Galatians 2:17
To teach that faith in Christ does not justify us unless we observe the law is to make Christ a minister of sin—that is, a teacher of the law, teaching the very same doctrine that Moses did. Thus Christ is no Saviour, no giver of grace, but a cruel tyrant who, like Moses, requires things that none of us can do. But the Gospel is a preaching of Christ who forgives sins, gives grace, and justifies and saves sinners. There are commandments in the Gospel, but they are not the Gospel but expositions of the law, and they depend on the Gospel.
To teach that faith in Christ does not justify us unless we observe the law is to make Christ a minister of sin—that is, a teacher of the law, teaching the very same doctrine that Moses did. Thus Christ is no Saviour, no giver of grace, but a cruel tyrant who, like Moses, requires things that none of us can do. But the Gospel is a preaching of Christ who forgives sins, gives grace, and justifies and saves sinners. There are commandments in the Gospel, but they are not the Gospel but expositions of the law, and they depend on the Gospel.
As the law reveals sin, it so terrifies us that it shows us our sin and God’s wrath and strikes into us a terror of death and damnation. From it our conscience learns that we have not kept God’s commandments, and so God is angry with us. If he is angry with us, he will destroy and condemn us forever. And our conscience thinks this to be an infallible consequence: “I have sinned, and therefore I must die.” And so it follows that the ministry of sin is the ministry of wrath and condemnation, for after sin has been revealed, there soon follows the wrath of God, death, and damnation. And thus many people who cannot bear the judgment and wrath of God (which the law sets before their eyes) kill, hang, or drown themselves.
Luther, M. (1998). Galatians. The Crossway classic commentaries (95). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.
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