Wartburg Castle

“The Christian life is not easy. Martin Luther makes fun of the "plaster saints" of the medieval church, the saints set before the people as the perfect example for their piety. The plaster saints exhibited a perfect life and piety, as though it were as easy as rolling out of bed. The saints were portrayed in such a way that they never struggled with sin or battled against their own flesh. They were masters of their own holiness. Like the plaster statuary to which Luther referred, they looked beautiful, were well painted, always exhibited a cherubic smile, and nothing bothered them. But if they fell from their perch of piety in some niche, they smashed into a thousand pieces and were found to be completely hollow; unreal.

Luther took pains to describe the saintly life in such a way that it was quite real. Saintliness is not an easy perfection. It is not a life free from sin. It is not a life into which no trouble comes. It is not a life of constant cherubic joy. It is a life that knows the meaning of sin and the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.

Continue reading

by Frederik Mulder

An evangelistic talk about sceptics who changed, evidence for, and the significance of Jesus’ resurrection

The Parish of the Icknield Way Villages, UK, 17 March 2012

Read Ferdie’s paper by clicking here.

“Christ wished to humble Peter, for he wasn’t content to ask once but asked again and again, ‘Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep and lift them up without the severity of the law. Toward others, however, employ the severity of the law because they are not sheep, for I suffer and do all things for humble sheep.’
“In the light of nature and reason the highest wisdom is the law. When Satan speaks according to the law and says to you in your heart, ‘God doesn’t want to forgive you,’ how will you as a sinner cheer yourself, especially if signs of wrath, like illness, etc., are added?
“[The devil says,] ‘Behold, you are weak. How do you know, therefore, that God is gracious to you?’ Then the Christian must come and say, ‘I have been baptized, and by the sacrament I have been incorporated [in Christ]; moreover, I have the Word.’
“The devil objects: ‘This is nothing, for many are called, but few are chosen’ [Matt. 22:14].
“Reply: ‘They lose what they were baptized for. They don’t accept it. They fall away again. They hold on to the law and forget Christ. Therefore, they are not of the elect.’ So Duke George, Margrave Joachim, and the bishop of Mainz  were called and have baptism, the sacrament [of the altar], and Christ the same as we do, but when you get right down to it they rely on their cowls and other works.
“But a Christian remains firmly attached to Christ and says, ‘If I’m not good, Peter wasn’t either, but Christ is good.’ Such are the elect. Others say, ‘God is gracious to me because I hope to amend my ways,’ but this is only a gallows repentance; the heart isn’t in it. Although the wicked sometimes have compunctions (so they call them)—that is, promise themselves that they will be good—they soon depart from the straight path and seek to merit [a reward]. But a Christian says, ‘I wish to do as much as I can, but Christ is the bishop of souls. To him will I cling, even if I sin.’ It is thus that one has assurance.”

Luther, M. (Vol. 54: Luther’s Works : Table Talk, p.86–87.

The next generation of outstanding Lutheran theologians cannot be found at the synod office or teaching in our seminaries. They are not being promoted by Lutheran publishing houses or invited to preach & teach Christ from the dias at our synod & district assemblies. Instead, they are compelled to blog, to record pod casts & to publish their essays, sermons & books independently. They are scattered across the prairies, inner cities & coastlines of our nation, summoned to pulpits & lecterns, conscripted by the LORD of the Church to wage guerrilla warfare in defense of the faith against the devil under the ignorant gaze of the old synodical gods & decrepit generals of the LC-MS.

And, in twenty years you leaders, you men of repute & renown will look around, finally, wondering what has happened only to find that the outstanding theologians – preachers & teachers who live only to magnify Christ in their every thought, word and deed – are not there. Because you did not nurture them, tend to them, water & care for them and so, to you, they will become like wild thorn bushes which produce fruit you cannot pick; fruit only the LORD can savor.

LORD have mercy.

– Rev. Donavon Riley

"My thesis," Forde wrote, "is that Lutherans to be true to their identity…should become even more radical proponents of the tradition that gave them birth and has brought them thus far…Let us be radicals…radical preachers and practitioners of the gospel by justification by faith without the deeds of the law. We should pursue it to the radical depths already plumbed by St. Paul, especially in Romans and Galatians, when he saw that justification by faith without the deeds of the law really involves and announces the death of the old being and the calling forth of the new in hope. We stand at a crossroads. Either we must become more radical about the gospel, or we would be better off to forget it altogether."

– Gerhard O. Forde, in ‘Lutheran Quarterly’, Spring of 1987

“Talk about sanctification is dangerous. It is too seductive for the old being. What seems to have happened in the tradition is that sanctification has been sharply distinguished from justification, and thus separated out as the part of the “salvationing” we are to do. God alone does the justifying simply by declaring the ungodly to be so, for Jesus’ sake. Most everyone is willing to concede that, at least in some fashion. But, of course, then comes the question: what happens next? Must not the justified live properly? Must not justification be safeguarded so it will not be abused? So sanctification enters the picture supposedly to rescue the good ship Salvation from shipwreck on the rocks of Grace Alone. Sanctification, it seems, is our part of the bargain. But, of course, once it is looked on that way, we must be careful not to undo God’s justifying act in Christ. So sanctification must be absolutely separated from justification. God, it seems, does his part, and then we do ours.

The result of this kind of thinking is generally disastrous. We are driven to make an entirely false distinction between justification and sanctification in order to save the investment the old being has in the moral system. Justification is a kind of obligatory religious preliminary which is rendered largely ineffective while we talk about getting on with the truly “serious” business of becoming “sanctified” according to some moral scheme or other. We become the actors in sanctification. This is entirely false. According to Scripture, God is always the acting subject, even in sanctification.”

– Gerhard O. Forde, in ‘Christian Spirituality: Five Views Of Sanctification’

“For Luther the original force of the argument is as much theological as it is exegetical, very much along the lines of Paul’s argument in Galatians 2:21, ". . . if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing." The logic is devastatingly simple. Christ Jesus’ justification of the godless is the first and therefore the controlling premise in the theological argument. So if Christ saves, the law cannot. If Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life," the law cannot be; if Christ has the last word, the law must fall silent before him. Christ’s death and resurrection are, in effect, the first premises in every theological argument.”

–  James A. Nestingen

“Luther himself points the way in a thesis from the Antinomian Disputations quoted in the Formula: "Therefore the law (and likewise the gospel) is to be taught without distinction to the pious just as to the wicked." Instead of sorting the congregation out into those who require first, second, or third use, the preacher is called to declare the biblical text and to proclaim both law and gospel in their fullness: the law in its requirements and accusations as the text demands; the gospel in its power to actually forgive and raise to newness of life. In such proclamation, under the power of the Holy Spirit, the law comes to its one, true, and only end: Christ Jesus himself.”

– Changing Definitions: The Law in Formula VI, James A. Nestingen

“God works under the antagonism & the hiddenness of the cross. God hides the life of the saints from them. They barely feel the hidden groaning of the Spirit in view of the chaotic flood of temptation. Nonetheless, the Lord rules w/in & struggles against lust in the chastity of the spiritual man.”

– Albrecht Peters, The Ten Commandments: Commentary on Luther’s Catechisms.

SECTION III. A TRUE PREACHER SHOULD FIRST USE THE LAW ARIGHT AND THEN PREACH THE GOSPEL.

9. The porter here is the preacher who rightly teaches the Law–shows that the Law exists and must reveal to us our helplessness; that the works of the Law do not help us, and yet they are insistent. He then opens to the shepherd, that is, to Christ the Lord, and lets him alone feed the sheep. For the office of the Law is at an end; it has accomplished its mission of revealing to the heart its sins until it is completely humbled. Then Christ comes and makes a lamb out of the sheep–feeds it with his Gospel and directs it how to regain cheer for the heart so hopelessly troubled and crushed by the Law.

10. The lamb then hears Christ’s voice and follows it. It has the choicest of pastures, and knows the voice of the shepherd. But the voice of a stranger it never hears and never follows. Just as soon as one preaches to it about works, it is worried and its heart cannot receive the teaching with joy. It knows very well that nothing is accomplished by means of works; for one may do as much as he will, still he carries a heavy spirit and he thinks he has not done enough, nor done rightly. But when the Gospel comes–the voice of the shepherd–it says: God gave to the world his only Son, that all who believe on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Then is the heart happy; it feeds upon these words and finds them good. The lamb has found its satisfying pasture; it wants none other. Yea, when it is given other pasture, it flees from it and will not feed therein. This pasture always attracts the sheep, and the sheep also find it. God says in the prophecy of Isaiah: "So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish all in the things whereto, I sent it" (Is 55:11).

SECTION IV. THE HEARERS HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXAMINE AND JUDGE A SERMON

"And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers."

11. In this text there are two thoughts worthy of note: the liberty of faith, and the power to judge. You know that our soul-murderers have proposed to us that what the councils and the learned doctors decide and decree, that we should accept, and not judge for ourselves whether it is right or not. They have become so certain of the infallibility of the councils and doctors that they have now established the edict, publicly seen, that if we do not accept what they say, we are put under the ban. Now, let us take a spear in hand and make a hole in their shield; yea, their resolutions shall be a spider’s web. And you should, moreover, use upon them the spear which until now they have used upon us, and hold before them its point.

12. Remember well that the sheep have to pass judgment upon that which is placed before them. They should say: We have Christ as our Lord and prefer his Word to the words of any man or to those of the angels of darkness. We want to examine and judge for ourselves whether the pope, the bishops and their followers do right or not. For Christ says here that the sheep judge and know which is the right voice and which is not. Now let them come along. Have they decreed anything? We will examine whether it is right, and according to our own judgment interpret that which is a private affair for each individual Christian, knowing that the authority to do this is not human, but divine. Even the real sheep flee from a stranger and hold to the voice of their shepherd.

– Volume III of, The Sermons of Martin Luther