My Only Hope.
In 1531 Luther lectured for the second time on the Epistle to the Galatians, the great polemical writing of St. Paul in which he attacks an understanding of Christianity as a religion of what man does...Luther wrote a preface acknowledging that the content of this commentary were his thoughts and said, 'For in my heart there rules this one doctrine, namely, faith in Christ. From it, through it, and to it all my theological thought flows and returns, day and night'.
He defines justification thus: 'that we are redeemed from sin, death, and the devil and endowed with eternal life, not through ourselves and certainly not through our works, which are even less than we are ourselves, but through the help of Another, the only Son of God, Jesus Christ'.
Justification is a matter of life and death. Negatively it means to be freed from sin, death, and the devil, free from the bondage of evil, free from the consequences of evil, death, and eternal damnation, and positively that we receive eternal life. In another passage in this commentary, Luther defines justification in a way that brings out some other nuances: 'But the doctrine of justification is this, that we are pronounced righteous and are saved solely by faith in Christ, and without works'.
Justification is that we are pronounced righteous or acquitted. Here Luther follows St. Paul in the way he uses legal language to describe how man is saved. God pronounces man righteous, as a judge gives the verdict. The difference is that an earthly judge has to acquit the innocent and to condemn the guilty. He has to judge according to the defendant's actions, what he has done. God does it differently. He does not judge us according to our deeds, but He pronounces us innocent, even though we are according to our actions guilty. A human judge searches for innocence in the accused. God finds only guilt but imputes to man Christ's righteousness.
This legal language safeguards that the reason for our justification is not something we have done, do, or will do, but solely what Christ has accomplished on the cross. It teaches us to look outside of us for salvation and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and His righteousness during our life and never ever trust that we are pleasing to God because of what we do, but rather to realize that we are pleasing to God because of Christ.
- Rev. Roland F. Ziegler
He defines justification thus: 'that we are redeemed from sin, death, and the devil and endowed with eternal life, not through ourselves and certainly not through our works, which are even less than we are ourselves, but through the help of Another, the only Son of God, Jesus Christ'.
Justification is a matter of life and death. Negatively it means to be freed from sin, death, and the devil, free from the bondage of evil, free from the consequences of evil, death, and eternal damnation, and positively that we receive eternal life. In another passage in this commentary, Luther defines justification in a way that brings out some other nuances: 'But the doctrine of justification is this, that we are pronounced righteous and are saved solely by faith in Christ, and without works'.
Justification is that we are pronounced righteous or acquitted. Here Luther follows St. Paul in the way he uses legal language to describe how man is saved. God pronounces man righteous, as a judge gives the verdict. The difference is that an earthly judge has to acquit the innocent and to condemn the guilty. He has to judge according to the defendant's actions, what he has done. God does it differently. He does not judge us according to our deeds, but He pronounces us innocent, even though we are according to our actions guilty. A human judge searches for innocence in the accused. God finds only guilt but imputes to man Christ's righteousness.
This legal language safeguards that the reason for our justification is not something we have done, do, or will do, but solely what Christ has accomplished on the cross. It teaches us to look outside of us for salvation and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and His righteousness during our life and never ever trust that we are pleasing to God because of what we do, but rather to realize that we are pleasing to God because of Christ.
- Rev. Roland F. Ziegler
