The Christian Religion
O LORD my God, if I have done this . . . if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause . . . lay my glory in the dust.
PSALM 7:3-5
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The Christian Religion
[It] is not enough before God, that someone does good only to the good and to friends, unless he is roundly and completely the same person to all the good and evil, to friends and enemies. For this is the Christian religion, to be just to all without a selection according to the person and physical partiality. Just as the fig tree produces figs, whether it stands among thorns or among roses, so it is with the vine (cf. James 3:12). "A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit" (Matthew 7:18). But those who are friends only to their friends are confused. Concerning them the Lord says (Matthew 7:16): “Are figs gathered from thistles?” Thus they do not gather thorns from fig trees, because they are thorny to enemies, but gentle to friends. Hence they are not whole and rounded and the same for all. Then [the psalmist] adds: If I have paid back those who have done evil to me. The Lord teaches abundantly in Matthew 5:48: “You must be perfect,” that is, rounded and whole like a circle. . .. And this is what the word "justice" (aequitas) means, namely, that one who is just (aequus) is the same toward all without regard for or discrimination of persons.
From First Lectures on the Psalms, on Psalm 7 (Luther's Works 10:83)
February 2
PSALM 7:3-5
+
The Christian Religion
[It] is not enough before God, that someone does good only to the good and to friends, unless he is roundly and completely the same person to all the good and evil, to friends and enemies. For this is the Christian religion, to be just to all without a selection according to the person and physical partiality. Just as the fig tree produces figs, whether it stands among thorns or among roses, so it is with the vine (cf. James 3:12). "A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit" (Matthew 7:18). But those who are friends only to their friends are confused. Concerning them the Lord says (Matthew 7:16): “Are figs gathered from thistles?” Thus they do not gather thorns from fig trees, because they are thorny to enemies, but gentle to friends. Hence they are not whole and rounded and the same for all. Then [the psalmist] adds: If I have paid back those who have done evil to me. The Lord teaches abundantly in Matthew 5:48: “You must be perfect,” that is, rounded and whole like a circle. . .. And this is what the word "justice" (aequitas) means, namely, that one who is just (aequus) is the same toward all without regard for or discrimination of persons.
From First Lectures on the Psalms, on Psalm 7 (Luther's Works 10:83)
February 2
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