Thursday, April 9, 2015
Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
TRUST IN THE WORD
The question now arises, If Christ has taken away death and our sins by his resurrection and has justified us, why do we then still feel death and sin within us? For our sins torment us still, we are stung by our conscience, and this evil conscience creates the fear of hell.
To this I reply, I have often said before that feeling and faith are two different things. It is the nature of faith not to feel, to lay aside reason and close the eyes, to submit absolutely to the Word, and follow it in life and death. Feeling, however, does not extend beyond that which may be apprehended by reason and the senses, which may be heard, seen, felt, and known by the outward senses. For this cause, feeling is opposed to faith, and faith is opposed to feeling.
Therefore, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes of faith, "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen." For if we would see Christ visibly in heaven, like the visible sun, we would not need to believe it. But since Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification, we cannot see it or feel it, neither can we comprehend it with our reason. Therefore, we must disregard our feeling and accept only the Word, write it into our heart, and cling to it, even though it seems as if my sins were not taken from me, and even though I still feel them within me.
Our feelings must not be considered, but [rather] we must constantly insist that death, sin, and hell have been conquered, [even though] I feel that I am still under the power of death, sin, and hell. For ... in spite of all our feelings, we accept the Word, and ... unite our hearts and consciences more and more to Christ.
Thus faith leads us quietly, contrary to all feeling and comprehension of reason, through sin, through death, and through hell. Then we shall see salvation before our eyes, and then we shall know perfectly what we have believed, namely, that death and all sorrow have been conquered.
-- Martin Luther
(Hendrickson Publishers: Through the Year with Martin Luther, 356-357:12-13)
