Feb
15
2010
Only grace arouses love for God
“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.” Romans 1:17
“I anxiously and busily worked to understand the word of Paul in Romans 1:17. I questioned this passage for a long time and labored over it, for the expression ‘the righteousness of God’ barred my way. This phrase was customarily explained to mean that the righteousness of God is a virtue by which He is Himself righteous and condemns sinners. In this way all the teachers of the church except Augustine had interpreted the passage. They had said: The righteousness of God, that is, the wrath of God. But as often as I read this passage, I wished that God had never revealed the gospel, for who could love a God who was angry, who judged and condemned people?”
Martin Luther, quoted in The Lutheran Study Bible, on Romans 1:17.