03-1 Pastoral Care.pdf

The Outer Limits of a Lutheran PietySTEVEN A. HEIN“Lutherans are remarkably unremarkable.”THIS IS CHURCH HISTORIAN MARK NOLL’S ASSESSMENT OFLutherans in America in a recent essay entitled “TheLutheran Difference.” 1 From the standpoint of makingany particular impression on American culture, or being able todescribe something unique about a “Lutheran ethos or piety,”Mark Noll observes that from the angle of social scientists, onefails to find anything that manifests itself as particularly distinctive.Lutheran religious life in America has seemed rather unobtrusive.“Beyond their instructive experience as immigrants,”Noll opines, “it is hard to isolate identifiably Lutheran contributionsto the larger history of Christianity in America.” 2 Whenit comes to the subject of piety and its impact on society in general,Lutherans seem to be extraordinarily ordinary.While this evaluation may cause consternation and alarmwithin some circles of those who wish to identify with thename Lutheran, I do not believe that protests should belaunched too loudly from those whose confession embraces thesubstance of Luther’s Theology of the Cross. From this perspective,there are good reasons to embrace the conclusion thatthe good pious Christian called to live by the cross of Christ is,and remains in this life, a bit of a phantom, a sociologicaluncertainty. Indeed, it is the intention of this essay to sketch aportrait of true Christian piety as one which usually rendersthe individual believer indistinguishable from the average citizensof this world. Godliness involves a call to faith and faithfulnesswith a distinctive worldly accent.The life of the individual believer gives expression to whoand what Christians are by the assessment of God’s judgmentof law and gospel. As such, the Christian is, as Luther paradoxicallymaintained, “righteous and beloved by God, and yet. . . a sinner at the same time.” 3 Let’s examine this moreclosely. As the Christian lives in the flesh, he stands under thejudgment of law as a sinner. The law presents all sinners inthis life a security and a peril. Outwardly, the law presents thisfallen world with the security of social orders—the structuresABOUT THE AUTHORSTEVEN A. HEIN teaches religion at Concordia University, River Forest,Illinois, and is a contributing editor of LOGIA.4of community by which temporal life is ordered. Moreover, areasonable application of the law provides a modicum of temporalsecurity for peaceful relations among the social orders ofthe world. This civic use of law boils down to a reasonableapplication of the Golden Rule: life will go well for me, if Itreat others as I would have them treat me. 4 Such behavior,however, does not make the believer extraordinary or unusual.Civic righteousness neither makes the believer pious, nordoes it focus on the essential nature of the expression ofChristian piety. Common to believer and unbeliever alike, it isrooted in self-interest. Civic righteousness is not intrinsicallythe stuff of godliness; it is the stuff of practical wisdom.Spiritually speaking however, the law presents a peril. Itpronounces all mankind sinners and threatens all sinners withthe sentence of death. Through the law, God produces selfhonestyand contrition. But for the believer, the law is onlyGod’s preliminary word, his provisional judgment, not hisfinal judgment. God’s judgment of grace is his final verdict thatsets us free. “The law was given through Moses; grace and truthcame through Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:17). This is the word of truthabout our identity that proclaims us saints—holy, righteous,pious ones; this is the truth that embodies all our godliness andsets us free.It is the righteousness of Christ bestowed by God’s graciousword that declares the Christian good and holy in God’ssight. In Christian baptism, God has declared the Christianpious. True piety or holiness is essentially a hidden possessionof the Christian, not a demonstrable attribute, nor a bundle ofsome uniquely pious activities. On the demonstrable side ofthings, the Christian is and remains an impious sinner in character,in word, and deed. And about this seeming nonsense,Luther rhetorically asked,Who will reconcile these utterly conflicting statements,that the sin in us is not sin, that he who is damnablewill not be damned, that he who is rejected will not berejected, that he who is worthy of wrath and eternaldeath will not receive these punishments? Only themediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. 5The law judges what we are in this fallen creation, thegospel who we are in Christ. And how does God require us to