# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1861_S360
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

360 Report on the Law.

can be broken. And Matt. 5:18, that not one letter or one tittle of the
Law shall pass away until all be fulfilled. Therefore, when I say: I may
break the commandment, the Law — this means as much as: I may break its
wrong interpretation (as David did) and keep the right one. So Christ
himself says, Matt. 12:5: The priests in the temple break the Sabbath and
sin not. From this it follows that the Sabbath may be broken not only for
the sake of need of soul and body, but also for the sake of property — as
in pulling an ox or an ass out of a pit, or watering it, as the Gospel of
Luke 14:5 says. And this means nothing other than this: God has not
given his commandment so that body, soul, and goods should perish and be
destroyed on its account, but rather so that you should make use of these
things in faith and in the fear of God and of his commandment. Therefore
they are always to be understood in such a way that you think no less
that he has created your body, soul, and goods, and that he also wills
that you have regard and care for these things in faith. So when one of
these things is in danger, you should then know that his commandments
are, in that case, no longer commandments at all, but that you may break
them for the sake of the need... And should some perverse smart-aleck
say: I hear well enough — by that same reasoning I might also commit
adultery, murder, steal, and break all the commandments of God? The
answer is brief: no such necessity can ever arise.. In sum: for
interpreting, understanding, and mitigating all laws, all commandments
and vows, there is no surer or better rule than Christian love alone. For
in cases that are contrary to love, no commandment or law either should
or can be interpreted or mitigated at all. For it is impossible that a
case of necessity should arise in matters that are contrary to love.
Conversely, whatever is not contrary to love is free; there you may
mitigate all laws, especially in a case of necessity. And Paul's saying,
Rom. 13:8, stands firm: Owe no man anything, but to love one another. Now
tell me, who would here set up, over Paul's law, another law that must be
kept? And even if such a law were made, through a vow or otherwise, how
could you be obliged to keep it, how could it bind, when the holy apostle
says: Owe no man anything, but to love one another? Therefore, vows which
we wish to make we may indeed keep; but we are not obliged to keep them.
Christ says, Matt. 7:12: This is the Law and the Prophets. And further,
Matt. 22:20: On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the
Prophets. Therefore, against love, or above the commandment of love,
nothing either can or should bind — nor does anything bind, be it
commandment or vow, whatever it may be on earth. Now it is easy to see
why it is impossible, and in no way fitting, to mitigate or dispense with
the laws of God in the case of adultery, of murder, of theft, where no
necessity compels, and the like; and, conversely, why one may mitigate
them