But by what merit have we received this righteousness, sonship, and inheritance of eternal life? By none. For what could be merited by men confined under sin, subjected to the curse of the Law, and condemned to eternal death? Therefore we have received all this freely and without deserving it, yet not without merit. What merit was it, then? Not ours, but that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born under the Law, not for Himself but for us (as Paul said earlier [Gal. 3:13] that He was made a curse for us), and who redeemed us who were under the Law. Therefore we have received this sonship solely by the redemption of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is our most abundant and eternal merit . . . Together with this gift of sonship, moreover, we have also received the Holy Spirit, whom God, through the Word, sends into our hearts, “crying: ‘Abba! Father!’”
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), 374.
RESOURCES
- Subscribe To The Heidelblog!
- The Heidelblog Resource Page
- Heidelmedia Resources
- The Ecumenical Creeds
- The Reformed Confessions
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
- Why I Am A Christian
- What Must A Christian Believe?
- Heidelblog Contributors
- Office Hours Season 8: Reformation 500—How Martin Luther Became A Protestant
- Luther Was Not Just Another Moral Reformer
- Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to
Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization