Adult Confirmation: Ten Commandments--Second Table (part two)

After a break last week due to the flooding (my church was flooded), we finished up the 10 Commandments this week.

Sixth Commandment

Diagnostic Questions

• Am I content in my spouse (delight)? (married) 
• Am I content in my chastity (delight)? (single) 

Only commandment with a “do do” not a “do not do and do do”

Chaste – purity

Opposites:

• Impure 
• Lust 
• Indecent 

Lord gives us rules about having sex: appropriate only for a husband and wife with each other—and that’s it.

Sexual immorality is now such the norm that being chaste is considered immoral.

Sexual immorality is the only internal, rather than external, sin. It is a joining not only of flesh, but of spirit.

Intimacy is much more than our culture acknowledges.

Picture of…

• …responsibility: parent 
• …irresponsibility: sex 

Sex must be the act of someone responsible, not irresponsible. Not recreational, but procreational.

Different risks for sex:

• Man’s risk is minimal 
• Woman risks pregnancy 

Feminism should be about accountability for men, rather than “reducing” risk for women

Abstinence is the negative side of chastity. Continence is the gift of perpetual abstinence.

Can be broken in:

• Adultery: sexual activity with someone not your spouse 
• Fornication: any sexual activity by unmarried people 
• Divorce: two reason that are acceptable (but not necessary)— 
• Abandonment 
• Abuse (understood as a form of abandonment) 
• Adultery 
• Marriage: between one man and one woman 
• Polygamy is tolerated, but never okay (never ends well) 
• Homosexuality is not allowed 
• Pornography: sexually explicit writing and images (dulls our conscience so we become unaware of our sin—addictive like drugs and alcohol; doesn’t manifest itself like other addictions, masquerades as a secret) 

Chastity includes our eyes and imagination

There is a lot of guilt and shame associated with the sixth commandment: nakedness and depression; whether you commit sexual sin or have it committed against you.

“What I have called clean do not call unclean.”

Does marriage belong to the church or state? It’s God’s own separate institution, which means it is apart from both.

Seventh Commandment

Not just stewards, but owners

Commands us to be generous, sin is to be greedy (lust for stuff)

Laziness is a sin against the 7th commandment (diligence)

Anti-socialism commandment

• Inflation is theft (manipulation of value) 
• Usury in the realm of theft 
• Debt is destabilizing 

Economics is a continued meditation on the 7th commandment

Eighth Commandment

Anti-gossip commandment (intent to destroy reputation)

Establishes the judiciary and courts

Attempt to protect neighbor’s reputation in private first (then public if necessary); unless it is a false teaching, then address it publicly

Test for bringing sin to light: you risk your own reputation, be willing to bring it to court (Luther’s test)

Ninth and Tenth Commandment

Contentment

10th: enticement

Every sin starts with 9th and 10th commandments (faulty desire)

1st and 2nd + 9th and 10th are matters of the heart (others with mouth and actions)

Adult Confirmation: Ten Commandments--Second Table (part one)

Click on the links to see notes from Week 1 and Week 2.

This week, we dug into the meat of the 4th and 5th commandments ("Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother," and "Thou shalt not murder," respectively).  We were supposed to cover the rest of the commandments... but you know how that goes.

Here are my notes from tonight's class.

Review

• 1st Commandment--God gives us Himself, and takes everything else away (deals with our heart)
• 2nd Commandment--God gives us his name and gives us a life of prayer (deals with our lips)
• 3rd Commandment--God gives us the gift of worship and His Word (deals with our ears)
• The Commandments are not only restrictive ("do not do this bad thing"), but also positive ("do this good thing")
• What does it mean to live a Christian life?  Listening.  Our "action" is passive, not active.

Before we got into the rest of the class, my husband asked a good question about why we say "fear and love" in the response to each Commandment in our Small Catechism.

• Fear and Love are contradictory ideas
• Some say that fear is "holy awe and respect"--but the Bible doesn't say that (those words could have been used, but weren't)
• Fear leaves you completely at the the mercy of God
• God commands us to fear Him only--once we believe, the threat of damnation (fear) is removed, and only love remains
• Fear gives way to love; Law gives way to Gospel
• We have a continual battle between Fear and Love (Law and Gospel), which is why we say both

We then talked about Luther's "tower experience" (when he first understood the Gospel)

• Romans 1:16--Luther was hung up on the phrase "righteousness of God"
• He believed that the Law = 10 Commandments, and the Gospel = more commands
• That makes this "active righteousness", or our works used to fulfil the Law and the "Gospel commands"
• Luther felt this was oppressive and wondered why God would do this--it's like asking us to complete an impossible task
• Luther realized, unlike any other theologian, that we don't need to try and make God's Word more palatable; we don't need to add or subtract anything--we just need to believe (and not always understand)
• The Scriptures tell us all we need to know, not all we want to know
• He realized that righteousness was passive (through faith and trust) rather than active (through works)

Second Table

• The Fourth Commandment (establishing authority) is the font of societal order and the foundation of all other commandments following.
• Estates: the ordering of society
• 1st: Family - parents --> children
• Foremost estate of human society--the primary building block
• 2nd: Church - preacher --> preachee (hearer)
• Also deals with the 3rd commandment
• Canonical governance, means of disseminating Law and Gospel
• 3rd: State - ruler --> ruled
• Civil governance (derived from family)
• Unlike the other two estates, the structure of the state is complex, although overly simplified, it becomes ruler and ruled
• Unique caveat with constitutional representative government (like America)
• Family does not serve the state, the state serves the family (since the estate of the family is the building block of the state)
• It is VERY important not to confuse these estates (i.e. in a theocracy unless it is established by God--the ONLY one ever established was in Old Testament Israel)
• Vocation: calling and station in life
• Who is my neighbor?
• Who our neighbor is determines how we specifically act towards those involved with our vocations.
• Authority vs. Power = function of vocation vs. essential
• Authority is to give gifts
• Satan attacks the institutions of the family and attempts to pervert the balance of family supremacy over the state
• See my previous post on the Left Hand and Right Hand Kingdoms here (we reviewed it in class tonight)
• When dealing with the 5th Commandment (which protects life), understand that there is a distinction between killing and murder (i.e. self defense, war, capital punishment)
• How do you distinguish between the two?  Ask: "Am I angry?"
• The Just War Theory was developed to help determine when it was justified for Christians to be involved in war
• Violence is sometimes necessary to use against death to bring death to an end.

Next week, we will finish up the 10 Commandments and hopefully start the Apostles' Creed.  The political animal in me is looking forward to more thorough discussion of the 7th Commandment, which Pastor calls the "anti-socialism" Commandment.  I already enjoy the discussions we've had about the 4th Commandment and authority.  A little teaser for next week:

Adult Confirmation: Introduction, Law/Gospel, Scripture

Today was the start of Adult Confirmation at my church.  I'm going just as a refresher (I was confirmed when I was 14) and so my husband would have company while attending.  Since I took copious notes (5 notebook pages), I thought I would share them here.

Catechism

What is a catechism? A catechism is the Bible boiled down, like Cliff Notes.  Luther's Small Catechism, the basis of our confirmation studies in the LCMS, consists of several parts:

• Six Chief Parts:
• 10 Commandments
• Apostles' Creed
• Lord's Prayer
• Baptism
• Confession and Absolution
• Lord's Supper
• Explanation (what is properly Luther's Small Catechism)
• Short explanation (added on later)

Law and Gospel

Boiled down even further, the Bible can be summed up in two words: Law and Gospel.  These two words are the very essence of the Bible.

Law	Gospel
Word of Command	Word of Promise
God’s “Do”s	God’s “Done” (it is finished)
Description of God’s Holiness and command to be holy like God	Declares “You are holy.” (by faith and not works)
Summarized in the 10 Commandments (Natural Law)	Summarized in the Creeds
Shows us our sin and the need for a Savior	Shows us our Savior
Can only condemn	Comforts
Threatens	Saves

There are 3 uses of the law:

1. As a Curb
2. As a Mirror
3. As a Guide (or rule)

The necessary conclusion of the Law is: I need help.  I need a Savior.

Old Testament Law is divided into three categories:

1. Moral Law (Natural Law, the 10 Commandments)
2. Civil Law (bound up to Israel, our civil law is now bound to secular governments)
3. Ceremonial Law (fulfilled in Christ)

Ceremonial law:

• Belongs only to the Old Testament
• Points us to Christ
• To now practice any ceremonial law is to deny the work, life, death, and resurrection of Christ: it denies Him as the fulfillment of the law and as Savior of the world

(an interesting note about Hebrew: the word for "whole burnt offering" is holocaust)

New Testament "ceremonial law":

• Baptism
• Confession and Absolution
• Lord's Supper

There are only two religions in the world:

• The Religion of Law (all religions except...)
• The Religion of Gospel (...Christianity)

It is very important for a proper distinction of Law and Gospel. "Glawspel" is nothing more than diluted law.  We confess that, outside of the Lutheran church, the proper distinction between Law and Gospel does not exist.

There are two sources for knowledge about God: Natural and Revealed.  Natural knowledge of God comes through Creation and the Conscience.  Revealed knowledge of God comes through Scripture.

We learn from Nature that God is:

• Big (creation)
• Good (order)
• Mad (we are bad)

Nature shows us only law.

Revealed to us in Scripture is:

• God's name
• Triune nature
• Salvation

The revealed God is Gospel.

Consciences can be broken when:

• It tells us we are guilty when we are not
• It tells us we are not guilty when we are
• It tells us we are condemned when we are saved

The Devil works on two things:

• Your conscience
• The Church

The Bible

This was the "Bible in 15 minutes" summary given by Pastor.

Old Testament:

• Written by the prophets
• Written in Hebrew
• 39 books in 5 'sections':
• Torah (Books of Moses, 5 books)
• History (12 books)
• Wisdom (5 books)
• Major Prophets (4 books)
• Minor Prophets (13 books)
• The major theme running through the whole Old Testament is the promise of Jesus, the seed--every word, every person, every event is driving you towards Christ.

Between the Testaments is the Apocrypha (mostly written in Greek).  We believe it to be helpful, but not sacred or inspired.

New Testament:

• Written by the Apostles
• Written in Greek
• 27 books in 5 'sections':
• Gospels (4 books)
• Each book follows the same basic pattern with two major sections in each: the birth and ministry of Jesus; and His death and resurrection
• Acts (history of the early Church, 1 book)
• Pauline Epistles (named for "to whom", 13 books)
• Catholic (universal) Epistles (named mostly for "by whom" because they were addressed to the whole church, 8 books)
• Prophesy (Revelations, 1 book)
• Three major authors in the New Testament:
• Luke: author of Luke and Acts
• Paul: oversaw the writing of the Gospel of Luke and book of Acts, authored the 13 Pauline Epistles
• Peter: oversaw the writing of the Gospel of Mark, authored 1 and 2 Peter

Next week, we tackle the first table of the law (Commandments 1-3, by the Lutheran numbering--there are about 5 different ways to number the Commandments, which we will talk about next week).

Hopefully you can make sense of my notes, if not--please comment and I'll be happy to clarify!

Reformation Day

Today, for many individuals, is a strange custom known as "Halloween".  I never really saw the point in it, so I generally choose to avoid participating in it (costumes are fun, though, so I enjoy the dances, parties and such that spring up at this time of year with masks and disguises).

However, for Lutherans, today is Reformation Day.  495 years ago on 31 October, 1517, Dr. Martin Luther nailed his "Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences" on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church.  At that time, the door was much like a bulletin board, with all forms of notices posted there--this notice being one for debate on the topic of Indulgences.

Luther's Rose (or Luther's Seal), enshrining the core of our beliefs in Sola Fida, Sola Gratia and Sola Scriptora: Faith Alone by Grace Alone as taught to us in Scripture Alone. 

Before I get into more about the Theses, I came across two interesting links in looking for further information on this topic.  One from what appears to be a Catholic source, actually speaks very kindly of the Theses, which is encouraging to me and I would like to hear from my Catholic friends to see if this is common sentiment or just someone posting on the internet.  Another is an article from The Economist on 17 December 2011, addressing how Luther "went viral" in his day.  If you haven't seen the more recent Luther movie, you're missing out.  Below you can watch the 95 Theses scene--but seriously, watch the whole movie as soon as possible.  It is excellent.




Why did Luther write these 95 Theses in the first place?  Briefly, Luther strongly (and rightly) opposed the practice of purchasing the forgiveness of sins and giving false hope to sinners and believers about their salvation and forgiveness being just a few coins away.

Indulgences are pieces of paper you can could once buy (edit: per a Catholic friend, you cannot still purchase indulgences, however you may still earn or gain them and it appears to me the practice has been somewhat reformed, addressing issues of contrition and repentance now at least) from the Roman Catholic Church for absolution of your sins, or removing dead relatives from Purgatory.  Johann Tetzel, the hand of Pope Leo X in the selling of indulgences, had a nice little ditty: "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!"  These pieces of paper are, of course, utterly meaningless for forgiveness of sins (particularly since Purgatory does not even exist) and were simply a means of raising money for building projects and to finance the exceedingly extravagant lifestyle of the Pope at that time.  In order to sell more indulgences, the priest Tetzel began to claim that all sins (past, present and future, with no further need for confession and absolution) were forgiven with his indulgences--for just a little more money.

Additionally, it was said that veneration of relics would allow the sinner to receive pardon for their sins by "skipping" Purgatory.  Wittenberg, because of Prince Frederick III of Saxony, held a large collection of relics at that time, reportedly over 5,000--and, like most relics, they were frauds.

Luther was rightly outraged that the Church would charge money for a gift freely offered and already paid for by Christ.  In order to expose this fraud, Luther, being a scholar, requested a public debate at the University of Wittenberg, with the 95 Theses being the outline of topics for discussion.  They also were the challenge to anyone who would come and defend the appalling practice of selling Indulgences.

After posting the 95 Theses, Luther also sent copies to the Archbishop Albert of Mainz (who authorized the selling of Indulgences in his area) and to the Bishop of Brandenburg, Luther's superior.  Within two weeks, the Theses had spread across the country with the aid of the printing press.  Within two months, copies could be found all over Europe.  In January 1518, friends of Luther's translated the Theses from Latin to German, and further distributed them so that even the common man could understand.

Not much happened until Albert of Mainz decided to score some political points with the Pope.  As mentioned below, had Albert not made the "big deal" of these theses and that monk he had, Luther would likely have been largely unknown today.  The response to Luther, besides greatly angering Johann Tetzel, came on 15 June, 1520 from Pope Leo X in the Exsurge Domine.

Within two years, Wittenberg had turned away from many (what they considered to be heretical) Catholic practices and Luther became much more popular than he ever desired.  From testimony of witnesses to his own writings, he never meant to start a "revolution", merely sought to reform what he considered false teachings within the Church he so dearly loved.  From there, Luther was excommunicated within a few years, within a decade, the Lutheran Princes issued the Augsburg Confession, and the rest, as they say, is history.

To the credit of the Roman Catholic Church, some of the most egregious practices that Luther opposed have been addressed at least to some extent, but it took centuries for that to occur.  By then, they had already severed ties with Luther, and Lutherans, and certainly did not address all concerns that were later laid out in the Augsburg Confession and other portions of the Book of Concord.

To close, I thought I would share a few quotes from those far more eloquent and smart than I.

Some great general commentary on Luther's role in the Reformation from Dr. Gene Edward Veith:

"Luther's goal was to reform the church, but the church repudiated him and what he was trying to do. It is often said that Luther split from the Roman Catholic Church. That is not true. He was thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church. There is a huge difference. Luther was no schismatic. He did not start some new religion on his own authority. He did not dream up some new theology. He was trying to bring the church back to its true nature and its true message, as defined by the Word of God, which the church itself professed to believe. 

The Roman Church, in turn, refused to take the concerns seriously, much less give them a genuine hearing. The pope refused to address even the most flagrant abuses that were obvious to everyone. Instead of listening to those who questioned its direction, the Roman Church tried to destroy them. Thus the Roman Catholic Church created Protestantism." 

Interesting perspective on what might have been had not a church bureaucrat seized what he thought was an opportunity to gain favor with Rome from Pr. Donavon Riley:

"What happened when Luther posted the 95 Theses on the church door? Nothing. An irrelevant monk posted his theses for academic debate on the church doors in an irrelevant city, in an irrelevant part of Saxony, known for its fish, beer, and prostitutes. Several months later the theses were read by Albrecht, "Bishop" of Mainz, who used them as an [political] opportunity for himself to garner more favors from Rome. If not for him ... Obscurity for our frail friar."

"The World's Most Interesting Reformer..."