takes God’s side. That understanding is further developed by the conception that God does not reckon sins to those who confess to him their sins which cling to them all their lives. The gospel also reveals man’s sins to him, and Christ is principally the great model of humility. The energy and consistency with which Luther taught this sets him off from the entire tradition preceding him. One might call this one-sided and stubborn, but his conception was fully consistent with itself. It was a contradiction