10/30/2017 Martin Luther and Lutherans on Mortal & Venial Sins (Part 1)
Can we not have preaching on Facebook? Religion is a fairly presumptive field of the intellect.
Dave Armstrong
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2017/10/luther-lutherans-mortal-venial-sins.html Martin Luther: The Book of Concord:The Smalcald Articles.
http://bookofconcord.org/smalcald.php#falserepentance . . . Open, mortal sins, such as adultery, homicide, fornication, theft, robbery, usury, slander, etc.
The purpose to avoid these sins belongs properly to sacramental Confession, and to confession before God it belongs at any moment after the sins have been committed;
According to the word of Ecclesiasticus, “My son, hast thou sinned?
Do so no more, but ask pardon for thy former sins,” [Ecclus. 21:1] and again,
“Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord.”
[Ecclus. 5:8] (A Discussion of Confession, 1520; tr. C. M. Jacobs; in Works of Martin Luther, Volume I [Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Co.: 1915];
Note how Luther cites a deuterocanonical book) Nay:
It is the communion of saints.
Otherwise you could not bear even a venial sin, . . .
(The Fourteen of Consolation, 1520; Pt. II; ch. 6; tr. A. T. W. Steinhaeuser;
In Works of Martin Luther, Volume I [Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Co.: 1915])
For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the works of each Commandment.
For who does not know that to curse is a greater sin than to be angry, to strike than to curse, to strike father and mother more than to strike any one else?
(Treatise on Good Works, March 1520; tr. W. A. Lambert; in Works of Martin Luther, Volume I [Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Co.: 1915])
They all teach that it is not necessary to confess venial sins, but because I say it, it must be heresy.
[sarcasm at the end] (An Argument in Defense of All the Articles of Dr. Martin Luther Wrongly Condemned in the Roman Bull, Dec. 1520; tr. C. M. Jacobs; in Works of Martin Luther, Volume III [Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Co. and The Castle Press: 1930])
It is, accordingly, necessary to know and to teach that when holy men, still having and feeling original sin, also daily repenting of and striving with it, happen to fall into manifest sins, as David into adultery, murder, and blasphemy, that then faith and the Holy Ghost has departed from them [they cast out faith and the Holy Ghost].
For the Holy Ghost does not permit sin to have d******n, to gain the upper hand so as to be accomplished, but represses and restrains it so that it must not do what it wishes.
But if it does what it wishes, the Holy Ghost and faith are [certainly] not present. For St. John says, 1 John 3:9: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, … and he cannot sin.
And yet it is also the t***h when the same St. John says, 1:8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the t***h is not in us.
(Smalcald Articles, 1537, Part III, Article III. Of Repentance., section 43)
Part III, Article III. Of Repentance.
http://bookofconcord.org/smalcald.php#falserepentance Of the False Repentance of the Papists.
http://bookofconcord.org/smalcald.php#falserepentance . . . David loses his son Absalom, who dies in mortal sin and is condemned – . . . (Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 21-25, May 1540, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, tr. George V. Schick;
In Luther’s Works, American edition, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan [volumes 1-30] and Helmut T. Lehmann [volumes 31-55], St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House [volumes 1-30]; Philadelphia: Fortress Press [volumes 31-55], starting in 1955, vol. 2)
[Lutheran apologist Nathan Rinne, writing about Luther’s opposition to antinomianism, stated:
1. Luther’s Antinomian Disputations for Dummies 1 (of 5): Natural Law
https://infanttheology.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/luthers-antinomian-disputations-for-dummies-1-of-5-natural-law/ 2. Luther’s Antinomian Disputations for Dummies 2 (of 5): Under the Law?
https://infanttheology.wordpress.com/2017/08/07/luthers-antinomian-disputations-for-dummies-2-of-5-under-the-law/ 3. Luther’s Antinomian Disputations for Dummies 3 (of 5): the Law Abrogated?
https://infanttheology.wordpress.com/2017/08/11/luthers-antinomian-disputations-for-dummies-3-of-5-the-law-abrogated/ 4. Luther’s Antinomian Disputations for Dummies 4 (of 5): Preaching the Law not to Condemn?
https://infanttheology.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/luthers-antinomian-disputations-for-dummies-4-of-5-preaching-the-law-not-to-condemn/ 5. Luther’s Antinomian Disputations for Dummies 5 (of 5): Welcome “Mr. Sin” Boldly!
https://infanttheology.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/luthers-antinomian-disputations-for-dummies-5-of-5-welcome-mr-sin-boldly/ “Luther is not denying, but is rather upholding, the distinction between venial and mortal sins.
[b]Simply put, venial sins are done vs. the renewed will of the Christian, while mortal sins are done with his full consent and pleasure . . .” [/b]
See also an article of his about the same topic]
Is the distinction between mortal and venial sin helpful?
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/justandsinner/is-the-distinction-between-mortal-and-venial-sin-helpful/ Is there a Protestant Consensus on Justification?
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/justandsinner/protestant-consensus-justification/ Apology for the Augsburg Confession
[written by Philip Melanchthon in 1530]
The Defense of the Augsburg Confession
http://bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php a. Article IV: Of Justification [1]
b. What Is Justifying Faith? [48]
c. That Faith in Christ Justifies. [61]
d. That We Obtain Remission of Sins by Faith Alone in Christ. [75]
The adversaries feign that faith is only a knowledge of the history, and therefore teach that it can coexist with mortal sin.
Hence they say nothing concerning faith, by which Paul so frequently says that men are justified, because those who are accounted righteous before God do not live in mortal sin. . . . [48]
But since we speak of such faith as is not an idle thought, but of that which liberates from death and produces a new life in hearts,
[Which is such a new light, life, and force in the heart as to renew our heart, mind, and spirit, makes new men of us and new creatures,]
And is the work of the Holy Ghost;
This does not coexist with mortal sin [for how can light and darkness coexist?], but as long as it is present, produces good fruits, as we will say after a while. . . . [64-65]
. . . They say that these passages of Scripture, (which speak of faith,) ought to be received as referring to a fides formata,
i.e., they do not ascribe justification to faith except on account of love.
Yea, they do not, in any way, ascribe justification to faith, but only to love, because they dream that faith can coexist with mortal sin. . . . [109-110]
Nor, indeed, is this faith an idle knowledge, neither can it coexist with mortal sin, but it is a work of the Holy Ghost, whereby we are freed from death, and terrified minds are encouraged and quickened. [115]
(End Part 1)
10/30/2017 Martin Luther and Lutherans on Mortal &... (