For You Will Answer Me: Thoughts on Psalm 17

I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer (Psalm 17:6).

 

Psalm 17 is a lament and prayer of David. In it David anticipates the joy of being in Yahweh's presence. David prays for God's help; for the defeat of his enemies, who are wicked and unfaithful, confident that God will hear and answer him.  

 

David prays for deliverance from his enemies. These are the ungodly men who do not have faith in God, nor keep His covenant. David is confident that God will answer him for three reasons: David is faithful, keeping God’s covenant; God is loving; David's enemies are ungodly and evil (v. 1-5). 

 

David prays that he has kept himself from the ways of the violent. He is free from the kinds of wicked and unjust deeds that his enemies are committing. He is inviting God to see that because of his faith, David is a good tree that bears good fruit. He isn't claiming to be without sin. David's confidence is based on his own faith that God will keep His promises, not on how good David’s own works are.

 

In reality it isn’t David who does the works he calls God to examine anyway. David say that it is by God’s word that he is blameless. David writes, “As for the deeds of men - by the word of Your lips I have kept myself from the ways of the violent” (v. 4). 

 

Paul makes this same point when he writes, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose,” (Philippians 2:12-13).

 

David knows that God's love will not allow Him to be indifferent to the suffering of His people. God is compelled by His very nature to come to the aid of His people. Indeed, God has rescued His people from our true enemies of sin and death by Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection. 

 

Then come David’s petitions. He prays that he would be protected from his wicked enemies (v. 6-9). He prays that those callous and arrogant men who seek to destroy him would themselves be destroyed. He calls on God to rise up and confront his enemies, and to save him (v. 10-14). 

 

Wicked men seem to prosper. That was as frustrating to David as it is to us today. Their end, however, is eternal punishment. While God may not strike down every enemy of His people during this present age, they will suffer eternal punishment and separation from God. They receive their reward in this age. God's people get the fullness of their reward in the age to come. 

 

God provides for the needs of His people. He directs us to seek first the kingdom of God. He gives us daily bread. He tells us not to worry about material wealth. He will make sure we have all the things necessary to support this body and life, about which the pagans spend day and night worrying about. Not only will He meet our physical needs, but the greatest blessing possible already belongs to us in Christ: forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. 

 

As with all the Psalms, it is important to consider them from the perspective of Christ. David is a picture of the promised Savior, a promise that God fulfilled in Jesus.

 

Jesus knows that God the Father will hear and answer Him when He prays for the same reasons as David. Jesus is faithful, even to suffering death on a cross, doing the will of the Father. God is love, and Jesus is the personification of that divine love. Because of that love God took on human flesh and rescued His people from our true enemies of sin and death. 

 

Jesus, who is God incarnate, came into the flesh to bear our sin. He suffered at the hands of wicked and evil men. He, who had no sin became sin for us. By His sacrifice on the cross, sinless Jesus reconciled mankind to God. So, not only is this a prayer of David, it points to what God would do for mankind in Christ. He would rise up, confront our ultimate enemies of sin, death, and the devil, and rescue His people from the wicked by His sword (v. 13).

 

This prayer will come to ultimate fulfillement when Jesus returns on the Last Day. At His coming all men will rise again with their bodies and will give an account of their own works. And they that, like David, by their faith in Christ have done good will go into life everlasting. They that have, like David’s wicked enemies by their faithlessness done evil will go into everlasting fire.

 

In the meantime, God indeed stills the hunger of those He cherishes (v. 14). He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. While we live in this fallen world He sustains us by giving us His very body and blood to eat and to drink. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we will see His face in righteousness. And when we awake we will be satisfied with seeing His likeness (v. 15).

A New Name

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 (Titus 3:5-6).

 

We went to a baptism last week Wednesday.

 

It was for a baby. The baby was cute. Catilyn thought it was funny that a baby boy was wearing a white dress. We “argued” about the difference between a dress and a gown. We mocked the popular insanity by wondering how the baby "identified" and whether or not our congregation was slipping into heresy by offering baptism to a cross-dressing infant.


In his sermon, our pastor talked about what had just happened at the font. That child was given a new name - the name of Jesus. And, he explained, when that name is on you, it is on you like a target. That child now has an enemy - Satan.


Satan doesn’t particularly notice us when we are dead in our trespasses and sins. He doesn’t need to notice us. We are already on his side. But when we are baptized he does take notice. We are washed clean of our sin. We are renewed and regenerated by the working of the Holy Spirit. We are washed into Jesus. Pastor said that baptism is God’s will being done. It is God taking a child of man and making him into a child of God. You can see why Satan might notice this, and why he hates baptism.

 

All people are born sinful and unclean. We all need the salvation of Jesus. Because of our sinful nature, however, we think we are better off doing things for ourselves. We would rather make a name for ourselves than have the name of Jesus put on us. And, as Pastor pointed out, if we can’t make a better name for ourselves, we will try to tear down the names of others to make ourselves feel better.


But it doesn’t make us feel better, not to any lasting degree, anyway. And it certainly doesn’t justify us in the eyes of God. We need Jesus for that.


Along with getting Jesus’ name in our baptism, we also get some other really important things. We get His death, and we get His resurrection. All who were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death, Paul says. And, Paul continues, if we were united with Him in a death like His, we will also certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His (see Romans 6:3-5).


We have nothing to fear. He has paid for the guilt of our sin by His blood shed on the cross. He has justified us by His resurrection. He has given us those gifts by connecting us to Him in our baptism.


Since we have nothing to fear, because Christ is risen, and because He raises the dead, we can live our lives here on earth as people who know they are going to live forever. We can be bold in loving and serving our neighbors, and bearing witness to Christ. We don't have to be afraid of anything that threatens us, not even death. 

 

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, into whom we have been baptized. ###

Judging Others

Judging Others

Fourth Sunday after Trinity

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:36-38).7

In Luke 6:36, Jesus calls us to be merciful as the Father is merciful. How does the Father show His mercy to us? Mercy can be broadly defined, according to Arndt, as love in relationship to suffering. At the very least, it means a helpful attitude toward one who is in distress. More realistically, mercy means real help for the one who is suffering. (Arndt 1929) God had mercy on man; He provided real help for us in the midst of our suffering by sending Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. (Arndt 1929) Jesus teaches us here to be merciful to our brother who is suffering or who is wrong. (Arndt 1929) The fact that God, for the sake of Jesus, forgives all our sins against Him, even though we sin against Him constantly in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds, should move us to show the same kind of mercy to our neighbors. (Arndt 1929)

When Jesus says, “Give and it will be given to you,” He is not describing “giving in order to get.” This is another application of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. (Prange 1988) Prosperity gospel heretics misuse this, and other similar passages, to take advantage of people who are suffering. They seduce vulnerable people into sending them large sums of money with promises that if they just give their “seed offering” in faith, God will reward them with a bountiful financial harvest. God will indeed reward us for the mercy we show to others. Our prayer is that Jesus, our merciful judge, would grant us forgiving hearts, even as He has forgiven us. (Arndt 1929)

Loving one’s neighbor as one’s self requires much more than simply doing as you would be done by. It requires that you seek your neighbor’s positive good. (Hitchens 2010) Love is the manifestation of our gratitude to God for what He has done for us in Christ. (Arndt 1929) Love for our neighbor demands that, when he is guilty of visible sin, we inform him and correct him. Not to do so would be the opposite of love; it would be to allow our neighbor to perish eternally. But, we must remember that even loving our neighbor by doing for him good works does not earn salvation. Luther explains that such love toward our neighbor serves as a sign to assure us that God loves us and does indeed forgive us. (Concordia Publishing House 2009) Salvation is offered to us by Christ; we take it by faith. (Arndt 1929)

Jesus does not forbid judgment when He says, “Do not judge…do not condemn.” He forbids His disciples here from judging contrary to the Eighth Commandment: We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. (Luther 2005) Arndt says, “We are to use right judgment.” (Arndt 1929) Jesus teaches His disciples to consider our own faults before we judge and correct someone else. (Arndt 1929) We know we belong to Christ when we treat others as we want to be treated, and when we no longer make a practice of sinning. Not that the Christian can become perfect and sinless in this life. It is, rather, that we would struggle daily against our sinful flesh and it’s desires, instead of pursuing them. The Christian has been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. Since we died to sin, how can we practice it any longer?[1] This struggle to live according to the Spirit rather than according to the flesh[2] will last as long as we live in this fallen creation. We will struggle with our sin until the Last Day, when Christ returns in judgment, casts sin, death, and the devil into the lake of fire, and raises us to life everlasting in incorruptible, immortal bodies, like His own.

Jesus demands of His disciples humility in judgment, rather than the self-righteous judgment of the Pharisees. We are to judge in love, and love is patient, kind, free from envy, modest, and humble.[3] (Arndt 1929) Some people think that the fact that Christians struggle with their own faults and sins disqualifies them from pointing out, warning of, or “judging” the sins of others. Jesus says, rather than to ignore our brother’s sins, we should remove the plank from our own eyes so that we can help our brother remove his speck. (Arndt 1929) Before you teach or correct someone, make sure you are not in need of the same teaching or correction. Jesus calls us all to self-examination against His standard, which is God’s Law. (Arndt 1929)

Paul repeats, and spells out what Jesus teaches: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.[4]” (Concordia Publishing House 2009) This is the hypocritical judgement Jesus condemns. The term hypocrite was applied to an actor wearing a mask; someone pretending to be someone else. (Concordia Publishing House 2009) The Christian who judges his brother from a position of self-righteousness is pretending to be something he is not – sinless. The only thing that will correct this hypocrisy is brotherly love. (Arndt 1929) It is absurd to point out the sins of others when one does not acknowledge or repent of one’s own sins. The very message that Jesus preached was one of repentance: Repent, and believe the Gospel.[5] (Concordia Publishing House 2009) Be sorry and afraid that you re sinful; trust that, in Christ all your sins have been taken away.

Of course, hypocritical judgment is not a disease confined to Christians. Jesus, however, wants us to know about it and fight against it in ourselves. Humans left to themselves, because of our sinful nature, will justify the most abominable atrocities when they are done by themselves, and at the same time vigorously condemn the very same actions when committed by other groups. (Hitchens 2010) One only needs to turn on the television to see the various special interest groups into which our society has been shamefully divided screaming that they have been “wronged” by the others, and looking to get even. No one will acknowledge that they have ever done any harm to the others. Neither the “oppressed”, nor the “oppressors” confess their sin; they all only lament their outrage at the others. We all appear to have planks in our eyes.

A disciple of Jesus must see very clearly, particularly their own faults, before correcting others. The closer we examine ourselves, the more we will be forced to know that what God’s word says about man is true: that no one is righteous; that we are by nature sinful and unclean; that we are dead in trespasses and sins and are in need of a savior from all of this. (Prange 1988) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord![6] ###

Bibliography

Arndt, W. 1929. "Fourth Sunday after Trinity." In The Concordia Pulpit for 1930, edited by Martin S. Somer, 133-140. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Concordia Publishing House. 2009. The Lutheran Study Bible. Edited by Edward A Engelbrecht, Paul E Deterding, Roland Cap Ehlke, Jerald C Joersz, Mark W Love, Steven P Mueller, Scott R Murray, et al. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

Hitchens, Peter. 2010. The Rage Against God: How atheism led me to faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Luther, Martin. 2005. Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

Prange, Victor H. 1988. The People's Bible Commentary: Luke. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House.

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[1] Romans 6:2-3

[2] See Galatians 5:16-26

[3] 1 Corinthians 13:4

[4] Romans 2:1

[5] Mark 1:15

[6] Romans 7:24-25

The King on a Cross

Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said [d]to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:26-43).

The great crowds of people hailing Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem with palm branches in their hands are gone. As Jesus begins His trek down the Via Dolorosa, the way of sorrow, to Golgotha, the place of the skull, another crowd follows Him. As He struggles to make His way under the burden of the instrument of His own death, women of Jerusalem mourn and lament Him. Jesus tells them not to weep for Him, but rather for themselves and their children. Speaking of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, Jesus chillingly foreshadows the level of violence and suffering to come: “For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’”[1] Normally, barrenness would be considered shameful in this culture. Jesus’ statement must have shocked the women. How bad must things get in order for one to say that the curse of barrenness was a blessing? The Roman general Titus would show them, but that would come later.

Jesus is nailed to the cross by the Roman soldiers, and crucified between two criminals. When the soldiers finish their task, they turn their attention to the matter of dividing up Jesus’ belongings. Jesus does not lament His situation; He doesn’t curse the Jews who stood nearby and mocked Him, or the soldiers who murdered Him. He prays to the Father on their behalf: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.[2] This is indeed what Jesus meant when He said that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.[3] Jesus, the sinless Son of God dying on the cross, praying for those who literally put Him there, is what St. Paul was describing when he wrote,

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”[4]

One of those sinners, one of the condemned men hanging on a cross next to Jesus, repented. He acknowledged his sin, at this, the ultimate preaching of the Law. He acknowledges Jesus’ innocence, and His kingship. He does not deserve to enter into the kingdom of God by his own merits; he relies on the grace of God and the merits of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His prayer to Jesus is one of faith: Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.[5] The criminal’s indefinite, open-ended “when” is met with Jesus’ very definite and specific “today”: Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.[6]

For all sinners in the whole world the Lord has opened the doors of paradise by His life, suffering, and death, and whosoever believeth on Him has complete salvation as soon as he dies. That is the glorious fruit of the Passion of Christ: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.[7]

You who think of sin but lightly

Nor suppose the evil great

Here may view it’s nature rightly,

Here it’s guilt may estimate.

Mark the sacrifice appointed;

See who bears the awful load;

It’s the Word, the Lord’s Annointed,

Son of Man and Son of God.[8]

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[1] Luke 23:28

[2] Luke 23:34

[3] Mark 10:45

[4] Romans 5:6-8

[5] Luke 23:42

[6] Luke 23:43

[7] Kretzmann, Paul E. 1922. Popular Commentary of the Bible: New Testament. Vol. 1. 2 vols. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House. Page 395.

[8] Kelly, Thomas. "Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted." In Lutheran Worship. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1986. Stz. 3.

Hidden Things Revealed to Babes

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes (Matthew 11:25).

“These things” of which Jesus speaks, are His teachings, the truth of the Gospel. That as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.[1] These things are the things which Jesus heard from His Father.[2] Jesus’ teachings are not something new. They have always been God’s teachings. Jesus demonstrates this in the synagogue, when he took up the scroll of Isaiah to read: The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”[3] His proclamation was met with anger, and the people tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. It was unacceptable and ridiculous to them that Jesus, the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, Simon, and Judas, could be the fulfillment of God’s promise to redeem mankind.[4]

From before the foundation of the world, God the Father decided to save man in Christ. Indeed, God the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.[5] He revealed His plan to save mankind from sin, death, and the devil, after Adam and Eve transgressed in the Garden. He told them that the serpent would strike the heel of the woman’s seed; but He, the promised Seed, would crush the serpents head; the Seed would be injured, but He would deal Satan a mortal wound. Then, God killed animals and clothed Adam and Eve with the skins, showing them that only the shedding of blood could cover the shame of their sin. Adam and Eve believed God’s promise of redemption and ultimate victory. They faithfully looked for the promised Seed who would defeat the devil and set everything right. They taught their children this promise as well; some continued in it, some rejected it. Those who were faithful looked forward, though they didn’t know it, to that which would be fulfilled in Jesus, His birth, death, and resurrection.

And God chose to preserve and transmit His Gospel in the lowly, foolish, and despised things of this world. He hid them from the wise, that is, those who are wise according to their own imaginings; He revealed it to babes, those who are helpless, have no knowledge of their own, and are generally viewed by the world as weak and unimportant – not kings and princes, but shepherds, criminals, and fishermen. He chose Abraham, a pagan nomad, to become the father of Israel, the people out of whom the promised Seed would come. He chose as His prophet, not a king, but Moses, a slave and a murderer. When the time came for the promise to be fulfilled, Jesus, the promised seed of the woman, and of Abraham, wasn’t born in a king’s palace, as the Magi expected.[6] He was born in a humble house, and laid in a manger. Though His earthly parents were of the line of David the king, that royal glory had faded. They were a lowly maiden and a humble carpenter, not royalty. We call His time on earth His state of humiliation, but it is better described by Paul, as he calls us to emulate Christ’s self-sacrificial nature: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not, consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

He comes to us today in humble ways, to bring us the promise. He has bound His promise of forgiveness and eternal life to the preaching of His word, which creates faith in men, who are dead in trespasses, and who are by nature children of wrath. He has bound His promise to the waters of baptism, through which we are buried with Christ; He has bound His promise to bread and wine by which means we eat His body and drink His blood, as He tells us to do, for the remission of sins. Along with Jesus, and His mother Mary, we give thanks to God for the salvation He has given to men in Christ; we marvel with Mary that He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, that He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.[7]

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[1] John 3:14-15

[2] John 15:15

[3] Luke 4:18-21

[4] Matthew 13:55

[5] Ephesians 1:4

[6] Matthew 2:1-12

[7] Luke 1:51-52

Have you stopped beating your wife? or…Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?

When you testify in court for the prosecution, it is important to remember that the defense attorney is trying to discredit you. The better ones know how to back a witness into a corner without them realizing it. That’s why the witness should always remember, whenever possible, to give short, direct answers, which are unambiguous. Along with that, the witness should not immediately rush to answer the question. Defense attorneys will sometimes ask a series of short, simple questions, for which they want either a “yes” or a “no,” in rapid succession, in order to get the witness to feel comfortable answering quickly and without thinking. This is a set up for the last question in the series, which is a “gotcha.” Your name is Officer Klotz? Yes. Your badge number is 140? Yes. You’re working day shift now? Yes. You were working day shift when you stopped my client for speeding? Yes. You had your radar unit repaired before going out on the street that day? Um…

The scenario is awkward and contrived but serves to make the point. The question being asked isn’t really the question being asked. It’s like asking someone if they have stopped beating their wife. If you answer yes, you have just admitted to beating your wife. If you answer no, well, you are an actively abusive husband. It’s better not to assent to the premise of the question. In the scenario, that would be the time for the witness to pause and look to the prosecutor to raise an objection.

Is baptism necessary for salvation? [Pause]

Scripture and The Confessions say yes.

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:5-6).

Concerning Baptism, our churches teach that Baptism is necessary for salvation (Mark 16:16) and that God’s grace is offered through Baptism (Titus 3:4-7). They teach that children are to be baptized (Acts 2:38-39). Being offered to God through Baptism, they are received into God’s grace (AC IX).[1]

But first, I think we have to make sure we know precisely what question is being asked before we begin the discussion. What does the questioner mean when he asks, is baptism necessary for salvation? This, as does every question regarding baptism, boils down to what you believe baptism to be. Is baptism God's work, or man's? In other words, who is doing the baptizing? Is it God? Is it the minister? Is it the person being baptized? If baptism is the work of man, then it is by no means necessary. If baptism is done as a result of a man's decision, it is nothing more than a good work, and good works are not necessary for salvation. Indeed, we know that scripture teaches that it is impossible to earn our salvation through our own works. If baptism is, as scripture describes it, a life-giving water of regeneration that saves us by washing away our sins, then it is absolutely necessary. As always, most of these issues are made clear when we see who is doing the verbs.

So, does the questioner mean to ask, "Is baptism, which is a human work of obedience, done after making a decision by a man's will, necessary for salvation?" Or, are they asking, "Is baptism, which is a work begun and completed by God, as a means of delivering to man the gifts faith and forgiveness God has promised him, necessary for salvation?"

American Evangelicals mean the first thing when they ask this question. Confessional Lutherans mean the second. It is a little like comparing apples and asteroids, though. American Evangelicals see baptism as something they do. First, you are convinced to make a decision to accept Christ into your heart. After you have done that, you do the work of obedience of being baptized. Your baptism is a public confession of your decision to become a Christian. It is purely symbolic, and there is no supernatural aspect to it.

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper.[2]

Confessional Lutherans are diametrically opposed to this view of baptism. It is clear that Confessional Lutherans do not view Baptism as a human work. The men who wrote the Book of Concord and said that Baptism is necessary for salvation spent a lot of time explaining, from Scripture, how man is not justified by doing good works, and how good works, when connected with justification, are harmful.

A disagreement about good works has arisen among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. One side uses the following words and way of speaking: “Good works are necessary for salvation; it is impossible to be saved without good works.” Likewise, “No one has been saved without good works.” They say good works are required of true believers as the fruit of faith, and faith without love is dead, although such love is no cause of salvation. The other side argued that good works are indeed necessary – however, not for salvation, but for other reasons. The expressions mentioned above are not to be tolerated in the Church. (They are not in accord with the form of sound doctrine and with the Word, and have always been and still are used by the papists to oppose the doctrine of our Christian faith, in which we confess that faith alone justifies and saves.) This is argued in order that the merit of Christ, our Savior, may not be diminished, and the promise of salvation may be and remain firm and certain to believers (FC SD IV 1-2).[3]

Baptism is not something a person decides to have done to them; rather, it is something God does to a person. Rather than being a reaction to conversion, faith, and repentance, it is the means by which those things are given to a person by God, because Baptism is a means by which God delivers his saving word. Scripture says that baptism is a life-giving washing of regeneration that imparts the Holy Spirit, and saves us by washing away our sins.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’…Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin…For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ…Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But 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...For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:27; Titus 3:1-8; 1 Peter 3:18-22).

Sure, one might say, babies don’t decide to be baptized. This is true. Isn’t that, however, what those people are doing when Peter tells them to repent? Aren’t they making a decision to turn away from their sin and accept Christ? Not quite. As Jesus instructs us, baptism and teaching go together.[4] So, if we are dealing with a baby, we baptize first, and teach for the rest of his life. If we are dealing with an adult, we begin teaching, and then baptize, and continue teaching for the rest of his life.

You see, faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of God.[5] It is the Holy Spirit, working through the word, which works faith and repentance in an unregenerate person. God, in his infinite wisdom, had provided multiple ways for that word to get to those who need it, e.g. all mankind, from infant to aged. We have pastors who preach the word. We have Bibles in which we read the word. Can’t read, or hear and understand preaching? We have Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper so that the word can be delivered to us and received by us in connection with physical elements – water, bread, and wine – since we are physical beings who live in a physical world. It is God who converts us. It is God who “repents” us.[6] It is God who gives us faith.[7] He does these things through the word, and He uses means to deliver that word to men.

If that is what Baptism is, then it is most certainly necessary for salvation.

What about the thief on the cross? Wasn’t he saved without being baptized? Yes, he was. He also had Jesus, the Christ, God in human flesh, hanging on a cross next to him, telling him, in person, that He would save him. What the thief on the cross had, is what Baptism delivers to everyone who didn’t have the benefit of hanging next to Jesus at their death. Moreover, Jesus had not instituted Holy Baptism yet. That would come upon his ascension into Heaven. As John the Baptist is considered the last of the Old Testament prophets, I look at the thief on the cross as the last of the Old Testament saints. He was looking forward to the promise of Christ’s death and resurrection, just as Abraham and all the other Old Testament saints did.

The issue here really isn’t one of a person dying after conversion, but before being able to be baptized. After all, Scripture teaches us that only unbelief condemns a person. The issue is can a person who claims faith in Christ, continue to reject Baptism. The explanation to Luther’s Small Catechism explains that faith cannot exist in the heart of a person who despises and rejects Baptism against better knowledge. But those who believe the Gospel, yet die before they have the opportunity to be baptized are not condemned.[8] I am put in mind of the Ethiopian eunuch who, after reading of the Messiah in Isaiah, and being catechized by Phillip, says, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”[9]

Finally, we must consider infants who die in the womb, or after being born but before being brought to the font. This is always a difficult subject because we have no scripture passage to which we can point, that says unequivocally, “Unbaptized babies automatically go to Heaven.” I must, however, rely on the fact that 1) God is love, 2) Scripture tells us that only unbelief condemns, and God is responsible for gifting man with repentance and faith, and 3) while God has bound us to the means of grace exclusively, he is able to do whatever he wants. In other words, God has commanded us to Baptize and to teach. He may save the unbaptized child in some other manner, but we have no promise in Scripture. It is certainly in His loving nature.

Scripture tells us that God wants all men to be saved. All people, from conception, need the new life God offers in Christ. Again, we go back to St. Paul, who writes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God.”[10] Adults who can hear and understand that spoken or written word receive the faith promised by the working of the Holy Spirit, when and where God wills. Praise be to God that he has also provided a means for his grace to reach all people, even infants, in the Sacrament of Baptism. For God has connected his promise of redemption in Christ with the waters of Baptism; Through Baptism, in a way that human minds cannot conceive, he delivers that word to infants, and to adults, by the same Holy Spirit. Baptism, as defined by Scripture, and not human reason, is certainly necessary for salvation.

---

[1] Paul T. McCain, et. al., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005).

[2] "Southern Baptist Convention." Southern Baptist Convention > The Baptist Faith and Message. Accessed August 01, 2017. http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp.

[3] Paul T. McCain, et. al., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005).

[4] Matthew 28:19-20

[5] So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

[6] And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Paul instructs Timothy to be patient and to teach, hoping that God would grant repentance to Timothy’s opposition. It is God who “repents” a person, not a person who decides to repent.

[7]  If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life” (Acts 11:17-18). Peter explains that God granted the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles; who was he to argue with God? The others then acknowledged that God granted the Gentiles the gift of repentance. Repentance, contrary to being something a person decides to do, is something God does to a person.

[8] Martin Luther, Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (Concordia Publishing House: St. Louis, 1986), 204-207.

[9] We can save the discussion on Acts 8:37 for a separate article.

[10] Romans 10:17

The Resurrection of Jesus

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared (Luke 24:1). 

Matthew tells us that all Jesus’ disciples who had accompanied him to the Garden of Gethsemane deserted him and fled upon his arrest. We don’t know what they were up to during the time between Jesus’ arrest in the garden and the time when they first received word of Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday morning. We only know that by Sunday morning they had all gathered together again. We are told only that Peter followed Jesus and the arrest party at a distance, monitoring the proceedings in the High Priest’s house as surreptitiously as possible from the courtyard. After Peter is reminded by the crowing of a rooster that Our Lord had said Peter would deny him, we are given no more account of Peter until Sunday morning. Mark gives us a detail unique to his Gospel account; that a young man, dressed in nothing but a linen cloth, followed Jesus to the Garden as well. Mark writes, “And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked” (Mark 14:51-52). Some commentators believe that this “young man” was Mark himself, though there is nothing in the text to support or refute this view. His departure from the scene of Jesus’ arrest, however, indicates the urgency of the situation and the haste with which Jesus’ friends abandoned him. The young man was so frightened and desperate to save himself that he ran away naked, leaving Jesus to his fate (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). 

Evidently, however, a group of Jesus’ friends and disciples did gather some distance away to watch Jesus die. This group included John, Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee[1]. Joseph of Arimathea may have also been among the band of on-lookers as well. It was he who went to Pontius Pilate and requested Jesus’ body. Scripture tells us that Pilate was shocked to hear from Joseph of Arimathea that Jesus was already dead[2]. Joseph took the body of Jesus and laid him in the tomb while the two Marys – Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” – watched. They would have to come back the next day to carry out the burial customs of anointing the Jesus’ body as the Sabbath would begin shortly. It is here that Luke continues the story, on Sunday morning, with the same two Marys bringing the required supply of spices to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. 

And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb (Luke 24:2), 

Tombs were often cut into the rock of the hillside. Their entrances would have been blocked by a large, disk-shaped stone, rolled into a channel cut in the ground in front of the tomb. This stone disk would have been several feet in diameter, and would have required several men to move (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). This was certainly in the thoughts of the women as they made their way to the tomb with their supplies[3]. When they arrive, however, they are greeted with an earthquake, at least one angel, and some very frightened guards. Matthew writes that there was an earthquake as an angel rolled the stone away from the grave’s entrance[4]. The guards posted at the tomb were frightened so badly that they fainted – they “became like dead men”[5]. 

but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:3-7). 

This is the heart of Easter, the climax of the story of mankind’s redemption. Jesus’ tomb was empty. He rose from the dead and left the grave. Immanuel, God with us, who had looked to his enemies so defeated on the cross the previous Friday afternoon had, in reality, defeated sin, death, and the devil. The grave could not hold him. St. Paul tells us that this fact is of supreme importance. He writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve[6].” 

Without Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, we have nothing more than the tragic story of the murder of a Jewish teacher and philosopher who crossed the leaders of the religious establishment, and paid the ultimate price for his challenge to their authority. We have no forgiveness of sins, if we have no risen Jesus. St. Paul understood this as well. He continues in his first letter to the Corinthians, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied[7].” 

To the dismay of Satan, however, Jesus’ tomb is empty. C.F.W. Walther put it this way, in his famous Easter hymn: “O, where is your sting, death? We fear you no more; Christ rose, and now open is fair Eden’s door. For all our transgressions His blood does atone; Redeemed and forgiven, we now are His own[8]” (The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 2006). 

A common objection to the resurrection story made by many non-Christians is that Jesus’ body was simply stolen by Jesus’ followers so that it would look like he rose from the dead. This is, in fact, said by Matthew to be the case[9]. He writes that the Roman guards reported to the Chief Priests what had happened. The Chief Priests, in turn, told the guards to circulate the story that Jesus’ disciples stole his body while they slept on duty. Matthew says that the guards were paid a tidy sum and assured that the Chief Priests would smooth everything over with Pilate, should he ever get wind of their story. 

The story that someone removed Jesus’ body from the tomb, though, just doesn’t make sense to me. If the disciples took his body, they would all have known that the Gospel they were proclaiming was no Gospel at all. Being disappointed that Jesus was just another false messiah, the story goes, they were reluctant to undergo the public humiliation, ridicule, and persecution that was surely coming their way, so they stole Jesus’ body and claimed he rose from the dead, thus saving face. One might put some stock in that, if it were not for what happened to the disciples of Jesus next. 

All of the Apostles, with the exception of John, were martyred for their faith. That is, they went to their death rather than deny their risen Lord and Savior Jesus. If all they faced was ridicule and derision, I might give this thesis of the resurrection-deniers some more thought. The Apostles and other first generation disciples of Christ, however, faced not only ridicule, but death, and that in some of the most gruesome ways imaginable by man. I have not met the person who was willing to die for that which he knew to be a lie. Men have been willing to die for ideas in which they believed but only later found out were false; I have never heard of anyone who willingly submit to a horribly painful and humiliating death rather than renounce a belief or idea that they knew for a fact to be false. The apostles and early followers of Jesus were beheaded, crucified, stoned, burned alive, and fed to wild animals for the entertainment of bloodthirsty crowds, all because they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus. They stood steadfast in their faith because they knew it to be true first hand. 

And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them (Luke 24:8-11). 

The women who went to the tomb, discovered it empty, and heard the first proclamation of the resurrection from the angels there went joyfully to inform the Apostles. The Apostles, however, were still mourning Jesus' death. The angels had reminded the women about how Jesus told them all beforehand how he would die for the sin of mankind at the hands of sinful men and rise again. At this Gospel proclamation their faith blossomed forth. when they told the men that Jesus had risen, their minds could not yet grasp it. They considered the women's account an "idle tale". After all, they were only lowly women. Their testimony was not even valid in a court of law. This is another reason that seems to lend more credibility to the Gospel story. If the Gospel writers wanted to make up a story, surely they would not have scripted it so as to have women discover the empty tomb. Their testimony would be considered unreliable in First century Israel (Packer & Tenney, 1980). Furthermore, the Gospel writers do not paint the Apostles in a particularly flattering light, especially in the resurrection accounts. They are disbelieving and even mock the women, being mired firmly in their mistaken belief that Jesus was a political messiah struggling to establish an earthly kingdom. 

Why would God choose to use these women, who were so despised by the culture in which they lived, to deliver the news of the resurrection to the Apostles? Surely he would choose some person more worthy and esteemed in the eyes of the world to carry such news, in order to make it more credible to the world. To the contrary, God was mocking the unbelieving world and its governing authorities, which subscribed to such nonsense as the inferiority of women. In using these women as the vehicles for bringing the news of Jesus’ resurrection to the Apostles, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”[10]

But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened (Luke 24:12). 

Peter reacts in his typical brash and impulsive fashion. Earlier in the garden of Gethsemane, when the temple guard came to arrest Jesus, Peter impulsively, and a little clumsily, attempted to stand and fight, cutting off the high priest's servant's ear with his sword[11]. He was going to meet force with force it seems, but Jesus stopped and rebuked him. He, like the others, did not understand that Jesus' kingdom was not of this world[12]. Peter, along with all the rest of the Apostles, felt defeated and were afraid of their religious/political adversaries who had murdered their leader. But when Peter heard the women's story, he reacted by running to the tomb to see what was going on for himself. John records that he also went with Peter. John says that he ran ahead of Peter, but only looked into the tomb upon his arrival, apparently too awestruck at what he found to enter[13]. Peter was the one who actually entered the empty tomb first. He saw the linen cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus' corpse, and the cloth that had been on Jesus head, folded neatly. This was no case of grave robbery. Why would grave robbers strip the corpse and take the time to fold the linen cloths they left behind? We know that the Apostles didn’t have Jesus’ body. Surely, if the Pharisees had taken Jesus’ corpse away, they would have produced it and put it on display when the Apostles began preaching that Jesus rose from the dead. 

After Peter went inside the tomb, John then also entered. John writes that he saw and believed[14]. They may not yet have understood but, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, faith was kindled in them they believed. During the following 40 days Jesus would show himself alive to his disciples, and equip them for their mission of spreading the Good News of Jesus' atonement for man's sin to the world. 

Jesus’ resurrection proves that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that the things he taught were true. The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross was accepted by God the Father for the reconciliation of the world (Luther, 1991). The resurrection of Jesus is proof of this. Because of our sins we deserve nothing but God’s wrath, displeasure, death, and eternal damnation. Christ, by his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, redeemed mankind on the cross. His victory was confirmed by his resurrection from the dead, and we receive the forgiveness Christ won on the cross by faith in Him. Christ’s resurrection is the basis for the new life that Christians begin to experience now, and will receive fully on the Last Day (Engelbrecht, et al., 2009). Because Jesus lives, we who believe in him will live also[15]. 

Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

Works Cited 

Engelbrecht, E. A., Deterding, P. E., Ehlke, R. C., Joersz, J. C., Love, M. W., Mueller, S. P., et al. (Eds.). (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis, Missouri, USA: Concordia Publishing House. 

Luther, M. (1991). Kleine Katechismus, English. (C. P. House, Trans.) Saint Louis, Missouri, USA: Concordia Publishing House. 

Packer, J. I., & Tenney, M. C. (Eds.). (1980). Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible. Nashville, TN, USA: Thomas Nelson Publishers. 

The Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. (2006). Lutheran Service Book. St. Louis : Concordia Publishing House. 

End Notes

[1] Matthew 27:55-56 

[2] Mark 15:44 

[3] Mark 16:3 

[4] Matthew 28:2 

[5] Matthew 28:3 

[6] 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 

[7] 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 

[8] "He’s Risen, He’s Risen", LSB 480, Text: C.F.W. Walther, 1811-87, abr.; tr Anna M. Meyer, 1867-1941, alt. 

[9] Matthew 28:11-15 

[10] 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 

[11] Matthew 26:51; John 18:10 

[12] John 18:36 

[13] John 20:3-4 

[14] John 20:8 

[15] John 11:25-26; 14:19