Christ: Lamb Of God Or A Second Moses?

"For Luther this is the gospel—a joyful message that God forgives all sin and regards the sinner as justified and holy, regardless of his shortcomings and transgressions. It applies to the sinner who has learned to despair of himself, who longs for salvation, and who hopes in Christ to be free from sin and from eternal punishment. 

This gospel turns out to be no mere theory or teaching about the possibility of forgiveness. Rather, it is the concrete offer of God, proclaimed and thereby made effective. What the gospel promises and announces becomes a reality for the believer. This gospel is abandoned wherever any form of human righteousness replaces Christ’s righteousness or adds to it. 

According to Hermann Sasse, the Lutheran doctrine of justification, though formulated in the sixteenth century, is much more directed against modern Protestantism and its overestimation of human abilities than against medieval theology or Roman Catholicism of the sixteenth century. 

At least medieval Christianity knew of Christ’s merit, though relying on human merits as well. For modern Protestantism, however, fashioned by the Enlightenment, there exists no more the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Instead, Christ has been made into a new legislator—a second Moses, who left us a system of morals and religion." 

Excerpt take from: Jobst Schone, "Law and Gospel in Hermann Sasse"

HT: Pr. Donavon Riley


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