Keep the Goal in Sight
Let no one pass judgment on you . . .. Let no one disqualify you.
COLOSSIANS 2:16, 18
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Keep the Goal in Sight
Now you can see, I think, what the correct gloss on St. Paul is and what he is teaching when he says to the Colossians in the second chapter: "Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you . . .." Have these people not disgracefully "diverted us from our goal" [Colossians 2:18]? We were forced to do nothing but run astray in vain, with so much singing, praying, fasting, keeping vigil, and working. They set no other goal for these works than to attain grace and life through them. By doing so, they caused us to lose sight of Christ, who alone was and is the right goal, in whom through true faith we are meant to win the race and obtain such grace and life, making use of the works mentioned above to chastise our flesh so that we become fit to serve our neighbor. Without this faith, such works do nothing but create "puffed-up hearts," as St. Paul says here.
From Luther's afterword to The Papacy with Its Members (Luther's Works 59:147-48)
COLOSSIANS 2:16, 18
+
Keep the Goal in Sight
Now you can see, I think, what the correct gloss on St. Paul is and what he is teaching when he says to the Colossians in the second chapter: "Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you . . .." Have these people not disgracefully "diverted us from our goal" [Colossians 2:18]? We were forced to do nothing but run astray in vain, with so much singing, praying, fasting, keeping vigil, and working. They set no other goal for these works than to attain grace and life through them. By doing so, they caused us to lose sight of Christ, who alone was and is the right goal, in whom through true faith we are meant to win the race and obtain such grace and life, making use of the works mentioned above to chastise our flesh so that we become fit to serve our neighbor. Without this faith, such works do nothing but create "puffed-up hearts," as St. Paul says here.
From Luther's afterword to The Papacy with Its Members (Luther's Works 59:147-48)
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