The First Commandment: Faith, the First and Highest Work
1. We must first know that there are no good works except those God has commanded, just as there is no sin except what God has forbidden. Therefore whoever wishes to know and do good works needs nothing else than to know God’s commandments. Thus Christ says, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt 19:17). And when the young man asks Him what he must do to inherit eternal life, Christ sets before him nothing but the Ten Commandments (Matt 19:16-19). Accordingly, we must learn to tell good works apart by the commandments of God. We must not judge them by the appearance, the size or the number of the works themselves, nor by the judgment of men or of human law or custom, as we see has been done and is still done, because we are blind and despise the divine commandments.
2. The first and highest, the most precious of all good works is faith in Christ, as He Himself says. When the Jews asked Him, “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” He answered, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent” (John 6:28-29). When we hear or preach this word, we hurry over it and think it a very small thing and easy to do, when we ought to pause here a long time and ponder it well. For in this work all good works must be done, and from it they receive the inflow of their goodness, like a loan. We must put this bluntly so that people may understand it.
We find many who pray, fast, establish endowments, do this or that, and lead a good life before men. Yet if you ask them whether they are sure that what they do pleases God, they say, “No.” They do not know, or they doubt. And there are some very learned men who mislead them and say it is not necessary to be sure of this; and yet, on the other hand, these same men do nothing but teach good works. Now all these works are done outside of faith; therefore they are nothing and altogether dead. For as their conscience stands toward God and as it believes, so are the works that grow out of it. Now they have no faith, no good conscience toward God; therefore their works lack their head, and all their life and goodness is nothing. Hence, when I exalt faith and reject such works done without faith, they accuse me of forbidding good works, when in truth I am trying hard to teach real good works of faith.
3. Ask them further whether they also count it a good work when they work at their trade, walk, stand, eat, drink, sleep, and do all kinds of work for the nourishment of the body or for the common good. Ask whether they believe that God takes pleasure in them because of such works. You will find that they say, “No.” They define good works so narrowly that they consist only of praying in church, fasting and giving alms. Other works they consider worthless, and they think God cares nothing for them. So through their damnable unbelief they cut down and shrink the service of God, Who is served by all things whatsoever that are done, spoken or thought in faith.
So Ecclesiastes teaches: “Go thy way with joy, eat and drink, and know that God accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity” (Eccl 9:7-9). “Let thy garments be always white”: that is, let all our works be good, whatever they may be, without any distinction. And they are white when I am certain and believe that they please God. Then the head of my soul will never lack the ointment of a joyful conscience.
So Christ says, “I do always those things that please Him” (John 8:29). And St. John says, “Hereby we know that we are of the truth, if we can comfort our hearts before Him and have a good confidence. And if our heart condemns or frets us, God is greater than our heart, and we have confidence, that whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of Him, because we keep His Commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:19-22). Again: “Whosoever is born of God” (that is, whoever believes and trusts God) “doth not commit sin, and cannot sin” (1 John 3:9). Again: “None of them that trust in Him shall do sin” (Ps 34:22). And: “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him” (Ps 2:12).
If this is true, then all that they do must be good, or the evil they do must be quickly forgiven. See, then, why I exalt faith so greatly, draw all works into it, and reject all works that do not flow from it.
4. Now everyone can notice and tell for himself when he does what is good and what is not good. For if he finds his heart confident that it pleases God, the work is good, even if it were as small a thing as picking up a straw. If confidence is absent, or if he doubts, the work is not good, even if it raised all the dead and the man gave himself to be burned. This is the teaching of St. Paul: “Whatsoever is not done of or in faith is sin” (Rom 14:23). Faith, as the chief work, and no other work, has given us the name “believers in Christ.” For all other works a heathen, a Jew, a Turk or a sinner can also do; but to trust firmly that he pleases God is possible only for a Christian who is enlightened and strengthened by grace.
These words seem strange, and some call me a heretic because of them. That comes from this: men have followed blind reason and heathen ways. They have set faith not above the other virtues but beside them, and have given it a work of its own, apart from all the works of the other virtues. Yet faith alone makes all other works good, acceptable and worthy, because it trusts God and does not doubt that, for it, everything a man does is well done. Indeed, they have not let faith remain a work, but have made it a habitus (a settled disposition of the soul), as they say. Yet Scripture gives the name of a good, divine work to no work except faith alone. Therefore it is no wonder that they have become blind and leaders of the blind. And this faith brings with it at once love, peace, joy and hope. For God at once gives His Spirit to the one who trusts Him, as St. Paul says to the Galatians: “You received the Spirit not because of your good works, but when you believed the Word of God” (Gal 3:2).
5. In this faith all works become equal, and one is like the other. All distinctions between works fall away, whether they are great, small, short, long, few or many. For the works are acceptable not for their own sake but because of faith. Faith alone exists, works and lives in each and every work without distinction, however numerous and varied they are, just as all the members of the body live, work and have their name from the head; and without the head no member can live, work or have a name.
From this it further follows that a Christian who lives in this faith has no need of a teacher of good works. Whatever he finds to do, he does, and all is well done. As Samuel said to Saul: “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt be turned into another man; then do thou as occasion serves thee; for God is with thee” (1 Sam 10:6-7). So also we read of St. Hannah, Samuel’s mother: “When she believed the priest Eli who promised her God’s grace, she went home in joy and peace, and from that time no more turned hither and thither” (1 Sam 1:17-18); that is, whatever happened, it was all one to her. St. Paul also says: “Where the Spirit of Christ is, there all is free” (2 Cor 3:17). For faith does not allow itself to be bound to any work, nor does it allow any work to be taken from it. But, as Psalm 1:3 says, “He bringeth forth his fruit in his season,” that is, as a matter of course.
6. We can see this in a common human example. When a man and a woman love and delight in each other, and thoroughly believe in their love, who teaches them how to behave, what to do or leave undone, what to say or not say, what to think? Confidence alone teaches them all this, and more. They make no distinction among works. They do the great, the long, the many as gladly as the small, the short, the few, and the other way around. And they do it with joyful, peaceful, confident hearts, and each is a free companion of the other. But where there is doubt, a search is made for what is best. Then a distinction of works is imagined by which a man may win favor. And yet he goes about it with a heavy heart and great distaste. He is, as it were, taken captive, more than half in despair, and often makes a fool of himself.
So a Christian who lives in this confidence toward God knows all things, can do all things, undertakes all things that are to be done, and does everything cheerfully and freely. He does this not to gather many merits and good works, but because it is a pleasure for him to please God by it. He serves God purely for nothing, content that his service pleases God. On the other hand, the one who is not at one with God, or who doubts, hunts and worries about how he may do enough and move God with many works. He runs to St. James of Compostela, to Rome, to Jerusalem, here and there. He prays St. Bridget’s prayer and the rest, fasts on this day and on that, makes confession here and makes confession there, questions this man and that, and yet finds no peace.
He does all this with great effort, despair and distaste of heart, so that the Scriptures rightly call such works in Hebrew Avenama, that is, labor and toil. And even then they are not good works, and they are all lost. Many have been driven out of their minds by them; their fear has brought them into all kinds of misery. Of these it is written: “We have wearied ourselves in the wrong way; and have gone through deserts, where there lay no way; but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us” (Wis 5:6-7).
7. In these works faith is still slight and weak. Let us ask further whether they believe they are well-pleasing to God when they suffer in body, property, honor, friends or whatever they have. Do they believe that God in His mercy appoints their sufferings and difficulties for them, whether these are small or great? This is real strength: to trust in God when to all our senses and reason He seems to be angry, and to have greater confidence in Him than we feel.
Here He is hidden, as the bride says in the Song of Songs: “Behold he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows” (Song 2:9). That is, He stands hidden among the sufferings, which would separate us from Him like a wall, yes, like a wall of stone; and yet He looks upon me and does not leave me. For He is standing there, ready to help graciously, and through the window of dim faith He lets Himself be seen. And Jeremiah says in Lamentations, “He casts off men, but He does it not willingly” (Lam 3:31-33).
This faith they do not know at all. They give up, thinking that God has forsaken them and become their enemy. They even lay the blame for their troubles on men and devils, and have no confidence at all in God. For this reason, too, their suffering is always a stumbling block and a harm to them. And yet they go and do some good works, as they think, and are not aware of their unbelief. But those who trust God in such suffering, keep a good, firm confidence in Him, and believe that He is pleased with them, see in their sufferings and afflictions nothing but precious merits and the rarest possessions, whose value no one can estimate. For faith and confidence make precious before God all that others think most shameful. So it is written even of death: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps 116:15).
And just as confidence and faith are better, higher and stronger at this stage than at the first stage, so, to the same degree, the sufferings borne in this faith surpass all works of faith. Therefore there is an immeasurable difference between such works and sufferings, and the sufferings are infinitely better.
8. Beyond all this is the highest stage of faith. Here God punishes the conscience not only with temporal sufferings but with death, hell and sin, and refuses grace and mercy, as though it were His will to condemn and to be angry eternally. Few men experience this, but David cries out, “O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger” (Ps 6:1). To believe at such times that God in His mercy is pleased with us is the highest work that can be done by and in the creature. But of this the work-righteous and doers of good works know nothing at all. For how could they look here for good things and grace from God, as long as they are not certain in their works and doubt even on the lowest step of faith?
In this way, as I said, I have always praised faith and rejected all works done without such faith. I have done it to lead people away from the false, pretentious, Pharisaic, unbelieving good works with which all monasteries, churches and homes, and the lower and upper classes alike, are overfilled. I want to lead them to the true, genuine, thoroughly good, believing works. In this no one opposes me except the unclean beasts that do not divide the hoof, as the Law of Moses decrees. They will tolerate no distinction among good works, but go lumbering along. If only they pray, fast, establish endowments, go to confession and do enough, everything is supposed to be good, although in all this they have had no faith in God’s grace and approval.
Indeed, they consider the works best of all when they have done many, great and long works without any such confidence, and they look for good only after the works are done. So they build their confidence not on divine favor but on the works they have done, that is, on sand and water, from which they must at last take a cruel fall, as Christ says (Matt 7:26-27). This good will and favor, on which our confidence rests, was proclaimed by the angels from heaven when they sang on Christmas night: “Gloria in excelsis Deo, Glory to God in the highest, peace to earth, gracious favor to man” (Luke 2:14).
9. Now this is the work of the First Commandment, which commands, “Thou shalt have no other gods” (Exod 20:3). This means: “Since I alone am God, you shall place all your confidence, trust and faith in Me alone, and in no one else.” For you do not have a god if you call him God only with your lips, or worship him with the knees or bodily gestures. You have a god when you trust Him with the heart and look to Him for all good, grace and favor, whether in works or sufferings, in life or death, in joy or sorrow. So the Lord Christ says to the heathen woman, “I say unto thee, they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). And this faith, faithfulness and confidence deep in the heart is the true fulfilling of the First Commandment; without it there is no other work that is able to satisfy this Commandment.
This Commandment is the very first, highest and best, from which all the others proceed, in which they exist, and by which they are directed and measured. So also its work, that is, faith or confidence in God’s favor at all times, is the very first, highest and best, from which all others must proceed, exist and remain, and by which they must be directed and measured. Compared with this work, the other works are just what the other commandments would be without the First, as if there were no God. Therefore St. Augustine says well that the works of the First Commandment are faith, hope and love. As I said above, such faith and confidence bring love and hope with them. In fact, if we see it rightly, love is first, or comes at the same instant as faith. For I could not trust God if I did not think that He wished to be favorable to me and to love me; and this leads me in turn to love Him, to trust Him heartily, and to look to Him for all good things.
10. Now you see for yourself who does not keep this Commandment. It is all those who do not trust God at all times, and do not trust in His favor, grace and good will in all their works or sufferings, life and death, but seek His favor in other things or in themselves. They practice real idolatry, even if they did the works of all the other commandments and in addition had all the prayers, fasting, obedience, patience, chastity and innocence of all the saints combined. For the chief work is not present, and without it all the others are nothing but mere sham, show and pretense, with nothing behind them. Christ warns us against these: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing” (Matt 7:15). Such are all who wish, with their many good works (as they say), to make God favorable to themselves and to buy God’s grace from Him, as if He were a peddler or a day laborer, unwilling to give His grace and favor for nothing. These are the most perverse people on earth, who will hardly ever, or never, be converted to the right way.
Such too are all who in adversity run here and there and look for counsel and help everywhere except from God, from whom they are most urgently commanded to seek it. The prophet Isaiah rebukes them this way: “The mad people turneth not to Him that smiteth them” (Isa 9:13). That is, God struck them and sent them sufferings and all kinds of adversity so that they would run to Him and trust Him. But they run away from Him to men, now to Egypt, now to Assyria, perhaps even to the devil. Much is written of such idolatry in the same prophet and in the Books of Kings. This is also the way of all holy hypocrites when they are in trouble. They do not run to God but flee from Him, and think only of how they may get rid of their trouble by their own efforts or by human help. And yet they consider themselves pious people, and let others consider them so.
11. This is what St. Paul means in many places where he ascribes so much to faith. He says, Justus ex fide sua vivit, “the righteous man draws his life out of his faith”; and it is because of faith that he is counted righteous before God. If righteousness consists in faith, it is clear that faith fulfills all commandments and makes all works righteous, since no one is justified unless he keeps all the commandments of God. Again, works can justify no one before God without faith. So utterly and roundly does the Apostle reject works and praise faith that some have taken offense at his words and say, “Well, then, we will do no more good works.” Yet he condemns such people as erring and foolish.
People still do the same. When we reject the great, pretentious works of our time, which are done entirely without faith, they say, “People are only to believe and not do anything good.” For nowadays they say that the works of the First Commandment are these: singing, reading, organ playing, saying mass, saying matins and vespers and the other hours, founding and decorating churches, altars and monasteries, collecting bells, jewels, vestments, trinkets and treasures, and running to Rome and to the saints. Further, when we are dressed up and bow, kneel, and pray the rosary and the Psalter, and do all this not before an idol but before the holy cross of God or the pictures of His saints, we call this honoring and worshiping God and, according to the First Commandment, “having no other gods.” Yet usurers, adulterers and all kinds of sinners can do these things too, and do them daily.
Of course, if these things are done with such faith that we believe they please God, then they are praiseworthy. This is not because of their own virtue but because of such faith, for which all works are of equal value, as has been said. But if we doubt or do not believe that God is gracious to us and pleased with us, or if we presumptuously expect to please Him only through and after our works, then it is all pure deception: outwardly honoring God, but inwardly setting up self as a false god.
This is why I have so often spoken against the display, magnificence and multitude of such works and have rejected them. For it is as clear as day that they are not only done in doubt or without faith, but that there is not one in a thousand who does not set his confidence on the works, expecting by them to win God’s favor and get ahead of His grace. So they make a marketplace of them, a thing God cannot endure. For He has promised His grace freely, and wills that we begin by trusting that grace, and in it perform all works, whatever they may be.
12. Note for yourself, then, how far apart these two are: keeping the First Commandment with outward works only, and keeping it with inward trust. For the second makes true, living children of God. The first only makes worse idolatry and the most mischievous hypocrites on earth. With their apparent righteousness they lead countless people into their way, and yet leave them without faith, so that they are miserably misled and caught in this pitiful babbling and empty show. Of such people Christ says, “Beware, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there” (Matt 24:23). And He says, “I say unto thee, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship God, for the Father seeketh spiritual worshipers” (John 4:21, 23).
These and similar passages have moved me, and ought to move everyone, to reject the great display of papal bulls, seals, banners and indulgences. By these the poor people are led to build churches, to give, to endow, to pray; and yet faith is not mentioned, and is even suppressed. For since faith knows no distinction among works, such exalting and urging of one work above another cannot exist beside faith. Faith wants to be the only service of God, and will grant this name and honor to no other work, except insofar as faith imparts it, as it does when the work is done in faith and by faith. This perversion is pictured in the Old Testament, when the Jews left the Temple and sacrificed in other places, in the green groves and on the mountains. This is what these men also do: they are zealous to do all kinds of works, but this chief work of faith they do not regard at all.
13. Where now are those who ask what works are good, what they should do, how they should be religious? Yes, and where are those who say that when we preach faith, we will neither teach nor do works? Does not this First Commandment give us more work to do than anyone can do? If a man were a thousand men, or all men, or all creatures, this Commandment would still ask enough of him, and more than enough. For he is commanded to live and walk at all times in faith and confidence toward God, to place such faith in no one else, and so to have only one God, the true God, and no other.
Now human nature and being cannot for an instant be without doing or not doing something, enduring something or running away from it, for, as we see, life never rests. So let anyone who wants to be pious and filled with good works begin to exercise himself in this faith at all times, in all his life and works. Let him learn to do and to leave undone all things in such continual faith. Then he will find how much work he has to do, and how completely all things are included in faith. He will find that he dare never grow idle, because his very idleness must be the exercise and work of faith.
In short, nothing can be in us or about us, and nothing can happen to us, that is not bound to be good and meritorious, if we believe (as we ought) that all things please God. So St. Paul says, “Dear brethren, all that ye do, whether ye eat or drink, do all in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord” (1 Cor 10:31; Col 3:17). Now it cannot be done in this Name unless it is done in this faith. Likewise: “We know that all things work together for good to the saints of God” (Rom 8:28).
Therefore, when some say that good works are forbidden when we preach faith alone, it is as if I said to a sick man, “If you had health, you would have the use of all your limbs; but without health, the works of all your limbs are nothing,” and he wanted to infer that I had forbidden the works of all his limbs. On the contrary, I meant that he must first have health, which will work all the works of all the members. So faith too must be the master workman and captain in all works, or they are nothing at all.
14. You might say, “Why then do we have so many laws of the Church and of the State, and so many ceremonies of churches, monasteries and holy places, which urge and entice people to good works, if faith does all things through the First Commandment?” I answer: simply because we do not all have faith, or do not heed it. If everyone had faith, we would need no more laws. Everyone would of himself do good works at all times, as his confidence in God teaches him.
But as things are, there are four kinds of people. The first, just mentioned, need no law. Of them St. Paul says, “The law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Tim 1:9), that is, for the believer. Rather, believers of themselves do what they know and are able to do, only because they firmly trust that God’s favor and grace rest on them in all things.
The second class want to abuse this freedom, put a false confidence in it, and grow lazy. Of them St. Peter says, “Ye shall live as free men, but not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness” (1 Pet 2:16). It is as if he said: The freedom of faith does not permit sins, nor will it cover them; but it sets us free to do all kinds of good works and to endure all things as they happen to us, so that a man is not bound to only one work or a few. So also St. Paul: “Use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh” (Gal 5:13). Such people must be urged on by laws and hemmed in by teaching and exhortation.
The third class are wicked men, always ready for sin. These must be restrained by spiritual and temporal laws, like wild horses and dogs; and where this does not help, they must be put to death by the worldly sword. As St. Paul says, “The worldly ruler bears the sword, and serves God with it, not as a terror to the good, but to the evil” (Rom 13:3-4).
The fourth class are still youthful and lively, and childish in their understanding of faith and of the spiritual life. They must be coaxed like young children, and enticed with external, definite and prescribed adornments: with reading, praying, fasting, singing, adorning churches, organ playing, and such other things as are commanded and observed in monasteries and churches, until they also learn to know faith. Yet there is great danger here when the rulers, as is now, alas, the case, busy themselves with such ceremonies and external works and insist on them as if they were the true works, and neglect faith. They ought always to teach faith along with these works, just as a mother gives her child other food along with the milk until the child can eat solid food by itself.
15. Since, then, we are not all alike, we must bear with such people, share their observances and burdens, and not despise them, but teach them the true way of faith. So St. Paul teaches: “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, to teach him” (Rom 14:1). And so he did himself: “To them that are under the law, I became as under the law, although I was not under the law” (1 Cor 9:20). And when Christ was asked to pay tribute, which He was not obligated to pay, He reasoned with St. Peter about whether the children of kings must pay tribute, or only other people. St. Peter answered, “Only other people.” Christ said, “Then are the children of kings free; notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and in his mouth thou shalt find a piece of money; take that and give it for me and thee” (Matt 17:24-27).
Here we see that all works and things are free to a Christian through his faith. And yet, because the others do not yet believe, he observes and bears with them what he is not obligated to do. But he does this freely, for he is certain that it pleases God. He does it willingly and accepts it like any other free work that comes to his hand without his choosing, because he desires and seeks nothing more than to do works in his faith to please God.
But in this discourse we have undertaken to teach what righteous and good works are, and we are now speaking of the highest work. So it is clear that we are not speaking of the second, third and fourth classes, but of the first, into whose likeness all the others are to grow; and until they do, the first class must bear with them and instruct them. Therefore we must not despise these people of weak faith as if they were hopeless. They would gladly do right and learn, and yet they cannot understand because of the ceremonies they cling to. We must rather blame their ignorant, blind teachers, who have never taught them faith and have led them so deeply into works.
They must be led back to faith gently and gradually, as a sick man is treated. For a time, for their conscience’s sake, they must be allowed to cling to some works and do them as necessary to salvation, until they rightly grasp faith. Otherwise, if we try to tear them away from these works so suddenly, their weak consciences may be utterly shattered and confused, and they will keep neither faith nor works. But the hardheaded, who are hardened in their works, pay no heed to what is said of faith, and fight against it: these we must let go their way, as Christ did and taught, so that the blind may lead the blind.
16. But you say, “How can I surely trust that all my works are pleasing to God, when at times I fall, and talk, eat, drink and sleep too much, or otherwise transgress, as I cannot help doing?” Answer: This question shows that you still regard faith as one work among others, and do not set it above all works. For it is the highest work for this very reason: it remains, and blots out these daily sins by not doubting that God is so kind to you that He overlooks such daily transgression and weakness. Yes, even if a deadly sin should occur (which, however, never or rarely happens to those who live in faith and trust toward God), faith still rises again and does not doubt that its sin is already gone. As it is written: “My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with God the Father, Jesus Christ, Who is the propitiation of all our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). And: “For if we sin, we are Thine, knowing Thy power” (Wis 15:2). And: “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again” (Prov 24:16).
Yes, this confidence and faith must be so high and strong that the man knows that all his life and works are nothing but damnable sins before God’s judgment, as it is written: “In thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Ps 143:2). He must entirely despair of his works, believing that they cannot be good except through this faith, which looks for no judgment, but only for pure grace, favor, kindness and mercy. So David says: “Thy loving kindness is ever before mine eyes, and I have trusted in Thy truth” (Ps 26:3). And again: “The light of Thy countenance is lift up upon us” (that is, the knowledge of Your grace through faith), “and thereby hast Thou put gladness in my heart” (Ps 4:6-7). For as faith trusts, so it receives.
See, this is how works are forgiven, are without guilt, and are good: not by their own nature, but by the mercy and grace of God, because of the faith that trusts in the mercy of God. Therefore we must fear because of our works, but comfort ourselves because of the grace of God, as it is written: “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy” (Ps 147:11). So we pray with perfect confidence, “Our Father,” and yet ask, “Forgive us our trespasses.” We are children, and yet sinners; we are acceptable, and yet do not do enough; and all this is the work of faith, firmly grounded in God’s grace.
17. But if you ask where faith and confidence can be found and where they come from, this is certainly most necessary to know. First: without doubt faith does not come from your works or merit, but from Jesus Christ alone, and is freely promised and given. As St. Paul writes: “God commendeth His love to us as exceeding sweet and kindly, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). It is as if he said: “Ought not this to give us a strong, unconquerable confidence, that before we prayed or cared for it, yes, while we were still continually walking in sins, Christ died for our sin?” St. Paul concludes: “If while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, how much more then, being justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him; and if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (Rom 5:9-10).
See! This is how you must form Christ within yourself, and see how in Him God holds out and offers you His mercy without any previous merits of your own. From such a view of His grace you must draw faith and confidence that all your sins are forgiven. Faith, therefore, does not begin with works, nor do works create it; it must spring up and flow from the blood, wounds and death of Christ. If you see in these that God is so kindly disposed toward you that He gives even His Son for you, then your heart in turn must grow sweet and kindly disposed toward God. So your confidence must grow out of pure good will and love: God’s love toward you, and yours toward God.
We never read that the Holy Spirit was given to anyone when he did works, but always when people have heard the Gospel of Christ and the mercy of God. From this same Word, and from no other source, faith must still come, even in our day and always. For Christ is the rock out of which men suck oil and honey, as Moses says in Deuteronomy 32:13.
18. So far we have treated the first work and the First Commandment, but very briefly, plainly and hastily, for very much might be said about it. We will now follow the works further through the commandments that come after it.
