We interrupt our usual Tanzanian programming for a brief theological reflection.
Turn the verbs.
It’s Lutheran historian Tim Wingert‘s phrase, something I read in one of his books a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. I love it, because it points so clearly and concisely to how we as Lutherans distinguish between law and gospel. For Lutheran, the law is what kills. It destroys us, because it tells us that our righteousness before God, our forgiveness, our existence as beloved children of God is dependent on our own works. The law tells us we have to earn our salvation, our favor with God, which, of course, we can never do. We are not, and can never be, good enough. The law brings death, because it places all our hope in our own efforts, setting an unreachable bar that puts new life permanently out of reach.
The gospel on the other hand heals, restores, and gives life, because it is the message that all that is needful has been done for us in Jesus Christ, through no work of our own. We are loved, justified, forgiven, redeemed, restored, and saved all out of the unending, extravagant, lavish love of God. We are good because God made us so, not because we have worked ourselves into that status.
The law makes us the subject of the verb—the one doing all the work, the one on whose shoulders all responsibility for spiritual growth, relationship with God and relationship with others rests. Example: Humans (subject) should love (verb) God/neighbor (object).
The gospel focuses on God’s agency, God’s work, and grounds any human activity in the prior and ongoing power of God moving in and around us. Example: God (subject) saves (verb) humans (object).
So, if you turn the verbs, the subject becomes the object and vice-versa.
The challenge for the Church (and pastors/deacons) is that, because we are Americans, with our focus on rugged individualism, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you can make it if you try attitude, this deadly legalism seeps into even the most earnest and well-meaning Christian proclamation, corroding, and poisoning it, turning gospel into law.
So, how do you, the preacher, tell the difference? You look at the verbs, and their subjects. So, for example, if you are talking about working, striving, trying, transforming, you need to ask yourself: Who is doing those things? And if the subject of those verbs, the agent of those verbs, is the human being, that is law. However, if the agent is God, then it’s gospel. It’s very simple.
The only exception to this rule is if the human action comes as a part of a dependent clause, and follows sentences like, “Because we have been forgiven in Jesus Christ, and in response to all God has done for us….” Then you can say, “In response to God’s gracious mercy, Christians are called to love our neighbor, work for peace, and foster justice.” But again, note that these are dependent clauses, dependent and reliant upon God‘s prior action.
There is so much we can do, so much we want to do, and I know we want to encourage people to actively engage the relationship God has established with us. Nothing wrong with that. But if what we do becomes the main message, the focus, the heart of our relationship with God (rather than what God did, is doing, and will do), all you are giving people is legalism, judgment, and ultimately, despair.
Let God be the author of our salvation and transformation, rather than put that impossibility in our frail hands. Please, turn the verbs.
Happy Lutheran 