The Christian Will Never See Death

"I am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death." (John 8:49-51).

Jesus said that anyone who keeps His word would never see death. What does He mean? The Pharisees call out Jesus on this, and it seems like they have a point. Everyone dies. We are all subject to death. From Adam, through whom death was introduced into creation; through Abraham, and the patriarchs; through the prophets and kings, including king David. Everyone dies. They witnessed it during Jesus' ministry. They could point to David's tomb. So what was Jesus talking about?

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sin of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27-28).

It is indeed appointed for man to die once, and then to face the judgment. Men are subject to death because all men are sinners. Paul tells us plainly that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 5:12). In other words, death is what we have earned for our work of disobeyeing God. (Pieper, 1953) But don't forget that there are three kinds of death. There is the first death, the physical (or temporal) death. There is also a second death, the spiritual death. Physical death is the unnatural tearing apart of body and soul. Spiritual death results in the third kind, which is eternal death. (Pieper, 1953) Eternal death is the separation of the person, who is composed of that rational soul and human flesh combined, from God forever by being cast into hell.

At the time of physical death, body and soul are separated. This is something unnatural that was not intended to happen. The dust of the body returns to the ground. The body is buried and experiences decay. The spirit returns to God, who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The body "sleeps" while the soul goes to heaven to be with the Lord. Paul, writing to the Philippians, explains that his death is desirable to him, because it would mean that, though Paul would be physically dead, he would be with the Lord in the heavenly paradise. Paul wrote to the Philippians:

I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. (Philippians 1:23-24).

Jesus also promises the thief on the cross next to Him, not that he will be dormant in the grave, body and soul, until the judgment. He assures the man, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).

Jesus tells us that those who are in Him do not need to worry about the physical first death. This death could not hold Jesus. And, if we keep His word as He says, it will not hold us either. This is what Jesus meant when He said:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28).

That one who can destroy both body and soul in hell is Jesus. And He would demonstrate His power over death when He rose from the dead after His death on the cross.

But Jesus actually does demonstrate His power over death before His resurrection. Jesus calls Himself the Resurrection and the Life. He has the power to bring back to life those whose souls and bodies have been torn apart by death. He did it for the widow's son; for Jairus' daughter; for Lazarus. Reversing physical death is short work for Immanuel, God with us, the One by whom all things were made. So we don't have to worry about physical death. Jesus will undo it. From our perspective, He has undone it by His cross and empty tomb. And if we don't have to worry about physical death, even if we have to experience it, we also don't have to worry about spiritual or eternal death.

Jesus saves us from the second death as well. In fact, that is the entire reason Jesus came to earth; the reason He took on flesh in the Virgin's womb; the reason He lived a sinless life, and went to the cross. He bore the guilt of our sin on the cross, paying the debt. He rose to life again for our justification.

Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) That is because in our baptism, Christ connects us to His death and resurrection. In baptism He gives us those things. We get the credit for His death; we get the promise of being raised to life in a resurrection like His.

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore baptized into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3-5)

Indeed, baptism does now save us by the resurrection of Jesus. (1 Peter 3:18-22)

Martin Luther explains in the Small Catechism that all people will be raised and will stand before Christ on the Last Day. (Luther, 1986). Christians will rise to eternal life. Christ will transform their bodies to be like His glorious body, though God's word does not give a lot of information about what that will be like. People who do not believe in Jesus will be told to depart into the eternal fire. Believers will experience life everlasting. Unbelievers will experience everlasting death.

For the Christian, death has been transformed into a portal through which they pass into life. According to Pieper, the fear of God's wrath is what made death terrible. (Pieper, 1953) Since Christ has made atonement for sin, that fear disappears. Without having to fear God's wrath and punishment, the Christian can look at death as a slumber from which we will awaken at Christ's return and enter into eternal life.

That is what Jesus means when He says that those who keep His word will never taste death.

------------------------

Bibliography

Concordia Publishing House. 1986. "Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation." St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. Apostles' Creed: IV. The Resurrection of the Body, 187-189.

Pieper, Francis. 1953. "Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3 Temporal Death." St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Thoughts on the Doctrine of Election

As a Confessional Lutheran living in what some in the Lutheran blogosphere have called the "desert of American Evangelicalism," one gets accustomed to being ignored. No one quite knows what to do with Confessional Lutherans. Consequently, we usually get left out of the debates, and our doctrine is not well-known. We look like Roman Catholics, most of the time. We talk about baptism a LOT, and how salvation comes only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Most American Evangelicals don't know what to do with us, if we're even on their radar at all.

Mostly, we are not.

This is evident when the discussion turns to something like the doctrine of Election. You've got your Calvinists, and you've got your Arminians; your predestination people and your free will guys. Either God has predestined everybody for where they're going or we all have to make a decision for Jesus and pray the sinners prayer.

Then there are the Lutherans. We don't fit into either of those categories.

We acknowledge that man has free will, but only in matters that do not pertain to salvation. Where conversion is concerned, we acknowledge that scripture teaches we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1ff.).

We also understand that God has predestined the elect to salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world. However, - and here's where we lose the Calvinists - we acknowledge that scripture teaches that a believer can fall away.

Calvin wrote that salvation is not preached to all people equally. The reason why, he says, is a mystery. Calvin defines predestination as the doctrine that some people are chosen by God to be saved, and others are chosen by God to be damned. This is quite different from how the doctrine of election is understood from Holy Scripture by the Lutheran reformers. Calvin admits that this teaching might sound scary and confusing at first, but it is, in fact, "useful and pleasant." (Calvin, 1526) Calvin writes that the doctrine of election shows man that salvation is truly monergistic. To him, the fact that God gives salvation to some and withholds it from others, Calvin says, simultaneously glorifies God and humbles man. (Calvin, 1526)

Calvin and the Lutheran Confessions both agree that the doctrine of election is, in Calvin's words, "useful and pleasant"; that it is intended to be a comfort, and to showcase the glory of God. But Christianity does not teach fatalism. Fatalism is the idea that nothing you do makes any difference because everything is pre-ordained. Christian faith is knowing God works all things, even the ones we think are bad, for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose in Christ. And here we come to the first and greatest difference between a Reformed and a Confessional Lutheran understanding of election: it can only be understood in Christ.

Calvin says that God reveals His will to men, and that we must not seek that which God has kept hidden. Calvin says that we find the revealed will of God in God's word. This is true, and the Lutheran Confessions agree. Calvin, however, seems to go beyond what Scripture says when he teaches that God has created some men specifically for damnation.

To Calvin, God is the cause of salvation to those who are saved; God is also the cause of damnation to those who are damned. This is what Calvin means when he writes that all are not "created on equal terms." (Calvin, 1536) In other words, Calvin teaches that God created some people specifically to be saved, and other specifically to be damned. Those so created have no chance either to fall if they are the elect, or to be saved if they are the reprobate.

Calvin cites Deuteronomy 32:8-9 to show that God does not reveal the reason He saves certain people and damns others. As God declared to the Israelites through Moses, Calvin says, God chose the Israelites because He wanted to; it was not because of anything God saw in them, or that they merited God's favor. Calvin says that here God keeps the reason the elect are chosen a secret, but this isn't entirely true. God does indeed reveal how and why the elect are saved: they are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ alone.

Moreover, scripture also declares that the lost are damned because of their lack of faith, not because God predestined them to be lost and condemned.

When discussing eternal election, the Lutheran reformers make a distinction between God's eternal election and God's eternal foreknowledge. God's foreknowledge means simply that God sees and knows all things before they happen. Foreknowledge applies to all creatures. Election does not apply to all creatures. Election only applies to those people who are in Christ. (McCain, 2005)

God's eternal election simply means those whom God has predestined to salvation in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Election, therefore, does not include the wicked. On the contrary, it only includes the godly, i.e. those people who have faith in Christ. Those who are predestined to salvation are those who are in Christ.

Here we enter the territory of another fundamental difference between Reformed and Confessional Lutheran theology: paradox. Confessional Lutheran theologians do not feel the need to resolve paradox when it is found it Holy Scripture. Reformed theologians make the rational argument that if God chose one group of men to be saved, then that means he chose the remaining group of men to be damned by default. That is not, however, what the Bible says. In short, Scripture teaches the following paradox: 1) God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth; 2) God is completely responsible for working repentance and faith in men by the means of His word; 3) Some men reject God's gracious gift and are not saved; 4) Those men who are lost are responsible for their own damnation, not God.

Part of the problem is that Calvin does not seem to recognize that the lost are lost because of their own sin; because of their own failure to believe in Christ, and not because God decreed them to be reprobate. Consider the fact that Non-Israelites could become a part of the nation of Israel. People like Rahab the prostitute were accepted as part of God's chosen people, not because of their bloodline, but because of their faith. Again, consider Saul. He was the annointed king of Israel, yet he was rejected by God  because he was unfaithful.

Calvin sees the choosing of Israel by God as a sort of general election. The explanation he gives for why most of Israel fell away even though they were part of the elect nation and only a remnant remained is troubling. Calvin explains that, while God did elect the entire body of Jacob's descendants, He did not immediately give all of them the Holy Spirit. According to Calvin, this withholding of the Spirit is why most of elect Israel fell away and only a remnant was caused to persevere. (Calvin, 1536) 

Where Calvin found such a horrifying notion is anyone's guess. It does not come from Scripture.

But Calvin continues, asserting that God is not unjust to choose some men to reprobation. Indeed, He would not be unjust if that were the case. All men are, after all, in a fallen state. God would have been justified in destroying the entire fallen creation, and starting over again. But Calvin also ascribes man's corrupt and fallen state to God's will. (Calvin, 1536)

Scripture tells us that isn't the case. God is not the source of evil, nor is God the cause of sin. Rather, Adam's will and the will of the devil are the cause of mankinds fall, and the introduction of sin and death into creation.

God may not be the cause of man's fall into sin as Calvin says. God did, however, allow the Fall to happen. And, along with everything else, God works those things to the good of those elect in Christ.

Calvin says that God issues His call to faith by the preaching of the Gospel. According to Calvin, however, though the Gospel goes out to the elect and to the reprobate alike, God only makes it effectual in those whom He has elected. Those who are reprobate, therefore, do not have the opportunity or the ability to believe; God, according to His will, has rendered the power of the Gospel ineffective in them. (Calvin, 1536)

Predestination is not a trick. God does not say outwardly that salvation is for all people, but secretly not mean it. This would mean that God had two contradictory wills, which cannot be because Scripture tells us so. (McCain, 2005) God punishes such duplicity. He does not reward it.

God would indeed be a liar and a hypocrate if His invitation was extended to all people through His word, but secretly in His heart He knew there were some people He would damn anyway, no matter what. God condemns this type of wickedness (Psalm 5:9; 12:2-4). Man is, on the contrary, responsible for his own damnation by resisting and rejecting the Holy Spirit as He works through God's word.

God reveals His will by His call to preach the Gospel to all people. He works through that word to enlighten, convert, and save. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation; God wants men to receive, believe, and obey His word. Christ merited the redemption of the entire human race on the cross. Through word and sacrament Christ gives us the benefits of what He has merited. That is to say that the Holy Spirit working through those means works conversion; works repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins in us. Moreover, the Spirit will justify, sanctify, and protect those in whom He has done such work if we do not abandon Christ and His Word. (McCain, 2005)

He will save eternally at the Resurrection on the Last Day those who persevere. ###

---

Works Cited

Calvin, John. 1536. "Institutes of the Christian Religion." Chapters 21-24. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. 

https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes/institutes.v.xxii.html.

McCain, Paul T., et. al., eds. 2005. "Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord." First Edition. Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration XI. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Thoughts on Abortion, Life, and Intrinsic Human Value

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:4)

We live in a culture that celebrates death. This situation is the result of our culture's improper understanding of mankind's condition; our mistaken belief that we are the masters of our ultimate fate; our rejection of the concept of humanity having intrinsic worth and rights which are inherent to it.

Leftist political candidates proudly proclaim their support for the legalization of the barbaric practice of abortion. (Davis, 2024; Dovere, 2023; Gambino, 2021) When their opponents accuse them of supporting abortion even up until the point of birth, they call it a "mischaracterization," but they refuse to draw any line. They argue that there should not be a legal line. (Kessler, 2022) Some even argue that the "line" could be drawn after birth. (Saletan, 2012)

Men on both sides of our political spectrum support a person's so-called right to die; the right to commit suicide to avoid pain and suffering. There are eleven jurisdictions in America which have legal physician-assisted suicide. (WebMD, 2024) Canada is far ahead of the United States, and the consequences of the euthanasia legislation they have enacted in the Great White North are shocking. Canada has among the most permissive euthanasia laws in the world. In Canada, physician-assisted death is not just for the terminally ill. The disabled, the chronically ill, in some cases even the mentally ill qualify for MAID, or medical assistance in dying. (AP News, 2022)

Instead of working to protect human life we, as a culture, are actively working against it. The most vulnerable humans, those in the womb, those who need care at the end of their lives, or those who are debilitated due to some injury or disease are not safe from those on the godless Marxist political Left, or the godless corporate political Right.

Philosophers like Peter Singer argue that our worth comes not from our humanity, but from our personhood. Personhood, as Dr. Singer defines it, is not something with which one is born. To men like Dr. Singer, personhood is more like self-awareness. It is something that develops. And, until it does develop, men like Dr. Singer think that human beings have no rights. (Peter Singer on Personhood) We may, as Dr. Singer explains, have protections under the law as society would decide, but we have no intrinsic right to life, liberty, property, or anything else.

Unrestricted abortion on demand threatens the unborn. Only the desire of the mother, not the fact that the baby is a living human who inherently has a right to life, protects him. In America, it often fails to protect him. And the mothers who have been deluded into killing their unborn children are further encouraged to "shout their abortions" by the radical feminists, so that the gruesome practice can be further normalized in society. (Shout Your Abortion; About)

In a relativistic moral system such as this, where right and wrong are not fixed by God, the value of a human being changes relative to that human being's ability to adapt and survive in their environment. The value of a human being is, in such a system, determined through evolutionary mechanisms. People are not valuable simply because they are people in such a system.

There can be no intrinsic value to human life if the universe came into being spontaneously, and life evolved over time without a creator, as Stephen Hawking suggests in his book, "The Grand Design." In this scenario, there can be only natural selection and survival of the fittest. Those beings/organisms with the most beneficial traits have more value since they survive to propagate their genes. (Hawking and Mlodnov, The Grand Design) But they are not valuable simply because they are alive. The same applies equally to human beings.

In a relativistic moral system, your value is always measured relative to something else. That means your value can change. A person can be considered valuable, but if their circumstances change (i.e., they experience a decline in cognitive function, a change in employment, a decline in health due to injury or advancing age) it will diminish their value and absolve society from the moral burden of caring for them.

But that which God has created has value because God created it even in its fallen state. How much more has God demonstrated how much He values mankind by redeeming it through the blood of His Son Jesus, shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sin?

The Christian Church is often accused of being anti-science because of our belief in God's creation of the universe out of nothing over the course of six days as recounted in Genesis; because we do not consider abortion of unborn babies to suit the convenience of the already-born to be women's health care. But the Church is not anti-science. We are, instead, pro-human being. The Church is pro-life and anti-death. That is more than can be said for leftist American Democrats. They support allowing unrestricted access to abortion at any time during pregnancy, right up to the moment of birth. They support universal and rationed health care. They support euthanasia. They support all sorts of measures to reduce human population growth because of their devotion to the cult of radical environmentalism.

Men like Yuval Noah Harari of the World Economic Forum claim authority to remake western society and the world on the basis of might makes right. He believes the concept of rights are a fairy tale, just like God and religion. (No God & No Human Rights | Yuval Noah Harari) If God and human rights are a fairy tale, they can be ignored. Mr. Harari and Mr. Schwab may go about teaching the governments of the world how to remake themselves in the image of Marxist environmentalism without regard for the fictions of rights or religion.

It is, after all, a vision for the greater good.

In a universe where there is no God to define right and wrong, where an organism is considered valuable relative to its ability to adapt and survive in its environment; the only viable alternative is for "might" to make "right".

How do we respond to the situation in which we find ourselves? First, unlike secular society, we are honest about our condition. We believe what God says about mankind, and the whole creation: Life is more than just being physically alive. It is unity between man and God. (Naumann, 2023) That unity with God was severed when man fell into sin. Through Adam's sin in the Garden all men became sinful; mankind became subject to death. Mankind is powerless to make the world right, despite everything the Marxists claim and promise. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, however, man's unity with God has been restored.

This is why we fight death instead of embracing it as the secular world does. Death is not something good. We should not accept it as merely a part of the "circle of life". It is our enemy. But Christ has removed the sting of death. He now works this thing which Satan meant for our destruction, for our ultimate good. It was not supposed to be. It came into the world through the working of the devil, and man's will. Death certainly is not the solution to our problems of suffering and disease. That solution is the life that comes by being baptized into Christ, into His death, and into His resurrection:

"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." (Romans 6:3-5)

Even though we are all subject to physical death, for the Christian, death has been transformed into a portal through which we pass into life. The fear of God's wrath is what made death terrible. Since Christ has made atonement for sin, that fear disappears. Without having to fear God's wrath and punishment, the Christian can look at death as a slumber from which we will awaken at Christ's return and enter into eternal life. (Pieper, 1953)

---------------------------------

Bibliography

Davis, Susan. "Democratic Congressional Candidates Focus on Abortion in a Bid to Regain the House." NPR, January 22, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/01/22/1226160411/democratic-congressional-candidates-focus-on-abortion-in-a-bid-to-regain-the-house.

Dovere, Edward-Isaac. "Democrats Push Abortion Rights to the Ballot in 2024, Using an Old GOP Playbook | CNN Politics." CNN, April 7, 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/politics/democrats-abortion-ballot-measures-2024/index.html.

Gambino, Lauren. "House Democrats Vote to Establish a Federal Right to Abortion." The Guardian, September 24, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/24/house-democrats-abortion-federal-right-vote.

Hawking, Stephen, Leonard Mlodnov. 2010. "The Grand Design." Audiobook. Audible.

Kessler, Glenn. "Analysis | The GOP Claim That Democrats Support Abortion 'up to Moment of Birth.'" Washington Post, September 22, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/gop-claim-that-democrats-support-abortion-up-moment-birth/.

Naumann, Rev. Edward. "Lectures on the Gospel of John." Chapter 1. September 17, 2023. St. Paul's Ev. Luth. Church. Brookfield, IL.

Pieper, Francis. 1953. "Christian Dogmatics." Vol. 3. Temporal Death. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Saletan, William. "After-Birth Abortion: The Pro-Choice Case for Infanticide." Slate. March 12, 2012. https://slate.com/technology/2012/03/after-birth-adoption-the-pro-choice-case-for-infanticide.html.

Shout Your Abortion -- About. "Shout Your Abortion -- About". N.D. https://shoutyourabortion.com/about.

WebMD. "What to Know About Physician-Assisted Death," January 8, 2024. https://www.webmd.com/a-t-z-guides/what-to-know-physician-assisted-death.

YouTube. "No God & No Human Rights | Yuval Noah Harari," April 20, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8daz1pErD8.

YouTube. "Peter Singer on Personhood," December 6, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNz95E-3Wg.

The Paradox of Perseverance and Apostasy

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

The concept of justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ is central to Christian theology. Paul’s writings emphasize that believers are considered righteous by God through Christ’s sacrifice, despite their inherent sinfulness. This righteousness is imputed to believers through faith, a truth echoed in the faith of Old Testament saints like Abraham. At the same time, God’s word also teaches two paradoxical ideas: 1) that a person who is a believer in Christ can forfeit, or lose that faith, and 2) that God who works faith in men by means of God’s word will cause men to persevere in that faith.

According to Paul’s writings in Romans and Galatians, God justifies believers by reckoning or counting them as righteous, even though they are not inherently righteous.1 God does this not because of anything we do; his favor is unmerited. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ because of His death and resurrection.2 God sees believers through the lens of Christ’s righteousness, despite the fact that we are sinful.3 The believer is called to actively strive against the sinful flesh,4 considering it as good as dead because of Christ’s crucifixion.5 This concept of justification through faith finds its foundation not only in the New Testament but also in the experiences of Old Testament believers. Consider Abraham: scripture affirms that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.6 Like Abraham, we believe, and God counts us righteous because of our faith. We are considered Abraham’s children by faith.7 Thus, the nature of justification highlights how God’s reckoning of righteousness extends to both old and new testament believers, demonstrating His consistent faithfulness throughout all times. He deals with all mankind in the same way.

While believers are justified and counted righteous through faith in Christ, they are not exempt from the ongoing struggle with their sinful flesh. Paul describes this battle against the power of sin in Romans Chapter 7. He describes the tension of having “sin living in me,” acknowledging the coexistence of the redeemed inner man and the lingering influence of sin.8 The sinful flesh is not eradicated; rather, we can consider it dead and defeated because of Christ’s work on the cross.9 Believers are called to actively starve their flesh and not gratify its desires.10 This duality within the Christian experience reveals that while the inner man delights in God’s law, believers must persistently strive to overcome their sinful inclinations. It is an ongoing journey of sanctification where the inner transformation by the Spirit is met with the arduous task of mortifying the flesh. This tension between righteousness and sinfulness in the life of a believer is often referred to as “simul justus et peccator” in Lutheran theology, which means “simultaneously justified and sinner.” This concept underscores the paradoxical nature of the Christian’s state, being both declared righteous through faith and yet still struggling with the effects of sin. In the words of the Formula of Concord, Epitome:

“We believe, teach, and confess that original sin is not a minor corruption. It is so deep a corruption of human nature that nothing healthy or uncorrupt remains in man’s body or soul, in his inward or outward powers11...This damage cannot be fully described.12 It cannot be understood by reason, but only from God’s Word. We affirm that no one but God alone can separate human nature and this corruption of human nature from each other. This will fully come to pass through death, in the blessed resurrection. At that time, our nature, which we now bear, will rise and live eternally without original sin and be separated and divided from it13 (FC Ep. I, 8-10).”

Yet, though we were by nature children of wrath, God graciously saved us and made us alive in Christ.14

As there is a paradoxical element in the Christian’s nature, so too there is a paradox that must be acknowledged when discussing the faith of the Christian and the possibility of falling away from it. This is more commonly known as election or predestination. The concept of election or predestination is the understanding that God, in His sovereign will, chooses people for salvation in Christ.15 Scripture also teaches, however, that man is entirely responsible for his damnation. In the words of the Solid Declaration, “Few receive the word and follow it. Most despise the word and will not come to the wedding.16 The cause for this contempt for the word is not God’s foreknowledge but the perverse human will (FCSD XI, 41).” Consequently, Holy Scripture is littered with calls to repent, and to guard against falling away.

These biblical teachings reflect a tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. On one hand, it affirms that salvation is entirely the work of God, as He alone is responsible for granting faith and securing the believer’s eternal destiny. This aligns with passages such as John 10:27-28, Romans 8:28, and Ephesians 1:3-6, which emphasize God’s role in choosing, protecting, and preserving His people. On the other hand, scripture recognizes the reality of human accountability and the potential for falling away. The paradox lies in holding these truths in tension, affirming both the divine initiative in salvation and the necessity of human response and perseverance.

The language of “losing salvation” can be misleading, as it implies misplacement rather than a deliberate choice (Cooper, 2018). It seems to suggest that it is something that happens to you rather than something for which you are responsible. While no external force can pluck believers from Christ’s hand, individuals can reject Christ and willfully apostatize themselves. Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, the Jews who were not willing to be gathered together by Christ as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing.17 As he faces death by stoning, Stephen calls his murderers stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts, who always resist the Holy Spirit,18 which is the cause of their faithlessness. Living in unrepentant sin can lead to the forfeiture of faith, as sin destroys faith (Cooper, 2018).19 This tension between the possibility of falling away and God’s perseverance of His people is a paradox and cannot be resolved by human reason. Neither element should be ignored in favor of the other; neither scriptural truth should be used to cancel the other out (Cooper, 2018).

The author of the letter to the Hebrews warns against falling away from the faith, emphasizing the danger of a hardened heart and turning away from God.20 He gives the examples of Israel’s rebellion and unbelief as a caution.21 Similarly, Paul warns against falling away as Hymenaeus and Alexander did.22 He warns the Galatians who were trying to be justified by the law after having believed the Gospel preached to them had fallen from grace and were cut off from Christ.23 Peter describes false teachers who lead others astray and who are destined for destruction.24 Peter affirms that both the false teachers and those led astray have fallen from the faith;25 he does not say that they did not have genuine faith to begin with.

Paul and Peter probably learned this from Jesus Himself. Peter’s epistle echoes what Jesus teaches in the parable of the sower. In Matthew 13:18-23, Jesus explains the meaning of the parable, which depicts different types of soil representing the condition of people’s hearts in receiving the Word of God. The seed that falls on rocky ground and among thorns symbolizes those who initially receive the Word with joy but later fall away due to persecution or the cares of the world. This parable illustrates that genuine believers can face obstacles or temptations that lead them astray from their faith. Paul’s language of being cut off from Christ reminds us of Jesus’ teaching that He is the vine and we Christians are the branches.26 He urges the disciples to remain in Him, lest they become like branches that have been cut off from the vine which are gathered up and thrown into the fire.

Cooper points out that the reception of the Word and the participation in the sacraments are the means by which God works in us, nurturing and sustaining our faith (Cooper, 2018). This makes sense, particularly in light of John 15. Jesus calls His disciples to remain in Him. He repeats the admonition several times. How are we to remain in Jesus? By eating His body and blood, which is real food and real drink:

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.27”

Through means of grace, and particularly the Sacrament of the Altar, Jesus “perseveres” His Christians, guards them against falling away, and empowers them to remain steadfast.

The Solid Declaration reflects the paradoxical nature of the biblical teaching on election and does not speculate beyond what scripture says (FCSD XI 53, 64). It acknowledges that the doctrine of election is both mysterious and profound, encompassing the tension of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. It confesses God’s choice of individuals for salvation in Christ is an act of His pure grace, independent of any merit on our part. It affirms the nature of salvation, emphasizing that God alone is responsible for granting eternal life to believers, and that this teaching about election should be a comfort to Christians (FCSD XI 45-49). At the same time, the Solid Declaration recognizes the reality of human accountability, as individuals bear responsibility for their own rejection of God’s saving grace and their resulting damnation (FCSD, XI). This understanding aligns with the paradoxical nature of election presented throughout Scripture, affirming both the sovereignty of God and the human response to His grace. From the Solid Declaration, we learn that matters such as how election works from God’s perspective should not be investigated beyond what scripture tells us, and that the teaching about election should not be considered apart from Christ:

“We neither can nor should investigate and fathom everything in this article, the great apostle Paul declares. After having argued much about this article from God’s revealed word, as soon as he comes to the point where he shows what God has reserved for His hidden wisdom about this mystery, he suppresses and cuts it off with the following words, ‘Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord?’28 In other words, we cannot know about matters outside of and beyond what God has revealed in His word. This eternal election of God is to be considered in Christ, and not outside of or without Christ29 (FCSD XI 64-65).”

In conclusion, the doctrine of justification by God’s grace through faith is foundational to Christianity. Christians, though justified and regarded as righteous through Christ, continue to wrestle with their sinful flesh. The admonitions against falling away serve as sober reminders of the significance of perseverance and the perils of unrepentant sin. It is essential to embrace these paradoxical truths, recognizing the danger of apostasy while concurrently relying on God’s ongoing work of preservation through His means of grace, His Word and sacraments. The Holy Spirit works through His means of grace to strengthen and sustain the Christian in the faith. Through God’s Word by the working of the Holy Spirit, believers find assurance and steadfastness in Christ. ###

End Notes

1. Romans 3:24

2. Ephesians 2:1-10

3. Galatians 3:27

4. Galatians 5:16-17

5. Romans 6:5-10

6. Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6

7. Galatians 3:7-9

8. Romans 7:17-25

9. Romans 6:11

10. Galatians 5:16

11. Romans 3:10-12

12. Psalm 19:12

13. Job 19:26-27; 1 Corinthians 15:53

14. Ephesians 2:3-5

15. Ephesians 1:4-5; John 10:28

16. Matthew 22:3-6

17. Matthew 23:37

18. Acts 7:51

19. 1 John 1:8-10; 3:7-10

20. Hebrews 3:12-14

21. Hebrews 6:4-6

22. 1 Timothy 1:19-20

23. Galatians 5:4

24. 2 Peter 2

25. 2 Peter 2:18, 20-22

26. John 15:1-8

27. John 6:56-57

28. Romans 11:33-34

29 Matthew 11:28; 17:5; John 10:9; 14:6; 16:14; Ephesians 1:4-6

Works Cited

McCain, P. T. (Ed.). (2005). Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord (Pocket Edition). Formula of Concord - Solid Declaration, XI (Election). Concordia Publishing House. https://bookofconcord.org/solid-declaration/election/

Cooper. (2018, January 31). Can a True Christian Fall Away From the Faith? Just and Sinner. Retrieved June 15, 2023, from https://youtu.be/qbty10eg0y

Thoughts on Death and Resurrection in the Old Testament

C.S. Lewis, in his book “Reflections on the Psalms,” suggests that by the time of Jesus, Jewish theology had evolved to include life after death as we understand it today, as well as the concept of resurrection. Lewis wrote that previous generations of Christian theologians seem to have thought that the authors of the Psalms understood theology from a Christian perspective as we do today; that they wanted eternal joy and feared damnation. Lewis, however, does not think they had even the same concept of death as Christians.

Though he cites many portions of the Psalms to make his case, Lewis’ idea can be challenged. The idea of an afterlife and resurrection is present long before the time of Jesus’ earthly life and even before the composition of the Psalms. In fact, the belief in life after death is a central component of the entire Bible.

In the book of Daniel, the prophet writes:

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).

This passage clearly indicates that the dead will be raised from the grave, and it suggests that there will be different fates for the righteous and the wicked.

Similarly, in the book of Job, it is written:

“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26).

Job expresses his confidence that he will see God even after his body has been destroyed. Additionally, some theologians, such as Franz Delitzsch, believe that Job is the oldest book in the Bible. If this is true, it makes Job’s confession all the more significant.

In his book, Isaiah writes:

“Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy” (Isaiah 26:19).

This passage refers to the resurrection of the dead, and it is clear that the author believes in a physical resurrection.

Lewis’s thesis is further undermined by the fact that the Sadducees, whom Lewis identifies as a remnant of the older way of thinking, were a small and marginalized group in Jewish society. The Pharisees, who were the dominant group, believed in both an afterlife and a bodily resurrection. As Kretzmann notes, “The Pharisees accepted the resurrection of the dead as a fundamental tenet of the faith, and they based it on the Scriptures.” Similarly, Keil & Delitzsch declare in their commentary, “The belief in a resurrection is so firmly established in the Old Testament, that even the Sadducees could not entirely escape its influence.” The idea of the resurrection was not something that developed late in the history of Israel. It is a concept that was present in Jewish theology from an early period; from the time of Job who expected to see his redeemer after death; to Abraham who expected God to return his son Isaac to him from the dead because of God's promise (Genesis 22:1-19); and the prophets who, like Elijah, even raised the dead by the power of God.

There was certainly development in the theological understanding of God’s people. As God came to them and revealed more of His word to them by His prophets, the blurry picture they had of the one who would crush the serpent’s head and restore all things came into sharper focus over time. Rather than a development of their theology, however, one could think of this as a gradual revelation. The development was not a natural evolution through stages of philosophical complexity as Lewis seems to suggest. It was a gradual expansion of their collective understanding, meticulously directed by the Almighty and Omnipotent God who created all things. He prepared them for the day when He would Himself enter His creation to redeem it from sin, death, and the devil. As the author of the letter to the Hebrews explains, those who came before us believed, but they did not get to see the fulfillment of God's promise to send a savior. 

We, however, now fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is the fulfillment of all these things. He is the resurrection and the life. Because He lives, we too shall live, having been baptized into His death and His resurrection. This is the faith we have in common with all those who came before us. And we will all rise together on the Last Day.  Even though our bodies have been destroyed, in our flesh we shall see Jesus. 

Works Cited

Delitzsch, Franz. A New Commentary on Genesis, Vol. I. Translated by Sophia Taylor, T&T Clark, 1888.

Keil, Carl Friedrich, and Franz Delitzsch. Commentary on the Old Testament. Hendrickson Publishers, 2006.

Kretzmann, Paul E. Popular Commentary of the Bible. Kretzmann Project, 1921.

Lewis, C.S. Reflections on the Psalms. Mariner Books, 1958.

The Good News of the Kingdom of God

But he [Jesus] said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4:43)

Last week, two Jehovah’s Witnesses came to my door. I invited them in and we spent about an hour talking. They said they wanted to talk to me about the kingdom of God. According to them, Jesus’ purpose on earth was to proclaim the kingdom of God. They pointed to Luke 4:43 as proof of this.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses said that the kingdom of God is a real, physical kingdom. It is a government in heaven right now. It isn’t in the world yet, which is obvious by how much evil happens in the world. But it will be, and it was Jesus’ purpose to announce it’s coming.

On the surface, there seems to be much that is orthodox about what they were saying. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to get into the topic too deeply before they had to leave. What is the kingdom of God? Why is its proclamation good news? How does one enter the kingdom of God anyway? What was Jesus’ actual purpose? I suspect our theologies would diverge quite sharply with the answers to these questions.

The Pharisees asked Jesus a similar question: When would the kingdom of God come? He didn’t give them a date, a time, a location, or signs to look for. He said the kingdom of God was already among them:

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:20-21).

The phrase which the NIV renders as “in your midst” in Luke 17:21 could also be translated as “within you.” In other words, Jesus could be saying one of two things. He could be saying that the kingdom of God was in their midst because He, Jesus, the Anointed One, was among them. Or, he could be telling them that the kingdom of God was something inside of them, which is spiritual and intangible.

The “in your midst” interpretation of Luke 17:21 seems to be better just based on the context of the conversation. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, who do not believe in him. The idea that Jesus would tell unbelievers that they have the spiritual kingdom of God within them doesn’t make a lot of sense. After all, this is the group whom Jesus calls 1) sons of the devil, and 2) a brood of vipers. It does make sense, however, for Jesus, who claims to be the Messiah who establishes God’s kingdom, to say that the kingdom has arrived among them because He has arrived among them.

The kingdom of God is certainly both spiritual and intangible, but that doesn’t make it fake. It is a real thing. It is the redemption of man from sin and death; it is the redemption of creation from the curse. This redemption has been accomplished by Jesus’ death on the cross. We are made citizens of this kingdom of God when we come to faith in Christ and are baptized into Him, into His death, and His resurrection. This is what makes the proclamation of the kingdom of God good news.

And though we are truly subjects of God’s kingdom by our faith in Christ, we remain pilgrims in this world. God’s kingdom is our true home. Here in this fallen world, as the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, we have no continuing city. Our citizenship is in heaven. But, this current spiritual reality will one day become a physical reality when Christ returns on the Last Day to judge the world.

When Christ returns in glory, He will establish for all eternity the kingdom of God. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are praying that God’s kingdom would come. It certainly will come with or without our prayer, as Jesus has told us. In teaching us to pray “Thy kingdom come”, Jesus teaches us to pray for several things. He teaches us to pray for the Holy Spirit that we would believe and continue to believe; that we would lead a godly life as His subject; that He would continue to grow His kingdom by bringing more people into it; and also that He would finally establish His kingdom on earth.

Christians are already subjects of God’s kingdom. We have been brought from the dominion of darkness to God’s kingdom of light by the redemption of Christ:

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).

So, when will God establish His kingdom? Well, it is technically already established. That’s what Jesus tells us. That’s the good news of the kingdom of God: that by Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection we have been set free from the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil, and have therefore been brought into His kingdom. We are simply waiting for the resurrection on the Last Day when God’s real spiritual kingdom will become a physical reality. ###

Thoughts on Christian Preaching

 

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

A lot of pulpits in American churches have been replaced with the stage, the riser, and the lectern. Regardless of whether or not the pastor speaks from behind a traditional pulpit, or walks around in a cloud of smoke-machine vapor, a lot of different things happen in that place from which he addresses the assembled gathering (which I will collectively refer to as the pulpit). Theological essays on fine points of theology are read. Political rallies are led. Self-help lectures are spoken. People claiming to hear the voice of God speak dubious prophecies, and utter gibberish as though it were the miraculous gift of tongues.

Theological essays are fine. If I didn’t think so, I would stop writing them. Speeches urging Christian men to do their civic duty are important. Men must all, from time to time, be reminded that the things we claim to believe are connected to the world in which we live; and we ought to conduct ourselves in the world according to those beliefs. That means refusing to offer the pinch of incense to Caesar, even on pain of death. It also means peacefully but firmly resisting when secular society urges, or tries to force us to do and affirm things which are contrary to Christian teaching. Speeches of such a political and social nature, in my opinion, should not happen in the pulpit. They should happen at the gatherings outside of worship: the men’s group, the women’s group, the coffee hour after church, the Sunday school, the confirmation class, the youth gathering, and the gathering of friends and family in and outside of the home. As Christians, we should want to spend a lot of time talking with each other about how God’s Law applies to us, and to what we say and do. Our pastors should want to encourage us to do this, and to guide us in it.

Needless to say, the false prophesying of modern-day prophets has no place either inside or outside of the pulpit.

What should be happening when the pastor ascends the pulpit on Sunday morning? The pastor’s job is to make disciples of Jesus by baptizing and teaching. He should, therefore, proclaim the Gospel. That seems too simple. The people in church have already heard that and believe, right? These people sitting in the pew need life-application, don't they? If we don't think we need to be called to repentance we are wrong. If we think we don't need to hear the preaching of sin and grace in Christ we should, to borrow from Luther, touch our bodies to see if we still have flesh and blood, and then believe what scripture says of them. 

Or, we might think, as I did for a long time, that the pastor should engage in a verse-by-verse, word-for-word exegesis of the appointed Biblical text for the day. If you want that, go to his Bible study. If he doesn’t do that at his Bible study, encourage him to.

We might want our pastor to organize our congregation into a community activist group that publicly protests injustices. We might want him to tell us what to think about various political issues, and to tell us which politicians to support to save western civilization. If you want that, go to a political rally. Don't be too surprised, though, when the movement, the party, or the politician lets you down. This type of thinking suggests that we are not relying on Christ and His power to save us, but rather the power of the government. I suppose the Lutheran way to say this might be that we are violating the First Commandment, since we would seem to be not fearing, loving, and trusting in God above all things.

The Bible tells us not to trust man’s power to save, because he hasn’t any. It tells us that this world is the domain of the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan. Here in this present world, the Bible tells us, the Christian has no continuing city. We look toward that which is to come. That is the reason we can be so bold as to refuse to worship Caesar even when his henchman has the knife at our throat. He may kill us, but Jesus has already made us alive in Him. We will awaken on the day of resurrection and enter into the new and perfect creation to live there forever with Christ.

That is not to say that we should completely abandon the world and the society in which we live. If that were so we should retreat to the monasteries and shut ourselves away as Christians have tired in the past. I am simply saying that we should keep two things in mind. First, the world in which we live is passing away and we are looking forward to the new world which is to supplant it. Second, the purpose of we Christians gathering together - or as we Lutherans might say, gathering together around Word and Sacrament - is not the same as any of those other types of gatherings mentioned previously. The purpose of the gathering we call church is to receive God’s gifts that were won for us by Christ’s death and resurrection. Those gifts are the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. God gives them to us, primarily, in two ways. One way is through the preaching of His Word. The other way is through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which we call sacraments. In a way, preaching and administering the sacraments are the same thing, because they are both ways that God delivers His Word to us and creates faith in us. Right now, however, I want to focus on Christian preaching.

The main purpose of Christian preaching is to deliver to men the thing which God uses to make Christians. That is God’s Word. In Christian preaching, the preacher is to proclaim the two great teachings of God’s Word: Law and Gospel. The Law tells man what he must do for God, how he cannot do it, and the condemnation he deserves. The Gospel tells man what God has done for him; how while we were God’s enemies Christ died to redeem the world. In Christian preaching the preacher proclaims that, becoming man in the person of Jesus, God suffered and died on the cross to bear the guilt of our sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Such Christian preaching brings men to faith. It crushes men under the weight of God’s Law. It shows men their sin and makes them sorry for their sins. It delivers to those so brought to repentance the promise that, for the sake of Jesus those sins have been removed; it tells them that this is true not only for them individually, but also for the whole world (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2, 1951).

Through the preaching of the Gospel, God the Holy Spirit creates faith in men’s hearts. The Gospel is the mechanism by which God tells us what He has done for us in spite of the fact that we did not deserve it: that at just the right time, while we were still God’s enemies, Christ was born according to the scriptures, died as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and rose again for our justification. He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3, 1953).

The reason that church is different from, for example, a formal presentation of some theological points in a lecture hall is this: the preacher isn’t trying to convince the people listening to him to believe in Jesus. He is simply discharging his duty to proclaim the message he has been given. No one can be convinced into the Christian faith by rational arguments alone. The natural man cannot receive the spiritual things or know them (1 Cor. 2:14; 1:23). It is the Holy Spirit who will prove the truth of Law and Gospel to those who hear. The man who hears God’s Law and is crushed by it into contrition does not need proof that what the Law says about mankind, and about himself individually, is true. He knows his sin when it is exposed. When he hears the Gospel proclamation of how Christ died to take away that sin, he will rejoice without the aid of scientific demonstration, or apologetic explanation of why the Gospel is true. He will be happy to be out from under the weight of condemnation and death (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 1, 1950).

That isn’t to say, however, that the only place from which the Gospel can be heard is the pulpit. The Holy Spirit works how He wants to, when and where it pleases Him. He may very well use the Gospel spoken in that theological lecture, or in that conversation with colleagues in the lunchroom, to cause someone listening to come to faith. The same thing goes for all the other gatherings where Christians are present. All Christians are, in fact, called to preach the Gospel. Every person who confesses Christ is member of the priesthood of all believers. Every Christian is called to preach and teach those in whose midst he finds himself according to his various vocations (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3, 1953).

The general call of the Christian to preach the Gospel, however, is different from the call to the public ministry. The call to the public ministry, that is, to serve as a pastor in a Christian congregation, is one to preach and teach in the gathering of Christians of a specific place and time (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3, 1953). This is not a matter to be taken lightly for either the congregation, or the pastor who is called. He will be, as James writes, held to a higher standard on Judgment Day. So, where Christians are gathered together they are to choose men to administer God’s word and sacraments to them according to the guidelines set forth in Holy Scripture. This is because God is a God of order, and not of disorder (Ap AC XIV). The man whom they call is to proclaim God’s Word boldly, and in its purity, and to administer the sacraments rightly according to Christ’s institution.

Finally, Christian preaching should proclaim the hope of glory. This is nothing other than proclaiming Law and Gospel, but from the angle of Christ’s return. Preaching the coming of Christ’s kingdom of glory was something the Apostles did from the beginning. The eyes of the early Christians were constantly directed upwards in anticipation of Christ’s return. Christian preaching should give the Christian comfort in the midst of suffering by reminding him of the fulfillment of the promise of the resurrection, and of eternal life with Jesus and all the saints in the restored creation (Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2, 1952).

The more purely and boldly preachers proclaim the Gospel, the more the Holy Spirit will do His own work of making Christians. Those saints who are regularly fed with Jesus’ body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, and by hearing their faithful pastors preach, will be sustained and grow in the faith by the miraculous power of God. Indeed, as Paul wrote, how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? They will then go out into the world to be salt and light. They won’t be able to help it. Their good works will just proceed forth from them as apples proceed forth from an apple tree. They will be bold to say, as Peter and John did, we must obey God rather than men, when confronted with ridicule and persecution. If, however, our pastors give us essays, pop psychology, seminars on positive thinking, mystical gibberish, and lies, we will begin to believe in those things instead of Jesus. ###

Works Cited

Pieper, Francis. 1950. Christian Dogmatics, vol. 1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Pieper, Francis. 1951. Christian Dogmatics, vol. 2. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Pieper, Francis. 1953. Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.