How to Use and Understand the Language of "At the Same Time Righteous and Sinner"
The language of “at the same time righteous and sinner” has become an often-repeated axiom in American Lutheran Theology, and for good reason. It answers the demand from many protestant churches that a Christian be able to prove his Christian status to himself and others by steadily increasing holiness and works. A person’s ‘back-sliding’ evidences the insincerity of his previous commitments to Christ. Perhaps his conversation wasn’t genuine. A grieved conscience could wonder if he didn’t possess the Holy Spirit as he previously assumed. So, according to the holiness protestants[1], either a person has begun in righteousness and is ever improving and increasing in holiness or a person’s sins betray unescaped captivity to the devil.
Last month I had the opportunity to attend the annual Rocky Mountain District Pastors Conference in Denver where Dr. Masaki of the Fort Wayne Seminary convincingly argued that the axiom “simul iustus et peccator” is a central element of Luther’s theological writings and how it continues to benefit the church today.
Some of Luther’s clearest and most mature comments on the subject come from his 1535 Galatians Commentary. There he writes,
“Thus a Christian man is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, and enemy of God and a child of God” (LW 26:232).
These striking words introduce a theological theme at direct odds with the emphasis on one’s increasing perfection and holiness. Luther doesn’t speak about partial righteousness nor partial sinfulness. Both complete realities exist at the same time. How is this possible? Can this paradox be reconciled with reason or the Bible? There’s a clue in Luther’s next sentence.
“None of the sophists will admit this paradox, because they do not understand the true meaning of justification” (Ibid, 233).
It’s a paradox, Luther admits, but one that doesn’t confuse or confound when you understand that the axiom is a kind of description and illustration of Christian justification.
What is justification? This word and its meaning must be at the front of every Lutheran’s mind and tongue. Justification is how we stand before God’s judgement throne. It’s not the familiar worldly justifications we make to gain standing, honor, and status in the eyes of men. That is always done on the basis of the law and works. The more a person acts in love toward God and his neighbor, the better his reputation. Though this works on this earth, God sees the heart. He sees our secret anger, greed, blasphemies, and lust. Our works might impress men, but they do nothing to justify us before God. Not only is this true on the basis of the things we do or fail to do. We’ve been conceived and born bearing the guilt of sin (Psalm 51:5). That’s why St. Paul says that we were “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:3). As far as inheritances go, nothing could be worse. From Adam we inherited a corrupted body and soul. We inherited God’s anger and death. But thanks be to God that our standing before God’s judgment throne doesn’t depend on the law, works, or our heritage according to the flesh.
“Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:21-25).
In the preceding context of Luther’s “simil” remark he had been talking about justifying Christian righteousness that depends on faith and divine imputation. God’s Word works faith in our hearts to love and trust in him above all things. But this faith is always fledgling and no bigger than a mustard seed (Matt. 17:20). That’s why God imputes his Son’s righteousness to us as a gift which this fledgling faith receives and is thereby credited to us as perfect righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6). So, when a person considers how he stands before God’s judgment throne, he shouldn’t look at his sins or the weakness of his faith. He should look to Christ who both suffered the full wrath his sin deserved on the cross. He should remember his Baptism by which Christ imputed his perfect righteousness by grace, extended through the means of the Word and Sacraments, to be received by faith. What about sin? In exchange for righteousness, Jesus has borne and washed away the full guilt of a person’s sin and shame by his sufferings and death (2 Cor. 5:21).
This great gift and mystery of heavenly redemption for Christ’s sake alone is kept distinct from sanctification in Lutheran theology. Once the two get confused, one’s renewed inward/outward life and the justification a person has before God, then inevitably a person will confuse his growth and progress in holiness with the status of God’s favor. Confusing the two leads to uncertainty and doubt when, in truth, Christ’s death and reconciling Word are completely sufficient for our eternal life and salvation.
“This is was why they forced men to go on doing good works until they would not feel any sin at all. By this means they drove to the point of insanity many men who tried with all their might to become completely righteous in a formal sense[2] but could not accomplish it” (Ibid.)
When sanctification is confused with justification, nothing less than the saving power of the gospel is lost and replaced by men’s works and strivings which, inevitably, fall far short of the mark. To summarize, the term, “at the same time righteous and sinner,” refers to two distinct words from God. The Law accuses and damns men in this life. The standard of the law is always going to be higher than we can achieve. But the second and greater Word from God, the Gospel, proclaims you righteous for Christ’s sake by faith alone, apart from works. In this way the “simil” dichotomy is a corollary of the distinct verdicts of Law and Gospel which are totally true at the same time. Any mixture or confusion of the two robs the Gospel of its power and leaves men uncertain of salvation.
But Luther doesn’t use the “simil” language for justification exclusively. He goes on in the same commentary to say this,
“And so if we look at the flesh, we are sinners; if we look at the Spirit, we are righteous. We are partly sinners and partly righteous. Yet our righteousness is more abundant than our sin, because the holiness and the righteousness of Christ, our Propitiator, vastly surpasses the sin of the entire world” (LW 27:68).
The context is from Chapter 5 verse 17 from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” The apostle treated justification by faith earlier in the letter (Galatians 2:16; 3:11; 22; 26; 5:1). Now he returns with the admonishment, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (5:13). St. Paul transitions out of preaching justification by faith to the fruits that follow justification. The fruits of love don’t justify, but it’s undeniable that that they follow a person’s conversion. If anything, since the law’s accusation has been removed by the Gospel’s promise, the law takes on a different and unique character in the Christian’s life. This is what is meant by “walk by the Spirit,” that is, live as one who has been set free from sin’s chains of guilt without submitting yourself willingly again to their power. Though this love may not be perfect, it is a real beginning, but not the perfection the holiness groups desire. Luther explains,
“We do indeed receive the gift and the first fruits of the Spirit here (Rom. 8:23), so that we do begin to love; but this is very feeble. If we loved God truly and perfectly, as the Law requires when it says (Deut. 6:5): “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, etc.,” then poverty would be as pleasant for us as riches, sorrow the same as pleasure, death the same as life” (Ibid., 65).
Instead of being an ever-steady upward progress from one work of love to another, Luther explains the Christian’s inner, sanctified life as a cage match between flesh and Spirit.
“God has stirred up a conflict and fight in your body. For the Spirit struggles against the flesh, and the flesh against your Spirit” (Ibid.)
The Christian sees in himself a struggle between the old desires and impulses toward sin and the new desires to love that don’t come from the flesh, but from the Holy Spirit. The flesh dies hard. In fact, it is distracts the Christian from works of love till it is finally laid to rest in the grave. So in this place, Paul and Luther are speaking of “at the same time righteous and sinner” in the context of how a Christian experiences himself and his own desires, what we often refer to as “sanctification,” rather than in the context of the pure unconflicted words of justification from the Gospel. The Spirit through the Gospel gives new impulses and desires to love according to the commandments. This is the necessary result. Yes, the flesh rebels. As the Christian struggles against his former slavery from which he’s been freed, his singular comfort and continued strength comes from the Gospel. Christ, being our Savior, has defeated all sin and he can and will share that victory with us, which is not perfected in this life, but in the life to come.
In this life we have struggle between the flesh and Spirit. There’s no promise in Scripture of freedom from the battle on this side of the grave and eternity. Though the flesh seems powerful, the Spirit far surpasses. Christians can and should keep their flesh in subjection. It cannot rule us. Our new and merciful Lord rules us by his blood and righteousness. By faith we conquer.
It’s good to use the “at the same time” language but be sure to understand if it is being used to describe either justification or sanctification. In justification the language is total. In sanctification, it is partial and incomplete. If we can do this, then the language is helpful and comforting. If not, then we confuse salvation, righteousness, and the place and purpose of good works in this life.
-Pr. Brian Flamme
[1] Methodists and Nazarenes had historically taught some version of this. The very existence of the ‘altar call’ shows how pervasive this remains among the so called ‘non-denominational’ churches.
[2] That is, inwardly, as a positive attribute of the soul.