t. Yea, even those
who gladly hear the Word of God, who highly prize it and aim to
follow it, have daily need of admonition and encouragement, so strong
and tough is that old hide of our sinful flesh. And so powerful and
wily is our old evil foe that wherever he can gain enough of an
opening to insert one of his claws, he thrusts in his whole self and
will not desist until he has again sunk man into his former
condemnable unbelief and his old way of despising and disobeying God.

2. Therefore, the Gospel ministry is necessary in the Church, not
only for instruction of the ignorant--such as the simple, unlettered
people and the children--but also for the purpose of awakening those
who know very well what they are to believe and how they are to live,
and admonishing them to be on their guard daily and not to become
indolent, disheartened or tired in the war they must wage on this
earth with the devil, with their own flesh and with all manner of
evil.

3. For this reason Paul is so persistent in his admonitions that he
actually seems to be overdoing it. He proceeds as if the Christians
were either too dull to comprehend or so inattentive and forgetful
that they must be reminded and driven. The apostle well knows that
though they have made a beginning in faith and are in that state
which should show the fruits of faith, such result is not so easily
forthcoming. It will not do to think and say: Well, it is sufficient
to have the doctrine, and if we have the Spirit and faith, then
fruits and good works will follow of their own accord. For although
the Spirit truly is present and, as Christ says, willing and
effective in those that believe, on the other hand the flesh is weak
and sluggish. Besides, the devil is not idle, but seeks to seduce our
weak nature by temptations and allurements.

4. So we must not permit the people to go on in their way, neglecting
to urge and admonish them, through God's Word, to lead a godly life.
Indeed, you dare not be negligent and backward in this duty; for, as
it is, our flesh is all too sluggish to heed the Spirit and all too
able to resist it. Paul says (Gal 5, 17): "For the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ... that ye may
not do the things that ye would." Therefore, God is constrained to do
as a good and diligent householder or ruler, who, having a slothful
man-servant or maid-servant, or careless officers, who otherwise are
neither wicked nor faithless,