"Even reason teaches that your lives must conform to your business;
each is in duty bound to obey him whom he serves. As Christians you
are obliged to render another service than that you gave when under
the dominion of sin, and obedient to it; when you were unable to
escape its power and to do any work good before God. You have now
come out of bondage and are relieved from obedience to sin, through
grace, having devoted yourselves to the service of God, to obeying
him. Therefore, assuredly you must change your manner of life."
12. Truly, Paul here argues reasonably and within the scope of man's
natural understanding. We preach the same truths, but, presenting
them in the form of Christian doctrine, we necessarily employ
different language and a loftier tone, lest it be offensive to the
world. We may say that theft, murder, envy, hate and other crimes and
vices are transgressions, yet we cannot remedy the evils by the mere
prohibitions of the law. The remedy must be effected through God's
grace, and is accomplished in the believer, not by our power, but by
the Holy Spirit. But when we so explain, the stupid world immediately
blurts out, "Oh, if it be true that our works do not remedy evils,
let us enjoy ourselves and not bother about good works!"
13. That their implication is false and a wanton perversion of the
true doctrine is manifest from the fact that we exalt and endorse the
command of God, and also the doctrine of reason, that teach us to do
good and avoid evil. Indeed, we assist reason, which is powerless to
remedy evil. If reason were itself sufficient, men would not permit
themselves to be deceived by their own visionary ideas and false
doctrines about worthless and vain works, as are followers of the
papacy and of all false worship. No doubt such error has its rise in
the principle that we are to do good and avoid evil. The principle
fundamentally is true, and accepted by all men; but when it comes to
the theories we build upon it, the speculations as to how it is to be
put into practice, there is disagreement. Only the Word of God can
show how to accomplish it.
Reason is easily blinded on this point and deceived by false
appearances, being led by anything merely called good. Even when it
has performed all it believes to be right, it is still uncertain of
acceptance. Indeed, it perceives no fruits, no benefit, to result
from its teaching; for at best its achievements extend no farther
than outward works--the object being to make the doer appear
righteous and respectable before men--while inward sinfulness is
unrestrained and the soul remains captive to its former life,
obedient to the lusts of sin. And the motive of such a one is not
sincere; he would conduct himself quite otherwise were he not
restrained by fear of shame and punishment.