Unfortunately, many will reject the truths of Scripture. They will resist the Spirit’s work in their hearts and refuse to submit to what God says in his Word, no matter how gently we confess. That was the case as Luther confessed the truth. The leaders of the Roman church dismissed the gospel’s teaching of righteousness through faith alone. They accused Luther of following the path of the heretics, who, “inspired only by their own sense of ambition, and for the sake of popular acclaim … twist and adulterate the Scriptures.”[1] By his teaching, Pope Leo charged, Luther not only misled people but also introduced “the evil of schism into the Church of God.”[2] Since division resulted from Luther’s teaching, the argument went, his teaching was therefore false and must be condemned. That’s not at all the way Luther saw it from Scripture. Luther went so far as to rejoice in the dissension that had arisen because of the Word of God, seeing it as a fulfillment of what Jesus had said, that he had come not to bring peace, but a sword (Matt 10:34). Preserving peace in the church at the expense of the truth of the gospel, Luther said, would lead to “an intolerable deluge of evils”[3] as a judgment from God.
In his High Priestly Prayer Jesus prayed for all who would believe in him through the apostles’ preaching: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21 NIV). That is our prayer, too. We want all Christians to be united in a common confession. For that reason, we will continue to confess to others what God teaches in his Word, so that there might be unity. Sitting in the corner and refusing to engage others in conversation does not fit with the calling we have received. At the same time, we cannot, for the sake of the noble goal of outward unity in the church, set aside some of the teachings of the Scriptures that we may deem peripheral.[4] While we labor for unity in doctrine, we expect that there will be division because “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray” (Matt 24:11 NIV) and because people will “gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim 4:3 NIV).[5] We know the devil’s ability to deceive people. That our attempts to confess may not be met with success should neither dissuade us from the effort nor surprise us. Instead we believe the Lord’s promise and look forward to the Day of Jesus’ return, when there will be complete unity.
HERE WE STAND
As we consider what’s happening in the visible church today, we recognize that there is significant work to be done to “conserve and extend the true doctrine and practice of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.”[6] It seems that we need another Martin Luther, whose heart has been captured by the gospel and is willing to risk even life itself to preserve it. We need another Martin Luther, who will take his stand on the truth of God’s Word and confess the faith boldly. Who’s it going to be? You? The Lord does not want you to be Martin Luther. He wants you to be you, in your setting and context. His design is that you, trusting his promises, will use the gifts he chose for you and take advantage of the opportunities he provides to confess the truth of righteousness through faith in Christ. Imitate Luther’s faith, his lively confidence in the promises of God. Trust that the Lord will be the Lord. He will give you strength to confess his gospel, for his glory and the blessing of others.
Here, by the grace of God, we stand. We cannot do otherwise. God help us. Amen.
[1]. Exsurge Domine.
[2]. Decet Romanum Pontificem, preamble.
[3]. LW 32:111.
[4]. Lutheran theologians have distinguished between fundamental articles of faith, which everyone must know and believe to be saved, and nonfundamental articles of faith, which could be unknown or denied without harm to salvation. However, as Adolf Hoenecke aptly says, we are not free to dismiss even a nonfundamental teaching as unimportant: “It is certain from Scripture that every doctrine which God presents in Scripture binds us to receive it in faith and that every part of Scripture is an article of faith.” Adolf Hoenecke, Evangelical Lutheran Dogmatics, Volume 1, translated by James Langebartels and Heinrich Vogel (Milwaukee: Northwestern, 2009), 513.
[5]. Typically, as we think about teachers who give their hearers what their itching ears want to hear, we think about those who subtract from Scripture, to make it easier for their hearers. There are also false teachers who add to the Bible, demanding from people what God has not demanded. Some itching ears, it turns out, want something more demanding than righteousness that comes as a gift through faith in Christ. They desire something that agrees with the sinful nature’s view that life with God needs to be earned by the performance of impressive works.
[6]. WELS Constitution, Article IV. Are there bonus points for quoting from the synod’s constitution at a synod convention?