I'd recommend the fuller context. Luther wasn't telling anyone to sin. But telling Philip Melancthon to be honest about sin, because if one is going to preach real grace then we have to be honest about real sin. "Let your sins be bold" means being frank, honest, and real about sin and our problem with sin. Jesus didn't come to save imaginary sinners, but real sinners. We are real sinners, our sins are serious and need serious, real grace--we need a real Savior. not just a bit of comforting words to make us feel better about ourselves.
Full letter:
https://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/letsinsbe.txt
And a more fuller portion of where the controversial quote comes form:
"
If you are a preacher of grace, do not preach an imaginary but real grace. If the grace is real, you must therefore bear real, not imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter are looking forward to a new haven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins. Pray hard for you are quite a sinner."
"Be a sinner" does not mean "it's okay to sin", it means "admit that you are a sinner, confess that you are a sinner, and
mean it"
I, ViaCrucis, am a wretch and sinner who is justly condemned by the Law, and therefore deserving of death and hell.
I am, by the grace of God and by the perfect work of Christ alone, saved by the God of all salvation, love, and hope; who has granted me--undeserving wretch that I am--a seat at the Table, not as a slave or a servant, but as a son and heir. Such is the goodness of God.
-CryptoLutheran
Alright-and I’m not at all sure what Luther was trying to get at here. If he’s saying that, as long as we believe, were saved regardless of what we
do, that would be nonsense. Or that our salvation depends strictly on our level of
trusting that our sins are forgiven-that would likewise be nonsense. Faith means
oneness with God and that relationship/union is the basis of justice or righteousness for man and engenders His righteousness in us, so that there’s potentially less and less
unrighteousness left to condemn us. Jesus died while we were yet sinners but we’re not saved in spite of our sins rather were saved unto sinlessness. The confusion and waffling would be on the part of someone who says, “We’re going to continue to sin anyway so get over it; sin can’t affect the salvation of a believer”. What does Sola Fide really mean to say? Does it mean that, if we have faith then we’ll also have works, including more righteousness/less sin? But if so, does that righteousness really even
matter anyway according to Luther’s understanding of Sola Fide and grace? Does sin, for all practical purposes,
not matter for a believer? I think the answer “no, it doesn’t matter” might honestly reflect Sola Fide -and that, incidentally, explains why Luther would throw out the sacrament of confession/reconciliation. If we’re already forgiven before we sin, there’s no reason to even
acknowledge the sin; sin’s inevitable anyway after all.
God, alone, can save man. We cannot justify and save ourselves; that’s a free gift that comes as we embrace the first gift, of faith. But a justified person is a new creation,
changed, not merely forgiven. He possesses in seedling form the life of God in himself, with the virtues of faith, hope, and love that are intrinsic to that state. He can now walk like a child of God, or not. He can return to the flesh; He can turn away from God. Remaining in Him is not a matter of simply
professing to ourselves and others that we’re in Him but is integrally interwoven with and inseparable from the righteousness that should be part and parcel of that relationship in the overall sense even as we acknowledge imperfection and the sin that still occurs. But we’re on a journey, a journey to perfection, a journey to ever more nearness to Him, a journey to be
perfected in love to put it another way-and that must be the road we’re on- and the goal- as it’s a journey that we participate in, that we’re to take more and more responsibility in making.
IMO the EO and Catholic position handle the matter of sin correctly. While sinlessness is technically possible by virtue of union with Him (He never
created us to sin after all), sinless perfection is not expected in this life. But we’re to be
on that road, to that perfection, again, to that likeness with God and certainly not wallowing in such grave sin that love and life are naturally opposed and destroyed by it. So the church in the west along with Scripture distinguishes between those deeds of the flesh that constitute sin that can more definitively separate us from God, leading to death IOW (aka mortal sin) and less serious sin (aka venial sin):
1863 Venial sin weakens charity [love]; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God's grace it is humanly reparable. "Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness."
“While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call "light": if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession.” St Augustine
Yes, sin can still earn us death, regardless of whatever we
believe. Faith, with the state of grace it obtains, is not some kind of get-out-of-hell-free-card. We don’t become complacent about sin now, as if we should just congratulate ourselves on continuously admitting to it, and stop there, but rather we enjoy the status of children of God who are finally able,
and expected, to be overcoming sin, by His power, with our participation in His life.
