With this wicked doctrine, by which he commands men to doubt the favor of God toward them, the pope has removed God and all His promises from the church, has undermined the blessings of Christ, and has abolished the entire Gospel. Then these troubles followed of necessity, because men depended, not on God as He promises but on their own works and merits. When this happens, a man can never be certain about the will of God but is continually forced to waver and finally even to despair. It is impossible ever to decide what God wills and what is pleasing to Him, except in His Word. This Word makes us certain that God cast away all His wrath and hatred toward us when He gave His only Son for our sins, The sacraments, the power of the keys, etc., also make us certain; for if God did not love us, He would never have given us these. Thus we are overwhelmed with endless evidence of the favor of God toward us. Now that the plague of uncertainty, with which the entire church of the pope is infected, is driven away, let us believe for a certainty that God is favorably disposed toward us, that we are pleasing to Him and of concern to Him on account of Christ, and that we have the Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us with a crying and a sighing too deep for words.

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), 388–89.

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Post authored by:

• Tony Phelps

  

  Tony grew up in Rhode Island. He was educated at BA (University of Rhode Island) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He worked in the insurance industry for ten years. He planted a PCA church in Wakefield, RI where he served for eleven years. In 2015–18 he pastored Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Colorado Springs. He is currently pastor of Living Hope (OPC). Tony is married to Donna and together they have three children.

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