Reformation 500 - Six Days of Luther, Day 6 (from his commentary on Galatians 5:6)

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.  Exactly 500 years later, I have been celebrating the great movement of God that followed his initial protest by posting his comments in full on this great passage in Galatians 5:1-6, six posts in a row.  This will be the last entry where I'll post his comments in full, but the celebration will continue every week or so on this blog, as I continue to read and excerpt and comment on Luther's teaching through the rest of the book of Galatians.

Since his comments on Galatians 5:6 are relatively short, at the end of them I will provide a list to my former posts about these two world-changing books (Galatians and Luther's commentary on it)... Perhaps you might want to click on one or a few and discover or review them before we move on.

Here's what the great Reformer had to say about verse 6 of Galatians 5...

VERSE 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. 

Faith must of course be sincere. It must be a faith that performs good works through love. If faith lacks love it is not true faith. Thus the Apostle bars the way of hypocrites to the kingdom of Christ on all sides. He declares on the one hand, "In Christ Jesus circumcision availeth nothing," i.e., works avail nothing, but faith alone, and that without any merit whatever, avails before God. On the other hand, the Apostle declares that without fruits faith serves no purpose. To think, "If faith justifies without works, let us work nothing," is to despise the grace of God. Idle faith is not justifying faith. In this terse manner Paul presents the whole life of a Christian. Inwardly it consists in faith towards God, outwardly in love towards our fellow-men.

And here are the titles and links for my previous posts on Galatians and Luther, in case you'd like to check out any of them...

Martin Luther: "Preach the Gospel to Yourself" (from his commentary on Galatians 1:1-4)

DAMN those gospel preachers! (Luther on Galatians 1:6-9)

Paul and Luther defended themselves...Should you? (Luther on Galatians 1:11-24)

How important is your reputation? (Luther's comments on Galatians 2:1-10)

Paul rebukes Peter (and us) (Luther's commentary on Galatians 2:11-15)

The biggest problem for Catholics (and many Protestants too) (Martin Luther on Galatians 2:16-19)

"I've got good news and bad news..." (Luther's commentary on Galatians 2:20-21)

Blessed for Doing Nothing (Martin Luther on Galatians 3:1-9)

What Martin Luther got right, and one thing he didn't (in his commentary on Galatians 3:10-14)

How did we ever make it without...? (Luther's commentary on Galatians 3:15-18)

Luther's Law/Gospel Distinction (in his commentary on Galatians 3:19-22)

"Law and Gospel cross paths continually" (Luther on Galatians 3:23-29)

No longer a slave (Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians 4:1-7)

Martin Luther, 16th Century Cessationist (from his commentary on Galatians 4:6)

The Danger of Christian Idolatry (Martin Luther on Galatians 4:8-11)

What Martin Luther would say to Donald Trump (from his commentary on Galatians 4:12-20)

Was Luther an Antinomian? (from his commentary on Galatians 4:21-31)