Did Luther say, “Be a sinner and sin boldly”?

https://web.archive.org/web/20140528104851/http://tquid.sharpens.org/sin_boldly.htm ^ | 2005 | James Swan

[sauropod]

That’s why we need Jesus.

I am *so* thankful that He intercedes for us with the Father and that His work on the Cross is the payment for our sin debt.

[Tucker39]

Did he never read Romans 6:1 an following? “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Luther also urged that “safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews,” and that “all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them.” ”

Schooled thoroughly by Rome!

I readily admit Luther was as flawed as Peter and King David and the Patriarchs.

What a demonstration of the grace and mercy and power of God.

[YogicCowboy]

Saul cum Paul proclaimed himself the chief of sinners.

In much of churchianity today, one hides one’s sins for the ostensible sake of one’s (so-called) Christian Witness.

I know one famous (and published) Pastor who wanted to confess his adultery to the congregation - but was dissuaded from doing so by the Elders of that church. (It became a much-publicized scandal ten years later.)

I was raised Lutheran. My father’s idea of an entertaining evening was reading aloud first the Word of God, then the Book of Concord - to all of us.

I spent six years at a now-prominant “Christian” junior/high school. I have attended pastoral conferences, and become acquainted with scores of preachers, and all major denominations, over decades.

I know whereof I speak:

Today’s churchians would try to bury Paul conspiring to murder Stephen - for the sake of his ministry.

I recall trying to live out the Word by confessing my own sins to those closest to me. They did not want to hear it. (”That’s enough!” my “Bible-believing” roommate once yelled.) I see now it is because they had no intention of confessing their own.

Most people do not understand Sin or Grace.

[rollo tomasi]

Glad to see you back in these types of threads again!







Yes, been a long time coming.

[Luircin]

Did you read the article?

Article and context makes it VERY clear that Luther doesn’t mean what you think.

Don’t attack a straw man.

[boatbums]

“Therefore let us arm our hearts with these and similar statements of Scripture so that, when the devil accuses us by saying: You are a sinner; therefore you are damned, we can reply: The very fact that you say I am a sinner makes me want to be just and saved. Nay, you will be damned, says the devil. Indeed not, I reply, for I take refuge in Christ, who gave Himself for my sins. Therefore you will accomplish nothing, Satan, by trying to frighten me by setting the greatness of my sins before me and thus seducing me to sadness, doubt, despair, hatred, contempt, and blasphemy of God. Indeed, by calling me a sinner you are supplying me with weapons against yourself so that I can slay and destroy you with your own sword; for Christ died for sinners. Furthermore, you yourself proclaim the glory of God to me; you remind me of God's paternal love for me, a miserable and lost sinner; for He so loved the world that He gave His Son (John 3:16). Again, whenever you throw up to me that I am a sinner, you revive in my memory the blessing of Christ, my Redeemer, on whose shoulders, and not on mine, lie all my sins; for "the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" and "for the transgression of His people was He stricken" (Is. 53:6-8). Therefore when you throw up to me that I am a sinner, you are not terrifying me; you are comforting me beyond measure.”[30]

To show you how powerful these words of assurance STILL are, I was reading this to my husband and could hardly finish I got so choked up with emotion! Praise the Lord for His amazing grace.

[elbook]

It seems a bunch of mealey-mouthed lawyers words.

Christs ‘be forgiven AND go and sin no more’ is so straight forward.

Pauls ‘every man is a sinner’ and to seek to do better, likewise

[metmom]

Ooops......

[metmom]

Poor Luther.

I guess he wasn’t delivered from all his wrong teaching in an instant.

[Secret Agent Man]

:)

[Luircin]

It’s hyperbole. Even Jesus used hyperbole.

Don’t let your biases blind you.

[boatbums]

AMEN!

[M Kehoe]

If something is worth doing, then you must do it well.

5.56mm

[boatbums]

For some people, the context doesn’t matter as long as they can smear others by association. They do NOT influence as many as they think they do.

[metmom]

It’s hyperbole. Even Jesus used hyperbole.

Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

[lupie]

Or course, we sin much much more. I think I do at LEAST once a minute. I won’t do the math, but I know that Christ Jesus bore my sins, became sin for me, and the Father turned His back on Him - for all the sins I have and will commit. And not just mine, but for all of His people. And then, He said, It is finished.

We cannot fathom the extent of even our individual sins that He took on, much less all the sins of all His people. Hallelujah. What a Savior!

[metmom]

Everything about us is corrupted with sin, which is why Isaiah says that all our righteous deeds are as filthy rags in god’s sight.

Even our motivations for doing things are rarely pure. How often do we make decisions based on what’s best or convenient for us, or maybe in awareness that we may get some reward for it?

I’d hazard a guess that we are all far more self-serving than we’d care to admit.

[boatbums]

Jesus taught that it was offense against the spirit of the law rather than just the letter of the law that determined "sin" - our missing the mark of God's perfection.

[righttackle44]

Explanation is both unnecessary and irrelevant.

Then it's OBVIOUS that you didn't read the explanation. Luther's statement is not about sin. It's about the efficacy and reasoning of God's grace. Silliness explains the absurdity of disagreeing with something without thinking or searching its height and depth.