I have to say that my week at the Churchwide Assembly troubled me to some degree in my understanding of how we are to live as Christians. The theme for the Assembly was “Living in God’s Amazing Grace: Thanks Be to God!” The theme and all of our Bible study were from Galatians. Speakers and leaders emphasized over and over how we are no longer bound by the law. One Bible study leader asked, “What are you going to do now that you don’t have to do anything?” I have to say I struggled with this because I always have seen the Bible as having something to say about how I am to live. Am I to ignore all that the scriptures say about how we are to live because I am free from the law? Am I holding my brothers and sisters to a law to which we are no longer accountable by believing we should refrain from what the Bible defines as sexual sin?
I have been immersing myself in Jesus’ teachings since I have been home, particularly in the book of Matthew. I also have been reading Martin Luther’s “Freedom of a Christian.” Luther writes:
"Now Adam was righteous and created by God without sin, so he had no need to become righteous and justified through work and caretaking. However, so that he not be idle, God put him to work planting paradise, building and conserving it. These were free works, done only to please God alone, and not to attain righteousness, which he already possessed and which would have already been naturally inborn in all of us as well.
It is the same with the work of the believer, who through faith is once again put in paradise and created anew. Such a person does not need work to become righteous but, simply to please God, but is commanded to do such free works so as not to stand around idle but to give the body work to do that sustains it."
So, do we live our lives to please ourselves or to please God? And if we live to please God, how do we know what pleases God? Perhaps we look to the scriptures where we see not only the commands that God gives us, but a loving father who overlooks our mistakes and loves us in spite of our inability to keep the law perfectly. We don’t have to because Jesus already did it, yet we love him by doing what we can to obey him.
Hmmm. I seem to remember Jesus saying something about obeying him if we love him…
---Katie
3 comments:
It is intersting isn't it that the apostle Paul, who spoke of being justified through faith by grace also said in Galatians that those who practice sexual immorality, drunkenness, etc., shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Clearly, he was not of the same mind found in many ELCA leaders concerning issues of morality. As a Christian one could practice these things and find oneself excluded from the kingdom on the last day.
The point then seems to be that holiness of life, or sanctification as we call it, went hand in hand with the new life in Christ. If one does not show that new life, then one can argue (as Luther did) that one is not really a Christian. This is not to say that Christians won't sin, but to do what many in Corinth were doing and what many in Galatia were doing (that is, acting out in sinful lusts, greed, orgies, etc. and affirming them as of no matter to God and good for them) would indicate that the Holy Spirit is possessing that person. It is instead the Spirit of the world, sin, and the devil.
The ELCA has had a very difficult time dealing with Sanctification, because in its desire to focus on justification it has made itself into an anti-nomian institution.
When a denomination or church focuses on Sanctification to the exclusion of Justification/Atonement, then it becomes entangled in the heresy of works righteousness. When a denomination or church focuses on Justification to the exclusion of Sanctification/The New Adam and Eve, it falls into the heresy of antinomianism.
Of course, with many ELCA scholars and bishops touting a line which denies that Jesus is the way to salvation (such as Bishop Rogness), one may think the ELCA will be both works righteous and antinomian. Schizophrenic.
Peace in the Lord!
Rob Buechler, Pastor
Trinity-Bergen/Faith Lutheran Parish
Starkweather, ND
Oooops!
I wrote: "This is not to say that Christians won't sin, but to do what many in Corinth were doing and what many in Galatia were doing (that is, acting out in sinful lusts, greed, orgies, etc. and affirming them as of no matter to God and good for them) would indicate that the Holy Spirit is possessing that person. "
The last line should read..."would indicate that the Holy Spirit is NOT possessing that person."
Sorry!
Rob
Thank you, Pastor Rob, for succinctly summarizing the issue! I don't think I have heard the word, sanctification, in my church in a long time. Your words are an excellent description of what I saw in Chicago.
I think the ELCA is already far down the road of works righteousness, but the issues focused on are the politically correct ones, poverty, caring for the earth, peace, justice....not issues of personal morality such as sexuality and how we treat others in our personal relationships. I think the idea of living a holy life is ignored in the modern ELCA.
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