Love and the Incarnation and the Hyper-Defense of God
Posted by Anthony on May 12, 2010
One of the things that really bothers me in some Christian circles is the hyper-defense of God’s power and sovereignty. Now, for the record, I am Lutheran in background and emphasis, and Lutherans are not typically known for being big on ‘sovereignty’ type stuff. We’re supposed to see that sort of thing among Calvinists. Actually, though, I see it within Lutherans as much as I see it anywhere else so rather than pick on my Calvinist friends allow me to illustrate it from my own home denomination. (The faithful reader knows that I rarely, rarely, rarely address denominational issues and hardly even allude to them. Stick with me here.)
Lutherans are big on being saved by grace through faith, and not by works. They make a big deal about how a person’s efforts- their own reason and strength (read: or personal decision) aids in one’s salvation. Of course, this is proper to a point. But what then would we make of a comment such as this one from the Apostle Paul? Paul says,
I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. (1 Cor 9:22)
Whoa. Hold the horses. Paul is saving people? Holy cats. I thought that was the work of God! The sole, and exclusive domain of the Holy Spirit! And yet here you have Paul issuing forth blasphemy!
The Lutherans that I know who ‘hyper-defend’ God seem oblivious to this passage, and numerous ones like it. There is irony in this, because Lutherans are theologically equipped to incorporate Paul’s statement in a cogent manner, talking about things like the ‘means of grace,’ the emphasis on vocation, and things of that sort. In this case we might point out that while it is God who saves, surely, he has decided to do this through certain means- and these means include the body of Christ, the Church. (They would add: ‘through the pure preaching of the Gospel and the right administration of the sacraments.) Read the rest of the entry… »
