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Justification and Eschatology in Luther's Thought

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

George Wolfgang Forell
George Wolfgang Forell
Affiliation:
Professor of Religion, The University of Iowa
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Extract

The juxtaposition of “justification” and “eschatology” in Luther's thought seems at first strikingly inappropriate. Justification is undoubtedly the central concern in Luther's theological effort. It was to Luther “the master and prince, the lord, the ruler and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all church doctrine and raises up our conscience before God. Without this article the world is utter death and darkness. No error is so insignificant, so clumsy, so outworn as not to be supremely pleasing to human reason and to seduce us if we are without the knowledge and the contemplation of this article.” Earlier he had written, “This article is the head and the cornerstone, which alone begets, nourishes, builds, serves and defends the church of God.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , June 1969 , pp. 164 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1969

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References

1. Ausgabe, Weimar, 39, I, 205,Google ScholarPromotionsdisputation von Paladius und Tilemann, June 1, 1537.

2. WA, 30, 11,650, Vorwort zu In prophetam Amos Johannis Brentii expositio, 1530.

3. Luther's Works American Edition, 26, 395f., Lectures on Galatians, 1535; WA, 40, I, 602.Google Scholar

4. WA, 25, 375, Isaiah, Scholia, 1532/1534.

5. AE, 54, 110, Veit Dietrich, Fall, 1533; WAT, 1, 294.

6. AE, 54, 110, Veit Dietrich, Fall, 1533; WA T, 1, 294.

7. WA, 13, 688, Proph. Min, 1524.

8. von Walter, Johannes, Die Theologie Luthers (Güttersloh, 1940), p. 230.Google Scholar

9. Althaus, Paul, Die letzten Dinge, 5th ed. (Gütersloh, 1949).Google Scholar It is, however, remarkable that the same Althaus gave so little consideration to the central significance of Luther's, eschatology in his Die Theologie Martin Luthers of 1962. In sixteen pages (pp. 339–354)Google Scholar he deals with this issue as the final locus in Luther's theological system.

10. Stange, Carl, “Zur Auslegung des Aussagen Luthers über die Unsterblichkeit der Seele,” in Studien zur Theologie Luthers (Gütersloh, 1928), p. 287f.Google Scholar

11. Koehler, Walter, Dogmengeschichte, Das Zeitalter der Reformation (Zurich, 1951), p. 486.Google Scholar

12. Wingren, Gustaf, Luthers iära om kallelsen (Lund, 1942)Google Scholar; cf. Luther on Vocation, trans. Carl B. Rasmussen (Philadelphia, 1957), pp. 248ff.Google Scholar “Summarized in three points, the condition before the resurrection consists of these concepts: We live on earth under the law, even while we believe the gospel. We are always confronted by an unconquered devil, even while we believe in God's victory through Christ…The final eschatological consummation can be summarized in the following three points: The earthly realm and the sway of the law are past, for Christ's heavenly kingdom, which formerly existed only in the form of the gospel, has now come in power. The devil is conquered and Christ's mastery is revealed. The old man has died completely through the cross, and the entire man has been raised as a spiritual body without sin. These three points correspond exactly with the three points characterizing the condition before the resurrection and supply their resolution. These three, like the first three, constitute a unity, a single truth. For the law ceases where the old man ends; and this abolition of the old man is the same as the victory over the devil. In the divine hour when this occurs, hiddenness is ended and the toil of vocation is terminated. But that day cannot be hastened either by man's effort or his piety.”

13. Forell, George W., Faith Active in Love (New York, 1954), pp. 156ff.Google Scholar See also p. 188: “All life, of individuals as well as collectivities is lived in the shadow of eternity. The social order is merely an interim order valid until the impending end of this world. All the ultimate problems of man's individual and social existence can be solved only when the coming kingdom of God ends all human history. Until that time all human efforts are merely attempts to eliminate proximate evils. The ultimate evils that confront man can be overcome only through the parousia of Christ, the coming kingdom of God.”

14. Torrance, T. F., Kingdom and Church, A Study in the Theology of the Reformation (London, 1956), p. 3.Google Scholar He surveyed the theology of the Reformation under three headings—The Esehatology of Faith: Martin Luther; The Eschatology of Love: Martin Butser; The Eschatology of Hope: John Calvin.

15. Löfgren, David, Die Theologie der Schöpfung bei Luther (Göttingen, 1969), p. 301Google Scholar; see also: “As we have seen, the new creation of man through faith produces not only the right ‘image’ of God, but also the right perception of things and of the neighbor and thereby gives the believer a greater candour in his life's task, in relation to his calling in the world. And hence the eschaton becomes decisive for the life which man lives here and now and includes not only the discovery that God's goodness is prof erred here in this life, but also the recognition that the innermost meaning of life lies hidden in death. Man thus obtains his power for obedience finally not from out of himself or any created thing at all, but rather from faith in the resurrection of the dead, which indeed means the end of dying.”

16. Steck, Karl Gerhard, Lehre und Kirche bei Luther (München, 1963), pp. 197ff.Google Scholar “Creative power is attributed to doctrine; it creates Christians. In this its esehatological divine power reveals itself. As soon as the eschatological aspect is lost, only an apparently boundless over-estimation of doctrine is left, for which the title ‘socratic- idealistic’ would be too mild.”

17. Wittenborn, Erich, Luther. Predigt vom Jüngsten Tag (Bonn, 1964).Google Scholar

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20. Cf. Kreck, Walter, Die Zukunft des Gekommenen, 2nd ed. (München, 1966), pp. 14–76.Google Scholar See also: Wenz, Helmut, Die Ankunft unseres Herrn am Ende der Welt (Stuttgart, 1965), pp. 11–27.Google Scholar

21. AE, 31, 129, Explanations of the Ninety-five Theses; WA, I, 557, 558, Resolutiones, 1518.

22. WA, 13, 232; Praelectiones in prophetam minores, 1524/1526.

23. WA, 5, 463; Operationes in Psalmos, 1519–1521.

24. WA, 40, II, 327Google Scholar; ennaratio psalmi LI, 1532.

25. WA, 40, II, 326Google Scholar; ennaratio psalmi LI, 1532.

26. AE, 34, 151, The Disputation Concerning Justification, 1536; WA, 39, I, 82.

27. AE, 34, 163, The Disputation Concerning Justification, 1536; WA, 39, I, 94.Google Scholar

28. AE, 34, 164f., The Disputation Concerning Justification, 1536; WA, 39, I, 95.Google Scholar

29. AE, 34, 165, The Disputation Concerning Justification, 1536; WA, 39, I, 96.Google Scholar

30. AE, 27, 21, Lectures on Galatians, 1535; WA, 40, II, 23–24.Google Scholar

31. AE, 27, 21, Lectures on Galatians, 1535; WA, 40, II, 24–25.Google Scholar

32. AE, 27, 22, Lectures on Galatians, 1535; WA, 40, II, 25.

33. AE, 26, 232, Lectures on Galatians, 1535; WA, 40, I, 368: “Then they will find that this is the situation, that Christian righteousness consists in two things: first, in faith, which attributes glory to God; secondly, in God's imputation. For because faith is weak, as I have said, therefore God's imputation has to be added. This is, God does not want to impute the remnant of sin and does not want to punish it or damn us for it. But He wants to cover it and to forgive it, as though it were nothing, not for our sakes or for the sake of our worthiness or works but for the sake of Christ Himself, in whom we believe. Thus a Christian man is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God.”

34. AE, 26, 235, Lectures on Galatians, 1535; WA, 40, I, 372. “Meanwhile, as long as we are alive, we are supported and nourished at the bosom of divine mercy and forbearance, until the body of sin (Rom. 6:6) is abolished and we are raised up as new beings on that Day. Then there will be new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will dwell.”

35. WA, 41, 317–318, Sermons of 1535; cf. WA, 37, 617, Sermons of 1534, and WA, 34, II, 474–475, Sermons of 1531.

36. AE, 53, 297, “Our Father in the Heaven who Art”; WA, 35, 464, Das Voter Unser Kurtz Ausgeleget, 1539.

37. WA, 45, 230; Sermon of Nov. 1, 1537; Psalm VIII.

38. AE, 26, 235, Lectures on Galatians, 1535 (the passage from II Peter 3:13 is incorrectly identified as Rev. 21:1 in the AE), my italics; WA, 40, I, 372.

39. Cf. Thomas, Altizer, J. J. and Hamilton, William, Radical Theology and the Death of God (New York, 1966).Google Scholar

40. I am indebted for the correction of the WA reading of ist (is) to itzt (now) to Professor Ernst Kähler of Greifswald.

41. WA, 47, 433; Sermon on Matthew 22:28, 1537/1540.

42. Altlzer and Hamilton, op. cit., p. 164.

43. Robinson, John A. T., Honest to God (Philadelphia, 1963)Google Scholar; and Fletcher, Joseph, Situation Ethics, The New Morality (Philadelphia, 1966).Google Scholar

44. AE, 12, 236f., Psalm 45, 1532; WA, 40, II, 524.

45. WA, 30, II, 213, Preface to Menius, 1530.