No. 2 Oh, you said something interesting there. Being Lutheran, I�ve of course heard it before�but I�d like to spend a few minutes exploring it a bit. How is the word of God a means of grace? >>PROFESSOR ROLAND ZIEGLER: Yeah, David, that's something that is almost distinctly Lutheran you can say. That the Word of God is a means of grace, that is something that was rediscovered in a way by Luther. In the medieval church the channels of grace were in sacraments. These were the actions through which grace, which was then understood differently as kind of a power was -- through which grace was infused in the Christian. So if you partake in the sacraments, you get power to live the Christian life. What about then the sermons? Well -- or preaching? Well, preaching wasn't necessarily a part of the service. And until Vatican 2, preaching took a rather second rate place in the Roman Catholic Church. Because you know, the real thing, where you really get connected with God, where you really get power and strength for the Christian life, that's the sacraments. The preaching, that's just kind of information. It's information and ***attritation. So what's a sermon? Well, a sermon tells you what you should believe. It tells you: This is what the church believes. This is what you should believe. And it tells you what to do. It informs you about the moral teachings of Christ, the moral teachings of the church. So the sermon is kind of an informative pep talk. That's a little bit -- you know, that's not quite nice. But just for the short fruitness of it. Whereas Lutherans we discovered through the reading especially of Paul but also other witnesses in the New Testament, no, preaching is more. You know when you hear the Gospel that's not just to tell you: Okay, you need to know this point, this point and this point. And you are a good Christian or -- you should do these things. And then you are a good Christian. But the Gospel, again, it is a living power. It does something with you. It's not just something that is set before you and then you act upon it. No, it is something that does something with you. It has changed you. It gives you faith. So the Word is -- in the words of Austin and his speech ***angt theory, it is performative. It does something. It's not just informative. It's performative. That's the discovery in the Reformation. And that is distinctly Lutheran which you won't find in at least traditional Roman Catholic theology or eastern Orthodox theology. Some of the Reformed have it. But that's a little bit different in their case. So when we talk about the Word of God as a means of grace, we say, it does something, it is performative. And we talk about not all the words of God. Actually if we talk about the Word as a means of grace, we talk about the Gospel in the narrow sense. Not each and any word of God. Therefore when we talk about the Word as a means of grace, we presuppose the distinction between law and Gospel. Not every word of God is a saving word because God's word of judgement is his Word, also. If you read for example the book of Amos, it's a rather depressing book to read because all it does is announce God's judgement over Israel, announce his judgement over Judah, announce his judgement over the peoples surrounding Israel. And only at the very, very, very end in Chapter 9 you have this tiny little Gospel, so to speak, that God will rebuild the house of David. So most of Amos is not saving word. It is condemning word. And if we look at Christ, we also realize that not every and any word of Christ is a saving word. When he says for example in Matthew 11:21 following "Woe unto thee Korazin. Woe unto thee Bethsaida" and has all these announcements of judgement against the cities of Galilee. Well, it will not save those cities of Galilee by itself. And in the great parables of the end time when he says "Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels," well that's not a saving word, either. So only the Gospel saves. The law does not save. Now, the law in the narrow sense, that is the demanding and prescribing will of God, is for man, not saving. Because man has fallen. Because with the law has attached the condemnation of those who do not keep the law in its entirety. Deuteronomy 27 Verse 26 says: Curse be here that confirmest not all the words of this law to do them which is quoted by Paul in Galations 3:10. For man was in paradise before the fall. Yes, the law was not a condemnation but for us on the wrong side of paradise, when we hear the law, it always condemns. When you read Apology 4 you'll find that over and over again that Melancthon writes: The law always accuses. So when we her the law it's not: Oh, that's great that God wants that for me. But it is: Oh, my dear. Hmmm, I got caught. So the law is not a good news but is rather a bad news for us. So this Gospel as said is not merely informational even though the Gospel does tell us things when I say "Jesus dies for your sins," I do tell you some information. There was a man Jesus. And he died. And the meaning of his death is that your sins are forgiven. That's quite a bit of information. But we all know if you get the information, that does not necessarily mean you got the Gospel. That's one of the things that frustrates pastors. You can drill your Confirmation kids that they know the Catechism and you can drill them that they give you the right answer. I remember when I was in Confirmation, the first question asks: What do we have to do that God loves us? You get the usual answer: You have to be good. You have to go to church. You have to read the Bible. Well, his task was to write out this long opinion. And at the end of the class he asks: So what do we have to do that God loves us? And hopefully -- I don't quite remember how many gave then the right answer. But let's just assume everybody gave the right answer. Did everybody become a Christian or was everybody a Christian? Well, probably not. They learned it. But a lot of them, well, they never showed up in church again. Which is not an infallible sign of not being a Christian. But it makes you at least suspicious about the depth of anybody's Christian belief. So you can impart knowledge. And you have to impart knowledge. But knowledge is not everything. So the Word of God is performative speech. It does something. It connects us with the saving Word of Christ by bringing the benefits of death to mankind. The Word grants the forgiveness of sins and it works that faith in man which trusts in this promise of the Gospel. So the Gospel gives what it says. The Gospel says: Your sins are forgiven. And now, it's not some kind of an offer. It's just not sitting in front of you and: Hmmm, the Gospel says that. What am I doing now? What do I have to do? But rather it kind of gets to you, into you, into your heart, that is into the center of your person. And it creates the way how you can apprehend it. One of the big problems is to understand that. That the Word of God is not again information or an appeal. It's to understand that when the Gospel hits us, we are not autonomous persons, kind of self-contained persons that are sovereign in our little kingdom. "Now you come to me." Well, and I have to decide what I do with that. God actually does not simply stop in front of you and waves his discounted Gospel or whatever. He invades your turf and changes you. And that's seen by some people as threatening and manipulative. Or some people say: No; no. It can't be. Because I'm in charge. I am the king of my little self. I am in charge of my life. And the point is: No, you're not. If you are in charge of your life, okay, that's too bad. Because then you are under the condemnation of the law. The Gospel as this performative speech can also serve as a preaching of the law even because it tells you you're helpful. You have to be, so to speak, spoon fed or even worse than spoon fed. And that kind of dampens our spirit a little bit because everybody wants to be in charge. You know, if people get old and they get dependent on others, that's for many very hard. Because it really destroys their pride and they feel useless. And they feel that they -- they are not worth anything anymore because they cannot take care of themselves. And that's understandable. And we have to take that into account. And we'll deal with that. But as Christians we know that for the most important thing, no, we can't take care of ourselves. And we rejoice that God actually helps us and does not leave us helplessly to die in our sins. So the Word of God is not simply ***knowetteing. It's a fancy term of something that affects only our intellect. But it is more. It affects our whole being. That's why it's also called a living word. Correspondingly, faith is more than knowing things. In traditional Roman Catholic theology you often have this view of faith as something purely intellectual. I tell you what to believe. You say I believe. And that's then an act of faith. Lutherans see faith as much, much more. It's not just knowing things. It is the living trust. It is this being connected. It is this existential impact that you have that you totally rely on what Christ has done. And this reliance is something you cannot produce. But the Word of God, the Gospel has to produce in you. And that's why the Gospel is called a means of grace. Now, this Gospel is also you can say the foundational means of grace since it alone is absolutely necessary for salvation and it is also at the center of the sacraments. In our life if we grow up in a Christian family, the foundational sacrament is normally baptism. That's how the Gospel reaches you first. As a baby you were brought to the baptismal fount and you were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But remember when we talk about baptism and also when we talk about the Lord's Supper, it is always connected with a word. The sacraments are not wordless rites. They are not just some kind of symbolic rites and then you undergo it. But there is a word attached with the sacrament. Remember again Augustine's definition. If a word comes to the element, it makes it a sacrament. The water by itself has not the power to cleanse you from your sins. But the word connected with the water has that power. It then forms a unity so that you can actually say: Yes, this water cleanses me. Not because there's some magical power in it or whatever because every water cleanses you from sins but because God's promise is now connected with that water. It forms a unity. So as Luther says in the Large Catechism: Note the distinction then. Baptism is a very different thing from all other water. Not by virtue of the natural substance. But because here something nobler is added. God himself stakes his honor, his power and his might on it. Therefore it is not simply a natural water but a divine, heavenly. Holy and blessed water. Praise it in any other terms you can. All by virtue of the Word which is a heavenly and holy Word which no one can sufficiently extol because it contains and conveys all the fullness of God. From the Word it derives its nature as a sacrament. As St. Augustine taught ***acada verbal aug elementum. And by now you probably know that by heart: The Word comes to the element and makes it a sacrament. Another quote from the Large Catechism on the Lord's Supper: It is the Word I maintain which distinguishes it from mere bread and wine and constitutes a sacrament which is rightly called Christ's body and blood. It is said the Word comes to the element and makes it a sacrament. This saying of St. Augustine is too accurate and well put that it is doubtful if he has said anything better. The Word must make this a sacrament. Otherwise it remains a mere element. And in the Small Catechism you have the same thing when Luther asks: How can water do such great things? And he says: Certainly not just water but the Word of God in and with the water does these things along with the faith which trusts this Word of God in the water. For without God's Word the water is plain water and no baptism. And also in the fifth part on the Lord's Supper: How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things? Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things but the words written here "given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." These words along with the bodily eating and drinking are the main thing in the sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: Forgiveness of sins. So the Word unites itself with the element. Now the element doesn't become superfluous. Luther can call the water in baptism divine, heavenly, life giving. It's not just the water that is necessary. No. Only in that connection with the element we have this Word in baptism. There is no baptism without water. That would be a mockery. There is no Lord's Supper without the elements. The promise and the element are really connected. And now the element, this element which in itself would be nothing, this element becomes a channel of grace. Therefore, we look at the water which is connected with the Word. And we see this is the cleansing flood. This is actually where we are born again. These are the waters of new birth. We look at bread and wine and all we see is bread and wine. We don't see anything special. You might like or not like the wine they use. I remember the first time I was in America and I had a Communion service. I had cream sherry. That was something different from what I experienced in Germany. Cream sherry. Well, you know, it is still the blood of Christ even though it's cream sherry. But I don't see that, I don't taste it. But I know because of the Word, the Word tells me what I have. And yes, there I receive forgiveness of sins. From the Babylonian captivity of the church a quote: For the constitute of sacrament there must be above all things else a word of divine promise by which faith may be exercised. We have said that sacrament there is a word of divine promise to be believed by whoever receives the sign and that the sign alone cannot be a sacrament. And because the Word of God is the greatest most necessary and most sublime part in Christendom. For the sacraments cannot exist without the Word. But indeed, the Word can exist without the sacraments. And in an emergency one can be saved without the sacraments as, for example, those who died before receiving the desired baptism but not without the Word. Now, as soon as I read that, you will see there's a danger there. It is okay. The Word is all that's necessary. Let's dump the rest. Again, we have this minimalistic mind set. No. You can survive on very little. You probably could get your nutritional shake and survive on that. Then I invite you to a steakhouse and you say: No, I don't need that. I take my take my nutritional shake. I don't need a steak. I don't need vegetables. I don't need fresh fruit. Oh, you have fresh raspberries. I don't need those. No man in his right mind would act like that. He would say: Great. Well, this is much better. I mean, I could get it the other way, too. But I don't have to live on astronaut tubes. But strangely enough when it comes to the kingdom of God people suddenly have this kind of mentality. They go for the least. And again that's a legalistic mind set. That's the law. They are still down under is this mind set: Well, how much do I have to do? And the answer is: You don't have to do anything. It's not about you doing. It's not: Oh, yes. I do have to remember my baptism. I do have to go to this sermon. It's God coming to you. It's you encountering God and he bestowing his gifts. How many gifts do I have to get for my birthday? Do I have to have more than one gift? Nobody asks that question. Hey, the more the better. When it comes to God, well, you know, one gift is enough. And it's not really modesty. It's kind of a strange twisted sin I think. So the Word makes the sacrament. And the emphasis on the Word teaches us that the sacraments are not some magical rites. Some -- you eat some special food and then you are -- you have forgiveness of sins or you do this washing and then you have the forgiveness of sins. But it reminds us the sacraments are acts of God. And they are acts that are -- that are encased. They are encasing the Gospel. Why do we have sacraments? Well, in a way they help us to remember that the Gospel is not just talk. Because not only -- the sacraments can be misunderstood as magical rites. Especially the evangelical crowd, they are all about that anti-sacrament: Well, it's just magic. Well, you know, there's another problem. And that is that the preaching of the Word and the teaching is seen as just talk. You know, if you listen to a pastor, what does he do? Most of the time he talks. That's what he does for a living. And you realize: Okay. Pastor So-and-so preaches this way and Pastor XYZ preaches another way. So it's obviously something that comes from his individuality. That this guy is not simply saying his words or something he has spun out this week or maybe just Saturday evening. He sat down and kind of scribbled a few notes. But that this is the Word of God, the life giving Word of God. It's something we have to believe. And the sacraments remind us that it's not just talk. It's action. A sermon is an action. Something is happening there. God is acting in that as he is acting in the sacraments. Okay. Now, we talked about the Word of God. And we have to see that when we look at the New Testament, that the means of grace -- the Word as a means of grace is primarily the preached word. Christ sent his apostles to preach. And the apostle Paul says in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing. The task of elders and bishops is described in the epistles of Timothy and Titus as teaching and exhorting. So primarily the Word is to be preached. That does not mean that the written Word of God is not a means of grace so that only the preached word is efficacious and the written word of God is some kind of dead letter encased in a book. Paul himself equates his preaching and writing in II Thessalonians 2:15. And he also talks in the famous passage on inspiration on II Timothy 3:15 actually, just a verse before that: Scripture makes us wise unto salvation. So the written word of God itself also is a means of grace. Again a quote from Luther and from the Large Catechism to the Third Commandment: But God's Word is the treasure that sanctifies all things. By it all things themselves have been sanctified. At whatever time God's Word is taught, preached, heard, read or pondered there the person, the day and the work are sanctified by it not on account of the external word but on account of the Word which makes us all saints. Another term that is used in that context that the Word actually does something is that we talk about the efficacy of Scripture. Part of the so-called attributes of Scripture is the efficacy which means that Scripture, due to its nature as the Word of God, again is not just informative but it does something. It does something as the law. That is it convicts. The law is also not just: Okay, thou shalt not kill. Okay. Good to know. The law also -- especially when you explain what it means -- that means you shouldn't get out your gun and shoot somebody but you should actually love your neighbor. You should benefit and foster his life. It convicts us. So it is more. It creates in a way a bad conscience. Conversely, the Gospel is something that creates a good conscience because it frees us from the load of our sin. That is meant by again efficacy. The word is efficacious. It does something. The preached word but also the written word. So when we read Holy Scripture, we read Scripture not only so that we know more and next time at the Bible quiz we can win the first prize. Even though you can do that and it's not a bad thing to be knowledgeable. But because Scripture, these stories, work in our life. They transform us. If you read a really good book, it does something with you. I mean, you can read a novel, okay, just for passing time. When you're in the airplane. What do you do? Okay. The movie sucks so you read a book. And the next day: Okay, what was the title again? You don't remember. You forgot it in the airplane and you don't really regret it. And there are books you have read and they've changed your life. You reread them because they show you the world and yourself in a different life. And even more so is Scripture. It's a book which you don't read once through and you say: Okay. Now I know the plot. No surprises anymore. Why should I read it again? That's like maybe a detective story you read like that or a mystery novel. But -- I don't know what your favorite book is. But one of the first books I read and reread was the "Lord of the Rings." I was about 12 when I first got that. And I don't know how often I read that book. Why? Because it does something with you. It transposes you. Maybe it's a little escapist. But it also evokes something in you. Scripture doesn't transpose you into some exotic area or exotic country. But it does something with you. Why do people read Scripture? They read it for guidance, for comfort. Their lives are sustained. The words speak to them and change their lives. And that's one way how the Scripture, the Word of God, are efficacious. That's why we read Scripture over and over again. Even the same stories. That's why you preach the same stories over and over again. You don't say: Well, okay. We heard that story several times. Why should we do that? Of course it's hard sometimes to preach on stories that everybody knows and they seem to be actually kind of fed up with that. How do you preach another sermon on the Good Samaritan. Okay. But you can do it. You can find something. And that's the richness of Scripture. But it's not like a mystery novel, you read it once and you're done with it. There's not more to find. But you can continue to read and reread and you find new angles, new things. Also like a book again, a first class book, you can read again and it doesn't grow old on you. Much more of course Scripture. When you read Scripture -- and that's the difference to a good secular book that you read over and over again. There's one difference. And that is in the word of Scripture, there is the Holy Spirit. That's the -- well, besides the fact that it's God's Word and was spoken by God. But that's the major difference. There is more to it than the stories, the power of the stories. There is actually the Holy Spirit present in these words. So when I open Scripture, I can say: Here is God and here is the Holy Spirit. And here is the medium through which God will work on me. And that's amazing. And that's a great promise. And that's why we honor God's Word. We honor Holy Scripture because here the Spirit is there. Some people shrink back from such a thing and say: Well, you have to leave God his freedom. You can't put God in a book. The same people also are a little bit uncomfortable with the Lutheran concept of the sacraments. "You mean that there's always forgiveness of sins and it's independent of our faith and God is always there working? Don't you put God in a box. My God is larger. My God is free. He's wild. You know, you can wait for him but you can't put him in a box." That sounds good. I mean that sounds like: Oh, yeah, this is a much more majestic concept of God. But you know, it's not about having a majestic concept of God. The means of grace are not about having some grandiose concept of God. They are the ways how God condescends to us, makes himself available to us. Because that's what we need. We need an available God. I mean, it would be -- it's the grand words: God is out there. He's just so huge and so big and he transcends everything we can think of. And he's just this mystery. This ineffable mystery. Well, that sounds good as long as the question of sin is in your life. Once the question of sin -- you're not content by saying there's this ineffable mystery. You say: How can I get rid of sin? How can I get on good terms with God, this great God somewhere out there? And to get on good terms with God, he has to be accessible to you. And he makes himself accessible to you. Of course God is not contained in a book. His Spirit is not contained in a book. He is not just there. He is everywhere. But he makes himself being at this place. In a way he localizes himself. He who is beyond all places, he localizes himself for our sake. And we don't have to be more spiritual than God. Okay? If God is nice enough to make himself accessible, we don't have to say: Oh, no. I want you bigger, freer, wilder. I want you like the wind. No. Again, if your sins really bug you, you want God here. You want to know: Where can I get him? Where does he speak to me? Where does he forgive my sins? And it's not enough to go out in the woods and hear the leaves -- the wind going through the leaves and feel something of God's grandeur. You need him close, accessible. So the Word of God as a means of grace is again good news. It is that God has made available himself to us. That we don't have to roam through the forests or go to the Grand Canyon or go to a sacred place where maybe, maybe we have a chance to encounter God. But that God has made himself accessible in very humble ways. Now, it's not a big thing to open your Bible and to read in it. And it seems to be a little bit over the top when you say: Well, here is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. It's true. It is the Holy Spirit. It's not a big thing that you go to church and then you hear a preacher. You hear the pastor, his sermon delivering. And sometimes it's good and sometimes it could be better. But nevertheless, through these humble means God is speaking to you, touching you, strengthening your faith and to unbelievers imparting faith. It's a great gift that God has done that to us. And it's a reason to be grateful. And again, the benefit that we have is that we don't have to seek for God in some distant corners. We don't have to make a pilgrimage to Tibet or whatever, to Rome or even to Jerusalem and say: Oh, in Jerusalem I feel much closer to Jesus. Well, maybe in your imagination. But where Jesus really is, that's in his Word and in the sacraments that are the Word connected with the element.