There is an inescapable universal solidarity in sin which obliges us to acknowledge that, through the disasters that befall some, God issues a call to repentance to all, bidding us turn from the idolatry of transitory goods to Himself; our Eternal Good, who is alone worthy of worship. -- Dr. John R. Stephenson, Eschatology, pp. 66, 67.
So there is Law, Gospel, and disasters. And there is no difference between the baptized members of the Kingdom of God and those outside of it. “Inescapable universal solidarity”? Four days ago I posted this, 2 Cor. 5, “17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” Where do I go to find the Gospel in the Lutheran Church? Is it presumptuous to insist that I am in Christ by virtue of Baptism?
ReplyDeletePeace and Joy!
George A. Marquart
George,
ReplyDeleteOf course there is a massive difference between the baptized members of God's kingdom and those on the outside - it's just that one of the differences is NOT that those inside the Kingdom are immune to the disasters that befall us in this sadly fallen world. The child of God can die in the Tsunami the same as the unregenerate. The universal consequence of sin - death - God has not seen fit to erase from His children, but to them it is transformed. It is not what it was - "O death, where is thy sting?" for precisely with the sting of the law being drawn from it, death and disaster to a child of God is received utterly differently.
Dear Rev. Weedon: You are absolutely right. But that is not the point Dr. Stephenson is making. He is saying that these disasters, which as you rightly say can affect anyone, call all of us to repentance “from the idolatry of transitory goods to Himself; our Eternal Good, who is alone worthy of worship.” It is as if Baptism never took place, as if we worship Baal on Sundays and in our private prayers; as if there is no difference between the children of the Kingdom and the children of the world. It’s a “universal solidarity in sin”. That means that there is only one kind; otherwise it is neither universal, nor solidarity.
ReplyDeletePeace and Joy!
George A. Marquart
Is it possible that Dr. Stephenson was thinking of Luke 13:1-5?
ReplyDelete"13 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood pPilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, q“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you rrepent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in sSiloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you rrepent, you will all likewise perish.”