Jason Kaspar – Page 7 – What Does This Mean?

Does God Still Speak Directly To Us?

Yes, of course God still speaks to us. He speaks directly to us each week, when we hear His Word. When your pastor says, “in the stead and by the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, I forgive you all of your sins.” We are to hear the words as if Jesus Himself spoke them to us just now. The Divine Service on Sunday morning is all about the Lord speaking to us.

But, that’s not really the question, is it?

Your Aunt Beatrice, who now calls herself, Sister Mooncloud, means something entirely different. She or Uncle Stinging-rain say that God speaks directly to them. They’ve told you that they are more in touch with the Spirit of the Almighty in some way.

The method doesn’t matter. What matters is content.

A prophet is simply one who hears and reports the Word of the Lord. A true prophet cannot speak falsely. Moses warned the people of Israel, and us, too, that false prophets are coming, and here’s how you will know. “And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

Always, the prophet must speak truth. If Uncle Stinging-rain or Auntie Mooncloud say a thing purporting to be the voice of God, it must come true as they have said. If the Senate doesn’t overturn the election, the comet doesn’t strike the earth, Mom and Dad don’t die at the appointed time, or the market doesn’t have a cataclysmic reaction, then the prophesy and the prophet are false.

Even the remedy given by the Lord through Mosses reflects a curious disdain. “You need not be afraid of him.” The proscribed reaction here isn’t fisticuffs, scourging, or stoning. It’s indifference. Have no fear, de-escalate, disengage.

All prophesy must point to Jesus and Him crucified for our sins. You and I may not always readily see it. But, it is the case to be sure. On the road to Emmaus, two of the followers of Jesus received clear teaching on their seven mile walk from Jesus himself after the resurrection. “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Acts 2:25-27)

“But, Pastor Kaspar, what about St. Peter’s Pentecost sermon concerning visions? Doesn’t that indicate a renewed prophesy?” That’s a fine question. When Peter and the disciples spoke in tongues, speaking all the languages of the people present, He did preach about prophecy. But, what does he actually say?

“But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; … before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know — this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (Acts 2:16-17, 20b-24)

Jesus taught on the Emmaus road: all prophecy is of Him. Peter also preached the same from the prophecy of St. Joel, chapter two. The prophet spoke of Jesus. The day of prophesy is the day of salvation. It’s the day of Jesus. For you, that day is today.

The writer of Hebrews puts a fine point on it too. “In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old by the prophets. But now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.” (Hebrews 1:1-2a) We have prophecy. But, the whole of it points to Jesus and his work saving us.

And St. Peter teaches us in His second epistle, chapter one, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty … And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:16, 18-20)

We have the interpretation: the saving work of Jesus for us. Now, also we have the lens through which prophecy is revealed to us. We have Jesus and the scripture attesting to Him. Anything else is false prophecy. Fear not, dear Christians, ignore those words.

Let us prophesy of Jesus alone, and the work He has done.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

A Christian Logo Design

Photograpic basis for the design by Rev. Jason M. Kaspar

The new logo for Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool of La Grange, TX features two elements of our ecclesiastical architecture. Both our pulpit and lectern walls within the chancel feature the same brick form. These two features flank the large chancel cross.

In church architecture, we should always see the numbers before our eyes as deliberate and pedagogical. The repeated features in church sanctuaries are generally done on purpose. They also serve to teach about the Christian faith, reminding us about something significant.

These numbers include fours for the Gospel writers, sixes for creation and the fall into sin, sevens for holiness, tens for the completeness of all peoples, and twelves for holy completeness. Our sanctuary also makes use of numbers to teach us about the Christian faith.

The brickwork flanking the cross has a central column consisting of two independent bricks and a continuous column. In the church threes are a Trinitarian symbol. The Trinity is, then, core upon which eight horizontal bars hang. Eights in the church are symbols of resurrection, recreation, new life in Christ, and baptism.

In six days, The Lord created the Heavens and the Earth. On the Seventh day, He rested. After the fall, the eight day becomes a symbol of the promised redeemer. In Genesis 3:15 we hear, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

In the flood, eight souls are preserved in the ark. They are preserved by water, which also washes way the wickedness of the earth. St. Peter teaches us in 1 Peter 3 “20because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

All Jewish males are circumcised as a mark of God’s covenant with His people. This circumcision is proscribed for the eight day of life. That Genesis 3 promise is tied to the eight day.

Jesus’ resurrection is an eighth day event. He is crucified and dies on Friday. He is entombed in death from Friday through the entirety of the Sabbath (the seventh day), and is raised again from the dead on the eighth day.

In Colossians, chapter two, St. Paul teaches us to understand baptism from circumcision. “11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.”

These two Trinitarian Baptismal symbols on both sides of our altar point our eyes to the source of our salvation. In baptism, we receive the forgiveness of sins AND the faith, which clings to that promise. The forgiveness purchased and won by Jesus’ crucifixion and death on a cross. A symbol of death promising us eternal life.

Let us ever glory in that baptismal promise.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

Be Still And Know … What?

There is a thin veil of spirituality cast over our land. We see it on bumper stickers, t-shirts, bible covers, and memes all over social media.

One such text is the passage, “Be still, and know that I am God,” Psalm 46:10a.

When you see this passage, it’s usually covered with flowers and butterflies. It’s meant to instill peace and a sense of wellbeing. It’s used in inspirational calendars. Sometimes we’ll see this passage used for a month at a time, but pondering what?

Using the verse of Psalm 46 this way comes to us from the movement founded by Mary Baker Eddy. It’s one of a short list of passages cited as their central teaching. The teaching is an expression of peace, found in pursuing the father-mother god in the Christian Church, Scientist movement.

The Christian Church, Scientist is a non-trinitarian, christian-ish heretical sect founded in the 1870s in Boston, MA by Ms. Eddy. They are part of a group of metaphysical Christian offshoots centering on the “divine mind” and the unreality and/or escape-ability of the physical world.

There is nothing new under creation. These ideas have been with mankind since the beginning. One more notable case is that of the gnostic heresy of the earliest centuries of Christianity. The Gnostics also viewed the physical world as an evil to escape. They shared the same the notion of divinity as an essence we aspire to join.

Our creeds all speak of God in substance and personhood, in direct opposition to these ideas.

The metaphysics intend for us to hear those words, “be still, and know,” and find a new understanding and a new revelation within our own minds and the stillness thereof. This does not fit the context of Psalm 46 very well at all.

Psalm 46 is the scriptural basis of Martin Luther’s reformation battle hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Not surprisingly, the Psalm is rich with imagery relating to battle and warfare. There is a stillness, but not an internal one.

When Psalm 46 occurs in the lectionary, verse 7 is the suggested antiphon. An antiphon is a verse of the psalm, another psalm, or a passage of scripture used to focus our reading the central theme of the text. Psalm 46:7 reads, “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” That verse is echoed within the psalm without our help. Verse 7 and the final verse, 11, are the same.

Look to God for peace and protection. In the midst of all we are about to hear, He is our Fortress.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” (Psalm 46:1-3)

The presence of God here is immediate, not distant. He not a God who can, may, or will be our refuge. He is. That’s the same answer He gave to Moses from the burning bush, “I am has sent me to you.” And, Jesus says the same, “before Abraham was, I am.” (Gen 3:14; John 8:58)

The roaring of the seas and the destruction of the mountains are the image of uncreation. The disorder that rises out of the good order of creation after the fall into sin is that raging. All creation groans for redemption.

“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46:4-7)

The seas are an image of disorder and sin. The river is an image of new life, forgiveness, and new creation. In the prophets and in the Revelation of Saint John, the river flowing into, through, and from the city of God is the source of restoration. The peace and restoration isn’t cowardly though. She cannot be moved. She, the city, is resolute. The Lord is with her.

The Lord of Hosts, Lord God of Sabaoth, Lord of battle-tested armies, this is not a weak, peaceable image of our God. He, who commands the armies of victorious angels, that Lord of host is with us, our fortress.

“Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. ‘Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!’” (Psalm 46:8-10)

The enemies of the Lord: sin, death, and the Devil are defeated and bound for destruction. That battle is already won. But yet the complete destruction of our old evil foe awaits Him and his minions. Beyond victory, the Lord will break and destroy even the implements of that warfare. With your weapons broken, shattered, and burning before you, now be still before the Lord.

Primarily an accusation to the vanquished: be still. Those who would not cease in speaking against the Lord; be still. Those who accuse the children of God: be still. Those who serve the adversary: be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted in the earth! Let all mortal flesh keep silence.

Why?

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46:11)

–

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

Advent Paraments

What’s with the four Lamps on our Advent paraments at Mt. Calvary Lutheran in LaGrange, Texas? And, what’s with the Jewish Star on Pastor’s Advent Stole?

First, let’s identify paraments. Paraments are the colored, fringed fabric hangings, which drape over the altar, pulpit, and lectern. These are different than the banners hanging on the walls. Banners beautify the sanctuary and often convey different messages about a particular day or subject matter.

Paraments beautify the sanctuary and serve to indicate liturgical seasons of the church year. The seasons all have colors assigned for use. Christmas, Easter, and festival days celebrating Jesus’s life on Earth are white. The Sundays after Epiphany and Trinity and green. Lent is purple or violet. The festivals of Maundy Thursday, Pentecost, Reformation, and Saints’ days are red or scarlet. Advent is blue or purple.

Our blue paraments symbolize the hopeful preparation of the Advent season. Advent is a church season that gets lost in our culture. The popular world has no sense of time, flow, or delayed gratification. In the church, we still hold back our exuberance for the 12 days within which they belong.

On our paraments we see four burning lamps during Advent also. Now fours in the ecclesiastical art (church art) usually mean the four evangelists, the Gospel writers. Sometimes, fours can be the four creatures bearing the throne of God’s glory in Ezekiel, or the four living creatures that testify around the throne of the Lamb in Revelation.

In Advent, we may be best served seeing those four lamps as the prophets of the Old Testament: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Those four major prophets are shorthand for us. The four witnesses of ancient times testify to the promise of the messiah to come. That promise is the same message of all of the prophecy of the Old Testament, the major prophets, and the minor prophets. The history and poetry also point the way to Jesus.

All of these speak to Jesus birth in Bethlehem (a little tidbit from Micah 5:2). The Messiah is coming to reverse the ancient curse of the Devil from Genesis 3. The whole of the Law and the Prophets point to that.

Like the four lamps, the Jewish star on pastor’s stole is the symbol of the Key of David, which might be G half-sharp major. Seriously though, the Key of David is the authority given to Jesus before heaven to loose and bind sins. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. (Isaiah 22:22). That same authority is given by Jesus to His church that all may receive forgiveness.

Prepare, dear baptized, in hopeful expectation. The king is coming!

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

What is this Soli Deo Gloria of the Reformation?

It’s one of the five solas of the Reformation. They are: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, and soli Deo gloria. The Latin means: scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone. Last time, we talked about Solus Christus. To wrap this up, Soli Deo Gloria is the topic. Soli Deo Gloria puts a tidy bow on the five solas.

Rome was the opposition force for the reformers. But, Soli Deo Gloria teaches against my own understanding just as much as the Pope. We, modern Christians, tend to make popes of ourselves. We want to be the sole interpreter of the scriptures. Moreover, we want to exclude or ignore the parts we don’t like. We like to excuse our laziness toward or neighbors. Somehow, they don’t deserve our works to serve them, because Faith and Grace don’t drive us to love and serve our neighbor. We want to define Jesus by our own ideas apart from His word. We seek Him within ourselves, rather than in His house and through His Word.

All of this puts us afoul of the first commandment. “You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” [SC 1:1] God is glorified in His Word and His work for us. When, we stand in His way, or obfuscate His clear teachings, we make little popes of ourselves. Actually, we make gods of ourselves.

And, we don’t stop there. We will setup idols all around the house. We’ll place the church’s status within the community ahead of God’s Word and gifts to us. We’ll worship the activities outside of God’s house among ourselves as a greater good that the gifts He gives us on Sunday mornings. We’ll worship our openness rather than the foolishness of the Gospel that separates us from the world.

Johann Sebastian Bach, lived and work in the 18th century, 200 years after the reformation. But, his signature shows the lasting influence on Lutheran musicians like Bach. He signed ever work with “SDG” as well as his own name. The abbreviation stands for Soli Deo Gloria, redirecting the attention from himself to the Lord attested to in his sacred music.

Though he wrote massive works too, the bulk of his repertoire consists of smaller works for church musicians to use on Sunday mornings. These pieces added beauty and fulness to the worship life of the church. Bach’s intention was not his own fame or glory. In his own lifetime, his fame was limited. And, without a revival of his music in the 19th century, we may know far less of him. His work remains, teaching the Word of God and our Lutheran understanding of it. Bach’s focus on the worship life of the church serves as a guide to Christian musicians and all Christian servants to this very day.

+ SDG +

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

What is this Solus Christus of the Reformation?

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

What is this “Sola Gratia” of the Reformation?

It’s one of the five solas of the Reformation. They are: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, and soli Deo gloria. The Latin means: scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone. Last week, we talked about Sola Fide. This week Sola Gratia is on the topic. Sola Gratia is also a corrective reaction to an error of Rome in teaching Christian works.

Rome’s confusion lay in the idea that grace was a substance, which added a superpower to humanity. Gratia Infusia (infused grace), delivered in baptism, forgave only original sin in their teaching. That infusion, they held, also gave people the ability to perform good works and merit a clear conscience before God.

As before, we can’t look honestly at our lives without seeing our sin on plain display. This flies in the face of gratia infusia. St. Paul teaches us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” [Ephesians 2:8-9]

It’s not my works that merit anything. Instead, Jesus died for my sins and delivers forgiveness to me, received through faith. St. Paul has more to say here. “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” [Romans 3:21-25]

This grace is delivered through means. The physical instruments by which we receive in our Baptism, the hearing of the Word, and the Sacrament of the Altar. Yes, yes, the Holy Spirit can inspire faith in anyone He desires by any means. But, we can have confidence that He will and does work faith and deliver grace through His means as promised. And, we should only look for grace where Jesus has promised to deliver it.

“While the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” [1 Peter 3:20b-21]

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” [Romans 10:17]

“And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” [Matthew 26:27-28]

So, this grace we receive means we are free to sin with reckless abandon, yes? No, St. Paul disagrees. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” [Romans 6:1-4]

So, we do have to do good works, right. Yeah, not quite. Let’s look at Ephesians 2 again. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2:8-10]

The beautiful thing about grace is that even our works are prepared beforehand by God. The works merit us nothing. Yet, in faith, we forgiven by grace. And, our faithful hearts do the works for our neighbor. Not me, but Christ living in me.

Forgiveness, Life, and Salvation, by grace through means.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

What is this “Sola Fide” of the Reformation?

It’s one of the five solas of the Reformation. They are: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, and soli Deo gloria. The Latin means: scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone. Last week, we talked about Sola Scriptura. This week Sola Fide is on the menu. Sola Fide is a corrective reaction to an error of Rome in teaching the Christian faith.

The error, simply stated, is the attribution of works, to merit salvation for Christians. Popes and councils, cardinals and bishops had developed a teaching apart from the scriptures, that salvation came by way of baptism and the works done by Christians. It’s obvious to us, when we observe ourselves, that our righteousness isn’t greater than our sin. The papal solution was “treasury of merits” stored-up by the canonized saints. These could be bought and earned by the faithful.

The methods: confession, penance, indulgences, and the like deserve their own treatment elsewhere.

Martin Luther and the reformers who follow him found a different teaching in the Word of God. Our righteousness before God comes by way of faith. Our works merit us nothing before God. St. Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” [Romans 1:16-17]

Our salvation is from God. His righteousness is revealed by the faith we have been given. And, in this faith we dwell. The faith we received clings to Jesus. And through that faith, we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus.

Paul also teaches us, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” [Romans 3:21-24]

Grace and faith to believe are these gifts to us in Christ. Now, the opposite error lives among us in modern Christianity. We are tempted to think of our believing like a work. When asked we may say, “I’m going to Heaven because I believe.” We’re so trained in that idea, that the inconsistency passes right by us. Placing confidence in our “believing” is just another works-righteousness method of salvation. We’ve traded external works for an internal one. But, we make faith into a new work that we do for salvation.

The Disciples reacted differently concerning their faith in response to the command to forgive your brother. “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’” [Luke 17:5-6]. They realized the smallness of their faith and the lack of its power to accomplish anything. The apostles also see that its source, Jesus, will make them better from without rather than from within.

The writer of Hebrews also exhorts us concerning good works and church attendance. “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” [Hebrews 10:19-25]

The faith we receive in baptism clings to Jesus for salvation. But, it also does things in us. It drives us to good works for the benefit of our neighbor. It drives us to gather with the faithful in the Lord’s house. We tend to think that great faith can exist in us, or more commonly, in our loved ones apart from works and the church. This just isn’t so.

The faith dwelling in us desires only to love and serve our neighbor. The faith dwelling in us desires only to dwell in the Lord’s house among His people. Selfishly keep our works from our neighbor, willfully absenting ourselves from the Lord’s house on Sundays, these are the marks of unbelief. We are called to exhort each other concerning this unbelief.

We: “Where have you been lately? I haven’t seen you in church.”

They: “Well, I’ve been busy hunting/attending kids’ games/sleeping in/out of town on vacation/attending an unfaithful church.”

We: “You know, faith can’t be kept from the House of God and the gathering of the faithful.”

That’s a brutally uncomfortable conversation. But, you owe it to your neighbor to serve them in love like this. Silence towards the marks of unbelief is the opposite of love.

Faith alone can never hate its neighbor, encouraging their unbelief.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

What is this “Sola Scriptura” of the Reformation?

It’s one of the five solas of the reformation. They are sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, and soli Deo gloria. The Latin means: scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone. Sola Scriptura is the anchor of the Christian faith. I recently discussed how this concept defines the widening gap between the ELCA and the LCMS. Today, we’re talking about the history of sola scriptura by itself.

Prior to the Reformation, the scriptures were only available to Europeans in Latin and in expensive, closely guarded handwritten copies. Two men changed that situation. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press (cir. 1450 AD), which made printed and reprinted materials accessible to many more people. Martin Luther translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into German (1521-1522 AD), which made the Word of God accessible to common folk, to read and hear. An unintended consequence of the Luther Bible was a codification of one dialect of German as predominant.

Shortly thereafter, vulgar translations appeared throughout Europe. Used this way, vulgar doesn’t mean “crass.” Vulgus, latin: common language, means the language spoken commonly by the people around us. The Vulgate, the Latin bible of St. Jerome, was created by the same impetus. St. Jerome wanted to provide the people with a Bible in their own language. It became ensconced in the European church as the only language for the Christian faith. But, St. Jerome and Martin Luther were inspired by similar intentions.

The Roman officials in Luther’s day opposed making the scriptures available in the common language for various reasons. One significant reason was perspicuity. Rome held that the common folk can’t understand the Word of God. For the Lutheran reformers, the opposite was true. We hold to perspicuity, understandability of the scriptures. Those passages that are less clear are revealed by the passages that are more clear. The principle, scripture interprets scripture, keeps us looking to God’s Word to reveal itself from within.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” [2 Timothy 3:16-17]

Now, American Christianity suffers from a selfish, egotistical view of the scriptures. We tend to think of the Word of God and its study as a pattern of life and knowledge outside the church. The Reformers would be aghast at this idea. We have no promise of receiving or sustaining saving faith apart from the public proclamation of God’s Word. It is the hearing that produces and sustains faith.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” [Romans 10:17]

We have a promise that by hearing, we receive. And, we do. The faith that comes by hearing is ours to receive often. It’s imperative for us to remember that me and my Bible in solitude, though plausible for us now, is not how God promises to work in us. His gifts through His Word are corporate in function. They are for the whole body, gathered together, as we do each Sunday morning.

Always hear and be conformed by the Word of God.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

Christianity Without One of the Five Solas

The theology of the reformation centers upon five solas: scriptura, fide, gratia, Christus, & Deo gloria. That’s not French. But, please pardon my Latin. Sola means alone. I’ll talk about the five together in another article. Today, sola scriptura, scripture alone is the key to our conversation. This’ll be a comparative look at the two views of the scriptures between the LCMS and the ELCA.

This is a step into the way-back machine. The issues concerning the modern leadership of the ELCA are a result of the formational view of the scriptures. There are some important parts of the family tree to get in order. The LCMS was formed on April 26, 1847. The ELCA was formed on April 30, 1987 as a result of the merger between three American Lutheran church bodies.

These are the three Lutheran bodies comprising the merger, resulting in the formation of the ELCA. The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was formed in 1962. The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was formed in 1960. The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) was formed in 1976. That last one is significant to our discussion. The AELC is the church body formed after the 1974 split from the LCMS and the “walk-out” of a significant number of faculty and students from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. That time period and its details deserve lengthy attention on their own.

The AELC’s influence on the formation of the ELCA can’t be undersold. For us today, the view of scripture needs to be understood in the way one is stated and the other restated. The center of the controversy between the LCMS and the dissenters, leading to the formation of the ELCA, was the reliability and the normative function of the scriptures. Those who walked out did so because the LCMS stood firm on a position that the Word of God, the Bible, is true and correct as we have received it.

The LCMS Constitution and By-Laws speak of the scripture this way in Article II, Confession. “The Synod, and every member of the Synod, accepts without reservation: 1. The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice;”

That is to say, Scripture IS God’s Word and it conforms us to itself. The Word of God is specifically identified as the “only rule and norm of faith and practice.” Our understanding of the confessions of the Lutheran church flow from that. And, every member congregation is compelled by their membership in the LCMS to confess the same way. The scope of the Bible for us is for both faith and practice. So, all aspects of life in the church are subject to direction, correction, and formation by the Word of God.

The ELCA says four unique things in its Constitution and By-Laws. Hear them from the perspective of the longstanding statement of the LCMS starting in Chapter 2: Confession of Faith, 2.02.a and following. “a. Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.” This definition creates a sense of a Jesus, who can be known outside of the scriptures. The deity who can be known apart from the scriptures is the one through whom everything was made and by whom new creation comes.

Second, the constitution also says, “b. The proclamation of God’s message to us as both Law and Gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.” This defining characteristic cuts short the definition of the scriptures. It carves out the possibility that the inconvenient parts of the epistles of Paul, Peter, John, James, and the author of Hebrews can be excluded. Here God’s Word is further reduced in its normative function for me.

Third, the constitution says, “c. The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.” Notice what isn’t said. In this definition God’s Word isn’t inspired and God-breathed as we received it. Rather, for the ELCA, the Bible is inspired through the authors, but not absolutely correct in the writing we received. Further, the faith inspired can override the words of the scripture, if we deem it necessary.

Lastly, this section says, “2.03. This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.” This statement seems authoritative concerning the scriptures. But, it follows a definition of what the scriptures are, which has carved out a space for my opinion of them and their interpretation.

The current situation in the ELCA is best understood not in reverse by a transgender bishop, the ordination of transgendered priests, homosexual clergy, or female clergy. We need to clearly see that the Word of God, the Holy Scripture we have received, is not authoritative to the ELCA. That lack of authority creates the space for all past, current, and future errors.

This matters for us in the LCMS. It matters because we are forever fighting the battle to maintain sola scriptura among our churches. It also matters because Christians on the other side of the fence are being served and taught by pastors who are thoroughly committed by ordination vows to this unfaithful definition of the scriptures. They are two generations deep into pastors, who believe, teach, and confess this error. Without a solid, reliable Bible, our faith stands on shaky ground.

You are responsible in the Christian faith to help your friends and family find a faithful church and a faithful pastor. Such a church can never be a church that denies or makes clear the path to deny the normative function of the scriptures, for faith and life.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” [2 Timothy 3:16-17]

Let us be ever instructed by the Word of the Lord! Thanks be to God!

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX