(Please use this condensed version of Psalm 51, from Volume 12, to your spiritual benefit.)

PSALM 51


"I admit that I have not fully grasped the Spirit who speaks here. Still it gives us an opportunity and a basis for thought and study, so that I can become a student with you and await the Spirit. Whatever He gives, we shall receive with thanks. For all men, be they ever so illumined by the Holy Spirit, still remain pupils of the Word. They remain under and near the Word, and they experience that they can hardly draw out a drop from the vast ocean of the Holy Spirit." Martin Luther
 
INTRODUCTION:
 
This Psalm talks about the whole of sin, about the root of sin, not merely about the outward work, which springs like fruit from the root and tree of sin. When David complains that he was conceived in sin, this clearly does not only refer to adultery but to his whole nature contaminated by sin, though I have no objection if David's deed is set forth as an example. David is an outstanding example of the sin nature. One by one he broke almost the whole Decalog. Yet he would not have acknowledged these sins if Nathan had not come, but would still have wanted to be known as a righteous and holy king. Indeed, if the Holy Scriptures had not told this story, who would ever have believed that such a holy man could sink so low? Yet such a man fell, not into some peccadillo, but at one time into a whole mass of sins. What is even worse, he fell into impenitence and deep smugness, so that if Nathan had not come, David might have sinned against the Holy Spirit.
 
COMMENTARY:
 
Verse one: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy steadfast love; according to Thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
 
We say that the natural powers are corrupt in the extreme. When he was created, Adam had a right will and understanding. He could see and hear perfectly, and he took care of earthly things perfectly, with praise and faith in God. Through the Fall his will, understanding, and all natural powers were so corrupted that man was no longer whole, but was diverted by sin, lost his correct judgment before God, and thought everything perversely against the will and Law of God. He no longer had an adequate knowledge or love of God, but fled from Him and hated Him, supposing that He was not God, that is, merciful and good, but a judge and a tyrant. From this loss of the knowledge of God proceed endless other sins, because men sin smugly when things are going well for them, like our enemies, who persecute the Word by trusting in their own power.
A faulty knowledge of God is the fountain of all sin. To know God aright is to love Him and serve Him.
 
They believe it is God's will that they earn something before Him by their diligence and devotion and thus reconcile Him to themselves.
Like sex, diligence and devotion are over-rated.
We cannot say that the natural powers are perfect even in civil matters. We see what great contempt there is for laws that prescribe what is right, how great is the breakdown of the discipline on account of which God instituted laws and authority. A physician is often deceived in mixing drugs, and sometimes by his inexperience he kills a sick man. Thus the very light of the eyes, the ears, and all the other organs acquired a fault through sin. Cicero and other great men in public life performed well in their office, if you look at their deeds. But if you look at their minds, you see that they were motivated in this by nothing but the desire for glory.
The striving of all nature is absolute glory. Even the quest for power serves this end.

The knowledge of sin, moreover, is not some sort of speculation or an idea which the mind thinks up for itself. It is a true feeling, a true experience, and a very serious struggle of the heart,
To feel sin is far different than to "think" or reflect on sin. Thinking on sin is safe and takes us away from the Safe One.
 
as he testifies when he says (v. 3), "I know (that is, I feel or experience) my transgressions." This is what the Hebrew word really means. It does not mean, as the pope taught, to call to mind what one has done and what one has failed to do; but it means to feel and to experience the intolerable burden of the wrath of God. The knowledge of sin is itself the feeling of sin, and the sinful man is the one who is oppressed by his conscience and tossed to and from, not knowing where to turn.
We think when Scripture says, "God is angry with sinners," it must be addressing the real sinners we see on the 6:00p.m. news.
 
Therefore, the proper subject of theology is man guilty of sin and condemned, and God the Justifier and Savior of man the sinner. Whatever is asked or discussed in theology outside this subject, is error and poison. All Scripture points to this, that God commends His kindness to us and in His Son restores to righteousness and life the nature that has fallen into sin and condemnation. Men judge this way: "You are a sinner, but God is righteous. Therefore He hates you, therefore He inflicts punishments on you, therefore He does not hear you." Nothing in our nature can deny this conclusion.
Unfortunately, theologians have perverted theology.

Nature always thinks this way, and it says to itself: "I dare not lift my eyes to heaven; I am afraid of the sight of God. I know both that I am a sinner and that God hates sins. So what shall I pray?" Here a very hard battle begins. Either the mind is confused within itself by the consciousness of sin and believes that it should delay praying until it finds some worthiness within itself, so to speak; or it looks around at human counsels and sophistic consolations so that it first thinks about satisfactions that will enable it to come before God with some confidence in its own worthiness and say, "Have mercy on me, O God." This is the constant belief of our nature, but it is highly dangerous. It encourages our minds to trust in our own righteousness and to think we can please God with our own works. This is a blasphemous presumption of our own merits against the merit of Christ. Since we are born in sins, it follows that we shall never pray unless we pray before we feel that we are pure of all sins.

For a proper understanding of the fact that God hates sinners and loves the righteous, we must distinguish between the sinner who feels his sins and the sinner who does not feel his sins.
To feel properly is to remain in one's experience of sadness, regret, shame, confusion, and remorse, uninterrupted by any other thought or activity than, "God be merciful to me."

 
God does not want the prayer of a sinner who does not feel his sins, because he neither understands nor wants what he is praying for. Thus a monk living in superstition often sings and mumbles, "Have mercy on me, O God." But because he lives with trust in his own righteousness and does not feel the uncleanness of his own heart, he is merely reciting syllables and neither understands nor wants the thing itself. He is just like a beggar who constantly cried out for alms and when someone offered him some, he would begin to brag about his riches, that is, his poverty, and thus clearly show that he does not need the alms. Thus the enemies of the Gospel count words.
Make no mistake, by nature, you are an enemy of the Gospel and will remain, to some extent, an enemy of the Gospel until death.
Feelings propel us undauntingly toward our goal, whether our goal is hate, love, or forgiveness.



Some religions emphasize God's anger to the virtual exclusion of God's love and grace; some emphasize love to the exclusion of wrath; none is able to properly combine grace and wrath. Most don't seem to want to.
The sinners that God loves are those who feel their sins and the wrath of God and who are afraid before the face of God. These people apply to themselves the threats set forth in the Word of God, and the fearful examples of divine wrath so depress them that they are afraid of the very same punishments because of their sins. When, amid these terrors, the mind has thus been crushed by the hammer of the Law and the judgment of God, this is really the place, time, and occasion to grasp divine wisdom. Then the heart consoles itself and is sure than when God is wrathful against sinners, He is wrathful only against those who are hard and callous. Thus the sinner begins to know himself and casts out the smugness in which we all naturally live before this revelation of wrath. We must not stop here, but go on to the knowledge of the other part of theology, the part that fulfills the whole of theological knowledge: that God gives grace to the humble (I Peter 5:5). To call on God and to say, "Have mercy," is not a great deal of work, then. But to add the particle "on me"—this is really what the Gospel inculcates so earnestly, and yet we experience how hard it is for us to do it. This "on me" hinders almost all our prayers, when it ought to be the only reason and highest occasion for praying.
DO YOU WANT TO SEE AND APPRECIATE THE LORD'S SALVATION-SEE THE LORD'S WRATH!

Don't we love to pray and feel for others. Is it possible we even use prayer to have power over others? "You are so weak and helpless, I will pray for you?"
We must pray when we feel most unworthy. I have learned from my own experience that these unworthy thoughts often drove prayer from me. Nevertheless, by the grace of God I came to the knowledge that I must not surrender to Satan as he attacked me with his arrows, but tearing them from him by the power of the Spirit I turned the weapons against the enemy himself and said: "You frighten me away from prayer because I am a sinner. But I see that I must pray most of all because of this one reason, that I am a very great sinner and have need of mercy."

 
The same must be done in the very heat of temptation, when the mind is tempted with thoughts of lust or vengeance. If someone is urged to pray under these circumstances, the mind immediately protests that it is impure, as though among these dirty thoughts there could be no room for prayer. Here you should insist on the contrary that we must not expect temptation to end or thoughts of lust or other vice to disappear completely from the mind. In the very moment in which you feel that the temptation is strongest and that you are least prepared for prayer, go off into a solitary place (Matt. 6:6), and pray the Lord's Prayer or whatever you can say against Satan and his temptation. Then you will feel the temptation subsiding and Satan turning tail. If anyone thinks that prayer should be put off until the mind is clean of impure thoughts, he is doing nothing but using his wisdom and strength to help Satan, who is already more than strong enough.
When weak and tempted, what do you run to: Bible study; petty prayer; church activities; TV; sex; friends; food; work? You should run to the wrath of God as seen in the passion of Christ.

Whenever we are stung and vexed in our conscience because of sins, let us simply turn our attention from sin and wrap ourselves in the bosom of the God who is called Grace and Mercy, not doubting at all that He wants to show grace and mercy to miserable and afflicted sinners, just as He wants to show wrath and judgment to hardened sinners. Do not fall for the theology of reason, which counsels despair in the midst of sin. David feels sin and the wrath of God, and yet he says, "Have mercy on me, O God."

By saying that God's mercies are abundant, David simply denies and rejects any holiness, whether his own or other people's. What connection could there be between abundant mercy and human holiness? If mercy is this abundant, then there is no holiness in us. Then it is a fictitious expression to speak of a "holy man," just as it is a fictitious expression to speak of God's falling into sin; for by the nature of things, this cannot be. Those whom we call "holy" are made holy by an alien holiness, through Christ, by the holiness of free mercy. In this holiness the whole church of the faithful is the same, there is no difference. As Peter is holy, so I am holy. As I am holy, so the thief on Christ's right hand is holy.
We reek of holiness. I reek of holiness. You reek of holiness.

The word "blot out," means that sins are written in our conscience with the pen of the Law. The prophet wants the memory of sin to be abolished in his heart and in the eyes of God, the way writing is erased from a tablet. Yet this should not happen in such a way that grace or gratitude disappears because guilt is thus forgiven, or that we forget grace, as Peter says (2 Peter 1:9) about those who forget the forgiveness of their old sins and by their unfaithfulness and ingratitude pile up new sins.


Verse two: Wash me more abundantly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
"Roll back the curtains of memories now and then; show me where You brought me from and where I could have been"? Rather! "Display my sins on the screen of the wrath of God; show me that my way of life is headed for hell.

The more you remain in these inner experiences of Satan, with an eye only toward the free mercy of God, the more Satan's power is destroyed.
Although the head of the serpent has been crushed by Christ, as it is said in Genesis 3:15, still it is quivering with its tongue and threatening His heel with its tail. Satan's power in sin is to accuse, condemn, sting, sadden, disquiet the heart, show a wrathful God, hell, and the like. This power of sin is done away with through free mercy, and yet there remain true remnants of this poison. Therefore both statements are true: "No Christian has sin"; and "Every Christian has sin." From this there arises the distinction that with Christians there are two kinds of sin, the sin that is forgiven and the sin that remains, which must still be destroyed and washed away. This latter kind of sin is forgiven; it has been crushed by trust in mercy so that it no longer condemns or accuses. Yet because of this flesh it still sprouts and struggles within our flesh to bring forth fruits like the old fruits, to make us smug, thankless, and ignorant of God, as we used to be. These are the efforts of the remnants of sin in us, which even the saints feel, but through the Holy Spirit they do not give in to them.
These are the true sins of which we should be concerned. Why is your focus on so many "external" sins?

Smugness is my experience. Are you honest enough to admit your smugness?
As Paul says (Rom. 8:13) that by the Spirit we "put to death the deeds of the body." What happens to us is that most of us live in such smugness as though we were all spirit and nothing of the flesh were left at all. Therefore we must learn that the flesh still remains and that the task of the Spirit is to war against the flesh, lest the flesh accomplish that for which it lusts. Therefore the Christian is not formally righteous, he is not righteous according to substance or quality—I use these words for instruction's sake. He is righteous according to his relation to something: namely, only in respect to divine grace and the free forgiveness of sins, which comes to those who acknowledge their sin and believe that God is gracious and forgiving for Christ's sake, who was delivered for our sins (Rom. 4:25) and is believed in by us. After we have attained this righteousness by faith, then we need the bath or washing of which the psalm speaks. Sin does not condemn any more, but it still remains to vex us.

You can readily say, "I believe in Christ." But it takes the hardest kind of work to keep this faith fixed and sure and permanent in the heart. The defilement of the spirit remains, and neither our reason nor Satan stops working with all their powers to make us do without the Word and rule ourselves by our own opinions. From this there come sects and heresies, which hate us with bitter hatred and yet think of this hate of theirs not as sin, but as zeal. So they do not cleanse or wash away this sin, but increase it daily.
We seem to think faith is final. It is as if we think faith completes us. Don't forget, faith is a means to an end. Faith will be done away! It is true that everything we need is deeply embedded in faith.


What is the reason why, after steadfast love and mercy, that is, after justification, David still asks that he be cleansed? Having the forgiveness of sins and existing in grace, being neither accused nor condemned by any sin, David is nevertheless unclean and has a sin so unclean that all it lacks to make it a real sin is that it cannot condemn him. David the righteous and the justified still has sin, and is still partly unrighteous. He prays for the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit to clean out these dirty spots, and this gift surely proves that the washing is no game or joke. We must avoid minimizing these remnants of sin. If you minimize them, you also minimize Him who cleanses them and the gift of cleansing—the Holy Spirit.
Your worse remnant of sin is not your lighting up a cigarette or pulling in front of someone on the expressway, or even committing adultery-it is forgetting God. We forget God when we minimize sin.

There are two parts of justification. The first is grace revealed through Christ, that through Christ we have a gracious God, so that sin can no longer accuse us, but our conscience has found peace through trust in the mercy of God. The second part is the conferring of the Holy Spirit with His gifts, who enlightens us against the defilements of spirit and flesh (2 Cor. 7:1).

Verse three: For I know my iniquity, and my sin is ever before me.

The word "know" is far more meaningful in Hebrew than it is in other languages. It means "to feel and experience something as it is according to its very nature. David says: "Sin lies on my neck, it presses me, I cannot get rid of it." Be careful not to suppose that he is talking about the actual sin. The prophet is looking at his whole life, with all its own holiest righteousness, and he feels that none of these things will help him at all unless mercy comes. Thus the story is told of Bernard, a man of admirable holiness, that as his last word he said, "I have lived shamefully." This is really to be looking at sin, not this or that misdeed, but our whole nature and our universal sin, with all our powers, with all the righteousness and wisdom of our flesh—to say that all these are nothing in the judgment of God. Bernard says with David, and David with all the saints (Ps. 143:2): "Lord, enter not into judgment with Thy servant."
I cannot believe "Christianity" has so degenerated to the point where four roommates at a respectable Christian university actually tried to go a day without sinning. I am ashamed of my idolatry and ignorance.

Verse four: Against Thee only have I sinned and done that which is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou art justified in Thy sentences and victorious in Thy judgment.

This verse has been treated in various ways by various interpreters, and it has always been thought that this one piece is the most difficult in this psalm. Because Paul quoted it in the Epistle to the Romans (3:4), it came to be listed among the more difficult passages in all of Scripture. Though I freely leave it to others to remain with their interpretation, still I have the good hope that we shall not wander away from the true and proper meaning. Above all I want to remind the reader of what we pointed out at the beginning of the psalm, that David is speaking in the name of all the saints, not merely in his own name, in the name of the adulterer. I would not deny the possibility that his fall brought him to a knowledge of himself and of all human nature; as though he were to think: "Look at me, such a holy king! I have been so earnestly engaged in the holy service of the Law and of the worship of God. Now I have been so crushed and conquered by the inborn evil of the flesh and by sin that I have murdered an innocent man and adulterously taken away his wife. Is not this an obvious proof that human nature is more seriously infected and corrupted by sin than I could ever have suspected? Yesterday I was chaste, today I am an adulterer. Yesterday my hands were innocent of blood, now I am a man of blood."
I am deeply thankful for my worse sins because before I experienced them I did not understand how sin-full I was. I am deeply ashamed my worse sin used to be not reading my Bible on a given day.

In this way it could have happened that from his fall into adultery and murder he acquired this general feeling of all sin and concluded from this that everything has been so deformed and destroyed by sin that there is nothing sound left in all of human nature. I want to remind the reader of this first of all, if he wants a sound interpretation of this passage. Secondly, we must explain the grammar, which is somewhat obscure. What the translator rendered in the past tense ought to be in the present tense: "Against Thee only do I sin." That is: "I acknowledge that in Thy sight I am nothing but a sinner." And again: "I always do that which is evil in Thy sight." That is: "My whole life is evil and corrupt because of sin. In Thy sight I cannot boast of my merit or righteousness, but I am completely evil. Before Thee this is my name, that I do evil, that I have sinned, that I am sinning, that I shall sin forever." In this way the change of past tense into present takes us from the actual sin to universal sin.
Evil only is our name.

In the battle human nature struggles with God over whether this Word is true which declares that all men are under sin but God alone is righteous. Human nature rejects this statement and will not agree to it, that all its works are evil and sinful in the judgment of God. Thus many bitterly defend the statement that man has the right light of reason and his natural powers intact. This means not only a denial of sin, which has been divinely revealed, but also a denial that God alone is righteous when He declares that we are sinners.
He who hears, understands, and believes this, might, perchance, be a Christian.

Let us therefore learn that it is a sin to dispute with God this way and to denounce Him in His Word. Rather this is what we should do. Even though we do not fully understand, we should believe our Creator when He declares something about us. He knows what sort of frame or dust we are (Ps. 103:14), we do not. Just as the vase of a potter may have acquired a crack through a blow or some other way and does not know it has a crack, whereas the potter knows and sees it, so also we do not fully know our faults.
You could/would be more of a Christian if you believed this and never went to church again, burned all Bibles, and murdered all pastors. Instead, you think you are a Christian when you disbelieve this but refrain from burning and murder.

"And victorious in Thy judgment": he adds this phrase for our consolation. This divine judgment, by which we are all declared to be sinners and only God is declared to be righteous, suffers violence and rebellion, so to speak, from the greater part of the world. Even in the saints there remains the feeling of this blasphemy, that they are often indignant when everything they have is called guilty. In the saints there is also this feeling, that they will pray more diligently, believe more fully, and praise God when they see that they have pure hands and feelings and that they are free of all sin. But this means to stop being human and to become a god or an angel. Thus the sin that is hidden even in the saints struggles against the judgment of God. Though the spirit is ruled by the Word and consents to it, still Paul confesses (Rom. 7:23) that there is another law in his flesh warring against the Spirit and the Word.
Everything is topsy-turvy. The falling-away is virtually complete. And the master artist, Satan, has painted a pretty picture to the contrary.

So there are two kinds of men. One kind confesses with David that God alone is righteous, truthful, and holy. The others are wicked and are "God-fighters" like the giants, saying: "Thy Word is not true. We are not blind. There is still some light in us toward God. If I obey it, I shall be in grace." "Victorious" really means "pure" or "blameless." It is as though he were saying: "When Thou declarest that men are sinners, it soon follows that Thou are judged and condemned. Reason cannot stand this judgment of Thine, therefore it calls it heresy and 'doctrines of demons' (I Tim. 4:1). But what happens? They condemn Thee and defile Thee with their sentences. Yet Thou remainest pure, clean, and righteous, while they are caught in their impurity.

Be honest: What do you do to make yourself feel good in Christ? Can you not be honest?
This is a pious statement and a good conclusion against the devil's arrows when he troubles the conscience, but it is a delusion, while we have shown the real meaning above. This is what Satan has in mind when he troubles our minds this way by throwing up our sins and impurity and by insisting upon constant purity. He wants us to forget this statement, that only God is righteous and holy, and on the sly he wants to snatch us from the feeling of sin to satisfactions and trust in our own works. So the correct way for you to oppose this evil is the one I have described, that with trust in God's mercy you stand up to Satan and say: "Leave me alone, I am not your creature. If I have sinned, I have not sinned against you but against my God, who is righteous and abounding in steadfast love (Ps. 86:5)." Whoever confesses this way that he has sinned against God alone, has a God who justifies.

Verse five: "Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

He does not say, "I murdered Uriah." He does not say, "I committed adultery." But he wraps up all of human nature as in one bundle and says, "I was conceived in sin." He is not talking about certain actions but simply about the matter, and he says: "The human seed, this mass from which I was formed, is totally corrupt with faults and sins. The material itself is faulty. The clay, so to speak, out of which this vessel began to be formed is damnable. What more do you want? This is how I am; this is how all men are. Our very conception, the very growth of the fetus in the womb, is sin, even before we are born and begin to be human beings."
Can you look past your sins and see your sin? Does your vision keep you from knowing God?

Let this be enough about the confession of original or innate sin, which is hidden from the whole world and is not revealed by our powers, reasonings, or speculations, but is rather obscured, defended, and excused by them. We need the Word of God from heaven to reveal this uncleanness or fault of our nature. With faith in this Word let us confess that this is the way things are, even though all nature should object, as object it must. This is the most difficult teaching of this psalm, yes, of all Scripture or theology; without it, it is impossible to understand Scripture correctly, as the dreams of modern theologians prove.
How our minds flitter about fluff.

Verse six: "Behold, Thou hast loved truth; Thou hast revealed to me the uncertain and hidden things of Thy wisdom."

Whoever the translator of this passage was, he ought to be called a lot of names. Not only did he awkwardly confuse the two parts of the verse, but he produces an ungodly meaning. What is it that he translates "uncertain parts of Thy wisdom"? Be it far from Christians and from the Holy Spirit, their teacher, that He should teach uncertain and doubtful things! Here, if anywhere, there must be a fullness of trust, a most certain persuasion or truth and an infallible light, by which God through the Word and His Spirit fortifies, confirms, and assures our consciences. Therefore let us reject the "uncertain wisdom" as rendered by this ignorant translator, and let us look both at the words and at the true meaning of this passage.
So many doctrines; so many "corners"; so much uncertainty; and all in the name of Christian freedom and liberty.

Thus far we have heard the sum of Christian doctrine, namely, that we acknowledge that we are completely sinful, indeed that it was sin even when we were conceived and formed in our mother's womb. Those who acknowledge their impurity this way and cast themselves upon mercy will obtain mercy, because God is glorified by this confession and has promised forgiveness to those who trust in Him. By way of antithesis, now that he has finished this teaching, he begins a refutation of those who teach or act contrary to this teaching. It is as if he had someone in view who made the following objection to the teaching laid down thus far: "You are condemning everyone in general, yet it is well known that there are many good and holy men whose lives are perfect and without fault. Are you the only one who is wise?"
A Christian, who I believe wants to sincerely love and serve God properly, said this very thing about the leaders of his church.

If you believe exactly the way Luther believed, you are in line with the true Church and absolutely pure doctrine of God. To the degree that you divert from Luther's teachings, you have diverted from the truth of God.
Today they throw a similar argument at us: "Are you the only ones who are the church? Are you the only ones who have the Scripture?" The whole struggle is over the title "church." Because this title caries with it the authority to judge matters of religion, salvation, and eternal life, our enemies fight for it furiously. They do not want their error and false teaching to be seen. Though they cannot deny the obvious abuses that have gradually come in, they still do no want to surrender the title "church" on account of them.
Have we sanctioned so many leaders and authorities with the intent to avoid any real authority, judgment, and discipline?

But the prophet, as well as ourselves, says: "Yes, I condemn you all, with all your wisdom, with all your holiness and righteousness. 'For Thou art a God who lovest or requirest hidden truth.'" This is how the words sound in Hebrew: "Thou dost not love lies, hypocrisy, and guile." Therefore the word "truth" simply cuts off and condemns whatever is presumed outside this doctrine, as well as whatever there may be of works of righteousness among the religious.

In the world there is a civic honesty that manifests itself in word and deed, but this has many faults mingled with it. There have been many honest husbands among the heathen, who marvelously preserved the faithfulness they had pledged to their wives. Thus you sometimes even find an honest merchant. God requires this civic honesty, and daily examples show that this civic honesty cannot be transgressed with impunity. Yet this honesty is not pure, if you consider the judgment of God. There are many filthy vices clinging to it, and God requires a much greater honesty. Therefore he adds, "Thou lovest that truth which is in secret." It is as though he were to say: "The civic honesty that is in the world can be produced, and it is at least understood by men. Therefore Aristotle and Socrates had a good name among their fellows. On the other hand, we also hear quarrels every day over the deceptions, lies, and frauds that men perpetrate on one another. But the truth that God loves is not exposed to the eyes this way. It is in secret and hidden. Thus, though Mohammed may have been honest in public, in the sight of God he was a liar. Though I was an honest and guileless monk—I often use myself as an example, the way Paul writes that he was truly a Pharisee (Phil. 3:5)—still in the sight of God I was a liar because of the superstition and hypocrisy that I did not see. It lay hidden under the appearance of holiness, just as truth lies hidden, until it was denounced by the Word, and this hidden truth was revealed.
What false presumptions are you hiding under your
"holiness?"

The second part of this verse is a sort of little prayer. From this the question arises: Since he already had this hidden wisdom, why does he ask for it? Anyone who can sing, "Against Thee only do I sin, Thou only art righteous," already has and knows this wisdom that is hidden from the world. He has not only the knowledge of sin, but also the knowledge of grace. Otherwise he would despair. Why, then, does he ask for it? Why does he say, "Make known to me the hidden wisdom," when it is already known to him?
I know—living in sin and grace at the same time is confusing, inconvenient, and irksome.

Isn't it interesting how the whole of Christendom does not want to talk about the wrath of God. When we do, it is always about God's wrath toward sins "out there." Do you really believe the homosexuals, abortionists and great, godless sinners do not see our supreme hypocrisy?
I reply: A godly man feels sin more than grace, wrath more than favor, judgment more than redemption. An ungodly man feels almost no wrath, but is smug as though there were no wrath anywhere, as though there were no God anywhere who vindicates His righteousness. This happens mostly in those who strive for some appearance of religion. Thus many wickedly boast that their religion is most like the life of Christ, and therefore in their smugness they do not pray. On the other hand, the more a godly man feels his weakness, the more earnest he is in prayer. Because the feeling of sin does not cease, sighing and prayer do not cease, asking that this wisdom may be made perfect. This prayer is a fervent desire against the battle of the flesh which we feel (Matt. 6:7), that as the feeling of sin abounds, so the feeling of grace and the consolation of the Spirit may abound even more (Rom. 5:20). Therefore in Zechariah (12:10) the spirit of grace is joined to the spirit of prayer. The godly always talk as though they were sinners, as indeed they are; but because they are in the truth, they are loved by God and are in grace. This feeling of grace is weaker on account of the flesh. Therefore though they have the forgiveness of sins, they still pray and sigh for the forgiveness of sins. On the other hand, smug sinners say, "I thank Thee that I am not like other men," as that man in Luke (18:11) did.

This is the reason why the godly man asks for grace, a man who is just beginning to be godly and has had a taste of this teaching. This taste provokes a greater thirst. The mind is not satisfied with the first fruits of the Spirit (Rom 8:23), but would rather have the fullness, as Paul says: "Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect; but I follow after so that I may apprehend just as I also am apprehended" (Phil. 3:12)

Verse seven: Thou wilt sprinkle me, Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed. Thou wilt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? You are unclean, foolish and a liar. You are in love with you.
Thus far the prophet has condemned all righteousness, wisdom, and truth in general. He has exalted the single truth that is in secret, the wisdom that is a mystery, that confesses its sins and hopes for the mercy of God who justifies sinners. The same thing is expressed in John 1:12,13: "To all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." There he universally condemns whatever reason and whatever "man," that is, whatever all men by their own nature and powers can accomplish without the Holy Spirit. All he leaves is trust in the name of Jesus. To this general refutation he adds a special refutation of the righteousness of the Law or of Moses. He says that the sprinklings of Moses are nothing and that Moses does not truly sprinkle those whom he wants to sanctify, but that another and far more powerful sprinkling is necessary.

The Law had various sprinklings, which took place with hyssop and wool, as we know from Exodus (2:21), where the high priest and all sacred vessels were consecrated by sprinkling. The reason for this consecration was not only to prevent things dedicated to holy uses from being profane, but also to inform the people that in the tabernacle everything was holy and consecrated and that therefore they should regard all the other places of sacrifice as profane and flee them. This was the chief reason for the consecration of the vessels. There is today no reason for consecrating churches and vessels, except that it was instituted out of stupid imitation, not on the basis of a sure Word of God.
What has been consecrated by God—Baptism, The Table, The Keys, and the Word (due to the uncertain meanings we give it) have been befouled by the Church. Other things have been dedicated to God's use and glory by ourselves.

This psalm is speaking generally about the Mosaic washings and cleansings, and it simply denies that they avail for justification. It requires another cleansing, which does not take place through hyssop or through a water of expiation, but through the mercy of a God who forgives sin. Undoubtedly this teaching offended many people, who became insanely agitated because they wanted to atone for sins through sacrifices, as the sermons of the Prophets clearly show. Even when the sacrifices were still in force by the command of God, therefore, there came sharp sermons from the Prophets against the sacrifices, that He had instituted, as we see from Isaiah 1:13 and Psalm 50:8. They were not instituted by God for the purpose of taking sins away—this came only from the one perfect and complete sacrifice of Christ—but they had the primary purpose of distinguishing this people from all the other nations, to point out the people from which Christ was to be born. These practices were also instituted this way to prevent the people from making up their own services. Human nature is such that it cannot be without the worship of God; and if it does not have the Word, it invents services, as the examples of both the heathen and the pope show.
 






Hail! Hail! To the almighty contemporary service! Did I say "hail" or "hell?"
A Christian is a person who only BELIEVES and allows the self to be stripped of reason and accountability in things pertaining to Heaven.
It is hard to resist this nature and remain firm in this, that we are justified only when we hear the Word about this sprinkling and accept it by faith. When it feels a sin, the flesh thinks up a work by which to make up for this sin, just as it grieves over a work that it has committed. Usage and custom have confirmed this aspect of our nature. Both in the churches and in the monasteries they have taken over this teaching, so that men think up satisfactions for their sins. Nowadays young people are in a better situation because they have not been corrupted by these wicked notions as were we who lived under the pope. It is much easier for them to grasp what David is teaching here, namely, that satisfactions belong to politics and business. Thus we should not transfer Moses to heaven but leave him among his Jews on earth in this physical life. "For there is one who ascended into heaven, who also descended, the Son of Man and the Son of God, Christ Jesus" (John 3:13). It is He whom we are commanded to "hear." It is He who bore the sins of the world (John 1:29). This is the one satisfaction; this is the one washing, by which we are saved. And the basis of salvation is that when you hear this, you should not be unbelieving toward divine revelation but believe it (John 20:27). The fact that a new life should follow does not belong to satisfaction, but to the obedience you owe. Because the Holy Spirit arouses this in us, we cannot claim any merit of ours from it to reconcile God and to expiate the sins which, we are taught, have already been expiated through Christ.
I believe "satisfaction" today is evidenced by the quest for "self-esteem."

David rejects the imperfect sprinkling of the whole Law and asks to be sprinkled not by the Levitical priest, but by God the Redeemer Himself so that his conscience might be cleansed with a cleanness that is whiter than snow. We should take note that what our version has as "Thou wilt sprinkle me with hyssop" is in Hebrew: "Thou wilt expiate or absolve me." The meaning remains the same, and the word "sprinkle" can be kept, because the expiation took place through the sprinkling with water, mixed with the ashes of the red heifer (Num 19:9). Because this sprinkling took place with hyssop, David mentions hyssop to make clear that he is talking against the expiation under the Law.


Verse eight: To my hearing Thou wilt give joy and gladness, and the humbled bones will rejoice.


The whole Christian community has lost this "simple" principle. Hearing has been replaced with heeding, hedonism, and a health-food type mentality.
This psalm is a sort of general rule how sinners become righteous. The last two verses have set forth a part of this rule, refuting all the other ways on which men rely for cleansing from their sins and reconciliation with God, either by the works of the Law or by other works they chose for themselves. He does not only require a hidden truth against hypocrisy, but he also requires another sprinkling than the one the Law had. To make this more clearly understood, he adds: "To my hearing Thou wilt give joy." It is as though he were to say: "Sprinkle me in such a way that Thou wilt give joy to my hearing, that is, that I might have peace of heart through the Word of grace." The emphasis falls on the noun "hearing," but the Hebrew reads a little differently: "Make me hear joy." The meaning is the same in either case. He simply wants the forgiveness of sins, which alone grants joy, to come only through the Word or only through hearing. For if you tortured yourself to death, if you shed your blood, if with ready heart you underwent and bore everything that is humanly possible—all this world would not help you. Only hearing brings joy. This is the only way for the heart to find peace before God. Everything else that it can undertake leaves doubt in the mind.

All this is to be understood significantly and emphatically, for it belongs to the refutation he began earlier. By antithesis he condemns all the diverse ways which men enter when their consciences are troubled, because despite their excellent appearance they do not bring the joy that hearing brings. Troubled consciences are like geese. When the hawks pursue them, they try to escape by flying, though they could do better by running. On the other hand, when the wolves threaten them, they try to escape by running, though they could do it safely by flying. So when their consciences are oppressed, men run first here, then there; they try this, then that work. In this way they only heap up dangers and useless works for themselves, though the one true and sure way of healing the conscience is what David here calls "sprinkling," by which the Word is heard and received. As far as we are concerned, the whole procedure in justification is passive. But when we are most holy, we want to be justified actively, that is, by our works. Here we ought to do nothing and undertake nothing but this, that we open our ears, as Psalm 45:10 tells us, and believe what is told us. Only this hearing is a hearing of gladness, and this is the only thing we do, through the Holy Spirit, in the matter of justification.
So it was a hearing of gladness for the paralytic when Christ said (Matt. 9:2): "Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven." So David's gladness was to hear from Nathan (2 Sam. 12:13) "You shall not die."
We have lost our conscience for the truth which is translating into more and more of a loss of conscience in our outward behavior. For example, you do know the divorce rate is the same for those in and outside the Church?
 






Luther is the Church's God-given hope, like Noah's Ark, whereby we must be saved from our cesspool of works-sanctification, luke-warmness, and smugness.
This is the doctrine for which we bear not only the name "heresy" but punishment, namely, that we attribute everything to hearing or to the Word or to faith in the Word—these are all the same—and not to our works. Yes, in the use of the Sacraments and in confession we teach men to look mainly at the Word, so that we call everything back from our works to the Word. The hearing of gladness is in Baptism, when it is said: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19); "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). The hearing of gladness is in the Lord's Supper, when it is said, "This is My body, which is given for you" (Luke 22:19). The hearing of gladness is in confession, or, to call it by its more proper name, in absolution and the use of the keys: "Have faith. Your sins are forgiven you through the death of Christ." Though we urge the people to the Sacraments and to absolution, still we do not teach anything about the worthiness of our work or that it avails by the mere performance of the work. We call men back to the Word so that the chief part of the whole action might be the voice of God itself and the hearing itself.

On the other hand, most omit the Word and argue about the form and power of the Sacraments or about contrition. In the schools I was so corrupted by this teaching that only with great labor, by the grace of God, was I able to turn myself solely to the hearing of gladness. If you wait until you are sufficiently contrite you will never get to the hearing of gladness. I experienced this often enough in the monastery to my sorrow, for I was following this teaching about contrition. But the more contrite I was, the higher rose my sorrows and my conscience, and I could not accept the absolution and the other consolations which those to whom I confessed brought me. This was the way I thought: "Who knows whether such consolations should be believed?" Later on, by chance I asked my preceptor, amid many tears, about these many temptations of mind, which I was suffering also because of my age. He said to me: "Son, what are you doing? Do you not know that the Lord Himself has commanded us to hope?" With this one word "commanded" I was so strengthened that I knew I should believe the absolution which I had heard so often before. I had been so preoccupied with my foolish thoughts that I did not think I should believe the Word, but heard it as though it had nothing to do with me.

I enjoy saying this in many words so that you might know that the forgiveness of sins becomes actual not through works but through hearing.
 



Baptists and all the other sects are currently preoccupied with the same disease. Lutherans are even more culpable for understanding the truth of Scripture, but essentially desecrating it as much as the Baptists.

This is the supreme purpose of the Law, born out only by experience.
"To my hearing Thou wilt give joy"; as if he were to say: "I have listened long enough to the Law and to Moses, who has a heavy tongue (Ex. 4:10). Take this hearing away from me, for it is the hearing of God's wrath and eternal death. I am asking for the hearing of gladness, which comes through the Word of grace and the forgiveness of sins. Then the humbled bones will come to rejoice, that is, bones that are contrite and crushed by the sense of sin which the Law of God creates in the heart." Most do not understand the joy of which he spoke earlier, neither can they understand what the "humility of the bones" is. They have never listened to the words of the Law, nor have they listened to the hearing of death and despair. They argue about these things without experience, like a blind man about a picture. So this knowledge, too, belongs to that "hidden wisdom" about which he spoke earlier.

In the monastery I often asked many people to tell me what "humbled bones" are. Because they did not have the experience of such temptations, it was impossible for them to say anything sound or sure about an unknown thing. Not everyone suffers the same temptations, but God gives these things according to how much each can bear. Yet it is necessary that everyone experience this feeling of Law and death, even though some experience it more and others less and some feel it only in the last hour of their lives. It happens literally, too, that in this feeling the bones are humbled, that is, strength of body and powers are shattered and unusually afflicted, as we experience in sudden danger of death or in other great sorrows.
Churches are full of people with full heads, soft hearts, and good intentions, but I see no "broken bones." Is there no one who understands? Have we all, together, become unprofitable servants?

This contrition of the bones is a contrition vastly different from that of the pope, who commands us to ponder the sins we have committed and then imposes the most foolish satisfactions, like pilgrimages, fasts, almsgiving, and the like. Unless contrition is followed by what Nathan said to David—"God has put away your sin" (2 Sam. 12:13)—the bones have to remain broken. This wound of conscience cannot be healed by anything but the Word of divine promise. We must believe that our God is "the Father of mercies and of all comfort" (2 Cor. 1:3). We must believe that "the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love" (Ps. 147:11).
Sins, like fine wine, are to be savored in such a way that this "savoring" brings us to shameful humiliation.

Therefore whatever sins or righteousness there may be in you or in the whole world, throw it away from your eyes and mind, and say: "Even though I am unworthy of receiving such great blessings, namely, the forgiveness of sins and the grace of God, still God is not unworthy of my believing that He wants to forgive sins as He has promised in His Word." In theology this conclusion is not valid: "I am a shameful and evil sinner, therefore God is a liar when He promises the forgiveness of sins to sinners." Rather you should draw the conclusion that David drew earlier: "I would rather be a sinner than that God should be a liar. When I hope for mercy, I do so with confidence in His Word, which is preached about Christ.

Do you really believe your nature is so different from that of Catholics who are working for their salvation? Our whole nature is to work for something. Do you not blaspheme as much as they in believing you must aid God in the process of your sanctifi-cation?
Here the reader should be reminded of a peculiarity in the Hebrew, for the Hebrew says, "And the bones which thou hast broken will rejoice." It is very shocking that the Prophets should make such a point of saying that evils come from God Himself, though it is true that of Himself God does not do evil things but uses instrumental means. So the Lord says in Job 2:3: "You moved Me against him, to destroy him without cause." But the history clearly shows that he devil burned the house, killed the children, and persuaded him to despair and to murmur against God. These, I say, are really the devil's works, and yet the Lord says, "I afflicted him." In the same way David says here: "Thou hast broken my bones," though God did nothing but withdraw His hand and Spirit and leave David to be struck by the "flaming darts" (Eph. 6:16) of Satan, through which he so filled the heart with sadness and despair and so troubled and confused the mind that there seemed to be no escape. "For he is the father of lies and a murderer" (John 8:44). The Law is also such an instrument of means, accusing us and condemning sins. God uses these means to humble us and to rob us of our pride in works so that we learn that we live by grace alone and by the kindness of God.
But let us answer the argument: "Why are these things attributed to God when He does not do them Himself but uses His means? Satan kills, the Law accuses; and yet the Scriptures attribute both of these to God." This is the reason: so that we might be preserved in the article of our Creed that there is only one God, lest with the ungodly we make more gods. Many establish two principles, of which one was good and the other evil. In good things they ran to the good god, in evil things to the evil god. But God wants us, whether in pleasant or adverse circumstances, to have confidence in Him alone. He does not want us to among those of whom Isaiah says (Is. 9:13): "The people did not turn to Him who smote them."
A Lutheran pastor once told me he did not want his people to think that negative things came from God. I suppose this is wisdom if one is training heretical sissies.

This is what our nature usually does; in sudden terrors and dangers it is turned from the true God because it believes He is wrathful, as Job did (Job 30:21): "Thou hast turned cruel to me." But this is to imagine another god and not to remain in the simplicity of the faith that there is one God. Nor is God cruel, but He is "the Father of comfort" (2 Cor. 1:3). Because He delays His help, our hearts make a wrathful idol of God, who is always like Himself and constant. This the Prophets want to forbid, when as out of one mouth they say, "I am the Lord, I who create good and evil." Thus we should not think that when the sun is hidden by clouds it has been completely removed from the world, or that a bright body has become black and dark. The sun keeps its light, but we are hindered by the clouds from seeing it. So God is good, righteous, and merciful even when He strikes. Whoever does not believe this departs from the unity of the faith that God is one, and he imagines another god for himself, who is inconstant, sometimes good and sometimes bad. But it is an outstanding gift of the Holy Spirit to believe that when God sends evil, He is still gracious and merciful.
 
The wisdom of Solomon: "You do not know {based on circumstances} whether it is love or hate." The Christian knows, by believing faith, that it is always love, no matter how severe the discipline.

Verse nine: "Turn away Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities."

I have no sense the Baptists or Lutherans truly believe this. They are both insolently smug.
This same petition proves that the doctrine of justification is the kind of thing that can never be learned completely. Therefore it is true that those who have persuaded themselves that they know it fully have not even begun to learn it. Because every day new struggles arise from Satan or our flesh or the world or our conscience, prompting us to despair, wrath, lust, and other vices, how is it possible for this weakness of ours not to keep falling or breaking? Then, too, how many concerns arise in this life that gradually make us forget this gladness? Hence it is supremely necessary that we ask God to pour or sprinkle upon us this hearing of joy so that we are not covered again with the sadness that the feeling of sin brings on.

I understand this verse to be speaking of the increase of that peace and righteousness which conquers the feeling of God's wrath and of sin. Although the righteous truly have the forgiveness of sins, because they have trust in mercy and are in grace for Christ's sake, still the pangs of conscience and the remnants of sin that infest them do not stop. Hence it is a great power of the Holy Spirit to trust the grace of God and to hope that God is gracious and favorably disposed. Nor can this confidence be preserved without the most bitter struggles, aroused in our flesh by our daily occasions for trouble and sadness as well as by our inborn weakness and distrust. Even though today I may be of happy heart because of this hearing of joy, still something happens tomorrow to trouble me, when I remember that I did what I should have avoided or failed to do what I should have done. These storms and fluctuations never stop in the mind. Satan also keeps watch. When he notices that our hearts are not well fortified with the promises of God, he arouses other specters of wrath and trouble in us that melt our hearts like salt when it is thrown into the water. Therefore this prayer is necessary: "Turn away Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." "All," he says, "whether past or present or future, for I sin daily. Blot out all of them, all, lest I fall into despair or forget Thy mercy." Here again you see that the forgiveness of sins is not in what I do but in the fact that by mercy God blots out, as Paul says bout "the bond which is against us" (Col. 2:14).
Life is fragile-handle with humiliation.

Verse ten: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my inwards."

We have finished the main part of this psalm, which deals with the principal doctrines of religion, namely: What is repentance? What is sin? What is grace? What is justification? What are the causes of justification? The following section seems to me to pertain to the gifts of the Spirit that follow the forgiveness of sins. Paul maintains this distinction, that grace is one thing and the gift if another (Rom. 5:15). Grace means the favor by which God accepts us, forgiving sins and justifying freely through Christ. It belongs to the category of relationship. The forgiveness of sins depends simply on the promise which faith accepts—not on our works or merits, but on the fact that by the sting of the Law God graciously calls us back to Himself so that we might acknowledge Him to be the giver of grace. The gift or the charisma are what is given to the believers after the forgiveness of sins by the God reconciled through Christ. In my judgment, the next three verses pertain to these gifts. I take them to be joined because three times he repeats the name of the Spirit; "right Spirit," "holy Spirit," and "princely Spirit."
 


We have Christians falling over themselves chasing after their gifts when they know virtually nothing about their gift.

The true Spirit dwells in the believers not merely according to His gifts, but according to His own substance. He does not give His gifts in such a way that He is somewhere else or asleep, but He is present with His gifts and creatures by preserving, ruling, and strengthening them. The prophet asks that after he has been justified and has received the forgiveness of sins, this sense of God's mercy might be planted deep within his heart by the Holy Spirit. So he uses these words: "Create in me a clean heart, O God." He is not talking about some momentary operation, but about the continuation of a work that has been begun; as though he were to say: "Thou hast begun Thy work in me so that I trust Thy mercy. Therefore what Thou hast begun, now complete. Confirm, O God, what Thou hast done in me. For not he who begins but 'he who endures to the end will be saved' (Matt. 10:22)."
Free-will is the Devil's whore, whereby he tricks us into prostitution against faith.
 






Many make the error of dreaming that it is enough to begin once. They teach that grace is a quality hidden in the heart; if someone has it included in his heart like a jewel, God regards him, if he co-operates with his free will. Again, if someone has first grace, even if it be only a spark, he is saved. But we teach and believe differently about grace, namely, that grace is the continuous and perpetual operation or action through which we are grasped and moved by the Spirit of God so that we do not disbelieve His promises and that we think and do whatever is favorable and pleasing to God. The Spirit is something living, not dead. Just as life is never idle, but as long as it is present, it is doing something—for even in sleep life is not idle, but either the body is growing, as in children, or other works of life are felt in breathing and the pulse—so the Holy Spirit is never idle in the pious, but is always doing something that pertains to the kingdom of God. I am warning you to get used to understanding these theological terms properly so that when you hear the word "create," you do not think of one momentary work, but of the continuing rule, conservation, and growth of spiritual actions in the faithful heart.
True. BUT, we are enjoined not to quench the Spirit. Quenching the Spirit has been turned into a virtue by our thinking any aspect of our salvation needs our aid. AND, the Holy Spirit has done something through the chosen instrument, Luther, and will accomplish even more, in His time. Though dead, the Spirit will revive the bony words of Luther!

It is not our power to acquire such a heart, but it comes by divine creation. This is why the Spirit wanted to use the term "create" here. Just as such a clean heart is not by our powers but by divine creation, so we cannot preserve this creation against the devil either. We see how often we are polluted by sudden troubles and sadness. Hence this prayer for the creation and preservation of clean heart ought never to stop. {This is the first gift of the Spirit.}

The following part: "And renew a right spirit in my inwards," is identical in meaning with "clean heart." The word "heart" in German is almost the same as what the Hebrew calls "spirit." What in Latin we call "mind, intellect, will, affections"—almost all this the Germans render as "heart." The adjective which the Spirit adds here means "stable, solid, full, firm, certain, indubitable." After much thought we despaired of rendering this word meaningfully in German. In any case, it is always set in opposition to doubt and changing opinions. It is properly "the certain or sure Spirit," who holds the heart steady against doubtful and varying dogmas, as well as against the suggestions of the devil trying to lead us away from the faith that God is merciful and gracious.


Verse eleven: "Cast me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me."

 
The only basis for our eternal security is a profound belief in our temporal insecurity. We are as secure as we are insecure.
Look at his great humility, how anxiously he fears the dangers that threaten those who are justified and have the forgiveness of sins. Without the Holy Spirit he could not pray this. And yet one who already has the Holy Spirit prays and sighs this, that he might not be rejected or deserted, that he might not sin again and fall, as though he were to say: "I have flesh, which battles against the spirit. Therefore by Thou present and sustain me so that I do not sin again as I have sinned before when I was forsaken by Thee. Do not cast me away this way, and do not take away Thy Holy Spirit from me. That is, give me perseverance so that my body is sanctified in me." To a man trained in modernistic theology it seems absurd that such a holy prophet cries out for the gifts of the Holy Spirit as though he did not have any. But both our experience and examples like this have taught us that no one can ask for grace except one who is justified, and that no one can ask for the gifts of the Spirit except one who is sanctified. Such people have received "the first fruits of the Spirit ( Rom. 8:23), and therefore they also yearn for, and want to receive, the tithe (Num. 18:12-24. Because they have been reborn to life, therefore they want to reject death completely, with its remnants. They hope and look for perfection, and daily they experience their great separation from it. {A true, spiritual humility is the second gift of the Spirit.}

Verse twelve: "Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and confirm me with a princely Spirit."
I know of no strong, courageous, minds today. I know many arrogant, self-sure, deceived and deceiving minds, who haughtily, based upon unbelief and disbelief, assert themselves over their dumb sheep.






 














This is now the third gift of the Holy Spirit that he asks to be conferred upon him. It is surely a fine sequence that the prophet follows; as though he were to say: "I am already righteous by the grace of God, because I am sure of the forgiveness of sins. Then I am also sanctified, for I walk in the obedience and holiness of the Lord's commandments, and this gift of the Spirit is growing daily. Now a third still remains, that there come a courageous and strong mind, which will confess this justifier and sanctifies before the world and will not let itself be driven away from confession by any dangers." For this reason we have rendered this verse in German in such a way that he appears to ask for a mind that is "happy" and despises all dangers. "Happiness" here properly means constancy or a fearless mind that is not afraid of the world or Satan or even death. Such a mind we see in Paul, when he says with a happy, exulting, and full spirit, (Rom. 8:35): "Who shall separate us from the love of God?"

This sequence is also evident from the subject matter itself, as the prophet says in another passage (Ps. 116:10): "I believed, therefore I have spoken." After the knowledge of the truth there immediately follows confession, by which we refute "diverse teachings" (Heb. 13:9). But after confession comes the following: "But I was greatly humbled" (Ps. 116:10). We need the confirmation by the princely Spirit so that in that humiliation we do not become dejected in our minds but with a courageous spirit despise all dangers. When he says, "Restore to me the joy," he means that he had almost been broken by these dangers. For this reason he prays that this joy might be restored, the joy of God's salvation. That is, he wants his mind to be confirmed in such a way that he will not doubt the presence of God and His will to save in the dangers which confession brings with it. This confidence so inspires the mind that we can safely despise all terrors and all dangers. Just so, by the grace of God I have also experienced this great gift, that by my teaching and writing I have freely confessed Jesus Christ, my Lord and liberator, against the will of emperor, pope, princes, kings, and almost the whole world, even amid a thousand dangers to life with which my wrathful enemies and Satan himself were threatening me. So the Lord says to Jeremiah (Jer. 1:18): "I shall make your face iron so that you do not care who attacks it." And really, the office of teaching in the church requires such a mind that despises all dangers. In general, all the devout should prepare themselves so that they are not afraid of becoming martyrs, that is, confessors or witnesses of God. Christ does not want to hide in the world, but He wants to be preached, "not between four walls but from the roof" (Matt.10:27), so that the Gospel shines in the world like a torch on a high mountain or on a watchtower. When this happens, all sorts of dangers are present, and we are really caught. Nor is there anything else that can console us than God's promise that He will not forsake us.
 










It is high time to believe properly and to speak up boldly. We do not have much time to redeem the time. Rather, the complacency of the church seems intent on making sure the Son of Man will not find faith on earth when He returns.


I do not know of a single pastor or church leader, who has given up power, prestige, presuppositions, or profit to become a proper witness.
"I sought for a man who would stand in the gap."
Therefore it is the third gift that fills Christians with great pride—not toward God, but toward the pride of the world and the devil, so that the more strongly they oppose us the more boldly we set ourselves against them. When we do this, they shout that we are incurably stubborn. We do not deny this, for our office and calling requires it. "Therefore," they say, "you are damned." This does not follow. Here we must distinguish: Before God I am so humbled that I am fearful even at His name and every day I pray continually for the gift of the Spirit and the increase of faith. But when I look back at the world, I see that I am holding infinite treasures. Just as I humble myself before God, therefore, so I exalt myself against the world with a courageous and contemptuous mind, condemning the world's teachings as errors and all its life as sin. From this there arise conflicts, opposition, tortures, and excommunications, because of which David here prays that he might be confirmed by the princely Spirit; as though he were to say, "Unless Thou dost confirm me against these dangers, I shall be crushed by fears."


Verse thirteen: "I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will be converted to Thee."
Here for the first time the prophet begins to talk about his own works, after his person has already been justified and reborn through the Holy Spirit. In true theology, therefore, this is the first concern, that a man become good through the regeneration of the Spirit, who is a sure, holy, and courageous Spirit. Then it comes to pass that, as from a good tree, good fruits are also born. David kept quiet about his own works, so far and has only asked for things that God was to do through the Word and His Spirit. Having achieved this, he returns also to his own works, which ought to follow in regeneration. These are not the sort of works that the false church commands, which are a supreme insult to Christ, but thanking God, who has been so kind and merciful, praising His gifts, and by them instructing other men in the same grace. So in the Gospel (Mark 7:36) those who were healed by Christ, even though He forbade them, could not help preaching His blessings, praising Him, and calling others to this same hope.
Our leaders hurl us into works at the speed of law-and we love it. Consequently, we are hurled swiftly past a proper grasp of justification by faith.
 















No wonder our leaders are gutless.


"But, David, what if they do not want to hear you? What if the devil and the world persecute you? Why do you promise such an arduous and difficult work, that you want to teach transgressors the ways of the Lord? Where are the saints? Will you not teach them, too?" Yes. For if you look at the mask and disguise in which those whom he calls "transgressors" walk around before the world, you will say that they are not only the thieves, adulterers, and murderers, but also the wisest and holiest before the world—kings, princes, priests, and monks, in all the wisdom and holiness that the human mind without the Holy Spirit can understand and produce. The whole emphasis here is on the pronoun "Thy." He admits that these whom he calls transgressors here have "ways" in which they go and that they please themselves beautifully in these. "But," he says, "these are not the ways of the Lord. They are human ways, in which they cannot be saved. Therefore I shall teach them Thy ways." Here again he indicates the danger that awaits these teachers. The world does not want its ways to be condemned as error, but defends them as true ways and as righteousness. Therefore, if anyone wants to be a monk of God and not of the religious, to undertake a most difficult rule of life and to offer his sacrifice to God, let him do this—teach transgressors the ways of God. Then it will come to pass that he will not only provoke the devil with his hell and the world with its saints against him, but he will often speak against himself and learn by practice what are truly good works, as Christ also says (Luke 8:15): "He will bring forth fruit with patience."
 




I am steeped in patience founded in the fact that Christ is building His Church. To show how wise and powerful He is, He is doing it with arrogant, smug, greedy, senseless, and unfaithful leaders.

Or our dedication to the Augsburg Confession or to Scripture Itself.
 




Explain "transgressors" not as those who are evil in the sight of the world, but as those who are most holy in the sight of the world, like the Levites, prophets, and priests in David's tie. To denounce their sin and to call them "transgressors" despite their observance of the Law of Moses is highly dangerous. Each individual word is emphasized, because David experienced true purgatory, that is, he was oppressed by the sorrows of sin and of God's wrath. Now that he has been justified by trust in mercy, he goes out into public, in order to teach everybody about the unspeakable mercy of God and at the same time to denounce all good works and holiness that are in the world, so that they trust only in the mercy of God and believe that this trust alone is the true "ways" of salvation and that whatever is outside this trust is the "ways" of death and of eternal damnation.
This doctrine never escapes without great upheavals, because neither Satan nor the world can bear it; the world cannot bear having its own condemned, and Satan envies men the happiness that they are saved through sound doctrine. Thus from every side hate, treachery, slanders, and curses are brought together to crush this doctrine and these teachers, as I have been well taught by my own experience. At first the evil men permitted certain minor abuses to be denounced because they could not be covered up in the church. The peddling of indulgences had been so shamelessly prostituted that there were only a few who were disturbed when I denounced it. But later on, when there followed the denunciation of other things that were not so deformed but were no less wicked, then the whole body of Satan began to be so agitated that it seemed I could not be safe anywhere. But this was not unexpected. I saw it coming myself, and among others the bishop of Brandenburg, not an evil man and quite well disposed to me, predicted that I would cause myself a great deal of trouble if I also attacked the pope. Thus gradually "fear within and fighting without (2 Cor. 7:5) were aroused. To overcome these dangers, I really needed the princely or courageous Spirit, by whom I was confirmed.


Verse fourteen: "Deliver me from blood, O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will extol Thy righteousness."
The Devil is free of envy today. With our help, he might even make it into Heaven.
 












What a glorious day that would resound throughout eternity if our spiritual leaders, Lutheran and Baptist alike, would repent in sackcloth and ashes, humble themselves to Your servant< Luther, and have Your Church fortified with sinners being brought to You.
Just as David earlier prayed for, and obtained, absolution of all his sins before God, so here he prays for absolution from all his sins before the church, too, that the church might know that he is absolved before God, lest what he has been teaching be hindered. Thus we have the Sacraments, which we also use for the purpose of letting the whole church know that we acknowledge our sin and believe that for Christ's sake it has been forgiven us. Let others have their own interpretation. I take this verse to speak about outward absolution before the church, that God might take away "blood," that is, guilt, in such a way that the eyes and ears of those who had been offended by the sins of David might not be offended any more. Who does not see how shameful it is for a teacher to be guilty of adultery and murder? Therefore he prays:

"O lord, deliver me from the charge that the priests can prefer against me. I have sinned against Thee; I have also sinned against Moses, or Thy Law. Thou has already forgiven me my sin, because Thou hast filled my mind and my heart with trust in Thy mercy, through the hearing of gladness. Grant that I may also be delivered before the church, that the course of Thy Word may not be hindered." He seems to be talking about a private sin, namely, the murder of Uriah and his adultery, and it could well be that he regards his private sin as an example. But as I said above, the specific is used for the general and the finite for the infinite. Thus he is asking for the removal of all the guilt and blame by which a preacher could be confounded before the church, so that men might no longer be offended by their awareness of the sins which the teacher have admitted, but might rather be confirmed. So Paul in 1 Timothy 1:13 recollects that he had been "a blasphemer and a persecutor of the church." This recollection not only does not offend his hearers, but rather confirms them. Once they know that these sins have been forgiven him by God, they themselves will come to a similar hope in the forgiveness of sins. Thus Paul says that God wanted to show this to the church as an example of divine mercy (I Tim. 1:16).

In this way it is no shame to me before the church, and it does not make my teaching untrustworthy, when I admit that I, too, was among the pope's monsters, that I became a monk, and that by my Masses and my whole manner of life I not only denied Christ, my Redeemer, but crucified Him again. I lived completely with trust in my own righteousness, so that if anyone had taught then what now, by the grace of God, I teach and believe, I think I would have torn him up with my teeth. But it is most joyous before the church to hear that the Lord delivered me from these blasphemies and established me as a faithful proclaimer of His Word and righteousness.
 















I cannot imagine what a mighty example it would be if just one Lutheran pastor would stand before his people, confess his smug unfaithfulness, explain how it happened, and ask forgiveness.


If your pastor knows how to "confess the Lord" and actually did it, you would see how difficult a job it is to truly "confess the Lord." You would see in yourself a bitter and hateful unwillingness to confess with him. Your pastor knows this about you and therefore refuses to raise your ire.
Verse fifteen: "O Lord, Thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth will announce Thy praise."

The prophet is not dealing here with a private conversation between God and the sinner, but with the whole church, the ministry and the ministers and the whole people of God. By asking the Lord that his lips be opened he shows what hard work this sacrifice of praise is, called for in Ps. 50:15. It is boldness above boldness, strength above strength, and courage above courage to dare to speak in public and to confess the name of the Lord. Here Satan threatens with all manner of treachery to hinder this confession. There are various factors that close the lips. Sometimes the fear of danger, sometimes the hope of gain, often the advice of friends intervenes. By these means Satan tries to hinder this sacrifice, as I have also often experienced, yet in great causes, where the glory of God was being endangered, God was present and opened my mouth against these obstacles. Remember that whenever Holy Scripture uses words like "announce the praise of God" or His righteousness, you should know that at the same time they imply extreme danger.

Verse sixteen: "For if Thou hadst wanted sacrifice, I would have given it, just as with burnt offerings Thou wouldst not be pleased."
I have often admired this boldness of the Prophets, that they spoke so contemptuously about sacrifices, contrary to the Law of Moses and the rites of their people. If the pope were able from the Word of God to prove his sacrifices and ceremonies, the way the Jews could their sacrifices, I should surely never have dared to raise any objection. Thus David seems here simply to be talking against Scripture and Moses, who has clear testimony that he has provided the people with ceremonies according to the will of God. It is well known how carefully in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers everything is commanded that pertained to the tabernacle and the sacrifices. The examples of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and others are also well known, who all testified to their gratitude to God with sacrifices. Therefore simply to say, "Thou does not want sacrifices," against the express command of God and against the examples of all the saints has the appearance of sure heresy. Before this is explained, this should be pointed out: If the Holy Spirit in David condemns sacrifices that were divinely commanded, how dare the monks open their mouths and boast of the holiness of their cowls and orders, their vows and tonsures? How dare the pontiffs open their mouths and attribute some righteousness to their traditions when all of these were instituted without the Word of God? You should hold that this verse is directed by the Holy Spirit not only against the Law, but also against the whole papacy with all its traditions, sacrifices, and worship—that they are not pleasing to God.
If Luther were alive today, he would add the words, "And the people called by my name," because by their lack of living their doctrine they have become worse than anything connected with the papacy. They are the son who said, "Yes," but by their behavior and disobedience said, "No!"

By going into this very special instance and condemning the highest worship of the divinely instituted Law, David makes a distinction among all the religions in the world, even the one instituted by Moses and divinely commanded. From all these religions he separates this one which is through faith in Christ, by which sins are forgiven and righteousness is given together with eternal life, without works and without merits, simply because God is merciful and forgives through Christ. This religion teaches that works and worship should not be instituted so that God might be pleased through them. This is what the Prophets preached against. The Prophets were looking chiefly at the notions with which the wicked kept these ceremonies. It was not the purpose of sacrifices or of services under the Law to justify or to placate God. Since the sin of Adam this purpose has been reserved for the one sacrifice of Christ, of which the sacrifices of the Law were a kind of shadow (Col. 2:17).


Verse seventeen: "The sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."

I dwelled among many Lutheran leaders for four years and saw only two leaders who approached this contrition. Both have since been reclaimed by the "system," due to their laziness and cowardice.
This passage is worthy of being written in golden letters. Here you see what sort of sacrifice he sets against the sacrifices of the Law and of the whole world. Because there is no sacrifice without a priest, therefore he simultaneously throws away the priesthood of the Law and institutes a new priesthood with new sacrifices. At the outset let us make this distinction, that there are two priesthoods, one which he reproves, the other which he approves. The priesthood which he reproves is that which has burnt offerings and other sacrifices instituted in the Law. The priesthood which he approves is that in which not animals are offered but contrite and humbled hearts. Therefore I exhort and admonish you, who will one day be the teachers of the church. When minds are in extreme despair, teach them in such a way that they will lift up and dare to hope, because it is written here that hearts which are contrite and humble this way are a most pleasing sacrifice to God, which He prefers to all acts of worship. He expects this worship from all, and for the sake of obtaining this worship He sends pestilences, famine, the sword, and all dangers, so that in our affliction we may hope for divine help. He strikes in order to convert, but we receive the striking in such a way that we turn away and flee from Him. He afflicts us so that we might say, "The sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit." But we either run into monasteries, as we did under the pope, or look for other ways of healing ourselves.
Dear brother Luther, you would be out-voted today. You think Rome wanted your skin...St. Louis would want your heart!

Therefore this is a clear statement that our theology does not pertain to the stubborn and the smug. They are completely callous, and they neither see nor understand anything of such spiritual matters. Such are those who so stubbornly persecute this teaching, be they teachers, magistrates, or princes. But this theology pertains only to the consolation of the afflicted, miserable, and despairing. They droop and fall because they have broken and crushed hearts. Therefore they accept Christ the Physician, who teaches that "this is not an illness unto death" (John 11:4) but a most joyful sacrifice to God. This is the medicine which cures those unspeakable sorrows, and there is no other kind of medicine besides. Because the world and our opponents do not understand this, they ridicule it as foolishness. To the Holy Spirit it is not foolishness, but the highest wisdom, that in a time of despair we should most hope for mercy while in a time of pride and security we should be most afraid.
This is good because they sure won't listen to it. If their crotch itched as much as their ears, they would be ashamed to be in public.

"A contrite and humbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." He says, "a contrite and humbled heart," one that has become smaller not fictitiously but truly, one that almost dies of despair. This theology must be learned through experience. Without experience it cannot be understood that the "poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3) should know that they are in grace when they most feel the wrath of God, that in despair they should keep their hope in mercy, and in smugness they should keep their fear of God. Presumption about our own righteousness and despair about our own unworthiness are equally great sins.
 

Give us grace, dear Father, to approach some sort of middle ground.

Verse eighteen: "Do good, O Lord, to Zion in Thy good pleasure, that the walls of Jerusalem might be built."

There will be no lack of false teachers who teach the Law and their sacrifices in such a way that this part of the teaching about the free mercy of God is completely neglected. Therefore prayer is necessary to keep sound doctrine among the people against such men.

Verse nineteen: "Then wilt Thou accept the sacrifice of righteousness, offerings, and burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls over Thy altar."
Father, give us this day our daily Bread. Look upon Your starving people whose stomachs are filled with wind and do not know they are dying for lack of spiritual nourishment.
That is: "Then we shall praise the sacrifices which we earlier condemned, and they will please Thee." You can understand all the sacrifices correctly, whether those that were done according to the Law or whether spiritual sacrifices; both are sacrifices of righteousness, because their whole power is in the goodness of God and in divine blessing. When men trust in mercy this way, then if an ox if offered, it pleases God and is a sacrifice of righteousness. If there is no ox, then the "ox of our lips," as Hosea calls it (Hos. 14:2) pleases Him. This is the way I interpret all sacrifices. They are called sacrifices "of righteousness," not because they justify—because the person is already righteous by faith or by mercy—but because they are done by those who are justified or righteous, or by the righteousness itself. Because the people are righteous and know that they please God by grace alone, not by some worthiness or merits of their own, therefore whatever they do according to the Word of God is truly called either a sacrifice or a work of righteousness, even physical things. When they drink wine, they drink wine in righteousness. When they put on a coat, they put on a coat of righteousness. When they rule a family, they rule a family of righteousness. If they wage war, if they administer public affairs, if they live, if they die—they do all this of righteousness, because the person is righteous.






This is true to the degree that you understand, by experience, what it means to "please God by grace alone."
The prophet sets forth a double sacrifice to us. The first is what he calls "a contrite heart," that is, when we feel a troubled spirit and a humbled heart which battles with thoughts of God's wrath and judgment. Here be careful not to add despair, but trust and believe in hope against hope (Rom 4:18). Christ is the physician of the contrite, who wants to lift up the fallen and "not to quench the dimly burning wick" (Is. 42:3), but to cherish it. So if you are a "bruised reed," do not bruise yourself further nor let Satan bruise you, but give yourself to Christ, who is a friend to men and who loves crushed and broken spirits. This is the first and most powerful sacrifice. Then, when you have thus acknowledged God to be the Justifier of sinners, if you sing God even one song of thanks, you add another sacrifice, namely, a sacrifice of recompense or of thanksgiving for the gift you have received. This sacrifice is not merit but a confession and testimony of the grace which your God has bestowed upon you out of sheer mercy. Thus the saints and the righteous in the Old Testament brought burnt offerings with the purpose not of being justified through them, but of testifying that they had received mercy and comfort.
Because of our unfaithful shepherds who have destroyed God's flock, you would be wise to assume you know and live more in smugness than contriteness.




This is the other type of sacrifice. The first sacrifice is a sacrifice of mortification, that we be neither carried away by success nor crushed failure, but moderate our smugness with the fear of God and maintain our hope for mercy amid feelings of God's wrath and judgment. Thus we do not smash into heaven with our heads nor into the earth with our fee. The other type of sacrifice is thanksgiving. This is not only a matter of the tongue, that we confess our faith and preach the name of the Lord, but of all the actions of life. It is called "a sacrifice of righteousness," which pleases God because the person is righteous and the sacrifice of humiliation and contrition has preceded. It observes the middle between pride and despair—the physical middle, that is, not the mathematical. In this weakness of ours it is impossible so to live that we never swerve to the right or to the left. Still an effort is required so that when we feel either smugness or despair, we do not succumb to it but resist it. Just as a target is assigned to an archer, so a place is given to those who do not miss the target completely, even though they do not hit the center of the mathematical point. For God it is enough that we battle against the smugness and pride of the flesh and against despair. Even though some happiness may be lacking in affliction, or some fear in prosperity, this is not imputed to the saints. For they have Christ as their mediator. Through Him it happens that they are regarded as truly holy even though they hardly have the first fruits of holiness. Those who in themselves are no more than first fruits become tithes through Christ (Num. 18:12-24)
Yes! This is it. This is the "nutshell." Is it too heavy for you to lift and carry around for awhile for reflection?









I recently observed ants converging on a drop of water as if it was sugar. It made me realize how much we do need rain around here. It also made me wonder why God's people probably will not come to drink from this "drop of water" from Luther's hands. Can it be that the ants are wiser than Christians? Is their wisdom in knowing a drought exists and not running off after sugar instead of water. Such a small drop of water probably `refreshed a whole colony.

Tim Vance

August 1999