Why am I unforgivable?
You’re not.
I understand why the Small Catechism begins with the Ten Commandments, but I don’t like it. The Law does come first in the Lutheran paradigm of Law & Gospel, but I don’t like teaching the Law first because as soon as one learns God’s Law, the conscience immediately fixates on all the bad things one has done in their life, and it becomes more difficult to move the conscience from the Law to the Gospel. I’d rather start with the Creed, which delivers the Gospel like a breeze of cool air on a warm spring day.
In the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed, we confess that we believe “in Jesus Christ, [God the Father’s] only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried,” and so on. What we believe what this means is essential: that Christ “has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives, and reigns to all eternity” (emphases mine).
Read what I emphasized again from Luther’s explanation. I love how Luther personalizes the language with “me” rather than generalizing it with “us.” If you have your Small Catechism handy, feel free to circle the “me” parts, highlight it, write your name above it—whatever is helpful.
Jesus has redeemed you. At the time of writing this, I typed into Google “define redeem,” and the second definition was this: “gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment.” You might think you’re lost. You might think you’re condemned. You might think you’re too lost and condemned. And you’re right, you were. You were owned by sin, death, and the devil, but Christ has redeemed you—He has bought you back, regained possession of you—in exchange for His blood, suffering, and death.
Here was your dire predicament: you were a slave to sin, and God’s Law demands payment for all the sins you’ve committed, which is death, and which the devil is perfectly happy with. But here’s the thing: your death is not good enough to sufficiently pay for all your sins. So, yes, you were indeed lost and condemned.
Until Jesus died and rose again for you. Until Jesus offered Himself up in your place. Until you were baptized—until you were crucified with Jesus. Paul writes this beautifully, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:3-6).
Having been purchased by God, you are now a slave of God, or a slave of righteousness. We don’t like this term “slave,” and for understandable reasons, but we are always a slave to something. If you are not a slave to God, you will always be a slave to sin. Paul explains this perfectly, “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness… But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:19, 22-23).
Think of whatever sins entrap you. Would you rather be a slave to that unclean, lawless thing, or a slave to God, that is, righteousness and holiness? Suffering with the question, “Why am I unforgivable,” indeed shows the desire to be a slave to righteousness and holiness since its opposite—our unclean, lawless sins—causes us such despair. The Master of the universe has bought you from your former taskmasters of sin, death, and the devil with the precious blood of Christ that you may be His own.
Thus, the second place in the Small Catechism we find our answer to this question is the section on Baptism. As we confess, “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” As a baptized child of God, you are no longer owned by sin, even if it still haunts your conscience. You are owned by God. “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine” (Isaiah 43:1). This took place at your Baptism when your pastor said, “[Your name], I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Although your pastor was speaking, it was God speaking through the pastor. For, “How can water do such great things? Answer: Certainly not just water, but the Word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this Word of God in the water.” Neither the pastor nor your own holiness or worthiness make Baptism effective. As Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “To be baptized in God’s name is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is still truly God’s own work” (LC IV, 10).
How is this possible? When Moses parted the Red Sea and all who crossed were “baptized into Moses” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2), whose work was it? It was always regarded as God who rescued them—indeed, redeemed them (regained possession)—from Egypt, not Moses, and certainly not a golden calf. God can use—and often uses—human hands to accomplish His work; that doesn’t make it any less His work. Neither does your faith make Baptism. Rather, your faith receives what God promises and declares with your name attached to it (LC IV, 53).
So, you have been bought (redeemed) by the blood of Christ, the benefits of which are delivered to you in your Baptism—the means by which you, the individual, are united to Christ’s death and resurrection. But I want to go back to the Creed for a moment. As Lutherans, when we talk about justification by faith, we focus a lot on the word “righteousness”—that God has given us the righteousness of Christ. We do this for good reason. But unfortunately, the significance of this word is entirely lost on us in our culture. We don’t necessarily worry about being righteous, unless you’re a surfer trying to seek a righteous wave with the most righteous performance.
We do, however, deal with a tremendous amount of guilt and shame—the guilt of our sins, of failing our parents, or ourselves, our coach, our team, our co-workers, etc. Especially our guilt of failing God, and the shame that accompanies these failures. But returning to the Creed, why did Christ suffer and die for us? “That I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.” By faith and Baptism, yes, you are made right with God, that is, righteous (justified). But also, you are now innocent. That means, as far as God is concerned, you have never done anything wrong your entire life, now, and forever. If you think this gives you a license to sin, then you fundamentally misunderstand what grace is and need to reread Romans 6. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (vv. 1-2). For that would be to squander your inheritance like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).
As we confess in the Catechism, “What does such baptizing with water indicate? Answer: It indicates that the Old Adam [Romans 6:6] in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever [Romans 6:4].” In the Large Catechism, Luther describes the Christian life as “nothing else other than a daily Baptism, once begun and ever to be continued” (LC IV, 65), which includes repentance, and therefore the sacrament of Absolution (LC IV, 74).
Therefore, we come now to the third and final answer to the question, which is Confession. “What is confession? Answer: Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven by God in Heaven.”
When you remember you’re baptized, this is a reminder that you are forgiven—that you have been made clean (Psalm 51). When you receive Christ’s true body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, you taste the sweetness of His forgiveness. “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8). And whenever you receive Absolution in repentance/confession, you hear from God Himself, “I forgive you all your sins.” For you are not His subjugant; you are His dear child.
We like to think of children as innocent. Theologically, of course, this is untrue, insofar as original sin is concerned. But they do have a certain innocence about them. We have more laws protecting children than we do adults because of how innocent and precious they are. When a child is violated, we describe it as a destruction of their innocence.
You are God’s child, and you are innocent in His eyes. Truly innocent. It is no euphemism for Him. The Innocent One—God’s only-begotten Son—died for you to make His innocence yours. You receive this in your Baptism, begun once and ever to be continued. When you take His body and blood, you literally ingest His innocence, and it becomes part of you. When you receive Absolution, you are acquitted of all your sins—yes, even that one. Indeed, God’s grace is superfluous. He has provided these three Means of Grace to constantly deliver the benefits of Christ’s atonement on the cross to you.
You might not feel innocent, but it doesn’t depend on your feelings. It all depends on what the Word of God has promised and delivered (Isaiah 55:10-11)—the same Word of God that became flesh and unites you to His death and resurrection in your Baptism. I say this all the time to my confirmand students: The Word of God that said, “Let there be light,” and there was light is the same Word of God that says, “I baptize you,” and you are made His child, and that says, “I forgive you all your sins,” and you are made innocent. What you feel—the lies the devil tells you—cannot undo what God has proclaimed. Can you undo the existence of light with a mere thought or word? No. Neither can you undo your justification—your innocence—with a mere thought or word.
The Lutheran Column 