This is the essence of Christ's work on the cross. It flows beautifully from the close of Luther's explanation of the 1st Article as well: "All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him."
We screw up our duty. In fact, because we screw up our duty and despise the gifts of creation which God has given, we need the 2nd Article. The beauty of the 2nd Article is seeing that God meets the problem of a broken creation right at the original source of its brokenness, humanity.
It was HUMANS who were crowned the jewel of creation and it was HUMANS who screwed it up. By sinning, humans introduced sin and death into the world. Surely this death has effects reverberating across species and even to inanimate objects. The earth quakes, mountains spew forth ash and lava, animals kill one another, humans kill animals, humans destroy wildlife in their quest for more power (see BP oil spill).
All of creation groans because of our doing. Yet God does not sit back and watch it happen. Nor does God figure He'll save humans spiritually and then we'll get them out of here and destroy all of creation. No, God has a much more incredible plan. And Luther describes it like this:
"I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord,
who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil: not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,
that I may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness,
just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
This is most certainly true."
Gorgeous writing if I have ever seen any. The whole point of Jesus coming is so that I may be His own. The incredible thing about the incarnation is that it is real. Jesus was born a real human being, born of a real human woman, the Virgin Mary, lived a real human being's life, suffered and died a real human being's death, and yet even more than that, so much more than that, rose to life as a real human being. Jesus the first fruits of creation, the perfect creation, the glorious glimpse of what God has in store for the rest of humanity and the whole of creation.
Jesus did not die for some abstract cause, for pretend sins, or to save us spiritually. Nope, Jesus died so that I may be His own.
Amen.
