Christ is full of grace, life, and
salvation; the soul is full of sin, death, and condemnation. Let
faith step in, and then sin, death, and hell will belong to Christ,
and grace, life, and salvation to the soul. For, if He is a
Husband, He must needs take to Himself that which is His wife's, and
at the same time, impart to His wife that which is His. For, in
giving her His own body and Himself, how can He but give her all that
is His? And, in taking to Himself the body of His wife, how can He
but take to Himself all that is hers?
In this is displayed the delightful
sight, not only of communion, but of a prosperous warfare, of
victory, salvation, and redemption. For, since Christ is God and man,
and is such a Person as neither has sinned, nor dies, nor is
condemned, nay, cannot sin, die, or be condemned, and since His
righteousness, life, and salvation are invincible, eternal, and
almighty,--when I say, such a Person, by the wedding-ring of faith,
takes a share in the sins, death, and hell of His wife, nay, makes
them His own, and deals with them no otherwise than as if they were
His, and as if He Himself had sinned; and when He suffers, dies, and
descends to hell, that He may overcome all things, and since sin,
death, and hell cannot swallow Him up, they must needs be
swallowed up by Him in stupendous conflict. For His righteousness
rises above the sins of all men; His life is more powerful than all
death; His salvation is more unconquerable than all hell.
Thus the believing soul, by the
pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless of
death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness,
life, and salvation of its Husband Christ.
Thus He presents to Himself a
glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle, cleansing her with the
washing of water by the word; that is, by faith in the word of life,
righteousness, and salvation. Thus He betrothes her unto Himself
"in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
loving-kindness, and in mercies" (Hosea ii. 19, 20).
Martin Luther, Concerning Christian
Liberty
