Luther's greatest writing? – on John 1:29 - Behold! (Part 4)

This Part 4 continues from Part 3 of a 4-part series (Table of Contents on Part 1) presenting what I consider to be Luther's greatest writing – his exposition of John 1:29.  It is the writing that C.F.W. Walther and Franz Pieper drew heavily on when speaking about the central doctrine of Christianity – Justification.

To cross-reference the quotes that Walther and Pieper used from this sermon, you will find the following indications:

• Walther quotes will be highlighted in yellow, and bold italics added where Walther italicized
• Simultaneous quotes by both Walther and Pieper will be done in blue

Any highlights I make for myself for commenting, I will use green.

The fourth (and final) part, pages 167-170 (LW):

12th Sermon on John 1-4 (John 1:29)

Martin Luther

(continued from Part 3, conclusion)

The Law, to be sure, can command to do this and that; it can also prescribe rules of conduct for life. It says: “Do not covet your neighbors wife, his goods, his honor; do not kill; do not commit adultery, etc.; give alms.” And it is laudable and good to comply with these Commandments. By doing so we abstain from outward sin in the world. But it is futile to try to expunge sin before God through the Law. The one thing that is effective in this respect is spoken of here: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” And in Is. 53:6 we read: “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” And again (Is. 53:8): “The Lord will strike Him for the transgression of my people.” Everything centers in Christ. Therefore a Christian must adhere to this verse with simplicity of heart and not let anyone rob him of it. Then he will be aware of the blindness of all heathen, of the papists, and of the godless, who themselves want to render satisfaction with pilgrimages and with good works. They make much of these and console themselves with purgatory. But they are blind. For Holy Scripture declares that the sin of the world does not lie on the world, or St. John’s sin on St. John, or St. Peter’s on Peter; for they are unable to bear it. The sin of the world lies on Christ, the Lamb of God. He steps forth and becomes a vile sinner, yea, sin itself (2 Cor. 5:21), just as if He Himself had committed all the sin of the world from its beginning to its end. This is to be the Lamb’s office, mission, and function.
And now if Holy Scripture contains verses which seem to intimate that one should atone for sin through good works, you should apply these to the inferior realm of domestic affairs or of temporal government; enjoin them upon fathers and mothers, and do not use them in an attempt to prove that good works could present satisfaction for your sins before God. Good works leave sins unborne and unpaid; the Lamb bears them all. Therefore ask yourself if it was not just of God to be angry with us and to punish us because we had strayed into the ranks of the pope’s and the Turk’s schismatic spirits. For the Lamb Itself preaches to us: “Behold, how I bear your sins!” However, no one will accept it. If we believed and accepted it, no one would be damned. What more is the Lamb to do? He says: “You are all condemned, but I will take your sins upon Myself. I have become the whole world. I have incorporated all people since Adam into My person.” Thus He wants to give us righteousness in exchange for the sins we have received from Adam. And I should reply: “I will believe that my dear, dear Lord, the Lamb of God, has taken all sins upon Himself.” Still the world will not believe and accept this. If it did, no one would be lost.

We learn that we have all been hurled into sin by the devil and that the Lamb alone extricates us. Refusal to believe this is not Christ’s fault; it is mine. If I do not believe this, I am doomed. It is for me to say simply that the Lamb of God has borne the sin of the world. I have been earnestly commanded to believe and to confess this, and then also to die in this faith.

You may say: “Who knows whether Christ also bore my sin? I have no doubt that He bore the sin of St. Peter, St. Paul, and other saints; these were pious people. Oh, that I were like St. Peter or St. Paul!” Don’t you hear what St. John says in our text: “This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”? And you cannot deny that you are also part of this world, for you were born of man and woman. You are not a cow or a pig. It follows that your sins must be included, as well as the sins of St. Peter or St. Paul. And just as you are unable to expiate your sins, so they have been unable to expiate theirs. There are no exceptions here. Therefore do not yield to your own thoughts, but cling to the words which guarantee you and all believers forgiveness of sin through the Lamb. Don’t you hear? There is nothing missing from the Lamb. He bears all the sins of the world from its inception; this implies that He also bears yours, and offers you grace.

If someone does not partake of and enjoy such grace and mercy, he has none to blame but himself and his refusal to believe and accept it. He says to himself: “This does not pertain to you, but only to St. Peter and St. Paul. I must become a monk, invoke the saints, and go on pilgrimages.” Go to the devil if you refuse to believe these words! For if you are in the world and your sins form a part of the sins of the world, then the text applies to you. All that the words “sin,” “world,” and “the sin of the world from its beginning until its end” denote—all this rests solely on the Lamb of God. And since you are an integral part of this world and remain in this world, the benefits mentioned in the text will, of course, also accrue to you.

It is extremely important that we know where our sins have been disposed of. The Law deposits them on our conscience and shoves them into our bosom. But God takes them from us and places them on the shoulders of the Lamb. If sin rested on me and on the world, we would be lost; for it is too strong and burdensome. God says: “I know that your sin is unbearable for you; therefore behold, I will lay it upon My Lamb and relieve you of it. Believe this! If you do, you are delivered of sin.” There are only two abodes for sin: it either resides with you, weighing you down; or it lies on Christ, the Lamb of God. If it is loaded on your back, you are lost; but if it rests on Christ, you are free and saved. Now make your choice! According to the Law, to be sure, sin should remain on you; but by grace sin was cast on Christ, the Lamb. Lacking this grace, we should be doomed in an accounting with God.

These are clear, plain, and powerful words, strengthened by that splendid and beautiful portrait of St. John pointing to the Lamb with his finger. I was always fond of such pictures; for instance, the one on which the Paschal Lamb is depicted carrying a little banner, or the picture of the crucifixion.  But in the papacy we never understood their true significance. This is the message they really wanted to convey: “Behold, man! According to Law and justice, your sins should rest on you. But the Lamb which I exhibit here bears your sins by grace. This sin has been placed on the Lamb. Now you are holy, righteous, and free of sin; you have been saved for the sake of the Lamb. Therefore you have to know that you are not bearing your own sin. For then you would be lost; the Law would condemn and execute you. But behold, God has delivered you from your sins and has placed them on the Lamb. And thus you are saved, not for your own sake but for His.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  End of Sermon

In your face, today's LC-MS (notwithstanding Ewald Plass' book) – 

THIS IS LUTHER!

Do you see that angel flying through the room?  It is THE angel of the faith of Martin Luther foretold in Revelation 14:6.  He is the one the old (German) Missouri Synod followed and gained it's lifeblood from.  THIS IS LUTHER, the one that the confessors at Augsburg followed.  THIS IS LUTHER, the one that Martin Chemnitz and the writers of the Formula of Concord followed. THIS IS LUTHER, the one that C.F.W. Walther pointed to, the one the Franz Pieper pointed to.  Luther was a Lutheran, notwithstanding the official LC-MS condemnation of him!  I, BackToLuther, am a Luther Lutheran... I am an old (German) Missouri Synod Lutheran!

A Threat

As mentioned in Part 1, and to "celebrate" this Sermon of Martin Luther, I want to make a threat...  a threat that if I don't see the new series publishing the 2-volume book series Essays For The Church by C.F.W. Walther from 1992 that Publisher Paul T. McCain promised in March, 2012, then I am going to make available for free download the complete scanned copies of both books... and the OCR'd text of them as well!  It is a travesty that these books should be confused in all Internet listings and go out of print and be unavailable while the LC-MS "celebrates" Walther's Bicentennial.  They were the largest collection of English translations of Walther's writings. (If anyone wants them now, send me a private message. Or buy them used on Amazon... before I do!)  Along with Pieper's Christian Dogmatics series, they are the greatest publishings of pure Christian doctrine in the modern world!
These are the 2 books:

Oh, and Publisher McCain, do put a new unique ISBN number on it... so you don't obscure it and confuse the whole world by duplicating it with another book of yours.