In chapter eight of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus asks his students two questions, Generally, he asks, “Who do the people say that I am?” Then, turning to his students, he probes, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter replies, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:27, 29).
Then, later in chapter 13, Jesus says, “And if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ Do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Mark 13:21-22). So, whom should one believe when asked questions about Jesus; perhaps Peter telling folks who the Christ is or Jesus telling folks to not believe people telling folks who the Christ is?
This apparent dilemma has befuddled the followers of Jesus since his earthly lifetime. For Martin Luther, the problem became particularly acute at the time of the Reformation. It then exploded exponentially among all so-called Protestants. So, what is the nature of this dilemma?
Obviously, the dilemma itself predates the Reformation and Jesus’ earthly life, stretching all the way back to the beginning of humanity when Adam and Eve started listening to and trusting other voices than God’s. This resultant lack of trust in God alone theologians call sin, a condition in which all humanity is trapped. In short, human sin is simply but devastatingly unbelief in the one true God. The First of the Ten Commandment seeks to address this problem, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Although this commandment likewise seems a simple solution, human beings by their nature fail to honour this commandment. Consequently, the remaining nine commandments also cannot be fully honoured.
So, where is the problem if Christians all purport to observe the First Commandment by believing in Jesus Christ? Like all laws, their application is open to interpretation, with lawyers arguing their points and judges making determinations. Since judgements at various levels are often contradictory or overturned, most countries have some form of high or supreme court to make final adjudication. Christians believe that too, namely in Jesus, whom they confess in Apostles’ Creed to be the judge of the living and the dead!
Until that final judgement, however, Christians languish seemingly at the level of adversarial lawyers offering diverse opinions, which tend to fall into two main categories. The first says that there is only one God portrayed by differing but equally valid interpretations or perspectives. The second says that there is only one true God with all other deific manifestations being rightly called false gods or idols, and even false christs. Whereas the biblical witness favours the latter position, unfortunately Christians in practice tend to clamour to the first. This explains the theological and denominational differences which bedevil Christianity and also explains why substantive discussion of God has practically vanished from recent ecumenical endeavours. God is simply too divisive for ecclesial unity!
How does this work in real life? Take a difference between the Roman Church and Baptists. The Roman Church baptizes infants, and Baptists generally do not. So, who is right? The answer depends upon one’s understanding of God. According to the first view above, these two churches have merely differing opinions on the same God, i.e. God recognizes infant baptisms in one church but not the other, but what kind of a sacrament is that? What kind of a god is that? According to the second view, one is confronted with two different “gods” because God either does or does not allow and recognize infant baptism. This, however, would necessarily mean that one church is wrong. So, is God wishy-washy on baptism or are human beings awash with sincere belief in false christs? Which is right?
At the time of the Reformation, Luther, following Jesus’ lead, advocated the exclusive understanding of one true God over against the myriad of false gods, christs, and prophets which the sinful, human imagination continually invents. In his interpretation of the First Commandment in his Large Catechism, Luther states, “If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true God. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you have not the true God.” So, how does one know whether one believes in the one “true God” or not? Is this not sinful subjectivism run amok?
No, it is the reality of the gospel purely proclaimed or not.
Because of our human sin, churches always face the same dilemma; they either confess and preach salvation in the one true Christ alone (by grace alone received through faith alone created by the word alone), or they offer their adherents a pseudo-christ or pseudo-christs of their own ecclesial imagination. Purely proclaiming the one true Christ is not a matter of subjective opinion or ecclesial tradition or denominational determination. Instead, it is the word and work of the Holy Spirit who “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith,” as Luther would say in his Small Catechism.
With that in mind, are we at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church able and willing with the Holy Spirit’s leading to engage with Scripture in order to teach and preach the one true crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ as purely as possible, or do we prefer to shy away from our vocation by offering our own personal perspectives informed by our sin-cere and quasi-religious imaginations? In other words, as a church are we theologically prepared to undertake our calling with clarity and conviction? If so, how do we know?
