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COncordia
ournal
volume 39 | number 2
J
Spring 2013
The Human Face of Justice

Called to Milk Cows and Govern
Kingdoms

HOLLIS and the Holy Spirit

Weaving Reflection into Civic Life
Concordia Seminary
801 Seminary Place
St. Louis, MO 63105
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COncordia
ournal
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(ISSN 0145-7233)
Issued by the faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, the Concordia Journal is the successor of Lehre
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On the cover: Looking down upon the baptismal font in the LeBien Baptistery from the narthex of the Chapel of the Resurrection, Valparaiso
University, Valparaiso, Indiana (photo courtesy of Valparaiso University).
Copyright by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri 2013
www.csl.edu | www.concordiatheology.org
publisher
Dale A. Meyer
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EDITOR
Travis J. Scholl
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You recognize right away that this is a place
that takes faith seriously, that faith is an
important part of campus life here.
1.888.GO.VALPO valpo.edu Valparaiso, IN 46383
Nate will be one of the emcees at the
National LCMS Youth Gathering, July
1-5, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas.

Spring 2013
COncordia
ournal
J
CONTENTS
volume 39 | number 2
EDITORIALs
101 Editors Note

102 Five Questions with Two Presidents: On Vocation

106 The Communion of Saints: Four Perspectives on
Lay Vocation
ARTICLES
117 The Human Face of Justice: Reclaiming the
Neighbor in Law, Vocation, and Justice Talk
Leopoldo A. Snchez M.
133 Called to Milk Cows and Govern Kingdoms:
Martin Luthers Teaching on the Christians
Vocations
Robert Kolb
142 HOLLIS and the Holy Spirit: A Journey
Toward the Redemption of the Historians
Vocation
Ronald K. Rittgers

151 HOMILETICAL HELPS
175 BOOK REVIEWS
Weaving Reflection into Civic Life: Resources for
Reflective Reading on Leadership, Service, and Vocation
Elizabeth Lynn
editoRIALS
COncordia
ournal
J
Editors Note
101 Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
The image on the cover portrays the LeBien Baptistery in the Chapel of the
Resurrection at Valparaiso University (Valparaiso, Indiana). Walking its spiral staircase,
whether for work, study, or daily prayer, one can nearly hear the lines echo across the
rippling water.

So use it well! You are made new
In Christ a new creation!
As faithful Christians, live and do
Within your own vocation,
Until that day when you possess
His glorious robe of righteousness
Bestowed on you forever!
(All Christians Who Have Been Baptized, LSB 596, v. 6)
In the almost three-story space above the font floats a spiraling bronze sculpture,
an image of the overflowing blessing of God through water and word. To walk that
staircase is to be reminded that our life and our work revolve around and find their
center in the daily washing of baptism, of the way the sound of its water calls us to die
and to rise into a certain kind of life, lived out in myriad ways because of the myriad
gifts God gives through it.
The theme of this issue of Concordia Journal is lay vocation, what in Lutheran
circles is so well known as the priesthood of all believers, or the ministry of the bap-
tized. The topicone of the touchstones of Lutheran theologyis always relevant to
the church, since the people of God are always called to all the myriad walks of life that
make for healthy community and good society in Gods creation. We share one voca-
tion with many locationsin our work and our living, in our families and in our com-
munities, in our leading and in our serving.
Valparaiso University is a logical partner with which to explore these issues
from a variety of vocational perspectives. Valparaisos Lutheran history (the Lutheran
University Association purchased it in 1925) has been centered in a mission of educating
people of faith for lives of leadership and service, preparing people for professions of
law, nursing, medicine, business, engineering, and other fields with a deep formation in
the liberal arts and humanities. The collaboration between people at Concordia Seminary
and Valparaiso University found within these pages is evidence of how we can fruitfully
reflect on that sense of baptismal calling and how we can live that life together.
Because it really is as simple, and as complex, as Martin Luther makes it out to
be when, near the end of The Freedom of a Christian, he writes: a Christian lives not in
himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. Otherwise he is not a Christian. He lives in
Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love.

Travis J. Scholl Brian T. Johnson
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Valparaiso University
Five Questions with Two Presidents: On Vocation
102
Editors note: As the title makes explicit, we posed five questions to Dale A. Meyer, President of
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Mark A. Heckler, President of Valparaiso University, regard-
ing vocation, the ministry of the baptized, and the roles their respective institutions play in such matters.
Here are their answers.

1. How do educational institutions like seminaries and universities cultivate a
sense of vocation?
Dale Meyer: Unlike a university where students prepare for various vocations,
our seminary is focused on the calling to be pastors and deaconesses. The calling is
rooted in baptism, but how the seminary cultivates that sense of calling is, I think,
changing. There was a time when going to seminary largely meant getting Bible
knowledge and correct doctrine into your head and developing pastoral skills from
classroom and homework assignments. Today learning has to be set in a much
larger context, not just on campus but in real life settings. We are very intentional
about exposing students to life and ministry situations that are different than those
in which they grew up. Immersion trips to urban, ethnic, rural, innovative church
plants . . . these experiences change the way students learn theology on our old
Gothic campus. Hopefully these experiences fuel their passiontheir callingto
take the gospel to where people really are.

Mark Heckler: As a university that is Lutheran in character and ethos, Valparaiso
University responds to a call from God to serve as a witness in the world through
the pursuit of truth and from a position that stands under the cross of Christ. Our
institutional calling therefore compels us to attend to the intellectual, social, physi-
cal, and spiritual dimensions of our students lives.
We begin to cultivate vocation from the moment we communicate to a pro-
spective student and his or her family, when we talk about the value of the Valpo
experience. Here, we tell prospective students, you will discern your gifts and
consider how best to put them to use for the sake of the world. During our stu-
dents first year, the Valpo CORE course engages them in common readings and
discussion on our Lutheran understanding of vocation. This reflection continues
throughout their Valpo education: through the academic major, through co-curric-
ular activities, internships, and learning through service. At graduation, we reflect
on and celebrate the personal journey each student has taken, and how they have
become purpose-driven, thoughtful leaders, conscious of their gifts, and eager to
serve both church and society.
2. How have the histories of these two institutions contributed to this cultivation?
Meyer: Well, I suspect history would show that its always been a struggle for
Concordia Seminary. Transplanted from Germany to America, worshipping God
in German amid English speakers, then dropping the German language because
of the wars, understanding what unionism meant in the twentieth century and
now in the twenty-first, the decline of mainline denominations, Americas spiritual
eclecticism, and on and on. Gods word never changes but the contexts in which we
present law and gospel requires different nuances as time passes. Thats a challenge
to cultivating a sense of vocation in students. Its easy to forget that todays students
come from different times than the faculty comes from. Were challenged to excite
them to the same mission that summoned us decades ago. Without losing our heri-
tage, history shows us we have to adapt.

Heckler: Valparaiso University was purchased in 1925 by a group of business-
men who were members of the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod. Their work was
reinforced by the University Guild, a large group of LCMS women who created
a national fundraising network to support the new university. They imagined a
university designed to prepare Lutheran young people for vocations in the world
engineering, business, law, and other professionsin contrast to those institutions
designed to prepare pastors and church workers. It was an innovative idea, and one
that took some time to mature, given the decades of war and economic turmoil that
followed the universitys Lutheran founding. At the same time that it built its wide
array of liberal arts and professional degree programs, Valparaiso University chose
to maintain a large and active theology department to nurture and deepen the insti-
tutions understanding of vocation regardless of academic discipline or profession
while attending to the formation of students pursuing church vocations.
3. How do strategic plans and efforts at the institutions understand and shape
lay vocation?
Meyer: Two things jump into my mind. The first is that weve done an inadequate
job in the church with the priesthood of all believers. People get the idea that
theyre doing the priesthood if they are on a board at church, read the lessons, or
perhaps even help distribute communion. That strikes me as defining the vocation
of the laity as some mini-version of the pastor. Pastors are respected for the work
they do, but the pastors vocation is just one of many that God uses to advance his
good purposes in the world. I hope we can teach our students that they are not a
special clergy caste, but rather that they are shoulder-to-shoulder with the laity in
the work of the church. As one friend put it, Its not the Great Ordination but the
Great Commission.
Second, the seminarys new strategic plan is going to be more intentional about
offering resources to the laity. Were already in the business of making our theo-
logical resources available to all the baptized, not just to pastors. For example, each
year about one million of our offerings on iTunesU are downloaded. Seminary pro-
fessors are constantly writing and speaking about how to apply Gods word to the
issues of the day. Were going to become more intentional about putting their work
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
103
into resources that are appealing and helpful to laity living out the priesthood of
all believers.
Heckler: Valpo spends considerable time and intellectual energy in an ongo-
ing conversation about what it means to be called to use ones God-given gifts in
service to the world, and how to foster thoughtful reflection and discernment in our
students, who are Lutheran and non-Lutheran, Christian and non-Christian. Our
mission is focused on preparing graduates who will lead and serve in church and
society. And our strategic planthe result of two years of conversation involv-
ing more than a thousand faculty, staff, students, alumni, pastors, and community
leadersaims to deepen and strengthen our Lutheran identity and ethos even as
we become a more diverse institution. A key component of the strategic plan is the
new Institute for Leadership and Service, located in a new addition to the Chapel of
the Resurrection. Here, students will explore their sense of calling while engaging in
and reflecting upon their learning through service experiences where they put their
talents and their academic knowledge to use throughout the world to improve the
lives of people in need. In our strategic plan, we envision the day when every stu-
dent will have a significant, life-changing experiential learning opportunity grounded
in service to humanity.
4. How would you define vocation, particularly as it applies to laypeople, and
how have you seen it lived out in your institutional leadership?
Meyer: Vocation is calling. Follow me, Jesus said, and he doesnt permit us to
negotiate where we go or the conditions of our following. You are not your own;
you were bought at a price (1 Cor 6:20). Laypeople who know they are Christ-
followers get into positions and places that no clergy can enter. On the line in the
factory, in the board room, at the club . . . Laypeople who are not ashamed of being
Christian often have more credibility in real-world places than preachers do. In
my own stewardship of the presidents office, Ive come to see that the vision for
the churchs progress in the world often comes from lay people. Theyre out in the
real world, they have the Spirit, and so I take seriously their suggestions about the
direction of Concordia Seminary.
Heckler: Three components come to mind: grace, gifts, and gratitude. God knows
me and sees me, in my sinfulness, in my moments of doubt, in those times when I
do not trust him and venture forward on my own. It is amazing that, in spite of our
wanton and willful ways, God has been merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love. God has made a promise to all of us, that in spite of our sinful ways,
he will never leave us nor forsake us. God has bestowed us with unique talents and
abilities. And, more than all of this, God has given us the possibility of salvation
through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! What a
gift!
104
What can we possibly do in return for such generosity? Perhaps like the shep-
herd in the Christina Rossetti poem (In the Bleak Midwinter), I feel called to
give him my heart. I feel called to commit my life to serve God through higher
education, because God takes mercy on me, because God is generous, because I
have been saved through Jesus Christ. To serve as a college president is a great
responsibility, but it is an extraordinary blessing. Each day begins with gratitude,
seeks redemption, works toward reconciliation, and ends with Gods grace.
5. What texts or experiences have led to your own understanding of vocation
and the ministry of the baptized?
Meyer: Oh my, there are so many. The prophets and the apostles give us page
after page of Gods inspiration to seek and to save the lost. One non-biblical pas-
sage that has impressed me greatly comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He wrote, I
discovered later, and Im still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by
living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. One must completely
abandon any attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, or a
converted sinner, or a churchman (a so-called priestly type!), a righteous man or
an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. By this-worldliness I mean living
unreservedly in lifes duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and per-
plexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking
seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the worldwatching with
Christ in Gethsemane. That, I think, is faith; that is metanoia [repentance]; and that
is how one becomes a man and a Christian (from Letters and Papers from Prison,
to Eberhard Bethge, July 21, 1944).
Heckler: I was raised in the Church of the Brethren during the Vietnam War, so
much of my Christian identity remains rooted in issues of peace and social jus-
tice, moderation in that which is good and abstinence from that which is harmful.
Service was and is at the heart of the Brethren church and some of my earliest
memories of idealized role models are associated with young adults who served in
Brethren Volunteer Service or were conscientious objectors to military service and,
thus, lived out their Christian principles through working in hospitals and other
forms of voluntary service. Yet, for me, this link between ones work in the world
and faith in God remained elusive for decades. My wife and I became Lutherans
as adults precisely because Lutherans understand this idea of serving God through
ones work, that one can be called to many roles in life beyond ministry, and that
in living out ones calling in the world, we glorify God by using our God-given gifts
in service for the sake of the world.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
105
The Communion of Saints: Four Perspectives on Lay Vocation
106
The editorial team of Concordia Seminary and Valparaiso University formulated the following
questions to submit to a roundtable of thoughtful leaders from a variety of professional backgrounds.
Their perspectives represent a myriad of ways of envisioning how vocationthe priesthood of all believ-
ersis lived out in daily life.
The questions: What writers, texts, or experiences have contributed to your understanding of lay
vocation? How does your understanding of calling relate to leading and serving in church and society?

My understanding of my vocationglobal health nursingand my avocation


my calling and passion to serve through my expertise in my fieldcomes from my
reading of Robert Greenleafs The Servant as Leader (1982) and more importantly my
own experiential learning and research through my work with communities.
According to Greenleaf, who coined the phrase servant leadership,
The servant-leader is servant first . . . It begins with the natural feeling
that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one
to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader
first The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant
first to make sure that other peoples highest priority needs are being
served. The best test, though difficult to administer, is: Do those served
grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser,
freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?
I am a community-based participatory action researcher. Community-based par-
ticipatory action research (CPAR) is a collaborative approach to research that equitably
involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that
each brings. CPAR begins with a research topic of importance to the community with
the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve community
health and eliminate health disparities (Community-Based Participatory Research for Health,
ed. Minkler and Wallerstein, 2003). In essence, I work with communities rather than for
communities. Although the words with and for may seem like semantics, in servant
leadership they are not. In my work in Central America, I am not working on service
nor am I working on service learning. I am working to develop servant leaders, but I
am not working to develop servant leaders among our students. I am working to devel-
op servant leaders in those with whom I serve. This is facilitated through my listening,
empathy, willingness to change, collaboration, consensus building, and commitment
to the growth of people (Greenleaf, 1982). Each principle of servant leadership closely
aligns with principles of CPAR in an international setting. As a result, my research
is inextricably linked to servant leadership. The goal of my research is to develop a
sustainable program that will withstand my presence in the community long after my
departure. It is important to note that it is not the program that is truly sustainable but
the people who become servant leaders themselves who sustain it.
My understanding of my vocation, my calling to global health nursing, and my
avocation, in service as a servant leader, is supported by the following ideologies: As I
serve in Central America, I practice humility and am humbled; all of Gods people have
gifts to share; each is recognized for his or her expertise. I urge my students to seek
similarities in people and circumstances rather than focusing on differences, for we will
find far more similarities among Gods children, especially in the broader global society.
Finally, we should trust in the fact that we will learn far more from those we serve than
they will ever learn from us. As a result, those with whom we serve will be more likely
to become servant leaders themselves.
Amy Cory
Amy C. Cory is an assistant professor of nursing and directs a service-learning research project
in Nicaragua at Valparaiso University.

What follows are some personal working hypotheses Ive formed about dis-
cerning ones calling in life as a Christian layperson:
1. Solomon was right.
2. Work precedes the fall.
3. Its easy to get the wrong ideas in Sunday school.
4. I shouldnt expect too much.
5. We should talk about this more.
First, a caveat: Its obviously impossible to know whether my reflections below
represent what others think. I speak as a layperson but cannot speak for all laypeople.
I do know that I have genuinely thought all these thoughts. Im sure the theologically-
trained eye can catch some rookie mistakes here. Nevertheless, I ask that you read
with charity, and I welcome anyone to set me straight on the details.
Second, some context.
I was born in the rural Midwest where both of my parents were parochial
schoolteachers. I began my career in the nonprofit world, later picked up an MBA
from a good school, and spent the better part of two decades in corporate America,
much of it in the New York City marketing and advertising world. Since last summer,
Ive worked for Concordia Seminary. Throughout, Ive been active in congregations
as a Bible study leader and some elected roles. Ive been married for 20 years and have
two daughters.
For me, the word vocation conjures up the entirety of career, family, and
what I spend my life doing. To be frank, though, I quickly zero in on the career
piece. Ive had several jobs, and Ive been blessed to be truly energized by each one. I
think thats very rare. I have a fantastic marriage, and thats also rare. But even so, the
concept of finding my calling has been very unclear.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
107
So, here are my working hypotheses on vocation.
1. Solomon was right. Vanity, vanity! At some level, its all meaningless
but that also means that many vocational options are morally equal
before God. I see a freeing sense of possibility in Solomons leveling all
human pursuits under the sun to the same status: across a wide range of
human endeavor, no type of work enjoys higher moral status before God
than another.
Corollary: One of Gods greatest gifts is a job you like. There is nothing
better for a man than to enjoy his work, for this is his lot. In my college
years, those words struck me as a mid-life rant of despair. Now Im middle-
aged myself, and I notice that nothing better also suggests that it is the
very best that God may have in store for youthat beyond which nothing is
better to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see,
is from the hand of God (Eccl 2:24).
2. Work precedes the fall.
Whatever part of work now reflects a fallen creationthe thorns and the
drudgery, perhapsthe charge to subdue and rule (Gn 1:28) is part of
Gods perfect plan. Gods first command was to get busy. Work is good.
Corollary #1: Ambition to achieve falls within Gods perfect design for us.
Forming this thought has involved one of my lifes biggest struggles. I grew
up thinking the church equated ambition with greed or pride. Probably I just
wasnt catching the nuances, but I thought that success in business was primar-
ily valuable in Gods sight only to the extent that it led to something else such
as time or resources to dedicate to family or to holy activities.
But if work really existed in Eden, it may be okay to have career ambi-
tion. Already in Genesis 1, God sets ambitious goals for humankind and
challenges them to care for the world. Pursuing career success can be, by
itself, part of being the person God made me to be.
Corollary #2: Some jobs that seem to reflect Gods will the most may
actually have not been part of his original plan for creation.
Consider these two jobs: police battling crime, and social workers rescuing
abused children. The value of these jobs is enormous, but their value derives
from the broken, fallen state of things. If we believe that Christs death and
resurrection ultimately sets aright what was broken by the fall, then many so-
called less important jobs suddenly take on new light.
3. Its easy to get the wrong idea from Sunday school about your calling
in life (although I want to humbly acknowledge that what-they-were-
teaching and what-I-heard may be two different things!).
Consider the following:
108
The Bible is full of dramatic stories of God calling people to do stuff.
God wanted these people to know his specific will for them.
Some of the people in these stories quickly figured out what God want-
ed them to do, and some of them didnt. Life usually went well for those
who figured out what God wanted them to do and did it.
So far so good. The above summary fits a wide range of Sunday school
figures: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Saul, David, Samson, Balaam,
Jonah, the disciples, and Paul.
The wrong idea works like this: we leap from the presence of so many
great stories in Scripture to the conclusion that God routinely allows people
his people, anywayto have full confidence that they know the exact plans he
has for them. This leap is illogical and simply not consistent with the biblical
record. But Ive spent a lot of my life thinking it was true, and beating myself
up inside wondering why my sense of Gods call was less than exact.
As I see it, these conclusions are truer to Scripture:
Clearly perceiving a divine calling in ones life is the exception, not the rule.
For most, the clear sense of calling is an episode in a life, not the pat-
tern of the whole life.
Those holy heroes of faith who clearly found their calling were gener-
ally not looking for it, so much so that many disbelieved it at first.
All this leads to my fourth working hypothesis:
4. I shouldnt expect too much. Or better, I shouldnt expect what God
does not promise in his word.
The idea that God has a plan for your life may not be taught in your
church, but weve all heard it. It is widely accepted, and it is very attractive,
especially when we laypeople show up in church hoping for answers and
meaning. Properly understood, God surely has a plan for my life, but Ive
found that as vocational guidance this concept has slippery slopes that can
lead to guilt and despair. Overthinking vocation may actually keep me from
discovering it.
Finally, heres a parting request from my side of the lectern to those of you whose
vocation involves helping people like me grow in Gods grace:
5. Weclergy and laypeopleshould talk about this more . . . even if you
dont think you have a fully formed theology of vocation.
The world today is radically different from the one in which most of us
attended Sunday school and even more radically different from the time when
our core doctrinal positions were worked out. Its just possible that the church
has some catching up to do on describing what Gods calling looks and feels
like today. This may be true for church workers as much as for lay people.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
109
In my case, Ive spent vastly more Sunday mornings hoping to have the
sense of Gods calling that I imagined my pastor must have, than even being
curious about the way the guy at the other end of the pew may have been
sorting out his faith. Fortunately, I finally went over to meet that guyseveral
of them in fact. Four men in a small Lutheran church met every Saturday for
donuts and a chapter of the Bible, to kick around how their lives were going,
and to pray for each other. They welcomed me in when we relocated for my
job. None had been raised Lutheran, but each had felt his life was transformed
when he came to understand Gods grace through the Lutheran lens. I knew
vastly more Scripture than anyone else, but I quickly saw that I lacked the
charity and wisdom that they possessed. Over time and in no spectacular way,
they showed me much about the difference Gods grace can make in everyday
affairs, what kinds of inner transformation one can experience from knowing
Jesus, and how to find and express Gods calling in my life in my various roles
at work, home, and the community.
I have many unanswered questions about vocation, but Im confident of
this: as God puts us together in congregations, we can do more to help one
other sort through big and small vocational questions, through life priorities
and practical decisions. If youre a church professional, Id challenge you to take
the lead to talk about how youve experienced Gods calling, and to ask us to
tell you whats similar and whats different for us. Encourage us to read books
on the topic, even if they were published outside our own denomination. And
dont worry if you dont have all the answers. We probably can learn a lot from
each other.
Phil Ebeling
Philip Ebeling is the executive director of communications at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Because life rushes by us as anarchic and anonymous experiences, says G. K.


Chesterton, we throw at these experiences names like love, death, suffering, vanity
and happiness. Yet, we know that these experiences are infinitely vaster and more var-
ied than the name. Therefore, we sub-create a make-believe worldmaking stories
to characterize what we believe about the labels we affix to experience. A make-believe
story defines a label like courage by giving it duration as it develops in the storys
characters and plot. A story defines courage in a way that connects head and heart in
showing how our beliefs become embodied in how we behave. Simply put, stories say
what labels leave out. J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth mythology, known most famously
in the trilogy The Lord of the Rings, has for some time now helped me understand what
I mean when I claim to have a vocation, characterizing vocation in the character of
Frodo Baggins in the following ways:
110
1. A vocation is a response to an authoritative summons. Frodo is not heroic.
He is an undersized Hobbit, who, on the face of things, is ill-suited for the
role of ring-bearer. Frodos vocation is not an expression of his individual-
ism nor is it a work which fulfills a deep desire. Frodo becomes the ring-
bearer because he accepts Gandalfs authorized summons.
2. My vocation is not a personal possession. The my of my vocation, warns
C. S. Lewis, must not be confused with the my of my shoes or my toys.
A vocation is not a thing which I can do with as I please. Frodo is free to
decline, but not to define his call. It is his call only insofar as he receives
the role as a gift. Having accepted his role, Frodo says to Gandalf, I wish it
need not have happened in my time. So do I, responds Gandalf, and so
do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we
have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
3. Frodos vocation is the highest expression of his freedom. This freedom is
not how we think of freedom today. Frodos freedom means being free
from the encumbering enchantment of possessiveness that brought previous
ring-bearers to grief. It is to be free for the fulfillment of his vocation, which
means he must become morally capable of destroying the ring.
4. Frodo begins in dependence to become independent. Independence depends
on Frodo being in fellowship with the support of others which prepares
him to endure the deprivation of all but Sams community. And, in the end,
Frodo fails when he claims his independence from his vocation, saying, I
do not choose now to do what I came to do . . . The Ring is mine!
5. Frodo must accept his suffering without resentment. This demands that
he live by the philosophy of story. Chesterton noted that we demand an
excitement in our stories that we keep distant from our lives. Frodos voca-
tion proved the diremption of his domestic bliss. When tempted to despair,
Sam encourages him with the philosophy of story, saying, Its like in the
great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and
danger they were, and sometimes you didnt want to know the end because
how could the end be happy? . . . But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand,
I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only
they didnt. They kept going because they were holding on to something . . .
That theres some good in the world . . . and its worth fighting for.
6. Vocations beauty is in the eye of the beneficiary. Being faithful to a vocation
requires that we see its beauty. Though Frodo experiences the cost of his voca-
tion as futility for much of the book, it makes sense at the end when he looks
back on his sacrifice, and says to Sam, It must often be so . . . when things are in
danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
111
112
7. A vocation is a license to fail, not a certificate of expertise. Discussing
Frodos failure to destroy the ring, Tolkien explained that this ending char-
acterized the words of the Lords Prayer, Lead us not into temptation. We
pray this petition because it is possible to be personally overwhelmed by evil
even while the story moves toward a happy ending. This happy ending hap-
pened only because Gollum, whose life was several times spared by mercy,
steals back the ring from Frodo, then falls to hisand the ringsdestruc-
tion. This is the gist of the gospel story centered in the forgiveness that
weaves our personal and profound failures into a happily-ever-after ending.
The label vocation needs such storied characterization because, as C. S. Lewis
notes, To follow the vocation does not mean happiness, but once it has been heard,
there is no happiness for those who do not follow.
David Weber
David K. Weber is a lecturer in theology and program director of the Church Vocations
Symposium at Valparaiso University.

So thats what the communion of saints means!


It dawned on me gradually as the rhythm, language, colors, symbols, music,
and choreography of the liturgy knit me into that communion. As a transplant into
Lutheranism from a low-church Presbyterian community, my twelve-year-old self first
sensed something of the generations and cultures bound to each other in Christ. While
rooted in Gods naming me his child in baptism, I look back and understand that all
my callings came through the voices of that communion: past and present brothers and
sisters in Christ.
My mind fills with faces in a personalized All Saints icon: my parents and
grandparents, my pastors, a college friend, a nun, my husband and childrenthe
people through whom God has made, and is still, making me. For the key task before
each of us is not what career, marriage, and so on we may choose. Instead our focus
must be on who we are and who we shall become. That takes prayer and community.
I used to think that the disciples were callow when they asked Jesus how to pray.
Did their parents not teach them table graces and bedtime prayers? Enter the right
pastor at the right moment during my graduate studies: prayer, he noted, is how God
changes us. Alerted to that reality, I noticed that the new brothers and sisters whom
I was meeting in early Christian writings thought that way too. So when I met Evagrius
of Pontus, I more easily heard his observation that a theo-logos is simply one who prays.
Furthermore Evagrius insisted on the gifted nature of prayer: If you want to pray, you
have need of God who bestows prayer on the one who prays (1 Kgs 2:9 Septuagint).
1
Not until I was teaching part-time at a Jesuit college did I experience more fully
what I had read so much about. The college offered The Spiritual Exercises, a seven-
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
113
month journey of prayer rooted in scripture and conversations with God. Meeting
weekly with the retreat director, sharing the discipline with my husband, and conversing
periodically with our pastor, anchored my listening to God within a communion of
saints that helped me test and understand what I experienced in prayer.
For instance, I heard an unexpected harmony between the voices of Martin Luther
and Ignatius of Loyola. Luther had provided me with the refrain that underlies my chief
identity, I am baptized. Ignatius broadened my understanding of how to assess my
life in accord with this baptismal calling. Human beings, created and recreated in Christ,
are to praise, reverence and serve God our Lord.
2
Christ daily issues this calling to us
through our inner man from where he seeks to win over ever more of our selves until the
resurrection when we will be wholly inner and perfectly spiritual.
3
All around me are Christian college students preoccupied with wringing
something more specific out of God. What is my calling? they ask, meaning what
is the right major that will lead to the right job that is Gods will for me? They fear
that if they do not get this one thing right, they will have missed their lifes purpose. In
response, I have directed a mentoring program and lead retreats which aim to engage
students in the pillars of discernmentprayer and community.
The Mentoring Program, within the Valparaiso University Center for Church
Vocations, matches students with Christians in the community for the purpose of
exploring calling. The regular meetings open space for students to reflect on how
they might fulfill their Christian calling generally and within the profession they are
considering. What does a Christian social worker, or hospital administrator, or (fill in
the blank) look like? How does baptismal calling intersect with and shape ones other
callings? Mentoring takes seriously Luthers own approach to vocations in the world
over the course of a year while the retreat does this intensively over a weekend.
What are you seeking? asks Jesus (Jn 1:38). We pursue this question
throughout the Life Tree Contemplative Retreat as individuals and with the community
of fellow retreatants. Equipped with the Ignatian examen, retreatants ponder where they
have sought God, or not. Done daily, this prayer encourages awareness of when we
include or exclude God from our lives. We celebrate the former with thankfulness, but
we ask for Gods help in the latter. Prepared by the examen and a night and morning
of silence, retreatants return to speech with O Lord, open my lips in Matins. After
hearing Psalm 139 in two prior services, retreatants practice lectio divina where they
prayerfully listen to that same psalm which challenges and comforts us that God
knows us and our paths. The Life Tree exercise which follows offers a means to think
about what has led us to our current place. Retreatants draw a tree whose fruit is the
significant moments and people of their lives and then listen to the interpretation
offered by their small groups. What friends, mentors, and pastors see of our lives
can indicate not only where we have been but offer ideas about where we might go.
Moreover we need the perspective of others who see things in our lives that we might
not notice.
God has told us that it is not good that the man should be alone (Gn 2:18)
and that certainly is true in our seeking, listening, and doing Gods calling in our lives.

114
Praise be to God for the communion of saints who help each other notice the many
ways we may praise, reverence and serve him.
Lisa Driver
Lisa D. Maugans Driver is an associate professor of theology and program director in the
Center for Church Vocations at Valparaiso University.
Endnotes
1
Robert E. Sinkewicz, Chapters on Prayer 61 and 59 in Evagrius of Pontus: Greek Ascetical Corpus (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 199.
2
George E. Ganss, trans., The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: A Translation and Commentary
(Chicago: Loyola Press, 1992), 32.
3
Martin Luther, On Christian Liberty, trans. W. A. Lambert, ed. Harold J. Grimm (Minneapolis: Fortress,
2003), 33.
ARTICLES
COncordia
ournal
J
The Human Face of Justice
Reclaiming the Neighbor in Law, Vocation, and Justice Talk
Leopoldo A. Snchez M.
Any attempt towards a theology and practice of justice (iustitia) must begin and
end with some neighbor in mind. Let us define justice theologically as that righ-
teousness of the law (iustitia legis), which God prescribes in the Decalogue so that hon-
orable works are taught and carried out in society.
1
Accordingly, doing justice amounts
to doing what is just or righteous before men (coram hominibus) in accordance with
Gods law. While the Lutheran confessors warn that the righteousness of the law (or
righteousness of reason) can never replace the righteousness of faith (iustitia fidei),
which alone declares and makes us righteous before God (coram deo) through faith in
Christ, they still praise such righteousness of the law because God demands it, uses it to
restrain the flesh in civil society, and honors it with temporal rewards.
2
While calls for justice may implicitly assume a neighbor, such appeals do not always
or necessarily argue explicitly for the neighbor in his or her own right as the point of
departure and arrival for defining what justice looks like. Without a neighbor-oriented
approach to justice, we risk designing or maintaining social programs or projects that
remain immune to adaptation as the needs of the neighbor change over time. We may say
that, by giving a human face to justice, the neighbor serves as a critical point of departure
for holding accountable individual Christians, congregations acting as corporate citizens in
their communities, and Christian social agencies in their theoretical and practical approach-
es to justice. The neighbor serves as the critical lens for a constructive approach to service
that takes into account and is flexible to changing needs while remaining sensitive to how
an assessment of needs often implies a certain conception of the neighbors identity.
In this essay, I argue that, from a practical point of view, there is no access to
obedience to the law, faithful vocation, active righteousness, or whatever else justice
before our fellow human beings might be called or entail (e.g., charity, mercy, political
involvement, social justice, orthopraxis), apart from some concrete neighbor.
3
It fol-
lows that there is no sound theology or practice of justice apart from some biblically
and pastorally sound view or conceptualization of neighbors. We will explore our thesis
by showing how the centrality of the neighbor shapes a sound Lutheran approach to
law, vocation, and justice.
4
We will then show how various models of justice imply or
Leopoldo A. Snchez M. teaches systematic theology in the Werner R. H.
Krause Chair for Hispanic Ministries and is director of the Center for Hispanic
Studies at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. An earlier version of this essay was
presented at the Fall 2012 Theological Symposium at Concordia Seminary.
117 Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
derive from some definition of the neighbors identity, highlighting the benefits and
limits of such models and offering further strategies to avoid misconstruing the neigh-
bor. We will conclude with some reflections on the implications of our thesis and some
constructive proposals for nurturing a spirituality of justice.
I. The Who of Justice?: Reclaiming a Neighbor-Oriented Approach to Law and
Vocation
Any Christian attempt to define what justice is must be grounded in the law of
Godparticularly, in the second table of the law, which teaches us what the will of God
is for us as we relate to others. Luthers criticism of self-designed or special works of holi-
ness conceived apart from Gods commandments guards against approaches to justice
that are not grounded in Gods word.
5
And yet, arguing for what is just and right in terms
of the law of God can become rather abstract. Certainly, the law of God, as we know it
from the Decalogue, points us to the that of justicethat is to say, its content, what you
must do or not do as God demands. But the law of God does not point us to the how of
justicethat is to say, to its lived forms or expressions, which indeed are manifold and
depend on our particular contexts of service where actual neighbors are cared for.
The law says that we must love our neighbor. But what exactly does love look
like? How exactly do we practice it? Christians with the same commitment to the law of
God will have different takes on what makes for just or righteous practice on behalf of
some neighbor. A diversity of approaches to the practice of justice should not surprise
us. There is a measure of freedom and even debate among Lutherans concerning how
they should go about fulfilling the law of love. In paradoxical terms, we may say that
the law of God actually allows us the freedom to be just. Such freedom is bound to the
word in its content and bound to the neighbor in its form.
How then do we account theologically for such freedom and diversity of form
in the practice of the law in the world? At this point, the Lutheran teaching on voca-
tion directs us to the God-established contexts in creation where love is exercised and
the law of God is fulfilled. Vocation, that office or station from where you serve some
neighbor, makes the law concrete and effective.
6
Through the exercise of vocations,
humans become masks of God through which the Creator provides for the needs of
many neighbors.
7
What the fulfillment of the law actually looks like in this or that situa-
tion can only be arrived at or contextualized meaningfully by considering the vocation(s)
through which God has called us to love some neighbor or sets of neighbors.
Apart from some vocation, it is hardindeed, impossibleto know and grasp
what love your neighbor as yourself actually means. Since the neighbor is a moving
reality, the command to love is not a matter of a law from which we could reduce in
advance what is right but takes shape on the basis of each mans living neighbor and
his varying needs.
8
Lutheran theology allows us to make the move from the law in the
abstract to the law as it is carried out specifically through vocation. In the civil realm,
for instance, vocation shapes how one thinks about what is just, right, fair, and reason-
able in this or that civil law for some neighbor one has been called to serve. In appeals
for a just society, the use of reason among Christians with the same commitment to
118
Gods law will often yield different forms of righteousness. Some neighbor is, or at
least should be, in mind in such debates. Lutheran theology helps us realize that any
debate on how the law of love should be carried out stems from our vocational loca-
tion, which directs us to those neighbors we have been called to serve.
One could say that the law of God, in terms of its content, stands above this or
that particular vocation or station in life. Otherwise stated, although love is fulfilled as
one does his vocation, love may also compel us to act outside of our vocations.
9
It is
true that, given the opportunity and the means, the Christian will serve any neighbor
who needs his love. Gods love must be extended even to ones enemies, for that mat-
ter (Mt 5:4348). Luther draws a helpful distinction between the Christian who acts on
behalf of others, and is therefore responsible for neighbors served through his voca-
tion, and the Christian who acts as an individual or for his own sake (i.e., outside of
a particular vocation) in his relationship to others.
10
We operate both as a Christian
(or Christ-person) and as a secular person (or world-person).
11
As a Christian
individual, love is above vocation, and I may suffer all things even for those who seek
to harm me. And yet, if everyone is my neighbor in general or too broadly speaking, no
one can be my neighbor in particular. Love then becomes too universal, too diluted,
and too idealistic. As a Christian acting in the world, under my vocation(s), I am bound
to specific neighbors who I am called to defend and even fight for.
Whether we speak of the Christian as Christ-person or secular-person, the
neighbor in either case configures vocation and thus our Christian identity before the
world (coram mundo). While the law of God may be seen as fixed, and therefore rep-
resents unchanging imitation, vocation is flexible and sensitive to changing situations
in the practice of Gods command of love because it addresses the neighbors need at
any point in time in the here and now.
12
Seen from a neighbor-oriented angle, vocation
paradoxically makes the command of love real or incarnate by narrowing its sphere of
influence to concrete neighbors, yet at the same time is wide open to being dynamically
adaptable and challenged to enlarge or modify its sphere of influence as the needs of
old neighbors change and new neighbors are encountered in life.
Vocation itself, like law, can easily become a staticindeed, lifelessconcept unless it
is subordinated to some living neighbor God has given us to serve. In practical terms, voca-
tion is the calling through which the law is carried out for the sake of neighbors. The neigh-
bor alone gives a human face to law, vocation, and thus justice. We may not always know
what justice (or for that matter, injustice) is, but we often know what it looks like. Through
the neighbor, God teaches us something about justice and the shape it takes in a given situa-
tion, how justice must be carried out for and with him or her. And so, in an approach from
the bottom up, from below, we begin with the who of justice, with my or our neighbor
in order to get a sense for the how of justice, the means to best serve our neighbor.
God has given us vocations and neighbors. While there is nothing wrong with
fitting neighbors and their needs into already established God-given vocations, our the-
sis also suggests that there is a reciprocal need to shape and assess critically our voca-
tions as old and new God-given neighbors challenge us over time with different oppor-
tunities for service. It is the neighbor who shapes what we will do in and through our
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
119
vocations and callings. Such a neighbor-oriented approach to law, vocation, and justice
will inevitably lead to a certain degree of tension even among Christians.
We should not be surprised, for instance, that the weight Christians give to vari-
ous factors in the current debate on immigration law depends on what neighbors they
are advocating for.
13
Those who argue for more worker visas for immigrants to fulfill
labor demands may have in mind the needs of the farmers who have to make a living
and feed us all. Those who argue for more border control may be thinking about pro-
tecting state residents from drug cartels and that small minority of people who enter
the U.S. illegally for malevolent reasons. Those who argue for a path to legalization of
undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. through no fault of their own before
the age of sixteenalso known as the dreamershave in mind neighbors who can
no longer be seen as foreigners because they have now each become de facto one of
us, perhaps our childs best friend, a member of our community. What responsibili-
ties do we have to all these sets of neighbors? The complexity of the debate on immi-
gration law is illustrative of the reality that, at a fundamental level, those representing
various sides of the debate are advocating for some neighbor from some vocational
position. Such varied forms of advocacy, especially concerning ethical issues where no
clear and irrefutable command of God is available, correspond to various opinions on
what is fair, just, and reasonable in current immigration law. The neighbor shapes how
we act in our vocations for the sake of justice.
One does not only look to ones vocation to decide how to help the neighbor,
although that is not excluded. One also looks at the neighbor to figure out what one
should do through his vocation. This is an unstated assumption that can get lost in our
arguments for justice, namely, that some neighbor has shaped our views of justice and
the practices that follow from them. The manner in which one pictures the neighbor
influences the manner in which one applies justice. To pick on a classic example, if
the neighbor is not reduced essentially to a soul in a body, but is seen as both soul and
body in one person created by God, then, he or she will most likely be approached not
only as one who needs salvation for the soul, but also as a beneficiary and doer of
justice in what concerns the needs of the body. A holistic biblical approach to the
neighbor will focus both on his spiritual and bodily needs, highlighting the need for jus-
tification before God (coram deo) through the preaching of the gospel and justice before
men (coram hominibus) through good works without confusing the goals of the righteous-
ness of faith and the righteousness of the law.
14
Our example is simply illustrative of
our main point, namely, that the way one defines or views the neighbor significantly
shapes ones practice of justice.
In short, if the neighbor is the beginning and the end of all our justice talk, then,
the who of justice shapes the how of justice. Because certain neighbors are closest to
us, they are the ones who receive the priority of our love. We serve some first, then
others, as we are able. In either case, neighbors shape our vocational priorities and
commitments, as well as exceptions made outside of such priorities. Therefore, specific
neighbors dictate or guide the forms of our advocacy, fundraising efforts, and good
works for the sake of justicewhether they come from individual Christians, churches
120
acting as corporate citizens in the neighborhood, or Christian social agencies. We see
then that the teaching on vocation, inextricably tied to some neighbor or sets of neigh-
bors, gives us a helpful theological lens to interpret the nature and aims of justice.
All who call for justice appeal to the law of love, and then typically move to discuss
how such love should be practiced. They do not do so in some unbiased way, but from
some vocational stance, according to the calling God has given them at this or that time
in their lives. In so doing, they have been advocating for some neighbor. Consequently,
the models of justice that we propose address, or should address, the needs of specific
neighbors and reflect on the best means to help them. Lutheran theology calls us to keep
the neighbor at the center of our law, vocation, and justice talk. We realize that various
models of justice attempt to define the who and the how of justice by speaking from a
particular place where one learns to love that neighbor whose life one is fighting for.
II. Who Is My Neighbor?: Benefits and Limits of Defining the Neighbor in
Models of Justice
A neighbor-shaped view of law and vocation makes us aware that every model of
justice constructs the neighbor in a certain way. Everyone who calls for justice does not
only have a neighbor, but a neighbor in mind. We think of, define, or conceptualize our
neighbor in a particular way. Each one constructs a picture of his or her neighbors. Ideally,
a reason for doing so may be to get a consistent and broad grasp on the needs of neigh-
bors in order to serve them better. When we become aware of this often implicit dynamic
at work in appeals to and proposals for justice, we also realize no picture of the neighbor
is wholly complete and thus no model of justice is meant to encompass every expression
of what living rightly or justly in the world entails. Models of justice as aid or relief, sustain-
able development through partnerships, restoration and/or rehabilitation, and preparation
for the gospel, assume various definitions of the neighbor. We can learn something from
each of these heuristic models, understanding also that their concerns at times intersect in
real-life approaches to the justice. Such models have their benefits and limits.
If we conceive of the neighbor theologically as one who receives the aid of a lov-
ing God, that picture of the neighbor will lead to a model of justice as aid or relief.
15

Such model in turn may yield a picture of the church in which Christians become instru-
ments of Gods compassion to help neighbors meet their immediate and long-term
needs. In this approach to justice, the neighbor appears primarily as the passive yet joyful
receiver of Gods gifts and blessings through his people. While the passivity of humanity
tends to highlight well the gratuity of God, it also tends to encourage an understanding
of mercy as a one-way street from the giver who serves as the mask on earth of a merci-
ful God to the poor receiver in need of Gods provisions. Moreover, while such a view
of justice takes as its starting point the generosity of Gods people, empowered by the
gospel and poured out to many through their vocations, it does not yet necessarily move
beyond generosity towards a more active engagement with the poor in the community
that can also address some of the deeper structural causes of injustice affecting him or
her.
16
It is evident that a passive-receptive model of the neighbor will have its benefits
and limits in articulating and implementing a theology and practice of justice.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
121
What if we see our neighbor not only as someone in need of our aid, but also as
one who is capable of contributing in some sense to his own wellbeing and the health
of his community? Now, the neighbor becomes someone who is held accountable for
how he lives his life and uses any resources given to him. The neighbor is portrayed
in a more active capacity, as one having moral agency, and thus as a potential con-
tributor in the work of addressing community needs, one who takes ownership in the
process of justice.
17
We move from generosity for the needy to collaboration with a
stakeholder, from relief to partnership. Along these lines, John Nunes, president of
Lutheran World Relief (LWF), has spoken of contributive justice, which assumes we
cannot see justice merely as a one-way street where one gives and another receives, but
as a partnership where the richer and the poorer share with one another what God has
given both of them in this life.
18
While relief efforts are a blessing in times of dire need
and emergencies, building relationships and collaborating with the needy over time
yields partnerships that could last a lifetime and thus encourage the churchs ongoing
solidarity with, commitment to, and collaborative work with needy neighbors.
19
In a
model of justice conceived as sustainable development through partnerships, we move
from seeing the poor as objects of our generosity to seeing them as our friends, and
thus open ourselves to mutually enriching relationships and works.
What if the neighbor is also seen as a human being who, though a sinner, is
worth both aiding and restoring to a fuller life not on the basis of what she does or
leaves undone, but rather because she is Gods creature? We then add an argument for
justice based on moral agency and responsibility, which acknowledges to some extent
human capacity for acting justly in matters from below, as well as acknowledging sin
and thus bad choices or decision-making. At the same time, we also have a broader
appeal to justice on the basis of the worth and dignity of created life and Gods desire
to restore such life through Christ. How else do individual Christians, churches act-
ing as corporate citizens, or Christian social agencies, for example, justify programs
for neighbors suffering from drug and alcohol addictions, unmarried single mothers
without means to support their babies, or legal assistance for undocumented immi-
grants who have broken the law to join their families in the U.S.? In such expressions
of justice for vulnerable neighbors we discern a balance of judgment and rehabilitation,
recognition of our fallen condition and our need for a new beginning.
When justice is seen in terms of restoration and/or rehabilitation, we acknowl-
edge the paradoxical nature of humans who are both Gods good creatures and yet fully
corrupted. Luthers description or construction of the Christian as simul iustus et peccator
is skeptical of human capacity for good worksthe ability to always get it right, or
build ones own paradise or great life on earthbut also committed to the dignity
of all human life and the hope for its restoration and flourishing through the gospel in
what concerns righteousness before God (coram deo) through faith in Christ and through
all manner of works of love in what concerns justice before men (coram hominibus).
20

Luthers paradox helps us to think of the neighbor not only as the object of retributive
(punishing, curbing, and/or accusing) justice, but also as one who is in need or restor-
ative or rehabilitative justice.
21
One may say that a model of justice as restoration and/
122
or rehabilitation is shaped by a view of neighbors as the sinful siblings of Cain, who
like Adams child, are both judged by God for their sins and marked and protected by
God as his creation.
22
In their vocations, humans serve their neighbors as masks of
God in his wrath as well as his love.
23
Such a view of human nature acknowledges the
need for an approach to justice that includes deterrence, judgment, forgiveness, and
finally correction, given the reality of our sin as well as the eschatological hope for the
restoration of Gods creation to the fullness of life in the life of the world to come.
Guided by the Spirit and empowered by the gospel, the churchs work of justice in the
world, either corporately or as individuals, becomes a sort of sign already now of the
fullness of life in the kingdom of God that is yet to come.
24
If one sees the neighbor as belonging to the world God so loved, someone for
whom Christ died, this too shapes a certain view of justice. Justice at the level of indi-
vidual care and of dealing with structural causes of injustice becomes a means to get a
hearing for the proclamation of the gospel. Justice becomes a form, and perhaps even
the preeminent form, of praeparatio evangelica or a bridge to the proclamation of the gos-
pel. In this way of approaching justice, the assumption is that, if justice is done rightly,
neighbors in need will then recognize that Gods love is for everyone, including them.
Such a model, which sees justice in evangelistic terms, has a neighbor in mind who will
only hear the gospel if the church lives the gospel out in the world. Witness through
deeds of love opens the door for witness as proclamation of the gospel.
In a model of justice as preparation for the gospel, the neighbor says, If I can
trust you with the little temporal things, then, I can trust you with the big spiritual
ones. Otherwise stated, if I can trust you with matters of justice (iustitia legis), then
I can also trust your message of justification by faith (iustitia fidei). A strength of the
model is its ability to see the work of justice not only as empowered by the gospel,
but also as sensitive to the distinctive gospel-rooted character and orientation of the
churchs work in the world. A potential danger lies in fostering the view that the justi-
fication for helping neighbors is their conversion, which may lead to a lack of appre-
ciation for Gods command of love and our everyday vocations while also seeing love
to the neighbor only as a means to the end of conversion.
25
Either the work of gospel
proclamation is turned into a condition for fulfilling the law of love, which God com-
mands in any case even apart from evangelism efforts, or our gospel-empowered works
are seen as a cause of others conversions and thus turned into replacements for the
actual work of the Spirit through the gospel.
How one imagines or constructs the neighbor will impact significantly ones the-
ology and practice of justice. Is the neighbor one who receives the gifts of mercy God
showers through his people? Yes, and yet the neighbor is more than one who receives.
Is he a moral agent, who in spite of his sins still has intrinsic worth in Gods eyes as
his good creation, and thus can be seen as a co-contributor, partner, and friend in the
work of justice (even if such justice is directed primarily towards him)? Yes, and yet
the neighbor may not always be at a place in his life, especially when tragedies hit hard,
where he is able or ready to contribute. Suddenly, the receptive model has an impor-
tant place. Is the neighbor one who needs to be held accountable for his sins, but also
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
123
rehabilitated and restored to life? Yes, and yet rehabilitation and restoration may take
different forms. Theologically speaking, one will have to think of how the law and the
gospel fit into such an approach to justice. What the law can accomplish as a curbing
force or deterrent does bring about a measure of discipline in the life of many neigh-
bors. But there is also the law that accuses of sin so that the gospel may do its work of
restorationa work that assumes the empowerment of the gospel to help neighbors
fight against the flesh and the devil every day. There are temporal and spiritual forms of
rehabilitation, as it were. Finally, is the neighbor the one for whom Christ died and thus
approached as a field one works in, nurtures, and in so doing prepares for the planting
the seed of the gospel as God gives us that opportunity? Yes, and yet the neighbor is
served in other ways too. The models of justice presented above focus on particular
definitions and needs of neighbors, and characterize to some degree how Lutherans
(and even Christians), either implicitly or explicitly, tend to approach justice issues. We
have, or should have, a neighbor in mind.
So how does one avoid the danger of misconstruing the neighbor? We offer only
some brief reflections on obstacles to and strategies for getting the neighbor right, as
it were. In doing so, we understand this task is a work in progress we undertake with a
measure of humility and yet boldly because God has called us to serve our neighbors. A
potential danger in a neighbor-oriented theology of justice is to turn the neighbor into
a mere idea, to objectivize the neighbor, in such a way that one no longer takes into
account his changing needs and thus the forms of justice that best serves him at a par-
ticular time and place. The neighbor then can also become a static or abstract category,
not my or our actual neighbors. Changing needs will require different models of
justice over time. Policies and budgets will have to be revised to adjust to new realities.
We have to let the neighbor permeate our thinking and actions, helping us move from
the who to the how of justice. If one does not take the time to know ones neighbor, and
thus makes her after ones own image, one runs into what is called well-meaning but
misguided help. The proverbial image of the rusting tractor once sent to a poor people
in the third world, who had no means of maintaining it after receiving it, may serve as
an image of justice poorly conceiveda consequence of not getting the neighbor right,
of not moving beyond generosity towards local partnership and ownership.
Lack of familiarity with some neighbors reduces the chances of understand-
ing their situation and doing something about it. Someone has to visit the neighbor to
get at who the neighbor really is, and what his needs really are. Through visitation, we
care for the neighbor even as we listen to and learn from the neighbor. You eat, talk,
and dance with them. You live with them, share with them, learn from them, and are
enriched by these reciprocal relationships. In the typical case scenario of TV shows,
when the undercover boss actually visits his workers in the field, he realizes how little
he really knows about the struggles and aspirations of those under his supervision and
care. We are reminded that the neighbor is a person, not an idea, and so the neighbor
will have to continually critique and fine-tune our models of justice, policy, budget, and
actions.
26
A model of justice that moves from seeing the needy as recipients of mercy
to friends who works with us in addressing injustices at a grassroots level is more likely
124
to allow for a deeper understanding of the neighbors needs over longer periods of
time. Nothing can take the place of visiting the neighbor and sharing with him or her
face to face. This approach is, in some way, the beginning of justice, the work of prepa-
ration for the work of justice.
An inevitable reality of a neighbor-oriented approach to justice relates, quite
simply, to the reality that there are way too many needy neighbors to serve. When one
looks at so many needy and suffering neighbors, one knows one cannot possibly serve
them all and so one has to prioritize from a vocational standpoint. Vocation allows us
to focus, and in that sense it is a blessing. One needs to be biased, as it were. In advo-
cating for one neighbor, one inevitably leaves another behind. A decision to support
one neighbor is in a sense a decision not to support another one. This is in some ways
inevitable. It is also a sobering thought. We are given many neighbors to think about,
but we cannot serve them all. Having said that, a vocational focus can become a danger
if, when given the opportunity to be challenged by a new neighbor and his need, we
put vocation above love, or use vocation conveniently to exclude important neighbors
who do not fit neatly into our vocations.
27
This could lead us to miss opportunities for
service, for addressing an important neighbor God may be placing before our very eyes.
We should, therefore, have an openness to learn about neighbors who have needs even
if they do not always neatly fit into our vocations. When we do so, we let other neigh-
bors help us over time to reassess their place in our lives vis--vis our present vocations.
We must also remember that we do not always see clearly only from our voca-
tion. Social location shapes how we think of and actor dont acttoward neighbors.
Many Lutherans in the U.S. arguably may not see the need for justice because of their
middle-class background. Living in a culture of abundance gets in the way of seeing
the need of some neighbors, who are perhaps needier than those we serve in our cur-
rent vocations. Such an argument is not meant to belittle our vocations, wherever God
has placed us to serve. Still we recognize that vocational location, which includes social
location, is limiting to some extent, in that it can make us significantly unaware of the
most vulnerable neighbors among usincluding Christians in other parts of the world,
who have significant needs and challenges.
This neglect of more vulnerable neighbors is a danger that bishops in Latin
America highlighted through the use of preferential option for the poor language.
28

In a context where social and political institutions of the temporal or left-hand kingdom
no longer addressed vast problems of injustice and poverty among some of the most
vulnerable neighbors in society, bishops felt the need to teach that a certain priority of
love should be reserved for the neediest neighbors in our midst. This basic principle of
Christian love is applied de facto at home, church, work, and in our communities without
neglecting other neighbors, who may not be as vulnerable but we have still been called
to serve, or without making our work of justice on behalf of the poor a condition for
or synonymous with justification before God.
29
In keeping with Gods concern in
Scripture for the care of poor, widowed, orphaned, and alien neighbors (cf. Dt 10:18
19, 24:1722, Ps 146:69, Jer 7:6, Zec 7:10, Mal 3:5), there must be some place in any
theology of vocation for the practice of justice among the most needy in our midst.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
125
III. Working and Praying for the Neighbor: Towards a Spirituality of Justice
While God provides for many neighbors through the stations or offices occupied
by both Christians and non-Christians, a spirituality of justice openly acknowledges the
work of the Spirit of Christ through Gods people in their various God-given voca-
tions. By giving us neighbors to serve, the Holy Spirit shapes the church through the
gospel after the likeness of Jesus Christ in at least two ways.
30
First, the Spirit with
whom Jesus is anointed to be the suffering servant in his life and mission shapes
Christians to make room in their lives to serve others (cf. Mk 10:3545, Phil 2:111,
2 Cor 8:115). Second, the Spirit with whom Jesus is anointed to be the faithful Son
who puts his life and mission in the Fathers hands shapes Christians to cry out to the
Father (Abba) in prayer for the sake of others, trusting in his mercy and deliverance (cf.
Mk 14:3238, Rom 8:917).
31
It is through our daily interactions with neighbors that,
practically speaking, the Holy Spirit shapes Christ in our lives so that we become his
caring hands to others as we serve them and pray to the Father for them. A spirituality
of justice nurtures these dimensions of life in the Spirit of Christ.
As we alluded to earlier, a spirituality of justice acknowledges the limits of our
work on behalf of many suffering neighbors. Because vocation does not allow us to
serve every neighbor, it helps us to focus our strength and wisdom on behalf of some
specific ones. This is liberating because we no longer have the crushing weight of the
entire suffering world upon our shoulders. In Christ alone, God redeems the suffer-
ing world. The burden thus is made lighter for us, and in this we experience vocation
as a divine gift. We serve the neighbors we have been called to serve first. When the
opportunity arises and the means are available, we also gladly serve as many neighbors
as possible for the sake of love with the strength God provides for the task. But voca-
tion gives us a focus that allows us to give specific neighbors the attention, assistance,
companionship, or partnership they need. This makes love, not an ideal, but the real
thingan incarnational love. Such a limit or boundary imposed on our creaturely
capacity for work on behalf of suffering neighbors reminds us that we are not Christ
(or saviors of the world) but his servants, and that the fruits of our labor are not ulti-
mately ours but Gods.
Vocation reminds us that in a world full of suffering, we can only address justice
from a particular, realistic place. We will simply not get to some suffering neighbors.
We are reminded, therefore, that it is ultimately God who preserves the whole world
at times, even in spite of us and our injusticesand works to preserve the lives of
many neighbors even when we are quiet and apathetic, or just asleep.
32
This means that,
when we do the work of justice, we must also make time for rest and prayer. When
we rest in God, both literally and in prayer, we acknowledge that God is at work even
when we are not. This insight prevents us from idolizing our works of justice. In the
process, we acknowledge how we have failed in our works, and thus we make space in
our busy lives to confess our injustices before God towards suffering neighbors, seek-
ing his forgiveness and strength to be led anew in the ways of justice. We begin to see
that, in this life where Christians still struggle against the flesh, our good works of jus-
tice are not without sin. But our life as Gods saints is also not without forgiveness, and
126
our vocation remains pure and holy because it is established through Gods Word.
33
As stated before, a neighbor-oriented approach to justice is liberating because
it allows us to advocate for some neighbor. Vocation allows us to stand up for some
neighbor and not apologize for defending and looking after him or her. It allows us
to fight for someone, to promote his or her wellbeing, and even to persuade others
to join us in supporting our work among them. Vocation does not have to be seen in
individualistic terms, as it is often portrayed, because our vocations can also compel us
to get together with people who share the same or similar values and priorities, and to
persuade others to join our common cause for the sake of some neighbors. The mul-
tidimensional nature of vocation, where many neighbors and their advocates intersect,
allows us to appreciate others vocations too, and the ways all Christians pour out their
lives as a living sacrifice for various neighbors who need people to work for and with
them in alleviating suffering. We are thus encouraged to pray for neighbors who do
not fit into our vocations as well as for those brothers and sisters who serve them more
directly. We marvel at Gods superabundant love, poured out through so many servants,
and thank them for their sacrifices on behalf of neighbors we may never get to meet.
There is a collective orientation to vocation one can encourage or nurture among
church members, who as good Americans tend to be individualistic. A spirituality of
justice is not to be thought exclusively as an individual enterprise, but as a communal
responsibility and privilege. The church does not necessarily have to make an official
corporate pronouncement on a social issue for vocation to take on a collective trajectory
or movement.
34
Christians are free to join others who advocate for similar neighbors and
work towards opening the eyes of many to their needs.
35
Larger problems require larger
groups of people to solve them. There are times when, in the absence of a functioning
system of justice in certain communities, the church may have to step in not only in terms
of individual members but also corporately to serve neighbors who have been neglected
or served poorly by left-hand temporal institutions.
36
When that is the case, we move
from individual to collective vocation, and begin to ask questions not only about personal
responsibilities and commitments but also about deeper structural causes of injustice and
constructive structural solutions to alleviating suffering for larger groups of neighbors.
In the rush to go to work for the neighbor, a spirituality of justice cannot forget
the need for prayer. It is challenging to see how Jesus works for many suffering people,
but at times leaves the needy crowds so as not to give up his time with the Father in
prayer.
37
As the Spirit shapes us into the likeness of Jesus, we learn to work for the
needy even as we pray to God for the needy. How often do we pray for the poor in
church? How often do we serve the needy in our church or neighborhood? When we
do so, we are the masks of Christ, if we may say so, in a suffering world. The Spirit
configures the life patterns of the church after her own Lords sacrificial love for others
and prayer on their behalf. In a spirituality of justice, we do not pray without working,
but we also do not work without praying. As the monks used to say, ora et labora, prayer
and work go together. In prayer, we seek guidance from the Father to do the work of
justice among his creatures, to work our hardest and to use our brightest to care for suf-
fering neighbors in our midst, including those that might not always get our attention.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
127
A spirituality of justice will allow for self-reflection, as we look at ourselves in
the mirror of Gods law. When compared to the rest of the world, living in a society of
abundance should raise some questions. Am I a good steward of the abundance God
has showered upon me? Should I care for more neighbors in my family, neighborhood,
or somewhere further out there in the world? If with great power comes great responsi-
bility, as the saying goes, then, perhaps our circle of neighbors has to expand somehow.
If so, then, should those in positions of power and privilege begin to see themselves
as servants of the powerless, as those in solidarity with them? Those in positions of
power or influence can act as advocates too. Like Jesus, the servant who did not come
to serve but to be served, Christians in high positions and with greater capacity to help
display their power in the world through service and sacrifice.
A spirituality of justice will encourage an approach to working for and with
the poor neighbor that is neither romantic nor utilitarian. It is well-know that Luther
denounced those who, inspired in the idealization of the monastic vow of poverty and
the practice of almsgiving, justified the condition of poverty as a holy state before God
and the work of charity as a means for the giver to earn forgiveness of sins.
38
Similar atti-
tudes are seen today when Christians may praise or look up to the poor for their lack of
attachment to material things and presumably wish they could be like thema move that
does not take seriously the harsh reality of poverty and the churchs need for an ongoing
commitment to help them actually improve their situation.
39
Utilitarian attitudes towards
the poor are evident when Christians approach the needy neighbor as a means to their
own spiritual growth or the potential growth of church membership and, therefore, do
not make the poor themselves the primary object of their works of mercy.
40
A spiritual-
ity of justice will be grounded in the centrality of justification by grace alone, which draws
attention away from the sanctity of the receiver or provider of mercy, allowing us to focus
totally on the needs of the neighbor without either making his poor condition seem palat-
able or seeking anything in return (from either God or the neighbor) for our labors.
Might there be a model or picture of the Christian life that describes and pro-
motes a neighbor-oriented approach to justice? It would have to be a model rooted in
the Holy Spirits configuration of the church after Christs own life of service and prayer,
and grounded in the centrality of justification as the liberating power of the gospel to ful-
fill the law and all manner of good works through vocations. In the Lutheran tradition, a
eucharistic model of the Christian life of sanctification seems suitable for promoting the
neighbor-oriented approach to justice we have been delineating.
41
The eucharistic model
paints the Christian life as an act of thanksgiving (eucharistia) to God for his gifts. Its
predominant biblical image is that of the Christian as a living sacrifice acceptable to God
(Rom 12), spreading the pleasant aroma of Christ in a world full of sin and suffering.
Vocation, gifts of the Spirit, intercession for the saints and the poor, the proclamation
of the gospel, works of mercy, as well as the stewardship of ones possessions, time, and
energies in all these areas are fundamentally seen as acts of worship grounded in faith.
What the Lutheran sources highlight in the eucharistic model is the central
place of the Lords body and blood as the means through which the Spirit empowers
Christians to live out their faith through acts of service. We move from the benefit of
128
the sacrament that is received at the altar to the daily use of the sacrament as we go out
into the world to serve our neighbors. The confessors see the Christian life as a eucha-
ristic sacrifice carried out by those who have been justified by faith to give thanks or
express gratitude for having received forgiveness of sins and other benefits.
42
Luther
also speaks of a twofold use of the Lords Supper, teaching what may be called two
happy exchanges. Through his body and blood, Christ gives us the benefits of his sac-
rifice, so that our Lord takes our sins and gives us his righteousness. Because of their
spiritual communion with Christ in his body and blood, the saints now bear and share
each others joys and burdens. As Luther puts it, Christ in his saints comes to you
with all their virtues, sufferings, and mercies, to live, work, suffer, and die with you
having all things in common with you.
43
Moreover, Luther can also speak of Christ
coming to us in or through his suffering saints, so that when we serve the saints we
serve Christ himself. A neighbor-oriented approach to justice will recognize Christs
identification with the suffering neighbor, seeing Christ in the suffering neighbor.
44
The neighbor is relentless. Without the neighbor, law, vocation, and justice
remain abstract and static realities. The neighbor is relentless because he is our burden
and cross, in a good sense. Vocation becomes the God-established cross that by leading
us to serve our neighbors prevents us from designing our own crosses as a means to
become holy and seek Gods favor.
45
The neighbor teaches us what it means to act as a
Christian, as one formed by the Spirit of Christ to live under the cross through the daily
sacrifices and prayers made for others. As Luther puts it, A Christian is a perfectly
dutiful servant of all, subject to all.
46
Christ has set us free so that we may be subject
to our neighbors. Such is the cruciform life the Spirit configures in Christs saints.
Finally, a spirituality of justice teaches us that the neighbor is Gods precious
gift to us. The Spirit leads the Christian to see his neighbor through the eyes of faith
and not of the flesh, so that we do not merely feel compelled to serve and pray for
him according to the weight of the law, but gladly and freely attend to his needs by the
power and joy of the gospel.
47
We begin to see the neighbor ultimately as a gift to be
treasured, a gift from a gracious God. Indeed, our prayers and labors become acts of
thanksgiving to God for his benefits in Christ, but also for the neighbors he has given
us. When we work and pray for justice on behalf of neighbors, we are caring for these
precious gifts. It is only by seeing the neighbor as the human face of justice that we can
fully grasp and appreciate law and vocation, namely, what it means respectively to love
Gods own creation and serve as Gods own mask to care for it.

Endnotes
1
Apology of the Ausgburg Confession IV, 21, in Robert Kolb and Timothy Wengert, eds. The Book of
Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000), 124 (hereafter cited as BC).
It is interesting to note that in Spanish, there is no translation for righteousness. The Latin iustitia (justicia in
Spanish), therefore, is the most suitable or understandable term to have a conversation about justice in society in
Latin American and U.S. Hispanic/Latino contexts.
2
Apology IV, 2226, in BC, 124; Lutheran theologians have, in the past few years, given some
impetus to the study and implications of the distinction between the two kinds of righteousness. For some
examples, see Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luthers Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for
the Contemporary Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), esp. 21128; Charles P. Arand and Joel Biermann, Why the
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
129
Two Kinds of Righteousness? Concordia Journal 33/2 (2007): 116135; Robert Kolb, Luther on the Two Kinds
of Righteousness: Reflections on His Two-Dimensional Definition of Humanity at the Heart of His Theology,
Lutheran Quarterly 13/4 (1999): 449466.
3
For a compilation of essays on charity by Lutheran theologians, see Robert Rosin and Charles P.
Arand, eds. A Cup of Cold Water: A Look at Biblical Charity (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Publications, 1996).
In its introductory and concluding essays, the book wrestles with four models of biblical charity (i.e., charitable
commerce, broad spectrum, vocational, and eschatological), and ultimately settles for an inclusive approach that
highlights the vocational and eschatological perspectives (see pp. 1128, 273279). Our approach to justice most
closely resembles the vocational model, but imbues such perspective with a neighbor-oriented critical component
that helps us to assess periodically the rationale and goals for our practice of vocation. Otherwise stated, the neigh-
bor provides us with a critical lens to assess vocational priorities, limits, and opportunities.
4
In articles and commentary pieces, I have given some attention to how various constructions of our
neighbors (in particular, U.S. Hispanic/Latino neighbors) have implications for approaches to missions, issues
of vocation and civil law, ecclesiology, and the intersection of theology and culture. For articles, see Leopoldo A.
Snchez M., Theology In Context: Music as a Test Case, Concordia Journal 38/3 (2012): 205224; The Global
South Meets North America: Confessional Lutheran Identity In Light of Changing Christian Demographics,
Concordia Journal 37/1 (2011): 3956; and Toward an Ecclesiology of Catholic Unity and Mission in the Borderlands:
Reflections from a Lutheran Latino Theologian, Concordia Journal 35/1 (2009): 1734; for commentary pieces, see
my Arizona Neighbor On My Mind (http://concordiatheology.org/2010/05/arizona-neighbor-on-my-mind), and
Galilean Neighbor On My Mind (http://concordiatheology.org/2010/10/galilean-neighbor-on-my-mind).
5
Apart from these Ten Commandments no action or life can be good or pleasing to God, no matter
how great or precious it may be in the eyes of the world . . . It seems to me that we shall have our hands full to
keep these commandments, practicing gentleness, patience, love toward enemies, chastity, kindness, etc., and all
that in involved in doing so . . . Just concentrate upon them and test yourself thoroughly, do your very best, and
you will surely find so much to do that you will neither seek nor pay attention to any other works or other kind of
holiness. Large Catechism, Ten Commandments, 311, 313, 318, in BC, 428429.
6
The Decalogue and the commandment of love do not give very definite or detailed instructions about
what we as individuals ought to do here and now in living together with one another. This commandment of love,
valid everywhere and for all people, becomes specific for us as individuals in the context of the station in life in
which God has placed us. Paul Althaus, The Ethics of Martin Luther (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1972), 36.
7
Instead of coming in uncovered majesty when he gives a gift to man, God places a mask before
his face. He clothes himself in the form of an ordinary man who performs his work on earth. Human beings
are to work, everyone according to his vocation and office, through this they serve as masks of God, behind
which he can conceal himself when he would scatter his gifts. Gustaf Wingren, Luther on Vocation, (Philadephia:
Muhlenberg, 1958), 138.
8
Ibid., 203.
9
The common order of Christian love stands above the stations. At the same time, only those who
are called to a particular vocation are responsible for the special works of that vocation . . . Luthers ethics is an
ethics of station and vocation, but not in an exclusive sense. Althaus, The Ethics of Martin Luther, 4041.
10
Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed (1523), LW 45:96, 101.
11
See Althaus, The Ethics of Martin Luther, 69; and Bernard Lohse, Martin Luthers Theology: Its Historical and
Systematic Development (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999), 321.
12
The law does not consider changing situations, but the command is addressed to the present need.
In a way, the law represents unchanging imitation, without regard for the time, but the command calls man to his
vocation, which is guided by the need of the time. Wingren, Luther on Vocation, 233.
13
For an application of a neighbor-oriented approach to vocation in response to a contemporary issue
of law and justice in civil society, see the section entitled Who Is My Neighbor?: The Place of the Christians
Vocation in the Immigration Debate, in CTCR, Immigrants Among Us: A Lutheran Framework for Addressing
Immigration Issues (St. Louis: LCMS, 2012), 3744.
14
A Lutheran approach to mercy or charity is especially conscious of the danger of confusing the
gospel with works of justice, but also acknowledges the need to address the needs of the whole person. There
is also a concern for showing the gospel as the motivating power for Christian mercy in distinction from other
secular forms of aid. For examples, see Matthew C. Harrison, Theology of Mercy, and The Churchs Roles of Mercy in the
Community (St. Louis: LCMS World Relief & Human Care, 2004); see also A Cup of Cold Water, 276278.
15
For example, LCMS World Relief & Human Care tends to follow a model of justice as aid, especially
in promoting activities such as disaster relief and mercy medical teams (cf. n. 17 below).
130
16
Rosenhauer argues that a characteristic of effective parish efforts at alleviating poverty lies in their
ability to move from outreach to the poor to working with the poor, an approach to justice where respect for
those who are poor can mean providing opportunities for low-income people to be leaders in efforts to address
the needs in their communities. Joan Rosenhauer, Sharing the Light of Christ: How Responding to Poverty Can
Enrich Parish Life, New Theology Review 15/2 (May 2002): 19.
17
Through Lutheran Housing Support (LHS), LCMS World Relief & Human Care follows a model of
justice as sustainable development, engaging churches as corporate citizens to make a difference in their communi-
tiesparticularly, in economically depressed neighborhoods. Its mission reads: LCMS National Housing Support
Corporation, functioning under the registered trademark of Lutheran Housing Support, is dedicated to providing
support that promotes improvement of economic conditions, housing and other services to revitalize and prevent
deteriorated communities. http://www.lcms.org/lhs.
18
The notion of contributive justice is congruent with LWRs overall approach to justice as sustain-
able development. Such a model corresponds to the organizations values, which include gratitude to God for
the gift of one another, recognition that all people are made in the image of God, the desire to walk and work
with partners and support, encourage, and learn together within long-term relationships of trust and reciprocity,
and the need to be a responsible steward given an imbalance and abuse of resources globally http://lwr.org/
site/c.dmJXKiOYJgI6G/b.7521953/k.8022/Mission_Vision_amp_Values.htm.
19
Regarding twinning relationships between middle-income parishes and low-income parishes and/or
communities, Rosenhauer notes that while financial resources may flow primarily from the middle-income parish,
at best these relationships include a wide range of exchanges and joint projects that recognize and respect the con-
tributions of both groups. These activities include choir exchanges, joint liturgies, shared adult education programs,
joint service or advocacy projects, coordinated youth ministry programs . . . Sharing the Light of Christ, 20.
20
A Lutheran approach to justice will distinguish between the two kinds of righteousness, and therefore
between our eschatological hope before God (coram deo) through faith in Christ (hopeful trust) and our eschato-
logical hope before humans (coram hominibus) through acts of Christian love (hopeful love). For a use of the dis-
tinction in addressing liberation concerns for justice, see Leopoldo A. Snchez M., The Struggle to Express Our
Hope, LOGIA: A Journal of Lutheran Theology 19/1 (Epiphany 2010): 2531.
21
First, Luthers doctrine of simul iustus et peccator, that humans are at once saints and sinners, renders
mamy Protestants instinctively skeptical about too optimistic a view, and too easy a conflation of human dignity
and human sanctity. Such viewsgive too little credibility to the inherent human need for discipline and order,
accountability and judgment. They give too little credence to the civil, theological, and pedagogical uses of the
law, to the perpetual demand to balance deterrence, retribution, and reformation in discharging authority with the
home, church, state, and other associations. John Witte, Jr., Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran
Reformation (England: Cambridge, 2002), 299.
22
We are also the sinful siblings of Cain, who bear the mark of God, with its ominous assurance both
that we shall be called into divine judgment for what we have done, and that there is forgiveness even for the grav-
est of sins we have committed. Ibid., 300.
23
Wingren argues that man may present himself as both demanding and giving in relation to others. At
one time he may be a mask for Gods goodness, at another for his severity . . . Living in vocation . . . includes both
gentleness and severity . . . Both the love of God and the wrath of God step forth in visible form on earth in the
fact that the exercise of vocation comprises this ambivalence. Luther on Vocation, 232.
24
For an eschatological model of justice that focuses on the practice of charity primarily among Christians as
a sign in the present of the coming kingdom/reign/rule of God, see James W. Voelz, Biblical Charity: What Does It
Entail and How Does It Relate to the GospelA New Testament Perspective, in A Cup of Cold Water, 6592.
25
Leopoldo A. Snchez M., Pedagogy for Working Among the Poor: Something to Talk about before
Going on Your Next Short-Term Mission Trip, Missio Apostolica 16/1 (May 2008): 8184.
26
Arguing before a group of parishioners that a parish budget is a theological statement by suggesting
that at least ten percent of a parishs budget should be directed to the poor, Father McBriar recounts an encoun-
ter with a parishioner, who reacted to his provocative recommendation: One parishioner intervened and said,
Problems arent solved by throwing money at them. True enough, I said, but tell me how your family spends
its money and I will tell you what you consider important. It is the same with a parish. David J. McBriar, OFM,
Parish Ministry to the Poor, New Theology Review 15/2 (May 2002): 27.
27
The current debate on immigration law among Christians is a salient example of the tension between
vocational focus on some neighbors and vocational openness to other neighborsincluding the needs of both citizen
and immigrant neighbors. See my piece Arizona Neighbor On My Mind (see n. 4 above), and the development of
the argument laid there in the section on vocation of the CTCRs document Immigrants Among Us (see n. 13 above).
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
131
28
It should be noted that this term did not originally come from academic theologians, but from the Latin
American Bishops Conference (CELAM) meeting in Medelln, Colombia (1968), where pastors addressed the need
for the Catholic Church to advocate for the needs of the most vulnerable members of society (including Christians) in
a Latin American context of rampant political and economic oppression where human rights were being violated.
29
It is in the context of our vocations . . . that we are likely to find our neediest neighbors. The pref-
erential option for the poor language encourages us to think also of the neediest people who do not always seem
to fit within one of our vocations. Finally, the practice of active righteousness is realistic in that it avoids utopian
dreams and the illusion of perfect sanctification or inevitable progress . . . Such ethical progress . . . does not
establish human identity coram deo. Snchez, The Struggle to Express Our Hope, 31.
30
I have described the churchs participation today in dimensions of Christs servanthood and sonship,
respectively through her life of service and prayer. See Leopoldo A. Snchez M., Individualism, Indulgence, and
the Mind of Christ: Making Room for the Neighbor and the Father, in Robert Kolb, ed., The American Mind Meets
the Mind of Christ (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press, 2010), 5466.
31
On Jesuss prayer life as a dimension of his sonship and the churchs participation by grace in such life,
see Leopoldo A. Snchez M., Praying to God the Father in the Spirit: Reclaiming the Churchs Participation in
the Sons Prayer Life, Concordia Journal 32/3 (2006): 274295.
32
We can worship God by resting; indeed, in resting we can worship him better than in any other way
because it is when we really relax our body and soul that we cast our care on God. We thus honor God as the one
whose blessing rests upon and surrounds all our work, and who keeps on working for us even when we rest and
sleep. Althaus, The Ethics of Martin Luther, 104.
33
Ibid., 41.
34
The LCMS report on immigration serves as an example of an approach to complex societal and politi-
cal issues that lets individual Christians make their own conscientious decisions, with some guidance from the
church as Synod, concerning what is just and reasonable when there is no clear consensus among all Christians on
the moral failure of certain aspects of immigration law. CTCR, Immigrants among Us, 35.
35
As an example, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), an inter-Lutheran organization,
encourages collective vocation by bringing Lutherans committed to helping immigrant neighbors together to learn
about and support advocacy efforts towards comprehensive immigration reform. Another example of a collective
exercise of vocation is the Lutheran Malaria Initiative (LMI), which works with partners to eradicate malaria through
education, treatment, and prevention activities. At a local level, a congregations involvement in neighborhood revi-
talization projects also brings many stakeholders together to exercise vocation for a larger number of neighbors.
36
Charles P. Arand, Considering Biblical Charity within a Creedal Framework, in A Cup of Cold Water, 194195.
37
Snchez, Individualism, Indulgence, and the Mind of Christ, in The American Mind Meets the Mind of
Christ, 6263.
38
See Carter Lindberg, Beyond Charity: Reformation Initiatives for the Poor (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993),
2233; and Robert Rosin, Bringing Forth Fruit: Luther on Social Welfare, in A Cup of Cold Water, 117164.
39
See Leopoldo A. Snchez M., The Poor You Will Always Have With You: A Biblical View of People in
Need, 11, in Kent Burreson, ed., A People Called to Love: Christian Charity in North American Society. Concordiatheology.org
(September 2012). http://concordiatheology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Sanchez-essay1.pdf
40
Ibid. The whole series A People Called to Love, with articles and interviews by various members of the
department of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, is highly recommended to the reader.
41
For a fuller development of the eucharistic model of sanctification, see the fifth chapter of Leopoldo
A. Snchez M., Teologa de la santificacin. La espiritualidad del cristiano (St. Louis: Editorial Concordia, forthcoming).
42
Apology XXIV, 19, in BC, 261.
43
The Blessed Sacrament of the Holy and True Body of Christ, and the Brotherhoods (1519), LW 35:61.
44


A classic statement of Christs self-identification with the poor neighbor can be found in one of Luthers
Christmas sermons, where he calls Christians to repentance for turning the Christ child away when they ignore their
neighbors plight. Luther writes, It is altogether false to think that you have done much for Christ, if you do nothing
for those needy ones. Had you been at Bethlehem you would have paid as little attention to Christ as they didyou
beat the air and do not recognize the Lord in your neighbor, you do not do as he has done to you. J.N. Lenker, ed.
The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, trans. J. N. Lenker et al., vol. 1.1 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 155.
45
Wingren, Luther on Vocation, 5354.
46
The Freedom of a Christian (1520), LW 31:344.
47
Wingren, Luther on Vocation, 4647.
132
Called to Milk Cows and Govern Kingdoms
Martin Luthers Teaching on the Christians Vocations
Robert Kolb
The thoroughly Trinitarian nature of Martin Luthers theology reveals itself at
many points in his teaching and preaching. With his colleagues he viewed biblical teach-
ing in its entirety as a body (corpus doctrinae
1
), and the members of that body, the indi-
vidual doctrines of creation, sin, law, the person of Christ, redemption, and all the rest,
were for him woven together in Gods revelation of himself and his will for his human
creatures. His concept of the Christians callings in everyday lifein home, occupation,
society, and congregation exhibits this characteristic of his teaching. The callings
of the believer arise out of the structure which God built into the essence of human-
ity in creation. God enacts his providential care for his creation and his presence in it
through his human agents living out their callings. Christs redemptive work and the
Holy Spirits creation of trust in God move believers to seek to do the will of God. The
Holy Spirit uses that trust to bring believers to live sanctified lives within the structure
of their callings according to Gods commands.
Luthers concept of the God-ordained structure for the exercise of our humanity
arose within the anthropology which he developed in the midst of his evangelical matura-
tion, around 1518/1519. By 1531, he could label his view of what it means to be human,
his distinction of two kinds of human righteousness, as our theology.
2
This anthropologi-
cal formulation played a key role in his hermeneutic. He distinguished what he later called
passive righteousness, which God bestows in establishing the identity of human creatures
as his own childrenthe righteousness from outside the self (iustitia aliena)from what
he called active righteousness, which God ordains that his human creatures practice in
their own performance of his commandsthe righteousness which belongs to the one
who is acting (iustitia propria).
3
Luther further described human life with his distinction of
two realms
4
or two dimensions of human living, the vertical relationship with God, and the
horizontal relationship with all of Gods creatures, above all, other human beings.
Luthers analysis of the form or structure of Gods design for daily living arose
out of medieval social theory. All Western European societies in the Middle Ages
presumed a division of labor among the church (ecclesia), which consisted of priests,
monks, and nuns; the leadership of society (politia); and the household, in which fam-
Robert Kolb is mission professor emeritus of systematic theology and
former director of the Institute for Mission Studies at Concordia Seminary,
St. Louis. His most recent book, of many, is Teaching Gods Children His
Teaching (Concordia Seminary Press, 2012).
133 Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
ily and economic life took place (oeconomia). The great mass of the population fell into
this third category. These estatesthe usual translation of the German Stand and
the Latin statusembraced all people in their individual metaphorical locales in which
life unfolds each day. This social theory also posited that in each of these situations or
walks of life (as we might better translate the term) individuals have officesAmt in
German, officium in Latinthat define the roles and the functions which are imposed
upon each person in their respective Stnde or walks of life. A better translation for
Amt might be, if you will pardon the misspelling, response-ability, for these offices
give human beings the ability and obligation to respond to the needs of others for the
smooth functioning of the community and its individual members. The German Amt
means both the formal societal position one holds and the functions which that posi-
tion entails. The Creator employs the people functioning in these positions to provide
for the human tapestry which he weaves together from the situations and response-
abilities that constitute human life, individually and collectively.
Luther assumed this theory of social structure and adapted it to his insights into the
nature of Gods dealing with the world. This adaptation involved, first, his overturning the
spiritualizing worldview of medieval Christianity, which preserved elements of pre-Christian
pagan thinking in distinguishing and even separating the sacred from the profane.
Sacred activities, largely ritualistic in nature (whether in formal liturgies or in the practice
of routines in daily life), were presumed to insure the proper running of the world and ones
own life; they were regarded as more God-pleasing and holy than profane activities,
the common, ordinary, regular tasks of the every day, oriented toward earthly life. Citing
Romans 14:23, Everything that does not come from faith is sin, Luther contended that
human performance of any activity, including sacred rituals, did not determine the core
identity of the human being. Instead, Gods bestowal of passive righteousness, which comes
through the Holy Spirits pronouncement of forgiveness and the resulting faith in Christ,
determines the core identity of those whom the Spirit turns to Jesus through the re-creative
word of life and salvation on the basis of Christs death and resurrection. Faith in false gods
bestows a false identity upon those who hold such a faith. All activities performed by the
faithful people of God as a result of their trust in him are equally holy, and equally without
influence in determining that his people are his people.
Luthers discarding of the traditional distinction of the sacred and profane rested
on three observations. First, the sacred activities of the medieval church were often
(though, not always) human teachings, taught as if they were divine commands (Mt
15:9). Second, these activities often distracted and diverted people from carrying out
their God-given response-abilities in their families, occupations, societies, and congre-
gations. Third, they also were performed within the medieval system not to honor God
but to insure the salvation of the person performing them. On all three counts Luther
found the medieval view of reality false and inimical to a biblical understanding of
Gods way of accomplishing his will in society.
Medieval European Christianity had defined what it means to be a faithful
Christian largely in terms of human performance of sacred ritual and obedience to the
sacred persons of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. When the Christian faith swept over much
134
of Western Europe, both Mediterranean and realms north of the Alps, the church had
insufficient personnel to catechize effectively. Therefore, elements of the previous pagan
religions mixed with the message of Scripture to form the structure and ways of exercis-
ing the new Christian faith in vital ways.
5
Luther and his colleagues in Wittenberg rede-
fined Christianity as a religion based not on a human approach to God through ritual but
on Gods approach through his word to sinners in revolt against him. Luther viewed God
as a God of conversation and community; when he speaks his promise of life and salva-
tion through Christ, the Holy Spirit engenders faith in those who are his chosen children.
With lives formed by and filled with trust in God, his children respond, in the conversa-
tion of prayer and praise that continues as he answers in his word as it comes through
Scripture into Christians speaking and preaching and absolving, into the sacraments, and
into other written or electronic media. Conversation creates community, not only with the
heavenly Father but also with the siblings whom he has brought together in his family,
the body of Christ. In congregations and in larger communities within society these sib-
lings live together with each other and with other human creatures outside the faith.
The medieval church had used the biblical term callingvocatio in Latin, Beruf in
Germanin several ways, but medieval theology added a special definition: God called
certain persons into the sacred service rendered by priests, monks, and nuns. They were
the called of the medieval church; these sacred responsibilities were defined as voca-
tions or callings. Luther had tried to use the vocation of monk and priest as a more
directeven if steeperpath to God, and he had found that the path led only back to
his own performance of the monastic way of life. It assumed the burden of being the
object of his saving faith, which brought in fact only the stench of damnation to this
super-conscientious monastic brother. In finding the gospel in Christ, especially through
lecturing on Psalms and Romans, Luther was impelled to abandon the theory that sacred
or religious activities were more godly and God-pleasing than other activities. He repudi-
ated this theory, on which monasticism, pilgrimages, veneration of the saints, and their
relics, as well as many other pious practices were based, replacing it with a biblical view,
which recognized God as the Lord of all creation and every part of the human life he
fashioned as a place of service to him. God, Luther believed, exercises his providential
care through human agents performing his will in all the situations or walks of life which
the Creator had fashioned for the smooth running of daily life.
6

Luther transformed the use of the word calling or vocation by assigning it
to all Christians.
7
Believers recognize that God has placed them in the structures of
human life created by God and has called them to the tasks of caring for other crea-
tures, human and otherwise, as agents of Gods providential presence and care. Luther
called people in the exercise of their response-abilities masks of God, through whom
God, for example, milks cows so that his human creatures may be nourished.
8

He made this concept of the callings of believers a basic element in his Small
Catechism, his instructional program for beginning Christians. This handbook for
Christian living sets forth five (six) chief parts of biblical teaching in order to lay the
foundation for two concluding sections, the first modeling family or individual devo-
tions (How the Head of the Household is to Teach the Members of the Household
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
135
to say Morning and Evening Blessings)
9
and the second charting biblical directions
on how believers carry out vocations received from God in home and occupation, in
society and congregation.
10
This household chart (Haustafel) is not so much about
duties, if duties are thought of as obligations inherent in the order of things apart
from reference to God. Instead, it sketches images of the callings which the Christian
receives from God, as Luther drew instructions from Scripture for various situations
of daily life, the believers personal commissions or callings that God bestows. Luther
took terms limited previously to monasticism, orders and walks of life, and rede-
fined them to describe how God had shaped every aspect of human life. According to
Luther, each person has response-abilities in each situation, and every Christian is called
by God to these response-abilities in all three walks of life defined by medieval social
theory. In late-medieval German society this message empowered rising artisan and
merchant families to recognize their own worth as reborn children of God through his
grace and as his loving and serving children in their daily activities, as the Holy Spirit
empowered them to live according to their Creators commands and callings.
Luther actually already recognized in his Table of Christian Callings that, even
in his late-medieval society, in which households often performed economic functions
as familial units, the situation of the household (oeconomia) contained two distinct areas
of response-ability, familial and economic. Therefore, he spoke of the callings of hus-
bands, wives, parents, and children, and those of male and female servants,
day laborers, workers, etc. and of masters and mistresses, two distinct groups, famil-
ial and economic, within the typical sixteenth-century household.
In the Small Catechisms instruction on confession and absolution, Luthers
approach to teaching Christian living intertwined Gods callings with his commands, inter-
connecting vocation with the virtues that flow from Gods commands. There the reformer
wrote, Here reflect on your walk of life (Stand)the callings provide the structure for
daily living in light of the Ten Commandmentsthe commands describe virtuous
behavior. New obedience takes place within the callingwhether you are father, mother,
son, daughter, master, mistress, servantand according to the commands (expressed
negatively in the confession of sins)whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful,
lazy, [ill-tempered, unruly, quarrelsome], whether you have harmed anyone by word or
deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, wasted, or injured anything.
11
In university lectures and parish preaching Luther enlisted biblical figures as
models for Christian living and talked about their harkening to Gods commands within
the structures of their callings.
12
Luther imagined that Abraham could teach his stu-
dents something about this subject and had the patriarch explain to the students how
their trust in Gods love shaped their life in the world. He imagined Abraham saying
that because God is gracious, ready to forgive, and kind, I go out and turn my face
from God to human beings, that is, I tend to my calling. If I am a king, I govern the
state. If I am the head of a household, I direct the domestics; if I am a schoolmaster,
I teach pupils, mold their habits and views toward godliness . . . In all of our works
we serve God, who wanted us to do such things and, so to speak, placed us in our
walks of life here.
13
Jacobs household served as a model of Christian love exercised
136
through the common, ordinaries of callings in daily life. Exercising his calling as son,
Judah showed love and concern for his father in Genesis 43:15, as Luther looked
back over the ages to read his mind.
14
The professor did not shy away from specula-
tion in constructing such exemplars of the exercise of callings, imagining that following
the deaths of all four of Jacobs wives and Jacob been deprived of the son he loved
most, his daughters-in-law and his daughter Dinah took the place of the mother
of the household . . . These women were without doubt very upright matrons who
administered Jacobs household diligently and faithfully, and it prospered under their
care. They were not indolent and lazy, for managing livestock demands thoroughness
and care. Luther reveled in the ordinariness of Gods providential ways: why does the
Holy Spirit mention such trifling, childish, servile, feminine, worldly and fleshly things
about these most holy men . . .? Why did he not write about things more serious and
sublime? Why does he make so much out of the sweat of their working with the squalid
matters of the household? Because, Luther observed, God hides his saints under such
masks and matters of the flesh so that they may seem more wretched than everything
else. For the people who trust in God live out their callings in the midst of the troubles
and afflictions of the world he created which has now fallen from its created goodness.
That is where the promises and commands of God are active and deliver his presence.
15

Family callings did not always run so smoothly, however, and Luther offered encourage-
ment to spouses who experienced frustrations and tensions akin to those that plagued
Abraham and Sarah. Inconveniences, vexations, and various crosses are encountered in
marriage. What does it matter? Is it not better that I please God in this manner that God
hears me when I call upon him, that he delivers me in misfortunes, and that he benefits
me in various ways through my lifes companion, the upright wife whom I have joined
to myself? In a sinful world callings are a remedy for much, but precisely in suffering
believers experience how the God who solved the chief problem by going to the cross
contends with the burdens of daily life and blesses in spite of them by joining his human
creatures together in exercising their mutual response-abilities.
16
Some biblical figures provided models for living out economic callings,
17
as did
some for political or social responsibilities. Never shy about advising princes and town
councils regarding their calling to exercise justice and fairness in ordering society, the
Wittenberg reformer offered them guidelines for their calling in the politia. Among his
favorite models was King David. David is a classic example of how saints fall into sin
and are recalled to trust in God by the Holy Spirit.
18
But in the decade following the
death of Frederick the Wise, David became the personification of the ideal ruler for
Luther. He integrated the story of David in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Kings with psalm
texts, particularly Psalms 82 and 101, and found in him a paradigm of virtuous practice
of vocation: Dear David was so highly gifted. Such a precious, special hero is not only
innocent of all deception and taking of life that took place in his kingdom. Indeed,
he also actually opposed such liars and murderers, did not want to tolerate them, and
acted against them so that they had to yield.
19
Psalm 101 placed the king squarely in
the earthly realm; in its callings believers such as David practice the commands of the
Lord: We hear in this psalm of many fine, princely virtues that David practiced. In
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
137
this psalm he does not treat how to serve God, as in the first commandment, but how
people should behave properly toward their neighbors. For just as the spiritual realm
or responsibility shows how people should act properly in relationship to God, so the
earthly realm shows how people live in relationship to each other and how they do it in
such a way that body, possessions, wife, child, home, land, and material goods remain
in peace and security and how they can fare well on this earth.
20
Luther believed that the calling of believers in the church involved more than the
respect and support which he described in his 1540 revision of the Small Catechism.
He believed that the power which made the church lies in Gods word (Rom 1:16)
rather than in the office of the pastor, who certainly has a special role or response-
ability by virtue of that office in the public use of the word and its power. Therefore,
Luther viewed the calling that believers receive with their baptism as embracing
the sharing of Gods word with others. In 1522, while preaching on 1 Peter 2:9, he
explained that the royal priesthood amounts simply to being Christian. On that basis
he urged the people of Wittenberg to exercise this priesthood by proclaiming Gods
wonderful deeds that brought them out of darkness into the light and delivered them
from all evils. Thus, you should also teach other people how they, too, come into such
light. For you must bend every effort to realize what God has done for you. Then let
it be your chief work to proclaim this publicly and to call everyone into the light into
which you have been called.
21
The sermon chosen for his Church Postil for the
nineteenth Sunday after Trinity proclaimed,
all who are Christians and have been baptized have this power [to forgive
one anothers sins]. For with this they praise Christ, and the word is put into
their mouth, so that they may and are able to say, if they wish, and as often
as it is necessary: Look! God offers you his grace, forgives you all your sins.
Be comforted; your sins are forgiven. Only believe, and you will surely have
forgiveness. This word of consolation shall not cease among Christians
until the last day: Your sins are forgiven, be of good cheer. Such language
a Christian always uses and openly declares the forgiveness of sins. For this
reason and in this manner a Christian has power to forgive sins.
22
This position did not disappear from his expectations for the exercise of the calling of all
Christians as he grew older. In 1537 he told the Wittenberg congregation on the basis of
Matthew 18:1520 that they were on daily call as children of God who spoke in his behalf:
Here Jesus is saying that he does not only want [the condemnation of sin and
proclamation of the forgiveness of sins] to take place in the church, but he
also gives this right and freedom where two or three are gathered together, so
that among them the comfort and the forgiveness of sins may be proclaimed
and pronounced. He pours out [his forgiveness] even more richly and places
the forgiveness of sins for them in every corner, so that they not only find
the forgiveness of sins in the congregation but also at home in their houses,
in the fields and gardens, wherever one of them comes to another in search
138
of comfort and deliverance. It shall be at my disposal when I am troubled
and sorry, in tribulation and vulnerable, when I need something, at whatever
hour and time it may be. There is not always a sermon being given publicly
in the church, so when my brother or neighbor comes to me, I am to lay my
troubles before my neighbor and ask for comfort . . . Again I should com-
fort others, and say, dear friend, dear brother, why dont you lay aside your
burdens. It is certainly not Gods will that you experience this suffering. God
had his Son die for you so that you do not sorrow but rejoice.
23
Christs faithful people live from the power of his word of forgiveness and life,
and Luther believed that all the baptized are called not only to worship with fellow
believers but also to converse with them about that word and console them with it.
The reformers teaching on the calling of Christians became anchored in the
Lutheran confessions of the faith that were gathered into the Book of Concord.
24

Throughout the intervening centuries Lutheran theologians and their counterparts in the
Calvinist tradition used the concept of the three walks of life in society, and particularly in
the Calvinist tradition the concept of the Christians calling played a significant role.
25
In
Lutheran orthodoxy however, the dogmatic organization of public teaching left no room
for a synthetic treatment of calling in the ethics even though the callings of family
and government often had their own loci in dogmatic works. The revival of interest in
this category so vital to Luthers own thinking stems in large part from the works of the
German Karl Eger
26
and Swedish theologian Einar Billing.
27
Both published studies in
1900. Billings view appeared in summarized form in English translation in the 1940s,
preparing the way for the impact of the rejoinder to parts of Billings interpretation of
Luther by another Swedish thinker, Gustaf Wingren.
28
The translation of Wingrens
Luther on Vocation has shaped a great deal of English-language Lutheran thinking as well as
those beyond Lutheran churches in the more than half century since its appearance.
29
Luthers teaching on the Christians calling within the structures of Gods design
for society is sometimes regarded as out of date because current social theory does not
operate with the medieval conception of a society with three estates. However, in every
culture, despite vastly different institutional arrangements of the places in which
human beings conduct their lives, home and family life, economic activity, political and
social organization, and religious communities structure the lives of people. Whether
they conceive of their responsibilities as burdensome duties, down payment on future
help from those whom they help today, the tasks necessary to preserve societies, or
response-abilities exercised in answer to their Creators call, all societies define roles and
the functions of those occupying these situations or walks of life. Luthers teaching on
the Christians calling can be adapted to and applied in every human society.
Luthers teaching on vocation is valuable today as an aid for concrete ethical
instruction, in North American and Western European cultures an ever more pressing
task, which is imposed by the decline and disintegration of moral expectations and of the
Creator-driven Judeo-Christian narrative that has guided those cultures for centuries.
It is important to reflect the biblical truth that Gods commands are not arbitrary dicta,
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
139
the whims of a whimsical demiurge, but rather the plan designed by the Creator who
determined the reality of human life as he shaped his creatures. His commands operate
with a structure designed to weave together the good life, with mutual help for one
another, in a society in which no one is left alone or left behind. Gods continuing
creation as he provides and cares for his world takes place in significant ways through
the human masks or agents he has called to their places in society. Beyond concrete
direction for the Christians conduct, Luthers concept of the believers calling provides
a framework for wider-ranging reflection on virtuous living and the satisfaction and
fulfillment virtuous living brings when one lives on the basis of the Creators gift of new
life through his re-creative word spoken from cross and open tomb.
Evangelistically, this framework for human behavior can appeal to those with a utili-
tarian view of life and who are on the prowl for what really worksalthough we must
also refashion the larger conception of reality of most contemporary western utilitarians.
Recognizing that Gods call gives us a placeseveral places in factin a world with no
firm place to plant our vision of ourselves, aids those who feel adrift in a mobile society.
For those who wrestle with tarnished images of their own worth and dignity in the world, a
sense of calling provides secondary strengthening for the new identity that God gives when
he brings us to faith in Christ. There is no greater worth and dignity than that accorded
those whom God has chosen as his own and brought to new birth through Christs blood
and his reclamation of life through the resurrection, but a secondary level of worth and dig-
nity arises out of service according to Gods plan, at the behest of this calling Creator, as the
Holy Spirit bestows the ability to respond to others needs and live with them in the conver-
sations and communities for which God made us in the first place.
Bringing salt and light to Gods creation (Mt 5:13) involves the life-restoring
presence of Christ speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit through his word in
answer to his call to be the children of God. Bringing salt and light to Gods creation
also involves embodying Gods providential care and concern for his creatures through
the exercise of his commands and callings, his virtues and vocations. For evangelistic
and ecumenical witness in the twenty-first century, Luthers understanding of the
Christians callings is a significant element which speaks directly to this world in which
the church continues to carry on its mission.

Endnotes
1
Irene Dingel, Melanchthon and the Establishment of Confessional Norms, in Irene Dingel, Robert
Kolb, Nicole Kuropka, and Timothy J. Wengert, Philip Melanchthon. Theologian in Classroom, Confession, and Controversy
(Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012), 161179.
2
D. Martin Luthers Werke (Weimar: Bhlau, 18831993 [henceforth WA]), 40,1:45,2427, Luthers Works (Saint
Louis/Philadelphia: Concordia/Fortress, 19581986 [henceforth LW]), 26:7. See Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The
Genius of Luthers Theology. A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 21128.
3
Luthers initial treatise on this topic described three kinds of righteousness, including what he later labeled
civic righteousness as well as alien and proper righteousness, WA 2: 4347; probably because he lived in a society
in which nearly all were baptized and could be expected to perform the active righteousness which passive righteousness
produces, he refined his ideas in 1519 in the treatise On Two Kinds of Righteousness, WA 2:145152, LW 31:293306.
4
Not to be confused with his two kingdoms, Gods and Satans, which are at war in both realms,
or dimensions of human life.
5
Scott Hendrix, Recultivating the Vineyard. The Reformation Agendas of Christianization (Louisville:
Westminster John Knox, 2004), 135.
140
6
See particularly Luthers criticism of monasticism, based in part on his understanding of the calling of
all Christians to serve God in active righteousness, in his Judicium de votis monasticis, WA 8:573669, LW 44:251400;
cf. Robert Kolb, Die Zweidimensionalitt des Mensch-Seins. Die zweierlei Gerechtigkeit in Luthers De votis
monasticis Judicium, in Luther und Das monastische Erbe, Christoph Bultmann, Volker Leppin, Andreas Lindner, (eds.)
(Tbingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 2007), 207220.
7
Timothy J. Wengert, Per mutuum colloquium et consolationem fratrum: Monastische Zge in
Luthers kumenischer Theologie, in Luther und Das monastische Erbe, 253258 (243268).
8
WA 44:6, 2325, LW 6:10. On the concept of masks of God, see Gustaf Wingren, Luther on Vocation
(Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1957), esp. 137143.
9
Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992 [hence-
forth BSLK]), 521522, The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000
[hereforth BC]), 363364.
10
The Questions on Communion from Andreas Osiander or the circle around him entered editions of the
Small Catechism after Luthers death. The Baptismal Book and the Marriage Book were kept distinct from the Catechism
itself even if they were published with it. They were not intended for instruction of and memorization by the young.
11
BC 360.
12
See Robert L. Rosin, Reformers, the Preacher, and Skepticism. Luther, Brenz, Melanchthon and Ecclesiastes
(Mainz: Zabern, 1997), esp. 124147, on Luthers use of his concept of vocation in his criticism of Erasmuss
Diatribe and its implications for life in the horizontal realm of life in his Ecclesiastes lectures of 1526; and Robert
Kolb, Luther and the Stories of God, Biblical Narratives as a Foundation for Christian Living (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012),
141168, for Luthers use of the concept of vocation in framing his treatment of the life of new obedience.
13
WA 42:632, 17; LW 3:117.
14
WA 44:529, 35530, 2; LW 7:311.
15
WA 44:529, 20530, 6; LW 7:510511.
16
WA 43:140, 1620, 140, 28141, 3; LW 4:67.
17
E.g., Abrahams faithful servant Eliezar, WA 43:338, 27340,10, LW 4:283285; WA 43:342, 48; LW 4:288.
18
See Robert Kolb, David: King, Prophet, Repentant Sinner. Martin Luthers Image of the Son of
Jesse, Perichoresis 8 (2010): 203232.
19
WA 51:234, 1216, 235, 1016; LW 13:188189. Luthers comment on Psalm 101 is found in WA
51:200264; LW 13:146224; on Psalm 82 in WA 31, 1:200264; LW 13:4272.
20
WA 51:241, 3142; LW 13:197.
21
Sermons on 1 Peter, 1522; LW 30:6465; WA 12:318, 26319, 6.
22
Luthers Church Postil, Sermon on Matthew 9:18, 1526, Sermons of Martin Luther, ed. John Nicholas
Lenker 5 (1905; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983), 209; WA 10, 1:412414.
23
Sermons on Matthew 1824, 15371540, WA 47:297, 36298, 14, preached in autumn 1537.
24
Robert Kolb, God Calling, Take Care of My People: Luthers Concept of Vocation in the Augsburg
Confession and Its Apology, Concordia Journal 8 (1982): 411.
25
Though perhaps not the role assigned this concept by the sociologist Max Weber in his The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Routledge, 2001, German original 1904/1905). On the ways in which
the concept of the two kingdoms played a more prominent role in the Reformed tradition, particularly in
John Calvins own thought, see David van Drunen, Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms. A Study in the Development of
Reformed Social Thought (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010).
26
Die Anschauungen Luthers vom Beruf. Ein Beitrag zur Ethik Luthers (Giessen: Ricker, 1900).
27
Billings Our Calling (Rock Island: Augustana Book Concern, 1947; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1964) pro-
vides a summary of the ideas he first advanced in Luthers Lra om staten: dess Samband med hans reformatoriska grundtan-
kar och med tidigare kyrkliga (Uppsala: Almzvist and Wiksell, 1900).
28
See note 8 above. Wingren wrote this study as a doctoral dissertation in 1942, published it in Swedish in
1952. Apart from the critique of Kenneth Hagen, A Critique of Wingren on Luther on Vocation, Lutheran Quarterly
16 (2002): 249273, Wingrens presentation of the topic has gone largely unchallenged. For an extensive bibliographi-
cal analysis of modern scholarship on Luthers ethics in general, including his understanding of the Christians call-
ing, see Andreas Stegmann, Die Geschichte der Erforschung von Martin Luthers Ethik, Lutherjahrbuch 79 (2012):
211303, and idem, Bibliographie zur Ethik Martin Luthers, Lutherjahrbuch 79 (2012): 305342.
29
A notable example is the work of Robert Benne, on the popular level in Ordinary Saints, an Introduction
to the Christian Life (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2001); on the scholarly level, e.g., in The Paradoxical Vision: A Public theol-
ogy for the Twenty-first Century (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995).
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
141
HOLLIS and the Holy Spirit
A Journey Toward the Redemption of the Historians Vocation
Ronald K. Rittgers

Ronald K. Rittgers taught for several years at Yale University and since 2006
has held the Erich Markel Chair in German Reformation Studies at Valparaiso
University, where he is also professor of history and theology. His most recent
book is The Reformation of Suffering: Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late
Medieval and Early Modern Germany (Oxford University Press, 2012).
142
During the first year of my doctoral program at Harvard University I took a
seminar with the Pulitzer Prize winning American historian Bernard Bailyn. The topic
of the seminar was colonial history, but we spent the first several weeks reading a
broad range of historians whose work was not immediately related to the American
past. Before we delved into our various research projects Bailyn first wanted us to
think about the discipline of history as such, and therefore he felt free to assign books
that showcased one methodology or another, regardless of geographical or chrono-
logical focus. I especially recall our discussion of one book: Fernand Braudels The
Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II.
1
Braudel was a representa-
tive of the post-World War II French Annales School, which encouraged historians
to study the totality of human experience in the past rather than focus on politics or
diplomacy alone, as was true of much historiography at the time. Annalists borrowed
deeply and gratefully from the social sciences, especially anthropology, to assist them
in their effort to arrive at a complete history of human experience. They examined cul-
tural, economic, social, political, intellectual, religious, psychological, demographic, tech-
nological, geographic, and environmental factors that have shaped human life, and they
studied these factors over long periods of time so that they could detect both subtle
and dramatic changes. Braudels book remains one of the most famous and influential
examples of Annalist scholarship; it is a remarkable piece.
After we had discussed the work, noting its astounding erudition and seemingly
exhaustive analysis of all possible factors that might influence the human condition,
Bailyn asked, Well, whats left for the historian to consider? He thought Braudel had
pursued every angle of examination open to historical enquirythere was nothing else
to take into account as one sought to understand and interpret human motivation and
behavior in the past. I hesitated to disagree, for Bailyn was (and is) a brilliant historian
and I was but a neophyte. But something seemed to be missing from Braudels analy-
sis, namely, any sense of the transcendent or the divine and its potential influence on
human existence. He had not acknowledged the spiritual dimension of human existence
and the possibility that there might be aspects of human motivation and behavior
143 Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
that cannot be explained solely in terms of readily observable this-worldly phenom-
ena, both in the past and the present. Whether or not such transcendent causes were
open to historical enquiry, ignoring their existence and potential influence on human
beings seemed problematic to me. I mustered up the courage to voice my concern and
remember being met with an unenthusiastic, Oh, I suppose there is that, and that
clearly had no place in serious historical scholarship.
In this way I was introduced to the axiom that governs the professional histo-
rians view of history: it is a closed system that is to be understood solely in terms of
mundane, empirically verifiable, causal factors.
What was I to make of this as a Christian? While I was not (and am not)
ordained, this tenet still sat awkwardly with my lay theological sensibilities. How was
I to regard it in light of the traditional Christian claim that God is sovereign over his-
tory and also present within history, supremely in Jesus Christ, seeking to reconcile the
worldespecially human beingsto himself (2 Cor 5:19)? On the Christian view of
things, history is, in a sense, holy ground; how could I treat it as purely secular? How
could I take up the vocation of historian if it meant rejecting or bracketing a Christian
view of human existence and reality? I was in a real crisis.
To this point, I had viewed the historians craft as a theologically neutral one
that was but one of many crafts that helped to maintain and enrich human society. To
put it in Lutheran terms, I thought that the vocation of historian could be compared to
the vocations of farmer, butcher, baker, or teacher, each of which was simply a means
of serving the neighbor for the good of the temporal order. Just as there was no such
thing as a Christian baker, in the sense that the baking process itself was somehow
different for Christians and non-Christians, so I thought there was no such thing as a
Christian historian. Every human societyChristian or otherwisehas had keepers
and shapers of collective memory, for this function is essential for the identity of indi-
viduals and communities. Thus, I thought that the office of historian was simply one of
the necessary and generic offices required in all human communities, regardless of their
religious convictions. Bailyns seminar caused me to examine this assumption more
closely; I finally concluded that it was terribly nave.
I should make it clear that my difficulties with Braudel (and Bailyn) did not stem
from a desire for the historian to play the role of divinely-inspired author of sacred
writ. That is, I was not expecting Braudel to discern the movement of God in the
past and thus contribute to the story of Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). I understood
that there was a very important qualitative difference between the sacred historians of
Scripture and the ordinary interpreters of the mundane past: the former were Gods
chosen agents of divine self-revelation, the latter were (and are) not. A high view
of Scripture seemed to demand this position. I already sensed that the narrative of
Scripture had to furnish the fundamental meaning that human beings need and crave;
merely human accounts of the past could not and dared not seek to bear this respon-
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
sibility and burden. However, it did not seem to follow from belief in this qualitative
difference that the historian, especially the Christian historian, should be expected to
ignore completely the reality of God in the studying and writing of history, which is
what both Braudel and Bailyn appeared to require. Bailyn made no concessions regard-
ing the existence of a spiritual realm and the possibility that it might influence human
existence.
I cannot remember how I came across the books that would prove to be so
pivotal in the resolution of my vocational crisis. It must have been HOLLIS (Harvards
online library catalogue) that led me to them, or perhaps the Holy Spirit working
through HOLLIS I soon had in my hands a volume edited by C. T. MacIntire entitled
God, History, and Historians: An Anthology of Modern Christian Views of History.
2
It included
wonderfully illuminating essays by Christopher Dawson, Kenneth Scott Latourette,
Reinhold Niebuhr, Arnold Toynbee, Herbert Butterfield, C. S. Lewis, E. Harris
Harbison, and Arthur S. Link, among others. Here I encountered scholars (not all of
them historians) who had reflected deeply on the implications of Christian faith for the
historians craft. What is more, a number of them were recognized by non-Christian
scholars as excellent historians: Latourette, who taught at Yale Divinity School, once
served as the president of the American Historical Association, while Butterfield,
who taught at Cambridge University and Princeton University for a time, was a highly
regarded historian of science and a noted critic of the so-called Whiggish (i.e., teleologi-
cal) interpretation of history in the modern period. These historians had found a way of
being faithful Christians and highly competent historians, even though they took issue
with defining aspects of the modern historians craft. Their work was not limited to
church history, nor were their institutions all church-related; some had taught at pre-
mier research universities.
With the encouragement of the leader of the local InterVarsity Graduate
Christian Fellowship chapter, I invited a number of Christian doctoral students in his-
tory to join me in what became Harvards (very unofficial) Christianity and History
Discussion Group. We read MacIntires volume along with works by historians Mark
Noll,
3
George Marsden,
4
and David Bebbington,
5
among many others.
6
There is not
space here to discuss all that I learned from my colleagues and our readings. Suffice it
say that this informal gathering became one of the most significant intellectual experi-
ences of my time at Harvard, for it helped me to reconceive the historians craft in
Christian terms so that I could take it up in good conscience. In other words, this
group helped me to arrive at a Christian understanding of the historians vocation; it
helped me to redeem this vocation, or at least to begin to do so. The result was not a
return to the unreflective providentialism of previous generations in which historians
presumed to have a Gods-eye view of the past; rather, it was a striking forth to join an
exciting community of modern historians who had adopted a certain posture toward
the past that can be best described as creaturely. This position viewed history as Gods
domain in which he seeks and saves the lost; it also saw historians along with the rest
of human beings as finite and fallen creatures who continue to bear traces of the imago
dei and who were made for communion with God.
144
As I have continued to refine my thinking about this creaturely posture over the
years, it has come to include a number of important features. First, it entails the rejec-
tion of the atheistic assumptions of the modern historians guild, for they deny the exis-
tenceor at least the relevanceof the Creator along with the existence (or relevance)
of the spiritual dimension of human existence.
7
It also entails a certain openness to
divine (and diabolical) activity in the past, an openness that refuses to restrict causal
forces to this-worldly phenomena. But this posture also believes that the historian can
have no certain knowledge of other-worldly causal factors without direct divine rev-
elation, and this revelation is extremely rare: God remains largely hidden in mundane
history but by faith is believed to be sovereign over and present within it. This posture
allows the historian to have hunches about Gods role in past events and also encour-
ages the historian to give due weight to spiritual motivation in assessing human behav-
ior, as well as warns the historian to be extremely cautious about making such claims
fundamentally, this posture entails humility. It also fully embraces the necessity of deep
study of the past on its own terms and in its own languages; it implies no epistemologi-
cal privilege for the Christian that obviates the need for countless hours of study and
hard work. Finally, this posture urges the historian to believe that he can have some
reliable knowledge of the past but only as in a mirror dimly (1 Cor 13:12).

8
What does all of this mean for my own work as a historian? In terms of my
scholarship, I have endeavored to practice the openness to the transcendent that I
think is essential to a Christian understanding of the historians vocation; I acknowledge
there may well have been spiritual forces at work in the past that are beyond my reach
as a historianI do not try to provide a total explanation of anything. Here is how I
have tried to manifest this openness in my recent book on pastoral efforts to console
sick and suffering Christians in late medieval and early modern Germany. The quota-
tion comes from the concluding lines of the book.
There is a final question that has also occupied me as I have worked on
this project, one that historians are not supposed to ask, but one I have
been unable to escape: did God console? Christian consolers hoped and
believed that their writings would serve as conduits of divine solace.
Did this happen? Could it have happened? Might the living God have
deigned to work through the consolatory efforts of clerical and lay min-
isters to communicate real divine solace to the sick and suffering in the
later Middle Ages and early modern period, even as Christians engaged in
unprecedented debates and battles about how best to define an authenti-
cally Christian doctrine of suffering? Might God have used such time-
bound, culturally-conditioned, and even flawed means to convey grace,
hope, and peace? Unlike earlier generations of providentialist historians,
I do not believe that I can detect the actual movements of the Spirit in
individual human hearts in the past, but neither do I believe that I must
deny such movements simply because they are not open to modern his-
torical scrutiny. If one believes that there is a God who is both interested
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
145
in and capable of visiting suffering human beings with heavenly solace,
this greatly influences the way one interprets human efforts at consolation
in the past. One is less likely to interpret these efforts in an exclusively
materialistic fashion. I have sought to remain open to the possibility that
my sources did act as conduits of divine solace, even as I have endeavored
to observe the boundaries and borders that separate me from such divine
activity in the past, as well as from the human beings whom I have been
privileged to study in this project.
9

I seek to exhibit this same openness throughout the book.
10
I also make clear in
the introduction that I view the sources for my study not simply as historical artifacts
but also as potential resources for Christian ministry and living today. I think there
are lessonsboth positive and negativeto be drawn from my research that have
relevance for the modern church. I hint at one of these lessons throughout the book
and finally make it explicit in the conclusion: the western church has ignored the bibli-
cal tradition of lament as an appropriate response to suffering, and Christian pastoral
careeven Christianity itselfhas been much the poorer for it. I seek to produce
works that I hope will be of use to both the church and the academy: I always have two
audiences in mind in nearly everything I write. This task is made somewhat easier by
the fact that I am a scholar of the Reformation, a topic that has a recognized relevance
for many in the church.
What about teaching? One very direct connection between my own process
of vocational crisis resolution and my work as a teacher is that I place the books that
have meant so much for my development as a historian in the hands of my students. I
have taught a course at Valpo entitled Faith and History that examines these books
in depth. The course invites students to view the historians craft as a Christian voca-
tion and then seeks to draw out the possible implications of this perspective for how
one understands and practices this craft.
11
I also offer a general overview of the his-
tory of historiography that consciously seeks to challenge purely secular approaches
to the study of the past and purely secularist accounts of how the historians craft has
evolved over the centuries. These Whiggish accounts typically remove God from the
story after the seventeenth century and present the modern secular approach to history
as the inevitable and proper end of the disciplines long evolution. While the course
acknowledges and embraces the important correctives that the Enlightenment made to
traditional providentialist historiography, it also seeks to expose the various biases
especially, the antisupernaturalismof these correctives. In other words, I try to teach
my students to reflect theologically on the modern historians craft. I consider these
efforts in the classroom to be part of my larger calling as a teacher to serve and love my
students. At its root, I see teaching as an expression of neighbor-love. This is the ethic
that informs my relationship with my students; it is also the ethic that I encourage my
students to practice with one another and with the authors of the written works that we
read together in class. In my teaching I strive to encourage love for the other, and love
for truth, for both are essential to an authentically Christian understanding of the histo-
rians vocation, at least in my opinion.
146
In many ways, Bailyns question about Braudel was a perfectly appropriate one,
as was his unenthusiastic response to my upstart query. There are good reasonseven
good theological reasonsfor guarding against the enchantment of the historians
vocation that occurred in the past and that still takes place in the present (especially in
sermons!). The historians purview is largely limited to life under the sun and the his-
torians role is an important but rather humble one: to provide some modest sense of
penultimate meaning for mundane human existence through the construction of fallible
and necessarily incomplete narratives. History should never aspire to be the queen of
the sciences, for its subject matter is life in this world, this vale of tears. Still, this vale
belongs to God, who loves it beyond all measure and who has taken on its very flesh
and tears in order to redeem it. Taking this God and this love seriously should make a
difference in how one understands both history and the historians craft. Perhaps this is
finally what I found (and find) so lacking in the modern historians guild and the work
of luminaries such as Braudel and Bailyn, even as I am astonished by their vast learning
and intellectual giftedness. I felt the need to redeem the model of the historians voca-
tion that they presented to me, and I am deeply grateful for the Christian scholars and
historians (past and present) whose works and wise counsel have enabled me to make a
beginning in doing so, both for myself and my students.
Endnotes
1
Fernand Braudel, La Mditerrane et le Monde Mditerranen a lpoque de Philippe II (Paris, Colin, 1949);
The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, vol. 1. trans. Sian Reynolds (New York: Harper &
Row, 1972; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).
2
C. T. MacIntire, ed., God, History, and Historians: An Anthology of Modern Christian Views of History (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1977).
3
See note 8 below.
4
Among the many helpful works by George Marsden on the intersection of Christian faith and the
historians craft are the following: Christian Advocacy and the Rules of the Academic Game, in Bruce Kuklick
and D. G. Hart, eds., Religious Advocacy and American History (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997) 327; and What
Difference Might Christian Perspectives Make? in Ronald A. Wells, ed., History and the Christian Historian (Grand
Rapids.: Eerdmans, 1998), 1122.
5
David Bebbington, Patterns in History: A Christian Perspective on Historical Thought (Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1990).
6
We also read articles by important Lutheran historians, including Lewis Spitzs History: Sacred and
Secular, Church History 47 (1978): 522. Later I encountered helpful works by Martin Marty and Mark Schwehn.
See Marty, The Difference in Being a Christian and the Difference it Makesfor History, in C. T. MacIntire and
Ronald A. Wells, eds., History and Historical Understanding (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 4154; and Schwehn,
Faith Seeking Historical Understanding, Fides et Historia 37:2 (2005): 1121.
7
For a sharp criticism of the materialistic assumptions of the modern historians guild, see Brad
Gregory, Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999),
especially 815. See also idem, The Other Confessional History: On Secular Bias in the Study of Religion, History
and Theory 45: 4 (December 2006): 132149, and No Room for God? History, Science, Metaphysics, and the Study
of Religion, History and Theory 47:4 (December 2008): 495519.
8
I am an advocate of what the American historian Mark Noll has dubbed chastened realism, an epis-
temology that is based on a consideration of older scientific (i.e., realist) and newer postmodern (i.e., nominalist)
approaches to historical knowledge in light of the Christian doctrines of creation, fall, and incarnation. See Mark
Nolls four-part series on the History Wars in Books and Culture: A Christian Review, 5:3 (May/June 1999), 5:4
(July/August 1999), 5:5 (September/October 1999), and 5:6 (November/December 1999). Noll discusses chas-
tened realism in 5:6. See also two book chapters by Noll: Traditional Christianity and the Possibility of Historical
Knowledge, in Kucklick and Hart, Religious Advocacy and American History, 2853; The Potential of Missiology for
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
147
the Crises of History, in Ronald A. Wells, ed., History and the Christian Historian (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998),
106123. For Nolls most recent attempt to relate Christian faith to the historians craft, see his Christology: A
Key to Understanding History, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), chap. 5.
9
Ronald K. Rittgers, The Reformation of Suffering: Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late Medieval and Early
Modern Germany (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 262263.
10
I have written about such openness in other Christian historians. See Ronald K. Rittgers, He flew: A
Concluding Reflection on the Place of the Supernatural and Eternity in the Scholarship of Carlos Eire, in Emily
Michelson, Scott Taylor, and Mary Noll Venables, eds., A Linking of Heaven and Earth: Studies in Religious and Cultural
History in Honor of Carlos M.N. Eire (London: Ashgate, 2012), 205216.
11
There is a recent and valuable volume that takes up this very question. See John Fea, Jay Green, and
Eric Miller, eds., Confessing History: Explorations in Christian Faith and the Historians Vocation (Notre Dame: University
of Notre Dame Press, 2010.) The volume seeks to offer alternatives to the earlier work of historians such as Mark
Noll and, especially, George Marsden.
148
Homiletical Helps
COncordia
ournal
J
Homiletical Helps on LSB Series CEpistles
151 Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
Easter 7 Revelation 22:16 (711) 1220 May 12, 2013
Introduction
In 1563, Lutheran theologian David Chytraeus (15301600) wrote a commentary
on the book of Revelation in which he calculated the date of Christs second com-
ing. Such theorizing by one of Luthers own students may surprise us, yet Chytraeuss
prediction tells us something about how he understood the book of Revelation and its
meaning for the church of his day. Chytraeus knew well that God alone has determined
the date of the Last Judgment; it is not given us to speculate about such things. But
that didnt stop Chytraeus from indulging in a series of mathematical computations. He
believed that the antichrist had been revealed, beginning in the year 1520 (when Pope
Leo X issued the bull excommunicating Luther). Factoring in the various ages in world
history with the number of Jubilee years after Christs resurrection, Chytraeus calculated
that the world would end in the year 1695. Chytraeus was right about one thing: the
book of Revelation was a book written for his own time.
1
In the same way, the book
of Revelation is written for our time. Gods speaking to his people is true; the signs of
what must take place are evident and the time is urgent. We, too, live in expectation of
Christs glorious return, we eagerly pray for the fulfillment of all Gods promises.

The Restoration of Life with God
In the final chapter of Revelation John sees Gods paradisethe garden of
Edenrestored. Gods people will live with him in the new heaven and new earth sus-
tained by the river of the water of life (22:1). Once barred (Gn 3:22), access to the
tree of life now has been restored. Death is no longer the future of human beings, but
rather eternal life with God. In this paradise the curse of sin is no more (22:3); Gods
gracious blessing, won by Christs work of redemption, has replaced it. Gods righteous
slaves, gathered before the throne of the Lamb, will see his face and worship him
forever, indeed, they will reign forever (22:35).

I Am Coming Quickly
In the epilogue, Jesus himself enters the conversation between John and the
angel. Repeatedly he testifies that the prophecy of the book of Revelation is true, and
that he is coming quickly. Jesus bears witness to the truth of this message, even as God
himself is its author; God is faithful and will fulfill his promises (22:67, 12, 16, 18).
Key to this fulfillment is Christs own promise, his final words in the Bible: Yes, I am
coming quickly, to which the church responds: Amen, come, Lord Jesus! (22:20).

The Churchs Prayer in This Time
Come, Lord Jesus! is a bold thing for Gods people to pray, especially since it
means also the coming of his judgment. But it is because we are redeemed sinners that,
in faith, we can pray, Come, Lord Jesus! We pray because he took our sin upon him-
self, and gave his resurrection life in exchange for our shameful death. We pray because
he has promised to come quickly.
What a bold thing faith does when it prays, Come, Lord Jesus! God, please
reign among us! Pour out your Spirit upon us that we may believe! Send your Spirit to
others that they may believe and have their names written in the Lambs Book. God,
preserve us in your word! Put your name on us and wash away our sins! Feed us with
Christs body and blood. Give us forgiveness, new life, and salvation. Call and make
holy your church on earth and keep it with Jesus Christ in the true faith. Come, Lord
Jesus, and judge us! Come, Lord Jesus, and lead us into your holy city, show us the tree
of life, growing beside the river of life. There let us live with you and reign with all the
saints forever and ever. We pray because Christ reigns even now over his church, and
yet he is coming again to fulfill what he has promised.

Conclusion
The book of Revelation is a book for our own timea book for all time.
Christians live in the days after Christs death, after his resurrection, and after his ascen-
sion. We live in the days before Christs glorious return, days filled with expectation
and hope. With his own living voice, our Lord has promised that he will come again.
Will he not come quickly?
Gerhard Bode
Endnote
1
Cf. Irena Backus, Reformation Readings of the Apocalypse: Geneva, Zurich, and Wittenberg. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000, 113ff.


Pentecost Acts 2:121 May 19, 2013
What in the world is going on?
English versions seem so pedestrian, e.g., When the day of Pentecost arrived
(ESV) or, simply, came (NIV and others). Though the verb occurs only
three times (Lk 8:23; 9:51; and here), there is more to the arrival of Pentecost than flip-
ping the calendar to a new page. Pentecost is more than a day; the day ushers in an era
or an age. (Notice the variant in D, which makes this passage echo Luke 2.)
We cannot fully absorb or explain the phenomena; the descriptions of wind and
fire are couched in similes (, ). What happens in the house is only a prelude
to what happens in the public square. (2:5, 11 and 14) has religious significa-
tion: devout men (ESV) are not simply Judeans (see 2:911; compare vs.
). Peter may ramp things up when he uses the phrase Israelitish men in 2:22,
but Jews here signifies believers, and dwellers in Jerusalem signifies everybody else.
The arc from Parthia through Mesopotamia is the Old (Testament) World;
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the rest of the list (through verse 10) describes the Mediterranean basin, the New
(Testament) World with Rome as its outermost part. Jews and proselytes, i.e., life-
long believers and converts, are religious not ethnic or national categories. Are Cretans
and Arabians simply place/people names, or might they constitute a merism of seafar-
ers and nomads? In any event, the whole world has converged in Jerusalem, and is
hearing the mighty works of God (2:11, ESV).
What are these mighty works? It would be easy to say, They were telling
people about Jesus. They might well have been doing that, but Luke doesnt say so. In
fact, Peters audience wont hear the Jesus story until (according to the lectionary) next
Sunday!
Peter goes along with the gibe of drunkenness, but quickly corrects the misun-
derstanding. He quotes Joel (2:2832 in English; 3:15 in MT and LXX), though not
verbatim. Some differences seem minor: He adds ; this clarifies that God
was the speaker in the original passage. It may be rhetorically important that Peter
says God () and not Lord (), because the latter, the LXX rendering of
(reading adonai), might be too particular; what Peter has to say comes from the
Hebrew Scriptures, but is for all to hear. He also adds the word signs () (cf. Jl
2:30). And his inclusion of the adverbs above and beneath reflect the wording in,
e.g., Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8; Deuteronomy 4:39; Joshua 2:11; and 1 Kings
8:23. In short, Peter does more than recite a memory verse.
Of more significance, however, is that the apostle eschatologizes the prophetic
utterance. God announces, in Joel, that he will pour out his Spirit after this (cf.
MT, LXX), i.e., after he restores the grain and wine and oil (Jl 2:19) that locust and
drought had destroyed; there is no explicit eschatological value. Now, however, under
the influence of the poured-out Spirit, Peter perceives the promise in salvation-histor-
ical perspective. The kingdom of God, the day of the LORD, the last days, are
now but also, still, not yet.
While Peter has added to the utterance of Joel, he has taken nothing away. The
Spirit is being poured out on all flesh, and, at present, the apostle says more than
he realizeshe will not grasp the referent of all flesh until later (Acts 10). But one
particularity, with its scandal, is being erased. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of
the LORD is mentioned rather infrequently (mostly in the Former Prophets); Yahweh
speaks of my Spirit slightly more often in the writing prophets, especially Isaiah and
Ezekiel. This suggests that the Spirits operation is more particular than universal.
Now, Peter declares, all that has changed. The Spirits work can no longer be seen as
restrictedas if it ever, actually, could have been.
This text may be awkward for Lutheran preachers. There is no law, in our
usual manner of speaking. Neither is there gospel, if we insist on the particular lan-
guage of the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and the atoning sacrifice
and active obedience of Christ. But it is gospel that God pours out, has poured out,
his Spirit on all flesh, because this too signifies that God has come to his peoplethe
people he made for himself in creation. We who believe in Jesusthe Spirit has called
and gathered, is enlightening and sanctifying, and will keep. There are others, however,
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153
whom he is calling and desires to gather. No one is out of range of the Spirits work;
he targets every human heart. We may encounter closed doors, our testimony may be
rejected, but the Spirit of the LORD, the Holy Spirit, keeps going about his work and
will continue to do so, unceasingly, until the very last day.
There is nothing in the texts we are expressly to do. There are mission implica-
tions and applications, but Peter gives us no instructions. To be sure, that doesnt
mean we are to do nothing. But we are reminded that the mighty works are Gods,
not ours. Count on the poured-out Spirit. What he gives you to say, say. Thats always
been the main work of a prophet. And Mosess wish will come true: Would that all the
LORDs people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them! (Nm
11:29, ESV).
William Carr



Holy Trinity Acts 2:14a; 2236 May 26, 2013


Acts chapter two presents us with the contrast between our own self-righteous-
ness and the righteousness of Christ. It shows clearly our need to repent and the Savior
who still lives as King to forgive the wrong we have done to him and the sin we have
laid upon him at the cross. Jesus would have us in his kingdom, and through his love
invites even rebellious and wicked servants to repent and follow him. Furthermore,
it shows that ordinary people like Peter, can through the power of that forgive-
ness, become bold to witness to the death and resurrection of their Lord and Savior.
Therefore, we too are emboldened by that witness and the Holy Spirit and one baptism
we still share with them. As an aside, it is a good text to show how important the Old
Testament was to early Christians and how it should be important to us as well.
Preceding context: One should consider the change in attitude of the Apostles
when preaching this text. They have gone from hiding out, to preaching boldly in the
name of Jesus. Pentecost has clearly had an effect on them.
Old Testament references: Prominent Old Testament references are an impor-
tant feature both of the text and the section left out. Here we find a famous passage
from Joel 2, as well as two Psalms16 and 110. The Joel passage is essential to under-
standing the first portion of the periscope as presented, and so this reader does not
understand its obviously intentional omission.
Flow of thought: Leaving in the omitted portions, this text makes more sense.
First, it is essential for the structure of the latter material that Peter is preaching to the
residents of Jerusalem. Given this fact, the text breaks down into three sections: First,
the signs, wonders and miracles of Jesus, as well as the darkness surrounding his death,
are fulfilled through the life, work and death of Jesus. Second, the resurrection of Jesus
is the fulfillment of the promises to Davids throne, for a king that will reign forever.
Jesus is stronger than death, therefore the kingship of Jesus is stronger than the king-
ship of David, who is dead and whose grave was apparent. Third, the people have
154
killed, but God has raised from the dead their King and Messiah. Peter breaks up his
sermon with two uses of fellow Israelites, indicating both the Jews of Jerusalem and
the Gentiles who lived there, and apparently his words had an effect, for the people
were cut to the heart and responded, Brothers, what shall we do? Clearly there is a
division into sections here and the structure of what was said highlights the Messiah yet
reigns and rules following his glorious resurrection from the dead.
Preaching the law from this text: We must understand that living post-Pentecost
and having grown up as Christians, we often behave as though we would not have
acted in the same manner as these people did regarding the Messiah. Many in the
crowd Peter was preaching to were not present for, nor directly responsible for the
death of Christ, and yet their response, in many cases, is one of faith. They knew that
their sins were responsible for the death of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and we need to
know that we too are responsible, both due to our actions and our attitudes. Our sin is
one of unbelief, not believing that we have sinned against the Messiah by our wicked
actions and nature. Furthermore we often do not believe that he has forgiven us these
sins and we do not live to spread the wonder of this forgiveness to others.
Preaching the gospel from this text: The good news here is that the kingdom is
restored because the King himself is risen. Therefore, all who have faith in Jesus, do
not need to fear his reign, but can rejoice in the victory over sin, death, and the grave.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9). When we have faith in Christ, we can stand with
Peter as fellow Israelites. Here reference should be made to the teaching of Paul
about who the true Israel is (see Romans chapters 911), namely all who have the faith
of Abraham in the Messiah. Peter was bold because he really did believe in the resur-
rection. He knew that although he had betrayed Jesus, his sins were forgiven and his
standing before God restored. Peter invites all the betrayers of Jesus to repent, be for-
given, and live in the hope of eternal life with him. Peter does not leave the crowd in its
guilt and sin, but provides them the same means of escape Christ has provided for him.
Two kinds of righteousness: Gods righteous forgiveness is found here in the
work of Pentecost as well as in the great power of the resurrection of the dead. Because
Jesus is risen, Peter knows Christs forgiveness and is emboldened to do the good work
of preaching the judgment and mercy of God to the crowd. Because he has received
and known the righteousness of Christ, he relieves those who repent and believe in the
crowd by offering them forgiveness and a new start in baptism and the Holy Spirit.
These words in Acts 2 show both the power of the preaching of Peter on sin
and the gracious Lord of the kingdom, and also the response of the crowd to this gos-
pel of the merciful King, who because he is risen from the dead, can forgive the sins
of those who have previously killed him. Death has no power over him, for he is risen
and reigns with the Father, and has sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and lead us into
all truth.
Timothy Dost

Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
155
Proper 4 Galatians 1:112 June 2, 2013

Other gospels? Come again?
The gospel, the good news is a familiar theme for Lutherans. We hear it, and
we hear it again; the news, Jesus died for our sins and rose againfor his sake, sins for-
given, peace with God, eternal life.
Yet, is this all there is? Do other religions, spiritualities, beliefs, pieties, churches,
sects offer more, add something? Should the gospel be updated, made more palatable
to a wider range of people, a bit more cosmopolitan, inclusive?
A quest so modern, but ancient too. Certain teachers, trouble makers, showed up
in the churches of Galatia founded by St. Paul. They pressed to accommodate within
the gospel of Jesus and his righteousness, a few strains of mans good works; particu-
larly, circumcision in order to be saved (Gal 5:2; cf. Acts 15:1). They said this would
please certain Jews in the congregations.
The apostle was unpleasantly surprised. He was livid! So soon they forsook his
painstaking teaching (Gal 1:6a)the gospel altered, tweaked, and changed. Could such
a gospel any longer be the gospel of Christ? Like inclusivism saturating current culture,
false teachers had gotten to the Galatians with an accommodational gospel (Gal 1:7b;
cf. 5:78, 10).
Shall we have the gospel as it is, or a revised gospel to please many?

Other Gospels
Should not the gospel be more relational? Some say, our religion is sensible
only with other religions (unitive pluralism). All revelation has its origin, or at least
part of its origin, in the individual and collective consciousness (Jung). Its about the
experience of God speaking withinessentially the same within for all human beings.
A shared belief among psychologists and psychiatristsall the world religions are off-
spring of a common parent: the human psyche (Nitter). Have we grown comfortable
with other gospels?
If other gospels are about us, what we do counts. Surely God is pleased.
Really? Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, does a TV ad, calling backslid-
ing Roman Catholics to church again. Appeal? A mixed gospelthe Virgin Mother,
Jesus, Eucharist are there, but more, a bit of prayer, some good works added move you
to heaven. And, another gospel, the notion that purity of life and rectitude of conduct
is necessary to gain admission to the Celestial Lodge above. Symbol? The Lambskin
reminds that purity of life and conduct gain approval of the Grand Architect of the
Universe, and one enters heaven (freemasonry).

The Gospel
Not mans gospel, but the gospel of Jesus is for us, a proposition that Paul
would defend to the deathand he, an apostle not from man nor through man (Gal
1:12). This gospelexclusively of Jesus who gave himself for the sake of our sins
to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God our Father (Gal
156
1:4)came not by man, or teaching of man, but revealed by Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12).
A gospel of righteousness, not in us or by us, but in Jesus Christ, is ours by faith (Gal
3:1112, 22; Rom 3:2122). The true gospelno human input, no supplements, no
alteration. Without modification or accommodation, this gospel and the apostle who
brought it are through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Jesus from the
dead (Gal 1:1; cf. 11).
Who dares to pose another gospel, an altered gospel? What are we doing?
Pleasing God or man? (cf. Gal 1:10a). Surely, man! Then we are no longer servants of
Christ (Gal 1:10). Listen! The gospel of salvation by grace alone through Jesus Christ, if
changed, is a perverted false gospel. Espouse an altered accommodating gospel, and you
are severed from Christ altogether! (Gal 5:4). Either the law and righteousness by works
of the law abide, and Christ perishes; or Christ and his righteousness must abide, and the
law perishes (Luther). Away with unitive pluralism, inclusivism, and moralism! Affirm
anew the one and only gospelliberation by Jesus from the curse of the law (Gal
3:1013; 4:5), forgiveness of sins by Jesus (1 Pt 2:24), justification by grace alone, i.e., as
promise received, and believed by faith in Jesus apart from works of the law (Gal 3:11).

Conclusion
Before the interlopers troubled the Galatians, they would rather suffer mutila-
tionhave their eyes plucked outthan yearn for other gospels (Gal 4:15). Let it be so
with us. If hearing the gospel again and then again is a Lutheran thing, it is good to be
a Lutheran Christian. All glory to God! (Gal 1:5).
Richard H. Warneck

Proper 5 Galatians 1:1124 June 9, 2013

Pauls letter to the Galatians makes clear that his authority came from Christ,
that the gospel was for Jew and Gentile, and that believers are set free for living by the
Spirit. Todays reading emphasizes that Pauls readers could trust his message because
he received it from Jesus. The other readings, Elijahs raising of a widows son and
Jesuss raising of a widows son, attest to Gods mercy and power and how it brings a
thankful response.
Today there are many sources for information and it is easy to distort what is
reported. People can comment and say how something looks to them; no expertise is
required. Facts can be selected, tweaked and twisted. What source do we trust when it
comes to knowing the ways of God?
Paul makes a case that he had the trustworthy source. He contrasts the gospel
that he preached (v. 11) with the traditions of my fathers (v. 14). He had a divine
source, Jesus ChristGod in fleshly form; the Jewish traditions came from man
human species, flesh and blood. One message says that by the grace of God there is
salvation for all in Christ; the other message says that the Old Testament law, plus
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157
some human requirements, must be kept in order to be acceptable to God. Which is
Gods will? Do you trust a human version of the truth about God when you could have
a divine source?
Pauls own life illustrates the difference. Paul had been zealous for what was
handed down from his fathers. He was a well-trained Pharisee who believed, for exam-
ple, that ritual washings according to the tradition of men were essential to righteous
living under Gods rules. Jesus, however, said that this was a way of rejecting the com-
mandment of God (Mk 7:9). Devoted to such traditions, Paul had actively worked
under the chief priests to oppose the followers of Jesus until the day he was confronted
by Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:9ff). Jesus himself chose Saul, the persecu-
tor, and sent him to open the eyes of the Gentiles so that they may turn from dark-
ness to light and receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sancti-
fied by faith (Acts 26:18).
Voices around us suggest a human-tradition version of what God teaches. They
frequently call for doing the right thing rather than trusting in Jesuss righteousness.
It presumes that doing a good thing makes us a good person. God, and everyone else,
should see us as more acceptable (righteous) than those who fail to do the same. Thus
Gods law, written in the human heart, is at work but it is twisted into a piling up of
right deeds often tweaked to add humanly-devised extra requirements, something to
impress God. In the process, real acts of disobedience are ignored as though they never
happened. Where did this version of religious life come from? People made it up.
The listener will be helped by identifying some human traditions (Pharisaic
alternatives) and by explaining how these differ from the words of Jesus. There are
many options. What do surveys say? Which version of Christianity is most popular?
What do friends say about pleasing God? Isnt respect for the green earth the main
thing? What behavior is most comfortable to my life style?
Jesus hands down the way of Gods mercy. Doing some right things is not suf-
ficient because all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law . . . God
judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus (Rom 2:12, 16). The righteousness of God
comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Rom 3:22). This is the gospel
that Paul brought to the Galatians and he got it from Jesus. It has divine authority.
A human system for being godly and doing the right thing is no substitute for
the divine design revealed by Jesus Christ. Listening to what Jesus revealswhat Paul
brings from Jesusis to hear what the Lord God says. It is a trustworthy source.
Suggested outline
Who told you that?
I. Paul was taught by Jesus; he had to abandon human traditions.
II. We encounter many voices that draw us away from what Jesus taught
III. Paul calls us to trust only Jesusgood news of Gods mercy for Jew
and Gentile alike.
James L. Brauer
158
Proper 6 Galatians 2:1521; 3:1014 June 16, 2013

Proposed theme: The sermon focus developed here highlights the language of
curse and blessing in Galatians 3. No power of our own, but only Jesus Christ, has
delivered us from the God-sized curse of sin and death. Through Jesus, we receive the
God-sized blessing of Abraham.
General notes: This pericope continues from Pauls confrontation of Peter in
2:1114. Although the Jews have the law of God and may be conscientious to keep it,
Paul reminds Peter of what every Jewish Christian should know: (sinful) man cannot be
justified in the sight of God by acts of obedience but only through trust in Christs love
and self-giving (2:20)his righteousness-securing (2:21), redeeming, curse-removing,
blessing-bringing death on the tree (3:1314).
In 2:16, where the ESV translates a person is not justified by works of the law
and by works of the law no one will be justified, Pauls Greek has a;nqrwpoj (a man
is not justified) and pa/sa sa,rx (all flesh will not be justified). Man and flesh connect
with Pauls overarching theme in Galatians: salvation must be from God, in Christ,
through the Spiritnot from the power of man or the power of flesh: Are you so
foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being completed by the flesh? (3:3).
Throughout Galatians, Paul constructs antitheses along this radical fault line: man,
flesh, works, obedience, circumcision, etc. on one side, and faith in God, the cross of
Christ, and the work of the Spirit on the other (1:1, 10, 1112; 2:20; 3:19, 14, 2224;
4:47, 23, 27, 29; 5:26, 1626; 6:3; 6:1215).
Old Testament language and theology drive Pauls thought here. Isaiah 31 is
instructive: Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help. They rely on horses. They
have put their trust in chariots . . . But they have not looked to the Holy One of Israel,
nor Yahweh have they sought! . . . Yet the Egyptians are man (~da) and not God
(lae); their horses are flesh (rfB), and not spirit (vv. 1, 3a). Jeremiah 17:5 uses similar
Pauline language: Cursed is the man who trusts in man (~daB; LXX: evpV a;nqrwpon)
and makes flesh (rfB) his strength (LXX: who leans his arm of flesh (sa,rx) upon him
[man]), and whose heart turns away from Yahweh. With this background, the ESVs
rendering of Galatians 3:10, while interpretive, expresses Pauls sense well: For all who
rely on the works of the law are under a curse. (See also Is 2:22; 40:68, 3830.)
Developing the theme: Curse and blessing are world-shattering and world-
restoring terms in the Bibles account of creation, fall, and redemption in Christ. In
popular usage, however, the terms curse and blessing have been diminished and
obscured. Cursing refers to vulgar language in general, or to harsh statements such
as Damn you/it or Go to hell. But such statements are not usually intended to
involve divine powers or to actually impact eternal destinies. More often, they simply
express the strength of the speakers hatred or displeasure. The concept of a curse
also appears in fairy tales or in films: a curse may fall upon a character as a hex, a
kind of vague, harmful power. Blessing, likewise, is commonly used as a mere expres-
sion of the speakers own sentiments, e.g. gratitude (Oh, bless you, honey!). Or I may
name something a blessing, not really meaning that it came from God, but only that
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159
I view it as a positive thing. In its overuse, the word blessing now sounds quaint or
even sappy.
The sermon could dust off these biblical expressions, reconnect them with the
biblical story (assumed by Paul in the text), and proclaim the removal of the curse and
the bestowal of the blessing of Abraham upon your hearersnot by any human
effort, but in Christs death. The aim would be threefold: first, that hearers perceive
the radical scope and consequences of Gods curse on human sin; second, that hearers
believe and marvel at the depth of Christs love, who became a curse for us (2:20b;
3:13); and third, that hearers long more fervently for the restoration of all creation in
Christ, the promised blessing of Abraham.
Gods blessing begins in Genesis 1, and Gods curse enters the story in Genesis
3. Old Testament saints longed for relief, longed for rest, and restoration from this
curse (e.g., Gn 5:2829). God declared that blessing would return to humanity and
to the creation, and that Gods blessing would come through Abraham and through
his seed (12:23; 22:18). Luther writes, The curse is a kind of flood that swallows up
whatever is outside Abraham, that is, outside faith and the promise of the blessing of
Abraham . . . All nations before, during, and after Abraham are under a curse and are
to be under a curse forever, unless they are blessed in the faith of Abraham . . . (AE
26:248). (See also Jn 3:18, 36; 1 Cor 15:17.)
Luther notes how large this promised blessing is: The prophets preach about
this blessing everywhere . . . the sort of blessing that belongs to the imputation of righ-
teousness that avails in the sight of God, that redeems from the curse of sin and every-
thing that follows sin . . . [The sayings of the prophets] all flowed from these promises,
in which God promised to the fathers the crushing of the serpents head (Gn 3:15) and
the blessing of the nations (Gn 12:3) (AE 26:246).
In Galatians 3, then, Paul is speaking about ultimate, cosmic, eternal blessing or
curse from God. The profound depth of the gospel is that Jesus himself received the
curse, even became a curse for us, in his death on the cross. Through faith in Christ,
the blessing of Abraham now comes also to us (Gentiles). This blessing of a restored,
untainted human life within a restored, untainted creation is described vividly in the
final two chapters of Revelation. And there shall be no more curse (Rv 22:3).
Suggested Sermon Outline
Gods Curse and Gods Blessing
I. Gods curse over all (Gal 3:1012)
A. Such little cursespopular uses of the term
B. Gods great curse
II. Gods curse upon One: Christ Jesus (Gal 3:13)
III. Through Christ, the blessing of Abraham comes to us (Gal 3:14)
A. Such little blessingspopular uses of the term
B. Gods great blessing
Thomas Egger

160
Proper 7 Galatians 3:234:7 June 23, 2013

Textual Considerations
There are many details of this passage which could be developed in the sermon,
some of which are quite significant, such as the wonderful implications of putting on
Christ in baptism (3:27) and the dissolving of distinctions coram Deo among those who
are baptized (3:28). But what this study focuses on is the overarching analogy or meta-
phor which Paul develops. First we will consider the source domain of that metaphor,
then its target or application.
Paul develops his argument by referring to the process by which a person moves
from childhood to adulthood, his coming of age. It is helpful to understand what Paul
is referring to when he uses customs which were familiar to his original readers, but may
not be to us. The first reference is to the guardian (v. 24). This pedagogue (paidago-
gos) refers to a servant who was entrusted by wealthy parents to watch over their child.
The modern equivalent might be a nanny. The pedagogue was responsible to oversee
the comings and goings of the child, to accompany him and watch his behavior, and
especially to see to the safe conduct of the child to school and home again. As such, the
freedom of the child was curtailed and controlled by the custodial attendant.
At a certain age the status of the child changed from that of a minor to an adult.
In the Roman world the father had discretion in setting the date of his sons coming
of age, usually between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. As Paul states, he is under
guardians and managers until the date set by his father (4:2). At this event (among
the Romans it occurred during the spring festival of Liberalia) the child was officially
adopted by the father and was formally recognized as the son and received full inheri-
tance rights to the familys estate.
James Boice describes this change of status: When the child was a minor in the
eyes of the law . . . his status was no different from that of a slave, even though he was
the future owner of a vast estate. He could make no decisions; he had no freedom. On
the other hand, at the time set by his father the child entered into his responsibility and
freedom.
1
Now we consider the application of this metaphor. Paul writes to members
of the Galatian church who have accepted the teachings of the Judaizers. They have
been persuaded by these false teachers that the only way to become heirs of Gods
kingdom is to submit to the Jewish law by becoming circumcised, by keeping dietary
prescriptions, and by conforming to behavioral patterns. Paul counters by arguing that
it is only by faith in Jesus Christ that one is justified and receives the status as Gods
child and heir. This is the inheritance promised to the offspring of Abraham and now
offered to allJews and Gentileswho have faith in Christ apart from circumcision
and the works of the law (3:122).
Paul compares the law to the pedagogue, and those who are under the law to
the child whose freedom is restricted and constrained by this custodian (3:2324). As
such, he is no different from a slave (4:1). However, this status has changed for the
Christian. The Father has set a date for the coming of age of his people, and in the
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161
fullness of time that has taken place through the incarnation, active obedience, and
redeeming death, and resurrection of his preeminent Son, Jesus Christ (4:45). The result
is that we receive adoption as Gods sons and become heirs of his kingdom (4:57).
The apostles argument, therefore, is that one who remains under the custodian-
ship of the law continues in the inferior status as a minor, living as a slave. Yet, because
of Christ (4:45), and in Christ (3:2628), those who trust Christs saving work and
are baptized, experience new freedom and the status of being heirs of Gods kingdom.
So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (4:7).
This is what it truly means to be Abrahams offspring (3:29).

Homiletical Development:
Since this text is enveloped by the extended metaphor described above, it seems
best to develop the metaphor in the sermon. Indeed, the analogy can become the pri-
mary imagery used in the sermon and bring a sense of unity and wholeness to it. For
this to be done, the preacher will need to explain the ancient customs and practices to
the listeners. One way of doing this is to describe the opening scene in Lloyd Douglass
classic novel The Robe in which the main character, the young Roman Marcellus, is
formally acknowledged by his father to be his son and heir.
The preacher may wish to refer to similar depictions in other contemporary
media. One example is the character of Percy Jackson in the series of novels by Rick
Riordan, most notably The Lightning Thief. In this book, which is widely familiar to
pre-teens and teenagers, Percy Jackson comes to understand his identity as the demi-
god son of the Greek god Neptune. Under the watchful eye of his schoolmaster and
in an abusive relationship with his stepfather, his true identity as a son of a god is then
revealed to him. This revelation is accompanied by a coming of age experience in which
Percy discovers a glorious inheritance and a meaningful destiny.
Another parallel narrative is the experience of Cosette in Victor Hugos master-
piece Les Miserables. In the story, young Cosette is liberated from abusive guardians by
the protagonist Jean Valjean, who effectively adopts her and provides her with his love
and inheritance, transforming her miserable life into one of hope.
In the case of these illustrations, the parallels with Pauls use of the metaphor are
not always compatible in every detail. Accordingly, the preacher must pick and choose
details which will make it work for the hearers. Ultimately what must be communicated
in the sermon is not the contemporary parallels, nor even the ancient rite of passage,
but the truth that it is by Gods grace through faith in Jesus Christ that we become chil-
dren of God and heirs of eternal life.
David Peter
Endnote
1
James Montgomery Boice, The Expositors Bible Commentary, vol. 10, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), 471.



162
Proper 8 Galatians 5:1, 1325 June 30, 2013
Review some of the times in the New Testament that eleutherou is used in
addition to its use in Galatians 5. These include John 8:31b32, If you remain in my
world you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set
you free; Romans 6:18, Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness;
Romans 6:22, But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of
God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life; and
Romans 8:2, For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law
of sin and death.
Review some of the times in the New Testament that eleutheria is used in addi-
tion to its use in Galatians 5:1 and 13 (twice). These include 2 Corinthians 3:17, Now
the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom; and 1
Peter 2:16, Be free. Yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of
God.
Read Martin Luthers On the Freedom of a Christian, available on-line at places
such as www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/luther-freedomchristian.asp. Major themes for
Luther include: I first lay down these two propositions, concerning spiritual liberty and
servitude. A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian
man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone (10). True then are
these two sayings: Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good
works. Bad works do not make a bad man, but a bad man does bad works (23). We
conclude therefore that a Christian man does not live in himself, but in Christ, and in
his neighbor, or else is no Christian; in Christ by faith, in his neighbor by love. By faith
he is carried upwards above himself to God, and by love he sinks back below himself
to his neighbor, still always abiding in God and His love (32). It is useful, helpful, and
important to read the whole work.
Return to the text, Galatians 5:1, 1325. Could this be your theme?: For free-
dom Christ has set us free . . . For you were called to freedom, brothers. But do not
use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through
love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, You shall love your
neighbor as yourself (Gal 5:1a, 1314). Indeed, freed by the gracious and loving
action of Christ from the tyranny of pleasing God with our works and trying to earn
salvation, we are called to use our energy and our lives not in an exercise of self-grati-
fication but rather in service and love to each other. This is truly what freedom in the
gospel and service to the sister and brother in Christ is all about.
Consider the conflicts in your life and those of your hearers that have to do with
the freedom/service or self-pleasure/love of other polarities. For instance, I am freed
from using my money to buy my way into heaven by giving to the church. For what
then do I use money? To gratify myself? Is my freedom rather to use my money to love
and serve others? For instance, I am freed from the terrors of my conscience by the
forgiveness given by Christ. For what then do I use my sense of peace and my clean
slate? To do what I wish in the satisfaction of my own desires? Is my freedom rather
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
163
to use my peace and clean slate by serving and loving others? Find some things in your
life that can be shared that illustrates this principle.
Suggested Sermon Direction
When I was 14, I began to count down the days until I could get my drivers
license. The countdown began at day 830. Day by day I checked off time. Day by day
I dreamed of the freedom I would have when I could drive: dates without parents taxi-
ing us around; buddies speeding along together competitively; going where I wanted to
go unencumbered by adults. The day arrived. Three days later I had my license. Two
weeks later, while at the football field with my parents car I gunned the engine (in my
freedom) and threw a rod. It took two years of working at the old Hyattsville Hardware
store to pay that off. Freedom came; its misuse was costly.
What do you do with your freedom? What do I do with mine? Christ has freed
us from the burden of our sin, from our earning Gods love, from our pulling ourselves
up by our own bootstraps to approach God. With all that energy, no longer needed to
earn a new and healthy relationship with God, what do I do with it? What do you do
with it?
You and I could go after our own desires. (See Galatians 5:1721.) Go for it! We
are free! Just do it! Dont let anyone tell you what to do. I am the master of my own
ship, my own fate. We live in the land of the free, so dont tread on me. I have rights.
Keep off my property! If you dont do it the way that I want Ill leave, because I have
freedom.
You and I could go after the fruit of the Spirit. (See Galatians 5:2225.) Go for
it! We are free! Just do it! Love God, serve the neighbor. Give at least some of your
money to the poor. Listen closely to those with whom we disagree, so closely that we
can really understand why their position is so important to them. Take some time to
find out about the person who sits down the pew from you. Begin, or continue, praying
for others. Invite your neighbors over for food and talk. Engage those with whom you
work in the name of Christ who set all of us free.
So what will you do with your energy, your passion, your freedom in the gospel?
This might be a good time for those who are listening to your sermon to become
more active in it. Can you ask people to share what they will do with their freedom?
Can they text their ideas to a screen or write them on a piece of paper and turn it in? In
prayer you can bless all this energy born of the freedom in Christ.
All in all, we are subject to none and subject to everyone. This is because the
Christ became one with us and became subject to human flesh, form, and experience
and in his life, death, and resurrection he brings us the freedom of a new and healthy
relationship with God.
Bruce Hartung


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Proper 9 Galatians 6:110, 1418 July 7, 2013

Galatians 6 includes the third part of the exhortation section of the letter
(6:110) and the concluding postscript (6:1118). Points of theological interest in this
chapter are: 1. The concept of the law of Christ (v. 2); 2. The fact that we are morally
accountable (vv. 710); 3. The idea that we are crucified to the world (v. 14) and 4.
The idea that what matters is the new creation (v. 15).
1
Verse 1: Brothers: In this section Paul talks about the claims of
brotherly love even when someone is caught in actual sin. We may assume that a harsh
corrective is necessary, but Paul suggests otherwise.
Even if someone is
detected in some wrongdoing . . . the functions adverbally as an intensifier. The
statement is general.
You, those possessing the Spirit, restore. . .
Paul urges gentle treatment of actual sinners. You who are spiritual refers to those
who possess the Holy Spirit, Spirit-filled people. The present imperative restore sug-
gests that this command is to be an ongoing process. Paul instructs that the offender be
corrected with a view to restoring him, and he asks that it be done in a spirit of meek-
nessthe task is a delicate one.
The switch from the plural imperative to the singular participle
suggests that while the treatment of offenders belongs to the whole church, each mem-
ber ought to examine him/herself individually. Paul starts with the assumption that we
are all poor miserable sinners and that our care of others must proceed from this rec-
ognition. If it doesnt we are likely to fall to temptation ourselves.
Verse 2: The reciprocal pronoun a (of one
another) is often found in exhortations where Paul assumes that the obligations believ-
ers have with each other (he calls us brothers in v. 1), is based on the connections
they have with the risen Christ, as he does here. This is a beautiful metaphor that helps
us think about what loving our brother looks like. Paul gives us a way to think about
Christian love and what it looks like.
Here Paul reformulates what he says in Galatians 5:14,
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself
(cf., what Jesus says in John 13:34). Christ fulfilled this law in a remarkable way through
his own faithful obedience even to death on a cross.
Verses 35: We who think that our strength and goodness are our own doing are
only deluding ourselves. We must not compare our work to that of others because it
will only feed our vanity; rather, we ought to scrutinize our own work and then rejoice
in what has been given by Gods grace.
Verses 78: God is not mocked the verb means to
turn ones nose at or to treat with contempt. Those who mock God are playing with
fire because they will reap what they sow. The lives we lead now have (ultimate) con-
sequences. The description of the one who sows to his own flesh and the one who
sows to the Spirit is spelled out in Galatians 5:1626. The future tenses of the verbs,
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
165
the metaphor of reaping what you sow (i.e. the harvest) and the reference to eternal
life suggest that Paul is talking about the final judgment.
Verse 9: the participle com-
pletes the thought of the main verb, .
2
is a hortatory subjunctive
used to exhort someone else, and so it is translated, let us . . .
if we do not lose heart the participle suggests a condition (not los-
ing heart) on which the accomplishment of the idea in the main verb depends.
Verse 14: In 2:19 Paul writes that
he has been crucified with Christ. In 5:24 he says that those who belong to Jesus have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Here he says that by Christs cross (i.e.,
his crucifixion) he (and all believers) has been crucified to the world and the world to
him. For those who are not Christian, this world is the all-encompassing and only real-
ity, and they must order their lives according to it. In other words, they are under its
power. But we who have been crucified with Christ share in his victory. For us who are
in Christ, the power of the world over us has been broken, as has our selfish love of
the world. We are dead to the world, and the world is dead to us.
Verse 15: Compare v. 15 with Galatians 5:6, For in Christ Jesus neither cir-
cumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love, and 1
Corinthians 7:19, For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision,
but keeping the commandments of God. What matters is the new creation in which
faith works through love. Rather than being slaves, Gods people are sons and their
lives, led by the Spirit are lives lived in gratitude for the grace that they have been given.
Timothy E. Saleska
Endnotes
1
Thomas W. Gillespie, Galatians 6(16), 716, in The Lectionary Commentary: Theological Exegesis for Sundays
Texts, The Second Readings: Acts and the Epistles ed. Roger E. Van Harn (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 299302.
2
Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1966), 646; H. W. Smyth,
Greek Grammar (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920), #2098.

Proper 10 Colossians 1:114 July 14, 2013

General Setting
Colossians is one of the captivity epistles. It is probable that Paul is impris-
oned in Caesarea in Judea. We know that Paul was imprisoned there for several years,
under two procurators, Felix and Festus, in the late 50s, so we may date it to AD 59 or
so. Paul is writing to recent converts after his third missionary journey, it seems, and he
sends his instructions through Tychicus (4:7) and Onesimus (4:9).

Textual Notes
1:5: This verse gives the basis for faith and love, viz., hope (something in short
supply for many in the Roman Empire)a hope that is sure and reserved in heaven.
166
Without hope, faith and love cannot survive (1 Corinthians 13:13 is making a different
point, which has to do with visibility and presence). Important also is that the basis for all
of this is the gospel, which is characterized as the word of truth. So this chain develops:
faith and love depend on hope, which depends on the gospelgood Lutheran stuff!
1:10: The chiastic construction of the latter part of this verse is striking, with
phrases and verbs: (A) / (B) //
(B) / (A). In terms of argumentation, the idea of walking in a
way worthy of the Lord is important; the Christians life should reflect his faith. This
is amplified by the further thoughts of bearing fruit in good works and increasing in
knowledge. No content-less Christianity here! Faith is incarnated in a new creation.
1:11: As Paul continues, it is apparent that this new creation living is not on
ones own steam, as it were. Christians are empowered by the power of his glory,
which is a difficult phrase but probably means something like this: Glory in the OT
and NT involves the revelation of God for who he truly is. For Christians this means
that he stoops to be incarnate and to serve (in which condition one truly sees God,
but also that in resurrection and ascension he is Lord over all. So here the power of
him who is one with us in the flesh and now has authority over all things empowers
those who are his. And this issues in endurance and long-suffering, which will char-
acterize and be the lot of those who have faith in Christ and love for the saints (1:3).
With joy probably goes with the participle following.
1:12a: Note the return to thanksgiving! This is the final response for all that the
Christian receives.
1:12b14: The thought progression of these verses is well worth paying close
attention to.
I. First, the Father has made the Colossians sufficient for participation
in the lot of the saints in light.
II. He (= ), the Father, has rescued us from the authority over dark-
ness and transferred us into a new lordship, the reign and rule of his
Son who is the incarnation of his love.
III. In that Son ( ) we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Run the thoughts backwards: the forgiveness of sins is the basis for Christians
being under the reign and rule of Christ, and that reign and rule frees us from darkness
and gives us a destiny in light. Note that dealing with the problem of the relationship
between God and man (i.e., sin) is at the root of all (further) positive developments
such as new lordship and the final inheritance of the saints.
Thinking and Preaching Theologically
This text has enough for five sermons, and any sermon on it will have to deter-
mine focus. Moules Commentary on Colossians and Philemon notes (p. 47) that the
petition of Paul from 1:9ff is for:
I. sensitiveness to Gods will, including a grasp of what is spiritually
valuable.
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
167
II. issuing in conduct worthy of Christians and pleasing to Christ,
which involves good works and growing in understanding,
III. the equipment for this being strength, a strength derived from Gods
power . . . in keeping with his revealed splendour (sic), a strength
which cheerfully stays the course.
This is followed by the thanksgiving. But, Moule continues, the prayer had
already sprung out of an antecedent thanksgiving: its foundation is the solid fact of
what God has done (alluded to already in vv. 57), and to this it returns in vv. 1214.
On the basis of these insights, a suggestion is to run the text in reverse for
homiletical purposes. Thus, begin with what is detailed in the last textual note, above
(1:12b14), that is the foundation for the Christian life. But one builds upon a founda-
tion. What such building means is laid out clearly in verses 911: through the power of
God, doing good works and growing in understanding, on the basis of the knowledge
of the will of God. And where does one find that knowledge? In the word of truth of
the gospel (1:5), which does bear fruit (1:6) and does give knowledge of the grace of
God (1:6)bringing us full circle.
The entirety of the Christian life and hope can be surveyed in these words, writ-
ten from a prison cell by a slave of Christ whom no manacles or bars could keep from
the glorious promises of the gospel.
James W. Voelz



Proper 11 Colossians 1:2129 July 21, 2013
Reconciliation: Ministry and Mystery
We all love a good mystery; a mystery where we dont find out until the very end
who the mystery person is. This may be likened to, Oh, he/she is the one! And
when we see and hear who this mystery person is, the whole story line is reconciled.
We get the big picture and context of the story.
As St. Paul writes to the church of Colossae, to the saints and faithful broth-
ers in Christ, he is setting the record straight regarding the incarnation of Christ and
his resurrection in the face of the pre-gnostic teachings that were running rampant
around Colossae (I would refer you to Dr. Paul Deterdings Concordia Commentary on
Colossians for an expanded discourse on these heresies). To that end, Paul emphasizes
the mystery that was hidden for ages and is now revealed in Jesus Christ, his person
and work, who reconciles all creation. The ministry and mystery of reconciliation rests
with Christ who joins us to him by grace through faith alone.
The mysteries of books and movies resolve when the mystery is revealed. There
is nothing more for us to anticipate or learn. The mystery is revealed and the story is over.
However, this is not the case as Paul writes to the saints at Colossae assuring them
that the mystery hidden for ages is revealed in the incarnate Christ Jesus who entered the
168
human story of our sinful alien hostile mind and evil deeds and reconciled us to himself
by his death and resurrection. We are declared reconciled by Christs body of flesh by his
death. God baptized us into this body of flesh by his death. We are stable and stead-
fast by faith alone. You have heard this gospel message of reconciliation.
As Martin Luther writes in the FC, SD, VIII, p. 634, 96: . . . the Holy Scripture
(Col 1:27) calls Christ the mystery, over which all heretics stumble and fall headlong, we
warn all Christians that they not pry presumptuously into this mystery with their rea-
son but simply believer with the dear apostles, shut the eyes of their reason, take their
understanding captive in obedience to Christ, and take comfort and rejoice without
ceasing in this, that in Christ our flesh and blood have been raised so high, to the right
hand of the majesty and almighty power of God.
This story is no longer a mystery to Christians. Christ is revealed and grace-
gifted to us in our baptism assuring us that the storyline continues when he presents us
to his heavenly Father on judgment day in heaven and says: Well done, thou good and
faithful servant.
Suggested Outline
I. The revealed reconciliation (vv. 2123)
A. From brokenness to blamelessness in Christ (vv. 2122)
B. From faithlessness to faithfulness in Christ (v. 23)
II. The mystery in reconciliation revealed (vv. 2627: Christ is the
mystery revealed)
III. The ministry of reconciliation proclaimed (vv. 23, 2829
A. Proclamation of reconciliation in Christ in all creation (v. 23
B. Proclamation of reconciliation in Christ in all things (vv. 24, 2829)
1. In suffering for the sake of the gospel (v. 24)
2. In stewardship for the sake of the gospel (v. 25)
3. In all wisdom for the sake of the Gospel (v. 28)
4. In the future glory of salvation and eternal life (v. 27).
Robert Weise

Proper 12 Colossians 2:615(1619) July 28, 2013

True to form, Paul uses the first verse, bluntly to declare his point: you received
Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in him. The rest of the pericope simply unpacks
the admonition in a Colossian contextone with more than its share of threats to
Christian faith and a life walking in harmony with that faith. The greatest threat in
Colossae seems to have been some strain of Judaizers. But there were the added prob-
lems of philosophy, empty deception, traditions of men, and elemental world prin-
ciples. Faced with this list, we encounter our greatest threat: trying to make the
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
169
problems of Pauls readers relevant to twenty-first century listeners. In case you have
failed to notice, Judaizers do not pose a threat to your parishioners. No one in your
congregation is being urged to undergo circumcision for promised spiritual benefits.
Carefully explaining the problems of Pauls people (an introduction to the tenets of
Judaizers, an overview of first century Greek and Roman philosophy, an exploration of
the possible translations of stoiceia) does not help. The problems of Pauls people are
not the problems of your peopleat least not exactly.
To make this text speak directly to your people, simply recognize the very real
threat to your own congregation that comes from the immediate context of the sur-
rounding culture. Judaizers may not be lurking in your narthex, but the problems of
philosophy, empty deception, traditions of men, and the worlds governing principles
are there. In fact, they are in your nave. Living as we are on the especially ugly side of
the Enlightenment, there is a dominant philosophical human tradition that drives the
culture and infiltrates the thinking of every person in your pews. You recognize it even
if you dont name it: the autonomous individual benignly searching for a meaningful life
while granting to other autonomous individuals their innate right to seek and find their
own meaningful lives.
This basic world principle takes on many forms and is expressed in a variety of
innovative philosophies, all of which afflict your people to varying degrees. Add to this
the lure of awed, unflinching trust in the radical materialism of science as master narra-
tive, the errant pursuit of a nation founded on biblical principles, and the sequestering
of God-talk and God-thought to the corner of life called spirituality, and you have a
glimpse of the twenty-first- century threats to a Christianity that is walked 247. Our
people are left believing that the church is there to provide meaning for life, strength
for the important things that need doing during real time, and refuge from the hurts
and sorrows of real life. What they are not taught is that the Christ and his church
should so capture, conform, and direct the individual into Gods narrative that nothing
is the same anymore, and all of life is redefined, reshaped and reoriented in disorient-
ing and dramatic ways. Why such a life-shattering new reality? Simple: Jesus is God.
Learning this, people learn to walk in Jesus Christ the Lord. Your task is to teach it.
Goal: Since Jesus is Lord his reign should extend over his peopleeven the
mundane, routine, and secular parts of their lives.
Malady: We relegate Christs rule to spiritual or churchly things and let the
driving forces of culture regulate the rest of lifethe practical and relevant parts. Or,
we use Christ and his church as a tool for finding a meaningful and fulfilling life.
Means: Jesus is God. He has authority. You are joined to him in baptism. In his
church he conforms you to his reality.

Suggested Outline
Whos Your Drummer?
Introduction: Whether we know it or not, we all walk in step with a certain
cadence.
170
I. Jesus is Lord.
A. He is God.
B. He claimed you in baptism.
II. The worlds ways deceive us.
A. We limit Jesuss reign.
B. We try to use Christ and his church to meet our world-driven
goals.
III. Walk in Jesus.
A. Dont walk over, around, or through Jesus.
B. Walk in synch with his purposesdrumsfor you.
C. Follow his drums in all of life: family, finances, work, politics,
and entertainment.
Joel Biermann


Proper 13 Colossians 3:113 August 4, 2013

Colossians 3:113 divides neatly into two sections. The first (vv. 14) calls
believers to focus their attention on Christ, in relation both to his finished work (v.
1sitting), as well as the coming work of Christ on the last day (v. 4, whenever). The
second (vv. 513) commands believers to act on the basis of the life we have in Christ,
by killing the members which are on the earth, an unusual phrase which (thankfully)
is immediately explained in terms of various sinful desires and actions.
Verses 14: The little word therefore (v. 1, ou=n) matters. Paul has expressed
his dismay (2:2023) that the Christians have been submitting to pious requirements
regarding food and festivals; these things have only the appearance of wisdom (2:23).
To regard such things as necessary is to demote Christ and deny his sufficiency. The
Colossians, however, are baptized, that is to say, their old way of life died (2:1112). So
Paul offers a conditional clausebut one they really know is trueIf you died with
Christ (and you have!), then keep on seeking the things that are above, where Christ is
sitting at the right hand of God. In a sense, the reading could stop here, with the main
clause presented: Keep on seeking the things that are above. Verse two repeats and
explicates, namely, that the things above are not the things merely on the earth. Verse
three explains why (ga,r) the believers should seek the things above. In so explaining,
Paul fleshes out the significance of baptism: you died with Christ, and your (real) life
now remains hidden (the force of the perfect, has been hidden) with Christ, in God.
Verse four contrasts the present hiddenness of the Christian life with the great eschato-
logical promise of the time when believers will no longer have to seek the things above
and nothing will remain hidden. Christs death, resurrection, and session at Gods right
hand have given believers a new way of lifenothing else is needed, and any necessary
supplement leads to disaster. Christs future glory will also be the glory of his believ-
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
171
ers. All the attention (and glory) belongs to Christ, and this provides the transforming
good news to us.
A warning might be necessary. In our present context, where spiritual things
and heaven often are conceived of in virtually platonic fashion, one might be tempt-
ed to use this text to despise mundane matters. In this misunderstanding, the things
above where Christ is sitting would be otherworldly, non-physical things. Nothing
could be further from Pauls intention! Christ has accomplished all that he has for the
believers precisely through mundane things, namely, the blood of his cross (Col
1:20). The believers death with Christ and new life with him has been inaugurated
through the circumcision made without hands, but using the earthly element of water
(Col 2:1112). The things above that the believers are to seek are precisely those
promises and perspectives that have come true on earth, and that now are sealed and
certain because Christ who accomplished them is sitting in divine power and splendor.
The promises and priorities are with Christ, but they are all about life here on earth,
lived through faith in Christ and in love for ones neighbor. The things above are the
good news that empower and direct life lived here on earth.
Verses 513: Paul repeats therefore (v. 5). Precisely because our life remains in
a hidden state with Christ in God, our present experience of life involves grave spiritual
dangers. And precisely because we do have such life with Christ in God, strength of
will is available to us to act in the face of spiritual danger. The dangers are sinful desires
and choices. The action we are to take is simplekill them. Turn away, denounce,
rebuke, deny, and refuse to do. The list in verse five is typical, not comprehensive; one
might note that covetousness occupies the final position, and is termed idolatry; we
are all being catechized to be idolatrous consumers. Such works bring Gods wrath,
and so Paul repeats his command (v. 8), now switching to the metaphor of cloth-
ing. Interesting, the apostle devotes significant attention to the issue of lying to one
another which we must not do since the stripping of the old man and the putting on
of the new man has already happened in union with Christ. No cultural divisions can
matter when it comes to our loving, truth-speaking with one another (v. 11). Christ is
all things; Christ is in all things.
Verses 513 urgently call us to repentance; not repentance as it is sometimes
misunderstood, which is to say, feeling sorry about something. Paul is calling the
believers to change their behavior, and to live differently. This is always difficult. In our
culture, anger has been elevated to the status of a moral virtue (outrage or being
offended), and evil insults and shameful speech are the order of the day on social
media. We are, however, to be different. We have a different life, one that is not creat-
ed or preserved by our faithfulness, our consistency in living differentlyeven though
we are called to such living. Our life is accomplished by Christ, and now hidden with
him in God. When our hearts are focused on what Christ has already done, and upon
what he will one day dothe only response we can possible make to the urgent call to
full repentance is faiths response, Yes.
Jeff Gibbs
172
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J
Weaving Reflection into Civic Life
Resources for Reflective Reading on Leadership, Service, and Vocation
Elizabeth Lynn
Elizabeth Lynn is the inaugural director of Valparaiso Universitys new
Institute for Leadership and Service, and the founding director of the Project on
Civic Reflection (now the Center for Civic Reflection). Active in her community
and state, Lynn serves on the advisory board of the Lake Institute on Faith and
Giving at Indiana University, the governing board of Indiana Humanities, and
the Valparaiso Board of Zoning Appeals.
175 Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
THE PERFECT GIFT: The Philanthropic Imagination in Poetry and Prose.
Edited by Amy Kass. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2002.
THE CIVICALLY ENGAGED READER.
Edited by Adam Davis and Elizabeth Lynn. Chicago: Great Books Foundation. 2006.
HEARING THE CALL ACROSS TRADITIONS: Readings on Faith and Service.
Edited by Adam Davis. Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2009.
TAKING ACTION: Readings for Civic Reflection.
Edited by Adam Davis. Chicago: Great Books Foundation. 2012.
CALLINGS: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation.
Edited by William Placher. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2005.
LEADING LIVES THAT MATTER: What We Should Do and Who We Should Be.
Edited by Mark Schwehn and Dorothy Bass. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2006.
Christians have long understood reflection as an essential companion to action.
We weave reflection into our congregational life and into our daily routines. We begin
church meetings and meals with reflection; ideally, we end each day in reflection. Our
practice of worship has at its center an act of reflection (the sermon) that hopefully leads
to some kind of action in response. And, characteristically, our reflection takes the form
of gathering around a common text to ask what it means for our life in the world.
When, however, we step outside our congregational comfort zones to take that
action in the world, answering our call or vocare to lead and serve in community settings,
we tend to leave the gift of reflection behind. Civic life is, after all, the active lifeit is
where one goes to act on ones values in the world. Pausing for reflection in these set-
tings can feel like a step backward, away from the needed action.
Moreover, community groups are made up of people who likely differ in reli-
gious and political values despite meeting on the ground of some common action. In
these settings, reflection can feel not only counter-productive but potentially destruc-
tiverevealing hidden differences and threatening precious relationships and resources
in the process. Think for a moment of a community board on which you have served,
or a volunteer coalition you have joined. What did you really know--and what would
you have been at ease to ask--about the values of others around the table?
Reflection with our fellow citizens has costs. Yet the failure to reflect has higher
costs. As society grows more diverse and more polarized, we need forms of civic reflec-
tion in order to understand and be understood by one another in the midst of common
work. Avoiding meaningful discussion of values and experiences in the midst of such
work breeds discomfort and distrust, leading over time to disengagement and civic
fatigue. In short, we need morenot feweropportunities for thoughtful reflection in
community settings. Christian clergy and laity, many of whom who are already leading
and serving in these settings, could play a valuable role in fostering the needed conver-
sations, given the right resources.
In this essay I want to introduce one such set of resources. For the past 15 years,
mindful of the growing reflection gap in civic life, an informal network of educators in
Indiana and elsewhere have been seeking ways to foster meaningful reflection in the
midst of community work. In particular, we have been exploring how the practice of
reading and discussing a common text might help citizens engaged in leadership and service
to talk more reflectively with one another and, as a consequence, work more effectively
with one another.
The result of our efforts is a set of resources for civic reflection, which may be
of direct assistance to pastors and lay leaders engaged in community work who wish to
bring the gift of reflection with them into that work rather than leave it behind. These
resources include the practice of reflective reading and discussion; an extensive body
of practical knowledge about facilitating these discussions in community settings; and a
rich set of anthologies on leadership, philanthropy, service and vocation to get the con-
versation started.
Resources for Civic Reflection
The first of these resources is a simple model of reflective reading and discussion
developed by the Project on Civic Reflection (now the Center for Civic Reflection),
which I founded at Valparaiso University in 1998 with support from Lilly Endowment.
We call this practice civic reflection.
In civic reflection, a group of people who are doing community work together
sets aside time for facilitated conversation about fundamental questions rumbling
around beneath that workquestions much like those highlighted in this journal, such
as How do we become leaders? Who is my neighbor? What calls me to serve in one way and not
another? To whom should we give? Brief, thought-provoking readings from literature, phi-
losophy, history and religion, sometimes accompanied by photographs or other images,
anchor the discussion. The facilitator asks open-ended questions that invite participants
176
to articulate and examine their beliefs and values, interpret the meaning of the text, and
consider the implications of both for the larger challenges of their work in the world.
Thus, the staff of a neighborhood service center might set aside time at a routine
meeting to talk about a question that both underlies and overhangs their daily work
What is a good neighbor?by reading and discussing Robert Frosts Mending Wall, with
its unsettled argument about whether fences make good neighbors. Or the members of
a giving circle might preface their philanthropic deliberations with a reflective conversa-
tion about The Eleventh, a brief fable by Henri Barbusse that focuses on the person
not served.
These discussions are low cost and low tech (just chairs pulled into a circle, a
reading handed out on paper, a facilitator prepared with a few good questions) but they
can bring remarkably high rewards, helping participants gain fresh clarity about their
values, a sense of community with others, and commitment to the work ahead.
Both the Frost poem and the Barbusse story mentioned above are available at
civicreflection.org, an online resource designed by the Center for Civic Reflection to
support reflective reading in community settings. There you will find a step-by-step
guide to planning and leading your own civic reflection discussions, along with hundreds
of recommended readings, accompanied by discussion plans and facilitator summaries.

Readings for Civic Reflection
In addition to creating these online resources, over the past decade the Center
for Civic Reflection has published four collections of readings for discussion in com-
munity settings, organized around fundamental questions of civic engagement.
The first of these anthologies, The Perfect Gift, invites readers to reflect on the
choices that confront us specifically as givers: Why give? To whom should I give? Can giving
be taught? Edited by acclaimed University of Chicago lecturer Amy Kass, its chosen texts
are (not surprisingly) classic and complex, challenging the reader to wrestle with the
ironies and difficulties of giving across centuries of Western culture. The Civically Engaged
Reader, edited by Adam Davis and myself, considers the activities of serving, leading and
associating as well as giving, through 45 shorter readings (here you will find both the
Frost poem and the Barbusse story mentioned above). The readings in Taking Action,
also edited by Adam Davis, are shorter still, ensuring they can be read on the spot in a
meeting, and organized around themes (need and care, difference and connection, pro-
tecting and serving) that cut across many different forms of civic action, from charitable
work to teaching to military service. Both of these last two collections, published by the
Great Books Foundation, include prompts for discussion that follow the civic reflection
model, starting with clarifying questions about what is happening in the text and expand-
ing to invite readers to make connections to their own civic engagement.
Another Davis anthology, Hearing the Call Across Traditions, offers short read-
ings on faith and service from a range of religious perspectives, including Christianity,
Buddhism, Judiasm, Islam, and Hinduism. The collection, designed especially for inter-
faith service groups, includes a preface by Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Core
and thoughtful questions for interfaith discussion, along with tips for organizing such
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
177
a discussion. Indeed, one of the real virtues of civic reflection is that it allows interfaith
groups (as many community organizations now effectively are, and at all organizational
levels from staff to board to volunteers) to engage in conversation about their own
beliefs and ways of working in the world, without forcing an explicitly inter-religious
exchange or the establishment and defense of doctrinal positions.
Finally, alongside these four works from the Center for Civic Reflection, several
years ago my Valparaiso University colleagues Dorothy Bass and Mark Schwehn joined
with the late William Placher of Wabash College to produce two remarkable collections
of readings on vocation, again with support from Lilly Endowment. Plachers collec-
tion Callings culls readings from 20 centuries of Christian tradition (including a prologue
of Biblical texts) and arranges them historically, carrying us from Ignatius of Antioch
to Dorothy Day and Karl Barth in finely edited increments of 20 pages or less. Bass
and Schwehns expansive collection, Leading Lives that Matter, beautifully complements
Callings by offering more than 60 readings from beyond the Christian theological tradi-
tion (although many are by Christian writers) organized thematically under compelling
questions of vocation that speak to younger as well as more mature selves: Are Some
Lives More Significant than Others? Must My Job be the Source of My Identity? And finally, How
Shall I Tell the Story of My Life?
As a group, these anthologies spur reflection on our vocation in the world, from
acts of leading and serving, to conceptions and choices of calling. Set alongside the
model of civic reflection, and the practical wisdom about facilitation available at civi-
creflection.org, they invite us to weave the practice of reflective reading and discussion
more deeply into the fabric of our civic life, strengthening itand ourselvesto serve.


178

Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
15 DAYS OF PRAYER WITH DIET-
RICH BONHOEFFER. By Matthieu
Arnold. Translated from the French
by Jack MacDonald. Hyde Park, NY:
New City Press, 2009. 141 pages. Paper.
$12.95.
When the disciples asked Jesus to
teach them to pray, they set a pattern
for Christians ever since. The people of
God are always turning to each other for
models of prayer. Mattheiu Arnold, pro-
fessor of church history at the Facult de
Thologie Protestante of the University
of Strasbourg, has contributed to a series
that uses a fifteen-day structure for
instruction on prayer. Arnold sets before
us the example of this German theo-
logian, famous for his bold testimony
against the assaults of National Socialism,
who responded to Gods word with a
disciplined life of prayer that, as Luther
prescribed, set the tone for the reform-
ers conduct of his whole life.
In the winter quarter of 19641965
I took a seminar from Hermann Sasse
in Saint Louis. Sasse recalled his work-
ing together with Bonhoeffer and their
somewhat parallel paths from the theo-
logical Liberalism of their student days to
ever firmer commitment to the theology
of Luther and the Lutheran confessions.
Arnolds account of Bonhoeffers prayer
life exhibits his engagement with Luther
and his faithful reproduction of much of
his way of conversing with God.
Arnold introduces texts from
Bonhoeffers prayers passed to us in print
and manuscript and then places them in
the historical context of his own experi-
ences as young pastor and later teacher
of students in the theological training
program of the Confessing Church.
Bonhoeffers struggles with the increas-
ingly secularized society of his younger
years and the fierce hostility of the Hitler
regime to the gospel of Christ took place
in the context of his daily turning to God
in prayer. Following Luthers example,
he searched the psalms for words for his
own prayers and paradigms for his ways
of approaching God in the midst of per-
sonal and national crises: he wrote the
Psalter is the greatest school of prayer:
We learn from it first and foremost what
prayer means: prayer is grounding itself
and us in the Word of God in the
divine promises (46).
This book moves chronologically
through Bonhoeffers career into his days
in prison, where he experienced Gods
power as the Lord preserved him from
the temptations of the night, as Luther
also prayed in the Small Catechism.
The Holy Spirit fights for his people,
Bonhoeffer knew, when we are power-
less in sleep against the darkness in and
through which the devil assaults us (102).
This simple but profound study of
one mans thanksgiving to and plead-
ing with God in the midst of the terrors
of twentieth-century evil of the most
demonic sort inspires and instructs us as
we confront the evils of our own time.
From Bonhoeffer, and from his mentor
for prayer, Martin Luther, we, too, can
learn to chat and argue with the God of
conversation and community, who has
come to teach us to pray and to hear our
prayers as a dear Father listens to his
dear children.
Robert Kolb




179
FROM ABRAHAM TO PAUL: A
Biblical Chronology. By Andrew
E. Steinmann. St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 2011. 464 pages.
Hardcover. $79.99.
It is misguided to study theology and
biblical narratives, preach and teach from
Holy Scripture, expound upon transfor-
mational insights and truths, and do it all
with little or no awareness of when any
of it actually took place. But, sad to say,
this is a frequent approach to the Bible.
There appears to be apathy, or worse, a
dislike, for biblical chronology. Andrew
Steinmann, professor of Theology and
Hebrew at Concordia University, Chicago
addresses this dismal situation and in
doing so presents us with a marvelous
gift. From Abraham to Paul discusses
biblical chronology in terms that are
understandable by laypeople and pas-
tor alike. Though accessible, Steinmann
does not cut corners, as evidenced by a
thirty-page bibliography. He has done his
homework and interacts with a host of
scholarly writings.
This is not a project that dates when
biblical books were written nor does
Steinmann significantly interface with his-
torical events surrounding the divine nar-
rative. Instead, he provides easy-to-follow
discussions that also serve as an apologetic
against those who doubt some or much of
the Bibles presentation of history.
Steinmann uses the Jubilee Year
(Lv 25:89) to substantiate several key
Old Testament events. For example,
after he establishes the benchmark
dates of Solomons death (931 BC) and
Israels departure from Egypt (1446 BC),
he argues that the Jubilee cycles agree
exactly with a 1446 BC dating of the
exodus when calculated from 1 Kings
6:1. Armed with this evidence, Steinmann
deftly deflates those who embrace a thir-
teenth-century dating of the exodus.
An extended example will dem-
onstrate the books usefulness. Davids
reign in 2 Samuel 5 is not arranged in
strict chronological order. For instance,
2 Samuel 5:1112 notes that Davids
building activity was aided by Hiram
of Tyre, whose reign began in 980 BC,
almost twenty years after David con-
quered Jerusalem, while 2 Samuel 5:916
is a summary of his activity in Jerusalem.
These notices, plus the list of sons born to
David in 2 Samuel 5:1316, marks most
of 2 Samuel 5 as an overview of Davids
thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Steinmann
goes on to offer an approximate chronol-
ogy of the events of Davids life:
1039 David is born
1002 David conquers Jerusalem/
defeats the Philistines (2 Sm 5)
998 The Ammonite war begins (2
Sm 10:111:1; 12:2931)
997 Rabbah is captured/David
commits adultery (2 Sm 1112)
994 Solomon is born (2 Sm 12:2425)
985 Amnon rapes Tamar (2 Sm
13:122)
983 Absalom murders Amnon/
Absalom goes into exile (2 Sm
13:2339)
980 Absalom returns from exile (2
Sm 14:127)
979976 David builds his palace (2 Sm
5:11)
978 Absalom is received again by
David (2 Sm 14:2833)
975 The ark is moved to Jerusalem
(2 Sm 6); Gods covenant with
David is made (2 Sm 7)
180
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
974 Absaloms rebellion (2 Sm
15:1319:43)
973 Shebas rebellion (2 Sm 20)
972 David orders a census to be
taken (2 Sm 24)
969 David dies (1 Kgs 2)
Are you preaching on the patriarchs
and wondering when they were born and
how long they lived? What about the pha-
raoh of the exodus? Who was he? Then
there is the period of the judges which
can be a chronological nightmare. Have
you ever wondered (I certainly have),
when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians?
Was it in 587 or 586 BC? And what about
the birth of Jesus, as well as his death?
When did these world-shaking events
happen? Having Steinmanns book in
your library will answer these questions,
and so many more.
From in the beginning (Gn 1:1)
to behold, I am coming quickly (Rv
22:20), the Bible is resolutely concerned
about time. This study helps us keep
track of it all. Steinmann puts back
together what we so carelessly tear asun-
der, divine revelation and history. As
a bonus, the author includes fifty-nine
tables in his book, and those who buy it
receive access to a host of chronological
electronic charts. Both the church and
evangelical academy will profit from this
book for years to come.
Reed Lessing

THE FUTURE OF FAITH. By
Harvey Cox. New York: HarperOne,
2009. 256 pages. Hardcover. $24.99.
From his office at Harvard
University, Harvey Cox has commented
on the shifts of faith quite accurately
through the years. He has kept his ear
to the ground as the Christian church
interacted with culture and society. From
his careful analysis of the twentieth-
century moral shift from Christian values
in The Secular City, to his recent study of
Pentecostalism in the third world, The
Rise of Pentecostalism, he has helped us
understand the challenge of proclaim-
ing the gospel in a changing world. In
previous work Cox predicted that secu-
larism would diminish Christianity. As
the century turned he apologized for his
mistaken prediction and documented the
surprise growth of four hundred million
Pentecostals throughout the world, espe-
cially in the southern hemisphere, which
he never expected.
In this 2009 study on the age of
faith he defines the rise of spiritual-
ity worldwide as a kind of religionless
Christianity apart from creedal institu-
tions. Written while in his eighties, The
Future of Faith is a kind of last will and
testament concerning faith and culture.
He divides church history into three
epochs: the early church of faith; the
church of creeds from 300 AD to pres-
ent; and the emerging church of the
Spirit and faith today. His critique of
church history posits that creeds were a
painful overkill moving the cross from
Calvary to the emperors shield. He calls
creeds intrafaith dialogues with anath-
emas aimed at fellow Christians instead
of defining the doctrines for the world to
understand. Politicians and clerics moved
doctrinal discussions to declare fellow
Christians heretics and to fight for the
truth in religions wars. He argues that the
idea of heresy still has political overtones
not helpful in todays milieu. He notes
that church growth in the twenty-first
181
century has moved from denomina-
tional congregations to a hodgepodge
(my word) of small gatherings accepting
people wherever they are in their faith
journey. Freed of organizational demands
and doctrinal standards people respond
to one another with love in a chang-
ing world. This shift is found in Roman
Catholic based communities among the
poor in South America, and also the
emerging church movement in America.
From the LCMS perspective, his
prediction of the demise of fundamen-
talists and dispensationalists is welcome
news. Still he does not really understand
the confessional stance of the LCMS. We
are lumped together with other educated
conservative denominations that avoid
fundamentalism and remain devoted
to creedal Christianity. In spite of this
criticism of our confessional stance, his
study can help us frame our strategies
for growth in an increasingly diverse and
spiritual society.
Cox will help us remove some of
the cultural walls that keep LCMS con-
gregations from reaching its youth and
the diverse ethnic and religious friends
who live next door. He has an insightful
summary of the spiritual movements in
Islam, Judaism and Eastern faiths that
mirror the emerging church movement in
Christianity. He finds they reflect a new
worldwide Christian movement of Gods
reign of shalom which is the new age
of the Spirit and that the future of faith
will prevail. As we oppose fundamen-
talist reactions that produce terrorism
founded on misguided faith, we can work
at speaking the gospel clearly with a win-
some invitation to people who have little
knowledge of Christianity in a postmod-
ern world.
Although Cox helps us understand
the postmodern age that considers reli-
gious truth relative and catechesis out-
dated, he gives few suggestions of how to
do church in this new cultural revolution.
Vintage Church in Santa Cruz, California,
provides a helpful model of ministry for
teaching the whole counsel of God to a
skeptical generation. Feeling frustrated
after reading Coxs critical stance toward
creeds, I found Vintages commitment to
historic Christian teaching outlined in The
Emerging Church by Dan Kimball refresh-
ing. It is a study of the new generation
of post-seeker-sensitive people not raised
in the church and having no clue of
Christian doctrines. This church in Santa
Cruz, California, does not water down
doctrine for the spiritual people who
reject Christ as the only way of salvation.
Rather it teaches courage to stay true to
the Scriptures while radically rethinking
how to present the age old truth to a
generation that rejects the exclusive claim
of truth in Scripture. We will better speak
the truth in love having read and under-
stood these two writers.
Rodney D. Otto
Grand Rapids, Michigan

QUITTING CHURCH: Why the
Faithful Are Fleeing and What to
Do About It. By Julia Duin. Grand
Rapids: Baker Books, 2008. 192 pages.
Hardcover. $17.99.

Julia Duin is the religion editor of
The Washington Times. As an observer of
the American religious scene, Duin offers
an assessment of what is taking place in
American churches in terms of the severe
drop-out of American Christians. In
addition to her personal insights, she has
collected research from various sources
seeking to answer the question, Why are
182
Concordia Journal/Spring 2013
people quitting churches? The book is
written from both a journalists viewpoint
as well as from a personal exploration of
modern church life.
One of the first points made is that
this topic is about faithful people, not
non-believers. According to recent stud-
ies, churches are reporting that once
faithful, active members are simply
walking away from the congregations
they had participated in. Duin reflects
prevailing attitudes both in the research
findings of numerous studies as well as
from personal interaction with friends
and acquaintances. Additionally she
relates stories from personal experience
as someone who has lived and worked
from coast-to-coast. She has experienced
a variety of worship settings, interviewed
a vast array of noted church leaders, and
even dropped-out of active church
attendance herself. A telling observation
from Duin states: Survey after survey
says many Americans continue their pri-
vate religious practices, such as reading
the Bible, praying to God, and even shar-
ing their faith in Jesus Christ. But they
have given up on the institution.
The ten chapters of Quitting Church
relay research data over a number of
issues that Duin maintains have contrib-
uted to the exodus of the faithful from
the local congregation. While the sub-
theme is Why the Faithful are Fleeing
and What to Do about It, the book is
heavily loaded on discovering the reason
for the numbers of people leaving and
sheds just a little light on how to stem
the tide. She does give some insights
from a variety of church leaders and
alternative models, but mainly the book
serves as a critique of modern American
Christianity. Nevertheless the critique
itself is worthy of ones time and effort.
Duin maintains that irrelevancy is
one of the chief problems in the American
church. Referencing another religion writ-
er, Bob Lobdell, she shares his insight that
whats preached and taught is irrelevant
to the questions on the ground. Simply
put, the typical sermon may cover a broad
range of historical and theoretical topics,
but they do not intersect with the real
questions of the real people that the ser-
mons are addressing. Part of the problem
is that much of todays preaching refuses
to engage the difficult questions. But a
greater issue is the matter of Christianity
as propositions to believe rather than
Christianity as a way of life. Duin quotes
the insight of Shane Claiborne of Simple
Way: Its not so much what Jesus and his
disciples said, but how they lived that was
so compelling.
Other problems that Duin presents
deal with the sense of community within
American churches (too many people
feel loneliness because of lack of connec-
tion within a congregation); a discussion
of the emergence models of ministry
(reinventing church to counter dissat-
isfaction); lack of meaningful ministry
among singles (a fast-growing demo-
graphic in many major cities); the lack of
solid theology; the pastoral office (both
incompetent pastors as well as over-
whelmed pastors); the marginalization
of women even among churches that
accept female clergy; and the drought
of spiritual authority (the chapters sub-
theme is Looking for the Spirit in a
Parched Land). All-in-all, Duin presents
the frustrations that have been reflected
through research and personal interaction
with various people across America. The
insights (even when you do not agree
183
with her assessment) are thought-provok-
ing for the modern pastor and worthy of
consideration and contemplation.
The final chapter is entitled
Bringing Them Back: If They Want to
Come. Duin acknowledges from the
outset that thus far the book has been
highly critical and seeks to offer some
thoughts for consideration. She points
to the conclusion of the Willow Creek
Churchs 2007 survey that maintained
that The typical churchmade a huge
difference in peoples lives early in their
Christian walk, but the longer they were
Christians, the less impact the church
had. She quotes Bill Hybels summation
of the implications of the study when
he said, We made a mistakeWhat we
should have done when people crossed
the line of faith and became Christians,
we should have started telling people and
teaching people that they have to take
responsibility to become self-feeders.
We should have gotten people, taught
them how to read their Bible between
services, how to do the spiritual practices
much more aggressively on their own.
While she brings some support for this
Willow Creek conclusion, she suggests
that the house church model is best.
Her concluding paragraph aptly summa-
rizes her thoughts:
Right now, Christians all over the
English-speaking world are casting
about, looking for a solution to the
present malaise. Like the builders
on Nehemiahs wall, they have often
operated too-separately and too far
apart. Their best efforts get dimin-
ished, then absorbed by the culture.
Miracles happened in Acts 2 when
Christians decided to share things
in common, be willing to suffer
together, and be part of a supernatu-
ral church. They can happen again if
enough believers are willing to pay
the price. Then people will begin
craving church instead of quitting
church and the exodus will be no
more.
While I would (and do) readily rec-
ommend this book, I do so more for the
gathered insights and research conclu-
sions that Duin shares. Her personal
insights and suggestions are helpful and
informative, but too subjective and lim-
ited to her background and experiences
to be adopted universally. The book
gives insight to some subjects and a taste
of alternative philosophy of ministry
to be considered, but the thrust of her
suggestions are too broad-stroked to be
effectively applied. The concerned pas-
tor will make use of the insights of this
book to supplement his own study of his
congregation and demographics to tackle
the question, Why are people leaving
the church?
Mike Ramey
Bel Air, Maryland
184
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Copyright by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri 2013
www.csl.edu | www.concordiatheology.org
publisher
Dale A. Meyer
President
Executive EDITOR
Jeffrey Kloha
Dean of Theological
Research and Publication
EDITOR
Travis J. Scholl
Managing Editor of
Theological Publications
EDITORial assistant
Melanie Appelbaum
assistants
Carol Geisler
Theodore Hopkins
James Kirschenmann
Matthew Staneck
Michael Tsichlis
David Adams
Charles Arand
Andrew Bartelt
Joel Biermann
Gerhard Bode
Kent Burreson
William Carr, Jr.
Anthony Cook
Timothy Dost
Thomas Egger
Jeffrey Gibbs
Bruce Hartung
Erik Herrmann
Jeffrey Kloha
R. Reed Lessing
David Lewis
Richard Marrs
David Maxwell
Dale Meyer
Glenn Nielsen
Joel Okamoto
Jeffrey Oschwald
David Peter
Paul Raabe
Victor Raj
Paul Robinson
Robert Rosin
Timothy Saleska
Leopoldo Snchez M.
David Schmitt
Bruce Schuchard
William Schumacher
William Utech
James Voelz
Robert Weise
Faculty
All correspondence should be sent to:
CONCORDIA JOURNAL
801 Seminary Place
St. Louis, Missouri 63105
314-505-7117
cj @csl.edu
commitment
Im Nate, and this is my part.
You recognize right away that this is a place
that takes faith seriously, that faith is an
important part of campus life here.
1.888.GO.VALPO valpo.edu Valparaiso, IN 46383
Nate will be one of the emcees at the
National LCMS Youth Gathering, July
1-5, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas.
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2
COncordia
ournal
volume 39 | number 2
J
Spring 2013
The Human Face of Justice

Called to Milk Cows and Govern
Kingdoms

HOLLIS and the Holy Spirit

Weaving Reflection into Civic Life
Concordia Seminary
801 Seminary Place
St. Louis, MO 63105
a partnership issue

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