Confession: Loathing Our Sins and Ourselves - the Sinner...

Confession of sins (see Here, Here, and Here) entails more than just listing and condemning our sins but also zeroing in on ourselves the sinner whose thoughts, words, and deeds always fall miserably short of the holiness required of us by God and so should always indict us. Indeed, amazingly we have been given the grace and mercy of God so that we can flee to Christ and there find our comfort and our remedy. Yet, our inherent fallen condition with which we daily struggle should always and increasingly humble us.

"We must know that our old state, with its evil principles, continues still in a measure, or else we shall not be fit for the great duties of confessing our sins, loathing ourselves for them, praying earnestly for the pardon of them, a just sorrowing for them with a godly sorrow, accepting the punishment of our sins and giving God the glory of His justice, and offering to Him the sacrifice of a glory and contrite spirit, being poor in spirit, working out our salvation with fear and trembling...

"You must make a good use of the whole matter and all the manner of prayer, as ordinary and extraordinary exigencies may require, to stir up grace in you by wrestling, and to bring your hearts into a holy frame. As in confession, you must condemn yourself according to the flesh, but not as you are in Christ. You must not deny that grace that you have, as if you were only wicked before, and now to begin again - which hinders praise for grace received in those that are already converted. In supplication, you must endeavour to work up your heart to a godly sorrow (Ps. 38: 18), and a holy sense of your own sin and misery, and lay before you the aggravations thereof (Ps. 51:3; 102). Complaint and lamentation are one great part of prayer, as the Lamentations of Jeremiah."  Walter Marshall. The Mystery of Gospel Sanctification 

From Calvin's Hosea commentary: 

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou art pleased to invite us daily to thyself, we may respond to thy call in the spirit of meekness and obedience; and do thou also so seriously impress our minds, that we may not only confess our sins, but also so loathe ourselves on account of them, that we may without delay seek the true remedy, and, relying on thy mercy, may so repent, that thy name may hereafter be glorified in us, until we shall at length become partakers of that glory, which thy Son has obtained for us by his own blood. -- Amen. (John Calvin)

Calvin: The Confession of Sins and The Right Hand that Rescues...

How are we forgiven of our sins? Or put another way, what is entailed in the confession of

our sins that effects our pardon? We have been addressing this topic of confession (Here and Here) by highlighting John Calvin's thoughts on the matter. In the passaged below, Calvin refutes the Roman Catholic teaching of the requirement to confess (list) all of one's sins to a priest in order to be forgiven of those sins. 

As for the fact that they impose a law of listing all sins and they deny that sins can be forgiven unless one has the firm intention of confessing; and they say that the entrance to paradise is closed to those who have scorned the opportunity to confess: those things must not be tolerated at all.

How is this not a sort of "forgiveness through works?" The question isn't whether Christians should or shouldn't confess individual sins. But to focus solely on specific sins is to miss the core corruption which is us, the sinner who sins, the sinner who deceives himself, the sinner who is all too blind to his own weaknesses and trespasses of the moral law. 

For how do they think one can list all sins? Since David who, I believe, had very well thought about the confession of his sins beforehand, nevertheless could not do otherwise than cry: "Who grasps his sins? Lord, purify me of my secret sins!" (Ps. 19:12). In another place he says: "My iniquities have gone over my head, and have overwhelmed my strength like a heavy burden" (Ps. 38:4). Certainly he understood how great was the abyss of our sins and how many kinds of crimes there are in a person, how many heads this monster of sin has, and how long a tail he pulls behind hind him. He did not set himself then to make a full recounting, but from the depth of his sins he cried to God: "I am submerged, buried, suffocated, the doors of hell have closed around me; let your right hand draw me out of this pit in which I am drowning, and from this death into which I have fallen!" Who now will think that he can keep account of his sins, when he sees David could not discover the number of his?... 

... For in occupying themselves completely with listing their sins, they meanwhile forget the secret abyss of vice which they have in the depth of the heart, their inward iniquities and hidden filth. In order to have the knowledge of the latter they have to think chiefly about their wretchedness. On the contrary, this is the right rule of confession: to confess and recognize such an abyss of evil in us as overwhelms our senses. We see that the confession of the publican was composed in that form: "Lord, be favorable to me, a sinner" (Lk. 18:13), as if he said: "All that is in me is only sin, such that my thought and my tongue cannot grasp the greatness of it. So let the abyss of your mercy swallow up the abyss of my sins!" [emphasis added]
- John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion: The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition

"Let your right hand..." One can easily overlook this phrase employed by Calvin. Yet to do so would miss the import of his final sentence, So let the abyss of your mercy swallow up the abyss of my sins! In Scripture and especially the Psalms the right hand of God is a metonym for the mercy and authority of God, i.e. the Messiah (Psalm 17:7; 18:35; 60:5; 63:8; 108:6; 138:7; 139:10). It is by and in the Messiah Jesus Christ that God pardons sinners. It is Christ who offered himself up once for sins who is the abyss of God's mercy, who alone provides complete cleansing of the sinner and all his sins (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12) - known or unknown - which mercy is received freely by all who look to him. As the New Testament writers teach, this Jesus Christ is now at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. He has been given all power and authority (Matthew 28:18) and he is the Savior of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). By faith let us flee to him...

Confess Your Sins to One Another...

Our topic is confession of sins and forgiveness which began with Calvin's encouragement to readily come to Jesus Christ who is our Physician in order to find healing for our infirmities, peace for our troubled consciences from the guilt of our sins. Christ shed his blood for this very purpose. But is private confession made alone to God the only kind of confession of sins? A while back, my wife observed that one never feels more like a Christian than when he or she has confessed their sin to and asked for forgiveness from someone they've offended. Amen. All who have done this know the difficulty with which this is accomplished, one involving the struggle against our stubborn pride and self-justifying rationalizations. Yet when we follow through - as James writes, Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed - we find ourselves refreshingly humbled and renewed, having arrived at a simple and godly stance - that of thankful, forgiven sinners at the foot of the cross, resting solely in Jesus's sacrifice for us. Calvin continues...

Moreover, scripture commends to us two other kinds of confession. One is made for our own sake. That is what St. James' saying is directed toward, that we confess our sins to each other (Jas. 5:16). For he means that, making known our weaknesses to each other, we may mutually help each other with counsel and comfort. The other kind of confession is done for the love of our neighbor who has been offended by our sin, to reconcile and find peace with him. Christ speaks about that in St. Matthew, saying: "If you present your offering at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there and go, reconcile yourself with your brother first, and then you will present your offering" (Matt. 5:23-24). For we must reunite love/charity, which has been cooled and weakened by our offense, by recognizing our sin and asking for pardon. 

As for the first kind of confession, although scripture does not assign a person to whom we may unburden ourselves and leaves us free to choose among the faithful whoever seems good to us as the one to hear our confession, nevertheless because pastors ought to be fitting above others for that, it is better for us to go instead to them. Now I say that they are more suitable than others since, on account count of their office they are established by God to instruct us how to overcome come sin, and to certify God's goodness in order to comfort us. That is why, when he feels in such perplexity of conscience that he cannot help himself without the help of another, let each faithful person prudently not neglect the remedy which he is offered by God; that is, in order to relieve and free himself from scruples let him confess individually to his pastor and receive comfort from him, since it is the pastor's office to comfort God's people with the teaching of the gospel individually as well as in public. However, we must always hold to this mean: that consciences must not be bound and brought under some yoke with regard to things which God has left free.John Calvin. The Institutes of Christian Religion, The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition

“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

Isaiah 55:6-7

'As For The Confession of Sins...' - Calvin

There are so many admonitions in the Bible for Christians to confess their sins. Certainly one of the reasons is that we don't readily do so, no? There is this inherent stubborn resistance we find within to readily humble ourselves and not only confess individual sins by name, but also own and present ourselves before our Lord as rebellious and unfaithful servants. For us he died and yet we all too often callously sin, that is we reject the righteousness that Christ won for us.

Below is John Calvin on the confession of sins: to whom and in what manner we confess. As is always the case, there is much to mine in this short excerpt. But one major take away is Calvin's pastoral call for the redeemed to avail themselves of the blood of Christ shed for them for forgiveness of sins and cleansing of troubled consciences.

"As for the confession of sins, scripture teaches us thus: because it is the Lord who forgives, forgets, and wipes out sins, let us confess to Him to obtain grace and pardon. He is the Physician so let us show Him our wounds and sores. It is He who has been offended and wounded so let us ask of Him mercy and peace. It is He who knows the hearts and sees all the thoughts so let us open our hearts before Him. It is He who calls sinners so let us withdraw to Him. 

"David says: "I have made known to you my sin and I have not hidden my iniquity. I said, `I will confess against myself, I will confess my unrighteousness to the Lord, and you have pardoned the iniquity of my heart"' (Ps. 32:5). Another confession of the same David is similar: "Have pity on me, Lord, according to your great mercy" (Ps. 51:1). Such is likewise the confession of Daniel: "We have sinned, Lord, we have done what is perverse, we have committed impiety and have rebelled against your commandments" (Dan. 9:5). There are enough other similar ones which are seen in scripture. "If we confess our sins;' says St. John, "the Lord is faithful to pardon us" (1 Jn. 1:9).  

"To whom do we confess them? To Him certainly. That is, if with an afflicted and humbled heart we bow ourselves before Him; if in true sincerity, rebuking and condemning ourselves before His face, we ask to be absolved by His goodness and mercy. Whoever makes this confession of heart before God will also no doubt have a tongue ready to confess, when there is need to proclaim God's mercy among the people. And this not only to disclose the secret of his heart to a single person, once, in the ear, but freely to make known his poverty as well as God's glory, more than a few times, publicly and with all the world hearing. In this way, after having been rebuked by Nathan and being pierced with a goad of conscience, David confessed his sin before God and before people. He says: "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam. 12:13), that is, "I do not want to excuse myself anymore, or equivocate so that everyone will not judge me to be a sinner, or so that what I wanted to hide from God might not be clear even to people." This is the way we must take the solemn confession which is made by the whole people at the admonition of Nehemiah and Ezra [Ezra 10:1-17; Neh. 9:1-37]. All churches ought to follow this example when they ask pardon from God, as is certainly the custom among churches which are well ordered." [emphasis added]

John Calvin. The Institutes of Christain Religion, The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition 

We Can Glory Only in His Mercy...

"We, indeed, are perfectly conscious how poor and abject we are: in the presence of God we are miserable sinners, and in the sight of men most despised — we are (if you will) the mere dregs and offscourings of the world, or worse, if worse can be named: so that before God there remains nothing of which we can glory save only his mercy, by which, without any merit of our own, we are admitted to the hope of eternal salvation and before men not even this much remains, since we can glory only in our infirmity, a thing which, in the estimation of men, it is the greatest ignominy even tacitly to confess."

John Calvin. Institutes, Book 1 

From wretchedness to self-abhorrency...

Following up on the last post, Wretched thoughts, here now are some self-abhorrent considerations:

From John Owen's Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit,
Book IV:

Besides, there is no notion of sin and holiness whereof believers have a more sensible, spiritual experience; for although they may not or do not comprehend the metaphysical notion or nature of this pollution and defilement of sin, yet they are sensible of the effects it produceth in their minds and consciences. They find that in sin which is attended with shame and self-abhorrency, and requires deep abasement of soul. They discern in it, or in themselves on the account of it, an unsuitableness unto the holiness of God, and an unfitness thereon for communion with him...

... That the pollution of sin is that property of it whereby it is directly opposed unto the holiness of God, and which God expresseth his holiness to be contrary unto. Hence he is said to be “of purer eyes than to behold evil, or to look on iniquity,” Habbakuk 1:13. It is a thing vile and loathsome unto the eyes of his holiness, Psalm 5:4-6. So, speaking concerning it, he useth that pathetical dehortation, “Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate,” Jeremiah 44:4. And with respect unto his own holiness it is that he sets it forth by the names of all things which are vile, filthy, loathsome, offensive, — everything that is abominable. It is so to him, as he is infinitely pure and holy in his own nature. And that consideration which ingenerates shame and self-abhorrency on the account of the defilement of sin is taken peculiarly from the holiness of God...

... But in all others, who have more light and spiritual sense, it produceth shame and self-abhorrency, which hath always a respect unto the holiness of God; as Job 42:5,6. They see that in sin which is so vile, base, and filthy, and which renders them so, that, like unto men under a loathsome disease, they are not able to bear the sight of their own sores, Psalm 38:5.God detesteth, abhorreth, and turneth from sin as a loathsomething, and man is filled with shame for it; it is, therefore, filthy. Yea, no tongue can express the sense which a believing soul hath of the uncleanness of sin with respect unto the holiness of God. And this may suffice to give a little prospect into the nature of this defilement of sin, which the Scripture so abundantly insisteth on, and which all believers are so sensible of...

... Our want of due answering unto the holiness of God, as represented in the law, and exemplified in our hearts originally, is a principal part and universal cause of our whole pollution and defilement by sin; for when our eyes are opened to discern it, this is that which in the first place filleth us with shame and self-abhorrency, and that which makes us so unacceptable, yea, so loathsome to God. Who is there who considereth aright the vanity, darkness, and ignorance of his mind, the perverseness and stubbornness of his will, with the disorder, irregularity, and distemper of his affections, with respect unto things spiritual and heavenly, who is not ashamed of, who doth not abhor himself? This is that which hath given our nature its leprosy, and defiled it throughout. And I shall crave leave to say, that he who hath no experience of spiritual shame and self-abhorrency, upon the account of this inconformity of his nature and the faculties of his soul unto the holiness of God, is a great stranger unto this whole work of sanctification...

... Something, indeed, of this kind will be wrought by the power of natural conscience, awakened and excited by ordinary outward means of conviction; for wherever there is a sense of guilt, there will be some kind of sense of filth, as fear and shame are inseparable. But this sense alone will never guide us to the blood of Christ for cleansing. Such a sight and conviction of it as may fill us with self-abhorrency and abasement, as may cause us to loathe ourselves for the abomination that is in it, is required of us; and this is the work of the Holy Ghost, belonging to that peculiar conviction of sin which is from him alone, John 16:8. I mean that self-abhorrency, shame, and confusion of face, with respect unto the filth of sin, which is so often mentioned in the Scripture as a gracious duty; as nothing is a higher aggravation of sin than for men to carry themselves with a carnal boldness with God and in his worship, whilst they are unpurged from their defilements. In a sense hereof the publican stood afar off, as one ashamed and destitute of any confidence for a nearer approach. So the holy men of old professed to God that they blushed, and were ashamed to lift up their faces unto him...

... Such was that in Adam, immediately after his fall; and such is that which God so frequently calls open and profligate sinners unto, — a shame accompanied with dread and terror, and from which the sinner hath no relief, unless in such sorry evasions as our first parents made use of. And, (2.) There is a shame which is evangelical, arising from a mixed apprehension of the vileness of sin and the riches of God’s grace in the pardon and purifying of it; for although this latter gives relief against all terrifying, discouraging effects of shame, yet it increaseth those which tend to genuine self-abasement and abhorrency. And this God still requires to abide in us, as that which tends to the advancement of his grace in our hearts. This is fully expressed by the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 16:60- 63,

“I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed. And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.”

Wretched thoughts...

Do we need to forbid the use of the term wretched as a valid descriptor of the sinner/saint?  Though some may think so, I hope not.  Does its use mislead and draw the elect away from the truth of who they are in Christ?  I think not.  The term seems, at times, to be an apt biblical description of the Christian's very real anguish regarding how far he is from actual righteous living.  The word, as used by the apostle Paul in the last half of Romans 7, is more of a reflection on the plight of the continual struggle against our own sinfulness in light of God's saving grace than some downer-definition of our being.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Though fallen, we are creatures made in the image of God.  Even more, as Christians we are children of God and joint heirs with Christ.  Yet it is the very glorious gift of having been made new creatures in Christ (forgiven, adopted of God with new hearts) coupled with the continuing reality of sin within, i.e. we too often still choose to sin, which leads one to cry, "O wretched man that I am..."  And yet thankfully, more than just that phrase comes into view from God's word. One finds the triumphant answer of good news which follows in Rom 8: 1 - There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!  Though still a sinner, the Christian can take it to the bank that one who is in Christ Jesus stands fully Justified (no condemnation) before God for Christ's sake apart from any works now and forever.  Or as Paul puts the same truth in another epistle, a sinner is fully saved by grace through faith, and that not of himself (Eph. 2:8-9).  It is this transforming and sanctifying Gospel that Paul calls "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16).

I sometimes think that as modern Christians we have become unconsciously affected by the self-esteem movement of the last 40 years and thus shrink back from certain blunt biblical language which is used to describe God's people in light of their fallen state (see Is. 41:14).  We seem to want to minimize and sanitize our sinful natures, put on blinders, and adopt what is basically a heavenly-transformed-only-view regarding our status as children of God. I'm forgiven!  I'm a new creature in Christ!  Don't confuse things by bringing up the present reality of my sin... But though saved, we nonetheless are still actively fallen sinners.  We are Christians who all too often choose to sin real sins.  Regarding this Ursinus writes in his Heidelberg Commentary:

The reasons, on account of which the will in this third degree chooses and does in part both the good and the evil, are the following: 1. Because the mind and will of those who are regenerated, are not fully perfectly renewed in this life. There are many remains of depravity which cleave to the best of men, as long as they continue in the flesh, so that the works which they perform are imperfect, and defiled with sin. “I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” (Rom. 7:18) 2. Because those who are regenerated are not always governed by the Holy Spirit; but are sometimes forsaken of God for a season, that he may thus either try, or humble them. Yet, although they are thus left to themselves for a time, they do not finally perish, for God, in his own time and way, calls them to repentance. “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” “0 Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear. Return, for thy servant’s sake.” (Ps. 5 1:13, Isa. 63:17) In short, after regeneration, there is a proneness to choose partly the good, and partly the evil. There is a proneness to the good, because the mind and will being illuminated and changed, begin, in some measure, to be turned to the good, and to commence new obedience. There is a proneness to the evil, because the saints are only imperfectly renewed in this life—retain many infirmities and evil desires, on account of original sin, which still cleaves to them. Hence the good works which they perform are not perfectly good.

Therefore if “I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18), then it is indeed fair to say "O wretched man that I am."  And yet transcending that burden is the glorious truth of God's abundant grace in Christ Jesus, i.e. the salvation of the ungodly.  Which causes us to confess with David (Rom. 4:6-8) that of Him we are truly blessed.

A Church or a clean club?

[A companion to this post from March 2012: Word and Sacrament - Gospel Sanctification]

I have a friend, an elderly English gentleman, who left the Anglican Church back in the 1960s.  He said that he finally had come to the conclusion that the Church of England was basically a clean club.  I don't think that was necessarily an accurate assessment of every parish in the Church, but what did he mean by that?  Maybe that the Church seemed to be made up of pretty decent people who, more or less, were doing pretty well with this Christian life thing.  That all was pretty good in the lives of the flock.  No big struggles with sin.  No bouts with doubts.  And that just didn't describe his life which was fraught with struggles and weaknesses.  The Church, in his eyes, seemed to be the place for the mostly-together-good people, a clean club.

So, what is wrong with that?  Well, there's nothing wrong with people doing OK.  But there is something wrong with the idea that the Lord's house is a place for people who are not that bad, people who are pretty good.  My friend's description of his church is a picture of how Christians, and people in general, tend to look on the surface.  Yet it's this surface image of a clean club which we protectively hold that minimizes the reality of our sinful natures and the sins that beset us.  Being a card-carrying member of a clean club short-circuits the need to hear God's unvarnished Law which exposes and magnifies our sin, leaving one with little thirst for the cleansing comfort of God's amazing grace declared in His Gospel.

Think of the incident found in Luke 7:

³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, ³⁸ and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

Parable of Two Debtors

⁴⁰ And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” ⁴¹ “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴ Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹ Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Which debtor are we?  The one who owes a small amount or the one who owes an enormous debt?  Well, if you're like me, you do think of yourself as a sinner, but not that big of a sinner!  It's especially so because, hey, we've been Christians for quite a while.  We've made progress.  We've grown.  I've improved and am more acceptable than I use to be.  We think what we mainly need is, not the blood of the cross, but more grace and help to live as we ought.  The emphasis can become less and less on what our Savior Christ Jesus has done for us sinners and more on how we can grow to better live for God.

The Reformers were on to something; and that something was that we Christians are indeed very big debtors, in their words - miserable sinners.  They preached the Law in order to do much more than just inform Christians on how they were to live.  Rather, the Law was presented in order to reveal, within the hearers, sin as utterly sinful.  They also boldly proclaimed the reconciliation of sinners in Christ Jesus.  And sinners/saints having heard, looked with renewed faith to Christ alone as those reckoned righteous by God's grace.

In the incident above, Jesus was teaching what it means to be a Christian, not just what it means to initially get saved.  In other words, we are great sinners who have mercifully received a great salvation.  And, I don't think the apostle Paul was merely waxing eloquent when he declared near the end of his life to Timothy, Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1 Tim. 1:15). We loses sight of this since part of what it means to be a sinner is to be one who denies or obscures his sin, in a clean-club sort of way.  Therefore, it falls to the Church, through the ministry of Word and Sacrament, to perpetually call believers to not dissemble nor cloak our [sins] before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but acknowledge and confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by His infinite goodness and mercy in Christ Jesus (Morning Prayer 1662 BCP).

So let's be done with clean clubs and take direction from Martin Luther who, in a letter to Spalatin, wrote:

Therefore my faithful request and admonition is that you join our company and associate with us, who are real, great, and hard-boiled sinners.  You must by no means make Christ to seem paltry and trifling to us, as though He could be our Helper only when we want to be rid from imaginary, nominal, and childish sins.  No, no!  That would not be good for us.  He must rather be a Savior and Redeemer from real, great, grievous, and damnable transgressions and iniquities, yea, from the very greatest and most shocking sins; to be brief, from all sins added together in a grand total.

Jesus Christ gave Himself to die on the cross to save real sinners with real sins.

Wretched man...

Ah.... wretched man that I am.  Overboard?  Over-wrought?  Get over it?  The words of Paul sound so out of sync with today's mindset of boosting self-esteem at all costs by eschewing things too difficult to chew on...

Yet, I think the term "wretched" is not only appropriate in certain contexts describing man, but is also a necessary and Biblical concept.  Why would one refer to himself as "wretched'?  Not because we are trash, or worth nothing (or less than nothing when feeling depressed).  The Christian can own this adjective in light of the fact that he was created in the image of God.  He has imprinted on his soul the knowledge of God and his righteousness (Rom. 2:14-15).  He is a member of the human race originally created pure and sinless.  But now he is no longer pure but a sinner, both by birth (going back to Adam) and by thought, word, and deed.  He, by nature, loves the darkness and not the light (John 3:19-21).  

Having then been graced by God with the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ and having sins forgiven, the term is still an apt description of a Christian in the context of Rom. 7.  Though now justified by the blood of Christ, all too often I willingly sin and resist the grace of God.  The law of sin in my "members' is still alive and warring with the law in my new heart and mind (born of His Spirit) that agrees with God's righteousness.  As a recipient of the salvation of God in Christ, I am now even more aware of how far I had fallen... and how "in my flesh" I still rebelliously embrace sin.  Especially in light of God's lavish love and forgiveness, when I sin and turn from his wonderful and freely given grace - I am most wretched.  

Interestingly, Paul's awareness of his "wretchedness" in Romans 7 didn't lead to despair but to rejoicing and blessing:

²⁴O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
²⁵I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
next verse beginning of Chapter 8:
1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

So at the same time we can say, as Christians, we are both "wretched" and "blessed"... sinner and saint... far from holy - yet wholly justified by Christ's sacrifice and merit... presently being conformed to Christ's righteous image by his Spirit through the ministry of his Word and Sacrament in the Church.

Related thoughts were touched upon in this post from last September.

Miserable Offenders...

I remember the first time praying the General Confession of the 1928 BCP during an Anglican Communion service.  Needless to say, as everyone read together aloud, inwardly I recoiled at what struck my modern sensibilities as an archaic, over-wrought description of confessing sinners who “bewail our manifold sins and wickedness.”  “Wickedness?”  The confession went on to describe the weight of our sins in such a way that, “The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable.”  “Isn’t that simply over-done?”, I thought.  As a general rule “intolerable burden” wasn’t my choice of words when it came to describing sin in my life.  And the phrase, “Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us”, describing God’s position on the matter seemed, well, downright medieval, as if God were some mean exacting Potentate!  Within I objected... “Sure we’re sinners, but we’re not that awful.  And God isn’t really that upset at us because of our sin, is He?  After all, Christ has died for our sins!  He loves us!”

Well, over the past several years my thoughts have changed.  In fact I have become more and more comfortable with the term “miserable offender” (as found in the BCP Morning Prayer confession) as an apt description of who I am in and of myself.  And on the heels of my last post where I quote Paul writing to Timothy, “Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief”, I want to suggest that not only are we sinners saved by grace but, now having believed, it is still as sinners we come to God and know him.  To state it more pointedly I could say that in a real way we only come to God through, and not apart from, our sinfulness.  Now, before I am accused of some new heresy let me unpack that assertion.  

We are created beings, owing all we are and have to God.  Not a breath we take nor a day we live is outside of our dependency upon his creative and sustaining power.  Now let that sink in.  Nothing begins with us.  And when it comes to changing anything as touches our essential nature we are the clay, not the potter.  But there is something else about us.  Not only are we created beings, we are fallen beings.  As Scripture teaches, nothing good dwells in our flesh... the thoughts of our hearts are continually wicked... our so-called righteous and good deeds are but filthy rags before our holy Creator. [Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Isa. 6:5, 59:12-15, 64:6; Rom. 3:10-18,7:18]  As Christians, we generally believe that, but only really believe that when thinking of everyone else.  When it comes to our own individual sinful natures we have a more generous take.  The bottom line for each of us is that we don’t think we are really that bad!  “Sure I sin every now and then (goes the modern thinking)... but I’m a fairly decent guy.”  Looking horizontally and compared with the vast sea of humanity, as Stuart Smalley of SNL says, “I’m good enough...”  Or as my brother sometimes says, I’m “not so bad.”  We don’t really see our sinfulness vertically, i.e. compared to God’s holiness. In fact we avoid doing so save for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. [John 16:8]

So it is not surprising that it is nearly impossible, when left to myself, to take sin as seriously as the Scripture does (unless of course someone has wronged me!).  Why is that?  I think it has to do with the fact that I am a sinner!  Sinners sin, and sinners hide from their sin.  Jesus taught in the gospels this very thing when he said,

And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.
[John 3:19-20]  

That is us.  The fallen reality of our humanity doesn’t disappear having believed on Christ.  Upon repentance and trust in Christ our sins are indeed forgiven through his blood.  Justified on the basis of his merit, we are declared righteous by God as if we indeed had and are living holy lives.  Yet paradoxically we remain sinners though having been born anew of the Spirit - saints.  And this means that “in thought, word, and deed” we sin, while all too often minimizing the pervasive presence of the fount of those sins - our very sinful natures.  Why is that?  Because sinners not only sin, they also rationalize and self-justify themselves. We are invariably prone to put a better gloss on what we are by nature.  This is what the Morning Prayer in the BCP is referring to when the Minister exhorts concerning repentance, “that we should not dissemble nor cloak them [i.e. our sins] before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father .”  We are by nature “dissemblers”, i.e. we hide and cloak our sin from ourselves and God under the guise of false appearances.  “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.”  This is the one for whom Christ came.  This is who we are.    

So back to my assertion that it is through our sin that we come to God and know him.  We are sinners.  Yet no one (saved or unsaved) having sin, can on his own come into God’s presence, let alone on his own be spared from God's “wrath and indignation.”  The children of Israel pleaded with Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” [Exodus 20:19].  The Old Testament Israelites were given the mediation of the Temple sacrificial system for sin in order that through the priest they could approach God.  Everything in that priestly sacrificial worship system existed in order to remind the Israelites of the severity of their sin and of God’s unapproachable holiness. Death was deserved and so approach could only be made through through an acceptable blood sacrifice.  And concerning that priesthood it is written, “who serve that which is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” [Heb. 8:5]  They foreshadowed the true priestly mediation of the One, Jesus Christ, who as Priest offered Himself:

“But Christ having appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh:  how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?  And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance... For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us.”
[Hebrews 9:12-16, 24]

The only man who can and has approached God in the holy place is the sinless man Jesus.  The only means of approach to God for sinful man is by the one Man Jesus Christ and the sacrifice of himself on our behalf.  The only place of meeting between sinful man and God is in the one Mediator Christ Jesus.  It is only there in Him where the painful dilemma of our fallen nature has been completely and forever resolved.  In this life we never graduate from coming to God through Christ as miserable sinners ("Oh wretched man that I am").  The spiritual blessings poured out on the forgiven are only known there, in and through him.   We are believers because we’ve trust Christ as the divine cure (his death and resurrection) for our infirmities.  And the Cure is efficacious only for those who are infirmed (Matt. 9:11-13).  Only sinners need apply.  Only sinners need come... daily.  This is the seeming paradox of our faith.  We’re not able in and of ourselves to escape or change “the body of this death” [Rom. 7:24] of which the Law disqualifies us.  Yet by owning the very disqualification of our present sinful nature are we qualified for cleansing of our sinful natures and full acceptance before God in Christ.  

“And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised.”  [Hebrews 10:17-23]

And this new and living way of coming to God, inaugurated for us by Christ, never changes nor ceases for the saint yet sinner.  And in fact it becomes our boast in the Lord.

For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:  but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are:  that no flesh should glory before God.  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:  that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. [1 Cor. 1:26-31]

General Confession - Holy Communion:
ALMIGHTY God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, Forgive us all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter Serve and please thee In newness of life, To the honour and glory of thy Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Declared by the Minister:
ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him; Have mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins; confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A General Confession - Morning Prayer:
ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou those who are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

Declared by the Minister:
ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live, hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins. He pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel.
Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance, and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do at this present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.