faith, from the promises of Christ to the Law?

With their doctrine these lying sects of perdition deface the benefits of
Christ to this day. They rob Christ of His glory as the Justifier of mankind
and cast Him into the role of a minister of sin. They are like the false
apostles. There is not a single one among them who knows the difference
between law and grace.

We can tell the difference. We do not here and now argue whether we
ought to do good works, or whether the Law is any good, or whether the
Law ought to be kept at all. We will discuss these questions some other
time. We are now concerned with justification. Our opponents refuse to
make this distinction. All they can do is to bellow that good works ought
to be done. We know that. We know that good works ought to be done,
but we will talk about that when the proper time comes. Now we are
dealing with justification, and here good works should not be so much as
mentioned.

Paul's argument has often comforted me. He argues: "If we who have
been justified by Christ are counted unrighteous, why seek justification in
Christ at all? If we are justified by the Law, tell me, what has Christ
achieved by His death, by His preaching, by His victory over sin and death?
Either we are justified by Christ, or we are made worse sinners by Him."

The Sacred Scriptures, particularly those of the New Testament, make
frequent mention of faith in Christ. "Whosoever believeth in him is
saved, shall not perish, shall have everlasting life, is not judged," etc. In
open contradiction to the Scriptures, our opponents misquote, "He that
believeth in Christ is condemned, because he has faith without works."
Our opponents turn everything topsy-turvy. They make Christ over into a