LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 329

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THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS

between church and state in Calvin, for example, does not preclude the
establishment of a Christian state, since the state too can submit to the
Word of God. Indeed, with the endorsement of active revolution by the
Reformed, one has a church “which is surmmoned to direct political inter-
vention of a kind which is in fact alien to Lutheranism.”” For Lutherans,
the Reformed approach to the state dangerously confuses Law and Gospel:

As long as the Law stands “on the same footing” with the Gospel, repen-
tance with absolution, sanctification with justification, obedience with
faith, it is no longer the doctrine of Justification which “alone shows the
way to the unspeakable treasure and right knowledge of Christ, and alone
opens the door to the entire Bible.””'

Therefore, the two-kingdom distinction, for Lutherans, does not spring
from social quietism or flight from the world (although Lutherans have at
times evidenced both), but from a deep-seated and fundamental desire to
carefully distinguish the Gospel from the creation-serving purposes of civil
government. According to the Smaicald Articles, the Gospel is the “first
and chief article” and “on this article rests all that we teach and practice.”
Therefore, “nothing ... can be given up or compromised” with regard to
the Gospel (SA II, 1). And that Gospel is, strictly speaking, the forgiveness
of sins for Christ’s sake, through faith alone. Measuring a “true faith” by
obedience to the Law—or by how “transforming” that faith has been in the
civil reahn—compromises the true Gospel.”

* Helmut Thielicke, Theological Ethics, vol. 2, Politics, ed. William H. Lazareth (Philadel-
phia: Fortress Press, 1969), 567.

” Herman Sasse, Here We Stund: The Nature and Character of the Lutheran Faith, trans.
Theodore G. Tapper (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938), 137. Sasse zeroes in on the essen-
tial difference between Lutheran and Reformed: “Both communions wish to distinguish the
Gospel from the Law and yet indicate the relation which subsists between them. Both
acknowledge that the chief article of the Christian faith is the forgiveness of sins: the Luther-
ans consider it the whole content of the Gospel, while the Reformed consider it the prmcipal
content of the Gospel. Both know that Christ preached the Law as well as the Gospel, even
as the Old Testament contains the Gospel as well as the Law. Both know that the church
must proclaim the whole Word of God, both the Law and the Gospel. The difference hes in
the fact that the Reformed believe that both Law and Gospel are parts of Christ's real work.
and consequently are essenhal functions of the church; the Lutheran Church, on the other
hand. teaches that the preaching of the Law is the “strange,” and the preaching of the Gospel
is the “real,” work of Christ, and that aceordingly, although the church must also preach the
Law—how else could it proclaim the Gospel?—the only thing which is essential to its nature
as the church of Christ is that it is the place, the only place in all the world, in which the
blessed tidings of the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake are heard” (121).

> “Franky Schaeffer's approach to abortion ... is predicated on the assumption that faith
must prove itself in obedience. Therefore, he challenges a Lutheran's ‘right’ to worship God
if the necessary response Lo abortion is absent. Furthermore, he declares that the ‘proof’ will
be found, not merely in personal conviction or testimony, but in particular political actions
such as picketing abortion clinics and writing C . The Lutheran must respond to
these statements with an unequivocal reaffirmation of justification by faith alone.” David R.
Liefeld, “Abortion and the Two Kingdoms,” Concordia Journal 12, no, 6 (November 1986): 212.

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that justifies apart from works. On the other hand, the Christian is also
grounded in the earthly constraints of God’s work through civil law and
exercises a faith active in love that seeks social justice.

Yet there are profound limits, for Luther, to what Christian good
works can accomplish, and the church must not become preoccupied with
transforming the civil order. In Luther's way of thinking, Christians are
called to operate within different expressions of the emergency orders,
which vary in their cultural and social particularities. Christian faith can
illumine reason. Love can temper justice. But these transforming virtues
cannot create a Christian politics or Christian economics.” Good works, for
Luther, are done freely by Christians in their daily lives and are not under
the control of the church. We are dealing here with the privilege and duty
of the individual Christian’s vocation.

Luther's two-kingdom ethic was incorporated within the Augsburg
Confession. Article XVI, titled “Civil Government,” states:

It is taught among us that all government in the world and all estab-
lished rule and laws were instituted and ordained by God for the sake of
good order, and that Christians may without sin occupy civil offices or
serve as princes and judges, render decisions and pass sentence according
to imperial and other existing laws, punish evildoers with the sword,
engage in just wars, serve as soldiers, buy and sell, take required oaths,
possess property, be married, etc.

Condemned here are the Anabaptists who teach that none of the things
indicated above is Christian.

Also condemned are those who teach that Christian perfection requires
the forsaking of house and home, wife and child, and the renunciation of
such activities as are menboned above. Actually, true perfection consists
alone of proper fear of God and real faith in God, for the Gospel does not
teach an outward and temporal but an inward and eternal mode of exis-
tence and righteousness of the heart. The Gospel does not overthrow civil
authority, the state, and marriage but requires that all these be kept as true
orders of God and that everyone, each according to his own calling, man-
ifest Christian love and genuine good works in his station of life. Accord-
ingly Christians are obliged to be subject to civil authority and obey its
commands and laws im all that can be done without sin. But when com-
mands of the civil authority cannot be obeyed without sin, we must obey
God rather than men (Acts 5:29). (AC XVI, 1-7)

In this brief article there are five of Luther’s major themes: first, the recog-
nition of divine approval of the civil realm; second, the implication that the
earthly welfare of people is a legitimate concern of Christians; third, that

*Cf. William H. Lazareth, “Lutheran Ethics,” in The Westminster Dictionary of Christan
Ethics, ed. James F. Childress and john Macquarrie (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1986), 360-63

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This was clearest, perhaps, in Luther’s unpopular, but highly princi-
pled, reaction to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525. Echoing fundamental themes
such as the two kingdoms and temporal versus spiritual power, but above
all emphasizing the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, Luther
tells the peasants that their claim to “teach and live according to the gospel
is not true.” “Not one of [your] articles teaches anything of the gospel,” he
writes. “Rather, everything is aimed at obtaining freedom for your person
and for your property. To sum it up, everything is concerned with world-
ly and temporal matters.”7 Luther recognized that some of the peasants’
published complaints “are so fair and just” as to ruin the reputation of the
princes and lords. Yet for Luther, such things were always to be clearly dis-
tinguished from the Gospel.”

However, such a radical distinction between Law and Gospel,
between spiritual and temporal authority, and between Christian right-
eousness and civil righteousness, does not mean that for Luther the
Gospel, church, or faith have no temporal effects. Indeed, Christians will
bring their faith-inspired love for the neighbor fo alt their secular, civil
responsibilities:

Faith finds its sphere of activities in the horizontal relationships which the

Creator established as His own means of being present through the love of

His people. Faith serves God by giving spouse and children tender care, the

kind of care God Himself wants to give them. Faith serves God by perform-

ing well those economic tasks which feed, clothe, and comfort others; faith’s

service in the economic sphere extends to support and help given to fellow

workers and to all with whom we have contact on the job, in school, as we
conduct our business and offer our labor. Faith serves God by meeting the
needs of neighbors and fellow citizens in activites ranging from painting the
neighbor's fence or mopping up his vomit as he lies dying, to participation

in the activities of community organizations and political parties.*

Thus, for Luther, it is God to whom Christians respond in both kingdoms,
and not only in the church, yet in different ways. On the one hand, the
Christian is grounded in the freedom of the Gospel and exercises a faith

~Admonition to Peace,” LW 46:35.

"Tpid., 22. On the other hand, Gerhard O. Forde issues a helpful caution against abso
lutizing Luther's political judgments: “As a medieval man he was entirely caught up ina
mythology of the status quo. He was afraid of change and revolution and had no faith in
popular movements. This he did not see. he had been more aware of his own blind spots
Perhaps his decision might have been different. At least, even though we come to under-
stand his theological reasons, we need not concur with his final decision—especially not in
the cruel and intemperate manner in which it was expressed.” Where God Meets Man: Luther's
Down-to-Earth Approach to the Gospel! (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972),
109-10.

” Robert Kolb, “God Calling, Take Care of My People’: Luther's Concept of Vocation
in the Augsburg Confession and Its Apology,” Concerdia Journal B, no. 1 January 1982): 11.

38

the civil realm should be governed by reason, justice, and concern for the
common good; fourth, that a Christian is called to responsibilities in the dvil
realm; and, fifth, that there is a danger in perfectionistic notions of Christian
spirituality—as if the fallen world were unworthy of serious Christian con-
cern or as if the transformation of the world were required of faith.”

Article XXVIII, “The Power of Bishops,” also addresses the two king-
doms:

Many and various things have been written in former times about the
power of bishops, and some have improperly confused the power of bish-
ops with the temporal sword. Out of this careless confusion many serious
wars, tumults, and uprisings have resulted because the bishops, under the
pretext of the power given them by Christ, ... have also presumed to set
up and depose kings and emperors according to their pleasure. ...

Our teachers assert that according to the Gospel the power of keys or
the power of bishops is a power and command of God to preach the
Gospel, to forgive and retain sins, and to administer and distribute the

This power of keys or of bishops is used and exercised only by teaching
and preaching the Word of God and by administering the sacraments. ...
Inasmuch as the power of the church or of bishops bestows eternal gifts
and is used and exercised only through the office of preaching, it does not
interfere at all with government or temporal authority. Temporal authori-
ty is concerned with matters altogether different from the Gospel. Tempo-
ral power does not protect the soul, but with the sword and physical pena
ties it protects body and goods from the power of others.

Therefore, the two authorities, the spiritual and the temporal, are not to
be mingled or confused, for the spiritual power has its commission to
preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments. Hence it should not
invade the function of the other, should not set up and depose kings,
should not annul temporal laws or undermine obedience to government,
should not make or prescribe to the temporal power laws concerning
worldly matters. (AC XXVIDL, 1-14)

Several more of Luther's major themes are also evident here: first, that the
power of the church is the power of Word and sacraments, which is the
power to forgive sins exercised publicly through the pastoral office; sec-
ond, that the church does not, and must not pretend to, have temporal
authority by interfering in government or prescribing legislation; and,
third, that the chief function of civil authorities is to protect human life and
liberty from the power of others.

” John F. Johnson, “Confessional Lutheranism and Civil Affairs: The Contemporary
Significance of the Two Kingdoms Doctnne™ (an unpublished paper delivered to a confer-
ence on church and state sponsored by the LCMS in Washington, D.C., in 1986).

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