romises of God.

In support of their error the papists quote the saying of Solomon: "The
righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no
man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them." (Eccles.
9:1.) They take this hatred to mean the wrath of God to come. Others
take it to mean God's present anger. None of them seem to understand
this passage from Solomon. On every page the Scriptures urge us to
believe that God is merciful, loving, and patient; that He is faithful
and true, and that He keeps His promises. All the promises of God were
fulfilled in the gift of His only-begotten Son, that "whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The
Gospel is reassurance for sinners. Yet this one saying from Solomon,
misinterpreted at that, is made to count for more than all the many
promises of all the Scriptures.

If our opponents are so uncertain about their status with God, and even
go so far as to say that the conscience ought to be kept in a state of
doubt, why is it that they persecute us as vile heretics? When it comes
to persecuting us they do not seem to be in doubt and uncertainty one
minute.

Let us not fail to thank God for delivering us from the doctrine of
doubt. The Gospel commands us to look away from our own good works to
the promises of God in Christ, the Mediator. The pope commands us to
look away from the promises of God in Christ to our own merit. No
wonder they are the eternal prey of doubt and despair. We depend upon
God for salvation. No wonder that our doctrine is certified, because it
does not rest in our own strength, our own conscience, our own
feelings, our own person, our own works. It is built on a better
foundation. It is built on the promises and truth of God.

Besides, the passage from Solomon does not treat of the hatred and love
of God towards men. It merely rebukes the ingratitude of men. The more
deserving a person is, the less he is appreciated. Often those who
should be his best friends, are his worst enemies. Those who least
deserve the praise of the world, get most. David was a holy man and a
good king. Nevertheless he was chased from his own country. The
prophets, Christ, the apostles, were slain. Solomon in this passage
does not speak of the love and hatred of God, but of love and hatred
among men. As though Solomon wanted to say: "There are many good and
wise men whom God uses for the advancement of mankind. Seldom, if ever,
are their efforts crowned with gratitude. They are usually repaid with
hatred and ingratitude."

We are being treated that way. We thought we would find favor with men
for bringing them the Gospel of peace, life, and eternal salvation.
Instead of favor, we found fury. At first, yes, many were delighted
with our doctrine and received it gladly. We counted them as our
friends and brethren, and were happy to think that they would help us
in sowing the seed of the Gospel. But they revealed themselves as false
brethren and deadly enemies of the Gospel. If you experience the
ingratitude of men, don't let it get you down. Say with Christ: "They
hated me without cause." And, "For my love they are my adversaries; but
I give myself unto prayer." (Ps. 109:4.)

Let us never doubt the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, but make up our
minds that God is pleased with us, that He looks after us, and that we
have the Holy Spirit who prays for us.

VERSE 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son.

This sentence clinches Paul's argument. He says: "With the Holy Spirit
in our hearts crying, 'Abba, Father,' there can be no doubt that God
has adopted us for His children and that our subjection to the Law has
come to an end." We are now the free children of God. We may now say to
the Law: "Mister Law, you have lost your throne to Christ. I am free
now and a son of God. You cannot curse me any more." Do not permit the
Law to lie in your conscience. Your conscience belongs to Christ. Let
Christ be in it and not the Law.

As the children of God we are the heirs of His eternal heaven. What a
wonderful gift heaven is, man's heart cannot conceive, much less
describe. Until we enter upon our heavenly inheritance we are only to
have our little faith to go by. To man's reason our faith looks rather
forlorn. But because our faith rests on the promises of the infinite
God, His promises are also infinite, so much so that nothing can accuse
or condemn us.

VERSE 7. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

A son is an heir, not by virtue of high accomplishments, but by virtue
of his birth. He is a mere recipient. His birth makes him an heir, not
his labors. In exactly the same way we obtain the eternal gifts of
righteousness, resurrection, and everlasting life. We obtain them not
as agents, but as beneficiaries. We are the children and heirs of God
through faith in Christ. We have Christ to thank for everything.

We are not the heirs of some rich and mighty man, but heirs of God, the
almighty Creator of all things. If a person could fully appreciate what
it means to be a son and heir of God, he would rate the might and
wealth of nations small change in comparison with his heavenly
inheritance. What is the world to him who has heaven? No wonder Paul
greatly desired to depart and to be with Christ. Nothing would be more
welcome to us than early death, knowing that it would spell the end of
all our miseries and the beginning of all our happiness. Yes, if a
person could perfectly believe this he would not long remain alive. The
anticipation of his joy would kill him.

But the law of the members strives against the law of the mind, and
makes perfect joy and faith impossible. We need the continued help and
comfort of the Holy Spirit. We need His prayers. Paul himself cried
out: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?" The body of this death spoiled the joy of his spirit. He
did not always entertain the sweet and glad expectation of his heavenly
inheritance. He often felt miserable.

This goes to show how hard it is to believe. Faith is feeble, because
the flesh wars against the spirit. If we could have perfect faith, our
loathing for this life in the world would be complete. We would not be
so careful about this life. We would not be so attached to the world
and the things of the world. We would not feel so good when we have
them; we would not feel so bad when we lose them. We would be far more
humble and patient and kind. But our faith is weak, because our spirit
is weak. In this life we can have only the first-fruits of the Spirit,
as Paul says.

VERSE 7. Through Christ.

The Apostle always has Christ on the tip of his tongue. He foresaw that
nothing would be less known in the world some day than the Gospel of
Christ. Therefore he talks of Christ continually. As often as he speaks
of righteousness, grace, the promise, the adoption, and the inheritance
of heaven, he adds the words, "In Christ," or "Through Christ," to show
that these blessings are not to be had by the Law, or the deeds of the
Law, much less by our own exertions, or by the observance of human
traditions, but only by and through and in Christ.

VERSES 8 and 9. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto
them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known
God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and
beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

This concludes Paul's discourse on justification. From now to the end
of the Epistle the Apostle writes mostly of Christian conduct. But
before he follows up his doctrinal discourse with practical precepts he
once more reproves the Galatians. He is deeply displeased with them for
relinquishing their divine doctrine. He tells them: "You have taken on
teachers who intend to recommit you to the Law. By my doctrine I called
you out of the darkness of ignorance into the wonderful light of the
knowledge of God. I led you out of bondage into the freedom of the sons
of God, not by the prescription of laws, but by the gift of heavenly
and eternal blessings through Christ Jesus. How could you so soon
forsake the light and return to darkness? How could you so quickly
stray from grace into the Law, from freedom into bondage?"

The example of the Galatians, of Anabaptists, and other sectarians in
our day bears testimony to the ease with which faith may be lost. We
take great pains in setting forth the doctrine of faith by preaching
and by writing. We are careful to apply the Gospel and the Law in their
proper turn. Yet we make little headway because the devil seduces
people into misbelief by taking Christ out of their sight and focusing
their eyes upon the Law.

But why does Paul accuse the Galatians of reverting to the weak and
beggarly elements of the Law when they never had the Law? Why does he
not say to them: "At one time you Galatians did not know God. You then
served idols that were no gods. But now that you have come to know the
true God, why do you go back to the worship of idols?" Paul seems to
identify their defection from the Gospel to the Law with their former
idolatry. Indeed he does. Whoever gives up the article of justification
does not know the true God. It is one and the same thing whether a
person reverts to the Law or to the worship of idols. When the article
of justification is lost, nothing remains except error, hypocrisy,
godlessness, and idolatry.

God will and can be known in no other way than in and through Christ
according to the statement of John 1:18, "The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Christ is the
only means whereby we can know God and His will. In Christ we perceive
that God is not a cruel judge, but a most loving and merciful Father
who to bless and to save us "spared not his own Son, but gave him up
for us all." This is truly to know God.

Those who do not know God in Christ arrive at this erroneous
conclusion: "I will serve God in such and such a way. I will join this
or that order. I will be active in this or that charitable endeavor.
God will sanction my good intentions and reward me with everlasting
life. For is He not a merciful and generous Father who gives good
things even to the unworthy and ungrateful? How much more will He grant
unto me everlasting life as a due payment in return for my many good
deeds and merits." This is the religion of reason. This is the natural
religion of the world. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God." (I Cor. 2:14.) "There is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God." (Romans 3:11.) Hence, there is really
no difference between a Jew, a Mohammedan, and any other old or new
heretic. There may be a difference of persons, places, rites,
religions, ceremonies, but as far as their fundamental beliefs are
concerned they are all alike.

Is it therefore not extreme folly for Rome and the Mohammedans to fight
each other about religion? How about the monks? Why should one monk
want to be accounted more holy than another monk because of some silly
ceremony, when all the time their basic beliefs are asnmuch alike as
one egg is like the other? They all imagine, if we do this or that
work, God will have mercy on us; if not, God will be angry.

God never promised to save anybody for his religious observance of
ceremonies and ordinances. Those who rely upon such things do serve a
god, but it is their own invention of a god, and not the true God. The
true God has this to say: No religion pleases Me whereby the Father is
not glorified through His Son Jesus. All who give their faith to this
Son of Mine, to them I am God and Father. I accept, justify, and save
them. All others abide under My curse because they worship creatures
instead of Me.

Without the doctrine of justification there can be only ignorance of
God. Those who refuse to be justified by Christ are idolaters. They
remain under the Law, sin, death, and the power of the devil.
Everything they do is wrong.

Nowadays there are many such idolaters who want to be counted among the
true confessors of the Gospel. They may even teach that men are
delivered from their sins by the death of Christ. But because they
attach more importance to charity than to faith in Christ they dishonor
Him and pervert His Word. They do not serve the true God, but an idol
of their own invention. The true God has never yet smiled upon a person
for his charity or virtues, but only for the sake of Christ's merits.

The objection is frequently raised that the Bible commands that we
should love God with all our heart. True enough. But because God
commands it, it does not follow that we do it. If we could love God
with all our heart we should undoubtedly be justified by our obedience,
for it is written, "Which if a man do, he shall live in them." (Lev.
18:5.) But now comes the Gospel and says: "Because you do not do these
things, you cannot live in them." The words, "Thou shalt love the Lord,
thy God," require perfect obedience, perfect fear, perfect trust, and
perfect love. But where are the people who can render perfection?
Hence, this commandment, instead of justifying men, only accuses and
condemns them. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth" (Romans 10:1.)

How may these two contradictory statements of the Apostle, "Ye knew not
God," and "Ye worshipped God," be reconciled? I answer: By nature all
men know that there is a God, "because that which may be known of God
is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen." (Romans 1:19, 20.) Furthermore, the different religions to be
found among all nations at all times bear witness to the fact that all
men have a certain intuitive knowledge of God.

If all men know God how can Paul say that the Galatians did not know
God prior to the hearing of the Gospel? I answer: There is a twofold
knowledge of God, general and particular. All men have the general and
instinctive recognition that there is a God who created heaven and
earth, who is just and holy, and who punishes the wicked. How God feels
about us, what His intentions are, what He will do for us, or how He
will save us, that men cannot know instinctively. It must be revealed
to them. I may know a person by sight, and still not know him, because
I do not know how he feels about me. Men know instinctively that there
is a God. But what His will is toward them, they do not know. It is
written: "There is none that understandeth God." (Romans 3:11.) Again,
"No man hath seen God." (John 1:18.) Now, what good does it do you if
you know that there is a God, if you do not know how He feels about
you, or what He wants of you? People have done a good deal of guessing.
The Jew imagines he is doing the will of God if he concentrates on the
Law of Moses. The Mohammedan thinks his Koran is the will of God. The
monk fancies he is doing the will of God if he performs his vows. But
they deceive themselves and become "vain in their imaginations," as
Paul says, Romans 1:21. Instead of worshipping the true God, they
worship the vain imaginations of their foolish hearts.

What Paul means by saying to the Galatians, "When ye knew not God," is
simply this: "There was a time when you did not know the will of God in
Christ, but you worshipped gods of your own invention, thinking that
you had to perform this or that labor." Whether you understand the
"elements of the world" to mean the Law of Moses, or the religions of
the heathen nations, it makes no difference. Those who lapse from the
Gospel to the Law are no better o