“Did the Law
ever love me? Did the Law ever sacrifice itself for me? Did the Law
ever die for me? On the contrary, it accuses me, it frightens me, it
drives me crazy. Somebody else saved me from the Law, from sin and death
unto eternal life. That Somebody is the Son of God (Who loved me and
gave Himself for me). Hence, Christ is no Moses, no tyrant, no lawgiver,
but the Giver of grace,
the Savior, full of mercy….. Visualize Christ in these His true colors.
I do not say that it is easy. Even in the present diffusion of the Gospel light, I have much trouble to see Christ as Paul portrays Him. So
deeply has the diseased opinion that Christ is a lawgiver sunk into my
bones. You younger men are a good deal better off than we who are old.
You have never become infected with the nefarious errors on which I
suckled all my youth, until at the mention of the name of Christ I
shivered with fear. You, I say, who are young may learn to know Christ
in all His sweetness. For Christ is Joy and Sweetness to a broken heart.
Christ is a Lover of poor sinners and such a Lover that He gave Himself
for us. Now if this is true, and it is true, then are we never
justified by our own righteousness.”
From the great Reformer Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians, pg 155-56
Mockingbird
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