The angel Gabriel said to Mary: “You will conceive and bear a son.” Luke 1:31a
We don’t know, when Mary first heard the announcement, whether she heard it as good news, or not. But that is what it was. It was the announcement of what was happening to her. We have come to call this good news, “the gospel”. In this case, the Gospel according to Luke, as announced by the messenger Gabriel.
Our thanks to the Houston Chroncile for running this article about Pauline Kellner who defied the Nazis during the 1930’s.
Therefore, what about homosexuality? Forde was a strong defender of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He opposed the gay agenda on the basis of the harm it does to the social order, the family, and the need of children for a mother and a father. He used reason and the wisdom of the Bible and tradition in his arguments, but he never claimed that the issue is settled by the Bible. He never claimed that Ten Commandments give us “divine law” or that moral law found in the New Testament is “God’s answer.”
In contrast, his Lutheran Quarterly editors regard the issue of homosexuality as settled by divine law which they have access to in the Bible.
A detailed comparison of the two contrasting positions is available in a tabular format here.
The Lutheran understanding of two kingdoms is intrinsic to Lutheran theology. The two kingdoms are simply another way of stating what we mean by law and gospel. Below are excerpts from Forde on the doctrine of two kingdoms, showing its fundamental contours:
In contrast, Forde’s Lutheran Quarterly editors fail to properly distinguish law and gospel and thus fail to
present Forde accurately on the two kingdoms, as the tables linked here show.
Forde: “Precisely the proper distinction between law and gospel limits and humanizes the law.”
See Forde below on 1) Christian freedom.
See Forde below on 2) Reason.
Please click here for the full PDF document, including tables.