# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1861_S289
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Lehre und Wehre.

Volume VII.    October 1861.    No. 10.

Theological Axioms.

XVII. Of Good Works.

1. Just as reason knows nothing of the blessed hope of eternal life, so
too it does not understand what good works are. (Luther.)

2. Vox bonorum operum usurpatur utplurimum generaliter pro tota
renatorum obedientia et vitae novitate, quandoque vero specialiter pro certa
aliqua specie ἀγαθουργίας. (Gerhard.)

The word "good works" is for the most part taken in a broader sense
for the whole obedience of the regenerate and for the new life, but
sometimes in a special sense for a particular species of right conduct.

3. Ut ἡ ἁμαρτία est ἀνομία, ita bonum opus est ἐννομία. (Gerh.)

As sin is wrongdoing, or the transgression of the law, so a good work is
what is right, or conformity with the law.

4. Non ex intentione, sed norma de bonis operibus judicandum.
(Kromayer.)

Good works are to be judged not by the intention with which they are
done, but by their norm.

5. Quod fit juxta Dei voluntatem, quamvis videatur improbum esse,
tamen omnino Deo gratum est et acceptum; contra quod fit praeter Dei
voluntatem ac secus quam ille vult fieri, quamquam existimatur acceptum
Deo, tamen est omnium pessimum et iniquissimum. (Chrysostomus.)

What happens in accordance with God's will, though it may seem to be
godless, is nevertheless wholly pleasing and acceptable to God; whereas
what is done against God's will, and otherwise than he wills it to happen,
is, although it may be regarded as pleasing to God, nevertheless thoroughly
evil and wrong.

6. Exempla non probant, sed illustrant. (Proverb.)

Examples do not prove a thing, but only illustrate it.

7. Exempla regulis non opponenda, sed ad eas exigenda. (Proverb.)

Examples must not be set against the rules, but must be judged
according to them.

8. Non videndum, quid factum a patribus, verum an jure factum.