“Luther was discussing a grave sin of commission (adultery) when he wrote that. I doubt I’ll ever conquer my own concupiscence totally, but I can certainly tell you I can avoid adultery.”
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
- Jesus, Matthew 5:28
or better yet... how’re you doing with this command from Christ? Fulfilling it all? Is any of your failure an act of commission?
“AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” Mark 12:30
I rest my case. The whole race is guilty. Salvation doesn’t
mean we will be free of sin in this life.
In the same boat,
ampu
>> “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” <<
Tell that to her husband.
God reads our hearts, and knows our intent. If we long to commit adultery, and do not only because we know the object of our lust wouldn’t have sex with us, or we fear the conflict with her husband, our soul is just as sinful. That’s what Jesus meant. He did not mean that committing adultery is no more harmful than desiring to commit adultery... because there are other issues besides our own sinfulness.
You (and Luther) are correct in one sense: we all are sinners, and I certainly will have to rely on the forgiveness of Christ. I acknowledged as much when I said, “I’ll ever conquer my own concupiscence totally.” I’ll go one further and acknowledge that all sin, no matter how small, makes us deserving of death, and that only through Christ can we avoid eternal judgment.
But we CAN reduce the amount of harm we do in the world. And if we love each other, we should seek to reduce that harm by avoiding sin. Yet Luther commended adultery, saying it was impossible to avoid. No wonder he thought it was unavoidable! His counsel of avoiding temptation to commit adultery was to keep the company of many maidens, and to indulge the senses, somehow unaware that indulging desires only inflames them.
The Catholic Church and St. Paul give much sounder advice to avoid sin: mortification of the flesh, through abstaining from sensual pleasures. Stop allowing your eyes to feast on sexy women, and you will not commit adultery. Stop rewarding your lust with even the pleasure of oggling women, and soon you will not even lust in your heart.
Acknowledging that my own sanctification (purification from evil desires) is incomplete is quite another thing from acknwoledging that I am, even with the grace of God, helpless to avoid grave sin.