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THEOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES SHAPE ALL OTHERS
Randy Freund
When asked to teach a seminary class entitled, “Maintaining Healthy Boundaries,” my first thoughts went to the more “practical” matters the course was designed to address. These topics included boundaries between congregation and staff, counseling limits and protocol, political/social views and preaching, as well as the importance of keeping boundaries that enable emotional and spiritual health. There was also to be a session on self-care and personal boundaries. The overview of the class stated it this way: in all of life, boundaries are necessary to both protect and free us. Understanding how boundaries best function in church settings is crucial for healthy congregational life and pastoral ministry. We set and maintain boundaries in our congregational settings in order to serve the gospel we are called to share.
However, as someone who argues that there is nothing more “practical” than theology, these important boundaries mentioned above all have theological presuppositions behind them. The class began with three such boundaries, which will serve as the focus of this paper. First, there is the “Creator and creature” boundary, which is the most important one to establish. Next comes that most important Lutheran distinction between the Right and Left-Hand Kingdoms. And finally, there is the Law/Gospel distinction, which shapes preaching, how we approach the neighbor before us in our callings, how we distinguish between ministry and occupation, and the like.
If our goal is to train, support and raise up pastors and leaders for our time, “pastoral theology” is foundational. Theological boundaries shape all others.
Creator/Creature Boundary
It is significant that the first three chapters of the Bible concentrate on this boundary. These chapters, therefore, provide the lens through which we view all of scripture. The struggle between Creator and creature begins the biblical witness and continues all the way through. There is only one God who is above all else. The creature does not like this arrangement. The upward rebellion is put in motion right away in our human story and continues until the end of time. Genesis 3:1-6 plainly tells how the creature attempts to cross a set boundary. We approach the Creator’s turf. This never ends well. Throughout all of scriptures and in our lives, we see how God must constantly reset this Creator/creature boundary. And with this, we also see our deep need for a Savior to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. God deals with our upward rebellion, ultimately, through His Son. If we don’t recognize the deep and persistent need for this fundamental boundary between God and us, then all other boundaries will become a confusing mix and mess. The temptation to “have all knowledge and wisdom and become like God” is a daily and constant temptation that still lurks. God is God. We are not. God set up the world and declares: I will be the Creator, and you be the creature. When this is kept clear, things will go better. When confused or conflated, it does not go well. This surely shapes congregational life and healthy boundaries, for it affects all of life. It also shapes pastoral ministry within the congregation.
Since this is the most important boundary, it seems good to spend a little time in Genesis 3:1-6. Not only is Genesis 3 clear about the Creator/creature distinction, but this is connected to the other key elements of Christian life, such as the nature of sin/temptation and our need for a Savior.
Since in the church, proclaiming the living and risen presence and power of Jesus Christ is the main thing, we must clearly know what this means for life in the congregation. If we understand why the church exists, then everything else is muddled. In Genesis 3:16, the final act of disobedience (eating the forbidden fruit) is often thought of as the original sin. But it comes as the result of many subtle temptations by the serpent. Doubt (“Did God say…?”) is followed by denial, deceit, and desire before the disobedient “crunch” of the fruit comes.
This is how sin entered the world, and how it functions, but it is also how sin continues to enter and function. We keep falling into sin because of its deceptive and subtle nature. If we think otherwise, we deceive ourselves (1 John).
Why is this important for our topic? When this most fundamental boundary is neglected, all the other ones are skewed and confused. We should never be surprised at the subtle power of the serpent who still lurks. As Creator, God not only owns the world, but desires to save it. This takes us to that important Lutheran distinction called “Two Kingdoms.”
Right-hand and Left-hand Kingdom Boundaries
How we approach topics like the boundaries between congregation and staff, counseling limits and protocol, political/social views and preaching, and margins needed to enable emotional and spiritual health, has everything to do with how we understand the left and right-hand kingdoms. Starting with that most basic and famous Bible verse (John 3:16) may be a good way to begin. The fact that God so loves the world means that God loves every square inch of the planet. How does this happen? Well, we start with the previous discussion (Creator/creature), but we can also come at it from another angle, namely, the Ten Commandments. We know the first table points to God and the second table points to the neighbor. God is God, who creates and loves His creation, by sending his Son. In the second table, God puts before us our relationship with our neighbors. Together, through both tables of the commandments, as well as through the left-hand and right-hand kingdoms, God so loves the world! How this happens is seen by the way these two kingdoms are in play at the same time. Knowing which is which becomes an important part of pastoral discernment, boundaries, and distinctions. The two kingdoms are not separate (a boundary in this sense), but they are distinct. Conflating them or confusing them is the “devil’s brew” (Luther).
God loves the world through the power of the gospel. All congregational boundaries must ultimately serve the proclamation of Christ crucified for sinners. The relentless and radical pursuit of the ungodly, rebellious, sinful lot that we are, is the gospel of grace, unconditional love, and forgiveness. There are no limits, and no one is too insignificant to care about or go after (Luke 15). This is the work of the kingdom on the right. It is the work of ministry, the proclamation of the gospel, and the uncompromising declaration of who Jesus is and what he came to do to for sinners.
The two kingdoms are not separate (a boundary in this sense), but they are distinct. Conflating them or confusing them is the 'devil’s brew'
But God is equally active in the kingdom on the left. God has gifted those called to the secular world to serve and love the neighbor (whether one feels like it or not). Teachers, for example, are to love, serve and teach all the children before them. Doctors don’t get to choose their neighbors (patients) to serve. Truck drivers don’t control or determine the neighbors they will serve through the goods they bring. God accomplishes all this through his design and goodness (John 3:16). Both kingdoms matter! Both are of EQUAL importance. Both are necessary. Both are of God!
When we rank the kingdoms or conflate them in congregational life, we create a confusion of purpose. In some instances, our preaching is formulated to make the gospel more palatable, and so we downplay the law. But then all kinds of compromises and accommodations ensue. Other voices, however, call for stronger and bolder preaching. Surely a reaffirmation of the law is necessary for a time such as ours. But what about the gospel? It is obscured? So, the big question is: How are the two kingdoms being taught in our congregations?
In his book, Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxas makes some bold assertions for new ways to be the church. He writes,
“There is no way for any Christian—much less a pastor to parse what he may be ‘allowed’ to say, and certainly not from the pulpit. It can only be God—and our consciences guided by Him that can determine what we should and shouldn’t say. So our total freedom—in and beyond our pulpits—is nonnegotiable. The truth cannot be contained, and certainly not in categories that have been arbitrarily chosen and defined by others. So when did these pernicious ideas come into American churches?”1
So is the assertion of pastoral freedom, guided by God and conscience, the way forward for the Church? Or should we accommodate ourselves to the times?
In a seemingly opposite way, Rod Dreher, in his book, “The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation,” takes us back to the past. Dreher argues that the way forward is the way back—all the way to St. Benedict of Nursia. The sixth-century monk, horrified by the moral chaos following Rome’s fall, retreated to the forest and created a new way of life for Christians. He built enduring communities based on principles of order, hospitality, stability, and prayer. His spiritual centers of hope were strongholds of light throughout the Dark Ages which saved not just Christianity but Western civilization itself.2 Does the church similarly now need to withdraw and regroup, before re-engaging?
And yet these varied strategies of bold proclamation, accommodation or withdrawing, haven’t served the church very well. And the problem is often the result of minimizing the importance of right- and left-hand kingdoms and boundaries.
This confusion can filter through congregational life and can unintentionally create unhealth and even anxieties among our members and pastors. Paul Tillich once made a helpful distinction between “conditional anxieties” and “unconditional anxieties.” Conditional anxieties are those that come from the world in which we live. There exist the horrors of child abuse, war, crime, and hunger. Although limited, these are anxieties and conditions about which we can do something. Through action, counseling or engagement, we can make some progress to calm these anxieties. Unconditional anxieties are those which have to do with things beyond us and above us. These are the ones that have to do with God, faith, heaven and hell. Here is where the pastor needs to know his/her task and calling. The unspoken unconditional anxieties have a direct relationship with the conditional anxieties that are evident. Through the law and the gospel, the pastor exposes and calms these anxieties. The pastor must go to the root. He/she must go to the “God question.” This is not to say that the pastor has no part in addressing conditional anxieties, but it is to say that one must know what is primary, and one should not be surprised to discover that when it comes to conditional anxieties of the world, one can only “patch and darn” (Luther).
Law and Gospel Boundaries
All of this takes us to our final theological boundary that shapes all others: the boundary between law and gospel. Simply put, the law is any word or any voice that accuses. While we typically think of the law in terms of Ten Commandments or other biblical laws, it is broader than these and it extends to the infamous rustling leaf in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3), to whatever troubles and binds the conscience, even to traffic signs. As Christians, we tend to refer to the law having particular functions. It kills to make alive. The law is given to keep order, and it drives us to Christ. The law can therefore serve as a protection in emotional decisions or spiritual droughts. It can protect us from our own sin, as well as the sin of others. It brings us to Christ. This work is not always easily recognized by us or the world. Luther once put it this way,
“Outwardly Christians stumble and fall from time to time. Only weakness and shame appear on the surface, revealing that the Christians are sinners who do that which displeases the world. Then they are regarded as fools, as Cinderellas, as foot mats for the world, as damned, impotent, and worthless people. But this does not matter. In their weakness, sin, folly, and frailty, there abides inwardly and secretly a force and power unrecognizable by the world and hidden from its view, but one which, for all that, carries off the victory; for Christ resides in them and manifest Himself to them (emphasis added).”3
Faith in this Word (as law and gospel) is given to turn the believer to the promise of a word that will not return empty but will accomplish its purposes (Isaiah 55:11).
Again, one might wonder why so much time is spent on theological categories in a publication focused on “maintaining health boundaries.” The answer is that there are real life consequences when foundational theological categories are forgotten, ignored, abandoned, or minimized. It not only creates confusion amongst those we serve, but can also lead to dysfunction, sickness and bound consciences. These theological categories affect everything from how we engage the culture to our pastoral care and counseling. We can never abandon distinctions, boundaries and realities of human nature that we know to be true from Genesis 3 on (where we began).
In [Christian] weakness, sin, folly, and frailty, there abides inwardly and secretly a force and power unrecognizable by the world and hidden from its view, but one which, for all that, carries off the victory; for Christ resides in them and manifest Himself to them
Even our founding fathers intuitively seemed to know how this works.4 Although they did not use the label, “sin,” they nevertheless knew how it worked. It is as if they came to Luther’s conclusion that one should not be surprised to discover that one can only “patch and darn.” Indeed, the entire constitutional debate on state’s power versus federal power was an exercise in balancing and keeping at bay the sin that lurks in the individual or in smaller groups, as well as the sin that hides in larger entities. Neither the state nor the federal government is purer (and therefore, given more power) than the other. The powers must be balanced to hold the effects of sin at bay. A careful read of Richard Morris’ “Witnesses at the Creation,” which explores the debate surrounding the creation of the document, reveals a religious understanding of the nature of sin, without ever making that claim or using any theological terms.
The entire constitutional debate on state’s power versus federal power was an exercise in balancing and keeping at bay the sin that lurks in the individual or in smaller groups, as well as the sin that hides in larger entities.
But likewise, we can go from the macro to the micro. When the local church does not understand its role and purpose, and likewise, when the pastor is also confused, it affects tender and urgent pastoral matters. In a most unlikely scene from NBC’s show ER, this becomes painfully clear.
Lying in his hospital bed while is he dying from cancer, a retired police officer confesses to a chaplain his long-held guilt over allowing an innocent man to be framed and executed. He asks, “How can I even hope for forgiveness?” and the chaplain replies, “I think sometimes it’s easier to feel guilty than forgiven.” “Which means what?” “That maybe your guilt over his death has become your reason for living. Maybe you need a new reason to go on.” “I don’t want to ‘go on’” says the dying man. “Can’t you see I’m dying? The only thing that is holding me back is that I’m afraid I’m afraid of what comes next.” “What do you think that is,” the chaplain gently inquires. Growing impatient, the man answers, “You tell me. Is atonement possible? What does God want from me?” After the chaplain replies, “I think it’s up to each one of us to interpret for ourselves what God wants,” the man stares at her in bewilderment. “So people can do anything? They can rape, they can murder, they can steal—all in the name of God and it’s OK?” Growing intense, the dialogue draws to its climax. “No, that’s not what I’m saying,” the chaplain responds. “Then what are you saying? Because all I’m hearing is some New Age, God-is-Love, have-it-your-way crap!...No, I don’t have time for this now.” “You don’t understand,” the chaplain counters. “No,” you don’t understand…I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real hell!” Missing the point of the man’s struggle, the chaplain collects herself and says in the familiar tone of condescension disguised as understanding, “I hear that you’re frustrated, but you need to ask yourself--” “No, the man interrupts, “I don’t need to ask myself anything. I need answers and all of your questions, and all of your uncertainty is only making things worse.” With no more to elevate than his tone, she encourages calm. “I know you’re upset,” she begins, provoking his final outburst of frustration: “God, I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness, because I am running out of time!”5
Congregational boundaries are this issue’s topic. Because sin necessitates the need for boundaries and because the forgiveness of sin is the authority given to Christ’s followers, it follows that understanding the importance of the theological task is at the heart of things at the macro and micro level of congregational life. The above story painfully and clearly illustrates the importance of knowing how to answer the call to the neighbor before us. Theological reflection, boundaries and discernment are the keys to this discernment.
Because sin necessitates the need for boundaries and because the forgiveness of sin is the authority given to Christ’s followers, it follows that understanding the importance of the theological task is at the heart of things at the macro and micro level of congregational life.
Conclusion
In all of life, boundaries are necessary to both protect and free us. Understanding how boundaries best function in church settings is crucial for healthy congregational life and pastoral ministry. We are not only concerned with the administrative, financial, and procedural boundaries of church life, but also the implications for the emotional and spiritual health of our members and pastors. This all begins with clarity regarding the most basic and fundamental boundaries. The “Creator and creature” boundary is the most important one to establish. Next comes that most important Lutheran distinction between the Right-Hand Kingdom and the LeftHand Kingdom. And finally, there is the Law/Gospel distinction, which shapes preaching, how we approach the neighbor before us in our callings, and how we distinguish between ministry and occupation.
Finally, while it is important to see, know and confess our human limits and boundaries that shape our life on earth. In the end, only Christ Jesus can bring life and health to our congregations. Only Jesus can free the sinner and dwell in the conscience. How does He do this? By crossing and obliterating all boundaries set before him: sin, death, and the power of the devil. As creatures, we need to know and retain boundaries. Christ Jesus, thankfully, must cross all boundaries as our Lord and Savior.
Pastor Randy Freund is the Service Coordinator of the Augustana District, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC)
Footnotes:
1Eric Metaxas, Letter to The American Church (Washington D.C: Salem Books, 2022), p 9.
2Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (New York: Sentinel, 2017), xv.
3Barbara Owen, Daily Readings from Luther’s Writing (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1987), 286.
4Richard B. Morris, Witnesses At The Creation (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1985), 2-6.
5Michael Horton, Christless Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 36-37
