Good works (Theology); Lutheran Church -- Doctrines
XXVII. Even if none of these adversities constrain us to call upon
God's Name and to trust Him, yet were sin alone more than sufficient to
train and to urge us on in this work. For sin has hemmed us in with
three strong, mighty armies. The first is our own flesh, the second the
world, the third the evil spirit, by which three we are without ceasing
oppressed and troubled; whereby God gives us occasion to do good works
without ceasing, namely, to fight with these enemies and sins. The
flesh seeks pleasure and peace, the world seeks riches, favor, power
and honor, the evil spirit seeks pride, glory, that a man be well
thought of, and other men be despised.
And these three are all so powerful that each one of them is alone
sufficient to fight a man, and yet there is no way we can overcome
them, except only by calling upon the holy Name of God in a firm faith,
as Solomon says, Proverbs xviii: "The Name of the Lord is a strong
tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is set aloft." And David,
Psalm cxvi: "I will drink the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name
of the Lord." Again, Psalm xviii: "I will call upon the Lord with
praise: so shall I be saved from all mine enemies." These works and the
power of God's Name have become unknown to us, because we are not
accustomed to it, and have never seriously fought with sins, and have
not needed His Name, because we are trained only in our self devised
works, which we were able to do with our own powers.
XXVIII. Further works of this Commandment are: that we shall not swear,
curse, lie, deceive and conjure with the holy Name of God, and
otherwise misuse it; which are very simple matters and well known to
every one, being the sins which have been almost exclusively preached
and proclaimed under this Commandment. These also include, that we
shall prevent others from making sinful use of God's Name by lying,
swearing, deceiving, cursing, conjuring, and otherwise. Herein again
much occasion is given for doing good and warding off evil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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