I long to write some more to you in Christ Jesus. God is a gracious and merciful God, full of a deep peace and the insight of wisdom and knowledge. He hates ungodliness; therefore, He justifies the ungodly by His own righteousness which He displayed in Christ when He became a curse for us. All the punishment was laid upon the Son, who bore the sins of the whole world. Now only one sin remains, and that is unbelief. The world is not convicted of sin because of their deeds, but because they do not believe in Him. Unbelief produces works of unbelief, and that is sin. Faith produces works of faith, and these are the fruits of righteousness.

“Behold the Lamb of God who bears the sins of the world,” said John. This is truly the gospel we can bring to the whole world. Not to preach sin, but point to the Lamb of God, who bears all the sins of the world. Just as through the fall of one man, condemnation has come over all mankind, so also through the righteousness of one, the righteousness of life will come to all mankind. The just shall live by faith. That is, we are justified by faith just as our father Abraham was. There is only one faith, one baptism, and one God, the Father of us all. There is a saying: “Every man is blessed in his own faith.” But this is not true when his faith is one of a hundred different kinds. Every man, however, is blessed in his faith when it is the faith of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Even faith itself is not our own; it is the faith of the Son of God. This is the “one” faith. This is the faith that Abraham and all God’s men of old had, because they looked to the promise. Old Simeon had this faith, because he said, “Now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, because I have seen God’s salvation.” By faith the elders obtained a good testimony. Heb. 11:2.

Once we have received faith, then “faith without works is dead.” The works of faith are the fruits of the Spirit. By faith, the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us. By faith, we are sanctified through and through. By faith, we grow up to the Head, to mature manhood in Christ. Unless we become like little children, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. However, after we have entered in, the intention is that we shall grow according to the growth that God gives. To grow up in this kingdom is to mature in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, because the kingdom of God consists of these things.

Chastisement brings wisdom. The Lord disciplines those He loves and scourges every son He receives. If you are chastened by the Lord, it is not in order to condemn you. The one who is without chastisement is illegitimate; he is not a true son. Taking heed to correction brings understanding, and a well-disciplined soul is careful to avoid evil. It’s not the length of years that determines a person’s maturity; godliness alone produces true maturity. That’s why Paul writes to Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth.” Old people don’t always understand what is right.

We can learn what wisdom and knowledge are from the young man Elihu (in Job, starting in Chapter 32). And James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach . . . .” But the one who asks God for wisdom must prepare his back for chastening, because chastening produces wisdom. To begin with, wisdom leads us on tortuous paths. But later, when she can trust us, having tested us through chastisement, she will walk with us along straight paths. Sirach. The one who seeks wisdom must diligently search the writings of the ancients and the prophets. Wisdom is gained by using quiet opportunities. How can he become wise whose talk is all about young bulls and who boasts in the shaft of a goad?

Christ’s work is always to liberate. The one the Son sets free is free indeed. He freed us from the burdensome demands of the law when He became a curse for us. Now all that matters is a new creation in Christ. The old has passed away, and everything has become new. Who can condemn a new creation? Who would impose laws and demands on a new creation or try to patch it up? Now, since all that matters is a new creation, it is futile to sigh, grieve, and complain. Why slave away and torment yourself over things that are irrelevant? Can even a fool go astray here? No, but when people have faith in the devil, then this can happen, because the devil understands and has a keen sense for the things of man yet no understanding at all of the things of God. The new creation is of God, and the devil can never grasp it. Satan’s head was crushed on the cross. The new creation came into being after the death of Christ. The devil knows nothing about it since it came into being after his head was crushed. He can only grasp the things of man. That is why it is written: He who loses his life in this world finds life itself. The devil only understands the life of this world. The more we lay down our lives, the more Satan’s head is crushed under our feet. That’s why it is written that as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. The spiritual man judges all things, but he is judged by no one, for who has known the mind of Christ so as to instruct Him?

These things are so glorious, dear Aksel, that I could talk about them day and night. My heart has found great rest and peace in God’s delightful ways and in the knowledge of Him. The angel Gabriel told Daniel that he was a man greatly beloved and that his prayers had been heard from the day he set his heart to understand wisdom.

Since you have already begun to understand God’s will and His ways, I advise you to devote yourself wholeheartedly to understanding the wisdom of God, because it will bring you great joy. With this wisdom you will rejoice over your wise answers. At meetings people will wait for you to speak. When you begin to speak, they will incline their ear, and as you continue, they will put their hands over their mouths. Honor and riches are in wisdom’s left hand, and long life is in her right hand. Truly her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. The kingdom of God does not consist of dry “doctrine,” but of Spirit, life, and power. We can’t study our way to God’s wisdom, because the things people read and learn are absorbed by the human mind—the mind of the flesh; but the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God.

Revelation from God is given to each one for the profit of all. The more obedient we are, the more God’s knowledge becomes profitable to us, and the more of it we receive.

The kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking. We don’t come together just to enjoy ourselves and have a good time, but rather to build. Every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Lay hold of this inheritance as quickly as possible, dear Aksel.

Stand with the helmet of salvation on your head and the armor of righteousness upon your loins, having your feet shod with the preparation and readiness of the gospel of peace; and take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Thus armed, we can stand firmly and say with Luther,

“Although they take our life
Goods, honor, children, wife,
Let go, let go, for they
Cannot take more away.
God’s Kingdom, our forever.”3

The doctrine of Christ is radical and cuts to the quick. Woe to those who rise against it! Even Paul could do nothing against the truth, only for the truth.

Christ didn’t come to bring peace. Two shall be against three and three against two in the same house. These two kingdoms—the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light—cannot be at peace, because war has been declared between them. Love rejoices in the truth. In every place Paul was an aroma of death unto death among those who were perishing and of life leading to life among those who were being saved. And so he asks, “Who is sufficient for these things?”

I was like a steam boiler at the point of bursting, or as you read in Job 32, from verse 19. Now I am free, because I have spoken the truth in Christ Jesus, and no one can refute what I have written. This is my boast and my inheritance in Christ. I will not seek my own honor but His, because those who seek His honor are true, and there is no guile in them. Contradiction and sufferings of every kind prepared the Captain of our salvation. Christ’s entire life was one long series of contradictions and battle, especially against religious people. In His spirit He never turned aside, neither to the left nor to the right. He let them pull out His beard; He endured mockery and scorn. Yet He never said, “I retract what I have said and repent in dust and ashes.” This is what Satan and the world want.

“That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth.”4

Write soon. Your brother in the same grace, under the same conditions, and a partaker of the same tribulations, chastisement, and education,