God’s Law as God’s desire for how the faithful live, and also recognizing that please God by living virtuous lives without faith falls short.

Psalm 1

…but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
— Psalm 1:2

Luther partly quotes verse 2 in the preface to the Large Catechism (LC Preface.10) as a reminder that there is no better way to fight against those wills that would defy God than meditating on God’s Word.

Verse 2 is also quoted in the Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article 6: The Third Use of the Law (FC, SD 6.4) as a reminder that Christians look to God’s law to see how God wants us to act in the world. Not that following the Law will save us, but that the converted individual will follow God’s Law and will meditate on it daily because they have faith and want to keep God’s will before them.

Semicontinuous Reading - Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

The entirety of Psalm 90 is cited twice in the Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, but both as a reference to Luther’s commentary on Psalm 90.

First in Article 1: Original Sin (FC, SD 1.62), the reference is to Luther’s philosophical understanding of original sin as either an accident or quality that is not the essence of humanity but something else. Luther’s insight is that the worst place for a human to be is to not even recognize their own sinful state and thus be subject to God’s wrath without even knowing it. While not covered in Article 1, the groundwork for the difference between the general proclamation of the gospel (both God’s Law and God’s Promise) and the specific proclamation of the gospel (clear and unambiguous declaration of God’s Promise) is already here.

The second citation is in Article 2: Free Will (FC, SD 2.20) as Luther’s commentary on Psalm 90 leads him to reflect on humanity’s ingenuity, even without the Holy Spirit, in dealing with all the daily affairs of life—food, clothing, family, occupation, etc.—but our total inability without the Holy Spirit to recognize how we are under God’s wrath.

In both of these citations, Psalm 90 is a psalm of hope because God’s wrath is recognized and leading people to repent. Faith is here at work.

Matthew 22:34-46

He [Jesus] said to him [a lawyer], “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”
— Matthew 22:37

Verse 37 is quoted in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 4: Justification (AP 4.226) as Melanchthon wrestles with the Roman argument that love justifies. He turns to verse 37 to agree with the Roman argument that “love for God and neighbor is the greatest virtue.” However, that love that leads to action to help the neighbor comes out of faith in God’s promise, which is what justifies. External righteousness that is love of neighbor is a fruit of the justifying faith, not deeds and works that justify us to God.

TheoThru

Two different directions depending on which psalm you use. Using Psalm 1 to interpret Matthew 22, the emphasis is on living our faith in service to our neighbor in need because this is God’s desire. Using Psalm 90, the emphasis becomes recognizing that external works—even seemingly virtuous works—do not save us.

Do we bother to proclaim God’s gospel to those who are doing virtuous works? If not, why not?
How do we focus too much on the right actions?
How do we focus too much on the right faith?
How do discern the difference between works that flow out of faith and works that flow out of some from of self-righteousness?