The Word at Work Magazine - Spring 2016

Spring 2016 Vol. 5 No. 1

In This Issue...

Pg. 10 – Freedom: A Story of Near Death and Resurrection

By Rev. Jamie Strickler Pg. 16 – They Called me ‘Mullah” Chaplain Michael Giese Pg. 24 – Jesus The Creator & Hymns that Proclaim this Truth Dr. Beth Hoeltke Pg. 32 – A Word for the Theologian Christ, Exclusivity and Truth Conditions - pt. II Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt ... and Much More!

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The Institute of Lutheran Theology is a Christian faith community, seminary and graduate school that rigorously equips faithful pastors, teachers and lay people to effectively proclaim the gospel and serve Christ's church throughout the world.

Board of Directors Honorable G. Barry Anderson Senior Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court

Rev. Dr. Fred Baltz Pastor, St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Galena, IL

Dr. Eugene Bunkowske Emeritus Professor, Concordia University, St. Paul, MN Retired Missionary Rev. John Bent Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Whitefish, MT

Debra Hesse Agribusiness Owner and Manager, Moses Lake, WA Dr. Hans J. Hillerbrand Emeritus Professor of Religion, Duke University

Rev. James T. Lehmann, STS Pastor, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Thomasboro, IL Rev. Janine Rew-Werling Pastor, Hosanna Lutheran Church, Watertown, SD Fred Schickedanz Real Estate Developer, Calgary, Alberta Dr. Phil Wold Retired Physician, Mankato, MN

Institute of Lutheran Theology 605-692-9337 www.ilt.org Fax: 605-692-0884 910 4th Street Brookings, SD 57006 2

Staff Dennis Bielfeldt – President president@ilt.org Douglas Dillner – Classroom Technical Support ddillner@ilt.org Daniel Grimminger- ILT Cantor Threasa Hopkins – President’s Office thopkins@ilt.org Leon Miles – Finance Office and Admissions lmiles@ilt.org Douglas V. Morton – Dean of Educational Ministries dmorton@ilt.org Denia Murrin – Office Assistant dhaynes@ilt.org David Patterson – Librarian dpatterson@ilt.org Tom Sandersfeld – ILT Ambassador tsandersfeld@ilt.org Marsha Schmit – Communications Facilitator mschmit@ilt.org Constance Sorenson – Congregational Relations csorenson@ilt.org Jonathan Sorum – Dean of Academic Affairs jsorum@ilt.org

Timothy J. Swenson - Dean of Student and Religious Life tswenson@ilt.org Eric Swensson – International Relations, Social Media eswensson@ilt.org Ethan Wiese – Communications Designer ewiese@ilt.org

A Letter From The Senior Editor

From the Senior Editor

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hristian literature with good theology is hard to find. I am reminded of the statement that says many Christian bookstores are like minefields. Just as you need to be careful walking on a path thorough a minefield, you must also be careful walking through many Christian bookstores.

Some books are great and will give you the gospel that will strengthen your faith. Other books contain poor teaching with little gospel, and will blow apart your Christian faith.

In this world filled with unsound theological teaching, you can always be sure that the Institute of Lutheran Theology’s The Word at Work magazine will give you sound Biblical teaching and lead you to the wonderful gospel of sins forgiven in Jesus Christ. We are glad to be able to offer you this magazine free of charge.

Our goal is to reach as many people as possible with The Word at Work and our subscription list is growing. We also offer to congregations free bulk issues of the magazine they can make available to

members and friends. We send and give out thousands of magazines with each issue. Because of the cost, I encourage those who are able, to partner with us so we can continue to keep the magazine free and offer it to more and more people. Any gift, no matter how small, will help us keep The Word at Work reaching the mailboxes of God’s people with sound, Biblically based teaching.

Why not open your checkbook today and make a gift to ILT, marking it for The Word at Work. In this way, you will be helping to make sure that God’s Word will continue to work in people’s lives as it works through the magazine.

Rev. Douglas V. Morton Senior Editor The Word at Work

In Christ, Rev. Douglas V. Morton Senior Editor of The Word at Work

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Contents

Pg. 3 – A Letter From the Senior Editor Rev. Doug Morton Pg. 6 – ILT News Pg. 8 – I Believe (part 3 of 12) Dr. Jonathan Sorum Pg. 10 – Freedom: A Story of Near Death and Resurrection

By Rev. Jamie Strickler Pg. 16 – They Called me ‘Mullah” Chaplain Michael Giese Pg. 18 – Bible Studies Leon Miles Pg. 22 – No More Coaxing Rev. Timothy J Swenson

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Pg. 24 – Jesus The Creator & Hymns that Proclaim this Truth Dr. Beth Hoeltke Pg. 32 – A Word for the Theologian Christ, Exclusivity and Truth Conditions - pt. II Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt This issue and previous issues of The Word at Work Magazine can be found online at www.ILT.org along with other FREE devotional and educational resources for individuals and congregations.

The Institute of Lutheran Theology puts all of this within your reach.

Seminary was good, but now you realize you were just skimming the surface. You want to go deeper. You long for the freedom to pursue the questions that nag at you and explore the ideas that intrigue you. You are eager to gain a clearer grasp of the gospel and of the world in which you proclaim it. You would revel in the company of fellow pastors who love theology and are passionate about proclaiming Jesus Christ.

The Institute of Lutheran Theology offers two post- M. Div. graduate degree programs, the Master of Sacred Theology and the Doctor of Ministry.

These programs feature: • A biblical and confessional framework • High academic standards •Highly qualified instructors • An atmosphere of respect, freedom and openness • Low cost • Lively, interactive classes online without having to travel to a campus The Institute of Lutheran Theology is a Christian faith community, seminary and graduate school that rigorously equips faithful pastors, teachers and lay people to effectively proclaim the gospel and serve Christ’s church throughout the world.

The central claim of ILT’s Doctor of Ministry program is simple: Lutheran theology uniquely equips the church to engage secular people and win them for the gospel.

As a participant, you and the rest of the pastors in your cohort test this claim as you explore the roots and dynamics of our present secular age and discover models for engaging secular people in ways that open pathways to the gospel. You begin to construct approaches to evangelizing that really do proclaim the evangel as good news. You learn new (and old) approaches to providing basic Christian education to equip people to live in daily return to their Baptism. You make two one-week visits to places where exemplary outreach is happening to get intensive, personal experience that you can take home and integrate into your ministry. At the end, you bring it all together in a project you design for yourself involving reaching the unreached in your congregation.

Through it all, you deepen your understanding of what it means to be a theologian of the cross who relies, not on human power, but on the power of the gospel.

ILT’s Doctor of Ministry program is your next step to a more effective and more joyous outreach to the unreached!

For more information contact Leon Miles - lmiles@ilt.org Institute of Lutheran Theology 605-692-9337 www.ILT.org 910 4th Street Brookings, SD 57006

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ILT NEWS International Ministry ILT is currently working with 6 overseas church bodies to give them Biblically sound Lutheran theological education. As of this writing, members of ILT’s staff and faculty have been, or will be, making educational trips to India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. In January, Dr. Brad Miller, adjunct instructor in ILT’s Certificate Programs, visited India to assess what ILT can do to help establish an Indian Institute of Lutheran Theology. In April of this year, Rev. Eric Swenson, International Relations for ILT, went to Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar to meet with church leaders, and to teach a course on basic Lutheranism. In June, Rev. Douglas Morton, Dean of Educational Ministries, and Rev. Jamie Strickler, adjunct instructor in ILT’s Certificate Programs, will be going to Gambella, Ethiopia to preach, to teach in the Lutheran Church of South Sudan’s Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and to be present at the graduation and ordination of pastoral graduates of the TLS. In the Fall of this year, Dr. Brad Miller, adjunct instructor in ILT’s Certificate Programs and Tom Sandersfeld, ILT’s Ambassador, will be making a trip to Burundi and the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to teach and to assess how ILT can help the 500 congregations in the Bethesda Evangelical Church to educate and equip desperately needed pastors.

In addition to the world traveling by ILT, we are also engaging in International Ministry in North America.

ILT currently has three Elijah Project Ministry Certificate sites for international and immigrant pastors and church leaders in this country, giving them the desper6

ately needed and desired education to lead their congregations. Our first class of students from Sioux Falls Community Church (LCMC), a Sudanese congregation, is nearing the end of its year long education and will graduate within a few months. Our second class of Sudanese students in Omaha, Nebraska, will graduate in the Fall. A third class of Sudanese and Congolese students began its education this April in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

ILT is also teaching Pastoral Ministry Certificate courses in Des Moines, Iowa. The class consists of students from the Congo, South Sudan, and Myanmar (Burma).

You can see that God has been opening many doors through which ILT is walking.

The cost for education of students in International Ministry is unique. Most of the students overseas, and here in North America, are not able to afford a theological education. Thus, ILT has taken it upon itself to give this education to students with very little cost to them. This means ILT must raise the money for these students, both overseas and here in North America. We ask each reader to consider financially supporting our international Educational Ministry. ILT is seeking to raise at least $100,000 this year in order to make its sound Lutheran theological education available for those less fortunate. Congregations and individuals are encouraged to “adopt-a-student,” or a class of students, to help pay for their education. Another way to help would be for congregations to adopt a church body or country. This would help give pastors and leaders in these groups a chance to receive a Biblically sound Lutheran education.

15 Fellowships Avalible in August ILT announces 15 fellowships, which will be available this August, for full time students willing to relocate to the Brookings, South Dakota campus. These fellowship opportunities are made available due to the courtesy of a generous donor from North Dakota.

students and faculty throughout North America, while also being able to study in our 50,000 volume library, join faculty and staff in prayer and worship, and engage in theological conversation with faculty, staff and other students. The ability to complete a Masters of Arts or 1/3 of a Masters of Divinity degree without out-of-pocket Students selected for fellowships will receive a $5,000 costs through these fellowship, provides an excellent scholarship, another $5,000 in tuition paid through opportunity for motivated students. a work-study program with ILT, and FREE housing.

During this fellowship students will enroll to complete The August 1st deadline is approaching. To apply for 30 credit hours of course work during their year in ILT’s new fellowships or to learn more, contact Leon Brookings. This will give students the opportunity Miles at lmiles@ilt.org to take courses in ILT’s classroom studio with other

Lay Education Both Bethel Lutheran Church (LCMC), Holdrege, Nebraska and Morningside Lutheran Church (LCMC), Sioux City, Iowa, have joined Lutheran Church of the Master (LCMC), Omaha, Nebraska, in developing and implementing Lay Educational programs in partnership with the Institute of Lutheran Theology. Bethel will be holding its second Lay Educational event on Saturday, April 16 on the subject of “World Religions and Cults Today.” Morningside Lutheran Church is currently holding Sunday afternoon Lay Education sessions on Islam and Buddhism. This Fall, Lutheran Church of the Master will begin holding Lay Education classes in partnership with ILT. The institute is looking for congregations who will partner us in presenting sound, Biblical education to their people and surrounding communities.

If you, or your congregation, are interested in partnering with ILT in conducting classes for the Laity, please contact Rev. Douglas V. Morton at dmorton@ilt.org. *Pictured (top to bottom)- Bethel Lutheran Church (LCMC), Holdrege, Nebraska, Morningside Lutheran Church (LCMC), Sioux City, Iowa, Lutheran Church of the Master (LCMC), Omaha, Nebraska,

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have confessed that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, is our Lord. Now we move on to describe who, exactly, Jesus is. We do that by telling his story, and his story begins in the same way as all of our stories begin: He was conceived.

Here is the wonder of wonders: The one we call God’s only Son our Lord is none other than a human being who started out as a tiny blob of living matter in the womb of his mother, just like us. Just like us, he was real flesh and blood. Just like us, he grew to be a particular human being who lived in a particular time and place. Just like us, he learned and rejoiced and suffered and laughed and cried and hoped and grieved. He was even tempted, just as we are. He was like us in every way—except one. He never tried to be God. He was always only a creature, who trusted in his Father for all things.

He not only was a true human being; he was the only true human being who ever lived!

But he was conceived in a special way. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit with the result that he was born of the virgin Mary. Mary received a word from God, promising her that she would conceive and bear a son who would be called the Son of the Most High, the Messiah who would

reign forever. By the power of the Holy Spirit, she believed that word, and it became a child in her womb. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 2:35) All of God’s promises to his people Israel became a flesh and blood human being, living among them. ( John 1:14) No biological father was needed. “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) And what of Mary? We love and honor her for the reason that she herself foretold: “He has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”

(Luke 1:48-49) We don’t honor her because of any qualities that belong to her. We honor her because of what God did for her. He gave her the unimaginable honor of becoming the Mother of God. And, as the one who first believed the news of her Son’s coming, she is the mother of us all.

Note: This article is the third in a twelve-part series on the Apostles’ Creed, which will continue in following issues of The Word at Work.

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FREEDOM: A STORY OF NEAR DEATH AND RESURRECTION BY REV. JAMIE STRICKLER O

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ne cannot preach what one does not know. I’ve said this many times. Therefore, I must preach (or in this case, write) about my life experiences interpreted through the theological lens of the distinction between law and gospel. It is important to understand that Luther did not invent the terms law and gospel. Rather, they permeate the Holy Scriptures. I write this article for two reasons. First, because I have an unquenchable desire to teach the distinction between law and gospel to every Christian. Second, because I need to process a recent health scare I experienced through a theological lens. So, I must begin by recounting the events that took place on Monday evening January 18th, 2016. After doing this, I will define the terms law and gospel. Finally, I will interpret my experience through this lens.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. evening was extremely busy. I had met a Galatians 5:1; ESV ThatyoungMonday man after school for counseling, attended the

mission team meeting, facilitated Bethel’s study on church history, and wrapped up my evening with a parish council meeting. Upon arriving home, I was famished, so I ate a very late dinner. I then took a seat on the couch to unwind. Soon I noticed that my heart was racing. I was sweating profusely and I couldn’t catch my breath. Knowing that these are all signs of a heart attack, I monitored my symptoms for about 20 minutes. After they did not subside, I asked my wife to take me to the Emergency Room in our little town of Holdrege Nebraska. Whatever the heart monitor communicated to the medical staff, caused them great alarm. They immediately called the helicopter to come and take me to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney Nebraska, a larger more equipped facility.

In the midst of waiting for my ride, I started to crash. I couldn’t breathe. I began losing consciousness. After I was stabilized, I realized just how powerless the medical staff and I were in this situation. I knew they would do all that they were trained to do to save me, but in the end, whether I lived or died, was not up to them. Instantly, all my illusions of control, worry, fear, and anxiety faded. I was not afraid to die. If the Lord was going to allow me to do so, I wasn’t going to convince Him otherwise. I arrived in Kearney after an 8-minute flight.

After a heart catheter and many other tests were performed, it was determined that my heart valves were extremely strong and there were no blockages. They could not determine what had caused my symptoms, but attributed it to stress and high triglycerides. My heart was not the problem. What happened between Holdrege and Kearney that caused my heart to heal?

I cannot explain it. Nonetheless, in my mind, it was nothing short of miraculous. Since this all took place, I’ve changed my diet and embraced healthier lifestyle choices.

When Martin Luther discovered the distinction between law and gospel, he claimed to have “broken through,” and felt as though he had been “born again.” Up until this point, Luther hated the phrase “the righteousness of God.” He saw it as unobtainable. This righteousness that God demanded from His people was a further insult added to original sin. When he discovered that righteousness was not gained by following the law, but rather obtained through faith, and given freely as a gift, the scriptures opened to him in a new way.

This will be the same for each of us when we understand law and gospel, as well as Biblical righteousness. In the preface to his Lectures on Galatians, Luther distinguishes between active and passive righteousness. A Christian is made righteous in a passive sense, through faith in Jesus Christ.

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Out of this passive righteousness comes an active righteousness -- living as Christ in this world, being obedient to the law. The Christian life involves walking on the narrow path in the tension between law and gospel. The law kills the flesh. The gospel brings new life. Paul writes: Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:56; ESV).

Simply defined, the law is anything that God commands.

Present day Lutherans often debate on whether Luther held to two or three uses of the law. I will not get into this debate at this time, but will spend my time dealing with the first and second use of the law. The first use is called the civil use, while the second is called the spiritual use.

The first use (civil use) of the law functions to regulate society and to restrain evil. God, acting in mercy to sinners, is hidden in this use of the law. Judgment, condemnation, and destruction are what Luther calls, the “alien work” of God.

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The law is not where God wants to be found. This perspective is very scriptural. For instance, note what the prophet Isaiah declares: “For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed— strange is his deed! and to work his work—alien is his work!”

(Isaiah 28:21; ESV).

The “proper work” of God is the gospel, which I will discuss later. The civil use of the law comes under God’s “alien work.” It is the use of the law in which God regulates society through His children, as well as through unbelievers.

All throughout the scriptures, God uses both types of people to accomplish His will. In Genesis, God said to Isaac: I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:4-5; ESV).

The first use of the law is intended to restrain evil and to set a “baseline” for morality. God does this for the good of His creation. This use of the law is given because humans --

this side of the Fall -- are sinful creatures. Thus, the politician functions to create laws that promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people. The police and military function to enforce those laws. When Christ comes again, He will destroy evil forever. Then, there will be no continuation of this first use. But, until then, God works through the first use of the law to keep evil at bay. It is my contention that when a society departs from the first use of the law -- sometimes called natural law -- evil is less restricted, and society suffers the consequences of people’s disobedience through the loosening of evil.

The second use of the law is often referred to as the “spiritual,” or the “theological” use. It functions to make the sinner aware that he or she is in fact a sinner and in need of a Savior. It is not until an individual is crushed by the law, and driven to complete and utter despair, that he or she can come to believe in the gospel. A sinner brought to a grace without passing through the law, is, what Dietrich Bonhoeffer referred to, as “cheap grace.”

Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheap jacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. 1 Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.2 Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 3 Faith created in this manner is likely not true/salvific faith. Grace becomes simply God’s nice feelings towards us apart from what Christ has done for us on the cross. This person still needs to experience the law in its second use, like a mirror, showing the person how bad his or her sin really is, and how terrible God’s judgment against that sin is. St. Paul testifies to the need for the second use of the law in his letter to the Church in Rome: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20; ESV).

For many modern day Christians, this crushing blow of the law is often seen as a one-time event that happens in adult conversion. However, as Lutherans, we teach that the Holy Spirit continues to use the law of God to bring Christians to repentance. Thus, the Christian, in-so-far-as he or she still carries the old sinful nature within, is still in need of the law to convict the Christian of sin. And, this means the the Christian is in daily need of the gospel. The function of God’s Word communicated as law and gospel is for a daily dying and rising. Martin Luther put it this way in his Ninety-Five Theses: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus

Christ, said, ‘Repent,’ He called for the entire life of believers to be one of penitence [i.e. repentance].” 4 The Christian is both saint and sinner at the same time -- totally forgiven and righteous because of Christ, and at the same time, totally sinner with the old sinful nature that seeks to control him or her. Thus, the Christian continues to need the law to show how sinful he or she is, and to show what in reality is God’s will so the Christian does not come up with his or her own ideas of what God’s will is. Thus, Paul can say the following: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:1-10; ESV).

Here Paul shows the Christian what is God’s will as opposed to a human invention of God’s will. God desires that we live our lives in conformity with his will, not because by doing so we earn forgiveness or acceptance with Him. He gives us His will and desires that we follow it for the sake of our neighbor. When it comes to the Christian’s acceptance with God, it is based upon Christ and what he has done, and not on what the Christian has done. Christ has fulfilled the law. He did this for us. We do not have to base our relationship with God on the law that condemns. For, with the coming of Christ, comes the end of the law. Note what the Apostle says in Romans 10:4: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (ESV).

As sinners, the law of God condemns us because of our sin. Yet, because of Christ, we are not condemned (Romans 8:1). Instead, we are perfect “in Christ.” And, because of this, we can look at what God commands and say, “Yes, this is that which I take delight in my inner man.” This is exactly what Paul says in Romans 7:22: “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being” (ESV). Thus, the Psalmist can declare: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1-2; ESV).

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But, because we are also still sinners, we will never be to the point where we do not need the gospel message of sins forgiven in Christ. Let’s listen to what the Bible has to say about the gospel. Paul states:

hearing of the gospel correctly proclaimed, because even the believer contends with the flesh/old Adam. The Holy Spirit is always there with the word of the gospel engendering and strengthening faith in our lives.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” John 16:33; ESV The true message of the gospel has been under attack throughout history. Some have garbled the gospel by denying the deity of Christ and then passing this belief off as orthodox. But, if Jesus is not God, then he has no power to forgive us and save us. Thus, we of all people are most to be pitied. Others have changed the promise of new life in Christ so that it applies to social justice in this life. Now, social justice is good. But, it is not the gospel. It is the result of the gospel working in people’s lives. Nor does the gospel promise that our lives will always be free from oppression.

For instance, Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” ( John 16:33; ESV).

St. John’s Revelation continuously witnesses to God’s Jesus uses covenant language in explaining the gospel in chosen people being faithful to the gospel even in the face of Luke 22. death. Through the trials and tribulations that we encounter in this world we, likewise, cling to the promise of the gosAnd he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he pel, knowing that eternally we will be with Christ because of broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, His finished work on the cross, and not because of our own which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” works or conscientious idea of justice.

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,”This The gospel is God’s proper work. God’s nature is to create. cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in Through the gospel, God not only redeems His fallen cremy blood” (Luke 22:19-20; ESV). ation, but also creates them anew. God does not want us to find Him in ourselves, or in what we do, but rather, He wants Simply stated, the gospel is Jesus Christ, God incarnate, to be found in the form of Jesus Christ. In Him ( Jesus) and crucified and resurrected for you, the helpless sinner, for the through Him we have been restored to God’s beloved creforgiveness of sins. The gospel is the confession of faith that ation. defines whether one is truly a Christian or not. Article 7 And, even though we are free from the law's condemnaof the Augsburg Confession states: “For the true unity of tion because of Christ, there are still consequences for one the Church it is enough to agree about the doctrine of the who lacks obedience to the law, whether that law is God’s Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments.” 5 law or the law of a healthy life style. Let’s go back to my A broken sinner who hears the sweetness of the gospel story about my trip to the hospital. I had a poor diet. I didn’t proclaimed by a true preacher (i.e., one who points to Christ exercise and I coped with stress in very unhealthy ways. I alone for salvation) and empowered by the Holy Spirit, is suffered the consequences on Monday evening, January 18th. born again to new life in Christ. Once again this hearing Through the lens of law and gospel, I can see that, at that is not a one-time conversion. Instead it is a daily dying to point, I was powerless to save myself. It was only through the flesh and being brought to new life in Christ by the the grace of God that I am healthy. However, suffering the But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21-26; ESV).

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consequences of a poor lifestyle did in fact allow me to be set free from my illusions of control, fear, worry, and anxiety.

Only through the near loss of my life did I learn the depth of the freedom that Christ brings to the Christian. On account of Christ making us righteous in God’s sight in a passive sense, we are free to become actively righteous for the sake of our neighbors. I realize that my health is not my own. I need to embrace the freedom Christ has given to me to be self disciplined and make healthy choices, not out of selfish motivation, but rather for the sake of my wife, my children, and the people of Bethel Lutheran Church, who all count on me greatly.

It has been said that Christian freedom is both freedom from and freedom to. On one hand, freedom from sin, death, the devil, and the unrealistic expectations of the world. On the other hand, freedom to be self-disciplined, worship God, love and serve our neighbor, and free to make disciples of all nations. In America we say that we are free. Yet it is not an autonomous freedom. We are free in some aspects, but bound in others. For instance, we are free to choose in which state we live, but we are not free to refuse to pay taxes. With great freedom comes great responsibility. Thus, we are free in some aspects, but accountable to one another in others.

Let me encourage each of you to explore what it means to be truly free in Christ. It is not a freedom to sin without consequences. It is not a freedom to live a gluttonous lifestyle.

Rather it is a freedom to be obedient to God’s law, to love Him because He first loved us, and to do what is best for our neighbors. Beloved, your life is not your own. It was bought with a price. Go now and make healthy choices. Go to freely love the Lord who gave His life for you. Go to love and serve others -- accepting them both for their strengths and their weaknesses. And, do not allow the yoke of slavery to the sinful flesh, Satan, death and the world, to ever again enter your life. Remember who you are and what you are in Christ.

Remember, the gospel of sins forgiven in Christ means you are accepted by God in Christ. And, remember, the peace of Christ follows you all the days of your life. Amen.

Pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in Holdrege, Nebraska & Certificate Program Adjunct Instructor in Church History at ILT

Endnotes 1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship. rev. & unabridged ed. (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1963), 45.

2. Ibid, 46.

3. Ibid, 47.

4. John Dillenberger, Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings (New York: Anchor Books, 1962), 490.

5. Article VII, Augsburg Confession in Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, Second Edition (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 34.

As a part of its mission, the Institute of Lutheran Theology provides individuals and congregations with educational and devotional resources. These are created by our staff, faculty, and supporters. While ILT is a school that trains pastors and church workers, it is much more. ILT is an educational institution for the church.These resources are provided free of charge and made available through our webpage. Please subscribe to and use any of these resources.

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They Called Me ‘Mullah’

By Chaplain Michael Giese

1n Afghanistan,

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things are accomplished only after three cups of tea. It usually went like this: At the beginning of the meeting, the members of the group are introduced. After introductions, the small talk begins with the pouring of the first cup of tea. As the conversation turns to the family (for Afghans are very family orientated) the second cup of tea is poured. And finally, when Afghans are ready to “get down to business”, the third cup has already been consumed.

To partake in a tea ritual is a sign of mutual respect and friendship. To decline tea was an insult of the most serious kind. Soldiers in the US military learned this lesson very quickly,

and even though I didn’t care for tea, I quickly learned.

One of my responsibilities during Operation Enduring Freedom was weekly meetings with General Labib, the Religious and Cultural Affairs Officer (RCAO) for western Afghanistan. There are two levels of religious leaders in the Muslim world. The higher tier were the Imams and Imams were seminary trained Muslim “pastors”. The lower tier were the Mullahs. Mullahs were the Christian equivalent to “street preachers” or lay ministers. In Afghanistan there weren’t any Imams, only Mullahs.

During one of my weekly meetings with General Labib, I was able to meet the senior Mullah from Herat. As usual, I was sitting through my second cup of tea, when a lively conversation struck up between the Mullah and General Labib. I turned to my Afghan interpreter to ask him what they were talking about, but he quietly told me that he would tell me later.

Later that day, as we were walking back to the US compound, my interpreter told me about the conversation. My interpreter told me that the lively discussion was about me. He told me that General Labib was explaining that I was the Christian Mullah for the American soldiers. He was trying to convince the Mullah that most Americans were not like the ones seen in movies. I was hard working and I loved my soldiers.

It was at this moment that I realized why many Muslim countries hate America.

America creates its own negative propaganda – straight from Hollywood. American actors and musicians perform real and staged acts of violence, speak profanity, and strut around at various stages of undress – all while wearing the Christian cross like a piece of jewelry. This is how the rest of the world sees American Christians.

There were other occasions that I was introduced as a “Christian Mullah”. Another of my duties was to assist with humanitarian aid (HA) missions. This was one of the most dangerous jobs I had. The Chaplain is the only individual in the US military not authorized to carry a weapon. In addition, I was the only individual authorized to wear a cross on my uniform. This could be a security issue because the Talaban offered a $5,000 bounty for the assassination of an American

Chaplain. (My running joke was I hoped I made it worth their money.) On more than one HA mission, the mission commander asked me if I would be willing to take off and hide my cross. My answer was always, “No.” On one particular HA mission, I was observing the distribution of food to a remote village when I felt a tug on my uniform sleeve. I looked down to see a very young boy smiling at me. He couldn’t have been more than three years of age. He looked up expectantly at me. Behind him was his father, holding out his hand. I gestured to him that I didn’t have anything, but then I realized that he wanted me to hold out my hand.

Therefore, I held out my hand and the little boy “gave me five”. This boy and his father should have feared the “Christian Mullah”, but didn’t. God certainly was present at that single moment. I was reminded of Jesus’ command, “Love one another, as I have loved you” ( John 13:34), and felt His grace in Afghanistan.

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Note: The following Bible studies are designed to be used in small group discussion or for personal reflection. Please feel free to make copies of them as you wish. You will also find an answer key. Please answer the questions for yourself before you consult the answer key.

Matthew 13:18-21 Introduction: Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-9. In verses 18-21, Jesus interprets this parable to his disciples in private. This parable is about the different ways people respond to the hearing of God’s word. Not everyone receives the word in the same way, or receives it at all.

Here we see what Jesus says will happen as the word of God goes out into the world.

Discussion Questions: 1. What is the seed?

2. How does Jesus explain the meaning of the seed that falls on the path?

3. How does Jesus explain the meaning of the seed that fall in the rocks?

4. How does Jesus explain the meaning of the seed that falls in the weeds?

5. How does Jesus explain the meaning of the seed that falls on the good soil?

6. What does this tell us about what to expect when we speak the word of God? 7. What does this tell us about the enemies of the word of God? 8. In what way does it take faith to speak the word of God? 9. How have you experienced being among the weeds, rocks, and good soil in your own life?

Closing Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that your word would bear fruit in our lives and as we speak it to others. May it take root and bear fruit. Give us faith to believe the promise that your word will take root in the hearts and minds of those who hear it. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Answer Key: 1. Jesus is clear here that the seed in the parable is the word of God. This parable is about how people react to hearing the word of God. For when we speak God’s word, there are many ways people respond to it.

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2. These are the people who never accept or receive God’s word when it is spoken to them. Jesus blames the devil for this. He takes it from them before it can reach their hearts.

3. These are people who receive the word of God, but do not have depth in their faith. Soon the word in them shrivels and dies. They start strong, but soon wither away.

4. These are people who receive the word of God, but they are choked out by the cares and worries of this world.

People like this cannot reconcile the faith they have in the word with the world in which they live. “Concerns” keep them from the word and their faith is choked out.

5. These are people who receive the word of God and continue to thrive and grow in it. This is the ideal response.

They receive the word of God with joy and growth. They hear and believe.

6. We can learn that the word of God will not be believed by everyone and those who do receive it, will receive it in a variety of ways. However, we are not able to force faith.

There are those who believe and those who fall away.

7. There are enemies to the word of God. We know God is all-powerful, however, he allows his enemies to continue to fight against the planting of his word. We must accept this truth and live with the reality of it. All our efforts may be according to the truth and Spirit of God and yet, may come to nothing because of our enemies.

8. We must have faith that our unseen Lord will work through his word. We know that God is working and that we have no power but what comes from him. Even when we feel like failures, we are faithful servants when we do what God has called us to do and have faith in him for the outcome.

9. For personal reflection. Think about the times when you have been tempted to allow the faith you have in God’s word to wither and die.

John 8:31-38 Introduction: In these verses Jesus sets up an “if, then” statement. In this way he describes those who abide in his word.

Those who abide in the word of Jesus are his disciples. Those who abide in the word of Jesus know the truth. The word of Jesus is not always easy for us to hear, as it was not easy to hear for the believers in that day. Despite this, the word of Jesus is the beating heart of the Christian faith.

Study Questions: 1. What are we if we abide in the word of Jesus?

2. What does it mean to abide in his word?

3. What other benefit will we have if we abide in the word of Jesus?

4. What question did they have for Jesus because he said this?

5. What is Jesus’ response to them? What does it mean if we commit sin?

6. What does it mean if the Son sets you free from slavery?

7. In what way does sin enslave you?

8. What sins in particular have enslaved you?

9. Do you believe that you have been set free from these sins?

Closing Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, draw us closer to your word and lead us to abide in it. Give us faith to hear even that word which we find hard to accept or understand.

Increase our faith so we might hold to this word with endurance. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Answer Key: 1. If we abide in the word of Jesus, we will be his disciples.

This means that we will be Jesus’ followers, or students.

To be a disciple then is to be one who hears and abides in the word of Jesus.

2. This word, abide, has been discussed by many theologians. The Greek word used here, menō, can mean any of the following; remain, stay, abide, live, dwell, last or endure. The opposite of this would then be to reject, leave, or abandon. We must stay with Jesus and with his word to be his disciples.

3. Another benefit of the word of Jesus is that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. The assumption here is that we are enslaved and need to be set free. Jesus’ word is that which will break our bonds and release us from slavery.

4. Naturally, Jesus’ students questioned him, for they could not imagine how they could be enslaved by anything.

They thought that they were already free. Today we assume freedom and scoff at those who would claim that we are slaves, just as these people did 2,000 years ago.

5. Jesus replies that anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. We cannot escape the slavery to sin which we inherit from our parents. Original sin is the slavery we are born into and from which we need a savior to set us free.

6. This is true freedom. The Son has the same power and

authority as the Father. This is not some illusion of freedom, which others in the world offer, but it is true freedom. Freedom from sin, death, and the devil.

7. For personal reflection. Consider the times in your life when you knew what was good and right, but your desire to do what was wrong overcame your knowledge of the truth.

8. For personal reflection.

9. For personal reflection. Consider the teaching that we are both saint and sinner at the same time. We are both free and yet not free in this life, but this does not mean we are not free. We are free even if we only know this freedom by faith.

Romans 10:5-13 Introduction: In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul speaks extensively concerning the difference between a righteousness which comes through the law and a righteousness which comes through faith. In this chapter he specifically speaks about what the Old Testament tells us about each. If by the law, then there must be obedience. If by faith, however, then righteousness is by the word and promise of God. Discussion Questions: 1. What does Moses say about the righteousness that comes by the Law? 1. What does the righteousness that comes by faith say?

2. In what way is the word near you?

3. What do the Scriptures say about one who believes?

4. What does this tell us about making distinctions between people?

5. In what ways is the word of God near you in your life?

6. What does it mean to hold God’s word in your heart?

7. In what ways do you confess God’s word with your mouth?

Closing Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, grant to us the faith that seeks you and finds in you hope and grace. Release us from all dependence on the law and works. Bring us near to you in your word. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

Answer Key: 1. According to Moses, if we want the righteousness that comes by the law, the person who lives by the commandments shall live. This means, according to Paul, perfect obedience to the law is the only way to achieve this righteousness.

2. The righteousness that comes by faith remains near the word of God. It clings to God’s word and believes what God says and does not look elsewhere.

3. The word of God is in our hearts and in our mouths. We hold on to it and we confess it to be the truth.

4. We will not be put to shame. Of course, there are many Christians in this world who are persecuted by others

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5.

6.

7.

8.

because of their faith. This statement has an eschatological overtone. In the end, on the last day, we will be vindicated for the faith we have placed in God and in his word.

Paul quotes Isaiah 28:16 here which says, “Everyone.”

There is no exception to this rule. Everyone who believes will not be put to shame. There is no distinction then between Jew and Gentile, or between any other way we make distinctions between people in this world. The invitation to believe is given to all.

In our lives today the focus for this nearness is in the Divine Service. It is in the congregation of believers, gathered around the word and sacraments, that the word of God is near us. It is also to be found in our devotions, Bible studies, and conversations as we encourage one another in the faith we have.

There are many people and ideologies contending for the central place in our hearts. To hold the word of God in our heart does not speak of an emotional attachment to the word, but to place it in the center, to judge the world and what it says by it. It means to cling to it even when it seems to go against the external evidence offered by this world.

We confess the word of God with our mouth every time we speak the word of God. There is no end or limit to how this can be done. The Word has its place in the pulpit and in Bible study, but every parent, coworker, relation, and friend can speak the truth in love and in this way, we make our confession.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 Introduction: In these verses Paul discusses the power of the word of God. We do not give it power by the way we speak or the way in which we present it. It has its own power; the power of the Spirit of God who works through it. We don’t need to change or tamper with the word, but let the Holy Spirit speak to the hearts of people through clear statements.

Discussion Questions: 1. Because we have this ministry that Paul speaks about, what confidence do we have and how does it strengthen us?

2. What do we renounce in regard to the speaking of God’s word?

3. What do we do in this regard?

4. Should we be dismayed if the gospel is veiled to some?

5. Who do we proclaim?

6. Who do we not proclaim?

7. Upon what word of God does Paul have confidence?

8. How have you experienced what Paul is talking about here in your own attempts to speak the word of God? Closing Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, make us speakers of your word in all the callings in life we have. Give us clear knowledge of the truth so that we can speak in clear statements of the truth. We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.

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Answer Key: 1. We don’t lose heart. It is very easy for us today to lose heart when speaking the word of God. Many times it seems that the word of God is falling on the path or the rocky soil, for the word of God does not seem to be able to take root in the hearts of those to whom we speak.

2. We renounce our own power or cunning. We don’t have to be manipulative. We know God is working in his word and that it is not our work. We don’t have to force it to happen.

3. We have faith in God’s promise to work through his word and we speak it with open statements of the truth.

We speak openly and honestly trusting in God for the result.

4. No, because as Paul says here, the truth is veiled to them by the enemy. Just as Jesus describes Satan’s work in the parable of the sower, so Paul describes it here. This is simply a part of the spiritual battle.

5. We proclaim Jesus and him crucified. The message, or the content, of the word of God is Jesus the redeemer and savior of the fallen creation.

6. We do not proclaim ourselves. The message is not about the messenger, but about the content of the message, Jesus.

7. Because God has said, “let light shine in the darkness,” Paul has confidence. Again we have faith that God will work through his word. We have this because of the promises God has made.

8. For personal reflection. Reflect on the temptation to spice up or manipulate a situation so that the word of God might be accepted by others.

The Institute of Lutheran Theology, in partnership with Okoboji Ingham Lutheran Bible Camp, presents:

ILT’s 2016 Summer Conference: The Psalms Christologically The Institute of Lutheran Theology in partnership with Ingham Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camps is proud to announce its 2016 Summer Theological Conference - “The Psalms Christologically”. This three day conference will be held on June 6th - June 8th at the Ingham Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp located on Iowa’s beautiful West Lake Okoboji.

This conference will take us into the Psalms and the richness they bring to Jesus’ significance and to our lives as Christians in the 21st century.

The Psalms take up a significant amount of space in the Old Testament, and most scholars recognize the influence of the Psalms on the New Testament writers. As Luke 24:44 points out, the Psalms witness to Jesus and provide a deep well of rich material that can inform how we understand Jesus and our lives as people “in Christ.”

Speakers will include Kyle Fever, Ingham Okobojis’s Director of Beyond Ministries and ILT faculty member, Rev. Mark Hillmer. Both of these presentations will cover topics involving Jesus and his fulfillment of the Psalms as well as exploring the ways the New Testament use the Psalms as worship literature and how they can provide added dimensions to our expressions of Jesus’ significance, beyond the paradigm of prophecy and fulfillment.

The conference is held at Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp in northwest Iowa. Okoboji is a wonderful place to get away for fellowship and enjoyment of the outdoors. The camp is a retreatstyle camp providing comfortable and up-to-date hotel-style rooms, as well as cabins, and other amenities for conference-goers.

For more information visit www.ILT.com or call ILT at (605)692-9337 For more information on Ingham Okoboji or to register visit www.okoboji.org

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T

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he Sundays in Lent are set within the context of temptation. The gospel reading for the First Sunday in Lent has Jesus tempted in his solitary wilderness sojourn. The devil speaks openly with the challenge: “If you are the Son of God….”

The last Sunday in Lent (Palm/Passion Sunday) has Jesus tempted in his public sojourn to the cross. There, the devil speaks through surrogates—the crowd, the soldiers, the thief—with the challenge: “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus is tempted from the beginning to the end of his earthly ministry, as are you during these the days of your baptism.

I learned temptation from my mother’s side of the family. I learned it from my father’s side, too, but more on that later. My mother’s mother, my grandma, would host these enormous family meals for holidays.

You know the ones. All the family members would gather at the food-laden table: Ham and turkey, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, scalloped corn and baked beans, fresh bread and lefse, dill pickles and sweet pickles, applesauce and cranberries.

I learned temptation at the end of those meals. Grandma would come around with the mashed potato bowl saying, “There’s just a little left, won’t you clean it up?” Her daughter, my aunt, would pass the ham saying, “Come on, have a little more. You owe it to yourself.” My mother would cut a second piece of pie saying, “Go ahead, have it, you know how good it is.”

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ou most likely recognize that ritual… have engaged in it yourself… and perhaps even know that it has a name. It’s called coaxing. Coaxing is a ritualized series of exchanges wherein a person offers you something which you really don’t need or want but every time you say “No,” it’s offered again with additional enticements or guilt added to the offer. The expected result on both sides is that you’ll eventually say “Yes” and accept that which is offered to you.

Though I learned about coaxing at an early age, I did not learn, until these last few years, the secret of its success. In reality, will power fails. We often confuse the exercise of our will power with the exercise of our muscles: the more you use them, the stronger they get.

That confusion is a mistake. The more you use your will power, the weaker it gets until it fails entirely. The repetitive nature of coaxing ensures that, if it goes on long enough, your will power is doomed to succumb.

Temptation can be understood as a form of coaxing. When you consider how often you are tempted, “coaxed,” into behavior most commonly labeled as sin… coaxed by the devil… coaxed by the world… coaxed by your sinful self, this certain failure of your will power should scare you to death. The devil comes, coaxing you with the illusion of good “Just do me a favor and clean up that little bit left.” The world comes coaxing you with some tasty morsel of delight which you know you’ll enjoy: “Go ahead, you know you’ll like it.” Your sinful self comes coaxing with the opportunity to reward yourself: “You owe this to yourself.” The devil, the world, and your sinful self—a triumvirate of evil whose coaxing never ceases—their voices assail your ears during these days of your baptism.

From my father’s side of the family, I learned that temptation strikes to your very identity. It attacks the family name, challenges your right to be a member of the family, and offers you an alternative—a fake I.D. if you will. Thus, the devil challenges Jesus’ identity: “If you are the Son of God…” Thus the devil speaks to you through your neighbors: “If you are really a Christian…”

That triumvirate of evil coaxes you to be identified by your works. It tempts you into being known by what you do rather than by the name you’ve been given.

During these, the days of your baptism, your good Lord has given you the way to endure such coaxing or, as the Apostle Paul has put it: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13b). Your good Lord is well aware that your willpower cannot endure the constant coaxing laid before you by the devil,

the world, and your sinful self. In that awareness, he has put a limit upon your days; your temptations will not last forever: you will surely die.

So that the triumvirate’s seductive voices will not continually fill your ears, your God does two things: first, he takes your ears away from such coaxing; and, second, he fills your ears with a different word. Either way, the Lord makes your ears unavailable for coaxing.

By your being joined to the death and resurrection of your Lord Jesus Christ in the water and word of your baptism, your God makes of you a new creature. Insofar as you are a new creature in Christ, the coaxing of the devil, the world, and the sinful self are left behind in the old creation which is passing away. Your life is hid with Christ in God (cf. Col. 2:3-4) and its ears are no longer susceptible to the triumvirate of evil’s challenges to its identity. Insofar as your flesh still participates in this old creation, the Lord provides for its ears to be filled with voices other than those of the triumvirate.

Specifically, these are to be the voices of your preacher as the Word of God and the forgiveness of sins is delivered to you again and again. These are to be the voice of your brothers and sisters in Christ who over and over fill your ears with the conversation and the consolation of the saints.

During these, the days of your baptism, your Lord provides for no more coaxing by taking your ears away from the tempting voices of the devil, the world, and your sinful self. And, he provides for your ears to be filled with different voices so that the coaxing enticements of that triumvirate cannot get through. Either way, your Lord provides for no more coaxing.

By Rev. Timothy J. Swenson 23

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Hymns reflect what the church believes, teaches, and confesses. Because hymns are an important component of the church’s weekly worship life, they become a vital instrument by which the church helps people live a life that is faithful to those beliefs and teachings. Hymns express the church’s theology and thus provide a window into its theological priorities at any given time in history.

Although much of what the church teaches and values does not drastically change throughout history, the church has found it necessary, from time to time, to emphasize certain themes either to counter false teachings or to address vital questions of the day; issues such as abortion, suicide, marriage, and very evident today, environmental concerns.

Today, when anyone turns on the television or opens the newspaper he is bombarded with a new environmental problem. Because these concerns affect the people of the church, the church has the responsibility of helping its people address certain issues. The news media are flooded with stories about environmental disasters, such as oil spills, arctic ice meltdown, growing holes in the ozone, global warming, the destruction of rain forests, contamination of America’s food supply, genetically modified seed, topsoil erosion, etc. So, what can or does the church have to offer its people, and the world in light of these concerns? What can or does the church provide that offers its people a glimpse into dealing with these issues from a Christian perspective?

This article will provide distinct Christian hope. It is a hope that differs from the world’s understanding of hope.

Christian hope asserts, confesses and believes the church's teaching known as a theology of creation. The article will highlight one of this theology’s essential themes, Jesus as Creator and show its theological expression through Christian hymnody.

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Joseph Sittler

Christianity has been indicted, directly or indirectly, as underwriting the rape of the earth. This clearly came to light in 1967 when an article was published entitled “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.”1 In it Lynn White Jr. develops an historical argument in which he traces the development of the world’s ecological problems throughout history and ultimately lays that blame at the doorstep of Christianity citing the church’s interpretation of Genesis 1:28.2 “And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’” On the basis of this text, White believes that the church has fostered an attitude that all of creation is explicitly made for man’s benefit and rule, and that

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creation’s sole purpose is to serve humankind.

This is not, however, what the church teaches or confesses. For this reason it is vital for the Christian to understand a theology of creation. Viewing Jesus as Creator strengthens and solidifies a theology of creation.

A theology of creation focused on Jesus as the Creator provides what environmental philosophy or ethics cannot provide—hope. This is not to say that environmentalism does not provide hope, it does, but it is foundationally a different kind of hope.

Environmentalism offers hope based on human action done in response to the tragedy of creation at the hands of human beings. The church offers hope that involves human action, but this action is done in response to the work of Christ in restoring creation.

This is Christian hope. Environmentalism often mirrors in some ways the Christian story. It begins with a pre-fall Edenic paradise that proceeds to a fall usually due to the development of agriculture and technology and culminates with a dystopian apocalyptic future. Such an account can lead one to resignation and despair in the face of the daunting ecological challenges or it shocks people into taking action. In contrast, the Christian story culminates in the hope of the renewal of creation, thus casting an entirely different light upon the work a Christian does in creation. Christ’s death and resurrection provide the basis for the Christian’s work in caring for creation. As Christians wait with expectant hope for the redemption of their own bodies, they too look forward to the redemption of the whole world.

Early in the twentieth century Joseph Sittler highlighted the role of Christ as Creator, in part to address the ecological questions facing western society. Years before the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring3 or Lynn White’s seminal article “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis”4 Sittler argued that environmental degradation “was a profoundly spiritual matter.”5 Already in 1954, Sittler spoke on “the urgency of the task of alerting all to ‘care for the earth.’”6 Much of Sittler’s writing centers on what one might label “a phenomenology of grace.” Sittler, who was raised under grace oriented theological masters such as Saint Paul, Augustine, Irenaeus, and Martin Luther, recognized that the relationship between nature and grace was being neglected.7 Long before it ever became common, Sittler propounded the “cosmic Christology.”8 In 1961, Sittler delivered a paper entitled “Called to Unity.”9 In order to make an appeal to “the Cosmic Christ,” he opens with the text of Colossians 1:15–

2010 and argues “that the sphere of grace and redemption can be no smaller that the sphere of creation itself.”11 Sittler does not mean that theology needs to shift from a “‘redemptioncentered’ theology to ‘creation-centered’ theology. Instead, he argues for an expansion of the circumference of redemption to embrace the whole of creation.”12 His main thrust was for others to recognize that in Christ “all things” will be redeemed. He continues, “A doctrine of redemption is meaningful only when it swings within the larger orbit of

a doctrine of creation.”13 He intends not to downplay the doctrine of redemption but instead to highlight Christ as Creator of all and Redeemer of all. Redemption is not only about man’s redemption but the redemption of all creation.

Like Sittler, other theologians have developed this theme of Christ as Creator and have begun to make the vital connection between creation and redemption, understanding redemption in terms of the entire creation made complete at Christ’s return. Recognizing Jesus’ role as Creator is not a new way of thinking. New Testament texts proclaim it while Old Testament texts provide images of this fact. Though this role has been taught throughout the Christian tradition very few theologians portray Jesus as Creator.

When most Christians consider Jesus, they ponder the child born in a manger celebrated year after year. Or they consider the man who walked this earth and who lived a perfect life. Some contemplate his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and his coming again in glory.

But, as this article will show, this provides too narrow a vision of Jesus as it reduces his work to only his role in redemption.

While this is important, it excludes his work as Creator, his reign and rule over his creation.

As one begins to ponder Jesus as Creator, three characteristics begin to surface. First, Jesus emerges as the agent of creation, the Schöpfungsmittlerschaft, (the one in the midst of creation). This highlights Jesus’ presence and his role in the creation of all things. This terminology recovers the language of Jesus as the firstborn of all creation, as presented in Paul’s letter to the Colossians all things in creation are held together by and through him. Second, Jesus rules over his creation. This is drawn from his life on earth wherein Jesus calms the sea, walks on the water, curses the fig tree, and brings life to Lazarus’s dead body.14 Third, Jesus brings forth and restores creation. Just as God’s wrath against humanity’s sin was poured out on Christ on the cross, so

also creation experiences a great upheaval as a result of this wrath. Matthew 27:51–52 records God’s wrath against sin affecting creation, “the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.” On the cross the restorative work of the new creation begins. All of Christ’s work–in word and in deed–is directed toward the restoration of creation.

When we delve into the texts of some Christian hymns,

we find that hymnody proclaims these characteristics.

This article will provide an analysis of a hymn, published in the twentieth century, in order to show how hymns both proclaim a theology of creation, and in this case, accentuate Jesus’ role as Creator. For this analysis, the triad of Christ’s characteristics as Creator: his agency in creation, his command over creation, and his restoration of creation, will be used. This analysis will show how certain Christian hymns can function in shaping God’s people for faithful witness to the confession of Jesus as Creator, and restorer of all creation, especially in the midst of daunting ecological issues, and provide Christian hope with resurrection power.

Hymn: Praise Be to Christ Timothy Dudley-Smith’s hymn “Praise Be to Christ” written and published in 1984 is rooted in the biblical text of Colossians 1:15–20. The hymn abounds in the language of a theology of creation highlighting Jesus’ role as Creator. It is difficult to miss the strong thrust Dudley-Smith places on the deity of Christ through his inclusion of the language of the Nicene Creed in the midst of the hymn. As part of its Christological insight, this hymn strongly brings out the first two characteristics of Jesus role as Creator, Jesus the agent of creation, the Schöpfungsmittlerschaft (the one in the midst of creation), and Jesus’ rule over creation. What is not as evident or as clear in the hymn text is the eschatological and restorative work of the new creation.

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Praise be to Christ in whom we see The image of the Father shown, The first-born Son revealed and known, The truth and grace of deity; Through whom creation came to birth, Whose fingers set the stars in place, The unseen pow’rs and this small earth, The furthest bounds of time and space.

Praise be to Him whose sov-'reign sway And will upholds creation’s plan; Who is, before all worlds began And when our world has passed away: Lord of the Church, its life and head, Redemption’s price and source and theme, Alive, the first-born from the dead, To reign as all in all supreme.

Praise be to Him who, Lord Most High, The fullness of the God-head shares; And yet our human nature bears, Who came as man to bleed and die.

And from His cross there flows our peace Who chose for us the path He trod, That so might sins and sorrows cease And all be reconciled to God.15

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“Praise Be to Christ” uses original poetic language of Colossians 1 to emphasize the work of Christ and his relationship to his creation. Complementing Colossians 1, the language of John 1, Hebrews 1, and Psalm 8 are evident. Verse one begins with a brief yet substantive explanation of Christ. “Praise be to Christ in whom we see the image of the Father shown, the first-born Son revealed and known. The truth and grace of deity.” This segment of the hymn presents two Christological concepts: first, Christ reveals the Father, and second Christ is the deity of God. The beginning phrase, “Praise be to Christ in whom we see the image of the Father shown, the first born Son revealed and known,” identifies who Christ is.

This reflects the scriptural text of Col. 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.” and in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and Word was God.” But what does it mean to be the image of God? Paul Deterding in his Colossians commentary argues that the word image can be used to express an identity of essence, “being of one substance with the Father.”16 Christ alone is the true and full image of God, and he alone

reveals the Father ( John 1:18). Man and woman were created in the image of God, but this image has been marred by human sin. Jesus alone restores man’s lost image. Restoration begins for the Christian at baptism and will be fully restored when Christ comes again.

Dudley-Smith continues the two Christological concepts through the descriptive language of Christ, as the “truth and grace of deity.” This phrase reflects the language of John 1:14, “And the Word become flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

Combine that with St. Paul’s language in Col. 1:9, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” and a comprehensive vision of Christ is presented. Christ’s incarnation is the embodiment of Deity, in human flesh, which came to dwell in Jesus of Nazareth.

While the first four lines of verse one identity Christ the God-man, the second four lines identify Christ the Creator, “Through whom creation came to birth, whose fingers set the stars in place, the unseen powers and this small earth, the furthest bounds of time and space.” Here the words of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” Psalm 8:3, “When I look at the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established," and Colossians 1:16, “For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth” all explode in creative power. Christ the Creator of everything, visible and invisible, places each star in place, sets the earth in its orbit in the midst of the vast galaxy of this world, and still cares for it all today. This fact is taught in Colossians 1:16–17a, “All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” This text provides great comfort because it reminds the world who is in control of all things, but this carries with it great responsibility.

Since Christ created everything, cares for everything, and loves everything, then we too, who bear Christ’s name, have the responsibility of caring for his creation. Christian responsibility flows out of love for Christ. Caring for God’s creation has an immediate impact on caring for one’s neighbor. By the end of verse one, Dudley-Smith has illuminated for the reader the smallness of mankind in the great vastness of his creation, but the verse begins with the greatest proclamation, the work of Christ who makes the Father known to all creation and reveals his divine grace and truth.

In verse two, Dudley-Smith describes the characteristic of Christ’s lordship over creation by highlighting Christ as the one who upholds creation’s plan and who did so before creation began. The first phrase of verse two reads, “Praise be to Him whose sovereign sway And will upholds creation’s plan; Who is, before all worlds began And when our world has passed away.” Dudley-Smith

uses an alliteration, sovereign sway, to emphasize the power Christ’s will has in upholding creation’s plan. It proclaims the text of Colossians 1:17 “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” These lines bring comfort since this earth, a small part of all his creation, is still controlled by Jesus the Creator. The phrase ends with the words, “And when our world has passed away.” Dudley-Smith leaves the reader in suspense questioning, “what happens when this world passes away,” instead of taking the opportunity to proclaim Christ’s resurrection power over death, he picks up the language of Colossians 1:18 “He is the body of the church; he is the beginning, the first born of the dead.” We know from scripture, including Colossians that like our bodies, when this world passes away, Christ will raise it up to new life, the new creation, and will reign over it. But Dudley-Smith’s hymn is very subtle in bringing out this fact. The last four lines of verse two read “Lord of the Church, its life and head, Redemption’s price and source and theme, Alive, the first born from the dead, To reign as all in all supreme.” Though implicit in these lines, an explicit proclamation of the new creation would provide the promise of Christian hope for the restoration of creation. In spite of his lack of explicit proclamation of the eschatological restoration of creation, Dudley-Smith has provided a hymn, which brings together the doctrine of creation and the doctrine of redemption. Each doctrine intimately affects the other. Here we see Sittler’s phrase in action as “the doctrine of redemption swings within the larger orbit of the doctrine of creation.”

“All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

In verse one Dudley-Smith proclaimed Christ’s role as Creator. In verse two, he showed how the doctrines of redemption and creation are held together and now in the final verse he turns his focus to Christ’s role as Redeemer.

He begins by introducing Christ’s two natures, “Praise be to Him who, Lord Most High, the fullness of the God-head shares; and yet our human nature bears, Who came as man to bleed and die.” In these lines DudleySmith continues his allusions to Colossians with the text of 1:19, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” But in the final four lines, “And from the cross there flows our peace Who chose for us the path he trod, That so might sins and sorrows cease And all be reconciled to God,” he fails to bring out the depth of the

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biblical text which proclaims the redemption of the whole creation. Colossians 1:20 says, “And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.” Dudley-Smith picks up the beautiful language of peace coming from the blood of the cross, but misses the strong force the text places on the redemption of the whole creation. Here Dudley-Smith parts from the biblical text. Colossians is very clear –“all things, whether on earth or in heaven”– will be redeemed. Dudley-Smith is not clear when he uses the term “all” in the final line as to whether he speaks of redemption for all people or for all creation as his focus plays heavily on sin and sorrow, a human problem.

When hymns focus solely on the human condition and man’s redemption they separate the doctrine of redemption from the doctrine of creation. The biblical account of Creation begins with the heavens and the earth and ends in the creation of man. The biblical truth of Redemption begins with man and ends with the redemption of heaven and earth. A complete reversal takes place, thus all creation is redeemed. That which was cursed due to man’s sin is restored by the one who died and rose to redeem man, for he cares for his entire creation. This is the beauty of the new creation: all things are restored and reconciled to Christ.

It has been said that Dudley-Smith’s hymns often show a biblical and liturgical concern for the church,17 and, in this case, this hymn reflects that concern. “Praise Be to Christ” represents two of the triad of characteristics, Christ’s agency over creation and his rule of creation, but the hymn fails to highlight explicitly Christ’s eschatological promise of bringing forth the new creation. When the hymn is set within an individualistic human mind frame, the reader is prone to miss the expectant hope that comes from a full theology of redemption, the redemptions of our own bodies and the redemption of the whole creation.

The hymn analyzed above provides only a sample of the numerous hymns that proclaim Christ as Creator. The hymn, “Praise Be to Christ” focused on Jesus as the agent of creation and his command over that creation. Other hymns, such as “Then the Glory,” accentuate the new creation and the fulfillment of Christ’s promise of that new creation.

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When hymns focus solely on the human condition and man’s redemption they separate the doctrine of redemption from the doctrine of creation.

The biblical account of Creation begins with the heavens and the earth and ends in the creation of man.

The biblical truth of Redemption begins with man and ends with the redemption of heaven and earth.

Hymns provide a framework for proclaiming the theme of Christ as Creator. Hymns used in worship play a powerful role in teaching and confessing the beliefs of the church. They are like bookends in the worship service providing a beginning and end. They assist to tell the whole story of God, from creation to and through redemption. Hymns are uniquely able to retell biblical readings, accentuate the pastor’s sermon, and proclaim new life in Christ. Hymns include, “songs of death and rebirth, songs of sin and salvation, songs of repentance, renewal, and new life.”18 When properly used, hymns provide that promise of Christian hope and a way to help others live a life that is pleasing to God. In the church today, this includes a full proclamation of Jesus’ role as Creator and the full restoration of creation as the hymn considered here amply illustrate. Hope is proclaimed and encouraged through the loving work of the Creator for his creation—his entire creation

Endnotes 1. Lynn White Jr., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” Science 155 (1967): 1203–7. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis (a lecture delivered at a meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., 26 December 1966).

2. All biblical quotations are from The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Revised Standard Version, 1977.

3. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002).

4. Lynn White Jr., “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” Science 155 (1967): 1203–7.

5. Joseph A. Sittler, Evocation of Grace: The Writings of Joseph Sittler on Ecology, and Ethics, ed. Steven Bouma-Prediger and Peter Bakken (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 2.

6. Sittler, Evocation of Grace, 2.

7. Sittler, Evocation of Grace, xi.

8. Cosmic Christology, an idea imparted by St. Paul’s writing especially in Col. 1:15–20, focuses on how Jesus as the Son of God changed forever the nature of the world as the text confesses the exalted Jesus’ role in both creation and redemption.

9. Joseph Sittler, “Called to Unity,” Ecumenical Review 14 (1962): 177–87.

10. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross (Col. 1:15–20).

11. Sittler, Evocation of Grace, 7.

12. Sittler, Evocation of Grace, 7.

13. Sittler, “Called to Unity,” 177–87.

14. And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boar, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on a cushion; and they work him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was great calm (Mark 4:37–41). And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea (Mark 6:48b). And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again” (Mark 11:13–14). Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, “Our friend Laz’arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.” The disciples said to him, “Lord if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.

Then Jesus told them plainly, “Laz’arus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” . . . Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz’arus had already been in the tomb four days . . . Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” . . . So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thin thee that thou has heard me. I know that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me.” When he had said the, he cried in a loud voice, “Laz’arus, come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped in cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go” ( John 11:11–15, 17, 33–35, 39a, 41–44).

15. The Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis: Concordia, 2006), 538.

16. Paul E. Deterding, Colossians (St. Louis: Concordia, 2003), 50.

17. George Thomas Kurian, ed. The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 740–41.

18. Carl F. Schalk, God’s Song in a New Land: Lutheran Hymnals in a New Land (St. Louis: Concordia, 1995), 13.

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Christ, Exclusivity and Truth Conditions - Part 2

By Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt

Editor’s Note: In this ongoing series (currently part 2 of 4) the President of the Institute of Lutheran Theology provides a deep analysis of the cultural attacks on the truth claims of Christianity. Using the tools provided by philosophy, Dr. Bielfeldt examines the ways in which the very thoughts of our culture have changed, making it more difficult to assert the truth of Christ and more easy to deny such claims. Through the four chapters of "Christ, Exclusivity and Truth Conditions," Dr. Bielfeldt describes and assesses how the way people are taught to think deeply influences whether or not they can hear Christian truth claims.

In the first chapter, President Bielfeldt puts forward three ways of approaching the particularity of the truth of Jesus Christ.

These three ways are exclusivity, inclusivity, and pluralism. The approach of exclusivity says that Jesus Christ is the one and only truth. The approach of inclusivity says that Jesus Christ is the best truth among all the others. The approach of pluralism says that Jesus Christ is but one truth among many truths. As President Bielfeldt puts these approaches forward, he names influential scholars and quotes some of their writings in order to demonstrate just how it is that our culture, as a whole, has lost the ability to think the truth which is Jesus Christ, him crucified and him alone.

For those who wish to read the full article, please visit www.ILT.org.

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n his influential 1984 book, The Nature of Doctrine, George Lindbeck discusses three general semantic approaches to theological and religious language.1 The cognitive-propositional approach assumes that theological statements have truth-values because they state what is or what is not the case.2 The experiential-expressivist strategy understands theological statements to be somehow expressive of deep and enduring human attitudes and orientations.3 Finally, the cultural-linguistic approach believes that theological statements are rules assumed by the theological community, rules that are themselves neither true nor false, but which ground further employment of theological and religious language.4 Whereas determinant religious experience is prior to its expression in myth, narrative and ritual for the experiential-expressivist, such religious experience is derivative upon a religion’s language and symbol system on the cultural-linguistic approach. Whereas the theological community has been much impressed with experiential-expressivist and cultural-linguistic approaches these past decades, neither approach deals well with the specificity of religious claims. In fact, of these three approaches, only the cognitive-propositionalist approach seems to grant robust truth conditions to theological language. Unfortunately, most so-called “academic” theology has simply underappreciated the extent of the semantic problem in doing theology, failing to grasp the importance of being able to specify truth-conditions for theological discourse.5 ontemporary theology, of course, has deep problems with ascribing definite truth-conditions to its language. Ever since the days of Kant, the academic elite in Europe has been engaged in the project of doing theology without assuming God to be real - - or at least not “real” in the way that other things in the universe are real. Assuming a broadly Kantian starting point, God is conceived as an ideal of human reason or some other type of abstract object that is incapable of having causal relations with the universe.

The theologian Paul Tillich (1885-1965) spoke of God as the “ground of being” or the “depth of being” in order to distinguish God from any beings within the “structure of being.” While causal relations hold among beings within the structure of being, such relations are not defined from the ground to the structure of being.6 ince, for Tillich, God is not a being within the structure of being, statements about God cannot have truth-conditions in the way that statements about other objects in the universe can. If statements about such a God are to be true or false, they must have conditions, on the basis of which, they are either true or false. But what would these be? Do they have such conditions because they somehow

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correspond to what is so within the structure of being (or are consistent and coherent with the language of other theories that themselves deal with the structure of being), in so far as these conditions within the structure of being relate to conditions within the Ground of Being?7 f Kant is right, then God cannot be known as a member of the class of all beings, and thus a fortiori cannot be referred to by a language having definite truth-conditions.8 Tillich’s claim that every statement about God is symbolic (except that God is Being-Itself ) assumes the Kantian starting point, for if God were causally relatable to the universe, then giving an extension to theological language would involve the specification of a divine domain, divine properties, and relations (ordered n-tuples) having at least one term taking on a divine value, and the other (or others) the value of a member of the class of non-divine things. But dyadic (twoplace) causal relations between God and any non-divine entity are clearly precluded by the Kantian starting point.9 here is a deep connection between a truth conditional semantics and the position of Christian exclusivism. A truth conditional semantics is one that ties sentential meaning to sentential truth conditions. If one knows the truth condition of a sentence S, then one knows the conditions that enable one to determine the truth-value of S under any circumstance in which it might be evaluated. According to truth conditional semantics, to know this is simply to know the meaning of S. Knowing the meaning of S is to know everything you need to know to determine the truth-value of S. On this view, not being able to determine the truth of S in a particular context displays that one does not completely understand S. hile a Christian exclusivist likely holds to a semantic of truth conditions, one could, as I suggested before, one could hold to truth conditional semantics and not be a Christian exclusivist. One might assert that while “’God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself ’ is true just in case God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” is itself true, this truth does not obviate the “partial truth” of such expressions as ‘God was in Buddha in his teaching of the doctrine of the no self ’. We turn now again to Christian inclusivism to examine more deeply how it might look on non-truth conditional accounts of the semantics of theological language. We will employ the categories suggested by Linbeck in doing this analysis, realizing that we will have to make some distinctions along the way to clarify what exactly the semantic alternatives are. In the section following, we will do the same analysis for Christian pluralism. 10

There is a deep connection between a truth conditional semantics and the position of Christian exclusivism

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Endnotes 1 George Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1984).

2 Lindbeck claims that the propositionalist “emphasizes the cognitive aspects of religion and stresses the way church doctrines function as informative propositions or truth claims about objective realities” (16).

3 The experiential-expressivist “interprets doctrines as noninformative and nondiscursive symbols of inner feelings, attitudes, or existential orientations” (16).

4 On the cultural-linguistic view, religions are seen as “comprehensive interpretive schemes, usually embodied in myths or narratives and heavily ritualized, which structure human experience and understanding of self and world” (32).

5 More deeply, the truth condition of a sentence is the condition of the world (in a very wide sense that includes divine entities, properties, relations and states of affairs) under which the sentence is true. Accordingly, if the condition exists, the statement is true, and if it fails to exist, the statement is false. More deeply, the truth condition of any statement S consists in a relation between things in the world that correspond to the parts of S. Thus, in the statement, “’God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself ’ is true just in case God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” S stands for ‘God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” and this S is true on the basis of those things that must be true for S to hold. It is precisely these things that must hold if and only if God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

What are these parts? They are those sentences that must be true in order for the sentence to be true, “God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” Presumably, such sentences would include assertions that there is a God, there is Christ, there exists some relationship of God being in Christ, there exists the world, there exists a relationship of reconciliation between God and the world, and finally, that God’s existence in Christ brings about that reconciliation. (Much more could be said here, but the reader should grasp how difficult it is to actually lay out the truth-conditions of the parts of S on the basis of which S itself is true.) If “’God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself ’ is true if and only if God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” then those conditions that must obtain for S to be true obtain just in case God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. This task of specifying precise truth-conditions should be contrasted with the inherent vagueness of experiential-expressivist and cultural-linguistic approaches in providing suitably precise truth conditions.

6 I will simply ignore the question here as to whether the Tillichian structure of being is simply a noematic structure or whether, in some sense, that structure exists apart from the noematic entirely. This question is important in grasping exactly what the Being-Itself of the “Ground of Being” is for Tillich. While these are important questions in trying to understand Tillich rightly, these issues are not germane to the present investigation.

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7 Tillich attempted to provide some truth conditions for the truth of religious symbols. A religious symbol is true, he suggested, to the extent that it can negate itself as the unconditioned or ultimate and yet allow the power of being at the depth of being to flow through it. Accordingly, Jesus as the Christ is a true religious symbol because Jesus in his life and death was transparent to the Ground of Being. Simply put, Jesus had to deny Himself as the Christ in order to be the Christ. While this way of affirmation through self-negation might display initial promise for the central symbol of Christianity, it is difficult to see how it works for a large class of theological statements dealing with the intrinsic properties of God and the relational properties He possesses by virtue of His creation of the universe.

8 In his monumental 1781 Critique of Pure Reason Kant argues persuasively that instead of knowledge consisting in a passive knowing of substances and properties existing on their own apart from that knowing, human knowing involves an active synthesis of that which stands over and against us, a synthesis which effects an organization that delivers to us the experience we have.

Accordingly, time and space do not exist in the realm of “thingsin-themselves,” but are the pure a priori forms of sensibility making possible determinate sense perception. Moreover, an empirical object is that by concept of which the manifold of sense is united.

For example, the concept of rabbit is a rule by which we synthesize sense perceptions -- Kant called them “intuitions” – into a particular rabbit. Upon such empirical objects do the pure concepts of the understanding apply. A rabbit is a substance, and a substance is a rule for the perdurance of objects through time. Cause is a law promulgated by the autonomous knower onto substances relating them to each other with the requisite necessity and universality unavailable in the world apart from the knower. Since the categories of substance and cause synthesize empirical objects, themselves the result of the synthesis of intuitions, they do not properly apply to concepts under which no empirical intuitions fall. Since no empirical intuitions fall under the concept of God, the categories of substance and cause cannot apply to God. Thus, while it is possible to think God as related to the world in certain ways, one commits the “transcendental subruption” when one believes that one’s thinking about God and His relationship to the universe is, in fact, the way that God is and does relate to the universe. The concept of God, for Kant, thus becomes a regulative ideal of human thinking, and not a concept referring to some extra-mental, extra-linguistic reality.

9 All of this is deeply problematic for soteriology. Consider, for instance, Tillich’s claim that the fundamental anxieties of human existence can be addressed through the courage to be which is mediated by religious symbol from the power of being available at the depth of being. Seemingly, this view commits one to drawing some kind of salvific causal relation between the depth of being and the structure of being. But the Kantian starting point precludes such a relation.

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