Martin Luther’s Concept of Doctrine

Luther conceives Christian doctrine drawn from the Bible and summarized in the articles of faith as the essential resource and topic of all Christian teaching and preaching. In contrast to both scholastic and post-Reformation theology, Luther emphasizes the strong connection and interdependence between doctrine and proclamation. While doctrine communicates God’s word in his law and his gospel, doctrine can only be pure if it does not confuse law and gospel but carefully distinguishes God’s demand in the law from the promise and gift of his mere grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, the core topic of Christian doctrine is Christ’s redemption through his proclamation, his death on the cross, and his resurrection by which God in the power of his spirit graciously offers justification by faith alone. By representing God’s gracious revelation in the incarnation and redemptive and salvific activity of his son, Christian doctrine communicates the presence of the loving and justifying God who evokes faith and trust through his word. While Christian doctrine grants knowledge about God’s triune activity, it is not only informative, but communicates God’s promise efficiently. In the course of the Reformation, Luther emphasized more the importance of the verbum externum as an instrument to communicate pure doctrine. To support Christian teaching and education, he wrote the catechisms in which he explains the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Apostle’s Creed as the essential resources of Christian doctrine, but unlike Melanchthon, he did not summarize Christian doctrine in loci theologici. Yet he understood the articles of faith to be inherently connected and inseparable as they refer to the unity of God. Thus, the systematic explanation of the Christian faith in Lutheran orthodoxy meets with Luther’s understanding of the structure of doctrine and his concern for fully exploring and apprehending God’s grace and justice as revealed in the gospel. At the same time, Luther always used doctrine in soteriological context. Because of its particular content, theological reflection of doctrine cannot exclude the dimension of proclamation.

Believing in God the Father: Interpreting a phrase from the Apostle’s Creed

In our days, the creedal phrase ‘I believe in God the Father almighty’ is interpreted primarilyalong Trinitarian lines: It is applied to God as the Father of Jesus Christ. Here I argue that ithas a dual background: in Jesus’ prayer practice, in which He consistently addressed God as‘Father’, and in the Hellenistic habit of referring to the Creator as ‘Father’. I discuss Jesus’ useof the term ‘Father’ against its Old Testament background, and argue that it primarily pointsto the intimacy of Jesus’ relationship with His father. Against the Hellenistic background,however, the metaphor ‘Father’ means ‘he who brings forth effortlessly’. Finally, I discusssome gender issues connected with the use of the term ‘Father’ for God.

The Descent into Solidarity

In the Apostle’s Creed, undoubtedly the most enigmatic phrase is Christ “descendit ad inferos,” descended into hell. After surveying various interpretations of the doctrine, this paper seeks to integrate the Reformed tradition’s view of the descent as the subjective experience of God-forsakenness with Hans Urs von Balthasar’s proposal that Christ entered into solidarity with the dead in hell with no hope of being found by God. The paper then draws three ethical implications from this reading of the descent: the importance of self-surrender, the necessity of solidarity with the oppressed and a chastened confidence towards the prospect for social change in our world.

Christ and the Forces of Destruction: and a Word concerning the De-mythologising of Christianity

When we encounter a discussion concerning Christ and the forces of destruction, our thoughts go immediately to Luther and to his explanation of the second article of the Apostle's Creed in his catechism: “I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord, who has released, redeemed and won me from all sin, from death and the power of the devil.” Sin, death and the devil—these are the powers, which have subjected human life to their control and lead it to destruction. But now Christ has come and redeemed me and the whole human family to which I belong. He has deprived these other masters of their power and Himself become “My Lord”, so that I am no longer a slave unto death, but may live under His dominion: “So that I shall be His own, remain and live with Him in His Kingdom and serve Him.”