ATP: What is Repentance?

On the question of repentance, the Lutheran reformers made a clean, decisive break with the teaching of the Pope, eschewing the Roman Catholic teaching that repentance has three parts (contrition, confession, & satisfaction), preferring instead the clear teaching of Scripture and the confession of the historic Christian church on repentance. In fact, the entire Reformation may be over-simplified into a question of repentance.

“Strictly speaking, repentance consists of two parts. One part is contrition, that is, terrors striking the conscience through the knowledge of sin. The other part is faith, which is born of the Gospel or the Absolution and believes that for Christ’s sake, sins are forgiven” (Augsburg Confession, XII, 3-5).

Two parts. First, contrition, that is, sorrow over one’s sins. This comes from the preaching of the Law and the work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). Second, faith, that is trust in Jesus for forgiveness. This comes from the preaching of the Gospel, and is also the work of the Holy Spirit (Jn 15:26).

This is where Rome gets it horribly wrong. By adding a third part to repentance—satisfaction—all the comfort, all the reliance on Jesus’ full satisfaction for sins, is removed. Instead, removal of punishment and appeasement of God’s wrath comes from the works a person does to reverse the effects of his sins. Garbage. There’s no hope in that. With such a papist, false understand of repentance, we would see repentance as a once-and-done thing we do for each sin. Got a sin? Be sorry, confess it, make satisfaction for it; and you’re done. Not Scriptural; not Lutheran.

See how this plays out in a Roman Catholic understanding of confession. Why go to confession? Because you have sins that need to be taken care of. Compare that with a Lutheran understanding of confession. Why go to confession? Because you’re a sinner. Because you have full and complete trust that for Jesus’ sake, all your sin is removed. Because you love to hear the word of Absolution.

Repentance acknowledges your complete sinfulness and your utter inability to free yourself from your sinful condition. And at the same time, repentance relies completely and perfectly on Jesus for forgiveness. That’s why the first of Luther’s 95 Theses was, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ He willed the whole Christian life to be repentance.” Repentance—sorrow over sin and perfect faith in Jesus for forgiveness—is where a Christian lives. Like the water around a fish, or air around a bird, repentance is your habitat.

True repentance, therefore, comes through the work of the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Word of God, properly divided Law and Gospel. Repentance is not your work; it is the work of the Holy Spirit within you. So, happy Pentecost. Thank God that you have received the Holy Spirit, who has worked repentance within you, who keeps you in that repentant faith by gathering you around God’s Word and Sacraments.

ATP: What is Faith?

First, the opposite question: What isn’t faith?

Lots of people believe faith is necessary. What or whom your faith is in is less important to them that that you have faith. You might call this “faith in faith” or fideism. That’s not what Scripture calls faith. The object of faith is important. Just believing in a god doesn’t mean you believe in the one, true, Triune God.

Some people equate faith with feelings. If you have a positive feeling toward God, you can feel safe. This faith in feelings, or emotionalism, however, is not Biblical faith. Still others make faith into a work. God does the work of salvation except faith, which is the part you contribute. You put your faith in Him and endeavor to live a good life, and you can sleep comfortably at night. This notion of faith as a work is synergism, working together with God to accomplish salvation. But faith as God describes it, is the opposite of a work. (For a clearer understanding of these false notions of faith, see the chart “Saving Faith” on p. 2016 of The Lutheran Study Bible.)

Now to the question: what is faith? What does Scripture say? “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith is purely a gift from God, not a work. Belief in God does not come from within us, but from outside us: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Faith is perhaps best summarized with the Hebrew word “Amen.” Faith says “amen” or “yes” to God’s gifts. Faith says “amen” to God’s Word, His declaration that we are sinners, and His declaration that we are completely forgiven and covered in the righteousness of Jesus. Faith says “amen” to God’s Word, hearing it where and when it is preached. Faith says “amen” to God’s forgiveness, offered in His Sacraments. Faith says “amen” to God, receiving the gifts He bestows.

More than knowledge, more than belief that God exists, more than belief that Jesus died and rose, more than affiliation with other Christians, faith is full, complete, child-like trust in Jesus for forgiveness.

Faith is completely a gift. God gives it, guards it, grows it. What He gives is always enough.

ATP: The Sharing of the Peace

"Peace be with you." This is the greeting after the prayers in Setting 4 of the Divine Service. Why do we do it? What should we say? What does it mean?

In learning this new setting of the Divine Service, the greeting after the prayers has more than a few people confused. Some have wondered what they should be saying. Others have inquired why we do this in the middle of the service. Still others have complained that it seems to break up the flow of the service.

What is this greeting? First, what it isn’t. It’s not a time for conversation, not a time to welcome visitors, not a time to catch up with friends, not even a time to say “hello.” When it becomes any of those things, the complaint that it breaks up the flow of the service is correct.

So what is it? A word of peace. The rubrics instruct, “Following the prayers, the people may greet one another in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘Peace be with you,’ as a sign of reconciliation and of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Matt. 5:22–24; Eph. 4:1–3).” In short, it’s a word of forgiveness.

This is a time to set aside past hurts, to give up grudges, to promise not to dwell on sins committed against you. This is a time of saying, “Since in Christ God has forgiven me an insurmountable debt, I will freely and fully forgive anyone who has sinned against me.” It’s what we pray God would enable us to do in the 5^th Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Those who have been forgiven forgive one another.

“The sharing of the peace is an opportunity for the worshippers to be reconciled and to express the great love they have for one another” (Maschke, Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church, 146).

ATP: Communion how often?

What’s the Missouri Synod’s position on having Communion every Sunday?

Several times (at almost every convention in the past 20 years), the Missouri Synod passes resolutions that encourage more frequent celebration and reception of the Lord’s Supper. In 1995, for instance, she passed Resolution 2-08A, encouraging "pastors and congregations to study the scriptural, confessional, and historical witness to every Sunday communion with a view to recovering the opportunity for receiving the Lord's Supper each Lord's Day."

ATP: Why do we stand for the procession?

We stand out of reverence for Christ.

When there is a full procession, we stand and face the processional crucifix. It is also appropriate to bow toward the cross and make the sign of the cross as it passes, as a reminder that Christ has marked us with His cross in the waters of Holy Baptism.

I’ve noticed, too, that when there’s not a full procession, people still turn to face the pastor as I walk in. Why is that? That’s not something I’ve ever instructed people to do, but the do it instinctively, because they know what pastors are called to bring them: Christ.

We stand when a judge enters a courtroom, not because the judge is anybody important but because he occupied an office which we respect. The judge may be a nice guy or a jerk, but we don’t stand for him, we stand for his judicial office.

So when we stand for the procession, even when the pastor’s the only one processing, we don’t stand for the pastor. We stand out of reverence for the Office of the Holy Ministry. The pastor may be a nice guy or a jerk, but we don’t care. Just like we make our pastors wear vestments to cover them up, to hide their uniqueness, to beautify the Office and cover the men who occupy that office, so when we stand, it’s not for the pastor, but for Christ. Standing out of reverence for Christ tells the pastor, “Buddy, we don’t care about you. We want you to give us Jesus. That’s what we made you promise to do at your ordination. That’s what we prayed for last night and this morning. We trust Christ’s Word and promise that He has sent you to us to give us His gifts.”

Pastors are nothing. The Office of the Ministry is Christ’s. Pastors are just the sacks of worms (to borrow Luther’s description of himself) God has chosen to fill that office, to use as His instruments. The Office is holy because Christ is holy. And we show reverence toward the Office because Christ uses it to bring us gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

ATP: Suicide

If you take your own life, can you still be forgiven of your sin?

If you remember a few weeks ago, the topic for the Ask the Pastor was intentional sin. (You can find that ATP here.) In short, Christians do not sin intentionally. Willful, intentional, persistent sin is incompatible with faith. In fact, it wars against faith. Christians do still sin, but they always hate their sin. They do not intentionally persist in it.

So what about suicide? Isn’t suicide an intentional breaking of the 5^th commandment? Yes, suicide breaks the 5^th commandment (as well as the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and maybe more). But how intentional is it?

A Lutheran understanding of repentance, unlike the Roman Catholic understanding, is not something that we do for each and every sin. Rather, a Christian is always repentant, always sorry for his sin, always trusting Jesus for full forgiveness. To illustrate how much this divides Rome and Wittenburg, note the first of Luther’s 95 Theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ He meant the whole Christian life to be one of repentance.”

So the problem with suicide is not that you don’t have the chance to repent. Repentant faith is the way of life for the Christian.

Moreover, it’s incorrect to oversimplify suicide and to call it an intentional sin. Depression, which is almost always the disease that motivates a person to commit suicide, is an illness. Just like other diseases have symptoms and effects, so does depression. Among the effects of depression are despair and hopelessness. A depressed mind does not think clearly; the chemical pathways are biologically altered because of the disease. So a person does not exactly intend to sin who commits suicide.

Those suffering from depression should seek both pastoral help and medical help, even if they have not had any suicidal thoughts.

A Christian lives in forgiveness. If a person who commits suicide retains God’s gift of faith until death, he remains in that forgiveness. Nevertheless, Christians seek to avoid suicide as they seek to avoid any other sins that are contrary to their new identities in Christ. As Christians, we humbly acknowledge and give thanks to God that our whole lives are in His hands. The death of Jesus and His resurrection redeem our suffering and enable us to endure our crosses, praying for the day of His return, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

ATP: Ecumenism

Background: Hope hosted this year's community Good Friday service. Unlike years past where all the members of the ministerial alliance, because we are not in pulpit fellowship with other churches in town, I was the only one presiding at the service, which was the same Tenebrae Vespers we do every year. The only difference is that this year other congregations invited themselves to our service.

Why are we now participating with the ministerial alliance? For years we couldn’t participate.

Ecumenism is the working together of Christians of differing confessions toward Christian unity. There are two approaches to ecumenism. One is to ignore or downplay the theological differences that have historically divided Christians in favor of presenting a unified front. The other is to be honest and forthright about what divides Christians and to work toward a common confession of the faith by resolving these differences.

The first approach is not helpful. It takes a “can’t we all just get along” attitude and quips “unity not uniformity.” The problem is that the theological differences that divide Christians are not insignificant. They are huge. And they involve the proper confession of the Gospel. Since the Gospel cannot be compromised, we must not ignore, gloss over, or downplay these differences. Leaders of different denominations can and should have conversations together that acknowledge these differences and seek to come to a common understanding. This is the second approach.

Lutherans of the Missouri Synod have always preferred this second approach to ecumenism. It’s more difficult, to be sure, to be honest and upfront about how our different confessions of the faith. But because we care about the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ, we must. So the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has always taken a careful approach when she engages with Christians of other confessions. In most clergy alliances, that looks like this: we can participate together and cooperate in service toward the community, but, because we believe differently and refuse to ignore those differences, we cannot cooperate in matters of worship.

We are always been clear in our interactions with other Christians about the limits of our fellowship. We may cooperate in serving the community, but—until we are in agreement in all matters of theology—we cannot cooperate in worship. Although we are not in altar and pulpit fellowship with other congregations in town, we were happy to have the community invite itself to our Good Friday service of Tenebrae vespers. (For that matter, the community is invited to all of Hope’s worship services.)

This was ecumenism done correctly. The service and the preaching were unapologetically Lutheran. And no one was welcome to preside in the liturgy who was not in full agreement with us.

I don’t know what pastors have done in the past. Because genuine ecumenism is so difficult in a culture that tries to downplay differences between Christian denominations, deciding not to participate at all is completely understandable. But there’s a benefit to be reaped from being in conversation with other Christians and from serving our community together significant enough to make this kind of ecumenism worth the effort.

ATP: Prayers for the Dead

If it doesn’t do any good to pray for the dead, does it do any harm?

When the Lutheran reformers argued against prayers for the dead, what they were contending against is the false hope that because of our prayers, God might posthumously forgive those who had been impenitent. Also, while there is ample evidence in the early church of prayers for the dead, this practice had become so entwined with the Roman Catholic belief in purgatory that the Lutherans found these nearly inextricable.

And yet, the Lutheran Confessions say, “"We know that the ancients spoke of prayer for the dead. We do not prohibit this. . . .Epiphanius testifies that Aerius believed that prayers for the dead were useless. This he rejects. We do not support Aerius either" (Ap. XXIV.94, 96).

So may we pray for the dead? We teach and confess against the Roman Catholic error. And yet, there is Christian prayer for the dead, even as we pray for all the Church in heaven and on earth. The first prayer in the Prayer of the Church in the Funeral Service is “Almighty God, You have knit Your chosen people together into one communion in the mystical body of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Give to Your whole Church in heaven and on earth Your light and Your peace.” We do not pray so that God would grant to the faithful departed some new or extra light and peace. They already have His light and peace in the fullest. As one Lutheran pastor explained, “to extrapolate the Small Catechism: God certainly gives his light and peace to those who rest with him, even to those for whom no one prays, but we pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would lead us to realize this and receive this gift with thanksgiving.”

The Christian Cyclopedia notes, “Luther's position is best summarized: ‘Nothing has been commanded or enjoined upon us concerning the dead. Therefore all this may be safely omitted, even if it were no error and idolatry’ (SA-II II 12). He inclines to a cautious toleration of the practice, points out that we have no command to pray for the dead, inasmuch as those who are in heaven do not need prayers, and those who are in hell cannot be helped thereby, and suggests that Christians make their prayers conditional (WA 10-III, 194–195, 409 to 410; 11, 130; 12, 596; 26, 508; 44, 203).”

We do not pray for the damned, those who died impenitently, without faith in Jesus. But, as long as we do not hope falsely like Roman Catholics that God might change the already-declared verdict on the dead, we may pray for the faithful departed, as we do in the liturgy and in hymns.

ATP: Forgiven of sin not yet committed?

Can you be forgiven of sins you have not yet committed?

The answer to this question exposes a huge difference between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in their understanding of forgiveness. Case in point: Baptism. For a Roman Catholic, in Baptism, God only forgives past sins. For a Lutheran, when God baptizes you, He places you into His forgiveness. That forgiveness covers past sins, current sins, and future sins. As Luther explained it, we live in our Baptism every day.

So, to the person who is worried that Jesus might return before he has the chance to confess sins and receive forgiveness for those sins, the answer is, “Yes, as long as you remain in the forgiveness delivered to you at Baptism, you are already forgiven of those future sins.” There’s no partial forgiveness. Either all of your sins are answered for by Jesus or none of them is.

But to the person who wants a license to sin, the answer is “No, you may not plan to sin and also remain in the forgiveness delivered to you in Baptism.” Plain and simple, Christians don’t plan to sin. Planned repentance (“If I do this, God will still forgive me”) is not repentance. And to plan to sin is to fight against faith and forgiveness. “If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26).

The means through which God forgives our sins, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper, and the preached Word, are means by which God holds us in the water of our Baptism. They don’t bestow new forgiveness or extra forgiveness. They do deliver forgiveness, but they do so in concert with Holy Baptism, not in addition to it. All of God’s means of grace have this as their goal: to hold you in the forgiveness delivered to you in Baptism. If you remain in the faith and forgiveness delivered to you at Baptism, all your sins are forgiven, taken away and given to Jesus, who has already answered for them.

ATP: How many Sacraments?

How many Sacraments are there?

The short, Lutheran answer is “It depends whom you ask.”

Lutherans have never been dogmatic about a number of sacraments like Roman Catholics are, except that they adamantly deny that there are seven. In some places, the Lutherans say there are two sacraments; in other places, they say three. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are always included in the list of Lutheran sacraments. Absolution sometimes makes the list.

The word sacrament is the Latin translation of “mystery,” as when St. Paul calls pastors “stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 4:1). Scripture never sets forth a definition of “Sacraments;” those definitions always come from theologians.

What is a Sacrament? The Explanation of the Small Catechism (not a part of the Catechism, but a later American addition to help teach the Catechism) says, “A sacrament is a sacred act A. instituted by God, B. in which God Himself has joined His Word of promise to a visible element, C. and by which He offers, gives, and seals the forgiveness of sins earned by Christ.” So the question is, “Does Absolution have a visible element?” The answer: kinda. While the pastor is not an element akin to water, wine, or bread, his placing hands on the head of the penitent, is both visible and tactile, like Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

What do the Lutheran Confessions say? The Small Catechism sandwiches Confession and Absolution between The Sacrament of Holy Baptism and The Sacrament of the Altar. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession says, “If we call Sacraments ‘rites that have the command of God, and to which the promise ofgrace has been added,’ it is easy to decide what are the true sacraments. For rites instituted by human beings will not be called true sacraments. For human authority cannot promise grace. Therefore, signs set up without God’s command are not sure signs of grace, even though such signs perhaps instruct the unlearned or admonish about something. Therefore, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution (which is the Sacrament of Repentance) are truly Sacraments. For these rites have God’s command and the promise of grace, which is peculiar to the New Testament” (Ap AC, XIII, 3-4).

The point is not to be dogmatic about a number but to receive what God has commanded as a means through which He forgives our sins. To the question, “Does Absolution forgive our sins?” the answer is a clear “Yes!” It is God’s gift, whether it gets included in our human list of Sacraments.

The danger of a question like “How many Sacraments?” is that we use it to prescribe limits. The better question is “How does God forgive my sins?” Then, the answer is easy, “In Holy Baptism, in Holy Absolution, in Holy Communion, and in the preaching of the Word.”

ATP: Private Confession

What’s the difference between private Confession and the general confession at the beginning of the service?

The Confession & Absolution that happens before the Service begins with the Introit is a recent innovation. The first president of the Missouri Synod, C.F.W. Walther encouraged pastors about private Confession, “in an evangelical way, through instruction and exhortation, and through praising it, [to] work toward the goal that it be diligently used in addition to general confession and that, where it is possible and advisable, it be finally reintroduced as the exclusive custom and that it be properly preserved where it exist. By all means he may under no circumstances yield to a congregation which does not want to permit the use of private Confession and Absolution even on the part of individual members, for ‘to remove Absolution from the church’ would certainly be ‘contrary to God.’”

When in the Small Catechism Luther provides a short model for confession, he speaks of how an individual penitent might confess to his pastor one-on-one. Pastor Wilhelm Löhe, who sent the first pastors from Germany to the Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana parts of the Missouri Synod, lamented the rise of a service of general Confession, because private Absolution is “the heart of the cure of souls.”

One of the beautiful parts of Lutheran theology is its emphasis on the particularity of the Gospel. Jesus died for the world, yes, but that’s not the Gospel until you know that Jesus died for you. The difference between the general Confession in the Preparatory Rite and the private Confession contained in the Catechism, extolled by Luther, and called a Sacrament by the Augsburg Confession, is particularity.

We don’t have general sins, we have specific sins. We aren’t generally sinners, we’re particularly sinners. So the sweet comfort of forgiveness, the cure for souls, is meant to be applied and received particularly in private Confession. So the Lutheran Confessions declare, “Our people are taught that they should highly prize the Absolution as being God’s voice and pronounced by God’s command” (AC XXV) and “Our churches teach that private Absolution should be retained in the churches” (AC XI).

General confession is like going to a medical seminar, led by a doctor, to address a particular health issue. While you may gain invaluable information from the seminar that you can use to improve your health, there isn’t the face-to-face contact of a visit to a doctor. In a visit to a doctor, the doctor will evaluate your particular health and prescribe a solution to benefit you in particular. General confession delivers forgiveness like a sermon and the rest of the liturgy deliver forgiveness. Private confession delivers forgiveness like a doctor writing a prescription for you. When in private Confession, the pastor puts his hand on your head and speaks the words of Christ “I forgive you,” there’s no mistaking it. This cure is for you.

Happy New Year

Yesterday marked the beginning of a new year. The Church Year begins anew with the first Sunday in Advent, Ad Te Levavi. Why is the Church's calendar so different from the world's? They’re telling different stories.

The world is telling a story of life that ends in death; the Church is telling the story of her Lord, a story of death that ends in life.

So the calendar of the Church is arranged to tell the story of Jesus Christ. There are two halves to the year, the Semester of the Lord and the Semester of the Church. In the first half, the Semester of the Lord, she focuses on a semi-chronological account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. (She readily admits, however, that chronology is not her forte, beginning the year with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.) The year begins with Advent, the season of anticipation for the “coming” of Jesus. This season anticipates both His coming at Christmas and also His coming once-and-for-all at His return. Advent has both a preparatory as well as a penitential mood to it. Then follows Christmas, always on December 25th. The Season of Christmas continues until the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is actually an older celebration than Christmas (second only to Easter) that celebrates the manifestation of Jesus as both God and man. Epiphany is also when we celebrate the Magi (who represent all nations) coming to visit Jesus.

Throughout these seasons, we celebrate significant events in the life of Jesus. 8 days after His birth, He was circumcised and given His Name (merely by accident this coincides with the world's New Year). During Epiphany, we celebrate our Lord’s Baptism as well as His first miracle. Epiphany ends with the Festival of the Transfiguration, the manifestation of Jesus’ glory to His disciples.

The three weeks before Lent are a mini-season (Gesima-tide) designed to prepare us for Lent. Lent, a season of fasting and repentance, focuses our attention on the coming Passion of Jesus. The last two weeks of Lent are Passiontide, when the fasting increases and the mood becomes even more somber. Passiontide and Lent culminate in Holy Week, the week when the Church tells the story of the last week of the life of her Lord Jesus.

Lent—with its fasting and weeping—ends on Easter (technically on Easter Eve, the Easter Vigil), the season when the Church proclaims the Resurrection of Her Lord and the promise of eternal life for all who have faith in Him for forgiveness. A season full of unbridled joy, Easter lasts 7 weeks. Fourty days after His Resurrection, Jesus ascended; so, forty days after Easter, at the Ascension of the Lord, the Church celebrates the fact that human flesh now dwells at the right hand of God the Father, in the God-man Jesus. Fifty days after Easter is Pentecost, an Old Testament harvest festival that now celebrates the “harvest” of believers for Christ. Marking the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto the disciples, Pentecost is also the birthday of the Church.

Pentecost marks the transition from the Semester of the Lord to the Semester of the Church, which begins with Trinity Sunday. This second half of the Church Year focuses on How the Lord grows His Church through His gifts of Word and Sacrament. Trinity season culminates with a 3-week season at the end (akin to the 3-week season that prepares us for Lent) that prepares us for Advent and the start of another Church Year. Then the cycle begins all over again, as the Church never ceases to proclaim the story of her Lord, the story of salvation.

ATP: Lutherans and Roman Catholics

I keep hearing about an agreement between Lutherans and Catholics. What’s that?

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, a statement signed by Roman Catholic and Lutheran theologians, declaring their agreement on the doctrine of Justification. That’s right, the doctrine of Justification, the article that caused the reformation, the article—Lutherans assert—on which the Church stands or falls. Confessional Lutheran groups, or those who hold to the authority of the Scriptures and who believe the Lutheran Confessions a faithful exposition of Scripture, including the Missouri Synod, did not sign on. (In fact, the Missouri Synod wasn’t even invited to the last round of discussion, the one that led to the JDDJ, but that’s another story.) Seven years later, in 2006, the World Methodist Council voted to adopt the JDDJ as well.

So, there you have it. Apparently Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists all agree on the doctrine of Justification. So what’s the big deal? Why are Lutherans and Roman Catholics still divided? As the JDDJ reveals, even if they use the same words, Lutherans and Roman Catholics don’t mean them the same way. In other words, they are not agreed. Not even close.

What keeps Lutherans from being Roman Catholic?

The word “catholic” is bigger than the Roman Catholic church. Catholic comes from two Greek words, meaning “according to the whole,” or universal. In fact, the term “Roman Catholic” is by nature contradictory; you can’t be both universal and confined to a location (like Rome). In the Nicene Creed, we confess that we believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. That’s the Church of the apostles, the Church throughout history, the universal Church.

When arguing against the false teachings of the Roman Catholic church, the reformers sought to make their case that they were not creating any new church. Rather, they were continuing in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church that had existed for 1,500 years. As they saw it, they were merely calling the Roman church to repent of newly minted false teachings and practices and return to the true, catholic church, the church with the doctrine of the apostles. It’s all a matter of perspective. From the perspective of the Lutherans, it is not they who “broke off” from the Church of Rome, but rather the Church of Rome that had departed from the true, catholic church.

At least three major things keep Rome and Wittenberg apart: Justification by works, the anti-Christ nature of the papacy, and the abomination of the Roman Mass.

For all the ecumenism and cooperation that went into the meetings leading up to the Joint Declaration, the result is not an agreement on Justification. The Church of Rome still teaches justification by works, even if she can agree to justification by grace. Therein lies a difference of terms. When Rome says “by grace,” what she means is, “God gives you grace through His sacraments which enable you to do the God-pleasing works that merit His mercy.” That’s still justification by works, and it’s an abomination. Anything which makes a person look to himself for confidence for salvation must be completely rejected, whether works to earn God’s mercy or a decision to accept His grace.

While Pope Benedict XVI is known for his appreciation of Luther and Lutheran scholarship, the official teachings of the Church of Rome on the office of the papacy are still problematic for Lutherans. Because Rome teaches that the Bishop of Rome is the head of the church by divine right, not by human arrangement, because he claims for himself authority over Scripture, and because the Church of Rome teaches that popes and councils cannot err, the Lutheran Confessions rightly call the office of the papacy anti-Christ.

Third, while the Lutheran Divine Service and the Roman Catholic Mass look very similar (and, in fact, the first Lutherans argued that they observed the Mass with greater reverence than their opponents), they is one big dissimilarity. In the Roman Mass, the Lord’s Supper is a work that further earns God’s mercy. So the priest can “say Mass” without anyone around to hear or receive the Body and Blood of Jesus because what matters is that the work of the Mass is done to appease God. In the Lutheran Mass, the Lord’s Supper is the way God delivers His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. The Divine Service is not our offering something to God; it’s God’s coming to us. That’s why Luther called the Roman Mass an abomination; it has the direction of the gifts backwards.

ATP: How to listen to a sermon?

How should I listen to a sermon?

Jesus on preaching: Then [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47)

St. Paul on preaching: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23)

Catechumens are required to do sermon reports, but the task of listening critically to a sermon is valuable for everyone. So what should you listen for? St. Paul says “Christ crucified.” Jesus says “repentance and forgiveness of sins…in my name.”

I tell catechumens to answer three questions about each sermon. What is the Law? What is the Gospel? What does this mean for me? As you listen to any sermon, try to answer those questions.

The Law is what accuses you of sin. Not your neighbor, not the world, not the guy in the pew in front of you. You. The Law isn’t concerned with anyone else’s sin, just yours. And, properly preached, the Law doesn’t give you any hope. It doesn’t give you steps to follow to make your life better. It accuses you. It is, as Jesus said it would be, a call to repentance.

The Gospel is what delivers the forgiveness of sins. As the Law shows you your sin, the Gospel shows you your Savior. Christ crucified is the pure Gospel. But the Gospel doesn’t end at Calvary. How does that forgiveness Jesus won on the cross get delivered to you? Forgiveness is delivered through means: Holy Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper. These sacraments are Gospel, too. In fact, Lutheran preaching is sacramental. It doesn’t just tell you about forgiveness; it delivers that forgiveness. And it calls you to receive that forgiveness. Every sermon is like an altar call to the Lord’s Supper where you receive the forgiveness of sins.

If a sermon is lite on Law, the Gospel is unnecessary. If you’re not a big sinner, you don’t need big forgiveness. If the sermon is lite on Gospel, the Law will either produce despair or self-righteousness. If there’s no hope of forgiveness, you’ve got to fulfill the Law yourself. Law and Gospel go hand-in-hand. The Law is to cause you to see only sin when you look at yourself. The Gospel calls you to quit looking at yourself and look instead at Jesus Christ crucified to forgive your sins.

So, try it out. Some sermons will be easier than others (probably the preacher’s fault, not yours), but every sermon should be repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name.

Ask the Pastor

Lots of pastors do some form of an "Ask the Pastor" forum, many even on their blogs. I've been doing one in the bulletin at Hope for a little while and thought it might work well here, too. Usually there's one of these per week, but I'll post the old ones, too, until they're all up. Feel free to email me any questions or post them in the comments to any ATP post. Click on my profile link to the right to get my email address.