What Then of Free Will?

As a member of the Ministry Committee of the Northwest District of the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), it was my pleasure yesterday to participate in the interviewing of two prospective members of our clergy roster. In this process I encountered a new first principle, viz. the Sovereignty of God. The argument would proceed that if God is truly sovereign He must know ultimately who will be saved, whose name is written in the book of life. With a selective use of scripture one can then develop John Calvin's view of double predestination. Because of His sovereign nature God must know in advance who will be saved and who will be damned. Our's is merely to work out our salvation in fear and trembling.

My recollection of seminary training in the 1960's focused more heavily on Christology and the Atonement than on Theology. Christ is our primary window into understanding the nature of the Father. As Christians, our commission issues from the words of Christ as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations... And further in Paul's first letter to Timothy 2:3-4 ...God our savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

We, in Lutheran circles, know of the amicable and contentious relationship between Erasmus of Rotterdam and Martin Luther. Erasmus held that the individual must have a hand, however small, in choosing to have faith. In attacking Luther, Erasmus issued his A Disquisition on Free Will in February 1524. In it he declared the teaching of the bondage of the will to be among the useless doctrines we can do without.

In Bondage of the Will, Luther provided a different view. In regard to his salvation, there is no good work that sinful man can do. While Erasmus would argue that the deed defines the doer, Luther would counter that the doer defines the deed.

Luther did defend the freedom of the will with regard to daily life, but when it came to saving faith it was a gift. For by grace have you been saved through faith and not by works of the Law, so that no one can boast. It is the free gift of God (Romans 1:17 & 3:21-24 paraphrase).

For Luther this finds its clearest expression in his explanation to the third article of the Apostle's Creed. I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort even believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel...

Precisely because God the Father is Sovereign, Lord of All, He is neither on trial here nor does he require our defense. Our's is to wrestle with the shape of His shadow as he passes by. We are like the committee of blind men attempting to describe the elephant according to each part they were holding. Theologically and Christologically all of the parts must be kept in tension in order to have the fullest picture.

As Luther would ask, What does this have to do with daily living? Everything! For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known (I Corinthians 13:12).

Sola fide!
Joe

A Tree Falls...

Remember the philosopher George Berkeley (1685-1753)? Those of us who took Intro to Philosophy learned of him and his flashlight view of reality. It was brother Berkeley who posed the question: "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?"

Prophetically, George Berkeley may have been allegorically describing the life of a blogger. You think about it; you key it into your computer and then you post it. Does it really make a sound? Possibly not.

Blogging may be more therapy for the blogger than for the blogee. Whatever the truth, I will continue to blog if only for myself. It keeps me in the Word and thinking, neither of which are fatal.

If someone is out there, let me know.

Continued
Grace & Peace!

Introductory Post: Who Cares What You Think?

There is an easy answer to that question: NO ONE!

This blog may be more for personal reflection than theological insight. With the internet tools that are available, I intend to search the web for helpful links in order to navigate the minefield of contemporary theological distortions, while hoping at the same time to not become one.

THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA (ELCA)--WHAT DID THEY DO?
At their Churchwide Assemby in Minneapolis, the ELCA, by a one vote margin, adopted the document Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust. This twenty page document is available at http://www.elca.org/. "It also adopted 15 implementing resolutions by a vote of 695-285. The social statement is a theological and teaching document that builds on the key Lutheran principles of justification by grace and Christian freedom to serve the neighbor." (Copied from the ELCA website.) On August 17th, the ELCA took the following action: Resolution 2: Adopted by a vote of 559-451: “Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding a way for people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church.”

OUR RESPONSE
What? While we would affirm that the Church is a hospital for sinners rather than a hotel for saints and that there is room for everyone, it does not follow that we should make them all clergy. It does invite the question, "Who is next?"

If the national average lifespan of a lesbian relationship is five years and a gay relationship is seven years, what does "people in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships" really mean? What kind of a litmus test does this policy invite?

CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE
While it may be inconceivable that any church body would decide doctrine by even super-majority, that is precisely what has occurred with the ELCA. Many congregations are now assessing whether they have a future in the ELCA? Within this theological wasteland, they are looking at their options of remaining in protest or leaving to join Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) or Lutheran CORE as they shape their synodical futures.

FUTURE BLOGS
In this space we will look at:
Responses from WordAlone, Lutheran CORE and LCMC.
What are the implications of the ELCA's focus on "God's work. Our hands"?
The ELCA: The Path to Division or Decomposition?
The Abuse of the Lens "Love thy neighbor"
The Word of God as Law
The Word of God as Gospel
The Authority of the Word--an historical Lutheran perspective
simul justis et pecator
Luther: Was ist das? (What does this mean for daily living?)

I invite your comments, corrections and responses.

GRACE and PEACE,
Joe Grande, M. Div.