David,
Thanks I appreciate your kind words.
It is a temptation of man to make everything nice and tidy. It's really a kind of fig leaf isn't it?
Yep, that's what it is a legal approach at the end of the day. It's a tendency no matter how nice we "put" the language to attempt to justify the 'purification process' of the kingdom here and now, which is the confounding of the kingdom. The very attempt to ‘make a regenerate church no matter how much you caveat the language about ‘heart reading’ is the thing that confounds the kingdom/church that suffers here and now verses attempting to bring it about in a more pure way. Even the Judiazers knew the kingdom was still to come but the STILL attempted to bring it about on earth. This is expressly forbidden by Jesus the Lord of the church Himself in the kingdom parables, in spite of the apparent 'laudableness' of such an idea to do so by anyone. It sounds laudable but it’s actually not, that’s Jesus’ point about us suffering evil here and now amidst our selves. The one's that actually 'get' hurt the most in this are ironically the true believers as Jesus also points out, and it blows right past most hypocrites the theoretical it is aimed at.
Unbelievers "get into the church" not because infants are baptized and Jesus makes clear who is of the kingdom of God. Unbelievers ‘get into’ the church because God allows unbelievers to “get in” here and now, not because our manmade invented systems of screening fail. They fail because they are never authorized as such. Unbelievers also "get into the church" because Law and Gospel are not maintained and sacraments are misused, not because infants are baptized as the Anabaptist said. Infants are horribly blamed like escape goats for the apish buffoonery of men’s misuse of the Sacraments. It's notable that Luther and the earliest reformers saw the problem the loss of the Gospel, that constituted start to finish the ENTIRE reformation. But then the Anabaptist saw the baptism of infants as the problem a return ironically to Rome. Luther saw the similarity between the two because he clearly saw the issue regarding justification, the laymen had become the new monk.
Once again we find believer’s only policy in direct contradiction to Jesus who explicitly upholds the infant and child as the exemplar of the kingdom of grace and equally specifically not adults. Jesus says, "you must be as one of these infants", He did not sit an adult on His lap and say, "you must be as an adult". No amount of glaze can cover this up. Nothing could be more obvious than this.
Something else seems increasingly clear to me as a Christian that relates to these debates, an observation if you will:
When Christians broadly, and I mean those within the church walls, perceive something as law or (the) Law whether it is in reality law or the Law or not (only perceived as a law, like making the gospel a law, sacraments as law), they always divide, fight and split. But when it is perceived truly as Gospel, naked grace, by all involved they unit. The exception is when a true Gospel thing is indeed perceived in some things but is feared due to a “law” mindset afraid of it in other things (like sacraments), then a split still occurs again, but it is the legal mindset always driving the splitting away from Grace.
This is most significantly true when we all unite, denominationally around something very simple like the statement, “you are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone”. In and of itself we all hear that Gospel and unite around it and even fight together for it. The Gospel unites the body of Christ when it is heard in Word and for those Gospel in Sacrament. But when it is an issue of law/the Law or something implicitly perceived as law, whether it is or is not or even if we don’t perceive ourselves “living under the law” that way though we are in fact ACTING it out as law, then division must occur. This sets forth the fallen man’s ENTIRE problem with ‘doing the law’ in any form. It’s as old as Cain and Able, trying to ‘do’ for God rather than “receive” from God so that God is God and man is truly man, that is dependant upon God. God is not God if he needs from man, but is truly God when He is giving to man. It’s hard to pull us out of “doing” our way to heaven, it’s hard to actually HEAR the Gospel, in fact it’s impossible for the old man.
E.g.s:
1. If the sacrament of baptism is perceived as only do it ‘this way’ or ‘that way’, two laws, then a split is inevitable because we are trying to “do” the law. This is an example of the first item concerning law/Law causing a split.
2. If a sacrament is perceived by one as Gospel while another retains a ‘legal’ strain or grain within it, then a split will result. Again the issue is mostly a law issue and our misuse of it.
3. When a sacrament is perceived as Gospel by all, then unification occurs.
We even see principle #1 under very specific denominational use of law. E.g. the Baptist broadly do not agree on how exactly to apply baptism as law under their own system. They agree in principle as to “believers only” but begin splitting within themselves over how, when and why into the various camps. Broadly between Calvinistic leaning Baptist and arminian leaning Baptist, but even the “reformed” Baptist are not in unity as they should be and today many types of strains of reformed Baptist have formed and continue to form, disunity rather than unity. And its not JUST Baptist lest I be accused of “picking on Baptist”. This is even evident with some legal strains within the Reformed, narrower sense of the term, communities where the sacrament is not as much a Gospel sacrament as it was back in the earliest days of the reformation. Thus, reformed groups split out within themselves. Every split is predicated upon one of two or both parties, whoever they be, having a legal strain in their doctrine, a hidden working their way to heaven. One may actually be attempting to protect the Gospel and the other legal, and the split thus arises. The Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians of Jesus time are an example of the people of God going legal and loosing it all and being split all over the place. A brief period of unity began at the on set of the Gospel at Pentecost, but it wasn’t too many centuries later that the devil began working afresh. EVEN the reformation’s first breakout Luther against Rome was predicated on at least ONE party having a legal doctrine, Rome, even while the other party was pure Gospel, Luther. The later splits among the reformed broadly speaking where just legal strains causing this. This is why at the fundamental level if you read Luther and that history he understood the two, Rome and the Anabaptist as two sides of the same coin.
The sum of which is that law/Law always divides both inside and outside of the church, because man cannot use the law rightly and the splitting proves it. Islam, well outside of the church, for example is fractured all over the place, ‘my law is better than your law’, or the Cain principle of worship is the rule of the day. And so they kill not only outsiders but each other.
In the church, though, the Gospel unites when both or all parties actually “hear it” on an issue, BUT it does divide when one party may hear Gospel but the other party still retains some law/Law. The jest of the later is we always go wrong with the law/Law, we cannot handle the holy Law or law without violating it which proves the fallen nature of man as impossible in pleasing God as to the Law. Which is the very nature of “doing law” and why the split occurs, a “you are more pleasing to God than I am” or “your law is more pleasing to God than my law”, or vice versa, again the Cain principle.
It’s as simple as this to fallen man’s evil: If one way is right as fallen man thinks to return to God (meaning law) and another way is wrong (meaning law) then we need to do it the “right” legal way, so we think, to please God. Hence, the splitting apart or sectarianism and murder within the heart of fallen man, ironically trying to do the Law it is violated utterly as Cain himself did. However, if a thing, sacrament or message, is pure unadulterated Gospel, then there is no reason for the split which is murder in the heart…since free food is food for one dying beggar just as much as it is for another dying beggar. But it must be food (Gospel) and not poison (sin’s incurable nature as to Law), that is Gospel and not law (man made) or the Law (God’s).
Earthly analogy:
Two men are starving to death and they are utterly destitute.
Situation number 1: Life giving food is presented before them. But both perceive it as law, for they fail to see their destitution truly! Man A says, “You must eat it with a fork” or you cannot live. Man B says, “No, a spoon.” They divide and go away eating with fork and spoon respectively, both thinking their legal method of eating, fork or spoon only, is what is saving them. Both are blind to the real food and both are blind as to their real destitution. Ignorantly they miss it’s the food itself and neither have a damn thing to do with it. This is two Cain principles of worship (doing for God) and murdering each other.
Situation number 2: Life giving food is presented before them. One perceives the food as life giving food and another perceives it still as Law. Man B says, “It’s the food that saves us not eating it with a fork or a spoon only, we are destitute…it’s the food brother.” However, man A retains his legal burden, “NO, you must eat it with a fork or you are not being fed truly.” Man A still thinks the fork is the saving thing, Man B is beginning to see that it is in fact the food itself and trying to awaken man A, his brother to this so they are strong together. Alas, due to the residual legal burden/strain on one side, they remain divided. One Cain principle of worship and one Abel principle of worship coming about (doing for God versus receiving from God, respectively or worshipping Moloch thinking it to be God versus worshipping God – the direction of how things flow earth to heaven Vs. heaven to earth shows forth idolatry or not even if the name “God” is retained).
Situation number 3: Life giving food is presented before of them. Both perceive it as Gospel, both begin to see their destitution and dire need as beggars. Man A and B both come to realize, “Hey it’s the food!” They come together in true love as mutual starving beggars needing that very same food. A food they both legally perceived and divided over at various times and many ways (religious ideals, interpretations and paradigms on a subject/sacrament or item of worship). Both now are receiving from God respectively and NOW God is truly God to them in which they find, alone, life and the sustaining of it, not just in mouth profession but in reality and walk of life; AND both are now truly man as man is created and related to his Creator. As God gives to them, they now give to each other in true love. As to where before they had to hate each other because God was not God to them, but one they thought they gave worship UP to rather than receiving from, from which arose Cain to slay Abel.
When men realize in all things Word and Sacrament God in Christ has given all to you and NOTHING is lacking AT ALL, really and truly given to you forgiveness of sins and ALL His righteousness so that you DON”T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING, THEN one can in turn just give to all themselves how ever one wants, desires from the heart to do so. This is how the Christian is the servant of none but the dutifully loving servant of all. How? God doesn’t need your works as you supposed since Christ did it all, it is finished for Christ’s sake. And you/I don’t need your/our works as you/we supposed since Christ did it all, it is finished for Christ’s sake. When we, thus, quit the Satanic competition for God’s love which is TRULY satanic we are THEN truly free to give as you’ve been given! God’s love is truly creative and shows Him as God in that it, love, doesn’t seek its own. God’s love creates what it will love. Thus, as Luther pointed out, the sinner (the truly unattractive, ugly and evil) is attractive and beautiful to God because God first loves the unattractive (true love and true God), the sinner is not loved because he is attractive and beautiful (satanic fallen love which is false love or no love at all, in fact hatred).
As we grow in Christ to realize this more and more, true sanctification is knowing more and more Christ for you, then you will love more and more and more as the true fruit of this faith that fixes and steels it’s eyes upon Christ crucified and risen FOR YOU.
Blessings,
Larry
