incarnate, suffering, risen, and glorified, through the Spirit, the
Sanctifier. To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set
it free, and to save it, if it believes the preaching. For faith alone
and the efficacious use of the word of God, bring salvation. "If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom.
x. 9); and again, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4), and "The just shall live by
faith" (Rom. i. 17). For the word of God cannot be received and honoured
by any works, but by faith alone. Hence it is clear that as the soul
needs the word alone for life and justification, so it is justified by
faith alone, and not by any works. For if it could be justified by any
other means, it would have no need of the word, nor consequently of
faith.

But this faith cannot consist at all with works; that is, if you imagine
that you can be justified by those works, whatever they are, along with
it. For this would be to halt between two opinions, to worship Baal, and
to kiss the hand to him, which is a very great iniquity, as Job says.
Therefore, when you begin to believe, you learn at the same time that
all that is in you is utterly guilty, sinful, and damnable, according to
that saying, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom.
iii. 23), and also: "There is none righteous, no, not one; they are all
gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable: there is
none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom. iii. 10-12). When you have
learnt this, you will know that Christ is necessary for you, since He
has suffered and risen again for you, that, believing on Him, you might
by this faith become another man, all your sins being remitted, and you
being justified by the merits of another, namely of Christ alone.