From Pastor John
Each year during Lent I read some of Luther’s writings. This year I have decided to read “On Being a Theologian of the Cross, Reflections on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, 1518.” Of particular interest to me is Thesis 3 and 4. Thesis 3 states: Although the works of man always seem attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be mortal sins. Thesis 4 states: Although the works of God are always unattractive and appear evil, they are nevertheless really eternal merits. Look at the comparison.
The Works of Humans
Always look splendid Appear to be good Are nevertheless in all Probability Mortal sins
The Works of God
Always look deformed Appear to be bad Are nevertheless in very truth Immortal sins.
Luther is dealing with the difference between a theology of glory verses a theology of the cross. Luther defines a theology of glory as any way to live a religious life without “dying.” Any way to worship Jesus Christ without radical obedience, the Word without the cross, Kierkegaard defines it as “Admiring Christ instead of following Christ.” Bonhoeffer defines it as “Cheap grace rather than costly grace.” The opposite is the theology of the cross. This is defined as “meeting God where he chooses to find us – in our sorrow, our pain, our weakness.” “Hearing God’s gracious word manifest in the death of Jesus on the cross.” “Following Jesus in his death and resurrection.”
Luther was concerned with the vast difference between the two views of theology. He reminded the church that God’s revelations can take place only under the form of opposites. God does his alien and wrathful work before he does his proper and loving work; he makes alive by killing, brings to heaven by going through hell, brings forth mercy out of wrath. Luther was quick to “call a spade a spade” in matters of theology. God understands our sinful condition and loves us anyway.
As you can see by the chart above, human works and God’s works are in direct opposition. This is of importance when dealing with a theologian of glory. The theologian of glory is bound of necessity to put a false evaluation on human works. There is nowhere else to turn. Furthermore, the theologian of glory is compelled to use the works of the law as a defense against the sheer gift of God. Jesus speaks to this in Matthew 23:27: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Or consider Paul’s words to the Galatians 3:10, “All who rely on the works of the law are under the curse.”
The proof for thesis 4 is a few passages much loved by Luther, setting forth his understanding of God’s work “under the form of opposites” over against human works. Isaiah 53 heads the list: That the works of God are unattractive is clear from what is said in Isa. 53:2,”He had no form or comeliness,” and in 1 Sam. 2:6 “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.” This is understood to mean that the Lord humbles and frightens us by means of the law and the sight of our sins so that we seem in the eyes of men, as in our own, as nothing, foolish, and wicked, for we are in truth that. Insofar as we acknowledge and confess this, there is no form or beauty in us, but our life is hidden in God (i.e., in the bare confidence in his mercy), finding in ourselves nothing but sin, foolishness, death, and hell, according to that verse of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 6:9-10 “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as dying and behold we live.” And that it is which Isa. 28: 2 calls the alien work of God that he may do his work ( that is, he humbles us thoroughly, making us despair, so that he may exalt us in his mercy, giving us hope), just as Hab.3:2 states, “In wrath remember mercy.”
There is a fundamental difference in how one sees oneself. The theologian of glory judges by appearances and so classifies works as good or bad. Theologians of the cross, how- ever, cannot see through the “unattractive” and apparently evil works of God. They cannot see through such works because they have been “gotten at” by suffering and the cross. They see God working exactly through the horror of the cross. Thus the works do not become the occasion for pride, but rather humility and despair. The human works
that once seemed attractive and good how have no form or beauty and are the cause of sorrow and despair. The good news is that God works in us through the one who was despised and rejected so that we might begin to see the way things are. Our lives are hidden in God, Luther says, and he explains that by saying that we live only in “naked confidence in the mercy of God.” So to live is not gloomy or depressing, but rather “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as dying, and behold we live” (2 Cor. 6: 9-10).
Source: Forde, Gerhard O. On Being a Theologian of the Cross. Michigan. Eerdman’s publishing Company. 1997.
Pastor John Albertson