From Galatians 5:16 to the conclusion of the letter, St. Paul messes up the perfect Lutheran \u201cLaw\/Gospel\u201d sermon. It starts out well. First, he hammers the circumcision crowd with the law, charging them with blasphemy, mangling the Scriptures to make Jesus a second Moses who demands the worship of works, not faith. He berates the whole church for falling under the deceptive spell of the law and its false apostles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, Paul, with a surgeon\u2019s precision, separates and analyzes the two great doctrines of faith and the law. It\u2019s not a recent invention. Abraham was justified by faith, not the law. His true children are born of faith in the promise. Obedience to circumcision saves no one in God\u2019s sight. The false apostles would boast in the Galatians obedience to the law, in their number of their severed foreskins in other words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Far be it in Paul to boast in their obedience to a law that proved to heavy for the Jews to bear. The only cause for boasting is the cross, Christ\u2019s sacrifice that reconciles the world to God. In the cross and by faith in its fruit is there freedom from the law and its impossible demands. St. Paul concludes his teaching on the righteousness of faith with a flourish, \u201cI wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There it is. The great flourish and finale on justification by faith alone. Except, much to the chagrin of the Lutherans, St. Paul continues for another 31 verses speaking about this like\u2026 good works and what it means to live a righteous life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Has St. Paul conceded the argument? Have works finally won the contest against faith alone? Doesn\u2019t our Synod\u2019s illustrious founder, C.F.W. Walther in magnum opus \u201cThe Proper Distinction of Law and Gospel\u201d say in Thesis VII, \u201cThe Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is preached before the Law\u201d? He did indeed. But we\u2019re not talking about a righteousness coerced out of people from the thought that if they don\u2019t do it, God will never be pleased with them. That\u2019s the Law as Moses preaches it. Rather St. Paul is talking about the living righteousness that flows from faith. It\u2019s not coerced out of our bodies like you might drag a goat out of a pen. Rather, from the freedom of faith, as the gift of the Holy Spirit, you do the \u201cFruits of the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walther says this in his Thirty Seventh evening lecture on the proper Distinction, \u201cAfter a long season of sluggishness and lukewarmness, during which you begin to hate yourself because you saw no way to change your condition, you happen to hear a real Gospel sermon, and you leave the church a changed man and rejoice in the fact that you may believe and are a child of God. You suddenly become aware of the fact that it is not difficult to walk in the way of God\u2019s commandments; you seem to walk in it of your own accord. How foolish, then, is a preacher who thinks that conditions in his congregation will improve if he thunders at his people with the Law and paints hell and damnation for them.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n St. Paul doesn\u2019t talk about sacrifices of obedience that justifies. He speaks about the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in you. You, in your sanctification, are to \u201cwalk by the Spirit.\u201d You have come to understand the works of the flesh contrary to the commandments; \u201csexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.\u201d You\u2019ve also come to understand faith as the Spirit\u2019s gift. Knowing the difference between the lawlessness of sin and the joy of faith, you take a better path than the one first promised by Moses. Free from the law, out from under its accusation, you bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against these, there is no Law. It\u2019s the fruit of faith and a gift of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t be surprised that the law remains. Jesus says, \u201cI have not come to abolish the law\u2026 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished\u201d (Matt. 5:17, 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The difference between the law that kills and the freedom of the Spirit\u2019s fruits is faith. Only the Christian can safely handle the law. Only the Christian can bear the fruits of the Spirit. The most virtuous pagan can\u2019t. He doesn\u2019t know the justification of the sinner by faith. He hasn\u2019t abandoned the self-righteousness of the law. But you have faith, the Holy Spirit, and Christ dwelling in your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear saints, \u201cIf we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n