Understanding the Article of Forgiveness of Sins

Martin Chemnitz, from his Loci Theologici, Locus 7:

…We should rightly understand the article of forgiveness of sins. For it is not a certain “quality” which is infused once for all, either in Baptism or when we are converted from mortal sin. But just as we always carry about the body of sin in this life, just so the remission of sins is ours (with us), because the son of God daily lets his shadow cover the flesh of his members, in which no good thing dwells, in order that sin should not be imputed.

Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard, The Doctrine of Man in the Writings of Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard, ed. Herman A. Preus and Edmund Smits, (St. Louis: CPH, 2005) 194.


photo credit: Grant MacDonald