The Gospel Luther’s Linchpin for Catholicity (original) (raw)

Abstract

responded, "we are not catholic! That's why Luther changed the phrase of the creed to holy Christian Church." These reactions point to the need to explore again how Luther defined and used the words catholic and Christian within the context of his understanding of ecclesiology and its apostolic task. Some Lutherans might suggest an even bolder approach and heed the advice of James Atkinson. He suggested that it is now time to set Luther free from all the confessional Lutheranism that has accrued around him, and "set him in the centre of a new catholicity, where he once belonged and still belongs." 7 Would, and could, Lutherans dare take up this challenge? Before making such a decision, it would be helpful to explore how the word catholic was used in the period before the reformation, and how Luther himself used it in shaping his theology and developing his ecclesiology. The starting point is to look at how the word catholic was translated and used in the period immediately prior to the beginnings of the reformation. Matters of Language: Catholic or Christian? The common perception today asserts that Luther set about with clarity of purpose, almost from the outset, his task of promoting the gospel over the Catholic Church. The opposition he encountered in the first years of the reformation struggle merely strengthened his resolve. He was warned at Augsburg by Cardinal Cajetan in the fall of 1518 that his views on justifying faith amounted to "creating a new church." Further, when forced by his opponent Johann Eck at the Leipzig disputation in 1519 into admitting his belief that Jan Huss (†1415) was no heretic, Luther knew that he was firmly beyond the Catholic pale even before the papal condemnations started arriving on his desk. Any residual desire he might have had to claim the title Catholic in his attempts to restore the church to its original calling was finally abandoned when he translated the creeds into German, removing the word catholic as a defining adjective of the church. This is the common perception of Luther's view. This perception is partially correct. Luther did indeed delete catholic as a descriptor and definer of the church in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, and substituted, in its place, the word Christian. Furthermore, he was entirely consistent in this substitution-which is in itself remarkable because unwavering consistency is not a characteristic one normally associates with Luther. One must therefore assume that replacing catholic with Christian in his translation of the creedal formulas into German was a deliberate decision on his part. Luther never gives a theological explanation for this translation, other than to claim that it was the best translation available. As he notes in his 1538 treatise on The Three Creeds: "[Catholic (Catholica)] can have no better translation than Christian (Christlich) as was done heretofore. That is, although Christians are to be found in the whole world, the pope rages against that and wants to have his court alone called the Christian Church. He lies, however, like his idol, the devil." 8 Here 2

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References (14)

  1. Brecht, Martin Luther: The Preservation of the Church, 174-175, reports that Luther wore "a dark doublet with satin sleeves, over which he wore a short, fur-lined coat made of serge, a light woollen material. He also wore a heavy gold chain and several rings." 19 Brecht, The Preservation of the Church, 175. 20 The civil rulers had been insisting on a council in the territory of the Empire, and he knew that this was a potential problem. He also tried to gather information about the English delegation visiting Wittenberg, since Robert Barnes, one of the delegates, declined to meet with him. According to Brecht, The Preservation of the Church, 175, Vergerio felt that action against Henry VIII was a more pressing matter than a council, especially in light of the recent executions of John Fisher and Thomas More. 21 As noted by Brecht, The Preservation of the Church, 176. 22 WABR 5,638.41-639.4. No. 6388. Luther clearly feels the things discussed are not of the essence (esse) of the gospel. He has already made this point in his 1530 commentary on Psalm 117/118:1. He notes, "What have the popes and bishops made of the Gospel and the Christian Church except a completely ecclesiastical, yes, even a worldly dominion? What else are all the new sectarian spirits, fanatics, and foolish saints trying to do but to turn the Gospel into outward holiness or a new monastic order of grey coats [i.e. the monks and Anabaptists] and a long face? We are told: "Praise the Lord, all you heathen. Be heathen, remain heathen, become heathen. Establish ecclesiastical orders, set up rules and codes, make laws and secular government. Be chaste, marry, and devise what- ever outward doings and forms you please. But take care that you do not think it possible to become Christians or be saved by such means. Do not imagine for a moment that such things are Christianity or of its essence. For such things as I have just enumerated can all be thought out and established by reason without the help of Christ. One thing must rise high above all that you can devise and do, namely, that you praise the Lord. The things just men- tioned praise you yourselves, not the Lord. For these things are yours, developed by you in yourselves out of your mind and previously planted and established in nature." LW 14:23-24; WA 31.I.242.12-27. 23 WABR 5,639.4-9. No. 6388.
  2. Vergerio's report is found in Philip Melanchthon, Corpus Reformatorum, edited by Carolus Gottlieb Bretschneider and Henricus Ernestus Bindeseil, Phillippi Melanchthonis Opera, 28 volumes (Halle: C.A. Schwetschke, 1834-1860), 2:982-989.
  3. Brecht, Martin Luther: The Preservation of the Church, 176. 26 Such claims are often made by Luther, but they reach their peak in his 1545 treatise, "Against the Roman Papacy, and Institution of the Devil," LW 41:257-376; WA 54.206-99.
  4. James M. Kittelson, "Ecumenism and Condemnation in Luther and Early Lutheranism," Lutheran Quarterly NS 3 No. 2 (Summer 1989), 136-137. Kittelson adds, "To put the matter differently, Melanchthon indeed wrote 'it is enough (satis est) to agree concerning the teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacra- ments,' but these terms carried such theological weight that Eck and the Roman party at Augsburg quickly com- posed a Confutation of Melanchthon's work." 28 Luther often defines the gospel as "the forgiveness of sins," and insists, according to his Small Catechism, that wherever there is the forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation. See here my forthcoming article, "Martin Luther's Embedded Commentary Within his Translation of Romans 3." 29 For Luther's use of the title, "Children's Creed," see WA 50:624; LW 41:132, 143-144.
  5. See here William Russell, Luther's Theological Testament: The Schmalkald Articles (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994).
  6. Philip Melanchthon, The Power and Primacy of the Pope, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, edited by Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert and Charles P. Arand (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000).
  7. Luther, The Smalcald Articles, edited by Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 299. Luther's Preface, 10. (Hereafter, SA). Luther continues: "Therefore we do not ask for a council for our sakes. In such mat- ters, we cannot hope for or expect any improvement from the council. Rather, we see in bishoprics everywhere so many parishes empty and deserted that our hearts are ready to break. And yet, neither bishops nor cathedral canons ask how the poor people live or die-people for whom Christ died. And should not these people hear this same Christ speak to them as the true shepherd with his sheep?" 35 This was indeed what the first seven ecumenical councils did determine what was "orthodox" or "catholic" teachings about the doctrines of God, for the sake of salvation. Concordia Journal/Fall 2013 295 36 SA Luther's Pref., 15.
  8. SA I.1-4. Luther does make a passing reference to the role of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, in the paraphrase of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, but not a word is mentioned about the church. 38 SA I.1.
  9. SA I.4. This emphasis on the connection between the Triune nature of God and catholicity is also noted in current ecumenical discussions. See here, Braaten and Jenson, eds., The Catholicity of the Reformation, 1-12. 40 Luther in fact addresses the claim of the infallibility of the pope early in the Smalcald Articles, in Part II, Article 4. 41 "The Misuse of the Mass" (1521), LW 36:193-194; WA 8.533.26-34. This statement came early in his career as a reformer. He does not change his view over time, however. For example, near the end of his life, Luther aptly summarized his view that apart from the catholic or evangelical message, the church can, and does, err. As he states bluntly in his first two points of his treatise against the Louvain theologians: "1) Whatever is taught in the church of God without the Word is a godless lie," and "2) If it is declared an article of faith, it is a godless heresy." "Against the 32 Articles of the Louvain Theologians" (1545), LW: 34:354; WA 54.425.2-3, 430.21-25. 42 WA 10.I:2.48.5. 43 SA II.4.9.
  10. The Augsburg Confession, Art. VII.1, as found in Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 43 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000). 45 SA I.1.1. 46 SA I.1.5. 47 In the second section of the SA, Luther measures each of the topics according to five criteria; 1) is it in compliance with the first and chief article? 2) is it in accord with God's Word? 3) is it necessary? 4) is it com- manded or instructed by God? 5) is it dangerous or harmful? 48 See here, introduction, "On the Councils and the Church," LW 42:6.
  11. Cynthia Grant Schoenberger, "The Development of the Lutheran Theory of Resistance," Sixteenth Century Journal 8.1 (April 1977), 66. 50 Of course, Luther is not the first to understand ecclesia as such. In classical Greece, the gathering of all the citizens was called the ecclesia. The Bauer, Gingrich and Arndt Lexicon translates it as "assembly, as a regularly summoned political body." Walter Bauer, William Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, eds, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2nd Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 241. 51 LW 41:143, WA 50.624.21-24. 52 LW 41:143-144; WA 50.624.27-625.2. 53 At this point, Luther appears to interpret catholica as "universal" rather than as a synonym for Christian. 54 AC VII.2. 55 LC, Creed, 48. 56 SC, II. 6.
  12. See, for example, his extended argument on the ubiquity of Christ in his 1528 Treatise, "Confession Concerning Christ's Supper," LW 37:151-372; WA 26.261-509.
  13. 58 Luther states, "Whoever would have heard the words, 'Christian holy people' could have promptly con- cluded that the pope is no people, much less a holy Christian people. So too the bishops, priests, and monks are not holy Christian people, for they do not believe in Christ, nor do they lead a holy life, but are rather the wicked and shameful people of the devil. He who does not truly believe in Christ is not Christian or a Christian. He who does not have the Holy Spirit against sin is not holy. Consequently, they cannot be 'a Christian holy people,' that is, sancta et catholica ecclesia." "On the Council and the Church," 1539. LW 41:144-145; WA 50.625.8-15. 59 LW 41:145; WA 50.625.29-626.5. 60 LW 41:145; WA 50.626.33. 61 LW 41:148; WA 50.628.29-30. 62 LW 41:150; WA 50.629.28-35. 63 LW 22:55; WA 46.583.10-23. 64 LW 41:164; WA 50.641.20-21. 65 LW 41:164; WA 50.641.1. To possess the sacred cross was also to be united "into Christ in a death like his,"-to become a part of the body of Christ-that is even united on the cross, for the sake of the gospel. 66 LW 41:167; WA 50.644.14.
  14. James Atkinson, Martin Luther: Prophet to the Church Catholic (Exeter: The Paternoster Press; and Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 65.