LUTHER’S
CBT.
Preaching
the Gospel to ourselves
from
his Galatians Commentary
Luther has
said:
“The Holy Spirit knows
that a thing has only such meaning and value for a man as he assigns to
it in his thoughts.”
The thoughts
we use to frame our experience of the world are all important. Suffering could either be a
catastrophic blow or the opportunity to know Christ and fellowship more
deeply in His sufferings. My sins
could cause a ‘spiritual sulk’ and extended dry-ness or a deeper
appreciation of the blood of Christ and His cleansing. It all depends on the meaning I assign
to these things in my thoughts.
Luther’s
Galatians commentary puts this idea into practice. Not only is the truth of the gospel
proclaimed but the Christian is exhorted to speak this truth again and
again into the deepest recesses of the heart. When the truth of the gospel shapes our thinking more
fully, then we will be able to stand up against the devil’s accusations.
Here are
extracts from Luther’s Galatians. (The verses under discussion are
in brackets at the end of each comment):
The article
of justification must be sounded in our ears incessantly because the
frailty of our flesh will not permit us to take hold of it perfectly and
to believe it with all our heart.
(1:3)
You will
readily grant that Christ gave Himself for the sins of Peter, Paul, and
others who were worthy of such grace. But feeling low, you find it hard
to believe that Christ gave Himself for your sins. Our feelings shy at a
personal application of the pronoun “our,” and we refuse to have anything
to do with God until we have made ourselves worthy by good deeds.
This
attitude springs from a false conception of sin, the conception that sin
is a small matter, easily taken care of by good works; that we must
present ourselves unto God with a good conscience; that we must feel no
sin before we may feel that Christ was given for our sins. This attitude
is universal and particularly developed in those who consider themselves
better than others. Such readily confess that they are frequent sinners,
but they regard their sins as of no such importance that they cannot
easily be dissolved by some good action, or that they may not appear
before the tribunal of Christ and demand the reward of eternal life for
their righteousness. Meantime they pretend great humility and acknowledge
a certain degree of sinfulness for which they soulfully join in the
publican’s prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” But the real
significance and comfort of the words “for our sins” is lost upon them.
The genius of Christianity takes the words of Paul “who gave himself for
our sins” as true and efficacious. We are not to look upon our sins as
insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we are not to regard them as so
terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given,
not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for mountainous sins; not for one or two,
but for all; not for sins that can be discarded, but for sins that are
stubbornly ingrained. Practice this knowledge and fortify yourself
against despair, particularly in the last hour, when the memory of past
sins assails the conscience. Say with confidence: “Christ, the Son of
God, was given not for the righteous, but for sinners. If I had no sin I
should not need Christ. No, Satan, you cannot delude me into thinking I
am holy. The truth is, I am all sin. My sins are not imaginary
transgressions, but sins against the first table, unbelief, doubt,
despair, contempt, hatred, ignorance of God, ingratitude towards Him,
misuse of His name, neglect of His Word, etc.; and sins against the
second table, dishonor of parents, disobedience of government, coveting
of another’s possessions, etc. Granted that I have not committed murder,
adultery, theft, and similar sins in deed, nevertheless I have committed
them in the heart, and therefore I am a transgressor of all the
commandments of God.
“Because my
transgressions are multiplied and my own efforts at self-justification
rather a hindrance than a furtherance, therefore Christ the Son of God
gave Himself into death for my sins.” To believe this is to have eternal
life.
Let us equip
ourselves against the accusations of Satan with this and similar passages
of Holy Scripture. If he says, “Thou shalt be damned,” you tell him: “No,
for I fly to Christ who gave Himself for my sins. In accusing me of being
a damnable sinner, you are cutting your own throat, Satan. You are
reminding me of God’s fatherly goodness toward me, that He so loved the
world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. In calling me a sinner,
Satan, you really comfort me above measure.” With such heavenly cunning
we are to meet the devil’s craft and put from us the memory of sin. (1:4)
The article
of justification is fragile. Not in itself, of course, but in us. I know how
quickly a person can forfeit the joy of the Gospel. I know in what
slippery places even those stand who seem to have a good footing in the
matters of faith. In the midst of the conflict when we should be
consoling ourselves with the Gospel, the Law rears up and begins to rage
all over our conscience. I say the Gospel is frail because we are frail.
What makes matters worse is that one-half of ourselves, our own reason,
stands against us. The flesh resists the spirit, or as Paul puts it, “The
flesh lusteth against the Spirit.” Therefore we teach that to know Christ
and to believe in Him is no
achievement of man, but the gift of God. God alone can create and
preserve faith in us. God creates faith in us through the Word. He
increases, strengthens and confirms faith in us through His Word. Hence
the best service that anybody can render God is diligently to hear and
read God’s Word. On the other hand, nothing is more perilous than to be
weary of the Word of God. Thinking he knows enough, a person begins little
by little to despise the Word until he has lost Christ and the Gospel
altogether.
Let every
believer carefully learn the Gospel. Let him continue in humble prayer.
We are molested not by puny foes, but by mighty ones, foes who never grow
tired of warring against us. These, our enemies, are many: Our own flesh,
the world, the Law, sin, death, the wrath and judgment of God, and the
devil himself. (1:12)
When you see
a person squirming in the clutches of the Law, say to him: “Brother, get
things straight. You let the Law talk to your conscience. Make it talk to
your flesh. Wake up, and believe in Jesus Christ, the Conqueror of Law
and sin. Faith in Christ will lift you high above the Law into the heaven
of grace. Though Law and sin remain, they no longer concern you, because
you are dead to the Law and dead to sin.” Blessed is the person who knows
how to use this truth in times of distress. He can talk. He can say: “Mr.
Law, go ahead and accuse me as much as you like. I know I have committed
many sins, and I continue to sin daily. But that does not bother me. You
have got to shout louder, Mr. Law. I am deaf, you know. Talk as much as
you like, I am dead to you. If you want to talk to me about my sins, go
and talk to my flesh. Belabor that, but don’t talk to my conscience. My
conscience is a lady and a queen, and has nothing to do with the likes of
you, because my conscience lives to Christ under another law, a new and
better law, the law of grace.” (2:17)
This
nineteenth verse [of chapter 2] is loaded with consolation. It fortifies
a person against every danger. It allows you to argue like this:
“I confess I
have sinned.”
“Then God
will punish you.”
“No, He will
not do that.”
“Why not?
Does not the Law say so?”
“I have
nothing to do with the Law.”
“How so?”
“I have
another law, the law of liberty.”
“What do you
mean—‘liberty’?”
“The liberty
of Christ, for Christ has made me free from the Law that held me down.
That Law is now in prison itself, held captive by grace and liberty.”
By faith in
Christ a person may gain such sure and sound comfort, that he need not
fear the devil, sin, death, or any evil. “Sir Devil,” he may say, “I am
not afraid of you. I have a Friend whose name is Jesus Christ, in whom I
believe. He has abolished the Law, condemned sin, vanquished death, and
destroyed hell for me. He is bigger than you, Satan. He has licked you,
and holds you down. You cannot hurt me.” This is the faith that overcomes
the devil.
Paul
manhandles the Law. He treats the Law as if it were a thief and a robber.
He treats the Law as contemptible to the conscience, in order that those
who believe in Christ may take courage to defy the Law, and say: “Mr.
Law, I am a sinner. What are you going to do about it?” (2:19)
Paul
explains what constitutes true Christian righteousness. True Christian
righteousness is the righteousness of Christ who lives in us. We must
look away from our own person. Christ and my conscience must become one,
so that I can see nothing else but Christ crucified and raised from the
dead for me. If I keep on looking at myself, I am gone. If we lose sight
of Christ and begin to consider our past, we simply go to pieces. We must
turn our eyes to the brazen serpent, Christ crucified, and believe with
all our heart that He is our righteousness and our life. For Christ, on
whom our eyes are fixed, in whom we live, who lives in us, is Lord over
Law, sin, death, and all evil. (2:20)
Paul has a
peculiar style, a celestial way of speaking. “I live,” he says, “I live
not; I am dead, I am not dead; I am a sinner, I am not a sinner; I have
the Law, I have no Law.” When we look at ourselves we find plenty of sin.
But when we look at Christ, we have no sin. Whenever we separate the
person of Christ from our own person, we live under the Law and not in
Christ; we are condemned by the Law, dead before God.
Faith
connects you so intimately with Christ, that He and you become as it were
one person. As such you may boldly say: “I am now one with Christ.
Therefore Christ’s righteousness, victory, and life are mine.” On the other
hand, Christ may say: “I am that big sinner. His sins and his death are
mine, because he is joined to me, and I to him.” (2:20)
Read the
words “me” and “for me” with great emphasis. Print this “me” with capital
letters in your heart, and do not ever doubt that you belong to the
number of those who are meant by this “me.” Christ did not only love
Peter and Paul. The same love He felt for them He feels for us. If we
cannot deny that we are sinners, we cannot deny that Christ died for our
sins. (2:20)
We comfort
the afflicted sinner in this manner: Brother, you can never be perfect in
this life, but you can be holy. He will say: “How can I be holy when I
feel my sins?” I answer: You feel sin? That is a good sign. To realize
that one is ill is a step, and a very necessary step, toward recovery.
“But how will I get rid of my sin?” he will ask. I answer: See the heavenly Physician,
Christ, who heals the broken-hearted. Do not consult that Quackdoctor,
Reason. Believe in Christ and your sins will be pardoned. His
righteousness will become your righteousness, and your sins will become
His sins.
(3:6)
By faith
alone can we become righteous, for faith invests us with the sinlessness
of Christ. The more fully we believe this, the fuller will be our joy. If
you believe that sin, death, and the curse are void, why, they are null,
zero. Whenever sin and death make you nervous write it down as an
illusion of the devil. There is no sin now, no curse, no death, no devil
because Christ has done away with them. This fact is sure. There is
nothing wrong with the fact. The defect lies in our lack of faith.
In the
Apostolic Creed we confess: “I believe in the holy Christian Church.”
That means, I believe that there is no sin, no curse, no evil in the
Church of God. Faith says: “I believe that.” But if you want to believe
your eyes you will find many shortcomings and offenses in the members of
the holy Church. You see them succumb to temptation, you see them weak in
faith, you see them giving way to anger, envy, and other evil
dispositions. “How can the Church be holy?” you ask. It is with the
Christian Church as it is with the individual Christian. If I examine
myself I find enough unholiness to shock me. But when I look at Christ in
me I find that I am altogether holy. And so it is with the Church. (3:13)
Let us
become expert in the art of transferring our sins, our death, and every
evil from ourselves to Christ; and Christ’s righteousness and blessing
from Christ to ourselves. (3:14)
Accustom
yourself to separate Law and Gospel even in regard to time. When the Law
comes to pay your conscience a visit, say: “Mister Law, you come too
soon. The four hundred and thirty years aren’t up yet. When they are up,
you come again. Won’t you?” (3:17)
The silly
conscience must be educated to this. Talk to your conscience. Say:
“Sister, you are now in jail all right. But you don’t have to stay there
forever. It is written that we are ‘shut up unto faith which should
afterwards be revealed.’ Christ will lead you to freedom. Do not despair
like Cain, Saul, or Judas. They might have gone free if they had called
Christ to their aid. Just take it easy, Sister Conscience. It’s good for
you to be locked up for a while. It will teach you to appreciate Christ.”
(3:23)
When Christ
came He abolished the Law and brought liberty and life to light. This He
continues to do in the hearts of the believers. The Christian has a body
in whose members, as Paul says, sin dwells and wars. I take sin to mean
not only the deed but root, tree, fruit, and all. A Christian may perhaps
not fall into the gross sins of murder, adultery, theft, but he is not
free from impatience, complaints, hatreds, and blasphemy of God. As
carnal lust is strong in a young man, in a man of full age the desire for
glory, and in an old man covetousness, so impatience, doubt, and hatred
of God often prevail in the hearts of sincere Christians. Examples of
these sins may be garnered from the Psalms, Job, Jeremiah, and all the
Sacred Scriptures. Accordingly
each Christian continues to experience in his heart times of the Law and
times of the Gospel. The times of the Law are discernible by heaviness of
heart, by a lively sense of sin, and a feeling of despair brought on by
the Law. These periods of the Law will come again and again as long as we
live. To mention my own case. There are many times when I find fault with
God and am impatient with Him. The wrath and the judgment of God
displease me, my wrath and impatience displease Him. Then is the season
of the Law, when “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh.”
The time of
grace returns when the heart is enlivened by the promise of God’s mercy.
It soliloquizes: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou
disquieted within me? Can you see nothing but law, sin, death, and hell?
Is there no grace, no forgiveness, no joy, peace, life, heaven, no Christ
and God? Trouble me no more, my soul. Hope in God who has not spared His
own dear Son but has given Him into death for thy sins.” When the Law
carries things too far, say: “Mister Law, you are not the whole show.
There are other and better things than you. They tell me to trust in the
Lord.”
There is a
time for the Law and a time for grace. Let us study to be good
timekeepers. It is not easy. Law and grace may be miles apart in essence,
but in the heart, they are pretty close together. In the heart fear and
trust, sin and grace, Law and Gospel cross paths continually. (3:23)
Paul had to
speak disparagingly of the Law, because the Law has nothing to do with
justification. If it thrusts its nose into the business of justification
we must talk harshly to the Law to keep it in its place. The conscience
ought not to be on speaking terms with the Law. The conscience ought to
know only Christ. To say this is easy, but in times of trial, when the
conscience writhes in the presence of God, it is not so easy to do. As
such times we are to believe in Christ as if there were no Law or sin
anywhere, but only Christ. We ought to say to the Law: “Mister Law, I do
not get you. You stutter so much. I don’t think that you have anything to
say to me.”
When it is
not a question of salvation or justification with us, we are to think
highly of the Law and call it “holy, just, and good” (Romans 7:12). The
Law is of no comfort to a stricken conscience. Therefore it should not be
allowed to rule in our conscience, particularly in view of the fact that
Christ paid so great a price to deliver the conscience from the tyranny
of the Law. Let us understand that the Law and Christ are impossible
bedfellows. The Law must leave the bed of the conscience, which is so
narrow that it cannot hold two, as Isaiah says, chapter 28, verse 20.
(4:3)
Thus Christ
banished the Law from the conscience. It dare no longer banish us from God.
For that matter,—the Law continues to reveal sin. It still raises its
voice in condemnation. But the conscience finds quick relief in the words
of the Apostle: “Christ has redeemed us from the law.” The conscience can
now hold its head high and say to the Law: “You are not so holy yourself.
You crucified the Son of God. That was an awful thing for you to do. You
have lost your influence forever.” (4:5)
We ought to
have no misgivings about whether the Holy Ghost dwells in us. We are “the
temple of the Holy Ghost” (I Cor. 3:16). When we have a love for the Word
of God, and gladly hear, talk, write, and think of Christ, we are to know
that this inclination toward Christ is the gift and work of the Holy
Ghost. Where you come across contempt for the Word of God, there is the
devil. We meet with such contempt for the Word of God mostly among the
common people. They act as though the Word of God does not concern them.
Wherever you find a love for the Word, thank God for the Holy Spirit who
infuses this love into the hearts of men. We never come by this love
naturally, neither can it be enforced by laws. It is the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
The Roman
theologians teach that no man can know for a certainty whether he stands
in the favor of God or not. This teaching forms one of the chief articles
of their faith. With this teaching they tormented men’s consciences,
excommunicated Christ from the Church, and limited the operations of the
Holy Ghost.
St.
Augustine observed that “every man is certain of his faith, if he has
faith.” This the Romanists deny. “God forbid,” they exclaim piously,
“that I should ever be so arrogant as to think that I stand in grace,
that I am holy, or that I have the Holy Ghost.” We ought to feel sure
that we stand in the grace of God, not in view of our own worthiness, but
through the good services of Christ. As certain as we are that Christ
pleases God, so sure ought we to be that we also please God, because
Christ is in us. And although we daily offend God by our sins, yet as
often as we sin, God’s mercy bends over us. Therefore sin cannot get us
to doubt the grace of God. Our certainty is of Christ, that mighty Hero
who overcame the Law, sin, death, and all evils. So long as He sits at
the right hand of God to intercede for us, we have nothing to fear from
the anger of God.
This inner
assurance of the grace of God is accompanied by outward indications such
as gladly to hear, preach, praise, and to confess Christ, to do one’s
duty in the station in which God has placed us, to aid the needy, and to
comfort the sorrowing. These are the affidavits of the Holy Spirit
testifying to our favorable standing with God.
If we could
be fully persuaded that we are in the good grace of God, that our sins
are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are the beloved
children of God, we would be ever so happy and grateful to God. But
because we often feel fear and doubt we cannot come to that happy
certainty.
Train your
conscience to believe that God approves of you. Fight it out with doubt.
Gain assurance through the Word of God. Say: “I am all right with God. I
have the Holy Ghost. Christ, in whom I do believe, makes me worthy. I
gladly hear, read, sing, and write of Him. I would like nothing better
than that Christ’s Gospel be known throughout the world and that many,
many be brought to faith in Him.” (4:5)
The Apostle
does not say (in 5:2) that works are objectionable, but to build one’s
hopes for righteousness on works is disastrous, for that makes Christ
good for nothing.
Let us bear
this in mind when the devil accuses our conscience. When that dragon
accuses us of having done no good at all, but only evil, say to him: “You
trouble me with the remembrance of my past sins; you remind me that I
have done no good. But this does not bother me, because if I were to
trust in my own good deeds, or despair because I have done no good deeds,
Christ would profit me neither way. I am not going to make him
unprofitable to me. This I would do, if I should presume to purchase for
myself the favor of God and everlasting life by my good deeds, or if I
should despair of my salvation because of my sins.” (5:2)
This is
sweet comfort for us (5:5) . And we are to make use of it in comforting
the afflicted. We are to say to them: “Brother, you would like to feel
God’s favor as you feel your sin. But you are asking too much. Your
righteousness rests on something much better than feelings. Wait and hope
until it will be revealed to you in the Lord’s own time. Don’t go by your
feelings, but go by the doctrine of faith, which pledges Christ to you.”
This passage
contains excellent doctrine and much comfort. It declares that we are
justified not by works, sacrifices, or ceremonies, but by Christ alone.
The world may judge certain things to be ever so good; without Christ
they are all wrong. Circumcision and the law and good works are carnal.
“We,” says Paul, “are above such things. We possess Christ by faith and
in the midst of our afflictions we hopefully wait for the consummation of
our righteousness.”
You may say,
“The trouble is I don’t feel as if I am righteous.” You must not feel,
but believe. Unless you believe that you are righteous, you do Christ a
great wrong, for He has cleansed you by the washing of regeneration, He
died for you so that through Him you may obtain righteousness and
everlasting life. (5:5)
Satan will
circumvent the Gospel and explain Christ in this his own diabolical way:
“Indeed Christ is meek, gentle, and merciful, but only to those who are
holy and righteous. If you are a sinner you stand no chance. Did not
Christ say that unbelievers are already damned? And did not Christ
perform many good deeds, and suffer many evils patiently, bidding us to
follow His example? You do not mean to say that your life is in accord with Christ’s
precepts or example? You are a sinner. You are no good at all.”
Satan is to
be answered in this way: The Scriptures present Christ in a twofold
aspect. First, as a gift. “He of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30). Hence my many and
grievous sins are nullified if I believe in Him. Secondly, the Scriptures
present Christ for our example. As an exemplar He is to be placed before
me only at certain times. In times of joy and gladness that I may have
Him as a mirror to reflect upon my shortcomings. But in the day of
trouble I will have Christ only as a gift. I will not listen to anything
else, except that Christ died for my sins.
To those
that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as
a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a
false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard
sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be
impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: “O cursed
Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when
you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen
to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to
save sinners.
This is the
true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a
holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints.
But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure
for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O
Satan.” (5:8)
When I was a
monk I thought I was lost forever whenever I felt an evil emotion, carnal
lust, wrath, hatred, or envy. I tried to quiet my conscience in many
ways, but it did not work, because lust would always come back and give
me no rest. I told myself: “You have permitted this and that sin, envy,
impatience, and the like. Your joining this holy order has been in vain,
and all your good works are good for nothing.” If at that time I had
understood this passage, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh,” I could have spared myself many a day of
self-torment. I would have said to myself: “Martin, you will never be without
sin, for you have flesh. Despair not, but resist the flesh.” (5:17)
When the
flesh begins to cut up the only remedy is to take the sword of the
Spirit, the word of salvation, and fight against the flesh. If you set
the Word out of sight, you are helpless against the flesh. I know this to
be a fact. I have been assailed by many violent passions, but as soon as
I took hold of some Scripture passage, my temptations left me. Without
the Word I could not have helped myself against the flesh. (5:18)
Back to other papers
|
