Money quote: Christ is not here. Hence a Christian must not be here. Therefore no man can tie down Christ or a Christian with certain special rules.
Thanks to Pastor Lenae Rasmussen for calling this to my attention.
“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye … He is risen, …”
The dear angels preach very well, for they have good reason so to do. The substance of their preaching is this: You seek Jesus in the tomb. But He is become a different man. You believe that He was crucified, but we will tell you where He is now. ‘He is risen from the dead and is not here.’ You will not find Him in this life. On earth, which is the realm of death, you must not seek Christ. Different eyes, fingers, or feet are needed to see Christ, to take hold of Him or to walk towards Him. I will show you (he says) the place where He lay, but He is no longer there. His name is now ‘He is not here’, as St. Paul writes to the Colossians (iii.1-3): ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above’...
Christ is not here. Hence a Christian must not be here. Therefore no man can tie down Christ or a Christian with certain special rules. It says, ‘He is not here’. He has left the husks down here, such as earthly justice, piety, wisdom, the Law, and whatever else belongs to earth; of all those He has stripped Himself entirely. You must not seek Him in the things which appear upon the earth. They are nothing but husks, and husks are never used a second time. Therefore, no man, in so far as he is a Christian, can be caught in them, but, as Christ is above all things, so is a Christian above all things. Christ has in Himself overcome all things and left them behind. And in that we believe this, we too are called ‘Not here’, even as He is. As St. Paul says, ‘Set your affection not on things on the earth’. What wonderful saying it is. Your life is hid, not in a chest, for there it might be found, but in Him who is nowhere. Our life shall be above all human wisdom, justice, and piety. As long as you abide in yourself, you are not devout, which means that our life is hidden high above our eyes, … and high above all that we can feel.
W.A. 32.49f
Saturday, April 25, 2009
"Opened Minds"
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Third Sunday of Easter, 4-26-09
Gospel: Luke 24:36b – 48
Verses 45-47 are quoted from The Interlinear Greek – English New Testament. The Nestle Greek Text with a Literal English Translation by Alfred Marshall. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons Limited, 1960.
“Then he “(Christ) “opened up of them the mind to understand the scriptures;” (the Old Testament. New Testament was not yet written.) “and said to them[,] Thus it has been written (3)to suffer (1)the (2)Christ and to rise again out of [the ] dead on the third day, and to be proclaimed on(in) the name of him repentance unto forgiveness of sins to all the nations, - beginning from Jerusalem.”
This occurred in the upper room on the evening of the day of resurrection. Jesus is speaking to the eleven plus others.
The message of the Old Testament like the later New Testament is CHRIST. A person never knows this until, like the disciples, their minds are opened by God. (Unless and until the Holy Spirit opens a person’s mind the Scriptures are seen as rules, moral principles, things we are to do; all things the Devil uses to divert attention away from CHRIST. It is only the Holy Spirit who uses all these rules, commandments, etc. to drive us to CHRIST.) Jesus says that repentance unto forgiveness is to be proclaimed in his name. This is the commission that has been placed on the baptized: proclamation. The rest is left to the Holy Spirit who works and where and when he wills in those who hear this proclamation. For repentance unto forgiveness of sins is NOT the work of an individual but the work of God in an individual. In other words we do not repent. Rather we are repented by God through the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness of sins is not appropriated by an individual. Rather they are given to an individual by Christ himself who brings the forgiveness when He comes into an individual.
God works in us in two ways: through his ALIEN WORK and through his PROPER WORK. His ALIEN WORK is to prepare us for his PROPER WORK, which is CHRIST. It is the 10 commandments, all the rules, all the moral principles so hammered at us, condemning us at every turn that, by the work of the Holy Spirit, acknowledgment is produced within us that sin hopelessly ensnares and dominates us.
Because there is no escape, there is nothing left. And so we are put to death. “Sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and by IT KILLED ME” (Romans 7:11).
God’s PROPER WORK follows his ALIEN WORK. Out of death God creates NEW LIFE. In the face of being killed by the commandments God then gives us CHRIST. In the proclamation that your sins are forgiven for Jesus sake, there is already before the forgiveness the presence of CHRIST himself in you as a redeeming reality. Where forgiveness is, Christ is.
Why do some believe and some don’t? That is not in our jurisdiction. That is in the hands of God alone. The Holy Spirit mediates the presence of Christ in the individual. Where Christ is in the person as the new life, conforming the person to his image, there is the Holy Spirit. Where Christ is seen by the person as outside of them, as one who is a role model to be imitated by the person’s best efforts, there is no Holy Spirit. One cannot look at their life to “see” if God is working. One cannot “look” inwardly to their feelings to “see” if God is working. For one walks by the Spirit; not by sight or by feelings. Rather one looks to their baptism, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on CHRIST” (Galatians 3:27).
Because CHRIST IS OUR LIFE, PROCLAMATION is what it is about. That’s what we live for. This may sound strange to you because you may have never thought about your whole life, which is IN CHRIST, as proclaiming CHRIST. But just listen to these words of our brother Paul from his second letter to the Corinthians:
“Thanks be to God, who in CHRIST ALWAYS LEADS US IN TRIUMPH, and THROUGH US SPREADS THE FRAGRANCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM EVERYWHERE. For WE ARE THE AROMA OF CHRIST to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we not like so many, corrupters of God’s Word; but as men (and women) of sincerity, as COMMISSIONED by God, in the sight of God we speak IN CHRIST” (II Cor. 2:14-17).
Did you ever think that whenever you talk you talk IN CHRIST? Did you ever think that you emit the aroma of CHRIST all the time? Did you ever think that you have been on a mission every moment of your life since baptism? Well, you do; you are; and you have been.
THANKS BE TO GOD!
© Richard J. Smith
Friday, April 17, 2009
"Knight of Faith?" NOT!
Only God is in a position to judge whether a person's actions are divinely inspired or demoniacal; to the rest of us, they may appear identical.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_faithThirdly, as I read it the Knight of Faith is still trapped by the in curvatus in se. So convinced of the "rightness" of his/her own actions by virtue of their own faith, the KofF can act without regard to the consequences which befall the neighbor.
Fourth, Kirkegaard's reading of the Abraham story is not from a "faith in Christ" perspective. Instead it flows from the generic religious pretention of "obedience and submission to the law." The postulate that Abraham was a "Knight of Faith" preserves the illusion of Abraham's "obedience" by his submission to a "higher law" than that which is expressed as service to the neighbor. From a "faith in Christ" perspective Abraham would have considered Isaac as a most intimate and innocent neighbor and refused to act on the tyrannical command of an absolute authority (God), being willing to take the consequences of such refusal upon himself rather than visit the consequences of obedience upon Isaac. The "Knight of Faith" then would not have resulted in perfect obedience to a command but in perfect confidence that God does indeed forgive sins (disobedience). Thus, God's "rescue" of Isaac is not a reward for Abraham's submission but a rescue of Abraham from his folly of thinking according to the law and not according to faith.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: 2nd Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2009
by Dick Smith
Kris Baudler, a valued friend of mine, in a recent discussion on a theological list serve, pointed out some issues in reference to verse 9 which are included in this Thought for the Day. I wish to express my deep appreciation for his offering.
Of the four verses (1:6, 7, 8, and 9) that begin with a misleading “if” I suspect the most familiar is verse 9. It is the one which is used in the Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness in the Lutheran Book of Worship. Apparently they lifted it out of the Revised Standard Version and dropped it down into the LBW. Not only is the “if” misleading but the future tense of the sentence is incorrect. It should read “is,” not “will.”
Martin Luther, who was a student of Greek, correctly understood the original and used the word “whenever’ instead of “if.”
The passage correctly reads, “WHENEVER we confess our sins he IS faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
In Christ we are always in a forgiven state. We are always 100 percent sinner and at the same time we are always 100 percent holy, perfect, and righteous in the eyes of God because of Jesus Christ.
The manner in which the verse is misquoted both in the RSV and the LBW suggests a “quid pro quo” arrangement between man and God. That is, we confess, God will take that into consideration and then forgive us. We do for God and then He does for us. This suggests a nice bargaining relationship between God and man.
But Man has no such bargaining relationship with God. We are sinners, enemies of God, crucifiers of the Lord of Glory. Rebellious to the core we are, and the wonder of it all is that, while this is the case, God in Christ captures us and places us in a place of redemption, new life, and salvation. Against our will God makes us new creatures in CHRIST. This is what our baptism a about.
In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses…” we are praying with the confidence that we are already forgiven because of Christ.
I John 1:6 speaks that confidence of forgiveness that is implied in the Lord’s Prayer. “WHENEVER we confess our sins, God IS faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Not a word of “if,” then possibly. Rather it is a word of CERTAINITY. “Whenever” means the forgiveness is already there.
And where there is forgiveness there is already before the forgiveness the real presence of Christ in you as a redeeming reality. This is so because He is the one who brings the forgiveness into you. For where Christ is there is ALWAYS forgiveness.
Easter is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection and His LIFE IS the LIFE that is in you.
He died and so WE ALL DIED (II Cor. 5:14). He lives and LIVES IN US because we have all died (Col. 3:3-4). His resurrected life IS the life in you!
SOLA DEO GLORIA!
© Richard J. Smith
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Palm Sunday -- April 5, 2009 2nd Reading: Philippians 2:5-11
From an old sinner for whom Christ died.
This is an early Christian hymn beginning with verse 6. It describes Christ in the servant role. He had equality with God but did not cling to it but rather for our sakes he humbled himself and became even obedient unto death, death on a cross.
Paul introduces it in verse 5. That is THE CRITICAL VERSE that sets the tone for the rest. IT ALL DEPENDS ON how one reads verse 5.
Free willers (that is, those who hold that we have free will to chooses good or evil) read it as a call to imitate Jesus. For those who know that free will is a lie and that we have NO FREE WILL it is a remarkable expression by Paul of that which permeates all of his writings, which is conformity to Christ, not imitating Jesus.
I pulled several Bibles from my library and checked how they translated verse 5. I knew in advance that because FREE WILL dominates our religious culture most of the translations would push “imitate” Jesus. So we have the following:
“The attitude YOU SHOULD HAVE is the one that Christ Jesus had…”(Today’s English Version)
“Your attitude SHOULD BE the same as that of Christ Jesus…” (NIV)
“THINK the same way that Christ Jesus thought…” (CEV)
“LET the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (NRSV)
Imitate, imitate, imitate, these translations shout. “You should,” “your attitude should,” “think,” “let,” they scream at us. It’s in your hands they insist. You have the free will to choose they argue. All of which is a big fat lie!
The RSV comes close with this translation, “Have this mind among yourselves WHICH YOU HAVE IN CHRIST JESUS…”
For Paul, EVERYTHING depends on being IN CHRIST. Baptized we are therein united with Christ in his death and resurrection so that we DIED with him and now HE is the life in us. IN CHRIST we have been discharged from THE LAW (Romans 7:6). WE have died to the demands of the Law. Therefore the translations above (except for the RSV) seek to put us back under the demands of the Law thereby discharging us from CHRIST HIMSELF.
Paul points out in I Cor. 2:16, that “we have the MIND of CHRIST” because of our baptism into CHRIST. Thus it is consistent for him to state in verse 5 of Philippians 2: “have his mind among yourselves which in fact you already have because of your incorporation into CHRIST JESUS through the waters of baptism.” This is the very opposite of “imitating” Jesus. It is “conformity to CHRIST” which is God conforming us to CHRIST HIMSELF.
Where “imitating” would call for us to be active trying to achieve this, Paul is setting forth “conformity” which calls for us to be TOTALLY PASSIVE in the face of God’s activity in us; totally passive because we have already died. Dead things don’t do anything. And we are dead through baptism (Col. 3:4; Rom. 6:3-4).
In II Corinthians 3:17-18, Paul makes it so obvious that the free willers have to wince when it is read: “Now where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord ARE BEING TRANSFIGURED in his image from one degree of glory to another. And all this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit!”
“ARE BEING TRANSFIGURED” is the phrase that declares “conformity to CHRIST.” There is NO PLACE for the person’s participation in this. It is happening to us by God alone, period.
There is NO PLACE for “imitation of Jesus.” There is ONLY “conformity to CHRIST.”
Free Will is exposed for the lie that it is.
THE END OF FREE WILL IS THE BEGINNING OF FAITH!
The servant role described in Phil. 2:5-11 is your role and mine because you are IN CHRIST JESUS. You HAVE the mind of CHRIST. IT is the role being played out in you and me because the life in you and me is CHRIST HIMSELF.
This is not a SHOULD but an IS.
©Richard J. Smith
Saturday, March 28, 2009
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE GOSPEL FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY IN LENT, MARCH 29, 2009
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE GOSPEL
FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY IN LENT, MARCH 29, 2009
Dick Smith, Bismarck
PREACHING TO THE CAPTIVE WILL
The Gospel: John 12:20-33
When Christian History is written about this period of time I believe it will be known as a period of darkness. It will be seen as a time when man has placed himself above Scripture interpreting it to his own liking. Instead of Scripture interpreting man, man has usurped Scripture’s place and now has proceeded to control Scripture.
No where is this more evident than in organized institutional religion’s fixation with morality. Christ is now used as a tool to justify moral conduct as the sum and substance of Christianity. Scriptural passages are ripped from their context, twisted around, and reshaped in order to support preconceived notions about the proper kind of conduct. Conduct has become the determining factor, so much so that it has become common to hear it said, “It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. And how do you know that you are sincere; because you can feel it here (the heart). The message of CHRIST for the sinner has been pushed off the stage for the sake of moral conduct.
The passage before us from John chapter 12 exposes the falsity of so much of contemporary preaching. Verse 25 drives to the heart of the matter. It reads, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” This is spoken in the larger context of his response to Philip and Andrew. “And Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.’ (That hour of glorification is when he dies on the cross.) ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; in any one serves me, the Father will honor him.”
IT’S A MATTER OF DEATH AND NEW LIFE. To serve Christ, to follow Christ, is NOT a matter of self effort, or human endeavor. IT is a matter of dying with Christ and having a new life. When Jesus began his ministry, he announced that thekingdom of God was in their midst. (That is, Christ embodies the Kingdom and is in their midst.) Then he says “repent and believe in the Gospel.” “Repent” means to die and “believe” is another word for “faith,” which means “the real presence of Christ in you as a redeeming reality” (Regin Prenter, “Spiritus Creator,” (page 193; 50).
It's deceptively easy to interpret “hating one’s life” and “dying with Christ” as a psychological phenomenon so that one is to feel hurtful toward him or herself. The idea that one is to inflict pain upon one’s existence as a religious act is so popular that it blurs and contorts the message here.
It’s not a matter of twisting our emotions so that they produce some kind of spiritual change. Rather it simply the announcement to us of what is.
Paul makes his very clear in his Letter to the Romans where he introduces the matter of death and new life in chapter 6. He brings in this central issue as a progression of his thought about God’s grace. He says God’s grace cannot be out sinned! Sin all the more and God’s love is all the greater. This then leads to the next question. Shall we then keep on struggling to keep the Law which can only lead to more sinning? After all, God’s grace can’t be out sinned. His answer is, “God forbid.” Struggling to keep the Law is OVER and done with, because, he announces, we are all DEAD, having DIED in our baptism. The life now is CHRIST HIMSELF IN US.
This is not a matter of some kind of emotional rejection of our life, some kind of self hatred, some kind of self flagellation, some kind of physical lashing of our bodies. All of those things would be self administered. The dying Jesus is talking about is something that happens to us and not by us. It is administered to us by God himself in our baptism.
Since it is from God to us it is a matter of announcement to us. It is his action that is to be proclaimed to us as a fact. So our brother Paul continues, in Chapter 6 of Romans, after his answer, “God forbid,” with these words. “OR ARE YOU IGNORANT (the Greek, often translated in English: “or do you not know….’) that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his DEATH. We are BURIED therefore by baptism into his death so that as Christ was RAISED from the dead WE TOO MIGHT LIVE A NEW LIFE.
This element of ANNOUNCEMENT is clearly evident in the Letter to the Colossians where Paul writes “...you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him… (2:12). “For you ARE DEAD…”(3:3) reads the King James Version. Now I ask you, can the announcement be any more direct, any clearer, any more incisive? It’s not a matter of inner emotions, it’s not a matter of a certain kind of religious attitude, it’s not a matter of a prayerful posture. It’s not about you and me at all. It’s about God and what he has done in our baptism! IT’S about CHRIST and how HE IS the NEW LIFE in us. That passage in Colossians that begins, “For you ARE DEAD” continues, “and your life is now hid with CHRIST in God. When CHRIST, WHO IS OUR LIFE, appears you will also appear with him in glory” (3:3-4)!
The grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies and bears much fruit. CHRIST in us bears much fruit in and through us. Where Christ is, there we, as his servants, will be also, because he is our life. We have no choice. THANKS BE TO GOD!
©Richard J. Smith
Sunday, March 22, 2009
A "Cruciform" Vocabulary: Law
In light of the recent discussions concerning "The Law" and what it is for a Christian, here is a devotional from Martin Luther.
Money quote: Christ is not here. Hence a Christian must not be here. Therefore no man can tie down Christ or a Christian with certain special rules.
Thanks to Pastor Lenae Rasmussen for calling this to my attention.
“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye … He is risen, …”
The dear angels preach very well, for they have good reason so to do. The substance of their preaching is this: You seek Jesus in the tomb. But He is become a different man. You believe that He was crucified, but we will tell you where He is now. ‘He is risen from the dead and is not here.’ You will not find Him in this life. On earth, which is the realm of death, you must not seek Christ. Different eyes, fingers, or feet are needed to see Christ, to take hold of Him or to walk towards Him. I will show you (he says) the place where He lay, but He is no longer there. His name is now ‘He is not here’, as St. Paul writes to the Colossians (iii.1-3): ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above’...
Christ is not here. Hence a Christian must not be here. Therefore no man can tie down Christ or a Christian with certain special rules. It says, ‘He is not here’. He has left the husks down here, such as earthly justice, piety, wisdom, the Law, and whatever else belongs to earth; of all those He has stripped Himself entirely. You must not seek Him in the things which appear upon the earth. They are nothing but husks, and husks are never used a second time. Therefore, no man, in so far as he is a Christian, can be caught in them, but, as Christ is above all things, so is a Christian above all things. Christ has in Himself overcome all things and left them behind. And in that we believe this, we too are called ‘Not here’, even as He is. As St. Paul says, ‘Set your affection not on things on the earth’. What wonderful saying it is. Your life is hid, not in a chest, for there it might be found, but in Him who is nowhere. Our life shall be above all human wisdom, justice, and piety. As long as you abide in yourself, you are not devout, which means that our life is hidden high above our eyes, … and high above all that we can feel.
W.A. 32.49f
