If you were to ask evangelicals, "Why should God forgive your sins?," you would probably receive several answers. Most would probably say, "God forgives me because he loves me." But others might reply, "God forgives me because I repented of all known sins." And still others might answer, "God forgives me because I prayed the sinner's prayer." These are nice pieties, but they do not answer our question accurately.
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1 [ Back ] Pastor Matzat's first quotation from Luther can be found in Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), Vol. 1, pp. 514f., and the second quotation can be found in the same book, p. 516. His quotation of Luther's explanation of the second article of the Apostles' Creed can be found in The Book of Concord, edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 355.
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Issue: "Forgiven, Forgiving" March/April 2004 Vol. 13 No. 2 Page number(s): 26-31
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