II. The Churches of the Reformation.§ 140. The Distinctive Character of the Lutheran Church.402In the Lutheran Church, that specifically German type of Christianity which from the days of Charlemagne was ever panting after independent expression reached its maturity and full development. The sacred treasure of true catholicity, which the church of early times had nurtured in the form of Greek-Roman culture, is taken over freed from excrescences, and enriched by those acquisitions of the Middle Ages that had stood the proof. Its vocation was to set forth the “happy mean” between the antagonistic ecclesiastical movements and struggles of the West, and to give its strength mainly to the development of sound doctrine. And if it has not exerted an equal influence in all departments, paying most attention to the worship and least to matters of constitution, it cannot, on the other hand, be denied that even in those directions an effort has been made to modify the violent contradiction of extremes (§142, 1,2).The Mediate and Mediating Attitude of the Lutheran Churchshows itself in its fundamental conception of the essence of Christianity as the union of the Divine and human, of which the prototype is found in the Person of Christ, and illustrations of it in the Scriptures, the church, the sacraments, the Christian life, etc. In the varied ways in which this union is conceived of lies the deepest and most inward ground of the divergence that exists between the three western churches. The Catholic church wishes toseethe union of the Divine and human; the Lutheran, wishes tobelieveit; the Reformed, wishes tounderstandit. The tendency prevails in the Catholic church to confound these two, the Divine and the human, and that indeed in such a way that the human loses its human character, and its union with the Divine is regarded as constituting identity. The Reformed church, again, is prone to separate the two, to look upon the Divine by itself and the human by itself, and to regard the union as a placing of the one alongside of the other, as having not an objective but a merely subjective, not a real but a merely ideal, connection. But the Lutheran church, guarding itself against any confusion as well as any separation of the two elements, had sought to view the union as the most vital, rich, and inward communion, interpenetration, and reciprocity. In the view of the Catholic church the human and earthly, which is so often a very imperfect vehicle of the Divine, in which the Divine often attained to a very incomplete development, is to be regarded as in and by itself already the Divine. So is it in the idea of the church, and hence the doctrine of a merely external and visible church, which as such is only the channel of salvation. So is it in the historical development of the church, and hence the absolute authority of tradition and the reversal of the true relations between Scripture and tradition. So too is it with the doctrine of the sacraments, and hence the idea of anopus operatumand of transubstantiation. So in regard to the priesthood, hence hierarchism; so in regard to the idea of sanctification, and hence semipelagianism and the doctrine of merits. Thoroughly antagonistic to all this was the view of the Reformed church. It was inclined rather to sever completely the Divine in Christianity from its earthly, visible vehicle, and to think of the operation of the Divine upon man as merely spiritual and communicated only through subjective faith. It renounced all tradition, and thereby broke off from all historical development, whether normal or abnormal. In its doctrine of Scripture, the literal significance of the word was often exalted above the spirit; in its doctrine of the church, the significance of the visible church over that of the invisible. In its doctrine of the Person of Christ, the human nature of the glorified Saviour was excluded from a personal full share in all the attributes of His divinity. In the doctrine of the sacraments, supernatural grace and the earthly elements were separated from one another; and in the doctrine of predestination the Divine foreknowledge of man’s volitions was isolated, etc. The Lutheran church, on the other hand, had at least made the effort to steer between those two extremes, and to bind into a living unity the truth that lies at the foundation of both. In the Scripture it wishes as little to see the spirit without the word, as the word without the spirit; in history it recognises the rule and operation of the Spirit of God within the human and ecclesiastical developments; and it rejects only the false tradition which has not had its growth organically from Holy Scripture, but rather contradicts it. In its doctrine of the church it holds with equal tenacity to the importance of the visible church and that of the invisible. In its doctrine of the Person of Christ it affirms the perfect humanity and the perfect divinity in the living union and richly communicating reciprocity of the two natures. In its doctrine of the sacraments it gives full weight as well to the objective Divine fact which heavenly grace presents in earthly elements as to the subjective condition of the man, to whom the sacrament will prove saving or condemning according as he is a believer or an unbeliever. And, finally, it expresses the belief that in the Divine decree the apparent contradiction between God’s foreknowledge and man’s self-determination is solved, while it regards predestination as conditioned by the foreknowledge of God; whereas Calvinism reverses that relation.
In the Lutheran Church, that specifically German type of Christianity which from the days of Charlemagne was ever panting after independent expression reached its maturity and full development. The sacred treasure of true catholicity, which the church of early times had nurtured in the form of Greek-Roman culture, is taken over freed from excrescences, and enriched by those acquisitions of the Middle Ages that had stood the proof. Its vocation was to set forth the “happy mean” between the antagonistic ecclesiastical movements and struggles of the West, and to give its strength mainly to the development of sound doctrine. And if it has not exerted an equal influence in all departments, paying most attention to the worship and least to matters of constitution, it cannot, on the other hand, be denied that even in those directions an effort has been made to modify the violent contradiction of extremes (§142, 1,2).
The Mediate and Mediating Attitude of the Lutheran Churchshows itself in its fundamental conception of the essence of Christianity as the union of the Divine and human, of which the prototype is found in the Person of Christ, and illustrations of it in the Scriptures, the church, the sacraments, the Christian life, etc. In the varied ways in which this union is conceived of lies the deepest and most inward ground of the divergence that exists between the three western churches. The Catholic church wishes toseethe union of the Divine and human; the Lutheran, wishes tobelieveit; the Reformed, wishes tounderstandit. The tendency prevails in the Catholic church to confound these two, the Divine and the human, and that indeed in such a way that the human loses its human character, and its union with the Divine is regarded as constituting identity. The Reformed church, again, is prone to separate the two, to look upon the Divine by itself and the human by itself, and to regard the union as a placing of the one alongside of the other, as having not an objective but a merely subjective, not a real but a merely ideal, connection. But the Lutheran church, guarding itself against any confusion as well as any separation of the two elements, had sought to view the union as the most vital, rich, and inward communion, interpenetration, and reciprocity. In the view of the Catholic church the human and earthly, which is so often a very imperfect vehicle of the Divine, in which the Divine often attained to a very incomplete development, is to be regarded as in and by itself already the Divine. So is it in the idea of the church, and hence the doctrine of a merely external and visible church, which as such is only the channel of salvation. So is it in the historical development of the church, and hence the absolute authority of tradition and the reversal of the true relations between Scripture and tradition. So too is it with the doctrine of the sacraments, and hence the idea of anopus operatumand of transubstantiation. So in regard to the priesthood, hence hierarchism; so in regard to the idea of sanctification, and hence semipelagianism and the doctrine of merits. Thoroughly antagonistic to all this was the view of the Reformed church. It was inclined rather to sever completely the Divine in Christianity from its earthly, visible vehicle, and to think of the operation of the Divine upon man as merely spiritual and communicated only through subjective faith. It renounced all tradition, and thereby broke off from all historical development, whether normal or abnormal. In its doctrine of Scripture, the literal significance of the word was often exalted above the spirit; in its doctrine of the church, the significance of the visible church over that of the invisible. In its doctrine of the Person of Christ, the human nature of the glorified Saviour was excluded from a personal full share in all the attributes of His divinity. In the doctrine of the sacraments, supernatural grace and the earthly elements were separated from one another; and in the doctrine of predestination the Divine foreknowledge of man’s volitions was isolated, etc. The Lutheran church, on the other hand, had at least made the effort to steer between those two extremes, and to bind into a living unity the truth that lies at the foundation of both. In the Scripture it wishes as little to see the spirit without the word, as the word without the spirit; in history it recognises the rule and operation of the Spirit of God within the human and ecclesiastical developments; and it rejects only the false tradition which has not had its growth organically from Holy Scripture, but rather contradicts it. In its doctrine of the church it holds with equal tenacity to the importance of the visible church and that of the invisible. In its doctrine of the Person of Christ it affirms the perfect humanity and the perfect divinity in the living union and richly communicating reciprocity of the two natures. In its doctrine of the sacraments it gives full weight as well to the objective Divine fact which heavenly grace presents in earthly elements as to the subjective condition of the man, to whom the sacrament will prove saving or condemning according as he is a believer or an unbeliever. And, finally, it expresses the belief that in the Divine decree the apparent contradiction between God’s foreknowledge and man’s self-determination is solved, while it regards predestination as conditioned by the foreknowledge of God; whereas Calvinism reverses that relation.