you. Your ingratitude grieves me. I am angry with you." But his purpose was to
call them back to the Gospel. With this purpose in his mind he speaks very
gently to them. He could not have chosen a milder expression than this, "I
marvel." It indicates his sorrow and his displeasure.

Paul minds the rule which he himself lays down in a later chapter where he
says: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted." Toward those who have been misled we are to show ourselves
parentally affectionate, so that they may perceive that we seek not their
destruction but their salvation. Over against the devil and his missionaries,
the authors of false doctrines and sects, we ought to be like the Apostle,
impatient, and rigorously condemnatory, as parents are with the dog that bites
their little one, but the weeping child itself they soothe.

The right spirit in Paul supplies him with an extraordinary facility in
handling the afflicted consciences of the fallen. The Pope and his bishops,
inspired by the desire to lord it over men's souls, crack out thunders and
curses upon miserable consciences. They have no care for the saving of men's
souls. They are interested only in maintaining their position.


VERSE 6. That ye are so soon.

Paul deplores the fact that it is difficult for the mind to retain a sound and
steadfast faith. A man labors for a decade before he succeeds in training his
little church into orderly religion, and then some ignorant and vicious
poltroon comes along to overthrow in a minute the patient labor of years. By
the grace of God we have effected here in Wittenberg the form of a Christian
church. The Word of God is taught as it should be, the Sacraments are