People of the Book
by Dr. Jeffray GreeneUnderstanding the use and authority of Scripture has been the task of the Church throughout the ages. Have we departed from the roots of our understanding of its nature and use today? This is a legitimate question to ask, in light of the barrage of opinions on how the church addresses contemporary issues. How we view God's interaction with humanity evidently influences how we accept, reject, or even seek to modify the definitive use of Scripture in the Church.
Essential qualities of Scripture are questioned now, and have become fodder to feed the confessional battle the ELCA is now engaged in. As those who embrace the "Church of the Confession," truly a part of the one apostolic and Christian church, should we not inquire about the authority of Scripture?
What do we mean when we say, "Scripture is the authoritative source and norm of our faith and life"(ELCA Constitution, Article 2)? At the least, it must mean that The Book must be the starting point, because it introduces us to God through Christ and lays out His plan for everyone's salvation. How could we call ourselves true disciples of the Word, if we call into question the doctrine of Christ? How can we prove the veracity of our cause if we do not rely on the source we proclaim as normative? How can we doubt the efficacy of what we ourselves have experienced when encountered by Scripture?
To even have to say that there must be a doctrine on the authority of Scripture, is symptomatic of the problem. For Scripture is the very source of our articles of faith. Yet we are faced with those who choose not to see Scripture as the final authority in matters of faith and life.
We bog down in specific interpretations. These are further complicated by our willingness to run to other sources for a normative answer. "Studies suggest ... " and we're off and running in another direction, seeking an opinion that does not coincide with the Word God has given us. "Logos" (John 1: 1) is much more than just the person and work of Christ, although, ultimately, all things must center in and through the very work that we proclaim as the Gospel, namely, God's reconciling act through the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
We believe ourselves modern and above ancient arguments that seem to be shrouded in superstition, but there is a fundamental question that guides not only who we are, but who we are to become. That is: either this book we call the Bible IS or it IS NOT definitively given by God by the means and through whom He alone has chosen and set before us in the fashion He has so determined through the ages.
Which one of us dares to say, in an effort to confront the meaning of the Bible's statements, that God is unable to do one thing or another, and therefore the words cannot stand as they were written? Why can we so easily discount God's involvement-what the Bible calls the inspiration of Scripture-in the means that produced what we now know as canonical Scripture? Perhaps Scripture is speaking the truth, and God really did give this book to us, in its entirety, as we now know it.
Is that so hard to accept? Does not Scripture itself repeatedly declare itself to be a book not of man, but from God? Where can we find Scripture bringing itself into question, the way we do today? Look at what Jesus had to say, quoting the Old Testament. He who knew no sin relied – in every case – upon the knowledge that Scripture was and is true.
Our seminaries, by contrast, are rampant with teaching that calls into question the legitimacy and reliability of that ancient document. Prophecy is discounted by alleging that events were written in prophetic form, but after the fact. Instances of divine revelation are discounted or excused away. Committees, classes of professionals and "historical process" are given the title of "author" of vast segments of Scripture. Ultimately, miracles are concluded to be fanciful wishes and The Book becomes nothing more than a cumulative mythological account of wishful thinkers. Is this what the Confessional Church throughout its life has understood Scripture to be?
Surely not. The 400 year old confidence of the Lutheran Church that the Scriptures are the authoritative norm for our faith and life could not have been built on such a sand-foundation.
We turn therefore to the Bible's own statements about its singular nature. "In order to know the Bible we must study the Bible. Only the Bible itself can tell what the Bible is. And only knowing the Bible can we get to believe what it teaches." (Winther, in Theopneustia) This must be our way to the best possible attitude toward the Bible and to the best possible use of it.
No one who calls himself a theologian should declare Scripture to be in error. To do so is to declare that God is in error. Nevertheless, theological work in the later half of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century has seen efforts through archeology and other sciences to discredit portions of Scripture.
We behold those who do not want these portions of Scripture to hold sway over us. They find fault with the inclusion of those parts, segments, or even whole books which do not coincide with their personal proclivity or desire. They adduce no historical or archeological refutation of Scripture's story. Yet their battle, under the banner of consistency-in order to discredit its accuracy of Scripture-is often upheld with great pretentiousness. For them, Scripture couldn't possibly mean what it says; it must mean something else.
Such discrediting itself exalts an authority for faith and life that is outside of Scripture. But if Scripture is THE Word of God, then we must take it with its full weight of existing by the direction of God. Or else it should have absolutely no weight at all. Either we are in continuity with the saints who went before us, who fought the good fight of faith, upholding the true faith as declared in Scripture, or we are in support of the legitimization of heresy.
Of those alternatives, there can be no hesitancy. Does not Scripture admonish us to reject any gospel other than the one we have already received? We are talking about the God who has stated what obedience means and what the rules of life and faith are. He has already spoken clearly about things we are all-too willing to continue to argue about, like the contemporary issues of accepting behaviorally active homosexuality, abortion, evolutionary creation, and adhering to human traditions over against God's declarations. These too are merely examples of the age-old question of whether or not God, as the Word, has intervened in human history and through His Word has given us definitive understandings for our faith and life. Are we then so bold as to think we have an ability to assert that God has changed His mind, orthat He didn't mean what He has said? What about where Scripture attests that God is the same today, yesterday and forever?
We truly are in a battle over the principles upon which our Faith is founded. If we are willing, by any measure, or in any amount, to buy into the age-old filth spewed out by the father of lies that God has not been specific, intentional and directive, or has not made His particular proclamation, as well as His personal visit, then we are not in continuity with those who have died trusting in the proclamation of the Scripture that we all too willingly have allowed to be trashed by so-called "modern" interpreters.
During four years in an ELCA seminary, I was taught an exclusively critical view of Scripture. It was not able to undermine my faith, however; instead, it convicted me with an awe of how wonderfully woven together God's revelation is. I was told that it could be shown that God didn't mean what He said, on any number of topics. But the evidence was never forthcoming. I was assured that Scripture is filled with error and discrepancy, but I've not yet seen anything even close to substantiating such claims. Instead, in the 28,000 plus extant documents thus far uncovered archeologically, there are NO significant contradictions with the record of Scripture we have before us.
But how many of those who have been taught such disrespect for the Scripture have questioned the teaching and looked for the truth? Many, I am sure, but many also have bought into a critical view of Scripture that calls into question the very foundational tenets of our faith, such as the virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, the literal death and resurrection of Jesus, and therefore the hope of glory in the promise of our own resurrection. Is itanywonderwe are in a confessional crisis?
Either we are a people of The Book, or we are not. We cannot be both. We must ask whether or not we will continue in our struggle in this age to remain in the faith of our forebears as we seek to make known the mystery of this Book, which in ages past has been called inspired, infallible, inerrant and sacred.
How shall we describe this mystery of Scripture for our generation today? Should we accept the 'new' renditions offered us? No, I think we need not preach any other gospel than the one we've received. Let us remain faithful to the one who has given us the Faith, and who has sustained it through His Word.
Perspectives
Call to a Free Conference: to be held at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Aug 7-9th, to explore the Scriptural and Confessional moorings of our Lutheran faith. Recognizing the dangerous signs of slippage now found in Lutheran churches in the USA, working groups in this pan-Lutheran assembly and five theological leaders (Drs James Kittelson, Charles Arand, David Lumpp, Tim Hoffman and Lenae Rasmussen) will address the need and opportunities for a return to Lutheran confessional and scriptural integrity by encouraging congregation-level studies in Lutheran doctrine.
"Free" conferences are a long used Lutheran tool for achieving doctrinal clarity in the church. Participants do not come as representatives of denominations or institutions, but aim to be a stimulus to spiritual and intellectual growth. Dr Kittelson has more information: e-mail:
Jameskit@aol.com, or phone Julie Smith at 320-669-7378. The address for registrations is: Free Conference on the Lutheran Confessions P.O. Box 213 Clarkfield, MN 56223
One unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate went on record on Cable News Network 8/ 22/99, "We all know that if we repeal ROE-WADE tomorrow, thousands of young American women would be performing illegal and dangerous operations." This is the persistent threat of the pro-abortionists since the '70s. The facts are, according to the National Center for Disease Control's Morbitity and Mortality Weekly Report (8/9/97, p. 96) that in 1972, the year before abortion on demand became legal nationwide, there were 24 legal, 39 illegal, and 25 spontaneous abortion-related maternal deaths. Since then 39 million unborn babies have been "legally" disposed of in the US.
In Response to Hootman's Vision Statement (see p. 4) Ralph Martin from Brenham, TX, writes:
"Our traditional institutions and heirachy are praised by many who are bound by tradition. But that tradition is not reaching those under age 40 and we are a dying church that I believe could be just a generation or so from being extinct. The Historic Episcopate and the rule by bishops FROM THE TOP DOWN will only hasten that extinction. The Evangelical churches are growing and mainline churches declining ... The Disciples of Christ lost half of their membership ( 51 %) between 1965 and 1994 ... The Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ lost 27% each ... The Reformed Church of Christ lost 19% ... The Presbyterian Church USA lost 13% The ELCA (as merged) lost 8% (Pastor William Hinson of the 13,500 member United Methodist Church of Houston said something has to be wrong in the national UMC when 2.5 million souls are lost in 30 years.) This all occurred when the population of the US increased by 30% ... The Assemblies of God gained 306% ... The Church of the Nazarene grew by 74%. We should not put new wine in old wine skins, but ask the Holy Spirit to direct us where we should go and how He would have us proceed as we enter the 21 st Century. With over 100 Million unchurched Americans, the fields are ripe unto harvest. 'Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers into that harvest' to His glory and by His will, that all might hear the gospel and know our Risen Lord and Savior."In Christ Alone
by Joe HootmanA landmark movement has arisen in the ELCA, dedicated to removing the mandatory imposition of an "historic episcopate" (h. E.) as the unconditionally exacted price by the Episcopal Church for "full communion" with the ELCA. Called "Word Alone Network," WAN organized itself in March (see the last issue of FOCL -Point for details). Birthed and originally nurtured exclusively by internet players, it is a first in successfully rallying American Lutherans to a vital confessional cause via cyberspace. Its webmaster, Joe Hootman from the Univ. of Texas, wrote a vision statement which brings to mind Martin Luther's "Ninety-Five Theses" that set off the fireworks of the Reformation and changed the course of history. We share his thoughts with our readers.
With WAN's constituting convention, incorporation, and election of a board of directors, a lot of folks have asked some questions about WordAlone's purpose.
One thing useful to remember is that WordAlone is first and foremost a renewal movement. It has an official Network to help coordinate the practical accomplishment of some goals (all of which are important and worth spending time and energy discussing), but the Holy Spirit does the real work. That work is the awakening of individual people, families, congregations, and broader groups of Lutheran Christians to the power of a life lived solely in Christ alone.
So, spend time encouraging the Board of Directors, focus hard on achieving tactical results, but remember that the most important work begins first in your own life, your own mind, your own heart. As a huge act of grace, the Holy Spirit is calling us out of our own self-reliance, our own self confidence, and leading us into deep repentance for making ourselves (all churchy and pious) the object of our faith. After that shattering, God wants to usher each of us in to an fresh, edgy, powerful, over-abundant life lived in reliance on Jesus alone.
The Network will and should take on the pragmatic matters of some national life together. We will use it to work for the liberty of an "h. E.-free" life in the ELCA. We will use it to create our own space for congregations and pastors needing a fresh connection. In doing so, we will work in the freedom of the "earthly kingdom" to use a variety of pragmatic organizing strategies, each of which is important to discuss and implement.
Bigger than the Network
But the movement is bigger than just the Network, although it will be shaped and tempered by it. The movement bears fruit in the most intimate, powerful, local places: within your own life, your own family, your own congregation, your own region.We need help organizing. We need help strategizing. But we also need help in:
• meeting together locally for prayer and mutual encouragement for repentance and renewal in the Word
• preaching Christ alone, and him crucified (1 Cor 2.2) - and sharing the results of that preaching with each other for common encouragement and shared learning
• writing new bible studies and devotional material that uncovers the power of a life lived in sale trust of Jesus in a way that becomes real and alive for people in their own circumstances: facing peer pressure at high school, sighing under the weight of an empty nest.
• thinking and talking about the concrete reality of the priesthood of all believers: how can I offer up my sitting in rush-hour traffic as an act of worship acceptable to the Father, because of Jesus?
• helping people return catechesis and discipleship to the home, instead of hoping that the institutions will "take care of it"Denominational Lutheranism
Understanding this movement as a reality is of critical importance. We are living in the final, dying stages of denominational Lutheranism in America. It is being ushered away, crushed under the weight of its too-great attachments to an adiaphoristic traditional European cultural inheritance. Its children are falling into a stifling mainline religiosity or defecting to other healthy congregations, but wanting for the freedom of that Luther's witness to Christ alone can bring.
The Episcopal-Lutheran Called to Common Mission (CCM) is but a tacit recognition of that fact, and a class striving hope that our bones might find distinguished burial in the upper-crust cemetery at the top of the hill.
The average age in both the ELCA and LC-MS is over 55. The average age in America is 35. Both major Lutheran denominations lack the vision and hope that would enable them to raise up their own future leaders (as currently defined: "clergy"). The demographic base that has produced past harvests for both denominations is both changing and dispersing. The great 20th Century experiment in Grand Institutional Lutheranism in America is dying.
I don't know whether God will decide to let it finally, unalterably, die. But I do know that Luther's witness to the freedom that Jesus offers is "so-o-o-o0-0" much bigger than the 20th Century manifestations of Institutional
Lutheranism. And I know that America desperately needs that witness as a bold, vital, living voice singing out clear and strong in the American Church.A Voice to the Darkness
If that voice will have a future, it will not be in shuffling the institutional cards and hoping for a resurrection of some much-loved institution of the past. Instead, the voice will start out simply and quietly, in humbling self-reflection, as it listens to the Holy Spirit lead it into repentance. It will grow fresh and bold as He ushers it into the radical freedom and hope of living a life that rests in Jesus alone. It will grow more beautiful, as God uses it to attract others to join it in a households and congregations singing in many harmonies. It will grow louder and more confident as it reaches out to the dumb, and sees how God awakens first their ears and then their tongues to join in a new song. It will echo across mountains and plains as it connects with other voices singing the same song. And, as the sun sets and time melts into the final darkness, it will stand overjoyed at the dawning of the new world, shouting out "honor and glory and power and might" to the Lamb who is seated and reigns upon the throne, forever and ever.Is This What We Believe?
by Paul Berge
The ELCA is in a severe struggle to keep the Faith. An increasing percent of its members believes that the mandatory imposition of the "historic episcopate" to satisfy the unconditional demands of the Episcopal Church as its price to be paid to achieve "full communion," is in flat violation of the basic worldwide Faith-Statement of Lutheranism, the Augsburg Confession. Dr Berge gives us a summary of that Confession's position on the essentials of God's revelation of the Church's unity in Christ, as understood by the Lutheran Church.
The AUGSBURG CONFESSION is a gift not only to the Lutheran Church, but also to the church catholic. The Augsburg Confession identifies in a clear and evangelical way what is at the heart of the life of faith. In the sixteenth century, when the visible unity of the church was identified in the bishop, the reformers identified the unity of the church solely in Jesus Christ. In Christ, God meets us in word and sacrament, means through which the Holy Spirit works faith in our lives, creating a priesthood of all believers.
The crisis present in the ELCA takes issue with the Augsburg Confession as a faithful and true witness of the biblical understanding of the unity of the church. Called to Common Mission (CCM) requires that the ELCA adopt "the historic episcopate" (episcopos is the Greek word for bishop) of the Episcopal Church as the constitutive and necessary requirement for church unity. This requirement is contrary to a Lutheran understanding of our biblical and confessional heritage. In the New Testament it is clear that there is not one order of ministry but a rich variety of ways in which the ministry of the gospel takes place among us. The Augsburg Confession recognizes this freedom in the gospel and states clearly that "it is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian church that the Gospel be preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it and that the sacraments be administered in accordance with the divine Word" (Article VII).
Congregations Must Understand
It is imperative that congregations of the ELCA understand what is at the heart of the biblical and confessional witness of the Lutheran tradition and to educate their members so that they understand what is at stake as CCM is imposed upon them. Members of these congregations had no part or say in this radical change in the understanding of their congregation and national church body. In order to understand the present crisis we need to look at the context within the Augsburg Confession for hearing and understanding article seven entitled, "The Church." To do this we will look at the first fourteen articles of the twenty-eight articles of the Augsburg Confession.
The Augsburg Confession begins with the article on "God," expressing the continuity in faith with the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church" in the first sentence: "We unanimously hold and teach, in accordance with the decree of the Council of Nicaea, ... " The second article on "Original Sin" identifies the fall of Adam and all humanity, and that we "are unable by nature to have true fear of God and true faith in God." The third article on "The Son of God" expresses the faith of the church on the nature and work of Christ and concludes: "The same Lord Christ will return openly to judge the living and the dead, as stated in the Apostles' Creed." Thus the opening three articles of the Augsburg Confession are framed by the faith of "one holy catholic and apostolic Church," acknowledging the Nicene Creed in the opening sentence of the first article and the Apostles' Creed in the concluding sentence of the third article.
Faith Is the Linking Word The reformers made their move over and against the prevailing practices of the church catholic in the fourth article, "Justification." This article introduces the word "faith" for the first time in the Augsburg Confession. This word is the linking word in articles four, five, and six. Article four proclaims: "we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for His sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness, as Paul says in Rom. 3:21-26 and 4:5."
As we catch the rhythm and order of the first four articles, we note that article one on "God," is followed by our broken relationship with God in article two, "Original Sin." Article three on "The Son of God," is followed by our restored relationship with God in article four, "Justification." At this point we would expect article five to be entitled, "The Holy Spirit," since article six "The New Obedience." However, article five is entitled, "The Office of the Ministry." The beauty and gift of the Augsburg Confession is that this article confesses that the work of the Holy Spirit is centered in "The Office of the Ministry."
The linking word, "faith," establishes the connection of article five, "The Office of the Ministry," with article four on "Justification" in the first sentence: "To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, He gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where He pleases, in those who hear the Gospel." In the office of proclaiming the gospel and administering the sacraments, God's Holy Spirit works faith in our lives. Luther called the gathered congregation, in which the word is proclaimed, the "mouth house" of God; from the lips of the one who proclaims to the ears of those who hear, it is the work of the Holy Spirit article seven begins: "It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever."
The definition of the church is centered in the priesthood of all believers, the proclamation of the gospel, and the proper administration of the sacraments: "This is the assembly of all believers good fruits and good works and that we must do all such good works as God has commanded, but we should do them for God's sake and not place our trust in them as if thereby to merit favor before God. ,For we receive forgiveness of sin and describes the work of the Holy Spirit, righteousness through faith in Christ, ... " The first six articles of the Augsburg Confession are the interpretive context for article seven, "The Church." The first three of the six articles (God, Original Sin, The Son of God) place the Augsburg Confession within the theology of the church catholic and its confession in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed. The second three articles (Justification, The Office of the Ministry, The New Obedience), center in the linking word "faith," expressing what is at the heart of Reformation theology and where the reformers take their stand against the prevailing understanding and practices of the sixteenth century church.
Article seven, "The Church," is a masterful confession both in what it says and what it doesn't say. Once again acknowledging the confessing faith of the church catholic in the first three articles, creating faith in our lives through the word.
Article six on "The New Obedience" continues the work of the Holy Spirit. The linking word "faith" is again present in the first sentence: "It is also taught among us that such faith should produce among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel." The third sentence of article seven brings the first two sentences together, confessing what constitutes the unity of the church: "For it is sufficient for the true unity of the Christian church that the Gospel be preached in conformity with a pure on "Confession," article twelve on "Repentance," and article thirteen on "The Use of the Sacraments," continue to identify the church, leading to article fourteen, "Order in the Church." Once again the reformers express what is at the heart of the congregation's identity in simple and profound words. The congregation calls a qualified pastor to serve the ministry of the gospel among them: "It is taught among us that nobody should publicly teach or preach or administer the sacraments in the church without a regular call."
The Augsburg Confession is like a Magna Charta of Christian liberty. It is a gift to a time in which CCM takes away the freedom that is ours as Lutherans. Unity among Christians is a God-given gift solely in Jesus Christ and not the office of bishop. The Augsburg Confession is profound in its simplicity and magnificent in its eloquent interpretation of the biblical foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. In the Augsburg Confession we are called to take our stand as Lutherans in the freedom ofthe gospel. To add requirements that seeks to supplant a word and sacrament ministry, such as the historic episcopate, is not in accord with our biblical and confessional heritage.
This is a time to take a stand not unlike that of Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. In his words: "Here I (we) stand, I (we) can do no other; God help me (us)."
BERGE is professor of New Testament at the ELCA's Luther Seminary, St Paul, MN, and one of the committee which formulated the "Concordat of Agreement" between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church USA. It was rejected at the 1997 ELCA Philadelphia Assembly and replaced with minor modifications by "Called to Common Mission," which passed by a small margin at Denver in 1999. Dr. Berge was one of the committee members who voted not to approve the Concordat for adoption by the ELCA.