This past Sunday's hymn of the day has stuck with me:
Jesus, Thy boundless love to me
No thought can reach, no tongue declare;
Unite my thankful heart to Thee,
And reign without a rival there!
Thine wholly, Thine alone I am;
Be Thou alone my constant flame.
O grant that nothing in my soul
May dwell but Thy pure love alone;
Oh, may Thy love possess me whole,
My joy, my treasure, and my crown!
All coldness from my heart remove;
My ev'ry act, word, thought be love.
This love unwearied I'll pursue
And dauntlessly to Thee aspire.
Oh, may Thy love my hope renew
Burn in my soul like heav'nly fire!
And day and night, be all my care
To guard this sacred treasure there.
In suff'ring be Thy love my peace,
In weakness be Thy love my pow'r;
And when teh storms of life shall cease,
O Jesus, in that final hour,
Be Thou my rod and staff and guide,
And draw me safely to Thy side.
Paul Gerhardt, LSB 683
Yeah, those old Lutherans were really into "legal fiction"....NOT! WHERE do folks come up with such nonsense? The whole mystical union that sings through these old chorales gives the lie to it from the get-go.
11 comments:
Let's stop being so concerned about what Eastern Orthodox think about Biblical Lutheranism.
Their faulty teaching of the Scriptures' doctrine of justification is, finally, their problem, not ours.
That there is forensic justification is a teaching of the Scriptures. That there is a mystical union as a fruit of saving grace is also a clear teaching of the Scriptures.
A blessed root and fruit.
Actually, I was thinking of some Roman Catholic critiques I had read recently on another blog - the East wasn't on my mind in regard to the Gerhardt hymn. Now, you know that I do not object to forensic justification, but I DO object to legal fiction, for that fails to take account of the fact that God's words are performative words: they accomplish what they declare!
Yup, they are wrong on the doctrine of justification too.
You are very certain, aren't you, Paul, that Lutheranism is "biblical". I guess you have to be. I'll accept that.
But, let's grant that at times and in places, the Scriptures do appear to teach a "forensic" justification. And let's grant too, that this is not simply a "legal fiction", although it could be (perhaps unfairly) characterised as such.
The fact is, as you yourself point out, the scriptures teach BOTH forensic justification and mystical union. In fact, the scriptures have a whole swag of different ways of describing the saving effect of the Paschal Mystery in our lives.
The difficulty appears when one of these ways (eg. "Lutheran" forensic justification, or "Roman" mystical union, or "Eastern" deification) is exalted as "THE Scriptural teaching". Can we call a bit of a truce here and allow that the workings of divine Grace are ultimately a mystery which can validly be described (and in the Tradition of the Church--which includes the Church's hymnody--HAVE been described) in a very wide range of ways?
What's "letal fiction?"
Brian Westgate, who is about to leave home to begin his first year at Fort Wayne
Whoops, I obviously meant "legal fiction."
BPW
Legal fiction is an oft-spouted attack upon the biblical teaching of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the Christian - especially common among certain Roman apologists. But what this critique fails to understand is that God's Word creates what it says, and so if God declares the sinner just, the sinner IS just and is being made just, though the "making just" is inchoate and will not be completed until death and the resurrection.
Note: contra to the legal fiction notion, we have the words of the Smalcald Articles III, III:40
"Paul testifies that he wars with the law in his members nor by his own powers, but by the gift of the Holy Spirit that follows the forgiveness of sins. This gift DAILY CLEANSES AND SWEEPS OUT the remaining sins and works to make a person TRULY pure and holy."
Not one of Gerhardt's strongest hymns, in my opinion. But I'm glad that it warmed your soul.
That Smalcald Article is a pretty good description of synergy.
Anastasia
Anastasia,
I think it is exactly that - in the sense you all use that word. :)
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