MICHAEL D. WATSON/SHUTTERSTOCK Shedding light
husband, a brother, a son, a neighbor, a citizen and a friend. God’s grace in Jesus Christ is free and frees us to live out our Christian identity in whatever way suits us and serves others. You want to be a doctor? Fine, be Christ’s doctor. You want to be a teacher? Fine, be Christ’s teacher. You want to be a parent, a friend and a neighbor? Be the parent Christ wants you to be, the friend Christ wants you to be, the neighbor Christ wants you to be.
Lutherans believe that through
baptism, God calls all people to live lives of service and love. Baptism is the universal moment of calling for all Christians. And having called all, Christ has promised to be there with all and to work through all. Nobody has to go to seminary or become a preacher to participate in God’s holy work.
Putting it together, part 2 So let’s stop a second time and put it all together again into a Lutheran phrase and a picture of what these “good Lutheran theories” look like when they are practically applied in daily life.
First, the Lutheran phrase: Christ
has freed us to live lives of love and service, in whatever ways most fulfill us and best serve the world.
24 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org 26
Antinomianism, n. The belief—mistakenly held by some Christians—that the rules don’t apply; the mistaken notion that since God loves us God must not expect us to keep God’s law. Antinomian, adj. Someone or something that is characterized by such a belief.
Antinomians believe the law serves no purpose for the followers of Jesus. Even better, Antinomians have theological backing! Antinomian reasoning goes like this: Since God saves us by grace through faith apart from the works of the law, therefore, once we are saved, we don’t have to follow it. A religion without rules! Where do we sign up? There’s something almost right about this way of thinking. Antinomians, you see, are confident that Jesus transforms people not with law but with love. Antinomians know that the Holy Spirit inspires believers to things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gener- osity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You can’t legislate such virtues, and there’s no law
against them (as the Apostle Paul points out in Galatians 5:22-23). So, this line of thinking goes, just preach grace and the forgiveness of sins and these things will take care of themselves. The problem, of course, is that Christians remain sin- ful even after they are saved, and thus they always need the law to help keep the effects of sin in check. Think of it this way: Yes, you don’t need the law to be saved, but your neighbor still needs you to keep the law so that your neighbor’s life will be better.
Faithfulness, n. God’s way of being in our lives without living our lives for us.
Have you ever heard someone say, “God can do what- ever God wants, because God is God.” An interesting
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