The Light Shineth in Darkness by -Udo Schaefer- 3 Para

From what has been said it will be clear that the Law is not an "obstacle, blocking the way to God," as Friedrich Gogarten puts it. The Law, as Hermann Cohen states, is "the necessary form for the carrying out of the correlation between God and Man." The laws of God are "the breaths of life unto all created things." "the lamps of My mercy for My creatures," "the highest means for the maintenance of order in the world and the security of its peoples. He that turneth away from them, is accounted among the abject and foolish." Through them truth is "separated from falsehood," they embody "the essence of justice and the source thereof" and "the highest, the infallible standard of justice." Their purpose is "the education of the human race" and "the happiness of all human beings." Whoso keepeth the commandments of God shall attain everlasting felicity." (Baha'u'llah & 'Abdul-Baha) (97:1)

..But the Law is not satisfied by being literally fulfilled, by a mere external legality; it demands to be carried out from inner devotion: "Walk in My statutes for love of Me" (Baha'u'llah). Merely carrying out the Law offers no claim to God's grace, because the fulfilment of any law needs God's acceptance: "Nothing whatsoever shall, in this Day, be accepted from you, though ye continue to worship and prostrate yourselves before God... For all things are dependent upon His Will, and the worth of all acts is conditioned upon His acceptance and pleasure." How seriously the Baha'i Faith takes the fact that no claims accrue to a man through his covenant with God, is shown by the 'Naw-Ruz' prayer which says: "For the doings of men are all dependent upon Thy good-pleasure, and are conditioned by Thy behest. Shouldst Thou regard him who hath broken the fast as one who hath observed it, such a man would be reckoned among them who from eternity had been keeping the fast. And shouldst Thou decree that he who hath observed the fast hath broken it, that person would be numbered with such as have caused the Robe of Thy Revelation to be stained with dust, and been far removed from the crystal waters of this living Fountain." (97:2)

Any "boasting" in pious works (as suggested in Romans 2:23) is excluded, because no believer can be sure of God's acceptance of his works and aware of his state in God's eyes: "He (the true believer) should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be. How often hath a sinner, at the hour of death, attained to the essence of faith, and quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto the celestial Concourse. And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul's ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire" (Baha'u'llah) (98:1) see

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