Therefore Paul separates the spiritual people of the new covenant from the Law when he says that this people is not the child of Hagar, who had a husband, but of Sarah, the free woman, who does not know the Law. In this way he sets the people of faith far above and beyond the Law. But if it is above and beyond the Law, then it is justified, not by the Law and works but solely by its spiritual birth, that is, by faith. For spiritual birth is nothing other than faith. Now just as the people of grace neither has the Law nor can have it, so the people of the Law neither has grace nor can have it; for it is impossible for Law and grace to exist together. Either we must be justified by faith and lose the righteousness of the Law, or we must be justified by the Law and lose grace and the righteousness of faith. It is a bitter and tragic loss when we keep the Law and lose grace. On the other hand, it is a fortunate and saving loss when we keep grace and lose the Law.

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), 445.

RESOURCES

• Subscribe To The Heidelblog!
• Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play
• 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
• 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

Post authored by:

• Heidelblog

  

  The Heidelblog has been in publication since 2007. It is devoted to recovering the Reformed confession and to helping others discover Reformed theology, piety, and practice.

  More by Heidelblog ›