Was repentance assumed as a necessary component in "the Keys" at least as early as 1547.
This from an article in the online archives of "Logia." (accessed 08-26-2009)
"If this is indeed so, as Regin Prenter says, that the divine
service is the place of justification, then justification has found
its artistic expression in St. Mary’s Church at Wittenberg. I am
thinking here of the altarpiece by Lucas Cranach, which actually
consists of four pictures.
At the center is the picture of the institution of the Lord’s
Supper. One of the participants is Martin Luther, the man with
the beard who receives the chalice. ŠThis is how Luther looked
when he — safe from his opponents — lived in Wartburg Castle
as Junker Georg. It is no accident that it is he who receives the
chalice. After all, Luther, like Jan Huss a century earlier, had
given the people not only the bread but also the chalice.
On the lefthand side, we see how Melanchthon baptizes a
child, with Cranach himself as a sponsor. It is remarkable that
Melanchthon baptizes, because he was not ordained. On the
right-hand side, Johannes Bugenhagen, the congregation’s pastor,
uses the keys of the kingdom of heaven. On the one side is
a penitent man who kneels; on the other side is an impenitent
man who turns away from him in anger.
Bearing the altarpiece, in the predella, we see Luther preaching
to his congregation to which belong, among others, Luther’s
wife, Catharine; his daughter, Magdalena; and his son, Hans.
service is the place of justification, then justification has found
its artistic expression in St. Mary’s Church at Wittenberg. I am
thinking here of the altarpiece by Lucas Cranach, which actually
consists of four pictures.
At the center is the picture of the institution of the Lord’s
Supper. One of the participants is Martin Luther, the man with
the beard who receives the chalice. ŠThis is how Luther looked
when he — safe from his opponents — lived in Wartburg Castle
as Junker Georg. It is no accident that it is he who receives the
chalice. After all, Luther, like Jan Huss a century earlier, had
given the people not only the bread but also the chalice.
On the lefthand side, we see how Melanchthon baptizes a
child, with Cranach himself as a sponsor. It is remarkable that
Melanchthon baptizes, because he was not ordained. On the
right-hand side, Johannes Bugenhagen, the congregation’s pastor,
uses the keys of the kingdom of heaven. On the one side is
a penitent man who kneels; on the other side is an impenitent
man who turns away from him in anger.
Bearing the altarpiece, in the predella, we see Luther preaching
to his congregation to which belong, among others, Luther’s
wife, Catharine; his daughter, Magdalena; and his son, Hans.
The content of the sermon is Christ crucified."
God’s Smile
Worship as Source of Christian Life
Carl Axel Aurelius
Translated by Holger Sonntag
Worship as Source of Christian Life
Carl Axel Aurelius
Translated by Holger Sonntag
I don't necessarily see this as a "withholding" of forgiveness. More likely the "impenitent man" did not hear the "for you"-ness of the absolution. Still... One can easily understand how eagerly the institutional church would take up this "power" and use it manipulatively.
Furthermore;
1) The declaration of forgiveness to UNREPENTANT SINNERS is ABSOLUTELY necessary. Otherwise, no one would get to hear it and preachers would never get to declare it.
2) The Gospel itself--that is the forgiveness of sins FOR THE UNWORTHY (especially the unrepentant)--works repentance because it is THE WORD that puts sinners to death and raises saints to new life.
3) Such repentance is not the "contrition" which sinners FEEL, but is the actual death of the sinner's aspirations to "storm" heaven with right feelings, right thoughts, and right deeds. Physical death of the mortal flesh finally repents us for good and we cannot "help" ourselves any longer but must simply wait upon God's Word.
4) To declare forgiveness only to the "believing" is to practice the very un-Lutheran doctrine of Limited Atonement.
5) The paradoxical "both/and"--ness of the simul must be maintained. While the sinner may actual "feel" sorry and improve behavior, the saint has already been "taken up" into God with with Christ awaiting revelation in the New Creation.
6) Remembering the the two kinds of righteousness allows for declaring the saint "divinely righteous for Christ's sake," while visiting the necessity of "civil righteousness"--and the consequences of violation--upon the sinner penitent or not.
Remember Mt. 18
The Law can only go so far. After repeated attempts to garner "repentance" from the sinner, the ultimate answer is to "treat them like tax collectors and sinners." And what did Jesus DO with tax collectors and sinners? He ate with them! He DIED for them! Absolution is finally the answer, even to "absolute" refusal.
Any group whether institutional or not has requirements for membership, some qualities that "define" who's in and who's out of the group. Otherwise it wouldn't be a "group." The challenge to the group comes from a member's "violation" of those requirements. If such violation is allowed to stand, the "viability" of the group is threatened. The challenge to individual member is imposed by the authority of the group when the requirements are violated. Submission to such authority may threaten the life of the individual. This is our predicament "under the Law:" left unenforced, it leads to the "group's" death, enforced totally it leads to the individual's end. The Law can only end in DEATH.
We left then with a paradoxical corollary to Luther's definition of a Christian as "free Lord, AND bound servant." The corollary can be stated thusly: "The individual so forgives the group's enforcement of authority that the individual risks death at the hands of the group. AND... The group so forgives the individual's violation that the group itself risks dissolution (death) from the hands of the violator."
Here we have the paradoxical reign of "justice and mercy," God's two-fisted rule over creation by which he "loves" it. Neither justice or mercy can "rule" alone, their tension must be maintained lest we fall into the tyranny of Nomianism or the tyranny of an Anti-nomian anarchy.
Finally, we must ask ourselves: Does our salvation finally rest on our righteousness according to law which we are able to obey now that we "have" Christ? Or... Does our salvation rest on "CHRIST ALONE?" The first turns us back on ourselves (in curvatus se) to wonder about our "obedience" while the second "straightens" us up (justification) so that we can "behold" our salvation in Christ. Alternatively... Does our salvation rest upon the Word Alone and our hearing of it; or does it rest upon the "fruits" which the Word produces. Faith in Christ means, not only "trusting" in him for salvation but also "trusting" that he will bring about the fruits of such salvation--whether we can SEE them or not (Hebrews 11)--faith is NOT sight!
Tim
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