“Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust”
and
“Report and Recommendation on Ministry Policies,”
A Critique by Carl E. Braaten
Introduction
My critique of the first “Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality” prepared by the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality, written and disseminated in April, 2008, offered this conclusion: “This ‘Draft’ fails to take seriously distinctive Lutheran principles of theology and ethics regarding human sexuality. Either the Task Force is woefully ignorant of the Lutheran confessional tradition regarding theological ethics, or it willfully ignores it to reach some pre-conceived conclusions for ideological reasons.” My criticisms included the following assertions: 1) it confused law and gospel; 2) it reversed the order of creation and redemption; 3) it wrongly represented Lutheran ethics of sex as deriving from Christology and the doctrine of justification; 4) it was antinomian; 5) it did not deal with the Law of God and the Ten Commandments; 6) it did not exegete the biblical passages that deal with sexuality, and in particular homosexuality; 7) it avoided the use of the proper name of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 8 ) it drew only upon Lutheran sources, displaying a sectarian attitude that ignores the teachings of the Great Tradition; 9) it disregarded the Lutheran view of homosexual acts as sinful. I ended my critique by saying that the social statement of the Task Force is “not only deeply flawed from a Lutheran theological perspective, it is also so poorly written that I believe there is very little in it to salvage.”
Now we have before us a revised version of the social statement on sexuality proposed by the same Task Force that produced the first draft. My first observation is that it is vastly improved in substance and style. A serious effort has been made, it appears, to take seriously the criticisms that I as well as others made of the document. It uses traditional Lutheran theological concepts and language more intelligibly. Many Lutherans who read this statement will encounter an array of familiar Lutheran symbols, slogans, and shibboleths that will possibly dispose them to accept it.
However, they are mostly an ornamental covering that hides its egregious departure from the biblical, doctrinal, and ethical teachings of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church affirmed by the Lutheran Confessional Writings as well as the Constitution and Confession of Faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Let there be no mistake about this: If the ELCA were to adopt the social statement and approve the recommendation of the Task Force to ordain men and women living with sexual partners of the same gender, that would constitute a radical departure from the overwhelming consensus that has prevailed in historic Christianity through twenty centuries. The social statement proposed by the Task Force fails to make the case that this is a wise and legitimate decision for an orthodox Christian church to make.
I. On Theological Method
There is no real theology in this social statement. At best what it offers are numerous descriptive statements of what it presumes Lutherans have confessed and believed. That is history and not theology. Simply to state and re-state what this church (the ELCA) teaches about this or that does not make it true. The document fails to make theological statements that have any merit in the face of other Christians and churches.
What Lutherans believe, teach, and confess is not true simply because they say so. Sixty million Lutherans saying something doesn’t make it true. We must demonstrate that what we assert is true on the basis of Holy Scripture in continuity with the classical creeds and confessions which the ELCA accepts in its Constitution.
There is no biblical exegesis in this social statement. A number of times it makes the gratuitous claim that it has “drawn deeply on our Lutheran theological heritage and Scripture.” (“Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” line 606) It states that “it seeks to tap the deep roots of Scripture and the Lutheran theological tradition.” (“Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” line 1179) But it fails to do precisely that. For example, the statement refers to the “seven texts” in the Bible that specifically address the issue of homosexual behavior. No effort is made to explain or interpret these texts. They are not identified or quoted, let alone exegeted or interpreted. Instead, the social statement has implicitly accepted the opinions of some recent biblical scholars that these texts have no bearing on the kind of homosexuality that they are talking about -- sexual relations between same-gender oriented persons.
Lutherans affirm that Scripture is both source and norm of their attempt to hear the Word and heed the Will of God. Well, what about these seven texts? Do they or do they not express the intention of God for human behavior? Does not what Paul says in Romans 1: 26-27 merit any consideration by a Task Force of the church that produces a social statement on human sexuality, especially when it proposes to overturn the unanimous convictions of Christians and churches the world over for the last two millennia? After careful reading I can reach no other conclusion: This social statement does not take Scripture seriously, and does not even try. Nor does it take church tradition seriously, choosing instead to go its own way, which is the definition of “heresy” -- to choose an opinion at variance with orthodoxy. This is the kind of evidence a sister Lutheran Church can use to bolster its nasty accusation that the ELCA is heterodox.
The Task Force is clearly confused about how to construct the ethics of sex from a Lutheran theological perspective. In its first draft it stated that the Lutheran understanding of sexuality is founded on the incarnation of God and the doctrine of justification. Those two doctrines fall under the rubric of the “right hand” rule of God in Jesus Christ. In this its final draft the Task Force places the ethics of sexuality under the rubric of the “left hand” rule of God through the structures of creation. It is difficult to have any confidence in the theological competence of this Task Force that shows such utter confusion on theological method.
II. The Wrath and Judgment of God
In my first critique I quoted H. Richard Niebuhr’s quip about the theology of preaching going on in liberal Protestantism: “A God without wrath brought people without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministry of a Christ without the cross.” This social statement is not reluctant to talk about sin. It describes how sin pervades all human relations, including sexual relationships. But it depicts a God without wrath and without judgment. God’s only response to sin is “love.” God is love. God loves and cares for everybody; it doesn’t matter what they do. God is a prisoner of his own love. He can’t do anything else. Voltaire said, “God will forgive, that’s his job.” This is not the God of the Bible; this is not the God of the great teachers of the church, Irenaeus, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin. Luther preached Christ against the backdrop of the wrath of God. Take away the wrath and judgment of God, and you have the wishy-washy God of liberal Protestantism.
The Luther-renaissance established beyond all doubt that the idea of the wrath and judgment of God in relation to everything that opposes his will is fundamental to Luther’s understanding of salvation, the atonement, and his theology of the cross. This document no doubt represents the idea of God held by the Task Force; it most certainly does not faithfully reflect the Lutheran understanding of God. For Luther the five tyrants or enemies from which Christ on the cross delivered humankind were wrath, sin, Satan, law, and death. This statement asserts that “God brings in the coming world of Christ’s rule where sin, death, and evil will reign no longer.” (“Human
Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” line 308) Luther’s “unholy trinity” were sin, death, and the devil. There is no Devil in this document. In liberal Protestantism the Devil has faded into invisibility, and here too. In Lutheran theology there can be no talk of God apart from his diabolical Other. “No Devil, no God,” said John Wesley. Luther would agree with that, as he hurls his ink well against the wall.
III. The Word of God and Church Unity
This is what Lennart Pinomaa writes about Luther’s concept of the wrath of God: “Albrecht Ritschl and his school were never able to take seriously Luther’s talk about God’s wrath; to them such talk was virtually medieval superstition. In this respect theology has since made a complete turnabout. God’s wrath and judgment now represent a reality that has its own peculiar function. God lets us know how far we are from him. Because of our uncleanness and hardness of heart we are an abomination to him. The judgment of God’s wrath also demonstrates that power belongs to him and that there is no escape from his hand.” (Lennart Pinomaa, Faith Victorious, Fortress Press, 1963)
In Lutheran theology the Word of God meets us in two forms, as law and as gospel. And it is important to make the proper distinction. The summary of the law is love to God and neighbor. This summary, however, does not nullify the force of the individual laws and commandments of God. They are binding on the people of God, the church of Jesus Christ. In our first critique we accused the social statement of repeating the typical “Lutheran heresy” that reared its ugly head at the time of the Reformation and against which Luther fought with all his might and mane. That is the heresy of antinomianism. This social statement never brings it up, never mentions the word, and the charge is never refuted. Why? The answer is that this social statement collapses the three uses of the law into two, admitting that it “streamlines its discussion of law by focussing solely on the two uses.” (“Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” p. 6, n. 8 ) Since it is the third use of the law that is at stake when the church discusses ordaining clergy involved in homosexual behavior, this use of the law should have been treated at length, and not swallowed up into the first two, neither of which lies at the center of the churchwide controversy.
But there is an even more serious misinterpretation of the law that bears upon the unity of the church. The statement makes a number of questionable assertions, such as: “We believe that the way we order our lives in matters of sexuality, although important for us as people of faith, is not central to the Gospel itself.” (“Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” line 300) Here is another: “Thus, we realize that this church’s deliberations related to human sexuality do not threaten the center of our faith.” (line 326) And another: “The task force recognizes the deep love that all hold for this church and the shared commitment to remaining together in spite of differences on these matters.” (“Report and Recommendation,” line 225) And another: “In this regard the task force believes that, as this is a matter of God’s civil realm, ‘God’s left hand,’ this church is free to live with a diversity of opinions in this matter.” (“Report and Recommendation,” line 465) What the task force is asserting in these statements is that matters having to do with the laws and commandments of God, and not with the core principles of the gospel, cannot be church-dividing and are not basic to church unity. Matters that fall under the rubric of the “left hand of God,” namely, the will and rule of God in the orders of creation (political, economic, and social structures, including marriage, family, and sexuality), are not central to the gospel as such and therefore cannot be foundational for church unity.
The Task Force is mistaken. The church is founded upon the Word of God, which includes what it believes about God’s activity in both creation and redemption, both law and gospel, both the kingdom on the left and on the right. The church is not founded on only one half of the Word of God. Consider this: the Lutheran World Federation raised the task of resisting apartheid in South Africa to a matter of status confessionis. This meant that opposing apartheid becomes a necessary implication of the church’s confession of faith. The white Lutheran congregations protested that the racial struggles in South Africa had nothing to do with the gospel, but only with the kingdom of God on the left hand. Ergo, the struggle for racial justice, whatever side one takes on the issue, cannot constitute a status confessionis for church fellowship. If the LWF was right in its declaration, it shows that the gospel cannot be separated from the law, the kingdom on the right from the kingdom on the left. Lutheran Churches in the United States faced the same issue in the struggle for civil rights when the system of racial segregation meant that Blacks and Whites were not welcome to celebrate Holy Communion together. The Lutheran Churches in Germany under Hitler were confronted by the same problem. The theologians supporting National Socialism declared that its anti-Semitic policies regarding the Jews have nothing to do with the gospel, therefore they have no bearing on church unity and fellowship. The Lutherans in Chile under General Pinochet faced the same kind of issue.
The Task Force is unrealistic to believe that the majority of members in the ELCA will so easily separate the law and the gospel, the left hand and the right hand kingdoms of God. Separating the law and the gospel, the two integral forms of the Word of God, is as pernicious in church life as confusing or equating them. The Task Force nowhere acknowledges that many pastors and congregations, anticipating that the ELCA was heading in the direction of ordaining same-gendered pastors, have already left the ELCA, and many others are lining up at the door ready to make their exit. The Task Force seems to have adopted the slogan of that great American prophet, Rodney King, who asked, “Can’t we all just get along?” If the ELCA adopts the recommendations of the Task Force, many pastors and congregations will choose not to leave, but to remain and protest as a confessing movement. They will not leave the church in which they have been baptized and surrender it to those trying to take it in a direction that negates what Lutherans, along with all other Christians, have always believed and taught.
Continued on the next post
