Eternal vigilance is the price of Christian liberty which was restored to Christendom through the Lutheran Reformation. Legalism and license always have been and still are the implacable foes of Christian liberty and ultimately of the Gospel itself. Since the Apostolic days church history is replete with instances where entire church bodies fell victim to one or the other. And the pity is that only too frequently matters of indifference, so-called adiaphora, served as the starting point from which either legalism or license sabotaged the priceless boon of Christian liberty. The Lutheran Church must therefore guard with especial care its great heritage of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel if it would retain its liberty
