As I said in my post yesterday, while my new blog, Restorying Life, isn't an abandoning of my Biblical faith, it does flow out of a rethinking of my theology and how I read the Bible. This begins with what I see as the central theme of the Biblical narrative, which has move from strictly justification to a broader theme of the Kingdom (which includes justification).
Now, I'm sure some in the Lutheran would be quick to say that this makes me a non-Lutheran. Perhaps it does, perhaps it doesn't. In the end, I really don't care.
For those who are interested, here's an overview of how I came to this conclusion ... a journey that began with a paper I wrote for my first semester of my DMin work (most of this work was developed in October and November of 2010):
In Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist declares, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." and, a chapter and a half later, Jesus begins his public ministry with the same words. These are just the first of many instances in Matthew and the other Synoptic Gospels where the ministry of Jesus is linked to the βασιλεία, that is the Kingdom, be it of God or, as Matthew prefers, of Heaven. In fact, some derivation of βασιλεία appears fifty-five times in Matthew, twenty in Mark, and fifty-four in Luke, together accounting for almost eighty percent of New Testament Kingdom references. By comparison, σῴζω or "to save", another prominent word in the Synoptic Gospels, appears fifteen times in Matthew, fifteen times in Mark, and seventeen times in Luke, and δικαιόω, the root of the central Lutheran teaching of justification by grace through faith, appears only seven times in the Gospels, less than it does in Paul's letter to the Romans (fifteen times) or the Galatians (eight times).
But the discussion of the Kingdom, at least in concept, isn't limited to the Synoptics. In John's Gospel for instance, while there are only three uses of βασιλεία, the word "king" is important in his account (Kiehl, 1981, 221) and the central idea behind the kingdom in the Synoptics isn't a geographic place, but rather it has a verbal sense that focuses on the rule or reign of the king (Kiehl, 1981, 221 and Scharlemann, 1976, 48). Moreover, while Paul largely limits his use of βασιλεία, Jesus' Kingdom language is highly eschatological (Kiehl, 1981, 221 and Raabe, 2002, 294), and eschatological hope is central to Pauline theology (Ware, 2009, 129-130). Finally, in less explicit terms, the Kingdom is present throughout the Old Testament as well (Voelz, 1997, 245). As a result, the Kingdom of God can be seen as "the organizing and unifying theme of the Scriptures" (Voelz, 1997, 246).
Yet, despite its scriptural emphasis, discussion of the Kingdom is severely limited in the Lutheran Confessions, the Sixteenth Century theological documents that every Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LC-MS) pastor identifies as the basis for his teaching upon ordination and whenever he is installed in a new congregation. For example, only forty-six of the one hundred and fifty-four New Testament verses that use βασιλεία are cited in the Confessions. By contrast, of the thirty-seven verses in the New Testament that use a form of δικαιόω, twenty-one are cited, most of them multiple times.
While the lack of discussion on the Kingdom was troubling, a close examination of the two places (Apology 7-8 and the 3rd Petition of the Lord's Prayer in the Catechisms) it is discussed in depth was revealing:
As in the Apology, in the Small Catechism the coming of the Kingdom is purely God's activity, an activity that Luther attributes to the work of the Spirit through the Word. However, while the Apology focused on justification as the means of transfer into the Kingdom of God, we can see the Catechisms expanding this by focusing on the Kingdom of God as being, not a physical place, but a context where God is actively ruling and reigning, be it "here in time" or "hereafter in eternity." Moreover, life in the Kingdom is fundamentally different in this age than it is in the age to come, in that, in this age, the Kingdom of Satan is still active because Christ has yet to make his enemies his footstool (Psalm 110:1), a reality Luther recognizes not only in his Small Catechism treatment of the Holy Spirit who keeps us in the one true faith (Kolb and Wengert, 2001, 355), but also his "soteriological maxim, the believer as simul justus et peccator, just and sinful simultaneously," which describes both the individual Christian and the Church body in this age (Kärkkäinen, 2002, 41).
In the end, this is the picture I've painted that serves as a basic framework that guides my reading of Scripture today:
When we tie the teachings of the Apology and Catechisms together, the Lutheran Confessions present, in this age, a dichotomy of two kingdoms, one which is ruled by the devil, and one which is ruled by Christ. These kingdoms are engaged in a kind of cosmic courtship for the affections and allegiance of people who are, anthropologically speaking, desiring creatures looking for someone to love (Smith, 2009, 26-27).
And:
In this dynamic, the Church serves as the voice of Christ in the world, calling out to his beloved creation on his behalf, wooing them with grace and then seeking to sustain the affections of those who've heard his call but are continuously counter-courted by Satan (Smith, 2009, 39).
So, when I think about faith and life, my big question these days isn't, "Am I forgiven?" or, "How do I stand before a righteous God?" I know that ... and Luther's justification response hasn't changed. However, I want to push beyond the, "I sin and God forgives." summary that has become much of present day Lutheranism. Scripture, be it Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, or the entirety of the Hebrew Bible, tells me the Kingdom in this age doesn't end with forgiveness (BTW, the Lutheran Confessions argue this too, it's just lacking in those who've labeled themselves as Confessional Lutherans).
So, the questions I'm asking are:
- How does Christ courting me reshape my understanding of myself (this was central to my video Together in the Garden)?
- If Christ is wooing me into his Kingdom, what response does that generate in my life today (aka, what does the Kingdom look like in the "now but not yet")?
- How is Satan trying to counter-court me?
- As I respond to Christ's affection, what do I leave behind?
- What does it mean to be a part of a community where we're the voice of Christ wooing our neighborhood to our King?
Does this make me not Lutheran? Again, I really I don't care about that specific label, so perhaps any debate is moot. That being said, concerning where I stand today, I'll hold my ground with the words of Luther himself:
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.
Bibliography:
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical & Global Perspectives (IVP Academic, 2002-10-02).
Erich H. Kiehl, “Jesus Taught in Parables,” Concordia Journal 7, no. 6 (1981): 221-228.
Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001-01).
Paul R. Raabe, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” Concordia Journal 28, no. 3 (2002): 294-296.
Martin H. Scharlemann, “Kingdom and Church,” Concordia Journal 2, no. 2 (1976): 48-52.
James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Cultural Liturgies) (Baker Academic, 2009-08-01).
James W. Voelz, What Does This Mean?: Principles of Biblical Interpretation in the Post-Modern World (Concordia Scholarship Today) (Concordia Publishing House, 1997-03-01).
James Ware, “Paul’s Hope and Ours,” Concordia Journal (Spring 2009): 129.
