od will not count
against him the impurity which still cleaves to him, and,
therefore, he is pure rather through the gracious imputation of
God than through anything in his own nature; as the Prophet says
in Psalm xxxii, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven;
blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity."
[Ps. 52:1 f.]

This faith is of all things the most necessary, for it is the
ground of all comfort. He who has not this faith must despair in
his sins. For the sin which remains after baptism makes it
impossible for any good works to be pure before God. For this
reason we must hold boldly and fearlessly to our baptism, and
hold it up against all sins and terrors of conscience, and humbly
say, "I know full well that I have not a single work which is
pure, but I am baptised, and through my baptism God, Who cannot
lie, has bound Himself in a covenant with me, not to count my sin
against me, but to slay it and blot it out."

XIII. So, then, we understand that the innocence which is ours by
baptism is so called simply and solely because of the mercy of
God, which has begun this work in us, bears patiently with sin,
and regards us as though we were sinless, This also explains why
Christians are called in the Scriptures the children of mercy, a
people of grace, and men of God's good-will. [Eph. 5:1, 9] It is
because in baptism they have begun to become pure, [Luke 2:14]
and by God's mercy are not condemned with their sins that still
remain, until, through death and at the Last Day, they become
wholly pure, as the sign of baptism shows.

Therefore they greatly err who think that through baptism they
have become wholly pure. They go about in their unwisdom, and do
not slay their sin; they will not admit that it is sin; they
persist in it, and so they make their baptism of no effect; they
remain entangled in certain outward works, and meanwhile pride,
hatred, and other evils of their nature are disregarded and grow
worse and worse. Nay, not so! Sin and evil inclination must be
recognized as truly sin; that it does not harm us is to be
ascribed to the grace of God, Who will not count it against us if
only we strive against it in many trials, works, and sufferings,
and slay it at last in death. To them who do this not, God will
not forgive their sins, because they do not live according to
their baptism and covenant, and hinder the work which God and
their baptism have begun.

[Sidenote: Baptism and