$An Essay for Lutheran Pastors don the Charismatic hlo~rement F J i The Caring God i (a review article) -! EUGENE F. KLUG ,The Historical-Critical Interpretation :of the Baptism of Jesus froin the :Perspective of Traditional Lutheran On Believing, Teaching, and I Confessing: A Fresh Look at the ' Confessions JOHN F. JOHNSON Paul's Concept of Justification, and Some Recent Interpretations of 'Romans 3 : 2 1-3 1 WALTER A. MAIER Book Reviews Index to Volume XXXVII On Believing, Teaching, and Confessing: A Fresh Look at the Confessions HEN IT COMES TO BELIEVING, teaching, and confessing, WLutherans have demonstrated a good deal of expertise. In the comprehensive summary of the Formula of Concord Lutherans were quite explicit in insisting that as the ancient church had its fixeci anti certain symbols, so they had pledged thenlselr~es to one doctrine and certain public writings which had been held and used :in all the churches of the Auasburo Confession. I c> Unfortunately, evaGgelica1 Christians after 1530 discovered that just as in former times great controversies had arisen in the church, so they had become involved in grievous and injurious clis- sensions and controversies which, though some regarded as mere misunderstandings or disputes concerning words, were of such a nature that "the opinion of the party in error cannot be tolerated in the Church of God, much less excused or dcfci~ded."~~essit~ required then1 to explain and discuss controverted articles and on the basis of the Word bf God state simply and clearly what they were believing, teaching, and confessing. In their Declaratio Lutherans pledged theillselves from their inmost hearts to abide by the "simple, clear, and unadulteratcd mean- ing" of the Augsburg Confession which was thoroughly grounded in God's 'iVord and which they received "next to the matchless au- thority of God's Word'' itself.3 From this base, and for permanent unity in the Church, they produced their comprehensive summary in which they brought together from the Word of God the common doctrine which the Churches "that are of the true Christian religion" confess. Incidentally, they also declared "to one another with heart and mouth that we will not make or receive a separate or new con- fession of our faith, hut confess the public common writings which always and everywhere were held and used as such symbols or cuiwnon confession in ail the churches of the Augsburg Confession before the dissensions arose,"-l a position to which Lutheranism has (in theory, at least) tenaciously clung even through periods of great tI~co!ogical and eccTesiastica1 turmoil. In 'their not aitogether placid history, Lutherans have often wrestled with the persistent and ofttime thorny qucstion of confes- sional subscription. As the early church agonized over the hornoousios 211d the honzoiousios; as the later church agonized over the filio~e; as Clialcrdon argued about the relevance of theotokos (and four 36\'i:rb:j; SO Lu.lllerans came in their own fullness of time LO diipt:ie conceii,ing quia and quatenus. Today, Lutherans face a j;~>~&ly glcafil ;::;UC[ or,e which centers in the rciat~onship between . Lcli~vi:.;.. t:<:i~ii!i?g, ..niL confess;;,g, and the iustiiiiairon of the sinner , , - , , .- . \. "Ci. re r .J ... ;;c ij:~ ~:;i,:i~~;i~~lj (Lased as 31t:~ arc on Sacred Scrip- ture) suggest that one is justified coram D,e.o on the basis of ~~hat he believes, teaches, and confesses? Is it possible to separate believing from teaching or believing from confessing? Just what do we believe, teach and confess? The faith? If so, what faith? Believing means to have faith; to have faith means to be justified; is believing used in this particular sense in our triad: "believing, teaching, and confes- sing?" One might at this point interpose the Scriptural truth that there is no justification apart froill Christ; the Praefatio of the Augustana states that "we ought to confess the one Christ"; does the "confessing" of our triad spell our justification before God? A considerable amount of confusion on this vital issue seems to haire gained currency in our day. \Ye might settle the dust and bring some clarity to the fore simply by referring to the quite re- spectable and historically grounded theological distinction between filles in genere alzd fides qua iustificat.WTe recall that Luther care- fully distinguished between "general" faith and "specific" justifying faith in Jlis discussion with Agricola and Melanchton at Torgau. Luther was even willing to contend that the very term, "faith," should be applied only to justifying faith, i.e., to that faith which consoles us because it clings to Jesus Christ and the promisc of the Gospel. The Apology also speaks of "special" faith (fides specialis), "not only which in general believes that God exists, but which believes that the remission of sins is ~ffered."~ Dogmatically, faith (pistis) is held to denote the faithfulness of God as well as thc faithfulness of man. It also bespeaks trust in God's temporal blessings. In the latter two instances, faith does not only not mean fitEes iustificans; it is actually a good work which, as both Scripture and our Confessions forcefully testify, is totally excluded from our justification coram Deo."utherans have properly distin- guished between faith in the subjective sense (fides qua creditur), which is trust in the gracious promises of the Gospel of Christ, and faith in the objective sense (fides quae creditur), faith in the sense of the entire Christian doctrine, or the doctrinc itself that men are justified by faith in Christ or the Gospel. In his De iustificatione Chemnitz declares that there is a difference between that faith which apprehends Christ, and the exercises of faith, even though the exer- cises of faith presuppose as their foundation the fact that God has been reconciled by faith; thus faith may be certain of the promises of God in other matters. In his Exavlzen Hollaz captures the genuine Lutheran and Biblical understanding of faith when he defines fides specialis as the special application to the individual of the general promise of the grace of God in Christ. In the words of Luther, true faith embraces Jesus Christ as the one who was delivered up for sins. This is that faith alone which, without works, justifies us through the mercy of God extended to us in Christ. A fresh look at our Confessions will, I believe, enable us to assert two essential theses: (I.) Lutherans believe, teach, and con- fess that the faith they hold, drawn from and witnessed to by the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the true Christian doctrine in a pure and sound sense.' (11.) 1,utherans believe, teach and confess that they are not justified before CJTZ Rclievilzg, Teaching, arzd Co~zfessing 243 God on the basis of the true Christian doctrine they confess, but sole- ly bv that faith which clings to, relies on, and apprehends the grace of cod in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lutherans eillbodied their faith in Confessions because the\: were co~lfident that they confess "the doctrinc which ~hristiais everywhere will finally admit as true and divine, indeed, which they all in their hearts believe even now, if not explicitly and con- sciously, at least in~plicitly and in prin~iyle."~ Lutherans are, more- over, convinced that the doctrines set forth in their Confessions represent the ecumenical truths of Christendom, since true Luther- anism is nothing but consistent Christianity. The Formula can never be refutcd "for its doctrinal contents are unadulterated truths of the infallible Word of God."TThe churches of the Reforination held that the sum of their doctrine varied neither from the Scriptures nor from the church Catholic; they dissent in no article of the faith from the church Cath~lic.'~ In the conclusion of the Augsburg Confession, the Reformers reiterated their conviction that in doctrine they had received nothing against Scripture or the church Catholic.!' Indeed, the Formula concludes with the reminder that in the sight of God and all Christendom Lutherans "wish to testify that their declaration was their faith, doctrine, and confession in which they were willing by the grace of God to appear with intrepid hearts before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of it."'? They could manifest such certainty because they received and embraced with whole hearts the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures as the pure, clear fountain of Israel, the only true standard by which ' all doctrines should be judged. "Ecclesiae rnagno consensu apud nos docent . . . It is taught among us . . . It is taught on our part . . . We declare that we believe and teach . . . It is unanimously confessed in our churches in accord- ance with God's word . . . We must declare what we believe . . . We confess that . . . \Ye unanimously believe, teach, and confess . . . We receive and embrace . . ." The Confessions are replete with such assertions. In a brief, succinct, and clear manner, they declare what Lutherans teach with regard to God, sin, Christ, justification, the ministry, good works, the Church, sacraments, free will, civil govern- ment, ecclesiastical power, etc. They affirm what Lutherans believe, teach and confess regarding Jesus Christ as our rightousness, namely, that our rightousness before God consists in God's forgiving our sins out of pure grace without any works, merit, or worthiness on our part; that faith alone is the means and instrument whereby we lay hold of Christ; that faith is not a bare knowledge of the history of Christ, but trust that for the sake of the obedience of Christ we are righteous before God and eternally saved; that the word, "justify," means to absolve, that is, to declare free from sins; that weaknesses cling to true believers even to the grave but do not remove the be- lievers' certainty that they have a gracious God; that for the preserva- tion of the pure doctrine concerning the rightousness of faith, the merit of Christ must be entirely separated from our works; that aftel a nlan has been justified by faith, good works always follosvs; that the entire obedience of the entire person of Christ is imputed to us for righteousness; that the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is to be maintained in the Church with greclt diligence as an especially brilliant light by which the M'ord of God is rightly divided; that the Law is a divine cloctrine which reproves everything that is sin and contrary to God's will; that the Gospel is a doctrine which teaches that Christ has obtained ant1 accluired for us, without any n~erit on our part, forgiveness of sins and righteousness which avails before God and eternal life;I4 that believers have been redeemed by the Son of God that they should exercise tl~emselvcs in the L~w of God and illeditate on God's Law day and night; that in the Holy Supper the both and thc blood of Christ is truly present and distrib- uted and rcceived tvith the hreatl and wine;" that it is erroneous to teach that "the promise of grace is appropriatecl to us by faith in the heart, anti confession which is made with the mouth, and by other virtues;"'" that we receive 2nd embrace with our whole heart the prophetic and :tpostolic Scriptures; that the true Christian doctrine is collectctl from Goct's \Iford into bricf articles of fdith." Similar testinlonies reinforce the thesis that the faith which Lutherai-1s believe, teach, and confess is the true Christian doctrine in a p~~rmnd sound sense; it is in agreement with the sinccra verbi Dci rioctriun, tllc pure, clear fountain of Israel.'" I,~~therans also believe, teach, and confess that they are not justified l~ofore God on the basis of the true Christian doctrine they confess; the11 are justified solely by that faith which clings to, relies on, and app;e1~ends thc grace of God in Christ. "They teach that men are freely justified for Christ's sake, when they believe that they are received illto favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sal