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Protestant soteriologies initially were and often remain critical of perceived errors of Catholic belief and practice. Yet Martin Luther, remaining as Catholic as possible, retained baptismal regeneration, the real sacramental presence of Christ, and Augustinian tendencies regarding original sin and divine predestination. Reemphasizing gracious divine initiative and the bondage of the human will, Luther believed that justification by faith alone was a biblically necessary break with the Roman Church—the article by which the church stands or falls.^[3] Justification is preeminently an initial declaration of God’s forgiveness and the believer’s imputed righteousness in Christ, not an ongoing process of infusing Christ’s righteousness into the believer—who must always cling to Christ, rather than cooperate with sacramental grace, for assurance. A cluster of changes followed this one, including “affirmation of ordinary life” as spiritually equal to the monasticism that Luther eventually rejected.^[4]

Accordingly, the Lutheran account of sanctification champions freedom and gratitude. Freed from concern over personal righteousness, believers gratefully love God and serve their neighbors as they truly need. Works of love emerge from faith but are never the basis for justification or Christian assurance. Law and gospel do not really contrast the Old and New Testaments; instead, they are contrasting aspects involved in encountering any biblical Word. A first use of the law preserves earthly society by restraining human wickedness in the temporal kingdom; a second use confronts sinners with their need for God’s grace in Christ. The gospel focuses on making this offer of forgiveness, inviting people to enter God’s eternal kingdom.