LESSON TWENTY-FOUR 2009-2010

LAW, GOSPEL & THE MEANS OF GRACE
  1. "God and the Sacraments" con'd. (S. 143)
    1. "The Sacraments and the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ" (S. 147)
      1. Nicene Creed's filioque.
        1. The belief that within Trinity the Spirit's person and life derived from and related eternally to both Father and Son.
        2. Both Lutheran and Reformed hold to this.
          1. Agreement may be more apparent than real.
          2. Different Christologies reflect difference re: Spirit's relationship to Christ.
          3. Reformed: Christ in the means of grace not in His humanity, only divinity.
          4. Reformed: Together with Christ's divinity, Spirit present who creates faith directly in believers.
          5. Reformed: Christ and Spirit
            1. Work alongside or even apart from means of grace.
            2. Not through means of grace.
          6. Differences "foundational" (S. 147)
          7. Differences reflect "two different religions" (id)
          8. Zwingli: Spirit can work faith in pagans apart from gospel.
      2. Lutherans:
        1. Spirit's person and work:
          1. Defined Christologically, i.e. by His incarnation, humiliation and exaltation.
          2. Spirit's work is "shaped, defined, and (dare we say) confined by His participation in the life of Christ." (id)
          3. He is Spirit of Christ.
            1. not only because He proceeds from Son eternally.
            2. also because Spirit was sent by Christ in time.
        2. Spirit's work
          1. Defined not only by His position in Trinity.
          2. But by Jesus' earthly life.
        3. Spirit who accompanied Christ in His work is Spirit confessed by the Church.
        4. Mt 4:1.
        5. By participation in His temptation through resurrection, Spirit through means of grace makes us participants in those events.
          1. Ro 6:3-6.
          2. Eph 2:4-6.
          3. Col 2:[11],12.
        6. Just as:
          1. We know God only through Jesus.
          2. We know Spirit only after we have known Him as Spirit of Christ.
          3. Ro 8:9.
        7. Scripture
          1. Mt 1:18,20.
          2. Lk 1:35.
          3. Mt 4:1 (again).
          4. Mk 1:12.
          5. Mt 27:50: Spirit given to Church at His crucifixion.
          6. Jn 19:30.
          7. Jn 20:22.
          8. Jn 19:34.
          9. 1Jn 5:6.
          10. Jesus baptizes in Spirit, because Spirit is His.
            1. Mt 3:11,16.
            2. Mk 1:10.
            3. Lk 3: 16,[21],22.
            4. Jn 15:26.
        8. In means of grace, Spirit:
          1. Justifies us.
          2. Brings saving event's of Christ's life into our lives and incorporates us into them.
        9. Church
          1. Is Christ's body by means of grace through Spirit.
          2. So it becomes the community of the Spirit.
          3. 1Co 12:12,13,27.
          4. Christ present now to distribute His benefits through Spirit.
          5. Mk 16:19,20.
          6. In means of grace, His title "Immanuel" continually fulfilled.
          7. Mt. 1:23.
          8. Mt 28:20.
        10. Christological definition of Spirit as Spirit of Christ.
          1. Also means He is Spirit of God or the Father.
          2. Jn 14:16,23.
          3. He reveals God as the Father of the Son.
          4. Mt 11:27.
        11. One who proceeds from the Father and Son.
          1. Is on that account the Lord.
          2. The Spiritus Creator, the giver of life.
          3. Remains "intimately involved with His creation." (S. 149)
          4. Embraces "some created things in means of grace for His saving purposes." (id)
          5. By this, "anticipates their perfection" (id)
          6. Ro 8:19-23.
          7. "In the means of grace the Spiritus Creator is the Spirit of Christ." (id)
    2. "The Means of Grace as the Working of the Holy Spirit" (S. 149)
      1. Lutherans:
        1. Define Spirit's person in three Creeds and in first articles on Trinity in A.C., Ap, and S.A.
        2. Specific article detailing Spirit's person lacking.
        3. A.C. addresses His work but not His person in A.C. V (Ministry), 2,3 (Tappert, p. 31; Kolb & Wengert, pp. 40,41)
        4. Set forth His work in connection with Word and Sacraments.
        5. S.C. does not define His relationship with the Father and Son but speaks of His working through the gospel to create faith (S 149)
        6. S.C., Creeds, paragraph 6 (Tappert, p. 345; Kolb & Wengert, pp. 355,356)
        7. "His activity in the Gospel creates the church." (S 149)
        8. Ap. IX, 2 (Tappert, p. 178; Kolb & Wengert, pp. 183, 184)
      2. Trinitarian definition
        1. No Person of Trinity "can be understood apart from the others" (S. 150)
        2. Apart from Trinitarian understanding, Spirit nothing more than a divine impersonal force in the world.
        3. "This revelation of God as a trinity of persons defines the content of the gospel which provides the means of grace with their substance." (id)
        4. Mt. 11:27,28.
        5. God known only through His incarnation in Christ (id).
        6. Mt 16:17.
        7. All this is compromised in Reformed theology.

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