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| Luther and the Law | | Date Created: Oct 31, 2005, 10:34 AM |
Depending on his opponent, Luther can make the most outrageous statements regarding just about anything. As is well known among Luther scholars, when interpreting his dicta heroica one must always consider the context (duh!) otherwise they may sound like heresy. So it's easy to find Luther's more outrageous outbursts against the law. But it doesn't take too much digging to find many comments that one might use to accuse him of "legalism" as well. Unfortunately, confessional Lutheran professors and students sometimes try to gloss over these.
A few years ago I was in a seminar class that was devoted to analyzing Luther's book On the Councils and the Church (1539). Part III of that work is devoted to the marks of the church. Luther catalogs more than seven. When the class came to that section the professor assigned one to each of us to analyze and report on in class. He actually skipped the one that dealt with the commandments. It's one of the longest, but he "inadvertently" did not assign it to anyone. When we came to it in class, he was ready to skip it and go on, but I asked if we might consider it. If found it interesting and instructive that Luther would say such positive things about the law, like he might even have believed it had a "third" use. ;-)
The professor gave me a few minutes and so I read some of the relevant portions and made a few comments. There was no interaction by the class. No comments by the professor. Nothing. Silence. The professor moved on to the next "mark." I have seen this happen over and over again. Luther says something that doesn't fit into their system and they want to ignore it or explain it away. Consider a few of Luther's remarks:
He says that "Christian holiness [is] an entity common to all churches and all Christians in the world. . . . For Christian holiness or the holiness common to Christendom, is found where the Holy Spirit gives people faith in Christ and thus sanctifies them, Acts 15, that is, he renews heart, soul, body, work, and conduct, inscribing the commandments of God not on tables of stone, but in hearts of flesh, 2 Cor. 3. Or, if I may speak plainly, he imparts true knowledge of God, according to the first Table, so that those whom he enlightens with true faith can resist all heresies, overcome all false ideas and errors, and thus remain pure in faith in opposition to the Devil. He also bestows strength, and comforts timid, despondent, weak consciences against the accusation and turmoil of sin, so that the souls do not succumb or despair, and also do not become terrified of torment, pain, death, and the wrath and judgment of God, but rather, comforted and strengthened in hope, they cheerfully, boldly, and joyfully overcome the devil. . . "
"In accordance with the second table, he also sanctifies the Christians in body and induces them willingly to obey parents and rulers, to conduct themselves peacefully and humbly, to be not wrathful, vindictive, or malicious, but patient, friendly, obliging, brotherly, and loving, not unchaste, not adulterous or lewd. . . . That is the work of the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and also awakens the body to such a new life until it is perfected in the life beyond. That is what is called 'Christian holiness.' And there must always be such people on earth, even though it may be but two or three, or only children. Unfortunately, only a few of them are old folks. And those who are not, should not count themselves as Christians; nor should they be comforted with much babbling about the forgiveness of sins and the grace of Christ, as though they were Christians--like the Antinomians do."
"For they, having rejected and being unable to understand the Ten Commandments, preach much about the grace of Christ, yet they strengthen and comfort only those who remain in their sins, telling them not to fear and be terrified by sins, since they are all removed by Christ. They see and yet they let people go on in their public sins, without any renewal or reformation of their lives. Thus it becomes quite evident that they truly fail to understand the faith and Christ, and thereby abrogate both when they preach about it. How can he speak lightly about the works of the Holy Spirit in the first table--about comfort, grace, forgiveness of sins--who does not heed or practice the works of the Holy Spirit in the second table, which he can understand and experience, while he has never attempted or experienced those in the first table?" (LW 41, pp. 145-147).
Of course, in this passage Luther is railing against Rome and her perverted idea about "holiness." He says a few pages later: "Just throw a surplice over your head and you are holy in accordance with the Roman church's holiness, and you can indeed be saved without Christian holiness" (p. 148). |
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