The Paradox of Christian Faith and Life

by Timothy Teuscher

The word ‘paradox’ refers to a statement that seems to be contradictory and yet is true. For instance: “The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.” And again: “The pursuit of happiness makes you unhappy.” Or further: “The more choices we have, the harder it is to choose.”

The Bible is also filled with paradoxes, with apparent contradictions (at least according to our finite, limited, and sinful human reason) that are nevertheless divinely true. This should not be all that surprising; after all, God Himself has declared: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). And St. Paul says that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).

The paradoxes begin with God Himself. So it is we confess in the Athanasian Creed that “the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not three Gods, but one God.” They continue with the person of Christ and those familiar words from the Small Catechism: “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.” St. Paul puts it this way: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). And the paradoxes reach a climax at the cross of Christ “when God, the mighty maker, died for His own creatures’ sin” (LSB 437:3).

Consider also the paradoxes we see in this world as Christians. Jesus says:

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses His life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). And St. Paul says about himself: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9). He also says concerning himself and his colleagues in the ministry: “We are treated as impostors; and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:8-10).

We are called to believe, confess, teach, embrace, and meditate on these paradoxes, but many instead try to explain and rationalize them away. This is the common denominator of many, if not all, false teachings, stretching all the way back to the Garden and the Devil’s tempting word: “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1).

I mention all this in light of a couple of things. First of all, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, consider the various paradoxes in the Holy Scriptures concerning pestilences and disasters. Is this pandemic God’s judgment upon a sinful and unbelieving people (see Deuteronomy 32:18-24)? Is it a sign of the end times and Christ’s second coming (see Luke 21:11)? Is it a result of God’s onceperfect creation having been marred by sin (see Romans 8:20-22)? Is it the devil’s work (see the Large Catechism’s explanation of the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer)? Do Christians and non-Christians alike suffer from this pandemic (see Luke 13:1-5)? Is the purpose of this pandemic to lead us to repentance and more fervent prayer (see 2 Chronicles 7:12-15)? Are Christians assured of deliverance from this pandemic (see Psalm 91:9-10)?

The answer to all these questions is a paradoxical “Yes!”

This year marks the 500 th anniversary of one of Martin Luther’s most famous and influential writings, ‘The Freedom of a Christian.’ It begins with a paradox based on 1 Corinthians 9:19: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” Here are a few tidbits from the Reformer in this treatise:

One thing, and only one thing, is necessary for Christian life, righteousness, and freedom. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, as He says, ‘If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed’. | John 8:36

It ought to be the first concern of every Christian to lay aside all confidence in works and increasingly to strengthen faith and grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ Jesus, who suffered and rose for him. For no other works make a Christian.

As our heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbour through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ to the other, that is, that we may be truly Christians.

A Christian lives not in himself but in Christ and in his neighbour. Otherwise he is not a Christian. He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbour through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbour.

How can we as Christians navigate our way through the many paradoxes connected with COVID-19? I suggest using Luther’s paradox as our guide: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

Rev. Timothy Teuscher

Rev. Timothy Teuscher is President of Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC).