A Time to Laugh

I found through my wanderings in India that my country is seized with a paralyzing fear. We may not open our lips in public ; we may only talk about our opinions secretly. We may do anything we like within the four walls of our house; but those things are not for public consumption.If we had taken a vow of silence, I would have nothing to say. I suggest to you that there is only one whom we have to fear, that is God. When we fear God, then we shall fear no man, however high-placed he may be; and if you want to follow the vow of Truth, then fearlessness is absolutely necessary. Before we can aspire to guide the destinies of India , we shall have to adopt this habit of fearlessness.

Ghandi

From “Luther’s ‘Theology of the Cross’“: 

Melanchthon had a timid and fearful personality. He was often worrying that things were going to go wrong. He worried that the pope or emperor was going to do something. Luther tried to bolster him and bring a little more confidence to Melanchthon. Melanchthon was often worried that he was not going to do things just right. One day Luther said, “The trouble with you is that you do not sin enough.” That was when Luther said, “Sin boldly.” You have to understand that Luther does not always mean things in exactly the way he says them. By telling Melanchthon to “sin boldly” he meant that his friend should relax more and enjoy the grace of God. He was saying something like, “When you sin you can ask for forgiveness and be forgiven.” That might sound like an antinomian view, and some people believe that can be traced in Lutheran theology. As we learn more about Lutheran history we will have to assess that more later on in the course. I do not think Luther was interested in having Melanchthon sin. He was interested in having Melanchthon trust God more fully and not be so uptight about everything. If there was any theologian who was not uptight it was Martin Luther.