Therefore St. John rejects a false and feigned faith; he demands a genuine faith which will openly confess before the world the two things it has learned, namely, that Christ is the Son of God and of Mary and that He became our Savior. If this Christian confession stands, other good works will follow. If you were a fornicator, an adulterer, or a drunkard, you will now be that no longer; for if you are redeemed from sin, you will henceforth desist from sin. Consider how you could harmonize a sinful life, greed, anger, hatred, and fornication with a claim to Christianity. No faith can exist where sin abounds. You must cease your fornication and marry; you dare not steal or bear false witness against your neighbor. If you do wallow in sin and commit adultery, unchastity, fornication, gluttony, carousing, and gambling, you are not yet redeemed from sin. For wherever sin still holds sway, there is no forgiveness of sin and no faith in Christ.

Martin Luther Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 22: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1-4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 393–94.

Editor’s Note: Be sure to watch the upcoming Heidelvideo miniseries on gambling.

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