Lutheranism for the Rest of Us

I love theology.  Ask anyone who knows me well and they will confirm my first sentence.  Living, breathing, and discussing God and the Bible. We can never exhaust our knowledge of God because we are finite and He is not finite.  He is a bottomless well of endless treasures and delight.

He is also bigger than I can get my arms around, or wrap my brain around.  So much so, there are times I need to put theology and theological terms aside.  There are times when I must live out my faith without discussing it, without trying to fathom the depths of God.

There are many more books to read about God than I will ever be able to finish.  Including heretical ideas about God.  In Lutheranism, The Holy Bible and the Book of Concord are enough to keep one engaged for a lifetime, let alone all the other books out there that are not an official part of our confessions.  It is wonderful to have such a plethora of reading to choose from, except when your mind spins in circles. Round and round the thoughts go, never landing in a peaceful, restful place.  Stop it. Just stop.

That's my sure sign to do something else.  It is unnecessary for me to read every book on why Lutherans catechize, or why we accept the Book of Concord, or how the LCMS differs from WELS and ELCA.  Am I a Philipist or a Gnesio Lutheran?  Yes.  Am I a Radical Lutheran?  No.  How about a pietist?  The questions on topics like those can go on for a long time.  They've worn me down and out.  I am a member of a local LCMS, I think catechism is good, I'm working on understanding scriptures and the Book of Concord.  Help me to understand the basics.  I want to delight in the basics.  I love Jesus and He loves me. He even likes me.

At some point I may be more curious about why Lutherans did what we do.  But for the time being, I am living and trusting in my savior Jesus Christ.  That is enough.

I'll think about that!

Mystery of Jesus' Two Natures

The Chalcedon Creed says this about Jesus Christ's two natures: one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union.

This creed confirms that the God-Man, Jesus Christ, died on the cross. Both of his natures died. How do Christians explain that God died? We don't, nor can we, it just is.

Some will separate Jesus' two natures, pretending that God is mutable, saying only Jesus' body died on the cross. In doing so, they break with traditional and orthodox Christian teaching.

This is one of the things that helped me to leave Calvinism. Calvinists do teach the separation of Jesus' two natures. They try to deny Nestorian heresy with one hand; yet teach it with the other hand. Ask and watch the jig begin.

God is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Amen.

Here is my first post regarding Nestorianism, if you want to read a bit more.

Theotokos

Mary is the Theotokos, the God-bearer. That term often brings up fear and knee-jerk reactions out of Protestants. The fear is borne of the thought that if we call Mary the Theotokos, it links Protestants to the apostate Roman Catholic Church. We need not fear that link when we call Mary the Theotokos. Affirming Mary as Theotokos does not equate to idolatry. To deny Mary as the Theotokos is an attack on the incarnation of Christ.

Jesus is fully God, fully man. Christ's two natures are united and inseparable. Therefore, Mary is the God-bearer.

The other aspect of Nestorian thinking is that only Christ's humanity died on the cross. Most Protestants today are Nestorian in their theology of Christ on the cross. Even very traditional, orthodox Calvinists are Nestorians. They do a bit of a jig to deny this, yet in reality the teaching is Nestorian. The teaching is that Jesus' perfect humanity died on the cross; not his divine nature. So the separation is made.

What is Nestorianism? In my own words, it is the separating of Christ's humanity from His divinity. As is usual in church history, it takes a heretic to come along for the church to codify orthodoxy. Nestorius was that heretic. He was a bishop in Constantinople, and he preached against Mary as Theotokos. As a result of this conflict, the church is left with the Chalcedon Creed.

Are Nestorians Christians? Yes, I believe so. We are saved by Jesus; not by correct doctrine. Dear Reader, this brief post is to encourage you to consider this topic further.