On Christians being "Simultaneously Sinner and Saint":
“The saints in being righteous are at the same time sinners; they are righteous because they believe in Christ whose righteousness covers them and is imputed to them, but they are sinners because they do not fulfill the Law and are not without sinful desires. They are like sick people in the care of a physician: they are really sick, but healthy only in hope and in so far as they begin to get better, or, rather: are being healed.”
-Martin Luther
3 comments:
I remember reading this quote in college..."healthy only in hope"...powerful. Seems to be a simple example of Luther's understanding of justification. Thanks for this quote today.
I find it actually amazing at how few Protestants today actually believe in Imputed Righteousness which Luther, Calvin, and Classical Protestantism always taught. In some ways it's good, in that I explain my Catholic understanding of Justification via N.T. Wright's New Pauline Perspective and then the Protestants agree with me. But I almost want to tell them that they shouldn't actually agree with me and that everything I just said was in their traditional conception 'heresy'.
I'm glad that there are still people around like you Jared who know the true reasons for the Reformation, Sola Fide, Imputed Righteousness, etc. Most Prots I know end up saying that the Reformation was about the Pope... Luther and Melancthon said that if the pope taught Sola Fide they'd return. (at least at the beginning they did).
We disagree on theology but at least we're clear in what they are. Thanks again Jared.
"The good you do will not save you, and the evil you do will nbot condemn you."
- Martin Luther
For some reason that statement (which is totally reflective of the gospel) drives some Evangelicals nuts.
I guess they think that after you become a Christian you won't be doing evil things any longer.
Wrong.
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