I Sin therefore I Am Saved

As a Lutheran (A follower of Christ who adheres to the Augsburg Confession and other Reformation statements of faith) I enjoy reading what lies within our Book of Concord. In it is the many statements of faith, apologia, confessions and arguments why the Church (at the time the Roman Church) needed to be reformed. In these historical documents we are confronted with important ideas about the faith that remind us what is important to be the Church.

In today's world the idea of original sin has disappeared. That we are born into this world as selfish and lustful creatures seems antithetical to how our culture wants us to think. In fact I would say that we have turned that which is destructive to our communities into good desires. Take, for example, any one of the commercials on our televisions. They all are proponents of living for the self at all costs.

In the Augsburg Confession, published in 1531, the second article articulates a correction (quoted from Kolb/Wengert, The Book of Concord):

• Furthermore, it is taught among us that since the fall of Adam, all human beings who are born in the natural way are conceived and born in sin. This means that from birth they are full of evil lust and inclination and cannot by nature posses true fear of God and true faith in God. Moreover, this same innate disease and original sin is truly sin and condemns to God's eternal wrath all who are not in turn born anew through baptism and the Holy Spirit. Rejected, then, are the Pelagians and others who do not regard original sin as sin in order to make human nature righteous through natural powers, thus insulting the suffering and merit of Christ.

Modern Pelagians look on a baby and say how can this little, innocent human being be sinful? This just makes being cute into a way of righteousness. Anyone who is a parent knows how selfish these little ones can be! The minute you change a diaper and she poops again, she does not think, O my maybe I should I have done that before! No she screams to high heaven that you better change this one, too, and be quick about it!

The reason I think Original Sin is important to review is because we live in a day and age when we call a sin a virtue and a virtue a sin. For when one spews hate in defense of the Gospel we cannot call that good.  Neither can we call someone who shares love with another bad. When we begin with the idea that we are all born with sinful natures we cannot then point and call something what it isn't. When we, in the name of religion, place ourselves above someone else because of their perceived sin, we are ignoring our own sinful desires as part and parcel of original sin. 

This is a very humbling article to understand, because it calls us all to repentance. We are called even though we do not think we are sinful. As one professor put it so succinctly, we are caught in the act of sin every second of our lives. No wonder the Good News is so GOOD! Since we cannot escape our sinful natures on our own, God has done it for us! 

To call oneself saved, reborn, made clean, renewed, or sanctified it necessarily follows that you were in a state that needed saving! I sin therefor I am saved! It is through the act of God reaching down at the time of our baptisms, despite our being full of sin, that saves us. No work of our own brings this about. No perfect statement of faith. No particular lifestyle. No amount of good works. No correct understanding of the scriptures. Nothing earns this for us.

So, the next time you get all uppity and self righteous, remember you are just as horrible as the one you are belittling. They are as deserving of God's love as you are.