Simul Iustus et Peccator - Lessons from the Reformation: Luther (Warning this is hardcore stuff that may need you to think deeply but it will change your life)

Martin Luther

Simul Iustus et Peccator!
No, I haven't lost my marbles. No I am not writing for people of another language. Yet this is one of the most important phrases for Christians to know if they are going to understand the Christian life (so important it is part of my exam prep at the moment). Well perhaps the English is a bit more important to know. But do you know what it means? You might have heard of the guy who said it first, Martin Luther.



Martin Luther is a very important person in history. Luther in many ways kickstarted the reformation (a time where a bunch of godly guys got together because they believed the Roman Catholic Church was not teaching the Bible, they started forming new churches that did teach the Bible). The reformation was big news. Any church that is known as protestant (baptist, anglican, reformed, lutheran, presbyterian) exists today because of the reformation. Sadly many churches have forgotten the great lessons of the reformation but it was an amazing period of time in the history of the church, worth looking into.

But back to Simul Iustus et Peccator. What does it mean? It is a latin phrase that when translated into english means; "Simultaneously a righteous person and a sinner." To simplify it, it means once you become a Christian you are somebody who is both righteous and sinful at the same time. How can that work? Let me put it this way. Christians often ask themselves, "if I am a Christian, I am meant to live with Jesus as my King. I want to live with Jesus as my King and I do some of the time but some of the time I live with other things as my King, how can I do that? (Here is the heart of it) How can I be a Christian and still sin?"

The answer is found in Simul Iustus et Peccator. Christians are people living in two Kingdoms or two ages. The previous age was before Jesus first coming. The world was in slavery to sin, evil and death. Humanity had joined Satan's rebellion. Satan had offered Adam and Eve freedom but his freedom was really slavery to him, sin and death. But God sent many prophets telling his people that a new age was coming when he would save his people from this age of evil and death. In this new age God would send the Christ to save his people and judge the world.

Above: The way the Old Testament viewed the two ages

Below: The New Testament shows us the two ages are staggered

Then God sent Jesus. When Jesus arrived on earth he did many miracles. He healed the sick, cast out demons from people and even raised the dead. All these things were to show that God's new age had begun (though not completely). Can you imagine how Jesus' followers felt? I bet they were really excited! That is until Jesus was murdered on the cross. It seemed that the new age was over. But 3 days later Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus death and resurrection brought in the new age. This actually confused a lot of Jesus followers. They thought that Jesus would bring in the new age straight away. But Jesus reveals to them it is gradual. Jesus Christ's first coming was to save the world and his second coming will be to judge the world. We live between both of these comings. When Jesus returns again he will punish those who reject him and save those who trust in him.

The diagram above shows how we live in between Jesus' first and second coming. We live in a weird time where God's new age, God's Kingdom has begun and where the old age has not fully been dealt with. Christians are citizens of God's new Kingdom but at the moment, Christians live exiled away from their homeland (which is heaven, where the new age is completed). Whilst Luther didn't understand this as neatly as we do today, he was the guy who got the ball rolling so we could understand our present situation.

If you have struggled to follow so far don't worry, this is complex stuff. But here is how it affects your life.

As a Christian you are always going to struggle with sin until you get to heaven. All Christians still live in the age of sin, Satan and death. But the fact that you hate your sin and want to get rid of it, is a sign that you are a Christian, and a person who belongs in God's new age. The change that is occurring in you to love God first and love others as yourself is also a sign that you belong in the new age. Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to live in you. He is the deposit and the guarantee that we belong to God's New Age (God's Kingdom). God's new age begun with Jesus and right now Christians are part of that age. Christians spend their lives trying to put to death their sin because they know who they really are is a new heavenly person. The real me is who I am in Christ.

But here is the even more mega awesome stuff. Even though you are and will be a sinner for the rest of your life, in God eyes you are perfect. Not because you are a good person but because Jesus died in your place. When God judges you, Christians get Jesus' perfection (righteousness) because Jesus got your punishment for sin on the cross.  You are at the same time a sinner (because you sin) but also righteous (in God's judgement). This doesn't mean you sin as much as you want. Sin is evil and we should hate it like God hates it but it does mean that we can have confidence that even though we sin it doesn't mean we will lose our salvation. I think John Newton, the author of the song Amazing Grace said it best:

"I am a great sinner AND Christ is a great Saviour."


Passages for Reflection:



 ²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
   So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

 ¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 7:21-8:4)

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)




¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)