, we sin not on purpose, but unwittingly and we are sorry for it. Sin sticks in our flesh, and the flesh gets us into sin even after we have been imbued by the Holy Ghost. Outwardly there is no great difference between a Christian and any honest man. The activities of a Christian are not sensational. He performs his duty according to his vocation. He takes good care of his family and is kind and helpful to others. Such homely everyday performances are not much admired, but the setting up exercises of the monks draw great applause. Holy works, you know. Only the acts of a Christian are truly good and acceptable to God because they are done in faith, with a cheerful heart, out of gratitude to Christ. We ought to have no misgivings about whether the Holy Ghost dwells in us. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. 1 Corinthians 3 16 When we have a love for the word of God and gladly hear, talk, write, and think of Christ, we are to know that this inclination toward Christ is the gift and work of the Holy Ghost. Where you come across contempt for the word of God, there is the devil. We meet with such contempt for the word of God, mostly among the common people. They act as though the word of God does not concern them. Wherever you find a love for the word, thank God for the Holy Spirit who infuses this love into the hearts of men. We never come by this love naturally. Neither can it be enforced by laws. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Roman theologians teach that no man can know for a certainty whether he stands in the favor of God or not. This teaching forms one of the chief articles of their faith. With this teaching they tormented men's consciences, excommunicated Christ from the church, and limited the operations of the Holy Ghost. St. Augustine observed that every man is certain of his faith if he has faith. This the Romanists deny. God forbid, they explain piously, that I should ever be so arrogant as to think that I stand in grace, that I am holy, or that I have the Holy Ghost. We ought to feel sure that we stand in the grace of God, not in view of our own worthiness, but through the good services of Christ. As certain as we are that Christ pleases God, so sure ought we to be that we also please God, because Christ is in us. And although we daily offend God by our sins, yet as often as we sin, God's mercy bends over us. Therefore sin cannot get us to doubt the grace of God. Our certainty is of Christ, that mighty hero who overcame the law, sin, death, and all evils. So long as he sits at the right hand of God to intercede for us, we have nothing to fear from the anger of God. This inner assurance of the grace of God is accompanied by outward indications, such as gladly to hear, preach, praise, and to confess Christ, to do one's duty in the station in which God has placed us, to aid the needy, and to comfort the sorrowing. These are the affidavits of the Holy Spirit testifying to our favorable standing with God. If we could be fully persuaded that we are in the good grace of God, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are the beloved children of God, we would be ever so happy and grateful to God. But because we often feel fear and doubt, we cannot come to that happy certainty. Train your conscience to believe that God approves of you. Fight it out with doubt. Gain assurance through the word of God. Say, I am all right with God. I have the Holy Ghost. Christ in whom I do believe makes me worthy. I gladly hear, read, sing, and write of Him. I would like nothing better than that Christ's Gospel be known throughout the world, and that many, many be brought to faith in Him. End of Chapter 4, Verses 1-6A of Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. Recording by Thauvo. June 7, 2010