Luther on the Gospel

“Thus the sum and substance of all doctrine is this, that we are not justified by any works, but that faith in Christ saves.  This text (John 6:32)  is a veritable thunderclap that impels you to exclaim: what can my life and my good works help me?  Moses does not aid me.  Moses is only a schoolmaster in this field; he instructs me about an external mode of divine service and the strictest outward decency.  The works of Moses do not give life and salvation.  Here we are informed of another and better bread, called God’s bread, which comes from heaven and is not baked on earth.  It is granted by the Holy Spirit.  It confers everlasting life, a life not merited and earned, a gift from heaven. 

Thus you see two kinds of bread here.  The one is not earned, not acquired through a self-chosen, self-devised mode of life, but is an outright gift of bread, food and life.  The other is the bread that man wants to merit through good works and the observance of Moses’ Law.  But whoever refuses to accept life by grace and without merit will never obtain it.  The Father gives it; therefore it is not merited.  It is mine by sheer mercy and grace.  Thus my merit is toppled over and knocked down to the ground.”  (Martin Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of John, Chapters 6-8 (translated by M.H. Bertram), Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1959, p. 36).