A Treatise on Good Works | Page 6

of good
works, with his opening proposition (there are no good works besides
those commanded of God), and, on the other hand, he prepares the way
for the following argument, wherein he proposes to exhibit the good
works according to the Ten Commandments. For the First
Commandment does not forbid this and that, nor does it require this
and that; it forbids but one thing, unbelief; it requires but one thing,
faith, "that confidence in God's good will at all times." Without this
faith the best works are as nothing, and if man should think that by
them he could be well-pleasing to God, he would be lowering God to
the level of a "broker or a laborer who will not dispense his grace and
kindness gratis."
This understanding of faith and good works, so Luther now addresses
his opponents, should in fairness be kept in view by those who accuse
him of declaiming against good works, and they should learn from it,
that though he has preached against "good works," it was against such
as are falsely so called and as contribute toward the confusion of
consciences, because they are self-elected, do not flow from faith, and
are done with the pretension of doing works well-pleasing to God.
This brings us to the end of the fundamental part of the treatise. It was
not Luther's intention, however, to speak only on the essence of good
works and their fundamental relation to faith; he would show, too, how
the "best work," faith, must prove itself in every way a living faith,
according to the other commandments. Luther does not proceed to this
part, however, until in the fundamental part he has said with emphasis,
that the believer, the spiritual man, needs no such instruction (1.
Timothy 1:9), but that he of his own accord and at all times does good
works "as his faith, his confidence, teaches him." Only "because we do
not all have such faith, or are unmindful of it," does such instruction
become necessary.
Nor does he proceed until he has applied his oft repeated words

concerning the relation of faith to good works to the relation of the
First to the other Commandments. From the fact, that according to the
First Commandment, we acquire a pure heart and confidence toward
God, he derives the good work of the Second Commandment, namely,
"to praise God, to acknowledge His grace, to render all honor to Him
alone." From the same source he derives the good work of the Third
Commandment, namely, "to observe divine services with prayer and
the hearing of preaching, to incline the imagination of our hearts
toward God's benefits, and, to that end, to mortify and overcome the
flesh." From the same source he derives the works of the Second Table.
The argument on the Third and Fourth Commandments claims nearly
one-half of the entire treatise. Among the good works which, according
to the Third Commandment, should be an exercise and proof of faith,
Luther especially mentions the proper hearing of mass and of preaching,
common prayer, bodily discipline and the mortification of the flesh,
and he joins the former and the latter by an important fundamental
discussion of the New Testament conception of Sabbath rest.
Luther discusses the Fourth Commandment as fully as the Third. The
exercise of faith, according to this Commandment, consists in the
faithful performance of the duties of children toward their parents, of
parents toward their children, and of subordinates toward their
superiors in the ecclesiastical as well as in the common civil sphere.
The various duties issue from the various callings, for faithful
performance of the duties of one's calling, with the help of God and for
God's sake, is the true "good work."
As he now proceeds to speak of the spiritual powers, the government of
the Church, he frankly reveals their faults and demands a reform of the
present rulers. Honor and obedience in all things should be rendered
unto the Church, the spiritual mother, as it is due to natural parents,
unless it be contrary to the first Three Commandments. But as matters
stand now the spiritual magistrates neglect their peculiar work, namely,
the fostering of godliness and discipline, like a mother who runs away
from her children and follows a lover, and instead they undertake
strange and evil works, like parents whose commands are contrary to

God. In this case members of the Church must do as godly children do
whose parents have become mad and insane. Kings, princes, the
nobility, municipalities and communities must begin of their own
accord and put a check to these conditions, so that the bishops and the
clergy, who are now too timid, may be induced to follow. But even the
civil magistrates must also suffer reforms to be enacted in