TO SEE HOW LUTHER CAME TO UNDERSTAND SIN INSTEAD OF SINs

Luther translated the entire Bible, 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. Through this arduous and comprehensive work, and He promises, the Holy Spirit “Lead Luther into all truth.” (John 16:13).

In the mid-1800s Tubingen professor Gustav Plitt wrote and taught on the Lutheran Confessions and, with Herzog, prepared the second edition of Realenzyklopaedie fur protestantishe Theologie und Kirche.  Plus Plitt began a huge work on the life and teaching of Martin Luther. After reflecting on Luther's life and work, Plitt said that one of the special experiences into which God led Luther was to learn “Not what sins are, but what SIN is” (Albeck, Studies in the Lutheran Confessions, page 64).

Genuine Scripture-based and Christ-centered Lutherans do not talk about the “outer manifestations” of scab or pus, symptoms, sins, which reflect the deeper the cause of the disease called SIN. Rather, Lutherans focus on the deadly disease itself, SIN, and even more, God's Gospel medicine in His Word and Sacrament. Like Martin Luther, in your spiritual life, when you talk about the power of SIN-- the cause of the disease-- instead of “sins” the manifestation of the disease, your entire life will change. You will daily understand your frustrations, difficulties, and tears; and he will regularly see God’s medicine in his Word and Christ instituted Sacraments, found only in the genuine Lutheran Church!

The highly respected Swedish Bible scholar Anders Nygren notes: “To him [the Christian] is not basically separate moral missteps; but Sin is a power under whose bondage man lives. It is to set forth this character of Sin as a hostile power that we capitalize the word.”

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