The opening piece is from “Union with Christ” – The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther. Let’s give it a try.
Central in Luther’s theology is that in faith the human being really participates by faith in the person of Christ and in the divine life and the victory that is in it…Christ gives his person to the human being through the faith by which we grasp it. “Faith” involves participation in Christ, in whom there is no sin, death, or curse. Luther quotes John: “‘For this,’ as John says, ‘is our victory, faith.’” And, from Luther’s point of view, faith is a victory precisely because it unites the believer with the person of Christ, who is in himself the victory.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, we do not merely “trust” what Jesus has done, we enter into the life of the Christ. “Justifying faith means participation in God in Christ’s person.” What we need to remember is that Christ is for Luther someone who was both the greatest sinner and the greatest person. Someone who not only has been with us in the “real manner” of our sin, but one who has been the fullness of what human beings are to be. Through our baptism we stand with Jesus and begin to walk within the gracious reign in which Jesus walked. Faith sets us within that domain and we live there…not as people trying to “get there.” We live there, now, fully in Christ.
Connection: Yes, you are a follower of Jesus! Yes, you have been given a gift and you now become a participant in that gracious gift in, with, and under the life you enter this day.
When we are thinking less of ourselves remind us of the place we have been given in Christ. Remind us of where we begin and how we end and the forever reality of God’s love for us in Christ, Jesus. Amen.
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