Loading…

Luther’s Works, Volume 45 is unavailable, but you can change that!

In the eleven treatises comprising this volume, it is of extraordinary interest to note how the foremost exponent of evangelical ethics interprets the dictates of love in the concrete circumstances of his time. A Christian's behavior is determined more by the situation in which he finds himself than by any fixed and final ethical formulations or codes of moral conduct.

heavenly Father [Matt. 5:44, 48]. But he who loves his enemies and is perfect leaves the law alone and does not use it to demand an eye for an eye. Neither does he restrain the non-Christians, however, who do not love their enemies and who do wish to make use of the law; indeed, he lends his help that these laws may hinder the wicked from doing worse. Thus the word of Christ is now reconciled, I believe, with the passages which establish the sword, and the meaning is this: No Christian shall wield
Volume 45, Page 103
Buy this book at Logos.com