SIMUL
SIMUL IUSTUS et MALEFICENT? READING LUTHER’S DOCTRINE for CONTEMPORARY PROCLAMATION Introduction Lutherans are notoriously good at slogans: justification by faith, real presence, the priesthood of all believers, simultaneously saint and sinner. But too often theological slogans such as these have come to wield an influence wider than their comprehension. The aim of this short essay is to expand both the comprehension and, then and therefore, the usefulness of the last of these listed slogans. Shorthanded among the cognoscenti simply as “the simul,” the fuller phrase is simul iustus et peccator, rendered most frequently into English as “simultaneously saint and sinner” (even though the semantic domain of iustus would more frequently lead to translations like “justified,” “just,” or “righteous,” meanings which predominate in Luther’s relevant discussions). In pursuit of this aim, we will proceed in three steps. First, we will read and summarize three passages from Luther where this formulation is articulated in his expositions of Romans and Galatians. Second, we
10
