Give the Law a Holiday

A man can defend himself and hold his own against the suggestion and temptation of the devil, whether these concern present or former sins, by keeping these two far apart: Moses and Christ, works and faith, conscience and external life. When the Law would attack me and frighten my heart, it is time to grant the good Law a holiday; and if it is unwilling to take a holiday, courageously to drive it away and say: I shall gladly do and foster good when I am among people; but there in my conscience I want to know nothing of this matter. Do not trouble me with it there, and tell me nothing of it. There I listen to neither Moses nor the Pharisees, but my Baptism and Christ shall rule alone there and be everything. And, like Mary, I want to sit at His feet and listen to His Word; but Martha should stay outside, be active in the kitchen, an do domestic work. In short, she should let the conscience rest in peace.

Source: Quoted in Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says, A Practical In-home Theology for the Active Christian. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1959 Edition, 10th Printing (1994), p. 338.