Day 1077 · Year 3 · The Great Tradition
Luther on the freedom of grace
A monk's terror of God became the rediscovery of the gospel.
Today's passage
Romans 1:16-17
16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek.
17For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
Martin Luther spent years as a monk trying to be holy enough for God and being crushed under the impossible weight. Then he saw what Paul meant by 'the righteous shall live by faith.' The righteousness God requires is also the righteousness God gives — in Christ, by faith. That is not a one-time discovery; it is a daily medicine. The Christian who forgets the gospel will drift back into earning. Preach this verse to yourself today — slowly — until your shoulders drop.
From the great tradition · paraphrased
Martin Luther · Reformers · 16th c. · Germany
Luther's life turned on the rediscovery that the righteousness God requires is also the righteousness God gives — and that this is news the believing heart needs to hear every single day.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel?
- Whose righteousness is revealed, and how is it received?
- Where have you slipped back into earning what God has already given?
A prayer to pray
Preach Romans 1:17 to yourself. Receive again the righteousness that is yours by faith. Let your shoulders drop.