Abandoning Reason
Comments on Galatians with an ear to Luther’s commentary
Scripture Text: Galatians 3:6 and Ezekiel 36:25–27
Series: Comments on Galatians
Luther never meant that people should abandon reason. He meant that reason is not the highest response to the Scriptures. At some point, reason will have to let go; and it is then, that only faith will do. We can and should reason together (Isaiah 1:18). The Apostle Paul made it a practice to go regularly to the synagogue to reason with the people from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2). Reason is useful but can only go so far.
When the Lord told Abraham that ninety-year-old Sarah would bear a child, reason was of no assistance in believing God’s promise. Indeed, reasoning with Sarah about this divine pledge would have brought sardonic laughter. Faith must come into play at this point, and when it does, reason will mock it all day long. Reason will fight faith for the upper hand because reason alone cannot believe the promise.
When the Lord told a pitiful sinner like you that he would forgive you, you might have reasoned he could certainly do that if he wished. But when he added that he could make your dark heart whiter than snow, that he would create a clean heart in you and call you righteous, that was harder for reason to rationalize. When God included that this new you would be birthed, not a year from now like Sarah’s child, but immediately, reason reacts with force. Impossible! For human reason requires its own involvement in the new you. Here, faith abandons reason and believes this is God’s work alone, not yours.
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Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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