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All Along the Watchtower

~ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you … John 13:34

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Tag Archives: Pharisee

The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord – Book of Concord

24 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by Neo in Faith, Lutheranism

≈ 2 Comments

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Bible, Book of Concord, Christ, God, Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Pharisee

Martin Luther

A bit of the Book of Concord which I think shed a fair amount of light on what we mean by free will as it pertains to our salvation.

For, as Doctor Luther says Ps. 90: “In worldly and external affairs; which pertain to the livelihood and maintenance of the body, man is cunning, intelligent, and quite active; but in spiritual and divine things, which pertain to the salvation of the soul, man is like a pillar of salt, like Lot’s wife, yea, like a log and a stone, like a lifeless statue, which uses neither eyes nor mouth, neither sense nor heart.

21] For man neither sees nor perceives the terrible and fierce wrath of God on account of sin and death [resulting from it], but ever continues in his security, even knowingly and willingly, and thereby falls into a thousand dangers, and finally into eternal death and damnation; and no prayers, no supplications, no admonitions, yea, also no threats, no chiding, are of any avail, yea, all teaching and preaching is lost upon him, until he is enlightened, converted, and regenerated by the Holy Ghost,

22] for which [renewal of the Holy Ghost], indeed, no stone or block, but man alone, was created. And although God, according to His just, strict sentence, has utterly cast away the fallen evil spirits forever, He has nevertheless, out of special, pure mercy, willed that poor fallen human nature might again become and be capable and participant of conversion, the grace of God and eternal life; not from its own natural, active [or effective] skill, aptness, or capacity (for the nature of man is obstinate enmity against God), but from pure grace, through the gracious efficacious working of the Holy Ghost.”

23] And this Dr. Luther calls capacitatem (non activam, sed passivam), which he explains thus: Quando patres liberum arbitrium defendunt, capacitatem liberatatis eius praedicant, quod scilicet verti potest ad bonum per gratiam Dei et fieri revera liberum, ad quod creatum est. That is: When the Fathers defend the free will, they are speaking of this, that it is capable of freedom in this sense, that by God’s grace it can be converted to good, and become truly free, for which it was created in the beginning. (Tom. 1, p. 236.) To like effect also Augustine has written, lib. 2, Contra Iulianum. Doctor Luther on Hosea 6; also in the Church-Postil on the Epistle for Christmas; also on the Gospel for the third Sunday after Epiphany.

24] But before man is enlightened, converted, regenerated, renewed, and drawn by the Holy Ghost, he can of himself and of his own natural powers begin, work, or concur in working in spiritual things and in his own conversion or regeneration just as little as a stone or a block or clay. For although he can control the outward members and hear the Gospel, and to a certain extent meditate upon it, also discourse concerning it, as is to be seen in the Pharisees and hypocrites, nevertheless he regards it as foolishness, and cannot believe it. And in this respect he acts even worse than a block, inasmuch as he is rebellious and hostile to God’s will, unless the Holy Ghost is efficacious in him, and kindles and works in him faith and other virtues pleasing to God, and obedience.

25] Thirdly, in this manner, too, the Holy Scriptures ascribe conversion, faith in Christ, regeneration, renewal, and all that belongs to their efficacious beginning and completion, not to the human powers of the natural free will, neither entirely nor half, nor in any, even the least or most inconsiderable part, but in solidum, that is, entirely, solely, to the divine working and the Holy Ghost, as also the Apology teaches.

26] Reason and free will are able to a certain extent to live an outwardly decent life; but to be born anew, and to obtain inwardly another heart, mind, and disposition, this only the Holy Ghost effects. He opens the understanding and heart to understand the Scriptures and to give heed to the Word, as it is written Luke 24:45: Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. Also Acts 16:14: Lydia heard us; whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. He worketh in us both to will and to do of His own good pleasure, Phil. 2:13. He gives repentance, Acts 5:31; 2 Tim. 2:25. He works faith, Phil. 1:29: For unto you it is given, in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him. Eph. 2:8: It is the gift of God. John 6:29: This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. He gives an understanding heart, seeing eyes, and hearing ears, Deut. 29:4; Matt. 13:15. He is a Spirit of regeneration and renewal, Titus 3:5. 6. He takes away the hard heart of stone, and gives a new tender heart of flesh, that we may walk in His commands, Ezek. 11:19; Deut. 30:6; Ps. 51:10. He creates us in Christ Jesus to good works, Eph. 2:10, and makes us new creatures, 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15. And, in short, Every good gift is of God, Jas. 1:17. No one can come to Christ unless the Father draw him, John 6:44. No one knoweth the Father, save him to whom the Son will reveal Him, Matt. 11:27. No one can call Christ Lord except by the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 12:3. Without Me, says Christ, ye can do nothing, John 15:5. All our sufficiency is of God, 2 Cor. 3:5. What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? 1 Cor. 4:7.

27] Accordingly, St. Augustine particularly writes of this passage that by it he was convinced that he must lay aside his former erroneous opinion, when he had maintained the following in his treatise De Praedestinatione, chap. 3: Gratiam Dei in eo tantum consistere, quod in praeconio veritatis Dei voluntas nobis revelaretur; ut autem praedicato nobis evangelio consentiremus, nostrum esse proprium et ex nobis esse. Item erravi (inquit), cum dicerem, nostrum esse credere et velle; Dei autem, dare credentibus et volentibus facultatem operandi. That is: I erred in this, that I held that the grace of God consists only in this, that God in the preaching of the truth reveals His will; but that our consenting to the preached Gospel is our own work, and is within our own powers. Likewise, St. Augustine writes further: I erred when I said that it is within our own power to believe the Gospel and to will; but it is God’s work to give to them that believe and will the power to effect something.

28] This doctrine is founded upon God’s Word, and conformable to the Augsburg Confession and other writings above mentioned, […]

And yes, if you read this carelessly, one can see where the one shot conversion that some evangelicals proclaim, but Luther always proclaimed and lived that you had to live every day (as much as you could), in the Lord. It’s not a ‘One and Done’,. It never was.

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THE TWO GREATEST COMMANDMENTS

18 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by Neo in Homilies, Lutheranism

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Christ, God, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus, Jews, Lord, Martin Luther, Pharisee

This is about fifth of the sermon, if there is interest, I’ll post more of it. My comments are in italics

looking-at-the-path-of-a-christian_tSermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity; Matthew 22:34-46

From a Sermon by Martin Luther; taken from his Church Postil.

1. This Gospel consists of two questions. In the first the lawyer on behalf of the other Pharisees asks Christ: Which is the great commandment in the law? In the second the Lord asks the Pharisees and the lawyer: Whose son is David? These two questions concern every Christian; for he who wishes to be a Christian must thoroughly understand them. First, what the law is, and the purpose it serves; and secondly, who Christ is, and what we may expect from him.

2. Christ explains here to the Pharisees the law, telling them what the sum of the whole law is, so that they are completely silenced both at his speech and his question, and know less than nothing of what the law is and who Christ is. From this it follows, that although unbelief may appear as wisdom and holiness before the world, it is nevertheless folly and unrighteousness before God, especially where the knowledge of the two questions mentioned above is wanting. For he who does not know how he stands before the law, and what he may expect from Christ, surely has not the wisdom of God, no matter how wise and prudent he may pretend to be. Let us therefore consider the first question, namely: What the law is; what it commands and how it is to be spiritually interpreted.

3. When the lawyer asked Christ, which was the great commandment in the law, the Lord said to him: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.”

4. As if the Lord would say: He who possesses love to God, and love to his neighbour, has all things, and therefore fulfils the law; for the whole law and all the prophets point to these two themes, namely: how God and our neighbour are to be loved.

5. Now one may wish to ask: How can you harmonize this statement, that all things are to be comprehended in these two commandments, since there was given to the Jews circumcision and many other commandments? To answer this, let us see in the first place how Christ explains the law, namely, that it must be kept with the heart. In other words, the law must be spiritually comprehended; for he who does not lay hold of the law with the heart and with the Spirit, will certainly not fulfil it. Therefore the Lord here gives to the lawyer the ground and real substance of the law, and says that these are the greatest commandments, to love God with the heart and our neighbour as ourselves. From this it follows that he, who is not circumcised, who does not fast nor pray, is not doing it from the heart; even though he may perform external acts, he nevertheless does nothing before God, for God looketh on the heart, and not on our acts, I Sam. 16, 7. It will not profit a man at all, no matter what work he may perform, if his heart is not in it.

6. From this arises another question: Since works are of no profit to a man, why then did God give so many commandments to the Jews? To this I answer, these commandments were given to the end that we might become conscious whether we really love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and in addition our neighbour as ourselves; for St. Paul says in Rom. 7, 7 (3, 20), that the law is nothing but a consciousness and a revelation of sin. What would I know of sin, if there were no law to reveal it to me? Here now is the law that saith: Thou shalt love God with thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself. This we fulfil if we do all that the law requires; but we are not doing it. Hence he shows us where we are lacking, and that, while we ought really to do something, we are doing nothing.

7. That the Jews had to practice circumcision was indeed a foolish ceremony, yea, a command offensive to reason, even though it were given by God still today. What service was it to God, to burden his people with this grievous commandment? What good was it to him, or what service to a neighbour? Yea, and it did not profit the Jew, who was circumcised. Why then did God give the command? In order that this commandment and law might show them whether they really loved God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind, and whether they did it willingly or not. For if there were a devout heart, it would say: I verily do not know why God gave me circumcision, inasmuch as it does not profit any one, neither God, nor me, nor my neighbour; but since it is well pleasing to God, I will nevertheless do it, even though it be considered a trifling and despised act. Hence, circumcision was an exercise of the commandment, Thou shalt love God with all thy heart.


I want to break down the Great Commandment a bit because something has struck me recently.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” strikes me as straightforward, love God as the One God, with everything you’ve got. Although, as always, we’d be well advised not to make God in our image, and that is easy enough to do. I suspect most of us are guilty of it from time to time.

The problems for us as Christians comes in this part, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“.

If you love mostly yourself, it’s pretty obvious you’re going to be a selfish son of a gun, and not fit company for man or woman (or even animal). We see this all the time don’t we? Both of these are often considered as the sin of pride.

But we are also commanded to love ourselves as our neighbor. this is a bit murky but, what I see here is that it is wrong to negate ourselves greatly,as well. I wonder if this is the origin of collectivism, the theory that the individual doesn’t matter, only the group.

Food for thought, at any rate.

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The Pharisee and the Reformation

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Neo in Faith

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

Christianity, God, Jesus, Luke, Pharisee

Luke 18:9-14

Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Seems pretty clear doesn’t it? Be humble. That’s not a bad message for us at all. Is that what all the fuss is about?

Well, it is and then it isn’t. That St. Luke is a tricky dude, he builds traps into his stories for us. There are a few of them here. The first and most obvious is this:

The Pharisee is exactly correct, he is every thing he says he is, an upright, just man, according to his lights. And that’s the trap in the parable, according to his lights. So was St. Paul before the road to Damascus. Because it’s not about him, is it? Isn’t it really about being a Godly man, according to God’s wants? It is, indeed and doing the right things, even in the right way, like the Pharisee, isn’t going to cut it. We need to be God’s people, not upright, just men and women who see God in their image.

Then there’s the publican, who is a very humble man, and merely asks God to bless him, that seems very good doesn’t it. Doing what God asks. But there’s a trap here as well, if we pay attention. He makes no pretense that he’s going “to go and sin no more”, does he? Nope, he’s going to go home and continue his life, with all its corrupt practices, which are necessary to him making his living just as he always has.

And in many ways that is the point, we are not and can not be worthy of salvation, we can only throw ourselves on God’s mercy. This, of course, is the entire point of Grace, we can try (and we should, of course) to follow all the rules and commandments which God has passed along over the millennia; we will fail. I fail before I make out of my pew, most times. Thus, there is only the grace of the Lord.

So there is the double trap of the Parable of the Pharisee, no matter what we do, we are wrong, all we can do is beg God’s grace. In a way it’s a pretty simple message isn’t it?

Except it’s not over yet. Because we all, if we know what is good for us, are going to decide to be like that tax collector and live our lives humbly and in full awareness that we are undeserving sinners. Well, kids, we just screwed up again. How? We just made it all about ourselves again, by thinking about ourselves. And that the third trap of the parable. It’s very, very hard to avoid making it all about ourselves, isn’t it?

And that is the secret of the Reformation. Whether it was trying to buy your way out of Purgatory five hundred years ago, arguing about orders of worship today, or whether I’m Lutheran, or Catholic, or Baptist, or Evangelical, or any of our other differences, or indeed whether any, or all, or none of us are going to heaven.

It’s not about us: it’s about God.

This parable, the Reformation, and Christianity, itself, is about a God that loves us, enough to defeat death for us, to create light from the dark, and to pull us all, saints or sinners, Pharisee or publican, pillar of the community or ne’er do well to him in a state of unimagined grace.

And since Lutherans couldn’t possibly do Reformation Sunday without, there is this

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