Kilcrease, 2013. Chapter 9, “The Mystery of the Person of Christ, Part 5”

Chapter 9, “The Mystery of the Person of Christ, Part 5”

The Communication of Attribues: The Genus Majestaticum and Its Defense

The genus majestaticum is the most controversial aspect of the communication of attributes. Kilcrease largely follows Chemnitz’ description of the doctrine in this chapter. The genus majestaticum is that view which syas Christ, considered in the abstract, has received the fullness of divine attributes by communication. This does not imply a change of humanity into divinity. It oes indicate a communication of divinity into humanity. Neither is this a mixture, but a communication. Chemnitz describes this communication in terms of fire in contact with metal. Eventually the metal takes on the heat and even the glowing color of the fire. It does not become fire, but remains metal even with the character of the fire imparted to it.

Calvin and his followers have tended to reject the genus majestaticum. The classic argument assumes that Lutherans think the human nature is communicated to the divine. This is not so. Only the divine is communicated to the human. It is a sign of God’s giving of himself to reeem fallen humanity.

Kilcrease discusses the Reformed objections to the doctrine at some length. he points out especially that the complaint finitum non capax infiniti is answered by God’s sovereign ability to dwell where he wishes. This is the grace of God at work.

Sermon for 3/29/14 - funeral

This sermon seems to be floating around in my mind with a couple of titles. It was prepared for a funeral I conducted on 3/29/14.  I didn't preach in church on 3/30 and didn't get a good recording of my guest.

Sermon for 3/29/14 “Bread ofLife” John 6

Just a little book – devotional book – a reading for each day, tells you a Bible passage to read, gives you a couple of chapters in the Bible that it suggests you also read, just a little thing.

Little kindnesses sometmes make great introductions.

brought me into contact with someone who loved the Lord and His Word.

not an easy life, not an easy history

lost relatives, health, appearance

didn’t lose Jesus, the bread of life

In our readings today from Isaiah 25 and 1 Corinthians 15 we saw that when God looks at life he sees it differently than we do.

eternity

real life that doesn’t end

hope

future

joy

peace

no turmoil in the end

supernatural food that doesn’t perish

That means something when you have lost family members, friends, even when you look at yourself in pictures and then look at yourself in a mirror and wonder if you’ve lost yourself.

Confronted by our own mortality, we pause and look to the immortal God.

Jesus, came to live and die for our sakes.

Jesus, true God and true man, able to do the God thing of taking our sin and giving us his righteousness.

Jesus, the one who suffered in every way as we do.

Jesus, the one who rose from the dead victorious.

One friend, a close friend, when confronted with death, said it was going to be a big trip. I wondered at first if he was going to Tahiti. No, a much bigger trip.

Don’t enter the trip without the big God, who has loved you and given himself for you.

Even as we lay our sister in Christ, Enid Winslow, to rest, we look to the one she trusted, the Lord who is able to keep her forever. It’s a big trip. The Lord is good. He knows her destination.

Pieper, 1968. Chapter B8, “A Brief Critique of Modern Theology in so far as It Denies the Inspiration of Scripture”

Chapter B8, “A Brief Critique of Modern Theology in so far as It Denies the Inspiration of Scripture”

Pieper distinguishes between “old” theology and “modern” theology in that the “old” theologians commit to be governed by the Scripture while the “modern” ones place themselves as judges of the Scripture. Pieper’s assessment of the reasoning says that the modern theologians (he cites several) want to examine the Bible to see what is true. From John chapter 8 he suggests that those scholars are not God’s people at all. Underlying this, he says, is a rejection of Christ’s vicarious satisfaction. To defend themselves, the modern theologians introduce a number of problematic arguments.

1) It was later generations of dogmaticians who invented the idea of Scripture as God’s infallible Word.

2) Luther may not have considered the Bible as God’s Word.

3) Dogmaticians view Scripture as mechanically dictated.

4) Inspirationists think the Bible fell from heaven as it stands today.

Pieper contradicts these assertions in brief. He views God’s Word as reliable, in agreement with the historic Church.

Bonhoeffer, 1937, Chapter 1, “Costly Grace”

Chapter 1, “Costly Grace”

Bonhoeffer begins with a discussion of what has since become an iconic idea in Christianity, the idea of grace which is “cheap” or “costly.” In his view, true grace is costly. It cost God the life of Jesus. It costs us our lives as well. Yet it is grace, because it delivers the riches of God to us. Cheap grace, as Bonhoeffer defines it, is limited to doctrine. The intellectual assent is sufficient. It does not demand changed actions.

After detailing cheap grace and explaining some of the costs of costly grace, Bonhoeffer speaks of the decline of costly grace as Christianity spread. He views the monastic movement as a failed attempt to recover costly grace. Because only a few could enter monastic orders, this costly grace was available only to a small portion of the body of Christ.

Luther was confronted with the cost of discipleship both when he entered the monastic life and when he was driven back to the world. he saw that grace was all he could trust. Bonhoeffer asserts (Loc. 672) that in Luther’s view our secular callings are only justified as far as they are carried on in the process of following Jesus. This, he says, was a major thrust of the Reformation.

Bonhoeffer goes on to say that Luther’s followers, though they held pure doctrine, were weak on discipleship (Loc. 686). I question this assertion in light of the events of the 16th to 18th centuries, when we see a constant struggle for orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

Bonhoeffer continues by distinguishing between life-changing grace and grace which merely assures us of God’s forgiveness when we sin. In this context he brings up Luther’s famous statement, pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide et gaude in Christo. By casting it as a conclusion rather than a premise of an argument Bonhoeffer attempts to redeem the statement and generalize it to apply to our whole life, including the times we fail in our discipleship. I could wish he had taken the statement as Luther used it, rather than as a maxim. In context, Luther is urging action based on biblical conclusions rather than inaction based on custom.

Bonhoeffer repurposes the statement and applies it as a call to repentance for our sins. He then calls the church, particularly Lutherans in his part of the world, to follow Jesus, pursuing an active obedience, which he holds over against an assent to correct doctrine.

The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Cost of Discipleship (1937). tr. R.H. Fuller, 1948. London: SCM Press, 2001.

I read this in a Kindle version, so rather than any page numbers there are simply location numbers.

Sermon for 3/26/14 Be Filled with the Spirit

Sermon: Be Filled with theSpirit


The Lord is one
 no division
 no mixed opinion
 no confusion
 entirely on-message all the time
 doing his work - cleansing, redeeming, healing
On the other hand, we aren’t much like the Lord.
 division
 strife
 gossip
 backbiting
 straining out camels, swallowing gnats
 trying to good and often doing evil
 even look at our Lord’s good pleasure and call it evil
 We try to trust in our position, trust in our armor, trust in our riches
    it all falls apart
Sometimes when what we are trusting in falls apart it is the Lord at work
 breaking down our defenses
 establishing his authority
 showing us we need to depend on him rather than ourselves
What happens when we decide to be in charge of what the Lord can and can’t do?
 hinder the work of the Holy Spirit
 he cleanses us and we pull away from him
 evil spirits bring seven (number of completion) more evil and we are in deep trouble
What will we do instead?
 Be filled with the Spirit
 Recognize and worship the one true Lord
 rejoice in the work he does
 willingly pursue the goals we find in the Scripture and that our trusted leaders are laying out
 above all trust that Jesus is able to accomplish his work through us
He can make us one, unconfused, undivided, powerful, on-message, and dedicated to bringing healing and grace to our world

Kilcrease, 2013. Chapter 8, “The Mystery of the Person of Christ, Part 4”

Chapter 8, “The Mystery of the Person of Christ, Part 4”

Genus Idiomaticum and Genus Apotelesmaticum

Note: In this chapter Kilcrease makes numerous reference to Latin words but his usage and spelling is not consistent.

Kilcrease continues to detail God’s gift in Christ as he deals with the way the two natures dwell together in God the Son. This interaction of the divine and human natures involves sharing various attributes, a doctrine called “communicatio idiomatum.” Much of the terminology used in these discussions was borrowed and modified from Greek philosophy. In the modification the terms took on significantly different implications. In the traditional view, the substance of “goodness” (my term) does not change. Neither does the substance of humanness. The two are united into one Christ. Both substances continue. Thus, in Christ, when Jesus does something, he remains fully God and fully man, even in his death and resurrection.

Kilcrease details a number of ways this has been misunderstood. Often there is a separation of the natures. Sometimes one is denied. Sometimes they are mixed, creating something which is neither God nor Man. The Lutheran Reformation tried to hold fast to this historical understanding of the two natures. This was important not only to guard doctrine but because the doctrines mattered in grasping the benefits of Christ’s work on our behalf.

As the chapter ends, Kilcrease gives a detailed example of this protection of doctrine by detailing a number of the arguments of Martin Chemnitz, showing how they applied to various objections current in modern theology.