name be
what it may, become good only when they flow from faith, the
"first, greatest, and noble of good works." (John 6:19.)_ In this
connection the essence of faith, that only source of all truly
good works, must of course be rightly understood. It is the sure
confidence in God, that all my doing is well-pleasing to him; it
is trust in His mercy even though He appear angry and puts
sufferings and adversities upon us; it is the assurance of the
divine good will even though "God should reprove the conscience
with sin, death and hell, and deny it all grace and mercy, as
though He would condemn and show His wrath eternally." Where such
faith lives in the heart, there the works are good "even though
they were as insignificant as the picking up of a straw"; but
where it is wanting, there are only such works as "heathen, Jew
and Turk" may have and do. Where such faith possesses the man, he
needs no teacher in good works, as little as does the husband or
the wife, who only look for love and favor from one another, nor
need any instruction therein "how they are to stand toward each
other, what they are to do, to leave undone, to say, to leave
unsaid, to think."

This faith, Luther continues, is "the true fulfilment of the
First Commandment, apart from which there is no work that could
do justice to this Commandment." With this sentence he combines,
on the one hand, the whole argument of faith, as the best and
noblest 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 would 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
contrib