484. After reading these quotations and others from one end of the Word to the other, who fails to see the emptiness (I would prefer not to say "idiocy") of the quotations given above in 464 from the ecclesiastical book called the Formula of Concord? Would we not think to ourselves, "If what we are taught there is true - that we have no free choice in spiritual matters - wouldn't that make religious practice, which is the doing of what is good, a meaningless expression? And without religious practice, what is the church except the bark from a piece of wood, which is only useful as kindling?" We would also think, "If the church does not really exist, because it has no religious practice, what then are heaven and hell but fables made up by the ministers and leaders of the church to captivate common people and to elevate themselves to high honors?" This is the source of that detestable popular phrase: "Who can do what is good on their own? Who can acquire faith on their own?" Therefore people do not bother and live a hedonistic life.

[2] But, my friend, abstain from evil, and do what is good, and believe in the Lord with your whole heart and your whole soul; and the Lord will love you and give you love for what you do and faith in what you believe. Then you will do what is good because of love and you will believe because you have faith, which is confidence. And if you persevere like this, a reciprocal partnership [with the Lord] will develop and become permanent. This is salvation itself and eternal life.

If we did not use the powers that have been granted to us to do what is good, and we did not use our minds to believe in the Lord, what would we be except a wasteland or a desert, like ground that is so utterly dry that it repels rather than absorbs rain? We would be like a sandy field where there are sheep that have nothing to eat. We would be like a spring that has dried up, or like stagnant water around a spring that is blocked. We would be like a home where there is no harvest and no pond; unless we left there immediately and looked for an inhabitable spot elsewhere, we would die of hunger and thirst.