Luther on the Passion of the Christ
Some years ago a friend gave me a little book, a translation of some sermons of Luther on the Passion of the Christ. My practice is to read a bit from them each day in Lent. The sermons are undated and no source is given for them, other than they were translated from German. The bibliographic citation is provided below. Here Luther, explaining Christ’s agony in the Garden in his “First Passion Sermon, The Occurrences at the Mount of Olives”, expounds on the meaning of Christ’s Passion for us:
“…perhaps you will say: We know well enough that God gave His Son into death in our behalf, yet we, on our part, have by many transgressions and sins proved ourselves totally unworthy of this His grace and mercy; from which it follows that God has again become our enemy on account of our crimes, though He may formerly have loved us for His Son’s sake. St. Paul tells us that such reasoning is false, and that we should by no means give way to it, for he distinctly declares: ‘Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.” Remember this, and be comforted by it. These words give us the explicit assurance, when our sins accuse us and threaten us with God’s wrath and dire punishment, that Christ died for no other purpose than to save sinners, and for no other persons. If, therefore, we commit new sins, if our conscience accuses us, and if we have merited anew the vengeance of God, we ought ever to remember that Christ died for us as sinners – for just such sinners as we are, and shall remain, though we may constantly exercise penitence and faith and new obedience with a good conscience. Indeed, though we be ever so saintly, we shall always need this consolation, that Christ died for us sinners, as St. Paul says: ‘Though I know of no sin, I am therefore not justified’; and the Psalmist, Psalm 143: ‘Enter not into judgement with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.’ It therefore remains a fixed fact, eternally unalterable, that the passion and death of Christ took place for our sin, no matter when committed, and while we were yet sinners, and that therefore we are freed from the eternal wrath of God; that we have forgiveness, that the atonement is made once for all, and that we can now obtain eternal life.”
Sermons on the Passion of Christ, By Dr. Martin Luther. Translated by E. Smid and J.T. Isensee, English text edited by Victor E. Beck. 1956, Augustana Book Concern: Rock Island, Illinois. 17-18.