14. The Christian life and the cross.
The old Lutheran teachers, such as Quenstedt and Calov, also include a section on the cross (De cruce) in their description of the Christian life.306) This stands in harmony with the thoroughly practical tendency of their dogmatic expositions, and above all, it is in harmony with the Scriptures, which offer detailed teachings about the cross of the Christians. Although Christians stand in a completely ordered relationship to God through faith in Christ — God is not against but for them,307) they are God's children and heirs of eternal life,308) the angels serve them309) etc. —, so God has nevertheless ordered
303) Tridentine. Sess. VI, can. 20.
304) Gal. 1:6-9; 5:12; Phil. 3:2; Gal. 3:10.
305) II, p. 2, note 8.
306) Quenstedt II, 1431 sqq.; Calov X, 703 sqq.
307) Rom. 8:31.<w:t>308) Joh. 1:12. 13; Gal. 3:26; Rom. 8:17.
309) Heb. 1:14.
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that the high dignity of Christians in this life does not yet appear in the outer appearance, but on the contrary the Christian life on earth has the same lowliness which characterized Christ's life on earth.310) This lowliness of Christian life, in which Christians follow Christ and are conformed to him, is also called the cross of Christians in Scripture.311) The following main points of the biblical doctrine of the cross are highlighted here:
1. What the cross comprehends in itself. Even the ungodly has much plague.312) But not of the ungodly, but only of the Christians the scripture calls suffering a cross.313) The cross comes
310) 1 Pet. 4:1: "Since therefore Christ in the flesh" (σαρκί, in earthly life) "suffered for us, arm yourselves also with the same mind." (Cf. Luther z. St., St. L. IX, 1248.)
311) Luther says about the contrast between the high dignity of Christians and the humiliation of their life on earth: "We are already God's children here on earth and saved if we believe and are baptized, as Mark 16:16 stands written, and Joh. 1:12: .As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, who believe on his name.'' Baptism is seen; the children who are baptized are also seen; the gospel is heard; so we ourselves also feel in our hearts the testimony of the Holy Spirit that our faith, however weak it may be, is nevertheless righteous. But who sees us that we are God's children? Who wants to call such people God's children, who are thrown into dungeons and are so horribly tortured and tormented in all kinds of ways, as if they were children of the devil and vainly damned and cursed people? Therefore St. Paul does not say in vain that the glory of the children of God is still hidden, but it will be revealed in them, just as he also says in Col. 3:3-4: "Your life is hidden with Christ in God, but when Christ, your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.' Furthermore, because they live on earth, they are not adorned with God's color, but with the color of the devil's sorrow. For it belongs to the children of the devil that they should be staked and bruised, and that all calamities should be put on them. But this does not happen, but they are in good health, rich, powerful, powerful, have honor. They have money and goods enough and use the color and name of our Lord God, as if they were well pleased with him. Again, they consider us heretics and enemies of God, so that there is a contradiction here: those who are God's children must be called the devil's children, and those who are the devil's children must be called God's children. This is painful to the pious; indeed, heaven and earth and all creation cries out and complains about it and is unwilling, that it should thus be subject to vanity and suffer that the ungodly abuse it against God's honor. (St. L. XII, 729 f.)
312) Ps. 32:10; 34:22, 16, 4. Pharaoh, Ex. 2:7-11.
313) Cf. Luther, St. L. XIII, 433 f.
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about Christians as Christians, namely in the practice of their Christian profession in the world.314) When they follow Christ in word and deed, especially when they confess the gospel of Christ crucified, who is an offence to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, they receive from the world the same treatment that was Christ's part from earth. "If they have called the father of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they so call his household."315) To be sure, Christians are still sinners according to the flesh, and to that extent they deserve not only temporal suffering but also eternal damnation. But they recognize their sin and have daily forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ. Therefore, their suffering is not a punishment of sin in the proper sense, because the real punishment of sins is not this or that temporal misfortune, but eternal death. Also, as Luther reminds us, the factual situation is this:316) "The evil enemy and the world is not hostile to Christians because they are sinners, stumble and fall here and there. No, both the devil and the world would like to suffer and be satisfied with them, but for the sake of the Word and faith, that they place their hope in the Son of God, take comfort in His death and resurrection, fear God and desire to live according to His will; they desire that through their confession others may also come to faith and knowledge of Christ: neither the devil nor the world can suffer such things. For this reason Christians are afflicted everywhere; Satan afflicts them in the body with sickness, as St. Paul himself complains: Satan's angel beats him with fists and spears him, in the conscience and in the heart with sadness, gloom, terror and the like, yes, sometimes also with damage to property through weather, hail and fire, as is seen in Job. … Therefore remember this: Do not deny that you are a poor sinner and that you deserve all misfortune. For God also rebukeeth sin in his own, as Peter saith: The judgment must begin
314) Luther: "A Christian, however, in that he is called a Christian, is thrown under the dear cross, that he must suffer either from people or from the devil himself, who both plagues and anguishes him with misery, persecution, poverty, sickness or inwardly in the heart with his poisonous arrows. This is called and is the Christians' lot and mark, a holy, dear, noble, blessed calling, which brings them to eternal life; to whom we must also do his right and take for good what he brings." (XII, 544 f.)
315) Matt. 10:25.<w:t xml:space="preserve">316) Luther XIII, 434 ff.
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at the house of God.' Therefore, say, Satan and the world are not hostile to me. … For what then is it to be done? For the man's sake" (namely, Christ's) "who here bears the cross, that I may believe and confess the same for my God and Savior." Therefore, in order not to be persecuted with the cross of Christ, the opponents of the apostle Paul preached the homogenized works doctrine to the world.317) In our time, too, one must let conversion and salvation depend not only on God's grace, but also on the "freedom left to man," on "self-setting," "self-determination," "right conduct," etc., if one does not want to be persecuted with the cross of Christ in the midst of Protestant Christendom. Now, because the Christians still have the flesh about them, which lusts against the Word of God,' will and order, and to which especially suffering is disagreeable, so the bearing of the cross of Christ includes the άπαρνεΐσϑαι εαυτόν, the self-denial,318) namely, renunciation from everything that opposes following Christ,319) renunciation from one's own wisdom in spiritual thingsM from peace and tranquility,321) from honor among men,322) from friendship with father and mother, son and daughter,323) from earthly possessions,324) from one's own life.325) The cross further comprehends in itself the crucifixion of all lusts and desires that still stir in the flesh,326) the killing of the members that are of the earth: Fornication, impurity, shameful affection, evil desire and avarice, which is idolatry.327)
2. The nexus indivulsus between Christianity and the cross. The cross is inseparably bound up with Christianity, so inseparably that anyone who refuses the cross must renounce being a Christian and sharing in the
317) Gal. 6:12.
318) Matt. 16:24: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself ,άπαρνηαάσϋω εαυτόν, and take up his cross, and follow me."
319) Luke 14:33: "Whoever does not renounce all that he has, ον αποτάσσεται πάαι τοΐς εαυτόν νπάρχονσιν, cannot be my disciple."
320) Matt. 11:25-26.<w:t>321) Matt. 10:34; Luke 12:51.
322) Matt. 5:11; Luke 6:22; 1 Pet. 4:14.
323) Matt. 10:35-37; Luke 12:52-53.
324) 1 Cor. 7:30; Matt. 19:21-22.
325) Luke 14:26.<w:t>326) Gal 5:24.
327) Col. 3:5. Rom. 6:6: "We know that our old man was crucified with him, σννεσταυρώϑη that the sinful body might cease, that we might not henceforth serve sin."
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glory of Christ.328) Luther: "He who is not a crucianus, that I may speak thus, is not a christianus; that is, he who does not bear his cross is not a Christian, for he is not conformed to his Master Christ."329) Yet the Christian should not lay a cross on himself or others, but leave the laying of the cross to God,330) because God alone knows what cross is good for the Christian, and because only God can give the strength necessary to carry the cross.331) Luther calls those who put on a cross themselves "works saints" and "martyrs of the devil.332)
3. The correct conception of the cross. Carrying the cross is difficult for Christians in the flesh. When they are treated badly here in the world, the thought arises in them that they do not deserve what is due to them as children of God and members of the body of Christ. The thought intensifies to the point that God does not care about them, that he is their enemy and no longer their Father.333) In this erroneous view of the
328) Christ reminds the οχλοι πολλοί who traveled with Him and followed Him, Luke 14:25-35. The inseparable binding between Christianity and the cross is pronounced Matt. 10:38-39; Mark. 8:34. 35; Luke 9:23-24, 57-62; Rom. 8:17 etc.
329) St. L. II, 467.
330) 1 Pet. 3:17: εί ϑέλει το ϑέλημα τον ϑεον; 1:6: εΐ δέον.
331) 1 Cor. 10:13.
332) On 1 Pet. 3:17 (St. L. IX, 1130): "It is to be noted that the apostle does not add in vain: 'Where it should be,' as he also does in the 3rd chapter, v. 17, where he speaks: 'It is best, if it be the will of God, that ye should suffer for a good thing.' For there are many people who put on their own cross without any need, as is the way of the works saints, walking, as St. Paul says, according to their own choice, in humility and spirituality of angels. The papacy has many such people. But it shall not be, for it is not God's will that thou choose for thyself a passion or a cross of thy own devotion or conceit; but if thou doest it, thou art the devil's martyr, not Christ's... … But if it be so, that is, if God send thee, thou must suffer it for the confession of thy faith: accept it, and be comforted, that St. Peter here saith, that sorrow shall be for a little season, but that salvation, wherein thou shalt rejoice, shall be for ever." — Let us not forget to remember that no Christian should lay a cross on another in order to humble him in a wholesome way and thus lead him safely to heaven. That is to interfere with God, whose best privilege it is to put on a cross, and that is also to play freely with the salvation of one's neighbor, because we men do not know which cross is useful and bearable for our brethren.
333) Lamentations 5:20: "Why will you forget ours so completely?"; Ps. 13:2 etc. Job 30:21: "You are turned into a cruel one to me."
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cross lies a great danger of apostasy to which many succumb.334) Therefore, the Scriptures are eager to correct the erroneous conception of the cross. Above all, the teaching of Scripture is that the cross, even if it is at the same time a judgment on one's own sin, is not to be understood as a revelation of wrath, but rather as a revelation of love and as a sign of the existing relationship between children. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth; he chasteneth every son whom he receiveth." 335) When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, lest we be damned with the world.336) The teaching of Scripture goes further: If Christians carry the cross because they confess Christ in word and deed, then in the cross there is a testimony of the Holy Spirit (testimonium Spiritus Sancti externum) that they do not belong to the world but to Christ, because they experience the same treatment from the world that was given to Christ and all witnesses of Christ.337) Christians, according to the explicit instruction of Scripture, are to infer from the suffering of this time, by which they are being conformed to Christ, the eternal glory that is surely to come.338) The designation of the cross as the "color of hope" for Christians is in accordance with Scripture.339) Hence also the request to rejoice when
334) Luke 8:13: "At the time of apostasy they fall away."
335) Hebr. 12:6-10.<w:t>336) 1 Cor. 11:32.
337) 1 Pet. 4:14: "Blessed are ye, if ye be reproached for the name of Christ: for the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of glory and of God, resteth upon you",εφ' νμας αναπαύεται. Matt. 5:12, "So they persecuted the prophets that were before you."
338) Rom. 8:17; 2 Thess. 1. 5-7; 2 Cor. 4:7. 8.
339) Luther describes the cross as "Christ's mark", which Christians do not have "painted on the wall", but "imprinted in their own flesh and blood": "If you want to be a fellow heir of the Lord Jesus Christ and not suffer with him and be his brethren and become like him, then he will certainly recognize you on the last day for no brother and fellow heir, but will ask you where you have your crown of thorns, your cross, nails and scourge. … In the same way St. Paul speaks to the Galatians ch. 6:17: "Let me henceforth not be sworn to, neither tell me of the doctrine which is worthy of friendship on earth: for I bear in my body the mark of my Lord Jesus Christ. There he speaks of such marks, as one has painted the Lord Christ in the old paintings, that he has his cross on the armpit and beside it nails, crown of thorns and scourge. These signs, he says, I and all Christians must also have, not painted on the wall, but pressed into our flesh and blood. But this is what happens when the devil comes upon you and torments you inwardly with all kinds of
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Christians, instead of being praised by the world and adorned with honors, reap revilings and blows.340) This was the conception of the cross that the apostles had when they had been sacked at Jerusalem by the high counsel. The account says, "They went away rejoicing (χαίροντες, rejoicing) from the counsel's presence, that they had been worthy to suffer reproach for His name's sake." 341) Likewise a little later. When Paul and Silas were in Philippi in the innermost prison, with their feet in the stocks, they praised God νμνονν τον ϑεόν).342) Scripture also counters the erroneous notion, as if God were mistaken in the heaviness of the cross, and laid upon the Christians more than they could bear. This view is excluded by the fact that the same gracious God who imposes the temptation also gives the happy outcome,ποιήσει συν τω πειρασμώ και την εκβασιν του δύνασϑαι υμάς νπενεγκειν.343
4. Purpose and use of the cross. According to Scripture, the cross is one of the ways and means by which God leads Christians through this world into eternal life,344) by humbling them through the cross,345) by teaching them to be content with grace,346) thus exercising and strengthening faith,347) by driving them to prayer,348) by putting away the body of sin349) and in general by turning their eyes from the visible, which passes away, to the invisible, which remains.350) The Christian should also bear the cross patiently, so that he may be an example of patience for other Christians to imitate and encourage.351)
terror and heartache, and then the world blasphemes you outwardly as a heretic and, where it can, grabs you by the neck and strangles you. These scars of the Lord Christ St. Paul hereby exhorts every Christian also to bear." (St. L. XII, 718 f.)
340) Matt. 5:12; Luke 6:23.<w:t>341) Acts 5:41.
342) Acts 16:25.<w:t>343) 1 Cor. 10:13. cf. Meyer on this passage.
344) Apost 14 22: διά πολλών ϑλίψεων δεϊ ήμας είσελϑεϊν εις την βασιλείαν τον ϑεοΰ Furthermore, 2 Cor. 4:17: "Our tribulation, which is temporal and light, creates for us (κατεργάζεται ήμϊν) an eternal and exceeding glory."
345) 2 Cor. 12:7: "Lest I exalt myself to high revelation, there is given me a thorn in the flesh, even the angel of Satan, which smiteth me with fists, lest I exalt myself."
346) 2 Cor. 12:8-9.
347) 1 Pet. 1:6-7. On this Luther IX, 1129 ff.
348) Ps. 18:7; Is. 26:16.<w:t>349) Rom. 6:6; 1 Pet. 4:1.
350) 2 Cor. 4:16-18.
351) Paul as an example of the cross bearers, 2 Cor. 1:6. The Thessalonians as an example of all believers, 1 Thess. 1:6-7: "You have become our followers (μιμηταί).
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Luther speaks to 1 Pet. 1:7 about the benefit of the temptations, especially about the increase of faith under the cross, as follows: "Here he shows in clear words the fruit and benefit of such temptations, which the believers both encounter from the tyrants and the rabbles, saying: They serve to prove the faith, to make it righteous and much more precious than the perishable gold that is tasted by fire. For just as fire does no harm to gold, nor does it consume it, nor does it make it less, but only benefits it, for it takes away all additions, so that it becomes quite pure and clean; so also the fire or heat of persecution and all kinds of temptation hurts well and hurts the old man to such an extent that those who have been exercised by it become sad and sometimes impatient, but faith becomes pure and clean through it, like gold or silver that has been refined. For the Christian life is done in such a way that it should always increase, become holier and purer. First, we come to faith through the sermon of the Gospel; but through faith we become justified and holy before God. But because we still live in the flesh, which is not without sin, the same are always stirring, drawing us back, and hindering us from being as fully holy and pure as we ought to be; Therefore God throws us into the midst of the fire of temptations, sufferings and tribulations, through which we are swept and tried to our end, so that not only sin is killed in us the longer the more, but also faith is proven and increases, so that we become more certain of our cause from day to day, increase in the understanding of divine wisdom and knowledge, so that the Scriptures become clearer and clearer to us, that we can admonish our own people with wholesome teaching and punish those who contradict us. If the devil had not attacked us so violently with power and cunning these years ago, we would never have reached this certainty in doctrine; nor would the article of Christian righteousness and the doctrine of faith have come to light so clearly. Therefore St. Paul says 1 Cor. 11:19: 'There must be heresies among you, that they which are righteous may be manifest among you.'" 352)
and of the Lord, and have excepted the word under many tribulations with joy in the Holy Spirit, so that you have become an example (rvro) to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia." Walther's reminder to pastors to be examples to the flock even as cross-bearers: Pastorale, p. 386.
352) On 1 Pet. 1:7. St. L. IX, 1131.
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5. The power to carry the cross. Scripture derives this from the certainty of the forgiveness of sins and salvation. Only the one who has the love of God poured into his heart through the Holy Spirit, that is, the certainty that Christ died for us when we were sinners, can boast of the tribulations instead of perishing in them.353) Only the one who is sure of the glory that will be revealed in him can despise the sufferings of this time.354) The killing of the members who are on earth can only take place if we know through faith that our life is hidden with Christ in God.355) Only he can rejoice and praise God under the hatred and persecution from the world, instead of being sad and lamenting, who is sure that his reward in heaven will be great.356) Whoever, therefore, cancels the certainty of grace and salvation by making the attainment of grace and salvation dependent in any way on human works or moral achievements, does not, eo ipso, allow the power to arise by which alone the cross can be borne. Luther: "Because he [man] is not sure of eternal life and does not wait for the blessed hope, he cannot be satisfied nor have patience. As soon as things change and do not go his way, he becomes impatient and grumbles against God." 357) How, on the other hand, the certainty of eternal glory makes one capable of bearing the cross, Luther describes thus:358) "See how he [Paul] turns his back on the world and turns his face toward the future revelation, as if he sees neither misfortune nor sorrow anywhere on earth, but only pure joy. Truly, if we are already in misery, he says, what is our suffering compared to the unspeakable joy and glory that shall be revealed in us? … Whoever could put this into his heart would have to say: Even if he were burned and drowned ten times, if it were possible, it would be nothing compared to the glorious life to come; for what is suffering in time, as long as it lasts, compared to eternal life? … Thus St. Paul makes of all suffering on earth a droplet and a little spark, but of that glory which we are to hope for an endless sea and a great fire. … With the word that he calls it a glory
353) Rom. 5:5, 8.<w:t>354) Rom. 8:18.<w:t>355) Col. 3:3-5.
356) Matt. 5:12; Luke 6:22.<w:t xml:space="preserve">357) St. L. IX, 956.
358) On Rom. 8:18. St. L. XII, 717 ff.
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that is to be revealed, he indicates what is lacking that one suffers so unwillingly, namely that faith is still weak and does not want to see into the hidden glory that is still to be revealed to us. For if it were a glory that one could see before one's eyes, ei, how should we be such fine, patient martyrs! If someone stood on the other side of the Elbe with a chest full of guilders and said, "Whoever dares to swim across, let him be the chest with the guilders," how should anyone rise up to swim for the sake of the guilders? How could anyone swim for the sake of the florins that would be seen before his eyes? Therefore saith St. Paul, I know assuredly that great glory is set before us, whereas all the sufferings of the earth are nothing: but it is lacking, because it is not yet manifest. If there were faith, it would be a small matter to us if such suffering lasted thirty, forty or even more years; indeed, we would consider it too small to be included in the reckoning, only that our Lord God would also keep his reckoning, which he has with us on account of our sins. Ah, what can one say about great suffering or the merit of suffering? How unworthily we come to such great grace and unspeakable glory, that through Christ we become children and heirs of God, brethren and joint heirs with Christ! Therefore we may well say: I will gladly keep silent about my suffering, not boast much about it nor cry out, but patiently bear all that my dear God sends and imposes on me and, moreover, thank him with all my heart that he has called me to such great, abundant goodness and grace. But, as I have said, it will not come to pass for the sake of our wretched weak flesh, which is more moved by the present than by the future. Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be the schoolmaster here and bring such comfort to the heart."359)
6 The cross and the sins of Christians. The question has been discussed in particular, whether the sins that still cling to the Christians are to be counted under the cross of the Christians. The question must be answered in the affirmative. Christians as Christians do not want these sins. By sinning, they do what they hate,360) and they feel being sold under
359) Cf. Walther's admonition to pastors to keep their eyes fixed on eternal life, so that they will not grow weary under the cross. (Pastorale, p. 61 f.)
360) Rom. 7:15: δ μισώ, τοντο ποιώ.
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of the law of sin361) as a painful captivity, as a misfortune that they suffer and from which they would like to be freed. Out of this situation the apostle's lament arises, "I wretched man, who will redeem me from the body of this death?" 362) Luther says: "The dear St. Paul draws the holy cross through all creation, so that heaven, earth and all that is in it may suffer with us [the Christians]. … The creature must still be subjected with us to the tyrants who abuse our honor, body and goods according to their willfulness, as the devil abuses our soul. This is what we must suffer as those who are trapped on earth in the devil's kingdom. … We pray and cry out with great groaning and longing in the Lord's Prayer: Help, dear Lord, that the blessed day of your glorious future may soon come, that we may be redeemed from the evil world, the devil's kingdom, and be freed from the terrible plague we must suffer from within and without, both from evil people and from our own conscience.363) . Keep on choking the old sack, that we may get another body, which is not so full of sin and inclined to all evil and disobedience as it is now, which may no longer be sick, suffer persecution and die, but which, redeemed from all misfortune bodily and spiritually, may become like your transfigured body, dear Lord Jesus Christ, and so we may finally come to our glorious redemption! Amen."364)