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Luther's point, rather, is that, although God's law -- including law—including the first commandment that we shall believe and trust God, as well as all the other commandments pertaining to our responsibility toward our neighbors -- is neighbors—is natural, in that it is written in our hearts, our reason, being the reason of sinful human beings, nonetheless fails to recognise recognize it, or recognizes it only partially, inadequately, and mistakenly. This is why he can say, "[W]e read Moses not because he applies to us, that we must obey him, but because he agrees with the natural law and is conceived better than the Gentiles would ever have been able to do" (172). Because Moses speaks, not on the basis of reason, but on the basis of God's special revelation, what he teaches agrees exactly with nature, and in that sense is "conceived better than the Gentiles would ever have been able to do," lacking as they do the divine revelation correcting the errors and misunderstandings of human reason.

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