THEOLOGY OF THE CROSSVS GOSPEL OF PROSPERITY

Overview

© 2011 Rev. Michael L Mueller, Odessa, TX

Luther’s Theology of the Cross

• Bondage of the Will• Effect on Sacraments

– Glory Just symbols– Cross God in, with

and under the elements• Basis for Reformation

• Heidelberg Disputations• God For Us

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Theology of Glory• Lack Desire and Ability Romans 9:16• Old Adam Tries Harder Romans 7:7-9• Law Looks Possible Romans 7:10• Life of Glory Romans 1:22-25• Parable of Pharisee & Publican in Temple

Pharisee God aren’t you glad to see me!Publican God, be merciful to me, a sinner

(Luke18:9-14)

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“My work has only one purpose: to keep you in the doctrine handed down previously. It is my desire to keep you in simplicity against the new teachers. Remain in simplicity and in the old doctrine you have received. Above all, beware of the boasting, of seeking glory. In the Holy Scriptures the desire to boast is a temptation of the devil. Therefore God has ordered things in such a way that the Word of the Gospel should be the Word the cross. It is His purpose to suppress that empty glory” Luther (1527) Lecturers on I John, AE 30:240-241

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Crux Sola est Nostra Theologia“Obviously the ‘theology of the cross’ does not mean that for a theologian the church year shrinks together into nothing but Good Friday. Rather it means that Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost cannot be understood without Good Friday. Next to Irenaeus and Athanasius, Luther was the greatest theologian of the Incarnation. He was this because in the background of the manger he saw the cross. His understanding of the Easter victory was equal to that of any theologian of the Eastern Church. He understood it because he understood the victory of the Crucified One. The same can be said of his understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit” (Sasse)

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Two Competing Theologies• Theology of the Cross stands in

contrast to prevailing theologies of Christendom (glory)

• Hidden in the Cross is the deepest essence of God’s revelation

• Only Theology of the Cross is preaching the Gospel

• What is the Gospel?

Literally, Jesus!6

#1 Defines Who God Is• Paradigm for witness, friendship, and

support in the normal routines and emergencies of life

• Paul sketched the theology of the cross, inI Corinthians 2 & 3

• Not Hidden God—we shape for our purposes

• But, One whose righteousness—whose right way of being God—is revealed in the sacrificial love of the blood-drenched cross

• Reconciles by making peace through the blood of His very own cross (Colossians 1:19-20) 7

#2 Defines Who We Are• Know ourselves only when we

come to see that we are sinners

• Justifiably forsaken by God and utterly vulnerable to death

• See our reflection in the image of a dying incarnate God (Mark 15:34)

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#3 Way Back to Life• Faith Alone!• Reason, Senses, Emotions—

God under us• God speaks life from the Cross

– Elicits and creates faith– Destroys wisdom– Saves those given faith to believe

• Jesus never around a dead person, who doesn’t immediately spring to life! 9

#4 Method that God Restores Life• Through Baptism (Romans 6:3-5)• Law pays us the full wages our

sinfulness has earned us (Romans 6:23a)

• Baptism buries us as sinners in Christ's tomb (Romans 6:4a)

• Then gives us life again as an absolutely free gift (Romans 6:4b, 23b)

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#5 Live Our Lives Through Him

• Bear crosses for others—for the sake of Christ (Matthew 16:24)

• Success not how many blessings, nor how much suffering

• Success is bringing the love of the Christ within us to those around us!

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God on a Cross

Instruments

• Crib• Cross• Crypt

Revealed Truth

• God in human flesh• God suffers sin for us• God risen from the dead

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God on a Cross

Trinity

• Father• Son• Holy Spirit

Revealed Truth

• God for us• God with us• God in us

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New Identity• Most have Goal: Feel good about oneself• Cross reveals why we seek but do not find• Reveals our deeply broken humanity• Cannot do real good, sin always corrupts• Trust in Christ gives new identity

– Adopted as sons– Changed from dead to alive in Christ– God’s chosen before all time

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Right Way of Living• Trust in God allows peace throughout life• In God’s hands—Holy Sprit—not our own• The ‘just’ do live—in fact—by faith• Can now desire to do righteous good• Freed from the slavery of sin, death, devil• Freed from condemnation of the Law• Not temporal success or suffering• Called to love God by loving our neighbor—

Outcome is in God’s hands15

From Death Comes Life• For those in despair and apostasy:

Cross kills Old Adam, gives new life in Christ• For those longing for security, safety, worth:

Kills old life, gives hope, surety, value• The Cross points us to heaven—to our new

citizenship—to our Father

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Characteristics of Theology of Glory• God is visible• Organ of apprehension is the eye (sight)• Acceptable to human reason• God works in power• Human will is free• Righteousness by doing works of the Law• Ends in either despair or arrogance

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Theology of the Cross—Characteristics• God is hidden• Ear is organ of apprehension

(faith)• Offensive to human reason• God works in weakness• Human will is enslaved to sin• Righteousness is a gift received

by faith given by God• Humility that is confident in

Christ

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• Clarifies God is subject not object of theology

• Guards against slipping into sentimentality—preserves evangelistic preaching and pastoral care

• Protects Church from the temptation to mistake temporal cures for ultimate redemption

• Does not permit preaching of the Cross to become preaching about the cross

Why the Theology of the Cross?

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“All that we think and do in the Church has to be cleansed by the theology of the Cross if we are to escape the perils of a theology of glory” (Sasse)

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Heidelberg Disputations• Luther prepared twenty-eight

theological theses and twelve philosophical theses for debate at a meeting of the Augustinian chapter at Heidelberg on April 26, 1518

• Theologically, the Heidelberg Theses are more significant than the Ninety-Five Theses of the previous year

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The arrangement of the twenty-eight theological theses is carefully and deliberately structured in a movement from the law of God to the love of God in Christ Jesus

• Theses 1-12 contrasts works of man with works of God:human salvation impossible

• Theses 13-18 anthropological (man-centered) basis of scholasticism: freedom of the will

• Theses 19-24 distinguishes “theologian of glory” from “theologian of the cross”

• Theses 25-28 faith in the work of Christ alone

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The Work of the Cross• “Because in Adam we mounted up toward

equality with God, He descended to be like us, to bring us back to knowledge of Himself. That is the Sacrament of the Incarnation. That is the kingdom of faith in which the cross of Christ holds sway, which sets at naught the divinity for which we perversely strive and restores the despised weakness of the flesh which we have perversely abandoned.” [Luther’s Works on the Psalms]

• Cross theology is necessarily a antidote against every kind of natural glory theology: it must leave us to rely on grace alone!

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Holy Merciful

Law of GodThesis 1: The law of God, the most salutary doctrine of life, cannot advance man on his way to righteousness, but rather hinders himThesis 28: The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to itThe Disputation moves, in an ordered and deliberate fashion, from the law of God to the love of God, a way that passes directly through the cross 24

Some Texts You May Consider• Lutheranism 101• On Being a Theologian of the Cross by Gerhard Forde• The Captivation of the Will by Gerhard Forde• Living by Faith by Oswald Bayer

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Schedule

• Two Natures of God• Biblical Basis• Pastoral Theology• Teaching• Our Vocation• End of Life

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