CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
was healg, ho much mre does that most tender spiritual touch, nay,
absorpti of the word, communcate to the soul all that belongs to th
word! In this way therefore the soul, through faith alone, without works,
is from the word of God justified, sanctified, endued with truth, peace,
and liberty, and filled ful with every good thing, and is truly made th
child of God, as it is said, "To them gave He por to becom the sns
of God, even to them that believe o His name" (John i. 12).
>From all this it is easy to understand why faith has such great
poer, and why no good works, nr even all good works put together,
can copare with it, since no work can cleave to the word of God or be
i the soul. Faith alone and the word reign i it; and such as is the word,
such i the soul made by it, just as iron exposed to fire glo like fire, on
account of its union with the fire. It is clear then that to a Christian man
s faith suffices for everythg, and that he has no need of works for
justifiation. But if he has no need of wrks, neither has he need of the
aw; and if he has no need of the law, he is certainly free from the law,
and the sayig i true, "The law is nt made for a righteous man" (1 Ti
i. 9). This is that Christian liberty, our faith, the effect of whh is, not
that we should be careles or lad a bad life, but that no one should
ned the law or works for justifiation and salvation.
Let us conder this as the first virtue of faith; and let us look al to
the scond. This also is an office of faith: that it honours with the utmt
veneratio and the hight reputatio Hi in whom it believes,
inasuch as it hods Hi to be truthful and wrthy of belief. For there is
n honour like that reputation of truth and righteousness with whic we
honour Hi in whom w believe. What higher credit can we attribute to
any on than truth and righteousness, and absolute goodness? On the
thr hand, it is the greatest insult to brand any on with the reputation
of falsehood and unrighteusness, or to suspect him of these, as we do
en we disbelieve him.
Thus the soul, i firmly believig the promises of God, holds Hi to
be true and righteous; and it can attribute to God no higher glory than
the credit of being so. The highest worship of God i to ascribe to Hi
truth, righteousns, and whatever qualities we must ascribe to one in
18