Good Works, Philip Melanchthon, Commonplaces of Theology, 1543

[GHansen]

Locus 9

How Do Good Works Please God?

First, the regenerate person must be assured that he is reconciled with God by faith for the sake of the Son of God, as is often said, that our person is accepted by God for the sake of his Son, by faith, freely.

Second, the regenerate person must recognize that in this life sin and weakness still remain in those who have been born again. He must truly lament that he still has this darkness, corruption, disorder, and wicked desires against the law of God.

Third, he must also be assured that obedience and the righteousness of a good conscience must be begun, and that this is far from the perfection of the law. Yet in the case  of those who have been reconciled, it is pleasing to God for the sake of his son the Mediator who presents our prayers and our worship before the Father and overlooks our weakness. Thus for the sake of Christ a person is first reconciled, then his works are accepted. His faith sheds light on both of these points. Therefore peter says in 1 Peter 2:5 "Offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

 

Cited from Loci Communes, 1543 Philip Melanchthon

Translated by J.A.O. Preus

Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1992, page 95