What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels

The Gospel in a Nutshell

by Timothy Miller '22

A Story

The best stories are true. Fictional narratives serve an instructive function but lack the transformative power of true narratives. The power of true stories is their ability to invite us into active participation in the ongoing narrative. In What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels, Martin Luther reminds us that the gospel is fundamentally a story about God’s greatest gift to humanity—Jesus of Nazareth. This essay will consider Luther’s gospel, Luther’s opposition, and Luther’s legacy.

Luther’s Gospel

It is commonly argued that Luther reduced the gospel to justification by faith alone. But this is a truncation of Luther's thought. Luther argued that the gospel is fundamentally a story. As Luther says, “The gospel is and should be nothing else than a chronicle, a story, a narrative about Christ, telling who he is, what he did, said, and suffered...For at its briefest, the gospel is a discourse about Christ, that he is the Son of God and became man for us, that he died and was raised, that he has been established as a Lord over all things.”^[1] This quote is Luther defining “the gospel in a nutshell.”^[2] He asserts that the gospel is the story of the Son of David. Rather than reducing the gospel to justification by faith, Luther says the gospel is what Jesus did, said, and suffered. It is the story of his incarnation, his life and teaching, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his ascension. This story has been given to humanity as a gift. The Christian receives this story as a gift, owns it personally, and enters into the story.^[3] If the best stories are true, then this is the best story humanity has ever told.

Luther’s Opposition

Luther’s gospel is likely shaped by his opposition to two influential medieval movements within the church: papal courts and devotia moderna. As Luther writes, “do not make Christ into a Moses, as if Christ did nothing more than teach and provide examples as the other saints do, as if the gospel were simply a textbook of teachings or laws.”^[4] First, notice his frustration with turning “Christ into a Moses,” the original Hebrew legislator. The papal courts and canon law were the crowning achievement of medieval Roman Catholicism, but Luther fears the church's role as legal arbiter has distorted the gospel. The second movement Luther may be opposing is devotia moderna. This influential movement in the High Middle Ages emphasized that imitation of Christ was the key to Christianity. While Luther believes imitation of Christ has some value, he does not believe it is foundational. Therefore he writes, “The chief article and foundation of the gospel is that before you take Christ as an example, you accept and recognize him as a gift, as a present that God has given you.”^[5] Luther’s fear of elevating imitation is driven by his fear of falling into works-righteousness. Luther believes that Christ is first and foremost a gift, not a lawgiver or example.

Luther’s Legacy

Luther’s separation of law and imitation from the gospel provide an interesting challenge for Anabaptists. Those from the Anabaptist tradition will appreciate much of Luther’s message in this work but may believe he downplays imitation. Notice the distinction Luther makes between gift and imitation or faith and works: “Christ as a gift nourishes your faith and makes you a Christian. But Christ as an example exercises your works.”^[6] For Luther, the order is important. If you do not first receive Christ as a gift, your attempts to follow his example are an exercise in vain self-righteousness. Some may protest that Luther's emphasis on the gift of gospel will lead people to diminish imitating Christ. In fact, Lutherans like Dietrich Bonhoeffer have noted this weakness in Lutheranism.^[7] However, Anabaptists should also recognize our historical tendency to diminish the gift of the gospel and major on a law-based imitation of Christ. Therefore, those who receive Jesus’ death and resurrection, as a gift, should also receive his life and teachings, as a gift. The struggle to integrate these two is not likely to disappear anytime soon. May we who receive the gift of Jesus' sacrificial death and life-infusing resurrection joyfully look to his example as the greatest story to imitate.

The Story Continues

The most powerful stories are non-fiction because they are grounded in reality. This is the beauty of the gospel. The story, which seems too good to be true, invites us to participate in the story of Jesus of Nazareth. A real man who offers a real salvation as a free gift of God. That is really good news. But Christians must be willing to participate in his whole story. Those who participate in Jesus' death and resurrection must rise with him in order to imitate his life. The best way to testify to the truthfulness of Jesus' story is to receive and participate in both the gift of his sufferings and his example.

^[1] Martin Luther, “What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels,” in Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, ed. Timothy F. Lull (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), 104–105.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] Ibid.,106.

^[5] Ibid.

^[6] Ibid.,107.

^[7] See The Cost of Discipleship.