Zion was the first Lutheran church in Cleveland, founded in 1848 to serve the German immigrants in industrial Cleveland. It turned into the Lutheran megachurch of its time, with a sanctuary that seats 1,200. That building remains in use on East 30th, although attendance now averages about twenty. I drive by it frequently. Endowments have kept the buildings in good repair.
The founding pastor for 52 years was Heinrich C. Schwan, who also served as president of the regional district and vice-president of the national synod. Elderly Lutherans today remember grandparents who respected Pastor Schwan highly.
Schwan did a conference presentation on “Propositions on Unevangelical Practice.” He was disturbed that many congregations in his church body were pursuing legalistic practices. Pastor Schwan carefully distinguished between church practices oriented to grace in contrast to the legalism seen in many evangelical churches of his time in the late nineteenth century. He was constantly on guard lest legalism slip into church. Here some of his observations:
- Since we expect justification before God, with renewal of the heart and the fruits of the Spirit only through the Gospel, in everything we do we should have this one thing in mind, to give free course and sway to the Gospel.
- Evangelical practice demands manifestation of faith and love but does not issue commands about their aim, amount or mode.
- Evangelical practice does not make the state of grace dependent on keeping the Law.
- Evangelical practice bears with all manner of defects, imperfections, and sins, rather than to remove them merely in an external manner.
- Evangelical practice should flow from evangelical knowledge but does so rather seldom and slowly.
- Evangelical practice lets love be the queen of all commandments.
Still today, in the Lutheran churches adult members are reported as Confirmed Members and children are Baptized Members. Most of those adults typically have what I call confirmed faith in distinction from convicted faith. Those with convicted faith have renewed hearts and live the fruit of the Spirit. Those with confirmed faith are usually there because of ethnic loyalty to Lutheranism.
The Apostle Paul carefully distinguished between living according to the new nature generated by the Spirit and according to the old, sinful nature of the world. He constantly challenged the believers to leave their old nature behind and let the Spirit generate the new nature within them.
Every Sunday Pastor Schwan faced a congregation most of whom still thought according to the old nature’s dependence on legalistic thinking. It is tempting to lead such a congregation by making rules for how to be members. In contrast, Pastor Schwan thought that church practices ought to be dependent on grace rather than legalism. But he was well aware that relying on grace does not work for most members. Hence he made the observations listed above.
Evangelical practice bears with all manner of defects, imperfection and sins rather than to remove them merely in an external manner. Evangelical practices work seldomly and slowly. Evangelical practice lets love be the queen of all commandments.
What kinds of practices dominate in your congregation? Evangelical practices are frustrating because they seldom work and then only slowly. They are not a formula for fast growth and large offerings. Congregations committed to the ways of grace may look dull and unexciting.
But the ways of grace and the Spirit actually do change some people, who grow in their understand and are empowered by the Holy Spirit. They do become excited about their church life. Congregations with a high percentage of Spirit-driven convicted believers do in turn become exciting and often fast-growing.
Right on, brother! I praise the LORD for the Spirit swaying you to share this observable truth…
Sorry, this one was less inspirational and seemed accusatory, non-specific, and a slap. Tell me if I missed the point. Tks
The building at E. 30th street is not the original one for Zion congregation. The original was locate on what is more Lakeside Ave near E. 12th.
Interesting…I did know that early location, but it is not necessary for this story.
In my experience, it takes time to grow. In the human body, the main body grows into the twenties and the brain does not exhibit the capacity of maturity until about the age of 25. Those of us who exercise the body and the mind continue to strengthen our bodies and mind. We also need to ” exercise” our spirit in HIs Spirit. Can this be done by prayer, meditation, reading the Word and Surrendering to His Love?God is God and created us to be in fellowship with HIm. He also paid the debt four sin so that we can be in fellowship in Him. What does He require but to act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with God? ( Micah 6:8) Legalism implies to me that i need to do something to receive God’s Grace. If that were true, then it would not be Grace. Grace is unmerited Love. God loves us because He wants to. AMAZING! Since God is Love, in the beginning He wanted someone upon whom to share His love. The animals did not have what it took to fulfill this, so God said, ” Let us make Man in our image.” (Genesis 1: 26, NIV) My love for my husband has grown as we have spent more time together and shared our lives. I love him more today than I did 36 years ago. With that metaphor in mind, my love for God has grown over the last 57 years that I first began to love God. Love grows as we see more clearly and begin to see God as He is. Thank you Pastor Dave for initiating this conversation.
Hello David,
I read the short comments of others. This is a very interesting and thought provoking article, and so glad that “grace” was emphasized as a necessary leader in our actions. Also, a very important “eye opener” that there is a difference between “confirmed faith” and “convicted faith” and acknowledging that “spirit driven convicted faith believers” can turn a church into becoming “exciting and often fast growing.”
Thank you, David, for making it very clear how important it is, especially, in today’s world, to be spirit driven in all we do, in our churches and in our individual lives.
Hi Elaine.
Glad to see you are still reading my blogs. It is hard to rely on the Spirit, but that is the essence of the difference between evangelical and legalistic.
Dave
Thanks for reminding me of this jewel, which I still have and which I encouraged for many years in my past. Evangelical. Evangelical. Evangelical.(cf. Walther’s Law and Gospel)
Wilbert,
Yes. It is a gem.
Thanks,
Dave
Again I bring this right back to PACK (Planned Acts of Christian Kindness) Outreach and the culture that it develops brings the Spirit to life. With every PACK event comes the opportunity to be a part of bringing Jesus to all the people of your community. That support could be in the form of prayer, financial or in-kind donations, volunteering to help behind the scenes or at the actual in person event.
Through sharing testimonies of our experiences and of the recipients of our kindness it soon becomes apparent that the hands & heart of the Lord was all over this. It is this real life feedback that raises the faith level of everyone to new heights!
What makes PACK different is that mo of the time you are loving on all people not just those with obvious physical needs. This dramatically teaches us all that the Lord’s gifts are desperately needed by everyone and through PACK they feel His presence and a warm invite to come and learn more.
Lee,
PACK is evangelical, so long as it is not required.
Dave
You’ve got to give credit where credit is due: the Holy Spirit and God’s word work faith.
The labels of “ confirmed” and “baptized” are good labels in that they show the work of the spirit.
“Convicted” must also be the work of the spirit.
“ no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”
Heidi,
Confirmed is good enough to gain eternal salvation unless the individual denies confirmed faith.
Dave
It isn’t exactly clear what “Evangelical practice bears with all manner of defects, imperfections, and sins, rather than to remove them merely in an external manner.” means as intended by the author. Specifically, the phrase “bears with” is ambiguous to say the least. Is it saying that evangelical practice is willing to accept all sinful behaviors without condemnation of such behavior or imposing justice upon the sinner? I hope not. Is it saying that it is disingenuous for a pastor to declare anyone’s sins forgiven without actually bearing the discomfort of learning the specific circumstances of the sins that were committed? It works, but probably not what he meant. Or is it saying that an evangelical approach is to be willing to forgive and embrace sinners of all stripes, and not just go through the motions of forgiveness? This is true, but incomplete as it is stated. It would be nice if you would either offer your interpretation of such vague statements, or direct readers to a specific source where they can discover additional analysis about what Mr. Schwan might have meant.
Setting the indecipherable statements aside for a moment, it also is not clear to whom or what you are referring when you describe “legalistic thinking.” I assume this is in reference to congregations that require people to be members in order to take communion, or perhaps congregations where they do not allow homosexuals to become members or take communion. But it could also apply to churches that require members to attend a class or two about their faith before they are admitted as members. It think it is always a good idea to educate prospective members for their own benefit as well as the church’s. It isn’t a good idea to allow people to go around with misconceptions about doctrinal matters because they could unintentionally do a great deal of harm to themselves and others.
As a “baptized member” for whom it took many years of being only marginally involved in church before grace finally “took”, I agree that it is more effective to allow grace to work slowly than it is to beat people over the head with a bunch of regulations and conditions they aren’t going to accept anyway. But convicted believers take many forms, not all of them agree with the opinions of the Lutheran synods, their leadership, or even their own pastors. Legalistic thinking and respect for traditional views about morality seems to have been largely abandoned by our ELCA leadership as of late. And while such standards of behavior might hinder the spiritual growth of some, for others, it is exactly what they need to shed their inherent selfishness and achieve a sense of spiritual liberty. I am generally not such a person, but every believer has to start somewhere, and great care must be taken so as to not also alienate people with strong ethical convictions just because some, like myself, might have a problem following the rules. We need those people just as much as the rebels. To be clear, for every expression of love toward one specific group, there is usually another for which that same expression is hateful and without regard for their suffering.
So to simply adopt a position that legalistic thinking is anathema to evangelicalism, or that love is the queen of all commandments, is far too simplistic to offer any meaningful leadership to the faithful. It sounds good, and has the appearance of truth, but it contains no substance upon which one’s personal faith can grow and be nurtured. It also is too easily misinterpreted as a statement that objective morality has no place in a church, which is very dangerous, especially for those who do not have a solid understanding of what it means to be a Christian in the first place. A Christian’s life is not supposed to be easy or even comfortable much of the time. A true follower of Christ must be concerned with the whole person and the whole of society when they craft their opinions, and not just how they feel about one particular thing at the moment. A Christian has accepted an internal struggle against their own sinful nature, and it requires constant reflective evaluation of one’s actions and intentions. It does not mean that since God forgives we do not need to exercise self-restraint. If anything, people who seek to make a walk with Jesus a safe choice that means never feeling bad about one’s actions are doing a great disservice to generations of Christians. Scripture is clear that God’s forgiveness is NOT unconditional, despite a new age of Christianity that would profess otherwise. At minimum, God requires nothing less than true contrition on the part of the sinner, and if we are to pattern our forgiveness after God’s forgiveness of ourselves, it is not contrary to Christian doctrine to believe that those who sin against humanity must offer meaningful confession and repentance for their sins, and willingly suffer their justly imposed consequences, to receive God’s (and our) forgiveness. As it goes, if we say we have no sin…
Here is an example of legalistic evangelicalism Mr. Schwan would probably agree with: If you aren’t thinking about how your actions affect others, especially those with whom you disagree, you aren’t doing it right. My point is that there is always room for a certain amount of legalistic thinking in any evangelical’s world view, and it is not wrong for churches to adopt clear positions about ethical matters, even if their positions are unpopular or they cost the church some members who think it should be easy to love Christ. Some of these positions might include strong moral statements about abortion or child abuse. The trick in doing so is to remain compassionate, and accepting of the fact that everyone is a sinner, while not giving the false impression that sin is without cost or consequence to everyone.
I realize that the primary concern with legalistic evangelicalism is that people will be so absorbed with whether others are behaving “right” that they will fail to notice the beams in their own eyes. But I don’t think Jesus intended people to adopt an “anything goes” perspective about immoral behavior either. There are certain behaviors that we can say with great conviction and certainty that they have no place in the life of a decent human being and should rightly be regarded as worthy of exile from any fellowship of believers. I won’t list them here, but we all know the sort of things people are capable of, and we must never lose sight of the potential for great injury and harm that evil represents. And history shows that the church is not immune to evil. Loving one’s neighbor includes protecting the vulnerable and always supporting justice, not just blindly accepting anyone into the fold who has no sense of remorse or who represents a true danger to others.
So I am not sure what your point exactly was, but it definitely needs deeper explanation and a bit more thought about its intended message. As it is, this post comes across as preachy, but without solid conviction or sufficient root in scripture. It also seems to postulate that because sin is unavoidable, churches should never adopt a position against immoral behavior. I know that this is not your intent, so maybe you might consider a follow-up post that clarifies your message.
David,
This is a translation from German. I would not lean too hard on “bears with.” I take legalism to refer to one’s relationship with God. It does not apply to housekeeping rules. Lutherans confess their sins weekly. “Evangelical” does not try to judge whether they really mean it. Without qualification, Lutherans expect the law of the land to be obeyed, so “anything goes” is not legalism.
Dave
Although there is that tendency to split churches into these categories, I think, in reality, most churches are comprised, at least now days, of both sentiments side by side. As i have listened to people in a church community, I see both elements cropping up. What happens is a strange watering down of the basic theology of Christianity with neither side really winning the battle for souls. Instead, there is this tension between members as they try to figure out which concept is really the best concept to adopt. They are pulled about by the ideals of the world we live in and the legal ideals that they feel the Bible teaches. Neither wins and you end up with an hodgepodge of religious ideals.
For the sake of good order, all organizations have rules. Libraries have rules about how long a book can be checked out with fines. That is note legalistic. As I would use it, legalism applies to the relationship with God.