St. Martie's Place
Martin Luther: simultaneously SAINT and SINNER 1483 - 1546
"Come, learn the truth about yourself and God."
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Repealing the Curse
Timothy J. Swenson preaching on Isaiah 65:17-25
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Institute of Lutheran Theology
910 4th St.
Brookings, SD 57006
701-421-1108 cell
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Paul Zahl on "Ecclesiology"
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Taste versus Truth
Now...A century ago...Two millenia in the past...False doctrine and heretical teaching has a "sweetness" more palatable to the "times." In a world more determined by "taste" (over which there can be no contention) than by "truth" (which always must be contended for)... in such a world "sweetness" wins. Those who oppose sweetness--even though it be false--will always be labeled "bitter"--though they be true.
peculiarly dangerous. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the
teachers of error: their “earnestness” makes many think they must be
right. There is a great appearance of learning and theological
knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely
be safe guides. There is a general tendency to free thought and free
inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of
judgment, by believing novelties. There is a wide-spread desire to
appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying
that anybody can be in the wrong. There is a quantity of half-truth
taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using
Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense. There is a morbid
craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational,
showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work. There
is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks
cleverly, lovingly, and earnestly, and a determination to forget that
Satan often masquerades himself “as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians
11:14). There is a wide-spread “gullibility” among professing
Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be
believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a
narrow-minded man. All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times.
I defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults
of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more
than ever needful to cry aloud, “Do not be carried away!”
- J.C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
As St. Paul instructed his student and successor, Timothy...
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3)
Two millenia in the past... a century ago... Now... the "truth" must be contended for over and against a "taste" more palatable to the times.
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www.ilt.org
The Institute of Lutheran Theology
Friday, January 21, 2011
The Questions to Ask
Theological Discernment strips away the accretions of pious personality and religious pomposity to expose the core of a preacher's or a theologian's message. If that core isn't Christ and him crucified... If that core doesn't seek to take everything captive to Christ, then that preacher or theologian is not a "theologian of the cross" but rather practicing theologies of glory.
Theological Discernment is about having the tools to strip away such accretions. Steve Paulson--professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul--recently delivered such a set of tools into my hands. The tool set consists of three questions that can be posed to a preacher's sermon or a theologian's writings. If the preacher or theologian have answers that differ from the ones given, then it's likely they don't have their Christology right. If their Christology's not right, they're not properly distinguishing Law and Gospel. If they can't distinguish Law and Gospel properly, then they're operating under the "opinio legis" system and not from "fides Christe."
Steve's three questions followed by their appropriate answers are:
1) Who or What killed Jesus?
Answer: The Law killed Jesus because he was forgiving sins.
2) What did God do with a dead Jesus?
Answer: He raised him from the dead so that he would continue to forgive sins.
3) Where do you find Jesus now?
Answer: On the lips of a preacher who's declaring your sins forgiven.
My take:
Simple.
Religion--because it operates under the "opinio legis" always seeks to complicate things and to introduce extraneous matters. There is "complex" religion and "simple" religion. In complex religion there are a multitude of persons all arranged in a hierarchy of authority, all demanding obedience of one kind or another; your religious "duty" is to determine your place in the hierarchy and be appropriately obedient. In simple religion the complexity has been reduced to two persons: Jesus and you; your religious duty is express your loyalty to your "pal" Jesus by not disappointing his or others expectations of your relationship.
Faith--because it is the operation of "fides Christe"--simplifies everything: It is Christ and Christ alone. Jesus Christ lays no burden of religious duty on you--he carries your burden. Jesus Christ requires no piety from you--whatever piety you practice is for your own enjoyment not his. Jesus Christ delivers you into humility--where there's no possibility of religious pomposity. Jesus Christ takes your brand new eternal life and hides it away with himself in God for safekeeping until he is manifest in glory, then your new life will be manifest as well. Until then, Jesus Christ who is now your life, takes your mortal life and hands it over to your neighbors so that you might be of some use to them while you wait for Jesus and his glory.
The Proclamation on the Plains Conference on Jan. 2-4, 2011
Dr. Steven Paulson of Luther Seminary (St. Paul, Minn.)
Luther House of Studies, Sioux Falls, SD