Locus 11 — The Difference between Mortal and Venial Sin
stand how great this perversion is and the magnitude of the evils. But because the person who is received when knowledge of Christ is kindled in his mind and faith in his heart and the Spirit given, and because the person also recognizes his weakness, deplores it, is ashamed at the knowledge of God's wrath against his sins, seeks pardon, and fights back against the first flames of desire, for him these evils are venial sins, that is, they are forgiven, with the result that they do not drive out the Holy Spirit and faith, and the person re mains in a state of grace. Paul clearly teaches this in Rom. 8:1, "There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus," that is, even if sins are present in them, this weakness which I have mentioned, and evil desires, yet the person has been received by God and his condemnation taken away, as Paul says pre viously, "You are not under the Law, but under grace," more clearly in other passages, where it is prescribed that there be in the regenerate the righteousness of a good conscience. 1 Tim. 1:5, "The purpose of the com mandment is love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith."
Therefore we should fight back and be on guard that we do not knowingly or willingly give way to evil desires or indulge ourselves with them. There is in us an impenetrable darkness which grieves us very much, and there are many evil forces which precede our will or capture it for a while, as Paul says in Rom. 7:23, "I am brought into captivity by the sin which wars in my members." At this point if you fight against sin so that you do not give way against your conscience, you shall retain grace and the Holy Spirit.
These sins are not perplexing and there is no need in a subtle or Stoic manner to measure the de grees of consensus. For the weak will is captured even before it realizes it, but we must look at this fact (which can be easily understood and judged) so that we do not indulge in this knowingly but fight against it; and Paul adds in Rom. 8:13 the words "by the Spirit," that is, if we live with the true desires to repent, to fear and to love God, and if our will is ashamed when it learns of the wrath of God, deplores its weakness, fears the traps of the devil, seeks pardon for the sake of Christ, asks also for the aid of the Holy Spirit, recalls the prom ises and prepares itself as for a great battle, then it will not give way to these allurements but will vigorously repel them and will avoid opportunities for sin. The re generate have the Holy Spirit and they do not trouble
Him by cultivating and kindling depraved desires, but understand that He has been given to guide us and indeed He wants to guide us and help us, if we do not drive Him away but fight against our wicked desires.
Therefore, it is said in 2 Cor. 6:1, "We beseech you that you do not receive the grace of God in vain." David was able to keep the Holy Spirit and would have been aided by Him if he had not wanted to expel Him and wanted to give room to the burning lust which had arisen in his mind.
Rom. 6:15.
But the statement is made: Nothing is sin unless it is an act of the will, but the darkness, doubt, sins of omission, the sudden unexpected desires which pre cede an act of judgment and an assent are not acts of the will or voluntary. This sophistry can be easily re futed, for the statement, "Nothing is sin unless it is an act of the will or voluntary," is speaking of civil law but not of the judgment of divine law. For the fact is that the darkness in the mind, the doubts, great and nu merous omissions and the many and unexpected and sudden flames of desire are sins, even if they are not voluntary, as Paul says, "The evil which I do not want to do, that I do," Rom. 7:19. John is speaking of the same things when he says, "If we say that we do not have sin, we are liars," 1 John 1:8; for he is speaking of the weakness and wicked emotions which occur in the regenerate, not of their actual falls which are against conscience, that is, when they voluntarily indulge in corrupt desires.
Thus Paul also makes a distinction between the sins of those who remain in grace and those who reject grace, Rom. 8:13, "If you live according to the flesh, you shall die, but if through the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live," that is, if your will gives in to depraved lusts and turns itself away from God knowingly and willingly is contrary to the com mandment of God, refuses to repent, to fear God, and to believe Him, which is pleasing to God, your will does harm to your mind, so that it cannot call upon God and with the loss of grace and the Holy Spirit it again turns back to death, that is, it draws down upon itself the wrath of God and eternal punishment, just as Adam and Eve, when they fell, lost grace and brought upon themselves the terrible anger of God. But if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. He calls the depraved desires and negligence of our wicked nature "the deeds of the flesh." But then he continues by saying that we shall be victorious, that is, we shall retain grace and the Holy Spirit, if we contend against these wicked desires. This point is explained
We have given many examples of some of the greatest people who fell because of their security and brought down punishment upon themselves and their posterity, such as Adam, Eve, Aaron, David, Solomon.
Of the whole people it was said, "My people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play," Ex. 32:6, that is, when their stomachs were full and they felt at ease, they forgot all about God and became negligent and wanton. We are familiar with the common saying: Our minds have an abundance of thoughts about unimpor tant matters. The devil walks about looking for oppor tunities to entrap the unwary in lapses from which they cannot escape. He has created a long spear and he sees that many evils follow one fall. What a mountain of sins and calamities resulted from the fall of Adam,
David or Solomon! These examples and the daily ca lamities characteristic of our nature are always before
us to warn us about the frightful wrath of God against sin. Therefore our prayers should be used to drive away carnal security, as Solomon says, "Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord," Prov. 28:14; and "Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation," Matt.
26:41.
Therefore, although the vestiges of this disease still cling in the regenerate in this life, and our wicked desires have not been diminished and evils still must be condemned, such as the darkness and the many doubts about God, carnal security, errant flames of lust and hate, many great errors of ignorance and sins of omission. These are not only a disorder which is beside the law of God, as the monks imagine, but are truly against the law of God, yet a good conscience and faith still do remain in the regenerate and the Holy Spirit also remains. Our confidence certainly does not rely on our own worthiness, but on Christ, and we establish for ourselves on the basis of the promise that we are really in grace because of Christ, and we do contend against these wicked desires and we seek forgiveness. In the same way also we retain our ability to call upon God, as it says in 1 John 3:21, "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God and whatsoever we ask we shall receive, because we keep His com mandments," that is, we believe in Christ and keep a good conscience. It is necessary that we know that the conscience is governed by the Word of God.
Gal. 5:19 ff., "The works of the flesh are manifest ... adultery, fornication, idolatry.... Of these things I say to you that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." He uses the word "man ifest" in regard to these works because in regard to them the conscience of the person who does them is surely able'to judge from the law of God and understand that the evil he is intending is displeasing to God. Like wise, 1 John 3:7-8, "Let no one deceive you; he who does righteousness is righteous ... He who commits sin is of the devil." Further, it is totally manifest that the Gospel demands a good conscience.
In 1 Tim. 1:5, it speaks of "love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience and of true faith." In the same chapter, vv. 18-19 it mentions the "good sol dier who has faith and a good conscience." In 2 Cor.
1:12 Paul says that his "boasting is the testimony of our conscience"; Gal. 6:4, "Let every man prove his own work, and then he shall boast in himself and not in another," that is, let each person be concerned that he does his own work properly, so that he can have the personal satisfaction of work well done, that is, the testimony and approval of his own conscience which each person needs, and then he will not go chasing after the compliments of others to his shame, nor will he depend on the judgments of others. 1 Peter 3:16,
"Having a good conscience ..."
Likewise it is impossible that a man who clings to his intention of sinning can please God because it
I have been speaking of venial sin. But when those who have been born again knowingly and willfully break the law of God, as when they take up ungodly opinions or establish them by their own authority or indulge in hatred, ambition, lusts, avarice, or other out ward infractions which are counter to the law of God, as David did when he seized the wife of another man and caused the husband to be killed in a subtle manner, such actions are mortal sins which are against con science, and the person who allows them loses grace, faith, and the Holy Spirit and brings upon himself the wrath of God; and unless he is again turned to God, he will be lost in eternal punishment. Because his con science then has the intent of sinning, he despises God and flees from Him and cannot call upon Him. is clearly said, "As I live, I do not will the death of the sinner, but that he should turn from his way and live,"
Ezek. 18:23. The oath should be referred to both con version and reconciliation. The person who has fallen does not please God as long as he keeps his intention of sinning.
Isaiah teaches the same thing in 66:2, "To whom shall I look except to him who is contrite in spirit and trembles at My word?" In 57:15 He says, "I live with him who has a contrite and humble spirit so that the humble spirit and the contrite heart may live." O what sweet comfort and promise! We must inscribe it in our inner heart, but it pertains to those who feel shame, that is, those who do not cling to the intention of com mitting sin, but fear the wrath of God.
The testimonies on this point are manifest: Eph.
5:5-6, "Know this, that no fornicator or impure person Finally, it is impossible for these two to exist at the same time, an evil conscience, that is, the intention of committing sin, and faith which is trust in the mercy of God which has been promised for the sake of Christ: because he who harbors the intention to sin despises or flees from God and does not draw near to Him. But trust in His mercy does draw near to God under the intercession of Christ. Wounded consciences find that they are frightfully driven away from prayer and over whelmed with contempt for God or hopelessness. Thus
Paul says, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Rom.
. . . has any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon those who are disobedient." It is clearly stated that God is wrathful against such people as long as they have the desire to do such things.
Ezek. 33:18-19, "When the righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die; but if the wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live."
In the same way we should understand the state ments in 1 Cor. 6:9, "Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers shall inherit the kingdom of God."
14:23, that is, the matter has been condemned by God.
But many have explained this passage "whatsoever is not of faith" as meaning that whatever is against con
"Sin is lying at the door" or is quiet until it is revealed.
The sin of Judah lay quietly until he felt the punishment.
Then he followed the precept: There are within you depraved desires and "you must rule over them." This means that in men there still remain wicked drives, but we must oppose them. This obedience pleases God when we fight against our sins in recognition of Him.
On the contrary, those people have been rejected by God who have allowed sin to rule over them. science "is not of faith," that is, whatsoever is contrary to the law of God, "is sin." But we should recognize that both the Law and the Gospel are included here. A work must be in keeping with the Law of God and at the same time faith must be present, that is, trust in the promised mercy of God for the sake of Christ. In the case of Nicodemus there was no intent to do evil, but yet before his conversion faith was absent, that is, con fidence in the mercy of God which had been promised for the sake of Christ, which was the determining factor making his deeds pleasing to God.
According to this statement, Paul says in Rom.
6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." Although the attacks are vicious, the doubt great, and the fires of hatred and the desires for the possessions of others very great, yet it must not rule over us, that is, as he interprets his own words, we must not obey sin. But when people are ruled by it, they are torn away from God and later driven into all kinds of crimes and en counter punishment both in this life and hereafter.
Therefore when we speak of sin as "mortal," or as Gregory of Nazianzus says "murderous," sin can cer tainly be described as ruling or having dominion.
From all these points it is clear that we must make a distinction between those who have fallen contrary to conscience and those who have done so out of their weakness and the infirmities which still cling to the saints. This distinction must be maintained in the church. Paul speaks of sin "ruling" or "haying domin ion" over us, Rom. 6:12.
Furthermore, although it is not an argument about words, yet a comparison of terms will shed some light on the matter. There is a particular emphasis in the expression, "sin rules over us," namely the idea of the savageness and effective power of sin, which abso lutely dominates us if we do not resist it. It produces horrible results, it piles up crimes and by various means it brings with it great ruin and merits God's anger and His terrible punishment and drives the guilty into eternal destruction. This was the case of Saul who had been given the Holy Spirit, adorned with marvelous powers and great victories. He, however, did not retain these marks of distinction but fell prey to jealousy. At first it was easy for him to resist this emotion, as Aaron re pressed similar lusts, but Saul fed his fury. Therefore the sin which ruled over him first drove him to try to kill
There is no need to prolong this discussion with regard to such things as election, for we must judge things according to the Word of God in which He clearly states His will. Nor are we to seek any other will of God outside His Word. He clearly shows us the example of our first parents, that although they were elect, yet when contrary to conscience they fell, they lost grace and drove out the Holy Spirit. For it is certain that Adam and Eve had lost grace and the gifts which they had possessed. Thus their posterity were born as the chil dren of wrath, that is, separated from grace, living in darkness, their will turned away from God, and filled with terrible stubbornness. Indeed, the enormity of the punishment for Adam's fall warns us how great God's wrath is and how many evils follow upon this one fall.
We must know how to set before ourselves the many aspects of the doctrine of the church of all ages re garding the very notable instructions the account of the fall of Adam gives us.
David, enticed him away from God, and greatly in creased his raging. In his madness Saul rushed from here to there, killing priests and increasing in his anger at God, as the sin dominated him and caused him to become even more savage. Finally God turned him and his army, and even his pious son Jonathan, over to his enemies to be slaughtered. All these concepts are in cluded under the term "sin has dominion or rules over a person."
Therefore we must not flatter ourselves or excuse our falls, but acknowledge that God is very angry against sin, and we must keep in mind the passages which I have cited which speak of God's anger and judgment against sin and His punishments, as it is said,
Col. 3:6, "Because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience." Our minds must blush with shame and reject the intention of sin ning and return to God, remembering His oath, "As I live, I do not want the death of the sinner, but that he may turn and live," Ezek. 18:23. We must keep in mind the falls of Adam, Aaron, David, and Manasseh, their punishments and their conversions. We must learn to deplore the terrible weakness of human nature and be vigilant against the allurements and traps of the devil; we must remember that even our individual sins de serve immediate death, just as adulterers and mur derers are often put to death in the very act of their
It is apparent that Paul took this expression from Genesis 4, where a brief statement is made summa rizing the doctrine of the Law. First it speaks of the judgment of God, v. 7, "If you do well, you will be re ceived, and if you do evil, sin lies at the door until it is revealed, waiting to attack you, but you must rule over it."
These few verses cover a great area. First, they teach that outward worship pleases God if the heart is right. Then, the sinners are threatened with punish ments. There is a warning about delaying lest carnal security is strengthened by the delay of punishment.
The passage also refers to the coming judgment at the end of this life. It is a marvelous description. The secular security of the whole world is signified by one verse,
Christ says, "If you were blind, you would not have sin; but now you say that you see and therefore your sin remains," John 9:41. crime; and yet by the immeasurable mercy of God an opportunity has been given to us so that we can return to God, as it is said so sweetly in Is. 30:18,"The Lord will wait that He may be gracious to you," and in Luke
There were also the cults of idolaters among the gentiles who were living in ignorance because they had voluntarily lost and rejected the doctrine of the Gospel and did nof seek it again in the church and had taken
13:6 ff., the parable of the fig tree means the same thing.
We must not misuse this kindness, but if we fall, we must accuse ourselves by our groaning, as David says in 2 Sam. 12:13, "I have sinned against the Lord."
We must keep our eyes on the Son of God as our Mediator and return to God with confidence, again call ing upon Him and seeking to be forgiven, received, and cleansed. Then we will recognize the gentle voice,
"There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents,"
Luke 15:7. We will also hear the voice of the Gospel by which we are publicly received into the church, we will be strengthened in this testimony so that we may stand more firmly in the confidence that we have been received even though we have fallen. There must come into our minds the witness of the universal church which always has received the fallen, just as Peter the bishop of Alexandria cited over against the Cathari. Finally, we must give careful attention to the universal teaching concerning repentance which teaches the pious re garding the most important matters and removes from our thinking all thoughts about election. up ideas which were in clear conflict with the natural knowledge of God, which shows that there is one God and that He is not to be worshiped as God in any ob scene way, as practice'd among the Bacchanals and others.
Concerning the matter of omission, Paul says, "Woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel," 1 Cor. 9:16; and Matt. 25:30, "Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness." Let each person consider this sad statement as it applies to his own calling. For although a great deal of ignorance and involuntary omissions remain in the regenerate, as was the case with the apostles before Pentecost, yet there is in a person's calling the will or the zeal to do well and to perform everything correctly. Paul has established this level of concern: First he confesses in 2 Cor. 3:5 that human powers are not strong enough to accomplish the min istry of the Gospel. He says, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from our own powers," that is, to explain the teaching or to govern with good counsels or to Supply the right words in set tling controversies. All who are wise, even if it be in some minor function, still recognize that they are lack
Finally we must add this point: When we say that mortal sins are lapses which take place against con science, we are including sins of ignorance and sins of omission, as we commonly say. For we want to assert and confirm that those who are unwilling to learn the Gospel with its statement, "Hear Him," which God has commanded to the whole human race, we must hear
Christ; and for this purpose He has spread His Gospel among all nations; and He has added testimonies which do not fail. ing in good judgment. The father of the household often gives poor instruction to his children and deprives them of true hope. In 1 Cor. 4:1 he says, "The prime requisite of a minister is that he be faithful," that is, that such men have the unfailing desire to do good and do not indulge in idleness but study, learn, and work hard and do nothing but the duties of their office; for diligence flees vice, sloth, and putting our noses into other peo
Thus all atheists, Turks, Jews, and others who reject the Gospel are guilty of mortal sin, even if they admit that they had not learned the Gospel or under stood it. Such was the sect of the Pharisees to whom ple's business.
Locus 12 The Church have destroyed all the church buildings in many places, and no congregations, not even their own, are permit ted to come into being. We should realize that such diabolic devastations and destructions are a huge and consummate evil. Hence we should pray God that He would preserve His congregations and we ourselves in all our work should support them.
Let us always keep this statement of Paul in mind:
"Whom He chose them He also called" [Rom. 8:30].
Whenever we think about the church, we should con sider the congregation of the called, which is the visible church, nor should we imagine that somewhere else there are any chosen ones except in this visible as sembly itself. For God wants to be invoked and known in no other way than as He has revealed Himself, and He has revealed Himself in no other place than in the visible church in which alone the voice of the Gospel is proclaimed. Nor should we devise some other invis ible and silent church of people still living ip this life, but the eyes and mind of the assembly o'f the called,
Now this should be the definition: The visible church is the assembly of those who hold the Gospel of Christ and rightly use the sacraments, in which God, through the ministry of the Gospel, is efficacious, and He regenerates many unto life eternal. In this assembly, however, there are many unregenerate who neverthe less give their assent to the true doctrine, just as in the time of Mary the church consisted of Zacharias, Sim eon, Joseph, Elizabeth, Mary, the shepherds, and many others like them who were in agreement regard ing the pure doctrine and did not listen to the Saddu cees or the other ungodly priests but to Zacharias,
Simeon, Anna, Elizabeth, Mary and people like them.
For God preserves some as His remnant among the ministers and gradually restores the ministry. And among these hearers of Zacharias and Elizabeth there were some who were not born again, having sins against conscience; and yet, because they consented to the true doctrine, they were citizens and members of the church in this life. that is, of those who confess the Gospel of God must be looked at, and we should know that the voice of the Gospel must sound forth among people publicly, as it is written, "Their sound has gone out into all the world"
[Ps. 19:4], We should understand that there must be the public ministry of the Gospel and public gatherings, as it says in Eph. 4[:8 ff.], and to this assembly we should join ourselves. We are citizens and members of this visible gathering, as it is enjoined in Ps. 26:8, "I have loved the beauty of Your house"; and Ps. 84[:1],
"How amiable are Your tabernacles, O Lord." These and similar passages speak not of a Platonic idea but of the visible church in which the voice of the Gospel rings out and in which the ministry of the Gospel is seen through which God reveals Himself and through which He is efficacious.
But meanwhile the priests, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees were in conflict with the Word of God; though they were in control, yet they were not members of the church, according to [Gal. 1:8], "If anyone teach another Gospel, let him be accursed," etc. Thus in the time of Elijah the church consisted of Elijah, Elisha, and their hearers, and the church was not without a ministry.
For the prophets themselves were the ministers of the Gospel and there were some godly priests with them.
For there was a fair-sized multitude of saints, as the text says [1 Kings 19:18], "I still have left to Me seven thousand," etc. Mixed with these were some whose morals were subject to criticism, who still, because they assented to the true doctrine, were members of the church in external association and in the function of the ministry. But in the meantime the priests of Baal and those like them who defended ungodly rites were not members of the church. These examples from history were written to teach the difference between the true and false church.
Nor should we heap praise upon those vagrants who wander about and attach themselves to no church because they nowhere find such an idea, in which something is not lacking in morals or discipline; but we should look for a church in which the articles of faith are correctly taught and idols are not defended and join ourselves to it and hear and love it as it teaches and add our own invocation and confession to its prayers and confession.Thus Cyrus and other godly men among the gentiles, though they were not at Jerusalem, nevertheless in their public profession they were in the assembly of the called, listened to the voice and min istry of the Gospel, were citizens and visible members of the visible church, joined and added their invocation and confession to that of the prophets and the whole company of the godly who were in Jerusalem which was the principal center of the ministry.
These points should be often and seriously con sidered in order that we may learn what the church of God is and where it is [and] how God is to be known.
And we should genuinely attach ourselves to the church and learn to support it, so that no dissolutions take place. For where there are no congregations, the voice of the Gospel is stilled; for example, the Muslim tryants
And now these words are part of the definition:
"In which assembly God through the ministry of the Gospel, is efficacious." There are two noteworthy ele ments, not to be omitted, whenever a definition of the church is formulated. For we must not imagine the church without some knowledge of the promise con