Credo for Christian Theology
by Rev. Rob Taylor
May God be Praised!
Prolegomena - First Things
To speak about prolegomena is to by necessity, as do all the creeds in their beginnings, to first assert, "I believe in God …" This first assertion is to recognize that God is, and that this is independent of our belief or disbelief. From there we ponder in our inept way just what that means and what we may know of this God that is. Our knowledge of God is without a doubt human in its condition and substance, but yet we understand that nothing can be known about God outside of what God reveals to us, thus the only source of our knowledge of God is God’s self-revelation. God dwells in the light which no one can approach according to 1st Timothy 6:16 and therefore reveals what can be known about God in a twofold manner: 1) In creation, the realm of nature, and 2) in His Word, the only source and norm of Christian doctrine. This leaves us to distinguish between a natural and Christian knowledge of God.
General Revelation
From the environment that surrounds us, we look around and perceive in our thoughts the notion of God, a notitia Dei naturalis. We see and attempt to understand and make sense of the nature surrounding us and innately sense a divine work in creation, "which bear the unmistakable stamp of being God-made" (Pieper 371). This general revelation by the creator in its creation is explained by Paul in Romans 1:20, "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." Although God is invisible, God wishes to be seen and understood through what has been made. In the sense of general revelation, an invisible God provides abundant witness and self-manifestation clearly through His own visible creation and approaches us through things outside of us.
In Lutheran theology, the Creator God’s self revelation in creation leaves us with a conscience that bears witness against us by accusing or excusing us. God’s self-revelation also within us, as part of creation, is a divine Law written into the hearts of all created men and women. Attempts to escape the God who is has led many down the road of atheism and idol worship, but these have only been attempts to suppress one’s own reason, or to propitiate a god in idol worship, sacrifices, and so on, in order to silence their accusing consciences. By seeing God clearly by what has been made through God’s own self-revelation in creation, our own conscience is "God’s tribunal within man and is recognized as such by man" (Pieper 372). Even Aristotle once said, "Though God is invisible to every mortal creature, He is visible from His very works." We are left then without excuse, "For the law of nature will never permit anyone to entertain as his deliberate and settled conviction the conclusion that there is no God" (Pieper 373).
Special Revelation
God reveals to all without discrimination through creation, but "although the concept of general revelation is valid and helpful, it is also limited" (Grenz 138). It does not contain a complete self-disclosure of God and his nature, purpose and will. General revelation provides a testimony to the presence of the God, but it is insufficient to attain salvation. General revelation arouses the conscience and shows us there is a God and a divine Law, but it does not enable us to keep this Law, "being strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12).
The natural knowledge of God cannot deliver us from an evil conscious estranged from God and God’s Law. Special revelation, however, reveals God as redeemer and how to enter into a relationship with Him. Special revelation comes to certain special or specific persons for specific and special purposes to reveal specific purposes or specific aspects of God, such as God’s self-revelation to Isaiah and his subsequent commissioning in Isaiah 6:1-9. The incarnation of the Son in the person of Jesus Christ is the ultimate special revelation of God. It points to God’s redemptive purpose revealed and fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the work of atonement. Scripture reveals and points to Jesus as the Word made flesh and the primary revelation of God Himself in Jesus, which is our salvation.
Authority
Luther wrote in 1520, "The Scriptures cannot err." This position is still held by many Lutherans even today, even though it has been under frequent attack and scrutiny. Holy Scripture is God’s own infallible Word and therefore the only source and norm of Christian doctrine. Nothing but what the Scriptures teach should have a place in Christian theology because it alone is the inspired, God-breathed Word, living and active, able to pierce until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart according to Hebrews 4:12. "We, on our part, stand for the supreme and sole authority of Holy Scripture. We maintain that Scripture, by virtue of the singular divine act of inspiration, is God’s own infallible word, "God’s Book," [Luther’s term for Scripture] from which alone, to the end of time, the Christian doctrine, every single part of it, is to be taken and determined" (Pieper 4).
All science is systematized natural knowledge obtained through empirical human observation and rational thought. Christian theology is not a science in this respect. Neither nature nor the rationalization of our conscience can tell us anything about the specific content of the Christian doctrine, nor can it tell us anything about the Gospel of Christ. "The simple fact is that the theologian, with all his learning, cannot acquire more knowledge of spiritual things than the revelation of the Holy Scripture provides" (Pieper 107). Theology denotes, in its subjective sense, the knowledge of God and of divine matters; in its objective sense it designates the doctrine of God. The workings of God through the Holy Spirit and God’s Word attest to themselves as divine works and do not need to be certified as such by science or the scientific method of inquiry.
Theology is regarded as "faith seeking understanding," and thus is its own natural starting point in matters of theological interpretation and formulation. Theology does not exist in a vacuum, however, and does operate within a template drawing upon the resources of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. These elements, known as the "Methodist quadrilateral," are parts of life that influence us in some way, even if we refuse to acknowledge them, they still exist. It is important to know, however, where these resources are used and the relative weight we should give to each of them. The resource of Scripture contains all the resources essential for theology to understand the meaning of the faith. It is the "norma normans sed normata, the norm that judges every other norm, but is not itself judged by any other" (Stone and Duke 45). The resource of Tradition is the sum total of what the Church has passed down over time and is passing down to generations yet to come.
This means not only the content of the Christian message, but its teachings, writings, rituals, customs, Creeds, Confessions of Faith, and Catechisms. Tradition has its place as a resource for theological discussion and thought in so far as it is faithful to the witness of Scripture. Reasoning as a resource needs to be approached with caution in how we think about things, especially Scripture. The standards for what makes up sound reasoning are disputed from camp to camp. Reasoning has its role to play in interpreting Scripture, tradition, and experience, because theology needs to be as clear, coherent, and well informed as possible. Bottom line is that reason needs to remain captive to the Word of God. Experience plays an increasingly significant role in deliberative theology. Experience from a theological standpoint is an umbrella term for the varied encounters with God, and for the awareness of God that comes through faith to the people of Israel, the New Testament, and us today. Experience, however, if used as a resource for theology, should always be interpreted by Scripture, and not vice-a-versa.
God (Theology Proper)
God’s Existence
The existence of God in indisputable in Christian theology. There is no such thing as a Christian atheist. More important in the argument for God’s existence is the question of how we may know God, and what kind of God we may come to know. There are, however, three approaches to be taken in the argument for the existence of God, if general revelation is not enough to reasonably establish God’s existence. These three approaches are the a priori, the a posteriori approach, and the existential approach.
The a priori approach, also known as the deductive approach, argues from a conception of God as a being so perfect that His non-existence is inconceivable. The a priori approach is also called the ontological argument. God is infinite, perfect, and necessary. With out God there is nothing and therefore it is necessary to have him to have us. Our existence is contingent on God. God’s existence then is "ontological," "because it claims to demonstrate God’s existence by means of a consideration of the mere idea of God" (Grenz 33). This argument was defined by Anselm (A.D. 1033-1109) in that God is greater than what we can conceive since we can conceive of nothing greater. Since we can conceive of God, God then must exist both in our minds and in reality because the God who exists obviously is greater than the God we can conceive in our minds. In other words, the very idea of God is evidence for God’s existence and God must then be bigger than what we can conceive.
The a posteriori approach, also known as the inductive approach, gives evidence from the observable empirical world and argues from nature that God is necessary to explain certain features nature. Two arguments in this approach are the cosmological and teleological aguments. The cosmological argument states that God must exist as the ultimate cause of the world, in that He is the first cause, a Prime Mover if you will. The teleological argument states that God is necessary to explain the apparent intelligent design of the world. Just as the design of a watch points to a watchmaker, so the delicate and intricate design of nature suggests an intelligent designer.
The existential approach argues for God’s existence from our direct experience of God. One argument in this approach is the moral argument, proposed by Immanuel Kant in his book, Critique of Practical Reason. Kant argues that each human lives with an innate sense of moral duty. "God must exist, he concluded, if this experience of moral obligation is to have any meaning" (Grenz 35). In other words, the existence of moral obligation establishes the existence of God as the cause of moral order. If there is none, then why are we compelled to be moral?
The Divine Attributes
"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God" (Psalm 90:2). God is beyond our comprehension and our words pale to describe Him, but never-the-less God has given us language to try and express the eternal and infinite. That is precisely where the ineptitude of our attempts lay. We are forced to use the finite to describe the infinite. The Augsburg confession says: "there is one divine essence, which is called and which is God, eternal, incorporeal, indivisible, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible" (Book of Concord 27). In God, divine essence and attributes are the same and unseparable because God is infinite and above time and space. "Were we to assume that there are parts in God, we would ascribe finitude to the infinite God and thereby erase the difference between God and man" (Pieper 428).
God himself comes to us and to our reason to help us comprehend the infinite in His Word. Through His Word God divides Himself into attributes which our minds and faith can comprehend. Scripture teaches us to distinguish between God’s being and His attributes, "when it speaks of God’s love (Rom. 5:8), God’s wrath (Rom. 1:18), God’s long-suffering (Rom. 2:4)" (Pieper 428). God chooses to use human language in Scripture to articulate His divine attributes to us because our finite and imperfect reason cannot comprehend the infinite perfection of God.
On the one hand in Scripture we find the same attributes ascribed to both man and God. This poses a problem since man is imperfect and finite and God is perfect and infinite. Scripture also answers this dilemma with the answer that the attributes of both man and God are not univocal in the identical sense, they are not equivocal in the sense that they are merely the same sounding attributes, but they are analogous though not in the same manner or degree. The attributes range from degree of die Imperfectheit des Mensches to die absolute Perfectheit des Gottes. We are therefore limited to using metaphysical and metaphorical analogies as well as negation language to talk about God. We are limited in the scope of our language because God is so unlike us, we can only use human concepts to describe Him, but even in such, "He mediates to us a knowledge of Himself, which, though not perfect, is sufficient for our salvation" (Pieper 429).
In Lutheran theology, the divine attributes of God fall within two categories: 1) the quiescent and operative attributes; 2) the negative and positive attributes. The quiescent attributes describe those attributes in which no effect and no relation to the world is implied, but they are conceived as still an attribute of the Godhead, such as eternal, infinite, everlasting, and so on. Operative attributes describe attributes which denote an operation on and relation to the world, such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, justice, mercy and so on. In describing negative attributes, human or animal attributes can never be attributed to God, and we never dare go beyond Scripture nor forget the infinite chasm between God and man. Those attributes that do exist in man, however, but are attributed to God in the highest degree, or in an absolute sense, are positive attributes, such as life, knowledge, wisdom, holiness, truth, and so on. All divine attributes described in Scripture fill our hearts with terror if Scripture had not also revealed God’s free grace through Christ towards us. "This attribute of God’s grace is the center of the entire Scriptures, for the scope of all Scripture is Christ, the Savior of sinners, … for the only purpose of the world’s existence is the proclamation of God’s grace through the redemption in Christ" (Pieper 437).
The Doctrine of the Trinity
The Scriptures ascribe the entire Godhead not only to the Father, but also to the Son in Colossians 2:9. and to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5:4. Scripture clearly bears out that each person of the Trinity is the entire and the very God. It is still one of the most mysterious, perplexing and difficult concepts concerning God that one can grasp. God, Yahweh of Moses’ burning bush, leads the captive Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. God later incarnates in Jesus Christ, (Emmanuel), to complete the work of salvation and inaugurate the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, (God incarnate with us), while on this earth, prays to God the Father, who is the God that raises God incarnate Jesus Christ from the dead. God incarnate Jesus Christ later ascends to God the Father, and sends God the Holy Spirit to live within mankind on the day of Pentecost.
As where there is clearly three distinct persons in reference to God, there is only one divine substance, essence, or rather, Being which is God. Lutheran doctrine upholds the statement and confession of the Nicene Creed in its entirety. The Creed states the doctrine of the Trinity in its completeness and in its mystery. "The Christian Church acknowledges that "we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance" (Pieper 382). Scripture teaches that there is no division of the divine essence. According to 1 Corinthians 8:4, "there is none other God but one," and we must maintain the indivisibility of the Godhead.
Even though the term Trinity does not occur in the Scriptures, it summarizes everything which God has revealed in Scripture concerning Himself. God reveals that He is one, (1 Corinthians 8:4), and yet He is Father, Son and Holy Ghost according to Matthew 28:19. The three persons of the Trinity have three distinct names in operation, but only one and the same essence, not three. They have one set of divine attributes, not three. They have one operation in divine works, not three. But yet they are three and it is difficult to understand how the three did not incarnate when the second did. The doctrine of the Trinity is clearly outside the realm of complete human comprehension. It is a mystery.
God’s Grace: Creation, Anthropology, Sin, and New Creation.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The Scriptures declare this fact in Genesis 1:1. God Himself gives the account of creation since no human being was there to observe creation. We reason from a posteriori that all things were created by God and that all creation bears His divine stamp. God’s invisible nature and eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen from creation, but God reveals Himself through Scripture that He was and is the creator God. He made all things for His own sake and for His glory.
Pantheism assumes that the world is an emanation from God and is therefore God Himself, but Christianity differs in that Scripture clearly teaches that the Triune God created everything outside God. God created the universe out of literally nothing, nihil negativum. Genesis 1:1 states, "In the beginning," which means that everything outside of God first had their beginning. In succession God spoke creation into existence. God created the rudiments of heaven and earth, then the light, the visible firmament, the sea and the dry land, together with the plant life on the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars in the heavens, fish and fowl, land animals, and finally, man, then woman. God beheld His creation and declared it "good."
All creation was accomplished in six solar days. As defined by Scripture itself in the creation account, a day comprised of; "And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day," and so on through the seventh day. The order of creation also can not be seen as evolution because each stage of creation depended on the Word of God. The earth did not produce plants and trees and such by spontaneous generation or evolution, but these things came forth by the word of the Almighty speaking them into creation: "Let the earth bring forth," (Genesis 1:11).
On the sixth day God created the human as the crown of his creation. The human was superior to other creatures in that the human was made in the image of God: "Let us make man" (Genesis 1:26). God did not create man like the animals or plants. God molded the human out of the clay of the earth and did something he did not do with the animals, He breathed into him the breath of life, namely, a rational and immortal soul. The soul, however, was not an efflux of God’s essence or a pantheistic part of God. Man, in his totality of existence, consists of body and soul: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). God creates Adam and Eve and sets them over creation in an idyllic, seemingly perfect state. Living in innocence as the image of God, they were untainted by evil and enjoyed perfect fellowship with God. Sin enters creation through Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God. As a consequence sin corrupts and distorts Adam and Eve as the image of God, thus leading to their choice to cover themselves when God approaches them in the Garden. The corruption of sin is introduced into creation, enmity is born and the pristine fellowship once shared between God and man is broken as Adam and Eve are ejected from the Garden. As a result of sin entering creation, and entering the relationship between God and man, all of creation, including the generations of mankind to follow, now stands in condemnation, due to man’s sinful nature inherited from Adam, and must be redeemed. On account of sin, man has an evil conscious before God, but by the grace of God, that which was lost due to the fall of man has been restored. The incarnation of the Son of God richly restores to us through his substitutionary satisfaction what we lost through the fall.
Providence and Evil
God created the world and also preserves it. It is divine providence. Colossians 1:16-17 states that, "All things were created by Him … by Him all things consist." God preserves and governs the universe and everything in it by his omnipresence and omnipotence. After creating the world, God did not withdraw from it, because if he did, it would cease to exist because by him all things consist. The second causes are the means by which divine providence operates. "God operates and the means operate" (Pieper 487). The operation of the means is subordinate to the operation of God, and subordinate to that extent means work only that which God works through them, and they work only as long as God works. This is illustrated in Psalm 127:1, which states, "The Lord builds the house, and the builders build the house."
Scripture and the Law clearly state that God is intolerable to sin and unalterably opposed to them. God will on occasion prevent their occurrence, as in the case of Abimelech of Gerar in Genesis 20:1; but when they are permitted to occur, they must serve God’s own good purposes, as when Joseph was sold into Egypt in Genesis 50:20. The question of whether God permits sin must be distinguished in so much as how far God concurs in the performance of sinful actions. Scripture teaches that God concurs in evil in so far as they are acts because men live and move and have their being in God (Acts 17:28). God does not concur in evil actions in so far as they are evil. "You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell" (Psalm 5:4-5). Ultimately God will destroy them who do evil, but He permits men to sin of their own free will, as Scripture attests to His suffering of it, but also judges sin in righteousness and often with sin. "God in His righteous judgment punishes sin with sin" (Pieper 491). According to Romans 1:24-28, "therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie … he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done."
Christology
The Person of Christ, His Deity, Humanity, and Theandric Union
The Nicene Creed states that, "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father." The Creed defines the person of Christ as the second person of the Trinity. God from God and completely divine, but yet completely human as well. The person of Christ is completely human so that he could experience everything humans could experience including every temptation and facing his own death. Jesus Christ has to be completely human in order to completely save humanity. He also has to be completely divine to have the power and authority to forgive sin and to satisfy the work of salvation.
Two estates of Christ can be seen his descending and ascending. The son descends, katabasis, from an exalted state and after accomplishing his work, he ascended, anabasis, to return to exultation. The book of Phillipians states that Christ, "who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness … he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:6-9). Also in the person of Christ reside three offices of prophet, priest, and king. Jesus humbled himself to take on a prophetic ministry in the preaching and telling people of God’s coming kingdom. His prophetic ministry ends when his priestly ministry begins in his suffering and death on the cross. After Jesus completes the priestly ministry by making intercession for mankind, he is exalted and his dominion is legitimized through his resurrection and ascension as he takes his place at the right hand of God.
The Theandric Union is also a central theme behind the person of Christ. Jesus is obviously human by his birth, nature, and existence as testified to in Scripture. Luke writes, "And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him" (Luke 2:40). And again, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Luke 2:52). Jesus’ divinity is also asserted right from the beginning of the gospels. Throughout his life, it was clear there was the divine in Jesus beyond his humanity as he performs signs, wonders, and miracles before people, such as walking on the water, healing paralytics, and calming a storm. The Theandric Union, God (theos) + man (anthropos) in one person expresses fully the person of Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine in one person, inseparable in nature and manifestation.
Work of Christ
The work of Christ in salvation stands at the central point of history and Scripture. Jesus’ work of atonement reconciles creation to God through the cross. There are 5 common theories regarding the work of atonement. Each can be found in Scripture, but no one book has them all. Each theory in it’s own way and taken together point to the richness and mystery of Christ’s work.
Theories of Atonement
The first theory is the Ransom Theory. Espoused by Karl Barth and others, states that God offered Christ as a ransom to Satan for the souls of humanity whom Satan held in bondage. Satan accepted the ransom but was not strong enough to hold Christ and was left with no humanity and no Christ due to the resurrection. Humanity voluntarily went into the bondage of sin and under the control of Satan. God could not rescue humanity ordinarily because humanity entered into this condition of their own free will, so God had to buy humanity back with a ransom. The ransom was God’s only begotten son, certainly a greater prize than humanity. This theory in essence shows that God was willing to enter into conflict with evil forces on our behalf and emerged victorious through divine self-sacrifice.
The second theory of atonement is the Satisfaction Theory. This theory states that God is the object of Christ’s atonement, not Satan. Espoused by Aselm of Cantebury (1033-1109), he asked the question as to why did God have to become human in the first place? God created humans for blessedness, which can’t be obtained in this life, but in the here after. Blessedness can’t be obtained until sin is forgiven. But the problem is that no one passes through life with out the stain of sin. So in order to arrive at blessedness, remission of sin is necessary. Sin dishonors God and takes away what rightly belongs to him. Since we are not capable of paying our own debt, satisfaction must be made to God. Sin can not be remitted without punishment. The law of restitution requires humans to make it right with God, but humans are unable to do so. The incarnation and work of Christ on the cross is the only way out for man and God. No one except God can remit sin and Christ’s death provides the satisfaction humanity could not provide. The satisfaction displayed through Christ shows not only God’s requirement for justice, but His requirement for mercy as well. Through this theory we see a merciful God who was willing to pay the required debt at his own expense.
The third theory of atonement is the Moral Theory. This theory, attributed to Peter Abelard, rejected the notion that Christ’s death served God’s justice. Instead, Christ’s death is an example of God’s love for humanity. This example should spark in us love for God and inspire us to become more righteous and moral. Christ’s suffering provides us with a deeper affection so that we do things out of love and not fear. In this we see true service to God.
The fourth theory of atonement is the Theory of Substitution. Mostly emphasized by Augustine and others, Christ’s death occurred on the cross in our stead. This theory is also known as the vicarious atonement theory. God does not forgive sin without atonement. If there is no sacrifice on the cross then there is no forgiveness. Sin breaks God’s law and leaves humankind in a hopeless situation. The law reveals what God requires, but we can’t keep it, and are thus condemned. Christ is the mediator that pays the penalty the law requires and pays the full penalty. We are made acceptable to God as Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us.
The last theory of atonement is the Governmental Theory. This theory is a modification of the Substitution Theory. Espoused by Socinus, he saw that substitution is incompatible with justice. Christ’s death does not fill the requirement of the law. We deserve eternal death due to sin and Christ did not experience that. Hugo Grotius, however, saw that Christ pays the penalty and his sufferings shows signs of punishment. Divine justice in punishment is exhibited through Christ on the cross in his sufferings and therefore we are exempted from that punishment.
Crucified Jesus, Exalted Lord, and Christ as the True Imago Dei
Scripture declares that God the Father has raised Christ from the dead, as in Romans 6:4 and others. By raising Christ from the dead, God, through this resurrection act declares that the sins of the whole world are fully expiated and atoned for through Jesus Christ, "who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25). As God punished Christ for our sins, upon whom God, "imputed them, as our Bondsman, so He also, by the very act of raising Him from the dead, absolved Him from our sins imputed to Him, and so He absolved also us in Him" (Pieper 321, vol. II). Scripture states that if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, we shall also be saved. Jesus’ resurrection becomes a central point in our belief and faith. Romans 10:9 states that, "If you will … believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved."
Jesus’ ascension, unlike his resurrection, takes place visibly in front of many people including the disciples. This happened so that the truth of the ascension might be historically established for the apostles and the Church. Jesus could have just simply disappeared, but he chose to ascend so that all may witness the event. The ascension had a two-fold purpose. One was to ascend to paradise where those who belong to him will dwell with him, such as in Luke 23:43. The other was to ascend to sit at right hand of God, an obvious place of honor, authority, and divine dominion. The one who came not to be served, but to serve, now sits to rule and have dominion in full divine majesty. It is also from this right hand of God, as the Creed states, that he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
From Adam to the new Adam, Jesus Christ exists throughout history, time, space, and eternity. Scripture shows that Adam was the pattern for Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ is the new Adam, "for as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22). Sin entered the world through one man, Adam, who was a pattern of one to come. "For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" (Romans 5:12-15). Jesus is the new Adam. The sin of all mankind, including the emnity and corruption brought about by sin into creation was and is reconciled through his work on the cross. Jesus bore testimony himself regarding who he was: "’I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’" (John 8:58). He can be clearly seen, as Scripture reveals, as the true incarnation of God, the second person of the Trinity, true God from true God, in whom all creation is established, redeemed, and subjected under His authority and dominion. Scripture clearly points to Jesus as the very true Imago Dei. "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).
Pneumatology
Since the very dawn of creation, we read and understand that the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, has been an active participant in all the affairs of accomplishing God’s sovereign will and purpose for creation. Whether it is as the Hebrew ruach - wind, or as the Greek pneuma - breath of God, the Holy Spirit is universal in the Christian experience of salvation and the redemption of all creation. The Spirit both evokes the liveliness of life as God’s ever elusive and ever-moving breath, and blows where it will as the wind in seeking out and accomplishing the eternal will of God. He is both transcendent as he preserves and inspires God’s creation, and he is personal as he carries out the work of salvation in a believer’s heart. Understanding the Holy Spirit can sometimes seem to be as elusive as the wind itself. It is helpful, however, to understand the Spirit in light of distinguishing the person of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit in his role as the presence of God in creation, in his participatory role in Soteriology, and in restoring the Imago Dei, the new creation.
The Person of the Holy Spirit
The Lutheran Church upholds the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and maintains that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person from the Father and the Son in one divine essence and nature, but there is only one God. We worship one God in three persons without confusing the persons or dividing the divine substance. Each is equal in glory and coequal in majesty. There is one Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. No one begot the Father, the Father begot the Son, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, (the filioque). In Lutheran tradition, this does not mean the Spirit is subordinate to the Father and the Son, nor should be suppressed in understanding or exultation. The filioque does not imply the Holy Spirit was made or created or begotten, but does state that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
In understanding this better, it is helpful to look at Jesus’ words. Jesus stated in John 16:7, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." Jesus is stating that if he doesn’t ascend to heaven, the Holy Spirit will not be sent. But Jesus also adds that if he does go, he will send the Holy Spirit to the awaiting disciples. This statement makes a distinction between the procession and mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit. In regards to mission, the filioque would be inappropriate because the mission of the Holy Spirit works in cooperation with God and Christ in the world in carrying out God’s redemptive plan for creation. In regards to procession, the filioque is appropriate in looking at how Christ and the Holy Spirit are sent into the world. Jesus says that he goes back, so that the Holy Spirit may be sent, not in a temporary context as in the days of the Old Testament, but in a permanent way in which God comes to dwell in the hearts of his people.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit as God’s presence in creation before and after the incarnation
Being the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God appears in many roles through-out the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, the Spirit is given to God’s chosen to fulfill a specific task or purpose and is then taken back again. Throughout the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is active in the lives of people and God’s creation. Linked to God’s creation the Spirit is seen as the creative breath of God in Psalm 104:30, and as the co-creator with God in Genesis 1:2. The Spirit offers assurance of the forgiveness of sins in Psalm 51:10-12, brings new life out of death as in Ezekiel 37, and encourages the downtrodden in Haggai 2:4-5. The Spirit restores hope in Joel 2:28-29 and promotes justice in Isaiah 11:1-5. The Spirit also plays a witnessing, instructive and prophetic role in giving the prophets of the Old Testament ability, knowledge, strength, and utterance. The Holy Spirit indeed plays many roles throughout the entire Old Testament, but the primary purpose, however, in each of these roles within the context of human history is to fulfill God’s purpose and will in accomplishing His salvific plan for humankind.
In the post-incarnate New Testament experience of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit comes and stays with each believer at Pentecost thus fulfilling the promise of Joel 2:28. In the lives of the first disciples, the Holy Spirit, according to John 14:26, bore witness to Christ and lead his disciples into the fullness of truth, carried them along as they wrote, and confirmed the Gospel of Christ where and when it was preached. Throughout the New Testament, the promise of Joel 2:28 is fulfilled as Jesus’ ministry is affirmed by the power of the Spirit in the lives of believers. His ministry is continued into the Church as people are set free, empowered, and sustained by the Spirit for the ministry and work of edifying the Church and proclaiming the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth. From ages past to today, the Holy Spirit is constantly at work in the Church representing Christ to us and uniting believers to Christ through his sanctifying work. The Holy Spirit constantly works to create new life as the agent for our spiritual re-birth. The Holy Spirit seeks to liberate from the bondage to sin and seeks to set us free for the work of the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit works to build a community of faith so that all may be gathered into the household of God.
Salvation (Soteriology)
In Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, The Third Article: Sanctification, Luther wrote, "I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in true faith" (Luther, 66). In two sentences, Martin Luther lays out and explains in simple terms God’s work in prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace. Salvation is truly God’s act of grace freely offered to us even while we were still dead in our own transgressions.
In humankind’s understanding and reason in regard to spiritual matters, people understand nothing by their own powers. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them." It is impossible for anyone to save themselves or achieve salvation on their own merit, as it states in Ephesians 2:5, "When we were dead through our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ." Being dead in our trespasses means that just as it is impossible for a corpse to bring itself to bodily and earthly life, so is it just as impossible for anyone, who through sin is spiritually dead, to raise themselves to spiritual life. Humankind is entirely insufficient to work or bring about their own salvation, nor can humankind claim anything as coming from within themselves, but to the contrary, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:5 that our sufficiency is solely and entirely from God by his grace alone.
Only through the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross is reconciliation and forgiveness from God rendered. This is accomplished with the fullness of the Godhead offered through specific means of grace, chief among them being through the very Gospel of Jesus Christ himself. God the Holy Spirit does not effect conversion without means, and the gospel of salvation is in itself the specific means of grace from beginning to end and is made possible and real by the very grace of God.
Prevenient grace is God attracting humankind to himself through the Gospel - his specific means of grace. God gives prevenient grace to humankind and makes it possible for one to respond in faith and go further, and makes it possible for one to recognize the need for salvation. Prevenient grace is not sufficient for salvation but rather brings someone to the point of continued response or continued hardening of their heart through stubbornness or rejection. It is not about choice in accepting or rejecting God, but rather, it is about a faithful response to hearing the gospel. God wants our own faithful response and for it to be real it needs to be ours, from our own heart. The Holy Spirit employs to this end the preaching and the hearing of God’s Word. Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." And likewise, that faith comes from hearing the word of God, (Romans 10:17). Luther once said that man’s will in conversion behaves altogether passive. This means that the Holy Spirit is present with God’s Word and opens people’s hearts so that they may hear the word, respond with faith, and become converted. This occurs solely through the grace and power of God so that no one might boast in the presence of God.
Justifying grace is God’s amazing grace that saves. It is entirely sufficient for salvation. In Lutheran theology, justifying grace embodies God’s acceptance into his family when one responds faithfully to the hearing of the gospel of Christ and submits in faith to Jesus Christ in public declaration of faith and identification with Christ in his death and resurrection through baptism. Justifying grace is the salvation from sin and the consequences of sin. Through Holy Baptism God liberates us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the waters of Baptism we publicly identify with Christ as an outward sign of the inward conversion to faith and the reality of our rebirth as children of God and inheritors of eternal life. Peter states in 1 Peter 3:21, "And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge[response] of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:21). By water and the Holy Spirit we are also made public members of the Church, which is the body of Christ. Without a response of faith by God’s grace, salvation is impossible because faith is in essence the graciously enabled response to God’s grace. It is the only means and instrument whereby we accept Christ and in Christ obtain the righteousness which avails before God, and for Christ’s sake such faith is counted for righteousness, (Romans 4:5). When one responds to the gospel of Jesus Christ in faith, God justifies and begins the process of sanctifying them in his sight and restoring the image of God in them.
Sanctifying grace is to make holy, to set apart, and is to be worked out with "trembling and fear," as the apostle Paul writes. Salvation is a process in the life of a disciple whereby the moment justifying grace puts us in a saving relationship with Christ we begin the process in which God re-makes us over time into what God intended for us to be before the fall in Eden. Sanctifying grace makes no neat distinctions between theology and ethics, between faith and works, and between belief and practice. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "The one who believes obeys." Holiness is a necessary quality of the Christian life because it emphasizes that faith is active and living within us. Good works then, like fruits of a good tree, always follow genuine faith, if it is living and not a dead faith. Sanctifying grace is also God enlivening us in the resurrection of Christ so that we might live resurrected lives and engage in the process of conforming to the mind of Christ. Sanctifying grace has an eschatological context in that sanctification will ultimately find its completion in the end as the Imago Dei is restored within the believer. Justifying grace affirms that our salvation begins on earth, and sanctifying grace asserts that our salvation will end in heaven in the fullness of God’s presence. Paul affirms this in Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Ecclesiology
Nature of the Church
Martin Luther once wrote, "Thank God, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is, namely, holy believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd … it consists of the Word of God and true faith" (Tappert, 315). More specifically, the Christian Church consists of all those in whom the Holy Spirit has worked faith that for the sake of Christ’s vicarious satisfaction their sins are forgiven. In Lutheran tradition, nothing else makes someone a member of the Christian Church but a personal faith in the forgiveness of sins which was purchased by Christ’s vicarious satisfaction. Sola fides in Christum membra ecclesiae constituit, which means faith in Christ alone constitutes a member of the Church. It is not merely an outward conformity, but an inner, spiritual communion of the members of the Church with God, with Christ, and with the Holy Spirit.
Images of the Church
There are 4 major images of the Church: the Church as the people of God; the Church as a servant people; the Church as the body of Christ; and the Church as the community of the Spirit. The New Testament uses the Exodus image of the people of God in presenting the Church as the people God has called out of bondage and slavery to sin to make a people of his own. This can be seen in Leviticus 26:12 where God says to the people of Israel he called out of slavery in Egypt, "I shall be your God and you shall be my people," compared to 1 Peter 2:9, "You are God’s own people." According to these images, the Church is not primarily a building or organization, but a people, a community, and specifically the people of God who have been called by God. This imagery functions to connect the Christian community to the historic Israelite community and allows them to refer to the Christian community as Israel.
The second image of the Church is as a servant people of God. In the book of Exodus, Moses called for the liberation of the Israeli people from captivity so that they may serve their God. In Mark 10:45, Jesus is called the greatest servant. We are likewise servants for Jesus’ sake according to 2 Corinthians 4:5. The Church is called to serve God and others, not to exercise power in a self-centered way, but to be ready for costly service for the sake of the Gospel.
The third image of the Church is as the body of Christ. This is based on Paul’s description in 1 Corinthians 12 as believers participate in the life of Christ. In essence, the gathered community of believers embody Christ’s body. Ephesians 4:16 also describes the Church as a spiritual body, which is entirely dependent upon Christ. The community of believers participates in one Lord, one Spirit, one baptism and thus becomes one body. This image reflects the mutual dependence of all members of the community on one another. The variety of gifts given to believers is for the edification of the entire community as all members live out their faith in mutual dependence on each other and the one head which is Christ Jesus.
The fourth image of the Church is the community of the Spirit. This reflects a community that is filled by the gifts of the Spirit. In it and in the renewing experience of the Spirit of God the Church sees important evidence of the fulfillment of the promises of the prophets. This means the community of the Spirit is also a community of the eschaton where racial, gender, and class divisions are broken down by power, and the community becomes God’s new creation – the first fruits of the age to come. The community of the Spirit is a sign of the kingdom of God lived out in the Church’s worship, service, and mission in the world.
Some other descriptions of the Church can be seen in scripture, such as in 2 Corinthians 5:17, where the Church is considered a universal congregation of new creations in Christ. Others descriptions include the Church being called the house of God in 1 Timothy 3:15, God’s building in 1 Corinthians 3:9, the temple of the living God in 2 Corinthians 6:16, the temple of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:19, Christ’s body and the fullness of Him in Ephesians 1:23, and the children of God in John 11:52. Taking 1 Peter 2:4-5 and Ephesians 2:20-22, we get one of the strongest descriptions of the Church as a spiritual house of living stones built upon Christ as the chief cornerstone and the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets. Each believer is a spiritual stone in the spiritual building and the whole architecture builds up to become a holy temple for the Lord, a house of God, a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Marks of the Church
There are four classical marks of the Church, and they are Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. Wherever the pure word is preached and heard, and the sacraments are administered, exists the Church. And from there the four distinguishing marks of the Church can be discerned. Three points in Lutheran theology should be made before examining the four classical marks of the church. First, that the Church is invisible, is asserted because it invariable rests upon the faith of the heart. Jesus said to his disciples, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21). Secondly, the Church is dependent on the means of grace and is sustained by them as well, but the means of grace are not the Church. "However, Word and Sacrament are correctly called notae ecclesiae" (Pieper, vol. III, 409). And lastly, the visible marks of the Church do not make the Church, only the congregation of believers as described before, in faith to the Gospel, constitutes the Church.
The Church is one in Unity since all members of the Church, in spite of the many differences, believes one and the same thing, that is the Gospel of Christ. There are no differences since we all come from the same estate, namely, falling short of the glory of God and being dead in our trespasses, but also being freely justified by his grace. Unity also describes the Church in its entirety. The Church is rooted in fellowship with God through Christ in the Spirit. It is fragmented in its manifestation, but it is also complete because in the unity of the Church we participate in the costly love of the triune God. Life in all its diversity is not uniform or the same from specie to specie, even from individual to individual, but they all share in the life that originates from God. The unity of the Church is a unity of love that enters into relationship with others and is an expression of God’s diversity in the unity of the triune God. The unity of the Church is also fulfilled in the one Spirit according to Ephesians 2:18, and is yet to be fulfilled in eternity. It is expressed, waited on, hoped for, but only experienced in part, such as when we gather in unity around the Lord’s Table in communion. Here, the unity of the Church is seen as a preview, a foretaste of the feast to come when the Church will be completely one at the great Banquet Feast of the Bride.
The Church is Holy because by faith in Christ all members of the Church have a perfect righteousness of faith, not of their own, but by God through Christ. Therefore holiness of the Church can be seen as the community of forgiven sinners. It is grounded in Christ alone, by whose life, death, and resurrection justifies the Church by His grace. The Church is holy by participation in the holy love of God, and is seen in Christian lives and integrity. It is seen in courageous criticism of injustice, through acts of solidarity for the poor and outcast, and through the sharing of friendship with the weak and despised. The holiness of the Church manifests itself also through the spiritual formation of its participants in the community of faith as God helps us resist self-centered life styles. The confession that the Church is holy is an utterance of faith and hope, an affirmation of what God has in mind for the Church in the future and an affirmation of the present that the Church is holy, because it belongs to God, and God is holy.
The Church is Universal, (catholic), because it embraces all believers in Christ, of all eras, of all nations and all places regardless of geopolitical or ethnic and cultural boundaries. The message of the cross, and subsequently of the Church, namely, faith in the remission of sins resulting from Christ’s work of redemption, has been the doctrine of Christ and the apostles down through the ages and even before. Acts 10:43 states, "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Jesus and those who are of the same faith as Abraham are considered the children of Abraham. Therefore the Church is present in all parts of the world in that it has many parishes but it is not provincial. Geography and political boundaries become irrelevant to the Church because it is the unity and inclusion of all that would follow Jesus Christ. The catholicity of the Church exists paradoxically as well, in that in order for the Church to be catholic, it must at times be partisan in demonstration of its holiness, and every partisan act of the Church must also be intentionally catholic.
The Church is Apostolic in that all who come to faith even up to the day of the Lord, come to faith through the word of the apostles. In the book of John, Jesus prays for all believers who will believe in the Gospel through the message of the apostles, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message" (John 17:20). Apostolicity of the Church therefore is the Church’s conformity in all aspects of its life to the gospel of Jesus Christ attested by the prophets and the apostles. This covers all areas of life and practice of the Church from the reading and interpretation of Scripture to daily worship. The Church partakes of the authority given by the apostles of Christ. This apostolic teaching comes first and foremost from Scripture, from the New Testament witness of Jesus Christ, and the Old Testament witness of Christ through the lens of the New Testament.
Work of the Church
The Church is indispensable to Christian life and faith. The nature of God himself is communal and seeks to enter into relationship in community. The Church, as it is present, is a mere glimpse of what God wants of the entire world. The Church is flawed and always in need of reform and renewal, but the Church is none the less the real beginning of God’s new community in which we reflect our reconciliation to God and one another. Each believer is called through the Church to be in service to the world through the work of the Church. The primary purpose of the Church, however, remains today to bear witness and proclaim the gospel of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. Every member of the Church is a minister of the Gospel called within the priesthood of all believers through his or her baptism to bear witness to Jesus and to announce the good news of salvation to all creation. The need in the world for salvation is universal and the Church has a mission to go into all the world making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But it doesn’t stop there, for we are to teach them to obey everything Jesus has commanded according to Matthew 24:19-20.
The Lutheran Church recognizes two sacraments to assist in carrying out this great commission, namely, baptism and communion. Seen primarily as a means of grace instituted by Christ and given to us by God through the Holy Spirit, these sacraments, taken together with the Word of God rightly proclaimed, constitutes Word and Sacrament Ministry. "Without the Scriptural teaching of the means of grace the Christian concept of the Church is impossible" (Pieper, vol. III, 406). We need the means of grace to both enter the Christian Church and remain within it. The sacraments are absolutely dependable witnesses of the gracious will of God toward all who use them, and is only offered and appropriated by faith. Where there is no faith, there is, in spite of all use of the Sacraments, no appropriation of grace and, accordingly, no membership in the Christian Church. The Christian Church carries then this Word and Sacrament ministry out into the world so that others may obtain faith as commanded by our Lord Jesus and gain entry into the Christian Church. The centrality of this ministry is derived from the belief that the Holy Spirit, who creates faith, is given through the Word and the sacraments. It is emphasized that the Spirit works through the Word – the proclamation of the Gospel, and the sacraments.
As a means of grace, baptism in the name of the Triune God is not merely an external ritualized custom dutifully carried out within the Church. Baptism is a divine ordinance practiced by John the Baptist, carried on by Jesus and his disciples, and commanded to be carried forth to include all nations subsequently even to the Last Day. "Baptism is no more and no less than a divinely ordained means whereby God in a special manner conveys and imparts to the person baptized the remission of sins provided for him by Christ’s satisfactio vicaria" (Pieper vol. III, 263). It is not a work offered to God, but one that God does to us because it belongs not to the Law but to the Gospel. Jesus included it in his Great Commission in Matthew 24 and its practice is evident in the apostle’s practice even immediately on the first Pentecost. Baptism has stood from the start as not merely something suggested, but as a something enjoined and necessary for all who have come to faith. The Apostle Peter’s words are clear, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Thus in Acts 2:38, baptism is to be used for the remission of sins, to wash away sins (Acts 22:16), and that Christ cleanses his Church by baptism (Ephesians 5:26). "Through the bestowal of the remission of sins the Word of the Gospel calls forth faith, or strengthens it, and thus is a means of regeneration" (Pieper vol. III, 264).
Essential to baptism is water, the application of water, and Christ’s word. Scripture knows of no other substitute. It is noted in addition that the Word of Christ transmits not only a part, but the whole salvation earned by Christ. Justifying grace is entirely sufficient unto salvation, but where baptism is not available, God’s grace is not lacking. To refuse baptism, however, is to refuse the command of the Lord and thus stand in rebellion to the Word of God. In Lutheran tradition, infant baptism is practiced because all persons are included in the promise of faith and salvation. No where does scripture call on Christians to repeat baptism, but it does frequently remind Christians to remember their baptism.
The Lord’s Supper, like baptism, is a means of grace instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ who enjoined that it be observed in his Church to the end of time. The Lord’s Supper is more than a mere solemn observance of symbols of the absent body and blood of Christ. It was in common use in the early Apostolic Church and is not a work we do for Christ but a work he does to us. It is wholly Gospel and no more and no less than a means ordained by Christ to offer and impart to all who partake of this meal the forgiveness of sins which Christ secured for them. "It is a work through which He assures us that by His reconciling death we have obtained a gracious God" (Pieper, vol. III, 293). It is distinguished from other means of grace in that it confirms and seals the private absolution to the individual by making them the recipient of the very body of Christ that was given for them and of the very blood that Christ shed for them. In Lutheran tradition, Christ is truly present with, in, under, and among the bread and wine, not in a literal or symbolic sense, but in a true sense of his presence. To the extent that Christ is the Lamb of God, or that Christ is the light of the world, the bread and the wine are the body and blood of Christ in the fullness of presence. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb not in a literal sense in that he is a lamb, or in a metaphoric sense being like a lamb, and yet he is more than a symbolic lamb, he is all three and more. It is yet a mystery and must be accepted as such by faith in that when the Word is applied to the elements through faith, Christ’s promises are fulfilled in the fullness of his presence.
The Church recognizes the ministry of ordained and lay ministry. The ordained ministry serves a specific role in the Church’s ministry to remind the Church of its nature, goals, and mission. This occurs first in teaching, preaching, and presiding over sacramental life; second, in maintenance and governance; and third, in the actual work of caring for people within the church. This office arises out of the early Church’s establishment of the episkopoi (overseers). The early Church lifted this particular office above the many others that then existed in the Church such as prophets, teachers, and so on. The episkopoi provided an institutional framework in which other ministries could then function, but the purpose of the overseer was clearly service (diakonia) to the entire body of believers. In Lutheran tradition, this does not mean the ordained ministry is infused with a special grace, for in 1520 Martin Luther said, "We are all ordained priests through baptism" (Luther, vol. 44, 128). It simply means that one among many, exemplifying the gifts of the Holy Spirit, has been set apart, or rather, called by the Church and dedicated to the office of Word and Sacrament ministry within the local church. All believers are called to service of the Gospel, but for the sake of "good order" within the congregation, one is set apart for the diakonia of the entire body. This person works to care for, edify and equip the saints for the work of the ministry and is to be assisted by others such as deacons, elders, under-shepherds, and assisting ministers as the Spirit determines.
Eschatology – The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose
The realm of creation and the realm of redemption share the same future in the eschatological horizon, but eschatology entails more than just the consideration of the end times and the culmination of history. It also encompasses the doctrines of the end of life and the intermediate state of death for the Christian, as well as the Second Advent, the Final Judgement, Heaven and Hell, and the new creation. Each of these, including doctrines of the Law, is linked to the eschatological goal of the world to which the Church points in its message concerning the coming Kingdom of God.
End of Life
Scripture teaches that physical death is not the end or complete annihilation, but the separation of the soul from the body, and Scripture recognizes no cause for death other than sin. God warned Adam and Eve that the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die. Later, after their rebellion, God pronounced his judgement on their sin in Genesis 3:17-19, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ … for dust you are and to dust you will return." Throughout the Bible Scripture knows of no death except the one that is the divine judgement on sin as Romans 6:23 states, "The wages of sin is death." All other causes of death the Scriptures mention occur because of and in consequence to sin. Behind all deaths lies the fact that sin has come into the world and all people have become sinners and incur the consequences of God’s judgement on sin. Christians, although having Christ’s atonement for sins, still must pass through death, except for those that are still alive when Judgement Day arrives. For the Christian, however, death is no long terrible because God’s divine wrath has been replaced by God’s assurance of divine grace. Through death, a Christian passes from death to life. Jesus said of every believer that whoever believes in him "has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24).
Between Death and the Resurrection
The state of persons between death and the resurrection is clear from Scripture. Not much is written about the intervening time between death and Judgement Day, the day Jesus is revealed, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 1:7. Scripture does reveal that the souls of believers after death depart to be with Jesus "in Paradise." Jesus told the thief on the cross of Calvary who turned to him in faith, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). This speaks of a blissful state of the soul after death and makes it evident that the departed souls of the believers are in a state of blessed enjoyment of God. Souls of the unbelieving, Scripture declares, are kept "in prison" until the Judgment, which is a place of punishment according to 1 Peter 3:19-20.
The Second Advent
The Second Coming of Christ will be visible and in the sight of the whole world at once. He will return with his host of angels surrounded by divine majesty with the "clouds of heaven." He comes for the purpose of the final judgement of the world, to complete the work of salvation, to resurrect the dead, to judge all people, and to induct his Church into eternal glory. No one knows the time or the hour this will happen, not even Jesus himself knows, but only the Father in heaven. Jesus did tell his disciples of certain signs that will herald his Second Advent in Matthew 24, but attempts to calculate the day or the hour are just vain pursuits. Lutheran tradition rejects chiliasm and its fruitless attempts to predict the Judgement Day.
The Resurrection of the Dead
Scripture clearly affirms the resurrection of the body in both the Old and New Testaments. In Matthew 22:29, Jesus asserts that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; "God is not the God of the dead, but the living." The resurrection is taught in other places in the New Testament such as in John 5:28-29, 6:39-40, Mark 12:18-27, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 2 Corinthians 1:9, and still others. The resurrection of the dead is for all persons regardless of belief – both the just and unjust who have lived and are in their graves, according to John 5:28, will rise and face the final judgement.
The Final Judgement
The final judgement of the world is joined closely to the visible return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. Christ shall sit on his throne in all of his glory and gather all nations before him, and he will separate them like a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. The subjects of the judgement are all humankind; the just and the unjust alike including evil angels, all of creation, and finally death itself. Everyone, however, must pass before the judgement seat of Christ. The norm of the judgement will be according to 2 Corinthians 5:10, which states, "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." The righteous will be judged only by good works because these works are proof of their faith in Christ. Evil works of the righteous are not brought to light because they have been thrown into the depths of the sea according to Micah 7:19 and Matthew 25:34-40. Jesus repeats often in the Gospels, for example in John 3:18, 5:24, and many other places that for the believer in Christ, there is no condemnation before the judgement seat of Christ.
New Heaven and the New Earth
Scripture teaches that the heavens and earth created in Genesis 1 will pass or perish, according to Luke 21:33 and 1 Corinthians 7:31. After the Final Judgement in which even Death itself is annihilated, there is debate, however, as to whether the elements shall pass away or be transformed somehow. Such debate can be left to a matter of future experience. It is not important to make a stand on such an issue. Scripture is clear that the heavens and earth, as we know and experience them today, will change somehow according to God’s perfect will. In any event, one thing for certain is that Christ’s word will continue and stand forever.
Hell and Eternal Damnation
It is objectionable and appalling to the human conscience to comprehend of an endless infernal punishment and a never-ending agony of rational beings, fully realizing their agony for all eternity. By its nature Hell seems contrary to God’s essence and attributes. Scripture teaches, however, so clearly about eternal damnation and Hell that to deny it, one must, to be consistent, also deny Heaven. The conscience of natural man convinces him that damnation awaits him after this life because of their sins. Accordingly, a belief in a Hades with its after-life and punishments prevails in modern thought. Everlasting damnation, destruction and Hell are spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, Matthew 18:8, Mark 3:29, etc., but the nature of eternal damnation consists of eternal banishment from the presence of God and being forever excluded from any communion with God. Jesus says to the unbelieving doomed in Matthew 8:12, "They shall be cast out into outer darkness," and again in Matthew 25:41 he says to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." This is the second death. Just as living in communion with God is supreme joy and delight, so banishment from God’s face involves the most unbearable suffering of body and soul. Although all sins are cause for damnation, Scripture clearly teaches that since Christ’s sacrifice makes propitiation for the sins of the whole world, only faith can save and only unbelief can condemn, (John 3:36).
Heaven and Eternal Life
Through God’s revelation in his Word, we know there is eternal life and that someday we shall behold God as he is and share in the heavenly bliss and life of the age to come. Scripture teaches that beholding God is the source and cause of heavenly bliss, since such seeing of God will transfigure the believer both in soul and body as the glory of God is reflected in them. 1 John 3:2 states, "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." It is clear that the bliss of heaven will surpass all earthly comprehension, but in order to give us some conception of the glory of our inheritance, the Bible uses terms of this life. The Bible uses such terms as "a wedding" in Matthew 25:10 and Revelation 19:9, as "a feast" in Matthew 8:11 and Luke 13:29, and as a sitting upon thrones in Luke 22:30. These are merely images symbolizing the spiritual bliss of life in heaven. Where heaven is or will be exactly located is irrelevant. It is certain that it will always be in the presence of God whether on earth or in the heavens above. The promise to us is that we can each look forward to heaven and our sure and certain hope, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
"After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments’" (Revelations 19:1). In the final analysis, God has made his intentions clear from the Genesis to Revelations. It is God’s desire that all may partake of Heaven, transformation, and eternal life by His grace through Jesus Christ. It is not God’s desire that anyone be lost, but that all may come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and live forever, in the Kingdom of God, in the midst of His presence, beholding Him, forever.
Soli Deo Gloria!
References
Braaten, Carl E., Gerhard O. Forde, and Philip J. Hefner, Christian Dogmatics. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984, Vol. 1 & 2.
Braaten, Carl E. Principles of Lutheran Theology. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1983.
Fee, Gordon D. Gospel and Spirit. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991.
Grane, Leif. The Augsburg Confession, A Commentary. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987.
Grenz, Stanley J. Theology for the Community of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1994.
House, Wayne, H. Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.
Luther, Martin. "To the Christian Nobility." In Luther’s Works. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1961. Vol. 44.
Luther, Martin. The Small Catechism. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1994.
Pieper, Francis. Christian Dogmatics. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1950, Vol. I, II, III.
Ramm, Bernard. Protestant Biblical Interpretation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1970.
Stone, Howard W., James O. Duke. How to Think Theologically. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1996.
Tappert, Theodore, ed. Book of Concord. The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1959.
Thompson, Frank Charles. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible. 2nd Edition. New International Version. Indianapolis, IN: B.B. Kirkbride Bible Co., Inc., 1984.
-- The End --