Luther's "Sin Boldly ... "
What Luther proposed is immoral, contrary to everything Christianity believes: ...
What Luther proposes here ... is immoral ... and is not worthy of his calling.
It is also not in agreement with the teaching of Jesus and the Apostle Paul ...Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.Luther was no more (or less) perfect ... than many of the popes.
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Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
He would agree. Please try to understand what he was saying rather than focusing on a narrow interpretation of his choice of words. As humans, we are ALL sinners. Luther went through torture trying to purge himself of sins. He confessed CONSTANTLY (Drove his confessor crazy over it) and then stayed up worrying that maybe he had forgotten to confess something. He was consumed with the thought of displeasing God and not being good enough.
Then, Luther found out the truth about God's grace & realized that there was no sin that was so large as to separate the Christian from God's mercy. Christ's sacrifice was not inconsequential. It covered ALL of our sins. Obliterated them.
He was not saying go out an be a big sinner. That's why I posted his other writings to show that he had a true desire to please God in all things and prayed for protection against sin.
In the quote from his preface from Romans, he says "Thus, even as faith alone makes just and
brings the Spirit and the desire to do good external works, so it
is only unbelief which sins and exalts the flesh and brings desire
to do evil external works. "
Thus, in the context of Luther's thinking - and the entire quote from is letter to Melancthon, an appropriate paraphrase would be "dont spend your time concentrating on whether or not you have lived up to God's standards. You are a sinner. Even a bold sinner. Go ahead and live your life as a bold sinner. BUT, have belief in Jesus Christ which is even stronger than your bold inclination to sin. For his Work has covered it all."