LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 102

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SIMULTANEOUS SAINTS AND SINNERS 103

- forgiveness of sins, under which I live in safety” (ZL W26,
931 f.).
= . Now let us be sure that we understand the role of
faith. In his 1875 essay to the Western District on “The
Justification of the Sinner by Grace Alone Through
faith in Jesus Christ Without Any Merit of Works,” Dr.
: Walther asked the delegates to consider five points on
ustification. The fifth point was, “God does not justify
s conditionally.” In that section he says, “We are not
‘econciled to God when we believe, but we are already
deemed, are already reconciled to God, so that we
lieve. This is also true regarding justification,”
‘alther goes on. “The whole world is already justified in
Christ. Faith is not the condition under which we are
fistified but the way and the means by which we
come partakers of the justification which God has
g ago given us” (Convention Essays, p. 105). In that
nnection Walther quotes John 3:16 and reminds that
rod “did not merely grant the world permission to
ippropriate His Son; but .. . gave Him to us that we
jhould believe in Him and not only when we believe.’ To
mphasize that point again, Walther, in discussing the
eans of grace the following year says, “This would
értainly be a curious situation: if you believe some-
(thing, it happens, but if you do not believe it, it does not
appen. That would be sheer folly! ... thereisn’t a single
inner in the world to whom forgiveness of sins has not
ready been given through the Gospel. Also to J udas,

thithophel, Cain, Manasseh (even before the latter ’

‘repented) grace had been given.” Luther says the same
:when he talks about the Office of the Keys: “Even he
ho does not believe that he is free and his sins forgiven
hall also learn, in due time, how assuredly his sins were
rgiven, even though he did not believe it” (Z W 40, 366).
What then is faith? And why does it save? Faith is
he hand that grasps what God extends to us through
hrist. And it does not save, as both the Apology and
he Formula of Concord emphasize, “because it is so
ood a work and so God-pleasing a virtue, but because it
ys hold on and accepts the merit of Christ in the
omise of the holy Gospel” (FC SD III, 13). To speak
us is to reflect what Paul is saying in Rom. 4:16:
efore it is of faith, that it might be by grace.”

ow let us apply this ‘saint” business to ourselves
nthis convention hall. We who were once “children of
wath,” “dead in trespasses and sins,” are saints. We
holy. We are adjudged by God for the sake of Christ
nbe perfect. Up here we have St. Ralph and St. Herbert
ndeven St. Karl. Maybe we should try that out on each
ler.at the next break in the hall. This is no time for
emodesty. Luther becomes almost vehement on this
bject in one of his sermons from 1530 and states, “All
“U8 are saints, and accursed be he who does not call
imself a saint and glory init. If you believe the words of
Brist, you are a saint as well as St. Peter and all the
er.saints; for, depend on it, Christ will not lie to you.
nérefore if you do not say: I have as much as St. Peter
nd am as saintly as St. Peter, then you are ungrateful
our Lord Christ... .. Nor is such glorying in our
thood arrogance but modesty and thankfulness. In

fact, he who does not do it is slandering Christ and
Baptism” (WA 32, 92). ;

And I want to add a word about this sainthood to you
young people, who are rightly receiving special notice
and emphasis at this convention. You are saints by the
grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus. We like to
think about saints as the aged ones with gnarled hands
and furrowed brows, those who have borne the burden
and heat of the day and have showed special love to
their Savior and to their fellowmen. Very well, they are
saints indeed if they have washed their rebes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb. But you, you
teenagers who do battle with the sins of the flesh and
must flee continually to the arms of the Savior, you are
saints. “As many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). His merits are
your merits, His righteousness your holiness. Hold your
head high! You have dignity. You have worth. Not only
have you been created by the gracious and omnipotent
hand of God, you have been redeemed in the blood of His
Son and sanctified by the power of His Spirit through
Word and Sacrament.

And it is this message that we bring to the world.
“Him we proclaim!” This is why we gather from all over
this great church body and have floor committees and
overtures and resolutions and debates and votes. It is so
that we can proclaim Him by whom we sinners are
saints. Walther puts it so beautifully in the essays
referred to before. He says, “We pastors are put into
office[and were he here, he would probably say, God has
put us all on this earth—pastors, teachers and laity
alike—] so that we can say: ‘My dear redeemed fellow
member of the human race! You are reconciled with
God, who no longer has anything against you.’ That is
essentially our office; everything else we do is merely
auxiliary. The kernel, the soul, the heart of our office is
this, that we seek to bring every individual sinner to the
knowledge that he is redeemed, reconciled with God”
(Convention Essays, p. 164).

III

Saints and sinners! Indeed, simultaneous saints and
sinners! This is the glorious truth of our Christian faith.
It is not that yesterday we were sinners and today we
are saints. It is not that sometimes we are sinners and
sometimes we are saints. We are simul, simultaneous
sinners and saints, saints and sinners. Let Luther speak
again: “Thus a Christian ...is righteous and a sinner at
the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God anda
child of God. None of the sophists will admit this
paradox, because they do not understand the true
meaning of justification” (LW 26, 232 f.). Again, he says:
“Therefore if you look at faith, the Law has been
fulfilled, sins have been destroyed, and no Law is left.
But if you look at the flesh, in which there is no good, you
will be compelled to admit that those who are righteous
in the spirit through faith are still sinners” (ZL W27, 231).
And again: “The inner manis a saint; the outer manisa
sinner. That is why we confess in the Creed that the
church is holy but pray for forgiveness of sins in the

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