“If grace is true, you must bear a true and not fictitious sin”. So said Martin Luther. Luther went on to say God does not save only fictitious sinners, but those who are real sinners; bold sinners. This is why he could also say, “Sin boldly, and believe all the more.” In other words, perhaps our worst sinning occurs when we “sit on our hands”, failing to act instead of plunging in with the hope we are serving.
We are pretty good at this, are we not? How often have you heard (or said?), “I know that I am a sinner, but……” and then go on to make someone else a worse sinner than the one speaking (or us)? Too often! Ours, after all, seem to be trivial or lesser sins compared to someone else. Therein lies both the problem and the theological misunderstanding.
With such talk covering up or making less of our sinful deeds, we allow our faith response to the life, death, and Jesus to morph into a simple moralism. Our sin, along with the sin of others simply becomes a description of right or wrong, good or bad. People, then, become divided into similar categories. There are good people and bad people.
This is a complete misunderstanding of sin. There may be good or bad deeds, but if sin infects us all, that is if all are truly sinners, how does one label a person good or bad?
Does God? Where do you see that in scripture? Where does Jesus say such a thing?
It would seem sin in its most original state achieves its best work at controlling us and leading in those times it works to deny our sinfulness. It pretends to allow us to admit certain sinful deeds almost as a boast, but fails then to convict us on such evidence as sinners. We become good people, after all.
Certainly some sinful actions are worse than others. Some cause more harm. I would much rather have someone hate me than kill me, though both are sinful. Yet both flow from the same source….a deep wrongness within us; a bubbling, churning “Me first” that brews deep inside us all.
“If grace is true…..” If grace is true, we can be honest and open to each other and especially to God. No band aids, camouflage, crutches, or make-up necessary. We can be that very plain person we are when we awake each morning for that initial glance in the mirror. Eyelids may droop, hair can be askew, and eyes glazed. That is who we can be before God, the very person we work hard to cover up and not allow the world to see. Grace is more powerful than our rationalizations, cover ups, and denial. At times the world may buy our disguise, but God does not. Grace does not.
Occasionally we may feel as though our life could be more real, our joy deeper, and our purpose stronger. Perhaps it is because we are putting too much energy into being someone and something other than who we are. To play a role is one thing; to live a life that is true and deep quite another.
Sin boldly. Be aware and admit from where that sin flows. Own our sin! Hold on to the grace that frees us, yes, fees us to even sin again. Bear a true sin. In Jesus Christ, God has already borne a true grace.