Galatians E-Book

Martin Luther

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Crossway Classic Commentaries
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 1998

Seitenzahl: 784

Beschreibung

For hundreds of years Christendom has been blessed with Bible commentaries written by great men of God who were highly respected for their godly work and their insight into spiritual truth. The Crossway Classic Commentary Series, carefully adapted for maximum understanding and usefulness, presents the very best work on individual Bible books for today's believers. Ever since it was written, the apostle Paul's letter to the believers in Galatia has nurtured trust and assurance in Christ. Its grand themes of the superiority of Scripture over human reason, the sufficiency of Christ's atonement through his death, and the freedom of justification through faith alone continue to energize and enlighten Christians today. This classic commentary from the heart of a courageous apostle will encourage and equip all who desire to understand, live out, and communicate the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

Leseprobe

Galatians

Galatians

Copyright © 1998 by Watermark.

Published by Crossway Books a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

First printing, 1998

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.

Galatians / by Martin Luther.

      p. cm. — (Crossway classic commentaries)

ISBN 13: 978-0-89107-994-1

ISBN 10: 0-89107-994-7

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Contents

Series Preface

ix

Introduction

xi

Foreword to the First English Edition

xiii

Preface by Martin Luther

xv

Chapter 1

25

Chapter 2

67

Chapter 3

117

Chapter 4

195

Chapter 5

241

Chapter 6

289

Fifty Inconveniences That Arise out of Man’s Own Righteousness Coming from Works, Extracted from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians:

Chapter 1

1.To bring people from the calling of grace.

2.To receive another gospel.

3.To trouble the minds of the faithful.

4.To pervert the Gospel of Christ.

5.To be accursed.

6.To obey human traditions.

7.To please man.

8.Not to be the servant of Christ.

9.To build upon men, and not upon God.

10.That the most excellent righteousness of the law is nothing.

11.To destroy the church of God.

Chapter 2

12.To teach people to be justified by works is to teach them to be justified by impossibility.

13.To make the righteous in Christ into sinners.

14.To make Christ a minister of sin.

15.To build up sin again, when it is destroyed.

16.To be made a transgressor.

17.To reject the grace of God.

18.To judge that Christ died in vain.

Chapter 3

19.To become foolish Galatians.

20.To be bewitched.

21.Not to listen to the truth.

22.To crucify Christ again.

23.To hold that the Spirit is received by works.

24.To forsake the Spirit and to end in the flesh.

25.To be under the curse.

26.To set the human testament above that of God.

27.To make sin abound.

28.To be shut under sin.

29.To serve beggarly ceremonies.

Chapter 4

30.That the Gospel is preached in vain.

31.That everything the faithful do or permit is in vain.

32.To be made a servant and the son of the bondwoman.

33.To be cast out of the inheritance, together with the son of the bondwoman.

34.That Christ brings no benefit.

35.That we are debtors to fulfill the whole law.

Chapter 5

36.To be separate from Christ.

37.To fall from grace.

38.To be hindered from the good course of well-doing.

39.That being convinced of the doctrine of works does not come from God.

40.To have the leaven of corruption.

41.To have judgment remain for anyone who teaches this doctrine.

42.To bite and consume one another.

43.That this doctrine is reckoned among the works of the flesh.

Chapter 6

44.To think yourself to be something when you are nothing.

45.To glory in others rather than in God.

46.Unspiritually to please people who are not spiritually minded.

47.To hate the persecution of the cross.

48.Not to keep the law itself.

49.To glory in the master and teacher of unspiritual things.

50.That nothing helps at all, and whatever a person does is in vain.

Series Preface

The purpose of the Crossway Classic Commentaries is to make some of the most valuable commentaries on the books of the Bible, by some of the greatest Bible teachers and theologians in the last five hundred years, available to a new generation. These books will help today’s readers learn truth, wisdom, and devotion from such authors as J. C. Ryle, Martin Luther, John Calvin, J. B. Lightfoot, John Owen, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Hodge, and Matthew Henry.

We do not apologize for the age of some of the items chosen. In the realm of practical exposition promoting godliness, the old is often better than the new. Spiritual vision and authority, based on an accurate handling of the biblical text, are the qualities that have been primarily sought in deciding what to include.

So far as is possible, everything is tailored to the needs and enrichment of thoughtful readers—lay Christians, students, and those in the ministry. The originals, some of which were written at a high technical level, have been abridged as needed, simplified stylistically, and unburdened of foreign words. However, the intention of this series is never to change any thoughts of the original authors, but to faithfully convey them in an understandable fashion.

The publishers are grateful to Dr. Alister McGrath of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Dr. J. I. Packer of Regent College, Vancouver, and Watermark of Norfolk, England, for the work of selecting and editing that now brings this project to fruition.

THE PUBLISHERS Crossway Books      

Introduction

The Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) earned his living as Professor of Bible at Wittenberg University, and this exposition of Galatians came out of his classroom. It is a digest of a translation of a transcript of forty-one lectures in Latin (the language of scholarship, which Luther spoke and wrote as easily as he did his native German), given in the year 1531.

Though diffuse, as the extempore utterances of passionate people often are, the work is orderly and well focused. It centers on four themes: the authority of Scripture against human fantasy, and the link between the Spirit and the Word; the sufficiency of the mediation and atoning death of Christ for the sinner’s salvation, and the impossibility of finding salvation through law—by works and merit; the reality of God’s gift of Christ to believers as their righteousness, securing them permanent pardon and acceptance despite all their shortcomings; and the place of faith (fiducia, confident trust) in the gospel promises and in Christ himself as the means of enjoying the salvation relationship and experience. Here we meet the characteristic and often sloganized emphases of reformational theology: that Scripture alone gives knowledge of God’s grace in Christ; that Christ alone is the source of salvation and eternal life; and that faith alone occasions justification as guilty sinners penitently and purposefully clasp to themselves the Saviour who died for them. These sustained emphases give the book a unified thrust, making it read more like one long sermon on the grace of justification than the variety of topical treatments that biblical commentaries generally offer. But what a sermon this is! As Professor Gordon Rupp once called Luther’s Bondage of the Will the finest and most powerful Soli Deo Gloria sung by anyone during the Reformation, so Luther on Galatians is undoubtedly the finest and most powerful paean on justification that any Reformer ever uttered.

The grace, power, glory, and security of the life of faith in Jesus Christ is the truth that Paul’s anti-Judaizing polemics in Galatians aim to establish; that was the truth that the bewildered and bamboozled Galatian converts needed most urgently to grasp. Luther in effect makes Paul explain this same truth to latter-day seekers for peace with God, the guilty, anxious, and despairing, among whom he himself had earlier lived. He tells us that his exposition is “only for such as those to whom St. Paul himself wrote this letter—the troubled, afflicted, and tempted (who alone understand these things).” Two historical examples illustrate how effectively Luther did his work.

Here, first, is John Bunyan, author of the incomparable Pilgrim’s Progress:

The God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hand, one day, a book of Martin Luther; it was his comment on the Galatians . . . the which, when I had but a little way perused, I found my condition, in his experience, so largely and profoundly handled, as if his book had been written out of my own heart. . . . I do prefer this book of Martin Luther on the Galatians, excepting the Holy Bible, before all books that ever I have seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience.

Second, consider Charles Wesley, the supreme poet and lyricist of Christian experience. It is a well-known fact that John Wesley came into assurance of faith on May 24, 1738, as he listened to (almost certainly) William Holland reading Luther’s synopsis of Romans. Less well-known, yet scarcely less significant, is the fact that on May 17, just a week before, Holland had come into the same transforming experience when John’s brother Charles read to him from Luther on Galatians, and that Charles wrote in his Journal for that day: “I spent some hours this evening in private with Martin Luther, who was greatly blessed to me, especially the conclusion of the second chapter [of Galatians]. I laboured, waited and prayed to feel ‘who loved me, and gave himself for me,’” and that on Pentecost Sunday, four days later (May 21) Charles’s prayer was answered as assured faith dawned in his heart. That Luther on justification, in Charles’s case his exposition on Galatians, served as midwife in the conversion of both Wesleys is a most striking thing.

Seven editions in the seventeenth century, eight in the eighteenth, and thirteen in the nineteenth, following the first English printing in 1575, show how widely this classic production by Martin Luther has been appreciated in the past. Its renewed availability, with length reduced but vitamin content undiminished, is cause for rejoicing. Why? Start reading it, I beg, and very soon you will know!

J. I. Packer

Foreword to the First English Edition

This book being brought to me to peruse and consider, I thought it my part not only to allow it to be printed, but also to commend it to the reader as a treatise most strengthening to all afflicted consciences exercised in the school of Christ. The author felt what he spoke and had experience of what he wrote, and so was able more vividly to express both the attacks and the rescuing, the order of battle and the way of victory. Satan is the enemy; the victory is solely by faith in Christ, as John records. If Christ justifies us, who can condemn us, as St. Paul says (see Romans 8:31). The author has greatly illuminated this most necessary doctrine in his commentary, which, having been written in Latin, has been faithfully translated into our language by certain godly, learned men for the great benefit of all who diligently read it with humble hearts. Some began it according to such skill as they had. Others helped continue it so that such a worthy thing should not be marred. They refuse to be named, seeking neither their own gain nor glory, but thinking it their happiness if by any means they may relieve afflicted minds and do good to the church of Christ, yielding all glory to God, to whom all glory is due.

Edwin Sandys, Bishop of London April 28, 1575

Preface by Martin Luther

I myself can hardly believe that I was so verbose as this book shows when I publicly expounded this letter of St. Paul to the Galatians. However, I can see that all the thoughts that I find in this treatise are mine, so I must confess that I uttered all of them, or perhaps more than all of them. The one article of faith that I have most at heart is the faith of Christ. All my studies in divinity, by day and night, continually go back and forth from him, by him, and to him. Yet I could not attain anything near the height, breadth, and depth of such high and inestimable wisdom; there appear here only some poor and bare beginnings, fragments, as it were. Therefore, I am ashamed that such a barren and simple commentary should be published on such a worthy apostle and chosen instrument of God.

But then again, I consider the infinite and horrible profanation and abomination that has always raged in the church of God, and still today continues to rage against this one sure foundation, our justification (that is to say, that it is not by ourselves, nor by our works, which are less than ourselves, but by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that we are redeemed from sin, death, the devil, and are made to share eternal life), and I am compelled to throw away all shame and to be bold above measure.

In paradise, Satan shook this rock of faith (Genesis 3:5) when he persuaded our first ancestors that they could be like God by their own wisdom and power, abandoning true faith in God, who had given them life and promised to continue it. After a while this liar and murderer, true to form, stirred up brother to murder brother, for no other reason than that his godly brother had offered by faith a more excellent sacrifice, and he offered up his own works without faith, which had not pleased God (see Genesis 4). There followed a most intolerable persecution of Satan against this faith by Cain’s sons, until God had to purge the world by means of the Flood, defending Noah, the preacher of righteousness. Even so, Satan continued his work in Noah’s third son, Ham, and in innumerable others. After this, the whole world grew mad against this faith (as St. Paul says in Acts 14:1516), inventing an infinite number of idols and strange religions by which people went their own way, trusting in works to please gods and goddesses without Christ’s help and seeking by their own works to redeem themselves from evils and sins. The example and writings of all nations demonstrate this.

But these are nothing compared with Israel, the people of God, who not only had the sure promise of the patriarchs and afterwards the law given to them by God himself through his angels, but also had the constant witness of the prophets’ words, miracles, and example. Even so, Satan (that is, the outrageous opinion they had of their own righteousness) so dominated them that they later killed all the prophets, and even Christ himself, the Son of God, their promised Messiah. The reason was that these prophets had taught that people are accepted into God’s favor by grace alone, and not by their own righteousness. The devil and the world have always taught that we do not want to appear to do evil, but that whatever we do, God must allow it, and all his prophets must consent to it or die. Abel shall die, but Cain shall flourish.

But in the Gentile church it was and is even worse, so that the madness of the Jewish synagogue pales in comparison. As St. Paul puts it, they did not understand it, “for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8). But the Gentile church has received and acknowledged Christ to be the Son of God who has been made our righteousness, and the church publicly sings, reads, and teaches this.

I am content to allow this too-lengthy commentary to be published in order to stir up all the brothers in Christ against the sleights and malice of Satan, which these days are turned into such madness against the wholesome knowledge of Christ revealed and risen. Hitherto, people have seemed to be possessed with devils, but now the devils themselves seem to be possessed with far worse devils—which is a great argument that the enemy of truth and life perceives the day of judgment to be at hand—the horrible day of his destruction, but the day of our redemption; that will be the end of all his tyranny and cruelty. He has reason to be disquieted when his members and powers are so assailed, like a thief or adulterer who, when the morning comes and uncovers his wickedness, is apprehended.

Satan does not rage against the lives and opinions of whoremongers, thieves, murderers, perjurers, rebels against God, and unbelievers. Rather, he gives them peace and quietness; he maintains them in his court, with all sorts of pleasures and delights, and gives them everything they want. In the same way, in the early days of the church, he permitted all the idolatries and false religions of the whole world to be quiet and untouched, and he maintained, defended, and nourished them. It was only the church and religion of Christ that he attacked on every side.

My meditations are published for my brothers, who will either show their thanks to the Lord for my work or else will pardon my weakness and temerity. I would not wish my reflections to be liked or accepted by the wicked, but rather that both they and their god might be more vexed, for I produced these writings (with much labor) only for such as St. Paul wrote this letter to—the troubled, afflicted, vexed, tempted (for only they understand these things)—wretched Galatians in the faith.

Paul’s Argument

St. Paul sets about establishing the doctrine of faith, grace, forgiveness of sins, or Christian righteousness. His purpose is that we may understand exactly the nature of Christian righteousness and its difference from all other kinds of righteousness, for there are various sorts of righteousness. There is a political or civil righteousness, which emperors, princes of the world, philosophers, and lawyers deal with. There is also a ceremonial righteousness, which human traditions teach. This righteousness may be taught without danger by parents and schoolteachers because they do not attribute to it any power to satisfy for sin, to please God, or to deserve grace; but they teach such ceremonies as are necessary simply for the correction of manners and certain observations concerning this life. Besides these, there is another righteousness, called the righteousness of the law or of the Ten Commandments, which Moses teaches. We too teach this, according to the doctrine of faith.

There is yet another righteousness that is above all these—namely, the righteousness of faith, or Christian righteousness, which we must carefully distinguish from the other sorts mentioned above, for they are quite contrary to this righteousness, both because they flow out of the laws of rulers, the traditions of the church, and the commands of God, and also because they consist in our works and may be performed by us either by our natural strength or else by God’s gift. For these kinds of righteousness are also from God’s gift, just as are other good things that we enjoy.

But this most excellent righteousness—that of faith, I mean—which God imputes to us through Christ, without works—is neither political nor ceremonial, nor is it the righteousness of God’s law, nor does it consist in works. It is quite the opposite; that is to say, it is passive, whereas the others are active. We do nothing in this matter; we give nothing to God but simply receive and allow someone else to work in us—that is, God. Therefore, it seems to me that this righteousness of faith, or Christian righteousness, can well be called passive righteousness.

This is a righteousness hidden in a mystery that the world does not know. Even Christians themselves do not thoroughly understand it and can hardly grasp it in their temptations. Therefore, it must be diligently taught and continually practiced. And whoever does not understand this righteousness when afflicted and frightened in conscience must be overthrown, for nothing comforts our conscience so firmly and securely as this passive righteousness.

But human weakness and misery is so great that in the terrors of conscience and danger of death we see nothing but our works, our unworthiness, and the law. And when we are shown our sin, in time we remember the evil of our past life. Then the poor sinner groans with great anguish of spirit and thinks, “Alas, what a dreadful life I have lived! Would to God I might live longer; then I would amend my life.” Thus human reason cannot restrain itself from the sight of this active or working righteousness—that is, our own righteousness; nor can it look up to see the passive or Christian righteousness but relies altogether on the active righteousness—so deeply is this evil rooted in us.

On the other hand, Satan abuses our natural weakness and increases and aggravates these thoughts of ours. Then our poor conscience becomes more troubled, terrified, and confounded, for it is impossible for the human mind to conceive any comfort, or to look only to grace in the feeling and horror of sin, or to constantly reject all argument and reasoning about words. For this is far above human strength and ability, and indeed above the law of God as well. It is true that the law is the most excellent of all things in the world; yet it is not able to quiet a troubled conscience but makes our terrors worse and drives us to desperation—“so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful” (Romans 7:13).

Therefore, the afflicted and troubled conscience has no remedy against desperation and eternal death unless it takes hold of the forgiveness of sins by grace, freely offered in Christ Jesus—that is to say, this passive faith or Christian righteousness. If the conscience can take hold of this, then it may be at rest and boldly say, “I do not seek this active or working righteousness, although I know that I ought to have it, and also to fulfill it. But if I had it and did actually fulfill it, I still could not place my trust in it, nor should I dare to set it against God’s judgment. Thus I abandon all active righteousness, both of my own and of God’s law, and embrace only that passive righteousness that is the righteousness of grace, mercy, and forgiveness of sins. Briefly, I rest only on that righteousness that is the righteousness of Christ and of the Holy Spirit.”

Just as the earth does not generate rain and cannot of itself work to produce it, but receives it by the mere gift of God from above, so this heavenly righteousness is given us by God without our working for or deserving it. See, then, how much the earth is able by itself to do in getting showers of rain to make it fruitful; that much, and no more, are we able to do by our own strength and works in winning this heavenly and eternal righteousness. We shall never be able to attain it unless God himself bestows it on us, imputing it to us by his gift beyond words. The greatest wisdom of Christians, then, is to have nothing to do with the law and works and the whole of active righteousness, especially when the conscience wrestles with God’s judgment. On the other hand, the quintessence of wisdom among those who are not among God’s people is to know and earnestly follow the law and active righteousness.

It is very strange to the world to teach Christians to learn to be ignorant of the law and to live before God as if there were no law. Yet unless you are ignorant of the law and convinced in your heart that there is now no law nor wrath of God, but altogether grace and mercy for Christ’s sake, you cannot be saved, for knowledge of sin comes through the law. On the contrary, works and keeping the law must be strictly required in the world, as if there were no promise or grace. This is because of the stubborn, proud, and hardhearted, before whose eyes nothing must be set but the law, that they may be terrified and humbled, for the law is given to terrify and kill such people and to exercise the old nature, and both the word of grace and that of wrath must be properly taught, as the apostle teaches in 2 Timothy 2.

Here, then, we need a wise and faithful teacher of the Word of God who can moderate the law so that it is kept within bounds. Anyone who teaches that people are justified before God by observing the law goes beyond the law and muddles these two kinds of righteousness, active and passive, and is a poor logician, for he does not explain the law correctly. On the contrary, anyone who sets out the law and works to the old nature, and the promise and forgiveness of sins and God’s mercy to the new nature, interprets the Word well. The old nature must be coupled with the law and works; the spirit, or new nature, must be joined with the promise of God and his mercy.

Therefore, when I see a person who is bruised enough already being oppressed with the law, terrified with sin, and thirsting for comfort, it is time for me to remove the law and active righteousness from his sight and set before him, by the Gospel, the Christian and passive righteousness. This excludes Moses with his law and offers the promise made in Christ, who came for the afflicted and for sinners. Here we are raised up again and acquire hope; here we are no longer under the law but under grace (see Romans 6:14). How is it that we are not under the law? We live according to the new nature, to which the law does not appertain. As Paul says later on, “Christ is the end of the law” (Romans 10:4); since he has come, Moses ceases with his law, circumcision, sacrifices, sabbaths, and indeed all the prophets.

This is how we teach people to distinguish between these two kinds of righteousness, active and passive, so that manners and faith, works and grace, politics and religion should not be confused with each other. Both are necessary, but both must be kept within their rightful place; Christian righteousness belongs to the new nature, and the righteousness of the law belongs to the old nature, which is born of flesh and blood. A burden must be laid on this old nature, as upon an ass; it will press down, and the freedom of the spirit of grace will not be enjoyed unless we first put on the new nature by faith in Christ (though this is not fully done in this life). When we do that, we may enjoy the kingdom and the inestimable gift of grace.

I say this so that no one should think we reject or forbid good works. Those who know nothing but the righteousness of the law may still judge this doctrine that is far above the law; yet it is impossible for unspiritual people to be able to judge it. Of course such people take offense, for they can see no higher than the law. But imagine two worlds, the one heavenly and the other earthly. In these there are two kinds of righteousness, quite separate from each other. The righteousness of the law is earthly and has to do with earthly things, and by it we do good works. But as the earth can only produce fruit if it is first watered and made fertile from above, so by the righteousness of the law, in doing many things we do nothing, and in fulfilling the law we do not fulfill it unless we are first made righteous without any merit or work of ours, by Christian righteousness, which has nothing to do with the righteousness of the law or with the earthly and active righteousness. This righteousness is heavenly—we receive it from heaven, we do not have it of ourselves; it is worked in us by grace and apprehended by faith, and by it we rise above all laws and works. Therefore, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:49, “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven”—that is, the new man in a new world, where there is no law, no sin, no remorse or sting of conscience, no death, but rather perfect joy, righteousness, grace, peace, salvation, and glory.

So then, do we do nothing to obtain this righteousness? No, nothing at all. Perfect righteousness is to do nothing, to hear nothing, to know nothing of the law or of works, but to know and believe only that Christ has gone to the Father and is no longer visible; that he sits in heaven at the right hand of his Father, not as a judge, but is made by God our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption; in short, that he is our high priest, entreating for us and reigning over us and in us by grace. In this heavenly righteousness sin can have no place, for there is no law; and “where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15).

Seeing, then, that sin has no place here, there can be no anguish of conscience, no fear, no heaviness. That is why St. John says, “Anyone born of God does not continue to sin” (1 John 5:18). But if there is any fear or grief of conscience, it is a sign that this righteousness has been withdrawn, that grace is hidden, and that Christ is darkened and out of sight. But where Christ is truly visible, there must be full and perfect joy in the Lord, and the conscience is at peace and thinks, “Although I am a sinner by the law and under the condemnation of the law, I still do not despair and do not die, because Christ lives, and he is my righteousness and my everlasting life.” In that righteousness and life I have no sin, no fear, no sting of conscience, no worry about death. I am indeed a sinner, as far as this present life and righteousness are concerned, as I am a child of Adam; where the law accuses me, death reigns over me and wants to ultimately devour me. But I have another righteousness and life above this life—Christ the Son of God, who knows no sin or death but is righteousness and eternal life. By him, this body of mine that is dead will be raised up again and delivered from the bondage of the law and sin and will be sanctified together with my spirit.

So both these continue while we live here. The flesh is accused, tempted, oppressed with heaviness and sorrow, bruised by the active righteousness of the law; but the spirit reigns and is saved by this passive and Christian righteousness, because it knows that it has a Lord in heaven, at the right hand of his Father, who has abolished the law, sin, and death and has trodden underfoot all evils, led them captive, and triumphed over them in himself (Colossians 2:15).

Therefore, St. Paul, in this letter, teaches us in order to comfort us and to confirm us in the perfect knowledge of this most Christian and excellent righteousness, for once we lose our belief in justification, all true Christian doctrine is lost. There is no middle ground between the righteousness of the law and Christian righteousness. Anyone who strays from Christian righteousness must fall into the righteousness of the law; in other words, when people lose Christ, they slip back into reliance on their own works.

That is why we so earnestly repeat this doctrine of faith or Christian righteousness, so that it may be continually exercised and may be plainly distinguished from the active righteousness of the law. Otherwise we should never be able to believe the true theology. The church is founded on, and consists in, this doctrine alone. So if we want to teach and lead other people, we need to pay careful attention to these matters and to note well this distinction between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of Christ. This is easy to describe in words but hard to put into practice, for when we are near death or in other agonies of conscience these two sorts of righteousness come closer together than we would wish. So I warn you, especially those of you who will become teachers and guides of consciences, to exercise yourselves continually by study, reading, meditation on the Word, and prayer, so that in time of temptation you may be able to instruct and strengthen both your own conscience and that of other people, and to bring them from the law to grace, from active and working righteousness to passive and received righteousness, from Moses to Christ. When we are afflicted, and our conscience suffers conflict, the devil makes us afraid by the law and accuses us with the guilt of sin, our wicked past life, God’s wrath and judgment, hell, and eternal death. Thus he drives us to desperation, makes us bond-slaves to himself, and plucks us from Christ. Furthermore, he brings against us those passages of the Gospel in which Christ himself requires works of us and clearly threatens those who do not perform them with damnation. If we are unable to judge between these two kinds of righteousness—if we do not by faith take hold of Christ as he sits at God’s right hand, interceding with the Father for us wretched sinners, then we are under the law and not under grace, and Christ is no more a Saviour, but a lawgiver. Then there will be no more salvation for us, but a certain desperation and everlasting death, unless repentance follows.

Let us then be careful to learn to discriminate between these two kinds of righteousness, so that we may know how far we should obey the law. We have already seen that for a Christian the law ought to have dominion only over the flesh. When it is so, the law is kept within bounds. But if it presumes to creep into your conscience and tries to reign there, you must make the right distinction. Give no more to the law than is right, but say, “You want to climb up into the kingdom of my conscience, do you, Law? You want to reign over it and reprove sin and take away the joy I have by faith in Christ and drive me to desperation? Keep within your bounds, and exercise your power over the flesh, but do not touch my conscience. By the Gospel I am called to share righteousness and everlasting life. I am called to Christ’s kingdom, where my conscience is at rest and there is no law, but rather forgiveness of sins, peace, quietness, joy, health, and everlasting life. Do not trouble me in these matters, for I will not let an intolerable tyrant like you reign in my conscience, which is the temple of Christ, the Son of God. He is the King of righteousness and peace, my sweet Saviour and Mediator; he will keep my conscience joyful and quiet in the sound, pure doctrine of the Gospel and in the knowledge of Christian and heavenly righteousness.”

When I have this righteousness reigning in my heart, I descend from heaven like the rain that makes the earth fertile. That is to say, I come out into another kingdom, and I do good works whenever I have a chance. If I am a minister of the Word, I preach, I comfort the brokenhearted, I administer the sacraments. If I am a householder, I am in charge of my house and my family, and I bring up my children in the knowledge and fear of God. If I am a magistrate, I work hard at the job that heaven has given me. If I am a servant, I do my master’s business faithfully. Whoever is convinced that Christ is his righteousness works cheerfully and well in his vocation, and also submits through love to the magistrates and their laws even if they are severe and cruel. If necessary, he will submit to all manner of burdens and dangers in this present life, because he knows that this is God’s will and that this obedience pleases him.

That is Paul’s argument. He sets himself against the false teachers who had obscured this righteousness of faith among the Galatians, and he defends and commends his own authority and office.

Chapter 1The Occasion of the Letter

Paul had planted the pure teaching of the Gospel among the Galatians, and with it the righteousness of faith. But after he left, certain false teachers crept in who overthrew all that he had taught. The devil cannot but argue furiously against the true teaching and cannot rest as long as he sees any spark of it remaining. We too, simply because we preach the Gospel, suffer from the world, the devil, and his ministers all the mischief they can work against us on every hand.

The Gospel is a doctrine that teaches a far higher matter than the wisdom, righteousness, and religion of the world; it teaches free forgiveness of sins through Christ. But the world prefers its own things instead of the Creator and tries to get rid of sin, be delivered from death, and earn everlasting life in its own way. The Gospel condemns this. On the other hand, the world cannot abide things being condemned when it values them highly and likes them best; and therefore it claims that the Gospel is a seditious doctrine, full of errors, that it overthrows governments, countries, and empires, and therefore offends against God and the emperor, that it abolishes laws, corrupts good manners, and sets everybody free to do what they want. Therefore, with what appears to be holy and righteous zeal, the world persecutes this doctrine and abhors its teachers and adherents as the greatest plague on earth.

Moreover, preaching true doctrine overthrows the devil, destroys his kingdom, and wrests out of his hand the law, sin, and death (by which he has subjugated all mankind). In short, the devil’s prisoners are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and liberty. Will the devil permit all this? Will the father of lies not use all his force and ingenuity to obscure, corrupt, and utterly root out this doctrine of salvation and eternal life? Indeed, St. Paul complains in this and all his other letters that the devil shows himself skillful at this.

The Gospel is a doctrine that condemns all sorts of human righteousness and preaches the sole righteousness of Christ. To those who accept this, it brings peace of conscience and all good things; yet the world hates and persecutes it bitterly.

I have already said that the reason Paul wrote this letter was that after he left, false teachers among the Galatians destroyed what he had built with much hard work. These false apostles were Pharisees—men of authority, highly esteemed—who boasted that they belonged to the chosen people, that they were Abraham’s descendants (see Romans 9:4-6), that they had the promises and the fathers, and, finally, that they were ministers of Christ and scholars of the apostles, with whom they had been conversant and whose miracles they had seen. Perhaps they had even performed some miracles themselves, for Christ says that the wicked do perform miracles (see Matthew 7:22).

Moreover, these false apostles defaced St. Paul’s authority, saying, “Why do you rate Paul so highly? Why do you have him in such great reverence? He was merely the last of all those who were converted to Christ. But we are the disciples of the apostles; we knew them well. We saw Christ performing miracles and heard him preach. Paul came after us and is inferior to us. It would be impossible for God to allow us to go wrong when we belong to his holy people, are the ministers of Christ, and have received the Holy Spirit. Further, there are many of us, and Paul is on his own and neither knows the apostles nor has seen Christ. Indeed, for a long time he persecuted the church of Christ. Do you think God would allow so many churches to be deceived, just for Paul’s sake?”

When such persuasive men come into a country or city, people soon admire them, and those men deceive not only the simple but also the learned with their apparent godliness. They even deceive people who seem to be pretty well established in the faith. Thus Paul lost his authority among the Galatians, and his doctrine was brought under suspicion.

Against this boasting of the false apostles, Paul firmly asserts his apostolic authority. Although he does not do anything like it elsewhere, he will not give way to anyone, even to the apostles themselves, much less to any of their followers. To stop these men’s pharisaical pride and shameless boldness, he mentions what happened at Antioch, where he withstood Peter himself. He ignores any possible offense and plainly states that he was so bold as to accuse and reprove Peter, the chief of the apostles, who had seen Christ and knew him really well. “I am an apostle,” he says in effect, “and was not afraid to chide the pillar of all the rest.”

So in the first two chapters Paul sets out his calling, his office, and his Gospel, affirming that he had not received it from any human being, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. He also says that if he, or even an angel from heaven, should bring any other Gospel than that which he has preached, he should be condemned (1:8).

The Certainty of the Calling

What does Paul mean by this boasting? The answer is that every minister of God’s Word should be sure of his calling, so that he may preach the Gospel as one who is called and sent. A royal ambassador boasts that he does not come as a private person but as the king’s ambassador, and he is honored because of this dignity. In the same way, the preacher of the Gospel should be certain that his calling is from God, and it is expedient that he should follow Paul’s example and give honor to this calling, so that he may win credit and authority among the people. This is a necessary kind of glorying, because he is glorying not in himself but in the king who sent him, whose authority he wants to be honored.

Similarly, when Paul commends his calling so highly, he is not seeking praise for himself but exalts his ministry with a necessary and holy pride. As he says in Romans 11, “Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry” (verse 13); that is, “I want people to receive me not as Paul of Tarsus but as Paul the apostle or an ambassador of Jesus Christ.” He has to do this in order to maintain his authority, so that the people are more willing to listen to him. In Paul they hear Christ himself, and God the Father also, and they should reverently receive Christ and listen to his messengers.

This is a notable passage, therefore, for Paul is boasting of his calling, thus despising all others. If a person in a worldly way despised everyone else, he would be a fool and give great offense. But this kind of boasting is necessary and refers not to Paul’s glory but to God’s. It is by such boasting that the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving are offered to God, as it tells the world about his name, grace, and mercy.

1. Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man. Right at the beginning, he mentions those false teachers who boasted they were the apostles’ disciples and were sent by them, but who despised Paul as someone who was neither of the apostles’ school nor sent by anyone to preach the Gospel, but came in some other way and thrust himself into that office on his own. Paul defends his calling against these people, saying in effect, “My calling seems base to your preachers, but those who have come to you have either entered by themselves, being not called, or else were called by other people. But my calling is not a human calling but is above any calling that can be made by the apostles, for it is from Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.

From men. Those who call and thrust themselves in when neither God nor man calls or sends them speak on their own.

By man. I understand this to mean those who have a divine calling but one that comes by means of man. God calls people in two ways: with means and without means. He calls them to the ministry of his Word today not directly, but through other, human means. But the apostles were called directly by Christ himself, just as the prophets in the Old Testament were called by God himself. Therefore, when Paul says not from men nor by man, he is beating down the false apostles. This is like saying, “I will not waste time on any of these matters, nor should you. I am called and sent by Jesus Christ himself without any intermediary, and in every way my calling is the same as that of the apostles. I am indeed an apostle.”

Elsewhere, Paul makes a distinction between apostleship and other ranks, as in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11, where he says that God “gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists,” and so on, putting apostles first. People are properly called apostles when they are sent directly by God himself, without any of the usual intermediaries.

Thus Matthias was called only by God (Acts 1:23-26), for when the other apostles had appointed two, they did not dare choose between them, but cast lots and prayed that God would show which of them he wanted. Since the man was going to be an apostle, it was right that he should be called by God. In the same way Paul was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). This is why the apostles are also called saints, for they are sure of their calling and doctrine and have continued faithful in their office. None of them became a castaway apart from Judas, because their calling was holy.

This is Paul’s first assault on the false apostles. Calling is not to be despised, then, for it is not enough for someone to have the Word and pure doctrine—they must also be assured of their calling. Anyone who enters without this assurance will only kill and destroy. God never prospers the labor of those who are not called. Even if they teach some things that are good and useful, they do not edify. Those who have a certain and holy calling must sustain many great conflicts, as must those whose doctrine is pure and sound, so that they may constantly remain in their lawful calling, against the infinite and continual assaults of the devil and the rage of the world.

This is our comfort, then, if we are in the ministry of the Word—that we have an office that is heavenly and holy. We are legitimately called to it and will triumph against the gates of Hades. On the other hand, it is a horrible thing when the conscience says, “You have done this without any legitimate calling.” Such terror shakes the person who is not called that he would prefer never to have heard the Word that he teaches, for by his disobedience he makes all his works evil, however “good” they are, so that his greatest works become his greatest sins.

We see then how good and necessary this boasting and glorifying of our ministry is. In the past, when I was only a young theologian, I thought Paul was unwise to glory so often in his calling in his letters; but I did not understand his purpose, for I did not know that the ministry of God’s Word was so important. Indeed, I knew nothing of the doctrine of faith and a true conscience, for there was no certainty taught then in the universities or the churches, but everything was full of the scholastic subtleties, and no one could understand the dignity and power of this holy and spiritual boasting about the true and legitimate calling that serves, first, to glorify God and, second, to advance our office. This godly boasting also tends to the salvation of ourselves and the people. By our boasting, we do not seek the world’s esteem or human praise or money or pleasures or favor; but we are in a divine calling and are doing God’s work, and the people greatly need to be assured of our calling, so that they may know that our words are the Word of God, and thus we proudly boast of it. This is not vanity but a most holy pride against the devil and the world, and humility before God too.

And God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Paul is here so inflamed with zeal that he cannot wait until he comes to the matter itself but immediately, in the very title, bursts out and utters what is in his heart. His intention in this letter is to deal with the righteousness that comes by faith and to defend it, and to beat down the law and the righteousness that comes by works. He is full of such thoughts, and this great burning fire of his heart cannot be hidden; it will not let him hold his tongue. Therefore, he thought it insufficient to say that he was an apostle who was sent . . . by Jesus Christ but also added and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.

It looks as if these words are not necessary, but because Paul is speaking out of the abundance of his heart, his mind burns with desire to set out, right at the start of his letter, the unsearchable riches of Christ and to preach the righteousness of God, by which came the resurrection of Jesus. Christ, who lives and has risen again, speaks through Paul and moves him to speak like this. So it is not without reason that the apostle adds these words. This is like saying, “I have to deal with Satan and with those vipers, Satan’s instruments, who try to rob me of the righteousness of Christ, who was raised from the dead by God the Father. By him alone we are made righteous and will also be raised on the last day from death to everlasting life. But those who try to overthrow the righteousness of Christ like this are resisting the Father and the Son and the work of them both.”

Thus, right at the beginning Paul bursts out into the whole subject that he is dealing with in this letter. Christ rose again to make us righteous, and in so doing he has overcome the law, sin, death, and hell (Romans 4:24-25). Christ’s victory, then, is the overcoming of the law, sin, our flesh, the world, the devil, death, hell, and all evils. This victory he has given to us. So, although these tyrants, our enemies, accuse us and make us afraid, they cannot drive us to despair or condemn us, for Christ, whom God the Father has raised from the dead, is our righteousness and victory. Therefore, “thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Amen!

But notice how fitting what Paul says here is. He does not say this is through God who has made heaven and earth, who is Lord of angels, who commanded Abraham to leave his own country, who sent Moses to Pharaoh, who brought Israel out of Egypt—as the false apostles did when they boasted of the God of their fathers, the Creator, maintainer, and preserver of all things, working wonders among his people. Rather, Paul had something else in his heart—namely, the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, he uses words that point toward this purpose. You see, then, how fervent he is about this, trying to establish and maintain it against the whole kingdom of hell, the power and wisdom of the world, and the devil and his apostles.

2. And all the brothers with me. Saying this helps refute the false apostles, for all the apostle’s arguments tend to advance and magnify his ministry, and conversely to discredit theirs. This is like saying, “Although it is enough for me to have been sent as an apostle by a divine calling through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who has raised him from the dead, I also add something more than is necessary. So that I should not be alone, I add all the brothers who though not apostles are fellow soldiers. They are writing this letter as well as I, and they bear witness with me that my doctrine is true and godly. So we are sure that Christ is with us and speaks among us and in our church. As for the false apostles, they are sent either from men or by man, but I am sent by God the Father and by Jesus Christ, who is our life and resurrection (John 11:25). My other brothers are sent from God, not by man—that is, by me. Therefore, lest the false apostles say I am only setting myself against them proudly, I have my brothers with me, who are all of one mind, as faithful witnesses who think, write, and teach the very same thing that I do.”

To the churches in Galatia. Paul had preached the Gospel throughout all Galatia, and although he had not wholly converted that area to Christ, he had begun many churches in it, into which the false apostles, Satan’s ministers, had crept. Similarly today false prophets do not come to places where the adversaries of the Gospel reign, but where there are Christians and good people who love the Gospel. In Paul’s day they did not endanger themselves by coming to Jerusalem to see Caiaphas, or to Rome to speak with the emperor, or to other places where no one had preached before, as Paul and the other apostles did. They came to Galatia, which had already been won to Christ by Paul’s labor, and to Asia, Corinth, and other such places where there were good people professing the name of Christ, believers who were not persecuting anyone but suffering all things quietly. There the enemies of Christ’s cross could live in great security and without any persecution.

Godly teachers not only suffer persecution by the wicked and unthankful world and have to go through great pain in their labor of planting churches. They are also compelled to suffer when something they taught purely is quickly overthrown by spirits who, with their fanciful ideas, afterwards reign and rule over the work the preachers sought to do. Godly ministers are grieved more by this than by any persecution by tyrants. Therefore, people should not be ministers of the Gospel if they are not content to be despised like this or if they are loath to bear reproach; otherwise let them hand over their charge to others.

We find the same to be true today. We are held in miserable contempt, being vexed outwardly by tyrants and inwardly by those whom we have restored to liberty through the Gospel, and also by false brothers. But this is our comfort and glory: we have been called by God, we have a promise of everlasting life, and we look for the reward that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived” (1 Corinthians 2:9). “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:4). In this world, too, Christ will not let us perish from hunger.

Jerome raises a great question. Why does Paul say churches when they were not churches? Jerome says it is because Paul is writing to the Galatians who had turned back from Christ and from grace, to Moses and the law. To this I answer that when Paul calls them the churches in Galatia he is putting the part for the whole, which is common in the Scriptures. Similarly, when Paul is writing to the Corinthians, he rejoices that the grace of God had been given to them in Christ, enriching them in all their speaking and knowledge (1 Corinthians 1:5); yet many of them had been misled by false apostles and did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.

Although the Galatians had fallen away from Paul’s teaching, there remained among them baptism, the Word, and the name of Christ. There were also some good people who had not rebelled, who had a right opinion of the Word and sacraments and used them properly. Moreover, these things could not be defiled by those who had rebelled. Baptism, the Gospel, and other things are not made unholy when many people are polluted and unholy and have an evil opinion of them; they remain holy and the same as they were, whether they are among the godly or the ungodly (by whom they can be neither made holy nor polluted). By our good or evil behavior, these things are polluted or made holy in the sight of the heathen, but not before God. Therefore, wherever the substance of the Word and sacraments remains, there is the holy church, although antichrist may reign there. Scripture witnesses that antichrist does not sit in a stable of fiends or in a pigsty or in a company of unbelievers, but in the highest and holiest place of all, namely, in God’s temple. Therefore, although spiritual tyrants reign, there must be a temple of God, and it must be preserved under them. The church is universal throughout the whole world, wherever the Gospel of God and the sacraments are. Jews, Muslims, and other vain spirits are not the church; they fight against these things and deny them.

Now follows Paul’s greeting.

3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you are not ignorant of the meaning of grace and peace, seeing that these terms are common in Paul and are not now obscure or unknown.

We have undertaken to explain this letter not because it is necessary or because there is anything very hard in it, but so our consciences may be strengthened against heresies yet to come, and so we will keep on repeating things that at other times we teach, preach, sing, and write about, for if we neglect the truth of justification, we lose everything. Therefore, it is most necessary that we teach and repeat this above everything else. We cannot have justification urged upon us too often or too much. Even if we learn it and understand it well, none of us grasps it perfectly or believes it with his whole heart. Our flesh is so frail and is often disobedient to the Spirit.

The apostle’s greeting is strange to the world and was never heard of before the preaching of the Gospel. These two words, grace and peace, include all that belong to Christianity. Grace releases sin, and peace