The quantity of good works.
It should not really be necessary to discuss the quantity of good works to be striven for. If it stands firm that Christ has bought Christians not only half, but completely with his blood, then it is also self-evident that they place themselves completely at his service with everything they have. This is how the Scriptures describe Christians.194) This is also the way the Christians are minded according to the new man. 195) But the flesh still clinging to the Christians
192) Baier (III, 326):Forma seu ratio formalis operum bonorum, quando in se spectantur, est conformitas cum lege Dei; quando autem spectantur, quatenus, licet legi exacte non convenientia, tamen Deo placent, sic forma eorum est fides in Christ. [Google]
193) Apology: Praeclare inquit Augustinus: Omnia mandata Dei implentur, quando, quidquid non fit, ignoscitur. (118, 51. [Trigl. 171, III, 51 🔗]) The same: Haec opera, etsi adhuc a perfectione legis procul absint, tamen placent propter fidem, qua iusti reputamur, quia credimus nos propter Christ habere placatum Deum. (138, 172. [Trigl. 203, Apol., III, 172 🔗]) — Formula of Concord: "It is also without dispute how and why the good works of believers, though in this flesh and imperfect, are pleasing' and acceptable to God, namely, for the Lord Christ's sake through faith, because the person is acceptable to God." (626, 8. [Trigl. 941, Sol. Decl., IV, 8 🔗]) The same: "But how and why the good works of believers, though imperfect and impure in this life on account of sin in the flesh, are nevertheless pleasing and acceptable to God, this is not taught by Vau's law, which requires a completely perfect, pure obedience where it is to please God. But the gospel teaches that our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God through faith for Christ's sake, 1 Pet. 2; Heb. 11." (644, 22. [Trigl. 969, ibid., 22 🔗])
194) Rom. 12:1; Is. 60:6. 9: "They will all come from Saba, bringing gold and incense and proclaiming the Lord's praise. The isles wait for me, and the ships of the sea long ago, to bring thy children from afar, with their silver and gold." Luther (XII, 312): "This must be the opinion of Isaiah, that the people of this land of Arabia will gather in great multitudes for the faith and the Gospel, and will offer themselves there with all their goods, camels, runners, gold, incense, and whatever they have. For where true Christians are, there they give themselves and everything they have to serve Christ and his people. As we see that also here on our side it has happened that great goods are given to the church, and everyone gives himself with all that he has willingly and gladly to Christ and his own, as of the Philippians and Corinthians St. Paul also writes 2 Cor. 8."
195) Gal. 2:20; Ps. 110:3.
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pulls in the opposite direction, and Christians in this state of affairs are in great danger of misusing the doctrine of grace for indulgence in good works. This abuse was found in the apostolic church, as is evident from the warnings of Scripture.196) It was also found in the Church at the time of the Reformation, as is evident from Luther's complaints.197) And we would have to close our eyes to clearly revealed facts if we did not want to see this abuse also in the church of our time.198) In order to defend against this abuse, Scripture addresses not only the quality, but also often and much the quantity of good works. Christians are not merely to take care of one or another godly work, but to become rich in good works.199) They should not just let the works that are due to them as Christians come to them, but should chase after them like zealots200) and never tire of doing good.201) They should not merely serve God on the side during their life on earth, but use the time of their earthly life to do good works.202) And so that Christians do not forget this, God has done something else: he has instructed those whom he has appointed as teachers and guardians in his congregation to pay attention not only to the quality but also to the quantity of works. Paul reminds Titus: "This I want you to teach firmly, so that those who have become faithful in God may be careful (φοοντίζωοι) to be found in the state of good works.203) Especially they should also take care that the rich of this world become rich in good works, give gladly, be helpful (κοινωνικοί).204)
It is very important that the ministers of the Church have a good grasp of the Christian doctrine of good works and know how to use it practically. First of all, for their own person, so that as ministri Dei et ecclesiae they are not left with a minimum of official works,
196) Gal. 5:13; 6:6-10; Titus 3:14.
197) St. L. XI, 301; X, 456 ff.
198) Southern Illinois District Synodal Report 1913, pp. 42 ff.
199) 2 Cor. 8:7. 20; 9:8. 11.<w:t>200) Tit. 2:14; 2 Cor. 8:4.
201) Gal. 6:9.<w:t>202) Gal. 6:10; Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5.
203) Tit. 3:8: καλών έργων προΐστασϑαι, also v. 14, to devote oneself to good works, to conduct as one's proper business. This thought is illustrated by
Luther's translation: "to be found in the state of good works" well expressed. Cf. Meyer on this passage
204) 1 Tim. 6:17-19.
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after the manner of the faithless teachers and watchmen of Israel, who were lazy, lying down, and fond of sleeping,205) but may be intent on a maximum of their official activity, after the example of the apostle and other faithful teachers.206) Luther's well-known words belong here: "Therefore, pastor and preacher, our office has now become a different thing than it was under the Pope; it has now become serious and salutary; therefore it now has much more toil and labor, danger and temptation, in addition to little reward and thanks in the world. But Christ will be our reward, if we labor faithfully."207) Then the ministers of the Church should make it their concern that those among whom they have the teaching office also accumulate a great treasure of good works. In order to achieve this purpose, it is necessary that they teach good works not timidly and shyly, but firmly and with joy. Experience shows that good works are often taught timidly. There are several reasons for this. One reason is the fear that the doctrine of justification without the works of the law would be pushed out of the center by the decisive teaching of good works. We can give room to this fear only to the extent that the scriptural connection between justification and good works is pushed into the background. It is impossible to teach sanctification and good works in the scriptural sense without teaching justification at the same time, because only the pure grace of God shown to us in Christ can be used as the motive of sanctification and good works. Thus Paul taught good works, "I exhort you by the mercies of God (δια των οίκτιρμών τον ϑεον), that ye present your bodies a sacrifice, living, holy, acceptable unto God." 208) Therefore, the more decidedly we teach good works in the sense of Scripture, the more decidedly we at the same time place in the foreground the free grace of God in Christ. And if we follow this method of teaching good works strictly and untiringly, the result will not infrequently astonish us even on the quantitative side, in spite of the flesh that still clings to Christians. Here too we recall Walther's
205) Is. 56:10.
206) 1 Cor. 15:10; 1 Tim. 4:15; 2 Tim. 4:2.
207) St. L. X, 5.<w:t>208) Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 8:9.
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words: "All true Christians are of such a nature that with an urgent exhortation one can, so to speak, accomplish everything with them. For this very reason, so many pastors do so little with their Christians when they want to persuade them to good works or to dissuade them from unrighteousness, that instead of exhorting (through the mercy of God shown), they demand, command, threaten and rebuke. They do not suspect what a powerful weapon they have and do not use. Righteous Christians, though afflicted with many an infirmity, do not, after all, wish to reject God's Word; they gladly want to live to Him who died for them."209) Walther also cites Luther's words in this context: "A preacher of the law presses on with threats and punishments; a preacher of grace entices and tempts with demonstrated divine goodness and mercy, for he does not like unwilling works and unpleasant service; he wants to have joyful and pleasurable services of God. Whoever does not allow himself to be tempted and enticed by such sweet, lovely words of God's mercy, so lavishly bestowed and given to us in Christ, that he may also do so with pleasure and love in honor of God and for the benefit of his neighbor, is nothing, and all is lost in him. How can a man become soft and cheerful with laws and sorrows who does not melt and flow before such fire of heavenly love and grace? It is not man's mercy, but God's mercy, which is given to us, and which St. Paul would have us regard, to provoke and move us." 210)
Because the question of the quantity of gifts for the missionary activity of the Church has been dealt with a lot in our American Church, especially on the occasion of the so-called "lay movement", a Dogmatics should also deal with this subject. Pretty much all over the country, at the expense of a "layman", a book has been circulated: The Tithe.211) In it is lamented the fact that Christians in "rich America," calculated on the individual, contribute less than two dollars a year to missions at home and in the heathen lands. This fact, he said, is shameful to Christians and an offence to the world. The blame for this is attributed first and foremost to the theological professors,
209) Pastorale, p. 86.<w:t xml:space="preserve">210) St. L. XII, 318 f.
211) The Tithe. By Rev. E. B. Stewart. Introduction by Layman. The Winona Publishing Co. 1903. XXII and 82 pp.
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because they taught the prospective pastors "that we laymen and lay women owe everything to God in general, but nothing in particular, nothing definite; that the time of payment, manner of payment, and even the amount of payment of whatever we owe, or think we owe, or somebody else tells us we owe, is left entirely to our natural disposition to benevolence or stinginess, or to our moods and caprices". The very well-meaning "layman" therefore advocates the introduction of tithing in the sense "that the tithe is — not was — God's law for the human race, and that the obligation to pay it is as binding now as it ever was." He has given up hope for the betterment of the present generation of professors and newspaper editors, but hopes that the next generation will return to the biblical doctrine of tithing. To this we say: We Lutheran professors deplore and rebuke as sin the obvious fact that by New Testament Christians the exemption from Old Testament tithing is misused for indolence in giving for the purposes of the church, especially for missions. Luther also did this abundantly.212)
212) Luther (IX, 748): "This sin" (when Christians do not give for the gospel) "must necessarily be followed by the most severe punishments, and I truly believe that the congregations in Galatia, Corinth, etc., were broken up by the false prophets from no other cause than because they neglected their right teachers." Of his time Luther says (X, 456 ff.): "That we have the Gospel and the Ministry, what is it but the blood and sweat of our Lord? He has acquired it through his fearful, bloody sweat. … If Christ, the Son of God, deserves nothing else from us, but that some pursue his dear ministry, and others withdraw their hand, neither feeding pastors nor preachers, nor giving anything to preserve it; and that the children also turn away from it, lest such a ministry should soon perish, and Christ's blood and suffering be in vain. … If it is to be like this in German lands, I am sorry that I was born a German or that I have ever spoken or written German. And if I could do it before my conscience, I would again counsel and help that the pope with all his abominations should again come upon us and press, defile, and destroy worse than has ever happened before. Before, when people served the devil and desecrated Christ's blood, all pockets stood open, and there was no measure of giving to churches, schools and all abominations; children could be driven into monasteries, convents, churches, schools, pushed and forced with unspeakable costs, so that everything was lost. Now, however, one should establish proper schools and proper churches, … there are all bags locked with iron chains. I ask God for a merciful hour, that he may take me away and not let me see the misery that must go over Germany. … God grant that I must lie and be a false prophet in this piece,
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But it is a characteristic of the Christian church that it does not command anything that is not commanded in Scripture. Now, the commandment of tithing is one of the legal ordinances that are dismissed in the New Testament. The Scriptures of the New Testament often exhort to abundant and untiring giving, but they leave the quantity and the circumstances of the gifts to Christian discernment and freedom. It says: "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows in blessing will also reap in blessing. Each according to his own will" (έκαστος καϑώς προήρηται τή καρδία, as each one purposeth in his heart), "not with unwillingness or from compulsion."213) Further, "Make yourselves rich in this benefit! I do not say that I command" (κατ' επιταγήν, by command), "but because others are so diligent, I try your love, whether it be right. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he was poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. And my well-meaning herein" (γνώμην, opinion, in contrast to επιταγή, v. 8) "I give."214) The apostle leaves it at these "glittering generalities" when he wants to accomplish something certain. Luther says: "In the Old Testament it was commanded that over and above all the annual tithes given to the Levites, they should set aside a special tithe every three years for the poor, widows, and orphans, etc." (1). Now, such giving is not set forth by name in the New Testament, nor is it laid down by law; for it is a time of grace, when every man is exhorted voluntarily to do such things, as Paul saith Gal. 6:6, 'He that is instructed in the word, let him impart all manner of good things unto him that instructs him.'" 215) The reason why the quanty of gifts in the New Testament is left to Christians, and the legal determination of the same is done away with, is given by Scripture in the words, "As long as the heir is a child, there is no difference between him and a servant, though he be lord of all goods, but he is under guardians and custodians until the certain time from his father. So also we, being children,
which will happen if we mend our ways and honor our Lord's word and His precious blood and death differently than has happened until now.” (Cf. IX, 1200 ff.; XI, 301.)
213) 2 Cor. 9:6. 7.<w:t>214) 2 Cor. 8:7-10.<w:t xml:space="preserve">215) St. L. XII, 337.
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were imprisoned under the outward statutes." 216) Because in the New Testament the sun of God's grace in Christ shines in full splendor, it is God's will that Christians should no longer be children, but mature people who, out of a willing spirit of filiation, do everything and more, even in financial matters, that was prescribed for the people of the Old Testament by external statutes. If, therefore, we confine ourselves to inciting and enticing Christians to give diligently and untiringly for the Gospel, remembering the wonderful love of God in Christ, these are not powerless "generalities," but divine-strong motives by which counter-love is always awakened in the hearts of Christians and kindled to clear flame. Looking at the head crowned with thorns of their Savior217) , their gifts for the Gospel take on both the right quality and the right quantity. In this, it goes without saying that it is not in the nature of law for us to rebuke slothful giving for the gospel with the same earnestness that the apostle uses against the Christians in the apostolic congregations, for example, in the words, "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked!" 218) But with this we address the Christians according to the old man, who is to be kept in check outwardly with punishments and threats.219) We expect good works from Christians according to the new man, who, oppressed by the flesh, is to be strengthened by the divine love shown. Likewise, it is self-evident that it is not an Old Testament-legal thing for Christians to impose tithes or fifths on themselves out of a voluntary spirit, and also to follow the method of regular giving according to the apostle's reminder220). The misunderstanding that he thereby commanded something in a legal way, he himself has defended against.221)
216) Gal. 4:1-3.<w:t>217) 2 Cor. 8:9.<w:t>218) Gal. 6, 7.
219) F.C. 645, 24.<w:t>220) 1 Cor. 16, 1. 2.
221) 2 Cor. 8:8, 9. The whole matter of Christian giving for the Gospel is treated in detail in the Synodal Report of the Southern Illinois District of 1913 (pp. 37-62) under Thesis II: "The 'Lay Movement' in Financial Relation," with the subsections: "1. The Size of Gifts. 2. the danger of small gifts 3. The salary of the pastors and teachers of the Word of God. 4. The cause and cure of financial sloth."
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