JUSTIFICATION --
AS TAUGHT IN LUTHER’S SMALL CATECHISM
(KLEINER KATECHISMUS)
Concordia Publishing House, 1901 Edition
Translation from German by V. H. Harley
P. 164 ff. II. Of The Forgiveness of Sins or Justification.
305. Why do you say in this article: I believe in the Forgiveness of Sins?
Because I hold with certainty that by my own powers or through my
own works I cannot be justified before God, but that the forgiveness of sins is
given me out of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. For where there is
forgiveness of sins, there is also true justification.
Ps. 130, 3.4; Ps. 143, 2; Is. 64, 6; Job 25, 4-6 (Q.124).
306. What is Justification?
Justification is that activity (Handlung) of God by which He out of
pure grace and mercy for the sake of Christ’s merits forgives the sins of a poor
sinner who truly believes in Jesus Christ and receives him to everlasting life.
307. How then do you become righteous before God and receive
everlasting salvation?
Not out of any merit or works or through an indwelling and infused
righteousness, but alone out of God’s grace and mercy through and on account
of the sole merit of Christ which I with true confidence of the heart have taken
hold of and appropriated to myself.
Or:
Through the most holy obedience, as also through the suffering and
death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not through any other works. This I
hold on to with unwavering faith (ungezweifeltem Glauben), and upon this I
place the full confidence of my heart.
308. With which testimonies of the Scripture do you prove this?
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GJ - Quoting Homer Simpson - "Doh!"
