Theological Origins of Modernity

120 chapter four
generally unaware of this fact. Driven by pride and exercising their reason,
they believe they are acting in their self-interest when in fact they are only
fulfi lling Satan’s purposes. Evil in Luther’s sense is thus not concupiscence
or any other form of bodily desire but rather disbelief and fear of death
that produce either a desire to live sensuously in the moment or to strive
for immortal fame and glory. Both of these misguided forms of willing
drive humans away from God and into themselves, that is, into the arms
of Satan. Th ey can only be released from the lordship of Satan by hearing
and coming to believe in the word. Such faith makes them into new beings.
Th ey are reborn in the spirit, according to Luther, and henceforth are
dominated not by their fallen, satanic will, but by God’s will acting in and
through them. Human being in this way becomes God-infused being.
Th is rebirth does not lead to perfection. Th e desire for perfection in
Luther’s view is a refl ection of the pride that leads humans to believe they
can master their fate. Such pride characterized those ancients and their
humanist imitators who sought moral perfection as well as those Jews and
Christians who sought to live perfectly according to the law. Luther believes
that both of these paths are impossible for imperfect human beings.
Th e law is a standard of perfection but a standard that for that very reason
can never be attained. Its principal purpose is to humble the will by revealing
the inability of all human beings to live up to the law and thus their
unworthiness for salvation. Th e law is thus God’s gift to help us prepare
for repentance. 82
Th e inability to abide by the law and the guilt and despair that this failure
engenders are the fi rst steps on the path to a truly Christian life, in
Luther’s view. Recognition of sin is the beginning of the search for forgiveness
that leads to Christ. Christ, Luther repeatedly argues, is not for the
saints or the righteous but for sinners, for those who have recognized their
imperfection and unworthiness and thrown themselves upon him and his
mercy. Th e great learning and talents of the ancient philosophers were thus
actually impediments to salvation. Th ey came to believe that they could
lead perfect lives by their own eff orts. Th ey thus did not fi nd their way to
Christ, for it is not excellence but despair that leads to salvation. Despair
is the precursor to the recognition of the radical diff erence between God
and man and to recognition of God’s graciousness in redeeming us from
our fallen humanity by the sacrifi ce of Christ. Christ crucifi ed is thus the
basis for salvation.
Faith is belief in the resurrection of Christ, but such a belief can only
arise through the infusion of grace. Such an infusion, however, is nothing
other than the transformation or transubstantiation of our humanity: “By
faith we are in Him, and He is in us (John 6:56). Th is Bridegroom, Christ,