the Word at Work, the magazine of the Institute of Lutheran Theology, Easter 2013

the Word at Work The magazine of the Institute of Lutheran Theology

Easter 2013, Vol. 2.2

Alleluia! He is risen!

ILT

Board of Directors

Contents: the Word at Work p2

Thoughts of Resurrection Rev. Dr. Dennis D. Bielfeldt

p4

ILT Teacher Accepts New Call to German- Speaking North American Churches Dale A. Swenson

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Experiencing Lent and Easter Rev. Eric Jonas Swensson

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Lend Us Lent--Again Rev. Dr. George H. Muedeking

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Preach Christ...Period Rev. Timothy J. Swenson

Fred Schickedanz Real Estate Developer, Calgary Alberta

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The Father’s Ministry of Reconciliation Through His Son Rev. Dr. Dan Lioy

Rev. Kip Tyler Senior Pastor, Lutheran Church of the Master, Omaha, NE, and Chair of the Board

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Proclaiming the Word with a Lutheran Voice Dale A. Swenson

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Social Media: Do I Have To? Rev. Eric Jonas Swensson

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Academics: Experiences Count Dr. Doug S. Dillner

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Daily Manna Constance J. Sorenson

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The Cross at the Center Rev. Douglas V. Morton

G. Barry Anderson Associate Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court Rev. Dr. Frederick W. Balz Pastor, St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Galena, IL Paul Erickson Entrepreneur/Investor, Sioux Falls, SD Debra Hesse Family Farmer, Moses Lake, WA Dr. Hans J. Hillerbrand Professor of Religion, Duke University Rev. James T. Lehmann Executive Council, North American Lutheran Church, Thomasboro, IL Rev. Mark Richardson, Interim Service Coordinator, Augustana District, LCMC; Associate Pastor, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Hutchinson, MN

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Thoughts of Resurrection

By Rev. Dr. Dennis D. Bielfeldt President, Institute of Lutheran Theology

In old Star Trek episodes Scotty beams Kirk up and down from the surface of planets around which the Enterprise is orbiting.

This was clear to me as a child: Kirk was on the ship, then he was on the planet, and later he was back on the ship.

Isn’t it wonderful how transporters got him around? It is much easier than taking a shuttle.

But my 14 year-old self had disquieting thoughts one evening. I had concluded that the transporter works by somehow taking an informational picture of Kirk’s body, erasing it in the transport room of the Enterprise, sending the information to the planet’s surface, and then reconstituting the body there. But then what would happen if the transporter broke down? What if the machine took the informational picture of Kirk, but failed to reconstitute him on the planet’s surface? Would Kirk be dead? Presumably, the machine had stored the information so he could be reconstituted after the machine was fixed. But was he dead between his “erasure” on the Enterprise and his reconstitution to come?

Or what if another type of malfunction occurred and Kirk was transported to three places at the same time?

Would there now be three Kirks, or would one of them be more legitimately Kirk than the rest? If he were reconstituted later on ten different planets, would there be ten Kirks, or ten copies or replicas of one Kirk? I didn’t know it then, but I had stumbled onto the philosophical problem of personal identity: What makes a person a person, and what conditions must occur for a person to cease being that person?

Now what could any of this have to do with the joy of Easter?

ILT’s Christ School of Theology takes seriously the claim that Jesus was resurrected after three days, and that He is the “first fruits” of a general resurrection (I Cor. 15:20).

While many doing theology nowadays seek to understand the resurrection in terms of a type of a present “resurrected life” - - resurrection thus gets unpacked existentially, ethically, politically or spiritually - - ILT is bold enough to take the Biblical texts and the central Christian tradition at its word: Christ’s death and His victory over it means that the grave is not our final resting place. We shall live at a time beyond our death time! Accordingly, our present “resurrected life” depends conceptually upon the reality of a future resurrection event.

A standard dictionary tells us that the resurrection is “the state of one risen from the dead.” But when this is said, a whole host of questions arise: What could ‘state’ mean in this context? What does ‘risen from the dead’ mean and to what could it refer? What are the identity conditions of ‘one’ in the statement above?

Some seem to think these questions are irrelevant to the Christian faith, and that all that is necessary is to preach Christ. Accordingly, questions like this obscure the centrality of the Cross and call into question faith itself.

After all, isn’t the Cross enough?

But while the Cross is enough for salvation, our post-Christian, pluralist context demands that we think through the claims of our proclamation with those not believing, who nonetheless seek and have ears open to truth. Our present situation is not unlike that in the earliest times of Christian proclamation. People seek something that gives life meaning and completion in a context in which there are conflicting truth claims as to what accomplishes this. So what has Christianity to offer and why would anyone regard its claims as remotely plausible? I believe that thinking through our faith deepens it, for it makes us realize profoundly the degree of our dependence upon God and the utter gratuity of His grace for us. This is particularly true with regards to the notion of resurrection. Let me explain.

There are two standard ways philosophers attack the problem of personal identity. One option holds to a psychological criterion of personhood that assumes that it is thoughts, memories and dispositions that constitute personal identity. Another way claims that it is one’s body that makes a person a person. This option claims a materialist or bodily (somatic) criterion of personhood.

Accordingly, either it is Ralph’s mental life that makes

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Ralph who he is or it is his body.

In the old cartoons when Bugs Bunny “trades bodies” with Yosemite Sam, it is assumed that Bug’s body does not make Bugs who he is, for otherwise he could not exchange his body with Yosemite Sam’s. Bug’s body is thus accidental to Bug’s identity. These cartoons assume the psychological criterion of personhood. It is the very same Bugs Bunny in the body of Yosemite Sam that was once in the body of Bugs himself.

This seems true of the Star Trek episodes as well. The very same Kirk is on the planet as was in the Enterprise because the Kirk on the planet has the same continuous mental life as the Kirk erased in the transporter tube.

Both Bugs Bunny cartoons and Star Trek reject the somatic approach to personal identity.

But this account has problems as well, because do we really want to say that it is still Yosemite Sam who is speaking, acting, behaving and thinking like Bugs? If the transporter messes up the data slightly and reconstitutes a four-legged Kirk on a planet, is this malformed Kirk not still Kirk?

While there are deep problems with both accounts that I cannot address here - I believe, in fact, that there are deep problems with all accounts of personal identity there is one palpable difficulty both share. Consider our friend Kirk. Notice that the transporter seemingly ends the life of Kirk in the send chamber. Now it seems most plausible to regard the many Kirks someday reconstituted as merely copies of Kirk. There might be one copy, or there might be 1,000 of them. In future ages when we can extract and store bodily information, we could seemingly reconstitute past bodies. Presumably a molecule-by-molecule replica of my brain in the future has the same mental life as I have now. If that body is indiscernible from mine, then it is identical to me.

There is something deeply troubling about this. Art forgeries are forgeries even when the forged piece is in every relevant way like the original. The value of an art work depends upon it not being a copy of the original.

Many Christians believe that when their loved one dies, his or her soul immediately lives on in heaven. Those believing this will often reject the somatic approach to personal identity and hold that the mental life of their loved one can and will persist in the absence of any body at all.

This teaching, while popular in the Old Academy of Plato

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and in later Middle Platonist and Neoplatonist thinking, has never been at the center of the Christian hope for the future. There is a sense in which our deceased loved ones are in the presence of the Lord as the Apostle Paul writes, “my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:23; NRSV). However, in both Paul and the rest of the Bible the emphasis is squarely on resurrection. The term ‘resurrection’ means that a body “rises” from the dead. It is not a claim about incorporeal (non-bodily) existence, for Hebraic thought assumed that a human being is a body having the breath (Ruach) of life. Accordingly, the Hebrews assumed a somatic criterion of personal identity and knew that any hope of survival in the future was the hope of bodily survival.

Now we arrive at the problem. If I die and my body decomposes and is spread with the four winds, will the future resurrection about which I hope be a resurrection of me, or of some copy, replica or counterpart of me? If it is plausible to say the Kirk beamed to the planet is finally only a replica of Kirk, then is my resurrected body only a replica of me? And if it is only a replica of me, then what is my hope for the future? Is it only a replica of me that will someday occupy a new heaven and new earth?

The philosopher-theologian Duns Scotus (1266-1308) spoke about the haeccity or the “thisness” of a thing, that is, the property of the thing being identical to that very thing. On this view, Kirk has a property of being identical to Kirk and it is this property that individuates Kirk as Kirk. If Kirk is duplicated in transport and the Kirk in the tube not erased, then the Kirks on the other planets are individuated from the Kirk in the tube by the property of not being identical with him. Alternately, if the “thisness” of Kirk were transported, then it would truly be Kirk on the other planet, and if there were more Kirks, each of them would be identical to Kirk!

While giving an account of the “thisness” property has proved to be very difficult, the intuition of Scotus was followed by later thinkers associated with the late medieval school of Nominalism - - Luther learned Nominalist philosophy from his teachers at Erfurt - - who held that two things could be indiscernible without being identical. Numerical distinctness is possible even when the properties of the two things are the same. Two exactly similar white marbles are still two white marbles.

All of this is relevant to the question before us which, after all, goes to the very coherence of the Easter hope.

Continued on page 7

ILT Teacher Accepts New Call to German-Speaking North American Churches

By Dale A. Swenson

John Moser Cobb smiles and quietly says, “I am 68 years old and starting over!” Following one working-lifetime of appointments and calls to serve bi-lingual parish ministries in Canada, Dr. Cobb has a new call.

Dr. Cobb, who is a dual Canadian and American citizen since about 1980, teaches for the Institute of Lutheran Theology (ILT). In the fall of 2012 he taught the M. Div. course on the ‘History of the Lutheran Church’ to five students. During the previous summer he had taught this course as independent study to ILT’s first M. Div. graduate, H. John Lewis. Plans are for Cobb to teach the same course in the fall of 2013 and to develop a course in theological German to double as ‘History of the Lutheran Church in the 19th Century’, using the original texts.

Earned in 1972, his M.A. was in German Literature form the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The thesis title was ‘Adalbert Stifter, St. Lukas und das Reich Gottes.’ (Adalbert Stifter was a 19th century writer, whom Dietrich Bonhoeffer was reading while in prison.)

He received his M. Div. and was ordained in 1976 out of the LCA in the North Carolina Synod and his first call was to a parish in Alberta. In 1991 he received a Ph. D. from the University of Manitoba, with a dissertation titled, ‘German Lutherans in the Prairie Provinces before the First World War: Their Church Background, Emigration and New Beginning in Canada.’

John Moser Cobb was born in Roanoke, VA in 1944. He is married to Mary Moser Cobb. They have residences in Benedict, North Dakota and Stuartburn, Manitoba.

Together they own and operate LBX International (LutheranBookExchangeIntl@hotmail.com).

This new call encompasses Canada and the United States as it asks Dr. Cobb to use his bi-lingual strengths, experiences, and connections to provide a core Lutheran ministry to serve German-speaking people across North America.

“Recently, I received and accepted a call from the Augsburg Lutheran Churches (headquartered in St. Paul’s

Lutheran Church in El Paso, TX) to minister to... ‘especially German-speaking persons with a ministry of Word and Sacrament.’ An emphasis is upon ‘seeking out and gathering bi-lingual (German/English) persons, including those potentially bi-lingual who may even serve as pastors and candidates for the ministry.’ In general, the call is to further the bi-lingual ministry in North America,” states Rev. Dr. Cobb.

When asked to describe the shape of this mission field for this type of ministry, Pastor Cobb replied with four major points, in his own words: 1. There are still a considerable number of post-WW II immigrants from Eastern Europe who wish to be served in their mother-tongue.

(Please consider Acts 2:6-11.) In these situations, the question is not so much a question of language understanding, but of identity.

2. A large number of persons from Germany have recently come to the United States from Germany in connection with German business and industry. We recognize this phenomenon especially in the State of North Carolina. Still other persons have decided to retire in the United States, especially in Florida and Arizona. Recent census data have indicated something over a million persons in the United States who speak German in their homes. These are in addition to the well-known Amish.

3. In the last 15 years there has been a large influx of Germans originally from Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union, especially into Canada. For example, there is a bi-lingual Lutheran Brethren congregation in southern Manitoba, (not to be confused with the denomination of that name based in Minnesota). The average Sunday attendance is about 150-200, most of whom are young adults and children. The services are mostly in German, but some of it is in Russian with a simultaneous translation available. Typical is a two-hour service with two sermons in German and one in Russian as they interpret the texts for the day. This congregation has two daughter-congregations in the area. Unfortunately a number of German Baptist and Pentecostal churches

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Experiencing Lent and Easter

By Rev. Eric Jonas Swensson Director of International Partners and Marketing

Those of us who are neither young in years, nor new to the church, have lived through a number of Lents and Easters.

As we reflect upon yet another Lenten journey, what have we learned?

What follows are some reflections upon my string of journeys with the help of Luther’s writings.

There is wisdom in observing the Church Year that only a goodly number of years tell forth. I remember being a young pastor and writing my first church newsletter articles. Like many others I wrote something like “Our word ‘Lent’ comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word ‘Lencten’ meaning ‘lengthen’ due to it occurring in Spring when the hours of daylight increase.”

Then I proceeded to draw some spiritual lesson from it.

Older now, I can reflect that winter comes after autumn and in January plants and weeds that were once in competition are both blown down the lane with fallen leaves.

Only as one ages do the words “Plants wither, flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord endures forever” take on the weight they deserve. Gardeners like me begin to truly appreciate the seasons and notice things like trees setting their buds in the fall and winter. As we do the little things that plant beds need after the growing season is supposedly over like chop the stems of the larger perennials, we realize what grace it is to be able to hope to see another spring and another variation of the theme.

knowledge there is about me is there by the grace of God. Of course, knowing this is great wisdom. The struggle of flesh against spirit is the ongoing struggle, a contest lasting until we stand at that last door.

This Lent I rested in the Lord, I luxuriated in the words of blessed Martin: “The new leaven is the faith and grace of the Spirit. It does not leaven the whole lump at once but gently, and gradually, we become like this new leaven and eventually, a bread of God. This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal but it is the right road. At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.”1 This is not to say that I entered Lent in a casual and lazy manner. It is to say that in light of one’s life experiences and the wisdom that should be gained from such, I have a better estimation of everyone involved. I know myself, so to speak, I know my flesh and I know that spirit of the world. While neither admiring nor fearing it, I know it is, how do we say, devilish and a slippery devil at that. The famous Luther quote above about life is not godliness but becoming godly, comes from “Defense and Explanation of All the Articles,” his response to the Pope’s condemnation of Luther. In it he quotes Cyprian, “Ceaselessly, we must fight against avarice, unchastity, anger, and ambition. Steadfastly and with toil and sorrow we must wrestle with carnal desires and the enticements of the world. The mind of man surrounded and besieged by the assaults of the devil, can scarcely meet or resist them all. If avarice is prostrated, unchastity springs up. If lust is overcome, ambition takes its place. If ambition is despised, then anger is provoked, pride puffs up, drunkenness takes the offensive, hatred breaks the bonds of unity, jealousy breaks up friendship.”2

What about the variety of spiritual experiences? Over the years I have learned that I must not give up hope. In my seminary years and early pastorate, I used to begin each Lent somewhat like going to the gym, that is to say, very energetically and with great expectations. I would fast and pray and achieve victory over the flesh this time. Yes, this time for sure I would keep Lent for all of Lent.

Perhaps I even did a good job some of the past seasons, but I have to say, not that it had any lasting value except to show me my frailty because I still have such struggles it seems that everyday I am beginning again, bringing little or nothing of value from the past into the present, that is, except to know I am human and whatever spiritual

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Continued on page 10 1 2

Martin Luther, LW 32, 24.

Ibid, 22.

Lend Us Lent—Again

By Rev. Dr. George H. Muedeking

The search for a midweek worship program so attractive it will pay to keep the lights on, is the history of the 40 days of Lent. Its devolution is so pronounced that I had to comb the yellow pages to find an open Lutheran church, open for Lenten midweek services in our city of a half-million citizens. Too few worshippers show up, it is said, to make it worthwhile.

I have lived through that decline.

The Catholics had changed Lent’s medieval worship perceptions into the agony of having to gorge only on fish on Fridays, or to stripping off a few inconsequential habits for those torturous days of self-denial.

The problem for Lenten Lutherans was their emphasis on the revolting image of the Savior being crucified.

Hearers had heard enough. They didn’t need nor want a yearly repetition. To keep up the statistics, agile preachers proposed an unbounded series of topics instead: the Sermon on the Mount, the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, how to be better amateur family financiers—you name it. But who wants to spend his precious hours away from the TV for such already acknowledged thoughts about our faith-life?

So among us Lutherans a grand stimulus was positioned to bring the flock back in: stage a chancel drama with fumbling, inarticulate and generally inaudible laity reading off their dialogues. Theme? It didn’t matter, because the family of the actors had to come along and so fill the pews. That brilliant solution petered out soon enough, however.

So, add a “soup-supper,” as in the latest and last hope for Lenten worship. Give us another five years, and targeted attenders will remember they can open a can of soup at

home. And there goes Lent among Lutherans—over the cliff.

The difficulty agitating the entire history of Lent is its malformed design. It is not to be practiced in order to fill up pews but to fill up hearts. Worship in Lent is not a numbers game. It is not offered in order to haul in as many auditors as possible.

Lent is set aside for self-examination, for examining how much my faith in the suffering Savior can mean to me.

Lent is structured around a “Retreat” goal, not the goal of an entertainment-enticed crowd. Numbers mean little.

In fact, a retreat is more often degraded if a crowd shows up. It’s the few, not the many, that is the Lenten worship hour’s target. In this Lenten-colored case, worship leaders may feel glad even if only 12 disciples show—provided their eyes can be induced to “survey the wondrous cross.”

Lent should be understood then, as a largely personal private experience of gathering “beneath the cross of Jesus.”

It is in Lent we can learn to distinguish what the martyred Lutheran hero, Dietrich Bonhoffer tried to teach us of “cheap grace vs. costly grace.” Namely, that “cheap grace,” is NOT that we are getting off with too few strenuous acts of Christian discipline, as we generally see his differentiation expounded these days. It is argued that Bonhoffer insisted that Christianity would be letting us in on God’s grace too cheaply. It should cost us too, yes, cost us more. Rather, Bonhoffer reminded us, “costly” grace” is the Father’s costly offer of his only Son’s life.

Such grace, he urged, is costly to God, not to us, who treat it as cheap to us. The difference between cheap and costly is recognized only by “cast your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face.” That is, be glad you are at the heart-directed weekly Lenten Retreat worship. There you will better know Who is paying the cost for our grace. Pray that our blessed Savior will lend such a Lent back to us again.

“Inexpressibly great was the price of our redemption (1 Peter 1:18); great and marvelous, then, is the mercy of God in our redemption.”

— Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations, pg. 46.

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Thoughts of Resurrection, continued from page 3 Is it logically or metaphysically possible for me to be resurrected after death, or can there only be a copy or replica of me in post-mortem existence? Those thinking about this in any depth know how thorny the problem is, for it is not easy at all to give an account of what could constitute the identity conditions of a person from a pre-mortem to a post-mortem state. While we cannot pursue the matter here, all accounts allowing persistence of personhood from pre-mortem to post-mortem states are faced with weighty philosophical objections. What is in the person, her soul, memories, conscious states or body, that makes it the case that she is the same person after death as she was before death?

I suggest that there is no answer to this question, i.e., I admit that there is nothing in the person that could make the person the person the person is, both before and after death. So how is such individuation possible? To answer this we must look away from ourselves.

Individuation is possible because God remembers each and every one of us, and our individuality is grounded in His divine, eternal memory. The identity conditions of personhood are not found in us; we possess no property of thisness, rather we are graced from without by that which makes identical our pre- and postmortem exis-

ILT Teacher Accepts New Call, continued from page 4 are also operating in the area and therein lies the challenge for a ministry of genuine Lutheran confession. The congregation has a number of very good lay preachers, both in German and in Russian, who show potential to become good Lutheran pastors.

4. A broader aspect of our mission is educational for persons of German background in the United States, in order to help them in the appreciation of their heritage. This is a part of a more general trend now present in the United States. According to a study released by Bloomberg.com in 2012*, the number of Americans now self-describing themselves as German-American is up

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tence. It is not a replica of me that will be reconstituted, it is no forgery, no counterpart of me living the good life after I toiled in the negations of this life - - it is rather me, and the fact that it is possible that it is me is grounded in the very being of God. It is He who does not forget me. It is He who pursues me through the thickets of existence, He who attacks and consoles, He who condemns and promises. It is He who has created me and redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature. I know that my Redeemer lives, and in His living I know that I will live, and that nothing will separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:39).

While the annihilated Kirk in the transport tube can have replicas on many planets, the annihilated me in the tomb has no replicas. Through God’s overflowing and overwhelming love, the new creature I will be is the same ‘I’ as the old creature I was. Through the strange inversion of theology, a criterion of theological identity arises in the destruction of the metaphysical ‘I’. Through God’s love, I who am not who I will be, nevertheless will be the very same one who will someday be in the eternal House of our Lord. This is the Good News of Easter!

All of us at the Institute of Lutheran Theology extend to you our prayers and wishes for a blessed Easter season.

May your hearts beat with anticipation of the future!

over 13 percent from 2000 to 2010 (to about 50 million).

According to the study, this phenomenon is occurring in the face of a growing homogeneity in American society as people search for ‘enduring traditions.’ It is to be hoped that the Lutheran church might be able to exert a positive influence on this cultural trend and help in keeping it moving in a healthy direction.

In summary, Pastor Cobb says, “This mission is multifaceted. It involves ministry to individuals in their mother-tongue, to congregations needing competent German Lutheran pastors, and then to people of German Lutheran heritage, that they might benefit from an understanding of that heritage.”

Preach Christ...Period

By Rev. Timothy J. Swenson Director of Student Services

You may have noticed something about the preachers for the Institute’s Chapel services… something about their preaching… something about the content of their preaching… something that made your ears open a bit wider… something that tickled a sense of recognition, familiarity, and comfort. That something is the preaching of Jesus Christ and him alone… Christ alone and him crucified. The preachers at ILT’s Chapel aim to “deliver the goods”—that is, to hand over Jesus Christ to sinners in such a way that they no longer live but Christ is their life (cf. Gal. 2:20).

As the Apostle Paul finishes his great proclamation concerning the folly of the cross to the Christians at Corinth, he segues from third person language to first-person language as he applies that proclamation to himself. He says: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:2) For Paul this single-minded focus on the singular person of the crucified Christ was a stumbling block and mere foolishness to the Jews and the Greeks. They sought other and supposedly better things. Things like signs and wonders. Things like wisdom. But those things are not the power of God or the wisdom of God. Only Jesus Christ is and the preaching of him and him crucified was all that Paul desired to know.

The Devil has made much mischief in Christian circles of recent years. You know, of course, that the Devil is the arch-deceiver. He has his most success when he takes the truth and combines it with one of his lies. So this Father of Lies has made much mischief among us with the spread of this seemingly innocuous little aphorism: “Preach Christ; if necessary, use words.” It has circulated widely on the Internet: sent in emails, posted on blog sites, and delivered with profundity as an accurate summation of the Christian life. It is, of course, not.

The Devil has taken an obvious truth delivered to us by the Word of God (cf. 1 Cor. 1 & 2) and combined it with one of his lies. The truth—“preach Christ”—makes us uncomfortable, and we long for supposedly better things. We are no different than the Jews and Greeks of Paul’s day seeking out something better… something more satisfying to our sinner’s ears. So the Devil delivers that something. He follows that uncomfortable truth with a more palatable lie—“if necessary, use words.” With that little lie, the Devil has distracted you from knowing Jesus Christ and him crucified, and him alone.

With that little lie, the Devil has focused your attention away from Christ and onto the Christian life.

Sinners… sinners like you and me… sinners distracted from Christ make much mischief… mischief because we easily are turned from seeing only Jesus (cf. Matt. 17:8) to seeing only ourselves. The Devil’s lie turns us into ourselves. This “being turned in on oneself ” is known by its Latin name: “incurvatus in se.” It has been a major metaphor for understanding sin. We and how well we are living the Christian life becomes the focus of our attention. Not Christ but our Christian life becomes the object of our faith.

Not only hearers but also preachers get so distracted… so distracted that they preach the Christian instead of Christ.

Given the commodification of the church and religion’s entry into the market place of ideas, this is only to be expected.

With a whole market place full of potential customers… with a whole market place full of potential converts… preachers are bound to be tempted… tempted to offer a sales pitch rather than to preach Christ.

Before I was made into a preacher of Christ and him crucified… Christ and him alone… before that, I had a brief career in sales, in-the-home sales for home improvements.

At that time, the foremost guru of sales and marketing was a fellow named Zig Ziegler. He wrote books, taught courses, and ran seminars teaching sales people how to excel at their job. One of his most memorable pieces of wisdom was this little saying, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” In other words, success at sales had little to do with the quality of the product but had much to do with the customer’s anticipation of the product and its use in their lives. Successful sales people created a desire within their customers for the transformation the product could bring to their lives. Their lives would be happier and more satisfying, their personalities more acceptable and charming, their bodies more handsome, beautiful, or desirable because of the use of the product.

You who hear preachers can hear such sizzle in a preacher who has become distracted, a preacher who preaches the Christian instead of preaching Christ. And, you who hear preachers can also hear when they are preaching Christ and him alone, when they are handing over the goods. You, whose ears have been tuned to hear the voice of your shepherd, you are the sheep. You who have ears to hear have received your Lord’s promise: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27-28)

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The Father’s Ministry of Reconciliation through His Son

By Rev. Dr. Dan Lioy Member of the Faculty

We are embarking on a spiritual journey that leads to Easter. The redemptive work of our Savior motivates us to undertake this excursion.

He has already made this journey through His atoning sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. To help us more fully appreciate the theological significance of what Jesus has done for us, I want to focus our attention on 2 Corinthians 5:14—6:2. The Father’s ministry of reconciliation through His Son is the main theme of this important New Testament passage.

Because sin entered the human race and controlled the lives of people, God in His pure righteousness could not abide human beings in His presence. But the Father, out of His unconditional love for sinners, allowed His Son to die on the cross for the entire world.

As a result of Jesus’ redemptive work at Calvary, the Father has reconciled the world to Himself.

It was Jesus’ love for the world that pushed Paul forward in his evangelistic work (2 Cor. 5:14). This compelling love - proved by what Jesus had done for Paul and all human beings - was the reason the apostle refused to live for himself. In verse 15, Paul’s thought is that since Jesus’ followers have spiritually died with the Savior and are spiritually resurrected with Him, their aim is to live for Him. Expressed differently, through faith in the Son, believers have new life to serve Him rather than their sinful nature (see Rom. 6:5-7).

The believers’ spiritual union with the Savior results in their becoming a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). The implication is that those who trust in the Son do so because they are regenerated. It is God Who brings about this new creation in the fallen creature. Indeed, God is the sole author of this second creation, just as He was of the first (vs. 18). Furthermore, with the advent of the Messiah, a new era has begun in which the regeneration of humans from fallen creatures to new

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beings is part of God’s larger plan to bring about the renewal of the entire universe, concluding with the new heavens and new earth (see Isa. 65:17; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1).

Paul responded to this profound display of God’s mercy by becoming a minister of reconciliation. This consisted of announcing to the world that the Son’s redemptive work brings the world’s people forgiveness of their trespasses and restores their relationship with the Father (2 Cor. 5:19). Now, along with Paul, God has called us to be His “ambassadors” (vs. 20) of reconciliation. It is through us that the Lord makes a personal appeal to others to cling to God’s friendship with them which is based upon Jesus becoming a sin offering on the Cross for them, along with the rest of humanity (vs.

21). In turn, the Father desires we tell the good news to others around us. Specifically, the Father offers His grace freely to them in Christ. Thus, Paul calls on people to put their faith in the crucified and risen Son. In 6:1, Paul urged his readers not to ignore or squander the divine gift of “grace.” To illustrate the urgency of his appeal, in verse 2, the apostle quoted Isaiah 49:8.

In its original context, the passage foretold that at the divinely appointed time, the Lord, through His chosen Servant, would restore the faithful remnant of Israel from exile to their homeland. Ultimately, the promise of liberation from captivity, freedom from sin, and pardon from iniquities is fulfilled in the Savior. Paul stressed that now was the time for people to respond to the gospel. Likewise, this was the day of salvation.

The apostle wanted everyone to know that if they procrastinated—namely, if they delayed in appropriating the Son’s work of reconciliation— their souls would be in mortal jeopardy. For this reason, Paul urged them to embrace and act on the message of reconciliation while they still had the opportunity to do so. Our calling, as ambassadors for Christ, is to declare the message of God’s reconciliation of the world in Christ. As we leave Lent and enter Easter we are reminded of the importance of telling others the good news. Easter, then, can become for them a season of new spiritual beginnings, especially as they, through the Spirit of God, put off their old self and put on the new self. From this new self flows service to others in the Savior’s name.

Experiencing Lent and Easter, continued from page 5

marked by the sign of the Cross and because we have opportunity to partake the Lord’s Supper, we shall prevail.

Luther says this should give comfort to all who struggle against sin. Which is what we should do. We are not to give in to sin. It is only natural to give in knowing we will never win, but that is it, isn’t it? Human nature tells us to give in since we cannot win. But that is not what the Bible tells us to do, no not at all. Rather being found faithfully struggling is the victory.

This is what Luther wrote about this very thing in the Large Catechism: “Therefore, it is appropriately called the food of the soul since it nourishes and strengthens the new man.

While it is true that through Baptism we are first born anew, our human flesh and blood have not lost their old skin. There are so many hindrances and temptations of the devil and the world that we often grow weary and faint, at times even stumble. The Lord’s Supper is given as a daily food and sustenance so that our faith may refresh and strengthen itself and not weaken in the struggle but grow continually stronger. For the new life should be one that continually develops and progresses.”4

Older and wiser, we have a better understanding of Lent, what it actually means. It is not about being found perfect, but finding my Christian self in the struggle.

We learn to have a better approximation of what progress means. In his commentary on Romans 12:1, Luther writes, “But be transformed. This comment is made by reason of progress. For he is speaking of those people who already have begun to be Christians. Their life is not a static thing, but in movement from good to better, just as a sick man proceeds from sickness to health, as the Lord also indicates in the case of the half-dead man who was taken into the care of the Samaritan…Man is always in non-being, in becoming, in being, always in privation, in potentiality, in action, always in sin, in justification, in righteousness, that is, he is always a sinner, always a penitent, always righteous.”3

Therefore, as Easter rolls around, we find ourselves in the same place in which we began, simul iustus et peccator, but perhaps not like the movie Groundhog Day, we do learn something and we know that one day we have to break free, only that it will only come to pass when all things come to pass.

Lastly, we know what tools we have at our disposal in this struggle between flesh and spirit. The Word of God, the counsel of the saints, the wisdom we have gained over the years, many are the weapons and the armor but in any review of this sweet science we must give preeminence to the Sacraments. Because we are baptized, because we are

So, relish your Easters. We did not win them. The trumpets, the lilies, the organ, all that we can fit into the Feast; we are certainly not celebrating what we have done but what has been done for us.

Martin Luther, LW 25, 433.

Martin Luther, the Large Catechism: Sacrament of the Altar, par.

23-25.

3 4

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received; that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

— Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV)

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Proclaiming the Word with a Lutheran Voice

By Dale A. Swenson

The Lutheran Voice brought the Word through two seminary professors as the main speakers, and two pastors, one service coordinator and one theologian/teacher.

Monday morning worship provided the Absolution, delivered in the Lutheran Voice through the Institute of Lutheran Theology’s Director of Student Services and Chapel Tim Swenson. And worship Tuesday morning heard Jesus coming as a thief in the night (Matthew 24 text) taking all who are to be saved away from and against their “will.” For, as Pastor Steven King, chair of Board of Publications, Augustana District, used the Lutheran Voice to preach it stated, “We defend our property, even against Jesus. We even claim the right to kill God. And Jesus takes everything away from us. The Lamb of God takes away sins and every thing, even all our prideful virtues, righteousness, goodness. When nothing is left, you follow Jesus with nothing to prove anymore.”

The conference ‘Proclaiming the Word with a Lutheran Voice’ brought over 90 clergy and pastor-type people into the heart of Minnesota for two days of theology. The Augustana District of the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) and the independent Institute of Lutheran Theology (ILT) out of Brookings, SD co-presented the conference Feb. 3-5 in Bloomington, MN. To the question, ‘What happened to the Lutheran Voice?’ historian Dr. Mark Granquist from Luther Seminary stated that since the 1860s there has been no larger schism in the Lutheran realm than the combined numbers leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for other church bodies such as LCMC and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The causes for this diminution of Lutheranism were its movements toward ecumenism, merger and the drive toward mainline Protestantism.

From a book titled, ‘Lutherans Today-Lutherans in the 20th Century’ Granquist’s work of 10 years ago was read: “The consolidation of American Lutheranism to two major denominations is perhaps one of the most significant developments in 20th century history. There is how-

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ever a potential danger in telling the history in terms of merger. Because the historiographic tendency is to view the process of consolidation as inevitable and uniformly beneficial. Mergers are celebrated as the natural outcome of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of the Will of God. In other words, bigger is better and merger is what God wants for his Lutheran children in North America. But this romantic view of denominational history is deeply flawed in that it pays no attention to the very real costs and problems associated with the process of consolidation and institutional realignment.

Mergers are difficult to arrange, take enormous amounts of time and energy and lead inevitably to hard feelings and disenchantment in some quarters and generally expose theological cracks endemic to American Lutheranism. Mergers upset the normal ties of loyalty and trust within denominations......”

Granquist suggested that present districts be organized according to their characteristics rather than by geographical area, so that the common interests can foster what used to be regularly found in Lutheranism, that is, theological voices with no fear of lively debate and conflict. In the question and answer period Monday, Granquist stated that part of the cause for some folks insisting upon loyalty to the national office, over that of loyalty to the Confessions and ‘historic Lutheranism’, was the decline in membership, so that stress increased upon members. Also, pointed out Granquist, the CNLC, a commission that formulated the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), promoted what they insisted was not “merger” but instead a “new Lutheran” thing and froze out older Lutheran voices. It amounted to a generational revolution.

Granquist concluded about the Lutheran Voice, “Develop theology discussions and get new theological voices....We tend to want to socialize and mold our theology students.

We must avoid that.”

Also speaking to the Lutheran Voice from Luther Seminary, Dr. Steven Paulson turned to the text of Isaiah 40 to portray the law and gospel. He announced the “Comfort ye, Comfort ye” to be like cowbells ringing across the entire valley. They deliver the clue that the chapter, which is given to a Preacher called by some, ‘Isaiah 2.0’, is entirely Gospel:

Continued on page 14

Social Media: Do I Have To?

By Rev. Eric Jonas Swensson Director of International Partners and Marketing

Talking on the phone with a friend the other day and when I made a negative comment about Facebook, was promptly told, “Yeah, well, it is gonna be gone in a year. Them and all their ilk.”

potential of Facebook for ministry. If you did you would go there everyday like you go to work. And you would share, seriously share the Good News.

Share what? Share ministry tips for one thing. Share the most interesting thing that was said in Bible Study. Share (and here I do hope you are listening) please regularly share things we post on https://www.facebook.com/InSome people don’t do FacestituteLutheranTheology. And I do mean share. It is nice book. I get that. And I’m OK that you “Like” it but we need you to click on “Share” so with it. My wife is way too that your friends see it as well. We are a young Institute serious for Facebook. She does and many, many people have not even heard of us and LinkedIn though. But here’s are completely unaware of all the hard work that has the deal, if you asked me if gone into this vision to reclaim land given over to the I liked Facebook, my answer is, “It matters not if I like teaching of a false gospel.

Facebook. I go on Facebook like I go Downtown.” If you ask me if I like Downtown I’d say, “Sure, Downtown is To tie it together, without a doubt Facebook will be here OK, but I don’t go there because I like it. I go there when next year and probably will be going strong to the end of I need to do X, Y or Z.” the next decade perhaps. Why? Because a billion people are there. There is a strong North American audience but My wife thinks I like Facebook. I tell her that she doesn’t also young people from around the world are going onto understand, that I am an evangelist who has a call to Facebook to have Christian fellowship. We at ILT are spread the Good News on the Internet and social media. working every day to be found faithful and that includes She will never understand unless she gets a Facebook a vision of “Going to all nations.” We are already doing account and even then, who knows. that on the Internet. Use social media, share our posts and tweets and thereby have another way we are yoked You may not get it either. You may have a Facebook actogether. Thank you! count and even log in from time to time to see what your friends are saying and you still haven’t appreciated the

“I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord; who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, secured and delivered me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with silver and gold, but with His holy and precious blood, and with his innocent sufferings and death; in order that I might be His, live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness; even as He is risen from the dead, and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.”

— Small Catechism

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Academics: Experiences Count

By Dr. Doug S. Dillner Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

I have the pleasure now and then of being able to “sit-in” on some of ILT’s classes in order to observe how things are going. It is a true joy for me, as a non-theologian, to be able to get this ‘free education.’

For instance, in one of the classes I learned about the origin of Monasticism.

Although we normally think of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches when we think of this, it is also seen in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. We can trace its roots to the early Asceticism.

Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by the abstinence from various worldly pleasures, with aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals. We might consider John the Baptist to be an Ascetic because of the nomadic setting that is painted of him in the Bible.

“Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan.”

(Matt 3: 4-5; NASV) But, and here is the crux of my thesis, did John the Baptist lock himself away in some monastery, away from the folks who could benefit by his works? No. While he certainly

was a nomad, he had a following that came out to listen to his preaching; and together with his followers, the word was spread. Where would we be if he had locked himself away?

One of the goals of ILT is to have our students working in their local church in some aspect of ministerial service while they are taking their MDiv classes. In this way, they can see how their learning applies and be fed by the experiences of “being in the trenches”; a true On the Job Training (OJT) augmentation. Indeed, ILT’s first MDiv graduate, John Lewis, did this very thing. As he was taking his courses, he was working at his church. For this, ILT awarded him academic credit for his efforts in recognition of its importance. We call these ‘courses’ Practicum courses to denote their ‘course content.’

ILT is not alone in this regard, many Universities give work experience credits for a student’s employment during the course of the semester. I am reminded of those students pursuing a degree in teaching working at a school close to their campus as an Assistant Teacher. What better way to learn how to teach than to be in the trenches with the troops. As I write this, I ponder how many of those students may have changed their major out of teaching because of these experiences (especially if they were assigned to a Middle School for experience!). Thankfully, I know of no one who has backed away from the Christ’s ministry from such OJT to date.

Have you been working in your church in a ministerial role? Well, ILT will give you credit for that work if you become part of our MDiv program. Interested? Please contact us for more details, admissions@ilt.org.

“The death of Christ is the death of sin, and His resurrection is the life of righteousness; for

by His death He has made satisfaction for our sin, and by His resurrection He has bestowed righteousness on us.”

— Luther, quoted in Plass, What Luther Says, CPH, 1959, p. 181.

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Daily Manna

By Constance J. Sorenson Director of Congregational Relations “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17) As I call the pastors of all Lutheran churches across our nation I am encouraged, inspired and blessed by our conversations. We have the common bond of our faith in Jesus Christ and that we are united for the purpose of feeding His sheep. He asked Peter, “Do you love me?” His answer, “You know I love you.” “Then feed my sheep.” We

Proclaiming the Word, continued from page 12 “Warfare” (with trying to do the law) ....“is over”; “Iniquity is pardoned” (forgiven); “Cry for her” means preach to the people; and she has “received double” (gifts, not law or wrath) double gifts that are contrary to all reason and good counsel.

The task of preachers in the Lutheran Voice is to deliver this Word as if it were to be heard for the first time. And occasionally members will tell you they heard it for the first time. You deliver the Word that is given to you to give, for the Voice is not your own. This Voice brings up preachers and the fruit. To preach thus is to speak to the heart. Because of sin, you preachers will be tempted to substitute something other that the Voice of God. Do not worry about the current culture! And, since your work is hidden, you preachers will get no evidence of the fruitfulness of the Word.

“Hear, O Deaf,” is scripture for a preacher, says Paulson.

“You are not there to fulfill desire. You know what is needed, a promise. A promise speaks to the heart what is needed. The heart is not in need of desire, it is in need of a promise, which is absolutely certain. Then the heart is free and operates not as a desiring heart that never gets what it wants, but operates in faith, trusts in the promise, and finds that the promise delivers.”

at ILT are dedicated to train, educate new pastors, church leaders and educators in God’s Word. We are committed to being connected and in communication with the pastors and leaders of each congregation and assisting in ways that continually builds up the Body of Christ.

In a world of technology that needs to be connected via texting, Facebook, Twitter, we don’t want to replace the human connection. We need to hear the voice of someone which asks, “How can we help?”, and be the ear that listens and responds by reaching out to assist you.

I have been richly blessed by the people I’ve met via the phone and even though we may never meet in person I believe I’ve met brothers and sisters in Christ who are on the same mission…to equip the saints, feed His sheep with the Bread of Life. God’s Word and Sacraments are, were and always will be the “diet” of the church.

Paulson went back to Isaiah 40, the text, “Prepare a way for the Lord in the wilderness,” is referring to a new way outside the law. It does not even try to persuade or convince the mind. It goes right to the heart and preaches to bound wills. Proclamation is done to dead people and the Word raises them from the dead. The Lutheran Voice is new, with free will and law removed, for Christ does the choosing and gives double (gifts) for all sins.

The event’s finale was a Panel Presentation on “The Lutheran Voice” by Tim Swenson, in seminary education; Pastor Janine Rew-Werling, in an LCMC Mission start congregation; Pastor Mark Vander Tuig, in LCMC’s service and mission; and Pastor Randy Freund, in our general culture.

After the event, Pastor Freund (LCMC) said, “There were diverse and creative expositions of ‘The Voice’ that were helpful and confirming. I think all the speakers, especially Granquist and Paulson, demonstrated how we have been here before at different times in our history.

That is to say, church always needs to rethink how church structure best serves the gospel and how theology is for proclamation. The difference has to do with how we are ‘Lutheran’ in our time, in a post-denominational world.

The Lutheran Voice has much to offer a culture resistant to Christianity. How it can be heard and how it can be discovered in a time when Christians are a minority is the critical matter before us.”

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The Cross at the Center

By Rev. Douglas V. Morton Director of Theological Publications & Theological Librarian Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. -Philippians 2:6-13; (ESV) 6

It’s right smack in the middle of the hymn - the cross that is. I had never considered it before. However, a seminary professor who was leading a Lenten study for pastors pointed it out to us. So, I checked to see if he was correct. I opened my Greek New Testament and began counting the letters.

“One, two, three. . .one hundred and ninety six.” I then counted from the other side of the word ‘cross.’ Once again, one hundred and ninety six letters. He was right! You can see it yourself in the box below. Verses 6 – 11 of Philippians 2 are believed to be an early Christian hymn and in this hymn, the Greek word for cross - which I have underlined and placed in bold - is exactly in the middle. You are unable to do this with any English translation. However, in the Greek New Testament, there are exactly one hundred ninety-six Greek letters both before and after the word for ‘cross’. The reason the text looks as it does below is because early Greek texts of the New Testament had very little punctuation and no spacing between words. You could get more on a page that way. ὃςἐνμορφῇθεοῦὑπάρχωνοὐχἁρπαγμὸνἡγήσατοτὸεἶναιἴσαθ εῷαλλὰἑαυτὸνἐκένωσενμορφὴνδούλουλαβώνἐνὁμοιώμαι ἀνθρώπωνγενόμενοςκαὶσχήματιεὑρεθεὶςὡςἄνθρωποςἐταπ είνωσενἑαυτὸνγενόμενοςὑπήκοοςμέχριθανάτουθανάτουδὲ σταυροῦδιὸκαὶὁθεὸςαὐτὸνὑπερύψωσενκαὶἐχαρίσατοαὐτῷτὸ ὄνοματὸὑπὲρπᾶνὄνομαἵναἐντῷὀνόματιἸησοῦπᾶνγόνυκάμψῃ ἐπουρανίωνκαὶἐπιγείωνκαὶκαταχθονίωνκαὶπᾶσαγλῶσσαἐξο μολογήσηταιὅτικύριοςἸησοῦςΧριστὸςεἰςδόξανθεοῦπατρός Now, I am not one who gets excited about “Bible Codes” or hidden messages in the text of the Bible. However, I do find it amazing that the word for ‘cross’ is exactly in the middle of

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this hymn verse. It may be this way by design. It may not. Yet, by design or not, this can point us to an important truth: The cross is at the center of everything we believe and everything we do.

On the other hand, by itself, the cross is worthless without Jesus who hung upon it. Crucifixions were “a dime a dozen” in the Roman world. The Roman general Crassus in the first century B.C. crucified some six thousand prisoners from the defeated army of the slave general Spartacus. Crassus had the crosses lined along the Appian Way, a main thoroughfare leading to Rome. Before the battle Spartacus had “a Roman prisoner crucified between the armies to warn his followers of their fate if they should be defeated.”1 Crucifixion was the supreme Roman penalty, reserved for only very few Roman citizens, but common for slaves, rebellious foreigners, violent criminals, and Robbers.2 For most people in the ancient world, be they Jew, Greek, Barbarian or Roman, “the cross was not just a matter of indifference, just any kind of death. It was an utterly offensive affair, ‘obscene’ in the original sense of the word.”3 Yet, it is the crucifixion of Jesus that Paul praises in Philippians 2:6-11. It would have been bad enough if Jesus were merely a crucified prophet. But, imagine what it must have sounded like for the people of Paul’s day to hear a hymn sung declaring it was God himself who was crucified in Jesus on the cross. “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).

Martin Hengel notes the following: “This radical kenosis4 of God was the revolutionary new element in the preaching of the gospel. It caused offence, but in this very offence it revealed itself as the centre of the gospel. For the death of Jesus on the cross is very much more than a religious symbol, say of the uttermost readiness of a man for suffering and sacrifice; it is more than just an ethical model which calls for discipleship, though it is all this as well. What we have here is God’s communication of himself, the free action through which he establishes the effective basis of our salvation. In ancient thought, e.g. among the Stoics, an ethical and symbolic interpretation of the crucifixion was still possible, but to assert that God himself accepted death in the form of a crucified Jewish manual worker from Galilee in order to break the power of death and bring salvation to all men

could only seem folly and madness to men of ancient times. Even now, any genuine theology will have to be measured against the test of this scandal.”5 What Was God Doing on the Cross? That is the title of a book by theologian Alister McGrath.6 The reality is that God was there at the cross because as Holy Scripture truly teaches, God became man in Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14; ESV). “For in Him [Jesus] all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9; NASB).

The fact that Jesus is God come in the flesh is taught in many places in Holy Scripture. Philippians 2 is simply one of those places.

The Apostle tells us that even though “he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6-7; ESV).

Some have taught that when the Son of God “made himself nothing”6 he was stripping himself of certain aspects of his divinity when he became human in Jesus. But this teaching, often known as Kenoticism, can be found nowhere in Holy Scripture. Rather, we should look at this “made himself nothing” in the sense that “He did not assert Himself, or make a display of this majesty and glory.”7 “The contrast is between others who from ‘vain glory’ constantly boast of what they do not possess, and Jesus who, like a ruler moving incognito among his subjects, refrains from exercising what He actually possesses.”8 What the Son of God did in making “himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” was, and continues to be, the greatest act of selfless and self-giving love the universe has ever seen. He could have come continually showing forth his full majesty and power.

Now, there were times when he showed this power and majesty, as when he did on the Mount of Transfiguration. “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matt.17:3; ESV). Yet, more often than not, he didn’t make a display of this majesty and glory. He could have come demanding his rights. But he didn’t. Instead, “[T]he Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28; ESV).

All this he did for us and for our salvation as the Nicene Creed states: “[W]ho for us and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.” He who “was in the form of God” yet “made himself nothing,” was taking upon himself our sin.

He was being made “to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21; NASB).

The fact that God himself became incarnate in Jesus Christ, took my sin upon himself, suffered the wrath due my sin,

and in doing so brought me total forgiveness, is a message that continues to overwhelm me. I can never outgrow this message, and it never gets old. It is always new and extremely relevant. Those who call for the church to update its message so that it is ‘relevant’ to the twenty-first century need to take another look at the relevancy of the message of cross. Here is where God himself took on our sin. Here is where Jesus became “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8; ESV).

With Jesus’ cry of “It is finished” comes the completion of all that was needed to be done for us and for our salvation. They bury Jesus in the ground, but now things begin flowing in the other direction. Now ends what is called “the Humiliation of Christ.” This humiliation does not describe the lowering of Christ from one level to another. Nor does it mean that it was embarrassing for the Son of God to become human. How can it be embarrassing when for all eternity Jesus will be God and man together in one person? Rather, when we speak of Christ’s humiliation we are dealing with “a voluntary change in status or power in order to serve another. . . .Even though he had, by nature, all the divine attributes, rights, and abilities, during the time of his earthly ministry he did not always or fully use these things.”9 This was the time when Christ as the God-man suffered for the sins of the world. This time of humiliation begins with the moment of his conception in the womb and lasts to the “moment in the grave.”10 Now the time of humiliation is over. Now things begin to flow in the other direction for him who humbled himself for us. Now begins his exaltation, where Christ “resumes the full and unrestricted use of his divine privileges, power, and glory that he had voluntarily restricted in his humiliation.”11 After three days in the grave his body is made alive. He descends into hell, conquering the devil, destroying hell’s power, taking “from the devil all his might.”12 His resurrection from the dead declares him “to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness” (Rom 1:1; ESV). With this resurrection comes the declaration that we are justified in Christ since he “was raised because of our justification” (Rom 4:25; NASB).

Jesus ascends into heaven where he sits at the right hand of God. This right hand of God is not a place or location as some believe. How can it be a ‘place’ when God has no ‘right hand’ like us? Rather, the ‘right hand’ of God refers to “God’s almighty power, which fills heaven and earth.”13 Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians: “…he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph; 1:20-23; ESV).

Continued on page 18 16

2011 and 2012 Congregation Contributors The board members, staff, and students of the Institute of Lutheran Theology would like to thank all the Lutheran congregations who have donated to this ministry in 2011 and 2012. Lutheran congregations that have given for both years are marked with an asterisk* after their names. We will list 2011 and 2012 individual contributors in our Fall issue of The Word at Work. It is through the generous support of individual congregations that ILT is able to provide the affordable theological education necessary to prepare the next generation of faithful Lutheran pastors and teachers.

Thank you!

Abounding Joy* Sartell, MN Advent Elmont, NY American Lutheran Church* Castlewood, SD Annapolis Evangelical* Annaplois, MD Ascension Shiocton, WI Augsburg Lutheran Churches* El Paso, TX Bethesda* Dresser, WI Bethlehem* Harlan, IA Bible* Rincon, GA Brighton Heights Pittsburg, PA Calvary Modesto, CA Christ Evangelical Dallastown, PA Christ* Blair, NE Christ* Whitefish, MT Christ Morden, Manitoba Christ the King Evans, GA Christ the King* Hutchinson, MN Christ the King* Birmingham, AL Christ the King Lutheran Church of Waseca* Waseca, MN Christ the Servant* Conway, SC Christus* Clintonville, WI Emmanuel Fontanelle, IA

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Faith Community Longmont, CO Faith Moline, IL Faith Great Falls, MT Faith Downsview, Ontario Faith Little Falls, MN Faith Monticello, MN Faith* Hutchinson, MN Faith Lutheran Mission Eau Claire, WI First Evangelical Parkers Prairie, MN First Kirkland, IL First* Britton, SD Foxhome Foxhome, MN Freemount Lindsborg, KS Friends in Christ Wadena, MN Gloria Dei San Jose, CA Good Shepherd* Boardmann, OR Good Shepherd* Morris, MN Grace Kelowna, BC Grace* Hayward, WI Highland Outlook, MT Holy Cross Maple Lake, MN Holy Trinity Spokane, WA Hope Fosston, MN Immanuel* Harlan, IA

Immanuel* Whitewood, SD Immanuel Lutheran Church of Flatville* Thomasboro, IL Lands Lutheran Church of Moe* Hudson, SD Life in Grace Gardendale, TX Living Word Puyallup, WA Living Word* Moses Lake, WA Lutheran Church of the Cross Laguna Woods, CA Lutheran Church of the Master* Omaha, NE Lutheran Church of the Redeemer* Chimacum, WA New Heights* Normal, IL New Hope Sunrise Beach, MO New Life* Sterling, IL Norway St. Olaf, IA Organ Salisbury, NC Our Saviours* Victoria, TX Our Saviour’s Audubon, IA Peace Hazen, ND Peace Fremont, NE Peace Deshler, NE Pioneer* White, SD Pondera Valley Conrad, MT Prairie Peace Cut Bank, MT

Prince of Peace Rockton, IL Redeemer* Fridley, MN Resurrection Mankato, MN Richland* Richland, WA River of Life Lutheran Fellowship Phoenix, MD Roseville St.Paul, MN Rushford* Rushford, MN Salem-Emmanuel Longlake, SD Samhold Gonvick, MN Scobey* Scobey, MT Shepherd of the Hills Hubertus, WI Shepherd of the Woods* Jacksonville, FL St. Paul York, PA St. Paul Palmer, KS St. Andrew-by-the-Sea* Atlantic City, NJ St. Andrew Evangelical Muncy, PA St.John Sterling,NE St.John Royal, IL St. John’s* Howard Lake, MN St. Johns Sprinfield, MN St. Johns* Starbuck, MN St.John’s Oshkosh, WI St. Mark’s Evangelical Jefferson, WI

St. Martins Maiden, NC St. Matthew Readlyn, IA St. Matthew’s* Salisbury, NC St. Paul El Paso, TX St. Paul Linn, KS St.Paul Auburn, NE St. Paul* Osceola, NE

St. Paul New Braunfels, TX St. Paul’s Congregation of the American Lutheran Church* Rantoul, IL St. Peter Mesa, AZ St. Peter’s Emden, IL St. Peter’s Stendal, IN St. Peter’s* Cochrane, AB

The Cross at the Center, continued from page 16 This Jesus is given the name “that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-10; ESV).

We have come “full circle” in Paul’s description of the One whose existence “was in the form of God,” who “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:7-8; ESV). Now, he who is God and man in one person rules the universe and before him every knee shall bow. That day shall be a day of great joy for all who are united to Christ through faith. Yet, it will be a day of great sorrow and regret for those who have rejected him. Thus, we still have a mission to share the cross of Christ with a world in need.

Finally, not only is this a hymn of praise for him who came to be crucified for us, but it is also the way Paul seeks to free us to live our lives for the sake of our neighbor. Christ counted our interest first as opposed to his and, in doing this, set us free. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45; ESV). He “has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. 1:5; ESV). As we live in the freedom that comes through the cross, so we too begin to expend ourselves in the interest of our neighbor. We begin to “count others more significant than” ourselves (Phil.

2:3; ESV). The God who went to the cross for us in Jesus will never abandon us, but rather will continue to work in us, “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12; ESV).

It really does not matter whether it was by design or not that there are exactly one hundred ninety-six letters before and after the Greek word for ‘cross’ in the hymn in Philippians

Trinity Spencer, IA Trinity Titusville, FL Trinity Hudson, SD Trinity* Alexander, ND Trinity Haskell, TX Trinity* Blanco, TX

Wilmington* Arnegard, ND Women of the Word of St. Pauls Elma, NY Word of Hope Ashland, NE Zion Clear Lake, IA Zion* Skanee, MI Zion Lutheran Church of Kent* Kent, WA

2:6-11. What matters is that the cross was at the center in the mind of God. What matters is that it is at the center in our minds. What matters is that it is the message we proclaim for the salvation of the world.

As the hymn-writer says:

“In the cross of Christ I glory Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time.

All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime.”

Truly, the cross is at the center because Christ is on the cross for you and for me.

1 Martin Hengel, Crucifixion (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), 55.

2 Ibid, 39-63.

3 Ibid, 22.

4 From the Greek word “kenoō, meaning “to empty.”

5 Hengel, Crucifixion, 89.

6 Alister E. McGrath, What Was God Doing on the Cross?

(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.)

7 Henry Eyster Jacobs, A Summary of the Christian Faith (Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Publication House, 1905), 143.

8 Ibid.

9 Steven P. Mueller, ed. Called to Believe, Teach, and Confess: An Introduction to Doctrinal Theology. (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005), 196.

10 Jacobs, A Summary of the Christian Faith, 145.

11 Mueller, Called to Believe, Teach, and Confess, 199.

12 Solid Declaration, IX, 2. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, 2nd edition., ed., Paul Timothy McCain (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 596-597.

13 Solid Declaration, VIII, 28. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, 586.

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