I am a Saint

Lutherans pride themselves on not letting their experiences rule their beliefs.  The experience of a tasteless wafer we will not let overrule our word-assured belief that we receive the body of the Lord.  Persecution does not rob us of the belief that believers are blessed.  The lingering feeling of guilt must not overcome “I forgive you of all your sin.”  We Lutherans seek to be formed by the Word and not by our experiences.

I would argue that their is one glaring exception to this rule.  The scripture are full of passages that speak of our new saintly status in the Lord.  We are new creations.  Our old flesh has been crucified.  It was removed like the foreskin in circumcision. We are to reckon ourselves as dead to sin but alive to Christ Jesus.  And yet, I would argue that all too often we do not take seriously our status as saints right now.  On a day like today (All Saints Day), even we bible-formed Lutherans often look only to the grave and not to the mirror to find saints.  But I would suggest to give God the glory due to him is to be able to look in the mirror and see a saint by God’s grace through Christ’s work delivered to us in Word and Sacrament.  For our status as saint is not a mere judicial pronouncement but a reality.

Before my good Lutheran readers have a simul justus et peccator conniption fit, yes passages like Romans 7 do remind us that the flesh is still a reality in our lives as well.  But it seems because of our own experiences with ourselves, this is the only reality we take seriously in the  simul justus et peccator paradox.  And it should not be this way among those who in all other areas demand that the Word and not our experience influence our beliefs.

So on this all saints day, let me encourage you to say with me, “I am a saint.”  Let me urge you to take the justus reality seriously.  You are alive to Christ Jesus.

James 1:23-25  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

You are a saint.  You are free to do good.  Jesus has made it so.  ((This post admittedly assumes my reader is a baptized Christian.  For those who are not, this is part of the good that Jesus desires to give to you.  I am happy to talk about all of it with you any time.))