Our Savior Defined
[Christ] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 JOHN 2:2
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Our Savior Defined
I know why I define Christ so strictly from the words of Paul. For Christ is not a cruel master; He is the Propitiator for the sins of the whole world. If you are a sinner, therefore—as indeed we all are—do not put Christ on a rainbow as the Judge; for then you will be terrified and will despair of His mercy. No, grasp the true definition of Him, namely, that Christ, the Son of God and of the Virgin, is not One who terrifies, troubles, condemns us sinners or calls us to account for our evil past but One who has taken away the sins of the whole world, nailing them to the cross (Colossians 2:14) and driving them all the way out by Himself.
From Lectures on Galatians (1535) (Luther's Works 26:37-38)
1 JOHN 2:2
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Our Savior Defined
I know why I define Christ so strictly from the words of Paul. For Christ is not a cruel master; He is the Propitiator for the sins of the whole world. If you are a sinner, therefore—as indeed we all are—do not put Christ on a rainbow as the Judge; for then you will be terrified and will despair of His mercy. No, grasp the true definition of Him, namely, that Christ, the Son of God and of the Virgin, is not One who terrifies, troubles, condemns us sinners or calls us to account for our evil past but One who has taken away the sins of the whole world, nailing them to the cross (Colossians 2:14) and driving them all the way out by Himself.
From Lectures on Galatians (1535) (Luther's Works 26:37-38)
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