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Exegetical Theology: Utilizing God’s Blessing, Part 3—The Blessing for the Heterodox and Unbelieving
Already we have discussed the Aaronic blessing (Num 6) as a gift for the physical and spiritual well-being of God’s people in both the Old and New Testament. And God’s people under our care may be the ones with whom we first think of employing it today, as we bless believers in our churches and families. But Scripture encourages us to utilize the blessing among the heterodox and unbelieving as well.
We see an example of this in Genesis 47:7-10. When Joseph introduced his father to Pharaoh, Jacob blessed Pharaoh (וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ; LXX, εὐλόγησεν) both in greeting and in departure. Through Joseph’s faithful work, Pharaoh likely had respect for the true “Lord of the Heavens,” much like the Babylonian and Persian monarchs did through Daniel’s work a millennium later, but it is difficult to imagine in their polytheistic culture that Pharaoh was ever completely orthodox. All the more reason for the Lord’s help in his blessing! Interestingly, the Pharaoh of the Exodus later asked Moses for this blessing also (Exod 12:32, וּבֵֽרַכְתֶּ֖ם גַּם־אֹתִֽי), but Moses (the writer of both accounts) does not say he reciprocated. (Perhaps we may assume Moses did not in that case because of Pharaoh’s obviously hard heart.)
Jesus instructs us likewise, “Love your enemies… bless (εὐλογεῖτε) those who curse you” (Luke 6:27-28). The Apostle Paul adds further context, “Bless (εὐλογεῖτε) those who persecute you; bless and do not curse… do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:14,21). Neither Jesus nor Paul speak of blessing only those within your fellowship, but a wider audience such as those Jews who had rejected Jesus and persecuted his followers. It makes a person think—can we employ the blessing more frequently among heterodox or unbelieving folks who come to us, and whom Christ commands us to bless? To put it another way, might we call on God to powerfully change their hearts like he first did ours?
I serve a small mission church in the northern band of the Dakotas, an area which is heavily ELCA Lutheran. Unfortunately, no carefully worded communion announcement has ever dissuaded visitors who are often looking for a new church from coming up for the Sacrament—they’re Lutheran, after all! So, we started blessing these folks. They are not in fellowship with us, and there is no drinking or partaking of the “one loaf” (1 Cor 10:17), but we still offer what we can from God. Fortunately, I am able to do this in a small congregation where I can easily identify everyone who comes up. (Though it has never happened, I don’t think I would bless someone in a clear case of impenitence, like the situation with Moses above or an impenitent member from whom you are withholding the Sacrament.)
That may not work or be suitable in your ministry context, but what would this look like for you? We should always offer God’s effectual help to all who come to us, including those outside of our fellowship. I pray this study helps you consider how you can best dispense God’s glorious blessing to souls who need it.
Rev. Nate Walther serves as pastor at Grace in Minot, ND
Systematic Theology: The Value of Valuing Our God-Given Bodies
At the Seminary, we learned that systematic theology is a habitus practicus. The doctrines we mine from Scripture are not mere axioms to memorize and file away in our minds. They are truths that we live daily as children of God. So what is the daily, practical value of understanding how valuable our physical bodies are to both God and us?
Three-and-a-half years ago, I realized that I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I always knew what had happened. But I never called it abuse. I certainly never connected it with what turned out to be one of the most prominent consequences of the abuse in my life—profound body dysmorphia. For decades, I hated my body, saw it as defective and deficient, and wished I could have any body other than the body God gave me. Relearning the truths I’ve discussed over the past few months has been an important part of my healing. The value of the body God has given me has daily, practical importance for me.
The value of our God-given bodies also has daily, practical value for the survivors of sexual trauma who are sitting in your pews. They are there, brothers, in shocking numbers. Some of you are among those survivors. Not every survivor of sexual trauma develops body dysmorphia as I did. But my conversations with many fellow survivors have shown me that sexual trauma has a way of making a person feel separate from and antagonistic toward the body God has given them.
Sometimes this sexual trauma can lead a person to want to abandon their God-given sex and reshape their body so that it resembles the opposite sex. Multiple studies have shown that a substantial number of adolescents who struggle with their gender identity have experienced childhood sexual trauma. These people are sitting in your pews as well.
Then there are the young men and women who haven’t experienced sexual trauma but are in the middle of that difficult phase of life we call puberty. Their bodies are changing, often in ways that they don’t like. The culture we live in tells them that the discomfort they’re feeling toward their body means that they must have been born in the wrong body. These young people may not go down the path of trying to change their bodies. But that doesn’t mean they’re not struggling.
For the sake of all these people, for all those who struggle with their bodies in other ways, and for those who by God’s grace aren’t experiencing these struggles, proclaim the value of the body. Repeatedly tell God’s people that no matter who they are, God has remarkably and wondrously made them in exactly the right body for them. How they feel about their body doesn’t change the goodness and value of their God-given body. Neither does past abuse, sexual trauma, or any changes they may be experiencing. Our bodies, as God has made them, have immeasurable value both now and in eternity. These are immensely practical truths, brothers. Help God’s people take them to heart so that they, by God’s grace, can live them.
Rev. Steven Lange serves as pastor at Hope in Louisville, KY
Historical Theology: Nicene Christology
We conclude our series on the Nicene Creed by observing how a few key phrases from the Creed assert Jesus’s full divinity over against false claims.
Begotten from eternity… begotten, not made. Arius had asserted that Jesus being begotten means he had to have come into being at some point in time. But if the generation of the Son were a temporal event like that, this would put the Son into the category of being a made creature, as opposed to being an unmade Creator. In reality, as the Creed confesses, the generation of the Son from the Father that the Bible speaks of is an eternal generation (“from eternity”). That the relationship between the Father and Son is a true, yet eternal, begetting underlies much of the way that orthodox patristic writers argue for and articulate the Trinity. (It is no surprise, then, that modern theologians who reject the teaching of the eternal generation of the Son, and yet try to retain the teaching of the Trinity, often end up with a form of subordinationism.)
God from God, light from light. Light becomes an analogy for this reason-transcending generation of God (the Son) from God (the Father). When one candle lights another, they are two lights, and yet the light they have is the same in essence.
Of one being with the Father. The fourth-century shibboleth of “homoousios.” We can be a little sympathetic to the concerns that Arians had about using this word. After all, before it was used by Trinitarians, this same word had been used by Sabellians to deny that there was any real distinction between the persons—just three different masks that God wears. But when coupled with the teaching that the Father eternally begets the Son (which makes clear a real distinction of persons), a word like “homoousious” asserts that these distinct persons are of the exact same essence. What the Father is as God, the Son is also—except that the Father is the Father and the Son is the Son.
Through him all things were made. An important line in asserting Christ’s deity. While the pagan world allowed for deities to be created, the Bible is clear that there are two distinct categories of beings: Creator (God) and creature. The Bible, and following it the Nicene Creed, place Jesus firmly in the Creator God category. To say that all things were made through him is to say that he is not one of the things that were made—because he is the Maker.
His kingdom will have no end. This phrase is an addition made to the creed by the Council of Constantinople in 381. It addresses the strange and nebulous teaching of Marcellus of Ancyra (modern-day Ankara, Turkey), who seemed to view the Son as an emanation from the Father who would eventually recede back into the Father. This line is included in the Creed to assert not only that the Son is and will remain his own distinct divine person, but that this distinct divine person will rule forever.
Consider making use of NPH’s new four-part Bible study on The Council of Nicaea and its Creed.
Rev. Dr. Aaron Jensen serves as pastor of St. Peter’s in Monticello, MN.
Practical Theology: Congregational Merging as Gospel Consensus
For this last installment, I’d like to begin by pointing out something that is already generally accepted: church mergers are not the answer for everyone. They are not a “silver bullet,” so refusing to merge is not evidence that someone is a werewolf. Depending on your situation, merging all available local WELS churches may well be a preposterously bad idea. But how can you tell? Merging, as a thing in itself, must be numbered among the adiaphora. So what wisdom can be applied to test its viability in your setting?
Frankly, I don’t know. As I noted in the first article, I’ve only done one of these, and the jury’s still out on its long-term health. I’ll also add a dab of pure personal honesty: I didn’t really want to do this, and I’ve struggled with my emotions from the start. So I won’t advise you on how to appraise your own situation. I’m simply going to relate how, from the very start, I’ve come to greater ease with my conscience and mind about the whole thing.
What’s the reasoning for the merger? That’s the incisive question. When we first floated the idea of a merger in front of our people, we availed ourselves of the finest reasoning we could come up with. We put forth irrefutable arguments and unbeatable salespoints, all of them laced with explanations for how a merger would help our church survive the end times we live in. But law-based messaging that might be necessary for exposing some sinful habits can easily morph into law-based attempts to motivate people into doing what we think they must do. We fell into this. Our people responded to this legalistic dusting by taking our first straw poll into the back forty and blasting it. In that first congregation-wide straw poll,[1] only 40% of our members were in favor of a merger of any kind.
So we went back to the drawing board and completely changed our stance. We made a determined, conscious effort to infuse all further communication with gospel motivation, to bring the members of our own congregation to a reasonable consensus. And since consensus could only be built on gospel viewpoints, we spread as much gospel as we could on everything (something we should have been doing anyways from the start). Our messaging wasn’t so much “if we merge, we can do the things Jesus wants us to do;” but rather, “we’re already doing what Jesus has tasked us with—but if we merge, might we be able to do more and do better, exchanging our current oil lamp for fully integrated light switches, so to speak?” And by the grace of God, this reasoning worked. The next two straw polls passed with increasing percentages, and by the time the vote took place over 80% of Good Shepherd’s members were in favor.
I didn’t want to be involved in a merger—but I am thankful I am. I said no, and God bowled me over anyways, only to pick me up again.
God’s blessings, brothers. Whether all this talk of mergers gets you excited or you’re sick of hearing about it, God grant you wisdom and success in everything you turn your hand to do.
Rev. Josh Zarling serves as pastor at Living Hope in West Allis, WI
[1] A somewhat decent guide on using things like straw polls can be found in “Vital Merger” by Dirk Elliot, 2013, Fun and Done press.