Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 26 views

    Luther and Sin

    Uploaded by

    Hugh Cummins

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Luther and Sin

    Uploaded by

    Hugh Cummins
    26 views2 pages

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    26 views2 pages

    Luther and Sin

    Uploaded by

    Hugh Cummins

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 2

    SINNING BOLDLY WITH MARTIN LUTHER

    Hugh Cummins

    “I gorge like a Czech and I soak like a German,” wrote the Protestant Reformer Martin
    Luther. He had spent much of his youth and young adulthood obsessed with sin. Tortured
    by pangs of guilt and remorse, he despaired of salvation and considered himself damned.
    The decisive turning point for Luther, which began with a moment of divine illumination
    while sitting on the toilet, was the realization that all our sins are cast on Christ. Through
    His sacrifice, Christ has elected to shoulder the burden of sin for us. Hence the famous
    Lutheran formulation: “sin boldly (pecca fortiter) but believe firmly (crede fortius).”

    Luther does not intend by this to encourage sin. He is saying that when we do sin, it
    should be with the confidence that Christ’s sacrifice has redeemed our sin for us.
    Penitential exercises, despair at our sinfulness, scrupulosity – these are themselves sinful
    because they are based on a belief in self-mastery and self-salvation rather than the purely
    external salvation that comes from God. As Luther put it, “if one is too frightened of sin,
    one is lost.”

    For Luther, the Devil delights not so much in our sin as in the sufferings caused by pangs
    of conscience. Our fear of sin is what delights him, partly because it makes us suffer and
    partly because it encases us in the proud illusion that we should be able to save ourselves.
    True faith, however, tells us that only God can save us.

    To confound the Devil’s delight in our pride-based fear of sin, Luther recommends that
    we should sometimes sin in his face. One must sometimes commit a sin out of hate for

    1
    the Devil. Thus Luther is led to a new and very different kind of agonizing: “Oh, if I
    could find one really good sin that would give the Devil a toss.” Here the sin of gluttony
    came to Luther’s aid:

    Why do you suppose that I drink too much wine, talk too much and like good meals too much? It is when
    the devil prepares to torment me and mock me and that I wish to take the lead… Eat, then, drink – give
    yourself up to it with a light heart. When the body is tempted one must give it plenty to eat and drink. It is
    the lecherous who must fast.

    In similar vein, Luther recommends that when the fires of conscience are stoked by the
    Devil, you should “Seek out your boon companions, drink, play, talk bawdy, and amuse
    yourselves.”

    Luther was true to his word. The physician who examined his body after his death wrote:

    Owing to excess in eating and drinking his body was filled with decayed substances. Luther had, in fact, a
    copious board, and an overabundance of sweet and foreign wines. It is said that everyday at midday and in
    the evening he drank a pint of sweet and foreign wines.

    Sin for Luther can never be an instrument of salvation. But a true sin, a bold sin rather
    than the imaginary sins we too often accuse ourselves of, can, as it were, defeat the devil
    with his own sword. Moreover, sin reveals to us our total fallenness and helplessness and
    thus provides the starting point for our trust and faith in the God who alone will save us.
    Without such faith and trust, the Catholic emphasis on “good works”, on the other hand,
    can lead to the kind of proud self-satisfaction that is even more perilous for the soul.
    Therefore, my friends,“sin boldly but believe firmly.” Thus spoke the great Reformer,
    who was also a great eater and drinker, a glutton, one might say, for God’s sake.

    You might also like