Theology - Tea Time in Excelsis

The Heavenly Ladder of Devotion by Caspar Calvör

Much discussion of devotional practices in Lutheran circles is usually in the context of whether a practice from another Christian tradition, such as Lectio Divina, or the Ignatian Examen would be permissible within our own. It is such a shame that because we Lutherans do have a rich devotional heritage of our own, and it is rarely talked about due to the inaccessibility of a lot of these works.

When it comes to spiritual exercises within our tradition, we usually think of Luther’s traditional directive, Oratio, Meditatio, and Tentatio. I was reading G.H. Gerberding’s The Lutheran Pastor, and he cited Loehe citing an interesting way this is applied in the devotional use of God’s Word.

Gerhard’s Meditation on the Holy Spirit

Every year on Pentecost, most of the posts I see on social media are about how Pentecostals are wrong on the Holy Spirit, gifts, and tongues.

While it is a good thing to sound off on erroneous views widely held by many Christians today, it is also important to promote the biblical one in its place. Hence, instead of bashing Pentecostals this year, I thought it would be great to focus on the significance of Pentecost, and the proper understanding of the Holy Spirit. To this end, we turn to the devotional work of Gerhard in Sacred Meditations.

Humanae Vitae from a Lutheran Perspective

In Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI accurately predicted that the widespread use of artificial contraception would lead to widespread infidelity and a lower standard of morality. More than 50 years later, we see the institution of marriage despised as divorce rates continue to rise and fornication becomes increasingly accepted and commonplace. Most Christians lament the hedonism in our culture but not many traditions are as vocal as the Roman Catholic Church on this issue. What is a Lutheran to make of the encyclical? While we certainly do not agree with the underlying premise of the Roman Catholic Magisterium as an infallible interpreter of natural law, we can agree with some of the doctrinal principles in the document, which we will be discussing in this post.

How will the world end?

Will there be a rapture? A nuclear winter from a world war? Alien invasions? When there are so many convoluted conspiracies and predictions out there, the truth is not that complicated. The Athanasian Creed puts it this way:

From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; and shall give account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.
The Athanasian Creed

As the Church Year is coming to a close, I thought it would be helpful to reflect on what Christians are expecting as we get ready for the Advent season.

Sola Fide Explained

The term Sola Fide has been thrown around by many different sects within Christendom. What does it mean to be justified by faith alone? As the Augsburg Confession outlines:

Also they teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4.
AC IV

This doctrine however, has been misunderstood and misrepresented by both Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. Since it is Reformation Sunday, I thought it would be fitting to take a look at what the Lutheran Confessions have to say about Sola Fide. To this end, we turn to the Apology of the Augsburg Confession.

What should I do if there is no Lutheran Church in my area?

It is common for the new convert to Lutheranism to have discovered the beautiful message of the Gospel only to realise that there is no church in his immediate area that preaches this Gospel in its entirety and administers the sacrament rightly. He then turns to the churches that exist in his area and asks, “Which one is the closest thing to Lutheranism?”. After all, Rome and the East have valid sacraments don’t they? What about the Anglicans, they’re pretty similar to us. Surely I can take the sacrament there? Such a compromising approach is detrimental to one’s faith in the long run, and makes light of the exhortations of Scripture to avoid heterodoxy. Hence in this blog post, we will be looking at the various concerns that would arise from being in such a situation and what one should do instead.

Lutheran Christology: The Communication of Attributes

Lutherans have confessed the Christology of the Chalcedonian Council, that the two natures of Christ, the divine and human, are “inseparably enjoined in one Person” (AC III 1). Henry Eyster Jacobs summarizes the Personal Union of Christ according to Chalcedon (A Summary of the Christian Faith, 11, Q31) as follows:

Unconfused: There is no mingling of the natures, but both remain distinct
Unchanged: One is not changed into another
Indivisible (with respect to place)
Inseparable (with respect to time)

Over the controversy that first arose with the Sacramentarians on the Eucharist, Lutherans have gone on further to elucidate how the divine and human natures commune with one another within the person of Christ (communicatio idiomatum).

Why Lutherans should not be involved in ecumenical movements

I remember about 2 years ago, there were big talks of revival approaching Singapore, loosely based off a prophecy that Singapore would become the ‘Antioch of Asia’. Churches from different traditions should come together once again to pray together and a nationwide revival would occur in the next year – or so the narrative goes. The church I was in (under the Lutheran Church in Singapore) actively participated in this ecumenical movement. Their general apathy to upholding Lutheran doctrine led me to become disillusioned with the church body as a whole. When they invited a charismatic preacher to the congregation to preach and sell his book I knew that I could no longer remain there in good conscience. It was hard for me as a former charismatic to hear ideas that I had come to reject in my conversion to Lutheranism preached in the congregation of my newfound faith. Hence, I knew I had to leave the church.

Back then, I only left because I was convinced in my mind that charismatic teaching was dangerous and detrimental to the faith. Upon further reflection and study of Scripture and the Book of Concord afterwards, I came to realise that the notion of setting aside denominational differences to pursue a common evangelistic goal runs contrary to the Lutheran Confessions. Since I get asked a lot about this issue, I decided to write a blog post to elucidate my findings.

Luther, Sola Fide, and Baptismal Regeneration

Many in the Protestant world look up to Luther as the champion of Sola Fide. However, when it comes to grappling with how Luther viewed baptism, they would often dismiss it as one of the “works salvation” errors he retained from Rome. This is because they read Luther with many preconceived notions that lead to misunderstandings in his position.

Hence, in this blog post, I would like to explore Luther on baptism and address some of these incorrect assumptions on the matter. To this end, we will be looking at Luther’s Large Catechism on Holy Baptism.