In Honor of Bonhoeffer

My studies this fall have taken me into the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The seminar course I've been taking has delved into his Christology lectures, Discipleship, and now his Ethics. He is a quite a theologian--both complex and simple: Complex in that while he turns many phrases that lend themselves to quotability, those phrases shorn of their anchor in context are amenable to manipulation; simple in that no part of his theology escapes being anchored in the person of Jesus Christ. Everything... everything is focused on Jesus. In honor of that focus, I post the lyrics below. They're from a hymn by Annie Johnson Flint with a tune by Oskar Ahnfelt.

I look not back; God knows the fruitless efforts.

The wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets.

I leave them all with Him who blots the record,

And graciously forgives, and then forgets.

I look not forward, God sees all the future,

The road that, short or long, will lead me home,

And He will face with me its ev'ry trial,

And bear for me the burdens that may come.

I look not round me; then would fears assail me,

So wild the tumult of earth's restless seas,

So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil,

So vain the hope of comfort and of ease.

I look not inward; that would make me wretched;

For I have naught on which to stay my trust.

Nothing I see save failures and shortcomings,

And week endeavors crumbling into dust.

But I look up - into the face of Jesus,

For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled;

And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,

And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled.

Ahhh.... Jesus only. Cf. Mat 17:8 "When they looked up, all they saw was Jesus alone."

Free Will vs. Bound Will

"Free Will" vs. the "Captive Will" is one of the most 'sensitive' issues in Christendom. Usually, the controversy is thought of philosophically. This is to the detriment of the discussion. As the philosopher Peter Singer once wrote,"We have to believe in Free Will! We have no choice!"

Philosophically, the antonym to "Free Will" is "Determinism." Consequently, when confronted with the loss of their Free Will, most people lament: "But we're not puppets are we?" To which Gerhard Forde would respond by waving his arms and announcing: "See, no strings!" Under Determinism, the end product is not "Faith" but "FATE"--all things are inevitable. Not only does Fate take away choice but it destroys responsibility.

When the controversy is taken up theologically, the antonym of "Free Will" is the "Bound Will." We are bound to choose the things we choose, we can't escape it. This isn't about the Determinism of our behavior but about determining our "being." The Old Adam or Eve is "bound" to sin; sinfulness is their "ontology"--their "being-ness." The new creature in Christ is bound to righteousness; sin is behind them in the old being. Saintliness is their "ontology"--their being-ness.

The sinner can only sin and is bound to sin--a captive to that triumvirate of powers: the devil, the world, and the sinful self. While we are in the flesh, during the days of our baptism, all we have access to--visibly and manifestly--are works of the flesh. Which, because they are done out of our "mortality," these works of the flesh are mortal sins, as Luther discusses in the Heidelberg Disputation.

The saint can only do works of righteousness--a bound servant of Christ and neighbor; living under Christ in his kingdom, serving him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. While we are in the flesh, during the days of our baptism, the glorious life of the saint is hidden from us. As Saint Paul writes in Colossians 3:3-4 "You are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ--who is your life--appears in glory, then your life too, will appear in glory" Since its life is hidden, the saint is accessible only to faith--faith in Christ. This is why Paul MUST confess in Galatians 2:20: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God..."

Under "religion" and "Free Will," the Christian life is determined to be the commitment to making "right" choices regarding thinking, feeling, and doing, so that progress is made from being a "sinner" to being a "saint." Religion can agree that we are both sinner and saint at the same time... existing somewhere on the continuum stretched between the two absolutes: absolute sinner and absolute saint. The Christian life is "achieved" through progress on the continuum. This is the paradigm of religion.

However, under "faith in Christ" and the "Bondage of the Will," the Christian life is given by the handing over of Christ to you as the Holy Spirit works faith through the Means of Grace. There is no progress,only death and new life. There is no continuously existing self to make progress on a continuum between absolute saint and absolute sinner. Both the absolute saint and the absolute sinner exist simultaneously--totally saint and totally sinner at one and the same time. This "double" ontology--200% being--is always "received" never "achieved." It is the "passive" life of the Christian--the passion of being done unto. This is the paradigm of faith.

During these days of our Baptism we have citizenship in two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world, manifested by flesh, and under the triumvirate of powers--the devil, the world, and our sinful selves; and the kingdom of Christ (the new creation), manifested by faith, and under the Lordship of Christ with his righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. These two kingdoms are connected--not by the sinner's progress toward saintliness--but by Jesus Christ himself. Since Christ is the first fruits of the new creation delivered through the Means of Grace, his person is the only bit of the new creation accessible to us while we wait for glory. For now, during these days of our Baptism, being "joined" to Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection--is THE ONLY WAY this double life is available to us. There is no "progress," There is only the "return" to baptism and its benefits: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every confession, absolution, and subsequent repentance is a return to baptism and its reality of life in two kingdoms.

Under the religion paradigm, faith is concerned with direction, direction, direction. Faith is like a mathematical "vector:" it has a direction and it has a magnitude. Religion is all about getting your faith-vector pointed in the right direction and then increasing its magnitude--that is, the "strength" of your faith. Faith is a human emotion: trust, loyalty, confidence, commitment, etc. Faith is treated like any other human virtue--it is "our" work. Preaching is exhortation to use, motivate, and increase our faith--usually so that the religious "institution" can benefit from it.

Under the faith paradigm, faith is concerned with location, location, location. Faith is not about "movement" but about being "planted"--located. Faith in Christ "locates" you "in Christ" where you have an invisible, redeeming, divine reality that tears you away from and places you in contrast to all other realities. You have "life" in two kingdoms. You are fully located in each.

In the kingdom of this world you are "wholly" a creature, fully a creature of God your Creator. You have nothing to prove, nothing to hide, and nothing to lose. You are fully aware your "flesh" is mortal; it has no future; and that it has only two purposes: 1) to be of some "use" to the neighbor; and, 2) to say "Amen, let it be with me as the Lord has said," when it hears the Word of God.

In the kingdom of Christ you are a holy new creature, fully a creature of God your Creator. You have no need for more "proof;" nothing more can be uncovered for you; and you have nothing more to gain. You have fully received your immortality; you have an eternal future; and that it has only one purpose: to bow and confess that Jesus Christ--the Lamb who was slain--is Lord.

You can see these two paradigms at work in the various ways Hebrews 11:1 is translated. Some translators use words for faith that arise from within the person--faith is "internalized." Other translations use words for faith that come from outside the person--faith is "externalized."

Some examples of these various ways of translating Hebrews 11:1--

Internalized Faith:
NET Bible--Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.
NIV Bible--Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
NLT Bible--Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

You can see how it is all focused on the person: "being sure," "being convinced," "being certain," "having confidence..."

Externalized Faith:
NASB, ESB & NRSV--Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
KJV & NKJV--Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You can see how it is focused on what is "outside" of the person, being "given" to the person:
"assurance,"--which some outside authority provides
"conviction"--which is pronounced by an external word
"substance" & "evidence" (which are my favorites) these have such a SOLID sense to them, anchoring faith in a reality beyond the vagaries of human virtue and emotion... anchoring it in the reality of the person of Jesus Christ himself.

All of this is to say, that you can't really preach "ABOUT" free will or the bondage of the will. You must preach Christ in such a way that you hand him over so the people can have faith. In this faith they will come to see how they're bound to sin but free in Christ.