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Luther on Idolatry: a Lutheran Response to Contemporary False Belief

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Luther on Idolatry: a Lutheran Response to Contemporary False Belief Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship 5-1-2013 Luther on Idolatry: A Lutheran Response to Contemporary False Belief Michael Lockwood Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/phd Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Lockwood, Michael, "Luther on Idolatry: A Lutheran Response to Contemporary False Belief" (2013). Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation. 60. https://scholar.csl.edu/phd/60 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. It is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol.... Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God. Luther, Large Catechism I 2-3. The highest forms of religion and holiness, and the most fervent forms of devotion of those who worship God without the Word and command of God, are idolatry.... every such form of religion, which worships God without His Word and command, is idolatry. The more spiritual and holy it appears to be, the more dangerous and destructive it is; for it deflects men from faith in Christ and causes them to rely on their own powers, works, and righteousness. Luther, 1535 Galatians Commentary, LW 27:87- 88. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xii ABBREVIATIONS xiii ABSTRACT xiv Chapter 1. THE DISSERTATION IN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT SCHOLARSHIP 1 Introduction 1 The Thesis 2 The Current Status of the Question 3 The General Neglect of Idolatry as a Topic of Discussion in Contemporary Theology 3 Richard Keyes: A Call to Get Idolatry Back on the Agenda 4 The Idol of the Self in Contemporary Scholarship 5 Richard Keyes 5 Charles Taber 6 Jacques Ellul 8 Paul Achtemeier 9 Conclusion 10 Idolatry in Relation to the Economy of Salvation in Contemporary Theology I 1 The first article: Providence 11 The second article: The justification of the sinner 13 The second article: The incarnate Mediator between God and humankind 19 iii The third article: The word 24 The third article: Repentance 29 Summary 34 Scholarship on Luther's Theology of Idolatry 34 Tae Jun Suk: Faith, Christ, and the word 34 Other Scholarship 35 Conclusion 36 The Dissertation in the Context of Current Scholarship 37 Why Should We Talk about Idolatry? 37 Why Should We Talk about the Idolatry of the Self? 41 The Old Testament 41 The New Testament 46 Summary 48 Why Should We Be Talking about Luther? 49 The Methodological Procedure to Be Employed 52 The Outcomes Anticipated 55 2. INTRODUCTION TO LUTHER'S THEOLOGY OF IDOLATRY: GOD'S GIFT VS. HUMAN WORK, THE REVEALED GOD VS. HIS IMITATORS 56 The Self: The Chief Idol and Source of All Other Idolatries 57 All of Life Begins with God's Gift of Himself 57 We Can Only Know God as He Reveals Himself 59 Instead of Living by Faith, Humans Are Curved In on Themselves 61 Idols Ape the Work of the Trinue God in the Economy of Salvation 65 Summary 68 3. THE IDOL OF THE SELF AND THE FIRST ARTICLE: PROVIDENCE 69 Introduction 69 Thesis 70 Luther's Teaching 70 Trusting in Our Works = Seizing God's Glory for Ourselves 72 Seeing Is Believing 73 Manipulating God 74 True Faith Trusts in God Alone 74 Consequences of this Idolatry 77 Anxiety vs. confidence 77 Ultimate futility vs. ultimate triumph 78 Conclusion 80 Contemporary Application 80 The focus on human ability in dominant contemporary social narratives 81 Technical-Rational Control in Society 82 Technical-Rational Control in the Church 85 Summary 86 Conclusion 86 4. THE IDOL OF THE SELF AND THE FIRST ARTICLE: LOVE 87 Introduction 87 Thesis 87 Luther's Teaching 87 Luther and Eudemonism 89 Augustine's eudemonism: Finding one's own good in God, the highest good 89 Luther's Rejection of Eudemonism 91 Flesh and spirit: The whole self as it lives either by true faith or idolatry 93 The sinful self loves itself above all things 94 The spirit loves God's "bare" goodness 96 The spirit delights in God's will and loves all creatures for his sake 97 Vita passiva: Love for God and neighbor flows from the receptive Life 99 The Futility of Idolatrous Self-Love: "For Whoever Would Save His Life Will Lose It, but Whoever Loses His Lofe for My Sake Will Find It." (Matt 16:25) 102 Thankfulness and contentment 105 A peaceful conscience 106 The joy and honor of serving God through serving one's neighbor 106 Delighting in the Lord as the hightest good, even in trials 107 Conclusion 109 Contemporary Application 109 Our Fundamental Self-Interest 109 The Culture of Me 111 Christianity that Reflects this Focus on Personal Wellbeing 114 Moralistic therapeutic deism 115 Extrinsic vs. intrinsic faith 118 The church that panders to the idol of the self 119 Are People Really that Selfish? 124 Conclusion 129 5. THE IDOL OF THE SELF AND THE SECOND ARTICLE: THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE SINNER 130 Introduction 130 Thesis 133 Luther's Teaching 134 Rejection of the Ladder of Merit 135 Works Righteousness: Self-Justification through Keeping (a Version of) the Law 138 This involves a false picture of God's law 138 External religion 140 This involves a false picture of God and of ourselves 141 Antinomianism: Self-Justification through Silencing the Law 142 Like legalism, this involves a false view of God and of ourselves 145 The Consequences of Self-Justification 148 Enduring guilt 148 Unstable conscience 149 Hypocrisy 150 Exhaustion 150 Summary 151 Contemporary Application 151 The Pervasiveness of Self-Justification 152 The description of self-justification from social psychology 152 Self-justification in terror management theory 156 Low self-esteem or pride? 158 Summary 161 Self-Justification through Keeping the Law: "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" 161 Self-Justification through Silencing the Law 164 Moral relativism in society 164 The gospel of inclusivity within the church 168 Conclusion: So Why Does All This Matter? 170 6. THE IDOL OF THE SELF AND THE SECOND ARTICLE: INCARNATION 173 Introduction 173 Thesis 175 Luther's Teaching 175 True Worship is Worship through Faith in Jesus Christ 176 True Worship is Worship through Christ's Humanity 179 True Worship is Worship through the Gospel 182 True Worship is Worship that God has Instituted 186 The Self-Localizing God 188 Luther in Contrast to Other Approaches to Worship 190 Luther and pagan idolatry 190 Luther and Roman Catholicism 193 Luther and the Reformed 195 Summary 205 Contemporary Application 205 Idolatry: Religion apart from Christ 205 What sort of God is it that you do (or do not) believe in? 205 Vacuous spirituality 207 Idolatry: Christianity apart from the Gospel 209 Anonymous Christians 210 Sacramental absence and reflective faith 211 The theology of abstractions 217 Conclusion 222 7. THE IDOL OF THE SELF AND THE THIRD ARTICLE: REASON AND THE WORD 223 Introduction 223 Thesis 224 Luther's Teaching 224 Luther's Confidence in Scripture 225 The inspiration of Scripture 225 The clarity of Scripture 226 Reason as an Idol 230 Reason as the Source of Idolatry 238 Natural human reason does not know the gospel 239 Natural human reason is distorted by the human will 241 Conclusions 244 Contemporary Application 246 Formal Acknowledgement but Practical Neglect 248 Resultant Distortions in our Picture of God 250 Gods that resemble ourselves 250 Making Christ in our image 252 The god of Natural Theology 257 Conclusions 261 8. THE IDOL OF THE SELF AND THE THIRD ARTICLE: REPENTANCE 262 Introduction 262 Thesis 262 Luther's Teaching 263 The Holy Spirit Must Deliver Us from Idolatry and Work True Faith in Us 263 The Spirit Tears Down Idols and Plants True Faith 266 God's alien work: The Spirit dethroning our idols 267 God's proper work: The Spirit raising up true faith 274 The Fruit of Faith vs. the Fruit of Idolatry 277 Summary 280 Contemporary Application 280 Mortification of the Idolatrous Self and the Contemporary Flight from Suffering 281 The Proper Work of the Gospel and Human Persuasion 283 The church growth movement 284 Apologetics 289 Summary 292 The Fruit of Idolatry: Hypocrisy 292 Conclusion 296 9. CONCLUSIONS 297 Understanding Luther's Thoughts on Idolatry 297 Luther's Value in Understanding Contemporary Theology 300 BIBLIOGRAPHY 304 VITA 320 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank many people, without whose support I could not have completed this dissertation. First I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Joel Okamoto, for constantly challenging me and sharpened my thinking with his "big picture" questions. I would like to thank Dr. John Kleinig for encouraging me to pursue this topic, and for suggesting sources and connections that were vital to chapter 6. I would like to thank my dad, Dr. Greg Lockwood, for patiently reading my work and offering constructive feedback, for helping me to see important biblical connections, and for helping me to chase down references. Thank you to both my parents for your continual encouragement. I would also like to thank LCMS World Mission, the LCA Scholarship Fund, Ian Hamer, Mery Mibus, Tony and Alexis Hesseen, the Tarrington and Warrayure congregations, and an anonymous donor for their financial support. And finally, a special thank you goes to my wife Naomi. You are God's gift to me. Thank you for all your patience and support that has enabled me to dedicate myself to this work.
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