Guilty, But Free!
Romans 3:28
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Romans 3:28: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… The words of our Epistle reading for today and specifically the words I just read again from verse 28 of Romans 3 could very well be the words that began the movement known as the Reformation 502 years ago. At that time, Dr. Martin Luther came to the startling and life-changing realization that, for him and for the Christian world, life would never be the same again. He realized from the Scriptures that it was faith alone, not works, that made a person acceptable to God. It is just as the apostle Paul said: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
This passage has also been viewed as the very basis of the Lutheran article of faith called “Justification,” which Luther calls “the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines,” [and], “Without this article the world is utter death and darkness,” (What Luther Says, II:703). Therefore, it is easy to see that Justification is the very heart and soul of Christianity. It teaches that the only way to heaven is to have faith in God and to believe in Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, and Him alone.
So, what is this word “justification” and what do the Holy Scriptures teach us about the doctrine of Justification? Well, the word itself describes an action that only God can accomplish, at least as far as forgiveness goes. Justification is the doctrine or teaching in the church which says that in spite of our utter sinfulness and total depravity before God and that we deserve only His eternal wrath and displeasure, we are declared not guilty by God on the merits of Jesus Christ. It is exactly as the title of this sermon says, “Guilty, But Free!.”
Back in Luther’s day there was no small amount of discussion on this topic. In fact, Luther himself wanted to debate justification in the public square. He had heard the teachings of the church of his day, and it was those teachings that cut to the very core of his being.
It was being taught that a person could, in essence, buy forgiveness, if one would only pay an amount of money and receive a piece of paper that said as much. These pieces of paper were called “indulgences,” and they were being sold to all people in order to pay for the building of what is today St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy. A man named John Tetzel, representing the pope, was in Luther’s territory hawking his wares, so to speak, and telling people to buy an indulgence signed by the pope himself that would relieve a person from a time of punishment in purgatory. Purgatory, it was taught, was a place a person went to after death in order to undergo further purification before entering heaven. And not only were the indulgences offered for the living, but folks were also encouraged to buy an indulgence for their dead relatives so that their time in purgatory would be reduced or relieved.
Tetzel prodded the people to think of their poor, dead relatives suffering in purgatory crying out, “Pity us, pity us, won’t you help us out of this torture? We’re your family! Please help us!” Tetzel would prod people to think of their parents in purgatory, crying out, “After all we did for you, raising you, changing your diapers, feeding you, schooling you, won’t you please help us?!” And, as you can imagine, many people laid down their money out of intense guilt. In fact, the little jingle that went along with the selling of indulgences was, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” And given that the people of the 16th century viewed Christ as a punishing judge instead of the forgiving Savior, they were all too eager to pay.
This, in essence, amounted to the idea that all a person had to “do” to get forgiveness and relief from suffering either for himself or for someone else was to buy it. But when Luther came across this passage from Paul in Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law,” he began to see that justification was in no way something a person had the ability either to do or to purchase. He began to understand what the Scriptures had taught since the beginning, namely, that it was God Himself who did the justifying; God was the one who declared a person to be not guilty. It was something God did on account of faith, a faith which He Himself gives as a gift to man; a gift that comes through the Gospel.
So, on October 31, 1517, the Eve of All Saints Day, Luther nailed his now famous 95 theses (statements) on the door, the public daily bulletin board, of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany for the purposes of public debate. Luther simply could not have imagined the total impact that resulted from the posting of this document on the door of that church. In fact, his hammer blows are still reverberating throughout the world today.
Here are but a few of those 95 theses. #5: “The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties except those which he has imposed by his own authority or by that of the canons.” #6: “The pope has no power to remit any guilt…” #21: “Thus those preachers of indulgences are in error who say that by the indulgences of the Pope a man is loosed and saved from all punishment.” #27: “They preach human doctrine who say that the soul flies out of purgatory as soon as the money thrown into the chest rattles.” #32: “Those who believe that through letters of pardon they are made sure of their own salvation will be eternally damned along with their teachers.” Harsh words indeed. And remember, the whole world in those days was taught to believe and accept, under threat of punishment, that the pope and the church were true, right, and infallible. The church was the state, and vice versa. So, to go against the church was to go against the very government of the country. And to do that was to risk literally everything.
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But that’s exactly what Luther did. And he did it for the souls of men, for the sake of the truth and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For Luther and for us today, any teaching or belief which robs Christ of any part of His full glory ultimately robs Christ of all of it. Any teaching or belief which even suggests that remission of sins is not made full and complete in the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a teaching from the very pit of hell. And, like Luther, we too must fight against it with all our being no matter what is at stake, be it state, government, freedom, family, or even life itself. Nothing is more important than justification by grace through faith. Nothing. Because nothing else proclaims our forgiveness and God’s glory and compassion better than justification by grace through faith.
That is why one of the hallmarks of the Reformation is still with us today. The Book of Concord, also known as the Lutheran Confessions, is the collection of writings which came out of and flowed from this whole debate. And in the Book of Concord there are statements such as, “This we believe, teach, and confess,” in reference to what we have always taught Scripture says, and also, “This we reject and condemn,” because to confess the truth is to condemn that which is contrary to it. And it is the faithful Lutheran Christian who today still can say, “This I believe because it is taught in the Holy Bible, and this I reject because it is contrary to the Bible.”
Justification by grace through faith on account of Christ is, as we have mentioned, the article on which the church stands or falls.
Here is the picture. You and I and all mankind are on trial. We are on trial and accused of being sinful by nature, something that is as true as the day is long. God Himself is the judge and jury. He is true. He is righteous. He is holy. He alone is perfect, and our sentence is in His hands. He has declared that, because we are sinful from conception, we must die and pay the full penalty of our sins which is death and eternal torment in the fires of hell. He has pronounced the verdict: “Guilty as charged!”
But wait! Jesus is our advocate, our defense. Jesus does not disagree with the facts. He acknowledges that we are sinful, doomed, and damned, unable to save ourselves from God’s eternal wrath and displeasure. He agrees with the verdict, “Guilty as charged!”
But He turns to the judge, His Father, and says, “Dear Father, because I love these people so, I alone will bear the punishment for their sins. I alone will pay the price You require of them. Punish Me. Sentence Me, and let these go. In fact, Father, I have already suffered for them on the cross. I have already paid the price in full. I have already made it possible for them to go free. Dear Father, make it be so when these people believe in Me by the gift of faith You give them, that You will transfer all their guilt, all their sinfulness, and all their corruption on Me, and in return You will credit all of My righteousness, all of My perfection, all of My sufferings on their behalf, and all of My holiness to their account. Make it be so that they will enjoy all the benefits of forgiveness, heaven, and eternal life on My account.”
And the judge, God eternal, then declares that in spite of the fact that we are guilty as charged and there is nothing we ourselves can do about it, even so, on the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ, God declares us NOT GUILTY! God accepts Christ’s sacrificial life, His substitutionary death, and His subsequent resurrection from the grave as full payment for all our sins.
Here is how Article V of the Augsburg Confession states this crucial doctrine: “It is also taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but rather that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for His sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us.” It is exactly what Paul says in Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Full, complete, and perfect payment for all sins, not purchased with our own money or by us on someone else’s behalf, but solely with the holy, precious blood, and the innocent suffering and death of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. And the benefit of that full payment comes to us only in and through this precious Gospel preached and the heavenly Sacramental gifts of Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and Holy Communion.
Yes, we are guilty as charged! But, thanks be to God because of Christ, we are free!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
