The Priority of Existence
Via The Righteousness of Faith according to Luther
Alexander Ivanov, "The Appearance of Christ Before the People" (1837-57)
Luther has formulated the recognition of the priority of existence over action in a famous, consistent antithesis which was for him to remain a guiding star: “no iusta operando iusti efficimur, sed iusti essendo iusta operamur,” which means, “not through doing what is right are we righteous, but through the fact that we are justified we are able to do what is right.” This Being-Justified already is the precondition of doing right and this precondition does not lie inside of us, but lies outside all human possibilities. It lies, “extra nos, i.e., in Christo.” As he formulated this thesis for the fist time, Luther was very conscious of its implications and that with it he was unleashing the Gorgon’s knot of Greek, especially Aristotelian, philosophy that had entwined itself around Christian doctrine. He encountered the scholastic system at its heart because that is where the basic teachings of Greek ethics had been taken over by Christianity, namely, with the concept that virtue takes practice and discipline. For the Greeks, virtue meant ability that was won through steadfast and conscious practice in doing right. Strength and steadfastness of the soul acquired in this way builds character through a person’s habit – his “habitus.” Only through carefully planned undertakings that are supported by a wise education are we able to begin to develop the kind of habits that are characteristic of virtue: “Then the swallows cannot make their summer nests [in us].” (Aristotle) Unfortunately, we can only here briefly elaborate on the vast and consistent theme regarding the teaching of virtue that permeated Greek thought, merely in order to make clear that consequences of incorporating this system into Christian teaching (since the basic ideas of the Greek system of virtue, viewed pedagogically, are so convincing, the opinion had to emerge that it is also the case with righteousness by faith) since man exercises himself in the practice of chief Christian virtues, he attains to an inner being or condition of his nature that may be considered righteous. Thus, the person wins back what he had lost, namely, his original righteousness before God, because he is now able to practice virtue with the help and support of grace in order to carry out God’s will. In order to understand, as Luther did, why he strongly said “no” to this kind of thinking one must have experienced the powerful and gripping elation, the wonderful communion of nature and grace; the stepwise, gradual, elevating journey through the practice of heavenly virtue until – but never quite attainable – perfection is visible. He understood that in this kind of experience, something he called “opera legis” or works of the Law, the entire order of the human road to righteousness was turned around. We are not made righteous through what we do, but exactly the opposite: only from a life first captured by faith are virtuous deeds at all possible.
