“One has sinned, another made satisfaction. The one who sins does not make satisfaction; the one Who makes satisfaction does not sin. It is an amazing doctrine. . . The love of the Son of God is so great toward us that the greater the filth and stench upon us, the more He gives Himself to us, cleanses us, and takes all our sin and wretchedness, lifts them off our shoulders and lays them on His own back . . .What does it mean that the Son of God should be my servant, and so utterly debase Himself that He should take the burden of my misery and sin – yes, the whole world’s sin and death? He says to me, ‘You are no longer a sinner, but I am. I step into your place – you have not sinned, but I have. The whole world is in sin, but you are not in sin – I am. All your sins are to lie on Me and not on you.’ No one can grasp this: there in the life to come we shall gaze forever blessed upon this love of God. And who would not gladly die for Christ’s sake? The Son of Man does the basest and filthiest work – not just wearing a beggar’s tattered coat or old trousers or washing us like a mother washes a child, but He bears our sin, death, hell, our wretchedness of body and soul. When the devil says, ‘You are a sinner,’ Christ interrupts, ‘I will reverse that, I will be a sinner, you shall go free.’ Who can be thankful enough to our Lord God for this mercy?”

Taken from Martin Luther’s Doctrine of Christ, by Jan D. Kingston Siggins (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970), 136-37.