Therefore we, being justified by faith, do good works, through which, as 2 Peter 1:10 says, our call and election are confirmed and made more certain day by day. But because we have only the first fruits of the Spirit and do not yet have the tithes, and because remnants of sin remain in us, we do not keep the Law perfectly. But this is not imputed to us who believe in Christ—in Christ, who was promised to Abraham and has blessed us. For meanwhile we are cherished and fed, for the sake of Christ, in the lap of the forbearance of God. We are that wounded man who fell among robbers; whose wounds the Samaritan bound up, pouring on oil and wine; whom he set on his own beast and brought to an inn and took care of; and whom he entrusted to the innkeeper upon departing, with the words: “Take care of him” (Luke 10:30–35). Thus we are cherished meanwhile as in an inn, until the Lord reaches out His hand a second time, as Isaiah says, to deliver us (Is. 10:10–11).
Martin Luther | Luther’s Works, Vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 26 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 260.
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