00:00 [music]

00:16 Hello.

00:17 My name is Dr. Stephen Hein, and I want to welcome you to this 1517 Academy course

00:30 of glory, what is the difference? It was the apostle Paul that maintained in his first

00:39 letter to the Corinthians that the cross of Christ should not be emptied of its power.

00:47 And then he went on to indicate what it means to not have that theology of the cross or the

01:00 ecclesiastical sand, as it were, when he declared that he had decided to know nothing among

01:08 the Corinthians except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So for Paul, Christ crucified was

01:16 not simply to be a part of the message that he would bring and nurture the Corinthians

01:30 also we mean the only message.

01:35 When we think in terms of the course of the Reformation

01:38 in its earliest days, particularly as Luther is searching

01:42 the scriptures and comes to rediscover the gospel found there,

01:48 perhaps the greatest influence in his searching the scriptures

01:53 and coming to that rediscovery was his study

01:58 in the Epistles of Paul.

02:00 And so in a sense, echoing Paul here, as he wrote to the Corinthians, it was Luther who proclaimed

02:10 during his lecture on the Psalms that the cross is our theology.

02:17 And then he went on in the Heidelberg Disputation in his Theses to make a distinction between,

02:30 and then contrasting them with those whom he typified as theologians who embraced a theology of glory.

02:44 Notice though how I've talked about the theology of the cross using the term in the singular,

02:51 but nevertheless we can talk nevertheless about many theologies of glory.

03:00 of the cross as the ultimate revelation of God that is manifested to us sinners.

03:07 We are going to be exploring how it is that God executes His saving power,

03:15 how He executes His eternal justice against sin and evil, and then how these

03:30 Along the way, we're going to be comparing and contrasting that after we have defined

03:38 characteristics of theologies of glory, we're going to be comparing back and forth the difference

03:45 between those. Our progress is going to follow in the following type of an order.

03:51 Here on session one, we're going to have kind of an introductory time together in which we're

04:00 of a theology of the cross, and we're going to explain in its general contours

04:06 what it is, why it is critically important for a biblical understanding of

04:12 the gospel, and yet also why in so many communions even those that call

04:19 themselves Lutheran, why it is that they are so or it is so unpopular with many.

04:30 to explore the theology of the cross and how it is that we are joined to the cross of

04:36 Christ in our baptism. But then how our baptism should not be understood as a one and done

04:42 thing, because even though the cross is something that our Lord experienced just for a few

05:00 Our third session is entitled Theologies of Glory, Theology of the Cross.

05:09 What's the difference?

05:10 And it is there particularly where we're going to compare and contrast.

05:15 In other words, to be able to see the uniqueness of the theology of the cross, but also how

05:30 and missed in many important ways through various theologies of glory.

05:37 Session number four is we're going to explore living in the cross of Christ in terms of looking at what that life is like.

05:49 And the first thing that we're going to look at in session number four is how it is that through the cross, living in our baptism,

06:00 about the process of bringing about growth and maturing

06:05 of our new life that we have in Christ.

06:08 Session five is going to also then explore

06:12 in the life lived in the cross about vocation.

06:17 How it is that God is both calling us to

06:20 and equipping and empowering us to sacrificial service

06:25 to Christ through the needs and the neighbor.

06:30 in terms of looking at cross life of the baptized.

06:34 We're going to look at what was so incredibly important in the writings of Luther

06:40 and something that he experienced richly throughout his entire life.

06:46 And that is what is called spiritual warfare.

06:50 How the gospel and our life in Christ and our baptism

07:00 world, the flesh and the devil, and how that battle throughout our life and living in the

07:07 cross is the now normal of life that is lived with our Lord Jesus.

07:15 So for our first session, as we explore the contours of the theology of the cross, let's

07:30 approaches of how God combats our problem of sin. How he has two approaches. One approach,

07:41 we could perhaps call the temporal approach, and the second one that particularly relates to the

07:49 gospel is his eternal approach. Let's survey and look at characteristics of those.

08:00 It is law and judgment that characterizes what we have called our Lord's temporal approach

08:09 to combating sin.

08:12 About this approach, it was Robert Ferrar Capen, who in his great work surveying the

08:30 a working of God's right-handed power that is unleashed against sin and evil.

08:40 The reference there to right-hand, particularly perhaps has more of a historical connotation

08:48 than anything currently today.

08:51 But if we think historically the right-hand, particularly in relationship to combat in

09:00 That was the hand that brandished your weapon.

09:05 Whether that weapon was a spear or a sword or a pickaxe.

09:11 And it was that, of course, that was used against the enemy.

09:16 The left hand, though, particularly in battle, was usually something somewhat hidden.

09:23 It was not an offensive arm.

09:27 Perhaps it held a shield.

09:30 life in general, most people were considered to be or they were supposed to be right-handed

09:36 or made right-handed, so that the right hand is the hand of action. The right hand is that

09:43 which we perform and hold for important functions and things that we do in life. It is the right

10:00 agreement with other people.

10:03 Left hand, though, is something completely different.

10:06 Left hand is usually something that carried out things that needed to be done in private.

10:14 Sometimes the left hand was talked about is that which carries out all the dirty business.

10:21 So Capen would talk about this law and judgment character of God's exercise of temporal power

10:30 right hand use of power.

10:34 This was the execution of temporal justice.

10:38 And its characteristic was that God acted always

10:42 out of a sense of fairness,

10:44 where everybody would always get just exactly

10:48 what they would deserve.

10:50 Think of terms in the book of Genesis of God's use

10:55 of this kind of power.

11:00 For example, God's power decides to exile Cain, that is to put some distance upon the

11:07 evil doer and the rest.

11:10 Or think in terms of the destructive flood where God seeks to wipe out for that matter,

11:18 saving but a remnant of all life forms.

11:23 Or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

11:30 and the slaying of the firstborn. Or for that matter, think for matter of the

11:36 fires, balls from heaven, there on Mount Carmel, and then the slaying of the

11:42 prophets of Baal. But if you notice, the essence, therefore, of the execution of

11:49 God's justice, according to right hand power, again as we emphasis, is that all

12:00 This is always an execution of justice where people get exactly what they deserve.

12:07 And that usually always meant that evil and the evil doers are punished.

12:15 But turning over, thinking in terms of what we would call the eternal power of God, or

12:30 that God uses and has used to combat sin.

12:37 Characteristics usually of God's exercise

12:41 of this left-hand power is that first of all,

12:46 in terms of the affairs of the world,

12:48 as he is working out his redemptive purposes,

12:52 he is hidden, he is present,

12:56 and he is usually working behind the scenes

13:00 all that you see going on, but he is not upfront. You don't actually see him in the action of events.

13:10 Second characteristic is God is usually silent. And the means of course that he uses to accomplish

13:30 allows them to continue to do so.

13:34 And unfairness seems to be raining.

13:38 And yet, nevertheless, and we might perhaps use that language, that sacramental language,

13:45 but in with and under all of the things that outwardly are seen and experienced, including

13:53 the injustice and the evil that is holding sway.

14:00 accomplishing his saving purposes. If we wanted to think in terms of this

14:06 eternal sense of justice, this left-hand sense of the power of God, perhaps no

14:13 better example could be found also nevertheless in the book of Genesis.

14:19 Namely, the last chapters indeed from Genesis 37 through the end of the book,

14:30 a short story which presents to us, therefore, the story of Joseph.

14:37 And we see as this story unravels how Joseph is cast into slavery.

14:43 He is then thrown into prison.

14:46 And it seems again and again that when he does the good and right thing, he only seems

14:52 to sink deeper into captivity.

15:00 thing that is not there in the earlier chapters in which God is front and center,

15:07 raining out in no uncertain terms his judgment against the evildoers. In this particular story

15:16 God is silent. He is hidden away. And as we read through the chapters,

15:30 to suffer unfairly. But as we are working through those earlier chapters and we

15:38 come to the 39th chapter in the 21st verse, the narrative is interrupted and

15:44 parenthetically these words are presented and they are presented not to

15:51 Joseph but they are presented to us the readers of this account. And we read and

16:00 the Lord was with Joseph. As we said, these words are not for Joseph's benefit. I would

16:09 imagine that when he is wasting away there in prison, that if somehow those words had been

16:16 vocal and audible to Joseph, he might have thrown a brick at it. But they were not for Joseph's

16:30 simply have to take these words on faith, not on sight.

16:37 Namely that God is present, God is working, and He is going to be accomplishing His saving,

16:46 redemptive purposes.

16:49 And then when, of course, we come to the last chapter and the story is over, well, we notice

16:54 something.

17:00 of the adversity and the pain and the suffering of Joseph, all of the anguish of course of

17:07 his brothers, and for that matter, the sadness of Daddy Jacob who thinks of course that Joseph

17:15 has been slain by a lion, the lie of course that his brothers have told after they have

17:22 sold him off into slavery to Midianites.

17:30 with a colossal seven-year famine.

17:36 All of these events are being used by God

17:41 for the ultimate purpose of bringing this dysfunctional

17:45 family back together.

17:48 We recall the promise that was made to Abraham

17:52 and passed on to Isaac and then to Jacob, of course.

17:56 And that is that from Abraham's offspring,

18:00 going to make a great nation. Well, if we have a dysfunctional family with all of the

18:07 adversity and animosity flowing that we see here, how are you going to get a great

18:15 nation if this family, of course, is tearing one another apart? So we see in God's saving

18:30 long, the blessing of the saving covenant given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How he

18:38 works at this particular point in time to bring this family together, to give them land

18:46 for that matter, and great reconciliation to begin to thrive down there in Egypt.

19:00 with the book of Genesis and we come to Exodus,

19:06 we recognize God is at work with his second installment

19:12 in his redemptive history plan,

19:15 and that is something else that he is going to do

19:18 to build this great nation,

19:21 and he thinks and he executes because he thinks so,

19:25 that 400 years of slavery would do just fine.

19:30 But again, back here, at the conclusion of the Joseph story, we note about this kind of

19:41 saving work that it is Joseph who gets it.

19:46 When finally Jacob is laid to rest, the brothers come to Joseph and they say, \"You

19:53 know, Joe, we did some pretty rotten things to you.

20:00 Egypt, well you have all the power and ability and we thank good motive to get even with

20:08 us. But you haven't. How come? And here we have perhaps here the concluding line here

20:18 almost in the whole book of Genesis that sets the stage for understanding what is

20:30 history, this left-handed power of God. And that is where Joseph says, in essence, \"Yes,

20:41 you did some very evil rotten things to me.\" But God meant them for good. Actually, the

21:00 for good. That is perhaps one of the best summaries of understanding something here

21:07 about the kind of saving work of Christ that is so centrally and climatically carried

21:19 out and executed in the cross of Christ. Notice the characteristics again. In this

21:30 power as we might say. God is silent. He is hidden. He is unfair. He allows the forces of evil to

21:43 carry out their evil intentions. He does not interrupt them in any way. In terms of what we see

21:53 with our eyes, what we hear with our ears and what we experience about these events,

22:00 seems to be ruling the day, and God seems to be absent.

22:07 But he is not absent.

22:09 Rather, he is hidden away.

22:12 And he is not simply hidden away, but in the midst of these events,

22:17 he silently is at use.

22:21 And he is silently using the evil forces and their acts

22:30 published their ends and purposes, but God's own redemptive purposes.

22:38 And about all of these events, clearly we can see that what seems to be reigning is

22:47 totally and completely unfair evil doing its worse.

23:00 stand or to be able to perceive God's redemptive significance of what is be held to be simply

23:10 the opposite of what we are experiencing and seeing with the naked eye.

23:18 So the essence of God's eternal justice, and this is the paradox that is always there,

23:30 God executes His eternal justice.

23:35 When that is what He is executing,

23:39 its essence is unfairness.

23:44 That is to say, everybody gets what they don't deserve.

23:52 And that is the absolute essence

23:56 of the scandal of the cross.

24:00 of Christ, if we look at what it is that God as that work doing

24:07 redemptively in these events, then we can certainly see how it is

24:14 that the Apostle Paul has characterized this Christ crucified,

24:22 that is the only thing that he would know among the Corinthians

24:30 to the Gentiles. So God's left-hand,

24:37 redemptive work is seen only by the

24:42 eyes of faith. Outwardly, of course, it

24:46 seems that the forces of evil and

24:48 injustice are in control, but in effect

24:52 they are not. So the cross of Christ we

25:00 and the epitome of God's left-handed, redemptive power, being at work, saving a world of sinners.

25:11 And we notice, therefore, the elements that are indeed a stumbling block, and that aren't

25:18 seen as folly, fah. That is, that everybody about God's saving work on the cross, everything that

25:30 Anybody and everybody can see an experience is ugly and it is scandalous.

25:38 And God, of course, does not come to the rescue.

25:42 He is hidden in silent.

25:44 He lets the forces of evil carry out, of course, their evil works uncontested.

25:51 And therefore we see in the cross that the innocent Jesus is not spared or delivered

26:00 forces of evil, but yet nevertheless using the actions and the forces of evil.

26:08 And in this instance, not simply of course, the power of the Sanhedrin, or for that matter,

26:17 even the power and the duplicity of Rome, but also the devil himself is being conned,

26:30 and they are defeated, and the atonement for sinners is fully achieved when they are doing their worst to Jesus in his passion and in his death on the cross.

27:00 but he has been declared guilty also by God the Father, and he is being punished for the

27:10 guilt, therefore, of all the sinners of the world, and by his universal atonement, therefore,

27:19 a world of sinners are declared innocent.

27:30 being worked out. And as we indicated, notice how it reflects how everybody is

27:40 getting what they don't deserve. So this redemptive work on the cross, okay, is

27:48 not something that if you were there and you had your video camera, all of this

28:00 from anything that would be so captured. It is only perceived by God through His

28:10 Word telling us about what He has been at work in the cross of Christ and

28:17 receiving and living with that only with the eyes and the heart of faith. So

28:30 this with, of course, remember God's right-handed power, so well represented by wielding the sword,

28:39 where God's mighty acts are seen by believer and unbeliever like, where evil is confronted and

28:47 defeated, where it is the guilty, not the innocent who are punished and the innocent go free,

29:00 might think, of course, about the Passover, about the Exodus, about the family, of course,

29:08 that is saved from the destruction there in Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.

29:15 So the distinction between God's right hand and his left-handed justice, of course, is

29:21 that which Luther understood a chord with the distinction that is made in terms of all

29:30 us in his word, and that is the distinction between law and gospel. Between justice,

29:39 as justice is understood by the law, as opposed to how justice is understood by the

29:47 gospel, the distinction between how God carries out His justice that anybody and everybody

30:00 God's execution of justice that is seen only by the eyes of faith.

30:08 So the cross of Christ as we indicated is the climax of course, of this kind of work

30:14 which we see so evidently there in the Joseph cycle, in which we can also perceive throughout

30:21 Old Testament history, leading then of course to the culmination of that work in the cross

30:30 where justice therefore according to the law is where it is the guilty that are punished

30:36 and where the innocent go free and justice according to the gospel is just the opposite.

30:45 So as we indicated, summary wise, aspects of the scandal of the cross, the innocent

30:52 are the punished, the guilty go free.

31:00 and this is the central save and event, and that we are saved, therefore, only by the

31:05 bleeding charity of the cross of Christ. And that means, therefore, that only lost

31:12 cause rotten to the core people get saved. It also means that if you don't die to sin,

31:19 you can't live with God. And in baptism, sinners are joined to Christ to crucify it

31:30 become a Christian and in order to remain Christians. So the civil distinctions, in

31:37 other words, between moral and immoral people in the ordinary life count of things, that,

31:46 of course, means nothing before God. In other words, moral, upstanding citizenship in the

32:00 Notice this nothing but Jesus Christ in Him crucified is the nothing but for

32:07 baptized Christians, for the believers in the Corinthian congregation and also

32:13 for us and about the how and why that this is so. That is going to be the topic

32:20 of our next class.

32:30 (upbeat music)

Let's get started! 

In this first session, we'll begin by defining \"Theology of the Cross.\" The Apostle Paul maintained that in the preaching of the Gospel, the cross of Christ should not be emptied of its power (I Corinthians 1:17). We'll explore what he meant by this.

The Scriptures present two different approaches of how God combats our sin: a temporal approach, an eternal approach. Today, we'll also talk about the 'Left-handed' and 'Right-handed' power of God. 

Let's begin.

- Steve

00:00 [Music]

00:15 Welcome back to our second session of our 1517 Academy course, which is looking at Luther's

00:30 over against what Luther called Theologies of Glory.

00:35 Here in our second session, we're going to explore

00:38 how it is that the cross is not just something

00:43 that we join in and through baptism,

00:46 but actually how baptismal life is cross-life,

00:51 where we are going to be living from cradle to grave.

01:00 theology. Well, he meant that the cross is where God apprehends us in our baptism. And

01:09 where in the cross is where it is, of course, that we're going to live our life of faith

01:16 until we are translated into glory. Baptism always characterizes all of the believers

01:30 It characterizes that life not just for a moment or a day, but indeed throughout the

01:37 life of the believer in this life, as we say, from font to grave.

01:46 So first of all, we understand God's work in baptism brings a death of this old sinful

02:00 This understanding is well set forth

02:03 with so many wonderful words there by Saint Paul

02:07 in the sixth chapter of Romans.

02:10 When he says, do you not realize

02:11 that those of us who have been baptized

02:14 have been baptized into the death of Christ,

02:17 and therefore we are to reckon as with him

02:21 that we are dead to sin,

02:24 but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

02:30 that happens once. But actually throughout the life of the believer in this world,

02:37 our Lord's ministry of law and gospel continues just that work of dying to sin and rising again

02:47 as a daily experience of the Christian. In this sense, we can talk about what we might term the

03:00 say, \"Yes, I was baptized, but they can also say, 'I am being baptized,' and indeed concerning

03:10 the future right up to that time that we translate into glory, we can say, 'And I will be baptized.'\"

03:20 In other words, what is going to happen is dying to sin and rising to get into new life in Christ

03:30 and again and again. And what is happening, of course, is what happens actually through

03:37 the water and the word initially, is when we are splashed with grace. And that is the

03:43 crushing of the law, which is in Luther's figurative language, God's drowning of this

04:00 in two ways by the problem of sin. It is crushed from the outside by trials, tribulations and

04:09 suffering that God not only allows us to experience, but in many instances He is behind them.

04:19 But nevertheless, those things that come for us as we are living and serving our Lord Jesus in

04:30 world, which is still with us. In other words, the gifts and blessings though of baptism

04:37 come to the Christian again and again then in the gospel as it is received in the absolution,

04:46 as it is received in again in the proclamation of the word, that is the gospel word, and also

04:53 in the Lord's Supper. In this sense, there is a paradox and we will explore this paradox

05:00 little bit more in one of our future lessons that relates to, of course, the

05:07 saving gifts of the gospel. And that is about them, the forgiveness of sin, the

05:14 righteousness of Christ. We have it all, but we always need more. So again, looking

05:30 We are always splashed with the grace of Christ.

05:35 We are united to Christ the crucified, where we experience a death to sin that is our sin,

05:45 which is both beheld and experienced.

05:50 The Word in the water joins us to Christ the crucified,

06:00 life now in which we live cloaked in the righteousness of Christ. So the sinner's

06:08 progress, and we can use that word progress in his or her spiritual journey,

06:17 leads both to and from the experience and inheritance of Christian baptism. So

06:30 spiritual life, this experience of dying to sin and rising unto newness of life in Christ

06:37 Jesus with His righteousness. But it is also to say that this dying and rising, it also

06:45 describes the kind of experience that we have as we daily live in the cross. What it

07:00 They produce, or God produces through them, repentance,

07:06 which makes us hungry for the bread of life of the gospel

07:10 or thirsty for that living water.

07:13 And then conversely, through the power of the word of Christ,

07:21 faith is both created, nourished and strengthened.

07:26 So our point which so often is missed

07:30 do not get saved in baptism in the cross of Christ, and then we move on from there to

07:38 some other kind of life completely disconnected. Rather, dying to sin and rising in the crucified

07:46 Christ, well, that really is to be understood as the daily regimen that again and again

08:00 It not only just revisits in the sense of bringing to remembrance, but actually we experience

08:08 that death of the old sinful self.

08:12 And then in response also, the renewing of that new creation in Christ.

08:19 And both of these occurring by the killing of the law and by the raising of a new life

08:25 from the gospel.

08:30 law and gospel, dying and rising, repentance and faith. This becomes the heartbeat of a healthy

08:43 Christian life in each day as we live with our Lord Jesus. And all of this takes place while we

09:00 with grace. That is, it occurs in the cross of Christ. So, Luther would express it this way,

09:12 because we are talking about progress that we are making to use Luther's language that he uses

09:18 in his Heidelberg Theses. We make progress along the path of righteousness. It is a path of

09:30 and we walk that path by always starting over again.

09:37 We make progress by starting over again,

09:43 dying and rising, repentance and faith,

09:47 worked by God through His law and gospel.

09:51 Notice the interesting comparison about this experience

10:00 the cross of Christ. On the basis of the account of our Lord's passion and his experience on

10:09 Good Friday, we read how it was that our Lord Jesus experienced his cross for a few

10:17 hours. And when full atonement for sins had been made, he uttered those words about

10:30 \"And therefore,\" he said his last words, \"Father into your hands I come in my spirit,

10:38 which in the vernacular, since he was all done, is where our Lord basically said, \"Father,

10:43 I'm out of here.\"

10:45 And he, of course, gave up his breath.

10:50 In other words, Jesus took his own physical life.

10:56 It was not taken from him.

11:00 sacrifice, but he was no one's victim. But nevertheless, notice the difference. He

11:09 experienced the cross and was on that cross for a few hours. But we, through

11:15 baptism, we are placed on that cross, and that we shall remain until the Lord

11:30 and enter into heavenly bliss, or when Christ returns again, whichever comes first.

11:38 So about this experience, this we are emphasizing in a theology of the cross,

11:46 is the heartbeat of the Christian's life with God. And as we said, therefore, we can

12:00 So there is always a present tense of baptism.

12:06 So the question might be about our baptism,

12:09 about living in the cross.

12:11 Where can you go from here?

12:13 And the answer is you can go to glory in the better day,

12:18 but not one day or moment before.

12:23 So as we said, where can we go from our baptism?

12:28 Well, we go to heaven.

12:30 with the grave, of course, therefore, but not until,

12:34 unless Christ returns, we leave the cross,

12:38 and there we enter into glory.

12:41 One other point that we can make about a distinction

12:44 between cross and glory, and we'll talk more about this

12:47 up the way, and that is this.

12:50 Between cross to glory, we do not get any new

13:00 of the gospel. We do not get any additional blessing. The distinction rather is this.

13:10 In baptism, we get it all. But all of the gifts and blessings of the gospel in our baptism,

13:30 So what's the difference with glory?

13:33 Well, in glory, faith and hope are no more.

13:38 And all of those blessings that are ours and have been ours in our baptism,

13:46 then we have them.

13:49 Still, but we have them by rich, luxuriant experience.

13:55 That's the difference between cross and glory.

14:00 between living with all the blessings of the gospel by faith, cross life, and

14:07 living with all of them by rich experience. That's glory. Now, and this

14:16 probably is a very important point to make here, to make about cross life and

14:30 The dying and rising in our baptism, which as we have occurred is something that God intends

14:38 for us to experience by the ministries of law and gospel, bringing about repentance and

14:44 faith.

14:46 These things are things that occur daily and richly in our life of faith because these

14:52 nurture our faith in life and Christ.

15:00 Christ nurturing us in our baptism through law and gospel. The question of

15:08 course could be raised, nurturing for what? What is God's purpose for nurturing

15:17 our faith and life in Christ as we live in the cross of Christ? In a theology of

15:30 things, but I want to emphasize only these three things in this life as we are awaiting

15:43 the coming life of glory. What are those three things? First of all, we mature as a new creation

16:00 returning again and again to our baptism.

16:05 This means that as Christ entered into this world, when He took upon a human nature, He

16:14 did not enter into this world with that human nature all grown up.

16:30 about that human nature. Nevertheless, it was immature. And so therefore with our Lord Jesus,

16:40 in relationship to that coming, He had to grow, and as the scriptures tell us so He did,

17:00 we receive a new nature, a new human nature spiritually, fashioned after the second atom,

17:15 and that is Christ. And about that nature, it is as Christ's human nature. There is absolutely

17:30 less, we enter the kingdom of God with that new nature as but babes. So regardless of

17:40 what your chronological age might be, whether it would be as an infant, a small child, a

17:48 toddler, a teenager, or someone who is 75 years old, nevertheless through baptism, we

18:00 And while that is how we enter the kingdom of God, God has no intention of leaving us

18:08 as spiritual babes.

18:10 So the baptismal life and the nurture of that faith in life in Christ through law

18:18 and gospel intend for us to bring about growth and maturing of that image that we

18:30 2 Adam. As Paul tells us in Ephesians 4, it is so the purpose that we're not tossed

18:38 by a two and fro by every wind of doctrine, but that we might finally attain to the full

18:45 maturity as like unto Christ, meaning like unto Christ according to his human nature.

19:00 whenever that moment is that we translate from cross to glory. Second

19:07 point, the purpose of course of nurture of our faith in life in Christ is to

19:16 equip us for spiritual warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And

19:30 So also will be the intensity and sophistication of that spiritual warfare, of the battles

19:41 that come to us through the world, the fallen world, the flesh, our sinful fleshly self,

19:50 and the devil and all the powers of darkness.

20:00 of crosses that are brought to us.

20:05 Crosses which can involve suffering, trials, and at times even feelings of abandonment.

20:15 Luther, of course, insisted that these experiences are not signs that God is displeased with us.

20:30 normal Christian faith and life, rather it is to say that they are actually signs

20:38 of a normal Christian life and not only that it is normal but that it is healthy.

20:45 Jesus has been, of course, raised from the dead and He has received His glory

20:52 already as He is seated at the right hand of the Father as we confess in the

21:00 had his Easter, but we of course have not. So the experience of victory over sin, death

21:10 and the devil is of course something that we understand as history for Christ. But while

21:18 it is history for Christ, it is still faith and hope for us. So cross and tomb, and this

21:30 but an important point. The cross and the tomb are only empty for Jesus. At Easter,

21:39 therefore, we celebrate, yes, Jesus is no longer there, but nevertheless, it is a not so empty tomb,

21:51 because as Paul indicated, we were baptized into the cross of Christ,

22:00 with Him in death.

22:03 And so all of us who are baptized into the death of Christ, well, we're still there.

22:13 We're still awaiting our glorious resurrected life.

22:19 So when you think about that, okay, we are still there in the tomb of Christ.

22:30 We get out, and of course the great Easter victory of the resurrection of Christ is the

22:36 guarantee that we too also, one day, shall be resurrected unto that newness of life and

22:44 glory.

22:46 So the spiritual life of the Christian has two installments, cross and glory.

23:00 And as it is cross-life for us now, therefore it means that spiritual warfare is going to

23:10 be with us continually this side of glory.

23:16 And this is not a sign that there is something wrong with our faith in life in Christ.

23:22 Indeed, it is a sign of health.

23:30 life in terms of spiritual warfare in one of our future sessions. Suffice it to say though that

23:37 that also is a significant element of the goal and purpose of nurture by the gospel in the life

23:46 of the Christians. But now we come to the third element and that is we are nurtured by law and

24:00 to ever more sacrificial works in daily living where it is where the works of faith are given

24:12 to us, that is the specific works and the specific neighbors, which ultimately serve

24:19 Christ in and through the service that we render to our neighbors.

24:30 God has given to us where we live, work, and play to be of service to.

24:40 There are elements of course about the nurture of the gospel that are not a part of a theology

24:50 of the cross, but about 95% of all the Christian inspiration books in your local Barnes and

25:00 center on these particular elements, and they are not a part of the nurture of the Christian, in the Christian life.

25:10 By the gospel, by the Holy Spirit, by God in any sort or means, they are as followals.

25:19 It is not a part of the God's nurture of the baptized to bring about any kind of improvement

25:30 of the believer. The reason, of course, is twofold. First of all, the new creation in Christ

25:40 is a perfect reflection of the second Adam, which is Christ. There is no improvement or

25:49 reforming because there is nothing defective. And since there is nothing defective, there

26:00 about the old sinful self, which Paul says in Romans 7 is \"sold as an slave to sin, and in which nothing good dwells.\"

26:10 And that is a part of us also.

26:12 That old sinful self is unreformable.

26:18 It can be co-opted.

26:21 It can be disciplined.

26:30 works. And in the end, of course, when we enter into glory, God will see that it is totally

26:37 and completely destroyed. He has no use for it at all. So in the new creation in Christ

26:45 is born in baptism in the image of Christ. It is a perfect recreation. It is not defective

26:51 in any respect, and therefore it needs no reform or improvement. To the best of my

27:00 Lutheran theology of the cross understanding is the only major communion that holds to the

27:09 notion that there is no work of the gospel or of the Holy Spirit that involves areas of

27:17 reform or improvement.

27:19 This is a distinctive something that is missing and rightly so in a theology of the cross.

27:30 Okay, this new creation is reborn a perfect adopted son of God, but as a babe, and it

27:38 needs therefore to grow and mature, as Christ had to grow and mature, but there is no need

27:46 for reform or improvement.

27:50 So to summarize, a theology of the cross understanding of the gospel, for the baptized only accomplishes

28:00 things. 1. Growth and maturity of our faith and life in Christ as a new creation,

28:09 a growth and maturing process which will be active from font to grave and never completed

28:18 until we translate out of this fallen world. 2. Equipping the baptized for spiritual warfare

28:30 and the devil. The ultimate purpose of which is to stay alive because Jesus says to us and it's

28:39 very sobering, many are called fewer chosen. And then lastly, it is also the purpose for the

28:50 nurturing of the faith of the gospel that we are baptized again and again in and through,

29:00 for sacrificial service to Christ through the needs of the neighbor.

29:06 And therefore, it is not to develop a closer relationship with God.

29:12 It is not to produce spiritual reform or improvement.

29:19 It is also known that somehow God can use you more effectively in your service to his in purposes.

29:30 and again, and particularly in the cross, how usually when God wishes to carry out his

29:35 redemptive purposes, he tends to choose fallen purposes, and one of his greatest instruments,

29:42 of course, is the devil himself. Also, it is not a goal, an objective, and a theology of the cross,

30:00 say are false conditional works of God, and they characterize what we mean by the term

30:08 Theologies of Glory.

30:12 And looking at the distinctions between the theology of the cross and Theologies of

30:30 (upbeat music)

I hope you enjoyed the first session.

In this second lesson, we are going to look at the way our Baptism joins us to the cross of Christ. 

When Luther first proclaimed the CROSS is our theology, it means that the cross is where God apprehends us in our Baptism. And there in the cross is where we live our life of faith until we are translated into Glory. Baptism always characterizes all of the believer’s living in the cross of Christ – from font to grave.

Enjoy!

- Steve

00:00 [Music]

00:15 Welcome back everyone to this the third session of our 1517 Academy course which is exploring

00:30 Theologies of Glory. It is particularly on this third session which we want to overview

00:37 things that we've already been talking about but we want to be more clear and

00:42 concise here as we talk about theology of the cross its characteristics and we want to

00:49 indicate the character of theologies of Glory and note

00:54 How different they are in very important ways

01:00 We talk about a theology of the cross.

01:04 Perhaps we could say that the most distinctive element of a theology of the cross is to

01:12 understand that in and through baptism we are all nailed to the cross of Christ, and

01:30 our visitation with our Lord at the font, all the way to the time to the point of our grave

01:39 where we translate into glory. And because that is where we live and where we move and serve our

01:47 Lord, it means that we, number one, have all, again I emphasize, all of the saving blessings of the

02:00 None are missing. They are all bestowed to us in baptism, and we have them all. However,

02:11 and this is the important point, they are all lived with by faith alone. And here we are

02:30 true, but we are not emphasizing that is lived apart from works, but here we are

02:38 especially emphasizing that we are living with all of these gifts by faith

02:44 alone, apart from experience. In glory, indeed the distinction between living

03:00 is that in glory we get to experience all of the blessings of the gospel and

03:11 because we have them all, we have them all by experience alone. And when we say

03:18 by experience alone we mean apart from faith and hope because faith and hope

03:30 So living in the cross, our experience in our Christian walk is dominated by all of the realities

03:45 that actually are open to all unbelievers.

03:50 That is at least most of them.

03:53 For instance, our own sinfulness, we get to experience it.

04:00 So, and that of others, for that matter the fallenness of this whole world and afflictions

04:08 that can be ours because we are living under the curse of the ground, right?

04:14 That includes of diseases, even COVID-19, which we have been afflicted by for some time.

04:22 All of these things that flow from God's curse of the ground that we read about back

04:30 all of these things we experience, and all of these things are experiences every bit as much

04:37 by the unbeliever as well. Perhaps the one element that we experience in cross-life that

04:46 the unbeliever does not experience, okay, and that is the wiles of the devil. And we might say,

05:00 The devil wants to keep unbelievers very tranquil.

05:04 He has them all.

05:06 And yet, in and through baptism, we who once were citizens of hell, we who once were under

05:19 the domination of the devil.

05:22 We have been snatched by grace.

05:30 and translated from being citizens of hell

05:34 to becoming citizens of the kingdom of God.

05:38 We have become adopted members of the family of God.

05:43 And in our spiritual warfare,

05:46 the central element in that warfare is against the devil

05:51 and all of those invisible powers and principalities

06:00 back, that is to destroy our faith and life in Christ, to destroy and remove and cancel

06:09 our citizenship in the kingdom of God.

06:14 So a theology of the cross affirms that glory is the experience of each and every aspect

06:30 But these will only come to us in that better day that is coming and not one second beforehand.

06:42 So we note that Christian living is not intention with the truth, but it is intention

07:00 And this tension, of course, increases. It doesn't decrease. It increases as the Christian matures and journeys in the cross to glory.

07:30 And the unbeliever can have the same experiences about how it accuses others and how it accuses

07:38 the self as the believer.

07:41 Indeed, the law accuses all humans because God there so reveals it to us.

07:52 We can ignore, of course, that experience and knowledge, but we cannot make it go away.

08:00 Also, evil and injustice are simply part and parcel

08:05 of this fallen world in which we live.

08:09 And that of course is easily recognized

08:12 by all believer and unbeliever alike.

08:17 If we're going to play the game, ain't it awful,

08:19 and we're talking about all those things,

08:23 well, the non-Christian may sometimes even have

08:25 better insight than believers.

08:30 So, evil and injustice in the world are given every bit as much to experience of the unbeliever

08:38 as the believer.

08:40 The standards of justice, for instance, in the governments of this world, standards,

08:48 of course, which we understand in terms of what is right and good and just, are normed,

08:55 of course, by the second table of God's Law.

09:00 Therefore, it means that the outward tasks of the Christian's vocation, well, they

09:07 are normed by the law.

09:10 And in terms of believer and unbeliever carrying out that kind of civil righteous

09:17 behavior, the distinction between Christian and non-Christian, of course, is not simply

09:24 something that is open to our sight, but is rather is known by God alone.

09:30 Well, one thing that means is no, they will not know we are Christians by our love.

09:37 That is not until those works of love are revealed and paraded there on judgment day,

09:45 as our Lord so extols them among the sheep as opposed to the goats.

09:51 Then and only then will they know that we are Christians by our love.

10:00 For that is by the grace of Christ alone.

10:03 It is only the works of love that then will reveal the faith that is behind the works.

10:11 So all of the gifts, in other words, of the gospel are inherited by the Christian,

10:19 and they are given to and they lived in by faith apart from experience.

10:30 righteousness of the church. And that of course includes all those who make up the church.

10:37 That is the forgiven baptized. The holiness and righteousness that covers us all. These

10:46 are articles of faith. They are not deductions or conclusions that come on the basis of our

11:00 righteousness of Christ, therefore, is seen by all of us only in the promises of the gospel.

11:09 So how is it that you know that you are forgiven? God has told you in the gospel. How is it that

11:17 you know that you will be forgiven tomorrow, only on the basis of the promises of the gospel?

11:30 the grace of Christ and that alone apart from your works, only on the basis of the promises

11:37 of the gospel, apart therefore from any experience. What you get to experience is all your sins

11:47 and all your sinfulness. What you get to believe is that they are totally and will

12:00 So citizenship, of course, by all in the kingdom of God, who are baptized, is only seen by

12:10 God in this life.

12:13 That is, Jesus said, \"I know my own and my own know me.\"

12:18 But notice He never said, \"We all know one another.\"

12:21 Well in glory, we're going to get introduced to one another.

12:30 all the way back in history to Adam and Eve themselves who believed in that promise made

12:37 about the benefit and the solution to the problem of evil that is going to come from

12:44 the seed of the woman.

12:47 So the motivation, of course, of the Christians in our task of vocational work, that is to

13:00 that God has given to us that serve Him through the neighbor. Those things, of course, are good

13:07 in God's sight on the basis of what Luther characterized there in the first part of his

13:15 catechism. And we, of course, memorized it, first of all, very easy, when he explained the meaning

13:30 But then what was interesting about Luther in his catechism and in his explanation of

13:37 the Ten Commandments is Luther's understanding that embedded in all of the other commandments.

13:46 In other words, embedded in everything that is a part of the life of the obedience of

13:52 faith as we think of the obedience of faith and the works that God has given to us is

14:00 flow from the heart out of fear and love of God. That day so flow in this life is God's secret,

14:13 only to be revealed again on Judgment Day. So how do you know as a baptized Christian that

14:30 Where he says, \"By grace you are saved through faith and not of your own doing.\"

14:35 It is a gift of God not as to what works less than he went should boast, but then verse

14:40 10 there in Ephesians 2.

14:43 For we are God's workmanship created for good works, that he has foreordained, that is that

14:52 he has ordained beforehand that we would walk in them.

15:00 John 15, \"I am the vine, you are the branches, you abides in me, and we do, shall bear much fruit.\"

15:07 Well, then we do. And the fruit, of course, as we learn from the commandments, are the things

15:14 that are done out of fear, love, and trust in God. So by faith, we believe that. We believe that

15:30 who have been baptized. So now the central thesis by contrast of all theologies of glory is this.

15:49 Some elements or degrees of the future life of glory can actually be experienced by believers

16:00 living here in this fallen world.

16:04 That is, provided that certain divinely prescribed prerequisites are met.

16:16 And it is explained the reason why so many believers, maybe even all believers, or most

16:30 closer relationship with Christ.

16:33 That would be a heck of a lot more satisfying than what they're living right now.

16:38 The reason is because they lack the required spiritual prerequisites.

16:46 And of course, then the promise comes, if the believer is dedicated and committed to

16:51 meet these prerequisites, well then, the quality of the experience of their life in

17:00 can be significantly improved. Think for a moment about those to whom such a

17:11 promise appeals to. Those who think that as they are looking at their life in

17:20 Christ, there is just an awful lot about it that leads much to be desired.

17:30 they are quite positive of that. And we would say in terms of the theology of the

17:37 Christ, they are right. For if we wish to think that we still live in a fallen

17:43 world and we have to do battle with the world, the flesh and the devil, yes

17:47 there is plenty to our experience that can be improved about our life in Christ.

18:00 on the cross, bearing all of our sins. Would we not imagine that his experiences with the Father

18:10 certainly were better before and certainly are going to get improved afterwards as he cries out

18:17 \"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\" That was his experience. How much also, therefore,

18:30 experience of the weight of sin, even because we happen to be joined with Christ there on

18:40 the cross.

18:42 Anyway, the formula for a multi-million dollar seller these days is to propound some kind

19:00 of your experience of your life and walk of faith in this world.

19:07 And if you're not fully satisfied with it right now,

19:11 the reason is of course because you are not experiencing all the things

19:16 that God wishes to bring about in your life to make it such much more enjoyable

19:24 to experience a much closer intimate relationship with Jesus.

19:30 To be able to have the thrill of knowing you are being used by Jesus much more than

19:34 you think you are right now, all of these things are promised if, of course, you will

19:41 follow the principles usually referred to as Bible-based principles that are set forth

19:47 in the book.

19:49 What is the characteristic of the principles?

20:00 that you can experience in the here and now are elements that can be found actually in

20:06 the Scriptures in a sense. And that is they are all provisions that we would put under

20:15 the general heading of law. But the most important thing about these principles of

20:30 basically doable, and they simply have to do with things either that you do in your

20:37 prayer life or things that you do to clean up your act in your daily living.

20:43 But the major characteristic about them is that they are doable.

20:47 And the difference between those who are experiencing these glory experiences and those

20:53 who aren't, some do them and others don't.

21:00 seller these day, so that a purpose-driven life can be a glory-improved life. You get

21:09 the point. Well, in Luther's day, the ultimate experience of a theology of glory, and he

21:16 even addressed it in his writings, the ultimate experience was known as the beatific vision,

21:30 and an experience of the glorified Christ as Christ lives in heaven. And that

21:39 that experience would be something that would cover over all of the

21:45 disappointments and all of the trials tribulations and all of the suffering

21:51 that one might have to endure in this life. Okay? Now it would cover it over and

22:00 experiencing these things, they just simply have absolutely no effect.

22:05 Anyway, the beatific vision. That's what was considered to be the ultimate of a theology

22:12 of glory in Luther's day. Today, most of the best sellers on the Christian life, they

22:17 make their appeal by promising the believer some or several aspects of experiencing the

22:30 the blessings of the gospel that are reserved for life with God in heaven, or the coming

22:39 new world when Christ returns again, and we're all raised up. This appeal, of course,

22:47 as we mentioned, especially Targus Christians, who are either mildly or more so dissatisfied

23:00 think anyways that this is because of one of two things.

23:06 Either God is angry with them for something that they have done or not done,

23:14 or their faith life in Christ simply is not up to the character and speed that God requires

23:24 in order to receive these blessings.

23:30 or inside flap, also during the preface to these works that propounds such glorious promises,

23:39 is to characterize the reader as possibly one having a Christian life in Christ that

23:47 is really not very joyous or uplifting most of the time.

23:53 That's usually one of the characteristics.

24:00 seem to be difficult and they don't go away. During these difficult times, God seems to

24:07 be distant and far away. And then to make matters worse, sinful patterns of life seem

24:16 to just nag and continually be with the believer. They don't seem to be going away.

24:24 And indeed, when the believer is really honest with themselves, many of them, they seem to

24:30 as increasing in intensity.

24:35 And for the most part, they are experiencing a life or a walk of faith

24:40 in which God is rather silent, seemingly distant,

24:47 and perhaps they are thinking He is treating them very unfairly.

25:00 But then that's the essence of the gospel.

25:02 You always get what you don't deserve in the cross.

25:10 Well, life for the unbeliever without God also is often

25:14 seemingly to be going better for them

25:18 than for their own life as a Christian.

25:22 And that may actually in terms of temporal life

25:30 the case in many instances because there is one enemy that the Christian has that the non-Christian

25:37 does not have and that of course is the devil. All his works, all his ways, and all of his powers

25:47 and principalities that are there as citizens of hell. So as we mentioned the theology of glory

26:00 Particularly when they're filled with anecdotes of people who have followed the Bible-based

26:06 principles and tell you kind of a before and after in their life how it was never so

26:11 bad as before and it was never so glorious as after.

26:15 They of course put these principles to work.

26:20 But anyway, the best-selling books assert that these experiences are signs, that is,

26:30 life. But then, of course, the good news in the book is that by following, of course,

26:37 the Bible-based advice that the book and the author are going to present, God will

26:44 provide a much more satisfying experience of Christ in your life. You get a closer relationship

27:00 or the experiences of Christ will just rise above the suffering that these are bringing.

27:07 You get a decisive victory over sinful patterns of life that seem to be nagging you right now and

27:13 not going away. And the promise you can become a more useful servant that God can use positively

27:30 more meaningful, more joyous, and of course, more godly. I would indicate one other characteristic

27:40 and it's usually not touted in the books themselves, but it is a hallmark and that is this.

27:46 You can be incredibly religious and at the same time understand that whatever your quality of your

28:00 you are the one who is ultimately in control.

28:07 So the solutions as we mentioned are varied.

28:11 Some, it's to get more filled with the Holy Spirit.

28:13 Some of them, it's the secret of the power of prayer.

28:16 Some is of course a more dedicated

28:20 witnessing life for others.

28:23 It's let go and let God.

28:25 It's doing surrendering that of course

28:27 you aren't surrendering.

28:30 cleaning up your act and echeling, putting up, shall we say, a higher level of good moral

28:40 living on your part. But in any event, all of these things are always law oriented. They

28:48 are always directed of things that are doable, and they are always presented, therefore,

29:00 also will prompt a waiting God to deliver some or all of these additional blessings

29:08 that they believe the gospel intends for you to have to some measure in this life.

29:16 So the exhortations, surrender and become more filled with the Holy Spirit.

29:21 Engage and trust more in the power of prayer.

29:30 Put away your carnal pet sins and vices.

29:34 Be more dedicated and bolder in your witness of Christ.

29:39 Tap more into the purpose-driven life.

29:43 All of this, of course, has no foundation in the biblical writings.

29:51 Our Lord has no such teaching nor His apostles.

30:00 The central thesis of the theology of the cross,

30:04 all of the blessings of the gospel are bestowed on the sinner in baptism.

30:10 You get them all, but they are lived with and trusted in by faith alone,

30:16 apart from experience in this life.

30:20 Such a life is lived in the cross of Christ,

30:24 that is lived in the cross of Christ,

30:30 that can flow from still being a sinner,

30:34 still living in a fallen world,

30:37 still having to contend with the wilds,

30:41 tribulations and temptations

30:44 of the fallen world of the devil.

30:47 Only in the better day of glory

30:49 will the gifts and blessings of the gospel

30:52 be given to our experience,

30:54 and that will be a time when faith and hope are no more.

31:00 So, if you're an ordinary saint who trusts in the grace of Christ, if you regularly

31:06 feed on the gospel, if you have a keen sense of your own sinfulness but are not so keen

31:12 experience of how life and Christ often feels, well, the theology of the cross and we wish

31:19 to emphasize this, you are normal.

31:30 to provide you with every blessing of the gospel.

31:34 In your baptism, you've got it all and you get it all.

31:39 Every blessing.

31:40 And you have them all by grace alone,

31:42 apart from experience.

31:43 This is the cross life of the Christian.

31:48 In our baptism, Christian life,

31:49 in this world is lived in union with Christ the crucified.

31:53 And yet can't get any closer to Him

31:56 than while you're still wet on the forehead.

32:00 is the cross that therefore shapes the contours of the Christian's spiritual life for now.

32:08 What Christ got, we get. Our crosses involve at times just what Christ endured on the cross,

32:17 sufferings, trials, and at times even feelings of abandonment. These are normal in the life

32:22 of the Christian. Jesus had been raised from the dead and entered into heavenly glory.

32:30 we have not. The experience of victory over sin, death, and the devil is history for Jesus,

32:36 but it is faith and hope for us. The cross and tomb are only empty for Jesus. At Easter,

32:44 we celebrate, therefore, a not completely empty tomb of Jesus. He is gone, but we are

32:51 baptized into the death of Christ, we are still there. We are still awaiting our glorious

33:00 So the spiritual life of the Christian has two installments, cross and glory.

33:08 It's cross life now, and it is glory in the better day that is coming.

33:16 This sounds so very much like C.S. Lewis observed when he said,

33:22 \"The cross comes before the crown and then equipped,

33:26 and tomorrow is Monday morning.\"

33:30 Now, we noted at the onset of our presentation here also that there are three and only three

33:38 aspects of the life of the Christian lived in the cross of Christ from baptism as we await

33:46 the better day of glory.

33:48 One, growing and maturing is a new creation in the full stature of Christ.

34:00 through the vocational callings that God has given to us.

34:05 And three, spiritual warfare against the world flesh and the devil

34:10 that will increase not decrease as we grow and mature in Christ.

34:16 It is exploring these three elements of the cross life of the Christian.

34:21 What that is like in the continuing sessions to which we will now turn.

34:30 (upbeat music)

Welcome to the third session. 

I hope that so far you are starting to see the \"Theology of the Cross\" more clearly. Today, we'll begin to look more closely at the distinction between this theology and so-called \"Theologies of Glory.\" 

An important thing to keep in mind is this: A theology of the cross affirms that Glory is the experience of all aspects of God’s redemptive victory over sin, death, and the Devil – but these will only come to us in the Better Day, not before.

I hope you have a great session.

- Steve

00:00 [music]

00:15 Welcome everyone to session number four of our survey of theology of the cross

00:22 and how that is distinct from theologies of glory.

00:30 First of all, sketching out a little bit what the theology of the cross is.

00:35 Session number two, we turned our attention and how it is that we join Christ, the crucified, in and through our baptism,

00:43 and how that life in our baptism is not simply a one and done, but shapes the very character of how we live with Christ

00:53 from cradle to grave, a dying to sin and a rising again and again

01:00 in Christ, whereas Luther says we make progress in our Christian life and walk by always starting

01:07 over again. In our last session, we especially concentrated on an understanding of how cross-life

01:17 affects the very character upon which we live with God and we live through our Savior

01:30 begins with baptism. It's God's intention, of course, to bring about a nurture of our

01:37 faith and life in Christ, and that that nurture is for three objectives but only three. And

01:45 we listed those three as first of all. We have become a new creation in Christ, but we

01:50 have not been brought into the kingdom all grown up. Rather, we enter the kingdom regardless

02:00 babes. And that as Christ entered into the world with his human nature as but a small

02:07 babe and infant and as he had to grow in wisdom and stature. Well then so also this

02:13 new creation that we have become in baptism, which is reborn in the image of Christ the

02:19 second Adam, enters the kingdom as but babes and we also must grow in wisdom and stature.

02:30 to bring about a growing and a maturing

02:34 of this new creation in Christ.

02:37 We have indicated that as Christ wishes to nurture

02:42 our faith and life in Christ in our baptism,

02:46 that that nurture is for the purpose

02:50 of accomplishing three things, but only three things

02:55 in relationship to our life in Christ.

03:00 \"Since it is, of course, that our Lord Himself entered into His human nature and into this

03:07 world as but a babe, He had to grow in wisdom and stature, then we also have entered into

03:15 the kingdom as but babes, and we too, born in the image of the second Adam, that new

03:21 creation in Christ, might also grow and mature.\"

03:26 That was the first thing that we mentioned.

03:30 was that the nurture of the gospel also intends to both empower and to equip us

03:40 that our faith might be of some earthly good and where we have been called to serve Christ

03:48 through the needs of the neighbor in the vocational offices that God has called us to,

04:00 thing that is a part of the nurture of our faith in life in Christ is to equip us to

04:08 go up against the powers of the world, the flesh and the devil, what we might call the

04:13 unholy triad, which brings therefore that dimension of life in Christ of spiritual warfare.

04:22 Those three elements are going to occupy our time here in these last three lessons.

04:30 And here in session number four,

04:33 we're going to address, therefore, this nurture question.

04:37 Once we get saved, well, then what?

04:41 And we want to indicate and to talk about how it is

04:44 that God through His saving word

04:47 seeks to bring about a growing and a maturing

04:51 of our new creation in Christ.

04:54 So we've already stressed that living in the cross of Christ

05:00 of spiritual improvement.

05:03 And we indicated this, that the reason for this

05:06 on the basis of God's word,

05:08 is that the new creation already,

05:10 according to Paul in Romans six,

05:13 is a slave to God and righteousness,

05:17 in that it has been recreated in the image of Christ,

05:20 as Paul tells us in Ephesians four.

05:23 And about that new creation,

05:25 it is neither defective,

05:30 form. Likewise, the sinful fleshly self, which is still with us, as Paul says, about

05:37 his own life in Christ in Romans 7, is a slave to sin in which nothing good dwells.

05:46 And while about that old sinful fleshly self, which Luther often referred to as the old

06:00 So the bottom line is that God has no use for it, and therefore, when we translate out

06:06 of this world into glory, he plans to destroy it entirely.

06:12 So when it comes to everything that God does in the salvation of sinners, we have

06:18 emphasized again and again so many ways, we never contribute anything.

06:30 or anything to do, not in receiving those blessings, not in retaining them, or not in

06:41 being renewed in them.

06:44 That is to say, there are no decisions on our part to be made, there are no commitments,

06:52 there are no works, and certainly there is no surrender on our part to contribute or

07:00 this work of Christ through His word effective.

07:05 We want to begin by taking a look at one aspect

07:09 of how it is that God maintains our life in Christ,

07:13 and that is the justification of the Christian.

07:17 For when we talk about how it is that God justifies us

07:22 purely by His grace, apart from works of the law,

07:26 we may speak of that justification in three senses.

07:30 in terms of where and how it is that that righteousness and forgiveness of sins,

07:38 that declaration of our innocence was acquired. And the Scriptures teach us

07:45 about the cross of Christ, where Christ fully atoned for the sins of all, and

07:51 therefore God has declared us innocent, and He is totally reconciled with us.

08:00 in terms of how the scriptures address how that justification is revealed to sinners,

08:08 and how it is, of course, that he bestows that saving gift of forgiveness, or of the justification,

08:18 his declaration of righteousness. And that is, of course, through the gospel. And then in other

08:30 live with that forgiveness or that gift of righteousness,

08:34 and that is by faith alone.

08:37 So the saving work of Christ, though, in the life of the sinner, nevertheless,

08:42 is always accomplished.

08:44 That is, how these saving gifts come to us through his appointed means of grace.

08:51 And that, of course, is the proclaimed and taught gospel and the administered sacraments.

09:00 those, the forgiveness of sins. And when we speak about his forgiveness, it always is referring to

09:07 the total forgiveness of all of our sins. There is no such thing as God forgiving some of our sins,

09:17 as if others might be problematic or not forgiven. It is to say also that justification refers to

09:30 But that is always for the sake of the atoning death of Christ.

09:36 We are declared innocent because He has totally paid for the guilt of our sins.

09:43 So we are justified then through the gospel when of course we receive the forgiveness

09:48 of sins through faith.

09:51 And in all of this, the Holy Spirit is present and He is active through the Word and the sacraments.

10:00 of course, they have an impact on sinful human beings. And therefore we understand,

10:08 as Paul says in Romans 10 17, \"Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of Christ,\"

10:15 indicating that, of course, this gospel Word of Christ is a powerful Word, and it

10:20 does in terms of the creation of faith and life in Christ just exactly what God intends

10:30 forgiveness is bestowed on us. Something else occurs as well, and it's very important to understand

10:37 it. It's what Paul refers to there in Romans 6 and also in Titus. And that is that the center

10:46 is regenerated, that it is given new life, and a new creation is created. And God does all of this,

11:00 part, saving sinners is His decision, not ours. So we are not forgiven or given new

11:09 life in Christ because of any kind of commitments that we would make. In other words, therefore,

11:17 everything happens to flow from God's commitment. So our good works, therefore, as Luther

11:30 and they accomplish nothing in terms of that new life in Christ. So we don't surrender to Christ,

11:38 and we don't allow the Holy Spirit somehow to save us. But that the power of the gospel and the

11:44 Holy Spirit, we are perhaps best understood as being captivated by the saving word of Christ,

12:00 Justification is understood as a one-time pronouncement by God, and that it happens.

12:10 That when you get saved and when you begin your life in Christ.

12:16 In other words, where the forgiveness of Christ is being understood is kind of a done

12:21 deal, and after that happens, once you quote \"get saved,\" well then the dominant focus

12:30 centered on how because of our gratitude and the power of the Spirit,

12:36 these are now to be channeled into achieving a greater life of obedience.

12:42 The rationale being, well Jesus has done His part and now it's your turn.

12:49 With this understanding, justification and forgiveness become a distant memory

13:00 way back when you first got saved.

13:03 From any of this understanding and program have produced,

13:07 spiritual burnout and often doubts when the weight, of course,

13:11 of alarming sins are felt, and some have even wondered in the midst

13:17 of struggling over sin in their life if they really are still forgiven,

13:22 and some even imagine that perhaps they might need to get saved again

13:30 There's a trick question about justification that I used to ask my students in the classroom

13:36 when we talked about the saving work of Christ.

13:40 Let me throw that question at you.

13:43 See what you think.

13:44 And that is, when you go to church on Sundays for Holy Absolution, are you forgiven before

14:00 How would you answer that question?

14:03 Notice I indicated it is a trick question,

14:07 and it is a trick question because I framed it as an either or.

14:13 And so therefore, the response should rather be with an answer of \"yes.\"

14:22 And the reason for this is that a necessary distinction must be made

14:30 that we have in Christ Jesus through our baptism as a condition that we live

14:38 with by faith and that we live with by faith in a 24/7 sense. Notice the word I

14:49 used, \"A condition of being forgiven as a constant.\" Making a distinction between

15:00 and yet also then talking about forgiveness as a pronouncement, an event, in other words,

15:09 an event when we receive that forgiveness again and again by faith, as when that is proclaimed

15:17 in the gospel, for instance, in the words of absolution. So as a pronouncement, believers need

15:30 and how all of us have the continual need to be bestowed forgiveness again and again,

15:39 because it is the event of receiving that forgiveness of Christ,

15:45 that feeds and that builds up and that empowers our life in Christ.

15:51 So Christians remain sinners who continually sin.

16:00 much, well, then we continually need to be forgiven much. So here is the paradox that we

16:08 could express perhaps in summary form about forgiveness, about the righteousness of Christ

16:18 in our baptism. You have it all, but you always need more. Luther expressed in his large

16:30 way. He said, \"Toward forgiveness is directed everything that is to be preached concerning the

16:38 sacraments and in short the entire gospel and all the duties of Christianity. Forgiveness is

16:45 needed constantly, for although God's grace has been won by Christ and holiness has been wrought

17:00 that, because we are encumbered with our flesh, we are never without sin. So some important

17:09 considerations about saving faith in God's salvationing of sinners. Let's summarize.

17:17 We're saved by faith, but we are not saved because of faith, and we are not saved in

17:30 and we live with the forgiveness of sin. It does not create that reality.

17:38 Secondly, God's saving grace is the forgiveness of sins bestowed in the gospel and the sacraments.

17:47 Notice my word, bestowed. They are not there offered. Offered are things you choose.

18:00 But these are the saving gifts of grace.

18:04 Gifts are bestowed by the giver.

18:07 Thirdly, grace is not a matter of getting a warning ticket, so to speak, of our infractions.

18:17 Forgiveness is not a reprieve.

18:20 It is not where God is somehow saying to us about our sinful transgressions in the

18:25 Christian life, \"Well, no problem.

18:30 Moreover, grace is not a matter of God cutting us some slack and giving us more chances to

18:37 clean up our spiritual act.

18:40 And lastly, grace is not God posting credits in our Heavenly Account book to offset, of

18:48 course, our bad deeds.

18:50 And the whole idea is that He would provide us with a zero balance for the time being,

19:00 when we enter into glory.

19:03 As Robert Ferrar-Capen has put it so eloquently,

19:08 grace announces that God has torn up the books

19:13 and permanently gone out of the accounting business.

19:19 Well, as we talk about the nurture of the gospel

19:24 to give us life in Christ through baptism,

19:30 time and very much connected, the impact of that gospel is also about bringing about a growing

19:41 growth and maturity of our faith in Christ. The term that we use for this, distinguishing

19:50 it in what we will call a narrow sense, and we'll explain what we mean by broad or narrow

20:00 sanctification in a narrow sense, this has often been a confused element in the saving

20:08 work of Christ. But we want to explain, of course, that the word of the gospel is, of

20:15 course, God's pardoning of sinners, forgiving them. And that word is not something that

20:30 and its impact in the Christian life of faith includes what we call sanctification.

20:38 Sanctification is distinguished but not separated from justification. When a

20:45 sinner is first brought to faith in Christ Jesus, well that faith in new life

20:50 in Christ as we said is created, but as we indicated it is mature and we are but babes.

21:00 by which we are justified, sanctifies us by the power of the Spirit.

21:07 And that our faith and our life in Christ therefore grows and matures bit by bit.

21:16 And as we grow and mature in Christ, then of course we respond to God's blessings

21:23 and we respond of course and He loves it when we deliver these things to Him.

21:30 praise and thanksgiving. Moreover, as we grow and mature, more of life begins to be

21:39 ordered around a fear, love, and trust in God. And we become absorbed in the needs of

21:46 our neighbor through whom we serve Christ. And as we grow and mature in Christ, then the

22:00 and Godly love grow as well. And about these qualities, if you think you see them in yourself,

22:08 they're not there. And yet nevertheless, others can see them.

22:15 Life in the cross, as we have stressed though, produces growth and maturity, but not reform.

22:23 Sanctification is not reform or spiritual improvement, nor does it refer to the works

22:30 faith that we produce. In a bronze sense, all that God does to salvation the sinner could

22:40 be referred to as sanctification. This would be sanctification in the broad sense. And

22:47 if we look at Luther's Catechism, we notice that his entitlement of the third article

23:00 are bestowed by the Spirit through the gospel, Luther entitled that whole third article,

23:07 \"Sanctification.\" This is what we mean by sanctification in the broad sense. It is everything

23:14 that he does in order to bring about the salvation of the sinner. So baptism, as we indicated,

23:23 is a washing of regeneration that has rendered a new creation, fashioned in the image of Christ.

23:30 Adam, Romans 6, \"This new self is not defective. It is already a slave to God in righteousness.

23:38 It is reborn as a babe, but it is not defective. As our Lord, therefore, grew in wisdom and stature,

23:46 so do we.\" So in sanctification, in a narrow sense, we would distinguish it this way.

24:00 and with sanctification we grow in the righteousness of Christ. Both of these by the same gospel,

24:11 both of these of which we can distinguish but never separate in the life of the Christian.

24:19 So sanctification results from the powerful impact that God's justifying pardon has on our

24:30 and the gospel's power that saves sinners,

24:35 that is the same power because it flows

24:40 from the saving word of the gospel.

24:44 So through the word of justification,

24:48 by summary here, the Holy Spirit works to effect

24:52 all of the blessings of life in Christ.

25:00 It matures that life, and it empowers faithful living.

25:06 Therefore sanctification is not a separate work of God from justification.

25:12 Both are simply aspects of God's saving work through the same righteousness of

25:18 Christ, which is proclaimed in the gospel and ours through faith.

25:30 in Christ, possessing of course the image of Christ,

25:35 Ephesians 4, recreated as a slave to God in righteousness,

25:41 and the old sinful self nevertheless remains.

25:45 And about that old sinful self,

25:48 it just naturally grows and matures

25:52 as a citizen of this world just like we do.

26:00 gets educated, well then the old sinful self gets educated. And that simply cannot be avoided.

26:11 Nevertheless, that old fleshly self will have nothing to do with the gospel and will

26:18 have nothing to do with fear, love, and trust in God. As we think in terms of the response

26:30 Thanksgiving, and of course, good works that serve the neighbor out of fear, love, and Christ,

26:36 and the love and humility that are produced. These are, of course, always the consequence

26:43 of God's saving activity. When I say consequence of that activity, I mean not a cause. In other

27:00 or contribute anything to the cause of these effects of the impact of the gospel.

27:09 So when we think about good works, we think that in Philippians 2.13,

27:17 it is Paul that tells us that it is God who works in you to will and to act

27:30 simply the logical and the normal outworking of how God is working through His Word in the

27:37 life of the believer.

27:40 Paul had expressed it in a different way, in a different way, in Ephesians 2-10, but

27:44 said basically the same thing when he confessed that we are God's workmanship created in Christ

28:00 ordained for us to do. Perhaps that necessarily, necessary and characteristic is also well

28:11 exemplified in what Jesus spoke of in his botanical model of his relationship to us

28:21 and are to him when he declared that he was divine and we are the branches and that as

28:30 fruit, that is the fruit of faith. And the fruit of faith is not the product of

28:37 choices that we make. It is just simply the natural outcome of being

28:44 connected with our Lord Jesus Christ. All of those particular elements, of course,

28:49 are things that are going to occur in the dynamic of how we live in Christ in

29:00 empowers, therefore us, for faith to go to work by that gospel. In other words, to be

29:07 of some earthly significance. And it is Christ who calls us to a life of serving Him, but

29:15 serving Him, shall we say indirectly, in and through the needs of neighbors that God gives

29:30 callings, and to that particular aspect of the nurture of baptismal life in Christ through

29:38 the gospel, that is what we are going to turn to as the topic in our next class.

Well, we're a little over halfway! I hope and pray that you are finding this exploration of The Theology of the Cross beneficial. Before we continue, I have a short message for you about the academy...

I hope you enjoy this next session, where we begin to answer the question: Once you get saved, then what?

Best,

- Steve