Bethany and Concordia

Paul Kretzmann’s commentary on the whole Bible has been a dear resource for generations of Lutherans. The books are long out of print, though you can probably still find used copies floating around. An alternative, though is to search and read it online. Try it out. This brief commentary was widely published and used for good reason.

In 1530, Lutherans had an opportunity to explain themselves in defense against a number of unfair accusations. It was said that they were abolishing the divine service (with the Lord’s Supper, then called “the Mass”), and getting rid of many long-standing church ceremonies. Here is part of their defense:

Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. The Mass is held among us and celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved, except that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns. These have been added to teach the people. For ceremonies are needed for this reason alone, that the uneducated be taught what they need to know about Christ. … All those able to do so partake of the Sacrament together. This also increases the reverence and devotion of public worship. No one is admitted to the Sacrament without first being examined. The people are also advised about the dignity and use of the Sacrament, about how it brings great consolation to anxious consciences, so that they too may learn to believe God and to expect and ask from Him all that is good. This worship pleases God. Such use of the Sacrament nourishes true devotion toward God. Therefore, it does not appear that the Mass is more devoutly celebrated among our adversaries than among us.

Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, p. 47-48

In today’s sermon I mentioned two composers who wrote music and words on the basis of their faith, just as David did three thousand years ago. Now, I see that an example of Bach’s poetry and music was posted today at Cyberbrethren, which is the blog of Paul McCain, the publisher at Concordia Publishing house. You can go there and listen to it, while you read along in translation.

In our catechism we talk about the three ways that God uses His moral Law by using three metaphors or comparisons. Most importantly, He uses His Law as a mirror, which shows us our sinfulness and need for a savior. Also of great importance, He uses His law as a curb upon the evil in the whole world, since it is written upon the hearts of everyone to a limited degree. Finally, God guides Christians with His Law in the ways we are to live as His redeemed children. This is necessary because Christians still have the sinful flesh as long as we live, which obscures and confuses our knowledge of God’s will.

Strictly speaking, the Ten Commandments as found in the Bible were given to the children of Israel, and not to us. However, Jesus confirmed that they describe the way God would have us live, with the exception that the Third Commandment no longer requires a specific day of the week as the Sabbath. Seventh-day Adventists object to this, wishing to retain the meaning of the Third Commandment as it applied to the Israelites. They fail to understand that this aspect of the Third Commandment is not part of God’s universal will for all people (moral law), but His instructions for the worship life of the Jews (ceremonial law), and as such it is fulfilled for us all by Jesus Christ and superceded by faith in Him (Colossians 2:16-17). That does not make it wrong to observe the Sabbath on Saturdays, but it is wrong to insist that every Christian do so.

So in the distinction between the ceremonial and moral law, we can see a difference between God’s will for the behavior of Israelites and for Gentiles. Still, a similar difference also exists in connection with the Ten Commandments. Since Jesus has fulfilled all of them in our place, our righteousness before God is found entirely in Him. Since He gave His life to suffering and death in payment for our disobedience, the Ten Commandments have no more power to condemn those who trust in the Gospel. So Jesus has not only separated us from the ceremonial law, but also from the moral law, though in a different way. It means that Christians can understand and use the Ten Commandments without fear of punishment or condemnation. In Jesus, we no longer have any guilt. He has freed us to live without the intolerable burden of God’s conditional favor: “If you obey My commandments, I will consider you to be righteous.” Now, we are already righteous, entirely through the obedience of Jesus.

With the freedom we have from the Law, we now have a different relationship to the Ten Commandments. They become more precious, because they describe the will of a gracious and loving God. We can approach them with a confidence that as long as we remain in our baptismal grace, they cannot condemn us. So when God says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” we can see more clearly, and more readily admit those times when our personal behavior has not met His righteous expectations.

In Jesus Christ, we can say, “Yes, I have taken God’s name in vain today. I have cursed another in my heart and used His name to decieve another person. Moreover, I have relied upon my own strength in time of trouble, failing to call upon His name, and I have thanklessly taken the credit for my deliverance from trouble. For these things I need God’s forgiveness.” Such an admission is what we call repentance. It’s possible for Christians only because we know that Jesus has obtained forgiveness for us, and God is ready to pronounce that forgiveness upon us at any time we need it.

Sometimes, we may feel the terror of God’s condemnation upon our guilt, but repentance is not necessarily like that. Often, the terror of our guilt is still far away because we still know that Jesus is our savior from sin and death, and the accusations of the devil cannot penetrate our faith in that fact. It may seem unnecessary, in that case, to acknowledge our faults and repent of them, but repentance is always necessary. Faith in Jesus exists only inasmuch as we trust that He is our savior from sin — from the guilt of our own sins. That’s the essence of the Gospel. So in order to have faith in Jesus, to be a Christian, we need to repent. In order to repent, we must have some guilt to acknowledge. God builds our faith with the Gospel, which can only be received through repentance, which in turn can only exist where there is guilt. Understanding this, we can be confident that Jesus has delivered us from God’s wrath, while simultaneously and freely repenting of our many sins that should have incurred that wrath.

When we fail to acknowledge our sins before God, claiming or thinking that we have actually kept one or more of God’s commandments, then we have not rightly understood the demands of His Law in relation to our thoughts, words, and deeds. In that case, we become self-righteous, and that excludes faith. We become unbelievers again, and are in peril of eternal punishment if we should die during that time. An important duty of a pastor is to remind his congregants of their sins, and even to confront those who may have become impenitent with the real danger of God’s punishment in hell. Naturally, we don’t enjoy hearing such a message, but only through that message can we recall our utter need for a Savior.

Beside the spiritual application of the Ten Commandments, Christians also find that they describe a blessed life on earth. Though we can’t keep any of the Commandments as perfectly as they demand, many people (even unbelievers) can live righteous lives outwardly to some degree. Those who do become a blessing to other people, and are themselves blessed in many ways. Those blessings do not equate to “the easy life,” because Christians always live under the shadow of Jesus’ cross, bearing crosses of their own. However, it becomes clear that those who disregard God’s commandments create much more trouble and suffering for themselves and others. So the Ten Commandments, as a summary of the way God would have people live, describe an excellent foundation for a civil society. One does not have to be a Christian or a Jew to see this, or to benefit from it, because God has hidden an echo of His Law in the heart of every human being.

To help you continue to grow in faith, I recommend that you read the Large Catechism on the Ten Commandments, where Dr. Luther explains in detail what each commandment means. You might read about only one commandment each day, and meditate upon Jesus’ fulfillment of that commandment for you, and the ways in which your life continues to make His work necessary for your salvation. You might also wish to think about the way each commandment might be a blessing upon civil society on earth when its members endeavor to live outwardly moral lives, according to God’s will.

A former professor at Bethany Lutheran College, candidate for Minnesota governor, and long-time member of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod has publicly pointed out a strong anti-marriage bias in the health care legislation that’s been so much in the news lately. You can see the news article at WorldNetDaily.

Soul Cafe is really a church! Beyond being a youth center on 12th St. in Hood River, it’s a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). That’s the largest church body in the United States that calls itself “Lutheran.” We also call ourselves “Lutheran,” but we mean something different by it than does the ELCA. We consider the label “Lutheran,” when applied to a church, to mean the particular confession of faith to which that church holds in its teaching. Specifically, we consider a Lutheran church to be one that holds (without compromise) the teachings confessed in the Lutheran Confessions, because they fully and faithfully agree with the Bible.

Soul Cafe’s church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, acknowledges that the Lutheran Confessions have historical importance, but no normative importance over present-day Lutheran teaching. Therefore, we would not describe the ELCA with the adjective “Lutheran.” Appropriately enough, Soul Cafe seems to avoid that label.

If you’d like to confirm for yourself that Soul Cafe is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, have a look at its web site. Be sure to scroll to the bottom. If you’re still not convinced, you can look it up in the ELCA congregation directory.

Soul Cafe’s web site uses some of the code language of homosexual advocacy (“open and affirming”), extending it to accept and affirm many different social choices that the Bible considers to be sinful. It promotes an organization called “Lutherans Concerned/North America,” which advocates the acceptance of homosexuality in Lutheran churches, contrary to several passages in Holy Scripture. The person it calls “pastor” has written several statements there that show a radical separation from historic Christianity. She alludes to the Lutheran Confessions (specifically, Augsburg Confession article 7), but only to claim that most of what the Confessions say should be considered “adiaphora,” meaning “that which is neither commanded by God nor forbidden.” The effect is to dismiss the Confessions, as well as much of the Bible’s doctrinal content as a matter of mere personal opinion. More troubling, she seems to deny the trinitarian foundation of the Ecumenical Creeds:

I have learned that the Trinity is not some complex theological doctrine. The Trinity is the experience of God the Father/Mother, Son, and Holy Spirit in relation, in community with one another and in relation, in community with all the world. The Trinity is the perichoretic God—the God who circulates and dances through the neighborhood, working healing and wholeness.

Any church that persistently denies the Trinity, or even the authority of God’s Word in all matters of faith and life, is not a Christian church, though it may still claim to be. Christianity is not a matter of being nice to others, nor a matter of merely living a certain way. It is a matter of what we believe, which then flows naturally into the way we live. When we confess that God’s Word is right about our sins, and then trust in the forgiveness He applies through Jesus Christ, we have begun to be Christians. This faith continues with a confession that God is right about everything else that His Word addresses. Unfortunately, the heritage of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America includes theological liberalism, which does not consider the Bible to be God’s Word. Therefore, there is very little to prevent a congregation like Soul Cafe from completely losing the character and doctrine of the Christian Church.

We should pray for our friends and neighbors influenced by such places as Soul Cafe, and do what we can to help them avoid such places. We can offer them so much more, beginning with the certainty that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, and has died and physically risen to life again as the atoning sacrifice for every sin — even sinful life choices like homosexuality. Some may still not be convinced that Soul Cafe is a church. Remember Matthew 7:15-20, where Jesus predicted such things:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is splitting over its recent decision to ordain openly practicing homosexuals as ministers. While we may rejoice that some recognize that God’s Word should not be compromised, it must be pointed out that there are many other areas where the teaching of the ELCA departs dramatically from self-interpreted Holy Scripture. For example, the Bible claims to be the inspired, inerrant, infallible, and completely sufficient Word of God. ELCA disagrees. The Bible assigns gender-based roles to men and women, particularly in churches. ELCA disagrees. The list could go on.

We should pray for our friends in ELCA churches, and those who will be leaving the ELCA, encouraging them to stand upon God’s pure and unchanging Word alone, no matter what the world around us may think of it.

But the holy orders and true religious institutions established by God are these three: the office of priest, the estate of marriage, the civil government. [See Large Catechism, 4th Commandment, 158, and the Augsburg Confession, Article XVI] All who are engaged in the clerical office or ministry of the Word are in a holy, proper, good, and God-pleasing order and estate, such as those who preach, administer sacraments, supervise the common chest, sextons and messengers or servants who serve such persons. These are engaged in works which are altogether holy in God’s sight.

Again, all fathers and mothers who regulate their household wisely and bring up their children to the service of God are engaged in pure holiness, in a holy work and a holy order. Similarly, when children and servants show obedience to their elders and masters, here too is pure holiness, and whoever is thus engaged is a living saint on earth.

Moreover, princes and lords, judges, civil officers, state officials, notaries, male and female servants and all who serve such persons, and further, all their obedient subjects — all are engaged in pure holiness and leading a holy life before God. For these three religious institutions or orders are found in God’s Word and commandment; and whatever is contained in God’s Word must be holy, for God’s Word is holy and sanctifies everything connected with it and involved in it.

Above these three institutions and orders is the common order of Christian love, in which one serves not only the three orders, but also serves every needy person in general with all kinds of benevolent deeds, such as feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, forgiving enemies, praying for all men on earth, suffering all kinds of evil on earth, etc. Behold, all of these are called good and holy works. However, none of these orders is a means of salvation. There remains only one way above them all, viz. faith in Jesus Christ.

For to be holy and to be saved are two entirely different things. We are saved through Christ alone; but we become holy both through this faith and through these divine foundations and orders. Even the godless may have much about them that is holy without being saved thereby. For God wishes us to perform such works to his praise and glory. And all who are saved in the faith of Christ surely do these works and maintain these orders.

(AE 37:364-365)

Note that neither the three broad categories (churchly, domestic, and civil) that Luther describes, nor the examples he gives, are meant to be mutually exclusive. Our church Treasurer supervises the common chest, but also holds other churchly responsibilities, as well as responsibilities in the other categories.

As I write this, the coming Sunday will be our celebration of Reformation. The Sunday after that is All Saints. At Reformation, we remember those who stood upon scripture alone, over against all the contrary opinions of men. On All Saints Day, we rejoice in God’s blessings upon the departed believers, who are made holy by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Reformation Day reminds us that we live in the Church militant, still struggling against the devil, this evil world, and our own evil and worldly nature. All Saints Day reminds us that we are also made holy in God’s sight through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior.

We carry these two aspects of Christian life into the rest of the year, too. Usually, evil rears its ugly head within a Christian’s relationships with other people, sometimes originating in ourselves, and sometimes in others. It can happen in any season, and in any place. It even happens between Christians, and even within the same church. It is never more important to remember that we live in the Church militant, and that every Christian is a saint in God’s sight by faith alone, without having deserved it in the least.

Our God and Lord provides much guidance for dealing with life in the Church militant. He is not always gentle, because much of the time, we need to hear the Law. In Matthew 18, Jesus has several points to make. Verse 35 warns, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” That leaves two questions: (1) What will He do to us? and (2) What kind of forgiveness does He mean?

You can answer the first question by reading verses 23–35. You will see that anyone who refuses to forgive is not considered to be a Christian. That should make us all think back to any unanswered grievances we may have had with another person. Did I express my grievance to him, as a Christian should, or did I hold it in and savor its foulness, as a dog chews on an old bone? Perhaps my awkward conversations with someone today can be traced back to an unknown, unrepented, and/or unforgiven sin in the past.

You can answer the second question by reading Matthew 18:15. Don’t reveal your grievance to anyone else, until you have spoken to the offender. Why not? Because you would be asking another to break the 8th Commandment, and sit in judgment over the one who has offended you. Instead, let the offender hear your grievance in full, so that he might repent and ask for your forgiveness. We fail in this so often because even those who are offended have a sinful flesh, which likes to chew on a grievance so that sin may grow.

Jesus is so concerned about the way we deal with one another’s offenses that He even commands us to work them out as Christians instead of participating in worship. (See Matthew 5:23-24.) Worship can wait, because its benefit is easily spoiled when our hearts are poisoned and distracted by unforgiven sins. In the ancient Christian Church, it was even customary to demonstrate the mutual forgiveness between Christians at worship by pausing the service briefly so that those in attendance could bestow the “kiss of peace” upon one another.

Every group of Christians on earth will experience disagreements, and offenses. After all, though we are saints, we are also still sinners. Yet God commands us in His Word how to deal with it: individually, and personally. The greatest offense ever given was my sinfulness against God’s will. Yours too. Thanks be to God that Jesus Christ bore our sins in His body upon the cross. He paid that greatest price so that He could say to penitent sinners, “Your sins are forgiven.” No strings attached. No special merit required. In that knowledge, we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The word “unconscionable” refers to things that can’t be done in good conscience. This word has been in the political vocabulary for a while now, but the notion itself has direct ties to the Lutheran church, and to October 31. It was on that date that a 35-year-old Martin Luther posted his earth-shaking 95 Theses at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. He didn’t think they would have such a profound effect. Most controversial was Luther’s boldness to propose debate on the policies of certain servants of the Roman church, and to suggest that these policies must be governed ultimately by God’s Word. That’s all he did in the 95 Theses. It may not sound so revolutionary, but it leads us to the word, “unconscionable.”

Fast forward to 1521, when Luther appeared before an imperial diet to give account for what he had been teaching. He wasn’t even given an opportunity to defend himself. He was assumed guilty of heresy, and demanded by the Holy Roman Emperor to recant most of his writings. He refused, saying that his conscience was captive to the Word of God. That lone act of defiance on the basis of a single concience inspired the western world, even influencing the founders of the United States, about 250 years later. There, we see the secular world recognize that every individual has certain innate liberties granted by our creator, and it is the duty of government to protect them for its citizens as well as possible. In the tradition of the Magna Carta and the Mayflower Compact, our government has even protected its individual citizens by limiting itself in the Bill of Rights. Thank you, Martin Luther.

Citizens of the United States are asked to exercise their good judgment and vote for representatives who will govern democratically. We are asked to evaluate the record, the character, and the platform of each candidate for each office, and figure out who would best handle the issues of the day. How should Christians participate?

We should begin by reminding ourselves that earthly governments — even bad ones — are authorized by God to carry out some of His work (Rom. 13). For a Christian, to rebel against his earthly government is to rebel against God. It also should go without saying that Christians are bound by the moral law of God, and so should never participate in fraud, deception, and the like, including some of the “spin” that we hear in politics and the news. Jesus told His disciples, Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

There are many issues mentioned during campaign season. Some of them are matters of opinion, and Christians can easily disagree with each other. Other issues are matters of judgment, where Christians may disagree, though the principles taught by holy scripture might guide most Christians one way or the other. Still other issues are not really issues of debate for Christians, but dealbreakers or showstoppers that would make a vote for a particular candidate truly unconscionable.

Christian voters have a responsibility before God to educate themselves and vote in good conscience. If a Christian votes for a candidate who wins and then commits some terribly sinful official act, does the Christian share in the office-holder’s guilt before God? Of course not, unless the voter knew when he cast his vote that the candidate would likely do it.

In a democratic republic, the voters bear some responsibility for the people they elect. A scholar at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, who is a German emigrant, recently wrote about the collective shame many Germans bear over the atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazi party in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s possible that they would not bear this shame if Hitler had siezed power by force, instead of being elected by popular vote. His unconscionable official acts have affected the conscience even of non-religious German people. This seminary scholar believes that future generations of Americans will likewise be ashamed of the hidden atrocities committed now against millions of unborn children.

Shame is when someone thinks he is associated in wrongdoing. Guilt is when someone knows it. Yet both shame and guilt can be called a “bad concience,” and so both require God’s forgiveness. That’s the business of the Church, not the government. If you have any shame or guilt, the only thing to do is confess it to God, and He will forgive you. That’s why Jesus died: to redeem you from sin and the power of death, for a life of free service to Him on earth, and eternal life in heaven.

When those in your household cast a vote this year, join me in thanking God for Martin Luther, and especially for Jesus Christ; and in asking that He guide our consciences by His Word, and bless us with good government on earth.