Repent or Perish

Monday after Reminiscere 

  

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

Jesus constantly refocuses those to whom He preaches from their preoccupation with themselves, to what is truly important – Him. The question asked of Jesus here is reminiscent of the question asked of Him by His disciples regarding the man born blind. (John 9:1-5) Then, the disciples asked Jesus to tell them who’s sin was responsible for the man’s blindness: his, or that of his parents. Jesus’ answer surprised His disciples. He said neither. Jesus said that the man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:3) This came as a shock to the disciples who, like most others in that culture, saw such things as blindness and other tragedies of circumstance, as God’s punishment for sin. They wanted to know why the terrible thing happened; they probably wanted to know for the same reason that we today cry out, “Why, God?” when bad things happen to us and to those we love. They were trying to justify themselves.

We might be bad, but we’re surely not as bad as that man; after all, God struck him with blindness. The very best spin one could put on one’s motives for knowing why would be that they wanted to avoid sinning, so that they weren’t punished in a similar way. But that isn’t really it. We want to compare ourselves with others so as to prove that we are, if not actually good, not completely bad and worthy of damnation. Such an attitude is the likely motivation of the ones who questioned Jesus about the Galileans.

Jesus sets them straight right away. They are focusing their eyes on their neighbor. In order to get their eyes focused on Him, He must first focus their eyes on themselves. “Do you suppose That these Galileans were worse sinners than other Galileans, because they suffered such things?” says Jesus. He answers His own question immediately and tells them no. “But unless you repent you will all likewise perish,” Jesus tells them bluntly. Don’t worry about what kind of sinners your neighbors are. There is only one sinner who will cause you to be separated from God forever, and be cast into hell where their worm does not die, and their fire never goes out – you. You, along with with every other member of the human race have been poisoned with the toxin of sin from the time you were conceived. (Psalm 51:5) The imaginations of your heart have been evil from your youth, just like everyone else’s. (Genesis 8:21) Is this sinner worse than that sinner? Are tragic events punishments for our sin? Why do bad things happen to good people?

These questions take our focus off the real issue. There are no good people, at least from God’s perspective. Terrible things that happen may or may not be direct punishments for individual actual sins, but only God knows that; they are definitely punishments in the sense that terrible things that happen to us, like death, are the result of our sin, and we experience all types of consequences of sin because we live in a creation which is fallen, cursed, and full of sin. From God’s perspective, we all are the worst sinner. We all deserve the things that happen to us. We all deserve death.

Jesus calls us to repentance, that is, He calls us to recognize and be horrified by sin, and to believe in Jesus as our savior from sin, death, and the devil. (Luther 2005) Jesus tells us that He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by the shedding of his own blood. (Mark 10:45; John 1:29)

“Brutal murders, shocking accidents, death in whatever form – all are sermons of God’s law: the soul that sins will die. Death is one way God calls people to repentance, lest they perish eternally. Some falsely conclude that if nothing really bad happens to them in life, it is a sign that they have been living good lives. Jesus is teaching that not only certain very wicked people need to repent but repentance is necessary for everyone.” (Prange 2000)

He calls us to endure the suffering we experience in this fallen world with an eye on the coming new creation, “…for here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.” (Hebrews 12:14) The purpose of the Lenten season is to help us understand our circumstances, to repent of our sin, and to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) ###

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Bibliography

Luther, Martin. 2005. Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

Prange, Victor H. 2000. Luke. Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Publishing House.

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right?

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? We tend to think that He won’t. We especially think this when something terrible happens to us, or to those whom we love. Like when your friend suddenly dies. We get angry. He didn’t deserve to die. Why did he die now, and so many other, more terrible people, go on living? People like Nicolas Maduro, dictator of Venezuela, who starves and murders his own people, while his military drives armored vehicles into crowds of protesters,[1] for instance. He seems pretty bad, and he is still alive. Or, there are those two people from Crystal Lake, IL who murdered their 7-year-old son and tried to cover it up by making it look like the child was kidnapped.[2] That was definitely evil. Even if they are convicted of murder, they will live out their days in prison. I’m sure you have your own list of evil people forming in your own mind. Our impulse is to get angry and think these, and any number of other people, should be farther up the queue than a man like Ray Bickel, retired Chicago Cop, who was a loving father and grandfather, a Cubs fan, a loyal friend, a faithful volunteer and tenor in the choir at St. John’s Mayfair, and a general, all-around good guy. What’s going on here? Shall not the Judge of the earth do right?

This verse comes from the second half of Genesis 18:25, which is the middle of the passage where Abraham intercedes to God on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. God tells Abraham that He is going to destroy the cities because of their great wickedness; Abraham begins his famous negotiation: Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would you also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were within it?[3] We know what happens. God says no, and Abraham keeps bringing the number lower, and lower. He ultimately tells Abraham that, for the sake of 10 righteous people, He would spare the city. The angels go to Sodom, they remove Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family, and God destroys the city by raining fire and brimstone from heaven.[4] So, we are to understand that every man, woman, and child in Sodom was deserving of death? The answer is yes. Either that, or God is not righteous.

The point God is making to Abraham is that there isn’t even one righteous person in Sodom. This includes Lot. He isn’t innocent either. Don’t forget, Lot is the man who chose to separate himself from Abraham, through whom God’s promised Redeemer was to come; he is the man whose moral sense was warped in such a way that, rather than distance himself from the wretched hive of scum and villainy that was Sodom, Lot embraced it. This warping manifests itself when righteous Lot offers his daughters up to gang rape by the mob of Sodomites who were seeking to molest Lot’s angelic visitors.[5] In fact,

he had become so attached to what Sodom had to offer that he was reluctant to make a clean break. The angels had to take him and his wife and daughters as one takes little children by the hand and lead them outside the doomed city. They actually had to force rescue on Lot and his family.[6]

Even then, Lot’s wife rejects this rescue; she turns back to look at the city as they flee, and becomes a pillar of salt.

In times of pain, suffering, and loss, we are tempted to blame God for our evil. We lament that an evil dictator is alive, and our friend is dead, and God is unjust. But He isn’t unjust. We deserve the wages we are paid, for we are all sinners, and the wages of sin is death. This is because we are a lot like Lot. We are corrupted by sin; we love this corrupt world, and gratifying the desires of our sinful flesh. We have to be dragged out of our fallen state as reluctantly as Lot was brought out of Sodom. Everyone in Sodom deserved to die, because they were fallen, sinful people. It isn’t injustice on God’s part when men die; we all are fallen, sinful creatures who are subject to death through the one man, Adam.[7] Conversely, Lot did not deserve God’s redemption from the coming destruction, but he was given it as a gift. He didn’t do anything to earn it; he certainly didn’t deserve to be rescued because of how good a person he was. God came to Lot when he was a filthy sinner, and Lot submitted to Him; that is why Peter can call Lot a righteous man.[8]

The point is, that no one is righteous, no, not one.[9] Because of our sin, we all deserve death and damnation; God, the righteous Judge, would’ve been justified in destroying His entire creation and starting over after the Fall, if He wanted. No man, no matter how good, upright, or righteous he is in the eyes of the world, or how loved he is by his family and friends, deserves to be spared death and hell on those grounds. Not you, not me, not Ray, not Nicholas Maduro; Not anyone.

God, thankfully, is a merciful judge, as well as a righteous one. He saves mankind the same way that He saved righteous Lot from the destruction of Sodom. He comes to us and rescues us. Jesus, The Second Adam, came into the world to bear our sin and be our savior. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was delivered up to death that He might quicken, that is, make alive His people. Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. He comes to us, individually, through His Word, and delivers to us this salvation He has purchased for us on the cross with His holy, precious blood, and by His innocent suffering and death. He comes to save us in the waters of Holy Baptism.[10] He comes to forgive our sins in the eating and drinking of His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.[11] He comes to us, to create repentance and faith in us,[12] through the Word preached, read, and meditated upon. He comes to us in the words spoken by our faithful pastor who, in the stead and by the command of Our Lord Jesus Christ, pronounces forgives us our sins, and announces the grace of God to us.[13] While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[14] While we are sinners, Christ comes to us through His Word and Sacraments, forgives our sins, cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and gives us eternal life. The only way we do not get these things is if we refuse and reject them. In the list of things that Ray “was”, the most important thing was omitted. He was a Christian. These are the promises into which Ray was baptized; these are the things that he confessed before men. And, since he was baptized into Christ’s death, Ray has also been united together with Christ’s resurrection.

This is why, even at the death of a loved one, we can have comfort and be joyful. This is something popular American Christianity, of the Joel Osteen/Joyce Meyer variety, cannot do: teach us, as St. Paul writes, to be content in whatever state we may find ourselves, because of what we have in Christ. They point us to health and wealth in this world. They teach us to live our best lives now. It might work for a while, but eventually, we are confronted with sin, and no amount of “thinking good thoughts” will help. Our faith that Jesus, the God-man, has redeemed us, paid for our sins on the cross and declared us righteous, doesn’t mean we will be free from pain and sorrow in this life. To the contrary, Jesus promises us that in this life we will have trouble.[15] He goes on to encourage us to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. Satan thought he defeated God when Jesus died on the cross and was buried in the tomb. God, however, raised Him from the dead.[16] Christ conquered death, and because we are in Him by our baptism, death also has no ultimate power over us. The death of our friend looks and feels like a defeat. Be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world; In Christ, we have overcome it as well. Because God is righteous, merciful, and faithful, we can have faith that He works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.[17] So, in the midst of death and pain, we can joyfully confess with Job:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me![18]

A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear the voice of Christ and come out.[19] Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.[20] Those sons of God through faith in Christ, who have put on Christ in their baptism, have life everlasting because He is the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Him, even though he may die, he shall live.[21] And on that day,

the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.[22]

Ray, baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, will be raised. You and I, if Christ should tarry until after our deaths, will be raised; all believers in Christ will be raised on the Last Day, in our own bodies, and made to be like Christ’s glorious body, never to experience sin and death again. All this God does for us out of goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.[23]

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? I am profoundly thankful to God that He has given us His mercy, and His unmerited favor in Christ, rather than His justice. Those who wish to have the latter, however, will certainly receive it.

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[1] Llanozap, Fernando. “Video shows military vehicle running over protesters.” cnn.com. https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/04/30/violent-uprising-in-venezuela-juan-guaido-nicolas-maduro-crn-vpx.cnn (accessed May, 2019).

[2] Associated Press. “The Latest: Illinois couple charged in young son’s death.” foxnews.com. https://www.foxnews.com/us/the-latest-illinois-couple-charged-in-young-sons-death (accessed May 6, 2019).

[3] Genesis 18:24

[4] Genesis 19:12-29

[5] Genesis 19:1-11

[6] Jeske, John C. People’s Bible Commentary: Genesis. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1992.

[7] Romans 5:12-21

[8] 2 Peter 2:7

[9] Romans 3:10-12

[10] Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38-39; 22:16; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 3:18-22;

[11] Matthew 26:28

[12] Romans 10:17; Acts 5:31; 11:18;

[13] John 20:21-23;

At the beginning of each communion service, the people confess their sins, and the pastor responds with the absolution: Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.

[14] Romans 5:8

[15] John 16:33

[16] Acts 13:30, 30; Romans 10:9

[17] Romans 8:28

[18] Job 19:25-27

[19] John 5:25-30

[20] Daniel 12:2

[21] Galatians 3:26-28; John 11:12

[22] 1 Corinthians 15:52

[23] 1 Thessalonians 4:9-11

All You Need Is Love

One of the biggest problems in American Christianity today is free will. Many American Christians believe that human beings have it, and that is a huge problem, especially where evangelism is concerned. Perhaps you even believe that humans have free will. Well, we don’t, at least where spiritual matters are concerned. I’m not saying that we aren’t free to choose our career, which house to live in, what car to drive, or which pair of socks we want to wear on that particular day. In those matters, we are free to choose away. Nowhere does Holy Scripture tell us that we need to seek God’s hidden will in such matters. Conversely, if we do not seek His will in such everyday matters, we do not run the risk of stepping outside of God’s will by picking out the wrong color necktie. Neither does God speak to us individually regarding these things (nor, I would argue, any others). But, where faith and conversion are concerned, we have no choice.

Lutherans, as well as other flavors of Christians, have recognized this spiritual truth in scripture since the beginning. We come into this world a sinful creature. We are conceived in sin, and born in iniquity. We are spiritually blind, and dead in our trespasses from the get-go. Scripture tells us so; it is up to God to make the dead alive. It is up to Him to give sight to the blind. It is up to Him to pay for sin, destroy death, and defeat the devil. He does this by the death and resurrection of Christ for the sins of the world; and He delivers those gifts to us personally through the proclamation of Law and Gospel. The Holy Spirit, working in the word and the sacraments, converts and makes alive. Only after a person has been raised to new life through the working of the Holy Spirit through the word is man able to cooperate with God, and then, only feebly.

This comes up now because, while listening to a conservative podcast, I heard the host give some advice to which I just had to respond.[1] The person who wrote the letter said his sister came out as a trans person; he and the family don’t agree with the lifestyle morally, and think it is detrimental to his sister’s physical and spiritual health. He asked if he should continue to love and support his sister, even though this left a bad taste in his mouth, or should he tell her in a loving way that what she was doing was wrong. I agreed with the host when he said the man should express love and compassion for his sister. When he said not to preach to her, my ears perked up. To summarize the advice: We should express love for those with whom we disagree morally, and not preach repentance to them. If we express love toward them, they are far more likely to be convinced that they are wrong and come to Christ. If we preach repentance at them and call them vile sinners, we run the risk of turning them off. It’s basically the, “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar” approach. And it is perfectly logical, if we are marketing a 7-Eleven, or if humans have free will in spiritual matters. The problem is, the church isn’t a 7-Eleven, and we don’t have such a will.

If it were our job as Christians to convince others to become Christians, this is the way to do it. Sell your product by advertising it well. But, if the inclinations of our heart (i.e. our will) are only evil from our youth, that means we are incapable of making such a decision. The one piece of equipment that is supposed to make the decision is broken. Our wills aren’t neutral, they’re evil. The broken piece of equipment needs to be replaced with a new one. This is what the Holy Spirit does to us through the means of word and sacrament. So, conversion isn’t so much presenting Christianity as a proposition, or a product, and trying to convince people to choose it; it is rather more like replacing the broken alternator in our car with a new one. Since the will is the thing that makes the decisions, conversion is replacing our old evil will with a new good will. And that’s not an operation we could do on ourselves. We wouldn’t even want to, since our wills are inclined toward evil and away from good.

The podcast host cited as support the fact that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. But what was Jesus doing when He “hung out” with those outcasts of Jewish society, both secular and religious? Was He seeking these people out so that He could set a good example for them, and to move them to be good people by showing them the example of what it means to love one’s neighbor? Not at all, but a good chunk of American Christianity says so. In His own words, Jesus was calling those sinners to repentance.[2] He says that those who are well have no need of a doctor, but those who are sick do. He’s specifically calling those people with whom He surrounded Himself “sick”. He is the physician healing their physical, but more importantly their spiritual sickness of sin, calling them to repentance. This involves preaching the Law and showing them that they are indeed sinners, not simply “loving” them, whatever that may mean.

When Jesus meets the adulteress who is about to be stoned for her transgression, He does indeed show her love and compassion. After pointing out to the mob that, they too, were sinners condemned by the law and deserving of punishment, He proclaims to her the Gospel: “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”[3] He doesn’t ignore her sin; Jesus meets her repentance with forgiveness, and He tells her to sin no more. He forgives her, and tells her now to stop gratifying her sinful nature, and live in accordance with with the new creation Christ has made out of her.[4] He does not simply ignore her sin and allow His “love” and compassion to convince her to become a follower of Christ. He grants her repentance and faith, and the forgiveness or sins. He does the same for us now. Preaching the Gospel isn’t merely motivational speaking, emotional manipulation, rhetorical exercises, or self-help lectures. It is the proclamation of the Law and the Gospel, the very means through which the Holy Spirit converts people.  

The church isn’t ours. It belongs to Jesus. He is it’s foundation.[5] In Christ the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord and, in Him, we are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.[6] We can find Christ’s Church wherever the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel.[7] It is easy to mistake the denominational designation on the church sign for a brand that needs to be marketed. We have to remember that the church, no matter what it looks like to us, is in Jesus’ hands, and doesn’t need the Madison Avenue treatment.

Built on the Rock the Church doth stand,

Even when steeples are falling;

Crumbled have spires in every land,

Bells still are chiming and calling,

Calling the young and old to rest,

But above all the soul distrest [sic],

Longing for rest everlasting.[8]

We are God's house of living stones,

Builded for His habitation;

He through baptismal grace us owns

Heirs of His wondrous salvation.

Were we but two His name to tell,

Yet He would deign with us to dwell,

With all His grace and His favor.[9]

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[1] Andrew Klavan. "The Andrew Klavan Show, Ep. 568, No News, All Agenda." August 29, 18. Accessed August 29, 18. The “Mail Bag” segment.

[2] Mark 2:17

[3] John 8:10-11

[4] Galatians 5:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17

[5] 1 Corinthians 3:11

[6] Ephesians 2:19-22

[7] AC VII 1

[8] The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1941. Hymn #467, stanza 1.

[9] The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1941. Hymn #467, stanza 3.

Well, I'm not as bad as Hitler

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

No one wants to believe that they are evil. We aren’t perfect. We make mistakes. We want to do good, but we fall short. Sometimes we even admit that we are sinners; we miss the mark, so to speak. But are we evil? Surely we are not. I mean, I may not be perfect, but I wouldn’t classify myself as evil. I have done bad things, but I’ve never murdered anyone. I’m not as bad as Hitler, for example. He was evil. I may not be perfect, but I am good, and I’m certainly no Hitler.

Yes, you are. You are Hitler, and so am I. No, we are not good; no one is righteous, not even one.[1] Mankind is called to be perfect: Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.[2] You are a murderer, at least by the standard of Jesus. He said that murder begins in the heart: But I say to you whoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.[3] You and I are serial murderers of the greatest magnitude by this standard. Much to our consternation, this standard is God’s standard; being merely “not Hitler” certainly does not come close to hitting the mark. We are, by our very nature in fact, sinful and unclean. Children of wrath, scripture calls us. We were, by nature, children of wrath, walking according to the course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.[4] We were conceived in sin and born in iniquity;[5] the inclination of the human heart is toward evil from youth.[6]

Don’t believe me? Consider a baby; we like to think them innocent, just as we like to imagine ourselves to some degree. They haven’t done anything yet. They haven’t even developed the capacity to think rationally. Yes, and do they need to be taught anger and selfishness? From their first breath they think only of fulfilling the desires of the flesh; the mind will come later. They are acting according to their corrupt sinful nature. They are curved inward, focused only on themselves. And, from the time of our conception, we are subject to death, which scripture calls the wages of sin. Such is the case with every man born into this world. So immersed are we in our own sinfulness, so thorough is our corruption, that we must be taught how corrupt we are from Holy Scripture; we cannot grasp the severity of our situation by our senses or reason. Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and death spread to all men, because all sinned. By what action did all men sin? By coming into existence; by taking on flesh, a human nature which had been corrupted and cursed because of Adam at the fall.

We don’t like this assessment of our situation because we don’t like the idea of imputed guilt. We don’t want to be held responsible for the sin of another. We didn’t sin, Adam did; why should we be condemned? The reason is that we are sinners just like Adam, because we are of his corrupt substance. We inherited his fallen nature: Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD…” Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Able his brother and killed him.[7] The proof of this is in the fact that death is a reality for all people, from the youngest infant to the oldest person living. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam.[8] By Adam’s offense, we all died; by Adam’s disobedience we were made sinners.[9]

So we are all utterly corrupt and sinful creatures. What can we do about it? Some would say we have the ability to do something to atone for our sins. The reality is that there is nothing we can do. Since the time of the fall of man we have been trying to do something to fix our sin problem; Like Adam and Eve we have been trying to cover the nakedness of our sin, not with fig leaves, but with imagined works of penance. The gimmick is simple: we prescribe some work for ourselves to perform that seems difficult, pious, and sacrificial; but these works always seem to be something that we are capable of doing, or at least we think so when we dream them up. Most of the time we can’t even live up to the man-made rules, whether it’s prayers, pilgrimages, acts of charity, or self-flagellation. We end up going back on our promises to make up for our sins, or at the very least, changing the terms so that our penance is a little more “doable”. Eventually we get tired of doing the good deed, of giving the money, of going to church, of saying our prayers, of walking old ladies across the street, or whatever we have come up with to make ourselves look good to God. The end of this road of self-justification is failure and despair. The devil is more than happy to help us down this road, and to supply us with false methods of atonement, so we stay focused on ourselves, and our sin.

But God tells us that the gift is not like the offense. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many trespasses resulted in justification.[10] Through Adam’s offense judgment came to all men; through Christ’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.[11] Before the foundation of the world God the Father resolved to reconcile that world to Himself through the Son. Atonement for us comes through the death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. He is the propitiation for our sin, and the sin of the whole world.[12] While we were God’s enemies, Christ died for mankind. Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; He was buried, and He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures;[13] He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

The gift of forgiveness and life comes through Christ by His death and resurrection. We are connected to Christ, and His death and resurrection through Baptism. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. And, just as the work of atoning for sin is Christ’s alone, so is the work of baptism. In baptism, God’s promise of forgiveness, coupled with the physical element of water, washes away our sins.[14] It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

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[1] Romans 3:10

[2] Matthew 5:48

[3] Matthew 5:22

[4] Ephesians 2:3

[5] Psalm 51:5

[6] Genesis 8:21

[7] Genesis 4:1, 8

[8] Romans 5:14

[9] Romans 5:15, 19

[10] Romans 5:16

[11] Romans 5:18

[12] Romans 3:25; Titus 2:14; 1 John 1:7; 2:2

[13] 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

[14] Acts 22:16; Titus 3:5; Revelation 1:5