LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 260

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

260

II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

church by way of their contributions and involvement. If
true, how does this reinforce the mistaken belief that God
operates on a merit system, too?
If pastors or priests represent God, in the minds of some,
their actions must reflect their understanding of God’s
attitude, and so those who “do more” for the church
deserve special consideration.
6. Lutherans speak of two realms in which God operates —
the spiritual realm and the temporal realm. In the spiritual
realm, God brings people to faith in Christ through the
preaching of the Gospel. In the temporal realm, God uses
political authorities, courts, etc., to maintain just, ordered
societies. In this realm, God uses the Law to punish evil and
reward good behavior. In the spiritual realm, the Gospel
produces love, which attends to the neighbor in need. John,
a Christian, helps his elderly neighbor with lawn care and
snow removal. Bill, an atheist, does the same for his neighbor. In the temporal realm (civic life), on what grounds
would the community approve each? How would each be
judged by the ones who received their help? In the spiritual realm, on what basis would both men be viewed? How
would each be judged and by whom?

could be misunderstood to mean that his activities are
the means by which Mr. Jones will be favorably regarded
by God. If offered as testimonies to the faith, which
prompted those works, on the other hand, they could be
an encouragement for others to exercise themselves in the
faith that works through love.
8. As a concluding statement, consider again the following
quotation regarding the false idea that our justification by
God is based on having done the best we could:
Although good works ought to follow faith in this
way [as the result of our justification and new
birth], people who cannot believe or establish in
their hearts that they are freely forgiven on account
of Christ use works for a very different purpose.
When they see the works of the saints, they think
in a human fashion that the saints have merited
forgiveness of sins by those works and that they are
regarded as righteous before God on account of
those works. Accordingly, they imitated those works
and think that through similar works they also merit
the forgiveness of sins. They try to appease the wrath
of God and trust that they are regarded as righteous
on account of such works (Ap IV 203).

In the temporal realm, the community would look at
what each man has done for the neighbor and judge
favorably. Both recipients of their help would also look
favorably on their neighbor and probably thank each for
his help and consider each to be a “good neighbor.” In the
spiritual realm, however, each would be judged inwardly
by God who alone sees the heart. All behavior that flows
from faith in Christ for the benefit of the neighbor is
pleasing to God. Those behaviors that do not flow from
faith in Christ, even though they benefit the neighbor
and are examples of what theologians call “civil righteousness,” cannot justify, for “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Heb. 11:6).

One needs to believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised
Him from the dead. In the Luke passage Jesus says that
there is a connection between what the heart believes and
what the mouth speaks. Paul also speaks of that connection: “We also believe, and so we also speak” (2 Cor. 4:13).
What the heart believes invariably is spoken (Acts 4:20).
Assenting to the facts involves only the intellect, whereas
belief in the heart encompasses the entire person — affection, intellect and will. “Saving faith is essentially the
reliance of the heart on the promises of God set forth in
the Gospel.”3
2. Read Rom. 4:1–5. Paul quotes Gen. 15:6, which says
that Abraham believed God and was justified. What about
God did Abraham believe that led to his justification — His
existence, His attributes or His promise? How does it make
a difference in one’s understanding if the word “trust” is
substituted for “believe”?

A Scriptural sermon rightly focuses on what Christ has
done for the deceased, especially in bringing him to faith.
But since true faith shows itself in love for one’s neighbor,
some comments about his faith life are not inappropriate. If not explained well, however, the pastor’s remarks

Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics vol. 2 (St. Louis:Concordia Publishing
House, 1951), 426.

3

Leader’s Guide |

the preaching. To call upon God is to worship Him. This
is a heartfelt, Spirit-empowered act of trust, which is
more than merely assenting intellectually to doctrine that
a church body teaches.

and that these evils have been done away with — but,
more than this, that eternal life, salvation, and glory, yes,
God Himself have been restored to us, and that through
the Son God has made us His children (AE 22:369).

Note: Luther tells a story in which a doctor of the church
asked a poor coal miner what he believed. “I believe what
the church believes.” “And what does the church believe?”
the doctor asked. The man replied, “The church believes
what I believe.” Later, when the learned doctor was about
to die and was troubled in his faith, he cried out in desperation: “I believe what the coal miner believes!” Luther
remarked: “If they had only such a faith as their story
tells us” — i.e., mere assent to “what the church believes”
without true faith in Christ — “then both doctor and the
coal miner believed themselves into the very pit of hell.”4

Therefore, we must drive home this matter with resolution, so that we remove this error, and strike with terror
those who think that it is enough that one believe that in
the Sacrament the body and blood of Christ are there. It is
true, the food is indeed there, but you eat and partake of
it not. For you partake when you believe that it is a gift for
you, as we have said. He does not say, “Behold! There it is!
There it lies!” He rather says, “Take it. I shall be yours.”5

The first sentence could be misunderstood to mean that
the object of faith is the Creed, not in the God of which
the Creed speaks. It can be misunderstood as an invitation to confess that what the Creed says about God is
correct, whereas the second sentence is an invitation to
use the Creed’s words to confess one’s own faith in God.
While using the words of the Creed certainly implies that
the statements in it are correct, speaking the Creed means
more. By using the words of the Creed, one is saying that
the God in whom one confesses trust is the same God
that the Church has confessed from its very beginning.
7. Luther understands the difference between intellectual assent to truth, and belief, or trust in the truth. In the
following quotations, which words point to the difference
between assent to truth and trust in it?
Well, the devil, too, knew that Christ saved Peter. Faith
is not a paltry and petty matter as the pope’s contempt of
it would make it appear; but it is a heartfelt confidence
in God through Christ that Christ’s suffering and death
pertain to you and should belong to you. The pope
and the devil have a faith too, but it is only a “historical
faith.” True faith does not doubt; it yields its whole heart
to the conviction that the Son of God was given into
death for us, that sin is remitted, that death is destroyed,
Martin Luther, “An Open Letter to Those in Frankfurt on the Main,” trans. Jon
D. Vieker, Concordia Journal 16, no. 4 (October 1990): 339.

4

9

exist with the word “believe” is avoided. In our culture,
the word “believe” is often confused with the word
“think” or “have an opinion about,” and so the idea of
trust is lost. Belief in Jesus is not just belief in His existence, or even that He was executed on a cross, but it is
trust in the promises He makes, especially the promise of
the forgiveness of sins in His name.
3. Read James 2:19. What differentiates the Christian’s
belief that God is one from that of the demons’ belief that
God is one? Do both believe the same thing? If so, why then
are not both justified?

Both demons and Christians assent to the same creedal
truth: God is one (Deut. 6:4). But Christian faith is more
than an assent to truth, as James goes on to explain.
Genuine faith that is more than mere assent trusts God
and His gracious promises in Christ Jesus. Such faith
also shows itself in love toward God and one’s neighbor.
None of that is present in the demons’ assent to the truth.
Luther writes, “For a faith without love is not enough —
rather it is not faith at all, but a counterfeit of faith, just
as a face seen in a mirror is not a real face, but merely the
reflection of a face [I Cor. 13:12].” (AE 51:71)
4. Read Luke 13:22–27. On what basis will some try to
justify their entrance through the narrow door?
Some will try to justify their entrance into the feast by
pointing to their previous table fellowship with Him and
their presence when He taught. But even their presence at
activities, which are akin to Word and Sacrament assemblies, are not equal to saving faith, for He calls those
people “evildoers.”
5. A Jehovah’s Witness comes to the front door, eager to
hand out the recent copy of Awake! magazine. The person at
the door says, “No thanks, I am a Lutheran. I believe what
my church teaches.” Read John 17:20, John 20:30–31 and
Rom. 10:14. What is the relationship between the content of
the message that is taught and the one to whom the content
of the message refers?
The message that the Church proclaims is not simply
information or data, but Christ and His promises. The
Gospel promise invites the hearer to trust in Jesus, and,
as Paul says, to call upon the One who is the content of

10 | Unjustifiable Faiths: Four Common — and Wrong — Beliefs about Justification

Luther’s words contrast historical knowledge — that
Christ saved Peter — with the “heartfelt confidence”
that Christ’s death and sufferings “pertain to you.” In his
sermon on the Lord’s Supper, that same concept appears
in his words, “when you believe that it is a gift for you.”
For further discussion: The Athanasian Creed begins with
these words: “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all,
hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and
undefiled will without doubt perish eternally.” The same
creed concludes with these words: “This is the catholic faith;
whoever does not believe it faithfully and firmly cannot be
saved.” Read through the Creed (LSB 319–320). How are
its assertions only expansions of what it means to confess
that “Jesus is Lord,” and not just a “laundry list” of teachings
with which one must agree in order to be saved?
Everything that the Athanasian Creed sets forth unfolds
and unpacks what it means to confess that “Jesus is Lord”
in terms of God’s triune nature and the relationship of the
three persons of the Trinity to each other. The Athanasian
Creed illustrates why Jesus warned, “Not everyone who
says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will be saved.” The simple sentence,
“Jesus is Lord” implies that He is divine and possesses a
relationship with the Father and the Spirit that not everyone in the third and fourth centuries was willing to accept,
and which various cults are not willing to accept today. The
latter part of the Creed, which resembles the Apostles’ and
Nicene Creeds, affirms Jesus’ humanity, also a necessary
component for our salvation. While the ability to grasp or
understand fully every doctrine is not necessary for our
salvation, true faith that “Jesus is Lord” encompasses and
includes everything that the Bible says about who Jesus is
and what He has done to accomplish our salvation.
Martin Luther, All Become One Cake: A Sermon on the Lord’s Supper, trans.
Matthew Harrison (St Louis: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, 2005), 6.

5

Leader’s Guide |

2019 Convention Workbook

From Luther’s time forward, the Lutheran Church has
continued the Church’s practice of confirmation. Our youth
have been examined prior to their confirmation by answering
any number of doctrinal questions taken from the lengthy
section of questions and answers that followed Luther’s Small
Catechism. While the questioning was originally intended
to show that the catechumen could examine himself before
receiving the Lord’s Supper, it evolved into an opportunity
to show that he understood the doctrine of the Lutheran
Church and so could be accepted as a “communicant”
member. One unintended result was that some felt that confirmation, a rite that somewhat resembled a school graduation ceremony, meant they had passed a “final” examination,
which made them a “full” member of the church, and maybe
also a “real Christian,” who was right with God on the basis of
having answered the questions correctly.
1. Read Rom. 10:9–10. What “things” does a person need
to believe in order to be justified? Why does Paul speak of
responses from both heart and mouth? See Luke 6:45. If, in
Biblical thought, the heart is the center of affection, intellect
and the will, why is it not enough to assent merely to the
factual correctness of what the Bible teaches in order to be
right with God?

7. At Mr. Jones’ funeral, the pastor notes all that the deceased
had done for his community and church. According to what
the Lutheran Confessions say in the next point (under #8),
how might the pastor’s words be misleading? If there is a
chance that he could be misunderstood, should the pastor say
nothing at all of Mr. Jones’ Christian life?

6. From time to time, one hears a pastor in the worship
service say, “Let us confess our faith in the Apostles’ Creed.”
Other pastors say, “Let us confess our faith using the words
of the Apostles’ Creed.” Is the difference between the two
sentences only one of style? Why or why not?

context shows that Abraham believed the promise
Session Four: “I believe The
that God had just made to him: “Your offspring shall be
what my church
as numerous as the stars.”
teaches.”
If the synonym “trust” is used, the confusion that can

11

lcms.org