“For faith in the end of the law leads to the view that its purpose is to take care of this world, not to prepare for the next. That means that we do not possess absolute, unchangeable laws. If the law no longer takes care of this world, it can and must be changed. As even Luther put it,[1] we must write our own decalogue to fit the times”[2]
“Law” and the proper use of Scripture
“In our deliberations, the wisdom of Scripture and the tradition cannot be cited as ‘God’s answer’ to the matter, but neither ought that wisdom be summarily dismissed as irrelevant or outdated.”[3]
“The cross alone is our theology.” (Luther, WA 5.176.32)
“I resolved to preach nothing among you except Christ and him crucified….” (1 Cor 2:2)
[1] Luther on the law as human and changing: “Indeed, we would make new decalogues, as Paul does in all the epistles, and Peter, but above all Christ in the gospel” (LW 34:112). “This text makes it clear that even the Ten Commandments do not pertain to us” (LW 35:165). “The Gentiles are not obligated to obey Moses. Moses is the Sachsenspiegel for the Jews” (LW 35:167).
[2] Forde, “Lex Semper Accusat? Nineteenth-Century Roots of Our Current Dilemma,” dialog 9 [1970] 274.
[3] (Don Juel, “Homosexuality and Church Tradition,” Word & World 10:2 (Spring 1990) 168-69.