July 2015
The Pastor’s Ponderings Pastor David’s cell phone—348-330-4170 and email address—fleeneda@gmail.com This is the second of three newsletter articles on three classic attributes of Lutheran Christianity. 1. We are catholic. (June) 2. We are evangelical. (July) 3. We are reforming. (August) I hope you find them helpful. Have a question or comment? Contact Pr. David at fleeneda@gmail.com. Likewise, they (the evangelical churches) teach that human beings cannot be justified before God by their own powers, merits, or works. But they are justified as a gift on account of Christ through faith when they believe that they are received into grace and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ, who by his death made satisfaction for our sins. God reckons this faith as righteousness (Rom. 3:21-26 and 4:5). -The Augsburg Confession, Article IV, translated from the Latin text.1 “Evangelical” is a curious word in American Christianity. When you hear the word, what do you think of? If you’re like me, you think of a particular group of American Protestant Christians, who emphasize conversion, a certain code of behavior, and at least in this part of Indiana, a particular style of worship focused on praise music, Scripture, and a sermon. You may think of the so-called “Christian Right” and politically active organizations
led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Or, you may think of Billy Graham, who led crusades across the country to bring the gospel to millions. The truth is that the term “evangelical” is very ancient, going back to the New Testament itself. It comes from the Greek word euangelion, (you-ahn-GEH-lee-ahn), which simply means “gospel”, which itself refers to the good news of Jesus Christ. The term shows up throughout Paul’s letters and the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, translated variously as “gospel” or “good news”. Jesus’ very first sermon, according to Mark, is the euangelion of God. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” –Mark 1:14-15 Later on, this term came to be applied to the authors of the Gospels. They are often called “the Evangelists”, because they reported Jesus’ ministry and the good news they found in his death and resurrection. They, along with Paul, laid the groundwork for the Church to become a gathering of evangelists, whose purpose is to spread the good news of Christ’s death and resurrec-
tion, which makes us right with God. Fast forward about 1500 years. In 1519, Martin Luther and papal champion Johann Eck met in a debate at Leipzig, in which Eck, following a long tradition of naming heresies after their founders, denounced those who agreed with Luther’s theological positions as “Lutherans”. Luther himself, as discussed in the article last month, intensely disliked the term, preferring the simple term “Christians”. Over time, the churches of the Reformation would unite under the term “evangelical”. This is still the case in Germany, where Lutheran and Reformed congregations are united as the evangelische Kirche (“evangelical church”). We can see a remnant of this emphasis in the original name of our church, the Evangelical Lutheran Zion’s Church, and in the name of our denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is perhaps past time that we Lutherans reclaimed the word “evangelical” as ours, too. Not with all the additional political and moral baggage laden with it, but in its original sense of pertaining to the gospel. God calls us to be a people, so filled with the good news of new life and salvation, that it comes bursting out of us. God calls us to be a people centered in the work of Jesus Christ – people who know
_______________________________ 1 From The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, ed. Kolb and Wengert, (Fortress Press: Minneapolis), 2000, pp. 39, 41.