In my most recent post here on the blog, I pointed readers to a Christianity Today article that suggested “most American evangelicals hold views condemned as heretical by some of the most important councils of the early church.” In responding to this news, I noted how Christians need to take more seriously the history of the Church’s teachings.
What I mentioned just briefly here I elaborate on at length in a post for First Things. I suggest that one of the contributing causes to the re-emergence of heretical notions in contemporary Evangelicalism is a failure to proper understand the Reformation teaching of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone). Rather than understanding it to mean that the Bible is alone authoritative, we somehow seem to have convinced ourselves that it means a solo-reading of Scripture is authoritative. As I explain at First Things, “We are right to trust in Scripture alone; but it is foolhardy to read Scripture by ourselves.”
To that end, I urge my readers to hold up their individual readings of Scripture to the scrutiny of the reading of the wider Church. It’s not because the Church has authority over the Scriptures (it doesn’t) but rather because the Church defended those things which are taught by Scripture.
We don’t follow the theological pronouncements of the Church merely because such and such a person says we should. Bishops and councils, after all, can err (remember the Robber’s Council?). But certain pronouncements—like the theological statements of the Ecumenical Councils—have long been recognized by the Church at large as true and faithful understandings of Scripture. They have codified important Scriptural truths—on the Nature of Christ, for example, and on the Personhood of the Holy Spirit—and so we refer to them as authoritative. That’s how the Nicene Creed came to be. These pronouncements do not invent new dogma not found in the Scriptures; instead, they clearly and carefully reproduce the teachings of Scripture. Consequently, they rightly norm our interpretation of the Scriptures. It’s Tradition in service to Scripture, not Tradition on the same level as Scripture.
This is, I suggest, a more accurate understanding of the Reformation understanding of the role of Tradition in the Church. I wrap up the article with some words from Melanchthon:
Philipp Melanchthon explains the Lutheran position well: “Let the highest authority be that of the Word which was divinely taught,” he explains. “Thereafter that church which agrees with that Word is to be considered authoritative.” And again: “Let us hear the church when it teaches and admonishes,” he writes, “but one must not believe because of the authority of the church. For the church does not lay down articles of faith; it only teaches and admonishes. We must believe on account of the Word of God when, admonished by the church, we understand that this meaning is truly and without sophistry taught in the Word of God.”
Read the whole thing here: “Misreading Scripture Alone: How We Ended Up Heretics.”
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As a side-note, Christianity Today’s managing editor Ted Olsen and I have a discussion in the comments section of my First Things article about what the recent survey does (or doesn’t) say about Roman Catholics’ and Mainline Protestants’ own heretical leanings. My argument in summary? The numbers don’t tell us anything conclusive about these other groups. Watch me crunch the numbers there.
A word of thanks to those continuing the conversation about my recent First Things article “Are Lutherans Catholic?”. Gene Veith has some great conversation on the topic going on over at his blog Cranach, and Rev. Larry Peters is writing something similar over at Pastoral Meanderings (with reference to my “Too Damn Catholic” post from over on A Christian Thing). Nathan Rinne has also been contributing to the topic over at the Just & Sinner website.
It’s well worth checking out the conversation going on in these places, and I commend them all to your reading.
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After a few days offline, we’re back. Here’s the news you might have missed in recent days:
– I’ve got a post considering the work of angels over at A Christian Thing.
If you’re anything like the vast majority of Protestants (and I include myself in this condemnation), you seldom think about angels. If pressed on the matter, most of us could no doubt offer up some fluff on what these beings are. But the idea that they are constantly at work in the Christian’s life—that we are, in fact, constantly in contact with these creatures today and yesterday and all the days of our lives—this is seldom a subject of thought.
– Over at First Thoughts, I discuss the re-election of President Matthew C. Harrison (of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod) and what it might mean for Lutherans’ ecumenical relations (in light of ongoing talks with Roman Catholics, the Anglican Church in North America, and the North American Lutheran Church.
If the past few years are anything to go by, this growing interest in strong relationships between the LCMS and other confessing Christian churches is likely to continue into President Harrison’s second term. I for one couldn’t be more pleased.
Update: The First Things post above has also been reprinted at the LCMS’ “Witness, Mercy, Life Together” blog: http://wmltblog.org/2013/07/president-harrison-the-lcms-and-ecumenical-dialogue-first-thoughts-a-first-things-blog/.
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Tags: ACNA, angels, anglican church in north america, ecumenical dialogue, ecumenism, election, LCMS, lutheran church - missouri synod, Lutherans, Matthew C. Harrison, NALC, North American Lutheran Church, Roman Catholic
A few articles of mine went up at “First Thoughts” over the past week. Here are the links in case you’d like to check them out.
– Chesterton on the small screen
– Pope Francis and the Lutherans
– Silencing religious voices in Canada
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A little while back I posted a link to an article on Reformed author Kevin DeYoung’s blog where he asked, “What’s up with Lutherans?” More accurately, he clarifies, where are they all – and why don’t they play a bigger role in wider North American evangelicalism?
Well, he got a few responses – 142 comments last I checked – and most of them from Lutherans like myself. Among those who responded was the Rev. Paul T. McCain who’s a relatively famous Lutheran blogger (and publisher with Concordia Publishing House). In his response, he told DeYoung that we’re all right here, out of sight perhaps but nevertheless working diligently to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He (and a few other prominent Lutherans) also challenged DeYoung and similar Reformed leaders to invite Lutherans to speak at their events if they were really serious in wondering what Lutherans were up to.
You’ve got to give credit to DeYoung: he seems to have taken the challenge somewhat seriously. In a post yesterday, he admitted his previous question about Lutherans was not “the finest moment in blogging history” and that it had gotten Lutherans “all riled up”. But in an apparent effort to get to know us oddball Lutherans a little better, he conducted a little interview with Pastor McCain entitled – at Pastor McCain’s request – “Those Dern Lutherans.” Go have a look-see.
