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LOGIA A JOURNAL OF LUTHERAN THEOLOGY EASTERTIDE 1999 VOLUME VIII. NUMBER2 CONTENTS MAY 20 1999 ORRESPONDENCE ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 RTICLES Quatenus or Quia? An Interchange on the Nature of Confessional Subscription Pfurrer Hoppl & Hermann Sasse ............................................................................... ..................................................................... 5 The Distinctive Spirituality of the Evangelical Lutheran Church David P. Scaer .................................................................................................. ................................................................................ 9 The Impact of the German Apology Fritz Sclunitt ..................................................................................................................... ............................................................. 13 The Confessional Principle: Church Fellowship in the AJtttfflt1IrJiHntheLuthera1J Church Torn G. A. Hardt ................................................................................. ::::': .. :: .................................................................................. 21 The Worthy Communicant in SD VII Charles R. Schulz .............................................................................................................................. ; ............................................. 31 EVIEWS ................................................................................................................................................................................. , ..... ' ....... '39 REVIEW ESSAY: Hymnal Supplement 98: A Symposium Reformed Confessions: Theology from Zurich to Barmen. Jan Rohl. lianslatedby John Hoffmeyer. A Different Death. Edward J. Larson & Darrel W. Amundsen. Predestination: Chosen in Christ. John A. Moldstad Jr. Where Earth Meets Heaven. John G. Strelan. Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium. Donald E. Miller. )GIA FORUM .............................................................................................................................................................................. 53 TLH and Y2K • Why Call Anything Sin? • Be Not Discouraged • Stand and Deliver Classical Lutheran Education Seminar • Academy of Apologetics • Few Are Chosen The Sunday School Movement in America • Public Absolution for Public Sins Communion Closed and Full • A Comment on Translations LSO THIS ISSUE A Call for Manuscripts .................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Inklings by Jim Wuson .................................................................................................................................................................. 20 The Distinctive Spirituality of the Evangelical Lutheran Church DAVID P. SCAER ----------------------------~----------------------------- .7l S IS ALSO THE CASE with other denominations, Luther- tism up until death. Lutherans should have difficulty singing in ans do not include the word spirituality in their theolog- the first stanza of (~azing Grace" the words "I once was lost ical vocabulary. In fact, taken in the abstract, the term but now am found." That part of me which remains sinner is as would make many Lutherans uncomfortable, because spiritual- unregeneJ;ate as is an unbeliever. The condemning law, which ity might suggest an emphasis on the Holy Spirit apart from threatens unbelievers, those who have not confessed Jesus as the Christ, or suggest that a planned program of personal, private Christ, and forces them to outward conformity, must be religious improvement was possible. Programs of private spiri- preached to the unbelieviIig part of the Christian as long as he tuality were most,notice;lbly introduced into Lutheran theol- lives. Lutheran spiritualiW5:enters around the continued aware- ogy with Pietism at the juncture of the seventeenth and eigh- ness that baptized saints are as much sinners as they were before teenth centuries, with such disastrous results that Lutheranism they were baptized. was hardly recognized as Lutheran any longer.' c_-=-,,,:~=-1!hlsspiti.t~<\lity, centef-ing around the reality encountered by At the heart of Lutheran theology is the doctrine of the free theb~1ievej: tha.the ls'both sinner;tnd saint needing bQth the justification of the sinner before God because of the death and law and the gospel, is based on the more profound reality that merits of Christ., The emphasis on Lutheran spirituality, if we God's relation to man, ap,4 the world is threatened by Satan and must use this word, is on what Christ has done for us before God sin. To demonstrate tMt' Gociahci not Satan is the Lord over his and not what he is doing in us. Thus in a certain sense Lutherans creation and thaf'lieloye~ the2fallen creature in his state of fall- know of only this one doctrine of justification. All doctrines are enness, God has become man in the person,ofhisSQJ;l Cln;ist to viewed from the standpoint of justification. The God who con- atone for the sins of all men. Thus it be<;:omes impossible for demns the sinner in the law is the same God who fully accepts J-ut;heran spiritv¢ty to'understClIl,q Gpg ~part from, his 'inc~r- ' the sinner as saint in Christ. This is the gospel. nation in Christ. It is not so much that God reveals 'himself in The Christian lives with a dichotomous, yes, even a dualistic Christ-which is, of course, absolutely true-but everything or bifurcated awareness of himself as a sinner and saint. When that God is, Christ also is. Everything that God :is, is found in he hears the gospel preached to him, he is led to believe that God Christ. This means that Lutheran spirituality'is lifall points regards him as a saint and has given him everything in heaven inherently Christological and hence ,incarnational .and sacia- and earth. vVhen he looks at himself, he sees not a saint, but only mental, since the sacram~nts are seen as Christ's real presence a sinner who has totally displeased God in everything he has lmd activity in the churr on the altar should This strong emphasis on the centrality of the preached·~stan&i1ie:·~rllcifix;·servmg1;l:te. doublefuriction thatthe sinner's gospel and the sacrament does not suggest for· Lutheran spiri- only hope is in t):le one who died; and that Ghrist now appears tuality that Christians are to separate themselves from the before God pleading that ouninsnot be held against us. The world. Lutheran spirituality is not monastic, but involves par- older churches placed the baptismal font at the back of the ticipation in the world, yet with the full understanding that the church to symbolize that baptism is the only entry into the fel- world can in no way be identified and confused with the king- lowship of thpedeemed. ~uther suggestedtP!lt every Christian dom of salvation. Luther's exposition of the Ten Command- should have over his bed a crucifix and baptismal certificate, ments clearly shows that for him good works were not a sepa- not td suggest that baptism has eanled our salvation, but rather rate religious category of activities as they were in medieval that it is through baptism that each of us is incorporated into Christianity. While good works meant that Christians must Christ, and thus we share ill his salvation. Today the pulpit is refrain from sin, they were more importantly understood as more likely placed to the right side of the altar, the place where the secular works performed for the protection and benefit of traditionally the gospel wasIea