Saint and Sinner

For anyone who saw the comment and subsequent response on my Mahaney and Cage, Revealing My Sin post, I've got another thought to add to it. This is not a thought of my own, but rather one that I came across this morning in Martin Luther's Commentary on Galatians. I think there is no one better qualified to comment on how we should see ourselves in light of our great sin as well as our great savior:

This I say, that thou mayest be able to answer, if any shall thus object: Christ came into the world, and at once took away our sins, and cleansed us by His blood: what need we then to hear the gospel continually, or to receive the sacraments? True it is, that inasmuch as thou beholdest Christ, the law and sin are quite abolished. But Christ is not yet come unto thee; or, if He be come, there are yet remnants of sin left in thee; for where concupiscence, heaviness of spirit, and fear of death is, there is yet also the law and sin; but when He cometh, He driveth away fear and heaviness, and bringeth peace and quiteness of conscience.

Let there be not doubt that for Luther, to "hear the gospel continually," includes being constantly confronted the depth of our sin. Few people had as significant an understanding of their own sinfulness as did Martin Luther. And yet, few, if any in church history have better understood or done more to defend and propagate the pure, unadulterated gospel of God's grace and all the blessings that come with it. Let us confess along with Luther that we are simultaneously Saints and Sinners.