One of Luther’s primary claims is that “the Gospel teaches nothing but the one must learn to know Christ alone, and so the Holy Spirit teaches nothing more” (1st sermon, #1). I don’t disagree with him, but we sure have a lot of people claiming the Gospel is more than that. Maybe that’s what gets us in so many disputes. Anything beyond Christ alone is a matter of one’s opinion. I agree with Brother Martin when he says we should notice that Christ represents the Father to us as none else than the all-loving and magnetic one (#2). God is good all the time. Luther says it several ways in the second sermon on this text, “there is no greater Giver than God” (#12), and “He is the fountain and source of all grace, goodness, and kindness” (#14).
In this section, he says something that might contradict one of the three ‘alones’ of the Reformation: Christ alone, Word alone, faith alone. Luther says in sermon 1/#2, “I have often said that faith alone is not sufficient before God, but the price of redemption must also be in evidence. The Turk and Jew, too, believe in God, but without means and mediator.” This gospel lesson says we cannot approach/possess the Father without a mediator. Our good works do nothing to make us worthy to approach God.
The older versions of this text use the word “judge” when describing why the Son came into the world – He did not come to ‘judge’ the world. Newer versions of the Bible are using ‘condemn’ – maybe because the translators want their image of Jesus coming at the end of the world as our Judge to stay intact…"He will judge the world in righteousness." Except that Luther says if Christ is our Judge, He can’t be our Savior. He can’t be both Judge and Savior. We fear a judge. We can’t love someone we fear. But “when we know Him as the gospel pictures Him, and long for Him as the best friend my heart can choose, then it is well; love soon follows” (#10).
The Greek concordance also defines the word translated “judge” and “condemn” as “rule.” The passage could read like this: God did not send His Son into the world to rule the world… and this means in a physical, earthly governing sense. Jesus was never sent to rule as a king in the land, but to save or ‘rescue’ the world from sin. This is done in His spiritual kingdom – our hearts and minds.
Another interesting concept we find from this sermon is that “the only sin is unbelief” (#13). It’s a great thought. Unbelief is the absence of trust. We commit sin against the commandments only because we do not trust God to do as God has promised. We steal because we don’t trust God to provide for our needs. We commit adultery because we don’t trust God will meet our needs for relationship. We kill/murder because we don’t trust God will exact punishment / vengeance on our adversary. The origin of sin is unbelief – little to no trust in God to provide for us.
The end of the passage, "he that does the truth comes to the light so his works may be seen," tells us we are to “live for the purpose of serving by your life, not yourself, but your neighbor (19). This is consistent with one of Luther’s major themes in his Church Postil that we should love our neighbor, for this is how we love God.
The second sermon has many references to 'eternal life' and 'damned,' etc., that seem to be limited only to the afterlife, when I think much of what he says applies just as readily to the present day. Like many contemporary preachers, Luther’s statements seem to go back and forth from painting God as wrathful, but then he says something like, “God would never have given His Son for us if He was angry with us and condemning” (2/#23). There isn’t a clear resolution between the two sides to God, except that it is belief in Jesus Christ that is the difference between the saved and the damned (2/#43). So isn’t being damned a result of God’s anger that people loved darkness more than light? Either God is good all the time, or God is not good all the time. Can this be a both/and scenario? I think not.
One blessing is to understand that if God was willing to give His beloved Son to save us, why would God withhold anything else from us? God has given us the ultimate Gift, so the rest is gravy, and certainly won’t be withheld from those who love God with all their heart, mind, and soul. That’s a pretty good reason to start working on loving God more.
Grace and peace to you! PWM
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