Taking Thoughts Captive

This Reformation hymn, penned by Martin Luther's colleague Paul Speratus, is one of the richest, most comforting, and sublimely beautiful hymns ever written. Instead of writing my thoughts about this hymn, I urge you to spend some time reading it thoughtfully and consider the incredible grace God has lavished on us in Jesus Christ. Happy Reformation Day! Soli Deo Gloria!

Salvation unto us has come By God’s free grace and favor; Good works cannot avert our doom, They help and save us never. Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, Who did for all the world atone; He is our one Redeemer.

What God did in His Law demand And none to Him could render Caused wrath and woe on ev’ry hand For man, the vile offender. Our flesh has not those pure desires The spirit of the Law requires, And lost is our condition.

It was a false, misleading dream That God His Law had given That sinners might themselves redeem And by their works gain heaven. The Law is but a mirror bright To bring the inbred sin to light That lurks within our nature.

From sin our flesh could not abstain, Sin held its sway unceasing; The task was useless and in vain, Our guilt was e’er increasing. None can remove sin’s poisoned dart Or purify our guileful heart— So deep is our corruption.

Yet as the Law must be fulfilled Or we must die despairing, Christ came and hath God’s anger stilled, Our human nature sharing. He hath for us the Law obeyed And thus the Father’s vengeance stayed Which over us impended.

Since Christ hath full atonement made And brought to us salvation, Each Christian therefore may be glad And build on this foundation. Thy grace alone, dear Lord, I plead, Thy death is now my life indeed, For Thou hast paid my ransom.

Let me not doubt, but trust in Thee, Thy Word cannot be broken; Thy call rings out, “Come unto Me!” No falsehood hast Thou spoken. Baptized into Thy precious name, My faith cannot be put to shame, And I shall never perish.

The only righteous in God’s sight Are they this faith possessing; But faith shines forth with heav’nly light, Itself by works professing. Though faith is all that God requires, Thy love the neighbor’s good desires If God hath truly borne Thee.

The Law reveals the guilt of sin And makes men conscience-stricken; The Gospel then doth enter in The sinful soul to quicken. Come to the cross, trust Christ, and live; The Law no peace can ever give, No comfort and no blessing.

Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone And rests in Him unceasing; And by its fruits true faith is known, With love and hope increasing. Yet faith alone doth justify, Works serve the neighbor and supply The proof that faith is living.

Hope waits in patience for that time When God will show His power. When to expect this joy sublime, God sets for us no hour. He knows full well when best to aid; Though help may often be delayed, In this we all must trust Him.

If His goodwill be hid in night, Dismiss this fear unbidden. To those in whom is His delight, His love is often hidden. His Word shall take away thy doubt, And if thy flesh its “No” should shout, Still cast from thee all terror.

May glory, laud, with highest praise, For this, our God’s salvation, To Father, Spirit, Son be raised, Who’ll bring unto completion The work He hath in us begun, That glory may for Him be won. For this His name be hallowed.

His kingdom come, His will on earth Be done as ’tis in heaven. Of daily bread be there no dearth, And be our sins forgiven As we do them who owe us aught. Into temptation lead us not, From evil free us. Amen.

#hymnody #Lutheran #theology

Several church members have asked my opinion on Halloween, the history behind All Hallows Eve, and whether or not Halloween activities are appropriate for Christians to participate in...here is a rather long-winded response that I've shared with several that I'm sharing here with hopes others may find it helpful.

Shortly after Christianity was legalized in the West (313 AD), Christians began to honor those believers who died in the faith. It was both a celebration of the number of martyrs who died for the faith during the Roman persecutions (late 200's, early 300's) as well as a time to remember those whom we know who died in the faith in the last year. This feast is what we today call All Saints Day, called in older times All Hallows Day (hallow, of course, coming from holy, as in the Lord's Prayer).

Early on, All Saints was celebrated on May 13th, but during the short time of Pope Gregory III (730's), he moved the day to November 1st to align with the foundation of a new chapel in St. Peter's (the Vatican) dedicated to all the saints/believers in heaven. As with most church feasts, we added the night before to the celebration, adding All Hallows Eve on October 31st (similar to Christmas Eve on December 24th and Holy Saturday before Easter) and All Souls Day (in some places) on November 2nd.

The term Halloween is a contraction of Hallows Evening: Hallow + E'en = Halloween.

Christians used to be much more open and honest about the reality of death than we are in our sterile, antiseptic 21st century American culture. After all, they were surrounded by death all the time, up front and personally. Taken together, these three days became a time to remember the reality of death and to celebrate Christ's victory over death for all who lived and died in faith. There was nothing grotesque or morbid about it. Life and death happened every day and were not anything unusual. If anything, our distance from death is what makes many recoil at a Church holy day remembering the faithful departed.

As far as I can tell, the tradition of dressing up on Halloween started sometime around the Reformation. Ghoulish costumes (by no means scary or gory by today's standards) were a visible reminder that death will one day take us all. Martin Luther is said to have encouraged ridiculous representations of Satan and demons because of his belief that the thing Satan hated most was being made fun of and mocked (his sin, after all was pride, and the proud hate being ridiculed). Jack-o-lanterns evolved to pumpkins from the Irish tradition of carving turnips (lame, ha ha). Trick-or-treating presumably came from an English tradition of going door to door asking for 'soul cakes' with the promise to pray for the departed family members of the givers.

I've read from anti-Halloween sources that the church took the pagan, Celtic holiday of Samhain and baptized it to make a church holiday; however, this has a few problems. There's no evidence that this Celtic holiday was known in Rome when the Pope moved All Saints Day to November. It appears to be a very localized observation, and the Pope specifically moved it around a church dedication. There also doesn't seem to be anyone making a connection between the two until about the time of the Reformation (honestly, as a die hard Protestant, it was probably propaganda from the Reformers trying to link paganism and anti-Christian practices with the Roman Catholic Church).

I think it's safe to say that Halloween has very strong Christian roots, and we should do a much better job teaching our own Christian history. I'd love to see Christians reclaim the original celebration for what it is...we need to do the same with Christmas, too! With that in mind, however, there is no denying that Halloween has been hijacked by secular and demonic influences and twisted into something that would be unrecognizable to our ancestors. More importantly, there are those today who definitely take it much too far into the realm of the dark and demonic...and we should by no means participate in that. All that to say, yes, I think we can celebrate Halloween, but we need to be discerning about how we do so. There's certainly much more danger in the demonic influences around Halloween than a Christ-less, secular Christmas. But just because things are abused doesn't mean we should throw them out. We should restore them. They are an important part of the faith.

#culture #festivals #theology

Why does the truth now lead to hatred, causing people to become enemies of those who share it? A happy life is cherished, and that happiness comes from embracing the truth. Perhaps it's because people love the truth only when it aligns with what they already cherish. They want to believe they are right and resist being shown otherwise. This is why they hate the truth—it threatens what they love more than the truth itself. They appreciate the truth when it enlightens them but despise it when it points out their faults. They want to avoid being deceived, yet they often deceive themselves. They love the truth when it reveals something positive, but they hate it when it exposes their flaws.

— St. Augustine, Confessions, Book X, Chapter XXIII

#culture #quotes #theology

Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, From the rebellion of the workers of iniquity, Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend their bows to shoot their arrows—bitter words, That they may shoot in secret at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear. They encourage themselves in an evil matter; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, “Who will see them?” They devise iniquities: “We have perfected a shrewd scheme.” Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they shall be wounded. So He will make them stumble over their own tongue; All who see them shall flee away. All men shall fear, And shall declare the work of God; For they shall wisely consider His doing. The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory.

— Psalm 64 (NKJV)

This Psalm is perfect in light of the last few weeks' news—assassinations, murders, shootings, terror anniversaries, and the like. It needs no additional commentary. Re-read it. Pray. Trust in the Lord. Be ready.

Note: If you're not regularly reading through the Psalter, now is a great time to start. This was one of the Psalms for today using the traditional 30-day reading plan from the Book of Common Prayer and widely available online.

#culture #life #psalms

Why shall I be worried with anxiety and care on account of temporal need and provision? From what source does God give us the corn in the field and all fruits, since the world with all her wisdom is not able to create a straw, a leaf or a little flower? Since Christ, my Lord and God, does such things daily, why then shall I be worried, or doubt as to whether he can or will sustain my bodily existence?

— Martin Luther, Sermon for the Seventh Sunday After Trinity

#quotes #Luther #theology

When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

– Titus 3.4-8 (NKJV)

The relationship between grace and works is one of the core disagreements between Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and historic Protestant believers. Even among Protestants, the means by which God gives grace is an area of disagreement. One place in Scripture where all these come together nicely is this passage from Titus 3.

Here we see several beautiful teachings that we must hold together as we cling to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. We must resist the efforts of those who wish to separate one of more of these truths, when in reality, they are all inseparable from one another.

First, salvation does not come to us as a result of our works but solely as a result of God’s grace. We are not saved by some combination of works and grace, as some maintain, but ‘according to His mercy He saved us.’ Though Roman Catholics and Orthodox both affirm grace, they maintain the necessity of good works for salvation (not as a result of it). They criticize Luther for inserting the word ‘alone’ (‘sola’) when he wrote of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, maintaining that Scripture nowhere explicitly says this. While the argument is clever, it is clear even to children that grace plus anything is no longer grace but simply a fair response to something someone has earned. St. Paul explicitly says otherwise here.

Second, God’s gracious salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit come to us through the means of baptism. ‘He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.’ It was not until after the Reformation that anyone understood this verse to apply to anything other than water baptism as God’s means of grace through which he applies the merciful gift of salvation. Baptism is not our act of obedience or public profession of faith, as Baptists teach, but God’s act of mercy whereby he saves us and grants us the indwelling Spirit. Baptism is not a work we must do (works righteousness) but a work which God does to us (salvation by grace). Of course, baptism does not benefit anyone without faith. Scripture plainly teaches that there is no salvation apart from faith, but it also teaches that baptism is one of God’s means of grace and not our response to grace.

Third, works are an essential part of the believer’s life. ‘I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.’ Here the relationship between salvation and works is abundantly clear. It is the saved who are called to do good works, not good works that result in our salvation. Note also that good works are not an optional part of the Christian life, as though someone could live without them and be a genuine believer. They are essential, not resulting in salvation but inevitably flowing from it. St. James speaks against the lie that someone could supposedly have saving faith that does not result in good works.

Held together, these three teachings are a beautiful tapestry of grace lived out in the Christian life. They should always encourage us and spur us on when we become complacent. Above all, they should continually drive us to Christ–the source of our salvation–in thanksgiving and praise.

#devotional #sacraments #theology

This then is the true logic of religion, that is, when we are persuaded that God is reconcilable and easily pacified, because he is by nature inclined to mercy, and also, when we thus apply this doctrine to ourselves, or to our own peculiar benefit, — As God is by nature merciful, I shall therefore know and find him to be so. Until then we be thus persuaded, let us know that we have made but little progress in the school of God. And hence it appears very clear from this passage, that the Papacy is a horrible abyss; for no one under that system can have a firm footing, so as to be fully persuaded that God will be merciful to him; for all that they have are mere conjectures. But we see that the Prophet reasons very differently, God loves mercy; he will therefore have mercy on us: and then he adds, He will return; [202] and this is said lest the temporary wrath or severity of God should disquiet us. Though God then may not immediately shine on us with his favor, but, on the contrary, treat us sharply and roughly, yet the Prophet teaches us that we are to entertain good hope. — How so? He will return, or, as he said shortly before, He will not retain perpetually his wrath: for it is for a moment that he is angry with his Church; and he soon remembers mercy.

The Prophet now specifies what sort of mercy God shows to the faithful, For he will tread down our iniquities; he had said before that he passes by the wickedness of his elect people. He will then tread down our iniquities; and he will cast [203] into the depth of the sea all their sins; that is our sins shall not come in remembrance before him. We hence learn what I have said before — that God cannot be worshipped sincerely and from the heart until this conviction be fixed and deeply rooted in our hearts, that God is merciful, not in general, but toward us, because we have been once adopted by him and are his heritage. And then were the greater part to fall away, we should not fail in our faith; for God preserves the remnant in a wonderful manner. And lastly, let us know, that whenever we flee to God for mercy, pardon is ever ready for us, not that we may indulge in sin, or take liberty to commit it, but that we may confess our faults and that our guilt may appear before our eyes: let us know, that the door is open to us; for God of his own good will presents himself to us as one ready to be reconciled.

It is also said, He will cast our sins into the depth of the sea. We hence learn that there is a full remission of sins, not half as the Papists imagine, for God, they say, remits the sin, but retains the punishment. How frivolous this is, the thing itself clearly proves. The language of the Prophet does however import this, that our sins are then remitted when the records of them are blotted out before God.

— John Calvin, Commentary on Micah 7

#quotes #Reformed #theology

What you read and how deeply you read matters almost as much as how you love, work, exercise, vote, practice charity, strive for social justice, cultivate kindness and courtesy, worship if you are capable of worship. The mind is an activity and will decay into dark inertia if not sustained by the sustenance of reading.

The great poems, plays, novels, stories teach us how to go on living, even when submerged under forty fathoms of bother and distress. If you live ninety years you will be a battered survivor. Your own mistakes, accidents, failures at otherness beat you down. Rise up at dawn and read something that matters as soon as you can.

— Harold Bloom, from How to Read and Why

#reading #quotes

(h/t: The Hammock Papers)

O LORD God of our Fathers, Whose merciful ear is open unto our prayer, and from Whom alone must come our help: Regard in compassion Thy people, upon whom has fallen the scourge of war, that they may take to heart Thy righteous judgments, be prepared for all trials, sustained and comforted in all distresses, and be graciously delivered, in Thine own time and way, from all threatening calamities; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

— Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, 1917

#prayers

I've always been enthralled by 20th century dystopia fiction: Orwell's 1984, Huxley's Brave New World, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and McCarthy's The Road. What intrigues me most about these particular works, except the last one, is their pointed critique of society's trajectory and their eerily prophetic gaze into a future (for them) that has in many ways become, quite frighteningly, the reality in which we presently live.

Today, I'm thinking about a word made infamous in Orwell's 1984, “Doublethink.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “thought marked by the acceptance of gross contradictions and falsehoods, especially when used as a technique of self-indoctrination.”

Specifically, given the hostilities between Israel and Iran over the past few days, the notion of doublethink is on my mind. For instance, think about the following ideas we are supposed to hold simultaneously regardless of how contradictory they might seem:

• Israel's pre-emptive attack on Iran is 'self-defense,' but Iran's response to being attacked is 'aggression' or 'terrorism' (see Footnote)

• Israel claims the right to develop/maintain nuclear weapons for itself, but Israel rejects Iran's right to develop/maintain the same type of weapon

• Iran and the U.S. intelligence community claim that Iran is not capable (or nearly capable) of fielding nuclear weapons, but Israel's intelligence claims otherwise, in spite of the fact that U.S. intelligence rejects Israel's 'evidence'

Before jumping to conclusions and name-calling, I am NOT suggesting Iran is morally right or morally superior to Israel or the U.S. I am not. At the same time, however, I am not going to be so hypocritical or arrogant as to suggest that the U.S. or any other nation has the right to decree what technology other nations might develop and possess. The decisions made by nations, like all choices, come with their own benefits and consequences.

Let us not pretend that any nation in history has consistently acted as a disinterested, benign actor seeking the best interest of the world at large. That is delusional. Let's at least be honest and realize that every nation acts only in its own self-interest, and that creates friction, conflict, atrocities, suffering, and war. This will not change until Christ comes to set all things right, so our prayer must always be 'Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.”

#politics #theology

(Footnote): Interestingly, the idea of pre-emptive self-defense is consistently and historically rejected by the Christian Just War tradition. George W. Bush articulated the idea that a nation (specifically the U.S.) has the right to take military action against perceived threats before actual attacks...an idea that has taken root in the U.S. but has been consistently rejected through history as incompatible with the Just War tradition. I continue to be on the side of tradition and reject pre-emptive self-defense as an oxymoron.