Homily of the Salvation of Mankind, by only Christ our Saviour, from Sin and Death everlasting.
1. Because all men be sinners and offenders against God, and breakers of his law and commandments, therefore can no man by his own acts, works, and deeds (however good they seem) be justified, and made righteous before God …
2 … but every man of necessity must seek for another righteousness or justification, to be received at God’s own hands, that is to say, the forgiveness of his sins and trespasses, in such things as he has offended.
3. And this justification or righteousness, which we so receive of God’s mercy and Christ’s merits, embraced by faith, is taken, accepted and allowed of GOD, for our perfect and full justification.
4. For the more full understanding hereof, it is our duty ever to remember the great mercy of God, how that (all the world being wrapped in sin by breaking of the Law) God sent his only son our Savior Christ into this world, to fulfill the Law for us, and by shedding of his most precious blood, to make a sacrifice and satisfaction, or (as it may be called) amends to his Father for our sins, to assuage his wrath and indignation conceived against us for these sins.
5. This is that justification or righteousness which Saint Paul speaks of when he says, “No man is justified by the works of the Law, but freely by faith in Jesus Christ.”
6. And again he says, “We believe in Jesus Christ, that we be justified freely by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law, because no man shall be justified by the works of the Law.” (Galatians 2.16)
7. God … has so tempered his justice and mercy together, that he would neither, because of his justice, condemn us unto the everlasting captivity of the devil, and his prison of Hell, remediless for ever without mercy, nor because of his mercy, deliver us clearly, without justice or payment of a just ransom: but with his endless mercy he joined his most upright and equal justice.
8. His great mercy he showed unto us in delivering us from our former captivity, without requiring of any ransom to be paid, or amends to be made upon our parts, which was impossible for us to do for ourselves.
9. And since we were not able to do this, he provided a ransom for us, that was the most precious body and blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesus Christ, who in addition to this ransom, fulfilled the law for us perfectly.
10. And so the justice of God and his mercy did embrace together, and fulfilled the mystery of our redemption.
11. And of this justice and mercy of God knit together, speaks Saint Paul in the third chapter to the Romans, “All have offended, and have need of the glory of God, but are justified freely by his grace, by redemption which is in Jesus Christ, whom God has sent forth to us for a reconciler and peace maker, through faith in his blood, to show his righteousness” (Romans 3.23-25).
12. And in the tenth chapter, “Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness, to every man who believes (Romans 10.4).
13. And in the 8 chapter, “That which was impossible by the law, in as much as it was weak by the flesh, God sending his own Son, in the similitude of sinful flesh, by sin damned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, which walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit (Romans 8.3-4).
14. In these just mentioned verses, the Apostle touches specially three things, which must go together in our justification.
15. Upon God’s part, his great mercy and grace: upon Christ’s part, justice, that is, the satisfaction of God’s justice, or the price of our redemption, by the offering of his body, and shedding of his blood, with fulfilling of the law perfectly and thoroughly; and upon our part true and lively faith in the merits of Jesus Christ …
16. And therefore Saint Paul declares here that a man need not do anything, concerning his justification, but only to have a true and lively faith, which nevertheless is the gift of God, and not man’s work without God:
17. And yet that faith does not abolish the need for repentance, hope, love, dread, and the fear of God, to be joined with faith in every man that is justified, but these do not justify a person.
18. Nor does this faith abolish the need for us to do good works, necessarily to be done afterwards we have faith, for we must do our duty towards God (for we are most bounden to serve God, in doing good deeds, commanded by him in his holy Scripture, all the days of our life), but these good works cannot be done with the intent of being made good by doing them.
19. For all the good works that we can do, are imperfect, and therefore not able to deserve our justification:
20. … but our justification does come freely by the mere mercy of God, and of so great and free mercy, for no one in the whole world was able to pay any part towards their ransom, it so pleased our heavenly Father of his infinite mercy, without any our desert or deserving, to prepare for us the most precious jewels of Christ’s body and blood, whereby our ransom might be fully paid, the law fulfilled, and his justice fully satisfied.
21. So that Christ is now the righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him.
22. He paid for them their ransom by his death.
23. He fulfilled for them the Law in his life.
24. So that now in him, and by him, every true Christian man may be called a fulfiller of the Law, although they were not to do so by their own goodness, yet Christ’s justice has done it for them.
Cranmer on Salvation can be found here: http://www.anglicanlibrary.org/homilies/bk1hom03.htm
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
February, 2015
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