pty letters, the valueless
husks or shells, of the Law, which unceasingly enjoins, "This thou
shalt do and observe," and ever in vain. You see instead the true
kernel and power which confers Christ and the fullness of His Spirit.
In consequence, men heartily believe the message of the Gospel and
enjoy its riches. They are accounted as having fulfilled the Ten
Commandments. John says (Jn 1, 16-17): "Of his fullness we all
received, and grace for grace. For the Law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John's thought is: The
Law has indeed been given by Moses, but what avails that fact? To be
sure, it is a noble doctrine and portrays a beautiful and instructive
picture of man's duty to God and all mankind; it is really excellent
as to the letter. Yet it remains empty; it does not enter into the
heart. Therefore it is called "law," nor can it become aught else, so
long as nothing more is given.

CHRIST SUPERSEDES MOSES.

Before there can be fulfilment, another than Moses must come,
bringing another doctrine. Instead of a law enjoined, there must be
grace and truth revealed. For to enjoin a command and to embody the
truth[2] are two different things; just as teaching and doing differ.
Moses, it is true, teaches the doctrine of the Law, so far as
exposition is concerned, but he can neither fulfil it himself nor
give others the ability to do so. That it might be fulfilled, God's
Son had to come with his fullness; he has fulfilled the Law for
himself and it is he who communicates to our empty heart the power to
attain to the same fullness.

[Footnote 2: Es ist zweirlei, Gesetz geben, und, Wahrheit werden.]

This becomes possible when we receive grace for grace, that is, when
we come to the enjoyment of Christ, and for the sake of him who
enjoys with God fullness of grace, although our own obedience to the
Law is still imperfect. Being possessed of solace and grace, we
receive by his power the Holy Spirit also, so that, instead of
harboring mere empty letters within us, we come to the truth and
begin to fulfil God's Law, in such a way, however, that we draw from
his fullness and drink from that as a fountain.

CHRIST THE SOURCE OF LIFE GREATER THAN ADAM THE SOURCE OF DEATH.

32. Paul gives us the same thought in Romans 5, 17-18, where he
compares Adam and Christ. Adam, he says, by his disobedience in
Paradise, became the source of sin and death in the world; by the sin
of this one man,