Martin Luther, in a letter to a former catholic brother struggling with his faith writes the following:
“If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [or sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2 Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God’s glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.”
It is only in the context of the full letter – and only in this one letter – that Luther pushes the idea this far, to the every day person his advice in terms of living a Christian life was not to ‘sin boldly’ but to rather to focus on the cross and let the Spirit do the work in us.
What I want to highlight in this quote are the following points:
- This is from a letter between two priests and partners in the reformation, two ‘saved Christians’, in which they discuss the sinfulness of their own lives. Martin Luther is not telling Philip Melanchthon to go and sin, but rather to acknowledge his sinfulness. The fact that even those of us who aren’t struggling with what we would consider ‘serious sins’ are in fact sinners.
- He is telling us to own up to our sinful nature with absolute honesty – it is only when we are honest about our condition that we can seek out any kind of improvement.
- Luther is saying that even the righteous – or ‘holy’ – even us who have chosen Christ and call ourselves Christians, will still continue to sin – regardless of how hard we try not to – and that no man can be perfect.
- He is saying that our justification is through faith and faith alone, although we try our utmost to live a holy and godly life.
- Even though we continue sinning – even though we do x, y, or z (insert your sin here) after being born again, even though we remain imperfect, this does not make the sacrifice of Christ less perfect, and nothing can separate us from His love.
- He teaches us to continue in prayer – in building a relationship with THE ONE WHO SAVES US – because it is in Christ alone that our salvation is found – and the sacrifice of the Spotless and exalted Lamb of God was not a small price or a meagre sacrifice, but that the grace of God is without limitation.
In writing this, I want to encourage you not to let your conscience become an idol in the place of God. I also want to mention that I’m not saying that we have a license to sin because of grace – but that the grace of God, His Spirit and a relationship with Him is ultimately what we must strive for. Sin will always have consequences – regardless of the infinite grace of God.
In reference to this passage by Luther, the critic G. C. Berkouwer, in his book ‘Faith and Sanctification’, wrote:
He does not say ‘Sin till you are blue in the face,’ or ‘Sin for all you’re worth,’ but ‘Sin bravely.’” With this word –whatever the libertine may do with it– he intends to exorcise the terror of the believer who has discovered some sin in himself and has now lost sight of the grace of God. An abundance of grace can subdue the power of sin… In order to signalize the superabundance of grace, he contrasts it –Luther is a vehement man– with a thousand sinful enormities a day. His intention is not to yield quarter to Antinomianism but to upset a construction which would make sin and grace of equal weight, and therefore he exhorts the sinner to have courage.
The ’construction’ the phrase “sin boldly” meant to upset is the scales we use to balance our righteousness. Instead of weighing our wrong doings and our good deeds against the letter of the law, we are to give over to the Living Word of God and to the guidance and unction, the movement of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus in John 16:5-11: speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit:
“But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
It is the Spirit that convicts us of sin and convinces us of righteousness.
I give a warning, but also hope.
Jesus warned against wolves in sheep’s clothing – he warned against false teachers and prophets – he told us that many would twist the scripture to their own liking and advantage, and use it for the advancement of their own agenda. If you are doing anything, or NOT doing something because a PERSON with a TITLE told you so, this is not enough. Don’t be bound by fear or limitation – don’t let anyone tell you that you are not righteous enough, fervent enough, holy enough – because Jesus paid for it all and He has a unique purpose for your life.
Measure everything against the word of God. Like the Luther quote above can be measured against the whole of Romans 5:20-21:, although I’d like to quote the last two verses:
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Everything must be measured according to the Word.
Romans 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.” (NKJV)
Romans 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.” (NKJV)
Jesus came to turn our nothingness into something – He came to fill that God shaped gap. He came to restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
He should always be our life source. He is the one who makes everything new again – He came to tear the curtain and to show us that there was nothing behind it, for He was already in our midst just as He is now. He desires to live in you – and His blueprint for your life is not to make copies of copies – His blueprint for your life is unique – His blueprint for your life is unique to you. The measure of His grace is infinite, and how much of it flows in your life is completely dependent on your relationship with Him.
God is not a product. He cannot be boxed in, He cannot be bought nor sold. God is not a man, and He does not play favourites.
Through Christ you have become a son, or daughter, of God. Yes, we will have many mentors, and we obey our spiritual leaders (as Romans 13 advises – but also realize as per Hebrews 13:18 that Paul asks us to pray that these leaders stay honourable in their conduct, meaning that they can also stray from the path – as Luther expressed in the letter above) – but never make them idols in the place of God. Never make doctrine an idol in the place of God. Never make religion an idol in the place of God.
Jesus was a revolutionary – He came to give us relationship in the place of religion. This is the biggest part of the blueprint.
He has a plan for your life – a plan to restore you. A plan to make you new. A blueprint reboot.
Pray this prayer with me: “Lord, allow me to set aside every altar I have built, every idol I have created, help me cast away every single thought, idea and doctrine that is not from you. Let me not honour or exalt flesh and blood, or good works or man-made constructs in place of Your glory, goodness, and grace. Let me build a relationship with you. Anoint the ears of my heart that I may hear your voice and build a relationship with you that is not dependant on anything besides Your Spirit living in me. Open my eyes and let me see things for what they are, let me see Your love and grace enveloping me. Let me be open minded about the way forward, and realize that You did not come to bring us religion – but a revolution of the heart, a revival, a restoration in our relationship with You. ”