One of the most beautiful slogans to emerge from the Reformation is Martin Luther’s phrase simul justus et peccator, which means “at the same time righteous (justified) and sinner.” It’s a description of the believer who—because of the righteousness of Christ—is justified, even as the struggle against sin continues.
Some of us fail to recognize our lingering sins and selfishness—we think we’re farther along than we really are in our journey toward holiness. Others face the temptation to despair over our remaining imperfections—perpetually frustrated by the slowness of our progress, perhaps because we lack a sense of the magnitude of God’s love for us in Christ.
These challenges show up also in our view of the church. Some would minimize the church’s flaws and dismiss her lingering sin and selfishness, content to bask in self-righteous self-assessment. Others would harbor seething resentment toward the church, shocked to see the Bride of Christ manifesting so many sinful struggles and disillusioned when unrealistic expectations of churchly perfection go unmet.
Red Door of Welcome
A few years ago, a short video of Ray Ortlund made the rounds online as he welcomed his congregation to church one Sunday morning. He mentioned the significance of churches with a great red door through which all the sinful, weary, tired, and hungry are welcomed to the table of Jesus, the mighty Friend of Sinners. The way through that door is the narrow path of repentance and faith—a personal trust in the One who identified with his people through baptism, who went to the cross to remove our guilt and shame, and who now welcomes all who confess his name to join him at the table of forgiveness. “Welcome to church,” Ray said.
Repentance begins with a decisive shift, a turning around, a change of direction. Repentance continues with daily dying to self. A new way of life replaces the old. The initial change happens in an instant, but the road of repentance is a “long obedience” in a new direction. We recognize holiness to be a lifelong pursuit for Jesus’s followers. We don’t expect a sinless purity or a walk without stumbles and falls. The path of sanctification is long and arduous, like climbing a mountain—but because we ascend through the power of the Spirit, it becomes an exhilarating adventure toward the summit of Christlikeness.
Church of Sinful Saints
If we expect believers to be saints who still sin, why not expect the same for God’s people corporately? Shouldn’t we expect the church to manifest signs she’s simul justus et peccator? Too often, we hold the church to higher standards than we hold ourselves. And when churches stumble and fall, we recoil from and reject our family members in Christ.
If our holy God didn’t maintain a safe distance from human muck and misery, and if our spotless Savior didn’t withhold his touch from the leper, then why should we—especially if we’re becoming more like Christ—distance ourselves from churches filled with sinners on the road of sanctification? Why should we expect congregational life to be easy and sin-free?
No Perfect Church
There’s a joke often told about finding the perfect church. “Don’t join it!” we say. “The moment you do, it becomes imperfect.” It’s a funny reminder that it’s impossible to hold the church to a standard of perfection we ourselves don’t attain.
There’s comfort in knowing we’re all on a journey of Christlikeness and no one has “arrived.” It’s not because we lower the high standards we have for ourselves or for God’s people but because we recognize our frailty and fallenness and how easy it is to fall short of those standards. People always on the hunt for a better or more perfect church would be frightened if they came across one. Imagine being the only sinner in a church filled with perfectly righteous saints who never stumble. Imagine being the only one falling and flailing and getting back up again.
Sadly, that’s exactly how some believers feel. A sensitive conscience may make you think you’re the only one with problems. Everyone else here has their lives together! In a place where no one confesses sin to one another, where all stumbles are kept secret, it’s easy to erect a facade that the road to Christlikeness is easy. Only the foolish fall.
But this isn’t reality. We’re all, in varying degrees, a mess. And we’re all in various stages of having Jesus clean up that mess. We bear with one another not because others are easily bearable but because Christ bore with us and bore our sins in his body on the cross.
Church of Beggars
Holiness doesn’t lead us to separate from sinners in the sanctuary, just as holiness didn’t lead Jesus to withhold fellowship from repentant sinners. Holiness is at work whenever we bear with the faults and failures of others and when others bear with our sins as well. Just as God is holy and loving toward sinners, we are to be holy and loving toward sinners-turned-saints.
The church’s glory is most evident not in her programs, missionary activity, social assistance, or renewal projects but when she’s the most real, a beggar with outstretched arms, receiving the Word of grace and the Bread from heaven—tasting the gift of salvation and seeing the Lord is good. And then, wonder of wonders, Jesus makes this beggar his Bride.
Yes, we must pursue renewal and reform. Yes, we must seek to uproot evil and sow seeds of righteousness. Yes, we should remove the rot of sin and selfishness, lovingly discipline wayward members, and seek restoration after scandalous evil. After all, we want to see the church look more like the Savior. We want to become a beautiful Bride.
But true reform and renewal are ultimately constructive, not condemnatory. Our efforts in critiquing what’s wrong and beautifying what’s right must be done with a spirit of forbearance that seeks to build up, not tear down. We don’t stand apart from the church, castigating her for her failures. She is our mother. We’re one family—sons and daughters bought at the price of our older Brother’s blood.
So yes, let’s seek a more perfect church but not expect a perfected church. We are simul justus et peccator, until the day our glorification is complete.
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