Captive To God's Word

I take no delight in the endless quarrels between churches and church members. I do not rejoice in the multitude of christian church denominations. I am puzzled by the growth of so called non-denominational churches in the United States, especially since they generally reflect a particular denominational viewpoint anyway. Born and raised in a family of Lutheran christians, I long to retreat into the catholic church and be done forever with all the dissension and differences.

But note that I said catholic, not Roman Catholic!

The historic, universal, worldwide church has three ecumenical creeds, statements of belief generally accepted by all christians. These include the Apostolic, the Nicene and the Athanasian creeds. In the Nicene Creed we find this phrase: We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I focus on that statement as I continue this brief study of the Reformation.

We christians believe in the Church, especially since we do not always see her with our physical eyes. Yet we believe, because the Holy Spirit has called us to faith in Jesus Christ, God's one and only Son, and our Savior and Lord. The Spirit calls, nurtures and grows this faith in us by means of God's Word. Thus we believe that wherever the Word of God is taught, there also the Holy Spirit is at work creating in the hearts of young and old faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Listen to the Apostle Paul.

But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) or "'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." - Rom 10:6-11 ESV

The Apostle is paraphrasing a couple other portions of Holy Scripture. The first are the words of Agur, son of Jakeh.

Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know! Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. - Pro 30:2-6 ESV

As far as I can tell, no one knows who Agur was. One explanation is that Solomon was playing upon the name's meaning. Agur means "the one who is brave in the pursuit of wisdom"; the son of Jakeh signifies "he who is free from sin." Whatever the intent, Agur's words are preserved in the Book of Proverbs and later quoted by the Apostle.

The point of the quote is obvious. God, the Holy One, dwells in heaven. He controls the wind and waves throughout the earth. Unless He reveals Himself and the name of His son, we know nothing about Him. We are totally reliant upon His revelation. In His Word He speaks to us and His Word is absolutely true. We trust and rely upon that Word precisely because it is God's Word, and not man's. No man can ascend to heaven nor control wind and wave. This is why we dare not add to nor take away from His Words. To do so makes one a liar.

The second quote in Paul's paraphrase comes from the Book of Deuteronomy. Moses is concluding his instructions to the Children of Israel who have completed 40 long years of wandering in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. They are now about to take possession of the Promised Land. Moses promises they will indeed possess the land and the LORD will circumcise their hearts so that they love the LORD with all their hearts and souls. Thus will they live by the power of God speaking to them in His Word.

And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. - Deu 30:8-14 ESV

Note again the emphasis upon God speaking personally, in their hearts. No need to ascend to heaven and God's throne. No need to travel beyond the sea to discover some new revelation from a wise man on a distant mountain. No indeed. God Himself came down to you on Mount Sinai. There He spoke face to face with His servant Moses. In turn, Moses gave you God's Word. You heard His voice. Now His Word is both in your heart and on your lips. And as you go to possess the land, God will fulfill all His promises. Trust and obey God's Word and He will bless you. Turn from Him and you will surely perish.

This was the first major premise of the Reformation movement that Martin Luther began. God has given to us His Word. We have no choice but to hear and believe it. This was Luther's stance as he stood accused before the Diet of Worms. Relying completely upon God's Word he is supposed to have said, "Hier stehe Ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir!"

In his seminal book Luther: Man Between God and the Devil (English edition Yale, 2006), Reformation scholar Heiko Oberman correctly renders Luther's speech like this:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason—for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves—I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen.

We christians have always been captive in our consciences to the Word of God. We remain so today.

Luther's Stand

This is a photo of one of many statues of Martin Luther in northern Europe.  Copies of this and similar statues are found on campuses of various Lutheran colleges and seminaries in the United States. 


When attending Concordia University, St. Paul and later at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, I joined other students each Reformation Day morning to stand before the statues of Luther to hear the reading of Scripture, pray and sing several Lutheran hymns. Of course we always sang "A Mighty Fortress," Luther's hymn based on Psalm 46. This was one of the ways by which the faculties of those institutions helped us to retain our identity as Lutherans and believers in Jesus Christ.

Above is the statue at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. 

What is the purpose of these statues? And why should we Lutherans want to have statues, busts, paintings and other images of Luther in our churches and schools? Obviously, these images remind us of Luther, what he did and what his call to reformation means for us Christians even over five hundred years later, not only in Europe or the United States, but throughout the world. Our purpose is certainly not to worship Luther, the man, but to remember what he taught and what he stands for.  


Most of these statues show Luther pointing to the Scriptures or holding a Bible. When called before the Diet of Worms to recant his writings, he refused because he was convinced that what he wrote was based upon the inspired Scriptures. He is quoted as saying, "Hier stehe Ich, Ich kann nicht anders" (Here I stand, I can say no more). This stand brought about the world-changing reformation of the Christian Church.

On this Reformation Day I find myself pondering these memories and praying that we of the 21st century Lutheran churches may have the courage and strength to follow Luther's example. Without the heritage of the Holy Scripture we surely are in danger of losing Him to whom they testify. As Jesus said, ". . . it is they that bear witness about me" (John 5:39).

 

Why Would Anyone Ever Want To Study Leviticus?

Except in the summer, I meet with a group of Lutheran pastors to study God's Word and discuss life in the churches we serve. In August this year Pr. Carl Roth of Livingston, Texas began to lead us in a discussion of Leviticus by John Kleinig.It is part of the Concordia Commentary series. Does that strike you as strange? It should, because nobody studies Leviticus any longer, even though it lies at the heart of the Five Books of Moses (Pentateuch), is full of the Good News of God's love, and is central to the understanding of Christ's death.

To quote Kleinig: "The letter to the Hebrews, with its profound liturgical theology of Christ as both the great High Priest and the once-for-all sacrifice, would be inscrutable without Leviticus" (p.26).

Let me translate Kleinig's "inscrutable" sentence and comment upon the way we who sit in the pews and classrooms must often suffer through sermons and lectures that simply do not relate to us. That's what the word inscrutable points to. You hear or read words and you believe they have some meaning, but you can't figure out what in the world that meaning is.

Take a look at several words in his sentence: profound, liturgical and theology. Can these words be translated so they make better sense for us all?

Start with profound. The word refers to something really deep, like the Atlantic ocean. Kleinig is telling us is that the letter to the Hebrews has some deep insights and great knowledge hidden within it. We have only to dive in, dig down and explore. When doing so with the help of Leviticus we will better understand . . .what? Liturgical theology.

Liturgical theology? What's that? Let's press on.

The word Liturgical may cause you to think about liturgy. For some of us the word liturgy stirs up disgust in our hearts. The very word pulls up memories of the dull, boring, tired and useless rituals of public worship services we attended as children, together with long-winded, meaningless sermons. I recall many times in my teen years when I felt that way--even as I believed myself to be on the path toward become a pastor and leader of public worship. Not everyone feels that way, of course, but a significant number of Christians do. That's why they choose to attend churches that go out of their way -- way out of their way -- to avoid any semblance to those churches that are liturgical.

So right off the get-go Kleing is assuming that we, his readers, want to gain some deeper insights into things liturgical AND that there is a liturgical theology of Christ in the book of Hebrews we should get excited about. For those Christians among us who have never gotten excited about the rote, routine, weary, worn-out rituals of some liturgical worship services, there would be no reason at all to plow on through such a study. We don't mind learning more about what God has to tell us about Jesus Christ. We love our Bibles and we love God-talk (theology), but, please, don't get me involved with things liturgical--please!

But what if there were things liturgical that really got to you? Originally the word referred to public acts of service among the Greeks. So if I led a project to build a temple or served as a senator or passed out food to the poor I was doing my liturgy, my public service. Such acts always involved certain repeated steps, certain routines.

Let me tell you a story.

Back in 1968 I was attending graduate school at the University of Chicago. It was the week before Palm Sunday, the week in which Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered. All of Chicago was stirred up. Many predominantly black communities went up in flames as residents rioted in anger and fear. That Sunday our family attended a liturgical worship service. During the service the pastor arranged for two children to walk down the aisle hand in hand, one black and the other white. As they walked we sang "We Shall Overcome." Believe me, there was not a dry eye in the church. Memory of that occasion still chokes me up. That was liturgy with meaning, profound meaning!

What if our study of Leviticus helps us pastors to capture such an understanding of public worship, of liturgy? What if we are able to become the kind of ministers of God through whom God and God's Son, Jesus, ministers to our deep needs, our pains, fears, hopes and longings through the renewed and renewing rites of liturgical worship? Would you be interested? Think about it. Meanwhile, this group of pastors intends to carry on with their study. Pray for us.

Ezines and My Dizzy Head

Today has been a 'down' day for me. The thermometer reads nearly 100, both outside the house and inside my body, and most of the day I've been in bed. As the day ends I'm feeling a bit better, but not much. . .

Having said that, I still cannot turn off my head. Thoughts about my proposed e-zine still chase one another within it. In the mail I received the August 2007 editions of Forum Letter and Reporter (LCMS' official newspaper).

In the Forum Letter current editor, Pr. Russell E. Saltzman writes his farewells. In his comments he lists the problem the ELCA has with their rules about gay pastors--they recently removed one from office. He raises the question about when human life begins--"If we would kill the unborn, we must first declare their "inhumanity." And he points out that Lutherans have always insisted on the the marks of the church (Word and Sacrament)as the way to identify the true church, while Rome insists on an ordered ministry in apostolic succession. Finally he says that over his 17 year tenure as editor he has written as a parish pastor who encounters the church at her elemental level, in the parish, and more particularly, a Lutheran parish.

Perhaps that's a clue to what I see my e-zine doing.

The LCMS Reporter, on the other hand, reported on the recent convention in Houston. President Kieshnick reports that "this convention demonstrated by far the greatest sense I have seen of collegiality and harmony and frank discussion of the issues. . . in a spirit of Christian respect--and in a spirit of trust..." Of course, not everyone feels that way.

What interests me in this issue of Reporter is an ad for the new Pastoral Care Companion that accompanies the recent publication of Lutheran Service Book (LSB). There's a long and interesting list of topics and rites for the parish life that may well be useful in determining what to address in a parish-oriented e-zine. Samples: apostasy, children in crisis, suicide, infertility, mental disorders, poverty, stillbirth, trouble at work, etc. I'm going to keep the list and am considering ordering the book.

So that's what's going on in my dizzy head. Perhaps I'd better get back to bed if I'm going to be of any use tomorrow.