Going on Nineteen

Book:  The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel
Lecture:  19

     This will be a rather reactionary summary.  I read this lecture straight through, taking only two notes, and I think I got more out of it.  One of my notes:  Properly speaking, grace is never in man's, but in God's heart.
     The lecture begins by stating the place of conversion in a Christian's life.  Walther then goes on to discourse on the place of feelings in a Christian's life.  At first, I thought the topic was way beyond me, since I thought he was contradicting the belief that salvation relies on God, who is outside of us, and not on our emotions.  I thought he was saying that to be a Christian, you had to be able to feel God in your heart.  As I read further, I began to understand that feelings are something that will naturally come with faith.  My first turning point was where Walther states, "First a person must believe; after that he may feel.  Feeling proceeds from faith, not faith from feeling."
     Walther finishes the lecture by describing what faith is, using Hebrews 11:1 and the example of the lepers who begged Jesus for help.  He explains that if faith is a "firm, reliant confidence, not doubting, not wavering," faith cannot be based on feelings.  He then uses the story of Mary and Joseph searching for Jesus while he was at the temple to show that if we look to earthly things for help and comfort, like friends or our own ideas and feelings, we will not find Christ; he is only found with His Father and His Father's Word.
     Incidentally, my lightbulb moment is also my first copy and paste text, from a lovely little website called www.lutherantheology.com.  I was ecstatic when I found it, not to mention discovering that Walther's Law and Gospel is public domain.

My Lightbulb Moment:  "Some have been highly favored in being led an easy way by God, always enjoying a beautiful, pleasant feeling and never being in need of strong wrestling. For persons who always find their experiences in harmony with the Word of God need not struggle for that harmony. Others, however, are nearly always led by God through darkness, great anguish, grievous doubts, and diverse afflictions. In the latter case we must be careful to distinguish between one who is dead and one who is afflicted. The distinction is not difficult. If I am worried about my lack of the feeling of grace for which I am earnestly longing, that is proof that I am a true Christian. For one who desires to believe is already a believer. For how could a person possibly desire to believe something which he regards untrue? No man desires to be deceived. As soon as I want to believe something, I am secretly believing it. This is a point for pastors to note when they are dealing with individual souls."

You Are Eighteen

Book:  The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel
Lecture:  18

Summary/Highlights
    Few people have a more stressful life than a prisoner who is awaiting execution but has heard a rumor that he has been pardoned.  God could leave us all in a similar situation, but thankfully, he does not.  If our loving God sacrificed his only Son to save us, how could he do this?  From the moment Jesus was born, God spread his message of grace through the angels and shepherds, and Jesus continued this with the Great Commission.
     Walther follows this with a recap of absolution, reviewing Matthew 9.  He then cites Luther on the topic of forgiveness.  He supports the doctrine that the power of announcing absolution has been given to men with Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23.  We hear the news of forgiveness from men, but it is God who is speaking through them.  When we are in need of assurance of forgiveness, God has given us baptism, communion, absolution, and His Word.
     If you insulted someone, how would you know you were forgiven?  It would be foolish to simply wait until you felt at peace with them in your heart.  If he or she gave you a gift, you could not be sure that they had forgiven you; maybe he would simply be showing you that, unlike yourself, he was a kind person.  No, you would know you were forgiven when you heard him tell you that you were forgiven.  In the same way, our feelings cannot tell us God's attitude, and he sends rain and sun on both the good and the evil.  We need to hear our forgiveness from him through the means of grace.
     "The true interpretation of the words of Christ:  'Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them,' etc., is, that they establish the authority, not of the person who speaks, but of those who believe these words."  In contrast, the Papacy teaches that when the pope and priests absolve or refuse forgiveness, it happens because they possess this special power and because they said so.  No, the power is the power Christ and his sacrifice; we announce it as his representatives.
     The keys are not based upon our contirition or worthiness; our contrition, works, believing heart, and all that we are, must be built upon the keys.  "With entire boldness we must confidently trust in them as in God's Word, never doubting in the least...what the keys state and confer is as certain as if it were stated and conferred by God Himself.  For it is certainly He that is speaking in this matter, since it is His command and Word, not the word or command of man.  If you doubt this, you make God a liar, pervert His ordinance, and found His keys on your contrition and worthiness."
     God does not first bind or loose sins in heaven, then let us represent this by binding and loosing on earth.  We could not know what he bound or loosed!  Also, the keys are the keys of heaven even though they are used on earth.  When we bind or loose, it is accounted as done, and there is no need for God to do it after.
     More random highlights:

• In baptism, the water has no power of its own.  The power comes from the Spirit working through the Word.
• Communion is all about God's grace and forgiveness
• We can't ascend to God; He descended to us.  This means that good works earn us nothing.  All we need to do to be saved is believe.  We are given God's love and kindness as a free gift.
• Contrition is necessary, but not as a means for acquiring forgiveness.  We can turn up our nose at a meal, but our rejection doesn't change the fact that it is available.  All men's sins are forgiven, but they can reject this forgiveness and refuse to believe it.
• The worthiness, or lack of worthiness, of a pastor does not affect absolution; even wicked servants can spread a king's message.

Lightbulb Moment:  Don't ask whether your contrition is sufficient or of good quality; praise God for His absolution.

Going on Seventeen

Book:  The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel
Lecture:  17
Selective Summary:
     Intro:  At the Marburg Colloquy, Luther told Zwingli, "Yours is a different spirit from ours."  He was speaking of the difference between his own childlike trust in the Bible and Zwingli's faith in human reason.  Lutherans believe that if doctrine is derived from a source other than the Bible, we have no sure foundation.  Churches who question the Word are "tossed about like the waves of the sea."
     Body:  Walther begins by giving us two examples of churches allowing human reason to determine their beliefs.  Other protestant churches condemned outward Lutheran resemblances to the Catholic church such as the robes worn by ministers.  This is calling a sin something that God does not regard as sinful.  They also argued with our practice of absolution, saying that in ordination we believed we were giving our ministers the power to forgive sin.  This is false.  Christ gave the Keys to the Church, and, like baptism, any Christian can use them.  We simply maintain organization and order by calling pastors to use them on our behalf.
     Walther then goes on to explain absolution with six key points.
1.  Jesus took on himself the world's sin.  Jn 1:29
2.  He earned forgiveness for us by his life and death.  II Cor. 5:21, Is. 53:5
3.  By raising Jesus from the dead, God placed his stamp of approval on the payment for our sins.
4.  Christ's command to preach the Gospel to all people includes the command to preach forgiveness of sins.
5.  It also includes the command to minister to individuals because forgiveness for all also means forgiveness for the individual.
6.  This commission applies to every Christian because it's not about what man must do; it's about what Christ has already done for us.
     To illustrate number six, Walther uses a parable.  The citizens of a country rebel and kill a king's son, but the son intercedes for them and convinces the king to pardon them.  The people were expecting execution, but the king sends out messengers to announce his pardon.  Some citizens live in places the messengers didn't come, but they are told the news by their friends.
     The citizens don't refuse to accept the pardon because the king doesn't announce it personally; they believe whoever tells them!  The king's forgiveness is a fact that is unaffected by who announces it.
    Walther then explains Catholic doctrine concerning absolution.  A priest is given power to forgive sins by his ordination and anointment with chism (oil).  In addition, all confessions must have three parts or they are invalid:  oral confession, heartfelt contrition (feeling bad for sin), and compensation for sin by performing a good work.  Later in the lecture, he states that Catholics believe contrition, confession, and satisfaction obtain grace; the Keys and absolution are only actions observed by the church.
     A short summary of the first half of the lecture.
Power for absolution comes from:  
     1) Christ's perfect reconciliation and redemption.
     2)  "The command...to preach the Gospel to all men, which means nothing else than to absolve all men, to assure them of the forgiveness of their sins."
     In the second half of the lecture, Walther examines confessions by Luther and other Christians concerning absolution.  Here are some highlights, most of them things I learned or more fully understood after reading the lecture.

• Absolution is the Word of God forgiving sins, not only because the words come from the Bible, but because the minister is following God's command to announce forgiveness.
• Absolution is the epitome (summary) of the Gospel.
• Absolution proclaims peace to me and is the true voice of the Gospel.
• We pray the fifth petition, not to earn forgiveness, but to remind us of the forgiveness that is ours and strengthen our faith.  That's also why we pray "Give us today our daily bread."  It leads us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
• An interesting quote:  "The entire Papacy is built up on the teaching that grace is infused into men by some secret operation."  Grace can't be infused into us because it is the disposition of God outside of us; it can only be proclaimed to us.  That's why true comfort comes from the Word, not our feelings.
• In Matthew 9, Jesus' healing of a paralyzed man proved to the Pharisees his right to absolve people.  Verse 8 reads, "When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men."  The people in the crowd were likely saying something to this effect, and Matthew summarizes their praise.  Jesus doesn't correct them by saying, "No, God gave this power to me, not men."

My Lightbulb Moment:  "If we would only truly believe in absolution, with what joy would we attend church whenever it is pronounced!"