Over on another ALPB FO thread, David Garner made a passing assertion that I thought would surely elicit a response from those in this discussion who are students of the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. So far, no one has posted anything in reply.
Since his statement deals with an important theological/ecumenical issue that goes beyond the focus of that other thread, I'm taking the liberty of starting a new thread here on the basis of David G's comment:
"I look at this much like the theological discussion between Orthodox Christians and other Christians about atonement. Call it penal substitution, call it "Western anthropology" -- none of that matters. What we reject (and where I think we find common ground with Lutherans, at least those who take the Confessions seriously) is we are not saved from the Father. We are not saved from God Himself." You can read the full post here:
https://alpb.org/Forum/index.php?topic=7036.msg452672#msg452672As someone who tries to take the Lutheran Confessions seriously (I read from them daily and have taught them at the university level for nearly 25 years), I am struck by these assertions, namely, that "we are not saved from the Father" and we "are not saved from God Himself."
These are truly tricky matters, but I wonder if David's assertions don't assert too much? Or, put slightly differently, do they not rub against some Scriptural and confessional texts that seem to teach otherwise? Do not the Scriptures and Confessions teach that in a very important sense, we do in fact need to be "saved from God," namely, from God's wrath and judgment, just as we need to be saved from our sins, death, the power of Satan, hell and damnation?
This seems to be a consistent theme in the Scriptures. Just this morning I read from the psalms how Moses, God's chosen one, "turned away God's wrath from destroying" the "fathers" of Israel (Ps. 106.23). Those fathers surely needed "saving from God" in that situation. Thank God for Moses! See the many other OT passages that refer to God's wrath that burns hot against sinners, even against God's own people (e.g., Ex. 32.10-12; Num. 1.53; Dt. 9.7-8; Ps. 2.5, 12; Ps. 78.21; Is. 59.18; etc.). The Gospels also refer to the wrath of God (e.g., Lk 21.23; Jn 3.36; etc.), from which people need to be saved or delivered. Paul, too, taught about the wrath of God that is leveled against sinners, including ultimately Jesus, "the greatest sinner" (Luther) (cf. Rom. 1.18; 2.5; 3.5; 3.25; 5.10-11; 9.22; 2 Cor. 5.21; Eph. 5.6; etc.) "The law brings wrath" (Rom. 4.15). See also Rev. 6.16 and several other similar NT passages. We are by nature "children of wrath" (Eph. 2.3). The wrath is coming (Col. 3.6). Because of our sins, God is our enemy (Rom. 5.10). Thank God, Jesus delivers us from God's coming wrath (1 Thess. 1.10; cf. 1 Thess. 5.9). "Since we are now justified by [Christ's] blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For while we were enemies [we were enemies of God, and God was our enemy] we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life" (Rom. 5.9-10). That surely sounds like Paul is teaching that we need to be saved from God, i.e., from God's wrath. Cf. Heb. 2.17; 1 Jn. 2.2; 1 Jn. 4.10.
The Lutheran Confessions, too, teach that we need to be saved from God's wrath, i.e., from God's anger and judgment against sinners. "For as long as God terrifies us and appears to be casting us into eternal death, human nature cannot bring itself to love such a wrathful, judging, and punishing God.... For the law always accuses and terrifies consciences.... Therefore, because people cannot by their own powers live according to the law of God and because all are under sin and guilty of eternal wrath and death, we cannot be set free from sin and be justified through the law. Instead, what has been given us is the promise of forgiveness of sins and justification on account of Christ, who was given for us in order to make satisfaction for the sins of the world, and who has been appointed as the mediator and propitiator" (Apol. IV.36-41). All people are "under sin and subject to eternal wrath and death" (Apol. IV.62; cf. SD V.20: all "are subject to God's wrath, to death and all temporal afflictions, and to the punishment of the fires of hell"; cf. FC SD XI.60). The human creature apart from Christ is to be regarded "as a child of wrath" (FC Ep I.12). The greatest evil is "to be a victim of eternal wrath and death" (Luther, as quoted in FC SD I.62).
"Therefore, Luther concludes, we are 'by nature children of wrath' [Eph. 2.3], of death, and of damnation, if we are not redeemed from them through Christ's merit" (SD FC I.6). Just as we need to be redeemed from death through Christ's merit, so we need to be redeemed from God's wrath and damnation, i.e., from God. "When a human being is justified through faith (which the Holy Spirit alone bestows), it is truly a rebirth, because a child of wrath becomes a child of God and is therefore brought from death to life" (FC SD III.20; cf. Eph. 2.5).
While God is not the cause of sins or the cause of wrath or condemnation (cf. FC SD XI.81), God's wrath and judgment are real consequences of sin and evil, as is spiritual death, eternal wrath, and hell. In view of these realities, it is appropriate to say that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we are saved from God through the God-Man for God. This is what makes Christ the propitiator of God's wrath, and thus the mediator and reconciler between God and sinners. Apart from Christ and his propitiation, human beings are the enemies of God and God is the enemy of sinners.
Much more could be written in this regard, but I'll leave it at this. I need to return to Schlink, who also stresses that an ecumenical dogmatics needs to take seriously just how much of a problem and threat God is for us in view of evil, our sins, our death, the coming wrath, and divine damnation. We do, in fact, need to be saved from God through the God-Man for God. Thank God for the propitiation of the Son of God and for the working of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father.
Matt Becker
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