06 October 2008
Interesting Post
by David Schütz on the Bishop of Rome's citing Blessed Martin Luther favorably in one of his catechesis on St. Paul. David, I agree that the Blessed Exchange (though Luther inherited rather than formulated it - see the wonderful epistle to Diognetus) could be a most fruitful point of discussion between our jurisdictions.
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6 comments:
Yes, well it's all very well being nice now......
Thanks for the link, Pastor Bill - wondered why my hits were up today!
I take it your ref to the epistle to Diognetus was to this passage from Chapter 9:
"He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!"
So of course the idea of the "exchange" is not new - but I rather think Luther took it to a deeper in saying "our sins are no longer ours but Christ's, and the righteousness of Christ is not Christ's but ours".
I am not sure exactly how to put a finger on the "new" insight in Luther in this regard, other than to say it appears more "mystical" (although I know many of your readers will not like that word - I can only suggest Bengt R. Hoffmann's work for their consideration).
Oh, and I should also ask your readers to consider the import of the Holy Father's simple and straightforward remark following the Luther quote:
"And thus we are saved."
Rather cuts through all the verbiage of the Joint Declaration, doesn't it?
For the benefit of those who may not have seen it, a link to an interview with then-Cardinal Ratzinger on Luther and the unity of churches.
Leitourgia adiaphora non est.
It is fascinating to see the Catholic Synod of Bishops meeting in Rome where they are concentrating on the place of the Bible within the Catholic Church. Be very interesting to see what comes of it.
Rev Mark
http://brownblog.info/
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