Martin Luther on Galatians 3:26

Verſe. 26. For ye are all the ſonnes of God by Faith in Chriſt Ieſus. Paule an excellēt teacher of Faith. Paule, as a true and an excellent teacher of Faith, hath alwayes theſe wordes in his mouth, By Faith, In Faith, Of Faith which is in Chriſt Ieſus. He ſayth not: ye are the children of God becauſe ye are circumciſed, becauſe ye haue heard the law and haue done the workes therof (as the Iewes doe imagine, and the falſe Apoſtles teach): but by Faith in Ieſus Chriſte. The lawe then maketh vs not the children of God, and much leſſe mens traditions. It can not beget vs into a new nature or a new birth: but it ſetteth before vs that old birth wherby we were borne to the kingdome of the Deuill: And ſo it prepareth vs to a new birth which is by Faith in Ieſus Chriſt and not by the lawe, as Paule plainly witneſſeth: For ye are all the children of God by Faith. &c. As if he ſayd: Albeit ye be tormented, humbled, and killed by the lawe, yet hath not the lawe made you righteous, or made you the children of God: this is the worke of Faith alone. What Faith? Faith in Chriſte. Faith therefore in Chriſt maketh vs the children of God, and not the lawe. The ſame thing witneſſeth alſo Iohn in the .1. chap. He gaue povver to as many as beleued in him, I[illegible: 1 letter]hn. 1.1[illegible: 1 letter]. to be the children of God. What tounge either of men or Angels can ſufficiently extol and magnifie the great mercy of God towardes vs, that we which are miſerable ſinners and by nature the children of wrath, ſhould be called to this grace and glory,Iohn. 1.1[illegible: 1 letter]. Rom. [illegible: 1 letter].16.17. Rom. 9.26. to be made the children and heires of God, fellow heires with the ſonne of God, and Lordes ouer heauen and earth, and that by the onely meanes of our Faith which is in Chriſt Ieſu?