Joachim Magdeburg.

and deny the Lord Christ Himself, and rob themselves of all the promises that God has made to us in Christ. And as long as they remain in such unbelief, they cannot enjoy the Lord Christ and His merit for salvation. As the Holy Divine Scripture testifies abundantly concerning this. For Paul says: "If those who are of the law are heirs, then faith is nothing, and the promise is void." Romans 4. By this, the Apostle openly testifies that hypocrites and those who rely on works original: "werckheiligen" — literally "work-holy ones" deny and do not have the true faith in Christ, and also do not enjoy the promise of God. Galatians 5. Likewise: "You have fallen away from Christ, you who want to be justified by the law that is, by your good works, and have fallen from grace." Galatians 2. Likewise: "If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." By this, the Apostle openly teaches that the hypocrites and those who rely on works do not enjoy the Lord Christ and His bitter suffering for salvation. And this for the following reasons: First, that they do not have faith in Christ, for the trust they place in their own works is contrary to faith in Christ.

Secondly: Even if the works they do are good in themselves and commanded by God—such as praying, fasting, giving alms, and the like—they are and remain not good works when such hypocrites and those who rely on works perform them. This is because, as mentioned, they do not do them in true faith, but rather do them in opposition to faith in Christ. Indeed, they are then a gruesome idolatry and blasphemy, because in this manner they are set by the hypocrites and those who rely on works in the place of Christ, and they attribute to themselves what belongs to the Lord Christ, the Son of God alone: namely, to earn the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and salvation.