“This
distinction [between law and gospel] must be observed all the more when
the Law wants to force me to abandon Christ and His Gospel boon. In
that emergency I must abandon the Law and say: Dear Law, if I have not
done the works I should have done, do them yourself. I will not, for
your sake, allow myself to be plagued to death, taken captive, and kept
under your thraldom and thus forget the Gospel.
Whether I have sinned, done wrong, or failed in any duty, let that be
your concern, O Law. Away with you and let my heart alone; I have no
room for you in my heart. But if you require me to lead a godly life
here on earth, that I shall gladly do. If, however, like a
housebreaker, you want to climb in where you do not belong, causing me
to lose what has been given me, I would rather not know you at all than
abandon my gift.”
Martin Luther, quoted in C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel (St. Louis, 1928), pages 46-47.
I will never abandon the gospel for the law. I will never allow myself
to be brought under a law breaking legalist (there is no other kind
because no one can keep the law) who wants me to bow to their misguided
understanding of the scripture their personal condemnation guilt and
fear that come out of their own unbelief of the gospel, I completely
agree with Luther "I would rather not know you at all than abandon my
gift."
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