17. Paul here proceeds to exalt the office and power of the Gospel
over the glorying of the false apostles, and to elevate the power of
the Word above that of all other doctrine, even of the Law of God.
Truly we are not sufficient of ourselves and have nothing to boast of
so far as human activity is considered. For that is without merit or
power, however strenuous the effort may be to fulfil God's Law. We
have, however, something infinitely better to boast of, something not
grounded in our own activity: by God we have been made sufficient for
a noble ministry, termed the ministry "of a New Covenant." This
ministry is not only exalted far above any teaching to be evolved by
human wisdom, skill and power, but is more glorious than the ministry
termed the "Old Covenant," which in time past was delivered to the
Jews through Moses. While this ministry clings, in common with other
doctrine, to the Word given by revelation, it is the agency whereby
the Holy Spirit works in the heart. Therefore, Paul says it is not a
ministration of the letter, but "of the spirit."
"SPIRIT" AND "LETTER."
18. This passage relative to spirit and letter has in the past been
wholly strange language to us. Indeed, to such extent has man's
nonsensical interpretation perverted and weakened it that I, though a
learned doctor of the holy Scriptures, failed to understand it
altogether, and I could find no one to teach me. And to this day it
is unintelligible to all popedom. In fact, even the old
teachers--Origen, Jerome and others--have not caught Paul's thought.
And no wonder, truly! For it is essentially a doctrine far beyond the
power of man's intelligence to comprehend. When human reason meddles
with it, it becomes perplexed. The doctrine is wholly unintelligible
to it, for human thought goes no farther than the Law and the Ten
Commandments. Laying hold upon these it confines itself to them. It
does not attempt to do more, being governed by the principle that
unto him who fulfils the demands of the Law, or commandments, God is
gracious. Reason knows nothing about the wretchedness of depraved
nature. It does not recognize the fact that no man is able to keep
God's commandments; that all are under sin and condemnation; and that
the only way whereby help could be received was for God to give his
Son for the world, ordaining another ministration, one through which
grace and reconciliation might be proclaimed to us. Now, he who does
not understand the sublime subject of which Paul speaks cannot but
miss the true meaning of his words. How much more did we invite this
fate when we threw the Scriptures and Saint Paul's epistles under the
bench, and, like swine in husks, wallowed in man's nonsense!
Therefore, we must submit to correction and learn to understand the
apostle's utterance aright.
19. "Letter" and "spirit" have been understood to mean, according to
Origen and Jerome, the obvious sense of the written word. St.
Augustine, it must be admitted, has gotten an inkling of the truth.
Now, the position of the former teachers would perhaps not be quite
incorrect did they correctly explain the words. By "literary sense"
they signify the meaning of a Scripture narrative according to the
ordinary interpretation of the words. By "spiritual sense" they
signify the secondary, hidden, sense found in the words.
For instance: The Scripture narrative in Genesis third records how
the serpent persuaded the woman to eat of the forbidden fruit and to
give to her husband, who also ate. This narrative in its simplest
meaning represents what they understand by "letter." "Spirit,"
however, they understand to mean the spiritual interpretation, which
is thus: The serpent signifies the evil temptation which lures to
sin. The woman represents the sensual state, or the sphere in which
such enticements and temptations make themselves felt. Adam, the man,
stands for reason, which is called man's highest endowment. Now, when
reason does not yield to the allurements of external sense, all is
well; but when it permits itself to waver and consent, the fall has
taken place.
20. Origen was the first to trifle thus with the holy Scriptures, and
many others followed, until now it is thought to be the sign of great
cleverness for the Church to be filled with such quibblings. The aim
is to imitate Paul, who (Gal 4, 22-24) figuratively interprets the
story of Abraham's two sons, the one by the free woman, or the
mistress of the house, and the other by the hand-maid. The two women,
Paul says, represent the two covenants: one covenant makes only
bond-servants, which is just what he in our text terms the
ministration of the letter; the other leads to liberty, or, as he
says here, the ministration of the spirit, which gives life. And the
two sons are the two peoples, one of which does not go farther than
the Law, while the other accepts in faith the Gospel.
True, this is an interpretation not directly suggested by the
narrative and the text. Paul himself calls it an allegory; that is, a
mystic narrative, or a story with a hidden meaning. But he does not
say that the literal text is necessarily the letter that killeth, and
the allegory, or hidden meaning, the spirit. But the false teachers
assert of all Scripture that the text, or record itself, is but a
dead "letter," its interpretation being "the spirit." Yet they have
not pushed interpretation farther than the teaching of the Law; and
it is precisely the Law which Paul means when he speaks of "the
letter."[1]
[Footnote 1: What Luther means is that the popish theologians with
their vaunted "spiritual" interpretation had never penetrated to the
Gospel, which confers the life in the Spirit, but had satisfied
themselves with so literal and superficial an interpretation of the
Law as to seek salvation through work-righteousness.]
21. Paul employs the word "letter" in such contemptuous sense in
reference to the Law--though the Law is, nevertheless, the Word of
God--when he compares it with the ministry of the Gospel. The letter
is to him the doctrine of the Ten Commandments, which teach how we
should obey God, honor parents, love our neighbor, and so on--the
very best doctrine to be found in all books, sermons and schools.
The word "letter" is to the apostle Paul everything which may take
the form of doctrine, of literary arrangement, of record, so long as
it remains something spoken or written. Also thoughts which may be
pictured or expressed by word or writing, but it is not that which is
written in the heart, to become its life. "Letter" is the whole Law
of Moses, or the Ten Commandments, though the supreme authority of
such teaching is not denied. It matters not whether you hear them,
read them, or reproduce them mentally. For instance, when I sit down
to meditate upon the first commandment: "Thou shalt have no other
gods before me," or the second, or the third, and so forth, I have
something which I can read, write, discuss, and aim to fulfil with
all my might. The process is quite similar when the emperor or prince
gives a command and says: "This you shall do, that you shall eschew."
This is what the apostle calls "the letter," or, as we have called it
on another occasion, the written sense.
22. Now, as opposed to "the letter," there is another doctrine or
message, which he terms the "ministration of a New Covenant" and "of
the Spirit." This doctrine does not teach what works are required of
man, for that man has already heard; but it makes known to him what
God would do for him and bestow upon him, indeed what he has already
done: he has given his Son Christ for us; because, for our
disobedience to the Law, which no man fulfils, we were under God's
wrath and condemnation. Christ made satisfaction for our sins,
effected a reconciliation with God and gave to us his own
righteousness. Nothing is said in this ministration of man's deeds;
it tells rather of the works of Christ, who is unique in that he was
born of a virgin, died for sin and rose from the dead, something no
other man has been able to do. This doctrine is revealed through none
but the Holy Spirit, and none other confers the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit works in the hearts of them who hear and accept the doctrine.
Therefore, this ministration is termed a ministration "of the
Spirit."
23. The apostle employs the words "letter" and "spirit," to contrast
the two doctrines; to emphasize his office and show its advantage
over all others, however eminent the teachers whom they boast, and
however great the spiritual unction which they vaunt. It is of design
that he does not term the two dispensations "Law" and "Gospel," but
names them according to the respective effects produced. He honors
the Gospel with a superior term--"ministration of the spirit." Of the
Law, on the contrary, he speaks almost contemptuously, as if he would
not honor it with the title of God's commandment, which in reality it
is, according to his own admission later on that its deliverance to
Moses and its injunction upon the children of Israel was an occasion
of surpassing glory.
24. Why does Paul choose this method? Is it right for one to despise
or dishonor God's Law? Is not a chaste and honorable life a matter of
beauty and godliness? Such facts, it may be contended, are implanted
by God in reason itself, and all books teach them; they are the
governing force in the world. I reply: Paul's chief concern is to
defeat the vainglory and pretensions of false preachers, and to teach
them the right conception and appreciation of the Gospel which he
proclaimed. What Paul means is this: When the Jews vaunt their Law of
Moses, which was received as Law from God and recorded upon two
tables of stone; when they vaunt their learned and saintly preachers
of the Law and its exponents, and hold their deeds and manner of life
up to admiration, what is all that compared to the Gospel message?
The claim may be well made: a fine sermon, a splendid exposition;
but, after all, nothing more comes of it than precepts, expositions,
written comments. The precept, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself," remains a mere array of
words. When much time and effort have been spent in conforming one's
life to it, nothing has been accomplished. You have pods without
peas, husks without kernels.
25. For it is impossible to keep the Law without Christ, though man
may, for the sake of honor or property, or from fear of punishment,
feign outward holiness. The heart which does not discern God's grace
in Christ cannot turn to God nor trust in him; it cannot love his
commandments and delight in them, but rather resists them. For nature
rebels at compulsion. No man likes to be a captive in chains. One
does not voluntarily bow to the rod of punishment or submit to the
executioner's sword; rather, because of these things, his anger
against the Law is but increased, and he ever thinks: "Would that I
might unhindered steal, rob, hoard, gratify my lust, and so on!" And
when restrained by force, he would there were no Law and no God. And
this is the case where conduct shows some effects of discipline, in
that the outer man has been subjected to the teaching of the Law.
26. But in a far more appalling degree does inward rebellion ensue
when the heart feels the full force of the Law; when, standing before
God's judgment, it feels the sentence of condemnation; as we shall
presently hear, for the apostle says "the letter killeth." Then the
truly hard knots appear. Human nature fumes and rages against the
Law; offenses appear in the heart, the fruit of hate and enmity
against the Law; and presently human nature flees before God and is
incensed at God's judgment. It begins to question the equity of his
dealings, to ask if he is a just God. Influenced by such thoughts, it
falls ever deeper into doubt, it murmurs and chafes, until finally,
unless the Gospel comes to the rescue, it utterly despairs, as did
Judas, and Saul, and perhaps pass out of this life with God and
creation. This is what Paul means when he says (Rom 7, 8-9) that the
Law works sin in the heart of man, and sin works death, or kills.
27. You see, then, why the Law is called "the letter": though noble
doctrine, it remains on the surface; it does not enter the heart as a
vital force which begets obedience. Such is the baseness of human
nature, it will not and cannot conform to the Law; and so corrupt is
mankind, there is no individual who does not violate all God's
commandments in spite of daily hearing the preached Word and having
held up to view God's wrath and eternal condemnation. Indeed, the
harder pressed man is, the more furiously he storms against the Law.
28. The substance of the matter is this: When all the commandments
have been put together, when their message receives every particle of
praise to which it is entitled, it is still a mere letter. That is,
teaching not put into practice. By "letter" is signified all manner
of law, doctrine and message, which goes no farther than the oral or
written word, which consists only of the powerless letter. To
illustrate: A law promulgated by a prince or the authorities of a
city, if not enforced, remains merely an open letter, which makes a
demand indeed, but ineffectually. Similarly, God's Law, although a
teaching of supreme authority and the eternal will of God, must
suffer itself to become a mere empty letter or husk. Without a
quickening heart, and devoid of fruit, the Law is powerless to effect
life and salvation. It may well be called a veritable table of
omissions (Lass-tafel); that is, it is a written enumeration, not of
duties performed but of duties cast aside. In the languages of the
world, it is a royal edict which remains unobserved and unperformed.
In this light St. Augustine understood the Law. He says, commenting
on Psalm 17, "What is Law without grace but a letter without spirit?"
Human nature, without the aid of Christ and his grace, cannot keep
it.
29. Again, Paul in terming the Gospel a "ministration of the spirit"
would call attention to its power to produce in the hearts of men an
effect wholly different from that of the Law: it is accompanied by
the Holy Spirit and it creates a new heart. Man, driven into fear and
anxiety by the preaching of the Law, hears this Gospel message,
which, instead of reminding him of God's demands, tells him what God
has done for him. It points not to man's works, but to the works of
Christ, and bids him confidently believe that for the sake of his Son
God will forgive his sins and accept him as his child. And this
message, when received in faith, immediately cheers and comforts the
heart. The heart will no longer flee from God; rather it turns to
him. Finding grace with God and experiencing his mercy, the heart
feels drawn to him. It commences to call upon him and to treat and
revere him as its beloved God. In proportion as such faith and solace
grow, also love for the commandments will grow and obedience to them
will be man's delight. Therefore, God would have his Gospel message
urged unceasingly as the means of awakening man's heart to discern
his state and recall the great grace and lovingkindness of God, with
the result that the power of the Holy Spirit is increased constantly.
Note, no influence of the Law, no work of man is present here. The
force is a new and heavenly one--the power of the Holy Spirit. He
impresses upon the heart Christ and his works, making of it a true
book which does not consist in the tracery of mere letters and words,
but in true life and action.
30. God promised of old, in Joel 2, 28 and other passages, to give
the Spirit through the new message, the Gospel. And he has verified
his promise by public manifestations in connection with the preaching
of that Gospel, as on the day of Pentecost and again later. When the
apostles, Peter and others, began to preach, the Holy Spirit
descended visibly from heaven upon their hearts. Acts 8, 17; 10, 44.
Up to that time, throughout the period the Law was preached, no one
had heard or seen such manifestation. The fact could not but be
grasped that this was a vastly different message from that of the Law
when such mighty results followed in its train. And yet its substance
was no more than what Paul declared (Acts 13, 38-39): "Through this
man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins: and by him every one
that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not
be justified by the law of Moses."
31. In this teaching you see no more the empty letters, the valueless
husks or shells, of the Law, which unceasingly enjoins, "This thou
shalt do and observe," and ever in vain. You see instead the true
kernel and power which confers Christ and the fullness of His Spirit.
In consequence, men heartily believe the message of the Gospel and
enjoy its riches. They are accounted as having fulfilled the Ten
Commandments. John says (Jn 1, 16-17): "Of his fullness we all
received, and grace for grace. For the Law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John's thought is: The
Law has indeed been given by Moses, but what avails that fact? To be
sure, it is a noble doctrine and portrays a beautiful and instructive
picture of man's duty to God and all mankind; it is really excellent
as to the letter. Yet it remains empty; it does not enter into the
heart. Therefore it is called "law," nor can it become aught else, so
long as nothing more is given.