The local Moody radio station at one point dropped broadcasts of the Lutheran Hour, a long-time radio ministry. It was a first-class communication problem. Lutheran preachers of recent generations tend to emphasize Baptism as key to salvation. Many Evangelicals reject the notion that sprinkling water on a baby could have anything to do with the individual’s relationship with God.
The communication error was with Lutheran preachers. Many tend to emphasize Peter’ reference to how Noah and his family were saved through water, and “this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you.” They fail to clarify that it is the Word which saves you. The water is a way of visualizing the Word. Actually, it is the Holy Spirit working through the Word that does the saving. According to the liturgical formula, “Almighty God has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins.”
In my circles I have observed among young pastors a growing tendency toward sacramentalism—treating the sacraments as more important than the Word. This usually comes with the formula that the pastor’s job is to “preach the Word and administer the sacraments.” God will take care of the rest. Such a simplified view of the pastoral ministry!
A favorite Luther quote in his times of personal turmoil was his exclamation “But I am baptized.” This can be taken to mean he relied on the act of water baptism for his identity as a believer. But what he was really saying is that God came to me. God initiated my relationship with Christ, not I. I don’t’ have to rely on my personal efforts to satisfy God. What a relief! This conviction that God out of his grace comes to me is fundamental to Luther’s whole theology. This break-through is the theology that launched the Reformation.
The real issue for Evangelicals is the baptism of infants, something done by Christian churches since the beginning. How can infants be saved without consciously confessing their personal faith? In their view baptism is for believers only. Behind this caution is lack of appreciation for the strong sense of church as a fellowship gathered by the Spirit.
In my administrative days I would occasionally be asked to do a baptism for a colleagues’ baby. I refused. The whole theology of infant baptism only makes sense when it is done in a congregation that pledges to raise the child in the faith that has been confessed for it. Key to understanding the difference between Evangelicals and Lutherans is that their fundamental theology emphasizes Reformed Behavior of individual believers. Luther’s theology emphasizes Reforming the Church that at his time was in the grip of sacramentalism.
For theologian Walter Sundberg, the heartbeat of Luther’s theology is faith. While baptism is valid because of God’s Word of promise, it is nevertheless misused if it is not received in faith. He cites Luther’s position that baptism is worth nothing without faith but is like seals affixed to a letter in which nothing is written. He who has the signs we call sacraments and has not faith has only seals upon a blank paper. Sundberg declares we should not mislead people to believe that membership in the church is the automatic result of ritual activity.
I personally believe Lutherans took a wrong turn in the 1950s when liturgical renewal gained traction among pastors and church leaders. Significantly, the emphasis was on renewing the forms and rituals of public worship for the purpose of higher quality. The roots of these rituals go back to the fourth century when the now-official Christian church began adopting the special rituals, robes and parades with incense of pagan worship. Pagan worship was meant to impress the gods, so they would look favorably on human efforts. Quality was important for that purpose. Emphasizing those rituals led to the sacramentalism that forms were more important than the Word of God itself.
Liturgical renewal, I think, was a wrong turn because it emphasized forms instead of relationships. The need today is to renew individual believers, especially those in traditional churches. Personal renewal is the work of the Holy Spirit, and he works through relationships with other believers gathered around God’s Word. Judging by the decline of so many highly liturgical churches, with a few exceptions, the Spirit is not working well through those forms in our times.
In your church is the Word more important than the sacraments?
Pastor, you have not addressed the central question that Dr. Luther engaged in his rebuke of the Anabaptists, who are ably represented by the leadership of Moody Broadcasting, Inc. If baptism is a human activity, then it does nothing as it pertains to salvation. The Anabaptists were convinced that it was a human activity, that it had no power, and that, therefore, it had no benefit for those who had received their baptism as an infant.
Dr. Luther was convinced, based upon the Scriptures, the teachings of the Church Fathers, and the practice of the Church for generations, that baptism is a Divine act. Through the rite and ritual of Holy Baptism, God unites us to His beloved Son, Jesus Christ (Rom 6:3-4). The Lutheran Hour was correct to emphasize, contra the Baptist Enthusiasm of the Moody Broadcast Network, the efficacy of Holy Baptism so that the Christian can be comforted when Satan attacks to make our faith shipwreck by putting our attention on our works, our efforts to sanctify ourselves, anything other than the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ to wash away our sins.
We may have a major misunderstanding. The power of baptism is the way it conveys and exemplifies the Word of the Gospel. It is the Spirit working through the Word that gives the power. The water is a trigger, like many others in church life. This is a different argument from the Lord’s Supper. How the bread and wine become body and blood is a mystery, a mysterious presence. It offers us assurance of our salvation.
Dr. Luecke,
I don’t think you are correctly articulating the Lutheran faith. Baptism doesn’t merely “convey and exemplify” the Word; Baptism is the water and the Word joined together. The Small Catechism says, “Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word.” It goes even further in saying that Baptism gives eternal salvation to the believer: “[Baptism] works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.”
As an LCMS pastor I’m certain you affirm this, but I encourage you to be more clear in your language that you do uphold the Lutheran teaching.
Respectfully,
Christopher S. Esget
Alexandria, VA
Thanks for the clarification. My understanding would be that the Word, conveyed by the water, works the forgiveness etc. Surely this is what Luther was saying.
Your article create a false dichotomy between faith and baptism. You end with a question which itself is a false dichotomy: “In your church is the Word more important than the sacraments?”
Lutherans believe faith is important, but that in Holy Scriptures, there are no examples of “sinners prayers”, but baptism… as the means of expressing saving faith.
What a disappointment you didn’t get our view correct.
Wish I had the time to tell you my story of moving out of evangelicalism and all it’s gimmicks and guilt and bland seeker-focused worship, and large congregations in stadiums, where everyone is anonymous… and how God moved me to join a Lutheran church.
Once again, a review of Lutheranism comes from someone with the Reformed perspective. Such a shame.
Are you sure you understand the Lutheran Confessions rightly? A constant phrase in Latin is that the sacraments don’t work ex opere operato–a work having been worked, like abbacadabara in magic. I would like to know your journey from evangelicalism. In my experience mature Evangelicals have a good understanding of the biblical basics. Don’t confuse the theology with the way it is being expressed in contemporary church bodies. You are reacting against a culture for expressing those beliefs.
Never heard such a cogent critique of liturgical renewal before. the idea that the origin of Xian ritual sprung more from pagan roots than Jewish roots explains how it devolved from spirit led to tradition fed.
I never read this explanation myself. I came to it out of readings from the first four centuries of Christianity in the Roman Empire. I wish I had realized it several decades ago in the midst of the Worship Wars.
Greetings brother David,
At Our Savior Lutheran Church of Uganda- Magamaga, it is quite like what the article explains – many of the Christians treat the sacraments to be more important than the Word. This is attributed to the Anglican teaching that upholds the view. And because they have that background they intend to treat sacraments with high esteem.
We encourage pastors before they baptize infants to teach the sponsors who mostly are members on the church council to understand that sacraments are visible Word.
The reason we as well ask mostly Church Council members to be sponsors is to be sure that they will commit themselves to having the responsibility of raising the sponsored child into the faith they baptized.
This continues to be a struggle though because of the different teaching about baptism/ sacraments and the Word.
Thanks for your observation from the churches in Uganda. The mystical view is built into Catholicism and many Anglican churches. You are handling it sensibly.
David, thank you for the plain but profound way that you speak to teachings and practices that face our people and our church today. There is a need today for a calm but prophetic voice. Thank you.
Thanks, Barry. I appreciate your perspective.
THE THIRD ARTICLE (of the Apostles’ Creed) – Sanctification
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
What does this mean?
Answer: I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise up me and all the dead and will give eternal life to me and to all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.
Paul Timothy McCain, ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005), 330.
The Church has never placed the Word and the Sacraments in opposition one to the other.
I know and appreciate the rightful explanation of Sacraments as the application of the Word. I am addressing those who hear Word and Sacraments as a slogan without understanding they are not equal. We have a lot of sloppy thinking out there that leads to sloppy ineffectual ministry.
First, regarding the Sacrament of Holy Baptism:
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism:
In a simple way in which the head of a house
is to present it to the household
First
[1–2] What is baptism? Answer:
Baptism is not simply plain water. Instead it is water enclosed in God’s command and connected with God’s Word.
[3] What then is this Word of God? Answer:
[4] Where our LORD Christ says in Matthew 28[:19*], “Go into all the world, teach all nations,78 and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Second
[5–6] What gifts or benefits does baptism grant? Answer:
It brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it, as the words and promise of God declare.
[7–8] What are these words and promise of God? Answer:
Where our LORD Christ says in Mark 16[:16*], “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be damned.”
Third
[9–10] How can water do such great things? Answer:
Clearly the water does not do it, but the Word of God, which is with and alongside the water, and faith, which trusts this Word of God in the water. For without the Word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the Word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled water of life and a “bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul says to Titus in chapter 3[:5–8*], “through the bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he richly poured out over us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that through that very grace we may be righteous and heirs in hope of eternal life. This is surely80 most certainly true.”
[11] Fourth
[12] What then is the significance of such a baptism with water? Answer:
It signifies that the old creature in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily contrition and repentance,82 and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
[13] Where is this written? Answer:
[14] St. Paul says in Romans 6[:4*], “We were buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we, too, are to walk in a new life.”
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 359–360.
Second, regarding the Sacrament of the Altar:
The Sacrament of the Altar:
[1–2] What is the Sacrament of the Altar? Answer:
It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.
[3] Where is this written? Answer:
[4] The holy evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and St. Paul write thus:
“Our LORD Jesus Christ, on the night in which he was betrayed, took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, ‘Take; eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’
“In the same way he also took the cup after the supper, gave thanks, and gave it to them and said, ‘Take, and drink of it, all of you. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ ”
[5–6] What is the benefit of such eating and drinking? Answer:
The words “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” show us that forgiveness of sin,101 life, and salvation are given to us in the sacrament through these words, because where there is forgiveness of sin, there is also life and salvation.
[7–8] How can bodily eating and drinking do such a great thing? Answer:
Eating and drinking certainly do not do it, but rather the words that are recorded: “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” These words, when accompanied by the physical eating and drinking, are the essential thing in the sacrament, and whoever believes these very words has what they declare and state, namely, “forgiveness of sins.”
[9–10] Who, then, receives this sacrament worthily? Answer:
Fasting and bodily preparation are in fact a fine external discipline, but a person who has faith in these words, “given for you” and “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” is really worthy and well prepared. However, a person who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, because the words “for you” require truly believing hearts.
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 362–363.
The proper teaching regarding the SAcraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper should not lead to the “magical” understanding that people held regarding the sacraments prior to the Reformation. To the extent that such MIGHT be the case, cannot be laid at the feet of our Confessions, which clearly and plainly teach against such an understanding. Rather, it is the spiritual laziness of people who choose to ignore the whole counsel of God and “take their Lord’s talent” and bury it rather than work with it, with the result of seeing it grow (Matt 25:14-30).
Against such folly, the pastor is to proclaim God’s will, in both Law and Gospel, both in Word and Sacrament, to expose spiritual sloth and to stir up faithfulness to the will of the Lord as He proclaims in the preaching of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit faithfully works with the Word to bring forth the Fruit of the Spirit.
I know and appreciate the rightful explanation of Sacraments as the application of the Word. I am addressing those who hear Word and Sacraments as a slogan without understanding they are not equal. We have a lot of sloppy thinking out there that leads to sloppy ineffectual ministry.
You make two important points. (1) That the power of the sacraments is the Word of God. (2) That unbelief nullifies the sacramental promises.
But I think it is easy to read your comments as implying that Baptism is ultimately meaningless. I would encourage you and your readers to see the online document called, “An Inexpressible Treasure: The Theology and Practice of Holy Baptism (2018). https://files.lcms.org/wl/?id=YQF8qwwIMcVXwc3MdqKpxt5di3qWKHnK.
Your brother in Christ, Larry
Baptism is not meaningless when understood as the commitment of parents and church to raise the child in the faith. Ultimately we do it because that is the NT expectation.
Good clarification, Pastor Luecke!
Thanks
Moses, in Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6, commanded the People of Israel to “circumcise their hearts”–in other words, the act of circumcision, in and of itself (ex opere operato), wasn’t enough. While I am a strong proponent of Baptism as a Means of Grace and of Infant Baptism, I believe that we need to make the appeal for people to “baptize their hearts” as, apart from faith, Baptism cannot save. C.F.W Walther, in his Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, said that to say that the sacraments work ex opere operato is a confusion of Law and Gospel. Too much of our LCMS preaching, from what I’ve seen in over three decades of pastoral ministry, plays into this confusion that Walther warned about.
Glad for the Walther reference. There is much sloppy thinking going on out there among ministers.
No comment. I’m just interested to see what kind of feedback you get. 🙂
Lots of comments and controversy. I meant to be provocative. I have written a new blog in response. It will appear in two weeks. Thanks for your interest.
I will print this out and use it in the smallest room in my house.
Best wishes
I think it is the wrong question to ask: is the word more important than the sacraments? The sacraments are the word and promises attached to tangible earthly elements. The Lord has promised to work through these Means of Grace for us.
It is possible that we (pastors) don’t teach that clearly enough. It is awfully easy to focus on the wrong things in ministry and teaching. That does not put the problem with the sacraments, or with the Spirit having any kind of difficulty working through them.
I suspect that it is quite likely that what is lacking is the emphasis on Christ’s gifts delivered in word and sacrament. Perhaps this has been replaced by ritualistic “sacramentalism” (as I think you called it). It is also possible that it has been buried under modern self-help styles of messages which are all too common in the church. The message of Jesus’s forgiveness and salvation and the hope of the resurrection applied to real life is a compelling message when it is clearly proclaimed in word and sacraments as for you.
Good insights. My main point is to say there are many ways to effectively present the Word beyond the sacraments. I have written a blog on that which will appear in a few weeks.
“Christ” said, Go, and baptize people of all nations. Not Christians. Not people who proclaim their faith. Not adults. Not teenagers. Not babies. But, people of all nations. “Everyone”! This has nothing to do with Noah. It is something God does for us, not what we do for God. The Holy Spirit comes upon us through baptism. So, no matter what age you are, when you are baptized the Holy Spirit enters us. This article is false.
I am not sure what’s false. Luther calls baptism a blank check. To be effective it has to be cashed, that is, accepted by faith. Next week’s blog will touch on universalism.
I agree that we are not understanding this the same way. As I understand our Confession and our Systematic teaching, baptism has power because of the Lord’s Word of promise (“for the forgiveness of sins” and “the gift of the Holy Spirit.”). That is why the Spirit works with the Word to bring to pass the union with Christ in His death and the washing of our consciences. Not magic – just God’s faithfulness to His Word.
Thanks
False dichotomy is correct. True worship is Word AND Sacrament (and sacrificial service to widows and orphans.) Each important and neither denigrating the other. If Baptism is not significant and efficacious, what are we to say to those who now have dementia and can no longer “exercise conscious faith?” A record (Hippolytus) of the practice of infant baptism dates to approximately A.D. 225 in the Christian church in Rome. “First we baptize the ‘little ones’, then the women, and then the men.” It all makes sense within the context of an attentive faith community. Without such a faith community (or the faithful commitments of parents/sponsors,) infant Baptism is indeed magic. But salvation is from and by the Grace of God, not because of my somehow ‘correct’ belief.
Thanks for the reference to the second-century record. I think we agree but what I am saying is that the Word is more important than the Sacraments and there are many other ways to present the Word.