{"id":264,"date":"2009-12-08T14:02:18","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T21:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=264"},"modified":"2010-01-02T19:17:55","modified_gmt":"2010-01-03T02:17:55","slug":"not-the-centered-life-but-hidden-in-christ","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=264","title":{"rendered":"Not “the centered life” – but “hidden in Christ”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Printable PDF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard it said:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Faith gives power for works.<\/li>\n
  2. Faith reveals what God wants you to do.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To the contrary:<\/p>\n

    \u201cFirstly, it is usual to regard the relation between faith and works<\/strong> \u2013 and \t\t\t\tfor that we can now also say, between what God does and what man does \u2013 in the first instance \t\t\t\tas a relationship between power and performance<\/strong>. Faith is supposed to give \t\t\t\tthe power for works<\/strong>. This way of speaking requires to be very critically examined. The basic \t\t\t\trelation of faith<\/strong> and works is<\/strong>not the communication of \t\t\t\tpower for works, but the communication of freedom for them \u2013 that is, freedom to do the works \t\t\t\tin their limitedness as works<\/strong> and therefore also in the limitedness of the powers \t\t\t\tthat are at our disposal for them<\/strong>. Just as faith<\/strong> too does not<\/strong>, \t\t\t\tthough it is easy to misunderstand it so, primarily receive the revelation of what is to \t\t\t\tbe done<\/strong>; but faith gives the freedom<\/strong> to perceive the right, because<\/strong>faith \t\t\t\tassigns works to their due place<\/strong>\u201d 1<\/sup><\/p>\n

    1. \u201c\u2026 faith \u2026 is not the communication of power for works, \t\t\t\t\tbut the\t\u00a0communication of freedom for them\u2026.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Faith is not a psychological push to do good works. In other words, faith is freedom from having \t\t\t\tto do good works, now that Christ has done it all, so that I don\u2019t have to deal with sin, death, \t\t\t\tand the devil. I am free to be myself, living for others.<\/p>\n

    2. \u201c\u2026 faith \u2026does not \u2026receive the revelation of what \t\t\t\t\tis to be done\u2026.because faith assigns works to their due place.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Where is Christ working in the world and in my life? We are told that if we live \u201ca centered \t\t\t\tlife,\u201d we will be able to see how the work we \u201cdo everyday contributes to God\u2019s \t\t\t\twork in the world.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n

    And yet real life doesn\u2019t seem to work out this way. The life I live is ambiguous and broken. \t\t\t\tWhere is God in our lives and in the larger world? We cannot dial up a list of what God is doing.<\/p>\n

    How do Lutherans sort this out? Faith is hidden. Apart from Word and sacraments, Christ \t\t\t\t\tis hidden.<\/strong> Contrary to the popular Bible Camp song \u2013 you cannot tell Christians by \t\t\t\t\ttheir love \u2013 and every attempt to do so leads to pride, hypocrisy, or despair.<\/p>\n

    To think that we can identify where God is working in our lives and in the larger world is a temptation. \t\t\t\tLuther frequently cited 2 Cor 11:14: \u201cEven the devil disguises himself as an angel of light.\u201d And \t\t\t\tPaul, when pressed by his opponents, declared:<\/p>\n

    \u201cBut with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. \t\t\t\tI do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. \t\t\t\tIt is the Lord who judges me\u201d (1 Cor 4:3-4).<\/p>\n

    Like being humble, we all know that if you think you\u2019ve got it, you\u2019ve lost it. All \t\t\t\tof which is to say that we live by faith, not by sight, by forgiveness, not \u201cby seeing how \t\t\t\tGod is sending me to do God\u2019s work\u201d (See footnote 2, #49). We trust him to know how to \t\t\t\tbuild his kingdom. Let God be God.3<\/sup><\/p>\n

    \n

    1<\/sup>Gerhard Ebeling, \u201cThe Necessity of the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms,\u201d Word & Faith<\/em> (London: \t\t\t\tSCM, 1963), p. 404.<\/p>\n

    2<\/sup>See \u201cCentered Life: An Initiative of Luther Seminary\u201d and the following \t\t\t\tsurvey statements:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • #44: I can easily see how the work I do everyday contributes to God\u2019s work in the world.<\/li>\n
    • #47: I see how the tasks of my every day work connect with God\u2019s work.<\/li>\n
    • #49: Each day, I am able to see how God is sending me out to do God\u2019s work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      3<\/sup>What about bearing fruit? That will have to be dealt with in another post, in which \t\t\t\twe would take up 1 Cor 4:3-4 more extensively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Printable PDF You\u2019ve heard it said: Faith gives power for works. Faith reveals what God wants you to do. To the contrary: \u201cFirstly, it is usual to regard the relation between faith and works \u2013 and for that we can now also say, between what God does and what man does \u2013 in the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-264","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions\/391"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}