WI
.MT
:tun,
ddl'
om, .
wel-
~ew
rted.
Let-::;.,
able
19b!
!MS,
ybe
LOGIA
A JOURNAL OF LUTHERAN THEOLOGY
EPIPHANY/JANUARY 1994 VOLUME III. NUMBERl
CONTENTS APR 18 1995
CORRESPONDENCE .................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
ARTICLES
The Outer Limits of a Lutheran Piety
By StevenA. Hein ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
The Law and the Gospel in Lutheran Theology
By David P. Scaer ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 27
Angels Unaware
By Paul R Harris ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ ·35
A Call for Manuscripts .................................................................................................................................................................. · ................................ 42
Only Playing-Church? The Lay Minister and The Lord's Supper
By Douglas Fusselman ...................................................................................................................................................... · ............................................ 43
COLLOQUIUM FRATRUM ..................................................................................................................... · ............................................. 52
David Scaer: A Reply to Leonard Klein
REVIEWS ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 55
REVIEW EssAY: Translating the Bible: An Evaluation of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Pastoral Care and the Means of Grace. By Ralph Underwood
A Common Calling: The Witness of Our Reformation Churches in North America Today. Ed. by Keith F. Nickle and Timothy F. Lull
One Ministry Many Roles: Deacons and Deaconesses through the Centuries. By Jeannine E: Olson
Messianic Exegesis: Christological Interpretation of the Old Testament in Early Christianity. By Donald Juel
BRIEFLyN01ED ..
LOGIA FORUM ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 64
Pastor, Couldn~-We ... ? • Demand and Delight· Too Much to Read?' The Common Priesthood
Fearful Proof' Uppsala Colloquy + 400 • The Once and Future Church
Promes in Ministry· Synod X and Synod Y • Gladly in the Midst· Resourcing the Resource
Confessional Stewardship' A House Dividing? Reflections on GCe '93
Doctrine and Practice' Shared Voices I Different Vision
LOGIA
ran Historical
~. Gustafson's
the American
'can Lutheran
:se, 1987) pp.
'ans in North
120--124, 127,
~xicon of the
·h H. Thayer
74) p. 611;
v Testament,
:h (Chicago:
,07; G. Kittle
of The New
s: Eerdmans
mer, Arndt,
l:29 as a ref-
layer makes
;tament, vol.
)1. lII, p. 922;
Using the Third Use
Formula of Concord VI and the Preacher's Task
JONATHAN G. LANGE
-------------~-------------
I N LUTHERAN CIRCLES TODAY, IT IS NOT UNCOMMON TO HEAR the various uses of the law treated as though they were so many tools at the preacher's disposal. According to this
view, the preadieJ;'s task is to select just the right law-tool, Le.,
use, in Brdcr'to accomplish the particular goal that he has in
mind. For instance, if the preacher wishes to condemn his
hearers, he must preach the second use, but if he wishes to
instruct in holy living he should preach the third use. l Founda-
tional to sum a view is the assumption that the individual uses
of the law may be employed at the preacher's bidding. Is this a
valid assumption? Is it confessionally sound? As the only locus
in the Lutheran Symbols that delineates the various uses of the
law by name, Article VI of the Formula of Concord, concerning
the third use, is the natural place to begin the query.
HistorlcaIly-;i\rticle VI of the Formula is closely tied to
Article v. Both articles were written in response to parties that
sought to exclude law preaching from certain spheres of the
Churm's proclamation. Article v answered the challenge of
Antinomians who taught that repentance should not be
preamed from 'the law but from the gospel (Ep v, 1).2 The
resulting thrust of Article V is to demonstrate that, strictly
speaking,.law preaming works repentance and gospel preach-
ing does not. Article VI answers the challenge of a later variety
of Antinomian.3 These clainled that good works are not to be
taught by the law but by the gospel (SD VI, 2).4 The burden of
Article VI, therefore, is to assert that good works for the Christ-
ian are normed by law and not gospel. Taken together, these
articles defend the preaching of the law in the Christian con-
gregation since this law preaching both works repentance
(Article v) and instructs in righteous living (Article VI).
Concentrating on the relationship between the law and good
works, Article VI of the Formula sketches out two conflicting
opinions. On the one side, the Antinomians taught that the regen-
erate do not learn new obedience or good works "from the Law
because they have been made free by the Son of God, . . . and
therefore do freely of themselves what God requires~fthem" (SD
VI, 2).5 As a result, they held that the doctrine of good works ought
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JON LANGE is pastor of Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church,
Spencer, Nebraska.
not to be urged from the law that binds but from the gospel that
makes free. On the other side, the authors of the Formula agreed
with the Antinomians that the regenerate are indeed moved by
God's Spirit; and, according to the inner man, do God's will freely
and without compulsion. Nevertheless, they asserted that the Holy
Spirit still makes use of the written law to instruct the regenerate
in righteousness with the result that the Christian's freely flowing
good works are always in accordance with God's external Word
(SD VI, 3). For this reason the Christian is instructed in good
works on the basis of the law and not the gospel.
The authors of the Formula assert the Lutheran position
within a carefully defmed framework of dogmatic distinctions.
These distinctions are so essential to the argument that if at any
point they are blurred the intended sense of the Formula is lost
in the confusion. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that
the Formula here employs extremely precise terminology. A
correct understanding of the Formula requires careful atten-
tion to the terms involved.
I. THE CHRISTIAN AND THE INNER MAN
The found