Is not this a beautiful, glorious exchange, by which Christ, who is wholly innocent and holy, not only takes upon himself another's sin, that is, my sin and guilt, but also clothes and adorns me, who am nothing but sin, with his own innocence and purity? And then besides dies the shameful death of the Cross for the sake of my sins, through which I have deserved death and condemnation, and grants to me his righteousness, in order that I may live with him eternally in glorious and unspeakable joy. Through this blessed exchange, in which Christ changes places with us (something the heart can grasp only in faith), and through nothing else, are we freed from sin and death and given his righteousness and life as our own.
Martin Luther, 1483-1546, Sermons I, At Baptism of Bernhard Von Anhalt, 1540, (Luther's Works, Volume 51, translated and edited by John W. Doberstein, Muhlenburg Press, 1959, p.316)
How should the idea of being declared righteous before God affect our thinking? How should it affect how we live?
Reminds me that I told our Wednesday night group that holiness is not something we do but it is what we are.
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